CONFESSION TIME

I John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Proverbs 1:7: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction."

The fear of the Lord: a positive response to God and His Word. 

Let's put those texts together, beginning with the definition of "the fear of the Lord" as stated above. When a person or culture has a negative response to God and His Word, playing it out to the end of the line, they and the culture of which they are a part become foolish. 

Romans 1 says the same, that such a society pays the consequences: "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools,  and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." The previous sentence is particularly striking. 
  
We could call as a witness about those who "profess themselves wise, become fools" a seminary in New York, and a famous one at that, but one with a hoary history of having lost the fear of the Lord. Union Seminary, in its own words, gives a vivid description of its foolishness in their report of a September 2019 chapel service: "Today in chapel, we confessed to plants. Together, we held our grief, joy, regret, hope, guilt, and sorrow in prayer; offering them to the beings who sustain us but whose gift we too often fail to honor." Here we have those in training to become pastors, authors, and professors naming their sins to potted plants. 

This is but one instance of their foolishness. On July 26, 2019, Union Seminary declared, "The social gospel is the gospel." (Direct quote) The social gospel in the words of its originator is "not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the harmony of heaven." In other words, the social gospel is trying to fix the Fall of man, although the originator of the social gospel didn't believe there was a historical fall.

Paul's definitive statement of the gospel shows us what the gospel is and is not:

The gospel is not legislating or eradicating social injustices in this world. Jeff Maples writes:

• The gospel is NOT acknowledging “white privilege” and turning from it.
• The gospel is NOT reparations.
• The gospel is NOT redeeming the culture.
• The gospel is NOT loving others or seeking justice.

The gospel is as Paul wrote: "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, ^{. . .} For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  . .  and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

There is an old, old story that fits this seminary's chapel service:

"A vain emperor who cares too much about wearing and displaying clothes hires two weavers who claim to make the most beautiful clothes and elaborate patterns. The weavers are con-men who convince the emperor they are using a fine fabric invisible to anyone who is either unfit for his position or "hopelessly stupid". 

"The con lies in that the weavers are actually only pretending to manufacture the clothes. Thus, no one, not even the emperor nor his ministers can see the alleged "clothes," but they all pretend that they can for fear of appearing unfit for their positions. 

"The weavers report that the suit is finished and they mime dressing the emperor who then marches in procession before his subjects. The townsfolk uncomfortably go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid. 

"Finally, a child in the crowd blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all and the cry is then taken up by others but the emperor continues the procession."