THE DISCONNECT

 Let's put three texts one after the other and see if they match. The first from Luke and are the words of John the Baptist to Israel as great crowds had gathered to hear him and be baptized by him. These are his instructions:

"Therefore produce fruits that are consistent with repentance, and do not start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ 

¹⁰ And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what are we to do?” ¹¹ And he would answer and say to them, “The one who has two tunics is to share with the one who has none; and the one who has food is to do likewise.” ¹² Now even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what are we to do?” ¹³ And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” ¹⁴ And soldiers also were questioning him, saying, “What are we to do, we as well?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone, nor harass anyone, and be content with your wages.”

So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people."

Now let's move to another text, this one from I Cor. 15:  

"Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

One more. This one from the Gospel of John 20:30-31: 

"So then, many other ^[h]signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹ but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the ^[i]Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name."

Even the not-so-careful-reader can see  the vast disconnect between John the Baptist's message and Paul's and John's. Luke, who recorded the Baptist's message as seen above is laced with works. Paul's and John's have no works in them. That's a very large disconnect, isn't it?

The question is, what in the wide world of disconnects is going on?

Paul and Luke both use the word "gospel," don't they?

To understand what's happening, we have to back up to see what God-ordained duty John the Baptist was to perform. We learn that in the context of his ministry the Baptist's task was stated by Isaiah and Malachi: to prepare the way for the coming Messiah, the King of Israel. John the Baptist was the herald of the King. He was to announce the arrival of the King as a herald, thus preparing Israel for His arrival. In so doing, he has "good news" for them (the word "gospel" means "good news.")

His message is not a message of how to be saved or how to go to heaven. His message is one of preparation. When the Messiah conducts His ministry, He will give the information concerning gaining eternal life apart from any works. 

This explains why John's message is different from John the Apostle's and Paul's. 

Here's a word of warning: any pastor or evangelist who uses John the Baptist's message as a model for our witnessing, that is, as a model in declaring the gospel (using the word in  its technical sense as "the saving message,") is leading you into Lordship salvation and a message of works, which is no gospel at all!

 

TRUMP WILL WIN!

 

There are dangerous people out there. The gullible let them into their homes, make their books best sellers, collect their CDs, support them with tons of cash, and fill their auditoriums. These dangerous people may be male or female. They're eloquent with an outgoing personality and an appealing smile. 

They come with a dangerous three-word  claim, a claim that all too often is accepted by the gullible sheep. The claim is only three words: "God told me." They're saying that that God spoke directly to them. It’s a claim that they received special revelation from God. 

In the 1990s we had an up-close look at just such a dangerous man in David Koresh who mesmerized his followers to actually believe that he was a prophet who received various revelations directly from God.

Those revelations included, but were not limited to, his telling a father in the compound in Waco, TX, that God told him, that he, the father, was to give his daughter in marriage to David Koresh. The girl was 10 years old! 

The father obeyed because he believed that God talked to David. God also told Koresh to tell his followers, men, women, and their children to prepare for a holy war. Their preparation included purchasing over $90,000 worth of guns and ammunition. They were to sacrifice their lives if need be, in this war. God also told David that polygamy and adultery were OK, for, guess who? David K.

Let's move on to a more modern date, a pre-election date.

On Oct. 20, 2020, there was this report: “Televangelist Pat Robertson said on Tuesday that God told him President Trump will win reelection, and more than five years later an asteroid will hit Earth and maybe bring the end.” 

Pat wasn’t the only one: Kris Vallotton prophesied to all who would listen that God had told him Donald Trump would win re-election. As a minister at California’s 11,000-member Bethel Church, the eager sheep received his prophecy as God’s unshakeable will. He went on, explaining that “I am commissioned by God to do this today. I had three dreams in one night.”

Vallotton was far from the only Christian leader claiming before the election that the Almighty had rigged the outcome. J. Gordon Melton, religion professor at Baylor University, counted at least 40 influential Christian prophets who foretold a Trump triumph. 

There we have it: that prophecy "from God" didn't work out so well for Republicans near and far. In other words, the "prophets" were wrong. What does claiming to be a prophet then being wrong mean? Deuteronomy 18 tells us in plain English, so clearly that even a child can't miss it:

"And if you say in your heart, ‘How will we recognize the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ ²² When the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing does not happen or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you are not to be afraid of him."

What can we say regarding all these 40 "prophets?" We can say, "One strike and you're out!" But these "prophets" have been given innumerable at-bats over the course of time. For example: In January 2012, Pat Robertson claimed that God had spoken to him.  He then expressed that God had told him that Mitt Romney would win and would be a two-term President. We all know how that went.

 Strike out after strike out, but do the sheep ever leave the their pasture land of hay, wood, and stubble or turn off the TV? If these "prophets" had an ounce of honesty, they would have resigned immediately after the first strike. But no, they are like the energizer bunny. They keep on keeping on. 

And the sheep are all ears. They love to have it so. 

THE KING AND THE PROSTITUTE

  Martin Luther tells this parable: A king who marries a prostitute. When they marry, the prostitute becomes, by status, a queen. It is not that she made her behavior queenly and so won the right to the king’s hand. She was and is a wicked harlot through and through. 

However, when the king made his marriage vow, her status changed.  Thus she is, simultaneously, a prostitute at heart and a queen by status. In just the same way, Luther saw that the sinner, on accepting Christ’s promise in the gospel, is simultaneously a sinner at heart and righteous by status. 

What has happened is the ‘joyful exchange’ in which all that she has (her sin) she gives to him, and all that he has (his righteousness, blessedness, life and glory) he gives to her. Thus she can confidently display ‘her sins in the face of death and hell and say, “If I have sinned, yet my Christ, in whom I believe, has not sinned, and all his is mine and all mine is his”.’ 

This was Luther’s understanding of ‘justification by faith alone’, and it is in that security, he argued, that the harlot actually then starts to become queenly at heart.”[