THE NIGHTMARE OF JOHN BOOKMAN

John Bookman is the beloved pastor of the First United Church of Cannon Ball Run and on this Sunday night he was feeling mighty proud of himself for the sermons he'd preached, one in the morning service and the second one that evening. He was feeling his sermonic oats that day as he witnessed 15 people walk the aisle as the choir sang "Just As I Am," seven times during the invitation period. 

He'd concluded the two stem-winder preaching sessions with his standard invitation calling on those who wanted to be baptized and join Cannon Ball run to come forward; those who wanted to rededicate their lives to Christ to come forward; and those who wanted to make a profession of faith to change their geographic location and come forward. For those wanting to make a profession of faith and be saved that day, he'd given them a special set of instructions.

He told them that salvation was free but it would cost them everything. John didn't seem to notice the lack of logic in that statement but he'd heard his idol of a preacher say it, so it must be true. Rev. Bookman then went on to say to those wanting to be saved that they had to work up a feeling of sorrow for their sins, then turn from their sins and then give their lives to Christ and then the "free gift" of heaven would the theirs. 

John enjoyed the evening and couldn't wait for Monday morning when he would file his report of the attendance, the number of new members, the number of rededicates, and the number of those who were saved that day at Cannon Ball. As he filled out the forms to turn into the denominational headquarters, he enjoyed his usual surfeit of four slices of pizza and later, a slice or two of chocolate cake. 

It was getting near his bedtime, so he got ready to hie himself off into the arms of Morpheus and within fifteen minutes or so, he was sound asleep. And that's when the Reverend John Bookman dreamed a dream. 

He dreamed that he was watching a woman carrying a water pot and heading toward a well, and lo, and behold, Jesus was there. The dream was so real that he heard their conversation between Jesus and the woman, a conversation all about regular water and what Jesus called, "Living water." He heard Jesus telling the woman that one sip of that living water He was offering would render it no longer necessary to drink again.

It was then that what Bookman overheard really interested him; it was that this woman was immoral to the core. She had been divorced by not one, not two, but five husbands. He was astounded to hear that the man she was now living with wasn't her husband but that he and she were in a seriously immoral situation. 

And this is where his dreamed turned into a nightmare. Jesus didn't command her to feel sorry for her sins. Jesus didn't tell her to break off the relationship with her current boyfriend. he didn't tell her to turn from her sins which were no doubt plentiful. He didn't tell her to give her life to Him from that day forward. There was none of that in Jesus offer of salvation by faith as symbolized by the one drink.

The Right Reverend jerked awake in a cold sweat, grabbed his Bible and went into the den to read John 4 and all about that immoral woman and what Jesus said to her. He read it over and over but he couldn't find, "repent" in there anywhere; he couldn't find "turn from your sins in there either. Nor did he find, "give you life to Me," in the text. 

The Reverend John Bookman didn't sleep much that night. The shock was great. Could his idol have theological feet of clay? He went to I Corinthians 15 to read it with fresh eyes and found that the gospel contained none of works requirements he's been insisting on; instead, he found the gospel to be simple:faith alone in Christ the Son of God who died for John's sins, rose from the dead and offers eternal to anyone, anywhere who trusts His finished work for that eternal life.

 Bookman's entire system of theology had just fallen apart and great was the fall thereof. But after that dream, he began to learn that salvation is offered absolutely free.

THE IRRATIONAL HATRED

 If you were to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, you would find a picture there, a picture of the rabid Jew-hater, Martin Luther. "Among the Protestants’ founding fathers, Martin Luther was particularly anti-Semitic. His writings were precursors of twentieth-century National Socialist texts. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and Julius Streicher gladly quoted from Luther’s works, even if he never recommended the physical destruction of the Jews. Luther did, however, advise "burning synagogues in honor of God and Christianity," confiscating Jewish books, and expelling Jews from Christian countries. 

In 1985 the World Federation of Lutheran Churches, embarrassed and in disdain of the above material, distanced itself from these statements of their founding father.

Luther recommended a seven-point program for dealing with the Jews. He wrote: 

Let me give you my honest advice. In the first place the synagogue should be burned and what doesn’t burn must be covered with mud. This must be done in honor of God and Christianity so that God can see that we are Christians and we do not just have patience or approve that his Son and Christians will be publicly subjected to lies, curses, and slander.

In the second place, their houses must be broken down and destroyed. They must be housed in stalls like Gypsies so that they are aware that they are not masters in our country as they proudly declare, but poor prisoners as they incessantly complain before their God. Third, their books must be taken away. Fourth, their rabbis must be forbidden to give lessons on punishment of death. Fifth, they are not to be allowed to move freely. Let them stay at home. Sixth, they should not be allowed to take interest. The money one takes from them must be devoted to helping a Jew who is baptized. Seventh, they must be put to work very hard.

Luther ends by saying: “Honorable rulers and noblemen who have Jews in your country: if this advice doesn’t suit you try and find something better so that we all will be liberated from this unbearable, devilish burden, the Jews.”  He also accuses the Jews of wanting to kill Christians, of ritual murders, and  of poisoning wells. (From The Jewish Center for Public Affairs)

Another of the leaders of the Reformation, John Calvin, played his antisemitic card, although not with the bombastic language as Luther. Calvin wrote of the Jews, calling them ‘mad dogs,’ ‘beasts,’ and "animals."  

This irrational hatred of the Jews, only because they are Jews, makes no sense whatsoever. To see those engaged in their fury against the Jews is to see people who appear to be possessed by some supernatural beings. 

But wait a minute. It makes perfect sense when you read Revelation 12 and learn that behind all the fury is "the god of this world," Satan himself. But why is Satan on a rampage against the Jews? 

We find the answer in prophecy.

The Old Testament prophets declared with clarity that God has a future planed for His ancient people, the Jews. This plan has to do with the Second Coming of His Son who, Scripture says, will fulfill God the Father's plan to institute a Kingdom on earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20);

This Kingdom was promised to the Jews in the eternal and unconditional covenants God gave them. And it is as a result of those promises that we find the reason for the rampages of Satan against the Jews throughout history. Satan is the "prince of this world" and the Bible says the entire world lies "cradled in his arms."

One thing Satan does not want to give up is his kingdom he assumed at the fall of man. Therefore, if he can annihilate the Jews, wipe them off the face of the earth, that will destroy the fulfillment of God's covenants with Israel. The promises to the Jews of a kingdom under the rule of the Messiah will then be rendered null and void. Christ will not rule from Jerusalem over His people and the world..

How widespread is this Jew-hatred? As of October 7, 2023, a satanic rage against the Jews exploded in England, France, Australia, and America. Tens of thousands poured into their streets for hours and hours of demonstrations against the Jews. 

College campuses erupted in rages against the Jews, calling for their deaths to the extent that in American universities, Jews had to go into hiding for their own safety as they did at Cornell. We get this report from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "Today, Jewish and Israeli MIT students were physically prevented from attending class by a hostile group of pro-Hamas and anti-Israel MIT students that call themselves the CAA. This is after students from the CAA harassed MIT staff members in their offices for being Jewish and interrupted classes in the past few weeks. All of this has occurred with no clear response from the administration. 

"With each passing day, MIT admin’s silence makes Jewish and Israeli students feel unsafe at MIT. Many Jewish students fear leaving their dorm rooms and have stated that they feel MIT is not safe for Jews. This message is compounded by the public and private warnings of Hillel and many faculty that Jewish students should not enter MIT’s main lobby today, November 9th, 2023."

It was only a few years ago that this would have been unthinkable in these countries, especially in America. But Satan never sleeps. The egg of antisemitism has been hatched all over the world.

We're not only seeing this rage in universities but we saw it also in high schools as witness the parading of the students in San Francisco chanting, "From the river to the sea Palestine shall be free!" A slogan of code words calling for the extermination of the Jews. 

This is where Zechariah 12:3  has something to say to and about America: The Bible predicts a future event in which antisemitism will reach its zenith under satanic direction: "It will come about in that day that I [God] will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely ^[c]injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it."

Did you catch it? There's America in the Bible. America is included in that one word, "all." All the nations of the earth will unite against Israel just before the 2nd Advent of Christ. But Jerusalem will once again prove to be a stone, an immovable stone that no one ever has or ever will be able to move. God's promises will stand sure.,

What we're seeing today is move after move, strategy after strategy of Satan as he tries to ensure his "head will not be crushed" and that his kingdom will remain. All his strategies will be futile. 

What we are seeing today is Satan's age up close and personal.

 

THE ARREST OF A MAN IN ENGLAND

  "A shocking cell phone video purportedly shows a police officer in the United Kingdom explaining how an army veteran was arrested over an anti-LGBTQ post he reshared online that had caused someone 'anxiety.'

"The video was recorded by actor and leader of the British Reclaim Party, Laurence Fox, who shared a meme on social media showing pride flags altered into the shape of a swastika. He said the meme was meant as a commentary on the authoritarian nature of LGBTQ and transgender activists. 

"I don’t understand. I posted something that he posted," Brady said. "You come to arrest me. You don’t arrest him. Why has it come to this? Why am I in cuffs over something he shared, then I shared?" 

"Because someone has been caused obviously anxiety based on your social media posts," the officer responded. 'That’s why you’ve been arrested.'" (From "The Daily Mail")

"‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark" is a famous line from Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. A man, a military veteran, posted something that "caused anxiety" in someone is handcuffed and under arrest? In the United Kingdom? What in the world is going on? Something is rotten in the United Kingdom. (The arrest causes anxiety in me et al.)

The arrest occurred 4,148 miles from me. Should you and I worry? Yes, because whatever is rotten in England soon smells on our shores. And this brings us to Paul's causing Demetrius to feel "anxiety" because of the gospel: "About that time a major disturbance occurred in regard to the Way.  For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing considerable business to the craftsmen;  he gathered these men together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, 

'Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business. You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all.  Not only is there danger that this trade of ours will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as worthless, and that she whom all of ^[Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.'

"When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began shouting, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Earlier, we read about the anxiety Jesus' message caused: "Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and left the temple grounds."

 And later, "The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him." Then we read about Stephen's theology/ history lesson to the Sanhedrin and how much anxiety he caused: "Now when they heard this, they were infuriated, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.  But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;  and he said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.'  But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one mind. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.  They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!'  Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them!' Having said this, he ^[ak]fell asleep."

The gospel of grace causes anxiety and anger because it's inherently offensive in the hearing of fallen man: The message of the gospel is, "You can't fix yourself." "You are accountable to your Creator." "You are dead in trespasses and sins." "Your good works are as filthy rags." It opposes the hubris of fallen man and cuts him down to size.

It is one small step across "the Pond" into America, where, to slide down the slippery slope only a few feet before we see our posts, our witnessing, our sermons, our writing, our handing out tracts causing "anxiety" and the cuffs are out.  

We need to listen to what Paul wrote to Timothy: :"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and exhort, with great patience and instruction."