Weekly Articles

From the beginning of history mankind has been involved in a struggle to control and facilitate economic activity.  And in trying to do this, man has developed many different socioeconomic systems.  Two of these systems describe how most societies handle economics today:  capitalism and socialism.  No system that man has devised has ever surpassed free market capitalism as the most effective way to control the means of production and to distribute goods and services.  No system has ever enslaved mankind more than socialism.  The two philosophies are at war today, and Christians need to be aware of the fundamental differences between the two. 

Capitalism at its most basic is built on individual rights, liberties, and responsibilities.  But Capitalism operating without God is empty.  There is a branch of this system called Objectivism, which has three core principles:  Objective Reality, which states that reality is an absolute no matter what the perception may be; Supremacy of Reason, which states that true knowledge is gained through reason, not emotion or faith; and Rational Self-interest, which states that one’s own choices determine happiness and fulfillment, not hedonistic pursuits.  Now, to a point this theory is acceptable, but its proponents typically eschew faith in God; they do not have any way to achieve morality or fulfillment, however, without God.  This particular theory is the perfect way to show how empty our lives are without God. 

Socialism at its most basic is built on the foundation of humanism, with its core beliefs of:  Collective/Communal Ownership, which is the denial of individual ownership rights; Central Planning/Control of Resources, which is the denial of the individual rights of self-determination; and Elevation of the Community to Absolute Moral Authority, which is the Rejection of God.  Socialism without God is quite happy.  In fact, socialism cannot easily abide the presence of Christianity.  The three most famous socialist societies (Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Communist China) all violently suppressed Christians.   

Christians must reject Socialism or they will become tainted and corrupted.  One prime example of this happening is the advent of the “Liberal Christianity” movement.   This movement is one that preys upon Christians who are uneducated about the Bible, and are thus easily misled.  Five of the major tenets of this movement are:  an Immanent God, which means that God is in everything (half a step from saying that God is an impersonal force); an Evolving Mankind, (man is evolving in communion with God until immortality is achieved); Christ is the Perfect Man, (the deity of Christ is denied, as Jesus is simply the pattern of how man follows God); the Bible is not accurate, only the teachings of Jesus have any authoritative weight; and the Kingdom of God is about correcting social injustice and ensuring moral equity. 

Christians cannot remain safely connected to the head (Christ) if they fall into believing this philosophy.  God is clearly presented as a personal being in the Bible.  Mankind is clearly presented as having fallen due to sin.  Christ is clearly presented as being wholly a man, and wholly God.  The Bible is accurate on a level not attainable by any other ancient document, and it is impossible to credibly strip away from the Jesus of the Gospels all cultural and miraculous references; and it is senseless to say that Jesus had no effect on the early church.  The Kingdom of God is about turning sinners into saints through the cleansing waters of baptism and the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit. 

When Christians adopt socialism, they turn from God.  This is something that many seem to ignore when embracing liberalism:  its core beliefs are founded on socialism, which is antagonistic towards God.  Now capitalism will not save your soul, either, but it at least will not fight you when you reach out to the one who can.  Jesus Christ. 

-Charles Peterson

Within popular culture today there is a general theme of embracing rebellion.  This rebellion can take many forms.  These forms can be the simple, such as the television commercials that show the parents (usually the father) as being inept and out of touch; or they can take the more sinister form of involvement with extremist organizations (such as the radically violent animal rights and environmental groups).  Christians, too, seem to embrace rebellion.  We tend to ignore the commands we do not like, or we change them to fit our desired theology.  We cause trouble and act like petulant children.  We embrace the agendas and culture of the world around us, making excuses for the parts that contradict scriptures.  We persecute the smallest imperfection, and then overlook great evils.

Part of the reason for this is that God’s people do not know any different.  They simply are ignorant of the truth, so that they cannot spot the lies.  Someone comes to them, saying things that sound good on the surface, and they do not have the wisdom to make a discernment between God’s truth and man’s lies.  In 2^nd Peter 2:1-9, Peter talks about the false prophets and false teachers that would come in amongst God’s people.  He warns that “they will secretly introduce destructive heresies,” they would deny Jesus, and would “bring the way of truth into disrepute.”  These people fabricate stories expressly for the purpose of exploitation.  Think about how many controversies are started in the church over little things that fester and grow.  Peter goes on to mention that these types of people follow corrupt desires. 

 The corrupt desires of man are what Paul spoke of in Romans and Galatians:

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.  The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.  (Romans 8:5-8 NIV)The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21 NIV)

These people, who like to stir up trouble and act from selfish and self-centered motives, are poison to the people of God.  Yet we Christians tend to embrace these people, quoting verses out of context about approaching brothers and forgiveness.  Every time we see an example of this type of person in the Bible, they are being expelled and removed from fellowship.

In 2^nd Peter 2:10-22, we are told of the darkest side of these “springs without water,” which is their disdain for authority.  This is the easiest side of this for Americans to accept.  We are entering a time wherein the leadership generation (baby boomers) is one that prided itself on slogans such as “question authority.”  They then raised a generation that believes that everything is a conspiracy.  But what does God think?  Does God want us to show disdain for authority?  No, absolutely not!  Yes, God wants everything tested against the scriptures, but he does not want disrespect to be paid to those for whom respect is due.  God demands that we honor God and each other (Mark 12:29-31), our parents (Exodus 20:12), our governmental leaders (Matthew 22:21), and those older than us (1 Timothy 5:1-19).

We must all be on guard; we must guard our hearts and our minds against the lure of the sinful nature.  And we must be on guard over what is taught amongst us.  We are told that “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud,” meaning that those who refuse to mature in the wisdom and knowledge of Christ soon lose what little they have gained and go back to the world’s reasoning.

It is not always easy to spot the new idols.  The old ones stood out, being made of brick, stone, and wood.  The new idols are harder to spot, being made of pride, selfishness, and resentment.  These will trip us up if we allow them access to our congregation.  We must remember that it is only through the grace and power of Jesus that we can escape this idolatry.

 -Charles Peterson

While in an office recently, I overheard a radio program playing in a nearby cubicle.  The DJ’s were between sets of music and were filling the time with commentary on items that they obviously felt were newsworthy.  One item that seemed to dominate their discussion was a story one of them had read about a woman who was making $14,000 per month selling x-rated video clips of herself on the internet.  The attitude of the DJ’s (one male, one female) was “of course I’d do anything for that kind of money.”  The object lesson for the audience was, I assumed, that the activity was perfectly acceptable, especially in light of the monetary compensation.

Now, taking this report at face value, it seems to me that there are some very disturbed people out there.  According to Family Safe Media (www.familysafemedia.com): “the pornography industry is larger than the revenues of the top technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink.”  This industry accounts for over $97.06 Billion annual global revenues.  The US porn industry revenues reportedly exceed the combined totals of broadcast giants CBS, ABC, and NBC (Ibid.)  It would seem to me that there are definitely a lot of people buying these types of things.

Does that make it right?  Of course not.  There are immutable standards set into place, standards that illuminate for us who we are in relation to who we should be.  These standards are not rooted in human history (and thus out of date), but are ingrained in our very creation so that they remain valid for all time.  Just because men and women choose to remain blind does not mean that the light does not shine.

The standards set into place tell us that it is absolutely wrong to do certain things; it is absolutely wrong to have a sexual relationship with a child; it is absolutely wrong to steal; it is absolutely wrong to violate the covenant between a husband and a wife.  It is also wrong to trade sexuality for money, just as it is wrong to trade money for sexuality.  Just because our society is becoming more tolerant of deviant behaviors does not mean that they are fine.

So why do I get worked up about what some radio DJ says?  Well, because I know that young people, who are themselves discovering their own sexuality and are having to come to grips with having much more freedom and choice in their lives, are hearing these types of radio programs.  I know that there are a lot of Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers that are becoming increasingly confused about what constitutes a sexual encounter.  As a result, many are engaging in activities that, as the saying goes, “would make a sailor blush” (no offense to any naval service personnel out there).

As a result of this, the moral fabric of our country is showing signs of decay and unraveling.  School shootings, teen pregnancy, sexually-transmitted diseases, and alcohol and drug abuse all demonstrate that there are consequences that come from ignoring the standards of right and wrong.  And this lesson is not one that we are learning for the first time.

Three thousand years ago Solomon wrote about this in Proverbs chapter 7, describing a young man being enticed by a prostitute; the warning at the end (verse 27) states plainly:  “Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.”  The point is that sexual promiscuity masquerading as freedom of expression and harmless experimentation can have disastrous consequences.   Our young people can end up selling their souls for pennies on the dollar, our churches can marginalize themselves out of existence, and our nation will kill the moral heart that has enabled us to become truly great:  the foundation of our society on Christian values.

But all is not doom and gloom, either.  For just as our nation’s moral compass can be knocked off its bearings, it can be put straight again.  We have seen a movement among teenagers arise that promotes abstinence and purity; as our young people step out and try to stand up for what is right, it is our responsibility to help empower them to speak up for good values and encourage them to weather the adversity that inevitably follows.

If we help guide them into making the right choices, then the porn industry will eventually fade back to obscurity.  If we demand that they see their own worth by demonstrating that we value their worth, maybe they will be less inclined to listen to foolish radio DJs and will instead realize that trading their purity for money will always be a losing deal for them.  Just as keeping pure will always build up eternal riches.

-Charles Peterson

Once, when I was in the fourth grade, my mother took my sister and me to the mall to do some shopping.  My mother was trying to give us our ten dollar allowances, but was hampered by the fact that she only had a twenty dollar bill.  My pockets were, as usual, empty; but my sister still had her ten dollar bill from a previous allowance.  My mother did what any rational adult could readily understand:  she gave my sister the twenty dollar bill and took from her the ten dollar bill to give to me.  I went ballistic!  I can still, to this day, remember the confusion and anger resulting from seeing my sister handed a twenty dollar bill, while I was only receiving a ten dollar bill.  I threw such a fit that my mother almost cancelled the shopping trip; I yielded only when faced with her wrath and promises of dire consequences.  My mother had tried every way she could think of to get me to understand that in reality we had each only received ten dollars, but my childish mind was unable to grasp the concept.  That’s one of the big differences between children and adults:  adults possess the cognitive functions to understand and make judgments – children do not.

All children require protection and feeding, while they simultaneously have little accountability and no responsibility.  As they grow up, they develop their basic core values and learn right and wrong from the adults around them.  A child is among the easiest creatures to deceive (which is why child predators generally succeed when they can isolate a child), and so it falls to the adults around that child to give protection not only from physical harm, but also from intellectual and spiritual harm.  A child is also incapable of making good nutritional decisions; this applies to the nutrition of both the body and the soul.  Not only do the adults need to make sure that the child does not ingest something poisonous; they also need to make sure that the child is taking in the good nutrition – both physical and spiritual.

As children reach adolescence (usually around age thirteen), they enter a transitional phase in which they need less protection and feeding, and more guidance and mentorship.  By this time the teenagers can feed and clothe themselves and, while still requiring protection, they can learn to spot dangers.  They cannot, however, be trusted to always make sound judgments.  Some teens go to the extremes of behavior and enter a dangerous life of drugs, promiscuity, and rebellion against authority (especially parental).  Most simply make bad choices and learn from them as they go – hence the importance of mentors and parental guidance.

By the age of twenty, an individual is expected to act as an adult.  This means that feeding and protection are gone (i.e. “get your own food” and “watch your own back”), and guidance is much harder to come by.  Some adults try to retain the fun and excitement of their teenage years, and so they become a ridiculous spectacle by trying to act like a teenager.  Adults should act like adults, by taking responsibility not only for their own actions, but also for the situations around them.  They also should know to look to their own protection and feeding; no rational adult starves when food is available, and no rational adult allows someone else to endanger them.  Why do many adults spiritually starve and walk spiritually naked?  Because they seek to remain as children, allowing others to do for them what they do not want to do themselves.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.  (1 Corinthians 13:11 NIV)

An adult seeks wisdom and knowledge by reading the Bible for themselves and by obtaining guidance from mentors who have already achieved what the person wants.

Too many adults see responsibility as abrogable; they do not want to take time away from their desired activities so they seek to nullify their duty to protect and feed the children around them, and to guide and mentor the adolescents around them.

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.   But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”  (Matthew 18:5-6 NIV)

But we cannot allow laziness and selfishness to invade our churches.  We all have the duty to continually grow in knowledge and wisdom, and we also have the duty to help our brothers and sisters grow.  Let us not act as adults like I did as a child:  childishness is for children.  Wisdom and graciousness is for adults.

-Charles Peterson