On May 23, 2021

NOTES ON WHAT GOD WANTS: PROVOCATION TO DIVINE PLEASURE OR TO DIVINE WRATH

PART I: What is ‘Good’?

PART II: What is ‘Justice’?

PART III: What is ‘Mercy’

PART IV: What is ‘Humility’?

PART V: WHAT DOES GOD WANT?

SCRIPTURE: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?” – MICAH 6:8, AMPC

QUOTATIONS

“God does not demand that every man attain to what is theoretically highest and best. It is better to be a good street sweeper than a bad writer, better to be a good bartender than a bad doctor, and the repentant thief who died with Jesus on Calvary was far more perfect than the holy ones who had Him nailed to the Cross.” – THOMAS MERTON, ‘No Man is an Island,’ 1955; edited

“Nothing will shake a man-or at any rate a man like me-out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only Torture will bring out the Truth. Only under Torture does he discover it himself.” – C.S. LEWIS, ‘A Grief Observed,’ 1960; edited

“The Will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you Choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God, or you capitulate to the Principle which governs the rest of the world … There are no ‘if’s‘ in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The Center of His Will is our only Safety – Let us pray that we may always know it!” – CORRIE TEN BOOM, Author of ‘The Hiding Place,’ 1971; edited

Selah.

FIRST THOUGHTS

As I have mulled and brooded over what to write in this last installment to our Study of What God Wants, a number of things crossed my mind – including my never-ending harangue about Obedience.

But one cannot ‘Obey God’ unless a couple of other things are in place first. So, let’s start all the way at the Beginning of ‘Doing the right thing,’ as Dr. Laura Schlessinger would say at the close of every radio broadcast some years ago.

Consider this point raised in an earlier installment of our series.

“Young man, be of good courage. Care not for what the World says or thinks: You will not be with the World always. Can man save your soul? No. Will man be your Judge in the great and dreadful Day of Account? No. Can man give you a good conscience in life, a good hope in death, a good answer in the morning of resurrection? No! no! no! Man can do nothing of the sort. Then “Fear not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revilings: For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool” (Isaiah 51:7-8). Call to your mind the saying of good Colonel Gardiner: ‘I FEAR GOD, and therefore I have none else to fear.’ Go and be like him.” – J.C. RYLE, ‘Thoughts for Young Men,’ 1888; edited, emphasis my own

So before we can ‘Do the right thing.’ Long before we can glean even a clue as to what that means. Indeed, before we can apprehend the Meaning of Life itself, we must first and foremost learn, or perhaps Relearn this:

‘Fear God’ and not man!

I tell you, beloved, not only is this THE KEY to what ails America and her Church, but also what does so much damage to countless millions of American lives. So let’s dive deeper into this Well of Life that God so generously provides to all who follow this wise counsel.

WHAT IS THE FEAR OF GOD?

I found a wonderful little article by JOHANNA REARDON entitled, “What Does it Mean to Fear God,” published in ‘Christianity Today’ in 2013. I like her bottom-line approach to this vital issue that is the Lodestone for Christian Effectiveness.

She opens with this.

“I often hear people explain the fear of the Lord as a mere respect or reverence. But the Bible uses the word ‘Fear’ at least 300 times in reference to God, so we make a mistake when we downplay it. The subject becomes even more mysterious when we read something like 1 John 4:18 that says, ‘Perfect love expels all fear.’ So how do we marry this dichotomy? How can we fear God while he expels all fear?”

To answer that vital question, she then wisely moves to a quotation from theologian WILLIAM D. EISENHOWER, who wrote in an earlier CT piece, “Fear of God” (July 7, 1986), this.

“Unfortunately, many of us presume that the World is the ultimate threat and that God’s function is to offset it. How different this is from the Biblical position that God is far scarier than the World…When we assume that the World is the ultimate threat, we give it unwarranted power, for in Truth, the World’s threats are temporary. When we expect God to balance the stress of the World, we reduce Him to the World’s equal…As I walk with the Lord, I discover that God poses an ominous threat to my ego, but not to me. He rescues me from my delusions, so He may reveal the Truth that sets me free. He casts me down, only to lift me up again. He sits in judgment of my sin, but forgives me nevertheless. ‘Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom,’ but Love from the Lord is its Completion.”

DK’S TAKE. What I absolutely love about these observations is that they identify the very Core of Human Fear: ‘Losing bits and pieces of the World!’ One’s identity. One’s livelihood. One’s possessions. One’s reputation, as the World defines it. Or loss of family and friends. Indeed, in extreme circumstances, the loss of one’s life itself.

I remember when drafting my book, I came upon ‘THE QUESTION’ that I had never dared to consider while discussing The Fifth Seal of Revelation 6, ‘The Cry of the Martyrs.’

“So do I conclude this section on a somewhat somber and intensely personal note concerning souls among us who will flee death by a domestic foe [Antichrist] in years to come. I wonder at times: If called on, ‘Am I willing to lay down my life for Christ?’” – C.W. KELLY, ‘The Sixth Seal: A Pre-Wrath Commentary on the End of History As We Know It,’ 2017, p. 99; edited

When I penned that question in 2015 or so, I had no answer, but now I do: ‘For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity].” – PHILIPPIANS 1:21, AMP

The Editors at the superb website, ‘Got Questions,’ provides an excellent expansion of Paul’s powerful statement.

FEAR OF GOD. “For the Unbeliever, the Fear of God is the fear of the Judgment of God and eternal death, which is eternal separation from God (Luke 12:5; Hebrews 10:31). For the Believer, the Fear of God is something much different. The Believer’s fear is Reverence of God. Hebrews 12:28-29 is a good description of this: ‘Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”’ This Reverence and Awe is exactly what the Fear of God means for Christians. This is the motivating factor for us to ‘Surrender’ to the Creator of the Universe.” – Ret. May 20, 2021; edited

In Sum: Whether I live or die, it is all up to God. I can very nearly say, ‘It matters little to me, so long as I honor Him.’

This simple Praxis, beloved, is the Gateway to His Favor and His Wisdom. It is a function of what we talked about just last week: ‘Godly Humility.’ To these alone – I say, to these alone – He grants resplendent access to all the Resources of His Kingdom.

THE POWER OF MORAL UNDERSTANDING

I have long argued, along with the Jewish and Christian sages, and the Founders and Framers of the American Republic, that VIRTUE is the key to understanding of all things. I therefore propose the following:

THESIS. The Core of the American Crisis of Church and State is the ‘Absence of Virtue’ precipitated by the Absence of a Fear of God.

There is a Logical Calculus to this Grand Idea. One, the Fear of the Lord is required for an individual or nation of people to gain Wisdom. Two, having gained it, we must come to an understand that all of Divine Wisdom commences in the transferred ability Distinguish Virtue from Vice.

Selah.

AMERICAN VIRTUE OR VICE? In a stirring review of a book by Hillsdale College professor of politics, THOMAS G. WEST titled, “The Political Theory of the American Founding: Natural Rights, Public Policy, and the Moral Conditions of Freedom’ published in 2017, statesmanship scholar MIKE SABO opens his powerful Commentary with this.

“Does this Nation in its maturity still cherish the Faith in which it was conceived and raised? Does it still hold those ‘Truths to be self-evident?’

This is the Pivotal Question the political philosopher Leo Strauss raised in the opening pages of his most well-known book, ‘Natural Right and History’ [1953]. Quoting part of the famous second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, Strauss implied that the knowledge of Founding Principles and continued belief in their Truth were vital to the success of the American experiment in Self-Government.

But if recent findings are any indication, Americans’ acquaintance with the Founders’ Principles and Practices seems to be at a nadir. According to a report of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a majority of college graduates can’t recall ‘the substance of the First Amendment, or the origin of the Separation of Powers.’ Perhaps most alarmingly, nearly 10% say that Judith Sheindlin—’Judge Judy’—is on the Supreme Court. A big part of the problem seems to stem from the fact that of the 1,100 ‘liberal arts colleges and universities’ surveyed, just 18% require students to take a course on American history or government before graduation…

‘After I published “Vindicating [the Founders: Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America,” 2000], I became increasingly aware that for many people—often including scholars who might be expected to know better—the Founders’ political theory might well be buried in some deep dark and long-forgotten pit. My task, then, has something in common with Archeology—digging up old bones. But these bones, unlike those of long-dead Romans or Chinese, are of interest today because they claim to be Living Principles based on timeless Truths.’

What makes West unique among scholars and historians, then, is that he actually ‘treats the Founders’ political theory as if it might be True.’” – “The American Founders Knew-a Virtuous Republic Requires Virtuous People,” ‘The Federalist,’ August 2017; edited

LOSS OF VISION. How radical, beloved: To dare believe that America’s Founding was based nearly entirely upon the Truths of the Biblical Canon, now nearly lost on the entire academic community. And I once more add, upon the vast majority of the American Church that only a few years ago was singing the praises of our Founding Principles.

But that was before Donald Trump Redefined all things Christian for the timid, power driven largely Apostate Church.

“Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]—blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he.” – PROVERBS 29:18, AMPC

KNOWING RIGHT FROM WRONG. In a scholarly though largely secular piece by Cambridge University ethics scholar PAULINA SLIWA, who effectively drives to the very heart of our existential necessity of knowing the Distinctions between Good and Evil. – “Virtue Epistemology,” ‘Weebly,’ ret. May 21, 2021; edited

Her Abstract states her Central Thesis in succinct form.

“Moral Understanding is a valuable epistemic and moral good. I argue that Moral Understanding is ‘The ability to know right from wrong.’ I defend the account against challenges from Nonreductionists, such as Alison Hills, who argue that Moral Understanding is distinct from Moral Knowledge. Moral Understanding, she suggests, is constituted by a set of abilities: to give and follow moral explanations and to draw moral conclusions. I argue that Hills’s account rests on too-narrow a conception of Moral Understanding. Among other things, it cannot account for the importance of ‘first-personal experience’ for achieving Moral Understanding.” – “Moral Understanding as Knowing Right from Wrong,” ‘Ethics,’ August 2017; edited

Selah, beloved.

THE VERDICT. I flatly propose to you, based on three years of exhaustive research on matters of Church and State in the America under Donald J. Trump, that the Church is no longer Sufficiently Virtuous. No! For it apparently no longer has neither the stomach nor the ability:

To Distinguish right from wrong, and Act accordingly.’

That is because she has forgotten and forsaken Godly Wisdom. And therefore cannot know the stunning ‘Difference’ between the Truth and the Lie, having convinced herself that they are no longer relevant to the Public Discourse or the Biblical Canon.

Thus, we are served up Sermons filled with Air and Error, willfully ‘Suppressing the Truth in unrighteousness’ (Romans 1:18-19). And that, beloved followers of the Jewish Messiah, is why America is Dying.

THE TEACHING

“But the wisdom from above is first pure [morally and spiritually undefiled], then peace-loving [courteous, considerate], gentle, reasonable [and willing to listen], full of compassion and good fruits. It is unwavering, without [self-righteous] hypocrisy [and self-serving guile].” – JAME 3:17, AMPC

EIGHT VIRTUES OF GODLY WISDOM. Now to those Brass Tacks again for our drill down of the essential Nature of God’s Wisdom. I borrow the main text from prodigious work of the English Nonconformist (Reformer) theologian and Bible commentator, MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679). I add my own ‘DK Take’ to each interpretation. – cf. ‘English Annotations on the Holy Bible,’ 1685 (posthumously); edited

IS FIRST PURE. “Either excluding mixture, and then it is opposed to Hypocritical; or rather excluding filthiness, and then it is opposed to Sensual, James 3:15, and implies Freedom from the defilement of sin and error, it being the property of true Wisdom to make men adhere both to Truth and Holiness.” DK: While this refers to both doctrinal and personal Purity, for me the Key to Wisdom is ‘Truth’ (i.e., Sound Doctrine) without any “mixture” with the False. There is no Godly Wisdom without the Purity of Truth, period. Full stop.

THEN PEACE-LOVING. “Disposeth men to Peace, both as to the making and keeping it, in opposition to strife and contention, which is the fruit of the earthly wisdom. Peaceableness, which relates to man, is set after Purity, which respects God in the first place, to intimate, that Purity must have the preference to Peace. Our Peace with men must always be with a salvo to our respects to God and Holiness.” DK: I so love this. Note that he prioritizes ‘Purity’ above all else, as do I. The implication is that we Make Peace with those who desire Godly Peace; we Oppose those who wish to make War, or who violate an extant Covenant of Peace. Selah.

GENTLE. “Or equal, or moderate, Philippians 4:5; 1 Timothy 3:3; Titus 3:2. It implies that Gentleness (as we translate it) whereby we bear with others’ infirmities, forgive injuries, interpret all things for the best, recede from our own right for Peace sake; and is opposed to that austerity and rigidness in our practices and censures, which will bear with nothing in weak, dissenting, or offending brethren.” DK: Loving this again, a ‘Lost Lesson’ from the Classical Era. That is, the work of Gentleness was never designed to accommodate “weak, dissenting or offending brethren.” No! It would, in Gentleness apropos to that situation, bring Correction.

REASONABLE. “Easy to be entreated; easily persuadable. True Wisdom makes men yield to good admonitions, good counsel, good reason. This is opposed to Implacableness, Romans 1:31; Pride, and Obstinacy in evil, Proverbs 12:1 13:1.” DK: As written, Poole clearly ‘makes distinction’ again between those who are ‘Reasonable,’ and those who are not (Proud, Obstinate). The unmistakable Teaching here is that we treat people differently, depending on their approach as either respectfully Reasonable, or combative and destructively Unreasonable. Therefore ‘Willing to listen,’ but not at the expense of Truth. Selah.

FULL OF COMPASSION. “A Grace whereby we pity others that are afflicted, or that offend, and is opposed to inhumanity and inexorableness.” DK: Thus, the Godly Wise are those who dispense Mercy, still again, as the leading of the Lord and the occasion requires it. They do not dispense such “pearls” before those who are bent on opposing Christ and Truth and Civility. They do not, as we have nearly all been taught for the past two to three generations, and presently, dangerously propagated by the Hyper Grace Church to its own Destruction, and they Death of a Nation.

AND GOOD FRUITS. “Beneficence, liberality, and all other offices of humanity, which proceed from Mercy.” DK: Note, importantly, that these individuals who live the virtuous, godly Life of Wisdom yield such Fruit as a matter of course, almost without tying; it is their ‘God nature,’ if you will. This to be distinguished from ‘Salvation by works,’ but rather, ‘works as the evidence of true salvation.’ These are, in the common parlance of society, ‘Decent folks’ looking out for the Good of others.

UNWAVERING. “Without partiality; or, without judging [to condemn]; i.e., either a curious inquiring into the faults of others, to find matter for censures, which many times infers wrangling, as our margin renders it; or a Discerning between person and person, upon carnal accounts, which is ‘Partiality’ [the unjust measure which God hates]as it is here translated, and James 2:4.” DK: Now here I offer mild but significant Correction. Such consideration of ‘Never judging’ is a Progressive Error of the Church for centuries. However, to be sure, we do not “Discern” the faults of others for their destruction, but only, as God leads, for their Restoration, that they would not perish (cf. John 7:24).

WITHOUT HYPOCRISY. “Or, Counterfeiting, as they do that judge others, being Guilty of the same things, or as bad, themselves: Or ‘Hypocrisy’ may be here added, to show that Sincerity [honesty] is the perfection of all the rest before named; purity, peace, and gentleness, &c., may be Counterfeit; Hypocrisy spoils all; and therefore the Wisdom that is from above is Sincere, and Without Hypocrisy.” DK: What a great note to end on – God loves those who are ‘Without guile,’ as was a disciple of Jesus named Nathanael. Jesus said of him: “See! Here is an Israelite indeed [a true descendant of Jacob], in whom there is no guile nor deceit nor falsehood nor duplicity!” So may it be said of each of us, beloved, on that Day.

IN SUM. These Eight Virtues of Godly Wisdom are truly the First Fruits of what I like to call, ‘Radical Obedience.’ Which is dramatized by the graphic depiction of ABRAHAM AND ISAAC. Can you imagine what sort of man Abraham must have been, as he agonized in painful confusion about WHY His God would ask him to do such a thing. Let’s briefly review this Epic Story.

“Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’

Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you’…

Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ So he said, ‘Here I am.’ And He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.’” – GENESIS 22:1-3, 9-12, NKJV

THE PRINCIPLE. God will at times, strategically ask of us The Impossible (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:13). Something that, as with Abraham, will tax our senses and our Faith to the maximum limits. Not necessarily to actually do it, but rather to see if we are WILLING to do it.

And not so much for Him, who knows all, but for us, who so often need to be shown ‘the stuff’ of which we are made. God-stuff, beloved, His very Nature within us.

LAST THOUGHTS

So: Just what is it that our King WANTS from each and every one of us? For Starters, being Willing to be used by Him, 24/7, ‘On call’ all the time, every time. Whenever we are certain it is He who asks, we are to become like unto a very young PROPHET NAMED ISAIAH.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, [in a vision] I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the skirts of His train filled the [most holy part of the] temple. Above Him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two [each] covered his [own] face, and with two [each] covered his feet, and with two [each] flew.

And one cried to another and said, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Then said I, ‘Woe is me! For I am undone and ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ Then flew one of the seraphim [heavenly beings] to me, having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with tongs from off the altar; And with it he touched my mouth and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity and guilt are taken away, and your sin is completely atoned for and forgiven.’

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?’ Then said I, ‘HERE AM I; SEND ME.’ And He said, ‘Go and tell this people, Hear and hear continually, but understand not; and see and see continually, but do not apprehend with your mind.’” – ISAIAH 6:1-9, AMPC

LESSON ONE: HUMILITY. Isaiah knew of his own unworthiness, and quickly confessed that upon seeing the Holiness of the King, cried out of his wretchedness before the Host of Heaven: “Woe is me!” Not unlike the Apostle Paul who once blurted out in his own Self-Assessment: “O wretched man that I am!” (Romans 8:24). So must we all always know who, on our own, we are and who we are not.

LESSON TWO: GRACE. To such a man, woman or child who demonstrates such Humble Contrition before the Lord, God shall operationalize ‘His Plan’ for that person’s life and ministry (Jeremiah 29:11-13). Because their hearts are right, because they honor and reverence God, and because they obviously Walk in Truth as they are able to make such crucial Distinction between the Holy and the unholy. Thus shall his iniquity be cleansed, for such Love “will cover a multitude of sins” (cf. 1 Peter 4:8).

THE CONTEXT. So terribly fitting for Our Times, please take special note of God’s Last Command to Isaiah: “And He said, ‘Go and tell this people, Hear and hear continually, but understand not; and see and see continually, but do not apprehend with your mind.’”

Of this, WILLIAM MACDONALD wisely observes the following.

“He was to declare the Word of the Lord to a people who would be judicially blinded and hardened through rejection of the Message [of Truth]. Verses 9 and 10 do not describe ‘the goal’ of Isaiah’s ministry, but its inevitable ‘result’… [William Edwy] Vine writes: ‘The people had so persistently perverted their ways that they had gone beyond the possibility of conversion and healing. A man so harden himself in evil as to render his condition irredeemable, and this by God’s Retributive Judgment upon him.’” – ‘Believer’s Bible Commentary,’ 1995, pp. 944-945; edited

Selah. Selah.

CODA. The Issue before God’s House, beloved of the Lord, is to seek out and declare to all who are not yet, ‘So hardened,’ that they must ‘Repent and seek Absolution, now! So that we are all clear, NOAH WEBSTER (1828) defines Absolution this way: “In the Canon Law, a remission of sins pronounced by a priest in favor of a penitent.”

Think of all of what has gone before in these Five Commentaries as leading us to do what JUDE THE APOSTLE therefore instructs:

“And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy but with fear, loathing even the clothing spotted and polluted by their shameless immoral freedom.” – 1:22-23

RESCUE. What God wants of us in these Final Hours of the Age of the Church is for us to do exactly what is described by Jude, ‘Snatching them out of the Fires of Hell,’ and nothing less, beloved. Nothing less, for the stakes are that high.

MacDonald again completes this Essay with a stunning interpretation of our Last Days Duty to our fellow believers who have Apostatized.

“A certain measure of Spiritual Discernment is necessary in dealing with Victims of Apostasy. The Scriptures make a Distinction between the way we should handle those who are ‘Active Propagandists’ of false cults and those who have been ‘Duped’ by them. In the case of Leaders and Propagandists, the policy is given in 2 John 10-11: ‘If anyone comes to you and does not bring this [true] Doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.’

But in speaking of those who have been deceived by false teachers, Jude counsels making ‘a Distinction’ and gives TWO SEPARATE COURSES OF ACTION. On Some we should ‘Have Compassion.’ That is, we should show a compassionate interest in them and try to guide them out of doubts and disputations into a firm conviction of Divine Truth.

Then there are those who are on the Verge of The Precipice, ready to fall over into the Flames of Apostasy. These we are to save by ‘Strong, Resolute [Severe] Warning and Instruction’, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh [as with a spiritual leper].” – 1995, p. 2345; edited

These things to I commit unto The Remnant, who shall not bow to any Idol, nor join in Alliance with this present Darkness. To the Rescue, hopefully, of many, and the preservation of their own souls.

This is What God Wants from us, beloved, ‘While it is still Day.

Your ever faithful servant, DK

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