NOTES ON PREPARING FOR 2023: GOD’S CALL FOR THE LAMBS TO BECOME LIONS

SCRIPTURE. “Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” – JOSHUA 1:9, AMPC

KEY TERMS: Commanded; unafraid; strong; courageous.

QUOTATIONS

EDMUND BURKE. “‘No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.’ For fear being an apprehension of pain or death, it operates in a manner that resembles actual pain.” – On the Sublime and Beautiful, 1757; edited

C.S. LEWIS. “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every ‘virtue at the testing point,’ which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.” – The Screwtape Letters, 1942; edited

HARPER LEE. “I wanted you to see what Real Courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway ‘and see it through no matter what.’” ― To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960; edited

1. FIRST THOUGHTS

I have spent much of my life being afraid. Born as a somewhat sickly little kid in San Diego’s US Naval Hospital in 1944, I spent long years fearing something bad was going to happen to me, since some really bad stuff did happen to me in the first five years of my life.

Even in high school, I feared getting into fistfights with classmates (I remember only two – won one, barely; lost one, badly). Then later in life, I did all I could to make sure that I did what was acceptable, or ‘normal’ since I was a too apologetic, adopted Hispanic Jewish kid with an Anglo name trying hard to be “like them.”

This menacing fear drove me to some extreme behaviors over the years such as hard drinking, false bravado (ill conceived bar fights), terrible treatment of women, lying, and doing all I could to ‘look good’ in the eyes of the world. All the time slowly dying inside of a man’s ultimate terror:

Fear of Failure.

Then on October 30, 1979, I found Christ. Just a few hours before I had planned my suicide.

FIRST FIRE. It’s hard to accurately describe what that was like. No Hallelujah choruses or visions of angels or the heavens splitting open that early morning in a little AG church in Stockton. But a certain, yet subtle ‘Inner Fire for Truth’ lodged deep in me that resulted in my slow, sometimes agonizing climb from Darkness to Light, from an early death to ‘a whole New Life.’

As I would gradually discover, it would always have something to do with God’s Truth.

My life thus took on a spiritual hunger I had never known, and an accelerated career trajectory that took me from that little church in Northern California to successive positions with Regent University, Focus on the Family, and Liberty University. Two of these assignments included highly placed leadership positions. And all was going comparatively well, bumps along the road notwithstanding (of my making mostly).

Then Came Trump. When DONALD TRUMP descended on that golden escalator in Trump Tower on June 10, 2015, my journey was to change forever. And so was America’s and the entire Family of Nations. Here’s the short Summary.

• MARCH 2016: Fired from Liberty University faculty by Jerry Falwell Jr. for “financial exigency” reasons as I began to write against the candidacy of Trump (this while the University enjoyed an endowment of over $1 billion).

• OCTOBER 2018. Unsuccessfully labored over and over again to lock in a position with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Though I cannot prove it, I expect my writing about Trump had something to do with that as well.

• SEPTEMBER 2019. After being hired as Acting Executive Director for the European Christian Mission International – America a few months before, was again fired after having been warned by the chairman of the board: “We want you to stop writing columns about Donald Trump; it really doesn’t serve our purposes.”

FIRST FREEDOM. My family and I experienced levels of financial deprivation we had never known before since I became a Christian. I had very nearly lost all material holdings, and all hope when I began to develop a Vision of sorts for the Digital Circuit Rider ministry.

After my third firing I had heard God whisper FOUR WORDSto me that stun me to this very day”

“I’m proud of you.”

“What!” I explained. “Father, I just lost my third job in a row, and You’re proud of me? Sir, with all due respect, that makes no sense!” Without the details, He spoke that to me five more times by the end of that day, and even my family seemed buoyed by the story when I got home.

THE BREAKTHROUGH. Then came an utter Rebirth when His promised funding for the Circuit Ride Vision began to steadily come in during MARCH 2020. I have not lacked a thing since that date, thanks to Almighty God and a few enormously faithful and generous patrons started to consistently support my work.

The utter exhilaration from this experience is that I no longer have an institution and their funding-driven officers breathing hotly down my neck telling me how to think and what to say. I’ve never before experienced this kind of ‘Ordered Liberty’ in Christ as a writer, and I would not exchange it even for my very life.

THE PRINCIPLE. I have learned this: ‘Real Freedom and True Courage can only manifest when one fears God more than men or life itself.’ Selah.

1. EMASCULATION OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH

I have been writing increasingly strenuously against what I perceive to be an American Church that has grown weak-kneed, timid, and even cowardly, refusing to stand against the tidal wave of a False Model of the Faith that I have decided to call: ‘MAGA Christianity.’

TWO DEFINITIONS. In order to get our minds around just what this New Movement is, I turn to two very different definitions. The less sanguine view is by Yale University Sociology chair, PHILIP GORSKI, a recognized American authority on White Christian Nationalism.

The second is by Salon senior politics writer CHAUNCEY DEVEGA, who delivers a bare knuckles assessment of the dangers of the Trump Cult that commandeered the Republican Party in 2016. He pulls no punches in aiming all his fire at the American Church for her Betrayal of her Divine Charge to witness for Truth. And no, he’s not likely a believer, a second level indictment of those among us who are to know better!

·        GORSKI. “White Christian Nationalism can be understood in two ways—as a Deep Story about the past and as a Political Vision for the future. As a Deep Story, it claims that America was founded as a Christian nation, that its founding documents are based on Protestant Christianity, that its power and wealth are reflective of Divine favor, and that, if the nation becomes less white, less Christian, less patriotic, it falls in danger of losing those blessings. As an Ideology, or a Vision for the future, it imagines that the country will continue to be led by native-born white Christians, with everyone else here basically on their sufferance. But it is also connected to views on a variety of other issues, including gun rights, voting rights, economic policy, and so on. These are linked together by what we call the ‘Holy Trinity’ of White Christian Nationalism—Freedom, Order, and Violence. Freedom for us, Order for everyone else, and Violence for those who transgress.” – ERIC C. MILLER, “Why Trump’s MAGA Resonates With White Christian Nationalism,” Religion & Politics, June 6, 2022; edited

• DEVEGA. “Donald Trump formally became the leader of the Republican Party in 2016 — but this should not be considered a hostile takeover. If the courtship was reluctant at first, Trump and the Republicans both realized in due course that they needed each other, and indeed fulfilled each other.

Trump’s relationship to his followers is that of a ‘God-king – Fascist cult leader,’ based upon collective narcissism, fantasies of violence, cruelty and an entire set of shared delusions. When Trump began his presidential campaign in 2015, he attracted large crowds. Then he gave them a collective identity by embracing ‘Make America Great Again’ as his slogan. The MAGA Movement was born … [that] elevated Conspiracism, Anti-intellectualism, a Rejection of empirical reality and science, Christian Nationalism, White Supremacy, Misogyny and hostile Sexism, and a total Disregard for the rule of law.” – “What Does MAGA Mean in 2022?” Salon, Oct. 5, 2022; edited

WHY WON’T WE FIGHT? I continue to agonize over the patent, and quite unforgivable absence of the American Church to stand in defiance of this pernicious, clearly unholy ‘Syncretism,’ or blending of Christian Doctrine and Political Machiavellianism.

What has happened to the True Men of God so desperately needed in our Pulpits today?

I recently came across a frankly moving piece by a man named STEVE HARTLAUB, a self-described Alaskan adventurer and Bible scholar who introduces his lament over the state of American Christianity almost ten years ago, sounding just a bit like C.S. Lewis who I quote later.

“In this study I directly challenge certain practices of churches and Christianity in general. These practices are widespread, just like sin is.  I am not challenging all practices of these institutions of course; neither do I see these practices in every institution, at least to the same degree.

Emasculate – ‘To castrate (remove the testicles); to deprive of virility, force or strength. An emasculated man cannot reproduce himself.’ Men are continually being told by the Organized Church that they need to rise up and be men! They need to take the lead, be leaders by example. They need to be the men God intended them to be! They need to be good husbands, leading their household. They need to be good fathers, being strong, disciplined, tender-hearted examples to their children. ‘All the while they are being castrated and castigated by the very structure of their church.’ – “Church Emasculation,” Give Me Christ, Aug. 7, 2013; edited

Although I have been proposing that this Emasculation is a fairly recent phenomenon, occurring gradually over the last 50 years or so with the interposition of such false doctrines as the Prosperity Gospel, the Seeker Friendly Movement, and other Hyper-Grace aberrations of the Christian Canon.

But I may have been wrong, and here’s why.

MUSCULAR CHRISTIANITY. In an exhaustive and penetrating essay by staff writer for Desiring God, seminarian GREG MORSE penned “The Search for Manly Men of God” (Sep. 22, 2022; edited). In his analysis we discover that this Crisis of Manly Courage has quite a long history. Here is his Abstract to introduce his main ideas.

“In the mid-nineteenth century, a growing number of Christians looked at the Church and noticed a distinct lack of both men and masculinity. Women outnumbered the men in seemingly all quarters, and many of the men who remained seemed feminine, emasculated by an industrialized society and a Church that catered to the female sex. In response, some Protestant leaders began a movement that would come to be called ‘Muscular Christianity.’ Muscular Christians sought to reach and reclaim men with a focus on practical religion and [moral] strength. The Movement dwindled in the years after World War I, but its secularized legacy remains today, and the questions it asked still look for answers from churches facing many of the same problems.”

To be honest, as I look around the vast landscape of the Americans Church today, I see many of the same trends still evident everywhere. This sense is almost brutally captured by C.S. LEWIS in the following graphic terms:

“In a sort of ghastly simplicity, we remove the organ and demand the function. ‘We make men without chests’ and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” – The Abolition of Man, 1943; edited

In very similar fashion, Mr. Morse’s cannonades are blistering warning shot over the bow of today’s American Church by exposing us to a Legacy of decades, even centuries-long of Ecclesiastical Feminization of both the Protestant and Catholic Church pastors and priests.

He rips the covers off of a Hidden Truth squirreled away in back rooms and unwritten, whispered conferences of, you know, ‘The way it has to be.’

“Muscular Christianity worked tirelessly to rescue the one-sided image of Christ. The Gentle Lamb often brings little resistance, ‘but what of The Lion marked by traits like justice, boldness, power, and self-mastery … Jesus the carpenter, the desert camper, the whip-cracker?’ Many men today have refused to follow Jesus not because they have seen ‘the Man Christ Jesus’ Himself (1 Timothy 2:5) and turned away from His Summons. They have turned from the soft-to-touch, cuddle-up-in-green-pastures, silky-hair-and-whispering Parody …

‘Men must see the Jesus of the Scriptures,’ not the sentimentalized substitute. They must see the Commander of the Lord’s Armies, the Lord of lords, the Master, the Ruler of the kings on earth, the Son of Man, the Alpha and Omega, the Man of War, the Son of the Most High God. The One who did not have His life taken from Him but lays it down of His own accord; the One who wields the Scepter and wears the Crown; the One to whom all must swear fealty, bowing and kissing His ring; the Hero of the Story who commands all men everywhere to repentance and faith, for He has fixed a Day to Judge the world (Acts 17:30-31). This is the King of kings, who invites us, even men, to follow Him and reign with Him, forever!”

I tell you Truth beloved of the Lord, for nearly seven long years I have been increasingly shouting these Collective Shames to the Pulpits of America. Seven years! And I still must ask:

Are any of our leaders listening? Anyone at all? Anyone. Selah.

1. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” – JOSHUA 1:9, AMPC

So here we are, having come full circle back to the Core Teaching for today, in desperate search of a ‘Battalion of American Joshua’s’ to replace the little lambs that we have been grooming for a half century and more.

Where are they, beloved, where are they?

JOSHUA: PROFILE IN COURAGE.  “Moses was dead. The mourning period was over. And the mantle of leadership had passed to Joshua. ‘It was now time to act.’ But would he have the courage? It was then God gave to Joshua what would become The Platform for his success for the rest of his life. The Lord began by commanding Joshua to get up and get going, he and all Israel. The Promised Land was already theirs. God already had given it to them. Their possession of it depended only on how far ‘they were willing’ to step out in faith (Josh. 1:2–4) …

In our modern world of terror and uncertainty, we still can be like Joshua and fix our courage in the Bedrock of the Word of God and in the Certainty that whatever God calls us to, He will give us the resource to accomplish: ‘Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it’ (1 Th. 5:24).” – BRUCE SCOTT, Friends of Israel, July 2, 2012; edited

So to work, as we deep dive into the MAIN IDEAS found in the rich soil of this timeless passage.

• I HAVE COMMANDED YOU! From the Hebrew, ‘Tsavah’ [צָוָה]: “To lay charge (upon), give charge (to), order; to commission or appoint; ordain; to send a messenger or prophet to speak and set in order [that which is in disarray or error]; to bid; to direct; implying supreme authority, and power to control, and to require obedience; to govern or lead.”

• BE STRONG! Here the word is, ‘Chazaq’ [חָזַק]: “To be bound or attached [to Royal power]; make firm; be courageous; to conquer; imp. the sound of a [war] trumpet; to press or be urgent [about the business assigned to you]; to be bold, make severe [effort toward]; to seize, be valiant; having the power of exerting great bodily force; vigorous; having ability to bear or endure hardship; firm; solid; as a constitution strong enough to bear the fatigues of a campaign; well-fortified.”

• BE COURAGEOUS! Lastly then, the term used is ‘Amets’ [אָמַץ]: “Mighty strength; steadfastly minded; firmly established; fortified, hardened [steeled]; obdurate; to increase, prevail; obstinate; speedily; brave or daring; intrepid; adventurous; enterprising; hardy to encounter difficulties and dangers; not deterred by hardship or pain; undaunted, stout hearted, manful; gallant, valiant, fearless.”

I would be greatly remiss here if I did not quote the exact Scripture by which to anchor all this: “Be on guard; stand firm in your faith [in God, respecting His precepts and keeping your doctrine sound]. ‘Act like [mature] men and be courageous; be strong.” (1 Cor. 16:13, Amplified Classic Ed.).

Let me repeat that in the translation of several scholars: “Act like men!”

COMMENTARY. “‘Have not I commanded thee?’ – The above things: ‘To go over Jordan’ with the people into the land of Canaan, and to observe the Law of Moses in all things, and to be of good courage,’ which is again repeated; consider Who it is that has given these orders and instructions, the great JEHOVAH, the everlasting I AM, Who is faithful to His promises, and able to perform. The consideration of which would ‘serve to animate him to the work he was called unto,’ to encourage his faith in God, to engage in his service cheerfully and readily.

‘Only be thou strong, and very courageous’ – For though Joshua was a man of valour and courage, as appears by his war with Amalek, yet there was need of this exhortation, and of repeating it, since he was to engage with a people more and mightier than those with him, and who dwelt in strong and fortified places, and had been preparing for some time, having had notice, and were in expectation of the Israelites’ attempt upon them:

Be not afraid, nor be thou dismayed – At his enemies, numerous and powerful, nor discouraged at anything in himself, any unfitness for such service, as he might think, or at any difficulties he might fear from the people he had the government of, and was to lead on; it was enough that the Divine Presence was promised him, and which is repeated:

For the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest – Or, as the Targum of Jonathan, “For thy help is the Word of the Lord thy God; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee;” but grant him His Presence, communicate strength unto him, make good His promises, and leave him not till he had made an entire conquest of the land of Canaan, and even not till the end of his days; and was true of Christ in His state of humiliation, in His sufferings and death, and even in the grave, where He was not left so long as to see corruption; as this is applied to particular believers. – JOHN GILL, 1746-1763

IN SUM. In order to carry out The Commission that God gives each one of us individually, there are at least three requirements from all of this that we absolutely must possess: (1) The Truth of God’s Word; (2) The Courage of a Resolute, Willing Heart; and (3) Divine Power from the Holy Spirit to carry out the duty to the very end.

No matter what. Selah.

1. LAST THOUGHTS

Since I began with a public confession of a weakness, let me finish in that spirit by telling you this: Since I was a youth, I wanted people to approve of me, to accept me, like me and to affirm who I was.

Now that doesn’t sound all that bad on first hearing. Truth be told, we are all somewhat like that as human beings, wanting sociality and confirmation. The problem with this, the fly in the ointment is that ‘it drives many people to behave in order to gain acceptance.’ I was no exception for much of my life.

AMERICAN COWARDICE. One can never, ever exercise courage under such motivational circumstances. Never. This is precisely what the Scriptures call, ‘The Fear of Man.’ As always, JESUS spoke straight to the heart of this grotesque weakness.

“And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be afraid of Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Gehenna).” – MATTHEW 10:28, AMPC

The Comments of WILLIAM MACDONALD drive right to the heart of Man’s Greatest Fear that I have previously addressed: The Fear of Death. Listen to the wisdom of one of our great Bible expositors.

“[T]he disciples should not fear the murderous rage of men. The worst that men can do is kill the body. ‘Physical death is not the supreme tragedy for the Christian.’ To die is to be with Christ and thus far better. It is deliverance from sin, sorrow, sickness, suffering, and death; and it is translation into Eternal Glory. So the worst men can do is, in a real sense, the best thing that can happen to the child of God. The disciple should not fear men but should have a reverential fear of Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell… The Words of Jesus in verse 28 evoke memories of the saintly JOHN KNOX, whose epitaph reads: ‘Here lies one who feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man.’” – Believer’s Bible Commentary, 1995, p. 1241; edited

As I sadly survey the landscape of the American Pastorate, beloved, I can find few if any men so charged with the fiery intrepidity of our forefathers, the spirit of the warrior with the heart of a lion. On the contrary, I see sheep, I see little lambs running here and there chasing after whatever shiny thing will gain their attentions to promises that will ensure their current position, their financial stability, and the approval of the rich and the powerful.

You may rightly condemn me for saying such a thing, that is your right. But I say those words with Almighty God watching me write them. That is how committed I am to their veracity.

THE ULTIMATE VIRTUE. There is an African saying captured by Zimbabwean entrepreneur, MATSHONA DHLIWAYO: “‘Don’t be afraid of being alone; a lion does not rule the jungle with sheep at its side’ – Author of ‘Dinner With King Solomon’ 2013, and others; edited

As I have already revealed, I lived the first part of my life in the Fear of Man. And even after becoming a Christian, I most often played The Accommodator in order to gain something for myself, though I was careful with the Truth through it all.

But after God began to tear the scales from my eyes through castigation after castigation for refusing Trumpism, I was virtually forced to either Stand Fast or Perish by betraying Christ. I mean, those were my only two options. Somehow, with God’s immense pressure, frankly, for me to toe His Line, I did just that.

At ‘catastrophic Loss’ at first, but then to ‘extraordinary Gain’ later.

STANDING ALONE FOR TRUTH. If the last seven years of my Christian life have taught me anything at all, they have taught me this: The Ultimate Test of our commitment to Christ faces us square in the face when it appears that all others are moving in One Direction that you are deeply convicted is the wrong one. At that point you’re faced with the Test of tests:

Will you go with The Crowd, or will you Stand Alone for Christ and Canon?

Of all the men in history who Stood Alone in his severe Hour of Testing who is a personal hero of mine, is THE PROPHET JEREMIAH.

This second “Profile in Courage” is borrowed from an excellent essay by the distinguished A.M and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Seminary, DR. CRAIG KEENER. Author of over thirty critically acclaimed books that have won thirteen national and international awards, his wisdom here is proper place for us to drop anchor for the Conclusion of our conversation. – “When You Have to Stand Alone,” May 8, 2015; edited

“Have you ever felt like you had only a few allies in sharing Christ with others, or in standing for something that is True? We hear a lot about ‘community’ these days, and community is a wonderful blessing. But what happens when you are in a setting where most people disagree with your faith or ignore a clear message from God? Jeremiah’s situation was worse than that. ‘He was nearly alone’ in proclaiming God’s message. The other prophets of his day were encouraging the people that because God was their God, He wouldn’t judge them. Jeremiah thus had to stand alone with the ‘unpopular message of impending judgment,’ while all the other prophets told everyone what they wanted to hear …

Jeremiah did have a few allies—Baruch the scribe, who wrote his prophecies, and a foreigner, Ebed-melech from Africa. But he was mostly alone, and most people didn’t like him. He also couldn’t feel comfortable simply taking life easy like many around him. ‘Because your hand was on me, I had to keep to myself, for you filled me with your fury of judgment,’ Jeremiah complained (15:17) …

Though by the end of his life it looked like Jeremiah had failed, his message was vindicated and ultimately it prevailed; God’s Word did not return empty. Eventually Jeremiah’s Book even made it into the Bible; ‘he was the only Prophet of his time and place who told the Truth.’” Selah.

JEREMIAH’S COMMISSION. “But you [Jeremiah], gird up your loins! Arise and tell them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed and break down at the sight of their faces, lest I confound you before them and permit you to be overcome. For I, behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar and bronze walls against the whole land—against the [successive] kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land [giving you divine strength which no hostile power can overcome]. And they shall fight against you, but they shall not [finally] prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.” – JEREMIAH 1:17-19, AMPC

Do you see it, beloved? Our Lord’s Command to be courageous enough to tell them the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, so help you God. Sometimes gently in whispers, others, in lively conversation and debate, and still others severely as a last resort.

I have said it and written it so very many times: the Great Struggle of the End of the Age is this Battle for Truth. Yes, it involves Love and God’s great Power, but at its very bottom and at its very center, as it has always been, beloved, it is overwhelmingly about Truth!

As I used to teach my graduate journalism students at Regent university a long time ago: “Content is King, and Form its humble Servant.” I still believe that even if you don’t. It is The Truth that sets us free, and it is The Lie that locks us in prison and ultimately destroys us.

An individual. A family. A nation. An entire world.

A CLOSING PRAYER.  An evangelist by the name of JOANNE RAMSAY who worked for years in prison ministry published this Prayer for Courage that I loved. I cannot think of a more fitting way to end our discussion as we embark on the New Year, 2023, that promises to be filled with both Challenge and a sobering Call to Duty to us all.

“Father according to Your Word, the righteous are Bold as a Lion. So I pray that You will give us the courage to Speak up with Boldness and be a good witness everywhere we go. To Boldly proclaim the Kingdom of God and all it stands for without fear …

I thank You Lord for sending the Holy Spirit to Guide, Instruct and Encourage us every day. Father, I pray for all those listening that are burdened down with yokes of bondages of sicknesses in their bodies or the fear of not having enough to meet their needs.

I ask you Lord that You help us to learn to stand our ground against the attacks of the Devil and rely on the Holy Spirit our Helper, our Teacher, and Advocate – to help us to Boldly exert our God given authority and let the devil know that as a blood bought child of God we will fight him with every breath we have, and as the Lord has instructed us. We will, in the name of Jesus, be bold and stand our ground. Hallelujah! Amen and Amen.

So may our LION KING bless and lead and embolden us all in the year ahead, undaunted by what we shall face, that we might Strengthen the lives of all we encounter, and Rescue as many as we can – ‘while it is still Day.’

Ever your servant, DK

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