NOTES ON THE MIND OF GOD: DOORWAY TO THE WONDER AND WISDOM OF ALL CREATION

SCRIPTURE. “How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” – PSALM 139:17, AMPC

QUOTATION. “On Why the Universe Exists: ‘If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for then we would know the Mind of God.’” — STEPHEN HAWKING, A Brief History of Time, 1988; edited

FIRST THOUGHTS

A PERSONAL REFLECTION. Around the year 1952 or so, at age eight or nine, my parents gave me a set of books that would forever change my life in powerful ways. It was a ten-volume set of World Book Encyclopedia, each one labeled with an alphabetical reference. For reasons that I now understand much more clearly, I turned to the volume marked “S,” and devoured all the articles and black and while pictures of “Space.”

Thus began my lifelong fascination with BIG IDEAS.

Roughly ten years later in 1962, I enrolled as a college freshman at Long Beach State College in Dr. Virginia Ringer’s introductory Philosophy course where I would devour another formative work by MELVIN RADER, The Enduring Questions (1958).

It was my first college A.

It would further advance my fascination with God’s Universe of Ideas, even though I knew little about God back then. In yet another ten years later I would graduate with a Doctorate degree in Philosophy and Social Theory from Bowling Green State University (OH) in August 1972 – thus another personal milestone was realized in my preparation to become a Professor specializing in the Major Ideas that shape Man’s Thinking.

2024. So here I am now some 42 years still later, grappling with the massive sweep of what theologian and historian DR. RONALD NASH called in his book of the same name, ‘Worldviews in Conflict’ (1992). Still another book I consumed alongside Stephen Hawking’s little magnum opus and literally hundreds of others dealing with everything from Cognitive Psychology to Religious Systems, Western History, Political Philosophy and anything else dealing with what the Greek philosophers referred to as “Universals.”

POLITICS. In the background of all this unseen Divine Construction was my extraordinary Dad’s schooling me in Presidential Politics beginning, again, in 1952 in the contest between Republican Dwight David Eisenhower and Democrat ADLAI STEVENSON. Then to 1968 as my father was appointed San Bernardino (CA) County Campaign manager for ROBERT KENNEDY, and I was off to boots on the ground level experience and analysis further leading me to study AMERICA’S LAST DAYS from 2020 to the end of this Decade of Destiny.

Which shall clearly become my own Last Mission.

PROVIDENCE. In all of this personal biography, I now acknowledge how wondrous are His exquisite formings of each of us while we are not even aware of it! Each step planned and carried out – our own Free Will Choices mitigating the steps along the way of course.

Each and every stitch meticulously woven into our very being for something that mitigates all we shall yet do (or choose not to do) for King and Kingdom: ‘OUR WORLDVIEW.’That is, our Cognitive Framework responsible for grappling with the world’s Major Ideas that drive its Destiny to a large degree.

“The Five-Minute Ministry.” Around 1980 as a newly minted Christian, I heard an unforgettable campus address by THOMAS ZIMMERMAN, the longest serving General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church. He spoke about MOSES in a Three Part Sermon: “The Man. The Mission. The Moment.’ At the end of his talk, this tall, septuagenarian giant leaned over the podium, took his glasses off in proper dramatic style, and said this in a deep gravelly voice:

“Beloved, I have come to realize that it will often take God 50 years to prepare us for a Five-Minute Ministry.”

I entered my Doctoral Program in 1970 and did not come into my present commission as Digital Circuit Rider until 2020. Precisely Fifty Years. Best I can tell, we are ALL deep in the well of our very own Five-Minute Ministries!

II. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE. “How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” – PSALM 139:17, AMPC

KEY TERM: “THOUGHTS.” ‘Rea’ [רֵעַ]: “Purpose, aim [i.e., God’s Plans]; a [Divine] association of ideas; from a root word meaning ‘to pastor or pasture;’ to rule or shepherd; to keep company with as a (close) friend; thought is either the act or operation of the mind, when attending to a particular subject or thing or it is the idea consequent on that operation; conception, design; solicitude, care or concern [i.e., ‘Priority’].”

COMMENTARY. “‘How precious also, &c. — From the wonders of God’s forming hand, the Psalmist proceeds to those of his all-directing Providence, which afford additional proofs of the Divine Omniscience and Omnipresence. ‘Are Thy thoughts unto me’ — Thy counsels, or contrivances, in my behalf, which are admirable and amiable in my eyes, and replete with kindness. Thou didst not only form me at first, but ever since my conception and birth thy thoughts have been employed for my good, preserving, providing for, and blessing me.

‘How great is the sum of them!’ — Thy gracious counsels, designs, and providential dispensations toward me are numberless. ‘If I should count them’ —Hebrew, אספרם, rather, ‘shall I count them?’ That is, shall I attempt to count them? ‘They are more in number than the sand’ — I might as well undertake to number the grains of sand. ‘When I awake, I am still with Thee’ —Thy wonderful counsels and works on my behalf come constantly into my mind, not only in the day-time, but even in the night-season, whenever I awake.

‘The thoughts and counsels of Jehovah,’ says DR. [THOMAS HARTWELL] HORNE (1818): ‘Concerning David, his appointment to the throne, his troubles, and his preservation in the midst of them, were precious and delightful subjects of meditation and praise, never to be exhausted of the rich matter they contained. With these in his mind he lay down at night, and when he awoke in the morning his thoughts naturally recurred to the pleasing theme. He began where he had left off, and found himself, in heart and soul, still present with God, still ruminating on him and his works.’” – ALBERT BENSON, Notes on the Old and New Testament, 1834, 1884; edited

III. FOUR WORLDVIEW SYSTEMS

During my tenure at REGENT UNIVERSITY in the 1980s and 90s, I began specializing in earnest in ‘Political Communication’ as a focus of my thinking and writing back then. In the course of that matriculation, I became a ‘History of Ideas’ convert, believing as I mentioned earlier, that it was The Great Idea rather than The Great Man that animated the direction and course of human events.

I next spent several years in the intense examination of ‘Comparative Worldview Systems’ literature, and not long after that devised my own WORLDVIEW TAXONOMY based upon the research of a large number of scholars. I would later formally publish those ideas in both editions of my new book, The Sixth Seal II (2023). The following review summarizes those Idea Systems.

WHAT IS A WORLDVIEW? Of the many definitions of this vital concept, the one that stands out to me was introduced by the epic work by DR. RICHARD WEAVER in his book, Ideas Have Consequences published in 1948” “It is simply the sum total of our beliefs about the world, the ‘Big Picture’ that directs our daily decisions and actions.”

Now just in case you hadn’t noticed, that is huge! Why? Because it is the Cognitive Rudder that steers our existential path. It is the very mechanism God designed in all human beings to help us order our lives. Ideally of course, around HIS IDEAS, and not the World’s Ideas. Sadly, that has not been the case for almost all human history.

Which brings me to my own systematically constructed system of FOUR WORLDVIEWS, presented below. It is adapted in brief from my recently published book, The Sixth Seal II: A Pre-Wrath Redux of the Rise of Donald Trump and the Decline of the American Order (2023, pp. 47-50).

JUDEO-CHRISTIAN THEISM. This perspective begins with the conviction that the God of the Bible is the infinite, triune, transcendent and yet personal Creator who is ‘The Summum Bonum,’ the Ultimate Good in the Universe. He created human beings in His image, and He made it possible for them to know Him and spend Eternity with Him in endless perfection, or by tragic contrast, choose to spend Eternity in a fiery Hell. This view proposes that Mankind is fallen, and can only return to God through Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son who died for all men, but they must exercise Free Will to determine their final destiny.
CLASSICAL DEISM. In this framework, one step removed from Orthodox Faith in God, is where the Lord is not so much a Person as He is regarded as a ‘First Cause.’ The basic idea is that He created the Universe that behaves according to certain Laws of Cause and Effect in a closed system in which there are no miracles, only observable actions and consequences. There is therefore no personal relationship with ‘Providence,’ only respectful awe and deference to Him. Ethics become a matter of what is ‘Normal’ rather than what is ‘Right,’ and people are expected to behave in consistent ways to be regarded as ‘Good.’ My belief is that most Christians fall under this category.
ATHEISTIC NATURALISM. Still another step removed from Orthodox Belief in God is a perspective that likely represents the majority of people on the earth who are outside the Church. Scholars view this system as an ‘Isthmus’ or bridge of transfer from Deism to full-blown Atheism. In this view, ‘God does not exist, period.’ Thus, there is ‘nothing out there’ that is transcendent to indicate the differences between right and wrong. There is no afterlife, thus death is merely the extinction of personality, individuality and being. There is no overarching purpose for one’s existence, leaving the definition of meaning or truth in the hands of the individual to fashion his own definitions of those life concepts. Such terms as “Your truth” and “the Universe says” become default ideas to explain an otherwise chaotic world sans real Order.
PAGAN MYSTICISM. The most difficult to define of the Four Worldview Systems and the least ordered, is a potpourri of largely Eastern and New Age presuppositions that indicate a kind of ‘Mystical Spirituality’ that is the most distant from Judeo-Christian Theism. Its most essential concept is ‘The Self’ that is quite literally Deified. In an amorphous set of maddingly mushy formulations, the ultimate goal for humanity is for all ‘Self’s’ to ultimately ‘Transcend’ one’s normal human existence and reach a heightened state of ‘Unified Being’ that is both ecstatic and God-like in the achievement of a Cosmic Consciousness in which death is no longer a concern. Indeed, it vanishes altogether as the New Self emerges in another form or dimension. Whew!

DK. As mentioned earlier, I am now convinced that the great majority of those Americans professing to be “Christians” are much more likely to be found in any number of those other three categories – especially Deism. PAUL THE APOSTLE described well what I see in most churches today in both accurate and properly harsh terms, as I watch the sustained rollout of something called ‘Maga Christian Nationalism.’

“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” – 2 TIMOTHY 3:2-7, NKJV

Whatever Worldview these people exhibit, it is definitively NOT Christian, beloved! Not even close by any sound doctrinal assessment. It is overwhelmingly devoted to the acquisition of political power, material gain and platformed on a National Hubris that is devastating to Christ’s Teachings on Humility and Self-sacrifice. I therefore reject it out of hand as forcefully as possible as a ‘Doctrine of Demons,’ hatched inside the underbelly of its spiritual center, the QAnon Cult.

Therefore do I unequivocally counsel any so-called Christian to ‘cut all ties’ to this Historic Sedition of the Biblical Canon, or pay the ultimate price in the form of the loss of one’s place in the Kingdom of God.

IV. LAST THOUGHTS

THE QUESTION. Let’s now drive to the most essential point of this Commentary: ‘What is the Worldview of the American Church in 2024?’ The Answer promises to tell us much of the Current American Condition as found in the affairs of both Church and State in the Nation.

It frankly comes as no surprise to me after nearly eight years of intensive research on these matters and over twenty-five years as a professor specializing in comparative worldview studies to find devastating results in a survey of the Worldview of the American Pastor.

In a just released analysis supervised by DR. GEORGE BARNA, Director of Research for the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University entitled, “American Worldview Inventory 2024” (Feb. 19, 2024; edited), we find the following.

INTRODUCTION. “As increasing attention shifts to the approaching 2024 election, many Americans hope that the next leader of the nation will restore unity to our divided country. A new survey conducted by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, however, suggests that ‘such an outcome is improbable.’ Regardless of who the candidates are, and who gets elected, the survey underscores that the foundational beliefs of Americans are so fragmented that Americans are presently incapable of developing a united perspective on who America is and how we will move forward together. In fact, the results from a new national research study reveal a startling degree of disunity in the foundational perspectives among the American public.”

METHODOLOGY. “The data referred to in this report are taken from the American Worldview Inventory 2024 (AWVI 2024), an annual survey that evaluates the Worldview of the U.S. adult population (age 18 and over). The 2024 survey is the fifth such national survey undertaken by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, under the direction of George Barna … and is the ‘first-ever national survey conducted in the United States measuring the incidence of both Biblical and Competing Worldviews.’”

FINDINGS. The overwhelming majority of American adults—92%—embrace a worldview known as ‘Syncretism’ – a Fusion of disparate ideologies, beliefs, behaviors, and principles culled from a variety of competing worldviews into a customized blend. Biblical Theism (aka, ‘The Biblical Worldview) was a distant second in popularity, with a ‘4% incidence.’ Next were four philosophies of life that are each embraced by 1% of the adult population: Mormonism, Secular Humanism, Nihilism, and Postmodernism.”

CHURCH. “The AWVI 2024 also revealed a surprisingly weak correlation between a person’s worldview and the church they most frequently attend. ‘Most Americans are Syncretists,’ regardless of their church of choice—or whether they have any church ties or religious inclinations at all. The most overt example of the disconnect between Church and Worldview is that ‘two-thirds of all American adults (66%) claim to be Christian, but only 6% of them possess the Biblical Worldview. Of the 170 million adults who self-identified as Christian, 92% are Syncretists … Syncretism seems to be rampant throughout the Christian Church.’ For example, fewer than one out of 10 who attend a Protestant church has a Biblical Worldview (9%), while 88% qualify as Syncretists. One-quarter of all self-professed Christians (25%) are associated with the Catholic Church. Among Catholics, 1% have a Biblical Worldview and 98% are Syncretists. One out of six self-labeled Christians (16%) do not identify with either Protestant or Catholic churches. Of those adults, 4% have a Biblical Worldview and 96% are Syncretists.”

CONCLUSION. “‘It is disheartening to see how out of whack people’s expectations have become during these chaotic and confusing times,’ Barna commented. ‘Just as the Jews misunderstood the nature of Jesus’ Messiahship some 2,000 years ago, expecting a warrior king who [would] raise Judaism to power, millions of Americans are deceived enough to think that electing ‘The Right President’ will bring stability, security, unity, and sanity to America.’ Barna continued, ‘Yet it is not a Political Awakening that the United States desperately needs but a Spiritual Awakening that will foster a deeper understanding of self and society in light of our shared spiritual condition.’”

CODA. This the very heart of the current American Crisis, beloved: THE CHURCH! The driving force of the Crisis is found squarely in the Center of a ‘Corrupted Gospel’ vastly infecting the entire landscape of American Christianity. By way of personal illustration, I give you the following personal exchange I had with one of the most influential Pastors of a leading Megachurch complex here in Colorado Springs.

Upon introducing him to the First Edition of my 2017 book, The Sixth Seal, he inquired about its contents which I was glad to relate to him concerning the connection between the Biblical Birth Pangs and the Sixth Chapter of the Book of Revelation. Seeming quite disinterested and disengaged, he sniffed in response:

“Oh, I don’t believe in any of that stuff.”

Beloved, this man is not some Outlier as we call non-representative samples in statistical analysis. No! He is a Tragic Microcosm of what we find in leading American Pulpits today. Evangelical, Pentecostal, Charismatic, you name it. Only the Reform congregations seem to be comparatively immune from this Spiritual Disease, along with the old-school Mainstream denominations – though the latter have doctrinal corruptions issues of their own.

Is it any surprise then that the Nation and the Church are about to reelect a veritable Beast as their next President? Indeed, ‘America’s Last President’ as I carefully assess it after almost a decade of prayerful research, writing and reflection.

WHAT NOW? In the spirit of DR. FRANCIS SCHAEFFER’S landmark 1976 book and Question: “How Should We Then live?” is Dr. Barna right in calling for a culture-wide Spiritual Renewal as our only and final hope?

Or is our National Tent pitched so far beyond our own Spiritual Rubicon that America’s Juggernaut seems headed at light speed toward becoming ‘Babylon the Great’ rather than what Puritan lawyer JOHN WINTHROP called “A City on a Hill” in 1630?

Almost 400 years later, know this Christian Pastor: ‘We are being watched!’

I believe our FINAL CHARGE is to focus upon THREE THINGS that are realistically and theologically achievable in these Last Days.

COMMITMENT. Dr. Schaeffer termed “True Spirituality” as consisting of giving ourselves wholly to Sanctification: “The Order—Rejected, Slain, Raised—is also the order of the Christian life of True Spirituality: There is no other!” This the very Radical Opposite of what the American Church has increasingly preached for the last two generations or more. Thus, our First Charge is to “Love God and His Truth with all our heart and soul and mind” (Matthew 22:37)
COMPASSION. Our Second Charge is to next reach out and bring Christ’s Light and Love to the Lost. Now that may include those “lost” in the sanctuaries of our own churches, but also of course to those who know not Joseph nor Jesus (Matthew 22:39). This ‘Mission of Rescue’ is the very heartbeat of JUDE THE APOSTLE’S shout to us to: “Have compassion on ‘some’ [but not all!], others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating the garment defiled by the flesh” (Jude 1:22-23). And – hear this – To those who will not receive nor hear our words, “Shake the dust from your feet” and move on! (Matthew 10:14).
COMPREHENSION. One of my favorite passages in the Old Testament that undergirds the entire notion of the application of a Biblical Worldview is the reference to ‘The Sons of Issachar:’ “Men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). Oh, dear friends, how desperately we need such men and women today! We are as blind men running to and fro looking for A Human Leader to tell us what to do, the perils of which are Eternal. Rather are WE called to be such ‘Sons and Daughters of Wisdom,’ Standing on that Wall. But so few are they today, beloved, and the ones who are find themselves ‘unwelcome’ by most churches.

IN CLOSING. Just this: Honor the King. Mind your walk and worldview. Help your neighbor. Stay alert! “[Because] of that day and hour no one knows” (Matthew 24:36). And yet, and yet – we are to know ‘the Signs of the Times’ (Matthew 16:3) that we may be found Faithful at His Stupendous Arrival! Selah.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/gC-z6Br4fR4