Showing posts with label Biblical values. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biblical values. Show all posts

Friday, January 22, 2016

9 Signs of the Modern-Day Remnant Church - JOSEPH MATTERA CHARISMA NEWS

There is always a true remnant left during times of apostasy and persecution.

There is always a true remnant left during times of apostasy and persecution. (Flickr/Creative Commons)


9 Signs of the Modern-Day Remnant Church


As the persecution of the Bible-believing church becomes more intense, there will be a greater manifestation of what I am referring to in this article as the "remnant church." By remnant church, I am referring to the surviving vestige of the body of Christ that remains true to biblical principles in spite of cultural opposition.
There is always a true remnant left during times of apostasy and persecution. Elijah the prophet found out that God always preserved a remnant, by His grace, that held true to the faith (1 Kin. 19 and Rom. 11:2-5). By remnant church, I am not merely referring to so-called "cultural warrior" churches who seem to always be battling for a cause (which can be part of it, although the gospel is always much bigger than one social cause).
I am also not referring to so-called Christian churches that do idiotic things (like burning the Quran) or exhibit intentionally hostile (and un-Christlike) behavior by so-called churches (such as the Westboro Baptist Church). (I cringe even calling this group of hate-mongers a church.) I am, however, referring to those of plain and simple faith and obedience to the Word of God, which is practiced by humble, people-loving, community-serving, compassionate churches that do not compromise the Word of God.
The following are characteristics of the modern-day remnant church:
  1. They will become more entrenched in the Word of God the more the world opposes them.
The more resistance they face, the more the remnant church will become resolute in their faith (sort of like the way the muscles in our body get harder with resistance training). Instead of compromising the message of the Word, they may change their method of presenting the gospel but will never even consider watering down biblical ethics, values and the message of the cross of Jesus Christ.
  1. They will become the vilified in society.
The remnant church used to be merely unpopular in the past but has now gotten to the point where they are hated. It is very apparent that Christian values are constantly mocked, such as by popular voices like Bill Maher, Rachel Maddow and the like. This can give you an idea on how popular it is to hate biblical Christianity.
  1. They will preach countercultural biblical messages.
The remnant pastors will continue to preach the gospel of Christ, which always has vast implications related to human sexuality, the sanctity of human life, the definition of marriage and family and such; albeit, they should apply the gospel to cultural issues in a wiser, more winsome way. The remnant church will remain faithful in preaching the gospel in spite of the possible backlash they can receive from church attendees and or the public.
  1. They will produce the most committed Christians and make disciples.
It is a known fact that liberal, progressive, compromising churches are shrinking, while conservative evangelical churches are the ones growing in numbers. Also, when a church is on the tip of the spear in regards to biblical truth, it is able to produce disciples because it takes great sacrifice to believe in Jesus in the midst of hostile environments. Consider the Christians still living in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Northern Nigeria, Sudan and similar persecutory regions. Compromising churches produce wimpy believers and the remnant church produces committed disciples.
  1. They will experience a greater presence and power of God than other churches.
The first-century church was a hated minority, yet the great power and presence of God that accompanied its ministry (Acts 3-5)! I have found the more difficult it is to confess the truth of the gospel, the more God shows off His glory! Where sin abounds, grace does more abound (Rom. 5:20).
  1. They will become more visible and distinct as the culture becomes more decadent.
I believe that in any entity, secular or religious, about 25 percent of its members are the most committed to its vision and mission. They are the ones willing to endure the most pain for the cause. That means that most of the people in any entity detach when the going gets tough. From this we can expect that the harder it becomes for the church to practice biblical Christianity, the more evident it will become who the remnant church is.
  1. They will be more excluded and separated from mainstream secular evangelical churches and denominations.
The more uncool it becomes to be a biblical church, the more the so-called cool (or, as I call them, compromising) churches will distance themselves from the remnant church. Presently, it is still not as easy for the average person to discern between remnant and compromising churches. (Most folks still lump us all together.)
However, as the heat gets turned up more and more, compromising pastors and churches will choose to accommodate culture and compromise Scripture, thus making a clearer distinction between the remnant and mainstream church. Not only that, these (compromising) pastors and churches will continue to do their best to distance themselves in public from remnant pastors and churches. (This is what happened in Nazi Germany when the nationalistic churches separated from the confessing churches to avoid persecution and death.)
  1. The remnant church will change the world.
Sometimes God allows difficult circumstances to weed out the uncommitted followers from the committed followers. (Read the story of Gideon's army of 300 in Judges 7.) As it was during the days of Elijah, the early church period and the time of the Confessing Remnant Church in Nazi Germany, only the remnant has what it takes to change the world! Only the remnant church has the conviction, the sacrifice, the devotion, the endurance, the message and the power to change the world. The compromising church will enjoy their temporary popularity in the present time, but those who are wise and turn many people unto righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever (Dan. 12:3).
  1. The remnant church will endure while the compromising church will fade away.
In Malachi 3:16-18 God promises that He has written a book of remembrance for those who speak of Him and fear His Name. The reward for them (the remnant) is that He will spare them as a man spares his son. The implications of this are vast. While the spiritual children of the compromising church will probably become agnostic, the children of the remnant will carry the torch of Christ to the next generation, which will increase in strength and do greater works (John 14:12). The remnant church goes from strength to strength and faith to faith (Rom. 1:17). Meanwhile, the compromising church goes from strength to weakness and from faith to apostasy and eventually into oblivion.
May God help us all remain faithful to the end and participate in the remnant church. 
Joseph Mattera is an internationally known author, futurist, interpreter of culture and activist/theologian whose mission is to influence leaders who influence nations. He leads several organizations, including The United States Coalition of Apostolic Leaders (uscal.us). He also has a blog on Charisma magazine called "The Pulse." To order one of his books or to subscribe to his weekly newsletter go tojosephmattera.org.
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Thursday, October 8, 2015

Jimmy Kimmel, SpongeBob, Orthodox Jews, and Biblical Values

SpongeBob Squarepants
SpongeBob Squarepants (Facebook )

Jimmy Kimmel, SpongeBob, Orthodox Jews, 
and Biblical Values

Standing With Israel
Did you hear the one about the Orthodox Jewish students who rescued a TV cartoon character? Seriously, some things simply can't be made up.
Recently, late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel set up a "social experiment" on the sidewalk outside the theater from which his show is broadcast. He had a person dressed up as SpongeBob lying down and crying out for help to get up.  Watching the video is telling and shows that maybe we all could use a refresher course in basic values as Kimmel notes, it's "important to assist people in need wherever you can." 
Watch the video (at the end of this article) for yourself, but it won't surprise anyone that the people who came to SpongeBob's rescue was a group of Orthodox Jewish boys, people who study and internalize the Torah laws and values that Jews aspire to implement in every facet of our lives. 
Among Jews, the video went viral. It's funny, almost in an embarrassing way, to see the blatant disregard by so many: running, stepping over and taking pictures of the fallen SpongeBob as if he were a bag of garbage. It's hard not to laugh at people doing so. It says a lot about so many people blatantly ignoring cries for help, even from a TV cartoon character however, which is not funny at all.
The week the video went viral, Jews in synagogues around the world read the Torah portion from Deuteronomy 12:10-25:19, which is rich with many laws and values we need to apply in our lives today. In fact, this is the one weekly portion that has the single largest number of commandments, 74 out of 613. I've read it dozens of times, but each time, something new jumps out. That week it was verse 22:4, "When you see your neighbor's donkey or ox fallen along the road, do not ignore it; you must be sure to help him get the animal on its feet again."
Of course. That's nice and something we shouldn't have to be told, but a valuable lesson all the same, even today when few of us actually know people who own donkeys, much less use them for work.
And maybe, or especially, if we don't know people with donkeys, we should apply that Scripture to other aspects of our lives, even helping a person dressed up as a TV cartoon character. Therefore, when confronted by Jimmy Kimmel's experiment, these young men who have studied this Scripture, and all the Torah, and live by it in every facet of life, did what they thought was the only option.
Over the years, I have been blessed to be the recipient of so much warmth, solidarity and unconditional love from Christian friends throughout the world. As much as I have been blessed personally with genuine friendships that have enriched my life, I always find it interesting when I am introduced as an Orthodox Jew from Israel. Almost always, whether one on one or speaking to a whole congregation or conference, there's an instant affinity, interest and respect, but clearly not a full understanding of what it means to be an Orthodox Jew in Israel or anywhere else. Similarly, there's a lack of understanding of the difference between someone like myself, modern orthodox as compared to someone who is ultra-orthodox and more readily identified by his attire. That's not a fault of course, just an observation. I'm certainly no expert of Christianity. 
However, I am surprised that more Christians don't know more about Judaism, both given that we share so much in terms of Scripture in the Torah and other biblical texts, values from these, and of course that Jesus was an Orthodox Jew in Israel as well. While there's been an evolution of Jewish practice in the past 2,000 years of diaspora, and only a restoration and return to Israel in the last 100 plus years, if Jesus were to return today, He'd find Himself very comfortable and familiar with the worship in my synagogue, perhaps even more so than in most churches, as Christian tradition rooted in the New Testament did not thrive until after His death. 
Of course, one thing that's missing in my life today that Jesus had in his life is the opportunity to worship, teach and bring offerings in the Temple. Sadly, if He were to return to the same Temple Mount today, where He preached and worshipped some 2,000 years ago, he'd be met by hostile chants and threats by Muslim extremists, if not have rocks and Molotov cocktails thrown at him. That's for a much longer article on its own.
Anytime I am confronted with questions about what it means to be an Orthodox Jew, I try to explain honestly and clearly how we live our lives through the prism of the Torah. It's not only authentic Jewish tradition, but also the foundation of Christianity. More and more Christians seek me out because of this, not that I am an expert, but as a practicing Orthodox Jew, they recognize a piece of at least early Christianity that's missing from their lives that people like myself have lived and maintained for thousands of years. 
The Torah is full of lessons, values and laws by which Jews today continue to live, by which Jesus lived, and which was the foundation for his ministry. It's noteworthy that in the same Torah portion also teaches in verse 24:17 that we need to be considerate of the widow and orphan, an injunction of course that's reiterated in James, John and Mathew.
These and many other such values are central to Judaism and Christianity. For us, the addition of rabbinic teachings over the past 2000 years helps us understand and apply these values to modern life.
Surely in Biblical times nobody could imagine that there ever would be a SpongeBob. But today, when we might be more likely to come across a cartoon character in distress than a donkey fallen under its burden, the same value applies. 
I relish the opportunity to share aspects of my life, doing my best to be an Orthodox Jew not just in the State of Israel, but the Land of Israel where so many of the specific laws apply uniquely. While large sections of the Torah may not seem relevant today, and are not taught in many churches, living in the Land as an Orthodox Jew, you'd be surprised as to how these are relevant and we apply these in a way that's modern, always being sure to sanctify God. Our tradition is that no single letter of the Torah is extraneous, and we have the benefit of tens of generations of rabbinic teaching to understand this all and apply it in our lives.
Since we never know when we will be tested, or by whom, whether under the eye of a Jimmy Kimmel experiment, or the much more important Eye of Eyes, living and applying biblical values throughout our lives is not just a good idea to avoid embarrassment on TV, but to do what's right in the eye of God. That's how Orthodox Jews live, by applying the Torah to our everyday lives.
So when you read your Bible and something doesn't make sense, or is culturally part of a time past, don't brush over it and think it's irrelevant. If we believe in the divinity of Scripture, all the Scripture, every Hebrew letter, every verse is relevant, even if we don't yet understand how or why. 
That's what it means to be an Orthodox Jew, and watching the video of these young men helping SpongeBob off the sidewalk is what we call a Kiddush Hashem, sanctification of God's name.
Watch the video for yourself, but it won't surprise anyone that the people who came to SpongeBob's rescue was a group of Orthodox Jewish boys, people who study and internalize the Torah laws and values that Jews aspire to implement in every facet of our lives. 
Jonathan Feldstein was born and educated in the U.S. and immigrated to Israel in 2004. He is married and the father of six. Throughout his life and career, he has been blessed by the calling to fellowship with Christian supporters of Israel and shares experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel. He writes a regular column for charismanews.com's Standing With Israel. He can be reached at FirstPersonIsrael@gmail.com.
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Friday, October 19, 2012

Billy Graham Ad Encourages Voting Biblical Values

Billy Graham Ad Encourages Voting Biblical Values

 

 
Rev. Billy Graham is encouraging people to vote based on biblical values, in a full page ad in Thursday's Wall Street Journal.

"We are at a crossroads and there are profound moral issues at stake," Graham said in the ad. "I strongly urge you to vote for candidates who support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and woman, protect the sanctity of life, and defend our religious freedoms."
 
"The legacy we leave behind for our children, grandchildren and this great nation is crucial," he continues. "As I approach my 94th birthday, I realize this election could be my last. I believe it is vitally important that we cast our ballots for candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel."
 
Graham also urged voters to pray that America remains one nation under God.
 
Political experts say a push to support biblical principles usually appeals to the Republican party. But it's unlikely to sway voters who already have their minds made up.
 
"I personally am a Christian and like to vote based on my spiritual beliefs and values, and I would tend to vote for a candidate that values that as well," Romney supporter Tom Duzan said.
 
"You're being very sneaky and insidious about endorsing a candidate without saying the actual words," Emery Anderson, an Obama supporter, said.
 
During the next few weeks Graham's ad will run in USA Today and several other newspapers in as many as a dozen states.