In Their Face

Standing for Christ before a Hostile Age (3)
T.M. Moore

“Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool…” --Acts 7:48, 49

One of those angry young men present at the trial and murder of Stephen was a young zealot from Tarsus, an up-and-comer in Jewish religious and intellectual ranks. His name was Saul. When we first meet him, holding the coats of Stephen’s murderers, he seems to be still an apprentice – not ready to get his hands dirty, but available to assist those who were. He was of the same mind as those who tore at Stephen. He was just as hostile to the Gospel as they (Acts 8:1), and he was eager to prove his commitment to root out the Christian menace.

We recall that Stephen was charged with sinning against the temple of the Lord, by explaining that God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of His Spirit, was now building a new temple, the Church. Stephen’s defense against his prosecutors focused on that charge; he was determined to demonstrate that the charge was baseless and, even more, that his accusers were completely mistaken concerning God’s intentions with respect to His dwelling among men.

Having laid a foundation for his main point, by agreeing with the idea that God is determined to dwell among men, Stephen pointed first to the tabernacle in the wilderness (Acts 7:44-46). Undoubtedly those generations served by the tabernacle were of the mindset that this was God’s permanent dwelling-place among His people.

But, Stephen continued, we know that was not the case. For Solomon built a house for God (v. 47), which had subsequently been destroyed and replaced by the present house, against which Stephen was accused of making threats. But, Stephen continued, God Himself had made it known through the prophet Isaiah that this earthly temple was not to be His true or final dwelling. “What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?

Did not my hands make all these things?” (vv. 49, 50; cf. Is. 66:1, 2). Stephen’s point was a subtle one: Had his accusers failed to understand their own prophet? Had they failed to look beyond the temple to a greater and more permanent dwelling-place for God? Had they, in fact, made an idol of the temple, just, as he explained earlier, the people had made an idol in the wilderness (vv.38-42)?

And just so they didn’t miss the point, Stephen put the cards face-up on the table: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you” (v. 51). It’s as if Stephen had said, “You self-deceived, power-hungry fools, who think you can control us all by making the temple and traditions of God your own special order of operations! You read your traditions selectively, or not at all, so it’s no wonder you’re so blind to the truth about God.”

You don’t get much more in-your-face than that. But the Jews had heard enough, and their fury could not be contained. Nothing would keep them from silencing such impertinence. Except one thing: It is very interesting to note, in Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill, that he takes off on the Greek philosophers from the same place Stephen had taken off on him and his cronies, so many years earlier (Acts 17:24). Had Stephen’s bold and daring witness made a lasting impression?

Was his suffering and death worth it? Paul never got over the shame and sorrow he felt over his role in Stephen’s murder, as we see in Acts 22:20. Stephen’s confrontational manner before those who presumed to try him may have infuriated them all, including Saul, to the point of murder. But the long-term value of his sacrifice cannot be measured, given the role the Apostle Paul fulfilled in the wide-spread establishment of the Christian faith throughout the world of his day.

Is God preparing you for such a role? You can’t know, but you must be ready. A hostile age, after all, can only destroy our bodies. But who knows what power may be unleashed by our in-your-face witness before a hostile age?

Download the series, "Standing for Christ in a Hostile Age." Click here: VP Hostile Age.

Guilty, as Charged

Standing for Christ before a Hostile Age (2)

By T. M. Moore

“This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law…” --Acts 6:13

Some years ago Susie and I were having dinner with two other pastors and their wives, when the conversation turned to persecution and martyrdom. I have for many years had a keen interest in the plight of the persecuted Church. Back in the early 80s I contacted every evangelical seminary I knew of to find out if they had any reading lists or course materials on the persecuted church.

None did. I wrote to every evangelical publishing house, seeking titles about Christians who were being persecuted for their faith. None had any to offer – none, that is, besides the few I already possessed. I contacted every evangelical publisher of Sunday school material, looking for resources on the persecuted church. Nothing.

This led me to reflect on the fact that, back in the early 80s, when the boot heel of Marxism was suppressing and crushing the faith of Christ in many places, and when the religion of Islam was just as actively and violently opposing the spread of the Gospel in traditional Muslim lands, believers in Jesus Christ were laying down their lives before a hostile age, precisely as generations of believers had done throughout the history of the Christian movement.

Only now, in this country, we were training a new generation of pastors, Sunday school students, and readers through whose minds a thought about the suffering Church conceivably might never pass. We were practicing a studied ignorance of what it means to suffer and die for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and why that might be necessary for believers in a hostile age.

So I wasn’t really surprised, when our dinner conversation turned to persecution and martyrdom, that one of the pastors opined that he wasn’t sure he was ready for that. Asked to explain he said, “Well, I’m just not sure that I’m willing to lay down my life for my faith. I haven’t considered that possibility just yet.” I wasn’t shocked, but I was sorely dismayed. If pastors aren’t thinking about this, and aren’t living the Gospel as though it were more valuable than their own lives, how can they expect their people to do so?

Stephen was charged with violating God’s holy standards and place. That was the ground on which he made his defense in Acts 7. The conclusion of his address was to declare, “Guilty, as charged!” Except that it wasn’t Stephen who was guilty, but those who were accusing him with anger and deceit. They had violated God’s Law; they had broken His covenant; they had hardened their hearts, betrayed their true traditions, and resisted His Spirit; they had killed the Righteous One.

Their response was predictable. They were completely caught off guard and outraged by being put on trial themselves, and they dragged Stephen out to the edge of the city and stoned him to death. They didn’t even trouble with the niceties of gaining Roman approval.

Our hostile age charges the Gospel with falsehood, oppression, limiting moral freedom, meddling where it doesn’t belong, and much, much more. In fact, it is our secular age that is the wellspring of lies, which oppresses our generation with half-truths and outright lies, which destroys morality in the name of license, and which, through its meddlesome government and schools, demands to control and rule in every area of life. It is not we who are guilty of screwing up the world, but all who are the enemies of Christ.

But if you choose to stand up to this and make your objections known, if you choose to drag out the guilt of this hostile age for all to see, then you must be prepared for the scorn, vitriol, and worse that might ensue. Think it can’t happen here? Think again.

Download the series, "Standing for Christ in a Hostile Age." Click here: VP Hostile Age.

When They Can Stand It No More

Standing for Christ before a Hostile Age (1)
By T. M. Moore

But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. --Acts 6:10

Stephen had a good reputation among the people of Jerusalem. He seems to have been a deeply spiritual man, full of practical wisdom, and ready to help others wherever he was needed (Acts 6:3). He is described as having been filled with the Holy Spirit. Full of grace and power, Stephen was also outspoken about his faith – not in a brash and blaring way, but calmly, speaking with wisdom and sound reason to everyone who would listen.

In spite of his gentle and reasonable manner, however, some of his contemporaries chose to dispute with him – members of a local synagogue, and clubs of foreigners who were staying together in Jerusalem (Acts 6:9). They could find no fault with the man: he was as good, wise, and kind a person as any of them had known.

But they found his message offensive, probably because he insisted that a relationship with God depends not on one’s heritage, associations, attainments, or efforts, but on repenting from all sin and believing in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation. Such a message implied that their views were wrong and their morality was not what it should be. They chafed at the thought that he – a lowly synagogue servant – should presume to tell them what they ought to believe and how they ought to live.

Nevertheless, our text tells us that these opponents could not withstand the wisdom Stephen demonstrated or the grace and power of the Spirit working through him. He effectively rebuffed their objections and set their views aside. They were left with nothing else to say against him.

What should they do? How would they protect their cherished beliefs and practices and save face among their peers? Our passage continues, “And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council” (Acts 6:12).

And just to make sure he wouldn’t frustrate them there, “they set up false witnesses who said, ‘This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us” (Acts 6:13, 14). That line had worked once before to secure an unjust conviction of an inconvenient Evangelist; perhaps it would work again.

I have a friend who helps local believers in Muslim and other nations to proclaim the Gospel, begin house churches, and train the pastors those churches require. God has laid His hand on this ministry in a special way. Scores of thousands are coming to faith in Jesus Christ, and thousands of house churches are cropping up, right in the thick of Muslim traditions, culture, and followers. Increasingly, my friend receives reports of believers being martyred for their faith.

Which is only what we should expect in an environment hostile to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, when people can no longer stand to hear the Gospel’s challenges to their settled way of life, and they no longer have anything reasonable to say in defense of their worldview.

And if it happened to Jesus and to Stephen, and if today it is happening in various parts of the world beyond our American shores, we must not be naïve to think that it cannot happen here. A strong undercurrent of deep antipathy toward the Gospel runs through our culture and society, and we see its ugly, angry face burst out in threats and vitriol from time to time.

Are we ready, like Stephen, to face this threat, confront this challenge, and stand firm in the face of whatever consequences may ensue? If we, as Christians, have not yet addressed this question, and if we’re not prepared to take our stand before a hostile age, then it’s time – nearly past time – that we do so.

Download the series, "Standing for Christ in a Hostile Age." Click here: VP Hostile Age (pdf).

Do All Religions Pray to the Same God?

The social rules that govern secular society have been rewritten to make it a political requirement for public figures to view all religions on the same level. The media has propagated this to the point that it is now ingrained in individuals as if it were law.

It is no wonder we are hearing “We all pray to the same God” every time someone feels slightly intimidated by Christians.

You probably think you already know how I’m going to answer the question in the title of this article. But instead of answering that question with “no,” I thought of another way to arrive at the same point by saying, “Yes, all religions do pray to the same God.” This a true statement because there is no other God to hear our prayers, save the God of the Bible.

Someone who prays to Allah has our Lord as the only listener. Muslims who ask Mr. Allah to kill all the Jews and Christians might want to know why their prayers are never answered.

The real problem is that the god of Islam and the God of the Bible are incompatible. The Christian God encourages freedom, love, forgiveness, prosperity and health. The Muslim god appears to value the opposite. The Koran says that on Judgment Day Jesus will refute the idea that He is the Son of God. The Bible says that every knee will some day bow to Him.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

A Dead-End Path

Many people claim that all roads lead to God. That is as silly as saying that all roads lead to Omaha, Nebraska. Jesus taught that there was only one highway that leads to God. Without the road map of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to find one's way to redemption.

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matt 7:13-14).

A non-Christian may try to live a life devoted to God, but that person fails by not accepting the sacrifice of Christ. If he or she does not accept Christ's payment for his or her sins, then no amount of personal piety will be enough to atone for those sins. The Word of God says, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).

Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses are in no better shape. They claim to represent the Christian faith, but they reject Jesus as the true Son of God. Paul warned us that there would be false Christian sects.

Judaism and Christianity pray to the same God, but there is a problem with the fact that the Jews also reject Christ, or what Paul called a “stumbling block.” I have a problem with Christian leaders who promote the idea that God has a dual salvation plan for the Jews and Gentiles.

The Prayer That Always Gets Answered

You can pray to any god you want, but there is only one emissary between man and the Holy Father. The flaw of every other religion is that not one can promise you eternal life. Jesus died for every person on this planet, and all we need to do to receive the gift of eternal life is place our trust in Him.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son (John 3:16-18).

I pray to the same God that they pray to

The other day a young man boldly proclaimed “I pray too!” After a brazen dialogue pointing out numerous faults of people who are Christians, he gallantly ended his discussion saying; “I pray to the same God that they pray to.”

Of course this raised a number of questions in my mind and realizing the vigor in which he spoke I knew that this could be a veritable mine field in which neither of us would escape un harmed nor would our Lord be glorified.

I began simply by saying; “I find this interesting and would like to better understand you point of view. If you’re willing to dialogue; would you mind if I ask you some questions?” His reply was; “What would you like to know Marc?”

In hopes that I could get a better understanding of how he views God I responded by repeating what he said about praying to the same God followed by the question; “What do you mean by that?” His response was; “Why of course Dyonosis the god of wine!”

Of course I was not ruffled by his answer because I was certain he would attempt to derail the discussion so that he could add me to his long list of “failed Christians”. My reply was composed yet deliberate. “It sounds like you’re describing a different god. This is somewhat confusing because you say you pray to the same God yet you describe a different god. Would you be willing to add clarity to this discussion?” Sadly, just as quick as he had began his tirade he fell silent.

The popular belief in postmodern America is that individuals formulate their own beliefs about God and there is no conflict between theirs and the one true God.

In part two I will explore the question; Do All Religions Pray to the Same God?