Index
You know who. Osama bin Ladin
“Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit
such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in
them that do them.”–Romans
1:32
“Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man,
but for the lawless and disobedient” 1 Timothy 1:9
Only those who have received grace have been set free from the law and its wrath. Those in bondage to sin are under the law and its wrath, and it is the duty of the state to put down evildoers and provide safety for those who do well [I Pet. 2:14]. Where grace is, there is repentance, humility, and love. Over these the law has no power.
But where grace is absent, and especially where even the common grace of human compassion and decency is abandoned, then the state must bring the full rigors of the law. This is true of both the criminal within the state and those criminal states without. The punishment, of course, should fit the crime and we must not strain at gnats and swallow camels. One of America’s finest hours was the victory over the criminal Axis Powers in World War II. The powerful states of Germany, Italy, and Japan were under the control of a truly evil spirit, not just your generic over-the-counter evil.
Every bit as heroic, however,
was the victory of the United States over the equally evil power of communism
that had overtaken the former Soviet Union.
These were also violent men who had suppressed human affection and
common decency. Although under terrible
peril within and without, America was victorious.
America now faces another
great peril, the peril of fanatic Islamic fundamentalism. It is right that America rise again to this
challenge. We have much repentance to
do in order to fulfill the mission.
Violent men do not hesitate to target innocent blood, which the Lord
will not pardon [II Kings 24:4]. Our
hands are not free from innocent blood, and we must renew our repentance and
faith.
Abraham Lincoln was aware of
the abhorrence that God had for the shedding of innocent blood and felt that
the horrors of the Civil War might have very well been because of the injustice
of slavery, and stated it plainly in the Second Inaugural Address:
Fondly
do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass
away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the
bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and
until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn
with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said
"the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
This may very well have been
the real strength of Lincoln’s moral force.
He saw that there was more to human life than wealth, contentment, and
ease. Perhaps we will have to go
through the fires until we can confess with Lincoln, “The judgments of the Lord
are true and righteous altogether.”
It may very well be that we
face the greatest test in our history.
The Founding Fathers could not have possibly imagined the destructive
force of modern weapons, but their children have grown up under their
shadow. The forces of despotism and
slavery have always hated America, and do so today. Even many within our midst hate our heritage and institutions,
but that has always been the case, too.
Let those who know their God press on. The days that come will not be days for summer soldiers and the sunshine patriots. But the soul of America will be purified and strengthened. Our public debate may once again include great themes of truth and justice and not the silly things that have recently occupied our minds.
Saul of Tarsus was a religious fanatic. Thinking that he did God service, he harassed the early Christians with the greatest of zeal. He confessed to the greatest animosity and energy against Christians when he was on trial before King Agrippa:
I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things
contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut
up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they
were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to
blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto
strange cities. –Acts 26:9-11
(For not the hearers of the
law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when the Gentiles, which have not the
law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law,
are a law unto themselves: Which show
the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one
another;)
Saul was a young man, with the deepest religious convictions—wrong
though he was. He had kept the garments
of those who had stoned Stephen, one of the first deacons. His system of faith was clearly worked out,
and it seemed just to him that those who worshipped Jesus Christ should be put
to death. They were apostates from the
“Jew’s religion” as he saw it. It was
wrong for them to worship a man. As he
would put it later, “[I] was
before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy,
because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” 1 Timothy 1:13
To Saul, it seemed most reasonable and rational and many Bible verses seemed
to support the idea of persecution and terror.
Yet he had a conflict in his own soul.
In order to justify the fanaticism of his commitment to the Jew’s
religion, he had to suppress common decency, a common humanity. He came to understand this later, when the
light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ had taught him the truth of the Old
Testament and he was converted to Christ.
When Saul of Tarsus [Later called Paul] had his famous vision of Christ
on the Damascus Road, the Lord Jesus referred to this conflict in Paul’s soul:
“I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks.” –Acts 9:51
There is something wrong with a man’s religion if he must suppress common decency in order to be faithful to it. All religions are not the same, and do not become equal because we declare them equal. Some are more wicked than others, and some even call their devotees to act toward men in a way that is cruel and wicked. In order to war against men who are in the image of God, they must first of all suppress the remnants of God’s image in themselves.
Jesus spoke against this mindset when he said to the Pharisees:
And he
said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and
if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift
it out? How much then is a man better
than a sheep? Matthew 12:11,12
What kind of religion would require a person to treat a human being
worse than he would treat an ox? If
strict ceremonial observance of the Sabbath did not prohibit merciful acts
toward animals, why could the law possibly be construed to forbid mercy toward
men? One of the glories of the faith of
Israel was their observance of the Sabbath.
It had been given by God, and was one of the greatest humanitarian
benefits in the history of the world, for men, women, children, flocks and
herds, and even the land itself were given regular times of rest and
rejuvenation. But it was made for
man. Man was not created for the
Sabbath, and a man is worth more than an ox.
A false religion that believes that God is pleased with ceremonies will
put more emphasis on ceremonies and things than they do on the man created in
the image of God. The Apostle John put
into perspective the importance of man when he wrote, “If a
man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” --1 John 4:20 A
pretended love for God is only an abstraction if it does not included a real
love for man, who is in the image of God.
This is
the moral knowledge that is written in the very nature of all men. According to the passage from Romans 2,
quoted above, even those who do not have the revealed religion have this very
knowledge written their very being.
Those who live in cruelty and murder, must not only suppress the
knowledge of God described in Romans 1, but they must also suppress the moral truth
that man must love his neighbor. Even those who have not received the
Scriptures may be called to account on the basis of the principles of common
humanity. These were the goads that
Saul kicked against.
Recently America has been subjected to terrorism by Islamic fundamentalists. What is the offense of America? Our bases in Saudi Arabia “defile” their holy land. In other words, the sand of Saudi Arabia is holier than the image of God in man. In their wickedness, this is the justification for the murder of innocent men, women, and children.
This was the spirit that drove the Crusades—the land of Palestine was
the “holy land” and infidels should be driven from it. The land was more important than the
people. After all, they were infidels
and deserving of nothing. There is no
question that there were fanatical religious justifications for the crusades,
but it is also true that they were misguided, wicked, and ungodly. The wisdom that justified the slaughter of
thousands of men, women, and children was the wisdom described by James, “This
wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.”
Covetousness is the driving force of idolatry. [Col. 3:5]
The love of the world is deceitful indeed, and it was this very sin that
empowered the cruelty of Saul of Tarsus, and by which he was convinced of his
depravity [Romans 7]. This is the sin
of worshipping the creature rather than the Creator, the visible rather than He
who is not seen.
This innate knowledge of God’s basic law--than man love his
neighbor--is the foundation of what used to be called “natural law.” Karl Berth, reacting against the Nazi’s evil
application of natural law, denied its very existence, and his teaching has had
wide influence. In denying man’s own
basic moral nature, theologians have helped to loose the restraint that God has
placed upon men in their own conscience, and have helped advance the idea that
we are all the product of our religious conditioning and that “it is all a
matter of opinion.”
One of the results of the denial of man’s innate moral nature has been
to remove from the church an effective tool to restrain the evil that is in
man’s nature. If there is no moral
governor in man, the image of God, then the only effective restraint comes from
the decrees of governments, civil and ecclesiastical, and there is no common
standard to which all men, believers and non-believers, can be held.
To many Christians the effect of the denial of natural law has meant that they have lost contact with the non-Christian world. There is nothing that the Christian has in common with the unbeliever, not even a common moral nature. We thereby talk past each other, for a man that has not been “conditioned” to our religious point of view will never be able to understand what we say. This is exactly what he wants us to think—that our views are every bit as conditioned as his. This gives him a free pass, “That’s just your view.” The Ten Commandments do not apply to him because they are not “his” commandments. Jehovah is not “his god.” The more consistent he is in his “faith” the more he must suppress the image of God in himself.
The offense of the cross then ceases for the Christian. No longer does he have to call men away from
their rebellion and strife. This makes
it easier for many Christians to pretend that all faiths have some equal
validity.
But God cannot deny Himself, and neither can Satan, however much he may
try to disguise himself. Satan may seek
to transform himself into an angel of light or a minister of righteousness, but
he cannot transform his nature. His
name is Apollyon, which means destroyer, and his ways are destruction and
misery, even if they are offered up in the name of religion [Rev. 9:11]. The home of his followers is the bottomless
pit.
Men who have suppressed their consciences are very evil men, especially if it is done in the name of religion. Their consciences are seared as with a hot iron [I Tim. 4:2] It was for this reason that Paul called himself the “chiefest of sinners.” [I Timothy 1:15] It is a frightful sin to make God an accomplice to murder and terror. But God showed mercy to Saul, for where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound. God is able to awaken conscience and save the worst of sinners by His free grace.
When the common grace of sensitive conscience is suppressed in a nation [It is distressing that conscience is disparaged even among some in the Reformed community], it will not be long until a society completely disintegrates. The third use of the Law to suppress sin is effective because of conscience, not because the unbeliever is willing to accept the Law of God. We can connect with man, not only because of the innate knowledge of God described in Romans 1, but also in terms of man’s moral sense described in Romans 2. Man has these by virtue of his creation by God, and they are necessary revelation for the reception of the Gospel of Christ. No man can come to Jesus unless he is drawn by the Father, according to Jesus Himself.
Is there a man among those desperate Islamic men who has been appointed
by God to take the Gospel to his fellows, as Saul was? Is there one who is kicking against the
pricks? Let us pray that it be so. Not so we can have prosperity and peace of
mind, but for the honor and glory of His grace in Jesus Christ.
The sentiment is everywhere. Pundits and religious leaders of all denominations are swift to affirm that God had nothing to do with the terrorist events of last month. We invert all things, but Job is very clear when he has lost all to terrorists and the forces of nature: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” [Job 1:21]
This does not mean that such events are evidence of God’s wrath. There are some who see the wrath of God in everything, and certainly God does bring retribution upon men for their sins—the Bible is clear about this. But the pure wrath of God is seen only in Hell. Until then, God brings good out of evil and works all things for the good of those who are called by His grace.
Satan and evil men are often
used by God as instruments of His grace and mercy. The king of Babylon, who brought such destruction upon Israel,
was called an ax in the hand of God.
[Isaiah 10:15] He was used for a while to chastise the people of God,
and was cast away by God when God’s use for him was accomplished. Most especially was his pride reproved by
God for he thought that his successes were the result of his own strength.
Satan can only do what God
permits him to do. We invert the truth
and say that God can only do what we permit him to do, but the devil pretty
much does as he pleases on the earth.
Surely God would not have created the devil if He had not first devised
what use He would make of him!
We must bow before the “manifold” wisdom of God. [Eph. 3:10] The simple truth is that truth is very complicated, with many sides to it. God may have more than one purpose in a single event. Why should we not expect this for the All-wise and Most-Loving Ruler of all things? Why should this be thought incredible to us? The ways of God are mysterious indeed.
It would appear that the terrorists who crashed into the Trade Towers would be greatly surprised to find themselves dropped immediately into the fires of hell, for no murderer has eternal life abiding in him [I John 3:15]. On the other hand, those who were righteous in Jesus Christ who worked in those buildings were taken into glory.
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