Whole Armor of God

Congratulations to my sweet daughter Asia for passing her driver's license test today. Today's topic for this post is the Armor of God. Maybe you've seen the Halloween costume with the different pieces of the Ephesians 6 armor. To start, here are the verses:

Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:10-18, ESV).

I am writing today about the Ephesians chapter 6 the whole "Armor of God" which Christ-followers use to defend themselves against Satan's schemes. Here are a few quick points about this armor:

• We are not to battle against other people. Instead, we are to fight the unseen enemies that are in the devil's camp (v. 12);
  
• The shield of faith is foundational. The New King James version states in verse 16 "above all, taking the shield of faith…" While the ESV says that "in all circumstances take up the shield of faith";
  
• A vital part of our armor is "praying in the Spirit" (v. 18) and keeping "alert" (v. 18). If you pray this prayer as a regular part of your daily petitions, remember to include these pieces of the armor as well.
  

 

Now, for the main reason why I am writing today about the armor of God. The Apostle Paul did not just pull this armor idea out of thin air. Instead, he pulled together a number of different Old Testament verses to show what we are to wear in fighting our true enemy. Here are the whole armor of God, Old Testament references:

• belt of truth (v.14); Isa 11:5 (Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.)
  
• breastplate of righteousness (v. 14); Isa. 59:17 (He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head)
  
• shoes having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace (v.15); Isa. 52:7 (How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns.")
  

  also, Nahum 1:15 (Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace!)
  

• shield of faith (v. 16); Genesis 15:1 (After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.)
  
• helmet of salvation (v. 17); Isa. 59:17 (He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head)
  

  also, Psalm 140:7 (O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.)
  

  
   

• sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (v.17); Hosea 6:5 (Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.)
  

  
   

May God bless us all with His whole armor of protection against the enemy's attacks. In our Lord and Savior's name Jesus I pray, Amen. /s/Tom

Who (or What) is the Restrainer?

Do you feel like the world is spinning out of control? Now I am not just talking about a horrible week on Wall Street, starving people in East Africa, the threatened impending doom of Global Warming (it's been a hot summer hasn't it), everyone fighting with each other (let's see, we have the Minnesota Government shut-down, the NFL lockout, the NBA lockout, and the furor and animosity on both sides over the debate with the raising the federal government debt ceiling). Everything seems really crazy to me, like things are falling apart.

Which leads me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, which teaches that at some point in our future a "restrainer" will be removed from the world. This connotes to me an even more lawless, uncontrolled world. Chaos will reign. In today's post, I want to review the identity of this "restrainer", and start by looking at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. This chapter is fantastic reading because it has everything – it discusses the end-times, it talks about the Antichrist, and it talks about two mysteries – one of which is this "restrainer". Well, let's take a look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2:

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, ² not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. ³ Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. ⁷ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. (ESV)

Wow, this is a great set of verses filled with important information. So, from these verses we see that Jesus is going to return to Earth (His Second Coming), and that this has not yet taken place. We also see that before Jesus' return, there will be a rebellion, and that the "man of lawlessness" is revealed, and that he will seat himself in the temple of God. This man of lawlessness does not violate the speeding and traffic laws. No, instead he will be a violator of God's Law: he will not honor God, he will have a life of idolatry, placing other things (rather than God) as preeminent in his life, he will take the Lord's name in vain, and he will not honor the Sabbath Day (these are the first table of the 10 Commandments). And he will also violate the second table of Commandments: he will not honor his parents, he will murder, he will be an adulterer, thief, liar, and also be covetous of other's belongings. This is also where the second mystery is discussed – the mystery of lawlessness (v. 7). This "man of lawlessness", the Antichrist sounds like a despicable character, right? But how far are we from following these Commandments?

But I find the most interesting insight from these verses being the discussion of the restrainer in verses 6 and 7. The restrainer is restraining the Antichrist (v. 6). And his restraining will continue until he is removed, or until he is "out of the way". This sounds almost like a mafia hit, doesn't it? Guido says let's remove the problem, and his hit man responds by saying that he will make sure that "he is out of the way". I think this wording could be lifted from one of the Godfather movies. A couple of quick notes about verses 6 and 7 – first, in verse 6, the restraining is placed as a neuter (the ESV properly uses "what" here), while in verse 7 the author uses the masculine to describe "he who now restrains". One commentator says that the switching from neuter to masculine means that what is being described is an influence capable of personification. And second, Paul is being purposely unclear about the identity of the restrainer, and this is another key clue to revealing the identity of this mystery person or institution. In addition, remember that the Thessalonians would have understood who Paul was talking about.

The traditional explanation of the identity of the "restrainer is as follows:

• Tertullian taught that this was the governing authorities, or more specifically the Roman Empire – see, Romans 13;
  
• Some explain that this is the removal of angelic authorities watching over the nations, similar to what is described in Daniel chapter 10;
  
• And the most popular recent explanation is that these verses describe the secret rapture of believers from the world, which means that God the Holy Spirit is removed from Earth.
  

These explanations all have something going for it. But I came across a very good commentary by J H Smith in his New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (citing Vine), which adds a twist to the "restrainer" being the governing authorities, but also adds a complete refuting of the secret rapture explanation. Here is what J. H. Smith writes:

… This factor of obscurity immediately rules out the possibility that the reference is to God, the Holy Spirit, or the Church, for if any of these were what he meant, he could have unhesitatingly named any of them without risk. Grammatical considerations also remove God, the Church, or the Holy Spirit from consideration. In this passage two grammatical genders are used of the restrainer: neuter gender, and masculine gender. If the Holy Spirit were the intended reference, Paul would have consistently used the neuter gender. Since the Holy Spirit is omnipresent (Ps 139:7, 8), and does not merely indwell believers, the removal of the saints at the Rapture does not constitute his removal. His removal is not suggested here or elsewhere in Scripture. … If the Church were Paul's intended reference, Paul would have consistently used the feminine gender, for in Greek the word "church" is feminine in its grammatical gender. … But the masculine and neuter gender does fit the future government (neuter gender) and its king (masculine gender). This leaves human government as the only remaining choice of those given. But the reference is not to human government in general, for prophecy nowhere states that such government will cease just prior to the revelation of the Antichrist. Rather, Paul has a specific reference to biblical prophecy in mind, Daniel 7:8, 24, where Daniel speaks of the Antichrist defeating three kings which until that time restrained his power. That Paul's reference is to prophecy in the book of Daniel is confirmed by his reference to Daniel in ver. 4, and his statement in ver. 5, which indicates that when he was present with the Thessalonians he had been teaching them about Bible prophecy from the book of Daniel.

Wow, I like how this is explained. This means that because Paul uses the neuter and masculine gender descriptions for the "restrainer" in verses 6 and 7, that it cannot be either the church or God the Holy Spirit. The fact that Paul is intentionally not providing the identity of the "restrainer" means that it is likely that Paul was cautious in making sure that unnecessary persecution not result from his writing. Thus, Paul likely was referring to the Roman government as the identity of the "restrainer", which is why it is unnamed. But here is the twist, in the Old Testament book of Daniel there is a prophecy that the Antichrist will "put down" three kings on his rise to power (Daniel 7:24). Putting down rivals, eliminating the enemy? This sounds like my Godfather reference for 2 Thess. 2:7 that I started this post writing about. Taking out, or putting down enemy heads of state sounds like this is something the Antichrist will do. And so, the "restrainer" of 2 Thess. 2:6-7 might be three powerful country's leaders who are removed by the Antichrist. Think of how the world would look if this actually took place. Therefore, in thinking of the "restrainer", there is the possibility that it is more than just the world's governing authorities – it may be the heads of three powerful world countries or institutions (see, Daniel 7:8, :24).

Alright, that is enough thinking about the scary future for today. Remember for those who place their hope and trust in Jesus, He will be with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). May God bless you this week. /s/Tom

Scripture Memory - Memlok

Hi everyone. Peggy and I celebrated the wedding of Peggy's sister Theresa to Erik. The celebration took place yesterday at friends of Theresa's, who live in Wisconsin near the Apple River. So yes, Peggy's side of the family, along with Peggy and I and the kids were taken tubing on the Apple River, upstream from Sommerset. The tubing lasted about 35 minutes, no rapids, and the hosts provided boys to steer our group of tubers down the river. They drove us, provided the tubes, picked us up at the end, and drove us back to the farm where the party was taking place. It was a lot of fun, although Elijah and I are the worst victims of sun burn today. But despite the sunburn, it was a great way to celebrate the marriage.

Today's post is about my favorite Bible memorization program, which I can now whole heartedly recommend – Memlok. They recently updated their program so that it works with Windows 7, and the new program is better than ever. Memlok uses a picture to help you get started with the memory verse, then you can type in the verse, or play a word jumble, or fill in the blank. It uses the combination of the word picture and repetition to lock in these great verses. It works, it stretches your brain, but it is well worth it. The Family version costs $29.95. Try it, it's a great way to learn Bible verses.

Unity, not Uniformity

In our Thursday morning Men's Group we are studying the Book of Ephesians. And this week's lesson includes Ephesians 4:3, the unity verse. It reads:

Unity in the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:1–3 (ESV))

4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

 

So in verse 3 we see Paul's instruction to Christians that the Church be eager to maintain "unity". With three main braches of Christianity (Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant), how can the call given Ephesians 4:3's for unity when we have (according to Christianity Today) over 38,000 different denominations today? I am a Protestant. I am also a 'Lutheran' Protestant. Protestant's tend to place more emphasis upon Scripture than the other branches of Christianity – sola Scriptura is one of our battle calls. Yet nearly all of the 38,000 denominations that exist today are from the Protestant branch. So how come Protestants have so blatantly ignored this call for unity?

The reason I am writing today's post is that I do not think that the divisions in Christianity are such a bad thing. Yes, I know the primary reason for so many denominations is human pride. They might say, I know this better than you do, so if you won't follow me, then I will start my own Church. This is pure arrogance, and this attitude clearly flies in the face of Ephesians 4:2's call for humility. But each denomination has something different to offer, that when taken together shows the beautiful bouquet of the "flowers" of faith that are in the different denominations of the Body of Christ:

Roman Catholics – Who fights harder for marriage and against abortion than the Catholics? They also tend to be more freely giving of their time and effort to help those in need;

Baptists – No one loves the Holy Scriptures like the Baptists. Their love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the proclamation of the Gospel is second to none.

Lutherans – I see Lutherans as the most "normal" of those who call themselves Christians. And many times, normal is important – they cherish family, the Protestant work ethic, and volunteering their time. All good things. And the Christians I I respect the most for their proper understanding of God's Grace, are Lutherans - Simultaneously saint and sinner.

Pentecostal – The faith of Pentecostals is fun. They believe in miracles, answered prayer, and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. There is joy in their worship of God. And they really believe God hears their prayers, and that their prayers are answered. If I want someone to pray for me, I want someone with a Pentecostal background doing that prayer.

Eastern Orthodox – The incense, the beauty of their Church and services, and the seriousness they take the mystical worship of God. There is a lot to be said for going to the same place of worship that has been around for hundreds of years.

Anglican – I don't know much about the Church of England. But I watched the wedding ceremony of William and Kate on TV. And I loved the preaching, the message that gave the royal couple, and the singing of their choirs.

Christian Liberal – The social Gospel, of helping those in need. They help the poorest around the world to have food, water, clothing and shelter. Their compassion has changed how the world responds to disasters.

And yes, there are many more denominations, but I hope that you see my point. And I understand these are generalizations, and that I am painting with a broad brush. But the point I want to make is that if we see fellow members of the Body of Christ, those who call themselves Christians, and we focus on the positive things that they are doing, then we don't have to worry so much about the differences we have in our faith. Let God sort out on the Last Day the mistakes in our interpretation of the Bible, and the misunderstandings we have of salvation, forgiveness, missions, the work of the Holy Spirit, etc. If we turn this over the God, then we do not have to worry so much about pointing out the problems in other's faith, and instead concentrate the positive things that we see in their faith. Is it possible if we focus on the good things in others faiths, then perhaps we can start incorporating all of the positive things in the faiths of those around us. Do you want a Bible verse that teaches this? How about Philippians 4: 8:" Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." In other words, let our brains tune into pure, excellent, good things, and stop thinking about things that are wrong with others.

So my take away this week is look at the different denominations of those around you not as a sign that Christians are hopelessly divided, and that unity is impossible. Instead, try looking at the other Christian faiths as part of wonderful bouquet of flowers, with all different kinds of smells and looks, coming together in a wonderful way. And the individual beauty of each comes together with the others to show the glory and majesty of the One who made these flowers – the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God please bless us in our upcoming week. Thank you for your sending your Son. Amen.

Disc Golf (and Happy 4th)

I wish a Happy Independence Day (July 4, 2011) to everyone. We are blessed to live in a country where we have so many freedoms. I feel blessed today, as I dragged my wife and four children out to play Disc Golf with me. Here is what my initial attempt at Disc Golf was like:

A friend at work recommended Disc Golf (or Frisbee Golf for the unlearned) as a fun, cheap way to enjoy the outdoors with the family. So to start, I checked out the local second-hand sports equipment store, and I was able to pick up 7 disks. Here is where I discovered that there are different discs depending on how far you want your throw to go. Yes, just like in golf they have drivers, putters and mid-range discs. So I began with mostly drivers, because doesn't everyone enjoy it when the disc / ball / puck goes far and fast? So last Friday with my collection of discs in hand, the next step was to find a course to play on.

There are all sorts of FREE Disc Golf courses around the area. The two I focused my attention on were the Braemer Pool, Edina course, and the Alimagnet (on the border of Apple Valley and Burnsville) course. I was afraid the Edina course would be too crowded. And so my focus turned to Alimagnet. Now, I heard that the Alimagnet course was hard to reach. But I knew it must be near to the Alimagnet Dog off-leash park, where we have been many times taking our pooches. So after convincing my family to test this sport out earlier today, we gave the Alimagnet Disc Golf course a try.

Here I thought Disc Golf would be easy – you hurl your disc as far as you can, and drop it into the hole / basket. The "holes" are really poles covered with chains and a basket to catch the discs. But I couldn't whip my disc anywhere near as far as I would like. But the first couple of baskets were nice, short holes that gave us a good introduction to the game. Just toss it as far as you can, then try and get it close to the basket. But it's much tougher than it looks…

So Asia had the best looking, straight and long throws. But it turned out to be Elijah who caught on the quickest. After the first hole, Elijah ended up having the best score of the family in three of the next four holes. He's such a natural athlete. And I did horribly. Sigh.

OK, it was a beautiful day outside, no bugs, and together with the family. What could be better? Well, it would have been much better if we could have parked in the Alimagnet Disc Golf course parking lot, and not at the Dog Park parking lot. I am told it is off of Garden View Lane, but next time we will have to search it out. But we tried to discover the course through walking the back paths of the Dog Park, which led to a much longer stroll than we were looking for. I am saying we did something on the order of a 'Stripes' 20 mile hike in the forest to finally find the course. But after playing 5 holes, hiking back and finally returning to our car, I saw that we had only spent 1 hour and 45 minutes with our hiking and disc golfing. So it probably was a little shorter than 20 miles. But to my credit, it was mountainous. Err, I mean hilly.

So my overall impression was that if we eliminated the hike trying to find the course, and allowed us to just play disc golf, it was fun enough to try again. I hope to get my family out again here one of these days. Maybe with practice, I can improve from horrible.

May God bless you with peace, provision, and more laughter today and this week. /s/Tom Wolff

3 Signs of the End

Happy near-end of June to everyone. Now that we have survived Harold Camping's debacle because of his failed prediction of the end of the world, I thought it would be a good time to discuss the Bible's signs of the last day / end-times. There are two main camps in Christianity discussing Christ's Return and the end of times: first, we have the Pre-Tribulationists, who believe that a rapture of believers can take place at any moment. They also see many events taking place as "signs" that the end is near. An example of this is 'The Rapture Index' link here, which lists 45 signs that the Rapture is really near. Based upon these signs, this website also post a "Rapture Index" to show how close we are to the Rapture. Today, they have listed our Rapture Index as 182, with anything above 160 described as "fasten your seatbelts". So Pre-Tribulationists see many Bible verses as pointing to the imminent return of Jesus Christ and the rapture of believers.

Now the second group is the Amillennialist camp. An excellent example of this line of Christian thought was published in a recent 'Modern Reformation' magazine. The article is by Pastor Kim Riddlebarger (link to his blog is here), and he is a top Reformed thinker on end-time's issues. In his article entitled "You are Here", he discusses the Biblical signs pointing to the Last Day. He finds only three signs that "herald the end of the age and the return of our Lord." Here are Pastor Riddlebarger's three signs pointing to the End of the Age:

1. The first sign is that the Gospel is preached to the end of the world; Matthew 24:14 (ESV): And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
   

   Tom's Thought: The New Testament Gospel is translated and published in over 1,200 languages, which covers over 75% of the world's population (Wycliffe.org). So this looks as though we have met or are close to meeting the completion of this first Sign;
   

2. The second sign that foretells the end is the salvation of "all Israel"; Romans 11:25–26 (ESV): Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
   

   "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob";
   

   Tom's Thought: This sign is not yet met. When we see mass ethnic Jewish conversions to Christianity, we should know that the end is near. I assume this mass conversion would take place in a relatively short timeframe, because although we are given the signs of the end, we are also told that the end can come upon us at any moment – Matt. 24:37. So for this one, we need to wait.
   

3. The third sign of the impending end is the age of the great apostasy, and with this the appearance of the Man of Sin, who is the Antichrist. The final Antichrist will be given Satan's power and great authority (Revelation 13:2). There will be a great persecution of Christians during this time.
   

   Tom's Thought: This sign is also not yet met. Although I think many would agree that we are seeing the beginning of the Great Apostasy – with even in the Church there is the denial of sin, denial of Hell, and all sorts of date-setters of Jesus' Return. So again for this one, we must wait. But the wait may not be long…
   

   
    

So here you see the stark contrast between the two main schools of thought that deal with the end-times – Pre-Tribulationists see many Bible verses as showing the "signs" that the Rapture of believers can take place at any time. While on the other hand, the second school of thought is Amillennialism, which sees perhaps as few as three signs which point to the Last Day and Jesus' Return. So there you have it. I found Pastor Riddlebarger's article helpful in discussing the signs that point to the coming of the end of the age, and I hope you have as well. God bless you, today and this week. /s/Tom Wolff

Must Hitler Burn Forever?

Have you thought much about the traditional doctrine of Hell? Unbelievers in Christ, we are taught, will spend eternity in a place of punishment called Hell (or H-E-double hockey sticks for those of you from Minnesota). Well, here I am greeted this morning in the Christian Post with having to reflect on whether unbelievers and even evil scoundrels like Adolf Hitler are they really spending eternity in Hell.

Link HERE. The author is Randall Rauser, who is the associate professor of historical theology at Taylor Seminary in Edmonton. And his approach to the topic is first using reason and logic in suggesting that Christians have misunderstood the doctrine of an eternal Hell. He has a very persuasive line that summarizes his position: can the finite life (of 70 to 80 years) commit sins that deserve eternal punishment? He uses the worst of all lives, Adolf Hitler as his example. And if God punished Hitler for 3,000,000,000 (3 billion) years in Hell, with perhaps physical, emotional or even psychological torment, wouldn't this stir in even our hearts compassion that the torment end? His point is that if even Hitler does not deserve eternal Hell, then how can Christianity continue to cling to the eternal Hell doctrine?

I am sympathetic to Professor Rauser's argument. However, anytime that you go against 2,000 years of Christian teaching and rely upon our reason primarily, we are treading in dangerous waters. So let us remember the clear teaching of our Lord Jesus:

Mathew 25:31-34, :41 says: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world… ⁴¹ "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (ESV)

So Jesus' teaching on Judgment Day is that all the nations will be gathered before Jesus' throne. And He will separate them into two groups: sheep on the right and goats on the left. The sheep will enter God's Kingdom, and the goats will depart "into the eternal fire". So the teaching could not be much clearer: the sheep of Jesus will go to Heaven, and the goats will depart into Hell.

So perhaps Hell is eternal fire, while the punishment is not eternal (annihilationism). Or perhaps everyone goes to Heaven (universalism). Professor Rauser does a good job explaining what the alternatives and implications of what his teaching really means.

My take away is this – I hope that you will read Professor Rauser's chapter, and if you disagree with him, at least have a thoughtful response of why you disagree. For me, I found it helpful and refreshing in seeing that someone else besides me was wrestling with the same doctrine on eternal punishment in Hell. God bless you, /s/Tom Wolff