When Your Worst Nightmare is Wishful Thinking

Once again it's time for the annual celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And with that, it's time for a corresponding increase in mockery and scoffing from the unrepentant.

The last few years I've seen much more jokes about "Zombie Jesus" than I can ever remember - maybe people have been making them for years and I was just unaware, but to me it seems to be a fairly recent phenomenon. What I find fascinating about this particular line of mockery is that it's actually clearly a case of wishful thinking. This bold blasphemy is nothing but a pathetic cry for help - but defiantly not a genuine cry to the one who can and will actually save.

They understand that they would be significantly better off if Jesus actually had been a zombie. The truth is infinitely glorious for his people, but infinitely more terrifying for the scoffers - by his resurrection, Jesus was confirmed as the Son of God, ready to judge the living and the dead when he returns to save his people from the appointed judgment.

Compared to the impending judgment, a zombie apocalypse would be a cakewalk. Every zombie horror story combined and multiplied by a billion still doesn't come close to matching the sheer terror of what the King of Kings will actually do to his enemies.

The good news - the greatest news you can possibly hear - is that you don't have to be his enemy anymore. The reality of Christ's imminent return is beyond horrifying for the wicked, but a sweet, comforting, promise of life to those who through Jesus have been reconciled to God. I implore you - stop presuming on God's patience, and today - right now! - be reconciled to God!

Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who lived, was crucified, died, was buried, rose triumphantly from the grave, ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of God, who will return to judge the living and the dead of the sons of man - he is the one you fear. He is also the one who can save you. Repent and turn to Jesus in faith for forgiveness of your sin. Today. While you still can.

Rage Against God

Proverbs 19:3 - When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.


First, what is the situation? A man makes a foolish choice - or more likely, a long series of foolish decisions, a foolish lifestyle. Is he mad at himself for doing this? Of course not. He's mad at God!

It's easy for some of us to picture this. We have the friend or relative or coworker who constantly does ridiculous things, pays the consequences, and says something like "God must really hate me, huh?" Whether it's the drug addict, the person whose investment plan is the lottery, the serial fornicator whose entire paycheck goes to child support, or whatever example you prefer, a long streak of foolish living brings the expected consequences, and somehow it's God's "fault".

So we all probably know that kind of person. Well, what can we learn from the proverb? I've got a few things.

1. What is folly or foolishness, anyway? Is it not living without fear of God? The fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom - the fool lacks both. So living in folly is not making a bad decision or two. It's persistent rebellion against God's word. This person lives as though God doesn't exist, until the payment comes due for his sin. Then, suddenly, God exists, and He's to blame for the mess the fool is in.

We have a saying around church - choose to sin, choose to suffer. This man chooses persistent, unrelenting sin, so we cannot be the least bit surprised when consequences come. Acting opposed to God's revealed will brings the consequences God promised. So the fool is apparently mad at God for determining the right way to live, and being faithful to his word about those who rebel against it. Nothing angers a fool quite like God's holiness and honesty.

2. What about the wise? What would it look like to flip the proverb around? I think we would get something like this: When a man's wisdom brings blessing, his heart praises the LORD. Praise Him for what? For making an orderly world where the path of wisdom (obedience) is blessed. For making us wise in spite of ourselves. For being true to His word. Etc etc.

As the fool never blames himself for his ruin, the wise man never boasts of himself for blessing. Whether the blessing is physical, material, or spiritual, the wise man does not boast, but credits God. "What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"

How are you doing on this, by the way? On a scale of "God is gracious" to "Look at what my hands have built!", where do you rank?

3. I thought I had a point 3, but...

Oh, I remember! Take this proverb and apply it to modern psychobabble ideas of things we know to be sin. If you want the clearest example, go with the sin cause celebre du jour, homosexuality. There is hardly a stronger expression of rage over sin than "God made me this way!" More and more sins are using that as an excuse. "It's not my fault I do this wicked deed, God made me that way. Blame him!" Rather than repenting, he shifts blame onto God, and continues along in his sinful folly, blissfully unaware of the oncoming ruin.

I don't believe such things are an attempt to excuse the behavior so much as an expression of rage against God for declaring it wrong in the first place. It's not, "Oh, I would change this if only I could, but God made it so I can't." It's, "I want to do this sin, and I hate God for what He says about it and how He will punish me for it."

[Something way too snarky was here. It's gone now.]

I Hadn't Noticed

For some reason I followed a link to the latest blasphemy from the Emergent Village, Doug Pagitt's explanation of why he's jumped headlong into the 'process theology' heresy. It's the same combination of nonsense and wickedness that permeates pretty much everything that comes from there, so I don't recommend spending much time on it, any longer than it takes to utter "I am shocked - SHOCKED - that Doug Pagitt would openly embrace wickedly anti-Biblical teaching".

But, I did notice something interesting while I was there. Look at the logo in the top left. Compare it to the logo at this site. Coincidence?

This Week...

So this week the wife and I are on vacation for the first time in several years, and it is absolutely wonderful. The only question we really have is, will the world still be here when we're done?

As you may have heard, a punk named Harold Camping is shooting his big mouth off about how the Bible supposedly guarantees that judgment day will be May 21. Right about the time we're going to be watching a play starring Jack Bauer, Jim Gaffigan, and one of the original cops from Law & Order, Jesus is guaranteed to return, because it's some certain time after the flood, and based on some numerology and awful theology, Camping has cracked the Bible code. And between the omnipresent billboards and the interviews with every media type willing to slander the church (by claiming he's part of us and speaks for us), his message is getting out. May 21 is judgment day.

So what is the Christian response to this?

First, understand that Harold Camping is a vile blasphemer. Jesus could not have been more clear that we cannot, will not, and have no business trying to figure out the date. Whenever he was asked about this, his response was always direct and unambiguous - it's none of our business, and we cannot know. Harold Camping claims that not only does he know, it is the duty of every Christian to know. In other words, he's calling Jesus Christ a liar. This is utter blasphemy. (For more on Camping's devolution, see this excellent five-part series: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Second, we can't say for sure that May 21 is not the day (at least the day that everything starts, or the day of the rapture, or whatever your eschatology holds) any more than this guy can say that it is. Look - I understand the temptation to say that if some crackpot is predicting Christ's return on a certain date, we can be sure it won't be that date. But that simply doesn't follow. We won't know either way - we can never predict when it will be, nor can we say with certainty that it won't.

While we don't want to endorse Camping's sinful bluster in any way, we also don't want to go too far the other way, and pretend that Christ's return is not imminent. In denouncing Camping, it's far too easy to sound like the mockers and scoffers of 2 Peter 3. Jesus may not come back on May 21 - it may be May 17, or May 22, or some other day. We don't know - and it is a tragedy when our lack of knowledge here causes us to give comfort to the lost, or get complacent and act like it couldn't happen any moment. Jesus very explicitly warned against this, and Peter was clear about how we should live in light of Christ's imminent return.

Jesus could come back at any time - be ready! Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation!

(Postscript: as usual, Al Mohler is right. Had I seen that before I wrote this, I might not have. Such is life.)