Requiem

Kamber Shenae Doback-Lucas

Job’s friends had the best of intentions when they sat down with him in the ash pile remains of the life he had built for himself. Job mourned the loss of his vast wealth and personal health, but most of all he mourned the loss of his seven sons and three daughters. See, God permitted Satan to afflict Job and take away all that he cared about. Satan sought to turn his soul away from the God he adored. In the end, Satan’s challenge ended in failure. Job’s heart remained steadfast. But this does not mean Job did not suffer greatly – he did: He endured doubts and anguish. He had many burning questions, but no answers. He questioned his own integrity. He lost the will to live. His friends were no help at all. In fact, they blamed Job for his miseries, claiming God blesses the righteous and curses the wicked. And since Job had experienced unprecedented disaster on every side, they could only conclude he had sinned greatly and should repent for his wicked heart. However, we are told in the opening verse of the book that Job was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. Later in the story, another friend, younger in years, but more accomplished in wisdom joined the conversation. He rebuked Job’s three friends and explained how God sometimes uses human suffering to purify and teach us things in a way that no other means will suffice. He counseled that it is our duty to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God in those moments.
It is natural for us to ask ourselves, Why does God use such harsh measures? Why do good people suffer such great calamity? I could offer a theological discourse on why God permits things to happen in any given tragic situation, but then I would be guilty of the same sin of presumption that Job’s three friends demonstrated. I will not do that. I’ll let God speak for Himself. Did you know God addressed Job directly in the final chapters of the book? If you were expecting God to answer all of Job’s questions, you’ll be as disappointed as I was reading those final verses. God didn’t feel obligated to justify his ways to a creature of the dust, but instead turned the tables on Job and had questions for him. Questions that a mere mortal cannot hope to answer: The Lord inquired, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? God’s point in his stinging rebuke is this: His counsel is His own to keep, and his infinite wisdom is beyond our reach. Instead, we must humble ourselves in God’s presence as Job did when he said, I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” This simple act of humility was the proper response. Afterward, The Lord restored the fortunes of Job, so that his latter days were more blessed than the first.
So why do bad things happen to good people? On a more immediate and relevant level, we probably have all asked ourselves, why did Kamber suffer so much at the hands of cancer? From all the testimony of friends and family and my own personal experience, Kamber may have been the best of us all. So why did she suffer all these things? It doesn’t seem fair, does it? It is natural for us to ask “why?” To what purpose or end was all this suffering for? But I can hear the Lord’s rebuke even before I finish the thought. God’s word to Job is the same word He has for us: Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Of course, the question is rhetorical, with an obvious answer. Who are we, as mere mortal humans to question the wisdom of the Almighty? The Creator of the universe will not be held to account for His actions by those made in His image. The potter will mold the clay however He desires, to accomplish whatever ends he has purposed, our protests notwithstanding.
Even if our most pressing and earnest questions about the mystery of Kamber’s sufferings cannot be answered on this side of eternity here is an important truth I hope we will all carry with us: Never doubt in the darkness what God has taught you in the light. Here is where we should think back on the earliest lessons we learned as children in Sunday School: God is good. God is kind. God is loving. God is wise. God is merciful. God gives grace to the humble. God works all things together for the good for those who love Him and are called according to his purpose. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… We must grasp these fundamental truths about God with an iron grip when the sun is obscured by the total eclipse of unexpected tragedies. If you live long enough tragedy will find you. It is one of those inescapable truths of life in a fallen world. That is why what is taught to us in the light becomes even more meaningful in the darkness. Never for a moment doubt God’s goodness, never entertain a single thought that God isn’t loving, kind, merciful, and gracious. I remember the day my grandson was killed in a senseless act of violence. Unbidden, the most prominent thought that obtrusively ran through my mind was this: In the midst of unspeakable personal loss and sorrow, all I know is that God is as good now as He was when I woke up this morning. Frankly, it surprised me that on a chaotic day full of so much raw pain, the one thing I posted on social media was the absolute goodness of God. So never doubt in the darkness what God has taught you in the light. But it’s not just head knowledge. In the sun we are taught the things we will need when the clouds inevitably roll in, the lightning strikes, the wind howls, and the rain falls. These truths are more important now than they’ve ever been. This is where the rubber meets the road. Only the great truths of the Christian faith are sufficient to engage the harsh realities of a sin-filled world. We need wisdom from above to navigate our way through difficult circumstances.
In the 19th chapter of Job, we find our hero in the midst of great anguish. His friends have all pointed the finger of accusation in his direction. Job is in the throes of deep despair yet in verses 25-27 he is reminded of a lesson taught to him in the light: But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!
Job knew that a redeemer would come in the flesh and walk upon the earth. Not just a redeemer but HIS redeemer. He knows after his skin has turned to dust that he will live again. He will see God in his own flesh and with his own eyes He will behold God’s face. This is the glorious future Job yearns for. Jesus Christ is not just Job’s redeemer, but Kamber’s as well. He is our redeemer too if we will simply put our faith in him. Kamber’s ashes will be scattered in the wind and mixed with the earth but she’ll not be forgotten. She lives in our hearts and in our memories, but most importantly Kamber is remembered by God. Scripture says the Almighty is not a God of the dead but of the living, for all are alive to God. Kamber is alive today, did you know that? Her spirit is with God. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. She is more alive than any of us. But the news gets even better. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” Just as Job hoped in the redeemer to come, Kamber has hoped in the redeemer who has come and she will live again in the flesh, and her eyes, once dimmed by her afflictions will behold God’s face in startling clarity. She will praise God with a voice that will never again falter. God will wipe away every tear from her blue eyes. There will be no more sickness, cancer will never again take root when she receives her glorious new body, and she will never again know pain or death. Pain – Death… Those words will cease to have any meaning. The former way of things will pass away for all time. She can now claim victory over the last enemy to be defeated and say with conviction: O death where is your sting? O grave where is your victory? Death is swallowed up in victory. The worst is behind Kamber now and her future is full of light, warmth, endless joy, and glory forever. The old ways of life in a sinful world will be forgotten, so wonderful will be the new world to come. It won’t even come to her remembrance. As it is with Kamber, so will it be for all of us who cling fast to our redeemer by faith, who sits enthroned at the right hand of God and reigns forevermore. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ bids us come. Remember, never doubt in the darkness what God has taught us in the light. May we all join our beloved Kamber someday in that heavenly realm where we’ll relish in her unending happiness, savor her unfading smile, and delight in her unceasing laughter. Amen.

Cultures Abhor a Spiritual Vacuum

Babylon had rejected God and his Word. A culture that rejects God on a large scale loses his divine protection against evil. It is like the principle of diffusion that everybody was taught in physics: ‘Nature abhors a vacuum’. We are spiritual beings, and we also cannot stand a vacuum. Cultures have a certain spirituality, be it a good one or a bad one. Cultures cannot stand a spiritual vacuum. When you have the Holy Spirit, he fills the vacuum and prevents a great deal of demonic activity and self-destructive actions among the people. Where the Holy Spirit is strong in a culture, even unbelievers are blessed. They are not saved, but they are kept from many forms of pollution. But when a culture turns its back on God, the Holy Spirit, to some degree, is withdrawn, leaving a vacuum. Guess who rushes in to fill it? The evil one and those fallen created beings, former angels, who now are demons. Thus, Babylon, an important, powerful culture that has rejected the God of the Bible, does not realize how far the demonic realm has taken charge of its activities.

Douglas F. Kelly, Revelation, A Mentor Expository Commentary (Ross-shire, Scotland: Mentor, 2012), 336.

When it comes to the recent controversial topic of Christian Nationalism and what type of government Christians should strive to establish, we read here Douglas Kelly’s conviction that no neutrality can exist when it comes to a philosophy of government. A culture must have convictions and those convictions will inform government policy. What kind of laws should a country full of Christians have? A secular one? Secularism is not neutral. It denies objective reality by rejecting the existence (or at least the involvement) of a divine being working in the affairs of this world. A nation whose God is the Lord will be blessed. A nation built upon Satan’s sand will decay and collapse in due time.

Don’t Be a Nice Guy

Nice isn’t the nice word we were brought up to believe it is. Nice has developed over the years, at least in my mind, into an insult on par with being called a pitiful low-life chump. If you want to hurt my pride and wreck my self-confidence all you have to do is say, “What a nice guy you are.” Aside from the fact that this phrase permanently friend zones a hopeful young man courting a lovely lass, a nice guy is simply a person the so-called complimenter judges as having no discernable virtues other than a kind of generic bland niceness, or Vanilla Nice if you will. So please, don’t do that – to anybody, but especially to me. If a gentleman is handsome, smart, strong, etc. then he’ll be described as either handsome, smart, or strong by those who know him. But in a situation where an average guy with not a lot going for him is described with the sentiment, “Oh, well… he’s kinda nice and all.” Yeah, that’s the kiss of death for your ego right there. Buh-bye.

In a theological sense, Vanilla Nice is even more pernicious. I’m not being hyperbolic; It is a parasitic ideology disguised cleverly in a Christian skinsuit with the doctrinal label, love thy neighbor tattooed all over. Before your eyes roll all the way around your head please let me state my case. Nice is not – I repeat – is NOT synonymous with kindness. Kindness is a Christian virtue. In fact, it is a fruit of the Spirit. Find nice mentioned as a moral or ethical virtue in the Bible – I dare you. It’s not there; Not even in the HDPV – Hippy-Dippy Progressive Version. You might approximate niceness with smooth things in Isaiah 30:10 but even then, smooth things are not cast in a positive light. Unless you think prophesying illusions is ethical conduct. You may ask, “If these words aren’t interchangeable, then what makes them differ?” Let me explain. Nice is what you are to people when you want them to like, respect, or favor you in some way that will benefit your own ego or social standing. Heck, Nice is the middle name for almost every sociopath you meet. Vanilla Nice is self-interested by nature. It is a selfish, narcissistic impulse that utilizes flattery, good manners, charm, and eloquent speech, to gain the favor of individuals, groups, or voting blocks, to receive some societal, personal, professional, or ego-centric benefit.

Kindness, on the other hand, has keenly in mind the needs of others. Kindness seeks the welfare of your neighbor, the highest possible good for their physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Kindness is rooted in truth. The consistent application of both law and gospel is showing kindness to our neighbors. Demonstrating that all sinners stand condemned before a righteous and holy God isn’t nice in the modern application of the term, but it is most certainly an act of kindness. It may make some angry, others sad, and yet others indifferent, but it is always compassionate to let your neighbor know he is about to walk right into the fire. Kindness is telling your neighbor to flee the wrath to come. It might be uncomfortable. The conversation might lean awkward, the silence may become deafening, and the tension may thicken like a rolling fog, but you can walk away knowing you have fulfilled the law and shown kindness in the most sincere manner possible. You may not gain social clout. You might be called a wet blanket and be disinvited from socialite hobnob functions but kindness cares not a whittle about such things. It is others minded, which is humility. Vanilla Nice is just too vanilla, too bland, too self-seeking to handle authentic biblical kindness. The imp of Vanilla Nice will not allow you to warn others of God’s judgment on sin and wrath toward sinners. It risks the friendships that provide you with benefits. Their eternal welfare is secondary to your status among peers, it risks the treasury of merits you have accumulated for yourself in the form of social capital.

This is not the ethic of the Christian committed to the way of Christ. Proverbs 27:6 says “faithful are the wounds of a friend.” What this means to me as your friend is, “Demonstrate your love for me, pierce my soul with truth that I may live!” It is not easy to forsake community for consecration. The path can be lonely. Scorn and vitriol will be flung at you from many directions. But let your heart be comforted in the knowledge that you have overcome the sinister subversion of Vanilla Nice, and have crossed the threshold into true biblical kindness. This fruit of the Spirit will bear fruit of its own – for fruit always reproduces after its own kind. You will find companions on the path to your celestial home. Some of them will be grateful brethren, who benefitted from the wounds of your kindness. So don’t be nice. Nice is not a virtue. Nice is not the standard for Christian behavior. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph 4:32)

What is the Distinction between Fatalism and Predestination?

Predestination is the dirty fourteen-letter word of modern evangelicalism. It is the that-which-must-not-be-named doctrine of the majority who despise it. It is ever only breathed in whispers by those who are convinced of its biblical foundation, lest they roil the placid waters of Lake Kumbaya. It doesn’t need to be this way. We can have a lucid conversation on the matter without a donnybrook breaking out in the church parlor. Perhaps much of the consternation over the concept that God elects a people unto Himself prior even to creating the dust that the first person is formed from comes down to a fundamental misunderstanding of the term.

So often I hear a froth-mouthed opponent of the doctrine say (between spurts of saliva) something like this:

If God predestinates our salvation then nothing we do matters. We’re all just muppets churning out episode after episode of the only show on TV, written, produced, and directed by the Great Jim Henson in the Sky.

Tucker Carlson on UFOs

Tucker Carlson, UAPs, and the Reality of the Spiritual Realm

The Truth About Love

Imagine if you will, a couple, a man and a woman, winding their way up a mountain trail together, hand-in-hand, doting on one another. The man spies an encroaching bear and jumps out in front of his wife, weapon in hand, and fights the bear off with all his might. He suffers wounds in the confrontation but successfully protects his wife from injury.

Later on down the road  the couple sets up camp for the night. The husband, worn down from the fight and hurting from the woulds he sustained falls into a fast, fitful sleep. The wife is dozing off when familiar growls in the distance startle her. She turns to wake her husband but sees him slumbering peacefully. She doesn’t want to interrupt his rest, raise his fear and anxiety level and force him to move his aching body in response to the lurking menace. After all, she reasons, the bear was probably only trying to play around with them in the first place, before her husband overreacted and caused it to become aggressive. The wife perceives no real threat and leaves her husband be and falls asleep at his side.

The description of what follows is too graphic for those with delicate sensitivities. Needless to say, the journey of the couple ends only moments later in a blur of blood and bone.

Why The Reformation is Still Significant 504 Years Later

In honor of the 504th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation I’m re-posting a classic article from several years back explaining the importance of this under-appreciated holiday.

On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, nailed his 95 theses on the castle church door in Wittenburg, protesting the sale of indulgences by the Roman Catholic church. Luther eventually went to trial for heresy at the Diet of Worms where he was asked to repent of his teachings upon penalty of excommunication. His teachings opposed many accepted doctrines and practices of the church. He also challenged the authority and infallibility of the Pope. Luther refused to recant, famously stating:

Your Imperial Majesty and Your Lordships demand a simple answer. Here it is, plain and unvarnished. Unless I am convicted of error by the testimony of Scripture or since I put no trust in the unsupported authority of Pope or councils, since it is plain that they have often erred and often contradicted themselves by manifest reasoning, I stand convicted by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s word, I cannot and will not recant anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us.

On this I take my stand. I can do no other. God help me.

Amen.

The spark of the revolution began with the posting of the 95 Theses. The fires were kindled with his defiant words at the Diet of Worms. The Protestant Reformation began in earnest in 1521. The word Protestant simply means protester. A Protestant opposes the false teachings of Roman Catholicism.

Declaring Heresy

The vitriolic response to the Nashville Statement has stirred up mud from the bottom of the proverbial pond, threatening to cloud the clear waters of truth with murky ideological propositions.

Once upon a time the issues of marriage, sexuality and gender were self-evident in both nature and scripture, but in these confused times no revelation – natural or divine – can be taken for granted.

Thus the Nashville Statement came to be: A declaration of truth about the nature of marriage, the limits of human sexual expression and the common sense understanding of a male/female gender binary. The fact any of this is necessary bears sad witness to the reality that so many people who profess to be Christian can love the darkness so much more than they love the light. Instead of walking into the light of the gospel they hide themselves behind high walls of false, man-made doctrines and arm themselves with self-righteous counter-declarations that promote all that is depraved; then they have the tenacity to bless it with a holy kiss.

Need proof?

Why the Nashville Statement is Necessary

The Council of Biblical Manhood & Womanhood recently released a declaration of belief regarding sex & gender ethics on behalf of the entire realm of Evangelical Christianity. It is called the Nashville Statement. The reason for the ambiguous title is that according to Christian tradition when a council or synod occurs, the meeting place is often used to identify the creed or statement of faith thereby produced. For example, the Nicene Creed was formulated in Nicaea, Turkey. The Canons of Dort were forged in the city of Dordrecht, Netherlands (often called Dort in English). More recently, the Manhattan Declaration was articulated in New York.

These kind of declarations, a clarion call to truth, are not common in this postmodern era. However, they have a rich history throughout the church age. During the explosion of biblical knowledge during the Protestant Reformation many confessions and creeds were put to pen and parchment. Other times, declarations of faith responded to serious error taking place within the church, to stem the rising tide of heresy within the visible body. The aforementioned Nicene Creed came about in response to the Arian doctrine denying the Trinitarian nature of God. The Council of Nicaea convened and refuted the error with great success. The Nicene Creed is the standard by which most churches understand the doctrine of the Trinity today.

God For Us

The Holy Trinity has bestowed eternal blessings upon the elect. In what theologians call the Covenant of Redemption, the Trinity has purposed, secured, and applied redemption for the church. Our salvation is no small feat, certainly not dependent on a mere human decision, which flows from the poisoned wellspring of our soul and the enslaved sinful will. At best, the unrenewed will can only offer a feeble faith that can never endure harsh realities or competing desires. No, our glorious bodily resurrection and entrance into the everlasting kingdom takes an invested Trinitarian effort forged in love, for God’s own glory.

Let’s briefly examine each member of the Trinity’s involvement in the Covenant of Redemption: