See Jesus in the Feasts of the Jews this Easter

Years ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma I ministered to a group of people who taught me a great deal about love for Christ. On the podium where I taught every Sunday was a plaque with these words enscribed on it: "Sir, we would see Jesus."

Few western evangelicals realize that time is measured differently in the Bible than the way we measure time today. When the One who transcends time established a calendar for man's sake, He did so according to the moon, not the sun. The biblical calendar is a lunar calendar, whereas our calendar today is a solar calendar. The Jews measured months by the moon's revolution around the earth. Today, we measure time by the earth's revolution around the sun. Until you have a basic understanding of the biblical lunar calendar, it will be easy to miss some wonderful truths regarding the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. This post fulfills the injuction: "Sir, we would see Jesus."

The Biblical Calendar and the Moon

A calendar is a system of organizing units of time for the purpose of measuring time over extended periods. The word "calendar" is from the Latin and means, “to call attention to the new moon.” The Biblical calendar was based on the people of God eyeballing the moon as it revolved around the earth and keeping track of the four seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter). We know that the seasons are the result of the effects of the sun upon the earth--hot, cold and mild--but the Jews only measured "days" by the sun (from sunset to sunset). Their months and seasons, prescribed by God, were counted off by eyeballing the moon.

The biblical month began with the new moon. The new moon is when the moon is dark, having no reflection from the sun from our viewpoint. The Jews would celebrate "new moon festivals" as a way to commemorate the beginning of a new month. "Whenever burnt offerings are presented to the Lord at the new moon.... the people are to serve the Lord in the proper way prescribed for them" (I Chronicles 23:31). This new moon worship of God was prescribed for the Jews by God because everything they did on their calendar pointed to Jesus Christ, as we shall see.

Since it takes 29 ½ days for the moon to complete her cycle around the earth the Biblical calendar consisted of 12 or 13 lunar months in a year, with the odd number months consisting of 30 days and the even number months consisting of 29 days. The years that had an additional month, the thirteenth month, are the years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 in a nineteen-year cycle. The reason a thirteenth month had to be added to the biblical calendar seven times during a nineteen year span is because the lunar year is shorter than the solar year by 11 days. If the Hebrews had not added a thirteenth month every few years, the winter season would eventually move on the calendar and occur in the summer months, and vice versa! Though this all may sound complicated, to the Jewish priests, it was as simple as waching the sky for a "new moon," knowing the agricultural seasons, and blowing their trumpets to mark the beginning of a new month.

God told Moses to Alter the Lunar Calendar

When God delivered His people Israel from Egyptian bondage, He told Moses to make the month in which the Passover occurred (the Abib) "the beginning of months" (Exodus 12:2). This one verse alone should indicate to you that God has a purpose for "the lunar calendar." Every act of worship in the Old Covenant was a type or shadow of the reality to be fulfilled in the coming Anointed One. "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin" (Hebrews 10:4), but the One to whom the bulls and goats point does precisely this--He takes away our sin. The feasts of Israel, the animal sacrifices of the Jews, and the ritualistic worship of God's people all point to what Jesus did on our behalf.

There were seven major feasts prescribed by God in the Old Testament. Each of these Seven Feasts of Israel (sometimes called Festivals) were celebrated at God-prescribed times according to the lunar calendar. When God incarnated Himself and walked among us in the God-Man Jesus Christ, His birth, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, and His gift of the Holy Spirit all occurred precisely the same time as the Feasts that foreshadowed Jesus Christ. The type (a particular Feast) was fulfilled in the anti-type (Jesus Christ).

The God who transcends time created time for us, so that when we think of time, we'll see Jesus Christ coming for us "in the fulness of time." In other words, history is His Story. Let me show you Jesus in the feasts of the Jews, God's Old Covenant chosen people.

The feasts of Israel can be broken down into three major groupings.

The Three Spring Feasts
The Feast of Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of the Waving of the Sheaf of Firstfruits.

These three Feasts took place all within a few days of each other and occurred in the first month of the Biblical lunar (Nissan, also called "The Abib"), a month which corresponds to our March/April. These three feasts were often viewed together and collectively called either  “Passover” or “The Feast of Unleavened Bread," though there were three separate and meaningful feasts.

First, is the Feast of Passover. “When I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:13). The Hebrew phrase “Passover” is in the Greek “pascha” thus the Passover lamb is the Paschal lamb, and all that pertains to the appointed lamb (a lamb without blemish, in the prime of its life, its blood shed for the family, etc...) pertains to the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Paschal Lamb of God. We know this to be true because of several events prophesied by the prophets regarding the Messiah’s death:

(1). Genesis 49:10 describes the precise age in which the Messiah would come.
(2). Daniel 9:26 describes the precise year in which the Messiah would die.
(3). Amos 8:9-10 describes the exact day on which the Messiah would die.

These three prophecies point us directly to the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on behalf of sinners as our Paschal Lamb. Jesus died precisely at the time the Jews were slaying their lambs for the celebration of The Feast of Passover. Jesus died on the 14th day of the Abib  (also called by its Babylonian name Nissan).  The Abib (notice the definitive article 'the') means "the act of parching by burning." Is it any wonder that when Jesus Christ died on the cross on the 14th day of the Abib, the fires of God's holiness and righteous judgment parched the life of His Son, the very One who became sin for us? The Passover was established and prescribed by God for Israel 1400 years before the death of Christ. In the fulness of time, Jesus fulfilled what the Passover represented. The Lamb was slain that the righteous judgment of God might pass over those who trust Him. Jesus could not have died at any other time, during any other day, for His death was prescribed by God and pictured in the Feast of Passover. When people sought to kill Jesus earlier in His ministry, He simply walked through them saying, "My time has not yet come" (John 7:30). A person may think he escapes God's judgment apart from the cross, but that kind of thinking is foolish and contrary to the explicit teaching of Scripture.

In love for sinners, God swept away the sin of His people through the death of His Son. This sweeping away of sin is pictured in the second feast of the Jews called The Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was seven days in length and included the Passover Day and the Feast of First Fruits (this is why sometimes all three feasts are lumped under the name Passover or the Feast of Unleavened Bread). During this feast, the Jews were to sweep out all leaven in their homes. Leaven is a picture of sin in the Bible. The sweeping away of leaven pictures all our sins being carried away from us by the Lamb of God. In the fulfillment of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, God does the sweeping. He removes our sins from us "as far as the east is from the west." It is an act of grace, a work of God, and it is accomplished by removing our sins from us, placing them on Christ, and pouring out His righteous judgment on His beloved Son for us.

The wages of sin is death. Every person, even believers in Christ, will one day die! Every person, even believers in Christ, will struggle with personal sins until we die. What is our assurance that God has removed judgment and condemnation from us?  What assurance do we have that we are truly the recipients of His unconditional love, favor and acceptance? The answer is found in The Feast of the Waving of the Sheaf of Firstfruits. Jesus Christ rose from the grave on the very day the Jews were celebrating this feast. This feast was prescribed by God to be celebrated "on the morrow after the Sabbath" during the week of Passover (Lev. 23:9-14). The Jews were told by God to go to the Temple on the "morning after the Sabbath" (Sunday morning) and wave a "sheaf" of the first fruits of their grain harvest before the Lord. As they waved their first fruits of grain before God and then gave it to the priests, they were told that God would prosper and bless "their entire harvest" because of the firstfruit offering accepted by Him!

When Paul writes of the resurrection in I Corinthians 15:20 he calls Jesus Christ "the firstfruits" of the resurrection--pointing out that God accepts and blesses all those whom Christ represents in His death and resurrection. In other words, your life--your eternal life--of God's blessing, favor, and prosperity is based on the offering of the firstfruits--Jesus Christ. You are guaranteed God's favor because by faith you wave Christ's life, Christ's death, and Christ's resurrection before God as the basis of your acceptance! You acknowledge that any blessings to be received from God are due to Jesus Christ! God raised “His cursed son” (Galatians 3:13) from the dead as proof of His pleasure in His Son’s sacrifice (Eph. 1:15-23). Those sinful and cursed people (like me and you) who trust in the firstfruits offering of Jesus Christ are accepted and blessed by God because of the first fruits (the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus the Anointed One)! The significance of Easter is that the resurrected Christ is THE GUARANTEE of God's blessings on those who trust Him, just as the later harvest of the Jews was blessed because the first fruit offering was acceptable to God.

The One Summer Jewish Feast
Pentecost -- the Greek name for "The Feast of Weeks"

It is known by various other names including “The Feast of Harvest” and most commonly as “The Feast of Weeks "(or Pentecost) A week in Scripture represents the number seven (either days or years). In the case of this feast it represents days. Seven weeks (49 days) from the “Festival of the Sheaf of the Firstfruits” (on a Sunday) with Sunday being day one. When you get to the 49th day you arrive at a Saturday (The Jewish Sabbath). On the “morrow after the sabbath” (Lev. 23:15-21) you arrive at “The Fiftieth Day” (thus the Greek “Pente” meaning 5). Just like the day of Resurrection (The Festival of the Sheaf of Firstfuits) the fourth major Jewish festival occurs on a Sunday (the morrow after the Sabbath)

The number 50 is used throughout Scripture to represent liberty, freedom or deliverance. Every 50th year was the year of Jubilee for the nation of Israel. When Christ died in 30 A.D. the people of Israel were celebrating a year of Jubilee; 50 days after Christ died the disciples were in the upper room when the Spirit of God fell and empowered them. This day of Pentecost is the anti-type of the Old Testament Pentecost -- 50 days after Passover.

*Compare the differences between the Old Covenant Pentecost vs. New Covenant Pentecost. On the 50th day after the original Passover and the Hebrews leaving Egypt, God gave Israel the Old Covenant law written on stone. On the 50th after the Passover of Christ’s death (the New Covenant) God gave His people a law written on their hearts. On the day of the Old Covenant Pentecost (50 days after leaving Egypt), 3,000 people died at the giving of the Law, for the Law condemns. However, on the day of Pentecost in the New Testament--fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ--3,000 people were saved, for the Spirit gives life. The glory of God shone on the face of Moses in the Old Covenant, but the glory of God lives in the hearts of His people through the Spirit in the New Covenant. The Old is the letter of the law, but the New is life in the Spirit. It is a tragedy when God's people seek to live by the letter of the Law when Christ fulfilled the Mosaic Law  and abolished it. The church that acts like it is a Temple, the pastor who acts like he is a priest, the people who act like they owe God a tithe and sacrifices, and the kind of Christianity that emphasis the Law more than the Spirit is more suited to the Old Covenant order. When the Spirit fills Christ followers with the power of God, then God's people begin to focus their lives on fulfilling the Royal Law of God - loving others as Christ has loved us--and pay scant attention to little else.

The Three Fall Feasts
The Feast of Trumpets, The Day of Atonement, and The Feast of Tabernacles.

These three feasts took place within the seventh month of the lunar calendar (Ethanim or also called Tisri). This month corresponds to our September/October. It was this month in which the fruit harvest (mostly grapes) occurred.

These Fall feasts correspond to the two "comings" of Christ to earth--His first coming (to Bethlehem) and His Second Coming (to establish His eternal kingdom). His birth in Bethlehem is pictured in The Feast of Tabernacles, when God came to earth and tabernacled among men (see John 1:1). The intercession of Jesus as the High Priest for His people is pictured in The Feast Day of Atonement. His Second Coming is pictured in The Feast of Trumpets. Time does not permit to show the signficance of these three Jewish feasts, but needless to say, all three of them, like the other four feasts, all point to Jesus Christ and are fulfilled by Him precisely.

So, in summary, Jesus Christ came to earth during the Feast of Taberacles. He died on the Feast of Passover and was buried in the tomb during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Jesus rose on the day of the Waving of the Sheaf of First Fruits, and He sent His Spirit as a gift on the Feast of Pentecost. He now intercedes on our behalf as our Great High Priest in fulfillment of the Feast of Atonement, and He will one day come to establish His eternal kingdom and judge the world in fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets.

Next time you read the Bible, remember it is not written as a self-help manual. It is the metanarrative of God's plan of redemption and tells the story of the only Savior this world will ever see. This Easter 2013 take a little time to thank God for measuring time in terms of His Son. 

Christopher Dorner, Good and Evil, and Our Mistake about God

The cop killer and serial murderer Christopher Dorner is dead. His victims included a young couple engaged to be married. Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence met while playing basketball for Concordia University, a distinctively Christian liberal arts school in Irvine, Californa. Monica's father was the first Asian American captain in the Los Angeles Police Department. It is difficult to imagine the pain Monica's and Keith's parents are feeling at the loss of their children, and even more difficult to grasp the agony of the children who have lost fathers, as is the case with the families of two other men Christopher Dorner murdered. The last victim, a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy, was shot and killed during Tuesday's shootout in the snowy San Bernardino Mountains near Big Bear Lake. It is not hard to imagine a number of people, including the families of officers, praying for the safety of all those in pursuit of Dorner. Yet, the deputy died.  Some ask, "Where is God in the midst of this evil?"

About a decade ago a small group of Korean Christians in Enid, Oklahoma lost a bag of cash with over $7,000 inside. They were building a new church building and through a series of unfortunate circumstances, the money bag fell off the roof of a church vehicle as it was being taken to the bank. The driver thought he had placed the bag in the car. The cash bag fell and came to rest on an Enid city road, ready to be picked up by a passerby. When the money bag was discovered missing, panic set in. $7,000 was a great deal of cash. The Koreans prayed and asked God to help them recover the cash. A few hours later, a gentleman returned the money to the police department. He wanted no thanks and no reward. He said, “I didn’t work for it, so it’s not mine. The money was for the church... it was their money."  When the money was returned, nobody in the Korean Church was asking, "Where is God?"

That man who returned the money was Christopher Dorner.

We seem to have an easy time believing God is in control when good things happen, but we flip the switch when evil occurs and want to believe that God is not in control. I have recently had some discussions with several Christians who struggle with reconciling God's sovereignty with the evil around us. Some are asking, "If God is all-good and all-powerful, then why is there evil in this world?" Others inquire, "If God is truly in charge of all things, is He not the author of evil?"

Some choose to resolve the issue of evil in this world by contradicting Scripture and limiting God's power. They say that because God created human beings with free will, God designed the universe to unfold according to the actions of man, and because the future is not foreordained, everyone (including God) is surprised by evil and works hard to overcome it with good. This lack of belief in God's foreknowledge is called Open Theism or Open Futurism, and it is a belief held by many solid evangelicals, including Greg Boyd. Open theists try to protect God against the charge that He is responsible for evil by limiting His ability to know the future. With this view, God was surprised by Christopher Dorner's actions in California (and in Enid).

Scripture, however, is quite clear that God knows the end from the beginning. God is outside of time. This is why the Bible could say "Christ was crucified before the foundation of the world."  What is ordained in the mind of God before time is what occurs in time. Since evil is not part of God's nature, His allowance of evil to occur simply means He has a greater good in store, a greater good that would not exist were the evil to be prohibited. This is why God can hold the wicked accountable and responsible for their evil, but overcome their evil for good. He did this when "wicked hands" put His Son to death, a death that God "foreordained" (see Acts 2:23).  He did this when Joseph's brothers stripped Joseph naked, beat him, threw him into a pit, and then sold him into slavery. God did not cause Joseph's brothers to do evil, but God permitted evil to occur because He had a greater good in store, a greater good that would not have occurred had not Joseph been sold into slavery. Joseph understood that all evil has the good presence of God in it. Evil is not from God, but all evil does not exist in a vacuum. God is present, orchestrating good from it. Joseph said to his brothers years after they committed their evil against him, "What you did was evil and you intended harm to me, but God allowed it to occur in order to bring about a greater good" (Genesis 50:20).

This is what it means for God "to work (orchestrate) all things for good" (Romans 8:28). All things are not good. Some things (like murder) are instrinsically evil. But God works ultimate good out of all things, including evil. For God to do this, he MUST know the end from the beginning. He is One who is both in time and out of time. Einsteen postulated that time is relative, a dimension that can be shaped, bent and manipulated. Though the biblical writers would have been ignorant of Einstein's theories, the inspired Scriptures affirm that God can move in time, both past and future, as easily as we move in and out of a closet. He is above time and created time for His creation. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and all things are from Him, subsist by Him and will return to Him (Colossians 1:17; Romans 11:36).  The Scripture tells us  three things about God's nature ... (1). God is spirit, John 4:24;  (2). God is light, I John 1:5; and (3). God is love, I John 4:8. He so transcends your ability to understand Him that He must condescend to us and reveal Himself or we would never know Him. This is precisely what He did in coming to earth - Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus said, "He that sees me has seen the Father."

For millenia people have made the mistake of thinking God is just like them. He isn't. He is unique in His attributes. He is unique in His nature. He is unique in His essence. Israel made the mistake of considering God to be like another human being. The ancient Greeks capture this common fault in man when they opined that if people were lizards, their gods would be a lizards, or if people were horses, their gods would be horses. Since people are people, we try to make our god like a person. This is a big mistake. There is one spirit God who reigns over all things in power and love, and He has established His throne over heaven and earth, and His kingdom rules over all (Psalm 103:19).

Where is God in the midst of destruction? Where is God in the midst of evil? Where is God in the midst of the death and chaos caused by Christopher Dorner? He is in the same place He was when Christopher Dorner turned in that bag of cash a decade ago. God is right in the middle of all things.

He is not causing evil, nor is He the author of evil, but He is never absent from evil. It is difficult for you and I as a created human beings to understand how a good, omnipotent and omnipresent God could be in the middle of evil, orchestrating a greater good through it. You and I are finite. We can't see the end from the beginning. We can't comprehend how evil can be present for a greater good to occur. We can't fathom how One is outside of time and independent of time and has no need of time, but uses time for His glory and our ultimate good. We can't get our heads around how justice and the righteous punishment of evil is a good and loving action. In short, we are not God.

But just because we are not God, let's not make the grave mistake of pulling Him down to our level.

Who's the Boss at Your Church?

When one is asked "Who governs your church?" the typical response is "Jesus Christ." Granted, Jesus is the Lord of all believers, but next time you're at a church business meeting, try pointing your finger at Jesus and then tell your fellow church members that He needs to take over. They'd look at you like you were Charlie Sheen. Ideally, Jesus Christ controls the hearts, minds and tongues of all those conducting church business, but the question remains: "Who is it that governs your church?"

The subject of church polity is complex. Some churches have bishops who take their orders from higher authorities in the synod. Other churches have what they call 'ruling' elders. A few churches have one person that rules the church like King Xerxes ruled Persia. However, the biblical model for church governance is congregational. Many neo-reformed evangelicals have moved to 'ruling elders,' setting a group of men aside as the "spiritual and moral authority" for the church. In my opinion, this is a huge mistake. The scripture teaches every member of the church has equal moral and spiritual authority. The church is a democracy of equals, not an oligarchy of superiors. Congregationalism alone represents this sense of equality.

The word congregation means "the act of assembling." One can easily interchange the words assembly and congregation. For example, an assembly of God is a congregation of God, and both phrases refer to what we now call a church. Here is where it gets interesting. In the Bible, the English word church translates the Greek word ekklesia. What does the word ekklesia mean? Surprise! It means an assembly or congregation of people with equal authority. Let me state this important principle again: By the very definition of the word church (ekklessia), a church is a congregation or assembly of people with equal authority. Let me prove it.

In 510 B.C. the city-state of Athens was ruled by a tyrant named Hippias. The people of Athens revolted, and with the help of soldiers from Sparta, Athenians expelled the dictator Hippias from the city. Cleisthenes, who followed Hippias as chief ruler of Athens, instituted amazing reforms in the city and he became known as "The Father of Democracy." Cleisthenes established the Assembly (Ekklesia) of Athens. This ekklesia became the meeting place where ordinary citizens could speak their minds and try to influence one another in the affairs of Athens. The Ekklesia assembled at the pnyx, an open-air theatre with a retaining wall and orator's stand west of the Acropolis of Athens. Each and every member of the Assembly could speak, but those who were over fifty years in age were allowed to go first in honor of their wisdom and maturity. Elders in the Assembly did not mean those with more authority, it meant those with greater wisdom.The Assembly believed no one person should have more authority or power. If an individual gained too much power in the Ekklesia, he would be voted out and exiled from Athens for ten years. In a world filled with despots and tyrants, Athenian congregationalism was the marvel of the world!

It is no accident that when the biblical writers chose a word to represent believers of Jesus Christ who congregate or assemble together, they chose the word ekklesia. This word did not just drop from heaven. It was not used by Paul or Peter or James in a vacuum. They knew the word represented an assembly of people who shared in equal authority and equal privileges within the Kingdom. Paul even went further than the Athenian Assembly in his teaching that the assembly of Christ (the church) should be a place where there is no difference between Jews and Greeks, males or females, slave or free (Galatians 3:28).

It is completely contrary to Scripture to believe that some men have been given more moral and spiritual authority than other believers within the church. In the ekklesia of Jesus Christ, any person, male or female, recognized as being in Christ carries as much moral and spiritual authority as any other person--no more, no less--the same. The state may recognize trustees with greater legal authority, or pastors with greater state authority (the officiant in marriages, etc...) or signatures bearing corporate authority (deeds, title, etc...), but God established in his ekklesia a group of people with equal spiritual authority. Pay attention to those who are older and wiser in the ekklesia of Christ. Minister to those around you with a servant's heart and attitude. But if you ever begin to feel that somebody is beginning to exert spiritual authority and power over you and other individuals in an attempt to govern Christ's church, then it is time to confront the abuser of the ekklesia and call him out, and maybe even put him out.  My friend wrote a bestselling book called The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, but maybe another one needs to be written entitled The Subtle Problem of Not Confronting Spiritual Abuse. A healthy ekklesia won't allow an abuse of power. It's not easy confronting abusers, but for the good of the ekklesia it must be done.

Why Preaching Gets a Bad Rap

Many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, are entirely confused about the meaning of the word "preach." Three examples of this misunderstanding will illustrate the problem. (1). First, young people will say to their parents, "Don't preach to me!" By this they mean, "Don't be telling me what I should or shouldn't be doing." (2). Second, a punk rock group called The Skallywags has a song called Don't Preach to Me where they express anger toward cultural pop stars like Madonna and actress Susan Sarenden by singing, "Take your soapbox rants and your politics and stick them where the sun don't shine." (3). And finally, after Lebron James watched a very inspirational video of Sports Illustrated Sportskid of the Year, a video about a boy who runs triathlons while pushing or pulling his six-year old cerebal palsy brother, he said to the media, "I don't have to preach anymore because I will just show that video and my older son will know what he's supposed to do for his brother."

All three above examples illustrate that most people believe the word preach means to moralize, to tell people what they should or shouldn't be doing. That is not the definition of the biblical word "preach." Sadly, most obtain this definition of preaching by observing the stereotypical behavior of those wrongly called preachers, men who shame their listeners over their poor behavior on Sunday morning and moralize them with "shoulds" and "oughts." Whatever it is these men in the pulpits are doing, it can't be rightly called preaching, at least as the Bible defines it.

The biblical English word preach translates the Greek word kerusso. This Greek word means "to herald, to announce, or to proclaim something new." The etymology of the word comes from the ancient Greeks who heard a rooster crowing as he announced the rising sun. The sound the rooster made is like how the word kerusso sounds when you say it in Greek. Thus, the word kerusso came to mean "to herald, to announce, or to proclaim something new."  When a rooster preaches (kerusso), he doesn't shame or moralize the person who oversleeps. That's not the job of preaching. The rooster simply announces the sun has risen. The closest modern comparison to the Scriptural word kerusso is news broadcaster.  When you listen to the news, you want to find out something new! The news broadcaster doesn't shame the listener, he reveals something new in the world!

So, too, the biblical preacher is one who tells his listeners something new about Jesus Christ, the risen Son. Paul said "Unto me has been given the grace to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8). Notice, the riches of Christ are inexhaustible. You can search, and search and search, and never even come close to discovering all there is to know about Christ. See Him in Creation. See Him in the patriarchs. See Him in the sacrifices. See Him in Israel's festivals. See Him in Bethlehem. See Him in the Gospels. See Him at Calvary. See Him in eternity. Announce and proclaim Him. See Him as the one to be revered. See Him as the solution for every problem. O that preachers today would be like Anacreon's harp, an instrument that refused to play any other song but a song of love. Though Anacreon wished to sing of the mighty deeds of Hercules and the feats of the sons of Atreus, the harp refused. Only if the song was about love would the strings of the harp vibrate. So, too, may the vocal chords of preachers only vibrate while announcing and proclaiming of the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. Anything else is not real preaching.

In summary, preaching is not moralizing people or even motivating people. Preaching is when a preacher meditates on Christ and is mesmorized by His riches, and then goes out and proclaims by memory all the good news that he himself has learned about Christ.

Nike Ain't No Shoe: The Superbowl and the Worship of Sports, Sex, and Stardom

This post needs a one paragraph disclaimer to be properly understood by readers, so here goes. One of the complaints leveled against me as a pastor and writer is that I'm too free. My grace theology, say some, possesses too much liberty and too little law. I plead guilty. Whether it is loving homosexuals to Christ rather than lambasting them at church, or leading wine collectors to Christ over a glass of wine in their homes, or strongly advocating that institutional churches must change methodologies or die a slow death of traditional irrelevancy, my message is one of Christ's grace and love toward sinners and a repudiation of institutional church authority, control and extra-biblical laws. This Sunday our church will participate in our annual Souper Sunday emphasis where we will share in a fellowship meal after our morning services and take a collection for a new food ministry in our community called Loaves and Fishes.  Several of our small groups will be meeting on Sunday night for Super Bowl parties. We respect churches who have Sunday night corporate worship services, but we do not. The title of this post might make you think that I am about to write something condemning of those who watch the Super Bowl, those who cancel Sunday night services for Super Bowl parties, or those who purchase Nike goods. I am not. The fact is, one of my favorite cousin's wife is a high level executive of Nike, and the charitable work they do is fantastic. I like the Super Bowl as much as anyone else. This post is simply a caution to all Americans, not just Christians, that not all that glitters around the Super Bowl is gold.

This Sunday is the second annual Pray for the Johns Day.  A "john" is a one who pays for sex. In recent years, those involved in putting a stop to human trafficking have reported that use of children and teenagers prostituted for paid sex has been on the upsurge during athletic contests in America, particularly the Super Bowl. Did you ever think we would come to the place in America where people are encouraged to pray for "johns" on Super Bowl Sunday? Probably not. Yet, there is an axiom about our world that the ancient Romans used: Historia non facet saltum - History makes no leaps. America has not arrived overnight at the place where young girls and boys are being taken to the city which hosts the Super Bowl so that "johns" can pay to have sex with them. The problems in New Orleans this weekend during the Super Bowl are outgrowths of America's decades long fascination with sports, sex, and stardom.

The closest event to compare our modern day Super Bowl with is the ancient Greek Olympics. When most Americans hear the word Olympics, they think of a world-wide athletic competition that the modern Olympics represent. But the modern Olympics didn't begin until 1896. The ancient Olympics began in 776 BC and ended in AD 393.  For centuries, the Olympics were Grecian games, open only to free-born Greeks athletes. Much like the American Super Bowl, the rest of the world paid scant attention to the ancient Olympics. However, Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great  decreed in AD 393 that the Olympics should end. Rome had conquered Greece in the second century BC and had adopted Greek culture and language. Yet

Emperor Theodosius, most likely a genuine believer in Jesus Christ and not just a politically expedient Christian like Constantine,  thought the Olympics had become a detriment to Greco/Roman culture and civilization. The athletes at the Olympics had become professionals. Those who won their events were granted free food and lodging for life and were admired by all. Theodosius opined that young people knew more about Olympic athletes than they did Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato. Even worse, Theodosius felt that the Olympics had become a playground for sex and worship of the human form. Olympia, the only site where the ancient Olympics were held during their 1170 year existence, was a city dedicated to the gods. The ancient Greek aphorisms "Know thyself" and "Everything in moderation," had been lost in the collective consciousness of society. People were indulging themselves in all kinds of excess and immorality, and the Olympics had become almost a celebration of that indulgence.

From the start of the Olympic Games until the beginning of the 5th century BC, there were just a few buildings in Olympia, including the Temple of Hera (wife of Zeus) and a crude athletic stadium. However, the Temple of Zeus was built between the years 472-457 BC, and this magnificent structure stood as the centerpiece of Olympia for the remainder of Olympic history. The Temple of Zeus was designed to accommodate the 13-meter-high gold and ivory statue of Zeus, dedicated and placed in the Temple in 435 BC. The Statue of Zeus in Olympia was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It remains to this day one of the largest statues ever raised within an enclosed room. The figure depicted Zeus, seated on a throne, with a scepter in his left hand and Nike (winged victory) in his right hand. Grecians who visited Olympia considered their pilgrimage to Zeus's most sacred locale as a highlight of their year. As time went by, the people would walk out of their religious worship of the philandering and mythical Zeus and live out their sexual fantasies in Olympia as they cheered their athletes to victory.

Sport, sex and stardom. Olympia, Zeus, and Nike. History makes no leaps. This Sunday the Super Bowl is in the Super Dome in New Orleans. Mardi Gras begins the next week in New Orleans. After this Sunday, we will have a new team of American athletic heroes. Our country is very similar to ancient Greece. Our gods just have different names. Before anybody gets too excited about the Super Bowl, remember that in the grand scheme of human existence, measured in millenia (776 BC to AD 2013) or eternity, this weekend's big game amounts to very little. What counts is that we do our a small part to put an end to the exploitation of children and young people in America. Pray for the johns this Sunday, and pray for those in authority who will be arresting those johns.

And keep your eye on the big picture.  Our civilization and our culture, including the Super Bowl, will one day be gone. Only Christ and His Kingdom never end.

A Rendezvous with Death: Blanche Debar Booth, Enid, and the Mystery Surrounding John Wilkes Booth's Death

I have written extensively on what seems to be growing evidence that John Wilkes Booth did not die in the early morning hours of April 26, 1865 as stated in the official record. Booth, according to the accepted historical narrative, was shot by a soldier from the Union's 16th Cavalry named Boston Corbett while hiding in a Virginia farmer's tobacco barn. John Wilkes Booth's family members do not believe this version of their forefather's death, and they say someone else died at Garrett's farm and that their ancestor escaped. Booth's descendants filed suit in 1996 to force the exhumation of the body that the government claims is Booth's. DNA tests could answer definitively whether the body was Booth's, and that is what the Booth family desired--an answer. However, the cemetery's attorneys argued before the judges that if an exhumation of the body took place, the processs would violate what was supposed to be an inviolable written contract between Green Mount Cemetery and Booth's mother (signed in 1869) that her son's remains would never be disturbed. The courts ruled in favor of the cemetery and the body was not exhumed. The family continues to press in their efforts to obtain DNA testing. 

  

Since that mid-1990's court ruling, trace DNA testing has dramatically improved. In addition,  documents have been uncovered that indicate Booth had assistance from government officials in his escape from Washington, D.C. and that he did not die at Garrett's farm. Respected historians and authors Leonard F. Guttridge (now deceased) and Ray A. Neff wrote a book entitled Dark Union in 2003. In the book, the authors reveal how previously unknown primary source materials, papers deemed authentic by the FBI and Department of Defense examiners, implicate Lincoln's Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in plotting to have the President kidnapped or killed on April 14, 1865.  Dark Union further reveals that the men Stanton sent in pursuit of Booth were loyal to Secretary of War and that they eventually allowed Booth to escape. If true, the question then becomes, "Who was shot at Garrett's farm on April 26, 1865?" There are at least three possible and very plausible answers (other than Booth) from those who are proponents of Booth's escape. However, whom they believe was shot is a subject for another post. I desire in this post to focus on the fact that a few Booth family members swore that they met with John Wilkes Booth after 1865.

One such family member is stage actress Blanche Debar Booth (1844-1930). Blanche was considered "the most beautiful woman on the American stage" in her day, and she was Booth's favorite niece. In March 1922, just eight years before her death,  Blanche swore that she had an encounter with John Wilkes Booth in Enid, Oklahoma (some newspaper accounts say El Reno) in the early 1900's. Again in 1925, Blanche swore that her uncle approached her while she was getting to perform in Enid--35 years after the government said he died. Even when Fred L. Black--the investigator assigned by automobile magnate Henry Ford to look into the matter--attempted to dissuade Blanche Debar Booth from her testimony, she stood firm.

"I exchanged but a word or two with him, letting him know I was too fatigued to see anyone."

According to her sworn testimony, she didn't know the man calling her name on the other side of the dressing room door was her aged uncle. She told the inquirer who wished to see her that she was preparing for her performance and he needed to go away.  Blanche said that her uncle then slid a card under the door of the downtown opera house dressing room with these handwritten words on it, "Wouldn't you like to meet your Johnny?" using the name John Wilkes always used when referring to himself with family members. Blanche did not immediately pick up the card, but continued getting ready. When she saw the card and read the words printed on it, she flung open her door, looking frantically for her uncle. Booth was gone. She swore that the distinctive handwriting and signature was that of her uncle's. She wouldn't budge from her views--particularly because she had heard from her other uncles and her own grandmother of personal meetings they had with Booth over the years.

Blanche DeBar Booth was the daughter of Junius (Jr.) Booth, John Wilkes' brother.  After Lincoln was assassinated, Blanche was interviewed by a Missouri state law enforcement officer who described her as "an unmitigated rebel" and "possessed of considerable personal attractions, of a vigorous mind and marked histrionic ability."  After Lincoln's murder, she dropped her last name to dodge her uncle John's infamy. She retained her striking looks.  She created a sensation in Chicago in 1871 when she put on the first play there after the city was all but destroyed by fire.

Blanche Debar Booth is one of just a handful of 19th century stage actors from whom we have a recording of  her talents. In the YouTube audio below, you can hear how Blanche would have dramatically portrayed her craft on stage in the 1800's and early 1900's. The audio is her actual voice quoting a poem appropriate for the mystery surrounding her brother's death. Whether or not Blanche Debar Booth is telling the truth about meeting her uncle in Enid is up for debate, but nobody can question that as the Booth family continues to press for DNA testing of vertebrae from the "body in the barn," until answers are given to them, the mystery of John Wilkes Booth death will continue.




I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade...   I have a rendezvous with Death When Spring brings back blue days and fair...   I've a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town...

And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.

Performed by Blanche DeBar Booth (1844-1930) Favorite Niece of John Wilkes Booth

The Internal Beauty of Soul and Spirit

I recently came across a story from the World War II era that gives some encouragement to young people looking for a spouse to concentrate on the internal beauty of the soul and spirit of any prospective mate before focusing on external looks. The story begins with a young man named John Blanchard who was home in Florida on furlough from the Army. He happened to be in the city library browsing through books when he found some notes penciled in the margin of an old textbook. The soft, elegant handwriting and the insightful notes reflected a "thoughtful soul and insightful mind." John Blanchard turned to the front of the old textbook and found the book's previous owner, Miss Holly Maynell. With some effort and assistance from the librarian, John was able to track down Holly's current address.

Holly lived far away in New York City, so John was unable to meet her before going off to war, but he did introduce himself to Holly through a letter, inviting her to correspond. During the next thirteen months, the two young people came to know each other through words. John Blanchard eventually sent a photograph of himself to Holly and requested one of her, but she refused. She wrote, "If you really care for me, it would not matter what I look like." True enough, each letter from Holly only added to John's appreciation for his girlfriend. "It really doesn't matter what she looked like," he thought. "She inspires me with her words."

A romance was blossoming. The day at long last arrived when John Blanchard was to return from the battlefields of Europe. John and Holly scheduled their first meeting for 7:00 p.m. at Central Station in New York City. "You'll recognize me," she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel." So at 7.00 p.m. John Blanchard stood on the grand concourse of Grand Central Station looking for the girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he'd never seen. John Blanchard explains in his own words what happened next:

"A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small provocative smile curved her lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured.

Almost uncontrollably, I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Holly Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify me to her.

This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever by grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment. "I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?" The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is about, son," she answered, "but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"

Goodbye Grandma: We'll Join You Soon

This Saturday morning, January 19, 2013, in a beautiful log house at the end of Cherry Hollow Drive in Edmond, Oklahoma, my 95-year-old maternal grandmother went home to be with the Lord. Virginia Pearl Salyer Cherry, born November 30, 1917 in a small house just outside Anadarko, Oklahoma, was the daughter of an East Texas oil field worker who had come to Oklahoma during World War I to work the new Anardarko oil play in southwestern Oklahoma.

After her father "Pop" Salyer was severely burned in an oil field accident in Davenport, Oklahoma, Virginia's father moved the family to a farm just north of Minco, Oklahoma where Virginia Salyer lived with her parents and two younger siblings from 1928-1931-- the beginning of the Great Depression. When the farm failed, Pop went back into oil field work and moved his family to East Texas where Virginia would graduate from Leverett's Chapel High School, Kilgore, Texas in May of 1935 at the age of 17. My grandmother attended Kilgore Junior College the fall of 1935 in Kilgore, Texas, majoring in English Literature. It was the summer of 1936, while at home with her parents, who by then had moved to a little petroleum community called New London, Texas, that Virginia Salyer met the man who would be her future husband.

Frederick Tinsley Donne Cherry (1912-1970) had been a star football player for the University of Oklahoma from 1929-1931. Fred had graduated from OU with a petroleum engineering degree and was working as an engineer for the British American Oil Company. He had been invited by "Pop" Salyer, Virginia's father, to the Salyer family home for breakfast. When Virginia got out of bed and saw her family had company, she promptly decided she better make herself a little more presentable. According to grandmother, "I quickly brushed my hair and threw on a dress. I had seen this young man walking around the lease with my father and thought to myself, 'Hmm... I really want to meet him. He is a really handsome fella." The courtship that began that August morning in 1936 around the breakfast table would last for five months, and on January 27, 1937, Virginia Salyer would marry Fred Cherry in a ceremony held at the Turner Town Baptist Church, just outside New London, Texas.

Though Virginia had attended the Methodist church by herself as a young person in Minco, it wasn't until Fred Cherry entered the Salyer family that the Salyers, including Virginia, came to faith in Christ. Fred, an evangelist at heart, led Virginia, Virginia's parents and her siblings to faith in Christ. Fred baptized Pop and Basil, Virginia's father and brother, at the Turner Town Baptist Church just a month after he married into the family. Basil would die one month later on March 18, 1937 in the New London School explosion. Eleven year old Basil would be one of nearly three hundred people who died that day when a bubble of natural gas that had formed beneath the foundation of the school ignited, causing a horrific explosion and the largest school disaster in terms of deaths in the history of America. A young reporter named Walter Cronkite covered the New London explosion and toward the end of his illustrious career with CBS he called it the story that impacted him the most during his professional reporting. The conversion of Basil Salyer and his sudden and tragic death a month later gave both Fred and Virginia a measure of eternal perspective and the importance of Christian evangelism.

Virginia's husband, Fred Cherry, was drafted to fight in World War II and had a distinguished career as an Army officer in Europe, enduring the London blitz and fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. Virginia would give birth to four children prior to Fred's war service, children that included my mother, Mary Cherry, and would then give birth to seven additional children after Fred returned from Europe. In 1950, just a few years after returning from the battle field, Fred gave up a career in oil and business and entered full-time Christian evangelism. In the summer of 1950 the Cherrys purchased a log home in Edmond, Oklahoma, just north of Oklahoma City, and for the past sixty-two years plus, my grandmother has called this her home. For two decades, Virginia Cherry cared for the Cherry children as her husband traversed the United States holding two-week, and sometimes three-week revival meetings. She held down the fort, disciplined the kids, stretched the scarce dollars to make sure enough food was on the table, and was a pillar of faith and courage to her children and the growing numbers of grand-children. When Fred suddenly died of a heart attack in 1970, Virginia Cherry remained in the log house and her eleven children and their families all gathered for holidays with "Grandma Cherry."

For the past few years I have made it a point to drive to Edmond to spend time with my grandmother. With the help of my mother, a professional editor, we were able to write Virginia Cherry's story. At our 2012 Thanksgiving gather, I gave a power-point presentation tracing Grandma Cherry's lineage from her parents side (the Salyers and the Chapmans) back to England and Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English Literature. I gave her a hard back copy of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for her birthday, and tried to express how much she meant to our family. Most of Virginia's life  was overshadowed by her well-known husband, but in my estimation, Virginia was the strength, the backbone, the character, and the heart of the Cherry family.A few months ago, Logan and I made a video of Grandma Cherry. I include the video here as a closing tribute to one of the most remarkable women I've ever known. Goodbye Grandma Cherry. We'll join you soon! Thanks for leaving such a wonderful legacy of faith for 11 children, 42 grandchildren, 108 great-grandchildren and 6 great-great children!

The Main Reason for the Second Amendment

I am at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee doing some research on a man who called himself John Wilkes Booth and married a woman named Louisa Payne in 1872. My wife, Rachelle, is doing some doctoral work at Vanderbilt University. Saturday, Rachelle and I drove to the Cumberland Plateau and did a little site seeing near the Stone's Gate at Beersheba Springs (picture left). Just over my left shoulder, across the Cumberland Ridge, is a little community called Athens, Tennessee. 

Most Americans have never heard of Athens, Tennessee, or the Battle of Athens.  The events that took place there in 1946 have bearing on any discussion regarding the revocation of the Second Amendment by Presidential order. It was in Athens, Tennessee in 1946 that a group of World War II veterans led townspeople in an armed revolt against corrupt and brutal politicians. It is very frustrating to talk to people who believe that the Second Amendment is about the freedom to have guns for hunting or personal defense. Our American forefathers included the Second Amendment for the very reason that the WW II veterans took up arms in Athens in 1946. The film below, a television documentary about The Battle of Athens, is fifteen minutes long, but it is worth your time to watch. Pay close attention to the actual photos at the end of the film and the plaques commemorating the actions of the veterans. I don't think there is a better or more accurate example for why the Second Amendment will always be needed in America. It is important that Americans base their views on gun control on the principles of freedom and not the emotions of fear.

 

The Intellectual Laziness of Us Americans

America is in trouble. The freedoms we have known for over two centuries are fading fast. Many are sounding the alarm, but the vast majority of Americans remain unconcerned. Like many ancient civilizations which have come and gone, physical comforts and sensual pleasures are the primary focus of  most Americans. Rather than comprehending the importance of knowing, most Americans care only for the experience of feeling. It is as if comfortableness has exalted itself to the throne of the American heart. As a result, the intellectual strength needed to sustain the civil freedoms that produced American's societal comforts in the first place has disappeared like a morning mist. Knowledge is power, and most Americans are losing their power because we have lost our knowledge. Whereas most elementary school students in the 1800's learned Latin, Greek, philosophy and the natural sciences, most American adults today could not tell you the philosophical basis for what we call Western civilization.

I want to show you in this post how three contemporary men--Socrates of Athens, Ezra of Israel, and Confucius of China--advocated learning as the answer for the problems in their respective civilizations. These men and their advocacy of life-long learning had a profound effect on their countries and the world at large. Much of what they advocated has been lost in our culture. As long as Americans are only concerned with comforts, we will see very little need for stretching our minds to understand the concepts that built our comforts. In my opinion, one of the best things that could happen to America in the next five years is a total economic collapse which would wipe away all the comforts that cause us to ignore life-long learning. History is repeating itself, and for our American way of life to continue we are going to need some people who are invigorated with the challenge of intellectual pursuit.

Socrates

Athens  during the 5th century BC is considered the birthplace of what we call Western civilization. Socrates (c. 470-399 BC), the son of a stone mason and mid-wife, possessed a remarkable intellect and became convinced at an early age that learning was the path to virtue and the surest road to happiness. Perhaps the emphasis on mental training arose because Socrates was an ugly and uncoordinated man physically, at least by the contemporary standards of his fellow Athenians. The Olympic Games had begun in 776 BC, and Grecian culture was all about molding the finest male physical specimans in their gymnasiums in order to attain victory for the gods.  So in an age where male physical beauty and prowess was esteemed, Socrates was indeed an outcast. This seemed to bother Socrates little. Though he exercised throughout his life, Socrates developed a paunch in his thirties, and with his distinctive bowlegged walk, the people of Athens often made cruel jokes about him. When asked why he did not resent being mocked, Socrates said, "If a man slaps my face, he does me no evil, only himself."

Socrates decided early in life to be a teacher of others. In 5th century Greece, education was handled privately, among individual families, and it was mostly the privilege of only the wealthy and upper class. Socrates, a middle-class man himself, strongly felt that education for the poor was the only way Greek states could ultimately succeed against invasion attempts by rival nations, especially the Persians. Socrates took no pay to be what he called "an examiner" of men. For this reason, Socrates learned to live on the bare necessities of life. He is famous for sayings like, "Some men live to eat. I eat to live." "Greedy people do not appreciate delicacies." "Those who drink a lot don't relish rare wines." "Poverty is a shortcut to self-control." "Nothing is said to be in favor of riches and high birth, which are easy roads to evil."

Socrates star pupil was a young man named Plato (c. 427-347 BC). The central event of Plato's life was being taught by Socrates. Since Socrates himself never wrote anything down, the only way we know of Socrates is through the writings of Plato and others. Plato is considered the first professional academic, for after Socrates death in 399 BC, Plato founded the Academy in a suburban park in Athens. The Academy was the first for-pay university in Western Civilization. A seventeen-year-old young man named Aristotle (384-322 BC) traveled from Thessolonica to study at the Academy. After Plato's death, Aristotle founded his own university in Athens called the Lyceum, a rival to the the Academy. The competetion among universities that we experience today officially began with the Lyceum's founding in 335 BC. Aristotle's star pupil was Alexander the Great, who would conquer the known world militarily. Thus, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are considered the triumvirate fathers of Western philosophy and Western civilization.

Ezra

Few Christians realize that Ezra the scribe (c. 493-440 BC) was a contemporary of Socrates.  Ezra was born in Babylon (modern day Iraq). King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had invaded Judah and carried off Hebrew captives while destroying the Temple and the city of Jerusalem (587 BC) nearly a century before Ezra was born in Babylon. After the fall of Jerusalem (587 BC) the Hebrew captives were held in Babylonian slavery until 539 BC when Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, invaded Babylonian and defeated the Babylonians. Cyrus issued a decree in 538 BC that some of the Hebrews could return to Jerusalem in order to rebuild their Jewish Temple.  Ezra was born in Babylon four decades after those first Jews returned to Jerusalem to begin their work. As Hebrew young men came of age in Babylon, many of them were sent to help their fathers and grandfathers rebuild the Temple and the city walls.

When Ezra grew to be a Hebrew man, he refused to return to Jerusalem and stayed in Babylon to study and learn. He, like Socrates, believed the education of the mind was more important than the comforts of the body. It was only in 458 BC, the year Socrates turned twelve years old in Athens, that the educated and erudite thirty-five-year-old Ezra left Babylon for Jerusalem. Rumors had reached King Artexerses that the Hebrew men in Jerusalem had begun marrying pagan women, had become sloven in their work, and were in need of reform.

When Ezra arrived in Jerusalem, he was shocked by what he found. You can read about Ezra's discoveries in the book of Ezra, chapters 7,8,9, and 10. The Hebrews were not keeping the Law of God. They were more interested in their personal comforts and daily sensual pleasures than any discipline of the mind. They intermarried with women from surrounding pagan countries, and any semblence of morality or moral education was gone. Judaism credits Ezra with establishing the Great Assembly of scholars and prophets, the forerunner of the Sanhedrin, as the authority on matters of religious and Hebrew cultural law. Similar to the Plato's Academy and Aristotles Lyceum, Ezra's Great Assembly raised the educational level of the Hebrew culture. Ezra is considered metaphorically by the Jews as "the flowers that appeared on the earth," signfying the person who led Israel in a springtime rebirth of learning and education.

Confucius

A few years before Socrates was born in Athens, and during the time that Ezra lived in Babylon, a man named Kung Fu-tzu, (known by the Latinized Confucius) lived in Shantung, China. Born in 551 BC and dying at age seventy-three in 479 BC, just twenty years before an adult Ezra left Babylon for Jerusalem (458 BC), Confucius, whose name Kung Fu-Tsu means "Philosopher Kung," became the Chinese equivalent of the Hebrew Ezra and the Grecian Socrates.

Confucius devoted his life to the moral and cultural transformation of his society by stressing the importance of all Chinese people--rich and poor, young and old--learning the six intellectual arts of Chinese culture: ritual, calligraphy, arithmetic, music, archery and charioteering. Contrary to the Chinese beliefs of his day which emphasized only the latter two, Confucius believed that no amount of physical expertise could ever replace the importance of intellectual learning.

Confucius taught that a person should be "so deep in study that he forgets to eat, so full of joy in learning he ignores all practical worries, and so busy acquiring knowledge he does not notice old age coming on. Education, for Confucius, was the process whereby civilization, and the minds and bodies of those privileged to enjoy it, breathed and lived" (see Paul Johnson, A Man for Our Times).

The descendents of Confucius live today in the same area their forefather was born seventy-six generations ago. Much of Chinese culture today is indebted to the emphasis Confucius placed on learning. Israel in our modern times, much like China, is saturated with a culture of learning. Western civilization, from Europe to South America, is indebted to the Socratic and Platonic influence of 5th century Athens.

America, however, is going downhill fast.

As a follower of Jesus Christ I could advocate that what is missing in our culture is what we Christians call "revival." But as one who understands that there have been great cultures in this world that have never been influenced by the Christian faith, I will settle for a secondary advocacy as a hopeful rescue for our country. We need Americans of all ages interested in learning.

Sadly, it seems we have raised up several generations of Americans who care more about video games than reading, more about pop-culture trivia than philosophical truth, and more about personal comfort than societal concerns. We are about to lose all our American comforts. It is not a matter of if; it is a matter of when. When we do, don't despair.

Just maybe God will show us grace and raise up an American Socrates, an American Ezra or an American Confucius. God knows we need one.