One of the great risks in this life is that we forget our sin, and our salvation. If we get self-righteous, and are convinced that we are invulnerable to being deceived, or falling, then we will forget that each day we sin. There is a reason Donne wrote the way he did. At the moment is is easy to hate.

I'm such an Orthodox Presbyterian I drink OP wine. pic.twitter.com/1rgBo09QWn

— danborvan (@danborvan) September 1, 2015

We have to guard against self-righteousness, because that may lead to us losing our love. If we are righteous, we need not Christ. We will be judgmental. We will swing the banhammer with glee. And we will become proud, cold, hateful, and people will curs God because of us.

Which is a risk too great to take. This world is lost, this world is fallen. And they will face a God who is righeous, and glorious, and who will bring true justice. By that standard we will all fall.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

(Revelation 1:17-2:7 ESV)

But this self-righteousness, this lack of love, is a delusion. We are broken, What we are doing is distorting the world so it fits our models. We accuse the enemy of doing this: yet we can do it ourselves.

But make no mistake, this is only posturing. The Bible teaches us that women are more easily deceived. As Christian men we have a responsibility to Christian women to try to protect them from temptation of feminist rebellion. Pretending that no rebellion is occurring is worse than remaining silent, and it is the opposite of brave. In pretending that feminist envy and usurpation is really about men insisting that women take their roles, complementarians are actively encouraging women to be deceived into sin.

The compulsion to change the subject from reality to fantasy land is so great that CBMW member writing on the topic reads like articles from the Onion. Here is a quick review of articles by CBMW members on the subject over the last ten years. Note how the women who want to usurp men’s roles are praised as courageous, smart, and noble, while the real villains (the men who are making them usurp men’s roles) are castigated instead.

Before I put the next quote in, I need to say that the reason I am a fundamentalist, I am a person with reformed theology, and I am not Catholic (in particular) or Orthodox or Anabaptist is intellectual. I see the reformed habit of sticking closely to scripture and have a theology that is based on scripture even when the do not like it. Calvin, for instance, wanted to keep the Roman “no divorce at all” rule. For he saw a door that opened would lead to destruction, and in that he was correct. But his reading of scripture said otherwise. We struggle with exegesis — which is one reason we read the older scholars, who struggled as well, and note the errors they have made.

But in going that intellectual there is a risk that we, too, will lose our first love. That salvation becomes merely a formula and not a matter of death and life and tears and joy. But one thing I do know: the liberal poison has been tried and found wanting.

But let us go back to today. Your humble correspondent sits there, in the middle of that packed church; and cannot avoid thinking that come rain or shine, Evil Clowns or Angelic Shepherds, a merciful Lord will move the Elect to the right behaviour, and to a good death when their time comes. The times we are living must have, in fact, another phenomenon in place: that God sends on earth an awful lot of Reprobates, who of their own will – and still in accordance with the plans of an Omnipotent God – will merit damnation.

Who knows, perhaps there is a secondary FrancisEffect in this: that some people – perhaps tepid Catholics, perhaps lapsed ones – will be encouraged to rediscover the religion of their fathers; not because of any non-existing orthodoxy of the man, but exactly because they hear what Francis goes spitting around and immediately think: “this is not what I was told!”, thus setting in motion a process of rediscovery.

Perhaps so. Perhaps I am bring my usual optimistic self. Perhaps I am, in fact, clutching at straws.

But it was beautiful, today, to sit in front of a church that reminded me of the masses of my childhood.

Recall from where you came. Recall the passion of your conversion. And pray for that fire. We may need it.

UPDATE.

Will says the first video does not run in Canada: I got if from youtube. I should like like this.