From Joseph of Jackson we get this bit of snark…
I haven’t fallen into fornication for the last 10 years of my life so my testimony is shit. Jesus and the truth be damned folks, it’s the testimony that saves. Apparently what I need to do is go live in sin for a few years, get my notch count above 100, have a minimum of 3 STD’s, and have a fresh girl attend the class with me every week so that my mojo is unquestionable. I’ll figure out something to get through to this guy, but just be warned, Jesus doesn’t save, the testimony does……………………………(scratches head).
Amen. If I live righteously, the world calls me a loser. I’m expected to take any woman who is available as if I am some kind of Jack in the box working completely on visceral reactions and letting my dick rule my head.
That ain’t discipline and self control. That will damage my kids — because that is a recipe for chaos. What we do matters. And yes, I fail. Yes, I have things in my past I am ashamed of — and that I do not want to share. Because I would rather talk about what God does. Because it does not build anyone up. Because it encourages people to believe a lie: that God is some kind of slot machine, dispensing salvation by some formula of words and works.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
1As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, 2not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. 3Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. 4He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. 5Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? 6And you know what is now restraining him, so that he may be revealed when his time comes. 7For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. 9The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, 10and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, 12so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.
The problem here is that the world wants some form of Dixie Chick theology. All others are blamed, and you are going to be saved because of your specialness, like any other snowflake.
Well, yeah. Not. This is not the gospel. It is not about the spectacularness of your testimony.
You have sinned. Join the club. It’s grotty, and it is boring. I don’t need to know the details.
Talk to be of repentance. Talk to me of righteousness. Talk to me of standing up to the culture, which makes the trivial important, and blindly forgets the significant. Discuss with me how to raise kids, how to make your home righteous, and how to stand when the enemies are arrayed against you… and that will always make me listen. Talk to me of the gospel, not of how you were dragged out of this or that.
For the power of our faith is not in us. It is not in our testimony. It is not in external signs of success. Many of the most faithful saints have lived quiet and humble lives, and we will not know what they did — it will never have been publicized — until God tells us so.Our theology should be from Christ and his word, not from publicists or preachers who pander to what we want, leaving us in our delusions, and sliding softly down a road to our own destruction.