Worship and Liturgy

Liturgy and Culture

Aug 20, 2014 

Justin Taylor

Frank Senn:

The liturgy is transcultural in that it includes orders and symbols that witness to the church as a worldwide communio.
It is contextual in that it always admits the use of natural or cultural elements in worship in each locality.
It is countercultural in that the gospel it proclaims and celebrates always holds out the vision of an alternative worldview and lifestyle.
It is cross-cultural in that it uses expressions from different cultures.

—Frank C. Senn, Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997),  678.

Letter From America (After Surviving Ebola)

Calling Time On Ebola

The media have carried the news of the full recovery from Ebola by two US missionaries to Liberia, West Africa.  After contracting the disease, they were flown home and treated at Emory University Hospital.  Not without controversy.  A virtual, viral flash mob rapidly formed driven by the irrational fear of a bubonic plague about to kill everyone in the United States.  One conservative commentator, Ann Coulter complained that it did not make any sense for US missionaries to go abroad.  Weren’t there enough problems to face in the United States?  Poor Ann overlooked a slight problem with her argument: when God calls, no man can successfully gainsay.  A reluctant prophet by the name of Jonah springs to mind.  Apparently, Ann had neglected to read Matthew 28: 18-20 recently.

In any event, Dr Kent Brantly has released a public statement  which he read after being released from Emory University Hospital.  It bears testimony to the Spirit of Christ, Himself.  

“Today is a miraculous day. I am thrilled to be alive, to be well and to be reunited with my family. As a medical missionary, I never imagined myself in this position. When my family and I moved to Liberia last October to begin a two-year term working with Samaritan’s Purse, Ebola was not on the radar. We moved to Liberia because God called us to serve the people of Liberia.

“In March, when we got word that Ebola was in Guinea and had spread to Liberia, we began preparing for the worst. We didn’t receive our first Ebola patient until June, but when she arrived, we were ready. During the course of June and July, the number of Ebola patients increased steadily, and our amazing crew at ELWA Hospital took care of each patient with great care and compassion. We also took every precaution to protect ourselves from this dreaded disease by following MSF and WHO guidelines for safety.

“After taking Amber and our children to the airport to return to the States on Sunday morning, July 20, I poured myself into my work even more than before—transferring patients to our new, bigger isolation unit; training and orienting new staff; and working with our Human Resources officer to fill our staffing needs. Three days later, on Wednesday, July 23, I woke up feeling under the weather, and then my life took an unexpected turn as I was diagnosed with Ebola Virus Disease. As I lay in my bed in Liberia for the following nine days, getting sicker and weaker each day, I prayed that God would help me to be faithful even in my illness, and I prayed that in my life or in my death, He would be glorified.

“I did not know then, but I have learned since, that there were thousands, maybe even millions of people around the world praying for me throughout that week, and even still today. And I have heard story after story of how this situation has impacted the lives of individuals around the globe—both among my friends and family, and also among complete strangers. I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and your support. But what I can tell you is that I serve a faithful God who answers prayers.

“Through the care of the Samaritan’s Purse and SIM missionary team in Liberia, the use of an experimental drug, and the expertise and resources of the health care team at Emory University Hospital, God saved my life—a direct answer to thousands and thousands of prayers.

“I am incredibly thankful to all of those who were involved in my care, from the first day of my illness all the way up to today—the day of my release from Emory. If I tried to thank everyone, I would undoubtedly forget many. But I would be remiss if I did not say thank you to a few. I want to thank Samaritan’s Purse, who has taken care of me and my family as though we were their own family. Thank you to the Samaritan’s Purse and SIM Liberia community. You cared for me and ministered to me during the most difficult experience of my life, and you did so with the love and mercy of Christ.

“Thank you to Emory University Hospital and especially to the medical staff in the isolation unit. You treated me with such expertise, yet with such tenderness and compassion. For the last three weeks you have been my friends and my family. And so many of you ministered to me not only physically, but also spiritually, which has been an important part of my recovery. I will never forget you and all that you have done for me.

“And thank you to my family, my friends, my church family and to all who lifted me up in prayer, asking for my healing and recovery. Please do not stop praying for the people of Liberia and West Africa, and for a quick end to this Ebola epidemic.

“My dear friend, Nancy Writebol, upon her release from the hospital, wanted me to share her gratitude for all the prayers on her behalf. As she walked out of her isolation room, all she could say was, ‘To God be the glory.’ Nancy and David are now spending some much needed time together.

“Thank you for your support through this whole ordeal. My family and I will now be going away for a period of time to reconnect, decompress and continue to recover physically and emotionally. After I have recovered a little more and regained some of my strength, we will look forward to sharing more of our story; but for now, we need some time together after more than a month apart. We appreciate having the opportunity to spend some time in private before talking to some of you who have expressed an interest in hearing more of our journey. Thank you for granting us that.

“Again, before we slip out, I want to express my deep and sincere gratitude to Samaritan’s Purse, SIM, Emory and all of the people involved in my treatment and care. Above all, I am forever thankful to God for sparing my life and am glad for any attention my sickness has attracted for the plight of West Africa in the midst of this epidemic. Please continue to pray for Liberia and the people of West Africa, and encourage those in positions of leadership and influence to do everything possible to bring this Ebola outbreak to an end. Thank you.”

Deadly Force

Muhammad’s Great Commission

In his book, Global Jihad, scholar Patrick Sookhdeo, who was himself raised a Muslim, addresses Islam’s version of the Great Commission.  Drawing on the Qur’an, he writes:

Islam teaches that all lands belong to Allah who has given them to Muslims.  Some they already possess, the rest are theirs in theory and will gradually become theirs in practice.  This doctrine is based on several verses in the Qur’an.  [Patrick Sookdheo, Global Jihad: The Future in the Face of Militant Islam. (McLean, VA: Isaac Publishing, 2007), p.85.]

 Now, this may not seem startling in any general sense, since monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Christianity) necessarily have a belief that the entire world, indeed creation, belongs to God, since there is no other God and no false deities or authorities or powers will ever prevail in the face of the one and only God.  Thus, imperial possession of the entire world is a necessary corollary of monotheism. 

But all three monotheistic religions face a world which is manifestly neither Christian, nor Jewish nor Islamic.  How, then, do they believe it will come about?
  Traditional Jewish theology teaches that the entire world will become Jewish when the Messiah appears at the end of history.  But both Islam and Christianity teach that the world will come progressively under the control and possession of Allah or the Lord Jesus Christ respectively through history–or, to put it another way, through its followers and disciples.  The entire world will become progressively Islamised or Christianised, prior to the end of history as we know it. 

The classic, but by no means sole, Christian text teaching this is what is known as the Great Commission:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.”  (Matthew 28: 18-20, emphasis, ours)

Christianisation of the entire world occurs through history as the Gospel is proclaimed and people groups hear, believe, and observe all that Christ has commanded.

Islam classically believes that the entire world will be Islamised as Islamic believers follow the pattern and example of Muhammad himself.

[Most Muslims] argue that the first Muslim community developed in clearly defined stages which must be emulated today.  First came the stage of weakness in which the message of Islam was proclaimed (da’wa) to an unbelieving society, then the stage of separation from unbelievers and migration (hijra) to a safe place where Muslim strength could be built up, and finally the stage of the sacred fight (jihad) to reconquer lost territory, victoriously extend Muslim political dominion and implement God’s ideal state on earth.  (Sookdheo, ibid.,  p. 86f.)

What is particularly significant here is the duty to engage in jihad for intermediate and final victory–and jihad means armed conquest, subjugation, and, if necessary, execution of non-Muslims.  In sharp contrast to Christian doctrine, classical Islam believed, taught, and practised armed subjugation as intrinsically necessary to achieving the Islamisation of the entire world.  Muslims did so because they were following both the teaching and example of Muhammad himself. 

The reality is this: the more pious and committed an Islamic believer becomes, the more he or she turns to the classical texts and teaching and examples; consequently, the more violence against non-Muslims becomes a holy duty.  Here is Sheik Al-Qaradhawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, for example:

Our war with the Jews is over land, brothers.  We must understand this.  If they had not plundered our land, there wouldn’t be a war between us . . . . We are fighting them in the name of Islam, because Islam commands us to fight whoever plunders our land, and occupies our country.  All the schools of Islamic jurisprudence–the Sunni, the Shi’ite, the Ibadhiya–and all the ancient and modern schools of jurisprudence–agree that any invader who occupies even an inch of land of the Muslims must face resistance.  The Muslims of that country must carry out resistance, and the rest of the Muslims must help them.  If the people of that country are incapable or reluctant, we must fight to defend the land of Islam, even if the local [Muslims] give it up. . . . They must not allow anyone to take a single piece of land away from Islam.  That is what we are fighting the Jews for.  [Cited by Sookdheo, ibid., p. 90. Emphasis,ours.)

To Western ears all that might sound a bit academic or anachronistic, until it is realised that the purview is not just Israel.  Historically, such lost lands which all Muslims have a sacred duty to fight to reconquer include Israel, Spain, the Balkans, India, and much of Central Asia. That is why jihadi fighters all around the world are committed to throwing themselves into the fray in places like Israel, Spain, Kashmir, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.  (Ibid.)

Sookdheo continues:

Isma’il Raji al-Faruqi, a renowned Palestinian-American Islamic scholar, defines the Islamic state as universal and all pervasive, aiming at controlling the whole earth in terms of territory and all human beings in terms of population.  Even outer space should be under its control:

Islam asserts that the territory of the Islamic state is the whole earth or, better, the whole cosmos since the possibility of space travel [is] not too remote.  Part of the earth may be under direct rule of the Islamic state and the rest may yet have to be included; the Islamic state functions regardless.  Indeed its territory is ever expansive.  So is its citizenry, for its aim is to include all humankind.  If the Islamic state is at any time restricted to a few of the world’s population, it does not matter as long as it wills to comprehend humanity.

Sookdheo, p. 91)

In summary, classical and  modern Islam looks for world conquest–as does each and every monotheistic faith.  But Islamic tradition, doctrine and teachers differ in the call for armed and deadly force to be used to accomplish this goal.  Christian doctrine likewise believes in world conquest, but the means are entirely different: preaching and proclaiming, faith and repentance, and gradual discipleship.  The sword is forbidden.  For the sword, whilst it can subjugate, is powerless to convert the heart.  It cannot regenerate and bring the spiritually dead to life.  Only God’s Spirit can do that. 

Christianisation occurs by changing the hearts and minds of people groups.  Islamisation occurs ultimately by subjugation and force.  And that is a powerful evidence that Islam is of the Father of Lies. 

Beginnings

God’s Business

We have often remarked that the Kingdom of God is exceedingly thick: it addresses and covers everything.  When folk turn their attention to the coming of the Kingdom and what it might look like, oftentimes they naively compare the Kingdom to the kingdoms of this world: all pomp, circumstance, trappings, and a lust for power.  But the Kingdom of God, whilst coming in the world, is definitely not of this world.  It is of another order entirely.

It is helpful to consider the impact and outcome of the Kingdom when it takes captive a soul who comes to faith in Christ and becomes increasingly discipled to Christ.  In other words, we should focus upon an individual who has fallen subject to our Lord in terms of the Great Commission.  This is an individual who has had the Gospel preached to him, who has repented of his sin and believed upon King Jesus, and has been successively taught all that Christ has commanded.  What does that person look like?  How would we describe him?  What difference has the Kingdom made in this person’s life?

The Bible would have us understand that for that person everything has changed or is changing.  All things have become new.  (II Corinthians 5:17).  One way to consider this is to point out that every human action, whether in thought, word, or deed, manifests a distinct goal, a distinct motive, and a distinct standard.  This represents the trinity of human action, of ethics.  When a person becomes a Christian his goals, motives and standards change radically and increasingly comprehensively. 

In general terms, the Christian’s distinct goal in all that he does is to bring glory and honour to the Name of Christ Himself.  The conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer aptly expresses this: “thine is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever, Amen”  The overall purposive goal towards which the Christian aims  is the glory and honour of God and His Son Jesus Christ. 

Similarly, in general terms the motive which is to govern our thoughts, our words, and our deeds is love for God and man.  Finally, again in general terms, the standard to which all actions are to subject is the law of God.

When a community of people arise who are living for the glory of God, motivated by love of God and their neighbour, and are ruled by the law of God, the Kingdom of God becomes tangible and visible to others. It becomes societal.  

A moment’s reflection will confirm that such a community will bear witness to the fact that the Kingdom of God touches everything.  The Kingdom of God is totalitarian in that sense, for the King of the Kingdom is literally a totalitarian king: all power and authority in heaven and upon earth has been given to him.  (All earthly totalitarian tyrants are diabolical perversions of the one, true totalitarian Ruler.)  The Kingdom of God is exceedingly thick.  But, unlike all other kingdoms of this world, the most important manifestation of its power and authority is self-government. The Kingdom of God is from within.  From there it reaches out and touches everything.

Someone will ask, Can it be possible that so many people will eventually become converted to Christ and be discipled that such a Kingdom will actually come to pass?  The right way to answer such a question is to ask another: how big, how powerful, how great is our God?  Or, how perfect and complete was the atoning work of Christ?  Obviously so complete, so perfect, so glorious that it resulted in Him being raised to sit at the right hand of God to command the universe.  Therein lies the answer to the question.

The Kingdom’s coming into the world has only just begun.  We have seen so far just the fringes of His garment.  How apt then that the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer is, “Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  The coming of the Kingdom is God’s business.  Ours is to be true servants and ambassadors of the King and His Kingdom. 

It’s Official

China’s Christian Explosion

[The article reprinted below is from the May edition of the OMF Newsletter.  The growth of the Christian church and the spread of the Gospel in China is now being officially acknowledged in government circles.  This brings some risks.  It also begs the question which many Western Christians have been asking for some years.  Since the West is turning away from the Lord, and the lights are going out on Western Christendom, will Asia in general, and China in particular, become the new Christendom of the next one thousand years of our Lord’s reign?]

For many years leaders of China’s State-controlled church would cautiously tell foreign visitors that the number of Chinese Protestants, although growing, was still only “a tiny minority” of the population.

>Praying for Islamic Lands

>Breaking Satan’s Ostensible Iron Grip

Christians are not allowed to preach the Gospel in Islamic lands. Under Islamic law, if an Islamic person converts and becomes a Christian he automatically attracts the death penalty. Satan holds these nations in a terrible grip, shutting up the people in a dark prison, effectively preventing them from hearing the Gospel.

Christians everywhere ought to pray with great boldness and strong faith that this oppression and tragedy will stop. In Revelation 20: 1–3 we are told that the Dragon, the Serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan has been thrown into the abyss so that he should not “deceive the nations any longer.”

According to David Chilton, (The Days of Vengeance, p. 502) most Reformed scholars agree that this refers to Satan’s inability to prevent the message of the Gospel from achieving success. Satan’s opposition to the Gospel takes many forms. When he so controls a state or a people that the very law of the land outlaws the Gospel and prevents it from being heard by anyone, Christians have a biblical warrant boldly to remind the Lord that Satan has been bound and in the light of that to be praying very specifically that this travesty be brought to an end speedily.

How it will happen is beyond our ken. But, as ever, the Lord moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. We ought to take no rest, and give Him not rest until He does this. (Isaiah 62:6,7)

>Only a Matter of Time

>All Nations Required to be Christian

“All nations are absolutely required to be Christian, in their official capacity as well as in the personal character of their individual citizens. http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=jtertullian&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=0930462092&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrAny nation that does not submit to the all embracing rule of King Jesus will perish; all nations shall be Christianized some day. It is only a matter of time. Jesus Christ is the universal sovereign, and he will be recognized as such throughout the earth, in this world as well as in the next, in time as well as eternity. He has promised: ‘I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth’ (Psalm 46:10). The Lord of hosts is with us.” 
David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance, p.489.

1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2The LORD sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power,
in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.
4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
Psalm 110

The Kingdom of God does not come by the sword, or by force. It is a Kingdom of consent–just as no-one truly believes in the Saviour except by personal faith and repentance. It is a Kingdom of people universally born again by the sovereign, free work of the Spirit of God. Without this, no-one even sees the Kingdom, let alone participates. So our Lord definitively declared in John 3. God’s people freely offer themselvesin the day of His power.

So, why then the reference to kings (and nations) being shattered, filled with corpses? This is the judgement of God wrought upon ungodly kings and nations by the ungodly. Even as the pagan Romans encircled Jerusalem in AD 66-70, destroying it utterly, for their own reasons and goals, in fact they were the servants of God, carrying out His purposes and judgments. That is why the Christ declared to the High Priest that he would see the Son of Man Himself at the head of the destroying armies.

This was not new. God used the Assyrians and the Babylonians as His servants, His chosen vessels, to judge faithless Israel. He also used the Babylonians to shatter the Assyrians, then the Medes and Persians to judge Babylon, then Greeks to judge the Medes, and so on. These judgements are so shattering that they shake the very foundations of Unbelief, and, as it pleases Him, lead people to yearn for the Prince of peace. The violent degradation of so many people in the Roman world was one of the reasons the Gospel first spread so powerfully amongst the Gentiles. In the same way, we are told, (here, here, and here) we are witnessing a turning to Christ amongst Muslim people in these days, as they see the violence and wickedness of their inherited religion.

These patterns are not new. They are typical of the work of God making His enemies a footstool for the Lord Jesus Christ. As the kings of Unbelieving nations shatter each other, in mutually destructive, enervating divine judgements, so the people yearn for the Prince of peace. Until the day their kings and governments also offer themselves freely in the day of His power.

Only a matter of time. From age to age, He stands, and time is in His hands.

>Christian Nations

>Can They Be Found?

Over at M&M we have been debating whether the United States is a Christian nation.  We issued the following challenge to one of the protagonists who asserted that the US is an overtly Christian nation:

If you can find one current governing document (Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc. at either Federal level or state level), one Supreme Court Decision, one federally funded entity, one public school, one federally funded college or university, one officially sanctioned public prayer, one act of Congress, or one democratic vote on anything anywhere that publicly acknowledges and honours Jesus Christ as Lord of these United States, or college, or state legislature–or whatever, then you may have a point–at least for that one particular public institution that performed an isolated act of obeisance to the King of kings. But to speak of the US as a Christian nation whilst all institutions of public governance are forbidden by law to mention, let alone honour or invoke the Christ, would seem at first glance bizarre. . . .

If you were to observe that there are plenty of Christians in the US and that makes the US an overtly Christian nation, I would observe that there are millions upon millions of Christians in China, but that does not make China an overtly Christian nation in any sense whatsoever.

The discussion raises interesting questions.  Can any nation accurately be called Christian today?   Secondly, what would an overtly Christian country look like?  The answer would be quickly to hand if we were to ask: what does a Christian family look like?  Two things.  Firstly, it is necessary that the family, as a family, profess the Lord Jesus Christ as its head, and profess loyalty and obeisance to Him.  This is a necessary condition to being a Christian family.  There must be an “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” position taken and proclamation made.  But this is not sufficient.

In addition, a family that is Christian must not only make the profession, but must evidence an actual living faith that is transforming the lives of all its members to be more like Christ.  Or, to use the modern idiom, it must talk Christianly and walk Christianly.  Then we can accurately and fairly speak of a Christian family.

The same principles and tests would hold true for any Christian institution, such as a Christian school, a Christian hospital, or a Christian law firm.  Precisely the same tests hold true for a genuinely Christian nation.  In order for a nation to be fairly called Christian it is necessary that the nation, as a nation, publicly acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as its Head, as the King over its judges, courts, parliaments, executives.  But this is not sufficient.  In addition, in national life, the nation must walk the walk, which would require, of course, that the vast majority of its citizens as citizens are Believers and are living out their faith.

Does this mean that in a Christian nation, everyone would be forced to become a Christian?  Of course not.  You cannot force anyone to be a Christian: it is a contradiction in terms.  No-one can force the regeneration of the Spirit which leads to a man being born again.  Did not our Lord say that the Spirit blows where He wills?  But it does mean that in a Christian nation even Unbelievers will adopt Christian practices and habits because they will have become cultural.  When everyone is doing something, others go along for the ride. 

Given these litmus tests as to whether a nation is Christian, is there any Christian nation upon the earth today?  Clearly not.  Are there nations that are more Christian than others?  Clearly yes, if we mean by that nations where Christians have freedom to believe and practise their faith, and that as such they have some influence over their local communities.

Will there ever be genuinely Christian nations upon the earth?  We believe so–provided you also believe, as we do, that the Lord Jesus Christ will indeed ensure the fulfilment of the Great Commission.  Why else would He have been raised to the office, position, and glory of absolute ruler of the heavens and the earth?

>Fathers Are Critical

>Great Hope, Huge Responsibilities

The Covenant of Grace is the engine block of redemption: it is the spiritual structure which effects redemption and the salvation of the world.  God deals with us and relates to us within the terms and structures of the covenants He made with Noah, Abraham, Moses and Israel, David and so on–all of which were precursors of, or preludes to, the one Covenant–the Covenant made in the Blood and Body of Christ.

Central to that Covenant is the dynamic of children inheriting the promises and faith of their believing, covenant-keeping fathers.  The Covenant is thus a covenant with us and with our descendants.  This, in turn, is founded upon the promise of God: “I will be a God to you, and to your children after you.”  (Genesis 17:7)  For our part, our duty is to respond in faith to these promises, and act in accordance with them.  Thus, we raise our children not to be “little deciders for Jesus” but we command them to believe, obey, and walk in the commandments of their God.  Thus, God says of Abraham, our father:  “For I have chosen him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice; in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” (Genesis 17: 19)  Faithful, covenant keeping fathers no more allow their children a choice as to whether they would believe and follow the Lord than they would allow their children to choose whether they would cross a busy street with their eyes shut.  Both lead to death. 

Commanding one’s children and household to keep the ways of the Lord is a duty placed upon every husband and father–the God appointed head of the household.  As that duty towards children is carried out, and as indeed, children are taught and trained to walk after the Lord and keep His Covenant, so the Lord brings about His promises.  And the promise is that Abraham (and his descendants) will become great and that all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him (Genesis 17:18).

Right at this point you have a distinction in the Church of our Lord.  There are many, many fellow believers who have not yet heard, nor reckoned with this reality.  For one reason or another they have not heard of the Covenant of Grace as the engine block of their salvation, nor reckoned with the fact that they have inherited the promises made to Abraham and are, in fact, children of Abraham (Galatians 3:29).  Sadly, they have not yet understood that God has made promises to them and their children; consequently they do not understand that they must command their children to walk in all the ways of the Lord.  To these brethren, the Great Commission begins afresh and again with each generation.  There can be no progress of redemption upon the earth. Everything goes back to “Go” with each new generation.  They sadly believe that each child born to Christian parents is not in any way differently related to God than an infant born in an unbelieving house of idolatry that has never heard the Gospel.  Both alike are children captive to the Devil. 

The Covenant of Grace, together with its intergenerational promise from God, to both fathers and their children, makes the task of discipling all the nations of the earth not only possible, but inevitable.  Thus, it is vitally important that every Christian household comes to understand the promises that God has made to us about our children, and the consequent required obedience that rests upon us, the parents, to command our children to walk in the ways of the Lord.

In this regard, fathers are critical. It is fathers, as heads of households, who must lead, not only by example, but by command.  When fathers fail to obey and fulfil their duties to their children, more often than not children grow up disbelieving and rebelling against the God of their father and their mother.

To illustrate, consider the following post by Justin Taylor:  

A Father’s Role in His Children Going to Church When They Are Adults

Robbie Low, writing in Touchstone (June 2003), points to an interesting 1994 study in Switzerland about the connection between the churchgoing habits of fathers and mothers and the effect on their children when they are grown.
Here’s a summary:

In short, if a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in 50 will become a regular worshipper. If a father does go regularly, regardless of the practice of the mother, between two-thirds and three-quarters of their children will become churchgoers (regular and irregular). If a father goes but irregularly to church, regardless of his wife’s devotion, between a half and two-thirds of their offspring will find themselves coming to church regularly or occasionally.

A non-practicing mother with a regular father will see a minimum of two-thirds of her children ending up at church. In contrast, a non-practicing father with a regular mother will see two-thirds of his children never darken the church door. If his wife is similarly negligent that figure rises to 80 percent!

The results are shocking, but they should not be surprising. They are about as politically incorrect as it is possible to be; but they simply confirm what psychologists, criminologists, educationalists, and traditional Christians know. You cannot buck the biology of the created order. Father’s influence, from the determination of a child’s sex by the implantation of his seed to the funerary rites surrounding his passing, is out of all proportion to his allotted, and severely diminished role, in Western liberal society.

A mother’s role will always remain primary in terms of intimacy, care, and nurture. (The toughest man may well sport a tattoo dedicated to the love of his mother, without the slightest embarrassment or sentimentality). No father can replace that relationship. But it is equally true that when a child begins to move into that period of differentiation from home and engagement with the world “out there,” he (and she) looks increasingly to the father for his role model. Where the father is indifferent, inadequate, or just plain absent, that task of differentiation and engagement is much harder. When children see that church is a “women and children” thing, they will respond accordingly—by not going to church, or going much less.

Curiously, both adult women as well as men will conclude subconsciously that Dad’s absence indicates that going to church is not really a “grown-up” activity. In terms of commitment, a mother’s role may be to encourage and confirm, but it is not primary to her adult offspring’s decision. Mothers’ choices have dramatically less effect upon children than their fathers’, and without him she has little effect on the primary lifestyle choices her offspring make in their religious observances.
Her major influence is not on regular attendance at all but on keeping her irregular children from lapsing altogether. This is, needless to say, a vital work, but even then, without the input of the father (regular or irregular), the proportion of regulars to lapsed goes from 60/40 to 40/60.

You can read the whole essay here.

>Thy Kingdom Come

>Charles Haddon Spurgeon
 Evangelism; Great Commission;

I myself believe that King Jesus will reign, and the idols will be utterly abolished; but I expect the same power which turned the world upside down once will still continue to do it.  The Holy Ghost would never suffer the imputation to rest upon His holy name that He was not able to convert the world. 

Quoted in Iain Murray, The Puritan Hope: Revival and the Interpretation of Prophecy (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1971), p. 258. http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=jtertullian&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=085151247X&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr