The Curse

Question: Has Christ redeemed us from the curse?

My Response: On the comments page, Norman DeLaHunt asked, "Which curse?" That is the pertinent question. Scripture discusses 2 different kinds of curses, namely, the curse of sin and the curse of the Law.

The curse of sin is what fell on mankind when Adam and Eve transgressed God's Laws and were banished from the garden of Eden. There are many that teach that we have been totally redeemed from the curse of sin and that we should be healthy, wealthy and wise all of the time. If it is true that we have been redeemed from the curse of sin, women should have no pain in childbirth, gardens should have no weeds and men should work and sweat! I've never met a believer whose Christianity produced that kind of fruit! We will deal with the curse of sin until we get to heaven. Salvation has an eschatological component. We have been redeemed from the penalty of sin; we are being redeemed from the power of sin; and, we will ultimately be redeemed from the presence of sin when we get to heaven. Until then, we will deal with the effects of the fall of man.

Christ did redeem us from the curse of the Law. What was that curse? The curse is that if you break one law, you become guilty of breaking the whole thing. The only way to be justified under law is to obey it without error. Even in the Old Testament, a right relationship with God was based of faith, not on total adherence to the Mosaic code. The Law is a schoolmaster whose purpose is to drive us to Christ. Because of His sacrifice, we are not under Law but under grace. That curse, total obedience to the Law in our own strength, is the curse from which we have been redeemed!

What about demonic curses? Generational curses? If you're interested in those, I'd be glad to discuss these, as well! Let me know if you have interest in that discussion!

2012

Question: Do you think the year 2012 has any prophetic significance?

My Response: We won't really know if 2012 has any genuine prophetic significance until 2012!

I remember the hubbub over "98 Reasons Jesus Will Return in 1988" and the sequel "99 Reasons Jesus Will Return in 1999"! I followed that with an New Year's message entitled, "00 Reasons Jesus Will Return in 2000."

The purpose of God's prophetic word has never been to enable us to predict the future. He has given us His Word so that we can recognize prophecy as it is fulfilled. The common mistake Christians make is to try to use Scripture and "signs of the times" to know ahead of time what will take place. There are many "secret things" that belong only to God. We strive to know things that are not for us to know.

Why, then, did God give us any prophetic word? What is the reason for the signs of the times? The purpose of biblical prophecy is preparation not prediction. We have been given enough information so that we can be prepared, not so we can predict! The key words in biblical prophecy are Watch! and Be Ready!

As an afterthought ... why would we put any validity into the Mayan calendar, anyway??

Patriotism

Question: Is patriotism biblical? How does "rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air" connect to a gospel message that is for all nations? (Thanks for the question! Let's see what people have to say!)

My Response: There are some great comments on the comment page! Thanks for participating!

The Bible does talk about the relationship of the believer with the government. We are to obey, pray for and honor those that are in authority. That can be done in any cultural context, understanding that obeying government is secondary to our obedience to the Word of God (discussed in an earlier post).

Scripture does not seem to address patriotism directly. However, giving honor to whom honor is due seems to provide latitude for a patriotic position toward the good that government does. I believe it is incumbent upon believers to be good citizens and to celebrate those good things. Christian faith played a vital role in the formation of this Union. If we don't support and celebrate that, no one else will.

I do think we need to guard against a couple of excesses. First, the "my country right or wrong," philosophy is not a biblical position in any context. Christians cannot stand idly by and seem to support positions that are clearly unbiblical. The US is not right simply because it is the US. We need to oppose the unfruitful works of darkness, wherever they are active.

Secondly, the message of the church is not one of patriotism but of the Cross. We must be careful that we don't communicate a message that you must be a patriot of the US in order to go to heaven. The Gospel is to be proclaimed to all nations. We must hold up the message of Christ without linking that to loving the USA.

I am glad I am an American, but you don't have to love America to go to heaven. You only need to love Jesus. In our expressions of patriotism, we must never blur those lines!