Recent events, are they Biblically significant?

I've had a couple of people ask me about my take on the recent events in the Middle East, New Zealand, and the Adam's killed on their yacht by Somali pirates.  Political unrest in the Middle East is at a stage never seen before, earthquakes in Haiti and New Zealand,  general persecution of Christians... does all this mean that the End Times are near?  It seems to me (and others) that every generation thinks they are living in the last days.  My short answer is, no, we are not yet there.  For the long answer, keep reading.

Whether you are a pre-tribulationist, mid-tribulationsit, or hold some other view, there are some signs that the end is near that all agree on.  The first of these is that the Gospel needs to have reached all peoples.  This can be found in Matthew 24:14, and Mark 13:10.  Even with our incredible technology today, this has not yet happened.  According to the Joshua Project there are still 2.8 billion people who have not been reached.  From a people group perspective 41% of the people groups have yet to be reached.  That's still a great deal of work to be done.

The "birth pangs" that the earth will go through is another sign.  This relates to natural disasters, earthquakes, tsunami, volcanoes, the earth itself reacting to the immanent coming of Christ.  Not to minimize the loss of life and destruction of resent events in Iceland, New Zealand, the 2004 tsunami, or any place else, but, there have been far greater natural disasters with greater loss of life and with greater global impact.  There was the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, many other eruptions,  the earthquakes in Armenia, Mexico City, and Haiti. While these are individually terrible losses of life and property, they do not stand out as a global event.

Then we have the Beast with 10 Horns(Daniel chapters 2/7, Revelation 12/13/17), which has been interpreted to mean 10 nations that will band together to solve the world's problems.  When I was younger the EU was supposed to be this.  However, the EU now has double that number of members.  There is the G10, the Group of Ten(now eleven) economic powers that set economic world policy    China and Russia are also involved with all G10 meetings, so that probably does not fit.

While things are not good today, they probably have more to do with Kondratiev waves than with end times. In the end there is only one thing that we, as Christians, have any control over.  That is the spread of the Gospel.  If you want to see Christ return, get busy spreading the word, the rest will work itself out.

We are all Missionaries

We are all missionaries

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Mat. 28:16-20 (ESV)

While this command is given directly to the remaining 11 disciples, it is commonly understood to be of general application. That is, that the commands in verses 19 and 20 apply to all Christians. We all have a duty to advance the faith, to help spread the Word. In that sense we are all missionaries.

I know my concept of what a missionary looks like has changed over the years. It started out as a picture of people hacking through jungles to reach remote tribes. Then I found a friend of mine from High School, Steve Kaptain, is a missionary in Nepal with Operation Mobilisation and that really changed my view. Here was a guy I knew personally, went to church and school with, a missionary, and no jungle either. My girlfriend's brother, Jason Boyle is also a missionary, he's in Mexico with his wife doing church planting. Reading through the “Opportunities” section of OM's website also gave me some insight into the various roles a missionary can fill. Reading blogs has also opened my eyes to various people, places and work that can be done (Laura's blog, and Johnny and Kate's blog) Not everyone is out planting churches in the third world, there are lots of jobs all around the world that need to be done that are either directly evangelizing or supporting those who do.

There is also, unfortunately, the image of missionaries who have used force or coercion to bring about conversions. The missionaries who accompanied the colonizing forces of Europe into Africa and the New World come to mind as historical examples. There are also modern day examples of 'so called' missionaries who given aid (food, medical) to people in dire need but conditioned the aid on conversion, creating what are known as 'Rice Christians.' While I'm sure their numbers looked impressive when reporting, this is just wrong, and I would go so far as to say, anti-Christian (see Luke 6:30). Regardless of the fact that people have done things wrong in the name of spreading the faith, the commission still stands.

I often hear said, “Lord, use me as your servant... just don't send me to Africa”, or something to that effect. Personally, I have no problem going to Africa, or any place else for that matter. But not everyone feels that calling. If you don't feel called are you being a bad Christian? No, of course not. Spreading God's Word is not a 'one size fits all' mission. There is a whole spectrum of things we can do to spread His Word.

What can we do? Some ideas:

1. Live our lives as a testimony to those we live and work with.
2. Support those in active ministry through prayer, funding, or other material support.
   1. If you can't fund them yourself, you can help them help themselves raise funds... invite them to speak at your church, help publicize their mission...
3. Share your faith with others publicly. (face to face, through outreach, volunteering, short term missions, on Facebook or Twitter, share a blog :) [took me years to share this], and many other ways)
4. Get out of your comfort zone and give God the opportunity to show you what He can do through you.

There is nothing easy about any of these things. But then, the Bible never says it will be easy.

The Horns of a Dilemma

The current situation throughout the Middle East(particularly Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain) has reminded me of of a topic that I usually only think about each July. Biblical justification for revolt or revolution or the lack thereof. I think being an American makes this a particularly difficult topic to look at objectively since our country is the direct result of revolution and, for the most part, the results have been good. I propose to look first at what the Bible says about our relationship to government, then at what our Founding Fathers said about the Bible and war/revolution, last at where that puts us today.

I'll start with the most applicable and direct quote on the topic of our relationship with the government in the Bible, Romans 13:1-3:

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,4 for he is God's servant for your good. (ESV)

To set the stage of the writing, Paul wrote this around a.d. 57, probably from around Corinth. The Roman Emperor from a.d. 54 to a.d. 68 was Nero, who is known for his persecution of the Jews and Christians late in his reign and the execution of Peter and Paul around a.d. 67. Given this setting, go back and read verses 1 and 2 again. There are no “weasel words” in those verses (ie. Might, should, some, most), no equivocation at all as a matter of fact. Instead we see words like: every, have been, whoever, will. Paul tells us very clearly that we are to subject ourselves to the government that is over us regardless of whether we like it, and that resistance to the government is a sin.

Peter, writing around the same time has a very similar message. In 1 Peter, chapter 2 he has the following things to say about submission to authority:

“13 Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme...”, “17 ... Fear God. Honor the emperor.”, and “18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.

I don't see much room for interpretation of the words here. The plain meaning of what is written seems to unambiguous. So how does one interpret these passages to support resistance to the government or even the overthrow of the government?

We do have some examples of Biblical heroes who defied the government or overthrew a government. Daniel (in Daniel 6:8) prayed to God in defiance of a law passed by the ruler King Darius. Also in the Book of Daniel (chapter 1-3) we have Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who refused to worship the king in open defiance of his law. I don't think that these examples can be used to justify resistance or revolt except under similar circumstances. These examples distinguish themselves since these acts of resistance are only about the worship of God or the Law of God. They simply refused to obey the one offending law, they did not call for revolution, the breaking of any other law, or question the legitimacy of the ruler.

The stories that should be most applicable here would be stories that talk about overthrowing the government. We have two such stories. The story of Gideon (found in Judges 6-8) tells of the overthrow of the Midianite's who had ruled over Israel for many years. We also have the Story of Samson (found in Judges 13-16) where he overthrows the rule of the Philistines. At least in the case of Gideon it is clear that God specifically ordered him to take the actions necessary to overthrow the government. In Samson's story it is less clear.

Many of our Founding Fathers and most of the colonists were Christians and the justification of rebellion was a topic of concern for them. The reasoning of the colonists can be found here in more detail, but here is a synopsis: 1.) That Romans 13 referred to the institution of government and not a specific ruler. Basically that as long as you weren't trying to get rid of all government so you could live in anarchy you were justified. 2.) That King George was illegitimate as a ruler because he was a tyrant and not a “servant of God.” 3.) They saw the war as a defensive war, not offensive, and a such justified. 4.) If the government was unrighteous and passes unrighteous laws, then it would not be righteous to follow those laws, “for the Lords sake.” 5.) Hebrews 11 mentions several Biblical heroes who were involved in overthrowing tyrannical governments. The quote, variously attributed, “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God” was made popular at this time.

These rationalizations just don't convince me of Biblical justification. The first argument is clearly a secular humanist argument that looks like it was written by a lawyer, not a reasonable reading of the passage. The next one fails because Nero was not a “swell guy” either, the later Emperor's of Rome were to be worshiped much like King Darius. Third, if you push a government into a corner where there only options are to fight or surrender, can you really claim innocence if violence ensues? Fourth, same as number three, the Roman Empire was never righteous to the best of my knowledge, yet both Peter and Paul tell us to respect that authority. The last argument has some validity, just not sure it's enough to carry the whole case.

So, where does that leave us? I think it's fair to say the the Founding Fathers, despite of rhetoric to the contrary, were far more influenced by John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and other Enlightenment philosophers than by Biblical direction.

That being said, I am a patriotic American who thinks that the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution are incredible documents. I also feel that people should have the right to chose their own form of government, that they should be free from tyranny and oppression. I applaud the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, and other countries of the Middle East for their courage and determination to seek representative governments. I'm just not sure how to fit the two competing ideas into some harmonious concept. The sites I have read on this topic try to emphasis the religious and embellish the Christian credentials of the Founding Fathers. To me, it just comes off like putting lipstick on a pig.

I would love to hear from people on this topic.

Review of the Youversion Bible Application for Android

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Are you tired of hearing, "There's and app for that."  Well, not only is there an app, there are probably several for whatever you want to do.  When it comes to Bible apps there are at least 30 of them in the Android Market today.  I have tried a few of them, the free ones, and have found the Youversion application to be the best by far.  This app is also available for iOS, Blackberry, Java, and a few other platforms including the web site itself.  In this review I'll go through some of the features available through this app and try to give you an overview of why this is the highest rated Bible app out there.


First of all this app is free, I like free.  Free and high quality is even better.  This app is very well put together and well tested before each update is posted.  In addition to that it's a great value.  Many of the other Bible apps come with one or two translations of the Bible, usually older more archaic versions like the King James Version of 1610.  Why is this?  Simple, it's not copyrighted so it's free to distribute.  Youversion has 48 version in 22 languages, 20 English versions.  This include such modern translations and the New American Standard (NASB) and The Message.  Some of these copyrighted versions are only available while you have a data connection.  However, Youversion has managed to get some of these translations to allow downloading of their copyrighted works to your phone for you to use when you don't have a data connection... for no extra charge.

I signed up on the website first, then installed the app on my phone.  Under setting I connected to my Youversion account, Facebook and Twitter.  Then selected the Bible icon from the home page to check out the Word.  here you can see what a typical chapter looks like. The font type and font size can be changed as needed.  There is also a "Night" version for reading in low light situations.  The fonts are very readable and the font color and background colors can even be changed to suit your preferences.  personally, in the night reading version I can't take the white on black, so i changed the font to a light grey which I find much easier on my eyes.



 Navigation is very straight forward.  The top bar includes a Home icon that will bring you back to the home page.  The center portion of the bar notifies you of the Book, Chapter, Verse you are looking at, and in parentheses the translation you are currently reading from.  By tapping on this bar you pull down the menu you can see in the picture right.  From this menu you can scroll through all of the books of the Bible and select the one you want to read from.

By selecting the number to the right of the book you can select the chapter number.  This can be a bit tricky for large fingers.  The most impressive part is this next picture, the translations available.  The icon next to most of the versions in this screen shot indicates that they are available for download to your device.  You can also see that I have the ESV downloaded on my phone.



So far I've covered features that most of us would expect from a Bible app, without them it would not be very worth while.  The best is yet to come.  By selecting a verse, or a selection of verses you are greeted with this pop up menu.  You can bookmark the verse or makes notes about this particular verse.  These bookmarks and notes are synched with the Youversion website, so that you can always get to them and they are backed up all the time.  Notes can be public or private.  To me, the best part is the ability to share verses with your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter with ease.  There are also "Live" events (you can see that in my January 5 blog post).  It's very nice of Youversion to even make the code available for you to embed the "Live" event information right in your website.

** Update**

A new capability is being added to this application shortly.  The ability to listen to Bible passages.  Not all versions will be supported at first, but, at least ESV, NIV, and NASB will be available.  Testing this feature I have found it to be one of those things that I never thought I'd want, but now really like.  At the moment it will only read chapters from the beginning, not individual selected verses, but that functionality is planned.  You can even listen to the reading plans and it will update your progress.  When you reach the end of a chapter it will pause, then continue on to the next chapter or book.  This update also include UI improvements and should be available in the next couple of days, so look for it.

In conclusion, this is a great application.  One that has a growing community of users and developers that are all working to make the experience of reading God's Word easier and more social than ever before.