Category: Kingdom Progress

Why It Matters If You Think President Obama Is Muslim

I trust if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I don’t think Republicans or Democrats have cornered the market on Truth. I blogged once on the basis for justice in the kingdom of God as a an example of how humanistic both political parties are. I say this as a preface to what I want to say in this post, so you’ll understand my goal here is not to be an apologist for President Obama.

Yet, I continue to read with surprise polls showing nearly 30% of white Evangelicals in the United States believe President Obama is a Muslim. As a Christian, whose desire is to see the kingdom of God advance in the earth, I’m concerned so many Christians have embraced this belief.

If you want clarity on the matter, read Stephen Mansfield’s book, The Faith of Barack Obama. I’ve met Stephen Mansfield. I spent an afternoon last summer touring Washington D.C. with him, and I discussed the book with him (which I had previously read). He’s a New York Times best-selling author and a born-again, Bible-believing Christian. If you have any doubts about his motives, I suggest you read his New York Times bestseller, The Faith of George W. Bush.

To put it bluntly, he’s one of us, and his book shows President Obama is clearly not a Muslim. This conclusion is not based on Stephen Mansfield’s opinion but on a reading of the undisputed facts of President Obama’s life. I won’t repeat those facts here because that’s not the purpose of this post. I’m more concerned here with the effect of this widespread misconception because there are two things that can result from it, and both are bad.

First, by continuing to proclaim President Obama is a Muslim in the face of facts clearly showing he is not, Christians lose credibility in the eyes of the world. It’s ok if the world thinks Christians are foolish for believing in Jesus, His crucifixion and resurrection. It’s not ok for them to think we are foolish because we believe the world is flat. It’s not ok because it’s the destiny of Christians to lead the world, and the world will not follow people who don’t know up from down.

Second, continuing to proclaim President Obama is a Muslim can only have the effect of alienating him from the Evangelical world. Do you think President Obama will want to hear anything from Christians who say he is lying about being a Christian?

It’s something to think about. GS

The Most Valuable Book In The World

The Bible is certainly the most valuable book in the kingdom of God.  It’s the law book of the kingdom, the King’s revelation of Himself and a guidebook for living.  And if we were to do a poll of the citizens of the kingdom of God, I suspect we would have near unanimity on this point.  But even non-Christians have to admit the Bible is the most valuable book in the world.  Not just any Bible but the Gutenberg Bible.

Johannes Gutenberg was born in the German city of Mainz in 1398.  He later moved to Strasbourg.  At the time, books were only owned by the wealthy because they were very expensive.  Books had to be copied by hand, and it would take a monk, for example, a year to copy one Bible.  You can imagine then the relative cost of purchasing it or any other book.  Gutenberg’s dream was to produce a machine that would enable him to produce books much faster and cheaper so common people could afford to buy and read books.

Gutenberg experimented with different ideas, ultimately settling upon the idea of using moveable metal letters that could be set up in a page format, inked, pressed to paper or vellum to mass produce a page, and then rearranged to print a different page.  This was a big leap from hand-copying or using a single carved wooden block to create a page of type.

In 1455, Gutenberg printed a full Latin Bible, about 180 copies, some in paper and some in vellum.  The world would never be then same.  The printing press made the Protestant Reformation possible because it made the word of God accessible to the common man, not just the wealthy and the clergy.  The printing press is the reason you can read your Bible in the privacy of your home before going to work rather than waiting to have a priest or pastor read it to you on Sunday morning. The printing press aided the expansion of the kingdom of God like no other invention in history.

Now here’s the rest of the story.  Gutenberg had borrowed money from a wealthy attorney named Fust to finance his printing press business.  When Fust suspected Gutenberg was using the money for something other than his business, he sued, won and received as part of the judgment Gutenberg’s Bible printing workshop and half of all the printed Bibles, leaving Gutenberg essentially bankrupt.  Sounds like Fust was a pretty good lawyer.

Today, there are 21 complete Gutenberg Bibles still in existence.  The estimated value of a Gutenberg Bible on the open market is $25-$35 million, making it the most valuable book in the world.  What’s ironic is that Gutenberg set out to create a Bible affordable to the common man, and in so doing he created the most expensive book in the history of mankind.  GS

A Simple Question

Which is more powerful, the effect of the Fall of Man or the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

It’s an important question.  Many Christians talk like they believe the former is more powerful.  They say a Christian can never really live in victory over sin this side of heaven.

They say the world will get worse over time as sinful man prevails even over the leavening work of the Gospel.  They say the Gospel will not succeed on the earth until Jesus physically returns to impose His rule on mankind.  Although they would never say it like this, they believe God is a loser in history.

I don’t see how that can be.  If you are a Christian, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.  (Romans 8:11) The same Spirit that defeated death can defeat sin.  The same Spirit that changed you can change the world.

So, which is more powerful?  It’s a simple question. GS

A Kingdom Philosophy of History

How do you view history?  I mean big picture, how do you view it?  In other words, do you have a philosophy of history? A philosophy of history is a paradigm for interpreting the purpose and direction of history.  It not only seeks to interpret the events of the past but also attempts to place the present in the proper context and give insight into the future.  There are a few different major philosophies of history. 

One philosophy of history holds that history is cyclical.  The belief that history repeats itself and that there is not any real progress over time is an example of a cyclical philosophy of history.  A cyclical view of history sees such cycles as inevitable because it operates from a presumption that man never really changes.  Man is destined to repeat the mistakes of history because man is a prisoner of his nature and never really progresses.

Another view holds that history is linear.  An example is Marxism, which teaches that history is on an inevitable progression to the goal of a pure communist society.  Marxism attempts to explain the past, place the present in proper context and predict the direction of the future through its philosophy of history. In the Marxist view, it is just a matter of time before the whole world embraces the ideals of the Marxist state.

Many Christians have adopted a pessimistic linear philosophy of history.  They see history as on an inevitable regression into sin and rebellion against God.  They believe the world is beyond hope, the gospel is destined to fail and evil is destined to prevail on the earth. 

It seems to me that the proper Christian philosophy of history holds history is both cyclical and linear.  While it recognizes history moves in a cyclical manner, those cycles progress in a linear fashion toward an ultimate positive conclusion.  Imagine a bicycle wheel rolling up a ramp to reach a high platform.  The same point on the wheel will sometimes be rotating downward, backward, upward or forward around the axle, but the wheel itself is always moving up the ramp to a higher point. 

 When viewed in the context of this Christian philosophy of history, the last fifty years of American cultural and moral decline are easily explained without compromising the linear view of progression and advancement for the kingdom of God.  The last fifty years in the United States of America merely represents a down cycle, whose peak will reach higher in the next cycle as the kingdom progresses towards its ultimate victorious consummation.  History, driven by the leavening force of the kingdom of God is like a wave traveling up a beach.  There are high points and low points, but it is moving up toward a high consummation. 

This view provides the context for understanding history without compromising Jesus’ promise that the Kingdom will successfully leaven the whole earth.  Anyway, it makes sense to me.  What do you think?  GS

The Conversion of Norway

In yesterday’s blog post, Kingdom History:  1000 A.D., I mentioned that a number of conversions of European leaders leading up to the end of the first millennium changed the course of history.  This is the story of one of those conversions.

The English had been repeatedly attacked and plundered by the Vikings. So, on September 8, 944 A.D., when he stood before London after beaching his ships at the mouth of the Thames, King Olaf Trygvesson of Norway expected a large tribute from the English king, Ethelred.  Olaf and his men rode through the hills of Sussex and Hampshire burning villages, “laying waste the lands, putting numbers of people to death by fire and sword, without regard to sex, and sweeping off an immense booty,” records one English chronicler.  Finally, Ethelred gave in and agreed to pay an enourmous sum of money to King Olaf.

While waiting for the deal to be consummated, Olaf heard of the skills of  a local prophet and decided to test the prophet’s skills.  King Olaf dressed one of his men of similar build in his royal attire and sent him to the prophet.  The prophet said, “You are not the king, but I advise you to be faithful to the king.”

Olaf, intrigued by the story, decided to check out the prophet for himself.  The prophet told Olaf he would be a “renowned king and do celebrated deeds.”  He then told Olaf he would soon suffer a mutiny, would be wounded and carried to his ship on his shield, but after seven days he would recover and be baptized a Christian.  The prophet added, “Many men will you bring to faith and baptism.”

Shortly thereafter, the mutiny took place, Olaf was wounded and recovered in seven days just as the prophet had predicted. When King Olaf returned and asked how the prophet had obtained such wisdom, he replied, “The God of the Christian has blessed me.”  With that, King Olaf was baptized.

King Olaf and King Ethelred then met as brothers in Christ at Andover and Olaf promised never again to make war against England.  King Olaf then returned to Norway to Christianize the pagan land.   GS