Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
There are many opinions flying about as to why a once great nation is so rapidly descending into chaos. There are opinions from economic minds, there are opinions from moral authorities, there are opinions from historians and scholars, but when we get right down to it, when we get to the heart of the matter and peel back the layers of pseudo-intellectualism, the answer is sin.
Some small words have a big impact, and the word ‘sin’ is one of those words. We can theorize, we can deduce, we can look back on the histories of other great empires and get clues as to why they descended into ruin, but the Word of God is simple and straightforward: sin has brought us to this place; sin has robbed us of our convictions; sin has stained our conscience; sin has blinded us to truth; sin has paved the way for our destruction!
Some are attempting to get back on track, to rediscover their roots, to pull themselves up by their bootlaces, and once more become that exalted nation. Especially of late, it seems we’ve been hearing more and more opinions on what exalts a nation, at least in the eyes of the world, and none of their opinions seem to be lining up with the word of God. It is righteousness that exalts a nation, not wealth, not opulence, not military might, not poverty, not weakness, not rhetoric or politics. Righteousness exalts a nation, and until we return to righteousness, until we return to faith, until we return to the truth of God’s Holy Word, we will continue to be a reproach.
‘Brother Mike, how can you say something so mean? How are we a reproach?’
It’s not me it’s the word of God. Sin is a reproach to any people, and before we can fix what has been broken, before we can build what has been torn down, we must return to righteousness.
When we attempt to bypass or otherwise minimize righteousness, and still have the expectation of exaltation, we are doing nothing but deceiving ourselves, and in due time will suffer the disappointment of having fallen short of our expectations. Righteousness exalts a nation! It is simple, and straightforward, yet less and less people want to hear this divine truth.
In order to fix the multitudes of problems that we are facing as a nation dear friend, we must return to righteousness. There is no way around it, there is no substituting it; righteousness must be our goal, our quest, and our purpose.
We often focus on the symptoms rather than the root cause of our nation’s ills, and this is why we rarely come to a right and true conclusion. The root cause for our nation’s ills is sin, plain and simple. The sin I speak of is not exclusive to the world, but even within the house of God. Because we knew the truth, because we ought to have obeyed it, we will be held all the more accountable for the reproach we have brought upon our own heads by believing that we could play games with God, or that we could substitute the gospel of self for the gospel of Christ.
What is alarming to me at least, is that we are no longer making hesitant strides toward destruction, we are galloping toward it. We have been uncorked and that which was within us all along is spilling out. Men are showing their true colors, and even those who claimed to be of Christ are pulling off the mask and revealing their true nature.
They stand behind pulpits and scream at the top of their lungs, ‘this is not God, this is not God’, all the while His Word tells us that it is indeed God.
How will we now react toward God? How will we now react toward His rod of correction I wonder? It is our rejection of righteousness that has brought us to this place, the selfsame righteousness that once exalted us as a nation.
In 1865, four years before his death, a man by the name of Joseph Charles Philpot wrote a book called ‘Steps of Thankful Praise’. In it, he said something truly profound concerning sin that I would like to share with you today. Sin has thoroughly diseased us, and poisoned our very blood. Sin has diseased our understanding, so as to disable it from receiving truth. Sin has diseased our conscience, so as to make it dull and heavy, and undiscerning of right and wrong. Sin has diseased our imagination, polluting it with every idle, foolish and licentious fancy. Sin has diseased our memory, making it swift to retain what is evil, slow to retain what is good. Sin has diseased our affections, perverting them from all that is heavenly and holy, and fixing them on all that is earthly and vile. And this he wrote in 1865.
There is only one remedy for sin, and that is Jesus, there is only one way by which our understanding, our conscience, our imagination, our memory and our affections can be transformed and made new, and that is by being washed clean by the blood of Christ our Lord and Savior. If we desire to be an exalted nation once more, we must deal with the root cause of sin that has corrupted and destroyed so many minds, hearts and lives.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Pride and Penitence
Newton’s law of motion declares that to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction. Although this might be true as pertains to the basis for classical mechanics, man’s reaction to the will, law, commands and even sovereignty of God isn’t always equal or opposite.
Whenever God commands a thing of a nation, or an individual the reactions to His commands are wide ranging and varied. Some react by obeying the voice of God, others by rejecting it, while a good portion, simply pretend they did not hear and go about their lives as if nothing ever happened.
If reaction to the will and Word of God is wide ranging among men, when it comes to our reaction to calamity, trials, hardships and what we have deemed natural disasters, can be boiled down to one of two. Either we react with an attitude of pride, shaking our fist at God, then beating our chest crying to the heavens that we will overcome, or we react with an attitude of penitence, humbling ourselves and bowing our knee crying out for the mercy of God to once more be made manifest in our lives.
There was once a time when man knew the fear of God, when they acknowledged Him for who He truly is creator of all, sovereign over all, omnipotent over all. There was once a time when the fear of God overrode the fear of men, and those who spoke in His name neither tried to explain Him away, apologize for Him, or question His works, but simply proclaimed the oracles of God, as honorable and faithful stewards of a high and noble calling. No, these were not long termers with pension plans, and retirement accounts, these were not the ‘put in the thirty years and get the condo in Palm Springs’ types, they were men ready and willing to lay down their lives, men who proclaimed a hard, and often unwelcome truth to a people as stubborn, hard hearted, and antagonistic toward God as this present generation is.
Pride has weakened us, it has diluted our resolve making us seem great in our own eyes, when we are woefully inferior to the generations that came before us who lived penitent lives of prayer and supplication, who knew that the fear of the Lord was not something to be avoided, but rather embraced because this fear of the Lord, was the spark of wisdom in the heart and mind of man.
There is an ugly cycle that is playing out today, made all the more so because it is not playing out in the world, but rather in the church. Men absent of any divine guidance or sanctifying fear continue, and foolishly so to attempt and make God smaller, that they might seem greater.
‘No, God doesn’t do any of those things any more. You know, these were uncivilized folks, they were backward, and so they attributed everything to God, but we being wiser than they know that it’s not Him. No, God isn’t trying to send us a message, why would He? We have a building fund for the new church building; the tithes are coming into the storehouse praise Jesus, no, we’re not perfect, but then again no one is, so we need to focus on the positive.”
These backward, uncivilized folks, as some preachers have shamelessly portrayed the forefathers of the faith, and the heroes of the Bible, saw the power of God in such a way that these men with all their degrees, and all their linear thinking seminars couldn’t even begin to comprehend. We speak of the concept of fire, the idea and its function, Moses saw a burning bush talking to him! We speak of slaying metaphorical giants in our lives; David slew a real life giant with a slingshot and a stone!
We speak of the possibility of miracles in the church today; the primary church lived the reality of miracles every day of its existence! Who is stunted spiritually? Who is immature in their faith? Is it the men and women of God we read of that did great exploits in His name, who saw the might and power of the God they served, or is it the windbags in five thousand dollar suits and diamond encrusted pinkie rings that speak to us in gentle tones about a disinterested God who really can’t do anything more than give you a nice return on your investment into their kingdoms? Pride has made us fools, and we play the jester all the while stumbling toward our own destruction.
The one hope we have is true penitence of the heart, that sort of penitence that brings us low into the dust, that sort of penitence that rekindles the fear of the Lord deep in our souls, that sort of penitence that gives God His rightful place in our hearts, and obeys His will without question.
Job 9:4-8, “God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? He removes the mountains, and they do not know when He overturns them in His anger; He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars; He alone spreads out the heavens, and threads on the waves of the sea.”
This is the God we serve! Not an indifferent God, not an impotent God, not a disinterested God, but a God who is wise in heart and mighty in strength. We serve a God who overturns mountains in His anger, and shakes the earth out of its place, and yet we still harden ourselves against Him, and scoff at His loving warnings.
The worst is not behind us dear friends; the worst has yet to begin because we have chosen pride over penitence, disobedience over obedience, sin over righteousness, and lies over the truth.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Whenever God commands a thing of a nation, or an individual the reactions to His commands are wide ranging and varied. Some react by obeying the voice of God, others by rejecting it, while a good portion, simply pretend they did not hear and go about their lives as if nothing ever happened.
If reaction to the will and Word of God is wide ranging among men, when it comes to our reaction to calamity, trials, hardships and what we have deemed natural disasters, can be boiled down to one of two. Either we react with an attitude of pride, shaking our fist at God, then beating our chest crying to the heavens that we will overcome, or we react with an attitude of penitence, humbling ourselves and bowing our knee crying out for the mercy of God to once more be made manifest in our lives.
There was once a time when man knew the fear of God, when they acknowledged Him for who He truly is creator of all, sovereign over all, omnipotent over all. There was once a time when the fear of God overrode the fear of men, and those who spoke in His name neither tried to explain Him away, apologize for Him, or question His works, but simply proclaimed the oracles of God, as honorable and faithful stewards of a high and noble calling. No, these were not long termers with pension plans, and retirement accounts, these were not the ‘put in the thirty years and get the condo in Palm Springs’ types, they were men ready and willing to lay down their lives, men who proclaimed a hard, and often unwelcome truth to a people as stubborn, hard hearted, and antagonistic toward God as this present generation is.
Pride has weakened us, it has diluted our resolve making us seem great in our own eyes, when we are woefully inferior to the generations that came before us who lived penitent lives of prayer and supplication, who knew that the fear of the Lord was not something to be avoided, but rather embraced because this fear of the Lord, was the spark of wisdom in the heart and mind of man.
There is an ugly cycle that is playing out today, made all the more so because it is not playing out in the world, but rather in the church. Men absent of any divine guidance or sanctifying fear continue, and foolishly so to attempt and make God smaller, that they might seem greater.
‘No, God doesn’t do any of those things any more. You know, these were uncivilized folks, they were backward, and so they attributed everything to God, but we being wiser than they know that it’s not Him. No, God isn’t trying to send us a message, why would He? We have a building fund for the new church building; the tithes are coming into the storehouse praise Jesus, no, we’re not perfect, but then again no one is, so we need to focus on the positive.”
These backward, uncivilized folks, as some preachers have shamelessly portrayed the forefathers of the faith, and the heroes of the Bible, saw the power of God in such a way that these men with all their degrees, and all their linear thinking seminars couldn’t even begin to comprehend. We speak of the concept of fire, the idea and its function, Moses saw a burning bush talking to him! We speak of slaying metaphorical giants in our lives; David slew a real life giant with a slingshot and a stone!
We speak of the possibility of miracles in the church today; the primary church lived the reality of miracles every day of its existence! Who is stunted spiritually? Who is immature in their faith? Is it the men and women of God we read of that did great exploits in His name, who saw the might and power of the God they served, or is it the windbags in five thousand dollar suits and diamond encrusted pinkie rings that speak to us in gentle tones about a disinterested God who really can’t do anything more than give you a nice return on your investment into their kingdoms? Pride has made us fools, and we play the jester all the while stumbling toward our own destruction.
The one hope we have is true penitence of the heart, that sort of penitence that brings us low into the dust, that sort of penitence that rekindles the fear of the Lord deep in our souls, that sort of penitence that gives God His rightful place in our hearts, and obeys His will without question.
Job 9:4-8, “God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered? He removes the mountains, and they do not know when He overturns them in His anger; He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble; He commands the sun, and it does not rise; He seals off the stars; He alone spreads out the heavens, and threads on the waves of the sea.”
This is the God we serve! Not an indifferent God, not an impotent God, not a disinterested God, but a God who is wise in heart and mighty in strength. We serve a God who overturns mountains in His anger, and shakes the earth out of its place, and yet we still harden ourselves against Him, and scoff at His loving warnings.
The worst is not behind us dear friends; the worst has yet to begin because we have chosen pride over penitence, disobedience over obedience, sin over righteousness, and lies over the truth.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Benevolent Dictators and Other Oxymora
(I will be speaking in the State of Washington and the State of Oregon this coming weekend.
Saturday June 5, 7pm
Tigard Covenant Church
11321 S.W. Neave St. on Highway 99W
503-624-0456
Sunday June 6, 10am
Best Western Hotel Conference Room
16105 SW Pacific Hwy. Tigard Or. 97224)
“I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
With the ever increasing economic uncertainty tightening its grip on the throats or pretty much every country in the world, there is a disturbing and somewhat fascinating trend beginning to take shape in my home country of Romania. Recently, it has been reported that more and more individuals, especially of the older persuasion are visiting the grave of the former dictator, and laying flowers and wreaths at his gravesite. When asked what would compel them to do such a thing, or if they had conveniently forgotten that Nicolai Ceausescu was a brutal dictator who had ordered the murder of tens of thousands of people with as much emotional investment as it would have cost him to order breakfast, one of the people spoke up and said, ‘we know he was a dictator, but he was a benevolent dictator!’
Just to set the record straight, there is no such thing as a benevolent dictator! A dictator only feigns benevolence for as long as he can get what he wants, for as long as the people bend to his will and obey without question. When the tables turn however, and the people are not as eager to march like lemmings to their deaths, or do as he commands, the veil of benevolence is ripped off to reveal the truth of what has been beneath the surface all along.
Dictators do not see the people of their nation as those whom they swore to serve, but rather those through whom and by whom they can achieve their desired result, and final outcome. Whether by intimidation, force, treachery, sleight of hand, brow beating, or outright lying, dictators of all shapes and sizes have one goal, and that is making their vision a reality, and fulfilling their objective. Never mind that Ceausescu’s dream was the nightmare of twenty million people, never mind that in order to achieve this dream countless men, women, and children had to die horrible deaths, the cause is what mattered, and we all know you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs.
Throughout history men have had short memories, or rather selective ones. Men remember what they want to remember, and conveniently forget what they choose to forget. Like Israel of old, marching through the desert, salivating over the garlic and onions back in Egypt conveniently forgot the sweat, the blood, the whips and the chains, it would seem my countrymen are forgetting the brutality, the inhumanity, the fear and the suspicion everyone lived under and are only remembering the crust of bread you would get if you had your paperwork in order and were a member of the right party.
We too quickly forget that nothing tastes as sweet as freedom, and guilt and shame can make even the fullest of stomachs turn. Uncertainty, fear of tomorrow, unrest and chaos always brings out the once and future potential benevolent dictators in any land, and if the people choose with their stomachs rather than with their hearts, with their base interests rather than with their principles, the rise of one or more of these monsters in human form somewhere on the planet is not only highly likely but inevitable.
In desperate times, men do desperate things, and dignity and self-respect become just one more commodity to be traded or sold to the highest bidder. Desperate times are upon us whether we like to acknowledge their presence or not, and the rise of the next benevolent dictator, if only for a season, is perhaps closer than anyone would hazard to think.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Saturday June 5, 7pm
Tigard Covenant Church
11321 S.W. Neave St. on Highway 99W
503-624-0456
Sunday June 6, 10am
Best Western Hotel Conference Room
16105 SW Pacific Hwy. Tigard Or. 97224)
“I can no longer obey; I have tasted command, and I cannot give it up.”
Napoleon Bonaparte
With the ever increasing economic uncertainty tightening its grip on the throats or pretty much every country in the world, there is a disturbing and somewhat fascinating trend beginning to take shape in my home country of Romania. Recently, it has been reported that more and more individuals, especially of the older persuasion are visiting the grave of the former dictator, and laying flowers and wreaths at his gravesite. When asked what would compel them to do such a thing, or if they had conveniently forgotten that Nicolai Ceausescu was a brutal dictator who had ordered the murder of tens of thousands of people with as much emotional investment as it would have cost him to order breakfast, one of the people spoke up and said, ‘we know he was a dictator, but he was a benevolent dictator!’
Just to set the record straight, there is no such thing as a benevolent dictator! A dictator only feigns benevolence for as long as he can get what he wants, for as long as the people bend to his will and obey without question. When the tables turn however, and the people are not as eager to march like lemmings to their deaths, or do as he commands, the veil of benevolence is ripped off to reveal the truth of what has been beneath the surface all along.
Dictators do not see the people of their nation as those whom they swore to serve, but rather those through whom and by whom they can achieve their desired result, and final outcome. Whether by intimidation, force, treachery, sleight of hand, brow beating, or outright lying, dictators of all shapes and sizes have one goal, and that is making their vision a reality, and fulfilling their objective. Never mind that Ceausescu’s dream was the nightmare of twenty million people, never mind that in order to achieve this dream countless men, women, and children had to die horrible deaths, the cause is what mattered, and we all know you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs.
Throughout history men have had short memories, or rather selective ones. Men remember what they want to remember, and conveniently forget what they choose to forget. Like Israel of old, marching through the desert, salivating over the garlic and onions back in Egypt conveniently forgot the sweat, the blood, the whips and the chains, it would seem my countrymen are forgetting the brutality, the inhumanity, the fear and the suspicion everyone lived under and are only remembering the crust of bread you would get if you had your paperwork in order and were a member of the right party.
We too quickly forget that nothing tastes as sweet as freedom, and guilt and shame can make even the fullest of stomachs turn. Uncertainty, fear of tomorrow, unrest and chaos always brings out the once and future potential benevolent dictators in any land, and if the people choose with their stomachs rather than with their hearts, with their base interests rather than with their principles, the rise of one or more of these monsters in human form somewhere on the planet is not only highly likely but inevitable.
In desperate times, men do desperate things, and dignity and self-respect become just one more commodity to be traded or sold to the highest bidder. Desperate times are upon us whether we like to acknowledge their presence or not, and the rise of the next benevolent dictator, if only for a season, is perhaps closer than anyone would hazard to think.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Hitting the Snooze Button
I believe the snooze button on an alarm clock is an insidious and nefarious invention. Although I can’t prove it, I have my suspicions that the person who invented the snooze button is somehow related to the individual who invented the rack or the intestinal crank in medieval times. First the alarm wakes you from a fitful and restful sleep, and then with one bleary eye we notice the snooze button. Everything inside is screaming for just a little more sleep, and so with one push of a button one obtains a five minute respite wherein they can attempt to rediscover that blissful state of unconsciousness. Just as you’re about to descend back into the arms of slumber however, the alarm goes off again.
I think the most sinister thing about the snooze button, is that you never really get back to sleep once you’ve pressed it, and just as you’re about to descent back into your dreams, it goes off again. And so, depending on how many times one chooses to press the snooze button, the individual finds themselves in a state of stupor, not really awake, but never really asleep, until finally, grudgingly, they get out of bed and go about their day.
So what prompted this rant on snooze buttons? Did I miss a flight or a meeting because I kept hitting it? No, there was no unfortunate event due to my use of a snooze button, but as I pondered the spiritual condition of much of today’s church, I realized we’ve been hitting the spiritual snooze button over and over again, even though the alarm has gone off, and we ought to have been awakened.
For years now the church has been doing corporately, and in a spiritual sense, what we often do individually in a physical sense. It has been unwilling to wake up, even though the alarm is blaring, and so rather than come to full awareness, rather than become fully awake, the church has sought out, and discovered various kinds of snooze buttons that they could press, deceiving itself into believing that there was still time to slumber, that it didn’t have to be awake quite yet.
Even though the alarm has been blaring for decades now, there have always been men who offered spiritual snooze buttons of sorts, and even if their reasoning in justifying a continued and prolonged slumber was often times tangential, poorly documented, and even unbiblical, the masses flocked, and clung to these men as though they were life preserves in a stormy sea.
The first spiritual snooze button the church pressed, as far I can remember in the not so distant past, was the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. Well, it can’t be time yet, the temple isn’t rebuilt. We still have plenty of time to do as we will, to disregard God, and chase after earthly things because well, there’s still the matter of the temple, and that seems to be decades away.
The second spiritual snooze button the church pressed, was the resurgence of the Babylonian empire. For a season the church was all abuzz as to how Saddam Hussein was going to rebuild ancient Babylon, and it was going to become a center of commerce once more, growing to such unimagined heights that it would rival any superpower on the globe. Even Saddam swinging from the end of a rope didn’t seem to deter some people, and even though the only thing visible in Iraq, (what some interpret to be end time Babylon), are dust, and sand and the blood of brave American soldiers, they slumber comfortably because well, Babylon isn’t a superpower yet, nor is it a center of commerce, and so we’ve got plenty of time left.
The third spiritual snooze button that the church is currently pressing is the mystical year 2012. Even though there is no Biblical basis for this, and anything having to do with 2012 was extracted from a Mayan calendar, a people who cut the beating hearts out of the chests of men and women in order to appease their dead gods and false idols, the church is once again resting comfortably because well, we have at least two years left until we really have to get ready for anything.
We have dismissed the warnings of God to be instant in season and out of season, we have disregard the words of Jesus who said He would return as a thief in the night, and continue to press the spiritual snooze button because to be blunt, we just don’t want to wake up. If the seasons which are upon us find us slumbering, if they find us unprepared, if they find us in that state between wakefulness and sleep, it is not God’s fault. God has been sounding the alarm; it is we who have chosen to press the snooze button over and over again.
There is nothing the devil loves more than a sleeping Christian. There is no easier prey for the enemy to overtake than those who of their own will have chosen to slumber just a little while longer. Knowing this, the enemy will continue to serve up spiritual snooze buttons for as long as we will press them, because he does not fear infants, he fears spiritual warriors who are seasoned and hardened by spiritual warfare, and who know how to stand their ground.
We must wake up. We must stop looking for excuses to continue our slumber, and simply wake up. We must be about our Father’s business, and work while it is still day because the night will soon be upon us and no man can work when night falls.
Our choice today, will eventually lead us to one of two camps. Either we will be among those who are ready and prepared for the groom’s return, with oil in their vessels and in their lamps, or we will be among those who half awake, are frantically trying to get some oil so they too could meet the groom.
No, God’s hand is not short, it has never been, and it will never be short. We just thought it too much of a bother to reach out and take that which He was offering, we thought it more advantageous to press the snooze button, ignore God, and just keep on sleeping.
God help us! God wake us!
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
I think the most sinister thing about the snooze button, is that you never really get back to sleep once you’ve pressed it, and just as you’re about to descent back into your dreams, it goes off again. And so, depending on how many times one chooses to press the snooze button, the individual finds themselves in a state of stupor, not really awake, but never really asleep, until finally, grudgingly, they get out of bed and go about their day.
So what prompted this rant on snooze buttons? Did I miss a flight or a meeting because I kept hitting it? No, there was no unfortunate event due to my use of a snooze button, but as I pondered the spiritual condition of much of today’s church, I realized we’ve been hitting the spiritual snooze button over and over again, even though the alarm has gone off, and we ought to have been awakened.
For years now the church has been doing corporately, and in a spiritual sense, what we often do individually in a physical sense. It has been unwilling to wake up, even though the alarm is blaring, and so rather than come to full awareness, rather than become fully awake, the church has sought out, and discovered various kinds of snooze buttons that they could press, deceiving itself into believing that there was still time to slumber, that it didn’t have to be awake quite yet.
Even though the alarm has been blaring for decades now, there have always been men who offered spiritual snooze buttons of sorts, and even if their reasoning in justifying a continued and prolonged slumber was often times tangential, poorly documented, and even unbiblical, the masses flocked, and clung to these men as though they were life preserves in a stormy sea.
The first spiritual snooze button the church pressed, as far I can remember in the not so distant past, was the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. Well, it can’t be time yet, the temple isn’t rebuilt. We still have plenty of time to do as we will, to disregard God, and chase after earthly things because well, there’s still the matter of the temple, and that seems to be decades away.
The second spiritual snooze button the church pressed, was the resurgence of the Babylonian empire. For a season the church was all abuzz as to how Saddam Hussein was going to rebuild ancient Babylon, and it was going to become a center of commerce once more, growing to such unimagined heights that it would rival any superpower on the globe. Even Saddam swinging from the end of a rope didn’t seem to deter some people, and even though the only thing visible in Iraq, (what some interpret to be end time Babylon), are dust, and sand and the blood of brave American soldiers, they slumber comfortably because well, Babylon isn’t a superpower yet, nor is it a center of commerce, and so we’ve got plenty of time left.
The third spiritual snooze button that the church is currently pressing is the mystical year 2012. Even though there is no Biblical basis for this, and anything having to do with 2012 was extracted from a Mayan calendar, a people who cut the beating hearts out of the chests of men and women in order to appease their dead gods and false idols, the church is once again resting comfortably because well, we have at least two years left until we really have to get ready for anything.
We have dismissed the warnings of God to be instant in season and out of season, we have disregard the words of Jesus who said He would return as a thief in the night, and continue to press the spiritual snooze button because to be blunt, we just don’t want to wake up. If the seasons which are upon us find us slumbering, if they find us unprepared, if they find us in that state between wakefulness and sleep, it is not God’s fault. God has been sounding the alarm; it is we who have chosen to press the snooze button over and over again.
There is nothing the devil loves more than a sleeping Christian. There is no easier prey for the enemy to overtake than those who of their own will have chosen to slumber just a little while longer. Knowing this, the enemy will continue to serve up spiritual snooze buttons for as long as we will press them, because he does not fear infants, he fears spiritual warriors who are seasoned and hardened by spiritual warfare, and who know how to stand their ground.
We must wake up. We must stop looking for excuses to continue our slumber, and simply wake up. We must be about our Father’s business, and work while it is still day because the night will soon be upon us and no man can work when night falls.
Our choice today, will eventually lead us to one of two camps. Either we will be among those who are ready and prepared for the groom’s return, with oil in their vessels and in their lamps, or we will be among those who half awake, are frantically trying to get some oil so they too could meet the groom.
No, God’s hand is not short, it has never been, and it will never be short. We just thought it too much of a bother to reach out and take that which He was offering, we thought it more advantageous to press the snooze button, ignore God, and just keep on sleeping.
God help us! God wake us!
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Way, The Truth, The Life
‘I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and very beautiful; but I never read in either of them: ‘Come unto Me all you who labor and are heavy laden.’
Augustine
‘Had Christ the death of death to death, not given death by dying, the gates of life had never been to mortals open lying.’
Author Unknown
‘If anyone could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth.’
Fyodor M. Dostoevsky
When God introduced Himself in the Old Testament He did it with few words shrouded in mystery. “I am that I am” was God’s answer to Moses’ query, and it was enough for Moses to fall on his face and acknowledge the fact that He stood before a sovereign and omnipotent God.
In the New Testament however, we see a once mysterious definition take on more clarity as well as more complexity. As Jesus spoke to His disciples, He revealed Himself to them by saying, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’
It is important for us to know the fullness of Christ, and what it means for us that He is the way, the truth, and the life, because in knowing the truth of who Jesus is assures the sufficiency of our salvation in Him. When we realize what it means that Jesus is the way, when we acknowledge that He is the truth, and believe that He is the life, our faith in Him is unshakable, our path is made straight and easily discernable, and our hope rests in the life that He promised us.
John 14:1-6, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in god, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am you may be also, and where I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
We begin with Jesus the Way, which to most should be self explanatory. Jesus did not say He was one of many ways, and He did not say He was one of many paths. When He spoke these words He made sure to stress the singularity of the way, and the fact that no one could come to the Father except through Him.
Knowing that Jesus is the way denotes certain truths, which we must take to heart and take strength from. By telling us that He is the way, Jesus is not only showing us the singularity of the way, but also the simplicity, the certainty, and the sufficiency of it. If we can come to the Father through Him, then He is sufficient. If we can come to the Father through no other but through Him, then He is singular. If He promised that He will come again and receive us to Himself, then it is a certainty, and if what we must do is repent and believe in Him, then there is simplicity in the way as well.
No matter how men might try to twist it, the truth is that there are only two paths in this life. These two paths lead toward two different destinations that are as far removed and different from each other as the earth is from the stars.
Jeremiah 21:8, “Behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”
One way leads to life and an eternity in the home that Jesus went to prepare for us. The other way leads to death, and an eternity in the lake of fire, absent from the presence of God, where there will be wailing, gnashing of teeth, and where the worm never sleeps.
‘Brother Mike, that sounds kind of harsh, can’t you word it differently? Can’t you pull your punches just a little?’
To be honest, no I cannot. It is because we have lost sight of the reality of hell that so many feel as though they have free reign to do as their desires dictate without any sort of blowback or consequence. Even though some preachers are still teaching the reality of heaven, there is only a handful that still insists upon the reality of hell nowadays. No, it is not politically correct, yes, it might hurt somebody’s feelings, but if it causes one person to wake up from their slumber, to see the true reality of where sin ultimately leads to, then I can live with hurt feelings and angry letters.
It may justify a sinner when he hears that everyone goes to heaven eventually, and that hell does not exist, it may even embolden him to continue in his disobedience and rebellion, but if we believe this, then we are calling Jesus a liar. Yes, if we believe that everyone eventually gets a pass anyway and ends up in heaven, or that God does not punish sin, or that He is not a righteous God any longer, than we are calling Jesus a liar, and disregarding the entirety of Scripture.
The way of life is straight, narrow, and well defined within the pages of Scripture. The way of life is tethered in Christ, it is Christ, and there can be no deviation from this absolute truth.
The way of death is wide, with no boundaries or restrictions, it is winding, never leading directly to Christ and it is also short. Why would I say the way of death is short? The way of death is short because the pleasures of sin are fleeting and momentary, and they pass in an instant. Although the way of death is short the repercussions and consequences of sin have eternal ramifications.
When discussing Christ the truth there is one thing we must always be aware of; in a world of deceit, the battle for truth is an existential one. We don’t just choose to stand for the truth when it suits us, we don’t just choose to battle deceit when we have nothing else to do, we battle for truth because our existence depends on it. We have seen time and time again that when the children of God do not defend the truth, when the children of God are too indifferent or apathetic to stand for Christ, the enemy gains ground, sweeps through the ranks of groggy believers unencumbered, and the house of God suffers yet another setback.
Pilate stood before the embodiment of truth and asked Him what truth was. That’s pretty much where the dialogue between Jesus and Pilate ended, because if Pilate was unable to see the Truth standing before him, then there was no point in further discourse.
In the gospel according to John, we see a portrait of Jesus defined unlike anywhere else in scripture. It is both succinct and beautiful, to the point and conclusive.
John 1:1-2, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”
John 17:17, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
Mocked, despised, and even hated as the Truth might be today, He is still the truth. God never said there wouldn’t be opposition, God never said that the world would embrace us and love us if we followed after Him, what He did say was that if the world hated Him, surely they will hate His followers. The truth is being trampled underfoot by men claiming to be bondservants of Christ, and followers of God. In order to appease a dying, corrupt, and sinful world, fools with titles have taken it upon themselves to disprove the sovereignty, deity, and nature of Christ, because then they would be seen as forward thinking, and tolerant. It makes me cringe outwardly, and weep inwardly when I see men who posses doctorates in theology, who lead some of the biggest congregations in the nation, and are some of the best known so-called religious thinkers of our time treat Jesus like a piñata, there to be swung at with brutal force in the hope that something cracks. They do this to the glee and amusement of the wicked, because if they can disprove the Christ, if they can discredit the way, the truth and the life, well, then there’s no point to faith in Him, there’s no point to submission and obedience to His commands, and the world is free to do as it wills.
We come to Jesus the life, and herein we discover a profound and often overlooked truth. If Jesus is the life, than anyone not in Jesus is dead! Simple, to the point, black and white, no further debate required.
If Jesus is the life, than anyone not rooted in Him, anyone not obedient to Him, anyone not possessing His nature is dead. Absent of Christ we are ambulatory corpses. Please don’t misunderstand, this is not some sort of fatalism borrowed from the Babylonians, it is the present reality of all who reject Christ as the life. We are here but for a breath, dependent on food, water, air, and the sun God allows to shine upon our faces, then we return to the dust from which we came.
Jesus defined Himself as being the way, the truth and the life. If we have Jesus, we possess the truth, we are on the right path, and on our way toward eternal life.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Augustine
‘Had Christ the death of death to death, not given death by dying, the gates of life had never been to mortals open lying.’
Author Unknown
‘If anyone could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth.’
Fyodor M. Dostoevsky
When God introduced Himself in the Old Testament He did it with few words shrouded in mystery. “I am that I am” was God’s answer to Moses’ query, and it was enough for Moses to fall on his face and acknowledge the fact that He stood before a sovereign and omnipotent God.
In the New Testament however, we see a once mysterious definition take on more clarity as well as more complexity. As Jesus spoke to His disciples, He revealed Himself to them by saying, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’
It is important for us to know the fullness of Christ, and what it means for us that He is the way, the truth, and the life, because in knowing the truth of who Jesus is assures the sufficiency of our salvation in Him. When we realize what it means that Jesus is the way, when we acknowledge that He is the truth, and believe that He is the life, our faith in Him is unshakable, our path is made straight and easily discernable, and our hope rests in the life that He promised us.
John 14:1-6, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in god, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am you may be also, and where I go you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
We begin with Jesus the Way, which to most should be self explanatory. Jesus did not say He was one of many ways, and He did not say He was one of many paths. When He spoke these words He made sure to stress the singularity of the way, and the fact that no one could come to the Father except through Him.
Knowing that Jesus is the way denotes certain truths, which we must take to heart and take strength from. By telling us that He is the way, Jesus is not only showing us the singularity of the way, but also the simplicity, the certainty, and the sufficiency of it. If we can come to the Father through Him, then He is sufficient. If we can come to the Father through no other but through Him, then He is singular. If He promised that He will come again and receive us to Himself, then it is a certainty, and if what we must do is repent and believe in Him, then there is simplicity in the way as well.
No matter how men might try to twist it, the truth is that there are only two paths in this life. These two paths lead toward two different destinations that are as far removed and different from each other as the earth is from the stars.
Jeremiah 21:8, “Behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”
One way leads to life and an eternity in the home that Jesus went to prepare for us. The other way leads to death, and an eternity in the lake of fire, absent from the presence of God, where there will be wailing, gnashing of teeth, and where the worm never sleeps.
‘Brother Mike, that sounds kind of harsh, can’t you word it differently? Can’t you pull your punches just a little?’
To be honest, no I cannot. It is because we have lost sight of the reality of hell that so many feel as though they have free reign to do as their desires dictate without any sort of blowback or consequence. Even though some preachers are still teaching the reality of heaven, there is only a handful that still insists upon the reality of hell nowadays. No, it is not politically correct, yes, it might hurt somebody’s feelings, but if it causes one person to wake up from their slumber, to see the true reality of where sin ultimately leads to, then I can live with hurt feelings and angry letters.
It may justify a sinner when he hears that everyone goes to heaven eventually, and that hell does not exist, it may even embolden him to continue in his disobedience and rebellion, but if we believe this, then we are calling Jesus a liar. Yes, if we believe that everyone eventually gets a pass anyway and ends up in heaven, or that God does not punish sin, or that He is not a righteous God any longer, than we are calling Jesus a liar, and disregarding the entirety of Scripture.
The way of life is straight, narrow, and well defined within the pages of Scripture. The way of life is tethered in Christ, it is Christ, and there can be no deviation from this absolute truth.
The way of death is wide, with no boundaries or restrictions, it is winding, never leading directly to Christ and it is also short. Why would I say the way of death is short? The way of death is short because the pleasures of sin are fleeting and momentary, and they pass in an instant. Although the way of death is short the repercussions and consequences of sin have eternal ramifications.
When discussing Christ the truth there is one thing we must always be aware of; in a world of deceit, the battle for truth is an existential one. We don’t just choose to stand for the truth when it suits us, we don’t just choose to battle deceit when we have nothing else to do, we battle for truth because our existence depends on it. We have seen time and time again that when the children of God do not defend the truth, when the children of God are too indifferent or apathetic to stand for Christ, the enemy gains ground, sweeps through the ranks of groggy believers unencumbered, and the house of God suffers yet another setback.
Pilate stood before the embodiment of truth and asked Him what truth was. That’s pretty much where the dialogue between Jesus and Pilate ended, because if Pilate was unable to see the Truth standing before him, then there was no point in further discourse.
In the gospel according to John, we see a portrait of Jesus defined unlike anywhere else in scripture. It is both succinct and beautiful, to the point and conclusive.
John 1:1-2, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”
John 17:17, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
Mocked, despised, and even hated as the Truth might be today, He is still the truth. God never said there wouldn’t be opposition, God never said that the world would embrace us and love us if we followed after Him, what He did say was that if the world hated Him, surely they will hate His followers. The truth is being trampled underfoot by men claiming to be bondservants of Christ, and followers of God. In order to appease a dying, corrupt, and sinful world, fools with titles have taken it upon themselves to disprove the sovereignty, deity, and nature of Christ, because then they would be seen as forward thinking, and tolerant. It makes me cringe outwardly, and weep inwardly when I see men who posses doctorates in theology, who lead some of the biggest congregations in the nation, and are some of the best known so-called religious thinkers of our time treat Jesus like a piñata, there to be swung at with brutal force in the hope that something cracks. They do this to the glee and amusement of the wicked, because if they can disprove the Christ, if they can discredit the way, the truth and the life, well, then there’s no point to faith in Him, there’s no point to submission and obedience to His commands, and the world is free to do as it wills.
We come to Jesus the life, and herein we discover a profound and often overlooked truth. If Jesus is the life, than anyone not in Jesus is dead! Simple, to the point, black and white, no further debate required.
If Jesus is the life, than anyone not rooted in Him, anyone not obedient to Him, anyone not possessing His nature is dead. Absent of Christ we are ambulatory corpses. Please don’t misunderstand, this is not some sort of fatalism borrowed from the Babylonians, it is the present reality of all who reject Christ as the life. We are here but for a breath, dependent on food, water, air, and the sun God allows to shine upon our faces, then we return to the dust from which we came.
Jesus defined Himself as being the way, the truth and the life. If we have Jesus, we possess the truth, we are on the right path, and on our way toward eternal life.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
What's Wrong?
I wrote the following as a lead in to a teaching we'll be filming next week, but after reading it again, I thought I should post it as a stand alone blog entry.
Psalm 90:16, “Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children.”
We live in an age when even those within the house of God seem to have great difficulty in acknowledging the miracle working power of the God they serve. Believers of every denomination have taken it upon themselves to twist and interpret the Bible in such a way that they no longer believe in a God of miracles, a God who still speaks to His children, a God who is intimately involved in their lives, a God who is there when we are hurting, a God who is gracious when we repent, and a God who is active in the world.
We read the book of Acts, we read the exploits of the Apostles by the power of the Holy Spirit, we read the promises of Jesus telling us that greater things will we do in His name, then yawning, we shake our heads and say, ‘nope, not anymore! It was a misprint, God did not mean that, Jesus worded it differently in the original Hebrew, nope, God doesn’t do that anymore.’
We have not, because we ask not, and we ask not because nefarious agents of the enemy have talked us into believing that even if we ask we will never receive because God has boarded up the heavens, and He no longer does anything more than watch us run to and fro like purposeless insects.
We no longer pray to see the power of God in our churches, we no longer yearn to feel the flow of the Holy Spirit in our congregations, we no longer desire to see God’s work appear to His servants, instead we have become an inert mass of apathetic souls, looking to God as our ATM, desiring nothing more of Him than to give us a new house, or that boat we’ve had our eye on for so long.
We neglect to seek the greater things of God, because we are consumed with the lesser things of the world. We neglect to seek the Kingdom of God, because we are too busy with trying to build our own kingdoms here on earth. We deceive sincere Christians that God no longer does these things, because we ourselves are too lazy, too caught up in the world, too focused on other things to press in and seek the face of God, to be on our faces before Him and ask until we receive.
It’s amazing to me that some people still wonder why there is such a dramatic decline in church attendance, why so many people are walking away from their houses of worship, and why countless souls have resigned themselves to the status quo.
Souls are leaving the churches, because there is no power in the churches! People are walking away from their houses of worship because they can get better entertainment for far less than ten percent of their income elsewhere!
Sincere Christians, honest Christians, don’t go to church to be entertained, they don’t go to church to have their sins glossed over and their lifestyle justified, they go to church to be challenged, they go to church to hear the Word of God preached with authority, they go to church to see the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in power and practice.
In our never ending quest to be relevant, to attract the world with watered down messages of self empowerment, we neglected to notice that we have become the world we were trying to bring to Jesus in the first place.
Rather than Lord and King, Jesus has become a great teacher of morality for many professing believers. He has been relegated to the ranks of perhaps a prophet, who did good works, and taught good things, but it would be too controversial to call Him the Son of God, the Word made flesh, the only way to God, and the only path to salvation. That’s just divisive, we’re all embracing, we can’t tell people there’s only one way to heaven, what will they think of us. And so, with each passing year, with each graduating class of seminarians the gospel gets just a little more irrelevant, just a little more watered down, just a little less authoritative.
Now Jesus is one of many paths leading to the same destination, and this coming from the lips and pens of those who profess to be preachers and evangelists, men who claim that they are in communion and fellowship with God.
What have we become, and why have we become it?
We have become whitewashed tombs, we have become clanging cymbals, we have become powerless, impotent regurgitators of self help pabulum, which does nothing to help the spiritual man, hoping all the while that no one notices we never mention Jesus, the cross, salvation or repentance.
Why have we become this? Why is the church in such a spiritually crippled state? Because we stopped asking, we stopped crying out; we stopped pleading with God to let His works appear to His servants, and His glory to their children. We let sin fester; we let the disease spread because dealing with it is too time consuming and might cut into our time on the golf links, and no one ever made the payments on their palatial estate by confronting sin. Big givers get a pass, because they’re the big givers, and it’s as though we have been transported back to the middle ages when you could buy any indulgence if the price was right.
We have lowered the standard, we have redefined God, we have made repentance taboo within God’s own house, and continually deceive ourselves into believing that there is nothing more.
“We have attained all the spiritual things that are afforded us! Yep, might as well get comfortable and take a nap. It’s only downhill from here.”
This is the mindset of those who refuse to try God and see if He will not answer, who refuse to knock for fear that God will actually open, because they don’t know what they would do if they were proven wrong after so many years.
In a nutshell, this is what is wrong with much of the church today, and my prayer is that the trying times that are soon to descend upon this nation will serve to wake some of them up, and bring them to their knees at the foot of the cross.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Psalm 90:16, “Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children.”
We live in an age when even those within the house of God seem to have great difficulty in acknowledging the miracle working power of the God they serve. Believers of every denomination have taken it upon themselves to twist and interpret the Bible in such a way that they no longer believe in a God of miracles, a God who still speaks to His children, a God who is intimately involved in their lives, a God who is there when we are hurting, a God who is gracious when we repent, and a God who is active in the world.
We read the book of Acts, we read the exploits of the Apostles by the power of the Holy Spirit, we read the promises of Jesus telling us that greater things will we do in His name, then yawning, we shake our heads and say, ‘nope, not anymore! It was a misprint, God did not mean that, Jesus worded it differently in the original Hebrew, nope, God doesn’t do that anymore.’
We have not, because we ask not, and we ask not because nefarious agents of the enemy have talked us into believing that even if we ask we will never receive because God has boarded up the heavens, and He no longer does anything more than watch us run to and fro like purposeless insects.
We no longer pray to see the power of God in our churches, we no longer yearn to feel the flow of the Holy Spirit in our congregations, we no longer desire to see God’s work appear to His servants, instead we have become an inert mass of apathetic souls, looking to God as our ATM, desiring nothing more of Him than to give us a new house, or that boat we’ve had our eye on for so long.
We neglect to seek the greater things of God, because we are consumed with the lesser things of the world. We neglect to seek the Kingdom of God, because we are too busy with trying to build our own kingdoms here on earth. We deceive sincere Christians that God no longer does these things, because we ourselves are too lazy, too caught up in the world, too focused on other things to press in and seek the face of God, to be on our faces before Him and ask until we receive.
It’s amazing to me that some people still wonder why there is such a dramatic decline in church attendance, why so many people are walking away from their houses of worship, and why countless souls have resigned themselves to the status quo.
Souls are leaving the churches, because there is no power in the churches! People are walking away from their houses of worship because they can get better entertainment for far less than ten percent of their income elsewhere!
Sincere Christians, honest Christians, don’t go to church to be entertained, they don’t go to church to have their sins glossed over and their lifestyle justified, they go to church to be challenged, they go to church to hear the Word of God preached with authority, they go to church to see the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in power and practice.
In our never ending quest to be relevant, to attract the world with watered down messages of self empowerment, we neglected to notice that we have become the world we were trying to bring to Jesus in the first place.
Rather than Lord and King, Jesus has become a great teacher of morality for many professing believers. He has been relegated to the ranks of perhaps a prophet, who did good works, and taught good things, but it would be too controversial to call Him the Son of God, the Word made flesh, the only way to God, and the only path to salvation. That’s just divisive, we’re all embracing, we can’t tell people there’s only one way to heaven, what will they think of us. And so, with each passing year, with each graduating class of seminarians the gospel gets just a little more irrelevant, just a little more watered down, just a little less authoritative.
Now Jesus is one of many paths leading to the same destination, and this coming from the lips and pens of those who profess to be preachers and evangelists, men who claim that they are in communion and fellowship with God.
What have we become, and why have we become it?
We have become whitewashed tombs, we have become clanging cymbals, we have become powerless, impotent regurgitators of self help pabulum, which does nothing to help the spiritual man, hoping all the while that no one notices we never mention Jesus, the cross, salvation or repentance.
Why have we become this? Why is the church in such a spiritually crippled state? Because we stopped asking, we stopped crying out; we stopped pleading with God to let His works appear to His servants, and His glory to their children. We let sin fester; we let the disease spread because dealing with it is too time consuming and might cut into our time on the golf links, and no one ever made the payments on their palatial estate by confronting sin. Big givers get a pass, because they’re the big givers, and it’s as though we have been transported back to the middle ages when you could buy any indulgence if the price was right.
We have lowered the standard, we have redefined God, we have made repentance taboo within God’s own house, and continually deceive ourselves into believing that there is nothing more.
“We have attained all the spiritual things that are afforded us! Yep, might as well get comfortable and take a nap. It’s only downhill from here.”
This is the mindset of those who refuse to try God and see if He will not answer, who refuse to knock for fear that God will actually open, because they don’t know what they would do if they were proven wrong after so many years.
In a nutshell, this is what is wrong with much of the church today, and my prayer is that the trying times that are soon to descend upon this nation will serve to wake some of them up, and bring them to their knees at the foot of the cross.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Death By Hubris
At the height of its power the Roman Empire spanned over 2.2 million square miles of land. Its influence and control encircled the Mediterranean, covered all of Western Europe, and even half of Britain. At its peak, the Roman Empire was second only to the Persian Empire during the reign of Darius the great. Some would say that an applicable truism concerning the Roman Empire is that anything that reaches such heights, only has a further distance to fall.
There are many opinions as to why the Roman Empire fell, some believing it was due to over expansion, others to monetary troubles, others still to military problems, decadence, and there is even a number who believe the reason for Rome’s fall was Christianity.
Personally, I believe the fall of Rome as well as every empire that has come and gone serving as a cautionary tale for those willing to heed it, was hubris. Simply defined, hubris is arrogance, an overbearing pride or presumption that distorts men’s perception of reality. Some have even called hubris the pride that blinds, and I believe it is an apt definition.
Most often hubris is tethered in past glories or past conquests, and is unfounded in its arrogance or presumption. It refuses to see its present reality because it recalls a better time, the golden years when milk and honey flowed like rivers, when enemies bowed in trembling fear, and when the mere threat of a threat of force would make one’s enemies cower and bend to your will.
As with every empire in decline, those days were long past for Rome, and although it still attempted to impose itself, it still demanded respect, it still presumed that its enemies feared its might, they began to notice an ever growing boldness from the ranks of those who once feared them, and the once cowering eyes of those who would not dare look upon a Roman now stared back with a mixture of disdain, hatred and expectation of vengeance.
Until the day that Rome fell, there were still those who believed it would never fall. Hubris blinded them to their vulnerabilities, it blinded them to their weaknesses, it made them think themselves great in their own eyes, and despise anyone who would dare sound the alarm, and point out the obvious.
The reason I decided to venture into the land of hubris today is because it would seem that as a nation we have an aversion toward learning from others’ mistakes. Like stubborn children we want to repeat the experiences of those that came before us because we are unwilling to receive council or take advice.
As it was in the days of Rome, when the glory and the pomp were but a fleeting memory, today hubris is compelling us to beat our chests and tell anyone within earshot that we will weather this storm like we weathered the storms of the past because that’s what we’re made of, we’re built tough and we don’t back away from a challenge. Having studied the history of this nation, I can say without equivocation that we were built tough, and yes there was a time when we didn’t back away from a challenge. Sadly, that generation is all but gone, and no matter how we would like to make ourselves believe it, we are not that generation.
I believe the greatness of the generation that weathered two world wars and a great depression in this nation was rooted in the fact that they knew right from wrong, evil from just, darkness from light, and they would not compromise these things. Yes, there was a time in this nation when simplicity was looked upon as a virtue worthy of emulating rather than despising, when good conduct and moral character was demanded not only of church going folk, but every one of its citizens.
Only hubris can make us believe we have the integrity, backbone and courage of that generation, blinding us to the reality of what we have become as a nation and a generation. We are Rome, not at its peak but during its decent, wherein everything is relative, if it feels good do it, the more of everything the better, God is an absentee landlord, and we forge our own destinies.
‘Providence? What providence? That’s just something old fogies believed. We are smarter and more advanced than they were, we have twitter and face book now. Just look at all the archaic stuff they believed in like hard work, integrity, God, helping your neighbor. What sort of existence would that be?’
And so, we make science our god, because science requires no submission or obedience, and is morally neutral. We talk ourselves into believing we are happy as we pop fistfuls of Prozac and Zoloft into our tear streaked faces. We hoard and amass useless things that we can’t afford only to have them taken away by the repo man. We grow apathetic and indifferent toward anyone other than ourselves, and we underestimate the tenacity, determination, and hatred of our many enemies. Hubris has done this, and hubris will be our undoing.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
There are many opinions as to why the Roman Empire fell, some believing it was due to over expansion, others to monetary troubles, others still to military problems, decadence, and there is even a number who believe the reason for Rome’s fall was Christianity.
Personally, I believe the fall of Rome as well as every empire that has come and gone serving as a cautionary tale for those willing to heed it, was hubris. Simply defined, hubris is arrogance, an overbearing pride or presumption that distorts men’s perception of reality. Some have even called hubris the pride that blinds, and I believe it is an apt definition.
Most often hubris is tethered in past glories or past conquests, and is unfounded in its arrogance or presumption. It refuses to see its present reality because it recalls a better time, the golden years when milk and honey flowed like rivers, when enemies bowed in trembling fear, and when the mere threat of a threat of force would make one’s enemies cower and bend to your will.
As with every empire in decline, those days were long past for Rome, and although it still attempted to impose itself, it still demanded respect, it still presumed that its enemies feared its might, they began to notice an ever growing boldness from the ranks of those who once feared them, and the once cowering eyes of those who would not dare look upon a Roman now stared back with a mixture of disdain, hatred and expectation of vengeance.
Until the day that Rome fell, there were still those who believed it would never fall. Hubris blinded them to their vulnerabilities, it blinded them to their weaknesses, it made them think themselves great in their own eyes, and despise anyone who would dare sound the alarm, and point out the obvious.
The reason I decided to venture into the land of hubris today is because it would seem that as a nation we have an aversion toward learning from others’ mistakes. Like stubborn children we want to repeat the experiences of those that came before us because we are unwilling to receive council or take advice.
As it was in the days of Rome, when the glory and the pomp were but a fleeting memory, today hubris is compelling us to beat our chests and tell anyone within earshot that we will weather this storm like we weathered the storms of the past because that’s what we’re made of, we’re built tough and we don’t back away from a challenge. Having studied the history of this nation, I can say without equivocation that we were built tough, and yes there was a time when we didn’t back away from a challenge. Sadly, that generation is all but gone, and no matter how we would like to make ourselves believe it, we are not that generation.
I believe the greatness of the generation that weathered two world wars and a great depression in this nation was rooted in the fact that they knew right from wrong, evil from just, darkness from light, and they would not compromise these things. Yes, there was a time in this nation when simplicity was looked upon as a virtue worthy of emulating rather than despising, when good conduct and moral character was demanded not only of church going folk, but every one of its citizens.
Only hubris can make us believe we have the integrity, backbone and courage of that generation, blinding us to the reality of what we have become as a nation and a generation. We are Rome, not at its peak but during its decent, wherein everything is relative, if it feels good do it, the more of everything the better, God is an absentee landlord, and we forge our own destinies.
‘Providence? What providence? That’s just something old fogies believed. We are smarter and more advanced than they were, we have twitter and face book now. Just look at all the archaic stuff they believed in like hard work, integrity, God, helping your neighbor. What sort of existence would that be?’
And so, we make science our god, because science requires no submission or obedience, and is morally neutral. We talk ourselves into believing we are happy as we pop fistfuls of Prozac and Zoloft into our tear streaked faces. We hoard and amass useless things that we can’t afford only to have them taken away by the repo man. We grow apathetic and indifferent toward anyone other than ourselves, and we underestimate the tenacity, determination, and hatred of our many enemies. Hubris has done this, and hubris will be our undoing.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
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