Category: Brother Al (Page 2 of 60)

The journal Public Discourse celebrated its fifteenth anniversary by republishing an article by Mark Regnerus entitled “The Truth about Men, Women and Sex.”  In the article, Regnerus explains the fundamental differences between men and women, pertaining primarily to their differing sexualities.  The journal notes recent revelations about sexual harassment, assault, and abuse as underscoring the blunt realities about men, women, and sex. “How can we confront those realities in a way that leads to less sexual violence?”  Below are three blunt truths:

First, “men’s sex drives are, on average, stronger and less discriminating than women’s.”  The sex offender registry is populated mostly by men.  “Men,” notes Regnerus, “seem ready to jeopardize career, marriage, family, and reputation – all because of genital urges.”  Women’s sexual instincts are less impulsive and more selective.  This is true across all human cultures.  “This is why marriages tends to settle down the male libido and it is wives who do this because of their very different sexual drive and interests.

Second, “Men have the upper hand in the contemporary mating market, even as – and partly because – women are flourishing economically and educationally.”  Men feel freer to take the sexual satisfaction they desire, while women feel more pressured to give it because so many women have given up on expecting men to wait until marriage to gain full access to female sexuality.  This is the result of contemporary sexual economics.  In most civilized cultures, men must come to women to negotiate access to their sexuality.  But a “hook-up” culture has weakened this exchange.  The feminist movement has taught women to become more like men.  As a result, many women are lonely and unhappy.

Third, “Women are usually smaller and weaker than men” and therefore more vulnerable to male aggression.  As a result, “women are more prone to find themselves in situations of sexual risk with regard to men.”  Regnerus reminds us, “Women are due not just consent or respect.  They are owed actions and words that consistently uphold their bodily integrity, security, and dignity.”  But in our day, women are getting less of this kind of behavior as they seek to meet their male sexual partners on their own terms.  Women are becoming more objectified rather than honored and cherished because of their feminine power. 

In Regnerus’ opinion, “the more we ignore the differences between men and women in human sexuality, the worse this inequity and women’s declining happiness will get.”  I thought of the advice given to married men in Proverbs 5:15-17: “Drink water from your well – share your love only with your wife.  Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone?  You should reserve it for yourselves.  Never share it with strangers” (NLT).  This scripture paints a picture of faithfulness in marriage, telling men to enjoy the spouse God has given them.  

Remember Paul’s advice to us who have a tiger in our tank of the need to be tamed: “But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion” (I Cor. 7:9).  Proverbs depicts the picture of a man enjoying a sexual relationship with his wife.  “Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you.  Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is loving deer, a graceful doe.  Let her breasts satisfy you always.  May you always be captivated by her love” (Prov. 5:18-19). “God does not intend faithfulness in marriage to be boring, lifeless, pleasureless, or dull” (Application Bible). It can indeed be joyful, satisfying, enriching, pleasureful, and abundant.

I have been reading a book on prayer by Fr. Donald Haggerty. In a chapter entitled “the desert of deeper prayer” he shares a quote from Saint Augustine.  “Give me a man in love: he knows what I mean, give me one who yearn; give me one who is hungry; give me one far away in this desert, who is thirsty and sighs for the spring of the Eternal country.  Give me that sort of man: he knows what I mean.  But if I speak to a cold man, he just does not know what I am talking about.”  

This quote is both inspiring and convicting for me.  I confess there are times when my relationship with God as that of a “cold man“.  I am not sure about my love for God, I lack passion for the cause of Christ, my thirst  for God is not very apparent, and I go through the motions without the vital energy of the Spirit.  I still struggle with my sexual fantasies. I want to desire “one thing”; that is being a passionate lover of God.  Yes, Augustine, I am that man, thirsting in a dry and thirsty culture.

I am a man continually crying out to God,  “Have mercy on me a sinner.”  I am like blind Bartimaeus, sitting by the roadside begging, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” (Mark 10:47).  He was desperate, knowing this was his only opportunity to connect with Jesus.  When Jesus called him, Bartimaeus responded. Without hesitation he  throw of his cloak, jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.  When Jesus asked what he wanted, he was honest,  “Rabbi, I want to see” (Mark 10:51).  Jesus tells him, “Go your faith has healed you” (Mark 10:52).

David cries out to God in a parched and weary land.  “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you.  My soul thirst for you; My whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is not water” (Ps. 63:1).  I can somewhat identify with David.  It has been a long, winding path in becoming a man who desires to be a lover of God – “a man in love.”  It has meant a lot of unlearning about what a man is, my past spiritual journey and my theological framework.  I finally can say, “I want to be a man in love with God.”

What has this meant for me?  I have had to become more honest about my spiritual condition. David was honest when he prayed, “Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me? (Ps 42:5).  First, it has meant becoming a soulful man. St. John of the Cross calls the soul, the region of deep caverns .  It is vast, unknown and deep.  I have to become willing to go deep. This in not introspection for Jesus is already there waiting for me.  

Secondly, I have to admit my need.  I am a beggar like Bartimaeus, who can’t fix himself spiritually.  David prayed, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps 51:17).  He admitted his great need. “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God” (Ps 42:2).  I come to God in all my nakedness and emptiness.

Thirdly, God will rescue me from myself.  “I sink in the miry depths where there is no foothold.  I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me” (Ps 69:2).  God will rescue me.  “He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me” (Ps 18:19).  

Trevin Wax is becoming one of my favorite younger spiritual writers.  He writes about men, many of whom seem lost and lonely in our culture.  His recent blog titled “To Be a Holy Man” caught my attention: “Many today seem to view masculinity as a problem rather than a gift,” he notes.  “How does it make sense to push back against toxic expressions of masculinity without a clear picture of actual manliness, a positive vision that shatters the caricature.”  He then refers to an article by Jeremy Schurke listing 18 characteristic of a man who abides in Christ. 

“We are all acting as first responders,” observes Schurke, “to the scene of a masculinity crisis.”  Men are suffering from “ontological insecurity.”  Schurke believes we need exemplars: “As for the ideal man, I have been really interested in the concept of a Holy Man.”  He sees this as a “first step for a generation of men who are experiencing ontological insecurity.”  Below are Schurke’s descriptors of a Holy Man.  The list is rather long, but I trust you will find it stimulating.  Think of it as a “glorified” bull session on masculinity:

1. He possesses wild eyes.  He’s not satisfied with the status quo but takes initiative as a difference maker.  He’s a citizen of another world.
2. He moves mysteriously.  Dallas Willard talked about living  “in another time zone.”  This is the life of a practical mystic.
3. He revers the sacred everywhere.   He is an everyday mystic, seeing his life as a spiritual adventure.
4. He establishes rituals, disciplines, and traditions.  He recognizes how habits shape life and character.
5. He walks a spiritual pilgrimage.  Life is a growing relational process in which one never arrives.
6. He abides in God.  He desires a consistent and transformative friendship with God.
7. He seeks a spiritual father.  He chooses close friends and a mentor – for soul care.
8. He lives for a life mission.  He seeks to know God’s calling and walk in it.
9. He wants to leave a legacy.  He invests time, talent, and treasure in and for others, seeing life in the larger story of God’s kingdom.
10. He seeks kindred spirits, and knows he needs to be surrounded by men who will encourage him.
11. He belongs to a tribe, and realizes he cannot be a “lone ranger.” 
12. He is a savage servant.  A Holy Man is committed to the team concept of leadership, organization and mission.
13. He fosters emotional intelligence.  With others, he learns self-awareness, empathy, and interpersonal sensitivity.
14. He burns with the fire of a poet and walks with a limp.  Being honest about his failings, he leads from a place of love and suffering.
15. He is a perpetual student.  He is a student of scripture and other spiritual books so as to grow both in mind and heart.
16. He takes his body seriously.  He appreciates his body, being comfortable in his own skin.  He understands his own sexuality and is committed to the virtue of chastity.
17. He is consciously countercultural.  He appreciates the goodness of creation and mourns the distortion of sin.
18. He becomes a saint.  He is committed to a lifelong process of growth, formation, and development, while being consciously set apart for God as a poet, warrior and monk.  He visualizes becoming like Jesus by being Jesus’ apprentice – to walk in his ways and love as he loves.

This is a long list for a short blog.  But these suggestions cast a vision that resonates with my heart.  As Schurke notes, “These steps to being a Holy Man are not easy.  Each requires more thought and reflection to be able to apply them well.”  

Owen Strachan, a research professor of theology at Grace Bible Theology Seminary, speaks boldly about our culture when he implies, “At basically every level, men are disappearing … for every one woman who drops out of college, seven men drop out.  Men have left the workforce in almost unprecedented numbers … men have disappeared from many families … in the bleakest category there is, suicide rates, men kill themselves far more than women do, representing 80% of suicides today …”  Strachan calls this disappearing “ghosting” loved ones, the work environment and “this very world itself.” He insists that “feminism and wokeness have accomplished nothing less than the destabilization of civilization.” 

Strachan believes in such an anti-male climate few dare to speak for men.  But he challenges us to encourage and reengage men.  “The dire situation before us today requires us to fight for men, not against them, since men are disappearing and struggling.  We need to find men where they are – “in some cases, this will be a precipice.” Strachan envisions a  mission to “speak a different word than anti-male voices … No man is hopeless.  No man is too far gone for God to reach him, remake him, and put him to work.  [Many men] have lost all hope and will soon step off the ledge into the darkness, disappearing forever.”

Strachan sees four deficient categories of men who are struggling:

1) The “soft man” who yields to the strong woman and take cues from her.

2) The “exaggerated man,” similar to the  Andrew Tate-type who embraces a “cartoonish manhood.”

3) The “lost man” who leaves his family and opts out of “any meaningful involvement in society”; and 

4) The “angry man” who, as an “exercise in vengeance” perverts his God-given strength for evil uses, as in the case of a mass shooter.

What is needed are strong men – not in themselves but in Christ – to join the fight to rescue disappearing men.  Strong men who use their strength for the good of others.  “He is a man under discipline and a soldier under orders.  He lives not by his own creed, but the truth of God.” Jesus is the  model.  He was tough and tender.   “….That’s the kind of man we desperately need today.  But as long as the culture targets strong men, we’re only weakening ourselves, and putting everyone in jeopardy.  If you demonize strong men, eventually there are none left.”

I am motivated to rescue men on the edge of the precipice, gripped by discouragement and hopelessness, having caved to the relentless message that men are toxic.  Strachan warns, “We must reach them before it is too late, and the hour is indeed late in the West.”  I was reminded of this exhortation:  “And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering.  Rescue others by snatching them for the flames of judgment.  Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives” (Jude 22).

Do a spiritual checkup:

1.  Are you strong in the Lord? “… When I am weak, then I am strong” (II Cor 12:10).
2.  Do you have a passion to reach other men, even if it means snatching them for the flames of judgment?  (Jude 22).
3.  Are you preparing yourself to be misunderstood in a culture that does not accept the scriptural mandate for Adam to “work and take care of the Garden of Eden” (Genesis 2:15). 
4.  Do you long, like Paul, for your kinsmen to know Christ? “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart” (Romans 9:2).
   

Lord, give us grace and strength to be the men of faith you have created and designed us to be. 

Aaron Renn wrote an op-ed recently in the Wall Street Journal wondering why men turn to online influencers instead of traditional institutions and authorities. He pointed out five ways this is taking place:

1. Online influencers (OI’s) are men speaking to men, whereas many (if not most) mainstream figures writing on men’s issues are women;
2. OI’s treat men as ends, not just means… viewing men as important in their own right;
3. They also provide an aspirational, appealing version of manhood in ways mainstream figures don’t;
4. OI’s give practical, actionable advice to help men improve and attain their goals;
5. They create community.

Renn believes traditional institutions can re-create the online influencers’ success: “They can have men talking to and about men.  They can acknowledge that men are important in themselves… They can craft an aspirational vision of manhood that includes elements of sacrifice and service.  They can build men up with practical insights and advice, even when the truth is unpopular.  And they can crystallize community around them.  None of these things are objectively hard to do.”

In my passion to speak to the masculine soul, I take to heart Renn’s comments that men are not merely a means to an end (godly husband and father) but also as an end in themselves (being a man of God).  It seems that many of the messages men get from the dominant media come primarily from women.  Men are told that their roles need to be “instrumentally good” and enable women to fulfill their life ambitions.  But what men sense is that “they don’t matter until they become a problem for somebody else that society actually cares about.”  Renn references Richard Reeves pointing out during the UN #HeForShe Summit that men’s issues (increasing suicide rates, educational underachievement, etc.) can easily end up in grievance politics.  Reeves stated that if problems like these are not addressed, “they can turn into grievances, and grievances are weaponized… We have a responsibility to take those problems seriously.”

My heart’s prayer with this blog is to speak to the masculine soul, treating manhood not just as a “means” but as an “end” as well.  When I started writing in 2009, I wrote a blog entitled “Themes for the Wildman Journey” and used Prov. 4:23 as a theme verse: “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”  I wrote, “This simply means that wildmen have come to the point in their lives when they know they have to pay attention to their hearts (soul)… I can say with deep conviction that men need to band together to deal with their soul lives.”

On that note, is it possible that too many men have seen the media, online influencers, or maybe even their own mothers or wives unduly influence the nature of their masculine soul and shape it in an unhealthy way?  I believe along with Renn that men need to build community and let the Lord define who they are.  Men need “soul care” groups to find healing, support and encouragement from other men, where they can will look to Jesus for inspiration and courage as men trying to find their way in modern society.

My journey of wholeness as a man has been going for many years.  I’m continually inspired by Psalm 71:18, “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.”  And I sincerely pray that this blog will provide “practical, actionable advice” from a man who cares about the “soul life” of men.

Both Cambridge and Merriam-Webster dictionaries have announced their Word of the Year for 2023.  Cambridge chose “hallucinate” while Merriam-Webster gave the nod to “authentic.”  

Cambridge’s traditional definition of hallucinate has been “to seem to see, hear, feel, or smell something that does not exist.”  It now includes “when an artificial intelligence (AI) hallucinates, it produces false information.”  This definition was added after a year-long surge in interest in generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard and Grok.  AI ethicist Dr. Henry Shevlin said it was “a snapshot of how we’re thinking about and anthropomorphizing AI.”  He added, “Inaccurate or misleading information has long been with us, of course, whether in the form of rumors, propaganda, or fake news.”  

Cambridge Dictionary’s publishing manager noted, “The fact that AIs can hallucinate reminds us that humans still need to bring their critical thinking skills to the use of these tools. AIs are fantastic at churning through huge amounts of data to extract specific information and consolidate it – but the more original you ask them to be, the likelier they are to go astray.” 

As I pondered this usage of hallucinate, I came to realize just how much cultural change has influenced the meanings of words.  Whatever happened to lying or simply not telling the truth?  In the eighth commandment God instructs us, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Ex. 22:16).  Luther instructs us in his catechism, “We do not deceitfully lie, betray, gossip about, or slander our neighbors.”  False or misleading information is simply a lie that God forbids.  Is not AI-led “hallucinating” bearing false witness or leading others astray?   

Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster, observed, “We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity.  What we realize is that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.”  2023 has been a year of AI impacting our culture.  ChatGPT (and its maker OpenAI) seem to be suffering from a credibility crisis, raising questions of authenticity.  “We sometimes don’t believe our own eyes or our own ears,” suggests Sokolowski.  “We are now recognizing that authenticity is a performance itself.”

In this regard the Merriam-Webster dictionary struggles to define authenticity.  It includes the following: “not false or imitation: real, actual” – “true to one’s own personality, spirit or character” –  “worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact” – “made or done the same way as an original” –  “conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features.”  I wonder – what is “original” and “fact?”  Do we make up what is real, or is there a basis for all of reality?

To know what is “fact,” that is, what makes up reality, we need to go back to the beginning and the Creator.  We read in John, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  Earlier John tells us, “Through him all things were made.” (1:3).  Knowing Jesus will continually give a sense of what is authentic.  James Huston reminds us, “You are never more authentic than when you are in Christ.” And the apostle Paul tells us “reality… is found in Christ” (Col. 2:17).

Men, we are going to be more and more influenced by AI.  So, beware of misinformation and the lack of authenticity influencing you.  These words of the year remind us to be truthful and live authentic lives.  Jesus words: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me” (John 15:4).

While worshiping on the first Sunday of Advent, I attentively listened to my pastor read from John 1:1-18 as I followed along in my CSB.  I paid particular attention to John 1:5: “That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.”  Afterwards I reread these familiar words of John’s gospel, which have been shared so often during the Advent season.  A footnote to John 1:5 in my CBS Bible notes that “overcome” can also mean “grasp, or comprehend, or overtake.”  

The NET Bible translates John 1:5 this way: “And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.”  Phillips says, “The light still shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.”  The NET Bible notes “shines” as being in the present tense: “The light continually shines…expresses the timeless truth that the light of the world never ceases to shine” (NET).  

The Amplified Bible reads, “The light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].  Continuing, it notes, “Although Satan and his forces resist the light, they cannot thwart its power.  In short, Jesus is life and light; those who accept Him are ‘sons of light’ (12:35-36).  As the creation of light was the beginning of the original creation, so, when believers receive the light, they become part of the new creation (II Cor. 4:3-6).” 

My thoughts often drift to focus on challenges men face.  On this particular Sunday, I sensed I should blog on John 1:5 and our battle with the ever-increasing darkness.  Jesus’ warning from John 12:35 seems very appropriate to 21st century believers: “You are going to have the light just a little while longer.  Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you.”   

Here’s how two cultural observers describe our society:  “There is a creeping sense that our society has turned upside-down.  Healthy debate is replaced by activist hysterics.  Speech is declared violence; violence is excused as speech.  Masculinity is condemned as ‘toxic,’ while men in dresses are celebrated in the public square.  It feels as if we are in the midst of a society-wide mental breakdown” (Christopher F. Rufo).  “There is something deeply unwell in our society right now… I’m sure social media, economic malaise, Covid lockdowns, fentanyl, and every other reason we hear about factor into it… in aggregate, (it) still feels insufficient” (Robert Sterling).  Sterling goes on to suggest that something “metaphysical” seems to have shifted.

In other words, something in the spiritual realm has changed.  Psalm 88:5 reminds us that the “gods” of this age walk in darkness. They cause earth’s foundations to shake. “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing.  They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken” (Ps. 82:5).  Yes, there is a major shift taking place.  The “gods” of darkness have been loosed, causing a type of metaphysical “mental breakdown.” This has produced an unhealthy spiritual vacuum.  Paul warns, “For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie” (II Thess. 2:11).

But remember, men: Jesus, the light of world, has come.  His light will not go out.  Darkness will not overcome, grasp, comprehend or put out that light.  In the future, AI may deceive many while claiming to bring light. We know better. “You are all sons of the light and sons of the day.”  We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like those who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled” (I Thess. 5:5-6).

The Gospel Coalition website offers an article by Trevin Wax entitled 60 years of ‘Honest to God’.  Sixty years ago, I was a young freshman at Augsburg College, having spent the previous two years at a Lutheran Bible school in California.  As a recent convert determined not to lose his faith, I had my testimony of new life in Christ and a deep commitment to the Word of God as my guide to both life and practice.  Bishop A. T. Robinson’s book Honest to God came as a shock to my newly-formed biblical frame of reference.  I vividly remember struggling with some of the bishop’s proposals. 

Feeling inadequate to respond to Robinson’s book, I asked whether I should I cling to my orthodox faith as I prepared to become a pastor. Should I reconsider restating “traditional orthodoxy in modern terms” in order to reach an increasingly secular culture?  The bishop warned that the survival of Christianity was at stake.  “There is no time to lose” in seeking to “recapture ‘secular’ man.”  According to the bishop, the church needed radical change, embracing a “metamorphosis of Christian belief and practice,” while calling for a recasting that would “leave the fundamental truth of the Gospel unaffected,” yet still requiring “everything to go into the melting – even our most cherished religious categories and moral absolutes.”  I wondered what that would mean.

I am very thankful that I weathered the spiritual storm caused by Honest to God. I remember being unsettled with Robinson’s criticism of “supernaturalism” and “the miraculous.” I felt my own personal experience as a believer was under attack.  I had my testimony but did not have the spiritual maturity to disprove Robinson’s point of view.  In the words of Trevin Wax, Robinson believed that “the church should heed the naturalist critique of supernaturalism because it exposed many of Christianity’s cherished beliefs as ‘an idol’ we must no longer cling to.”

Wax observes, “Now that postmodern waves have crashed upon modernity’s shore… Robinson’s ‘recasting’ looks like little more than an outdated attempt to curry favor with people who have ‘come of age’… What the church needs most isn’t another proposal that integrates Christianity from the vantage point of our contemporary sensibilities but leaders who interrogate our current moment from the vantage point of historic Christianity.”

Men, this is my testimony after over 60 years of contending “for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).  I was motivated by Paul’s words to young Timothy: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles to word of truth” (II Tim 2:15).  I remember clinging to II Tim 3:16-17: “All Sculpture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  I believed fervently that I had been filled with God’s Holy Spirit.  Jesus said of the Spirit, “He will not speak  on his own; but he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:13).

What did this mean for me?  First, I wholehearted wanted at a young age to a “worthy workman” for the Lord.  I surrendered myself to him as best as I could.  2) With all my heart and mind I believed scripture to be “God-breathed” and I submitted myself to the authority of God’s Word.  3) I realized I am helpless without the work of the Spirit in my life – and I praise God for the “fullness of his presence” in me.

I am writing this blog as our nation has been experiencing severe weather with floods and tornados as well as fires.  The footage on the nightly news depicts the terrible destruction and the heartbreaking experiences of survivors.  In addition, we are continually exposed to the devastation in Ukraine.  I am especially pained by the homelessness of the elderly and children.  In many cases, there do not seem to be any roads to travel, providing escape or access to emergency help.

The prophet Isaiah gives us a vision of a spiritual road being built in the midst of great uncertainty.  “God says, ‘Rebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity” (Is. 57:14).   Later, Isaiah calls out, “Go out through the gates!  Prepare the highway for my people to return!  Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see” (Is. 62:10).

A common theme is clearing the debris from the road so people may walk safely back from captivity.  A road is being mended; a smooth highway through the wasteland. The good news of the reconstructed road is being announced.  A flag is the signal, bringing attention to the road that has been cleared and rebuilt.  Isaiah pictures a “highway” on which “the ransomed of the Lord will return.  They will enter Zion with singing, everlasting joy will crown their heads” (Is. 35:10).

Have you ever experienced a detour when you have been traveling?  It may have been new bridge construction… or fallen debris, like a rockslide… or it may have been an accident.  This is a picture of our nation today.  We have taken many  detours.  We have lost our way.  Many of the roads that people have chosen to follow are actually very dangerous.  There are rocks and boulders that may have fallen on some of the older, safer roads.  We are traveling through a spiritual wasteland, not sure if the road we are on will get us home.  

Our nation stand at a crossroads.  The prophetic words of Jeremiah speak loudly to our generation.  “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6:16).  There could be a man reading this blog who realizes he is at a crossroads.  Up to this point, he has been trying to navigate a dangerous road with much uncertainty and apprehension.  He is weary, lost, and not sure of the future.  

This man, along with the rest of us, needs to hear the strong, prophetic voice of John the Baptist, prophesied by Isaiah to be the “voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him'” (Matt. 3:4).  Luke identified John with Elijah.  “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). 

Men, the “spirit of Elijah” is at work in our day.  It is the loud, clear, prophetic voice of the Lord calling us back to the ancient paths.  Each man reading this blog needs to ask, “Lord, am I on the right road?  Am I headed in the right direction?”  God is calling fathers back to the basics (family) and the disobedient to the wisdom of the past (ancient paths).  His clear and straight way is available to us.  Are we going to take it? 

In an article entitled, “And What About the Future?” Dr. James M. Houston reflects on “the growth of technology in a postindustrial age with its temptation to substitute rational, mechanical order for the life of the spirit and for what is personal and of God.”  He envisions a new idolatry, which we may call technolatry – or “the worship of techniques for their own sake.”  It is, he believes, “the most formidable of all contemporary idolatries because it can pervade everything, everywhere.  It is a misplaced concreteness that defines all that life is and should be, with a scientific spirit that questions neither the validity nor the necessity of all spiritual, moral and human values.” 

Houston wonders about the relevance of technology to the book of Revelation, where John testifies, “I…saw a beast rising out of the sea… ” (Rev. 13:1).   He notes, “This suggests that it arises among the nations, self-directing, unquestioned. No power on earth can resist its arrival and diffusion… There is a widespread feeling today that technology is an autonomous force, largely out of control… today, technology has become such a force that it threatens to overwhelm every realm of man’s being and activity.”

I thought of Dr. Houston’s remarks when I read Isaiah’s challenge to the leaders of his day: “‘Present the case for your idols,’ says the Lord.  ‘Let them show what they can do,’ says the King of Israel. Let them try to tell us what happened long ago so that we may consider the evidence.  Or let them tell us what the future holds so we can know what’s going to happen.” (Is. 41:21-22).  He challenges them to do anything.  “In fact, do anything – good or bad!  Do something that will amaze and frighten us.  But no!  You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all'” (v. 23).  Then Isaiah warns the leaders about being taken in by their idols, “Those who choose you pollute themselves” (v. 24).

Men, it is extremely difficult to stand against and resist the dominance of technology in our daily lives. It can have a smothering effect on our thinking and behavior.  Both religious and secular observers are actually frightened by what they see coming.  In the first chapter of Revelation,  John saw a vision of the risen Lord and fell as though dead.  Jesus placed his right hand on him and said, “Do not be afraid.  I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever.  And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Rev. 1:17-18).  He then told John, “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later” (v. 19).

What can we learn from these verses in Revelation? 

First, don’t be afraid.  The idols of our age cannot give hope. But Jesus can.  At Jesus’ resurrection the angel declared, “Don’t be afraid.”  Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  The idols of our day are lifeless.  But we have resurrection power flowing through us.  Paul declares, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you” (Romans 8:11).

Second, Jesus is before and after all things.  In Rev 22:13, Jesus declares, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”  Jesus is the Lord of history.  He knows the beginning of history and what will happen at the end.  So, our focus has to be on him.  Trust Jesus to forge a way through to the end.  He holds the keys of death and Hades.