World Views

Halloween Celebrations In A Post Christian Society

Halloween was depicted by Norman Rockwell as pictures of kids throwing sheets over their heads vying for treats, pumpkin carvings and bobbing for apples. During my childhood, Charles Schultz came out with his epic cartoon about the coming of "The Great Pumpkin," in a decade it was slasher movies, and today all manner of demonic occult movies. Halloween has become much darker and more reflective of its Celtic roots than most people realize. Listen to Albert Moehler as he opines about Halloween and the Christian Worldview. In addition he talks about an article from the USA Today, What to do when Johnny wants to be a princess for Halloween? 

Click Here for Albert Moehler

Twentieth Anniversary of 9/11 and Why World Views Matter

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the attacks on 9/11. We will never forget the 2,977 souls taken from us that day nor the acts of evil that perpetrated them.  For most of us it is a yearly remembrance, but those who lost a loved one, it is the empty chair around the dinner table, that vacant spot next to you in bed, or wondering what your mom or dad would think and asking  yourself, "Do you think they would be proud of me?"  It is a lingering emptiness that never will be requited in this world.

For the last 2000 thousand years western civilization has flourished under the influence of the Christian worldview. The fact that this worldview recognizes a transcendent truth that is absolute, has enabled science, mathematics and the arts to flourish. Christians started the first hospitals, orphanages and universities and this worldview has enabled many advances in medicine and science. Other truth's contained in this worldview are that we live in a fallen world, man is intrinsically sinful, however all men are created in the image of God and therefore have dignity and self worth. This worldview allows for the existence of good and evil and the need for a Savior, namely Jesus Christ. So what happened? Well along came "The Enlightenment" whose philosophy did not recognize absolute truth, man being the center of all things, can use his reasoning and intellect to discover any truth that is knowable. No longer was God necessary to be the arbiter of truth, religion just got in the way. This philosophy has wormed its way gradually into the Academy and the ruling elites that are the products of it. They don't acknowledge the existence of evil and man's true nature. 

We are in a battle of worldviews. To put it simply it is the west against the rest. We are and have been at war with the Radical Islam's worldview. According to them the world is divided into two parts, Islam and those who must be conquered, subjugated and forced to live under Shariah Law. It is a religion of conquest. There is no appeasing or reasoning with these folks. A plane load of cash left on the tarmac of a airport is a foolish way to persuade them to stop refining uranium, they will take the cash and do what they want to do anyway, they will just have more money to accomplish their goal. In America we are divided and the Christian worldview is being pushed aside, much to our detriment. Radical Islam will have us for lunch if we continue to try appease and please them. What motivates them is a Hellfire missile blowing up their fearless leader's Toyota pickup truck, with him in it. That's why Worldviews matter.

As I listen to the bell toll as it echoes across the 911 Memorial plaza, along with the names of those who died there, I am reminded of  the last two lines of a John Donnes poem, "For Whom the Bell Tolls, It tolls for thee." Each person that died that day tore a hole in America and in all of our hearts. May God bless them, their loved ones they left behind and God bless America.

2020 A Year of Tumult and Fear

" 2020 A Year of Tumult and Fear," is not exactly a headline I anticipated writing, as the clock struck midnight, ushering in 2020. The first half of the year has passed by like a runaway freight train with no brakes, out of control and headed for a bad ending.  As a white knuckled passenger on this "Crazy Train," I realize that it is not out of control at all, but the chief engineer in charge is God. Once you have that perspective the clickety clack of the train going over the tracks becomes a soothing noise and not one of terror.

We are living through a time of political, social, economic, philosophical and moral upheaval, that happens to coincide with a pandemic of biblical proportions. Any of these problems alone is enough to fill your plate. Where do we turn to for advice? There are so many things going wrong, where do we start to untangle the mess we find ourselves in? This hasn't been one day in the making and will not be one day in righting it. Once a train of giant proportions gathers momentum it is very difficult to stop and certainly can not stop on a dime. 

Think about it, our country just celebrated our 244th birthday this past 4th of July. Compare this to Israel's history, from Moses and the Ten Commandments to Jesus, a time span of 1443 years. Israel went through cycles of time with Judges, Kings and Prophets making the same mistakes over and over again culminating in the first coming of Jesus. Over and over they forsook the God of the universe for false gods, which led to immorality, social, political and economic corruption, sound familiar? They would relearn the same lesson over and over again throughout their history until finally God used the surrounding evil empires to conquer and disperse them, but still sent a Savior, Jesus. The history of our country is in terms of 100's of years, while Israel's is a millenia plus. Do you think we could learn something here? The parallels of our history and Israel's are striking and should not be ignored. We founded a Nation under God, based  on Judeo-Christian principles. We were a God fearing nation of believers. Slowly but surely we have forsaken God and our founding principles. Immorality reigns, marriage, sex, man and woman have all been redefined by a secular culture and courts. Truth itself is under assault and we "do what we feel is right." So, this is the "Crazy Train" we call America in 2020. Do we stand aside and watch our country dissolve before our eyes?

Let us learn from Israel's past and do what they did right, repent and turn back to God, forsake the gods of this world and embrace truth and wisdom that comes from being obedient to God's Word. Learn from their history and ours so that we see what's coming and why. Now is the time to apply the brakes so we don't miss the turn off that brings us safely into the station, or we will find ourselves on the fast track to destruction.