I am horribly pressed for time this morning—trying to finish two articles up at once, clean my house, yell at my kids to finish their work for the week, and not melt in the rain.*
And, honestly, the “news” is careening by me at an alarming rate so that I can barely catch my breath. While I was obsessing over Katherine Maher, NPR’s new President and CEO, I stumbled across this funny tweet:
When a demon like Jezebel is called out, the cessationists rant and rage alongside the demons. The saying goes, "Satan's greatest trick is convincing the world he doesn't exist," and cessationists abide this lie by claiming the supernatural has no power.
Um, that’s not true. Cessationists—or at least all the ones I know—very much believe in the existence of demons and all manner of supernatural power. Witness whatever was going on at this He-Man gathering with the horrifying male stripper and sword-swallowing display. Not to mention the obvious stunt of creating a controversy where apparently there was none. Surely something supernaturally bad was occurring. What cessationists don’t believe is that Mark Driscoll, or anyone else, is a God-ordained and empowered miracle worker in the manner of Elijah or St. Paul, and especially that he, Driscoll, has been vouchsafed any special revelation from God not already found in the scriptures. For the understanding of spiritual forces prowling to and fro and up and down, all I require is ye olde Bible and some excellent, or at least fairly decent Bible expositors.
Speaking of ye olde Bible, NPR, and Jezebel Spirits, you all will surely enjoy this delightful display of Jezebel meeting her timely end, made by the daughter of a dear friend and reader of this blog when she (the daughter) was a clever and perspicacious child:
Personally, I love the window, the angle of that condemned woman, and the fallen crown. I’m really sad that I never encouraged my children to make these kinds of visual displays of Bible Truths. What a failure I’ve been. It’s the faith of children—their creativity, the imagination, the truth-telling capabilities—that really comfort me in these dark days.
I saw someone on Twitter, or X or whatever, named Seven Machina Rasm, explain, and I quote:
i will die on this hill: it’s fine and normal to dislike children
I mean, this person is, of course correct. Plenty of normal people dislike children, especially other people’s children. Children in general can be a hard concept to grasp. And all children go through periods where they are awkward and irritating. But to die on such a hill? When children are also a consolation, a blessing, a curiosity, a source of hope, the care of the least of them is the easiest and best way to be saved from selfishness, hubris, pride, and the worst sin of all, hypocrisy? That is a foolish hill upon which to perish.
The fact is, whether you are a child, or Mark Driscoll, or Katherine Maher, you are a spiritual person living in a spiritual world, whatever that pop singer may have had to say about it. The really encouraging thing is that a lot of people are waking up to this fact. As David Roseberry points out, people seem to be staggering into church in record numbers. He writes about it in the Anglican Compass:
Thomas Aquinas (13th Century) wrote that theology was the queen of science. He meant that one’s view of God and the Bible affects every other area of life. In other words, knowledge of God’s Word informs all other knowledge, making theology a fundamental aspect of education. Subsequent eras turned this on its head: Science was the reigning queen—perhaps even the king of everything else. It was the “gold standard” of truth for our culture.
But the luster is gone. Science is no longer unquestioningly trusted, and the circle of skepticism keeps widening. Politics has become more about power than governing. Social media is destroying our children. Our government is unable to act in our best interests (and besides this, it is not trusted). Closer to home and very sad for all of us, many church leaders are compromised and have had high-profile falls.
So, if we are seeing attendance increase at our churches, these reasons and others might explain why. The modern, politically correct, and ideological-laden narratives are leading our culture into a ditch. People might be coming back to the source of all knowledge, truth, and meaning: Our Triune God.
We have seen a solid uptick in Sunday attendance. It’s been pretty amazing, and certainly very encouraging. It’s like there is a God after all, with the supernatural ability to draw people to himself, to remake them in the image of his Son, and to be with them forever.
And on that note, I have to run along. Have a nice day!
*So sorry not to read this aloud—a kid is taking an exam and I can’t distract her nor leave the room. Sob.
That diorama of Jezebel's demise gave me my biggest laugh so far this week! I love it!
Sometimes I amuse myself by thinking of the adventures of Jehu, one of favorite Bible characters, being made a children's book or put, well illustrated, in a children's Bible. Perhaps that child has a calling!
I’ve been recently contemplating how our sinfulness starts with a low view of our Holy God. He is the creator and holder together of all things. He’s won the victory for us despite our failings. In Him is our only hope.