Dear Brother, Sister
Now, at 73 years of age, I look back to ask myself what I’ve learned and how this should govern what is said in the pulpit.
I’ve come to understand that life is a series of unanswered questions and unsatisfactory answers. In some cases, God has chosen, for His own purpose and good pleasure, not to answer; to those He has answered, we—in our unmitigated arrogance—argue: “But why must I endure this?” (or) “But why may I not do that?”
And yet our Creator has every right to command. I AM . Thou shalt.
And for however difficult the path may be, the Creator gives us a simple justification: “Because I said so.”
*
The most difficult thing I’ve had to accept as a Guardian of the Word of God is that “I” cannot save you; neither can you save yourself. Salvation comes as an unmerited gift through the Effectual Call of the Holy Spirit and by no other means and will come only to those who were chosen for salvation before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5).[1] The belief that “we” can save ourselves or that we can earn any (Catholic or Anglican) portion of salvation through our works or tithes or prayer or fasting is clearly contradicted in Scripture.
*
The advantage of having such a dinosaur as your shepherd is that I am old. My time with you will be very short. And so I will have no patience when what is at stake is nothing less than your immortal soul, and I will make no effort to shepherd “happy” people who will not, ultimately—because of their disinterest in Paradise—be welcomed into that Paradise.
Contrary to what The Deceiver would have you believe, you are not here to be happy; the “happy” comes “later.” Today, you’re here to obey . . . and to obey no matter what the cost.
The opening question of the Westminster Larger Catechism (1647)[2] asks: “What is the chief and highest end of man?” Answer: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.”
The opening question of the second half of the Catechism asks: “What is the duty which God requireth of man?” Answer: “The duty which God requireth of man is obedience to His revealed will.”
God extends the gift of salvation but you have to reach out and accept it . . . as it is given.
Obedience now; reward later.
God calls: “Here is the Law; do it . . . or else.”
If you cannot or will not accept this, stop identifying as a Christian.
*
Many are “charmed” by the Bible and yet have no interest in its lessons.
Many choose to ignore what it means to be a Christian in their attempt to avoid what God commands.
Many are deceived by self-interest and pride into believing that they will enter the Kingdom.
Many are deceived by laziness—being unwilling to read the words written in the Hand of our Creator or being deceived by false teaching from pulpiteer who want to be “loved” by their people rather than hated for preaching the Word of God.
Many come because they want the answers to life’s questions but, in truth, they come only to hear what they want to hear.
Many have no interest in the only thing of value the pulpit has to offer, seeking easy Bible stories about “animals two-by-two” but with little interest in the theology of “how it works” or in the obedience required.
If you want “Falsehood” and “stories,” I suggest that you worship elsewhere.
*
Tonight I find myself in the fifth year of Elijah’s trouble, placed here just as God once banished Adam from the Garden and just as God once placed Elijah in the Kerith Ravine. It is a wilderness made even more burdensome by the realization that I am in the winter of my last years.
Tonight, I find that I’ve lost everything of earthly value and I have nothing more to lose. I am dying. And I will die alone.
I failed my Beloved; I have done poorly for God and I have been miserably deficient in His service and I will soon be called to stand in The Judgment. Do you think I could fear anything of “this” world? You would be mistaken.
And so you will find that I will have neither the patience for lazy and entitled “victims” nor the fear of being “canceled” by angry woketoptians who wish to rule as the self-appointed gatekeepers of language and behavior while so often being woefully illiterate of their language, of their history, of reality and, particularly, of what is written in the Word of God.
In my remaining hours I am here for one purpose and for one purpose only: to preach the Word of God according to the Word of God.
The only argument in which I will engage is this: “Is it, or is it not, according to the Word of God? ”
If you have the question of where you might find “that” in the Word of God, I am here to point you in the direction; if you have some conflicting view of how it “should” be or stomp your feet because you are offended by what comes from this pulpit, please move to the Church of the Burger King where you can “have it your way.”
*
In the few days that I will remain with you, I see my role in the pulpit to be one of preaching “the other half of the Bible”—the other half that so many of our lukewarm and cowardly preachers are too afraid to preach for fear they might offend this one or the other. And so it is my intent for harsh and bitter words to echo through this Assembly.
*
Why?
Because I want your soul.
Yes, that’s it in a nutshell. I want your soul. And, as your shepherd, I intend to walk with you—or to chase you or to drag you as necessary—through the Gates of Paradise.
I want your soul and I will have it even in spite of your disinterest in God.
__________________________________________________
[1] Can God save more than were chosen before the foundation of the world?” Can God add additional names to The Book of Life? For discussion of the difference between foreknowledge and causative action, see “On the Mischance of a Careless Husband, in the Writings of the Reverend Thomas Baxter (1686),” in Adultery, Divorce, and Remarriage According the Word of God. The work of Thomas Baxter is modeled after the work of Richard Baxter (no known relationship), The mischiefs of self-ignorance and the benefits of self-acquaintance opened in divers sermons at Dunstan’s-West and published in answer to the accusations of some and the desires of others (1662).
[2] The Westminster (Larger) Catechism, published in 1647 in a 196 question-and-answer format, is the central catechism of the Reformed Church. This format of the catechism was popularized by Martin Luther as an aid to learning the fundamental elements of faith; prior to the Reformation, “religious instruction” for the illiterate masses was largely a matter of having the Christian memorize the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostles’ Creed, and of hearing the Church’s self-serving reinterpretations read from the pulpit.