The Shrine Of Almighty Chance

People who play the lotto or gamble compulsively don't realize that God micromanages the cosmos and superintends every creature and event under the sun as His divine sovereignty dictates; i.e., there is no such thing as chance, but a mathematical probability and it's blind, whereas God sees all--it is not an entity and it's corollary, luck, is dumb (whereas God is omniscient), and fortune is a way to avoid the word blessing!   I realize some people's retirement plan is to win the lottery, but this is vain and contrary to the Word, where we should be wise in stewardship and plan ahead while trusting in God, not our money to save and provide for us!

Is your security in your portfolio or in Providence?  God is in control, for what kind of God wouldn't be:  There is not one maverick molecule in the universe!  Fate, by the way, is impersonal and even blind, whereas God is personal and involved with care in our lives. There's no such entity as good fortune, but God is good to all and blesses them either directly or by association.  Do you ever say to yourself, "Let's not meet by accident [referring to a collision]!"  Or even, "Fancy meeting you here!" We make mistakes and have accidents as humans, but God overrules and puts meaning in them--there's even meaning in suffering, which is God's megaphone to speak to us.  God's cosmos is not random, but intricately designed and under control.  It has been said that the entire universe is like one vast mathematical equation form God's mind.

God even works through diabolical events (cf. Acts 2:23, 4:28) such as the crucifixion to bring about blessings out of curses, and Joseph met his brothers and told them that, though they meant it for evil, God meant it for good! There are no flukes of nature or accidents of history--we must realize God's wisdom in allowing or causing them to happen.  Wycliffe said, "All things come to pass of necessity." "The steps of a man are established by the LORD" (cf. Psa. 37:23).  God's answer to happenstance is Providence and this is meant to be comforting and assuring that God reigns and rules overall.  "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will"  (Eph. 1:11, NIV).

Nothing happens by chance or coincidence: There is no fortuitous event, but everything under the sun has purpose and meaning in God's eyes, even if we don't fathom it (cf. Prov. 16:4; Prov. 16:33; Eph. 1:11).  Purpose is a naughty word for the modern man who believes in random chance and even denies there is purpose in life itself.  But it behooves us to realize the reasoning behind God's blessings and His providence in our lives--don't shrug off something as getting lucky or fate smiling on you, but give the glory to God who has blessed you and sees and knows all possibilities and can coordinate and orchestrate our lives with utmost care, having written them down before we were born (cf. Psalm 139:16).  

NB:  the providence of God.    "LORD, I know that people's lives are not their own; it is not for them to direct their steps"  (Jer. 10:23, NIV). "A man's steps are directed by the LORD.  How then can anyone understand their own way?"  (Prov. 20:24, NIV).

We really shouldn't accommodate the secularists by using these words in our vocabulary, but boldly witness and testify of the providence and blessings of God on our behalf, who watches over us to provide us all our needs.  Ben Franklin observed and gave the testimony:  "I have lived a long time, and the longer I live, the more I'm convinced that God governs in the affairs of men."

Note:  God is the sole primary cause of the cosmos, who either directs or permits all events:  Nothing just happens according to the law of causality (cause and effect); and if God caused it, it must have purpose, because He's a God of purpose and design, known as teleology.  We are secondary causes and agents of God being used for His ultimate will. 

The conclusion of the matter is this:  "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Prov. 16:33, NIV).  This implies there are meaning and purpose in everything to God (cf. Prov. 16:4), but we are not capable of discerning or deciphering it all the time--just take it by faith that God is with you.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Humanism, An Idea From Antiquity

You may believe that Secular Humanism is something "new under the sun," but it was an idea in the Aegean Sea area of classical Greece. Protagoras said, "Man is the measure of all things" (homo mensura).  It goes earlier than that to the plain of Shinar in Gen. 11:4 where men sought to "make a name for themselves."

"For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude.  Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened claiming to be wise, they became fools..." (Romans 12:221-22, HCSB).  


The essence of humanism:  glory to man in the highest:  the deification or exaltation of man, and dethroning of God.  Humanism 101:  "Up with man; down with God, because we can do good without Him!"  What they mean is to start with man as the measure or standard and judge everything accordingly:  Instead of starting the rationale with God--"In the beginning God..," they commence with man and his finite cerebral capacity, whereby God is infinite and the Greeks said that the finite cannot grasp the infinite--how ironic!

"In all his scheming, the wicked arrogantly thinks: 'There is no accountability since God does not exist" (Psalm 10:4, HCSB).  "...[All] is thoughts are, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 10:4, ESV).  (God is in none of his thoughts!)  When you take God out of the reckoning man becomes depraved without limit and God gives them up to go their own way--yes, even man's brain or intellect is depraved and is incapable of spiritual apprehension:  "No one understands" (cf. Rom. 3:10f).   "...My people do not understand" (Isaiah 1:3, NASB).   "...So the people without understanding are ruined"  (Hos. 4:14, NASB).  "...The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint"  (Isaiah 1:5, ESV).

Secular Humanism is defined as a religion without God in the equation.  It is completely incompatible with the Judeo-Christian worldview. Humanists do not believe that there is a supernatural and deny any deity or divinity of any notion in their reckoning.  When you take God out of the equation man loses focus and orientation, and has no moral compass to guide him and sees a distorted reality: such as Eastern religion seeing all reality as Maya or an illusion.  Humanism is a religion with high priests, meetings, and even has the Humanist Manifesto of doctrines to adhere to. And John Dewey was one of the early proponents who introduced the ideas into our educational system and is the so-called father of American public education.  They even have "Secular Humanist of the year" awards!  Their chief tenet is that there is no absolute moral code to live by and we are capable of concocting our own morality.

America is entering the New World Order (or era):  Trump vows to keep God out of it [politics]. Humanists want a world without God and any religious influence--even banning signage of the Ten Commandments in courtrooms and schools, taking the motto "In God We Trust" off our coins, and "One nation under God" off our pledge of allegiance (they have already banned Bible reading and classroom prayer in public schools in 1963, when infamous atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair protested and litigated).  Will we have a National Day of Prayer and a prayer breakfast at the White House? They are opposed to Christianity because they cannot stomach the fact that some people are "lost" and need salvation, and they believe in their Humanist Manifesto II of 1973:  "No deity will save us, we must save ourselves."

Their faith is in science, or should I say "scientism," which is using science for non-scientific purposes such as finding ethical, philosophical, and religious truth (an example is saying that the cosmos is all there is and all there was and all there ever will be--Carl Sagan). They are people of faith too--in the scientific method to solve our problems and lead to all truth.  There are not people of faith and people of reason or rationale, because everyone has faith and starts with some presupposition they cannot prove.

The building block of the "religion" is evolution and they regard any encroachment upon this dogma as heretical and intolerable. For example, Carl Sagan said that evolution is a "fact", not a "theory." Note:  It's unproven and unprovable since history is nonrepeatable, there are no witnesses, they cannot account for the origin of life nor the arrival of the fittest,  and a new species has never been observed to evolve in either the fossil record or in real time.

Humanism is indeed a religion, though they say it is not because they don't believe in "God." But even John Dewey said in A Common Faith that you can be "religious" without having "religion." Atheism has been declared a religion by the Seventh Court of Appeals!   Humanism is more than disbelief in God; it's anti-God and, as a worldview, interprets everything without God in the picture, which is contrary to the rise of Western civilization.  We might call Secular Humanism a post-theological worldview and they are in the process or rewriting history--a red flag!

A fundamental repercussion of their worldview is that God never intervened in history (Jesus is seen as a legend, myth, lie, etc.), and worse yet, man is not created in the image of God with a soul and spirit, but is a materialistic, naturalistic hodgepodge of atoms colliding with no divine purpose--life has no meaning or purpose (words anathema to them), and, since we are animals in heat avoiding pain and seeking pleasure, we can feel free to live without moral restraint, hell to shun, nor judgment to fear, just like animals and feel no "guilt," which comes only from religion. Note:  We are not a freak biological accident or some fluke of nature!  In scientific parlance, they are monists, not believers in dualism like Christians, in that they don't believe we have a mind, separate from our brain, but it's only a projection of brain activity and there is no soul or spirit within us.

The whole point of Secular Humanism is to be good without God and to be religious without so-called religion! They deify and exalt man and dethrone and ignore God, making a name for man and blaspheming God's name! Idolatry is not giving God His rightful domain!

So what?  Secular Humanists want Christians in their camp, but they must be willing to privatize their faith, not flaunting it or making it public--keep it in church!  What we are beholding is the secularization of our society where "man has forgotten God" (Will Durant, humanist historian).  The Constitution guarantees the free expression of faith or religion with no State interference or regulation.  Playwright George Bernard Shaw said that "no nation has ever survived the loss of its gods."  Dostoevsky said that "without God, all things are permissible:"--this is our future?  Caveat: Secular Humanists pin the blame for our problem on man's preoccupation with the spiritual element and mostly fault Christianity!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Our Brother's Keeper

"Oh that you were like a brother to me..." (Song of Solomon 8:1, ESV).

Cain denied being his "brother's keeper," but he should have observed the law of love and not to be envious or have the evil or jaundiced eye.  Brothers are "born for adversity" according to Prov. 17:17 and we are blessed to know brotherly love as an affectionate and loyal one. There is a kind of love that is natural just because of being related, but brotherly love is seen as a model of the kind we should have for our Christian brothers (not called that for no reason).  "Let brotherly love continue" (cf. Heb. 13:1).  Note that friends can be more intimate than brothers:  "... [B]ut there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24, ESV).

Deut. 23:7 says not to "abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother"--this means we should never despise, look down, or resent our brother, who is own flesh and blood.  Brothers can disagree but they should find areas of commonality--they can agree to disagree and disagree without being disagreeable.  Proverbs 6 lists sowing discord among brothers as one of the things that are an abomination to God.

Most arguments aren't worth the adrenaline and they generate more heat than light!  According to Patton's Principles: A Guidebook for Managers Who Mean It, we should never engage in an argument we have nothing to gain from--some are just trivial; on the other hand, there are godly controversies and we are called to engage in them (but don't split hairs!).   Abraham didn't want any discord with his brethren and in Gen. 13:8 (ESV) he says, "Let there be no strife between you and me ... for we are kinsmen."  But there is always a challenge from an equal and "iron sharpens iron" as Proverbs 27:17 declares.  Caveat:  "A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city..." (Prov. 18:19, ESV).

We are to see our brother in need and to volunteer our time, resources, talents, and finances:  "But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?   (1 John 2:17, ESV).  Paul says in (1 Tim. 5:8, ESV):  "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."   Soli Deo Gloria!

Real Humility

"He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God"  (Micah 6:8, ESV, italics added). 

"For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; 'I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite"  (Isaiah 57:15, ESV, lowly means humble!).

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD:  look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug"  (Isaiah 51:1, ESV, remember your roots and from whence you came!). 

Christ is said to have "emptied Himself" when He became man, which really is another way of saying He laid aside His omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence to take the form of man and relate to us on our terms--such as finding out what tears felt like, or sweat on the brow.  He didn't cease being God the Son, though!  Jesus saw things through the eyes of man for the first time and now He can relate to us as a faithful high priest, tempted in every way as we.  Philippians 2 uses the word kenosis in Greek to mean emptying, but He didn't empty Himself of His deity, but merely restrained the independent use of it and served the purpose of the Father.

Jesus humbled Himself by leaving His throne, to being born in a manger because there was no room at the inn, suffering the humility of a crucifixion between two malefactors.  We must, therefore, keep on eyes on Jesus (cf. Heb. 12:1), as it is said:  look at the world and distressed; look at yourself and be depressed; look at Christ and be at rest ("Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose thoughts are stayed on Thee," says Isa. 26:3).

Humility gets down on its knees and nothing is beneath it, much the way Jesus did in the Upper Room in the servile act of washing His disciples' feet.  John the Baptist said that Jesus must increase, and he must decrease.  "...[He] crowns the humble with victory [salvation]"  (Psalm 149:4, ESV).  He understood that the way up is down in God's economy! "...[A]nd humility comes before honor"  (Prov. 15:33, ESV).   "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you"  (James 4:10, ESV, italics mine).   Jesus was asked who would be the greatest in His kingdom:  He who humbled himself as a child (cf. Matt. 18:3)!  We, too, can empty ourselves of all pretense and stoop to help those in need that God brings our way or into our sphere of influence.

If Jesus could humble Himself, it's not beneath our dignity to do any "foot-washing--in public or private." He said we ought to do likewise, instituting the "order of the towel." "In his humiliation justice was denied him..." (Acts 8:33, ESV). A good example of a humble mind is George Whitefield saying, "There but for the grace of God, go I," when seeing a criminal going to the gallows.  We are to prefer one another and honor one another in Christ (as Romans 12:10, NKJV says, "....in honor giving preference to one another"), not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought (cf. Romans 12:3).

There is no caste system in the church, as each of us is one in Christ and all brethren in the family of God. Service is where it's at:  The more you serve, the greater you are, not the more who serve you! Albert Schweitzer said that the only really happy people are those who've learned to serve.  A non-serving Christian is a contradiction in terms, as we are called to serve one another in Christ.   We must be willing to follow Jesus in humility and serve Him in whatever capacity possible.

True humility is not having low self-esteem or thinking less of yourself, but not thinking of yourself at all. When you think you've arrived at true humility, you have lost it! "...' God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble"" (cf. James 4:6; 1 Pet. 5:5).   Therefore, we all have the tendency to have pride in ourselves and to think highly of ourselves (more highly than we ought!), wanting to be seen in the best possible light (with a good reputation), but with Christ in our heart, we see things through His eyes and lose all pretense of our own self-importance.

No one is ever truly humble a la Christ, (for example, only Jesus and Moses are called humble or meek in Scripture!).  When we think we're humble or that we've arrived, we have missed the boat!  Humility means that all we are is servants of God and the most we can hope for is to hear with joy the words:  "Well done, thou good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of the Lord!" To reiterate:  Our greatness is not in how many people serve us, but how many we serve--just the opposite of human insight or viewpoint.  We should not desire to be number one as Diotrephes did in 3 John, but esteem others with all due respect.  One statement that humbles me is from Mother Teresa of Calcutta (now canonized):  God doesn't call us to success, but to faithfulness!   Never lose sight of the fact that it's not about you! 

The conclusion of the matter is: The best leaders are those who've learned to follow, the ones with servant's hearts know their Lord and aren't power-hungry or lustful, but see leadership opportunity as stewardship possibilities.  God's purpose is to keep us from getting a big head!   Soli Deo Gloria!