losing one’s religion

If you googled Charles Templeton you would read about a gentleman who traveled with Billy Graham in his early years of ministry. People called them the ‘Gold Dust Twins,’ a term meaning they were inseparable and untiring in the work of evangelism.

While the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in 1946 dubbed Templeton among the “best used of God” and “most gifted,” he paid greater honor to his friend. Of Graham he wrote, “There is no feigning in him: he believes what he believes with an invincible innocence. He is the only mass evangelist I would trust.”

doubt and defection

It all started to unravel two years later. ‘Chuck’ Templeton enrolled in Princeton seminary, a progressively liberal institution, in 1948. His studies watered the seeds of doubt already growing in his heart re: the goodness of God and the trustworthiness of scripture.

For many years, Charles Templeton battled with his demons. His internal struggles caused him great physical distress. A physician advised him to settle his spiritual issues before they killed him.

In 1957, the once prominent evangelical evangelist, the budding preacher of hope, declared himself agnostic. In 1996 his memoir, FAREWELL TO GOD: MY REASONS FOR REJECTING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, was published.

Most sadly, Charles (“Chuck”) Templeton died from complications to Alzheimer’s in 2001.

a grim reality

For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance…
Hebrew 6:4-6, ESV

It is a frightening thought that we, given over to ourselves, could fall away like Charles Templeton. Our New Testament book of Hebrews has much to say on these matters.

While it is possible to be a truly good person, give witness to one’s personal confession of belief, have exemplary conduct and blameless character…you can still be utterly lost.

There are doctrines of demons and Potiphar’s wives and poisonous grifters and bright city lights that beset us on every side. Whispers of doubt, menacing flirtations and suggestive come-hithers abound. If not for God’s grace, we could easily become shipwrecked, stuck deep in the muck and mire of sin.

As Gandalf warned Frodo Baggins:

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

The grim reality is the Christian world is littered with spiritual shipwrecks; people who once professed Christ, now walking in darkness. To even these the gospel call goes out: “Turn! Turn! There’s mercy with Christ!”

There’s no indication Chuck Templeton ever repented and turned back to Christ. By all indication he died in his sin. Did he lose his salvation? No, he merely proved by dying in sin that, though a great and admirable man and exemplary evangelist once upon a time, these never bore the fruit of true salvation.

jesus I am resting, resting

Lee Strobel interviewed Chuck Templeton a couple of years before he died. In the interview Strobel asked him if he would like to believe. Templeton replied, “Of course! If I could, I would. I’m eighty-three years old. I’ve got Alzheimer’s. I’m dying, for goodness sake.”

There’s an eternal gulf between, “If I could…” and “I can’t, but you can, Jesus. I trust you.”

The writer of Hebrews speaks of resting. Jesus said, “Come to me and I will give you rest.” That’s it. That’s the tweet, as they say. Come to Jesus. Keep coming to Jesus. Don’t hide. Don’t run away. Don’t ignore him. Come to him. Find rest for your burdened soul.

This, then, is the crux of the sermon of Hebrews. Take great care and be very sure that you end up on the side of Jesus. Do not neglect so great salvation (Hebrews 2:3). Live each day, moment by moment in his love (Jude 21). There is a rest that comes from that (Hebrews 4:3).

I am resting because Jesus invited me to and I’m taking him at his word. Obviously I’m not trusting in my ability to be faithful to him but rather in his faithfulness to hold me and keep me from falling (Jude 24-25). His love draws me in so I am less inclined to wander away. The key is to keep looking to Jesus.

Keep taking your messes to Jesus your High Priest (Hebrews 4:15-16). He has more than enough grace to forgive and restore you. He understands. He sympathizes with your weakness. He knows you’re “prone to wander.” He can handle your doubts. Keep taking it to Jesus. He is a Savior who “deals gently” with us (Hebrews 5:2).

I am on Christ’s side. Better, he is on my side (Romans 8:31-34). I don’t live in fear that I will blow it and God will strike me down. I am sobered by stories like that of Templeton. I do not want to be that man. With God’s help and his constant grace, I rest in the truth that I am his and he is mine.

Jesus, I am resting, resting
in the joy of what thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
of thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon thee,
as thy beauty fills my soul,
for by thy transforming power,
thou hast made me whole.

Jesus, I am resting, resting,
in the joy of what thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
of thy loving heart.

O how great thy lovingkindness,
vaster, broader than the sea!
O how marvelous thy goodness
lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in thee, Beloved,
know what wealth of grace is thine,
know thy certainty of promise
and have made it mine. [Refrain]

Simply trusting thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold thee as thou art,
and thy love, so pure, so changeless,
satisfies my heart;
satisfies its deepest longings,
meets, supplies its ev’ry need,
compasseth me round with blessings:
thine is love indeed.

Ever lift thy face upon me
as I work and wait for thee;
resting ‘neath thy smile, Lord Jesus,
earth’s dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father’s glory,
sunshine of my Father’s face,
keep me ever trusting, resting,
fill me with thy grace.

Jesus I Am Resting, Resting, Jean Sophia Pigott (whose brother, a missionary to China, lost his life with 76 other missionaries during the Boxer Rebellion of 1901)

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quiverfull

NOTE (6/5/23): In lieu of a certain documentary recently released regarding Bill Gothard and the IBLP’s various teachings — such as ‘quiverfull’ — I feel compelled to add this post is in no way influenced by his teachings!

I was reading an ‘anti-abortion’ scripture passage, when the Holy Spirit jostled my heart. A sudden parting of a curtain allowed me a peek inside a gospel mystery. In a quick instant my spiritual astigmatism vanished and I understood why God won’t march with the pro-abortion crowd.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
Psalm 127:3-5, ESV

If children are a gift from God, why stop at one? Why choose abortion? If you are able, have as many as you can! Double, triple, quadruple your gladness.

I mentioned the Holy Spirit entering the moment. His heart revealed the great gospel mystery in this. If children are among an earthly parent’s greatest pleasures, doesn’t it also say something about our Father and his heavenly family?

God, too, wants a “quiverfull” of kids! He wants his house teeming with children! Our Heavenly Father is a great big softie when it comes to parenthood. He just keeps adopting and adopting…and adopting…

He’s never birthed a mistake. Not one of his has ever been an inconvenience to him.

That’s all well and good, you say, but what do we make of this scripture?

Jesus traveled through cities and villages, teaching and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone said to him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”
Luke 13:23, Common English Bible

We might expect Jesus to say something like, “Are you crazy? A few? Hardly a few, my good man.”

That’s not what he says, though.

Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate. Many, I tell you, will try to enter and won’t be able to.
Luke 13:24, CEB

So which is it? Does God want his house to be filled or does he want to limit who gets in? Well, based on Jesus’s teaching, both are true.

I’ve studied and puzzled and even lamented over this teaching for a long time. My conclusion is that there are many who believe in themselves — or religion — for their salvation.

By contrast only a comparatively few who, by submitting to the demands of justification — repentance and faith — can live with absolute, peace-filled assurance they are already and forevermore living in his house. That’s the difference between being in God’s family and eternal self-abortion.

Don’t forget the primary audience are Jews who are heavily influenced by their religion of works-righteousness. Consequently, they will be turned away at the door because they refused the gate (Jesus).

As for the “few who will be saved?” I’m looking at you Nicodemus. I’m also looking at you, Joseph of Arimathea. And you, Brothers James and Jude.

Don’t you know it took a lot of effort on their part to remain true to Jesus in spite of their affiliation with the sect of the Pharisees or as reluctant skeptics? Still, the Bible appears to give evidence to their true faith. They’re in God’s quiver.

There’s another guy in the Bible who testified that he made the grade among the religious folk, but had he not turned miraculously to Jesus, he would never have made the cut. I speak, of course, of Saul of Tarsus.

Do we really need to be reminded of the great effort Paul had to endure to be a follower of Jesus? He’s for sure in God’s great gospel quiver.

The eternal kingdom will look nothing like an old west Montanan territory with only a sprinkling of settlers spread out for miles and miles. Heavens, no. Our forever family will be a great big loud bunch of crazy shouting, dancing, and running kids. God wants it that way; he wants his house bulging at the seams.

I’ve shared a terrifying dream I had about Graham with some of you. About two or three nights after he passed away, I had a nightmare of him burning in hell. It was quite vivid; I could even hear him screaming from the abyss.

Then I remembered, or, more accurately, God reminded me he doesn’t inspire nightmares to provoke us to fear, the devil does. The accuser wanted me to think my son is lost forever.

The devil is a liar. While he wants our children dead, God is very pro-life. It’s not a political talking point to him, it is genuine. The Heavenly Father delights in bringing many sons and daughters into glory.

The devil wants you thinking you can do life on your own terms; God wants you to stop running.

The devil wants you falling from grace; God wants you falling into his arms.

The devil wants you to be a rebel; God wants you to know his rest.

The devil loves abortion; God is all about the quiverfull.

just another miraculous birth?

“How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

— Mary, Luke 1:34

If you know me at all, you know how much I love the writings of the late Eugene Peterson. The man has pastored my soul for decades. In one of his perhaps lesser known works, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, he reminds us the birth of Messiah wasn’t the only miraculous birth in scripture, but it was the only one of its kind.

The eminent pastor turns our attention to pre-Advent scripture to briefly recount five miraculous births God was “critically and intimately involved in…”:

Abraham and Sarah (Isaac)
Manoah and unnamed wife (Samson)
Boaz and Ruth (Obed)
Elkanah and Hannah (Samuel)
Zechariah and Elizabeth (John)

And here is how he worshipfully distinguishes the heart-staggering birth of King Jesus from those earlier birth events:

The work of God in the conception and birth of Jesus through Mary is continuous with these five previous “impossible” births, but it is also different…

How so? we wonder.

In the mothers ranging from Sarah to Elizabeth, a barren womb was the impossible condition to overcome; these women very much wanted a child. But in Mary the “impossible” condition is virginity: here there is no yearning for or expectation of a child.
Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places, 55-6

Peterson quotes Raymond Brown (The Birth of the Messiah, p314), who opens to us the compelling thought of this being the first and only birth through agency of a human womb in which God took the initiative.

It was all God’s idea!

In Mary’s case, she was a virgin who had no thought of bearing a child at that time. It was unthinkable to her. Maybe someday but not at this stage of her life, and certainly not as an unmarried woman!

Her pregnancy was ALL God’s idea! He wasn’t answering the cry of a barren couple, he was answering

Himself,

His own heart,

His own yearning.

This is the heart of Advent. This is the miracle and mystery of Christmas hope. Here is the gospel: God from the start has sought you, not the other way around. You weren’t even aware of your longing but that God was already at work filling your womb, your inner cry, with his life.

When Mary visited her cousin to tell her the news of her divine pregnancy, Elizabeth called her “Blessed!”

Allow me to put an ❗️on this post by pulling from another author I greatly admire. Picking up on Elizabeth’s same exuberant emotion, Brennan Manning applies it to all of us who are caught in the thrall of Christmas grace:

You are blessed! God’s desire is for you. And Jesus is the incarnation of God’s furious longing. He is your supreme Lover. It’s true. You are blessed. Your soul’s winter is over. The snows are over and gone. Flowers are blooming inside of you. The season of joyful songs has come. To you. You are blessed! The love of God is folly. No one is excluded. All (really!) are called to the banquet table. Come, and be filled. You are blessed! You can pray like a child, and enjoy God. You are blessed! Heal, and be healed…Amen. Amen. Amen.
Brennan Manning, The Furious Longing of God

Selah, blessed and beloved!

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