Underground Exiles

Leviticus 20.1-5 is the final text I’ll ask you to consider:

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Anyone of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who give any of his children ot Molech shall surely be put to death.  The people of the land shall stone him with stones.  I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name.  And if they people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, then I myself will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech.”

Lest there be any confusion, “giving” a child to Molech was not some form of indentured servitude.  Leviticus 18.21 makes it explicitly clear that God is talking about child sacrifice, the heathen ritual of offering live babies as burnt offerings to pagan gods.  After reading this passage does it seem like God has much patience for this barbaric practice?

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More likely than not, this post is going to get me in trouble with the elders in charge of H20, as well as an ex-girlfriend, and various other groups of people.

I was recently told that if I would just be a little more meek, my sermons would go down easier. A couple of weeks before that, I was given practically the same advice.

I was raised Southern Baptist, with this image of

“gentle Jesus, meek and mild,”

to quote the old hymn by Charles Wesley. Then I grew up and read the New Testament for myself, and it seemed like Jesus really enjoyed screwing with religious people.

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I really would appreciate ya’ll praying about this, because I think it’s important.

It’s come to my attention, again, that my passion comes across as anger. I freely admit that for the majority of my life I’ve been a pretty angry guy. I’ve been described more than once as being emotionally closed off; personally, I’d disagree, not because it isn’t accurate, but because it doesn’t even scratch the surface.

There is one emotion, and just one, that I can tap at will. It’s anger. I freely confess that I’ve been an angry, angry guy for the majority of my life. It’s extraordinarily hard for me to contact any emotion other than pure, unadulterated rage. Because of this, I bleed anger, even when I’m not angry.

Five years in the US Army didn’t make any of it better, it just makes it worse. It added an arrogance to my personality that isn’t winsome or appealing at all. Now, what you get when you talk to me, despite a lot of work on my part, is angry arrogance.

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So here’s a quick comparison between Christianity and Scientology:

1. “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” - Jesus, Matthew 5.38-39
2. “An enemy… may be injured by any means or tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.” - L. Ron Hubbard, Penalties for Lower Conditions, HCO PL 18 Oct 67
3. “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.” - Jesus Christ, Matthew 5.37
4. “Handling truth is a touchy business … Tell an acceptable truth.” - L. Ron Hubbard, The Missing Ingredient, 13 August 1970.

Maybe it’s pointless for me to attempt a point by point comparison of the Bible with Hubbard’s blasphemous views on the subject. The shocking differences are all too obvious. It’s difficult to resist the temptation, when Scientology publications state that “you can be a Christian and a Scientologist at the same time”.

“We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” - 1 John 5.19

As we look at this letter, we should be impressed by John’s realism, and the way that he doesn’t attempt to gloss over the difficulties and make light of the problems in our lives. Thank God, the Bible always faces things as they are. The Bible has a strength and power; it is concerned about courage, but courage in terms of its own truth, so it looks at this world as it is, at its worst. You may say that this is depressing; if it is depressing to you it is because you don’t accept the teaching of the Bible. To be realistic should never be depressing to people who think straightly and clearly, and this is at root a realistic book.

The other great thing that characterizes First John’s message, is the way that, having looked at the facts and having faced them honestly, it clearly applies its own glorious remedy. And in the verse we are considering, we are reminded of some of the great characteristic notes of this particular epistle. First you find that we come across these words: “We know.” Then, secondly, we find out something about ourselves - that we are of God. Thirdly, we find out that there are certain things that are always true about the world.

The first thing this is this mind-boggling certainty, “We know.” John wrote this so that they may know that they have eternal life. This is something that’s completely basic, because it meets the whole position. Christians aren’t a people that are marked by being in a state of uncertainty; the very definition of a Christian in the New Testament is of people who know where they are, what they are and what they’ve got. They aren’t men and women that are hovering around in the dark.

They days and times that we live in is a world of great uncertainty; there is uncertainty about truth, authority, and a myriad of other things. We are in a world where black isn’t always black, and white isn’t always white, and that state of things is dissonant with Scripture.

Christians are men and women who are certain, and John writes in order that these people, and we ourselves, may be absolutely sure. There were certain things that weren’t clear to them; this always seems to be the state of the Christian in this world. We start with the truth which we believe by faith. Then it is attacked, and we are shaken by various things, until, by God’s grace, we are made sure. There are certain things that you and I should know. Christians aren’t perpetual seekers and enquirers; they are men and women who have certainty.

So here’s the question which we have to ask ourselves before we can proceed:

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