Fake History, Fake News

Transcription

1 GLORIA DEI LUTHERAN CHURCH, May 21, 2017; Pascha VI Lectionary / Selected: Psalm 47; Acts 17:16-31; I Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21 (NLT) Sermon Hymn: How Firm a Foundation (LBW 507) Anthem: Fake History, Fake News A [former] English teacher at St. Paul s School, Concord, New Hampshire, writes the syndicated column, Looking At Language. In one of his columns, Mr. [Richard] Lederer who often refers to himself as the Wizard of Idiom, Attila the Pun, and Conan the Grammarian, shows some bloopers from the eighth grade through college freshman level English classes he has taught. Again, let me stress that these are real statements from real students. These bloopers show the havoc students can wreak on the Bible and history. History calls people Romans because they never stayed in one place for very long. At Roman banquets, the guests wore garlics in their hair. Joan of Arc was canonized by Bernard Show. In 1658, the Pilgrims cross the ocean, and this was known as Pilgrim s Progress. The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible Guinesses: Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Montezuma. Jacob, son of Isaac, stole his brother s birth mark. Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Commandments. Well, the students who wrote such confused gibberish obviously weren t the brightest lights in class at least I hope they weren t! But too many kids don t like history. They can t see the

2 point of learning what people decades, centuries, and millennia ago did, as it has absolutely nothing to do with their lives now. Oh, how wrong they are. And how wrong those who think like this today still are. Someone once said, History repeats itself. That s one of the things wrong with history. Someone else observed, How come nearly all historical events happen next to a souvenir shop? Talk about getting the cart before the horse! That s almost as bad as those ignoramus students. History does indeed repeat itself. And for that commonsense reason alone, we should see the intrinsic value of thoroughly studying history, so that we can well comprehend the actual mindset and circumstances of historical persons and events. But instead, what do we see these days? Instead of fidelity to what actually happened, the recorded facts, we re surrounded with revisionist history. It s so bad that history itself is now fluid, living meaning that the interpretation of historical events changes depending on who s retelling it, and how it can be framed and altered so to support a preferred viewpoint or agenda over another. But this is hardly new. In our day, famous author George Orwell described it in his seminal work, 1984, in which the Ministry of Truth was charged to ensure all information in all adult media, and all educational materials for children, would say the same things, as determined by the current government. History could state one fact one day, and the very next, something just the oppostie to the previous facts. But all records of the previous facts would have been deleted and replaced with the new history. Frankly, when I first read 1984!2

3 !3 in high school, I thought this was so implausible that it could never happen. But it s happening now! Sadly, St. Louis city s brand new mayor, Lyda Krewson, intends to remove the beautiful Confederate memorial sculpture in Forest Park as if removing it will unify the city, as if making it disappear will magically erase all of the racial injustices done in St. Louis and Missouri s past. What a copout! Is this not an easy, but utterly vain attempt to move beyond historical wrongs? It will do no such thing. If the comments on the NextDoor Central West End web group are any indication, the statue s removal will not only not bring unity, it will exacerbate the city s racial tensions. Calls are mounting for a special election to allow city voters to decide whether the statue stays or goes. Just because New Orleans got rid of theirs doesn t necessarily mean it s a good thing, and that we should do likewise. In fact, removing the monuments will just add to the rampant amnesia of our history, and may condemn us to repeat the very disasters they remind us of. So we should absolutely immerse ourselves in learning true history. How? What s our source? Shouldn t our textbook be the most comprehensive, most factual record, with the most eyewitness accounts, and the greatest scope of history? Well, we don t have to look far. It s right here the Holy Bible. And you know, it insists that we study the history and teach all of it, to our children. Every generation. Missing no one. Omitting no detail. God tried to make sure that His people would never forget their history, with predesigned holidays and anniversaries that would recall what had happened to their ancestors before them. If they would just

4 simply observe these holidays every year, they would be taught the past over and over, and avoid the ancient mistakes. How well have they kept it up? Well, if we look back, oh, about 2,000 years, and read Luke s reports about Paul when he was killing time in Athens, Greece. Quite obviously, the Athenians had long since forgotten what had really happened in the past. They still had the good sense to acknowledge that they themselves were not gods, but were in some way obligated to worship higher beings. Despite their revisionist, fake history, they still had a whisper, an echo, of the historical truth of God that had been known by Noah and his family. In the their multitude of pagan altars, there was one that caught Paul s eye the one to an unknown God. If their ancestors had in the distant past retained factual history, they wouldn t have become pagans. But humans have a proclivity to historical revisionism. It had already begun way, way back among Noah s descendants. People had turned their backs on God, made for themselves idols/gods to their own liking and the devil s liking. So because their history was now fake, their daily news was also fake. But in the fullness of time, Father God determined to put a stop to fake news. He sent Lord Jesus, and when He died on the cross, the time of the unchecked proliferation of fake history, the dominating deceptions of the devil, would be tabled no longer. People were now put on notice. Paul said it in Acts 17:30-31: God overlooked people s ignorance about these things in earlier!4

5 times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him. For He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the Man He has appointed, and He proved to everyone Who this is by raising Him from the dead. Suzette Gutierrez-Cachila recently reported in The Gospel Herald: two [Mideast] pastors were reportedly giving Bible lessons to two new believers when police barged into their room and beat them all before taking them into custody. The new believers had started attending the underground church just six months before the arrest. The pastors were working with Bibles for Mideast, a ministry that operates in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The two pastors and the two new believers were charged with blasphemy of the prophet and misguiding Muslims into a false religion. They were found guilty in a sharia court. When they were sent to prison, they were again brutally beaten for two days while their hands were tied to a steel bar and their backs were bent forward. The jailers gave them just one piece of a local bread called kuboos each day. The experience was agonizing. One of the pastors said none of them thought they would still come out of prison alive and that they were already anticipating a death sentence. Yet, though they were tortured, they found comfort in remembering what Jesus went through and they began to confess, The blood of Jesus is our victory! Bibles for Mideast, unable to get information regarding the[ir] condition since the[ir] custody, sent out an urgent call for prayer and fasting!5

6 for the[ir] protection and release. Unknown to them, God was already moving behind the scenes. On their third day in prison, the four Christians were visited by a high-ranking jail officer. He treated them well and ordered the jailer to untie their hands and give them good food. After that, he left and disappeared into his office. The four Christian prisoners were baffled by the officer's kind treatment. We thought, he came with a decision of finishing our life of this world. That s why treating us like this, one of the pastors said. The officer came to their cell again in the evening and surprised them all when he asked them to pray for him. As it turned out, he had a dream about Jesus the previous week. The Lord visited him in a dream, appearing in glory and seated on a throne. Bright light surrounded Him, and millions of angels were at His bidding. Jesus raised His nail-pierced hand and showed it to the jail officer. The officer had the same dream again the following night, and the night after that. His dreams drew him to know more about Jesus so he read about Him on the Internet. The next evening, he had another dream. Jesus appeared to him once more and told him, My children are being tortured in your jail. I leave them before you. My children are the apple of My eyes. That was when he decided to visit the jail and see the four believers. He stayed there three days, spending most of his time talking to them about Jesus. They shared the gospel to him and he received Jesus as his Lord and Savior. The jail officer wrote an order to release the four Christians. It was initially re-!6

7 jected by the court, but it was finally granted after he filed an appeal. So all four of them were set free. The officer invited them to his cottage in the prison upon their release, where they were given good food. He then requested that he be baptized. The two pastors baptized him along with the two new believers. Then he took them in his car and drove them back to their homes. He encouraged them to continue their work for God and warned them to be careful. The four believers were thankful to those who prayed for them. We thank for those who were fasting and praying for us, one of the pastors said. Our Lord Jesus Christ is worthy to be praised. All glory and honour to Him forever and ever! This, folks, is the ongoing, true history of God. Study real history! Don t be swayed by what you hear on the news. God is working His purpose out, and as Psalm 47:8 declares, God reigns above the nations, sitting on His holy throne!!!7