Ben Zornes

Living and Dying to Show the Preciousness of Christ

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Trauma-Mongers

Trauma-Mongers

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The therapeutic worldview which prevails in our society views trauma as the operating system. Your every action is caused by underlying trauma. But the demand for trauma outstrips the supply. So, the priests of this new religion contrive new sorts of trauma. Everything becomes a tangled web of traumas inflicted upon you, and trauma for trauma you’ve inflicted on others due to your privileges. 

It’s hard to keep up with such a system, because, at its core, it’s an incoherent system. It’s a system which wants any evil in you to be pinned on someone else.

But evil doesn’t come from outside you. Each of us are quite capable of innovating some of the worst scum known to mankind. Have others wronged you? Most certainly. But in your response to that wrong have you always and in every way responded with innocent motives. Have you never harbored bitterness, wishing for evil to befall those who wronged you, lusting for revenge? 

God’s Word gives us an entirely different route for dealing with evil. Ironically, God calls you to pin all your evil on Someone Else. You must put all your sin on the only One who never sinned, but first you must also confess that all your sin is, in fact, yours. You can’t blame shift. You can’t pin it on your parents, your culture, your skin color, your socio-economic class, or anything other than you. Your sins, every last one, is yours, and God welcomes you to put it all on Jesus. He who knew no sin became sin, that we might be made righteous. Confession of sin, then, is taking responsibility for all the vile things you’ve done as well as all the vile things you’ve desired to do. And then Christ gladly takes it upon Himself, and pins it to His cross, that it all might die there.

Prayer of Confession

Father God,
You have given unto us a great salvation. Our modern remedies for evil have left us worse off. We’ve blamed our sin on others, and not confessed with David that our every sin is ultimately a sin against You. Where we have evaded responsibility for our sin, forgive us. If we have embraced the notion that this, that, or the other trauma is the cause of the evil in us, grant us strength to put that godless notion to death. Purge us of evil, by giving us enough faith to place all our sins upon Christ, the only true and willing scapegoat.
In Jesus Name,
Amen

Assurance

Trauma-mongers want to dwell on the trauma and make it their whole personality. But, trauma is a poor substitute for faith. Faith looks at all the evil and then looks at the cross, where evil was dealt with. If you’ve looked to Christ, and looked to His cross, confessing your sins with true faith then your sins are forgiven through Christ.

How to Change

How to Change

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The old adage that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks is a sentiment that can seep into our mentality about growing in godliness. What sin most easily entices you? You certainly know that God graciously forgives that sin. But do you believe that God is able to give you the victory over that sin? 

Scripture doesn’t present the Christian life as one under bondage to sin. Instead, in regeneration your Heavenly Father gives you a new nature. This new nature is not yet made perfect, there remains a great deal of corruption which must be driven out. So the question naturally arises, “How do I change?”

First, all the virtues needed for overcoming sin––like patience, contentment, self-control––are glorious gifts from God. But as one theologian put it, “God Himself & not His gifts, dwelt in the temple.” This then must be the central understanding of your battle against besetting sin: God dwells in you. As Paul said, “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?”

Second, you must cultivate the habit of saying, “Amen” to what God says about you in your baptism. He says, “Likewise reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus.”

Third, you must make the twofold action of confession & repentance habitual. Confession is saying the same the thing about your sin as God says about it, while repentance is turning from your sin and also pursuing Christ. 

Your progress may feel slow. But like mountain switchbacks, you’ll gradually ascend higher. You can’t hike Kilimanjaro in one step. Rather, steady steps will. Know that God dwells in you. Mortify your sins. Mock your temptation. Confess & repent if you do succumb. These things are the mountain switchbacks of sanctification.

Prayer of Confession

Father God,

You command us to “let not sin reign” in our mortal bodies that we should obey its lusts. And this must mean that you truly intend for sin to be subdued in us more and more, and for righteousness to break forth like the morning. Forgive us for explaining away our sin instead of confessing and forsaking it. Forgive us for leaving the back door open to our sin, winking at it that if it happens to sneak in we won’t make a fuss. Oh God, You dwell in us, and so by Your Spirit hunt down our sin, subdue us with love for Christ, and drive out our Sin. For we would be a holy people, who show forth Your glory in our thoughts and words and doings. In Jesus name, Amen.

The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength

The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength

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Through unforeseen workings of God’s providence, a great victory was brought about this week. Abortion was effectively made illegal in a great number of our states. Giving thanks, praise, and rejoicing are all quite appropriate responses.

Nehemiah, in rebuilding Jerusalem, enjoyed a similar moment of joyous celebration. God had brought about a great triumph by giving the saints stamina for repairing Jerusalem’s wall. They accomplished this in spite of the conniving of numerous enemies. Once the wall was completed, Ezra & Nehemiah led the people in a holy day of covenant renewal.

Nehemiah exhorted the people in this way, “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength (Neh 8:10).”

Godly celebration includes sweet wine, perhaps some fireworks, and plenty of food to share. And don’t feel a twinge of sorrow. Sorrow has been weaponized by those who hate the Gospel to blackmail the kindness of the saints into compromise. This victory we enjoy isn’t the end of the work. No one’s claiming that. But it is a victory. So rejoice accordingly.

Finally, consider Nehemiah’s concluding phrase: the joy of the Lord is our strength. Which raises the question, strength for what? Strength is given for repentance & reform. The abundant joy which God fills His people with enables them to face down their own sin & gladly turn from it. It imbues them with strength to continue the work of rebuilding the ruins. The Lord’s joy brings strength to confront tyranny & traitors; and boldness for the conflicts which are certain to arise. Joy brings courage to speak a clear Gospel to fearful women. Receive the Joy of the Lord, and be strengthened for the inward repentance & outward reform.

We are weak, but He is strong. We are feeble, but our God is omnipotent. We are poor, but He is rich. As that old hymn of Luther reminds us, “did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.” May the Lord forgive us for trusting in our own strength, or cowering in our own fears. God calls us out of our cowardice and into His courage. Not by our own might, but by the Spirit are we to face our foes. Whether they be the foes of inward sin, the corruption of worldliness, or the ferocious roars of that lion the devil. Grant that we may walk in the boldness which comes from union with Jesus, and so may we be turned from our sin. By this obedient humility, may our nation be led to repent; from President to plumber, from Chief Justices to college students, from Wall St. to Main St. grant us a total repentance.

Clinging to Lady Wisdom

Clinging to Lady Wisdom

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Solomon repeatedly exhorts his son to get wisdom, be guided by understanding, cling to instruction, and value the knowledge of the Lord as greater than riches. Wisdom is likened to a woman, a lover even (Pro. 4:8). A wise son is to take hold of instruction, and not let her go, for in her is life (Pro. 4:13). This lady should be sought with the fervor of a miner during the gold-rush of 1849. 

Picture a man running to his soon to be bride, after his twelve-month deployment. They will take hold of each other, and nothing is peeling them apart. That is how a King commands his son to cling to wisdom. Remember, these are instructions for a son who will soon rule a nation. Governance at every level must be guided not by mere appetite, but by God’s transcendent wisdom.

But another lady lingers in the shadows of the book of Proverbs. Her name is Folly. She doesn’t have any interest in loyalty or fidelity. Her embrace is not one of mutual love; it is the embrace of a boa constrictor. She plans to suffocate, then devour. If you become Lady Folly’s lover, your only loyalty will be to your basest cravings. Food, sex, money, sleep, will become your all-consuming desires. Your pursuit will not be for wisdom, and the blessings which come by it. Your pursuit will be for fleeting pleasures, which will return less and less pleasure, as they turn you into a ghost of a person.

Whereas Lady Wisdom is a tree of life, Lady Folly is a grave (Pro. 2:18). Dead lives, dead families, dead cities, dead nations are so because they have embraced, and been embraced by Lady Folly. 

Our governments at every level are in ruins. We are not ruled by Wisdom, we are not found in her embrace. Rather, our nation has embraced the follies of same-sex mirages, abortion, antidepressants, entertainment gluttony, and taxes on others to pay for all these pursuits. It is no wonder that what God said would happen, has happened, “None that go unto Lady Folly return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life (Pro. 2:19).” 

Our self-government, family government, and national government have all wandered down the path of Lady Folly, and we deserve the death that awaits us, unless God grants a revival of repentance. Only Lady Wisdom establishes a government for the living. So cling to her.

Sins Great and Small

Sins Great and Small

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Big sins are built on the backs of a thousand little sins. Sequoia sins like murder, adultery, embezzlement, apostasy, or fraud don’t grow overnight. They arise out of a thousand lies you tell yourself. A thousand minor compromises. A thousand squints at the clear lines of God’s law. A thousand fudging of the numbers in our moral accounting books.

Imagine roaring down the highway at night, in an unfamiliar area, and suddenly right ahead of you is a paper sign across the road. The font is tiny, and to make things worse the font is Comic Sans, but it reads: “Bridge Out!” As you careen to your death in the icy river below, you won’t be thinking to yourself, “What a legalistic sign!”

Rather, if you’re careening towards such danger, you want to have warning signs up ten miles down the road. You want flashing lights. You want a sign that lights up with a big orange glow, visible from Pluto, when your headlights hit it. You want signs to warn you if you start hurtling down the path towards disaster. 

King David once prayed, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression (Psa. 19:13).” Are there sins of resentment which you are treasuring up? Are you telling yourself lies about your motives for hanging out with certain friends? Have you justified watching some questionable movies under the pretense of “understanding the culture”? Have you cut corners at your job? Have you gone to bed angry at your spouse, or kids, or others?

If you feel the prick of conviction from those questions, remember that that conviction is a road sign, warning of a calamitous fall awaiting those who recklessly and willfully plow forward. A disastrous fall will come to the haughty man who refuses to heed the warning sign; but grace, upon grace, upon grace is given to the humble man who repents and flees from the little sins, and thus is kept from great sins.

Regret and Train-Watching

Regret and Train-Watching

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Whether you had a good year, or a bad one, an eventful one, or a forgettable one, there is a high probability that there are some days, maybe even weeks, which you regret. The ending of the year (let alone a decade) can bring to some of us a whole host of regrets.

You find yourself beset by a sin which you want to be rid of. You wrecked a relationship––seemingly beyond repair. You fell far short of your goals. You’re not who you wanted to be. You broke promises. You stumbled terribly. You make mess of things at school, or work, or family.

Dwell too long on such things, and you’ll soon find yourself keeping company with the demon regret. Regret is the devil’s version of repentance. Feel bad. Have dark, gloomy, brooding emotions. Wallow in a sense of not-quite-guilt, but not-quite-sorrow. However, regret isn’t the same as repentance. It is faux-repentance.

Regret sits at the train station watching the train you should be on pull out. It waves a melancholy farewell, sighs, and then shuffles onto the wrong train. Repentance, on the other hand, isn’t an idle train-watcher. When once it realizes it’s on the wrong train, it races to catch the right train. 

Regret will maybe acknowledge failures; but confess them as sin, forsake them, overcome them? Never. But repentance sees sin for what it is, grieves it, confesses it, and by the Spirit, labors to mortify sin and vivify righteousness. Get off the wrong train, and get on the right one. So don’t spend the final days of this decade in regret. Repent of your sins, and get busy with what God has called you to: righteousness, holiness, and the fear of the Lord.

If you’ve fellowshipped too long and too often with the melancholy demon of regret, it’s time for a break up. Or if you’ve invited him to live in your basement, so that on really hard days you can have something to commiserate with, it’s time to kick him to the curb. Regret will never ask you to forsake your vices and sins. It will never rebuke you. It will never startle you out of your selfishness. 

So, ask God to forgive you for turning your ear to enjoy the sob song of regret, rather than hearing and heeding the Word of the Gospel and repenting. Rather than a world sorrow which leads to more and more regret, ask God to give you a godly sorrow which leads to true repentance and faith.

Sodom Would Be Proud

Sodom Would Be Proud

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What was Sodom’s sin?

Some simpering exegetes aim to prove that Sodom’s sin wasn’t homosexuality. They do this by pointing with limp-wrists to Ezekiel 16:48-50:

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

Ezekiel 16:48-50

In God’s rebuke of Jerusalem, He chastises them for being worse than Sodom, but this in no way is intended to take the edge off of the vileness of Sodom’s transgressions. Being less worse is no praise.

We are then told what Sodom’s sins were. The first one stands out––sort of like a drag queen reading to children at your local library. Pride. I’ve heard Christian GQBLT “allies” interpret this to mean that what God hated in Sodom was that they were bigots, sort of like those toothless sign wavers in Taylor Swift’s gay-pride music video. In other words, it wasn’t because of the sodomy of Sodom that God rained down fire and brimstone; rather it was their bigotry and inhospitality. They shift this passage to pillory those who believe men shouldn’t sexually abuse each other’s bodies. The pride of us narrow-minded, intolerant Christians is what God hates. Perverse sexual desires and actions aren’t the problem. Intolerance is the problem. Bigotry is the problem. Pride is the problem.

Celebrating Pride

Pride. Hmm…where have I seen that celebrated recently. I could swear I’ve seen some small mention of Pride in some obscure corner of our society. Oh wait, practically every company has changed their logo this month to the “gay-bow”. Galveston painted their crosswalks with it. Our embassies were lit up with all the variegated sparkle and shine of gay propaganda. #PrideMonth is trending on social media. Retailers rolled out t-shirts, underwear, bubble-gum, and anything they could hawk they have.

Pride is being celebrated. One marvels at the effective branding of the GQBLT community. If only some Christians had the same motivation and imagination. Nevertheless, pride is the word which sodomites have chosen to head their parades of shame. Pride. The very thing which Ezekiel labels as the initial sin of Sodom.

Contrary to the gymnastical minds of effeminate exegetes of this passage, the pride of Sodom was the bud which led to the abominations. Pride thinks it is an authority unto itself, but it also comes to think that it can do whatever it wants and get away with it. This is the haughtiness of Sodom. Their pride combusted into gluttonous ingratitude, slothful indulgence of every whim, disregard for their neighbor, and all this inevitably snowballed into treating your fellow man as a thing to be consumed. After all, pride says, “I am god!”

Thus, it is no surprise that modern sodomites have taken for their motto the very sin which is at the root of all their abominations. Sodom itself would be proud.

Pride Goeth Before Destruction

But here’s the problem with pride, no matter what month it is. Pride is destined for judgement. Pride insists it can do whatever it wants. Pride insists on being its own authority.

As an example, if I go into my garage and grab a screwdriver, declare that it is a hammer, and proceed to try to frame a wall with it, any onlooker would think to himself, “Something’ ain’t right with that boy.” No matter how many nails I try to get in, no matter how vigorously I maintain that my screwdriver is a hammer, no matter how much glitter I throw as I frantically try to get that tool to work, it is a project doomed to failure.

This is precisely what every anal penetration, every scissoring, every genital mutilation surgery, and every new letter they attach to their string of sexual identities is. It is a knowing rebellion to God’s design for them and how He made the world. Their haughty rebellion insists that if they cover it in more make-up, attempt more vigorous sex positions, get companies to alter their logos for a month, pop-stars to plug GLAAD, and legislators to pass nonsensical “equality laws” that somehow nature will be what they wish it was.

But they know better. They know how God made them. They know that God calls them to worship Him. They know that to Him alone belongs glory. They know that He is the One who designed them, and the end for which He made them is His glory and their happiness.

But they insist on their pride. Every abominable act being flaunted at gay parades is itself the ripe fruit of pride. But this fruit is poison. No matter how much you insist it tastes good. No matter how loudly you scream that those who warn you are bigots. No matter what laws earthly governments pass. Your pride will not ease your conscience. It will only rub like the grit of sandpaper until your conscience is simply a callous where your conscience used to be. And then…your pride will swallow you, it will damn you, it will accuse you, and there will be no escape from the heat of God’s wrath.

A Different Parade

But this is not the way it needs to end. To take the parade metaphor…you can simply turn around, go against the flow, and there––at the other end of town––another parade is ready to begin. It is a parade that is generally poorly attended, but the food is better, as well as the company. The word at the head of that parade is humility.

The One who leads it bears the scars to prove that the path of humility and submission to the Father leads to true glory and exaltation. He invites you and me to join in His triumphant train, and go conquer the world. Your pride must stay. Your abominations can’t come along. But the pace of this parade, you will find, though rigorous will be just quick enough for you to keep up, but not so slow that you get singed by the brimstone.

Ben Zornes