WHY CHRIST HID TRUTHS WITHIN HIS PARABLES

 

 

This question had troubled me for years. It seemed as if Jesus didn’t want the unbeliever to come to the knowledge of the truth and to be saved – contrary to the Scriptures claiming that God wanted all to be saved (2 Peter 3:9). His words had seemed unfair to me:

·       Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: ‘You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’” (Matthew 13:10–15; ESV; Isaiah 6:9-10)

 

Why didn’t Jesus speak clearly to the people so they could understand? They did not want to understand! Elsewhere, Jesus described them as lovers of the darkness, the lie rather than of the truth:

 

·       And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19–20)

 

God didn’t shut their eyes and ears. They did! Paul claimed that God had eventually allowed these lovers of the darkness to go their own way:

 

·       Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. (Romans 1:24–28)

 

They got what they wanted. It was because they had turned away from God that He turned from them, allowing them to pursue their passions – “the lusts of their hearts.” Nothing unfair about it! Therefore, Isaiah proclaimed: “For this people’s heart has grown dull.”

 

When God allows us to go our own way, we inevitably become more corrupt both in our “dishonorable passions” and in our “debased mind,” (Romans 1). This introduces a harder question:

 

What would have been the harm had Jesus taught more plainly rather than in parables? Why did He keep His truths hidden? I think that He has always wanted to make a clear distinction between His children and the children of the world. All too often, it seems as if the children of the world are more impressive than His own children. Therefore, one of the reasons that the Lord brought the 10 plagues upon the Egyptians, and not on Israel, was to make a clear distinction between the two peoples:

 

·       “There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.” (Exodus 11:6–7; 9:4)

 

He also makes this distinction in another way. As God allows those who reject Him to go their own way, their minds and lives become corrupted. Meanwhile, His children become wise:

 

·       “Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.” (Daniel 12:10; 2 Timothy 3:13)

 

We are beginning to see the foolishness of this world more plainly as sound principles of justice are overthrown in favor of Marxist “justice,” which gives preference to groups deemed as “oppressed” over those individuals who are innocent of criminal activity. Boys can no longer be considered boys, or even called “boys.” Instead, it has become a matter of choice.

 

And yet, such foolishness is according to God’s plan, in which the wicked are allowed to become more wicked and more foolish, the great divide:

 

·       Let the evildoer still do [more] evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do [more] right, and the holy still be holy.” (Revelation 22:11)

 

Rather than ensuring that everyone would have exactly the same things, our Lord sought to clearly distinguish between the two groups:

·       “For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4:25)

 

How will it be “taken away?” By their own choices; by their love of the darkness of the lie. Consequently, they will call the evil “good” and the good “evil” (Isaiah 5:20), and the world will see it. Some will wake up (2 Timothy 2:24-26) to the lunacy, others will stumble in the darkness, hating any ray of the truth. No wonder the parables! They would attract those who love the light and repel those who didn’t.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES, CHRISTIAN BASHING, AND OUR RESPONSE

 

 

In recent years, I cannot remember seeing a single article praising the Church, especially the mostly white evangelical church. While I have my own issues with the Church, after my 43 years of navigating through its sanctuaries, the criticism seems to be way over-the-top. The new refrain is that Christians are so foolish, even racist, because we voted for Donald Trump and believe in an array of “conspiracy theories.” Here is the latest article promoting Christian gullibility:

 

·       A new study by the Nashville-based Lifeway Research of 1,007 U.S. Protestant pastors with a sampling error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points found that 49% of church leaders agreed with the phrase, “I frequently hear members of my congregation repeating conspiracy theories they have heard about why something is happening in our country.” https://www.christianpost.com/news/half-of-us-pastors-hear-members-repeat-conspiracy-theories-poll.html

 

I wonder how these studies and pastors are able to determine “conspiracy theories” from truth? Is there any authoritative measure to distinguish the two? There is good reason to suspect that even the “fact-checkers” and the mainstream media are committed to a left-leaning agenda. I’ve observed this many times myself. To the conservative eye, the signs are unmistakable. However, to those on the opposite side of the tracks, we are fools if we don’t agree with the statements of the accepted pundits.

 

What then do we take as truth? We are left in uncertainty and a crisis of trust, skepticism, and unbelief. The sources that Christians tend to trust are regarded as “fake news” and it also works the other way. The crisis has left us divided and without the bridge of a common “language” to re-connect. It’s also a pervasive crisis of character.

In this present crisis of believe and information, it seems that we need to return to the basics, what we can accept as truth - the Bible and the fundamentals of the Christian Faith and life - to rebuild what remains. This doesn’t mean that we have to remain silent about controversial subjects, especially those that are tearing apart the Church and taking us into an unbiblical direction. However, we have to stick to chapter and verse as we attempt to reclaim the Church for our Lord:

 

·       Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 3–4 (ESV)

 

Love isn’t a matter of keeping peace at the price of allowing false doctrine. When we do so, we incur the displeasure of our Lord:

·       But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works. (Revelation 2:20–22)

 

Sometimes love must confront rather than indulge. To our discredit, we have tolerated in our midst things that we should not. As our brothers’ keepers, we too must call them to repentance as Jesus had:

·       “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3–5)

 

Jesus also required us to be a light to the world, even exposing its sins (Ephesians 5:11). As justifiably frustrated and fearful as we might be, we must not resort to violence:

·       Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:14–19)

 

Especially during these times, we must resist the urge to seek revenge, but to show that we live according to God’s teachings. This will show that our treasure is not in this world but in eternity. This is what our Lord wants of us (2 Corinthians 4:7-11).

 

Joseph had lived as a slave and a prisoner for many years. He could have become embittered after his brothers had sold him as a slave to a caravan. Joseph was entirely devoted to the Lord that he served his Egyptian taskmaster with such faithfulness that he entrusted his entire household into Joseph’s hands. More importantly, it seems that the Lord was also pleased with Joseph’s faithfulness:

·       From the time that he [Potiphar] made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the LORD was on all that he had, in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. (Genesis 39:5–6)

 

Joseph also resisted the sexual overtures of Potiphar’s wife, who afterwards falsely accused Joseph of trying to seduce her. Consequently, Joseph spent 17 years in prison, suffering one injustice after another. He could easily have decided that since God had “failed” him, he had had enough of God, but he didn’t.

 

·       But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed. (Genesis 39:21–23)

 

The Lord hadn’t failed Joseph. Despite his many years of suffering, God was preparing him to play a glorious role in the salvation of nations. When his brothers expressed their fears to him that he might now take revenge for what they had done to him, he answered with godly wisdom:

 

·       “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (Genesis 50:19–21)

 

Joseph did not gloss over their evil deeds but pointed them to Someone far more important. This is the One to whom we must look as we experience the unjust wrath of this evil world as we care for their needs. God allows their evil to serve His good purposes for our benefit. And as Joseph continued in kindness to them, we too must continue in this manner towards our oppressors. We must also rejoice in oppression as a testimony to the One who loves us and gave His life for us.

THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND THEIR REGARD FOR THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

 

I rarely see an article today affirming the Christian Faith. Instead, it is common for our Mainstream Media to refer to Christians as “bigots,” “hypocrites,” “homophobes” and more recently as mindless believers in conspiracy theories.

 

However, it was not always this way. Many of our Founding Fathers were not Christians, but rather Deists and Unitarians. Nevertheless, they all seemed to endorse the Faith of the Bible and its necessity for the welfare of our fledgling nation. All of the following quotations were taken from one source: https://www.learnreligions.com/christian-quotes-of-the-founding-fathers-700789

 

 

"While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian."--The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.

 

"Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be."

--Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.

 

"The general principles, on which the Fathers achieved independence, were the only Principles in which that beautiful Assembly of young Gentlemen could Unite, and these Principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were these general Principles? I answer, the general Principles of Christianity, in which all these Sects were United: And the general Principles of English and American Liberty. -Adams

 

"Now I will avow, that I then believe, and now believe, that those general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as the Existence and Attributes of God; and that those Principles of Liberty, are as unalterable as human Nature and our terrestrial, mundane System." -John Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, excerpt from a letter to Thomas Jefferson.

 

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever..." -Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237.

 

"I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ - The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 385.

 

“Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us." -Benjamin Franklin

--History of the United States of America, Vol. II, p. 229.

 

"Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped.

 

"But I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more respected and more observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any peculiar marks of his displeasure."--Benjamin Franklin wrote this in a letter to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale University on March 9, 1790.

 

"And as it is our duty to extend our wishes to the happiness of the great family of man, I conceive that we cannot better express ourselves than by humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the world that the rod of tyrants may be broken to pieces, and the oppressed made free again; that wars may cease in all the earth, and that the confusions that are and have been among nations may be overruled by promoting and speedily bringing on that holy and happy period when the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ may be everywhere established, and all people everywhere willingly bow to the sceptre of Him who is Prince of Peace." -Samuel Adams

--As Governor of Massachusetts, Proclamation of a Day of Fast, March 20, 1797.

 

"A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building ideal monuments of Renown and Bliss here we neglect to have our names enrolled in the Annals of Heaven." - James Madison--Written to William Bradford on November 9, 1772, Faith of Our Founding Fathers by Tim LaHaye, pp. 130-131; Christianity and the Constitution — The Faith of Our Founding Fathers by John Eidsmoe, p. 98.

 

"The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made 'bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God' (Isaiah 52:10)."-John Quincy Adams

--Life of John Quincy Adams, p. 248.

 

"I do declare to the whole world that we believe the Scriptures to contain a declaration of the mind and will of God in and to those ages in which they were written; being given forth by the Holy Ghost moving in the hearts of holy men of God; that they ought also to be read, believed, and fulfilled in our day; being used for reproof and instruction, that the man of God may be perfect. They are a declaration and testimony of heavenly things themselves, and, as such, we carry a high respect for them. We accept them as the words of God Himself." William Penn--Treatise of the Religion of the Quakers, p. 355.

 

"The gospel of Jesus Christ prescribes the wisest rules for just conduct in every situation of life. Happy they who are enabled to obey them in all situations!" -

Benjamin Rush --The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, pp. 165-166.

 

"If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God into all the world would have been unnecessary.

 

The perfect morality of the gospel rests upon the doctrine which, though often controverted has never been refuted: I mean the vicarious life and death of the Son of God." -Benjamin Rush --Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophical, published in 1798.

 

"I have carefully examined the evidences of the Christian religion, and if I was sitting as a juror upon its authenticity I would unhesitatingly give my verdict in its favor." -Alexander Hamilton--Famous American Statesmen, p. 126.

 

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." -Patrick Henry--The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii.

 

"The Bible ... is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed."

--Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry, p. 402.

 

"By conveying the Bible to people thus circumstanced, we certainly do them a most interesting kindness. We thereby enable them to learn that man was originally created and placed in a state of happiness, but, becoming disobedient, was subjected to the degradation and evils which he and his posterity have since experienced…The Bible will also inform them that our gracious Creator has provided for us a Redeemer, in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; that this Redeemer has made atonement 'for the sins of the whole world,' and thereby reconciling the Divine justice with the Divine mercy has opened a way for our redemption and salvation; and that these inestimable benefits are of the free gift and grace of God, not of our deserving, nor in our power to deserve." -John Jay--In God We Trust—The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers, p. 379.

 

"In forming and settling my belief relative to the doctrines of Christianity, I adopted no articles from creeds but such only as, on careful examination, I found to be confirmed by the Bible." -John Jay--American Statesman Series, p. 360.

 

It is worth noting that the values of our Fathers are directly associated with the development of the most thriving nation in the world. As we have turned away from these values, we have faltered. Why then the continuing tsunami of abuse raised against these values and those who hold to them? Why is the religion that had been so highly esteemed and fruitful now so debased?