Heart of the Matter: Episode Overview

Live from Salt Lake City, Utah, this is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology. where we do all we can to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. I’m Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion., your host.

Show 41 518
October 4th 2016
Had the opportunity to catch up with the boys (and girl from Adam’s Road) last week and we taped our get together – which we will air next week. For those of you unfamiliar, Adam’s Road is a Christian music ministry that travels all over and shares the Good News with people in parks and churches and other venues. They are all former LDS – three men and one young woman – and the thing that makes them so unique is their affable, we’re just here to share the truth. So stay tuned as next week – October 11th we will air our reunion (as it’s been four years since we last got together).

Additionally, my friend and brother Matt Slick is returning to Heart of the Matter on Tuesday October 25th. We are going to just sit and talk about the Bible. It ought to be enlightening and worth your time. That’s Matt Slick founder of CARM Tuesday October 25th.

The Wicked's Pursuit in Psalm 10

And with that how about a moment from the Word. (Run from the Word here please) We might title this segment tonight:

“Men of the Earth Hotly Pursuing the Poor”

Insights from Psalm 10

In Psalm 10 King David bemoans a number of things before the Lord. He begins with an apparent complaint about what David believes is God’s absence and says:

1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

After this he begins to complain about the wicked and says in the very first line:

2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

The word used in the King James is “persecute” which leads to some idea of what the wicked are doing to the poor but the Hebrew term relates best to “a hot pursuit” instead of just a persecution.

“The wicked IN HIS PRIDE doth hotly pursue the poor.”

What is this hot pursuit of the wicked upon the poor focused upon? Verse 3 says:

3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.

Whatever the focus of the hot pursuit is it is not only “his hearts desire” but it is a desire that “he is not ashamed to boast about.” We also know that in the process of all this the wicked “(praise) the covetous” a characteristic in people that God abhors!

Later we will read that David generally refers to these wicked types as “the man of the earth.” Who is the “man of the earth?”

So far, he is one who

• In his PRIDE hotly pursues the poor.
• That in this pursuit is “his hearts desire”
• That he boasts of this desire
• That he “praises the covetous” (the tenth command we are told to avoid)

After describing the wicked in more depth in verses 4-6 David says

7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.
9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.
10 He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.

The Image of the Man of the Earth

In this imagery, this man of the earth is described as a predator, a conniver, lurking in places and waiting for opportunity (said three times) to pounce upon the innocent and especially the poor. From this, we can see contextually that David’s initial cries (at verse 1)

1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

Are on behalf of not only himself but also the poor and innocent who seem to be victims of “these men of the earth.”

At verse 12 David returns to his first pleading query and says:

12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.

Describing the poor as the humble David requests that God not forget them. Then at verse 14 adds:

14 . . . “the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil

God's Perspective on the Poor

“man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.”

17 “LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: 18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.”

So David has laid the principle out – There are innocent, humble, poor who are hotly pursued by the proud, Godless, coveting wicked. Because David mentions that these “men of the earth” “praise covetousness” we might conclude that the major driver behind these wicked men is gaining material wealth from the poor – something which David, a man after God’s own heart, is greatly disturbed.

Now to the principle point of all of this? God does NOT like the poor and humble to be taken advantage of. One hundred and sixty-three times the English word poor is used in the Old Testament alone. These come from several different Hebrew terms all pointing to “the dangling, the destitute, and the depressed.” Scripture is replete with directions to help and treat the poor kindly and generously and NOT to hotly pursue them to try and capitalize or capture or put them in bonds.

Societal Implications

Show me a political movement, a religious institution, a criminal organization or any individual that pursues the poor in ANY way – any way at all – and I will show you the antithesis to the heart of God.

Politically

Any group that looks out over its constituents and places a burden for its survival and success on the backs of the poor ought to be received with great suspicion. No matter what, if the poor are weighted down with taxes, duties, and a load too heavy to bear it ought to be seen as the product of “men of the earth” and therefore at odds with the heart of God.

CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS are no different. They take people who are “under the gun” (those in debt, with addictions to substances, predilections to porn or gambling) and prey upon them in their weakened state is another example of “men of the earth hotly pursuing the poor.” Even the pandering to addiction through expensive rehabilitation centers, advertising substances to communities of low socio-economic status, offering credit cards to the under-educated, young and inexperienced or doing anything that preys upon the innate weaknesses of others is anathema to the ways of God.

But all of this can be expected of worldly institutions, can’t it? But what about religion? Throughout the Old and New Testaments God has shown that the widows, the orphans, and the poor are to be taken care of NOT taken advantage of. It is incumbent then that leaders of religious institutions and empires refuse the widow's mite, the orphan's labors, the poor’s contributions and do all they can to alleviate their needs and not to add to them.

From Catholicism to Mormonism to “the little white church down the lane,” if the poor are being pressured to give and serve the machine through any means of compulsion (time, service requirements or demands, tithes, offerings) it is a product of “men of the earth.” And I would include propagating theologies that serve to capture and imprison the minds and hearts of the weak as much as they place demands on their material increase or time. When any church becomes “an end unto itself,” when the church becomes “a thing to be supported or served” rather than “the thing that supports and serves” something is very very wrong.

God is a God of liberty and freedom, and He sent His Son to “set the captives free, to open the prison doors,” not incarcerate them through laws and requirements and demands. No matter how the theology or practice can or is justified – if it leads to imprisoning another person – especially a person poor in time, intellect, material, money, or education it is made of men of the earth and not of God. Reject them.

And with that, let’s go to our board of direction. (RUN BOARD OF DIRECTION HERE)

I came upon a woman last week at a fast-food joint who quickly let me know that she “used to watch the show all the time,” that she is neither LDS nor Christian, and that she has wondered what I was presently doing. I told her. She admitted to being intrigued by the former shows as she held the LDS…

Discovering Lasting Motivation

not very high regard, was amused by the constant style changes, and found the program entertaining “but,” she asked, “are you honestly motivated by all that Jesus stuff?”

I said, “I honestly am.”

She said, “why does that motivate you?”

I gave her the standard answers, which were from my heart, but I have mused over her question – deeply – for five days now. On Saturday morning I woke up to the answer.

Early Influences and Reflections

I grew up in a family of six kids and parents who were very young. I learned very quickly that stability was not to be found in any of that. Decisions were made but actions changed on a dime. I am so very, very grateful to my parents – they did the best they could – but I was not going to put my trust in them.

They promoted a church – Mormonism – to help their burgeoning family. It did not take long – though I tried to play the game for decades – to see that it was not capable of satisfactory longevity – it was not going to be there for me – I saw this through its inner-workings, its promotion of the capable, and subtle demotion of the struggling.

I saw that drugs, drunkenness, violence and sex – while all gratifying to my immediate needs – were really really feeble and had zero capacity to sustain my soul – so I used them to my advantage but never allowed them to hook me. They were pathetic in terms of sustainability.

I also considered people and relationships as the salvo to life’s pains and angst. Naturally I found that all people – ever one – will let you down. So after a few painful lessons which included looking in the mirror at myself and finding more ineptitude, I realized human beings were really only capable – in the long run – of letting each other down.

At this point I began wandering – educational pursuits, political thought, philosophy, literature, the humanities and the arts. I tapped into a few things in these years that have remained as touchstones in my life – existentialism and art.

But art in most cases was extremely limited in longevity – so the mediums I found most alluring were in materials that are most enduring – stone, metals, plastics – and expressions through them rather than corroding canvas and fading paints.

Existentialism and its Limits

After considering a number of philosophical forms existentialism rang most true – and lasting as it tapped into the core of my soul as something that was mine, subjective, and something for which I was personally responsible.

There was nobody to blame in existentialism – not my parents, not my religion, not capitalism, nor economic times – just myself. I was responsible for what I thought, what I did, and I could NOT escape the freedom to choose.

(Beat)

But Godless existentialism leads to bleak futility and blythe bitterness – something I was not willing to embrace as my lifestyle. There had to be something more – something more substantive, something lasting, eternal, beyond the everything surrounding me that breaks down.

And it was here that Jesus of Nazareth opened my eyes. And in and through Him I came to see and understand the true and living God who is the ONLY eternal, the ONLY one worthy and lasting. The ONLY thing or being or person or God worthy of time, attention, devotion, worship.

I’m not against family – mom or dad or children or siblings or spouses – I just know what they are capable of being and doing. I’m not against organized religion – I just know it falls short and even dominates the gift of life given us.

I’m not against sex drugs and other forms of escapism – but I hate anything that steals my freedoms. I’m not against education, politics, philosophy and the arts – I just know they are fallible expressions of failing perspectives – which will not last.

Why does Jesus motivate me, Mrs. World?

In Him, I found the eternal Rock that cannot be maniputated. I found the real Man of steel. I found a Father, a mother, a family, and a King. In Him I found authority I could and would trust. In Him I found accountability and a leader that can and will unfailingly lead. I found perfect art, perfect expression and none of it can or will ever fail. He

Understanding the Concept of the Gospel

continues on and out into the eternities. He is Truth with a capital T. Not an earthly family. Not an earthly religion. Not an authority. Not money. Not Hume or Descartes or Aristotle. Not Warhol, Rembrandt or Pollack. God our Father and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. It’s been almost 20 years He has stuck with me. 40% of my life on earth. The first 60% were spent testing everything that claimed to have staying power. They are all fails. Only He remains. Only He will forever remain.

We’ve talked about God, and Satan, and Creation, and the Fall and for two weeks we’ve talked about Atonement – a natural result from a God who is love in the face of the Fall. Let’s step in and talk about the Gospel which is the next logical step since we have talked about atonement and the differences of opinion about it. It goes without saying that those different views regarding atonement would play a role in how LDS people and Christians understand the Good News or Gospel. We’ll talk about this later. Prior to doing this how about we answer a couple of questions that orbit around the term, Gospel.

Questions Around the Gospel

1st what is it?
2nd How long has it been around?

To the question of a definitions. The Gospel has been subject to immense oversimplification and extreme amplification over the years by . . . MAN. The etymology of the word is interesting. Spel in Old English is news. God (long O) is Good. It does not mean, “God’s news” as some suggest, but good News. It is used 99 times in the New Testament, translated gospel in the King James and taken from the Greek word: YOO ANG GHL EE ON Which literally means, a good message. So we read the Bible and we must ask ourselves: What is the Good Message of the Bible? Yoo an ghell-ee-on means, it seems from biblical definitions (1) "the welcome intelligence of salvation to man as preached by our Lord and his followers. (2.) It was afterwards transitively applied to each of the four histories of our Lord's life, published by those who are therefore called 'Evangelists', writers of the history of the gospel (the evangelion). (3.) The term is often used to express collectively the gospel doctrines; and 'preaching the gospel' is often used to include not only the proclaiming of the good tidings, but the teaching men how to avail themselves of the offer of salvation, the declaring of all the truths, precepts, promises, and threatenings of Christianity."

The Gospel in Scripture

It is simultaneously termed "the gospel of the grace of God" (Ac 20:24), "the gospel of the kingdom" (Mt 4:23), "the gospel of Christ" (Ro 1:16), "the gospel of peace (Eph 6:15), "the glorious gospel," "the everlasting gospel," "the gospel of salvation" (Eph 1:13).

According to RC Sproul: “The gospel is called the ‘good news’ because it addresses the most serious problem that you and I have as human beings, and that problem is simply this: God is holy and He is just, and we are not. And at the end of we are going to stand before a just and holy God, and be judged. And I’ll be judged either on the basis of my own righteousness–or lack of it–or the righteousness of another." Then Sproul adds: “The good news of the gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness, of perfect obedience to God, not for His own well-being but for His people. He has done for me what I couldn’t possibly do for myself. But not only has He lived that life of perfect obedience, He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to satisfy the justice and the righteousness of God.”

As a definitional summary this is as good as any others that I have considered, in my estimation. Sproul continues saying: “For God to forgive you is a very costly matter. It cost the sacrifice of His own Son. So valuable was that sacrifice that God pronounced it valuable by raising Him from the dead–so that Christ died for us, He was raised for our justification. So the gospel is something objective. It is the message of who Jesus is and what He did. And it also has a subjective dimension. How are the benefits of Jesus subjectively appropriated to us? How do I get it? The Bible makes it clear that we are justified not by our works, not by our efforts, not by our deeds, but by faith–and by faith alone. The only way you can receive the benefit of Christ’s life and

The Essence of the Good News

DeathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. is by putting your trust in Him–and in Him alone. You do that, you’re declared just by God, you’re adopted into His family, you’re forgiven of all of your sins, and you have begun your pilgrimage for eternity. I would be so bold as to reword all Sproul says into this: “The Good News is that Jesus came and did what we could not do. All who look to Him and His finished work by faith are saved from sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and death and become children of God.” Now, that is good news, isn’t it? Jesus – who He was, what He did, how it saves us, and what His work makes us – saved children of God. This is the Good News (or the Gospel) Paul taught. That it was not more by the laws of God that men were to try and approach Him but by faith.

Paul's Message of Good News

So just on the subject of the Good News alone – I have some questions. First, if we take this news out to the world and share it is this the same Good News that Paul shared? I would say it is. Was there ANYTHING in this Good News that included ideas about . . . oh, let’s see . . . did Paul’s message or presentation of the Good News include anything about . . . The eternality of hell? Nope. The Trinity? Nope. EschatologyStudy of “last things”—TGNN teaches all biblical eschatology was fulfilled in 70 A.D. More? No ma’am. Church authority? Never.

In fact, it’s really quite interesting, but Paul warned against anyone preaching “another gospel” in the Book of Galatians. I want to read through the first two chapters because there are insights in them that cannot be ignored. Listen:

Galatians (vs 1) Paul . . . (vs 2) unto the churches of Galatia (vs 6) I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: (vs 7) Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Metastrepho – twist and corrupt . . . the Good News of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again,” If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

The Good News that “Jesus came and did what we could not do. All who look to Him and His finished work by faith are saved from sin and death and become children of God.” If anyone – even an angel from heaven – preaches any other Good News let him be accursed.

If they tell you that you must be baptized in water – that’s another good news. If they tell you that you have to submit to their authority that’s another Good News. If they tell you that you must sign a worthiness statement that’s another Good News. If they tell you that you have to tithe, support the local church, attend the temple, contribute to the building fund, admit that God is three in one such things are additions to ???? that’s right, to the fact that “Jesus came and did what we could not do. All who look to Him and His finished work by faith are saved from sin and death and become children of God.”

Paul continues in Galatians 1 and says at verse ten (now listen closely):

10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. 11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.

Paul's Clarity on Faith

Did you catch that? Man and men present us all sorts of alternative news they call good. But the Good News of Jesus Christ is pure and clear: “The Good News is that Jesus came and did what we could not do. (which was signified by His resurrection from the dead) All who look to Him and His finished work by faith are saved from sin and death and become children of God.” That’s the Good News. After explaining some things about his ministry and running into arguments and trouble over circumcision Paul then explains very plainly in chapter two:

16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ,

Justification Through Faith

and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. 18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

The Purity of the Gospel

Listen, the Mormons aren’t the only group to present another Gospel or Good News. They are one of many. I could shoot a rifle in any direction from here and probably hit a church that has modified the purity of the Gospel. See, it is the Gospel, the Good News, that saves. Paul put it this way:

The Power of the Gospel

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” The Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation.

Rejoice in this simple Good News my friends. There is nothing more to it. There is nothing less.

Next week we’ll talk about how long the Good news has been around. Let’s open up the phone lines: (801)