Pastor Keith's Blog - Corydon Baptist Church

The Language of Divorce and Death

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:19:44 -0400

"For I hate divorce," says the Lord, the God of Israel (Malachi 2:16).

I don't just hate divorce. I sometimes hate even the vocabulary of divorced people. The way they sometimes talk breaks my heart. The banter sounds something like this:

"Well, I don't have to have her back until 10. Surely, he won't get mad if I keep her a little longer." Or, "Well I can't pick my kids up till 9 and they leave at 12, so we won't be able to do dinner." Or, "This is not my weekend. My kids cannot go."

Do you see the common denominator?

Children.

Kids are seemingly the people most affected by the after-math of divorce. I (Pastor Keith), have often said from the pulpit and in counseling rooms, "Kids are the innocent victims of every parental sin." O, may God give us a sacrificial love for our children that reflects Jesus. Divorce inevitably distorts God's design for one-man-one-woman-for-life marriage, because it prioritizes children over and above the one flesh union of husband and wife. Instead of fighting for their marriage, couples in divorce proceedings fight over the kids. At its core, divorce happens due to selfishness (at least on the part of one spouse, but sometimes both spouses). But, once a divorce is finalized, may God help Christian parents to care for the innocent victims - children - with tenderness and self-sacrifice. It's not their fault. Don't make them feel like the "monkey in the middle." Don't try to force them to choose sides. Their trauma is already nearly unbearable. Have mercy on the children! Have mercy! [This is also a polemic against divorce in the first place. Take it from a child of divorce (Pastor Keith). The divorce of my own parents is a wound I will carry to my grave.]

But it's not just the language of divorcees that sometimes makes me cringe. It's also that of married Christians who have never been divorced. If these believers are in a difficult marriage, their banter sometimes sounds like this:

"It's so hard for me to stay in this marriage." Or, "I cannot wait until I am free of this hurtful relationship." Or, "When he/she leaves, I am done with him/her finally." Or, "If he/she does one more thing, I'm outta here." Or, "Surely, God doesn't expect me to keep putting up with this?"

Common denominator?

Me, myself and I. This is how divorce happens. Take your eyes off Jesus. Turn inward and become consumed with your needs and your hurts. Stop looking to the interest of others with the mind of Christ (Phil 2:4). Put yourself first. It's a sure-fire way to withhold forgiveness and become embittered. Self-focus ignores grace. If Jesus were self-focused, we would go to hell.

But, I also sometimes hate the language of those Christians who are happily married. Especially as it pertains to others who may be in hard marriages or might be divorced. They might say things like this:

"Well, they should not have married so quickly." Or, "They neither one had the guts or commitment to stay." Or, "Well, she should have thought more carefully before she married him." Or, "His parents should have helped him be more cautious about choosing a wife." Or, "Their pastor must not have done much pre-marital counseling."

Common denominator?

Pride. Presumption.

Why did you marry your spouse? Why are you enjoying a happy marriage? Is it because of your greatness and goodness? Or is it by God's grace in Christ alone? And why would you make presumptive assertions about someone else's situation? Especially if you have never bothered to personally invest in that person, disciple that person, really get to know that person. What if that divorcee or person in a hard marriage prayed for months or years prior to marriage and received fantastic counseling? What if her parents did everything they could to try and help her choose a godly man? What if pastors and counselors worked with them for months to try and rescue their marriage prior to the divorce?

O, be careful, dear happily married Christians. Your haphazard words can crush an already crushed person. Words have so much power. Often good power. Like "We the people" or "I have a dream" or "Nothing to fear but fear itself" or "Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." But words can also hurt and cause damage that is under the surface. So many adult believers suffer for years from the wounds of words.

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Prov 18:21).

"The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and is set on fire by hell" (James 3:6).

Be careful. Be careful. People are listening. God is listening (Matt 12:36-37).

Brothers and Sisters, how are you loving your spouse? Are you giving voice to life or death? Are you burning up your home or building it up? Divorcees, do your children hear life or death concerning the absent spouse? By your words, do you fill your home with hatred and hurt or love and joy? God help us repent of words that burn holes in precious souls! Happily married believers, are you speaking life to women who have been abandoned by their husbands? Do you include single parents and children of divorce in your play dates? Do you gather those in hard marriages or those whose marriages have been dissolved by divorce or death around your dinner tables? Do you encourage weary wives and moms? Do you strengthen exasperated husbands and dads? Send them a text. Mail a card. Give a hug. Pray a prayer.

Our marriages and relationships in the Church should matter . . . to each of us. To all of us. And learning to communicate God's words of hope and life and joy and peace must become our priority and practice. Building healthy, biblical marriages, and raising up children who will pursue such, and ministering to everyone regardless of their marital status or situation, is one of the key reasons our church engages in Grace Marriage https://gracemarriage.com/. Join today! Or, make our Grace Marriage ministry a part of your daily prayers. One of the many reasons we love this ministry is that it really helps us learn to talk to each other about important things in ways that honor God and reflect Christ in submission to the Holy Spirit and His Word.

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear" (Eph 4:29).

NOTE: This post is a combined effort of our Biblical Counselor, Lori Beard, and Pastor Keith, with the greater credit to Lori!

Still "Ryled" Up!

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 16:15:21 -0400

More from my J.C. Ryle devotional (see previous post). This is the entry for January 24 titled Most Important Doctrine:

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. -1 Corinthians 2:2

There is no doctrine in Christianity so important as the doctrine of Christ crucified.

There is none which the devil tries so hard to destroy. There is none which is so needful for our own peace to understand. By "Christ crucified," I mean the doctrine that Christ suffered death on the cross to make atonement for our sins, that by His death He made a full, perfect, and complete satisfaction to God for the ungodly, and that through the merits of that death all who believe in Him are forgiven all their sins, however many and great, entirely, and forever.

The doctrine of Christ crucified is the grand peculiarity of the Christian religion. Other religions have laws and moral precepts, forms and ceremonies, rewards and punishments. But other religions cannot tell us of a dying Savior; they cannot show us the cross. This is the crown and glory of the gospel; this is that special comfort which belongs to it alone. Miserable indeed is that religious teaching which calls itself Christian and yet contains nothing of the cross. A man who teaches in this way might as well profess to explain the solar system and yet tell his hearers nothing about the sun. Christ crucified is God's grand ordinance for doing good to men. Wherever a church keeps back Christ crucified or puts anything whatever in that foremost place which Christ crucified should always have, from that moment a church ceases to be useful.

Reader, if you have never heard of Christ crucified before this day, I can wish you nothing better than that you may know Him by faith and rest on Him for salvation. If you do know Him, may you know Him better every year you live, till you see Him face to face.

-Excerpt from Our Great Redeemer: 365 Days with J.C. Ryle, compiled by Bryan Schrank (Reformation Heritage Books, 2024).

Do yourself a favor this year and start reading some Ryle!

"Ryled" Up for a New Year

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 15:44:28 -0400

Those who know me, know my favorite pastor-theologian from the 19^th century to read is the Anglican Bishop, J.C. Ryle. Last year I read the daily devotional Our Great Redeemer: 365 Days with J. C. Ryle compiled by Bryan Schrank. Although I am not a guy who feels compelled to read a devotional every day, this one was far and away my favorite of the dozens I have read over the last two decades. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, that I just picked it up today and started all over!

Here's the entry for January 1, titled "Are You Ready for the New Year?"

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this is judgment. HEBREWS 9:27

Reader, I ask you a plain question at the beginning of a new year. Are you ready? It is a solemn thing to part company with the old year. It is a still more solemn thing to begin a new one. It is like entering a dark passage. We know not what we may meet before the end. All before us is uncertain. We know not what a day may bring forth, much less what may happen in a year. Reader, are you ready? Are you ready for death? It must come someday. It may come this year. You cannot live always. This year may be your last. You have no freehold in this world. You have not so much as a lease. You are nothing better than a tenant at God's will. Your last sickness may come upon you and give you notice to exit. The doctor may visit you and exhaust his skill over your case. You may feel yourself drawing near to the coffin, and the grave, and the worm, and an unseen world, and eternity, and God. Reader, if death should come upon you, are you ready?

Are you ready for bereavements? No doubt there are those in the world whom you love. There are those whose names are engraved on your heart, and round whom your affections are entwined. There are those who are the light of your eyes, and the very sunshine of your existence. But they are all mortal. Any one of them may die this year. Before the daisies blossom again, any one of them may be lying in the tomb. Reader, are you ready?

Reader, if you are not ready, I beseech you to make ready without delay. I tell you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that all things are ready on God's part for your salvation. The Father is ready to receive you. The Lord Jesus is ready to wash your sins away. The Spirit is ready to renew and sanctify you. Angels are ready to rejoice over you. Saints are ready to hold out the right hand to you. Oh, why not make ready this very year?

Happy Birthday, Marines!

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 20:00:00 -0400

Today, November 10^th, 2025, is the 250^th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Born in Tun's Tavern, Philadelphia, and proven on the shores of Tripoli, Africa, America's Corps of Marines have acquitted themselves on battlefields and in war zones all over the world. Known by several monikers earned throughout their storied history. Leathernecks. Devil Dogs. Jar Heads. White Sleeves. Marines. The brunt of many jokes from the other branches of our Armed Services, yet when the bullets are flying, there's no one else they desire to be in the fighting hole beside them.

I served as an Officer in the Marine Corps from 1995-2000, coming up through the Naval ROTC Program at Vanderbilt University, and exiting as a Captain. My Dad was a Marine who served two tours in Vietnam with the Marine Air Wing. During my senior year of high school, as I began searching for a career path and was exploring possible military service, there was never a thought given to which branch. It was USMC or bust for me. The Corps runs in families. It gets in your bloodline. I remember Dad telling stories of when he was drafted in 1967. His classmates thought he was crazy when he enlisted in the Marine Corps. But Dad told them, "If I am going to war, I want to go with the best. I figure my odds of staying alive are better if the man next to me is the best-trained warrior in the world." Enough said.

It is truly impossible for me to fully capture all the life lessons and valuable insights the Lord allowed me to gain from my time as a Marine. Most of those lessons translate not just to life, but even to church life. Here are a few of the more significant things God taught me in and through the Corps:

There is no substitute for the unity of identity.

Shared history. Shared suffering. Shared training. Shared heroes. Shared values. Shared title. These are all ways the Corps builds unity. The initial training in the Marine Corps, whether Boot Camp or Officer Candidate School, is aimed almost singularly at building identity. Who is a Marine? What is a Marine? Marines do what they do because of who they are. And who they are is who they've always been (for the last 250 years). Turns out, knowing who you are is powerful. And sharing that identity with a band of brothers is potent on battlefields and in boardrooms. For 250 years, the Marine Corps has brought together diverse groups of men and women from all across our Nation and have transformed them into the world's most fierce fighting force. How? By forging the unity of shared identity.

"Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all" (Col 3:11).

Seems to me Christians in local churches could use some reminders of our shared identity. I have seen this go awry over my decades of pastoral ministry, in two ways. One, we focus so much on the unity within our own local church body that we forget or neglect the larger body of believers. When church members oppose pastors who want to help revitalize another church down the road, or plant a new church on the other side of the county or world, they are committing this error. Criticisms of missions-mindedness in local churches often sounds like, "But we should be focusing mostly on ourselves." But I simply ask, "Where is that in the Bible?" Two, we do not hold tightly enough to doctrinal confessions and/or build a culture of accountability within our local church body, so that members actually do not share a unified gospel identity. Knowing who we are and what we believe, especially about core doctrines of the faith, and even secondary doctrines - such as baptism, communion, manhood and womanhood, home, family, church leadership - is essential to a church's unity. Churches who are "fast and loose" with doctrine are straying into this error and ensuring disunity. So, pastors must help strike the balance, between these two ditches as they shepherd the flock of God. And church members must re-commit themselves to the notion that unity within their local church is not based upon shared hobbies or ethnicity or personalities or preferences; but rather is in Christ and His gospel. Period.

There is no substitute for commitment to accomplishing the mission.

Identity. Mission. These two always go hand-in-hand. In fact, as I have already mentioned, Marines will die to accomplish the mission, or would rather die than not accomplish the mission, because of who they are. Mission flows from identity. For 250 years, our Nation's enemies have learned the hard way that there is nothing more fearsome on the battlefield than a Company of Marines on mission. The mission statement of the Marine Corps rifle squad says it all:

"To locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver; or to repel the enemy's assault by fire and close combat."

Clear. Concise. Laser-focused. This is what we do. And we do it the way we do it because of who we are.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matt 28:19-20).

Clear. Concise. Laser-focused. This is what we do, Church. And we do it the way we do it because of who we are, Church. At Corydon Baptist Church, we say it like this:

"We are a Christian family of disciple-making disciples consumed by the glory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ."

I once saw a sign in a store that said: "A Disciple is someone who has moved from being the Recipient of the Church's Mission to being Responsible for the Church's Mission."

Well, amen. Our churches are too full of members who are not really disciples. They're stuck in the quagmire of "what's in it for me-ism." The man who complains to his pastor that he's not being invested in enough, yet does not attend the Sunday School class on biblical manhood being offered even as he complains. The woman who never quite seems satisfied with her lot in life, yet does not attend the discipleship training on godly contentment. The couple whose marriage is weak, yet neglects the monthly Grace Marriage gatherings. The parent who struggles to find the balance between child-rearing and marriage and work, yet never seeks out the Biblical Counselor. The church member who incessantly gripes about the pastors and church not focusing enough on local outreach, yet he or she has not personally shared the gospel or tried to disciple someone with an open Bible for years. The member who says no one invests in him, yet hasn't invited a fellow church member into his home for years.

This list could, sadly, go on for a few pages. In the Corps, we often said, "Lead. Follow. Or Get Out of the Way." Now, that's too harsh for the church. But, if we can push past the gruffness, there's a nugget for us, dear Church. Are you stepping out in faith to lead a ministry effort? Are you faithfully following a spiritual leader to help accomplish the mission? Or, are you doing neither? Are you just showing up to hear a sermon, sing a song, then return to your worldly life? Churches must live on mission with Jesus. Every member on mission with our King. And if you lack training or knowledge to do so, avail yourselves, dear brothers and sisters!

Blood Loyalty.

Semper Fidelis. Always faithful. That's the Marine Corps' motto. And, "once a Marine, always a Marine." There are no former Marines, except those who were discharged dishonorably.

Now, as Christians, we understand that our Lord is the only One who is truly semper fidelis (2 Tim 2:13; Rev 19:11). We are too often not nearly as loyal to King Jesus as we should be. Nevertheless, if we are truly born-again followers of Jesus, it is our blood earnest intent to live for His glory faithfully. And I think the Church could use a heavy dose of loyalty. Not just to Christ, but to His Church.

American evangelicalism is inundated with a lack of "brand loyalty," if I may say it thusly. Call it church-hopping. Call it cross-pollination of denominations. Call it consumerism. Call it what you will. But I am afraid God might call it discontent. Disloyal. Cowardly.

In my 14 years as Pastor in my present congregation, I have NEVER once had a member quote Chapter and Verse of the Bible as the reason he or she was leaving our church body to go to another church down the street. The reasons are always about feelings. Or fitting in. Or personalities. Or preferences. Or an unwillingness to deal with interpersonal conflict or sin biblically (Matt 18:15-18; 1 Cor 5; Col 3:12-17). Or an unwillingness to have doctrinal assumptions challenged with an open Bible (Acts 17:11). It really begs the question - who or what is our ultimate authority for a decision as significant as what local church to covenant with to make the name of Jesus known near and far?

Now, I am not saying the Lord would never lead a member to leave a church and find a new one. Nor am I intending to impugn the motives or character or anyone who has ever left my present congregation. To be sure, we are looking more and more often now to send our members out for the sake of the Name! So, as our Pastor Emeritus likes to say, "Don't hear what I'm not saying."

But, my point is this: Most people who leave local churches and cannot manage to "find a healthy church and build your life around it" (Tom Ascol, Founders Ministries), are spiritually short-changing themselves and their families. Spiritual consistency and stability is one of God's greatest gifts to His Church. Think of all the exhortations in the Scripture to be "steadfast and immoveable." My own spiritual growth in the first 30 years of my life was exponential primarily because I had only two pastors (two congregations) for those 30 years. The inability to settle down in a church is doing grave damage to us. We must learn the fruit of patience. Of perseverance with people you might not otherwise hang out with. Of confession and forgiveness. Or loving confrontation and compassionate encouragement. Of Christ-like loyalty.

One of the deepest disappointments I deal with in ministry is how easily church members quit on one another. Quit on a leader or leaders. Quit on fellow members. We are missing out on the joy of growing with one another. Of being changed together. Of witnessing long-term graces in each other. Of watching our children and grandchildren grow together. Be baptized together. Be catechized together. Be loved on the same laps. Be taught by the same teachers. Be shepherded by the same shepherds (yes, pastors need to learn loyalty too). Be pointed to the same Savior. Be sent out and supported by those we know indelibly as "family who have our backs."

My Marine Dad often told me growing up, "Son, you can be beaten but you cannot be whipped." That was his way of inculcating endurance in me. A don't ever quit attitude. Loyalty. To someone or something far greater than me. Blood Loyalty.

Dear Saints, our Savior is the Ultimate Warrior (Exodus 15:3) who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). May we mimic Him. Reflect Him. We are, after all, engaged in a great war, with everlasting souls hanging in the balance (Eph 6:10-20). Let's stay in the fight. Shoulder-to-shoulder. Together. Filled with the Spirit. Armed with the Word. For the honor of our King.

Semper Fi!

Pastor Why Do We ... Not have a bustling Children and Youth Ministry?

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:15:00 -0400

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right . . . Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Eph 6:1, 4).

I remember the days of Girls in Action and Royal Ambassadors. Those were the programs most Southern Baptist churches employed in the 1970s-80s to disciple teens. And every church I knew growing up had some kind of "youth program" that ceaselessly planned fun activities, cool outings, plenty of concerts and camps, and so on. But, if you were to ask me to assess the fruitfulness in terms of salvations that produced mature disciples of Jesus who hate sin and live on mission with God in this world, I would be hard-pressed to say anything positive.

In other words, our relentless pursuit of the most fun, exciting, youth ministry led by the hip, Converse-wearing Youth Pastor who plays guitar and has a goatee, has not made an everlasting difference in our churches. Pulling kids out of worship services to Children's Church and Youth-led worship gatherings where the music is raucous, the message relevant, and the fun, snacks and games endless, has not impacted souls for Christ. These kinds of things do not prepare a young man to live in the jungles of Madagascar or Suriname in order to preach the gospel to a tribe that has never heard of Jesus, nor seen a cell phone. Programs do not make disciples. People do. And in the case of children, parents and pastors do. By spending time with them in prayer, in singing, in reading and learning the Word.

That doesn't mean I, or we at Corydon Baptist Church, are totally against ministry to Children and Youth (or what we call young adults). We have classes for children and youth during our Sunday School. And we gather whole families around open Bibles on Wednesday evenings, all ages together. What do we do in those classes? Open our Bibles and teach the Word of God. Highlight the great doctrines of the faith. Sing songs and memorize Scripture. Urge repentance of sin and faith in Jesus. Pray. Call children and young adults to follow Jesus whatever the cost. Challenge them to serve Christ in His Church, and go to the nations with the Name of Jesus on their lips. And continually uphold the discipleship authority of godly parents. That's Children & Youth Ministry done God's way.

In the Bible, God places the primary responsibility of teaching children upon parents and pastors. So, it is incumbent upon us to work together, to equip Dads and Moms first and foremost, to disciple their own children faithfully. And then to respect those godly parents' decisions as to what teachers they place their children under, and what classes they attend. Some of our parents choose to keep their children with them in adult classes. Others send their children to be taught by our church-vetted teachers. We love and respect both these decisions. We love working alongside parents to help them develop as leaders of family worship in their homes, and as teachers of the Bible to their children. We believe emphasizing this is more explicitly biblical than expecting a Youth Pastor or VBS to carry the full load of raising up the next generation for Jesus.

Children discipled well at home, and regularly placed under the faithful preaching of the Word in the church, simply do not require all the "bells and whistles" of the standard Children's and Youth Ministries. And, to be blunt, most churches of moderate size that have committed to the standard "Bustling Children & Youth Ministry" model are wearing their volunteers out.

Two examples: one from the past and one very recent.

A year or so after I became the Peaching Pastor here at CBC, I began asking questions about the annual summer VBS. What curriculum did we use? Who attended? How did we get volunteers? What fruit or results had we witnessed in the past? And so on. The sister who had been the Director for several years gave me very honest answers. It was obvious only our own CBC children attended our VBS. And, I wanted to establish the expectation at CBC that parents must disciple their children faithfully so that a VBS would really not be needed. Parents simply cannot farm out discipleship of their children to VBS workers! And, our VBS wasn't really evangelistic, nor had any observable, long-term salvation fruit been seen. This is all very typical for churches who are willing to take a hard but honest look at such programs. But, what sealed the deal in my mind was when the Director said, "Honestly, it's just exhausting. I am not sure I can keep doing it, and getting volunteers is harder every year." Nuff said. I canceled it. Permanently. And began the long but rewarding work of equipping parents for biblical discipleship, and of training children and youth teachers to be faithful Bible expositors.

Very recently, I sat with a Pastor friend who was also weary. He is plodding faithfully in a church that has given itself for many decades to a programmatic, committee-led approach to nearly everything. He was receiving harsh criticism for giving a few months break to exhausted children and youth workers. In this church, they spend $6,000 / year on Word of Life curriculum. It requires non-stop volunteerism to do all sorts of biblically good things. But they're all things that God actually commands parents to do. Not Word of Life volunteers. The Pastor told me that the couple who leads the program said, "If we pause the program the children will suffer." Aside from the emotional manipulation of that assertion, to help my friend process that criticism, I simply asked him, "What if you could know that the children in your congregation were being discipled faithfully at home by their parents?" He sighed as if that were an unobtainable dream. And, I confess, in far too many churches it does seem all but impossible. But, "with God all things are possible."

What if pastors relentlessly gave ourselves to equipping parents to do what the Bible explicitly commands them to do? How many children's and youth programs could we simple cancel? How much money would be saved? We could send that money to a missionary! Or, use that money to pay a pastor to focus much of his time on cultivating godly marriages and homes in our churches. But as it is, we keep our church volunteers (many of whom are young parents themselves) and children so busy with "church stuff" that they cannot possibly obey Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and Matthew 28:16-20 and James 1:27.

And that's a problem.

I know. The biblical model I am upholding here is not "fun." I mean, how can we expect to reach kids if we don't amuse them and give them badges and make sure all their preferences are catered to? Well, I have found that faithful plodding at home, by parents, in close cooperation with their pastors and under the authoritative preaching and teaching of the Word, produces young men and women who build their lives around Christ and His Church, and who want to shine the Light of Jesus into this dark world.

So, at CBC we keep it simple and Biblical. As Mark Dever often says, "God's work, God's way." After all, God calls His Church to be faithful. Not fun. Holy. Not happy.

Plod on.

P.S. For those who think me a killjoy, you should come watch our children practicing for the Christmas Cantata. They are learning to sing Scripture passages, put to music by one of our amazing Moms. She took what God had gifted her to do in her home with her own kids, and extended it to all our kids. And it's "joy unspeakable and full of glory" to hear these children and youth sing the very words of God!

Pastor Why Do We . . . Emphasize the Persecuted Church?

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 19:17:15 -0400

"Remember those in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body" (Hebrews 13:3).

I do not remember precisely when I began to be exposed to the plight of the persecuted. The Persecuted Church, that is (though I surely think we ought to have compassion on all who are truly mistreated around the world). Perhaps it was in the late 1990s. I recall a visiting pastor preaching in our local church in Jacksonville, NC. He had served for some years in South Korea, and had stories of those Christians who had escaped the tyranny of North Korea. I distinctly remember the Spirit of God moving my heart as that brother preached of the bold endurance of believers under extreme duress. And I remember the conviction of the Spirit, as I was challenged to ask myself if my faith in Christ could or would endure such atrocities.

But I think it was all brought home to me through the influence of Dr. George Martin, Professor of Missiology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. As he taught, Dr. Martin routinely shared stories of the persecuted Church around the world. He introduced us to ministries like Voice of the Martyrs. And he grounded us in the history of martyrs and martyrdom. He assigned books by Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, for example. Their story is so well-known that even Hollywood retold it in the movie End of the Spear (2005). It was there, in those classrooms, some 20 years ago, that the Lord knit my heart to those in chains, those in prison, those oppressed, those tortured for Christ.

Perhaps what struck me most was the realization of just how unique the western Church was in all of human history. Granted, the first 200 years after the Reformation were rough. What with Lutherans drowning Baptists, and Presbyterians in the New England colonies prohibiting Catholics from holding political office. But, in time, the Lord showered grace. And for the last 200+ years, we Christians of the western world have enjoyed religious freedom and physical comforts and political protections heretofore unheard of in world history. And what must strike us, is how we still to this day are an anomaly.

Think of it. The vast majority of the peoples of the world live in regions dominated by Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Atheistic Communist Socialism. To be a devout follower of King Jesus in these contexts is, to vastly understate it, very hard. Uncomfortable. Risky. Oppressive. Regardless of what internet and television talking heads and influencers might quip, the aforementioned religions and political systems are anything but friendly towards genuine Christianity. As I write this blog from the comfort of my home office, my forever family in Christ are being harassed, tortured, imprisoned, mistreated, and outright hunted and slaughtered like animals. In Nigeria. Sudan. Syria. Gaza (though I pray this is changing now). Iran. Syria. Afghanistan. Cambodia. Myanmar. China. North Korea. Venezuela. Cuba. India. And far too many other countries to list here.

Normal Christianity is persecuted. Normal Church is risky, even life-threatening. Always has been. Why do you think God speaks so often of it in both Old and New Testaments? Why do we think Jesus so often warned of persecution upon His followers and encouraged endurance in the faith? Our Lord even said "a person's enemies shall be those of his own household" (Matt 10:36). And in context, Jesus said this was an inevitable product of His saving reign on earth! And He went on to exhort His followers to take up crosses in order to follow Him.

So, I promised God two decades ago that if He ever allowed me to pastor a church, I would seek to inculcate within that body a heart for the Persecuted Church. A love for the suffering saints. And that I would lead that church to find ways to serve and bless our brothers and sisters around the world who suffer significantly for the cause of Christ. And after 13 years here at Corydon Baptist Church, by God's amazing grace I have seen this body do just that. No need to detail all the ways we are connected to and serving and encouraging suffering saints in very hard places. It is enough to simply give God glory and praise, and ask Him to continue to allow us the precious privilege of not just having a "distant sympathy" for our persecuted family, but to find even more ways to directly and personally engage with them to see the gospel spread, to see more enemies of the cross repent and trust Jesus, to see Jesus' kingdom come, to witness and be inspired by the genuine grace of endurance the Holy Spirit grants to His people, and to celebrate and see thousands of baptisms in polluted rivers and desert mud holes.

At CBC, God has given us a front row seat to watching Jesus build His Church in places that are rightly described as hell on earth. And we are a better church, a more Christ-like church, a more compassionate church, a less entitled church, a more missional church, a more generous church, by regularly seeing that "the gates of hell shall not prevail" against the Bride of Jesus. Hallelujah! Our God reigns!

A few years after coming to CBC as the Preaching Pastor, I introduced the International Day of Prayer (in November each year). I played the video produced each year by Voice of the Martyrs. Then we had a time of devoted prayer for the Persecuted Church. It was the starting point. My heart was so thrilled. I went home after that worship service with dreams in my heart of what God might do if this body of American Christians actually got the heart of our Savior for those who, like the Apostle Paul, bear in their bodies the marks of Jesus (Gal 6:17). But I quickly discovered not every member of CBC shared my enthusiasm.

A young couple, especially the mom, called me a few days later to tell me how upset they were with me for showing that video. The Mom said with angry sarcasm, "Thanks, Pastor, for giving my children nightmares." I inquired more, and discovered that because the video showed a man with a bloody mouth and nose from the beating he had endured for the sake of Christ, this couple thought it totally inappropriate to show in a worship service, and to young children.

I don't think I responded as graciously back then as I might today (sanctification is real). But, the sentiment I expressed back then to that young couple, who left our church a year or so later, still beats passionately in my heart. I said something to this effect:

Just because we have a luxury in our society and churches does not mean we are right to use it. Perhaps you should use this as a teaching moment to help your children appreciate how good they have it, and to encourage them to start to care for and pray for children of this world who are being raped and tortured simply because they dare to sing, "O, how I love Jesus."

I then reminded this couple that if they plan to obey God and teach the Bible diligently to their children, they will inevitably have to help their children deal with far more nightmarish realities than a bloody nose. I mean, have you read the Bible?

"Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about destitute, afflicted, mistreated - of whom the world was not worthy - wandering about in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth" (Hebrews 11:36-38).

"Then he [Pilate] released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to be crucified" (Matthew 27:26).

Pastor Why Do We ... Not have multiple worship services on Sunday mornings?

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 17:19:08 -0400

There are two ways to answer this question: pragmatically and doctrinally.

While the best answer to this question is definitely doctrinal, and I generally avoid pure pragmatics, let me begin by sharing a few practical concerns.

Back in the 1990s I was in a church in North Carolina that by God's grace was growing. We were at 75% capacity for years in our Sunday morning worship gatherings. The Pastor called in a church growth consultant (or team) from our State Baptist Convention. They shared with him the well-known research regarding the 75% capacity. In the US, once a church reaches that threshold, the other 25% of seats will almost always remain empty. We Americans like our elbow room! Guests arrive to a "full" room (at least by American cultural standards) and rarely return. If they're unchurched, the fullness likely makes them a bit nervous. If they're churched and looking to serve, they likely think this church doesn't need more people or has few opportunities to serve. From a purely pragmatic perspective, a church at 75% capacity is stuck. Pontooned on a Plateau. Our Pastor in NC took the advice of the consultants and started a second worship service. Same music. Same sermon. Just two different times. Sunday School was sandwiched between an early service and a late service.

I moved out of area not long after those multiple services began. But, after five years, God graciously allowed me to return as an Associate Pastor. It was clear that in those five intervening years, the church had grown numerically. From a purely numerical perspective, the strategy of having two services worked! More people were, in fact, attending. Indeed, the membership rolls had nearly doubled. So, what's not to love? What's not to celebrate?

I was keenly interested in church growth as an Associate Pastor. I had just completed a Master of Divinity degree in "Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth" at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. So, I sometimes discussed the pros and cons of the decision to offer a second service with the Senior Pastor. When I asked him, in hindsight, whether he would make the same decision again, his answer surprised me.

"No." He had no hesitation. "I would have had used the fellowship hall as overflow and live-streamed the service onto the screen." He detailed the logistical burdens associated with two services and the burn out among volunteers. He clearly believed the decision to go to a second service was not best, even though the fellowship hall overflow plan was also not ideal. But what was done was done, and now the church found itself in a large capital campaign. Within a few years, a multi-million-dollar addition was erected, and a church that had been debt-free for many decades was now enslaved to a bank. But the finances weren't the primary reason for the Senior Pastor's regret. His primary regrets were doctrinal. More precisely, ecclesiological.

He explained to me that, in effect, he was now pastoring two churches. Two congregations. Those attending the early service barely knew those attending the late service. They had, somewhat naturally, gravitated to spending time during the week with those who sat around them in the worship gathering. It complicated and confused the unity of the body. Anyone can see both pragmatics and theology at work here. And while I am not accusing churches who have multiple worship services of sinning by doing so, nor am I saying they're not good churches, I am saying that the reality is that each service / gathering really becomes a church. And in the case of my North Carolina Senior Pastor, no amount of scheduled church-wide fellowship meals seemed to solve it. Even then, folks sat and ate with those they worshiped with regularly.

Turns out, the worship assembly really is the hub of unity in the church body.

Biblically, I believe the case can be made that multiple worship services are actually multiple churches. The Greek word for "church" is ecclesia. It means literally "called out ones." But the research is solid showing that its use in biblical times and before, as well as its use by Spirit-inspired Bible writers, is more along the lines of an assembly. Or, we might say the church is a "called out assembly" or "called out to assemble." Jonathan Leeman made this case very persuasively in his book One Assembly: Rethinking the Multisite and Multiservice Church Models. But even without Leeman's book, we might well have come to this conclusion by a careful reading of the Scriptures.

Through the writer to the Hebrews, God exhorts Christians, "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some" (Heb 10:25). Take note how assembling together is assumed to be the habit of most Christians, just as it is, sadly, the habit of some to neglect it. And to neglect it is disobedient and hurts the church body because it is precisely in the assembly that we provoke one another to love and good works!

The worship assembly is the hub of the "one another's." We have come to think of living out the "one another's" more in terms of small groups. But I believe healthy small groups flow out of, are down stream of, healthy worship gatherings. A member who only attends a small group, or even a discipleship class, while neglecting the worship assembly, would be spiritually impoverished. Malnourished in the faith. And disjointed from the body.

The first church certainly believed in the centrality of the worship gathering. Acts 2:42-47 gives a snapshot of a Pentecost-born body that met corporately "day by day" for "the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers." It was the vitality of these worship gatherings that stirred them to love one another so much that they also gathered in each other's homes where they "received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people."

A healthy worship assembly is the fountainhead of healthy body life, flowing into tributaries like Sunday School classes, small groups, evangelism outreach, and genuine friendships. The challenge for us is to seek grace in Christ to so order and execute such worship gatherings! The weekly worship gathering is the central identifier of a church. But today we've bought into concepts like "One Church, Many Gatherings" or "One Church, Multiple Locations" or "Online Church." The errors grow more grievous from the former to the latter, in my opinion.

There's more to consider than pure pragmatics, you see. Multiple worship services may produce more people in pews, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. But, it comes at a price. A doctrinal price. A price the pastors of CBC are not willing to pay.

So, we prayerfully ponder other options to continue to grow both numerically and spiritually, by God's grace. The options we gravitate to most include:

Sending out more missionaries.
Adopting or partnering with smaller churches for the purpose of gospel revitalization.
Church planting.
A capital campaign over many years to allow us to build a larger facility debt-free (this one is last on our list, but not off our list).

But let me now conclude by circling back to the centrality of the worship gathering. Although I am still deeply saddened by the personal moral failure of Steven Lawson, I remember he used to insist that the church of America today needs more preaching, not less. I believe he was right, assuming the preaching is biblically faithful exposition! If we are going to add worship gatherings, where preaching of the Word is central, however, we ought to do it the old-fashioned way. Add a Sunday evening gathering. A Wednesday evening gathering. And if the Lord so moves the people, maybe a Saturday morning gathering.

Insane! I know.

We've modeled our church life today far too much on pure pragmatics. We're too busy to attend worship gatherings more than once (or if radical) twice a week. It's too much to expect members to re-prioritize their lives. To re-orient around Christ, His Word, and His Church. Have you ever wondered why the Church and her gospel made such stupendous global progress in its first 200 years, and in the 200 years after the Protestant Reformation?

Well, there are surely multiple reasons, and God's sovereign favor is always ultimate. But, it might be worth noting during those special seasons in church history just how regularly worship gatherings centered around the preached Word were held. The Reformers preached their heads off, many times a week! And even into the 1800s, Spurgeon preached 4-5 times a week! To large gatherings. Maybe we can't go back.

But, we can refuse to ground worship gatherings in pragmatism or convenience.

May God keep making us a called-out assembly saved by grace through faith in Christ, covenanted together to know His gospel (heads), to love His gospel (hearts), to live His gospel (hands), and to share His gospel (feet). All for His glory in the Gospel. Amen

Pastor Why Do We ... Not have a paved parking lot?

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 19:49:56 -0400

Well, compared to former questions addressed in this series of blog posts, this one may sound trite. But not so fast! This is one of those questions that is deceivingly theological at its core, but also has multiple tributaries.

But before this issue gets theological, it is first ridiculously practical.

The last time we had someone quote paving our parking lot at Corydon Baptist Church, I think the estimate was somewhere around $80,000.

That's 8, with four zeroes after it!

Our entire annual budget is just a smidge over 300k. So, let that cost estimate of 80k soak in for a quick minute. It might become fairly obvious why we have hesitated to pull that trigger!

Now, to be sure, there are some reasons why we might keep considering having our little gravel lot paved. This past winter reminded us of one BIG reason. Snow and ice on gravel is very hard to handle. And, then there's curb appeal. Which, sadly, in our culture, matters too much. Our church family has been blessed with a ministry to persecuted churches in the Middle East. Seeing our brothers and sisters gathered under a tree, sitting on the hot sandy ground, to worship the risen Savior, has kept us humble and grateful for our building and gravel parking lot. Not to mention our cushioned chairs, our reliable electricity, our sound equipment, our educational spaces, and our air-conditioning and heat. A paved parking lot really is a 1^st World "problem." And that moves us into the realm of theology.

While I am not against nice church buildings or parking lots, I am against them if they hinder a church's ability to give generously to missions and missionaries. I am against them if they're merely for the sake of "curb appeal" or "creature comforts." I am against them if such an expense limits the church's ability to pay pastors and fund local outreach efforts. I am against them if we trust in them! Boast in them! Think they're somehow necessary to be the church God has called us to be in His Word!

Sure, there are pragmatists out there who would say a nice paved parking lot would help attract more people to CBC. But, my pastor in North Carolina used to warn, "What you attract people with is what you have to keep them with." Bells and whistles come and go. One tornado can undo it all. But the Gospel lasts. As the old hymn rings:

The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord
She is His new creation, by Spirit and the Word:
From heav'n He came and sought her, to be His holy bride,
With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.

So, a decision to spend $80,000 on a parking lot is not as easy for us, here at CBC, as it might be elsewhere. God owns it all. He calls us to faithful stewardship. Jesus had much to say about our attitude and actions in financial matters (Luke 12:13-21; 16:1-13; 19:11-27). At CBC, we want to be "rich toward God." We seek God's grace to love Him, and not money.

None of this means we would never consider paving our parking lot, or prayerfully considering building a new church facility, or so on. These things are not evil, in and of themselves. But, in our current financial environment, and given what the Lord is presently entrusting to us, the pastors do not think it would be wise or faithful stewardship to shell out eighty grand for a parking lot. We're committed to allocating 25% of our annual budget to missions and missionaries. We also enjoy giving surprise gifts to missionaries as the Lord blesses us with financial abundance / overages. By God's grace, may we continue to "Spend Less. Give More."

As trite as material matters may sometimes seem, they often do reveal our hearts. If we ever get to a place where the pastors and church body think we can make large-scale expenditures on facilities without compromising our gospel hearts, we would prayerfully ponder pulling that trigger. But until then, we enjoy first-time guests often telling us how surprised they were, having pulled up to our modest building with a crowded and jumbled gravel lot, at the warmth of our welcome and the God-sized vision we have for our community and world.

Turns out, you still can't judge a book by its cover!

Or a church by its parking lot.

Pastor Why Do We ... Preach Only Expository Sermons?

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Wed, 28 May 2025 21:00:00 -0400

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word" (2 Tim 4:1-2).

Expository preaching may sound like an evangelical buzzword, but once a Christian knows what it is, he or she usually grows more and more committed to it. That goes for both preachers and listeners.

Mark Dever once defined expository preaching like this: "the point of the text is the point of the sermon" (personal notes from an in-person seminar). While much more elaborate definitions exist, I think Dever's gets right at it. The text of Scripture is in the driver's seat. The text of Scripture has an objective meaning. A point. A big idea. A timeless truth. An authoritative argument. And the preacher must rightly grasp that point and communicate it to be understood and embraced by his listeners.

A well-studied and prepared preacher has spent hours steeping in the text. The text is the tea bag, and we preachers are the hot water - leaching its truth bit-by-bit, little-by-little, until we're colored by it and saturated in its truth. We must know what God meant by what He said! We live by every word that proceeds from God's mouth. A preacher has no confidence except when he can say with a clear conscience, "Thus says the Lord."

The text of Scripture also shapes the form of the sermon. Our preaching outlines ought to be easily followed by listeners as they work with us through our text / passage. We don't want listeners wondering where in the world we derived our main point and sub-points from. Again, in expository preaching, the text has the authority. It's running the show. Changing our own hearts by the Spirit's grace, and, Lord willing, changing the hearts of listeners too.

If you wonder why all the emphasis upon a Bible passage or text, see my first entry in this blog series, titled "Why Do We Begin our Worship by Standing and Holding Our Bibles Over our Heads?"

Most expository preaching progresses verse-by-verse, passage-by-passage through books of the Bible. While an occasional sermon might break this stride, this is our bread and butter. And even if we do break stride, the sermon itself will still be an exposition of a text. At CBC, our pastors are doggedly committed to this model of preaching and teaching the Bible. If one wonders why, we typically answer, "Because that's how God gave us His Word - verse-by-verse, passage-by-passage, book-by-book."

This method is commended and modeled in the Scripture itself (Neh 8; Jesus' ministry; Acts 2). But it is not my intent here to go into a detailed defense of it or a lengthy demonstration of it. Rather, I simply want to remind us of some benefits of sitting under faithful Bible exposition for many years. Here are a few:

Your own ability to faithfully interpret various texts of Scripture will improve. As you see and hear the expository method week after week, you will intuitively begin to follow that model in your own Bible reading and study.
Your grasp of the importance of context will intensify. As you benefit from the preacher's study of the grammar, history and literary contexts of his text each week, your own knowledge of these things will grow. You will find yourself asking good contextual questions of a text, which will make you a better Bible learner.
Your comprehension of biblical theology will grow, by God's grace. As you hear how each text fits into the overall thrust or flow of a Bible book, as well as see it in light of the over-arching redemptive storyline of the entire Bible, your love of God's self-revelation and your appreciation for its cohesion and coherency will surely blossom.
Your understanding of the chronology of the Bible will increase, for reasons already stated above.
Your fleshly tendency to twist a Scripture to fit your own ideas or preferences will diminish, as you hear faithful preaching that insists on studying a text in its context, and ensuring a systematic approach to theology that embraces the Law of Non-Contradiction. God is always consistent! God does not double-talk! God is true. Scripture must interpret Scripture. Clear texts interpret less clear texts.
Your appreciation and adoration of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of all God's promises will flourish. Every text stands in a relation to Jesus (John 5:39). Expository preaching is unapologetically Christ-centered and God-exalting (Luke 24:44-49; Acts 8:35; Col 1:28).
Your preachers will not be able to avoid difficult doctrines or less clear passages. And neither will you! A commitment to preach and to listen to exposition through books of the Bible will inevitably force us to wrestle with the whole counsel of God.
Theological pet peeves or hobby horses cannot become your preacher's obsession! He must preach the text before him faithfully. A myriad of themes and topics will arise, making everyone more well-rounded and balanced in our Christian living.
Your trust in the Holy Spirit's power and providence to feed the church what she needs will flower. It is uncanny how often a church comes to a text as a pastor preaches passage-by-passage through a Book, and the text addresses a "felt need" or a present situation or difficulty with precision. And, this makes it very difficult for church members to say a preacher is picking on them as individuals!
If the Lord graces you with the tenacity and forbearance to remain under the preaching of the same pastor for many years, if not decades, you will see the man of God's progress, and get to grow in Christ with him (1 Tim 4:11-16). This is a sweet grace that is almost too good to explain in words. The Word preached, heard, and lived, however imperfectly, binds shepherds and sheep together in a unity of gospel purpose (Ps 133).

Of course, nothing a pastor or teacher does in the church has any lasting affect apart from the blessing of the Holy Spirit, who convicts of sin and illuminates minds to the truth revealed in the Word (1 Cor 2). But we also know the Spirit works in and through the Word-written down to exalt the Word-made-flesh (John 14-17).

So, we preach the Word. Verse-by-verse. Passage-by-passage. Book-by-Book. Praying in dependance upon the Spirit. And proclaiming the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes (Rom 1:16-17; 1 Cor 1:18).

Pastor Why Do We ... Not have "Children's Church?"

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 18:45:00 -0400

We do! It meets at 10:45 AM every Sunday in the worship center / sanctuary. Where everyone else gathers to worship.

The answer to this question is really quite simple. It goes like this: If all we had was the Bible, we would never, ever think it is a good idea to remove children from worship gatherings. Wherever that idea came from, it did not come from the Bible.

Worship gatherings in the Scripture are what we might call "age-integrated." That is, all ages, assembled under the banner of God's redeeming love, and in His name, to pray, to hear God's Word, and to encourage one another to submit to its authority and sufficiency for all of life.

A few examples:

"Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God" (Deut 31:12-13; the Book of Deuteronomy is replete with this language).

"There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them" (Josh 8:35).

"And the people gathered as one man in the square before the Water Gate and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard" (Neh 8:1-2).

The obvious standard for a worship assembly in the Old Covenant was all of Israel. Everyone in the households gathering together. Old. Young. Jew. Gentile.

Jesus rebuked His disciples for trying to "shoo" children away from Him and His public ministry, saying, "Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 19:14). The Apostle Paul clearly expected children to be present in the worship assembly of the Church. After all, he by Holy Spirit inspiration directly addressed them: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right" (Eph 6:1). "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord" (Col 3:20).

I don't think any evangelical scholar disputes that this was the norm in biblical times. Whole families worshiped together as the Covenant Community of God. And in the first few hundred years of church history, it had to be so, because churches typically met in homes (Rom 16:3-5; Col 4:15; Phil 1-2). I highly doubt the early house churches took the kids outside to play on the swing set while Pastor Timothy preached the Word.

So, at Corydon Baptist Church, this is one way we try to embrace the sufficiency of Scripture. We are not saying churches that do it differently are evil or sinful. But we do think that when we do not have even one positive example of anything resembling today's versions of "Children's Church," then we do well to simply trust God's Word and not get inventive in ministry.

Granted, God's way is often more arduous. As the Puritans would say, we must pour out "holy sweat." Particularly, in the arena of godly parenting. Let's be honest, Children's Church was created only in the last 75 years, primarily due to the public education model and poor or lazy parenting among Christians. By God's grace, we must encourage and equip parents in Christ to do better. We can, in the power of the Spirit, train our children to not just sit still for 90 minutes, but even to learn to listen and learn of Christ and His Word and ways. We can train our children to pray. To sing. To serve. We can, by God's sanctifying grace. And we should. At home. And at church.

While our Sunday worship is a bit "rowdier" than churches who remove children for all or a portion of the worship service, I would not trade the noise for the alternative. What a joy it is to watch our parents working hard to train their children. I see parents correcting children in love. I see positive reinforcement. I hear children singing "Holy, Holy, Holy" at the top of their lungs! I see parents and grandparents bend over to whisper a sermon point in a child's ear. I see Mommas rocking babies. I see Dads take children out for "a moment of truth." I hear coos and cries. I see children making progress, even taking notes. And I glorify our great Creator-Redeemer-God!

"He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments" (Psalm 78:5-7).

"Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be born may praise the Lord" (Psalm 102:18).

For an encouraging read pick up a copy of Scott Brown's book, The Family at Church: How Parents are Tour-Guides for Joy.

Pastor Why Do We ... Begin our worship each Sunday by standing and holding our Bibles over our ...

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 21:15:00 -0400

This blog post begins a new series titled "Pastor Why Do We?" Sometimes we pastors explain ourselves well. And at other times we simply implement something without much explanation. Thankfully, my dear flock at Corydon Baptist has been absurdly patient and gracious with me over many years now. The freedom they have given me to lead the church body has been a sweet gift. And yet, I know our sheep well enough to know they expect biblical fidelity from me and all pastors and spiritual leaders. Hallelujah! I wouldn't have it any other way.

That said, one of the rules of good leadership is to over-communicate. There are exceptions, of course. Pastors have no business sharing details of personal counseling sessions, for example! But within reason, we should shepherd the flock by communicating clearly. Not just from the pulpit (but certainly especially there), but in general as we direct the church to accomplish her God-given mission to make disciples for the glory of God in the gospel of Christ. One of my favorite bosses in the Marine Corps, Colonel J.C. Hardee, put it this way to his young lieutenants, "Never assume someone knows something unless you told him."

Good advice. Worth following. Similarly, King Solomon by the Holy Spirit's inspiration, said, "Where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law" (Prov 29:18). Leaders must communicate God's Word and God's ways. Followers should have a clear sense of where they're going, or where they're being led, and why they're being led that way. So, my prayer is that this series of blog posts serves to remind or reinforce not only what we do at CBC, but why we do it.

Perhaps a decade ago now, I began to be convicted about the order of worship at CBC. I was especially seeking the Lord for a way to begin our worship biblically. I wanted it to reflect the truth that all true worship begins with God's self-revealing initiative. God reveals. We respond. God speaks. We sing. God prophesies. We pray. God witnesses. We worship. Worship begins and ends with God! It's completely Word-driven.

Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, "true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:23). While that statement is a deep well of theology, it must at bare minimum mean that our hearts must base worship upon God's truth. Who He is. Really is. As revealed in the Bible. What He has done, is doing, and will do, through His Son, Jesus Christ, the Word-made-flesh. How desperately we depend upon His Spirit to explain and apply His Word.

"In the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1). Another almost infinitely deep well of doctrine! It harkens back to Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created." How? "And God said." By the Word! By His Word spoken, and by His Word who is the only One who can make God known to us (John 1:18). And these things we know and are sure of, because God wrote them down!

His Word written down, breathed out by the Spirit through humble human authors, which testifies to His Word-made-flesh, our Savior and Lord. Worship begins with God, and we are 100% reliant upon God to reveal Himself in His Word, to have any hope of worshiping Him rightly. As He prescribes. As He demands. As He deserves. As He pleases.

"You have exalted above all things, Your name and Your Word" (Ps 138:2).

What more need be said? God's name, who He is, and how He can be known in the free pardon of sin, is manifested to us only in, by, and through His Word. Our God is the only God who speaks, and does so savingly to we poor sinners (Deut 4:32-40; Ps 115:1-8; Luke 7:48).

John Calvin wrote, "We owe to the Scripture the same reverence as we owe to God, since it has its only source in Him and has nothing of human origin mixed with it."

He was not, of course, advocating bibliolatry. But his point was nonetheless poignant. Until that day when in glory the Word is fully and finally written on our hearts, we are desperately in need of hearing God's Word, and seeking to know, love and delight in Him in and through His Word. Until that day when we hear His voice face-to-face, we live to hear it from our Bibles. We must hear from God! We need God to speak to us, convict us, save us, sanctify us, endure us, encourage us, and yes even rebuke us, all by His Spirit applying His Word.

Of all the good things we do and enjoy during our Sunday worship assemblies, the very best is to "behold wondrous things from Your Law" (Ps 119:118). We cry with Samuel, "Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening" (1 Sam 3:10). We say, "Send forth Your light and Your truth, let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling" (Ps 43:3). We cling to the words of Jesus, as He cited the Law, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Matt 4:4).

And so, we adopted a symbolic way for us to remind ourselves of our immense love for, and reliance upon, the Word of the Living God. Right up front. We hold the Bible high. To symbolically say, "This is our authority for all of life and godliness. We must hear from God. He speaks. We respond. And we desire to spread His Word to more neighbors near and far. So that they, too, can come to know the joy of forgiveness and true worship in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Amen.

May the reverence shown so long ago by those gathered to hear the Word of God read and explained by Ezra the scribe, still be our hallmark (Nehemiah 8). May a "holy hush" come over us and our children as we stand and hold our Bibles high.

Why?

Because we are about to hear God's Word. And without it, our worship is empty.

Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 15:03:30 -0400

For the last two Sundays, I have been preaching from Psalm 122. Trying to tackle what some pastors and theologians would say is a nearly impossible subject: A right or biblical view of "Jerusalem" and "Israel" and how Christians might view even present-day Israel as a geo-political nation. To be sure, Bible-believing Christians have, and continue to disagree on this matter. So, right off the bat, we note it's not a "heaven or hell" issue. Like eschatology (end times views), we should approach it humbly and charitably.

My efforts were feeble. I was helped tremendously by Dr. Jeff Myers well-researched and footnoted new book, Should Christians Support Israel? Available here: https://www.summit.org/promotions/should-christians-support-israel/

The first sermon from Psalm 122 was my simple exposition of the text. My bread and butter. It was the more important of the two sermons, though it might not be viewed that way by most listeners. The second sermon, preached last Sunday, was my attempt to apply the command of verse 6: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem." I argued that Christians definitely should pray for both the physical and spiritual peace of Jerusalem, knowing that ultimately, to do so is to really be praying for the return of Jesus. For only when Jerusalem (as both a place and a people of God) is under the rule and reign of the Prince of Peace will she, and the rest of the world, truly be at peace. And if Paul said Christians should pray for the corrupt Roman Empire so that believers might live in peace and the gospel might be advanced (1 Tim 2:1-7), how much more should we still be praying for the peace of Jerusalem? It is obvious to even the most casual observer that the peace of much if not most of the world hinges upon the peace of Jerusalem / Israel. That's not surprising to Bible readers. And, nearly every Christian I know understands at least at a basic level, that such peace has been and continues to be both a physical and spiritual need.

Israel's peace, like all other nations and peoples, happens both progressively and ultimately. Progressively as more individuals come to faith in Jesus as Messiah and Lord, and are thereby transformed into "blessed peacemakers" (Matt 5:9). More Christians in a society should definitely translate into more salt, light and peace! Ultimately, though, full and final peace comes only by the literal return of Jesus Christ. And, as I pointed out from Romans 11, God has purposed to bring both Israel and the rest of the Gentile world to "fullness," meaning all the elect of God in Christ shall be gloriously saved and made into one new man, grafted into the Vine of the Messiah by grace (see John 15:1-2; Rom 11:11-32; Eph 2:11-22). The beauty of the gospel is that it, and only it, has the power to actually reconcile man to God and man to man.

Including Arab Palestinians and Jewish Israeli's.

One of the most beautiful things I witnessed during my time in Israel a few years ago was the way our Christian tour guides and bus drivers, some Palestinian and some ethnic Jews, interacted. They clearly loved each other. Embraced one another as brothers in Christ. Respected each other. Even though at times they made it clear that they disagreed on the political and/or military or governmental solutions to the plights of both their ethnic peoples. Truly, they understand in some kind of almost inexplicable way, that they and their ethnic peoples are both widely hated, mistreated and persecuted. But, of course, the difference is there is today actually a Jewish State called Israel, formed in 1948. There is no Nation of Palestine. I personally doubt there ever will be, though it gives me no pleasure to say so.

Aware of a disturbing growing antisemitism in the world, our Nation, and even in Christendom and evangelicalism, especially among Gen Z, I tried in my sermon to also tackle some of the horrors Israeli's faced at the evil hands of Hamas during the Oct 7^th attack. No one should endorse those evils against any people or nation, regardless of how corrupt a nation's government might be (including modern Israel). And, I detailed some of the effort the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has taken to try to minimize loss of life in their ongoing war against Hamas and Hezbollah. My point there was not to justify anything and everything the present-day government and military of Israel has done, is doing or will ever do. As I said, I am not an "Israel right or wrong" guy. Just as I am not an "America right or wrong" guy. It is possible to love and support nations without endorsing their evils. But, I was trying to help us sympathize with the terror experienced by so many citizens of Israel on that day. Living surrounded by peoples and nations that want to annihilate you is something few, if any of us, can truly grasp. And put bluntly, antisemitism has no place in the hearts of followers of the King of the Jews, Jesus, who is the King of Glory!

That said, I also have a broken heart for the Palestinians, especially those in Gaza. We can debate whether Israel's war response has been dis-proportionate. One dear brother in my flock reminded me that some 50,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7^th 2023. And Gaza is in complete rubble. That deeply saddens me. And yet, there seem to be plenty of Hamas fighters still alive and well, more committed than ever to the complete destruction of all Jews, and the Nation of Israel. I have to tell you, I do not pretend to know the political or military solution to it all. Personally, I think President Trump's solution is not right or best. Involving America in yet another "Trail of Tears" re-location of persecuted peoples won't really solve much, in my humble, admittedly somewhat ignorant opinion. But, I also don't think there actually is a military or political solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict that has raged for thousands of years (see Gen 16:10-12 and Gal 4:21-31). Only the return of Christ can fix it.

And that's the main point. Our unity in the Church-at-large and in a local church is not dependent upon our agreement in such impossibly complex matters. Christians in local churches in America have long debated, as brothers and sisters who love each other, issues such as: governmental corruption (true for every human government that has ever or will ever exist), border policy, immigration and refugee policy, social welfare policy, Just War Theory (which no nation has ever perfectly followed or executed, including our own), proper military responses (such as the atomic bomb in WWII), best forms of government, and the list goes on and on. Believers have agreed to disagree over these kinds of things for thousands of years, sometimes even with passionate opinions on both or all sides. And, by God's grace, we have continued to press on in the faith as the family of God.

Our unity is in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We all agree that no human solution exists to the most basic human condition - sin. Sinners need a Savior. His name is Jesus. Subjects need a Righteous King. His name is Jesus. And in the end, it is only by the increase of His government, which shall know no end, that any nation, and all nations will experience full and final peace (Isa 9:6-7; Luke 1:26-33). We pray for the peace of Jerusalem because in so doing we are saying maranatha! Come Lord Jesus. We are longing for the day when "the nations will walk by the Lamb's light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into" the New Jerusalem, come down from heaven to earth (Rev 21:22-24). God's peace upon God's people in God's place according to God's Messianic Promise. That's our hope! That's our passion! That's our unity! We long to see all the true children of Abraham gathered around the throne singing "Worthy is the Lamb" (Gal 3:6-14; Rev 5).

So, our priority must always be to pray, give and go, to a lost and dying world, to proclaim the gospel of peace. May God help us be just as passionate to see ethnic Jews come to faith in Jesus as we are passionate to see all other peoples of the world saved. God's great glory is in the mysterious way He has purposed to save sinners from every tribe, tongue, people and nation - so that "in this way all Israel will be saved" (Rom 11:26). May we stand in awe that God saves anyone. Grace! Grace! May we be willing to admit our understanding is always finite. In the end, we say,

For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who have given a gift to Him that he might be repaid? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Rom 11:34-36).

Hoosiers, Abolish Abortion!

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 19:03:11 -0400

Several months ago, a sister in Christ and pro-life leader whom I deeply love and respect made the comment that pro-life legislation in both Kentucky and Indiana has been and continues to definitely save the lives of pre-born babies. Since the overturn of Roe, the pro-life pregnancy centers she's connected to have been seeing significant increases in clients, as well as increases in mothers choosing to give birth to their babies. For that reality we can only give all praise and glory to God, the Creator of Life!

But a few weeks later, I received a mailing from those same local pro-life pregnancy centers that communicated "the fact is abortion has only INCREASED since the overturn of Roe" (emphasis original). The written report went on to say abortions in 2023 increased 11% compared to 2020. And the 2023 numbers of babies slaughtered were the highest reported in the US in over a decade! Of course, telehealth chemical abortions (i.e., mail-order murder by kill pills) are a primary reason.

So, what gives? If pro-life legislation truly saves lives, then why aren't the numbers reflecting it? No doubt my friend simply meant to point out that locally, laws protecting life make a difference. But, we're fighting a national enemy and movement. Indeed, we're fighting Satan and his demons, who are masters of co-opting the depraved sin nature of mankind (Eph 6:12-13; Jms 1:13-15; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 Jn 5:19).

Anyone who has spent any time reading my blogs over the last several years knows where I stand. I am an unashamed, unabashed abortion abolitionist. I believe abortion must be outlawed (like all other murders) and criminalized (like all other murders) if we ever want to truly put an end to it once for all. For those who claim this is a harsh position, I would simply reply that it is the biblical position. For those who use emotional straw-man arguments regarding "life of the mother" or "rape / incest" exceptions, I simply remind them that: a) Our medical system has always allowed doctors and mothers / dads to make these very difficult decisions in consult with one another when a life is truly at stake, and b) Killing a baby for a sin / crime committed by another person is very poor logic / reasoning, and is downright wrong.

For those arguing that most women who seek abortions are victims in some way, I would point them to various research (and disgusting TikTok and YouTube videos) refuting those claims, while also reminding them our legal system, while imperfect, is the envy of the world when it comes to sorting out actual culpability. Whether we evangelicals like it or not, abortion has always been and is now an extension of our obsession with birth control and lording it over every aspect of our own lives. It's an evil to be abolished. Period.

Enter HB 1334, filed by State Rep. Lorissa Sweet in the House of Indiana, which seeks to abolish abortion in our great state! I want to urge my fellow Hoosiers, especially my fellow Christian Hoosiers, to urge your Representatives and Senators in Indy to support this bill. We have an opportunity I never thought possible in my lifetime - to outlaw infanticide in our State. Please, call, email, text, write letters, to urge your elected officials to get on board the life train. https://iga.in.gov/

I asked a trusted brother in our congregation to research this a bit for me before I began to write about it. He assured me the bill is worth supporting. The bill calls for language in the criminal code protecting life even in embryonic form. Intentionally harming or destroying embryos would be a crime! This would force the IVF industry to reform its ways. (And as an aside, this brother and myself are not anti-IVF, as we have personally witnessed this technology used in very intentionally pro-life ways). Do not be surprised, however, when so-called pro-lifers come out against this bill in force using misguided, emotionally manipulative arguments about "ending / banning IVF" and "shutting down IVF clinics." IVF clinics that are haphazardly and intentionally trashing hundreds and thousands of babies made in God's image frankly ought to be shut down. Or, they can reform their ways to conform to genuinely pro-life methods of helping married couples (by which I mean a husband and wife) struggling with infertility.

If this bill fails to pass, it will not be the leftists or liberal denominations or typical Marxist college professors that undo it. Sadly, it will be those who call themselves "conservative pro-life Christians" or even "evangelicals." We are a divided camp because we're not all equally committed to pure, biblical authority. Some in our camp seem to think we can outsmart God when it comes to good laws protecting life. Well, as Dr. Phil likes to ask, "How's that been working for us?"

So, let's pray for a miracle! Of unity among Hoosier pro-life politicians, citizens, pregnancy centers, nurses, doctors, IVF clinicians, pastors and congregations. God bring us together for the sake of life, for your glory in Jesus Christ, who is "the life" (John 14:6).

And while we're at it, let's pray for President Trump and his administration to abandon his current cowardly position that leaves this all up to each locality and state to decide. Relativism is never commendable, but especially not in the matter of murder.

O God Almighty, grant Indiana legislators the moral courage to do what is right in Your holy eyes, and leave the consequences in Your sovereign, good hands. For the sake of the gospel of everlasting life, by grace through faith in Jesus. And for the literal life and good of thousands and even millions of babies yet to be born in our State. Amen.

"Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be born may praise the Lord" (Psalm 102:18).

Merry Christmas?

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 15:00:00 -0400

The penchant of some Christians today to shun all semblance of celebrating various holidays, even those seemingly quite "Christian," such as Christmas or Easter, amuses me. And the fact that we feel the need to debate such things, is also, amusing, or maybe worse, saddening.

I really don't care where and how Christmas got its origins. Was a pagan festival somewhere on the planet in existence before formal Christmas celebrations by the Church? Or, did the Church's celebrations actually precede those pagan festivities? While I lean toward the latter as being more historically accurate (Dr. James White's research is helpful here), in the final analysis, I really don't care much. And I think far too many Christians care too much; ergo, our ceaseless debates.

Let us presume for a moment that Christians somewhere long ago found themselves in a culture of paganism and idolatry and raucous living (shocker, I know). And those Christians wanted to reclaim or redeem one of those pagan festivals and see if they could not employ it in the cause of making much of Jesus Christ. Or, maybe more accurately, simply use the culture's already existing practices as a springboard for Christ-exalting worship and witness. While I am not one to say any and every method of evangelism is acceptable, I must say, I find it hard to be overly critical of those Christians who make renewal and redemption in Christ their primary business.

After all, isn't the "cultural mandate," as theologians call it, still in effect? Very few Christian students of Scripture would deny the clear mandate from God to mankind to work, to cultivate, to nurture the world around them towards God-glorifying purposes (Gen 1:28). God is no killjoy! He created Adam and Eve in a world full of gifts, to be enjoyed rightly, in the spirit of worship of the Creator. So, why do we argue about whether a believer should enjoy a celebration of the Virgin conception and birth of our Lord and Savior, but we argue very little about a believer spending hours and hours on ballfields each year? Either watching sports, or coaching sports, or cheering on kids in sports? It is undeniable that in our culture, sports have risen to the level of religious idolatry. It is a pagan religion for millions and our culture has invested billions of dollars into maintaining it.

But, should we forbid a Christian from any involvement in or celebration of sports? Of course not! There surely are ways for followers of Jesus to pursue and participate in sports to God's glory. For one, athletes may use their platforms to speak of God and His salvation in Christ. Physical gifts may be returned to God's glory as Creator and Redeemer. Parents and coaches and athletes may actively be sharing the gospel with other sports participants. That's reclaiming sports! Redeeming a pagan religious practice. Renewing and celebrating God's good gifts in ways that exalt His Son and our Savior. Christians have always, as far as I can tell, recognized both our ability to and mandate to enjoy God's good gifts in this world without being of the world or giving into the spirit of this world that stands against God and His Christ. As Jesus prayed and taught, we are in the world but not of it (John 15:18-19; 17:11-19). As sinners saved by grace through faith in Christ, we're in the redemption and renewal business so long as we draw breath in this life!

J.I. Packer wrote: "The entry of sin cut across the Edenic pattern, but it did not cancel the cultural mandate, nor the principle that God is glorified when the good things of creation are received and enjoyed as his gifts, and men praise and thank him for them. These principles still have a decisive bearing on the Christian attitude to life in this world" (God's Words, p. 62).

When Christian coaches and parents and athletes participate in sports in these Christ-centered ways, we rightly say, "Praise God!" So, why do we scowl if those same Christians gather with family to feast and give gifts to one another to worship God for giving us His Son to save our wretched souls? Surely, every true believer agrees that the birth of Jesus is worth celebrating. Now! And Forever! Indeed, every single moment and aspect of our Savior's life, death, resurrection, ascension and return is worthy of worship and celebration. And, certainly worthy of setting aside a special time to do so each year.

What pagans are doing during this season we cannot control. Sin perverts all God's good gifts. But grace in Jesus Christ reclaims them, renews them, redeems them, back to God's highest glory. And that's what we celebrate at this time which we call, in our culture, Christmas. We rejoice with what the Holy Spirit said through Matthew: "You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sin" (Matt 1:21). We celebrate Immanuel, God with us. Now. And forever.

I think at this time of year, all truly born-again believers in Jesus do well to remember Paul's warning against our arguments regarding festivals and feasts (Col 2:16-17) and specials days (Rom 14:5). "The substance is Christ." Yes. Amen. Whether you choose to worship and celebrate Christ as a part of what some call Christmas, or not, so long as we all adore and worship Jesus as the One and Only hope of salvation for sinners, then we ought to embrace each other in gospel kindness and cooperation.

Writing some eighty (80) years after the angelic announcement of the conception and birth of the Holy Son of God, the aged Apostle John thought it was still very much worth celebrating with a special exuberance:

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the One-of-a-Kind Son of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

Hallelujah! Merry Christmas!

Praise and Thanksgiving

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 20:09:52 -0400

Thanksgiving is a distinctly American holiday. More than that, it is distinctly Christian. What person, so pursued and gripped by the saving love and grace of God in Christ Jesus, could do anything but offer his or her life as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God? Eph 5:20; Phil 4:6; Col 3:17; 1 Thess 5:18

Our Puritan fathers in the faith have left us a rich heritage of immense gratitude for the blessings of God upon us, as individual followers of Jesus, and as churches, and as a nation. Here is one expression of such thanksgiving from the book of Puritan prayers, The Valley of Vision.

"O my God, Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects, my heart admires, adores, loves Thee, for my little vessel is as full as it can be, and I would pour out all that fullness before Thee in ceaseless flow.

When I think upon and converse with Thee, ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up, ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed, ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart, crowding into every moment of happiness.

I bless Thee for the soul Thou hast created, for adorning it, sanctifying it, though it is fixed in barren soil; for the body Thou hast given me, for preserving its strength and vigour, for providing sense to enjoy delights, for the ease and freedom of my limbs, for hands, eyes, ears that do Thy bidding; for Thy royal bounty providing my daily support, for a full table and overflowing cup, for appetite, taste, sweetness, for social joys of relatives and friends, for ability to serve others, for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities, for a mind to care for my fellow-men, for opportunities of spreading happiness around, for loved ones in the joys of heaven, for my own expectation of seeing Thee clearly.

I love Thee above the powers of language to express, for what Thou art to Thy creatures.

Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity."

And let all God's people redeemed by the blood of Jesus say . . . amen.

May you be given a deeper sense of God's greatness and goodness this week as you gather 'round tables with family and friends. Truly, we are blessed beyond measure, and of all people on earth, ought to be the most grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving, dear Church!

Sin Is Sin. Or Is It?

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 17:30:00 -0400

"God loves Satan just as much as He does you and me and everyone."

That was what a prominent deacon in a church I attended long ago said during a Wednesday night Bible study. We were studying the enemy of God's people, called Satan or the devil or the serpent. I was a new seminary student at the time, and although I was not then and am not now a world class Bible scholar, I knew enough to prevent me from staying silent. I spoke up, hopefully with respect and kindness.

"I don't agree with that statement. God did not send Jesus to die for Satan, nor does God provide any opportunity for the devil to repent and be saved."

The room got awkward, but to his great credit, the deacon listened without getting upset, and said, "That's a good point. I never thought about that." The pastor leading the study quickly moved on, but I filed that experience away, taking note of just how prominent and pervasive the idea of "moral equivalency" was, even in conservative country churches like this one.

The idea this deacon had believed was that if God is love, perfect love, then He must love all creatures exactly the same. Surely, in a perfect love, there could be no distinctions or variations or discriminations. The ground of perfect love is perfectly level and it is ladled out with the exact same intensity and purpose upon everyone and everything.

You have to admit, it sounds really good.

But there's only one problem in this seemingly logical definition of God's perfect love . . . the Bible.

"The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth" (Deut 7:6).

"For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in My eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life" (Isa 43:3-4).

"You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2).

"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Mal 1:2-3).

"In love He predestined us for adoptions as sons through Jesus Christ" (Eph 1:5).

So much for the moral equivalency view of God's love.

This notion of moral equivalency has also infected our political thinking in evangelical circles. I mentioned this in the previous blog post https://www.corydonbaptist.org/blog/ready-set-vote. I have heard pastors making pitiful arguments to justify voting for the Harris-Walz ticket, or the Democrat Party in general. These arguments all rest on a faulty view of moral equivalency. The arguments sound something like this:

The Bible doesn't just care about abortion, it also cares about the poor. God cares just as much about good economic policy as He does the unborn. The Bible might say homosexuality is a sin, but it also says we must not oppress peoples. So, I vote Democrat because I do not want to see the LGBTQ community oppressed. The Bible says we must care for the sojourners in our land, so I think it's just as important to keep our borders wide open so as to not mistreat or oppress the immigrants. Migrants should have the very same opportunities available to them as US citizens.

Well, suffice it to say you will get no argument from me about whether or not God cares about the poor and oppressed. He does. And God commands His people to treat others with respect and dignity, including migrants or immigrants. But God is a Lawgiver, too. And His Law reveals His own character, as well as our sinful depravity. So, here we might need to make a distinction between law-abiding immigrants and law-breaking migrants or immigrants, in order to rightly order our immigration and border policies as a Nation, you see. Not all immigration is morally equivalent!

And regarding the poor, surely certain economic policies are better than others, as a whole, for a Nation and society. And I think history demonstrates that socialism and economic Marxism fails to actually rightly provide for the poor. History demonstrably argues that economic socialism and statism, favored by the vast majority of Democrats today, bankrupts a Nation and impoverishes nearly everyone.

And yet, my point is not to argue the nuances of economics. The ins and outs of the multi-trillion-dollar global economy of the US is far more complex than most of us normal Christians and pastors can fathom. But to say that a certain economic system is more important to God Almighty than whether or not a Nation legalizes or endorses or promotes infanticide / abortion, no-fault divorce, so-called "gay marriage," sodomy, pornography, sex-trafficking, and irreversible surgical and medical mutilation of young men and women's genitalia, is simply insane!

God told Israel and Judah through the Prophet Jeremiah that child sacrifice had never even entered His holy mind (Jer 7:31; 19:4-5; 32:35). There is no moral equivalency there!

One of the great values of God's Law is in this matter of differentiation of sins. Not all sins are equally heinous in God's sight. While all sin, if left unchecked by saving grace in Christ, leads to hell, even there, Jesus taught Divine fairness in punishment (Luke 12:47-48). While all sin is against God, not all sin in Old Covenant Israel was considered a public crime against society, and not all sin or crimes were to be punished equally. Here's a great bulleted list from Kevin DeYoung (https://www.crossway.org/articles/is-every-sin-the-same-in-gods-eyes/?utm_source=Crossway+Marketing&utm_campaign=a449ca91c5-20241021+Gen-IsEverySintheSameinGodsEyes?&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a449ca91c5-[LIST_EMAIL_ID]) that summarizes well:

The Mosaic law prescribed different penalties for different infractions and required different sacrifices and payments to make restitution.
The Mosaic law also distinguished between unintentional sins and highhanded sins (Num. 15:29-30).
Sins of rank idolatry and willful rebellion were more serious indictments on the kings of Israel and Judah than was the sin of failing to remove the easy-to-overlook "high places" in the land.
God's anger was often specifically directed against the leaders of the people. The sins of the king or the priests or the elders meant greater judgment than the sins of the laity.
Jesus warned that cities in which he performed his miracles would be more severely judged than Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:15).
Jesus considered Judas's betrayal to be a sin worse than others (Matt. 26:24).
God's anger is especially roused by sins against children, the weak, or the helpless (Jer. 32:35; Matt. 18:6; Luke 20:47).
Excommunication seems to have been reserved for only the most flagrant sins (1 Cor. 5:1-13).
Cornelius, though not yet saved, was considered a devout man who feared God (Acts 10:2). Even among non-Christians there is a difference between being a decent person and being a dirty, rotten scoundrel.
There is a sin that leads to death, but not all sins are unto death (1 John 5:16).

Well said, Pastor DeYoung. The only thing I might add at this point is to urge my few readers to consider carefully how seriously the New Testament takes sexual sin. Study the various passages and the severity with which it is condemned, then hold up to the biblical light the unabashed endorsement and support from so many political candidates of homosexuality, lesbianism, adultery, pornography, prostitution, hyper-sexualization of children at ridiculously early ages, polyamory, and the list goes on. And if you do not see the undeniable link between sex or sexual sin and abortion, then you are indeed blind.

As one anonymous person posted on a recent X post I came across regarding abortion, "You cannot vote for a pro-abortion candidate then go to church Sunday and sing about how much you love Jesus."

So, let's not justify pro-abortion and pro-LGBTQ votes with faulty "moral equivalency" arguments. Truthfully, I respect a Christian who out of conscience simply does not vote at all (though my previous post made it clear I presently disagree with that choice) far more than I do a Christian, or someone claiming to be a Christian, who votes for a candidate who supports abortion and sexual perversion. Such a thing is simply unconscionable to me.

Ready, Set, Vote!

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 15:48:05 -0400

The United States of America is an anomaly. An historic anomaly.

Our Constitutional Republic is unique in human history. The average citizen's opportunity and ability to both access and impact public policy at all levels, local to federal, is historically unprecedented. Our freedoms to picket and protest and petition and even personally pester our elected officials is unheard of in the vast majority of the world. We are a blessed people!

So, why am I seeing and hearing so much from even evangelical Christians discouraging us in the matter of voting? There is a growing Christian chorus urging us to just stay home. Sit this one out. Protest by not voting at all.

Certainly, as US citizens, we are free to not vote. To stay silent. To be complacent and apathetic. But since when are complacency and apathy Christian virtues? And as a former US Marine, I must say that hearing my fellow Christians trying to convince me and others not to vote is deeply disappointing. This is just my opinion, but an American citizen refusing to vote feels like an insult to our men and women in uniform. I don't think our military serves in harms way primarily to enable their fellow countrymen's apathy!

And yet, as a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, one who by grace hungers and thirsts for righteousness and who holds doggedly to the absolute authority of God's Word revealed in the Holy Bible, I get it. I mean, this whole holding-your-nose method of voting, especially in our Presidential race, is getting old. Neither Donald Trump nor Kamala Harris would be my personal choice for President. And Mr. Trump has sadly moved to the left in recent months, especially in regards to the GOP's historic pro-life and pro-family (anti-LGBTQ) platform. And he's often not kind in his comments towards political opponents. He calls names like a six-year-old. He's bombastic and pompous. Humility is far too often absent from his life. He loves to sing his own praises. His past is shady. So, yeah, I am not a fan.

But compared to Harris, Trump appears saintly. Harris and her running mate Walz represent the most far-left, pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ, economically Marxist Presidential ticket in my lifetime, if not in the history of our country. We must see through all the positive talk and "reproductive rights" and "affirming care" non-sense. Harris / Walz are baby butchers and promoters of child abuse. They hate children and parental authority. They embrace death and demonic darkness.

We're not voting for a local pastor of our church. And, frankly, our Nation is in such horrible moral condition now that anyone qualified to be a local pastor has almost no chance of ever getting elected to any political office higher than a small local township. This is just the reality we're living in, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. So, in my humble opinion, to not vote at this critical juncture in the history of our Nation is dereliction of duty, to use a military term. To stay home is to say these issues don't really matter that much. That a fairly committed pro-life administration is morally equivalent to a 100% pro-death administration. Surely as Christians we know better.

We're never going to be given a candidate that is even remotely sinless, or, sadly, in our current state of affairs, a candidate that's even close to holding genuine, biblical, evangelical convictions. It seems conservative Catholics are about as good as it gets for higher political offices these days. So, if we let that stop us from engaging in the political process, well, we might as well just renounce our citizenship now.

Evangelical Christians need a refresher course on moral equivalency, it seems. I will save that discussion for another blog post. But, suffice it to say that when so many in churches seem to think a pastor speaking an overly harsh word that hurts the feelings of someone is morally equivalent to outright adultery, we are confused. And this is spilling out into our political views now. I suspect that's what's driving some Christians to be claiming moral high ground by not voting at all.

But I strongly disagree. I am an abortion abolitionist, as several posts on this blog have made clear. But that in no way means I think Trump's stance on abortion is no better or worse than Harris'. Same goes for the gender dysphoria pandemic, the border policy, views on sexuality, marriage and parenting, economic strategies, crime and punishment and environmental issues. There's a more biblically faithful view on all these things! And there's a less biblical or unbiblical view on all of them, too.

So, vote for the candidates that align with God's Word more closely, more often, on more issues. So long as there's at least one candidate who affirms the sanctity of life, unborn and born, and seems willing to at least make some stands against the anti-family, pro-LGBTQ agenda, I argue we Christians are quite justified to vote for that candidate. Indeed, I encourage it. We need not apologize for being "one issue" (abortion) or "two issue" (abortion + LGBTQ) voters. Because those are not insignificant matters for a people, city or Nation. Ask Sodom (Genesis 18-19). Ask Israel and Judah (2 Kgs 17; Jer 19).

America is under Divine judgment. Has been for decades. Of that I am sure. But judgment can be more or less severe. Slow and steady. Or sudden and devastating. The one true God of the Bible still rules the Nations and He does not change. We ought to be immensely grateful that our Lord is "slow to anger" (Nah 1:3). This election cycle presents us with candidates who clearly represent either a less severe, perhaps more slow and steady form of judgment, or a sudden calamitous judgment.

I choose life. I and my Nation are always subject to the sovereign plan and purpose of God. But as much as it depends upon me, I vote for life. I urge you to do the same. Pray. Vote. Pray some more.

O God awaken us. Revive us. Shake Your people and send us out with the hope of Christ. Remind us that the only way America can ever be truly great again is if we see many more millions of our citizens acknowledge the greatness of King Jesus again. Please, Lord, show us mercy in this election. Not for our sake. But for the sake of the Gospel near and far. And regardless of the outcome You have ordained, may we, Your people redeemed by Jesus' blood, say, "Blessed be the Name of the Lord."

Remember

kwmcwhorter@gmail.com (Keith McWhorter) — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 19:50:57 -0400

"When you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Deuteronomy 6:11-12).

We have a tendency to forget.

It's our nature. Our fallen, sinful nature. To forget.

To be sure, we are very good at remembering positive things. People, places and things that make us look or feel good. A common psychological tactic to ward off the blues is to mentally "Find your happy place!" We want desperately to rid ourselves of unpleasant memories. To find a way to ignore past trauma. To focus on the future and forget or erase the past. And the more prosperous we are in the present, the more prone we are to neglect or forget the past.

Vice-President Kamala Harris is playing on this human tendency with her repeated refrains. "Unburdened by what has been." And "The way forward." While I despise her immoral stances on key issues, and think her economic and foreign policy plans are disastrous, I applaud her ability to tap into our natural inclinations to just want to forget the past and dream of a bright future. But there is danger in such strategy. As in the words of philosopher George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it."