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God’s glory makes sin necessary

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I’m in Corolla, NC (Outer Banks) on a short vacation. While here my goal is to read several books, one of which I am halfway through: John Piper’s Spectacular Sins (and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ).

It has been a great joy to rise every morning with the sun, make my way to the deck over looking the Atlantic, and allow John Piper to preach to me the majesties of the glory of Christ Jesus.

Piper’s objective in this short book is to demonsrate that God is sovereign over sin without sinning Himself. Piper deals with hard questions like, if God imprisoned the angels that sinned, why does he allow Satan to roam free and wreak havoc on humanity? Or, if creation was “good” (as God pronounced it in Genesis 1) where did the Serpent come from? Where did sin originate? Or if God knew that Adam would sin, why did He create Adam in the first place?

In answering these and other tough questions Piper consistently points us to “the purpose of God,” as when he speaks of the fall of Satan:

I conclude, therefore, that God permitted Satan’s fall, not because He was unable to stop it, but because He had a purpose for it. Since God is never taken off guard, His permissions are always purposeful.

What is God’s ultimate purpose when he allows evil in the form of “spectacular sins” to triumph?

Satan’s fall and ongoing existence are for the glory of Christ. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, will be more highly honored and more deeply appreciated and loved in the end because He defeats Satan not the moment after Satan fell, but through millenia of long-suffering, patience, humility, servanthood, suffering, and decisively through His own death.

God had Jesus’ glory in view when He planned Adam’s sin. Adam’s sin is not a response by God to something He hadn’t considered possible. Adam’s sin was purposed by God so that the full-orbed Glory of Jesus Christ could be put on display through God’s plan for humanity’s salvation. In commenting on 2 Timothy 1:9 Piper notes:

…grace was planned before human sin was there to need it. This means that God’s plan to save us through grace was not a response to human decisions to sin. Saving grace was the plan that made sin necessary. God did not find sin in the world and then make a plan to remedy it. He had the plan before the ages, and that plan was for the glory of sin-conquering grace through the death of Jesus Christ.

Meditate and mull over Piper’s phrase: “Saving grace was the plan that made sin necessary,” and then thank God for His unspeakable gift.

Washington Post Lampoons Faith

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From Sarah Pulliam at Christianity Today:

The Washington Post is taking heat for posting a cartoon caricaturing Sarah Palin speaking in tongues and God telling St. Peter “All I can hear is some dam’ right-wing politician spouting gibberish.”

The Washington Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell wrote on Sunday that 350 readers have complained since the cartoon was posted online September 9, saying the cartoon lampooned their faith.

Cartoonist Pat Oliphant depicts John McCain saying, “She’s a Pentecostal and speaks in tongues, and only God can understand what she’s saying, but it gives my campaign a direct line to the almighty.”

“Readers were right to complain; I will deal with political cartooning in another column,” Howell writes. “Political cartoons and comics aren’t selected at washingtonpost.com the way they are for The Post in print; they are automatically posted.”

Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes Pat Oliphant’s cartoons, writes: “No one is safe from the acid brush of Pat Oliphant. Oliphant is acknowledged as the nation’s most influential political cartoonist. A master of what he calls “confrontational art,” Oliphant spares neither the liberal nor conservative, sinner nor saint.”

Senegal Update #1

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Greetings from Senegal, West Africa. I’m here with several other Salem radio hosts from around the country observing the ministry of one of our international ministry partners Bible League. Bible League provides Bibles for persecutetd believers, and we have targeted all of Africa for a Bible blitz this fall. I hope you will help us get Bibles into the hands of believers here.

After about 24 hours of travel, leaving Detroit at 7:00 pm ET on Wednesday and arrving at our Hotel in Dakar at 10:30 pm local time (6:30 pm ET) on Thursday, I slept about four hours, rising at 5:30 am for a day long meeting with believers from around Senegal. It was awesome to hear the testimonies of how God has used his word to bring them to himself. We just do not value God’s word in America the way they do here where there really is a famine of the Word of God.

We leave tomorrow morning for a four hour bus ride to St. Louis (San Louie) where will spend two days encouraging believers and sharing God’s word with them.

Please pray for us. And please consider a one time gift of $40.00 to help me place ten Bibles in the hands of African believers. www.bibleleague.org.

More as time and internet access permits. Photos coming soon, too.

Senegal Bound

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I leave Wednesday for a week in Senegal, West Africa with Salem Communications’ ministry partner Bible League. I will be travelling with several other Salem hosts from around the country. Our purpose is to encourage the believers in this 99% Muslim country. Please pray for us.

It only costs $4.00 to place a copy of the Bible into the hands of a believer who has never owned one. Please consider a one time gift of $40.00 and help me place ten Bibles in Africa. Call 866-825-4636 or online at www.bibleleague.org.

I’ll be blogging from Senegal as Internet access permits.