Date: 2016-08-15
From: MA, Guilder Pond Picnic Area- 1512.2

To: MA, Fernside rd, 1537.9 
Miles today: 25.7
Weather: clear sky

Today we picked up the trail again in Southern Massachusetts. We are now solidly in the Northeast.   You know you've hit New England when McDonalds sells lobster rolls and Patriots flags adorn the houses. The trail here is instantly prettier than many other states. And not just the trail. The small towns have a real charm to them. The weather today has cooled off as well, which helped a lot with the hike. Sherpa ran into a hiker we had last seen in Shenandoah named Prov. She is the hiker who recommended the La Sportiva wildcat shoes to Sherpa. These shoes changed his hike, virtually eliminating blisters overnight and enabling trail running.   Ironically, she switched to a different model and was complaining about blisters, lamenting her decision to change shoes! We are in the Western part of Massachusetts, not too far from Northampton, the location of the church where Jonathan Edwards (along with George Whitfield) led the first great awakening in the New World back in the 1700's. There are several tragic lessons from his Godly ministry that are worth contemplating as we journey in MA. Sorry this is so long, but it was on our hearts. Exercise your right to stop reading now The first lesson comes from his legacy. It is no secret that we try to visit churches each week where the word of God is honored, in order to worship the Lord and fellowship with fellow believers. It was natural for us to look into visiting the 'First churches of Northampton', which traces its roots back thru his congregation. Sadly, the present church completely rejects the man. They lay out their view of him on their website if interested (firstchurches.org). The problems they have with him are: (1) he was a serious theologian who wrote about topics such as original sin, free will, virtue, etc. "topics of no great urgency for mainline churches today". (2) his write famous sermons on hell such as sinners in the hands of an angry God "led to two centuries of fundamentalist revivals. It's a tough legacy to embrace." Excuse me, but how can you call yourself a Christian and complain that someone's work led to hundreds of years of people coming to know the Lord? (3) "he was bible centered in his thinking and preaching to a degree that's alien in our unbiblical age". Yes, believing and teaching the bible is an actual complaint these imposters have against him. (4) he believed in original sin and "salvation through atonement and faith to a degree that seems at least non-ecumenical, even intolerant." For example, he hated catholic teachings of grace through good works instead of faith.These are not problems! Jonathan Edwards church is exactly the church we want to go to! It's almost comical reading, as they go on to try to defend him by comparing him in one place to a feminist and in another place loosely to some sort of pioneer environmentalist.The second lesson comes from the end of his ministry, in 1750, after he confronted sin within his church. He was the pastor of a Congregational church that had democratic bylaws. Instead of repenting when confronted, the church members voted him out of the pulpit! What a chilling reminder of the greatest flaw in representative forms of government- voting gives an equal voice to both the righteous and the wicked. Many of the founding fathers recognized this danger in their writings. John Adams for example went as far as to say "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." While contemplating what happened to Jonathan Edwards, and the current state of the church in Northampton that is reluctantly tied to his legacy, an AP article today titled "Obama urges democrats to campaign aggressively for Clinton" caught our attention. It was essentially a call from a prominent leader to his followers to use their time, energy, and resources to fight for their beliefs in the face of a threat, which in this case was Donald Trump. It was strangely reminiscent of a similar call to Christians to "earnestly contend for the faith" that went out almost 2000 years ago from a man named Jude, thought to be the half brother of Jesus. In Jude's letter to all Christians everywhere, he mentions that he started to write about our common salvation, but God instead directed him to write a very different letter. Instead of a good vibes, Joel Osteen style letter of encouragement, he instead painted a picture of the church under attack from wicked men that had attained leadership positions within the church and urged all the Christians to earnestly contend against these men for the true faith. He points out that our faith was delivered once, implying that anyone who tries to change the message subsequently is a false teacher. He then gives all Christians with a bible information so that they can identify the false teachers, by focusing on two aspects of their false ministry. 1) The false teachers pervert the gospel by telling people it is alright to sin sexually. * He illustrates his point when he says that they follow Baalam's error. Baalam was prophet in the Old Testament that for a price taught Israel's enemies to introduce sexual immorality to Israel which brought God's wrath on them. In essence, they teach what people will pay to hear rather than respecting Gods word and they encourage sexual immorality.* He uses Sodom and Gommorrah as an example to show that God punishes the type of sexual immorality being encouraged by these wicked men with eternal fire. Sodom and Gommorrah were destroyed by fire after God sent to angels disguised as men into the city and the men of the city came out to have homosexual relations with them. Jude carefully points out that it was the unnatural sexual appetites specifically that were being punished.* This false teaching is sadly present in Jonathan Edwards church today, where sexual immorality such as homosexuality is embraced. Aside from their departure from scripture and their discomfort with teaching salvation according to the bible, they are also recognized as a gay friendly church and affirm the behavior, taking part in pride events, etc.2) The false teachers deny that salvation is through faith in Jesus. * Jude illustrates this point as well when he states that false teachers walk the way of Cain. Cain tried to approach God his own way, even though God desired a blood sacrifice, which pointed to Jesus's death. The idea is that false teachers try to approach God differently than he wants to be approached, aka man made religion.* He also cites a time God punished people for not approaching him the way he desired, by calling as a witness a man named Korah, a Levite who led a rebellion against Moses, arguing that anyone could approach God, not just the priests. He ended up perishing along with many followers when the ground opened up and swallowed him.* This false teaching is also embraced in Jonathan Edwards church today, where salvation by faith is "intolerant" and they openly admit that bible centered thinking is foreign.Jude then gives us examples to remind us of times when a few wicked leaders led many righteous astray:* His first example is when twelve Jewish leaders were sent as spies into the land of Canaan before the Jews entered the land of Israel. 10 of them convinced the whole nation that they shouldn't go because of the mighty nations already living there. God said have it your way and the entire congregation of 2-3 million Jews died in the wilderness over the next 40 years of wandering.* He also seems to be calling to mind the Angels that followed Satan, a prominent angel, in his rebellion against God.   As a result, a third of the angelic beings were led astray in this manner.Jude even gives instructions on how to approach false teachers and their followers. We are not to level reviling accusations against the leaders but instead let Gods word rebuke them. For those who are caught up in their teachings, there is no one size fits all approach. Some just need to be gently corrected with mercy, others need to be snatched away. If you find yourself in a church like the one in Northampton, MA that Jonathan Edwards taught at long ago that now openly broadcasts a low view of scripture on their website, where salvation is not exclusively by faith in Jesus, where sexual immorality is embraced, Jude's message is clear. Earnestly contend for the faith! His call is for the everyday Christians, bibles in hand, to show these corrupt leaders what they are, false teachers, and drive them out. In closing, George Washington once said that "Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession."