#publishedarticles

[eli-kittim]

A Response to Jon Bloom’s “Can I Follow My New Heart?”

By Biblical Researcher, Psychologist, & Award-Winning Author, Eli Kittim

In an article entitled “Can I Follow My New Heart?” (published July 1, 2021), which was posted on John Piper’s desiringGod website, Jon Bloom, staff writer of https://www.desiringgod.org/ writes:

Desiring God

Find your joy in God with sermons, books, podcasts, video, and daily articles from the ministry of John Piper.

When Christians are born again, we enter

into a lifelong internal war where ‘the

desires of the flesh are against the Spirit,

and the desires of the Spirit are against the

flesh, for these are opposed to each other,

to keep you from doing the things you want

to do’ (Galatians 5:17).

That is incorrect, inaccurate, and misleading. When Paul talks about the war within, between the flesh and the Spirit, he is referring to a *pre-regenerative* rather than a “post-regenerative” state of mind. This battle or war between the flesh and the Spirit is waged BEFORE “Christians are born again,” NOT after! After “Christians are born again” this battle ENDS! The War within ends, provided an *authentic-regeneration* has taken place (not simply a fake “rebirth” based on a profession of faith or an altar call) in which we have died to our selves in order to receive a new identity (Ephesians 4:22-24). There is no more internal struggle. Sin no longer reigns within. God is now on the throne of your heart and, instead of war, there is peace. Instead of bitterness and anger there is love and self-acceptance. Sin has not been completely eradicated. It’s still there. But it no longer dominates your mind and heart. So, the notion that we enter a battle or a war AFTER we are reborn is completely false. On the contrary, that’s when the battle, in a certain sense, ends for us and tranquility ensues.

Jon Bloom misinterprets both the authorial intent of the Biblical authors as well as the concept of authentic rebirth. He mistakenly employs certain Biblical quotes to suggest that they are referring to a condition AFTER rebirth, when in fact they are referring to a carnal mind PRIOR to regeneration. Thus, he misreads the following verses out-of-context:

their ‘passions are at war within’ them

(James 4:1). Peter warns his readers (and

us), ‘Do not be conformed to the passions

of your former ignorance’ (1 Peter 1:14).

Paul describes this internal experience of

warring passions as ‘wretched’ (Romans

7:24).

Finally, the fact that he’s been totally misreading and distorting the Biblical authors becomes apparent. He writes:

And he [Paul] admonishes the Colossian

Christians (and us) with strong language:

‘Put to death therefore what is earthly in

you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion,

evil desire, and covetousness, which is

idolatry’ (Colossians 3:5). Why did these

apostles feel the need to speak this way to

regenerated people? Because the hearts of

these regenerated people were not yet fully

free from the influence of their flesh, their

old selves.

Why would Paul say “put to death” all these vices to regenerated Christians who have already done just that and have died to sin? And if reborn, recreated Christians are “not yet fully free from the influence of their flesh” (i.e. “their old selves”), then that implies that Christ either lied or was confused when he said “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 NIV). No! It is Jon Bloom himself who is confused because in spite of what he writes, he nevertheless seems to acknowledge that after rebirth sin no longer dominates. He writes:

Paul lays the theological foundation of our

understanding by explaining ‘that our old

self was crucified with [Christ] in order that

[our] body of sin might be brought to

nothing, so that we would no longer be

enslaved to sin’ (Romans 6:6). Our new

selves were ‘raised with Christ’ (Colossians

3:1) so that ‘we too might walk in newness

of life’ (Romans 6:4). Therefore, we ‘must

consider [ourselves] dead to sin and alive to

God in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 6:11).

In sharp contrast to Jon Bloom’s overall message, Paul declares a radical change that has ALREADY occurred in the personality as a result of the *NEW BIRTH,* as well as a new way of being that is no longer dominated by sin or the carnal mind (Romans 8:1-2 ESV):

There is therefore now no condemnation for

those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of

the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ

Jesus from the law of sin and death.

I therefore take issue with the notion of *regeneration* as an “internal war” between the flesh and the Spirit in which we “are not yet fully free.”

For a comparative reading, see the undermentioned link:

“Can I Follow My New Heart?” (Article by Jon Bloom, Staff writer, desiringGod website): https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/can-i-follow-my-new-heart?fbclid=IwAR0SjG4T6TVZN8TVuB0Sjt-10zS5UnRy05rxjPd00YiVWcixmVCR6dm3EW0

Can I Follow My New Heart?

When facing difficult circumstances or decisions, should Christians just follow our hearts? The Bible’s answer may be more complicated than

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[therightkindofbrown]

Boulevards of Broken Dreams

Published in the Q1 2006 issue of The Promota – a Pan-African magazine based in the UK. I was a Feature Writer and Consulting Editor. Shared on deviantArt.com 7 May, 2006. 

Going West: Boulevards of Broken Dreams

Every year hundreds of Africans leave their mother countries in search of what is thought to be a better way of life, more opportunity or even political asylum for any number of reasons. On the surface it would seem a good thing and necessary – in spite of the sometimes overly idealistic notions of the grass being so much greener on the other side.

To the politically correct in some Western nations, nothing warms the cockles of their hearts more than perpetuating the illusion of a veritable utopia through the media and any number of government entities.

This fantasy was shattered in America in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when the world faced the impoverished reality that was inner-city African-American New Orleans. Many found it hard to believe that the world’s wealthiest nation and the birthplace of the original American art form of Jazz could be a hotbed of poverty that is not dissimilar from the Third World with its ‘shotgun shacks’ with roofing little better than tin. It was the predominately poor Black population that was trapped in the Louisiana Superdome as disorganised chaos descended into unspeakable horror. The first to escape under armed escort was reported to have been a group of Europeans who were unlucky enough to be in the wrong place in the wrong time.

The French have always been fiercely proud that all within their borders are French first and anything else does not matter as a matter of legal fact. You cannot be Afro-French. You can only be French and proud to be so. For unwelcome African immigrants banished to unsavoury suburbs in urban areas and with economic and educational opportunities for them not in abundance, nothing could be further from the truth as recent events have shown. Even the wealthiest Black woman in the world, Billionaire American Talk-Show Host Oprah Winfrey, found herself turned away from a leading designer’s atelier in Paris after supposedly being mistaken for being an ordinary North African. However a New York Daily News report, while not specifically using the term racism, did indicate through an anonymous source that Winfrey was recognised and still denied entry by management despite customers visibly browsing in the shop casually only a minute or two past its closing time. The suggestion was made that had it been Barbara Streisand or Celine Dion (i.e. White) – accommodation would have been made. The implications are very clear even without the slanderous remarks against North Africans.

Britain found itself yet again on the verge of riots as tensions broke out between its citizens of African and Asian origin in a well-known Midlands city. Regardless of the reason – many felt something was very wrong with ethnic minorities fighting each other rather than joining forces to rail against The Establishment.

It is one thing for the disenfranchised to acknowledge their difficulties amongst themselves. It is another to give voice to them and ‘by any means necessary’ as the late Malcolm X exhorted. Producer/Musician Kanye West controversially informed the world through live American television during the international fundraising effort for the victims of Hurricane Katrina that ‘George Bush does not like Black people’.  He did this after detailing the hypocrisy of political, military and journalists in contrasting the experiences between the poorest of both White and the overwhelmingly Black communities forced to fend for themselves after Hurricane Katrina. There was a clear distinction in the media as to what the same actions meant: Whites were trying to feed their families and Blacks were said to be looting just for the sake of it. And Kanye West was not afraid to say it to the horror of The Establishment and Middle (i.e. White) America. The East Coast got the message live and in living colour – the West Coast, 3 hours behind, was served a sanitized broadcast in which West’s comments were edited out. West is said to have lost several major endorsement deals as a result of his actions.

The average person struggling to make ends meet on state handouts or a minimum-wage job should not loose sleep over the millions that West is said to have lost given the sizeable bank account he already has and will continue to add to handsomely. However, the implication is clear: not only are we not supposed to expose the myth of the melting pot; we will be sanctioned if we do.

I can confirm for Mr. West that George Bush does not like Native Americans either. No group is more disenfranchised in 21st Century America than its Native sons and daughters. Many Native Americans are still being forced through a peculiar systematic apartheid onto reservations with limited or no economic opportunity. We have to prove our bloodlines for a number of generations in order to be classed ‘officially’ as Native American for scant benefits due us and our tribe from government sources. Paper is power – and that power is inextricably linked to the almighty Dollar. Without the requisite paper trail that brings with it tribal recognition, even one’s own people may not acknowledge you.

Walk down the streets of ordinary neighbourhoods in the West and the schism between Black, White, Asian and Others is often laid bare. After each conflict that lays bare the illusion of a fully integrated society, some government officials or segments of the media seem to take delight in revealing that even when living side by side, the races of the melting pot may not integrate in a meaningful way. Britain’s chairman of its Commission for Racial Equality, Trevor Philips, caused yet another controversy by insisting that a form of ‘passive apartheid’ exists in the British countryside. Philips said that the British countryside is seen as a ‘no-go area’ for ethnic minorities who ‘may have an exaggerated fear of hostility’. It was reported that ewer than one in a hundred people are from ethnic minorities in the countryside, compared with a national average of one in 12. However, even in biggest and supposedly most welcoming of all the declared urban melting pots, New York City, there are neighbourhoods where one is simply not ‘allowed’ to take up residence let alone walk in or take a taxi to depending on race. There have always been reports over the years of virulent racism especially amongst real estate agents – who have no compunction about steering ethnic minorities to poorer areas – that is of course unless you are Oprah Winfrey.

Taking the drastic step of leaving one’s home for that bright and shiny opportunity has risks to be certain regardless of circumstances. It is most unfortunately that sometimes the cost can be high as recent events have shown us. The grass can be greener depending on ones circumstances and for many it is after many years with their sleeves rolled up.

But times are changing yet again. Now even the most fortunate of economic migrants with valued skills may find it tough to achieve their melting pot dreams. Some EU countries are proposing that migrants have now only be allowed a limited stay in their chosen country without the right to settle after a specified period of time, often just a few years. America has tightened its Green Card programme and acquiring a Visa just to travel there for a holiday is more difficult than ever in the aftermath of 9/11.

For Africans and of others of colour determined to scale the often Olympian heights in going for the gold that is Western opportunity, the quest is getting that much harder.