BOB DYLAN
BOB DYLAN
May 29, 2001 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
From my “hippie” days prior to conversion in 1973, I remember rock legend Bob Dylan (1941- ) (real name Robert Zimmerman) very well. It was in 1962 that Dylan legally changed his name and produced his debut album. His famous song “The Times They Are A-Changin” appeared in 1964. I had started listening to rock music intently in the early 1960s, and I was consumed with that type of music until I was saved in 1973. That was the heyday of Dylan’s career, and I still recall the haunting, sensual nature of his music. He helped to popularize the merging of folk and rock music and sang some very immoral songs as well as songs with pacifistic, civil rights, socialistic, humanistic, and New Age themes. He was one of the chief poets of the ’60s rock generation. His songs posed many interesting questions, but he had no answers. In “Blowing in the Wind,” he asked such things as, “How many roads must a man walk down before he is called a man?” What is the answer? “The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind...” What does that mean? It means he doesn’t know the answer and he is not sure anyone knows the answer. Sadly, that is the philosophy of most of Dylan’s fans because they have rejected the Bible.
Dylan’s vast influence has been anything but wholesome and godly. It was Dylan who introduced the Beatles to marijuana (Peter Brown, The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles). Dylan “went through some profound drug experiences during 1964-5, taking up Baudelair’s formula for immortality: ‘A poet makes himself a seer by a long prodigious and rational disordering of the senses.’ He … tried just about everything he could to ‘open his head’ as biographer Tony Scaduto puts it” (Waiting for the Man, p. 144). Many of Dylan’s songs were about drugs, including “Lay Down Your Weary Tune,” “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” and “Mr. Tambourine Man.”
There was even violence at some Dylan concerts. For example, in Slane, Ireland, in July 1984, the police had to barricade themselves inside their station as mobs of Dylan fans besieged them, rioting, breaking windows, and overturning cars.
Dylan’s backup group, which was known only as the Band, was formerly called Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. They “had a reputation for pill popping, whoring, and brawling that was second to none” (Robert Palmer, Rock & Roll an Unruly History, p. 3).
The cover to Dylan’s Desire album (1976) depicts him smoking marijuana in one corner, a black magic tarot card in another corner, and a huge Buddha in the bottom corner. Next to the Buddha are the words: “I have a brother or two and a whole lot of Karma to burn … Isis and the moon shine on me” (Muncy, The Role of Rock, p. 167).
Dylan divorced his wife Sara Lowndes in 1977.
In 1978, Dylan attended a home Bible study with girlfriend Mary Alice. She had recently “re-dedicated her life to Christ” and was concerned that she was living with an unsaved man who was not her husband. She invited two assistant pastors from the Hollywood Vineyard Church (associated with the Vineyard Christian Fellowship under the leadership of the late John Wimber) to visit Dylan’s home. Dylan’s testimony was as follows: “One thing led to another ... until I had this feeling, this vision and feeling. I truly had a born-again experience, if you want to call it that. It’s an over-used term, but it’s something that people can relate to” (Steve Turner, Hungry for Heaven, p. 160, citing a November 1980 interview with Robert Hillburn of the Los Angeles Times). From this testimony, we can see the influence of false Vineyard theology, which focuses on experiential feelings, visions, voices, personal prophecies, healing, tongues, spirit slayings, and such things. This experiential-oriented theology does not produce stability in the Christian life. Dylan spent three and a half months at the Vineyard church’s School of Discipleship, and his next three albums, Slow Train Coming (1979), Saved (1980), and Shot of Love (1981), were gospel albums of sorts.
Dylan soon repudiated any claim to the Christian faith and went back to his standard rock music. Dylan never attended church regularly and soon quite altogether. Even rock historian Steve Turner, who has attempted to justify Dylan’s apostasy, admits: “The womanizing and drunkenness that Dylan once saw as evidence of the old life have apparently continued almost uninterrupted” (Turner, “Watered Down Love,” Christianity Today, May 21, 2001). Dylan’s 1983 album was titled Infidels. The July 21, 1983, issue of the Washington Post noted that Dylan believes in reincarnation and that “everyone is born knowing the truth.” An article in the San Luis Obispo (California) Register for March 16, 1983, quoted Dylan as saying: “Whoever said I was Christian? Like Gandhi, I’m Christian, I’m Jewish, I’m a Moslem, I’m a Hindu. I am a humanist.” In recent years, Dylan has practiced Lubavitch Hasidism, an ultra-orthodox form of Judaism, suggesting he has returned to his Jewish roots.
In September 1997, Dylan performed before Pope John Paul II at a Roman Catholic youth festival in Bologna, Italy. A crowd of 300,000 young people attended the festival. The 56-year-old Dylan sang two songs directly to the Pope. Dylan then took off his cowboy hat and bowed before him. The Catholic organizer of the festival, Cardinal Ernesto Vecchi, said that he had invited Dylan because he is the “representative of the best type of rock” and “he has a spiritual nature.”
David Blue, who played with Country Joe & the Fish and who toured with Dylan as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue, died in 1982 at age 41 of a heart attack while jogging. Albert Grossman, Bob Dylan’s manager during the 1960s, died in 1986 at age 39 of a heart attack.
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THE “NORMAL LITERAL” METHOD OF THE INTERPRETATION OF BIBLE PROPHECY
May 29, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is an excerpt from the 202-page Advanced Bible Studies Series “Understanding Bible Prophecy,” available from Way of Life Literature:
The “normal literal” method of Bible interpretation refers to the way human language is ordinarily interpreted. God has revealed His truth through the normal means of human language. Thus, the normal literal sense of Scripture must rule. Dr. David L. Cooper wisely observes: “When the plain sense of scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense, but take every word at its primary literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context clearly indicate otherwise.”
WHAT ABOUT ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION?
The allegorical method of interpretation refers to spiritualizing the prophetic portions of Scripture instead of interpreting them literally. In this methodology, the Old Testament prophecies of a glorious earthly kingdom for the nation Israel are considered allegorical pictures of the existing church age. In other words, “Zion” is taken to mean the church instead of the city Jerusalem. The desert blossoming as a rose (Isaiah 35) is taken as a picture of the present fruitfulness of the gospel instead of a literal future condition on earth. The temple in Ezek. 40-48 is taken as a symbolic representation of the church rather than a literal future temple. By this manner of interpretation the events recorded in Revelation—the judgments upon the earth, the wars, the Two Witnesses, the sealing of the 144,000 Israelites, the binding of Satan, and the 1,000-year earthly rule—are viewed symbolically rather than as literal future events.
The Geneva Bible note at Revelation 9:11 identifies “the Angel of the bottomless pit” as “Antichrist the Pope, king of hypocrites and Satan’s ambassador.” There is no reason, though, to see the angel of the bottomless pit as anything other than a literal fallen angel in a literal bottomless pit.
The Lion Handbook of the Bible (1983) gives an allegorical interpretation of the book of Revelation. The two beasts of Revelation 13 are said to be “the Roman Empire and emperor-worship.”
The Illustrated Bible Handbook, edited by Lawrence Richards and published by Word Publishers in 1982 and by Thomas Nelson in 1997, takes a non-committal approach to Revelation, presenting both the literal-futurist and the allegorical-historical view, without exposing the error of the latter. The 144,000 in Rev. 7 is said to be “a perfect number (12 X 12 X 1000) representing the church of all ages.” The two witnesses in Rev. 11 are “not individuals but represent the whole church.” The death of the witnesses “symbolizes the church silenced by persecution.” The 1260 days (3.5 years) is “symbolic” and represents “periods of affliction.” The 42 months in Rev. 13:5 “represents the entire gospel age.” The binding of Satan in Rev. 20 “took place at the birth of Jesus.”
Harold Camping, founder of Family Christian Radio, recently came up with the following allegorical interpretation of Revelation 11:7. He says the two witnesses represent the church. The church has been in the great tribulation but has now been killed. Therefore, the church is dead; God is through with churches and pastors and they have no more Scriptural authority.
THE HISTORY OF ALLEGORICALISM
First century believers did not interpret the prophecies allegorically. In fact, it did not arise until some 200 years after the apostles.
1. A school was established at Alexandria, Egypt, which became the headquarters for the allegorical method of interpretation. The first head of the school was Pantaenus. Clement headed the school from 190 to 202. He intermingled the philosophy of Plato with Christianity. He helped develop the doctrine of purgatory and believed that most men would eventually be saved. He was mystical in his approach to Christianity. He taught that salvation was through knowledge rather than through the blood of Jesus Christ.
2. Origen (A.D. 185-254) was one of the chief fathers of allegoricalism. He led the school at Alexandria from 202 to 232. Though he endured persecution and torture for the cause of Christ under the emperor Decius in 250, Origen was loaded with false teachings. Following are some of the strange heresies of Origen: (a) He taught that celibacy was a holy state above marriage. (b) He lived an ascetic life contrary to the example of the apostles. (c) He taught a mixture of pagan philosophy and Christianity. (d) He taught baptismal regeneration. (e) He believed in purgatory. (f) He taught that all men and even Satan and demons would eventually be saved. (g) He taught the preexistence of the human soul. (h) He taught that the Holy Spirit was the first creature made by God. (i) He did not believe that the Scriptures are infallible. (i) He doubted that Jesus Christ is fully God. (k) Christ, in his atonement, made a ransom to Satan. Origen’s character is described by the Lutheran historian Mosheim as “a compound of contraries, wise and unwise, acute and stupid, judicious and injudicious; the enemy of superstition, and its patron; a strenuous defender of Christianity, and its corrupter; energetic and irresolute; one to whom the Bible owes much, and from whom it has suffered much.”
3. Another father of allegoricalism was Augustine (A.D. 354-430), also one of the fathers of the Roman Catholic Church. Augustine was also a heretic. (a) He was a persecutor and the father of the doctrine of persecution in the Catholic Church. The historian Neander observed that Augustine’s teaching “contains the germ of the whole system of spiritual despotism, intolerance, and persecution, even to the court of the Inquisition.” He instigated bitter persecutions against the Bible-believing Donatists who were striving to maintain pure churches after the apostolic faith. (b) He was the father of a-millennialism, teaching that the Catholic Church was the kingdom of God. (c) He taught that the sacraments were the means of saving grace. (d) He taught that Mary did not commit any sin. (e) He believed in purgatory. (f) He was one of the fathers of infant baptism, claiming that unbaptized infants were lost, and calling all who rejected infant baptism “infidels” and “cursed.” (e) He exalted the authority of the church over that of the Bible.
4. The Roman Catholic Church has continued to interpret the Bible allegorically throughout its history.
On the other hand, separatist Bible believers, such as the School of Antioch in the 2nd and 3rd century, some of the Waldensian groups, and various Anabaptists, have rejected allegoricalism and interpreted the Bible literally. We give two examples:
The School of Antioch was founded in the third century by Lucian (died A.D. 312) and trained preachers who rejected the allegorical method of interpretation. Some of these were Theodore, pastor of Mopsuestia (A.D. 350-428), Chrysostom (A.D. 354-407), Thodoret (A.D. 386-458), and Diodorus of Tarsus. “Diodorus of Tarsus’ books were devoted to an exposition of Scripture in its literal sense, and he wrote a treatise, now unhappily lost, ‘on the difference between allegory and spiritual insight’” (F. W. Farrar, History of Interpretation, pp. 213-15).
William Tyndale was the translator of the first English Bible from the Greek and Hebrew in the early 1500s and was put to death by Rome for his noble work. He said: “Thou shalt understand, therefore, that the Scripture hath but one sense, which is the literal sense. And that literal sense is the root and ground of all, and the anchor that never faileth whereunto if thou cleave, thou canst never err or go out of the way. And if thou leave the literal sense, thou canst not but go out of the way. Neverthelater, the Scripture useth proverbs, similitudes, riddles, or allegories, as all other speeches do; but that which the proverbs, similitude, riddle, or allegory signifieth, is over the literal sense, which thou must seek out diligently…” (William Tyndale, cited by Charles Briggs, General Introduction to the Study of Holy Scripture, pp. 456-57).
WHY WE REJECT ALLEGORICALISM
1. GOD GAVE THE SCRIPTURES TO REVEAL TRUTH TO MAN, NOT TO HIDE IT.
It is given for light, not confusion. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut. 29:29). Thus, in the Scriptures God uses the normal rules of human language.
2. GOD CREATED HUMAN LANGUAGE (Gen. 1:27-28; 2:19). Man is made in the image of God, and he thus has amazing communicative abilities. The first purpose of human language is that man might know and communicate with God. When Adam was first created, there were no other people to talk with. Adam talked only with God, and it is reasonable to assume that God gave man the linguistic ability to communicate with Him efficiently. God also created the different languages at the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:9). When God has spoken to men from the creation until now, He has always done so through normal human language. According to 1 Cor. 2:10, the Scriptures in normal human language are capable of communicating the “deep things of God.”
3. BIBLE PROPHECIES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FULFILLED LITERALLY. Examples are the prophecies concerning the nations (such as Babylon and Tyre), the prophecies of Israel, and the prophecies of the first coming of Christ. All of these have been fulfilled literally in every detail, and it is reasonable to assume that unfulfilled prophecies will likewise be literally consummated.
Prophecies of Israel:
Deuteronomy 28
Verse 36 – Lam. 2:9; 2 Ki. 17:4-6; 2 Ch. 33:11
Verse 37 – Lam. 1:21; 2:15-16; 3:45-46
Verse 38 – Joel 1:4
Verse 41 – Lam. 1:5,16; 2 Ki. 24:10-16; Dan. 1
Verse 43 – Lam. 1:1, 5; 5:2-4
Verse 48 – Lam. 1:11, 14; 4:8-10; 5:5; Jer. 28:14; 4:13; Hab. 1:6-7
Verse 49 – Lam. 4:19; Ezek. 17:3, 12; Hab. 1:8; Jer. 5:15; 48:40; Hos. 8:1
Verse 50 – Lam. 4:16; Is. 47:6; 2 Ch. 36:17
Verse 51 – Is. 1:7
Verse 52 – Lam. 2:5; 7:9; 2 Ki. 25:1, 2, 4; 17:5-6; 18:13
Verse 53 – Lam. 2:20; 4:5, 10; 2 Ki. 6:28-29; Jer. 19:9
Verse 62 – Neh. 7:4; Is. 1:9; Jer. 4:2
Verse 64 – Jer. 16:13; Ezek. 11:16
Verse 65 – Lam. 1:3, 13; 3:4-7; 5:5, 9
Prophecies in 1 Kings
1 Kings 11:31 – fulfilled 1 Ki. 12:16-17
1 Kings 13:2 – fulfilled 2 Ki. 23:15-16
1 Kings 14:10 – fulfilled 1 Ki. 15:28-29
1 Kings 16:3 – fulfilled 1 Ki. 16:11-12
1 Kings 21:19 – fulfilled 1 Ki. 22:38; 2 Ki. 9:24-26
1 Kings 21:22 – fulfilled 2 Ki. 9-10
1 Kings 21:23 – fulfilled 2 Ki. 9:36
The Prophecies of the Nations:
SAMARIA: Micah 1:6 predicts utter ruin to Samaria, even down to its foundations. Tan reports, “During the time of Christ, Samaria was still a prominent city and was visited several times by Christ. But now, the old city stands no more.” “Vegetation grows on the hillsides of Old Samaria. The stones of the palaces have been thrown down and many of them have found their way to the valley below” (Martin Wyngaarden, The Future of the Kingdom in Prophecy and Fulfillment, p. 20).
TYRE: Ezekiel 26:3-16 predicts seven steps to the destruction of Tyre:
(1) Nebuchadnezzar shall besiege and sack Tyre (vv. 7-11).
(2) Many nations will participate in destroying Tyre (v. 3).
(3) The city will be made flat like the top of a rock and even the dust will be scrapped (v. 4).
(4) Its stones and timbers will be laid in the sea (v. 12).
(5) Other cities will fear greatly at Tyre’s fall.
(6) It is to become a place for the spreading of nets, referring to fishing (v. 5).
(7) The old city of Tyre will never be rebuilt (v. 14).
“This prophecy against Tyre was partly fulfilled in 586 B.C. when King Nebuchadnezzar took the mainland city of Tyre after a siege of thirteen years but was unable to take its nearby island to which most of the people had fled. In 322 B.C., Alexander the Great, by scraping up the stones and timber of the mainland city as building material, built a great causeway to the heavily-defended island, and so completed the conquest of Tyre. Today, the site of ancient Tyre has fresh water supply enough for a large modern city, but it has not been occupied for 2,300 years. However it is very popular with fishermen!” (Tan, p. 65).
The Prophecies of Christ’s First Coming: Psalm 22. In this Psalm alone, there are many specific prophecies about Christ’s death:
v. 1 – Matt. 27:46
vv. 6-8 – Matt. 27:39-44
v. 9-10 – Matt. 1:18-23
v. 11 – Mk. 14:50; Heb. 1:3
vv. 12-13 – Matt. 27:39
v. 14-16 – Matt. 27:35
v. 17 – Jn. 19:33
v. 17b – Mat. 27:36
v. 18 – Matt. 27:35; Jn. 19:24
Thus, we see that Bible prophecy has always been fulfilled literally, and there is no reason to believe that future prophecies will be fulfilled any differently.
4. EVERY MAJOR SECTION OF THE BIBLE FORETELLS IN DETAIL THE SAME EVENTS. In this way, God is emphasizing the literalness of these events. If a person studies Old Testament prophecies, Jesus’ prophecies, the Apostles’ prophecies, and the prophecies described in Revelation, he will see a repetition of the same events. All give details of the same major scenes—the worldwide tribulation, a wicked world ruler, Christ’s second coming in glory, destruction of rebels, restoration and national regeneration of Israel, the glorious earthly reign of Christ.
MAJOR PROPHETIC EVENTS FORETOLD IN ALL PARTS OF THE BIBLE
Event O.T. Jesus Apostles Revelation
Antichrist Dan. 9-12 Ma. 24:15 2 Th. 2:1-12 Rev. 13
Great Tribulation Is. 2;13;24;34 Ma. 24:21 1 Th. 5:1- 3 Rev. 6-18
Glorious Return Ze. 14:1-4 Ma. 24:29-30 2 Th. 1:6-10 Rev. 19:11-16
Conversion of Israel Jer. 31-33 Ma. 19:28 Rom. 11:25-27 Rev. 7
Destruction of Rebels Ze. 12-14 Lk. 19:27 Jude 14-15 Rev. 19:17-21
Glorious Kingdom Is. 35 Ma. 25:31 Rom. 11:25-27 Rev. 20
5. JESUS TAUGHT MEN TO UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES THROUGH NORMAL MEANS (Lk. 10:25-26).
6. JESUS SAID THESE EVENTS ARE YET FUTURE. He pinpointed the general time of their fulfillment to be just before His coming in glory (Mt. 24:15-29).
7. THE EARLY CHRISTIANS INTERPRETED PROPHECY LITERALLY (ACTS 3:19-21; ROM. 11:25-27). THIS IS ADMITTED BY ALMOST ALL CHURCH HISTORIANS. “The most striking point in the eschatology of the ante-Nicene age is the prominent chiliasm, or millenarianism, that is the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment” (Phillip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 1884, II, p. 614).
8. THE PROPHECIES ARE BEGINNING TO BE FULFILLED LITERALLY. The machinery for the one world government and religious organization described in Rev. 13 is being set up. Earthquakes, wars, famine, and false teachings are increasing just as Jesus said they would (Mt. 24:3-8). The nation Israel is back in its land in preparation for the literal fulfillment of all the prophecies pertaining to it. This supports the belief that God has not permanently rejected the nation Israel, but has only temporarily set them aside until He is ready to fulfill His promises to them (Rom. 11:25-29). There is no good reason to doubt that Bible prophecy will be wholly fulfilled in the future.
9. PRACTICAL NECESSITY ALSO DEMANDS THE LITERAL INTERPRETATION OF PROPHECY. To interpret Bible prophecy allegorically destroys the absolute sense of God’s Word. If prophecy does not mean exactly what it says, there is no way to discern exactly what it does mean.
For example, consider Revelation 20:1-3. If this passage does not mean that a literal angel binds a literal devil in a literal bottomless pit for a literal thousand years, we have no means of knowing what it does mean. If it does not mean what it says, it could mean anything that any interpreter says it means. Thus, the teaching of the Bible is thrown into complete and permanent confusion.
“The literal method is a true and honest method. It is based on the assumption that the words of Scripture can be trusted. It assumes that since God intends His revelation to be understood, divine revelation must be written based on regular rules of human communication. To interpret literally means to explain the original sense of the speaker or writer according to the normal, customary, and proper usages of words and language. In order to determine the normal and customary usages of Bible language, it is necessary to consider the accepted rules of grammar and rhetoric, as well as the factual historical and cultural data of Bible times. It is proper for a word to have various meanings and senses. However, when a word is used in a given situation, it should normally possess but one intended sense or meaning. This is the regular law of linguistic exchange among sensible people. Music lovers seek to understand music composers, not by out-thinking and out-sensing the composers, but by following the latter’s choice and use of precise musical notes. Students of Music Appreciation courses do not go about trying to listen for something which is not there, but attempt rather to know the intended meaning and mood of a given composer through his use of the notes. Otherwise what the composer is trying to say is ignored and what the interpreter wants to say becomes the important factor. Literal interpreters believe that Scriptural revelation is given to be understood by man. It believes the Bible to be revelation, not riddle” (Paul Lee Tan, The Interpretation of Prophecy, p. 29-30).
10. ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION MAKES THE BIBLE STUDENT A SLAVE TO ENLIGHTENED TEACHERS WHO HAVE THE “KEY” OF UNDERSTANDING. This is how the Catholic Church has kept its people enslaved to its unscriptural traditions and dogmas. Rome taught the people that the Bible can only be understood properly by the priests.
“Whether it is the interpretation of prophecy or non-prophecy, once literality is sacrificed, it is like starting down an incline. Momentum speedily gathers as one succumbs to the temptation to spiritualize one passage after another. ... Moreover, under the method of spiritualization, there is no way for an interpreter to test the validity of his conclusions, except to compare his works with that of a colleague. Instead of ‘a more sure word of prophecy’ (2 Pet. 1:19), interpreters end up with an ‘unsure’ word and chaos in the ranks” (Paul Lee Tan, The Interpretation of Prophecy, pp. 73,74).
“If we preach the Bible literally, it is like telling the truth. You do not have to remember what you said. But if you spiritualize . . . what you said about a passage yesterday may be diametrically opposed to what you make it mean today. . . . A man will find himself contradicting himself over and over again as he preaches through the years” (W.A. Criswell, Why I Preach that the Bible is Literally True, p. 145).
Beware of the “Keys” to Bible Interpretation
If there is such a thing as the “KEY” to Bible interpretation, it is to study the Bible through the literal normal method and to let the Bible speak for itself. Yet, there are many strange “keys” promised by various groups.
The Christadelphians have a Bible study course called “The Key to Bible Understanding.” According to this “key,” salvation is achieved by faith plus works, death is to cease from breathing and does not mean man’s spirit goes to heaven or hell, resurrection is not for the wicked, baptism is required for salvation, hell is not a place of eternal torment, etc.
Mary Baker Eddy of Christian Science wrote the “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.” By this “key,” hell and death and sickness are not real but are merely illusions.
A new book that uses the hyper-dispensational approach, “One Book Rightly Divided,” has a cover illustration featuring a key lying on a Bible. By this “key,” Paul preached a different gospel than Peter, only Paul’s epistles are for the churches, Hebrews and James teaches you can lose your salvation, 1 John teaches that salvation is by faith plus works, and men will be saved by works during the Tribulation.
One web site features the “kitab-i-iqan: the key to unsealing the mysteries of the Holy Bible.” This describes the teachings of someone named Shoghi Effendi who has allegedly broken the seals of Bible prophecy. By this “key,” grave refers to error, heaven refers to divine revelation, tribulation is “not knowing where to go for the truth,” earthquake is “the hearts of believers being moved by the Holy Spirit,” being raised from the dead means having faith, clouds are “things contrary to the desires of man,” and angels are “people who have replaced faults with divine attributes.”
Another web site that features a “key to Bible prophecy” interprets the beast of Revelation as America and the destruction of life described in Revelation as the abortion of babies today.
Catholic Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s “key to the Bible” was “divine nuptials” or the struggle to form a faithful people. He taught that salvation is through the Catholic sacraments, that Mary is the Queen of Heaven, and that God exalts virginity and devalues marriage and the sexual relationship between a man and woman.
The “Key to Bible Understanding” by O.L. Dunaway of Truth Gleaner ministries, teaches that hell is not a place of eternal torment, that death is not a journey to heaven or hell, that baptism is necessary for salvation, etc.
The “Key to Understanding Bible Contradictions” by Gary Naler claims that contradictions in Scripture are “Yahweh’s intended riddles” and he proposes that men did not see this “key” for 2,000 years. One of the supposed riddles is Jesus teaching on the new birth in John 3! According to this “Remnant Bride” teaching, God is calling a remnant out of the organized churches, all of which are apostate, and this remnant is Elijah who will prepare the way for the return of Christ.
According to the “House of Israel Bible Studies” the “key” to the Bible is the covenant of David which supposedly has passed to the “lost tribes of Israel,” which are now found in England and the United States; Manasseh and Ephriam are now the United States and England; the British throne can be traced back to the kings of Judah; the pyramid on the U.S. dollar refers to its connection with Israel, etc.
Beware of the “keys” to the Bible that are offered by false teachers. Any claim that someone has discovered a “new key to” or has only recently learned the “real meaning of” Scripture is false. “If it is new it is not true, and if it is true it is not new”! The real key to understanding the Bible is simply to take God at His word, to approach the Bible through the rules of normal language, and to let the Bible interpret itself.
WHAT ABOUT THE ALLEGORY IN GALATIANS 4:21-31?
1. This is the only case of an Old Testament event seen by the New Testament as an allegory.
2. This method however is entirely different from the allegorical method of non-literal interpreters, because in Galatians 4, Paul assumes the literal existence of Hagar, Sarah, Mount Sinai, Jerusalem, etc. He cites them as allegories only for the purpose of illustration. The prophetic allegorists, though, say that Zion is not Zion and that the 144,000 in Rev. 7 is not 144,000 and that the 1,000 years in Rev. 20 is not 1,000 years. This is not what Paul was doing.
3. Paul never interpreted Bible prophecy allegorically, always literally – literal tribulation (1 Thess. 5:1-3), literal antichrist (2 Thess. 2:8-12), literal resurrection (1 Cor. 15), literal return of Christ with his saints (1 Thess. 3:13; 4:14), literal kingdom (2 Tim. 4:1), literal fulfillment of Israel’s promises (Rom. 11:25-27).
WHAT ABOUT APPLICATION AND THE DEVOTIONAL USE OF SCRIPTURE?
“The literal method of interpretation is concerned with interpretation, not with application. Applications are fair to the Bible when they are based on that which has been literally interpreted. To base interpretations of the Bible on applications is erroneous and will end in chaos. ... The literal interpreter, by insisting on the literal sense of Scripture, does not imply that the Bible has no depth or latent riches. God’s Word contains truths, principles, and applications which every interpreter must fathom. Some of these are latent, inward, and hidden; others are patent, outward, and obvious. ... The correlation of both the simple and the profound in God’s Word is wonderful to behold. But this licenses neither a mystical approach nor a forced search for some superadded ‘spiritual’ sense. There is nothing clandestine about Christianity. The proper approach to God’s Word is the reverent one of accepting what it says and then making applications to life” (Paul Tan, p. 31).
For example, we interpret the prophecies about return of Christ literally as belonging to the future and the prophecies of the Lord’s blessing upon Israel as literal events of the future, but we also get spiritual application from those prophecies for our Christian lives today. An example is Isaiah 59:18-21.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.
This passage describes the coming of the Lord and the establishment of His kingdom. Verse 18 refers to His judgments during the Great Tribulation; verse 19 refers to the worldwide kingdom; verses 20-21 refer to the restoration of Israel and the New Covenant. This is the interpretation, but there are many applications for church age believers. Some of these are the following: God judges sin. The Lord is to be feared. God is the God of the whole earth. The Lord protects His people against the enemy’s most fierce attacks. The Lord is the Redeemer, the Savior. God demands turning or repentance. God offers a covenant of salvation today through Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God opens men’s hearts and minds to the truth. Salvation is eternal. Thus, we see that there is a literal interpretation and there is an application.
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
THE HERESY OF SEPARATION
Updated and enlarged May 28, 2008 (first published December 11, 1996) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
“Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Romans 16:17).
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
“Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us” (2 Thessalonians 3:6).
“If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness ... from such withdraw thyself. (1 Timothy 6:3-5).
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:5).
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).
The entire world, secular and religious, is crying out today against separation. The Biblicist Christian who seeks to obey the Bible’s commands to separate from false teaching is mocked and slandered on every hand. With each passing year, the hue and cry against the doctrine of separation grows louder.
Let’s take a brief survey:
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY THE NEW AGERS AND BY THE WORLD
New Age is not merely a religious movement or cult; it is a spirit and philosophy that is permeating the secular and religious world in these end-times. New Age teaches that separation on the basis of religion, theology, etc., is an evil thing that hinders the evolution of the world. They teach that such separation is the opposite of love. Those who love will not practice separation, and those who separate are not loving. The December 1996 issue of “Emergence Online,” a publication of the Tara Center, Benjamin Creme’s New Age organization, contained the following statement:
“REMOVE THE WALL -- Each one of us has a wall around himself: a wall of resistance, of fear and anxiety. ... We know very well what takes place when there is a wall -- then we have resistance, conflict, everlasting battle and pain, because ANY SEPARATIVE MOVEMENT, ANY SELF-CENTERED ACTIVITY, DOES BREED CONFLICT AND PAIN. ... When we remove the division between the ‘me’ and the ‘you’, the ‘we’ and the ‘they’, what happens? ONLY THEN AND NOT BEFORE, CAN ONE PERHAPS USE THE WORD ‘LOVE’. And love is that most extraordinary thing that takes place when there is no ‘me’ with its circle or wall” (J. Krishnamurti, ‘You Are the World’, quoted in Emergence Online, December 1996).
Global oneness and breaking down every barrier that separates people is a theme that is repeatedly heard in the world today. Rock singers proclaim “We are the world.” Disney theme parks proclaim “It’s a small, small world.” The United Nations seeks to break down national barriers. International news organizations glorify global unity. All of this is a cry against separation.
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY ROME
The Pope, of course, has always considered separation heresy. The Waldenses, Albigenses, Lollards and other Anabaptist and separatist Christian groups through the centuries were charged as heretics. Force was frequently used to bring the separatists into the fold, and Rome’s attitude has not changed. It still considers itself the only true church in which the fullness of Christ and truth abide. It claims to be the “mother church.” Those who are separated from Rome are being wooed into the fold today through ecumenical gestures. In November 1964, during the Vatican II Council, Pope Paul VI issued the “Decree on Ecumenism,” which launched Rome’s direct and open participation in the modern ecumenical movement. Vatican II had also declared that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church:
“THIS IS THE SOLE CHURCH OF CHRIST which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic, which our Saviour, after his resurrection, entrusted to Peter’s pastoral care. ... This Church, constituted and organized as a society in the present world, SUBSISTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, WHICH IS GOVERNED BY THE SUCCESSOR OF PETER AND BY THE BISHOPS IN COMMUNION WITH HIM” (Vatican II, “Dogmatic Constitution on the Church,” chap. 1, 8, p. 329).
Having reiterated its dogma that the Catholic Church is the sole church of Christ, Rome then stated its ecumenical policy:
“The Church established by Christ the Lord is, indeed, one and unique. Yet many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true heritage of Jesus Christ. To be sure, all proclaim themselves to be disciples of the Lord, but their convictions clash and their paths diverge, as though Christ himself were divided. WITHOUT DOUBT, THIS DISCORD OPENLY CONTRADICTS THE WILL OF CHRIST, PROVIDES A STUMBLING BLOCK TO THE WORLD, INFLICTS DAMAGE ON THE MOST HOLY CAUSE OF PROCLAIMING THE GOOD NEWS TO EVERY CREATURE” (Vatican II, “Decree on Ecumenism”).
Rome has been very plain about its ecumenical position. It has only one goal, and that is to bring every church and denomination into its fold. It considers separation from itself to be contrary to the will of Christ. Pope John Paul II dedicated himself untiringly to the task of bringing the “separated brethren” back into his fold. He often spoke of “THE INTOLERABLE SCANDAL OF DIVISION BETWEEN CHRISTIANS.”
At an ecumenical service conducted at the Vatican in 1985, the Pope embraced the three non-Catholic observers and said, “DIVISIONS AMONG CHRISTIANS ARE CONTRARY TO THE PLAN OF GOD.”
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY THE LIBERAL PROTESTANT ECUMENISTS
The liberal ecumenical denominations (such as United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church, United Methodist, Presbyterian Church U.S.A., United Church of Canada, The Church of England, the Uniting Church in Australia, and others associated with the World Council of Churches) boast of their broadmindedness. They can smile at practically any attack upon the Word of God or the Lord Jesus Christ. If a “clergyman” or “clergywoman” denies or questions Christ’s virgin birth or resurrection, that is tolerated. If he or she claims the Bible is filled with myths, that is tolerated. If he or she is an adulterer or a practicing homosexual, that is tolerated. There is one “heresy,” though, which is not tolerated, and that is the “heresy” of a dogmatic fundamentalist faith in the Word of God and the “heresy” of biblical separation.
In the early 1950s World Council of Churches’ leader Lesslie Newbigin (a bishop in the Church of South India who helped form the WCC) published The Household of God (SCM, London, 1953). He divided Christianity into Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal. Newbigin called on Pentecostals to discard their separatist stance and join hands with the liberal ecumenical crowd:
“We must therefore assure our brethren of our willingness to learn from them in the fellowship of the ecumenical movement. ... We must tell them that in order to enter into the ecumenical conversation with us it is not necessary for them to abandon any of their distinctive convictions, but only to recognize us as fellow Christians sharing with them -- even though we be in error -- the same Spirit. WE MUST ASK THEM TO CONSIDER WHETHER BY DENYING ALL FELLOWSHIP WITH US, THEY DO NOT SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS IN THEM, AND WHETHER FAITHFULNESS TO THEIR LORD AND OURS DOES NOT ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE US TO SEEK UNITY WITH ONE ANOTHER.”
In June 1984, World Council of Churches leaders received Pope John Paul II to the WCC headquarters in Geneva. They conducted an “ACT OF PENITENCE,” SEEKING PARDON FOR “OUR DIVISIONS and for our failure to overcome them” (Evangelical Press Service, June 16-20, 1984). WCC General Secretary Philip Potter initiated the meeting with a prayer that it “be for all of us a step forward in our search for the unity of the church.”
In 1987 the National Council of Churches in America welcomed John Paul II to their nation with these words: “We join Pope John Paul’s conviction that CHRISTIAN DIVISIONS ARE “AN INTOLERABLE SCANDAL which hinders the proclamation of the Good News in Jesus Christ.”
This attitude toward separation among liberal ecumenists was illustrated when Episcopalians and Roman Catholics in Minnesota formed local ecumenical ties. A covenant was signed by representatives of both denominations, affirming the things they hold in common, and pledging members of the denominations to “ASK GOD’S FORGIVENESS FOR OUR SINFULNESS IN FOSTERING THE DIVISION OF THE CHURCH” (Episcopal News Service, Nov. 7, 1996). The covenant was signed by Episcopal Bishop James Jelinek and Roman Catholic Archbishop Harry Flynn in a solemn ceremony at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark in Minneapolis.
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY MANY EVANGELICALS
From our files we could pull hundreds of statements by Evangelical leaders who claim that biblical separation is wrong. The Promise Keepers movement was founded upon this philosophy. In an interview on the national radio program Promise Keepers This Week (August 31, 1996), PK Founder Bill McCartney said:
“Promise Keepers is going to have to understand that more and more Catholics are going to participate. And what every guy needs to do is, STOP LOOKING AT PEOPLE’S LABELS, and ask this question: ‘Does this guy know Jesus? Does he love Jesus with all his heart? Has he been born of the Spirit of God?’ And if you see that fruit, then QUIT MAKING JUDGMENTS. ... So LET’S NOT START CATEGORIZING PEOPLE. Let’s just allow God to be God and he can bless who He chooses to bless. And that’s how Promise Keepers is going to grow.”
McCartney does not believe we should make judgments and separate on the basis of doctrine, at least that is what he repeatedly states. As long as someone “loves Jesus,” we are to accept him and work with and fellowship with him.
The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) promotes the same philosophy. The 54th Annual NAE Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 3-5, 1996, had the theme: “Reaching America: ONE VOICE IN UNITY.” Speaking before this convention, Joseph Stowell, president of Moody Bible Institute, used John 17 as his text, “That they may be one.” Stowell said:
“GOD NEVER INTENDED THAT OUR DIFFERENCES WOULD DIVIDE US. We belong to Christ so our mission and purpose are the same. If you belong to Christ you are lifted above the differences, and all else becomes secondary. Promise Keepers Clergy Conference in Atlanta showed the unity that is possible. ... WE MUST REPENT OF OUR ATTITUDES as I did in Atlanta. I WENT TO A MAN WHO HELD DIFFERENT DOCTRINES THAN I HELD AND APOLOGIZED because I never cared about him. Our differences are not that big, and we must realize this is what will build trust. Revival happens when God’s people network together. The world shall know we are one by our love” (“A Report on the 54th Annual Convention of the NAE,” Ralph Colas, American Council of Christian Churches).
Robert Webber, long-time Wheaton College professor and influential voice in the contemplative movement and the emerging church, says:
“We evangelicals need to turn our backs on the old separatist model” (Ancient-Future Faith, p. 86).
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY MANY CHARISMATICS
The Charismatic movement is the neo-Pentecostal movement. Old-line Pentecostal denominations such as the Assemblies of God were separated from other groups on the basis of doctrine until recent decades. The Charismatic movement, on the other hand, has, from its inception in the 1960s, been extremely ecumenical and inter-denominational. It has been one of the chief instruments in these last days for breaking down doctrinal divisions and creating of a one-world church. The attitude toward doctrinal divisions that permeates the Charismatic movement was illustrated in 1975 at the Fifth International Lutheran Conference of the Holy Spirit. A Catholic cardinal and a Lutheran pastor publicly embraced before the 12,000 in attendance and asked for mutual forgiveness. Lutheran Pastor Donald Pfotenhauer asked Cardinal Leo Suenens to forgive Lutherans for their sins against Roman Catholics, “so the Lord may release His Spirit upon us” (F.E.A. News & Views, Fundamental Evangelistic Association, November-December 1976).
At the 1975 Atlantic City Conference, a Roman Catholic charismatic meeting which included many non-Catholics, Catholic priest John Bertolucci led in prayers for the healing of church divisions. The scene that followed is described by a participant:
“Protestants were asked to stand and Catholics who were next to them were asked to seek forgiveness from their Protestant brothers and sisters for all the pain and hurt caused by their church’s office over the past 400 years. We Protestants did the same ... This night became, for all of us, the time when the Lord chose to heal 400 years of hurt, pain and division between the Catholic and Protestant churches” (Thomas Twitchell, That They May Be One, Logos, 1978, pp. 137-138).
Twitchell ended his book with the exhortation to “hold our leaders, shepherds and ourselves accountable to do all we can to bring together the body of Christ -- today” (Ibid., p. 216).”
Influential Episcopalian Charismatic leader Michael Harper, writing in 1978 of Christ’s return, stated: “THE CHURCH MUST FIRST BE UNITED. It is as inconceivable to think of Jesus returning for a disunited Church as it is to an unevangelized world” (Christian Life, August 1978). In his book The Three Sisters, Harper called for the unity of Evangelicals, Charismatics, and Roman Catholics. “I must confess to a deep longing to see these sisters reconciled to each other; to see them openly united in Christ and the Spirit; learning from each other and humbly listening to each other” (The Three Sisters, p. 11).
SEPARATION IS CALLED HERESY BY MANY NEO-FUNDAMENTALISTS
A new generation of fundamentalists has arisen which has rejected the militancy of its forebears. These neo-fundamentalists still claim to be fundamentalists but they sound like and they act like New-Evangelicals. Two key examples of this phenomenon are Jerry Falwell and his Liberty University among independent Baptists and Cornerstone College and many of the other schools and missions associated with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches.
Interestingly, the belligerence of the Neo-Fundamentalist toward the old-line fundamental separatist is even more vicious than that of some of the other groups. Consider a statement that appeared in Jerry Falwell’s now defunct and misnamed publication “The Fundamentalist Journal.” The author labels the old-line fundamentalist who seeks to practice separation from error and compromise a “pseudo-fundamentalist” --
“Pseudo-Fundamentalists craft their doctrines and rules carefully. THEY BUILD MASSIVE WALLS OF SEPARATION AROUND THEMSELVES and take great pride in standing ‘all alone,’ besieged by wickedness from without and compromise from within. They set themselves as the ultimate standard of orthodoxy and stand prepared to cross swords with any who attempt to breach the walls. ... What should we do? We must take the whole armor of God, and IN HIS MIGHT COMMAND THAT THE WALLS BE BROKEN DOWN, and walk through into the light of day. Fundamental Christianity, strong and robust as ever, must not succumb to these modern-day Pharisees who find contentment only when they effectively mute God’s church” (Daniel R. Mitchell, “The Siege Mentality of Pseudo-Fundamentalism,” The Fundamentalist Journal, February 1987, p. 59).
The hour is very late. The end-times spirit that will produce the one-world Harlot church described in Revelation 17 is moving powerfully. The pressure to “give up and join in” with the ecumenical movement is increasing with each passing year. Great numbers of men who once stood firm against ecumenism are weakening. There is less forthrightness in the preaching, less clarity in the identification of error.
May God give us boldness to stand! The man who has the mindset and testimony of the sweet Psalmist of Israel will not be able to join hands with anyone who errs from the Word of God: “Therefore I esteem ALL thy precepts concerning ALL things to be right; and I hate EVERY false way” (Psalm 119:128). Biblical love requires biblical hate. Biblical unity requires biblical separation. A wise pastor once said, “I you refuse to limit your message, you will be required to limit your fellowship.”
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
THE BIBLE’S PROOF
Updated May 28, 2008 (first published April 10, 2002) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
In the final analysis, a man must accept that the Bible is the Word of God by faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
At the same time, Bible faith is not a blind leap into the dark. It is confidence in a believable Record that God has given, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). The writers of the Bible explain to us that they were not delivering cunningly devised fables but an inspired record based on “many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3; 2 Peter 1:16).
Following are some of the objective, time-proven reasons why we can have complete confidence in the Bible:
1. CHRIST’S RESURRECTION PROVES THAT THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD.
His resurrection was witnessed by hundreds of people (1 Cor. 15:5-7). Were they all lying? At times, the resurrected Christ was seen by many people at one time. They talked with him, touched him, walked with him, and ate with him (Luke 24:36-43). Before the resurrection, the apostles were fearful and were hiding from the authorities (John 20:19). After they saw the resurrected Christ with their own eyes, they became bold and fearless and were willing to lay down their lives for the Gospel. It took a powerful event to cause such a change in their lives.
2. THE BIBLE’S UNIQUE CONSTRUCTION PROVES THAT IT IS THE WORD OF GOD.
The Bible was written by 40 different authors representing some 19 different occupations (shepherd, farmer, fisherman, tax collector, medical doctor, king, etc.) who lived during a period of some 1,600 years. That is approximately 50 generations. The first 39 chapters of the Bible were written in the Hebrew language over a period of about 1,000 years. There was then a 400-year gap when no Scriptures were written. After that, the last 27 chapters of the Bible were written in the Greek language during a period covering roughly 50 years. The writers could not have collaborated, because they did not even live at the same time. The product is one book that fits together perfectly and contains no contradictions or errors. There is nothing else like this in all of man’s history.
3. THE CONFIDENCE AND SINCERITY OF THE BIBLE’S AUTHORS PROVE THAT IT IS THE WORD OF GOD.
The Bible testifies that “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Pet. 1:21), and an examination of the lives of the Bible’s writers rings true to this testimony. These were serious men. They came from all walks of life. They were men of good reputation and sound mind. Many of them were viciously persecuted and killed for the testimony they held. They were not enriched by the prophecies they gave. Far from it; many were impoverished. Moses, the author of the first five books of the Bible, chose to live a life of terrific hardship and struggle in the service of God as opposed to the millionaire’s life he could have lived as the adopted son of Pharaoh. Many Bible writers made similar choices. Their motivation certainly was not covetousness and worldly advantage. These were not perfect men, but they were holy men. They all claimed that God had put His hand upon them to speak His Word. The lives they lived, and the testimonies they held, and the deaths they died gave mighty evidence that they were telling the truth.
4. FULFILLED PROPHECY PROVES THE BIBLE TO BE THE WORD OF GOD.
The Bible contains a vast amount of prophecy, much of which has been fulfilled. The predictions are precise and detailed, and the fulfillment is exact.
Prophecies Pertaining to Jesus Christ
Jesus’ entire life was prophesied before he was born. These prophecies described his birthplace (Micah 5:2), virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14), sinless life (Isaiah 53:9), miracles (Isa. 35:5), wonderful speech (Isaiah 50:4), rejection by the Jewish nation (Isaiah 53:2), crucifixion (Psalm 22:16), burial in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9), and resurrection (Psalm 16).
Prophecies about Israel
The continued existence of Israel is one of history’s most amazing stories, and it was prophesied in Scripture in great detail.
Israel’s history was prophesied by Moses and recorded in the book of Deuteronomy about 4,000 years ago. God warned that if Israel broke His law she would be “plucked from off the land” and scattered “among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other” (Deut. 28:63-64). There the Jews would “find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life” (Deut. 28:65-66). This is an accurate description of Israel’s history from the first century until now. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Roman armies under Titus and then in 135 A.D. Jerusalem was plowed under on the order of Emperor Hadrian in response to the Jewish rebellion led by Bar Kochbar. The Jewish people were scattered to the ends of the earth and found no rest. They were hated by the Muslims and hounded and persecuted by the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church for a thousand years. Hitler’s regime tried to destroy them. Giving preference to the Arabs, England tried to keep them from returning to their land after World War II. They are the object of hatred until this very day. Most of the world is opposed to Israel and the reporting in secular publications about the Middle East crisis is generally slanted against her.
But Bible prophecy foretold that Israel would be brought back into her land and that she would remain a nation even after all of this, and that is exactly what happened in 1948. Never before in the history of the world has a race of people been scattered throughout the world and persecuted for 2,000 years and then come back together as a nation with their ancient language intact.
Bible prophecy describes the restoration of Israel in two parts. First, she would return to the land in a position of unbelief. Then she would be converted. The amazing prophecy in Ezekiel 37:1-14 describes Israel’s restoration in these two stages. She is described as a valley of bones that are resurrected.
“Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 37:4-6).
In verses 11-14, Ezekiel states that this vision pertains to the restoration of Israel to her land and to her repentance toward God. First the bones are given sinews and flesh, and next God breaths upon these dead bones and they live.
The first part of the prophecy has been fulfilled. Israel has been back in her land as a nation since 1948, but she is there in unbelief and spiritual death. She continues to reject her Messiah, Jesus Christ. She has no temple and priesthood and no true worship.
But she is back in the land just as the Bible prophesied. In 1800 there were only six thousand Jews in Palestine, but by 2000 there were over five million (John Ecob, Amillennialism Weighed and Found Wanting, Herald of Hope, p. 44-45).
During the Great Tribulation God will grant repentance unto Israel and will breathe spiritual life into her and she will live.
The continued existence of Israel is a very great miracle and an irrefutable evidence of the divine inspiration of the Bible.
5. THE BIBLE’S FACTUALNESS PROVES THAT IT IS THE WORD OF GOD.
Everything the Bible says is true and factual. The Bible says man is a sinner, and that is not difficult to confirm. Just look at the world! The Bible is not a scientific manual, but it is scientifically accurate, even from its earliest pages. Following are some examples, beginning with statements from the pages of Job, probably the oldest book in the Bible and written at least 3,500 years ago. The late scientist Henry Morris said:
“These references are modern in perspective, with never a hint of the mythical exaggerations and errors characteristic of other ancient writings ... perhaps of even greater significance is the fact that in a 4000-year-old book filled with numerous references to natural phenomena, there are no scientific mistakes or fallacies” (The Remarkable Record of Job).
Job says the earth is hung upon nothing (Job 26:7). This is obvious to our modern generation, as we have seen the actual pictures of the earth hanging in space, but to previous generations it was not obvious and there were many commonly-held myths about the earth riding on the back of Atlas or a turtle or elephant, etc.
Job says the air has weight (“the weight for the winds,” Job 28:25). It was not until the 17th century that Galileo discovered that atmosphere has weight, and the modern science of aerodynamics is based on this scientific fact. Further, the weight of air is important in the function of the earth’s weather. “The study of air flows and their relation to the weight of the air has been developed into the science of aerodynamics, eventually becoming the basis of all modern aerospace developments. ... The ‘weight of the winds’ controls the worldwide air mass movements that transport the waters evaporated from the oceans inland over the continents” (Morris, The Remarkable Record of Job).
Job describes the amazing balance of the atmosphere and hydrosphere (Job 28:24-25). “We now know that the global weights of air and water must be in critical relationship to each other, and to the earth as a whole, to maintain life on earth. ... Planet earth is uniquely designed for life, and its atmosphere and hydrosphere are the most important components of that design. If the weights of either air or water were much different than they are, life as we know it could not survive” (Morris).
Job describes the amazing process of cloud formation and rain making.
First, he describes how that water can be transported in the air when water weighs more than air (Job 36:27-28). “Water is converted by solar energy into the vapor state. Since water vapor is lighter than air, the winds can first elevate, then transport the water from the oceans to the lands where it is needed. There, under the right conditions, the vapor can condense around dust particles, salt particles, or other nuclei of condensation. When this happens, clouds are formed. Water vapor is invisible, whereas clouds are aggregations of liquid water droplets” (Morris).
Job also describes how the clouds can stay aloft, how they can be balanced in the sky (Job 37:16) and how water can be bound up in a cloud and not rent (Job 26:8). The answer is in Job 36:27, “For he maketh small the drops of water....” “The water droplets are indeed very small, and their weight is sustained by the drag force of the uprushing winds, as the air is pushed skyward due to temperature decrease with elevation” (Morris).
Next, Job describes how the clouds are finally rent so that rain comes forth (“by watering he wearieth the thick cloud,” Job 37:11). “That is, the water droplets coalesce to form larger and larger drops, which finally become so large that their weight is greater than the drag forces of the uprushing atmospheric turbulence, causing them to fall to the ground as rain or snow” (Morris).
Finally, Job describes the role that lightning plays in the creation of rain (“he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder,” Job 28:26; “a way for the lightning of thunder; to cause it to rain on the earth,” Job 38:25-26). “These violent electrical currents, in some complex energy exchange not yet fully understood, cause the small water droplets to bind together with others to form larger drops. Finally, this remarkable series of events delivers the rain to the thirsty ground” (Morris).
Job describes the rotation of the earth that produces the night and day sequences (Job 38:12-14). “Job suggests not only that the earth was suspended in space but also that it rotates about its north-projecting axis. Though figurative language, this reflects a true physical process. God is pictured as taking hold of the two ends of the earth’s axis and turning it as if it were a clay cylinder receiving an impression from a seal. The seal toward which the earth is turned, however, is not a metallic pattern. Rather, it is the ‘dayspring,’ evidently the sun fixed in its place. The welcome light of the morning dispels the formlessness of the earth’s surface when shrouded in darkness and unveils the beauties of the earth’s structure and verdure” (Morris).
Job describes the springs of the sea (Job 38:16). Man had no way to know about the fresh-water springs on the ocean floor by firsthand observation until recent times. Modern science has discovered that there are thousands of underwater springs that add millions of metric tons of water into the oceans each year.
Job understands that light has a way and that darkness has a place (Job 38:19). “That is, light is not to be located in a certain place or situation. Neither does it simply appear, or disappear, instantaneously. Light is traveling! It dwells in a ‘way,’ always on the way to someplace else. Though usually traveling in waves, sometimes it seems to move as a stream of particles, but it is always moving. When light stops, there is darkness. Thus, darkness is static, staying in place; but light is dynamic, dwelling in a way” (Morris).
The Bible describes the parting of light (Job 38:24). It was not until the 17th century that it was discovered that light passing through a prism is separated into seven colors. Further, “This may refer not only to the visible light spectrum (red to violet) but also to all the physical systems developed around the basic entity of light” (Henry Morris).
The Bible says that the light creates wind (Job 38:24), but it is only in recent times that modern weather science has discovered that wind is created as the sun heats up the surface of the earth, causing the hot air to rise and cooler air to fall, creating weather systems.
Job describes the amazing hydrological cycle (evaporation, atmospheric circulation, condensation, precipitation, run-off) (Job 38:25-30). The process of evaporation and condensation was not discovered until the 17th century and not well understood until the 20th.
The Bible says plants and animals reproduce after their kind (Genesis 1). This is in perfect harmony with everything that can be observed and tested by modern science. There is great variety within kinds, all sorts of different roses and trees and frogs and dogs, but there is no reproduction between kinds, between roses and trees or frogs and dogs.
The Bible says the heavens cannot be measured and the stars are without number (Genesis 22:17; Jeremiah 31:37). Before the invention of the telescope, man could see only a few hundred stars at the most with the naked eye. Yet today we know that the stars are innumerable and that space is seemingly infinite. There are 300 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy alone. In 1999, observations by NASA astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope, suggested that there are 125 billion galaxies in the universe. The most up-to-date star count was announced in July 2003 as 70 sextillion observable stars (70,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). This was the conclusion of the world’s largest galaxy study, the Two-Degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey, which is considered 10 times more accurate than previous ones. The team of scientists did not physically count the stars. Instead they used some of the world’s most powerful telescopes to count all of the galaxies in one region of the universe and then to estimate how many stars each galaxy contained by measuring its brightness. They then extrapolated these figures out to the whole universe visible through telescopes. This massive figure, of course, probably covers only a tiny percentage of the actual stars.
The Bible says the life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). This was not understood until very recent times. Even in the 19th century, doctors were using “blood letting” as a healing method. George Washington, America’s first president, probably died because of this bogus practice. Modern medicine has learned what the Bible has taught all along, that the life of the flesh is in the blood.
The Bible describes the circuit of the winds (Ecclesiastes 1:6), but this was not discovered until modern times. “As the land in the equator heats up, it causes the hot air to rise. In the upper atmosphere, the air flows away from the equator. Cooler air will move along to replace it. This produces six major wind belts around the world” (Y.T. Wee, The Soul-Winner’s Handy Guide).
The Bible says the earth is a circle (Isaiah 40:22). In past centuries many have believed that the earth is flat, but the Scriptures have always been scientifically accurate in this matter.
The Bible says there are paths in the sea (Isaiah 43:16). Since the 19th century the ocean currents or paths have been charted and ships travel these paths just as trucks travel on roads. Writing in the mid-1800s, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Superintendent of the U.S. Navy’s Depot of Charts and Instruments in Washington, D.C., observed, “There is a river in the ocean: in the severest droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows; its banks and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm; the Gulf of Mexico is its fountain, and its mouth is in the Arctic Seas. It is the Gulf Stream” (Maury, The Physical Geography of the Sea, 6th ed., 1856, p. 25).
The Bible says the stars differ in glory (1 Corinthians 15:41). “J. Bayer, in 1603, devised a method or system to indicate their brightness or magnitude. No astronomer today will deny this fact. Stars are now known to differ in size, color, light emitted, density, and heat. Our sun, which is a star, is over 1,000,000 times the size of our earth, yet there are some stars at least a million times as large as our sun, and some smaller than the planet Mercury” (World’s Bible Handbook).
6. THE BIBLE’S CANDOR PROVES THAT IT IS THE WORD OF GOD.
When men write biographies of their heroes, they commonly omit or whitewash their faults; but the Bible exhibits its divine quality by showing man as he is. Not only is the Bible true; it is candid. Even the best of men in the Bible are described with all their faults. We are told plainly of Adam’s rebellion, Noah’s drunkenness, David’s adultery, Solomon’s apostasy, Jonah’s pity party, Peter’s disavowal of his Master, Paul and Barnabas’ strife, and the disciples’ unbelief in the face of Christ’s resurrection. The Bible was written by Jews, yet it candidly describes the faults of the Jewish people: their stubbornness and unbelief that caused them to have to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, their idolatry during the period of the judges, their rebellion that caused them to be rejected from the land and scattered throughout the earth for two millennia.
7. THE BIBLE’S INDESTRUCTIBILITY PROVES THAT IT IS THE WORD OF GOD.
The following is from the Christian Home Bible Course:
The Greek writer, Porphyry, tried to destroy the credibility of the Bible back in 304 A.D. In the process he wrote fifteen books against the Bible and Christianity in general. Did he succeed? Apparently not. The Bible is still around. And as for Porphyry, well, let’s put it this way; can you name his fifteen books? Can anybody name just one?
Porphyry is just one of the many people who, throughout history, have tried to ban, burn, destroy, outlaw, restrict, ridicule or discredit the Bible.
Another example is a Greek writer of satire by the name of Lucian, who wrote two books in the second century to ridicule the Bible. These books were named The Dialogue of the Gods and The Dialogue of the Dead. There’s an extremely good chance that you don’t have a copy of either of these two books in your personal library. Yet you probably have a Bible somewhere around the house, which is a testimony to the Bible’s ability to “out survive” its attackers.
If Porphyry and Lucian would have just read the Bible instead of attacking it they could have saved a lot of time, because the Bible says: “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever” (Psalm 12:6-7).
In A.D. 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued an edict to stop Christians from worshipping Jesus Christ and to destroy their Scriptures. Twenty-five years later his successor, Constantine, issued another edict ordering fifty Bibles to be published at government expense. Too bad Diocletian didn’t believe the Bible’s promise. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8).
Atheist Robert Ingersoll once boasted, “Within 15 years I’ll have the Bible lodged in a morgue.” Well, within 15 years, Robert Ingersoll was lodged within a morgue, but the Bible lives on!
Down through the centuries many attacks have been made against the Bible, but there have been some, who after examining the facts have changed their opinion. Here are two examples:
General Lew Wallace was a Territorial Governor following the days of the U.S. Civil War. He had been a Senator in Indiana at the age of 29 and was considered a very scholarly man. He had no confidence in Christianity or the Bible, so he set out to write a skeptical book to disprove both. In his study he instead found the Bible and Christ to be true, and became himself a devout Christian. General Wallace never wrote his book against the Bible. He wrote instead the classic Christian novel Ben Hur.
William Ramsey, the English scholar went to Asia Minor with the expressed purpose of proving the Bible was historically inaccurate. As he painstakingly poured over the ancient artifacts and details, to his amazement he found that the Bible was accurate down to the tiniest detail. The evidence was so convincing that Sir Ramsey himself became a Christian and a biblical scholar.
Down through the years, the Bible has been a mighty anvil that has worn out many of the puny hammers of the scoffers. (Point #7 is from the Christian Home Bible Course; used by permission.)
8. THE BIBLE’S DOCTRINE OF SALVATION PROVES IT IS THE WORD OF GOD.
The Bible is the only religious scripture that teaches the doctrine of salvation by grace. Every other one teaches salvation by works. The Roman Catholic Church says salvation is through participating in its sacraments, beginning with baptism. Hinduism says salvation is through practicing dharma and working out one’s karma. Islam says salvation is by surrender to Allah and obedience to his commands. Buddhism says salvation is by reaching nirvana through life works and meditation and ascetism. If you visit the Buddhist monastery at Boudha in Kathmandu any time of the day you will find Buddhists walking clockwise, fingering their prayer beads and twirling their prayer wheels. They do this every day because they are trying to find salvation.
The Bible, on the other hand, says that salvation is God’s free gift to sinners. This gift was very costly for the Giver. It was purchased with a great price, which was the atoning sacrifice of God’s Son on the cross. But for the sinner it is free.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).
The Bible says there is nothing that the sinner could offer God in order to atone for his sins. What could we offer? Righteous works and almsdeeds? The Bible says our very righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God’s great holiness (Isaiah 64:6). Money? What would the God of creation do with our pathetic currency? A pure heart? The Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). How, then, could we purchase our own salvation?
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).
No, salvation is the wonderful gift of a loving and deeply compassionate God. As the Christian hymn says, “We owed a debt we could not pay; He paid a debt He did not owe.”
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
9. THE BIBLE’S INVITATIONS PROVE IT IS THE WORD OF GOD.
The Bible invites the hearer to partake of its spiritual realities and thus prove for himself its genuineness: “O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psa. 34:8); “come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden” (Mat. 11:28); “whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17); “ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ... come ye, buy and eat” (Isa. 55:1); “look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:22).
The Bible promises that “he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself...” (1 John 5:10).
God will prove Himself to the sincere seeker.
What a Book is the Bible!
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DO WE HAVE THE “RIGHT TO DIE”?
Updated and enlarged May 27, 2008 (first published in O Timothy magazine, Volume 8, Issue 1, 1991) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
In the last three decades we have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of headlines focusing on the “right-to-die” or euthanasia issue. Consider just a few of these:
* In 1985, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that all life-sustaining medical treatment can be withheld from terminally ill patients, whether incompetent or competent. In that ruling the court included feeding tubes as “medical treatment.”
* In 1985, a Virginia woman who killed her cancer-ridden husband with an ice pick was sentenced merely to two years’ probation and psychiatric treatment.
* The Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled in 1986 to allow a woman to stop the feeding of her comatose husband.
* In 1987, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled unanimously that an alert, mentally competent but dying woman, suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease, a fatal nerve disorder, should have been allowed to order her respirator disconnected. The woman had died a few days before her case reached the Court. The same court ruled to allow a man to remove the feeding tube from his 32-year-old wife.
* A U.S. District Court in Rhode Island ruled in 1988 that the feeding tube could be removed from a 49-year-old woman. The woman was in a coma as a result of a brain hemorrhage, and since she could not swallow, she received nourishment and liquids through a feeding tube. Her family had sued in court to compel the hospital to terminate her food and water. The medical workers who were caring for the woman were unanimous in opposing the action, but the court ordered them to remove the tubes so the woman would starve to death.
* A man severely crippled by a 1985 motorcycle accident went to court in an attempt to gain the “right” to kill himself. In 1989, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously ruled that he could kill himself by shutting off the breathing apparatus that kept him alive.
* The parents of Nancy Cruzen, a young woman who suffered severe brain damage in a 1983 car crash, spent three and a half years in court in an attempt to remove the feeding tube which was keeping her alive. Though severely disabled, Nancy was not comatose nor did she require any life-support equipment. She even smiled at funny stories and cried when visitors would leave. In spite of this, on December 14, 1990, County Circuit Court Judge Charles E. Teel, Jr., ordered Nancy’s caregivers to withhold all food and water. Twelve days later, the 33-year-old woman died of dehydration.
* On June 4, 1990, Jack Kevorkian claimed his first victim when he assisted in the administration of a lethal dosage of drugs to 54-year-old Janet Adkins. She was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and her own doctor said she had at least ten years of productive life ahead of her. She had never met or talked with Kevorkian until she arrived in Michigan two days before her death. All arrangements were made by her husband, Ron, (64) who subsequently became president of the Oregon Hemlock Society. In the year before her death, Janet Adkins and her family were counseled by a family therapist who was coordinator of the Oregon Hemlock Society. According to an aunt, “She did not want to be a burden to her husband and family” and a friend explained, “She felt it [her death] was a gift to her family, sparing them the burden of taking care of her” (“The Real Jack Kevorkian, International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force, http://www.iaetf.org/fctkev.htm). Kevorkian, who went on to participate in a reported 137 assisted suicides, does not have a license to practice medicine. His Michigan license was suspended in 1991 and his California license was suspended in 1993. According to the California Attorney General’s office, Kevorkian is “fundamentally unfit to practice medicine” (California Medical Board, Complainants Brief, 12/28/93, p. 19). Kevorkian proposed a “auction market for available organs” taken from “subjects” who are “hopelessly crippled by arthritis or malformations.” Part of the money from the dead disabled person’s auctioned organs could go to relatives whose financial burdens would be eased and “their standard of living enhanced.”
* A poll of adults conducted by CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll published January 1991 found that 58% believe doctors ought to be allowed to help terminally ill patients die if the patient asks for assistance.
* On October 23, 1991, 58-year-old Marjorie Wantz became Jack Kevorkian’s second victim, dying of a lethal dose of drugs administered by Kevorkian’s “death machine.” Marjorie had no life-threatening condition. The autopsy found that she had no illness or disease. She had complained of pelvic pain, but though a number of physicians had advised her that the pain was manageable she did not follow through with their recommendations. “She had reportedly been taking extremely large doses of Halcion (a medication known to impair judgment) in the months preceding her death. She had been hospitalized for psychiatric care on a number of occasions.” Kevorkian did not even give the woman a medical examination. On the same day, Kevorkian assisted in the suicide of Sherry Miller, age 43. She had multiple sclerosis and could have lived for many years but said she felt she was “becoming a burden on people.” She had been suffering from depression which had been noted five years earlier. She did not want to take the medication that had been prescribed for depression. She testified that she no longer had any quality of life. Her death was to have been from a lethal dose of drugs but, after repeated attempts and punctures to her arm, Kevorkian couldn’t insert a needle into her veins. He left her waiting for four hours at the death site while he “went to town” to get supplies so he could rig her death by carbon monoxide poisoning (“The Real Jack Kevorkian, International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force, http://www.iaetf.org/fctkev.htm).
* In November 1994, the voters of the state of Oregon passed a referendum allowing doctor-assisted suicide. The law would allow patients to request life-ending medication if a doctor determines that they have less than six months to live. The Supreme Court let the law stand.
* A forum on end-of-life issues held in New York City in November 1996 noted that the preferred means of euthanasia today is starvation. The participants observed that it is legal for patients to refuse treatment, including nutrition, and doctors may legally offer painkillers and other comfort as these patients die. Therefore, “every single piece of the recipe is legal.”
* In October 1996, Australia’s Northern Territory allowed the world’s first legally assisted suicide. Bob Dent, 66, who was suffering from cancer, was allowed to take deadly drugs under a euthanasia law passed on May 25, 1996. (Thousands of assisted suicides are performed every year in The Netherlands, but technically they are not legal. They are allowed under loopholes in the law. Doctors who follow “strict guidelines” are guaranteed immunity.)
* In a Canadian national study reported in September 1996, almost half of all doctors surveyed said the law should be changed to allow physician-assisted suicide. In the survey, 47% of doctors supported euthanasia, while 39% were opposed, and 11% were uncertain.
* In March 1996, a 62-year-old New York man was sentenced to just six months in jail (he was expected to serve only four) for killing his wife with a mixture of honey and an antidepressant. He claimed it was assisted suicide, and a note left by the wife said she drank the potion “freely and without reservations”; but prosecutors also discovered that he had kept a diary indicating he was tired of caring for his sick wife, who had multiple sclerosis, and was eager for her death.
* In February 1996 the Episcopal diocese of Newark, New Jersey, declared that suicide and assisted suicide may be morally acceptable under some circumstances, i.e., when “pain is persistent and/or progressive; when all other reasonable means of amelioration of pain and suffering have been exhausted; and when the decision to hasten death is a truly informed and voluntary choice free from external coercion.”
* According to a study released in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1996, one in five intensive-care nurses have hastened the death of terminally ill patients. The study was based on responses by more than 850 nurses to an eight-page questionnaire administered by Dr. David Asch of the University of Pennsylvania.
* In early 1999, the Oregon Health Division presented its analysis of the state’s
first year under the Oregon Death with Dignity law. According to the OHD’s study, 23 patients received legal lethal drug prescriptions between 1/1/98 and 12/31/98. Of those patients, 15 actually took the deadly drugs and died, 6 died from their illnesses without taking the lethal prescription, and 2 were still living as of 1/1/99. Of the 15 patients who died from the lethal drugs, 7 were women, 8 were men, all 15 were white, 13 had cancer, 1 had congestive heart failure, and 1 had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The median age was 69. Four were referred for a psychiatric or psychological consultation. The International Anti-Euthanasia Task Force warned that this information is “skewed and incomplete.” The reason is that the law contains no penalties for doctors who do not comply with its requirements and there is no way to determine if the reporting is accurate. “The data for this study came exclusively from the death-prescribing doctors, with no corroboration from other sources. In fact, the OHD, citing privacy concerns, never even interviewed the patients’ families, friends, or caregivers regarding the circumstances and/or pressures surrounding the deaths. Nor did the OHD contact the patients’ other doctors who, for some reason, opted not to write the deadly prescription. In other words, the state is just assuming that doctors engaged in ending the lives of patients are of good will, have been totally compliant with the provisions of the PAS law, and are completely truthful and forthright in their reports to the state. But why would a doctor even bother to report a less-than-perfect death, one which might cause legal and professional problems for that doctor with the OHD, the state medical licensing board, or even the police?”
* A report published in February 1999 showed that Dutch physicians routinely ignore established euthanasia guidelines created to protect patients against abuse. “The reality is that a clear majority of cases of euthanasia, both with and without request, go unreported and unchecked. Dutch claims of effective regulation ring hollow,” explained researchers Dr. Henk Jochemsen, of Holland’s Lindeboom Institute for Medical Ethics, and Dr. John Keown, from England’s Cambridge University. Reviewing a 1996 survey of 405 Dutch doctors regarding end-of-life decisions, the researchers found that, in 1995, almost two-thirds (59%) of euthanasia cases went unreported, a clear violation of the requirement-codified into law in 1994-that all euthanasia and assisted-suicide deaths be reported to authorities. Furthermore, 20% of reported euthanasia deaths were involuntary, meaning that doctors ended patients’ lives without the patients’ explicit request or consent. In 15% of these cases (where the patients were competent), the physician did not discuss euthanasia with the patient because “the doctor thought that the termination of the patient’s life was clearly in the patient’s best interests.” In 17% of the involuntary euthanasia cases, alternative care or treatment was available, meaning that euthanasia was not the “last resort” as required by the guidelines (Keown & Jochemsen, “Voluntary Euthanasia under Control? Further Empirical Evidence from the Netherlands,” Journal of Medical Ethics, February 1999).
* In March 1999, a Michigan jury found Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of murder for the September 1998 death of 52-year-old Thomas Youk. The man was suffering with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Kevorkian, who video-taped the death, killed Youk by injecting him with a lethal series of drugs. The video was subsequently broadcast on the 60 Minutes television show. During the broadcast, Kevorkian challenged Michigan prosecutors to charge him, and they did, not merely for assisted suicide but for first-degree murder. At the trial it was pointed out that just before Kevorkian injected Youk with a drug that rendered him unconscious, Youk attempted to speak but was ignored by Kevorkian. Prosecutor John Skrzynski noted: “We don’t know what he said, and it’s too late now because he’s gone now, he’s asleep and he’s never getting up again. What did he say? Did he say ‘wait’? Did Dr. Kevorkian have a duty to stop and find out what he was saying?” In a media interview in November 1998, Kevorkian was asked if Youk had anything to say at the end. He just laughed and said, “I don’t know. I never understood a thing he said” (Lessenberry, “I want a showdown,” Oakland Press, Nov. 20, 1998). When the jury announced its guilty decision, Kevorkian attempted to look unruffled in the courtroom, but after he got in the car away from the camera “he exploded, screaming with anger, rage and frustration at the irrationality and cruelty and backwardness of society.” In April 1999, Kevorkian was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison. The 79-year-old “Dr. Death” was released conditionally in June 2007.
* In January 2005, the United States Supreme Court let stand a ruling by Pinellas [Florida] Circuit Court Judge George Greer allowing Michael Schiavo to cut off his wife Terri’s feeding tube. Terri, 41, had been dependent on the tube since suffering a heart stoppage 15 years earlier. Terri’s parents fought to stop their son-in-law from disconnecting the tube. Though Terri had brain damage, she was not dying, could breath on her own, and exhibited many signs of being aware of her environment. This was testified by her nurses and by medical experts. The courts, both state and federal, allowed Schiavo to starve his wife to death. Her feeding tube was removed on March 18, 2005, and she died on March 31.
These are only some of the cases that have gained public attention in the last few years. What should the Bible-believer think of this? Euthanasia is a complex issue and it is impossible to give one simple, blanket answer to the matter, yet there are some Bible truths that apply clearly, and in this hour of moral relativism it is crucial that we point them out.
MEDICAL SCIENCE IS NOT INFALLIBLE
Consider, first, that medical science is not infallible. Because of the marvelous advances that have been made in medicine in recent decades, it is possible to forget how little man still really knows about the human body, mind, and soul. This can easily be proven: Consider how frequently doctors disagree in their diagnosis and proposed treatment. Consider how frequently they are wrong. Consider how really limited they are--how often they fail to cure.
And isn’t it true that God often intervenes and does miracles of healing for which medical science cannot account? Though we do not believe God is healing today through sign gifts as He did in apostolic times, we do believe God heals in answer to prayer according to James chapter five. And He often performs healings that force even unsaved doctors to admit that something occurred that was beyond their knowledge and power.
Yes, medical science is fallible and finite and is often wrong, and it is crucial to remember this when considering the euthanasia issue. There have been many cases of those diagnosed as being in “irreversible” comas and of being “brain dead,” who regained consciousness and recovered their health. A vegetative state is considered persistent if it lasts more than a month, and after a year, it is labeled “permanent.” (We do not intend to imply that amazing recoveries happen most of the time. Between 10,000 to 25,000 adults and 6,000 to 10,000 children in the U.S. are diagnosed each year as being in “persistent vegetative states.” Most of these do not awaken and the majority dies within six months.)
The exceptions, though, remind us of the fallibility of modern medical science.
The wife of independent Baptist Evangelist Tom Williams had “the worst case of spinal meningitis on record.” She was hospitalized in a coma, and her husband visited her every day. He prayed with her, read the Bible, and left tapes to be played when he was not with her. A friend gave her a stuffed animal to keep her company and named it “Rainbow,” the sign of God’s covenant with Noah after the flood. A year later she emerged from her coma and spoke the words, “His name is Rainbow.” The wonderful story of this recovery is recorded in Brother William’s book “Twice Given.”
In March 1980, Matthew Graff of Burbank, California, awoke after being in a “vegetative state” for 13 months after surgery for hydrocephalus, the swelling of the brain. Between August 1978 and October 1979 he had 17 brain surgeries, and by the time he awoke his fingers and feet were curled back from tendon atrophy and lack of use and his body weight had dropped from 165 pounds to 110. After extensive speech therapy and physical rehabilitation, he has recovered (“An Incredible Recovery Story,” http://members.aol.com/__121b_ywR5esSZPGcCraft3kjNKZvvawlZ/VDNRzeiBbk+YFQ=).
In May 1986, 44-year-old Jacqueline Cole of Baltimore, Maryland, awoke from a condition her doctors had diagnosed as a “persistent vegetative state.” After weeks had passed her family petitioned a court to grant permission to disconnect her life support, but the wise judge denied this, explaining, “She was not legally brain dead. I was dealing with a live person.” Six days after this judicial ruling, Jacqueline woke up. A friend had come to pay his last respects, and when he took her hand and said, “Hello,” she opened her eyes and smiled at him (Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado, November 21, 1986).
On December 14, 1987, 32-year-old Don Hamilton of Minnesota came out of a coma he had been in since a hunting accident nearly two months earlier. When he had arrived seven weeks earlier at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, doctors had said that he appeared to be brain dead (“All the mysteries of life and death aren’t covered in medical books,” Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Dec. 26, 1987, p. 1A).
In 1988 the mother of Pastor Terry Coomer (Elwood Bible Baptist Church, Elwood, Indiana) suffered a heart attack and was without oxygen to her brain for more than five minutes. She immediately went into a coma and throughout that night had seizures every few minutes. Several brain specialists told the family that she would never regain consciousness and would be a vegetable for the rest of her life. Her major organs had shut down and she was on a breathing ventilator. For months she remained in that condition, with her husband stopping by the hospital each day to talk to her, when she suddenly woke up! Pastor Coomer testifies: “I was called to the hospital and she talked to me. She told me how much she loved me and how she was going to miss seeing her grandchildren grow up. She also talked about knowing she was going to die and the home that she had in heaven. She asked why this had happened to her. I told her I did not know, but I knew God loved her and had a place prepared for her. We prayed together, and I hugged her and told her how much I loved her. Ten days later she went into the presence of her Lord. I asked the Neurologist how they could make such a mistake. He told me the brain is different than any other organ [it is more difficult to predict what will happen to the brain than with other organs]. I can testify to that. I am glad we were not persuaded to go ahead and pull the plug because as I was told over and over, ‘She has no quality of life.’ I am thankful we left the decision of her life in the hands of the Lord rather than those who thought it was okay to kill.”
In March 1988, 62-year-old Earl Lanning of Michigan awoke from a coma he had been in for 10 years since suffering a brain hemorrhage (“Earl Lanning revives from ten-year coma,” Penasee Globe, Penasee, Michigan, March 23, 1988).
Another amazing case involving the recovery of one who was “brain dead” happened in December 1988. Barbara Blodgett, a 24-year-old Washington state woman who had been in a deep coma for more than five months, gave birth to a healthy baby boy and then came out of the coma and began making gradual progress toward recovery. When thirteen-weeks pregnant on June 30, 1988, Barbara was severely injured when the car she was riding in was struck by a drunk driver. Her cousin was killed in the crash and she suffered head injuries so severe that doctors proclaimed she was in a state of “cerebral death.” Yet by January 1989 she was asking questions, forming words, recognizing her family and friends, and helping in small ways to care for her newborn baby. Barbara spelled out the following message by pointing to letters on a piece of paper: “Never give up” (USA Today, Feb. 14, 1989).
On January 19, 1989, nine-year-old Ryan Atencio awoke from a coma he had been in for more than five weeks after receiving massive head injuries in an automobile accident. Dr. Eustaquio Abay of St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Witchita, Kansas, said, “There was no brain function. Three or four times we’d seen the pulse go down to zero -- no circulation at all to the brain for 30 minutes on end” (“boy who has ‘gone’ opens his eyes and squeezes mom’s hand,” UPI, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 26, 1989, p. A3).
In April 1989, 86-year-old stroke victim Carrie Coons awoke from a four and a half month “irreversible” vegetative state and began talking and eating on her own. Just prior to this a judge had given permission for the removal of her feeding tube. Dr. Michael L. Wolff said he was at a loss to explain what had happened other than to wonder about “the existence of miracles or the resilience of the human spirit” (“Right-to-Die Order Revoked as Patient in Coma Awakes,” The New York Times, April 13, 1989).
That same month in 1989, 18-year-old Brent Doyle awoke from a two-month coma stemming from a motorcycle crash. Days after the accident his brain showed no activity and his father said, “A lot of doctors had really given up on him” (“Man wakes from coma,” Rocky Mountain News, Apr. 13, 1989).
In May 1989, 39-year-old Paul Cullinan of Toronto, Canada, began to speak after being in a coma for 17 months after being shot in the forehead at close range. Doctors had given little chance of recovery (“Shooting victim out of coma,” The Toronto Star, July 28, 1989, p. A8).
In December 1989, 24-year-old Colin Pierce of Massachusetts began to talk after seven years of only “minimal responses” stemming from brain injury he had suffered in a November 1982 automobile crash. The family had never given up hope and had kept talking to Colin (“After seven years, son can speak,” The Boston Globe, Jan. 30, 1990).
On December 15, 1990, 53-year-old Yolanda Blake of New Jersey awoke from a coma just one day after a judge ruled that the hospital need not follow the request of the woman’s friend and her sister that she be given life-support measures, including the insertion of a feeding tube. “Yolanda, who had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 1987, suffered severe blood loss for unknown reasons and collapsed on November 30, 1990 while vacationing. She was taken to Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg, PA. Contending that Yolanda had told them not to use any ‘extraordinary measures’ to keep her alive, doctors at the medical center did not insert either a feeding tube or a urinary catheter. When her friend, Richard Harley, protested the lack of treatment, the hospital took the case to court. A Monroe County judge ruled in favor of the hospital, saying that Yolanda should be allowed to ‘die with dignity.’ When she awoke, Yolanda was asked if she wanted to live. ‘Of course I do,’ she replied. She also insisted on ‘the best possible’ care and a transfer to another hospital that would provide it” (Liz Townsend, “Woman Denied Food Awakes from Coma,” National Right to Life News, Jan. 8, 1991, pp. 1, 24).
In 1991 Pastor Frank Johnson of Midland, Texas, was called to the hospital bedside of a church member who was on life support. The family was going to “pull the plug,” and they wanted their pastor present. A few months later that man was back in church in his accustomed place in the Sunday morning service. In reporting this, the Baptist Bible Tribune, for March 1992, notes, “There is no question but that we need to discover the ethics of the plug.”
In March 1991, 26-year-old Conley Holbrook of North Carolina regained consciousness from a coma he had been in since being brutally beaten eight years earlier and identified his attackers. His pleased mother said: “I was astonished. I never gave up on him. This is just a miracle. It’s good to have him home talking” (“Beaten man beats coma, fingers pair of suspects,” AP Report, March 6, 1991).
On May 31, 1991, nine-year-old Mitchell Berman awake from a coma he had been in for five months “due to hemalytic-uremic syndrome.” His first words to his mother were, “I want a hot dog.” Dr. Geof McPhee, director of pediatrics at New Medico Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center, Slidell, Louisiana, said he was progressing phenomenally (“Boy's complaints welcome after coma,” The Forum, Fargo-Moorhead, AP, June 9, 1991, p. A17).
In December 1992, Brian Cressler began coming out of a deep coma he had been in for 18 months since an automobile accident that occurred a few weeks after his high school graduation. During that time he couldn’t move or talk and his eyes were set in a blank stare. By June 1992, Brian delighted his mother by speaking his first word in two years, “Mom.” Though he has memory problems and seizures and remains severely handicapped, he is able to move around in a wheelchair and do many things, including swimming laps in a pool.
On October 27, 1995, Ryan Nguyen enjoyed his first birthday in his home in Vancouver, Washington (across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon). His complicated birth in Spokane, Washington, led doctors there to believe he had no chance of survival. Ryan was born eight weeks prematurely and suffered kidney damage, a bowel obstruction and possible brain damage. Doctors at Sacred Heart Medical Center described his condition as “universally fatal.” His parents went to court to force the hospital to continue life-support and found a doctor in Portland willing to treat Ryan. After four months in the hospital, Ryan was allowed to go home (The Seattle Times, Fri., Oct. 27, 1995, p. B2).
The January 3, 1996, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine contained the story of an 18-year-old woman who suffered severe head injuries in a car accident in 1987. She remained in a coma, unresponsive, for 15 months, diagnosed as in a permanent vegetative state. At that point gradually she began to respond to questions by moving her leg or closing her eyes. Eventually she could speak short phrases. Five years and two months after the injury, she went home, though she remains wheelchair bound and dependent on others for her care (New York Times, Jan. 4, 1996, p. A7).
In February 1996, a former Tennessee police officer, Gary French Dockery, who had been speechless for seven and a half years after being shot in the head in the line of duty, began talking with his relatives, recalling events from past years and remembering the names of his friends and horses. Commenting about Dockery’s recovery, Dr. Cornelius Mance, a neurologist at North Park Hospital in Chattanooga, said, “The first rule is divine intervention. The second is that your brain is a massive computer and it works to try to repair itself” (David Sisler, “Coma,” Augusta Chronicle, March 2, 1996). In Dockery’s case, his speech was God’s answer to his family’s prayers. His sons Shane and Colt had prayed that before their father died they could hear him say he loved them one more time. At one point after he began talking with his family, Gary was asked by his eldest son Shane if he wanted to go home. When he said, “Nope,” Shane asked him where he wanted to go then, and he replied, “Heaven.” Gary Dockery died April 15, 1997, of a blood clot.
In March 1996, a former businessman who had been in a “persistent vegetative state” for seven years, began communicating with hospital staff. He had suffered brain damage after the oxygen supply to his brain was accidentally cut off during routine surgery. Being confident that the man’s condition would never improve, the British health authority had considered petitioning the High Court to withhold food and fluids, but they dropped the plan when his wife fought for his life (The Guardian, Mar. 16, 1996).
In June 1999, Maria Lopez awoke from an “irreversible” coma she had been in for roughly six weeks after a blood vessel burst in her brain. Six days later she gave birth to healthy twin girls (“Woman awakens from coma, gives birth to twins,” Associated Press, July 8, 1999). Neurosurgeon John Frazee told CNN that he had believed the chance of Maria recovering “was almost zero.”
In October 1999, 16-year-old Jonathan Wamback of Newmarket, Ontario, awoke from a coma he had been in since receiving a severe beating by a teenage gang some three months earlier. Repeatedly kicked in the head with steel-toe boots, Jonathan’s skull was shattered and he almost died three times on the way to surgery. Altogether he spent 11 months in the hospital. Though permanently injured, Wamback has made a remarkable recovery and is planning to go to college.
On Christmas Eve, 1999, 42-year-old Patricia “Happi” White Bull of Albuquerque, New Mexico, mother of four, awoke from a 16-year coma and began talking to her family (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan. 5, 2000). Due to a blood clot which caused her to suffer brain damage from lack of oxygen, she had slipped into the coma in 1983 while delivering her fourth child, and for 16 years she was kept in a nursing home, unresponsive, unable to speak, swallow, or move. Since coming out of the comma she “has been speaking her children’s names, catching up on family developments and spending a lot of time just watching her children and smiling.” As of Christmas 2000, Patricia continued to make progress.
In August 2002, Peter Sana of Hawaii regained consciousness from a coma he had been in for almost seven and a half years after contracting meningitis, inflammation of the membrane enclosing the brain and spinal cord (“Family’s devotion helps Pearl City coma victim,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Sept. 8, 2002). He spent most of those years in a nursing home, unresponsive to all contact. The nursing home staff believes the daily visits by his father (during which he massaged Peter’s arms and legs) and regular visits by other family members played a large role in Peter’s recovery.
In April 2002 M. Eckard of Washington was taken to the hospital with pneumonia. She was 82 years old and had emphysema. Her condition deteriorated rapidly and she was in an unresponsive, semi-conscious state. The oldest daughter told the nursing staff it would be her wish to die; that she didn’t want any “heroic measures.” (Please tell me how food and water and oxygen can be described as “heroic measures.”) So they put her in a room with no treatment, no oxygen, food, water, or medicine, expecting her to die. After laying there in a semi-conscious state for some days she rallied, to everybody’s amazement. When she recovered, she was upset that they had withheld medical care, because it was definitely not her will to die. She is still alive today (March 25, 2005). A year after this incident, at the age of 83, she wrote and published a biography.
In June 2003, Terry Wallis of Mountain View, Arkansas, awoke after 19 years in a coma and starting speaking, “to the surprise of doctors” (Fox News, July 9, 2003). Terry was 39 years old when a 1984 auto accident left him a quadriplegic and in a near vegetative state. When he began speaking on June 12, 2003, his first word was “Mom” and the second was “Pepsi,” and now he is talking “almost nonstop.” He still remembers his grandmother’s phone number, even though she has been dead for several years and the other family members had forgotten it. His 19-year-old daughter, Amber, was born shortly before the accident and this is the first time he has been able to speak to her.
In February 2005, Sara Scantlin of Kansas awoke from the “persistent vegetative state” she had been in since a drunk driver hit her in 1984 when she was only 18 years old (“Woman Wakes from Coma,” KWCH TV, Wichita, Kansas, Feb. 9, 2005). Sara’s parents were shocked when she began talking after more than 20 years of silence. Here is the report: “Since 22 September 1984, Sara Scantlin had never uttered a word, her brain so badly damaged in the accident that experts said she would spend the rest of her life in her own silent world. A week ago, her mother Betsy took a telephone call from a nurse at the care home where Sarah lives, telling her to sit down because she had a surprise for her. Then a different voice came on the line. ‘Hi Mom,’ it said. ‘I said, “Sarah, is that you?”’ And she said, ‘Yeah,’ recalled Mrs. Scantlin, of Hutchinson, Kansas. ... Sarah’s father Jim, 66, overhearing his wife’s end of the conversation, sat in his chair puzzled. ‘Then I realised, “She’s not talking about Sarah, she’s talking to Sarah,”’ he said, describing his daughter’s recovery as ‘a miracle of the human spirit.’ Since then, Sarah’s family has put her once-void memory to numerous tests. They have listened in astonishment as she reels off the names of relatives, former pets, friends from school and dates such as her own birthday -- though when her brother asked her how old she is, she guessed her age as 22. He had to inform her that she is now 38. ... Her doctor, Bradley Scheel, says critical pathways in Sarah’s brain, believed to have been damaged beyond repair, have regenerated and kicked back into life. ‘It’s just been really amazing. We’ve all been very thrilled,’ he said” (Jacqui Goddard, “‘Hi Mom’ signals patient’s return from 20 years in world of silence,” The Scotsman, Feb. 14, 2005). An interview with Scantlin by Tracy Smith was broadcast on “The Early Show” in New York on August 4 and 5, 2005. A very important part of this case is the fact that throughout her 20-year coma, Sarah could see, hear, and understand what was going on around her (“Woman Details Her 20-Year Coma,” CBS News, Aug. 4, 2005).
A study published in the journal Neurology in February 2005 concluded that thousands of brain-damaged people who are considered vegetative might in fact hear and register what is going on around them but be unable to respond (“Signs of Awareness Seen in Brain-Injured Patients,” New York Times, Feb. 8, 2005). The study, conducted by a team of neuroscientists from New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., used brain-imaging technology to study the brain activity of two men with significant brain injuries and who were determined to be only minimally conscious. Researchers found that the brain activity of these men was similar to that of seven healthy people. Dr. Joseph Fins, chief of the medical ethics division of New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center, said, “This study gave me goose bumps, because it shows this possibility of this profound isolation, that these people are there, that they’ve been there all along, even though we’ve been treating them as if they’re not.”
On April 2, 2005, Donald Herbert of Orchard Park, New York, suddenly began speaking to his family members and friends more than nine years after the former firefighter was seriously injured when a roof feel on him. He was comatose for two and a half months after the accident and has been hospitalized in a special care nursing home ever since, blind and incommunicative. The hospital staff was amazed at the turn of events. Firefighter Anthony Liberatore told WIVB-TV, “He stayed up 'til early morning talking with his boys and catching up on what they’ve been doing over the last several years.” Herbert was moved to a healthcare facility in Chicago for further treatment, and in early June he was still communicative (“Brain Injured Firefighter Moved to Chicago,” AP, June 3, 2005).
In May 2005, Tracy Gaskill of Winfield, Kansas, began to speak more than two and a half years after an automobile accident (on Sept. 3, 2002) that left her severely brain damaged and unable to talk or even swallow. Now she is learning again how to drink because she can swallow. Her doctor, David Schmeidler, said: “It’s amazing, isn’t it? I have never seen this happen in my career. I’ve read about it happening, the severely brain damaged recovering suddenly, but never seen it -- until now. She is actually able to speak and to speak coherently. In light of all this stuff on Terri Schiavo ... it makes you pause and think. For three years or so, (Tracy) was fed through a tube, then she swallowed a little bit and now she speaks” (“Schiavo-like woman speaks after 2½ years,” WorldNetDaily, May 13, 2005). “The Gaskill family and many others in the Cowley County community prayed for Tracy regularly since the accident, and she had daily visits.”
In May 2007 Jan Grzebski awoke from a 19-year coma to be astonished that the Communist party is no longer in power and food no longer rationed. He told Polish television TVN24, “Now I see people on the streets with mobile phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin” (“Pole Wakes up from 19-year Coma,” BBC News, June 2, 2007). Grzebski went into a coma in 1988 after being hit by a train, and doctors gave him only two or three years to live after finding cancer in his brain; but his wife cared for him year after year, turning him over frequently so he would not get bed sores. He credits his wife with saving him, and she said, “I cried a lot, and I prayed a lot.” He said he is amazed that people never stop complaining today even though they have everything, because in the Poland he knew before his accident “there was only tea and vinegar in the shops, meat was rationed, and huge petrol queues were everywhere.” After regaining his speech, he told his relatives that he has memories of family gatherings even though he was supposedly comatose at the time.
According to a report published on June 20, 2007, on News-Medical.Net, research teams from Belgium found that 40 percent of patients they studied were misdiagnosed as in a “vegetative state,” when they should have been diagnosed as in a minimally conscious state, and that 25 percent of patients diagnosed in an “acute vegetative state” when they enter a hospital had a good chance to regain a considerable percentage of their faculties and as many as half would reacquire “some level of consciousness.” Further, a comparison with past studies demonstrated that the incidence of misdiagnosis has not fallen in the last 15 years (“Vegetative State Diagnoses Often Wrong, Study Shows,” Baptist Press, June 26, 2007).
On June 27, 2007, one month after the car crash that resulted in a broken neck and major head trauma, Jesse Ramirez came out of a “Persistent Vegetative State” (PSV) and can now “hug and kiss, nod his head, answer yes and no questions, give a thumbs-up sign and sit in a chair” (“Jesse Ramirez, Considered a ‘Vegetable’ Like Terri Shiavo, Now on His Way to Recovery,” LifeSiteNews.com, June 28, 2007). Ramirez and his wife were quarreling at the time of the accident and were having serious marital problems, and she wanted to have his feeding tube removed on June 8, only 10 days later, but his family went to bat for him and with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund successfully challenged her decision. Bioethics expert Wesley J. Smith, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, said in his blog: “As we have discussed here previously, PVS is often misdiagnosed. More importantly, it can’t be done accurately after only a few weeks post trauma. So, why the rush in this case to write the man off? This much is sure: But for parents willing to fight for his life, Ramirez would be dead today rather than entering the rehabilitation unit.”
In March 2008 it was reported that Haleigh Poutre, a 14-year-old girl who was pronounced irreversibly brain damaged after a severe beating in 2005, was well enough to testify against her attacker (“Once in Coma, Girl May Testify against Alleged Attacker,” ABC News, Mar. 5, 2008). The girl, then 11, was brought to the hospital in September 2005 by her stepfather in a comatose condition and covered in bruises. After the Massachusetts Department of Social Services was given custody they sought to remove her from life support. At a court hearing, a doctor at the Baystate Medical Center said, “Short of developing a technique for a complete brain transplant, there is no hope that medical treatment will be discovered in the foreseeable future which could reverse.” Just days before doctors removed her ventilator she began breathing on her own and showing other signs of brain activity. She can now communicate and remembers the attack.
In May 2008, Val Thomas awoke after being pronounced dead. After multiple heart attacks she had no brain waves for 17 hours. A respiratory machine kept her breathing and rigor mortis had set in. Her son, Jim, said, “Her skin had already started to harden and her fingers curled,” and Dr. Kevin Eggleston added, “She had no neurological function” (“Woman Wakes up after Family Says Goodbye, Tubes Pulled,” NewsNet5, May 22, 2008, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24777532). Doctors removed all tubes, but she was kept on the ventilator while the organ donor issue was discussed. Ten minutes later she woke up and started talking. Mrs. Thomas said, “I know God has something in store for me, another purpose.” A specialist at the Cleveland Clinic in West Virginia said she has no blockage and will be fine.
Other illustrations could be given, but these are sufficient to prove our point: Medical science is fallible and finite and is often wrong, and it is crucial to remember this when considering the euthanasia issue. This is not to say the medical world is never right. We praise the Lord for the countless blessings that have come to unworthy mankind through the knowledge God has given to modern doctors, but we must be careful not to put them upon an infallible pedestal.
MAN HAS AN ETERNAL SOUL
Consider, secondly, that man has an eternal soul. Man’s existence does not end at death. The Bible is plain in its teaching that man has a soul which lives beyond death. Consider these Scriptures:
“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.” 2 Timothy 4:6
“Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” 2 Cor. 5:6-8
“And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” Lk. 16:22-23
“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Ecc. 12:7
“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” Psalm 90:10
All of these Scriptures teach that man’s soul lives beyond the grave. Knowledge of this is crucial to the euthanasia debate. According to the Bible, men are born into this world in a fallen, sinful condition. Adam and Eve sinned against God, and their children inherited their rebel nature. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). The Bible divides men into two classes: saved and lost. “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 Jn. 5:19).
This is not a popular truth, but it is what the Bible teaches. Those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord are saved from eternal judgment and are born again into God’s family and will live forever with Him in Glory. Those who do not trust Christ will die in their sins and will be judged eternally for their rebellion against God, their crimes against His Holy Law, and their rejection of God’s Son.
All men are sinners, but there are saved sinners and there are lost sinners, depending upon what they do with Jesus Christ and the Gospel of his grace. And the Bible teaches that only in this life do men have the opportunity to trust the blood of Christ and be saved. After death there is no opportunity. Jesus taught that a great gulf is fixed between hell and heaven and no one can pass from one place to the other (Luke 16:26).
Eternal destiny is set at death.
What does this have to do with euthanasia? Very much. It would be foolish to take one’s own life or that of a loved one as long as there is a possibility that one’s eternal salvation is not settled. Is it possible, as long as euthanasia is rejected, that one’s eternal destiny might be changed. In light of the seriousness of life and salvation, it is an awful responsibility to decide that a loved one’s life will be prematurely snuffed out and his opportunity for salvation forever erased.
But what about those who are saved? There is also the reality of the Judgment Seat of Christ for the believer. For the Christian, this life is a tremendous opportunity to serve the Lord and to gain eternal rewards for faithfulness to Christ. If we are obedient, God has promised to reward us; if we are carnal and disobedient, we will suffer loss of reward and position (1 Cor. 3:11-15; Rom. 14:10-12; 2 Cor. 5:9-11; Col. 3:23-25; Rev. 2:26-28; 3:21).
This means it is important to give every opportunity to the Christian to be right with God before he leaves this life. God sometimes uses severe trials, such as sickness and accidents, to chastise and correct His children (Heb. 12:5-9; 1 Cor. 5:3-5; 11:29-30; 1 Tim. 1:20). Thus, it is possible that the Christian in such trouble is being so dealt with by God, and we should keep this in mind when making euthanasia decisions. Is it still possible that the loved one, though in an apparent coma, could be doing business with God about things that need to be settled before leaving this life? Such questions need to be faced. My great grandfather on my mother’s side killed seven men and on his deathbed his relatives overheard him talking to God about these murders and repenting.
We are not saying that there is never a time to stop extreme life saving measures and to allow a soul to depart. We are saying that such a thing is a terribly serious decision and should always be made in light of the truths of the Word of God, and not only in light of the physical suffering of the individual, or of financial considerations, or of some other temporal issue.
IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE FOR A PERSON IN A COMA TO BE SAVED
Consider, thirdly, that it might be possible for a lost person in a coma to be saved or for a Christian in a coma to do business with God. We cannot be dogmatic here, and we don’t intend to be. At the same time, we do want to bring attention to some instances which point to the possibility of such a thing.
We have already mentioned this possibility, but we believe we should consider it separately. Those who deal closely with people in comas often come to the conclusion that their patients respond to certain stimuli and have some kind of awareness or consciousness, though medically they might even be “brain dead.”
Dr. Mihai Dimancescu, chairman of the board of the Coma Recovery Association, describes the case of a 23-year-old woman named Judy who was in a coma for three months. Every day a professor making daily rounds with his medical students would stop by her bed and say, “Judy is in a coma; she’ll never wake up.” Yet she did wake up and she told Dr. Dimancescu that she “always remembered that darn professor refusing to stop by her bed, saying that she would not wake up!” (Liz Townsend, “Recovery from Coma Is a Reality for Many Patients,” http://www.nrlc.org/news/2001/NRL10/coma.html).
Consider Nancy Cruzan, who in 1983 was in a car accident and suffered brain damage. For seven years she was in a coma, her body rigid, her hands and feet constricted and bent into claw shapes. She was able to breathe on her own, but she had a feeding tube. Her parents battled in court for over three years to remove her feeding tube so she would die, finally winning this “right” in December 1990. Nancy died December 27th, 12 days after the feeding tube was removed.
Was Nancy aware of anything? Is it possible that she could have gotten saved, if she was not before her accident? Is it possible that she could have been fulfilling some purpose of God, if she was a Christian? We believe it is possible. We just don’t know enough about all of this. Her father was never sure that he had made the right decision, and in fact, in August 1996, he committed suicide by hanging.
Doctors who supported the parents in the court battle said she was incapable of reacting or relating to her environment and could experience no thoughts or emotions. But nurses at the rehabilitation center where she lived disputed the doctors. They said she responded by turning toward those who spoke to her, that sometimes she smiled at jokes and had on occasion cried when visitors left. The Cruzan family doctor had persistently opposed the removal of her feeding tube, and only changed his position at the last moment.
Is it possible that the nurses were right? Of course it is. Medical science doesn’t know enough to say with 100% accuracy what Nancy Cruzan was experiencing. They have been wrong in many such cases, as we have seen.
An interesting thing happened to my wife while she was working in an intensive care unit (ICU) in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A teenage patient was brought in during the night in a deep coma with severe injuries. He was unconscious, but my wife spoke to him and witnessed to him anyway, and prayed for the young man. Several days later he was moved from intensive care to another part of the hospital, and she did not see him again until some weeks later. When she next saw him, he came up to the ICU to attend a going away party which the nurses were giving my wife, as she was leaving soon to live and work in South Asia. He recognized her by her voice, and testified that he remembered her voice from the night that she had stood by his bedside and witnessed to him when he was in a catatonic state!
Consider again the woman who gave birth to a healthy baby boy while in a deep coma and after having been declared brain dead by doctors. After she awoke from the coma, her husband said this: “I think that the whole time she has been injured she’s been aware, she’s just had no way of relating that back to us. ... She’s got her personality back, her sense of humor, her smile. She becomes distraught if her babies are away too long” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Monday, January 30, 1989).
Could this man be correct about his wife’s condition when she supposedly was “brain dead”?
We are saying there are so many unknowns in the realm of comas, that we should be very careful about hasty judgments here.
Let’s take another case. In June 1987, the New Jersey Supreme Court upheld a ruling that allowed a man to remove the feeding tube from his 32-year-old wife, Nancy Jobes. She died in August of that year. What about this Nancy? The nursing home which had been taking care of her for seven years objected to the decision. Consider what they said:
“She is not terminally ill. ... She responds to touch and sound stimuli ... follows movements of a person with her eyes ... [and] reacts to pain. ... We believe that withdrawal of Nancy’s feeding tube is not in her best medical interest and would be an illegal act. This would result in the patient’s painful, imminent death by starvation and dehydration” (What in the World, Volume 2, Number 9, 1987).
Is it not possible that the health care workers were right about Nancy Jobes?
We repeat: Medical science doesn’t know enough to say with 100% accuracy what Nancy Jobes was experiencing. There is a time to stop life-sustaining efforts. It is appointed unto men once to die, and the appointed time does come. Our point here is that great caution must be exercised in these matters, and hasty decisions must be avoided regarding the nature of “brain death.” We must understand that medical science does not hold all the answers.
OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO LOVED ONES IS TO CARE FOR THEM, NOT KILL THEM
Consider, finally, that the Bible gives us the responsibility to provide for loved ones, but never are we told that we have the right to kill them! Food and clothing and shelter are not “medical care”! These are the basics of life. The decision to stop providing extreme medical attention when it is clear that it is time for a loved one to depart is one thing. The decision to stop providing food and water, when the individual can take it and digest it, is quite another matter. We do not believe it is right to stop providing the simple basics of life that God has commanded us to provide. An infant is not able to eat on its own, yet we do not stop feeding it on this count!
“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 1 Tim. 5:8
There is a frightful tendency in modern society to ignore basic responsibilities toward loved ones. Nursing and convalescent homes are filled with lonely people who have no loved one to care for them. There are countless aged parents in such homes whose children never visit even though they live nearby. There are invalid children whose parents have basically forgotten about them. We know there is a time when it is best to place a severely invalid loved one in a convalescent home, but we also know that there is often a tendency today for people to neglect their responsibilities toward loved ones. Consider the testimony of Dr. Michael Miller, professor of medicine at New York Medical College and the medical director at a White Plains nursing home:
“Ninety-five percent of the patients come in [to his nursing home] with families already distanced. ... They have had diminished contact, constant struggles, are constantly attacking the nursing home staff, and make demands for premature death. ... It’s not the dementia or the sickness that causes family problems. Family problems began long, long ago and reemerge when the person gets old and sick. And the major way that family ‘pathology’ can get expressed, he said, is to tell the doctors, ‘don’t feed her,’ or ‘don’t treat the pneumonia,’ or, if the parent needs to walk to remain mobile, ‘that will only disturb her. Leave her alone.’ That’s all a way for the family to say, ‘We’ve had enough.’ ... But if such efforts to cut life short were directed, for example, toward Tenderloin derelicts, you’d be guilty of homicide. And it’s no different with nursing home patients” (San Francisco Examiner, November 20, 1983)
Sometimes it is impossible for the infirm and the elderly to be cared for in the home, but it is also true that many of those in nursing homes are there because of the hard-hearted condition of their families. Dr. Miller’s testimony exposes this, and under such conditions, it is even more important not to allow an “easy way out” for such people through misguided euthanasia laws.
I repeat, the responsibility given to us by God is to provide for loved ones, but never are we told we have the right to kill them! A few years ago my wife and I witnessed the case of a friend whose death was hastened by the family. The old man was being cared for by one of his grown children. He was mentally alert to the end and he could eat and drink with help, but the family eventually refused to give him any more food or water, claiming he could not swallow, which was not true. My wife is a nurse and she knew that what the family was saying was not true and that it was not the old man’s desire to die that way. I am convinced that this type of thing is wrong.
It is a proud, foolish, and rebellious society that thinks it has the prerogative of God to end life whenever it wishes. Death is not dignified, and it is not a right; it is a punishment by God upon sinful man. We praise Him, though, that He has not left us to die without hope but He has made a way of salvation through the substitutionary death of His Son Jesus Christ. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
THE END RESULT OF IMMORALITY
May 27, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is from the new Advanced Bible Studies Series course on the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs warns frequently of the danger of the “strange woman,” referring to all forms of immorality. It also teaches us that one important way of victory over the strange woman is to ponder her end. Hollywood, as Satan’s instrument, commonly fails to show the end of sin, tending to make it appear glamorous and exciting and rarely showing its awful consequences. God’s Word, on the other hand, shows the end of sin in the plainest manner as a warning to men. Proverbs 5:4-23 describes six results of immorality. Though the deeds of the strange woman appeal to the flesh and there are pleasures in her sin for a season, her end is what we must consider, and her end is fearful in the extreme.
(1) The strange woman leads to hell (Prov. 5:4-5). The Bible warns often about hell. Jesus preached about it many times and warned people not to go there (e.g., Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:22-31). In Proverbs 5:4-5 hell is likened to the bitterness of wormwood and the pain of a sharp sword. In fact, it is far worse because the pain of hell has no end.
(2) The strange woman leads to the loss of honor (Prov. 5:9). Consider David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, and how that his honor is stained to this very day by his dalliance with immorality. I think of many preachers who have committed adultery during my lifetime and they are out of the ministry and their dishonor remains in spite of the good that they accomplished.
(3) The strange woman leads to the loss of wealth (Prov. 5:10). Samson lost everything to immorality. An article in the Baptist Press that described two ministers who became addicted to pornography concluded with these words: “Both of the guys I’m dealing with right now, here’s what they’ve lost: They’ve lost their marriage. They’ve lost their job. They lost a lot of friends in the sense it will never be the same. They’ve lost custody of their children and now they are both doing something that they don’t really want to do or feel called to do, and they’re just trying to get by” (“Flood of Pornography Breaching the Church,” Baptist Press, Jul. 6, 2007).
(4) The strange woman leads to the loss of health (Prov. 5:11). God has loosed special diseases into the realm of immorality. There are many venereal diseases that a person will never catch if he remains morally pure and faithful to his marital spouse. There is also often loss of health through the drunkenness and drug abuse that often accompanies immoral living. This has resulted in the early death of tens of thousands of rock & rollers. We think of Elvis Presley, who died at age 42 because of his debauched lifestyle. We also think of Hollywood movie stars such as Errol Flynn, who died at age 50 from his “kamikaze lifestyle” and lost much of his money to multiple divorces and careless sexual relationships.
(5) The strange woman leads to remorse (Prov. 5:12-14). Those who follow the strange woman are temporarily blinded by lust, but they wake up one day to find that they have lost much. They are filled with remorse that they did not listen to the voice of wisdom. They hated instruction and despised reproof and obeyed not the voice of their teachers, but it is too late to go back. What is done is done and cannot be undone. We must understand that remorse is not the same as repentance unto salvation. Paul contrasted these two things in 2 Corinthians 7:10. He mentioned the sorrow of the world as opposed to godly sorrow that worketh repentance to salvation. The sorrow of the world is to be sorry for the consequences of sin, but it is not to be sorry toward God in the sense of repenting of breaking His laws and being ready to change direction in life and submit to Him. The sorrow of the world is centered upon this world, whereas repentance is centered upon God. While working in a county jail ministry for a few years I met many men who had the sorrow of the world. They were sorry that their actions had gotten them into a lot of trouble and had brought dishonor upon them and had hurt their loved ones, but they were not repentant toward God and were not ready to be saved.
(6) The strange woman leads to slavery (Prov. 5:22-23). Solomon ends with this warning because it explains why the sinner cannot easily walk away from the strange woman after once entertaining her. There are strong cords associated with sin, and those cords grow tighter with time, and few cords are stronger than the cords of immorality. Those who are addicted to pornography can testify to this. Compare John 8:34 and 2 Timothy 2:26.
In light of these warnings we need to thank the Lord that He offers salvation to sinners, and that salvation brings cleansing from all sin. When Proverbs says the sinner “shall die without instruction” (Prov. 5:23), it is speaking from the standpoint of the Law of Moses rather than the grace of the gospel. The Bible’s Good News is that Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His blood to make atonement for our sins, and by faith in Him we can be forgiven and converted. See 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
HELP US WITH THE CHURCH DIRECTORY
Updated May 26, 2008 (First published July 5, 2000) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
We receive many requests from people seeking our help in finding a good church for themselves or for their friends and relatives, so in early 1998 I decided to build a directory of fundamental Baptist churches at the Way of Life web site. Though it has not been easy to decide which churches to list and how to rate them (a problem we have resolved only very imperfectly), the Lord has richly blessed this effort. In 1999, our friend Larry Walther, a member of the Fundamental Baptist Church in Escondido, California, graciously took on the job of maintaining the directory for me. In late 2004, the job of overseeing the directory was assumed by our friend and co-laborer Brian Snider of Huntsville, Alabama.
To our knowledge, this is the largest directory of fundamental Baptist churches on the Internet, and it is aggressively maintained, but only AS PEOPLE SEND US INFORMATION AND UPDATES. Since it is impossible for us to visit most of the churches listed at the directory, we are largely dependent upon the feedback of friends.
We have heard from many people who have found good churches, as well as from many pastors who have gained members. As I travel on preaching trips, I often meet people who use the directory.
OUR NEW QUESTIONNAIRE
Some people assume that we only list churches with which we are personally familiar, but that is not the case. We are dependent upon submissions from friends in the Lord. The churches that have a double asterisk (**) are the only churches on the directory that we personally recommend and have personal knowledge of. The churches with a single asterisk (*) are churches that have filled out our Questionnaire and that appear to be likeminded with our stand.
We devised the Questionnaire after Brother Snider took over the directory, and we now require all churches to fill it out before we give the single asterisk (*). Last year we went through the directory and removed all asterisk from churches that have not filled out the Questionnaire.
Please take a few minutes to look at the directory at the Way of Life web site, and if you know of good fundamental Baptist churches that are likeminded with us but that are not already listed, ask a church officer to fill out our Questionnaire so that we can consider adding it to the list. The Questionnaire is available at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/churchdir/Questionnaire.html.
Following are a few of the testimonies we have received about the directory:
“Bro. Cloud, The purpose of this email is simple and straightforward -- THANK YOU for the list of Baptist churches you supply via the net. Our church, Old Landmark Baptist Church, in Greenfield, Indiana, is listed and we have received email and phone calls as a result of your listing our name. That itself has been a blessing, but the true benefit of your list has been the opportunity to find churches for family and friends. I have used your list more than one dozen times to locate churches across America for those who have moved or have vacationed in areas that we were not familiar. If I could share just a couple of great stories. Lori is a girl from Colorado, my wife and I met her online about 3 years ago. She was a 13 year old Baptist girl, some neighbors had taken her to church and she had gotten saved. She was truly serving the Lord in spite of the fact that her family life was a complete disaster. Her mother had disowned her, her dad was living with a woman and they would mock her because she wore dresses and would not drink liquor or smoke with them and her younger sister. We met her in a Christian chat room on AOL and she came and spent the summer with us. She has spent two summers with us now, and is on her way to visit us right now to go to Bro Duane Rutherford's campmeeting, Fresh Oil Campmeeting, in Oregon, OH. Last year when she returned home, her dad announced they were moving to the south side of Denver. It was too far away for her to get to the church she was attending -- so I went to your list. I called a church on your list that did not have the * or ** rating, talked with the pastor and encouraged Lori to attend the church. It turned out to be a full-fledged “easy believism” church though the pastor on the phone assured me they were not. Needless to say, I went back to your list and found one near Lori's new home that had the *. I called this pastor and had a wonderful conversation with him. Lori is a member there now and is happier than she's ever been. The church has a burden for her and they care for her. Without your list, we would not have been able to find her a church.”
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“I still have a secular job, and I pastor full-time. In my secular business I do a lot of traveling. I have used your list extensively for my own personal use when I'm out of town and in an unfamiliar area. I only visit * or ** churches and I have written you with requests to remove the * when it turns out they are not meeting the standard that I've come to expect from those you list with the *. I've used your list to locate churches for myself in OH, PA, NY, MA, FL and have used it to help family and friends find churches in MI, MO, MT, CO, TN, KY, IL and IN. May the Lord continue to bless this great ministry of helping those in need find a good church.”
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“Yes, Brother Cloud, we found our current church through your church directory. We are now members and happily attending ---------------. As you know, we were having more and more trouble from the SBC church in our town and couldn't find a church we liked in the local area. We have to drive 50 minutes to --------, but we love it. The music is just right. I almost cried the first few times we visited there, because I was beginning to think that everyone had gone to the contemporary, like-the-nightclubs, entertainment style music. ----------, on the other hand, has the right kind of music, and the pastor, who has an earned Ph.D., is a King James Bible preacher. We are very happy at this new church. Thank you very much for doing the directory; it has been extremely rewarding to us! Keep up the good work!”
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“Just a small note to say THANKS for the work you are doing by listing the churches on the internet!!!!!!!!!!!! Being an over the road truck driver who was raised in Independent Baptist Churches, your listings are a VERY BIG HELP for me. I use them as a starting point to find a church while out on the road. I downloaded 48 states worth of information that I carry with me in the truck and when I find a church I try to show them how I found it over the Internet and your web site. This comes as a real surprise to most pastors. So far I have used it in WA , GA, CA, FL, TN, OR, KY, MS, and some others, I am sure. Again, I truly say THANKS for your work for it helps keep me in church while out on the road. PS. When I take my zippered notebook that holds all the church listings into a truck stop, I get asked what that is and I tell them 'It's my getting right book.' Have a Great Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
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“We recently arrived home from a 10 day vacation trip through the midwest and south. We used your online directory to find good churches to attend while on our trip. I have to say thank you. I wouldn't have a clue which churches were good fundamental, bible-believing churches without this help. We attended one in Sandusky, Ohio, that had a two star rating in your list, and all I can say is that it sure deserved both stars. I praise God for Lighthouse Baptist and Pastor Richard Mick. We sure felt at home there. The fellowship was great, and the extra time they spent with us, taking us into their homes and feeding us, was nothing short of fantastic. In Thurmont, Maryland, your listing also led us to a great little congregation on Wednesday night, Pioneer Baptist. Again, thanks for helping us to be able to hear the wonderful word of God from the right source while far from home.” Allen D. Hanson, Medway, Maine, July 3, 2000
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“We found Victory Baptist [Panama City, Florida] through your web site, for which we are truly grateful. The Pastor there, Larry Beach is one of the most humble and loving servants of God I've ever met. He is not afraid to preach the truth in love, and yet he doesn't come across as having a bad attitude as I have seen in some who consider themselves fundamentalists. We left a Southern Baptist church because the Pastor there denies that the Southern Baptist Convention is involved in the ecumenical movement. Your work and dedication are much appreciated. I have lost more than a few 'cyber friends' due to my association with and recommendation of your extensive discernment ministry, but I see this as being a good sign. Blessings to you in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Anne Hamon and Family, September 15, 2000
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“We have had several people visit our church who found it under your listing.” (Pastor Glenn Harms, Foothills Baptist Church, Loveland, CO, Nov. 17, 2000)
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“First I want to start by saying that everything that is said and done here is for the Glory of our Lord and Savior. I am familiar with the Way of Life Church Directory. I have used the directory many times to help people find good Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches. My Brother and his wife are in the Air Force. My Brother was gone overseas for 3 months and his wife was visiting us for the Christmas Holidays. She received a call from some relatives that her mother was deathly taken with cancer, so she flew to see her mother and after talking with her she was worried for her soul. She contacted me to find some pastors that could go talk to her. So I went to the Church directory on the Internet and found the three churches in that town. I then let my pastor call the pastors of each church as I felt it would be received better from him. To the Glory of God Pastor Joey Watt of El Vista Baptist Church was able to go see her and lead her to the Lord. AMEN . I just want to thank you so much for the Church Directory. And I want to that you Pastor Watt for meeting the need, and being instant in season and out of season. May God bless you for your Service to him and may his Mercy and Grace be on us all.” January 1, 2001
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“Please add my church to your directory. This is a wonderful directory that I am sharing with Military families worldwide to help those moving find a Bible Believing (Missionary supporting) Fundamental Baptist church.” Pastor Duane Johnson, First Baptist Church, Yuba City, California. May 12, 2001).
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“First, allow me to thank you for your ministry to me. Miss --------- located the Harbour Light Baptist Church on the internet and has now affiliated herself with us. She is Hungarian and has lived in the US for 10 years. Ours is the first church she has attended and she will be baptized August 1, 2001. Thank you for being used of our Lord to add to the Harbour Light Baptist Church. Also, I was traveling through northern Pennsylvania this month and needed to find a church for Wednesday evening. Your list of churches revealed one in Tioga that I had never heard of. Janet and I were able to attend services on June 13th. Thank you for this help” (Pastor Jerry Matson, Norfolk, Virginia, June 28, 2001).
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“Praise the Lord, I received an email from an individual the other day interested in our church. They had had enough with other ‘Fundamental’ churches. Ecumenism is the problem. Well, they found us on your site and wrote.” (Pastor Jeff Feil, Tabernacle Baptist Church, Quincey, Illinois, July 18, 2001).
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“Thanks for having the church directory you have are your web site. Our youngest daughter is in the U.S. Navy and I have used it to find churches near the ports she visits. It is a great encouragement to her to be able to fellowship with Christians of a kindred spirit. She recently visited a church in Maine that we located in the church directory. Thanks again, it is an encouragement to me to know she is able to attend Biblical sound Baptist Churches as she service our country” (Daniel Shoemaker, May 18, 2002).
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“Thanks for your directory. I continue to use it whenever I travel on business or vacation. On a recent business trip to Colorado Springs, I used your church directory to find a good church” (Brother Tim Geist, May 10, 2003).
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“We have also recently had a lady and her children visiting us due to your website. Thank you for your help in the ministry here in California” (Pastor Phil Clark, West Coast Baptist Church, Vista, California, July 11, 2003).
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“My wife and I found our church (Heritage Baptist Church in Frankfort, IL) through the listing on your website. Since then I and my children have been saved. I appreciate your ministry” (David Vancina, September 15, 2003).
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“I have been meaning to write you and thank you for your list of good churches across America. I refer to it any time I go out of town to see what churches will be in the area I am going. Also I referred to the list when I took my mama to church the week after her husband died. The Lord had been working on her, and the pastor’s wife led her to the Lord during the invitation. So you have my eternal gratitude for compiling that list” (Steven Lee, October 16, 2003).
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“I appreciate your ministry for the Lord very much. We have a couple who have begun to attend our church, and have actually joined as members. They viewed your website and saw our church, thus you were instrumental in sending this fine couple to us” (Pastor John Rink, Southampton, PA).
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“Thanks for the CHURCH DIRECTORY. A family visited us last night and testified it was due to your directory. This directory has been of help to me in helping OTHERS find a church in their travels or in re-location” (Pastor Clayton Doss, Bible Baptist Church, Crookston, MN, July 15, 2004).
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“Not sure if I have written to you before but I wanted to say thank you for the IFBC listing. I use it constantly to direct others to real churches that preach God’s Word. It is a great source. Again, thank you.” (October 2004)
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“I am writing to say thank you. I don't know why I did not email sooner. Whilst browsing your excellent website about 18 months ago I came across a church in your directory that was near to me (Bethany Baptist Church, Pontypridd, South Wales). I was an Anglican until then and had always been. Every Sunday I (for some unknown reason) plodded along through each service getting absolutely nowhere with its wishy washy theology and its rituals (indeed, some quite catholic rituals). It was entirely just a duty or a chore to go every Sunday (although I did not dislike it). After reflecting on all of the fuss and news coverage of the homosexuality in the church and the new archbishop etc. I came to realise just how ridiculously false and heretical the Anglican church, in general, is. I sent an email to the aforementioned church and started attending there. Even on my first visit to a meeting I was left awestruck by the power of the preaching and immediately recognized the church as Godly. What’s more is that I came to realize I was not saved. But praise the Lord, I am now. I am growing in faith and in the knowledge of the Holy Bible (Authorised KJ only at this church) and of our lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So I just want to say thank you for your work and your website, through which the Lord led me to Himself. Without which, I may not have been redeemed. May God richly bless your work.” (January 7, 2005)
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“I thank you for posting the links [for the church directory]. I have emailed before, but I took my mom 2 years ago to New Life Baptist Church because I found it on your list. She got saved on her first visit. She is now there every time the doors are open. She is the happiest I have ever seen her. Only in eternity will you know how many of us you have helped by posting these listings!” (January 18, 2005)
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“We just wanted to say ‘Thank you’ for the online church directory. We recently took our first vacation in several years and were anxious about where to go to church, as we would be traveling through several states. We were able to utilize the online church database to find three churches (one for each state we would be in) to visit. Each one had good, old-fashioned, Bible-preaching. We felt right at home, which is not easy for us. Anyway, we were glad to be back at our home church (Madison Baptist Church in Alabama), but we know that the next time we travel, we have an invaluable resource available to make our ‘on the road church trips’ as close to home as possible.” (May 2005)
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“You will be amazed when you get here about all the families at the church that found us through ties to your website.” (Pastor Ken Shaver, Greater Cumberland Baptist Church, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, July 22, 2005).
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“I trust that all is well with you and the ministry there. I received a phone call from an Australian man who recently moved to Fiji and was looking for a Baptist church to attend. He found us on your church directory on the web, called me, and I was able to direct him to a good church on the other side of our island.” (Pastor Ryan Gray, missionary to Fiji, January 31, 2006)
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“I only wanted to say, THANK YOU. I was saved in 1980 at age 35, baptized in a Baptist Church, and after 25 years walked away after a difficult 20 minute lecture I gave the church body about why not to vote for the new pastor the elder board presented to us. The new candidate was a five point Calvinist and a great follower of Rick Warren. When I spoke to people about the dangers of Rick Warren, I was shot down. So began the looking for another church. I think I finally found one through you web site. Been searching for about 6 months. Anyway, thank you for your articles.” (March 20, 2006)
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“Thanks to the church directory on your website, I have been blessed to find a small IFB church about an hour's drive from my home -- one that appears to be spiritually healthy. As you mentioned, it is worth the drive. Thank you for your faithfulness to help the Lord's people.” (November 10, 2006)
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“As a result of using your church list, we were able to refer a backslidden sister of one of our members that lives in Mississippi to a good fundamental church. She went to church with her unsaved husband and he got saved and she got right with the Lord! This was about 3 months ago. They are both attending faithfully! Once again, thank you for your ministry.”
Way of Life Literature's Directory of Fundamental Baptist Churches is located at the following web site -- http://www.wayoflife.org/
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HOW GOD PRESERVES HIS WORD
May 19, 2008 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is by Buddy Smith, pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Malanda, Queensland
The Anvil of God's Word
Last eve I paused beside a blacksmith's door,
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
Then, looking in, I saw upon the floor
Old hammers, worn with beating years of time.
"How many anvils have you had," said I,
"To wear and batter all these hammers so?"
"Just one," said he, and then, with twinkling eye,
"The anvil wears the hammers out, you know."
And so, thought I, the anvil of God's Word,
For ages skeptic blows have beat upon;
Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard,
The anvil is unharmed--the hammers gone.
--John Clifford
Broken hammers! Those two words sum up the entire history of men's attacks on the Word of God. The anvil of God's Word has for centuries suffered countless hammer blows from its enemies, yet it bears not a dent or scratch from all their spite! I see inscribed upon the broken hammers the names of those who wielded them! I see Sennacharib's name. Jehoiakim's name is there (Jer. 36). Diocletian, Voltaire, Paine, Hegel, Hume, Griesbach, Semler, Lachmann, Strauss, Baur, Ingersoll, Fosdick, and a thousand others have wielded their infidel arguments against the Word of God, and yet it endures. The floor of history is littered with the broken hammers of critics, but the anvil is unharmed!
THE ANSWER TO A GREAT MYSTERY
There is a great mystery here. How is it possible that the Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament and the Received Text of the Greek New Testament, and so very many of the faithful translations of the Bible have survived the enmity of wicked men so that we have the very Word of God in our possession today? The Scriptures give us the answer, God has preserved His Word for us. He told us in His Word He would do so, "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Psalm 12:6,7 "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. 5:18 "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matt. 24:35 Add to these verses Psa. 33:11; 100:5; 105:8-10; 111:7,8; 117:2; 119:89, 152, 160; Isa. 40:8;, and I Tim. 6:14 Our Lord Jesus stated this truth when he said, "...the Scripture cannot be broken." Without a doubt, God has preserved His Words for us in English in the King James Bible.
When I was a young Christian it used to trouble me that men were forever attacking the Word of God. Since I came to understand the doctrine of preservation, I no longer fear that we will ever lose the Word of God or see the King James Bible displaced by the modern mistranslations. As a little boy fifty years ago, I remember listening to our dear old pastor as he preached on the Inspiration of the Bible, its Inerrancy, its Authority, and its Preservation. At the time, the doctrine of Inspiration was under attack. Faithless men hammered away at the Holy Scriptures with their pompous words while sceptics laughed and applauded, but they all passed away, and the anvil was unharmed. Some years later, the Inerrancy of the Scriptures came under attack. For many years now the Authority of the Word of God has been under attack. And over the past twenty or thirty years "scholars" have angrily attacked the doctrine of the Preservation of God's Word. Without exception, these "scholars" have held to what is called Modern Textual Criticism.
THE ORIGINS OF MODERN TEXTUAL CRITICISM
We must remember that the men who devised the basic principles of Modern Textual Criticism earned their degrees at the feet of the early modernists. In the eighteenth century modernists were known as German Rationalists. Using the "scientific" methods of the Renaissance, they sat in judgment on the Word of God and dispensed with everything supernatural in the Bible. This view came to be called Higher Criticism. The students of the Higher Critics carried their modernism one step farther and devised theories of modern textual criticism to hammer away at the Inspiration, the Inerrancy, the Authority, and the Preservation of the Bible. Over the past century most Bible colleges and seminaries have embraced modern textual criticism and, as a result, have jettisoned the doctrine of Preservation.
They seem to have forgotten that God has always preserved certain things.
THE DOCTRINE OF PRESERVATION
Holy Scripture tells us in II Peter 3:7, "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Two separate words are used here to describe God's preservation of the cosmos for the day of judgment. "Kept in store" is from the Greek word "thesaurus" . It carries the meaning of something being laid up as a treasure. "Reserved" is from the word "teereo" and means to keep, to preserve, or to hold fast. This verse agrees with Col. 1:17, "And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." God is always actively preserving and keeping and holding together the heavens and the earth. He has a plan for them and will not allow them to be destroyed until his plan is fulfilled.
God has, for thousands of years, preserved the nation of Israel. Surely the words of God to Jacob in Gen. 28:15 " And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest..." were not to Jacob alone, but to all his seed. Again and again, God promised to Israel that He would preserve them. Exodus 23:20 reads, "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared." And the Jews were instructed to bless one another with the words of Num. 6:24, "The LORD bless thee and keep thee..." History bears solemn witness to the keeping power of God. He has preserved His covenant people in the face of bitter enmity and will yet bring them to faith in His Son. God has a plan for Israel and will not allow the Adolph Hitlers of the past, present, or future to destroy them.
God keeps His own children so that they can never be lost. Jude addressed his epistle to those who are "sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called." We are preserved and kept and held fast. Oh, brother, if you are washed in the blood of the Lamb, you can swing over the pit of Hell on a rotten cornstalk singing Amazing Grace and never fear that you will fall in! We are assured in Romans 8:38,39 that no created thing or circumstance can "separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus." My dear Saviour gave this poor little lamb all the assurance he would ever need when He said, " And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than I, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." (John 10:28,29 ) In Ephesians 4:30 we are told that we are "sealed with the Holy Spirit." What could be clearer than the fact that every member of the Trinity is involved in keeping us. God has a plan for us and will keep us all the way to Heaven. We are preserved!
HOW GOD PRESERVES HIS WORD
It should not surprise us then, to read the verses on the preservation of the Bible. It is God's way to preserve those things for which He has a great purpose and plan. In simple faith we say a loud "AMEN" to every text that tells us God will preserve His Word. Church historians agree (often very reluctantly, I fear) that God HAS preserved His Word. Many preachers who should boldly preach this great truth (and don't!) will nod their heads ever so timidly and sheepishly admit that it seems to be true, but then they will qualify that admission by saying that there are no verses in the Bible that specifically state the doctrine of Preservation. And then they will say that there are no verses that tell us how God preserves His Word.
We Baptists used to believe that everything in life is basically theological. By that we mean that we believe that every subject, every issue, and every doctrinal controversy MUST be looked at from God's perspective, and we believe that His perspective is to be found in His Word. If you still hold that as a conviction, you will find that you are out of step with a great many Bible college professors and their graduates. And you wouldn't be able to pass some of the courses in their learned institutions. Why do I say this? Simply because it is now taboo in many circles for you to approach the subject of textual criticism from the perspective of faith. That is the perspective which believes that God has revealed in His Word how to discern which Greek text is reliable and which is not. We believe God has laid out for us in the Bible all the guidelines we need. If you hold to this position, you are pleading guilty to having a biblical bias. Most Bible "scholars" tell us that this perspective is not "neutral." (Say, that sounds a lot like straddling the fence to me. I thought "neutralism" was something that new evangelicals were into.) When the "scholars" say they can find no verses in the Bible that teach that God has preserved His Word or how He does it, we are reminded of the three reasons a burglar can't find a policeman. 1) He isn't really interested in looking. 2) He tends to look in the wrong places. 3) And he would be in deep trouble if he did find one.
A KEY WORD
Now I would like to propose a little challenge for the scholarly gentlemen who tell us that the Bible has nothing to say about preservation. Since God uses the word "preserve" in the Bible, why not take the time to look up all the verses in the Bible that use the Greek word translated "preserved" ( as in I Thess. 5:23 and in Jude 1)? It is the word, "teereo". It is translated "preserved" twice, "reserved" eight times, "hold fast" once, "hold" once, "watch" twice, "observe" four times, "prison" once, and "keep, keepers, kept, keepeth, and keeping" almost sixty times. The overall definition we perceive through the Holy Spirit's uses of the word "teereo" is that of someone exercising a protective, custodial, watchful care over someone or some thing. The Spirit used it to describe the soldiers watching Jesus on the cross (Matt. 27:36, 54) It is used to describe those who watched the tomb of our Lord (Matt. 28:4) The ruler of the feast accused the bridegroom in John 2:10 of keeping back the best wine till last. In Acts 12:5,6 and 16:23, Peter and Paul were kept in prison. In I Cor. 7:37 and I Tim. 5:22 a man is told to keep his body free from immorality. The Ephesian church was exhorted to keep the unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3) Paul faces death in II Tim 4:7 with the confidence that he has kept the faith. James writes that we are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. The truth of preservation is very clearly taught in all these verses. In each case someone or some thing is being watched over protectively. If we believe that "every word of God is pure" (Prov. 30:5), if we believe in the Verbal Inspiration of Scripture, then we believe that God very carefully chose this word to convey to us the fact that men commonly exercise a custodial and careful watchfulness over things that have value and importance.
THE SURPRISING USES OF THE WORD
So what does this word have to do with the preservation of God's Word? Simply this, the word, "teereo", is used 28 times in the New Testament to describe men "keeping" the sayings of Christ, His commandments, His words, and God's law. See, for example, John 8:51, "If a man keep my saying, he shall never die." and John 8:55 "...I know him and keep His saying." John 14:15 is the best known of these verses, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Verses 21, 23, 24 emphasize the same truth, "He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me...", " If a man love me, he will keep my words...", and "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings..." I John 2:3, 4, 5 add these words, "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whose keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby we do know that we are in him." For over forty years I have been reading those verses and assuming that they were only describing the simple obeying of God's Word, but that is not all that is in the word "keep". (It should be emphasised that there are three basic words for "obey" in the Greek New Testament, but this word "teereo" is never once translated "obey".) The Holy Spirit's consistent use of the word "teereo" in the New Testament shows that it means to exercise a protective, watchful, custodial care of the thing kept. That is the basic meaning of the word. The verses which use the word "teereo" in reference to keeping our Lord's commandments teach us that God would have His children to preserve His Word. So have we been altogether wrong in supposing that we are to obey the words of Christ? I think not. God intended for us to lovingly exercise a protective watchcare over His Words, and in doing so, to obey them. If God's people have a grasp of the importance of standing guard over the purity of God's Word, and having a loving watchfulness over the Bible, they will also "keep" it in obeying it. Obedience to the Bible and Preservation of the Bible are inseparable. When the Lord Jesus said to His disciples in John 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments," He was instructing them to lovingly preserve His commandments from corruption by obeying them without alteration. That makes sense to this old hillbilly preacher. I will preserve God's Word so I can obey it carefully and I will obey it carefully so I can preserve it unchanged for the next generation of God's children. If I become careless in obeying it, I will become careless in preserving it. Say, have you noticed that those who are so opposed to the doctrine of preservation also become increasingly careless in obeying the Bible? And those who are most vocal in their support of the preservation of the Bible tend to be most concerned about simple obedience to it? It stands to reason that carelessness in preserving God's Word goes with carelessness in obeying it, and diligence in preserving it goes with diligence in obeying it.
SIMPLE STEPS OF PRESERVATION
Now, I think I hear someone saying, "You still haven't told us how God's Word is preserved."
First, we should recognise that when the Lord told men to keep His words He was addressing His disciples. This charge is given to the Lord's disciples not only individually but collectively. In the simplest analysis churches are gatherings of disciples of Christ. It was the churches' task then and it is the churches' task now to "keep His commandments!" The little church I pastor has been given a divine mandate to preserve the Bible. It is not the task of parachurch organisations such as denominations, Bible societies, Bible colleges, seminaries, Christian universities, or museums to preserve God's Word. It is the work of the local church. This is how God has preserved His Word since the time of the apostles, through local churches standing guard over it. Read the history of the primitive churches in every land. They preserved the Word of God without anyone's help but God's. Roman emperors and Roman popes tried their hardest to take the Bible away from the churches, but they would not give it up.
Churches in this century must realise that no group of people in the world has the right to tell a local church that it is exceeding its mandate when it stands guard over the purity of the Bible. No author, no Baptist pope, no fellowship of churches, no university, and no seminary has the right to overrule our Saviour's charge to the local church to preserve God's Word. Second, any church that sets out to preserve their Saviour's sayings commits itself inevitably to obey it in the letter and the spirit. The Great Commission of Christ to His disciples contains the words, "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." (Matt. 28:20) "All things" teaches preservation. "Observe" teaches obedience. Preservation and obedience are forever joined together.
We need to read with discernment the histories of the churches. When the "scholars" of the 19th century discovered the mangled and mutilated manuscripts of the Alexandrian Greek text they should have exercised discernment as to the places they found them. The Vaticanus manuscript was discovered unused, unpreached, and unloved among the papists who had no desire to preserve it or obey it. Its credibility is immediately suspect because of the lawless obscurantism of its hosts. The Sinaitic manuscript was discovered in no better company. Godless priests were using it to kindle a fire. One of the rooms of the monastery was filled with the skulls of deceased priests. Dead rituals, dead prayers, dead doctrines, dead priests, and a dead text, they all belong together.
A live text, the Received Text, should be found in a live church, filled with live doctrines, with a live preacher and live saints. It should actively worship the living God. It should be empowered by the Spirit of life. When the Spirit of God spoke through the apostle Paul, he described the local church as being "the pillar and ground of the truth." (I Tim. 3:15) A church which trembles at the Word of God (Isa. 66:2,5) will preserve it in the very fullest sense, lovingly obeying it.
And third, God has given us the very simplest instructions for the preserving of His Words. He tells us again and again not to add to it or take away from it. This is preservation in all its simplicity. Deut. 4:2 is the first text that warns us not to add to, nor take away from the Word of God, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." (Note how preservation and obedience go together in this and the next text!) Deut. 12:32 states this truth again, "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: Thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it." The wise man of Proverbs 30:6 warns, "Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." God's commission to Jeremiah in chapter 26:2 is, "...(S)peak all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word." Rev. 22:18, 19 are possibly the best known verses on the preservation of the Bible. They come at the close of the canon, and warn men most solemnly not to add to nor take away from the words of this book. What is not commonly known is that the 22nd chapter also contains two verses that speak of our part in preservation. Verse 7 promises a blessing on the man that "keepeth the sayings of this book." And verse 9 identifies the angel who spoke with John as being the fellowservant of them which "keep the sayings of this book." The word, again, is "teereo". There is a blessing on the man who preserves the Word of God and avoids every alteration to the Bible. And a curse on those who add to or take away from it.
So God tells us how His Word is preserved. It is kept by those who love it and obey it. Down through the centuries He has kept his Word through His people. Wherever we find a church, large or small, that is committed to walking in the light of the Bible, we will find a church that takes its stewardship of the purity of God's Word seriously. And we will find that they measure everything, including Modern Textual Criticism, by the Word of God.
Many years ago, I pastored a church near an aboriginal mission. There was a missionary living and working there who told me one day that someone had donated copies of a modern translation for the church in the settlement. He said that after a few weeks, the people came to him and said, "Brother ________, we don't like this new Bible. We want the old one back again." When he asked why, they said, "This Bible got no teeth!" In simple faith, with barely enough education to read, they knew the difference between the true Scriptures and the mangled thoughts of men. They knew that the Holy Scriptures have "teeth", and they had discerned that the new "bible" didn't. They discerned that somebody had pulled the teeth of their Bible when they left verses out and added in the words of men.
They also knew that they should "keep" the sayings of Jesus by asking for their old Bibles back. Those old Bibles were the King James Version. One of the saddest statistics of our generation is that more and more Bible colleges and seminaries have become hammer factories for sceptics. But we should also be greatly encouraged to know that there are more and more faithful churches who believe in God's preservation of His Word . Many good books on preservation are being written and sermons preached and research done, so that there is an ever increasing body of Scriptural evidence that proves clearly that God is keeping His Word through His people.
I hear a new sound in the world today. It is the sound of hammers breaking as they beat themselves to pieces against the Word of God. It is music to our ears.
But it is not the hammers that make the music.
It is the anvil.
God is preserving His Word.
POT-POURRI EVANGELISM
May 15, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The late James Alexander Stewart was an evangelist greatly used by God in the last generation. His evangelistic/revival crusades in Eastern Europe between the end of World War II and the fall of the Communist Iron Curtain were among the last truly Bible-based, citywide revivals in the last century. His challenging life story, I Must Tell, is available from Revival Literature, PO. Box 6068, Asheville, NC 28816.
The following sermon is taken from a chapter of Evangelist Stewart’s book entitled Evangelism. Many years ago we were given permission to reprint three chapters from this book.
The compromises of the gospel that James Stewart witnessed in evangelical Christianity were just beginning to bud during his lifetime. These messages were first written in the 1940s. Even so, the faithful evangelist did not forbear to lift his voice against them. He did not follow the New Evangelical philosophy that the evangelist should simply preach the gospel while avoiding any negative aspects of the preaching ministry such as rebuking error. Oh, that God would raise up a new generation of men with the spirit of the Charles Spurgeons and the James Stewarts of a bygone era.
The compromises that burdened the heart of Evangelist Stewart are in full bloom today. These messages are therefore more urgently needed now than when the writer was alive. May God give us ears to hear these important truths.
POT-POURRI EVANGELISM
By James Alexander Stewart, D.D.
Satan is dishing out today in the Name of the Lord a potpourri evangelism.
The dictionary suggests, among other definitions, that pot-pourri means a “mixed pot with a bad odor.”
In 1940 I preached the message on “Hollywood Evangelism” which girdled the globe and which was read by a vast number. This message was a protest against a cheap vulgar “amateurish” evangelism which robbed the Christ of God of His dignity and reduced the glorious gospel to a message of entertainment. “Pot-pourri Evangelism” robs the gospel of its power and the Cross of its reproach.
I have waited again for someone to sound the alarm in God’s holy mountain.
The time has come when I can keep no longer silent. This loving message of warning burns within me. “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” I believe pot-pourri Evangelism is more sinister that “Hollywood Evangelism.”
As one of the Puritans quaintly expressed it, “The face of error is highly painted and powdered so as to render it attractive to the unwary.” Satan comes as a roaring lion to persecute, or as an angel of light, to patronize (1 Pet. 5:8; 2 Cor. 11:14). Satan as an angel of light is more to be dreaded than Satan as a roaring lion. A patronizing enemy is more dangerous than a persecuting enemy. John Bunyan warns us of this in his Pilgrim’s Progress. Christian had a hard fight with Appolyon in the Valley of Humiliation, and the enemy nearly overcame him; but the Sword of the Spirit in the hand of Christian put even his strong enemy to flight. Later, Christian and Hopeful, having been up the Delectable Mountains, and coming to a cross-way, stop and confer as to which road they shall take. Presently a black man in a light robe asks the travelers the reason of their standing there. They tell him their perplexity, and are led by him, as they supposed, the right way. But, instead of conducting them aright, the black stranger has brought the travelers into the compass of a net, and they wake up to know the wiles of a flatterer.
We must beware of the flattery of the world in its commendation and patronage.
We must be more afraid of flattery from the camp of the enemy than persecution. Read the pages of Church history. Persecution never did the Church of God any harm, but compromise with the world has always robbed it of the power of its purity. Heroic Bishop Latimer knew this truth of persecution when, dying at stake, he turned to saintly Ridley with these blessed words, “We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust will never be put out.” We must never forget that Satan as an angel of light is a most beautiful spectacle, and that is why so many dear saints are deceived. “Pot-pourri Evangelism” consists of two features: mixed evangelistic campaigns and mixed Christianity.
MIXED EVANGELISTIC CAMPAIGNS
By mixed evangelistic campaigns I mean the alliance of Modernistic and Evangelical churches together in an evangelistic effort. The devil is very religious and the world system he controls has its own worldly religion. In Deut. 22, verses 9 to 11, God has stated clearly His laws of separation:
“Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shall not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woolen and linen together.” The mixed seeds speak of mixed teaching.
The mixing of the ox and ass speaks of mixed service.
The mixture of wool and linen speaks of mixed conduct.
The message of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy is that God is a holy God and demands a holy people. The Israelites and their cattle were stamped with the marks of separation. By forbidding the intermingling of seeds, and animals, and garments, God teaches us the great eternal truth of sanctification. The Scripture abounds with this blessed teaching. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:24). Christ did not say that it is difficult but that it is IMPOSSIBLE to serve two masters.
“No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.
Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved” (Matt. 9:16-17).
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light and darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God: as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:14-17).
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).
You will remember the very solemn lesson we have in the experience of the Children of Israel. In Exodus 12:38 they flagrantly violated God’s holy command in allowing the mixed multitude to come out from Egypt with them.
This mixed multitude of uncircumcised people was a continual source of weakness and trouble to the saints of God. They caused them to stumble and fall and compromise their position as a holy people (Num. 11:4).
Thank God that during the times of reviving in the days of Nehemiah the saints dealt with this God-dishonoring compromise. When they rediscovered the law of God they separated the mixed multitude from Israel. They once again became a peculiar people unto the God Who had redeemed them. Remember, an unequal yoke makes for bad ploughing and crooked furrows.
HUMAN RELIGION
As one aptly said,
When religion gets up a revival, it must have from five to twenty churches of heterogeneous creeds and sectarian bodies go into a great union effort; it must have a mammoth choir with great musical instruments, and many preachers and multiplied committees, and each committee headed by some banker, judge, mayor, or millionaire’s wife. It signs cards as a substitute for the broken-hearted cry of scriptural repentance. It must count its converts by the hundreds in a few days’ meeting. It must apologize for natural depravity. Human religion thinks it will conquer the world; it curls up its lips at the coming Jesus, thinks the world is growing beautifully better and is forever forming itself into fresh organizations of “leagues,” “endeavors” and “brigades.” It denies holiness, ignores the omnipotent personal agency of the Holy Ghost, steers clear of all divine manifestations, is terrified at the supernatural in Grace, discounts personal testimony, is afraid of weeping, is terrified at a “hallelujah,” and thinks that the sobs of a penitent should be stifled with a lavender- scented handkerchief. Human religion’s enterprises have an atmosphere of earthliness about them. It despises the day of small things and scorns little humble people and lonely ways. It is easier to jump to the height of prosperity. Its music has no pathos in it, its laughter lacks divine cheerfulness, its worship lacks supernatural love, its prayers bring down no huge answers, it works no miracles, calls forth no criticism from the world, and it has no light of eternity in its eyes. It is a poor, sickly thing, born of the union of the heart of the world with the head of Christian theology--a mongrel, bastard thing with a backslidden church for its mother and the world for its father.
Oh, my dear brother and sister, never forget that this unnatural monster will be destroyed at the coming-again of our Blessed Lord Jesus. The above described human religion is the “mixed multitude” with which evangelical fundamental churches sometimes find themselves allied in an evangelistic campaign.
MIXED CHRISTIANITY
In our Christian world today Satan has created a mixed Christianity by destroying the meaning of our evangelical terms and the great fundamental words of the gospel. He has also succeeded in removing the line of demarcation between the world and the redeemed. By defective gospel preaching and subtle usage of evangelical phrases, we have bastards and sons mixed together in evangelical circles (Heb. 12:8). By robbing the cross of its stigma, and failing to demand a supernatural experience in the “new birth,” many preachers have reduced the Message of the Cross to a meaningless Evangel.
It cannot be denied that there is a religious revival in America today. The Modernistic churches are in many cases full to capacity. The Roman Catholic church is experiencing its greatest revival, while two of its leaders have once again been voted as among the ten most prominent figures in American life. False sects are “mushrooming” everywhere and one of them can bring together one hundred and twenty-five thousand delegates daily for a week’s convention.
Along with this religious revival has come a wave of popularity for so- called Evangelical Christianity. On the surface it seems very flattering encouraging, but in reality it is dangerous and deathly.
Almost everybody is religious. It is popular to be religious. It is fashionable to be a church member and even to talk about being saved. (Of course the phrase “supernaturally born again” is not popular, because that demands a new creation in Christ Jesus as the result of a new birth.) Movie stars, popular entertainers, Disc Jockeys, Sportsmen, Mayors, and Politicians, all are fluent in talking about religion. It is not uncommon for one of these personalities to tell you to “go to [the] church [of your choice] on Sunday,” and “read your Bible,” and “God is the only hope of America.” A story with a religious slant will hit the front page.
A religious jazzy song will be among the ten top tunes in the Hit Parade. Our evangelical Christians seem to be thrilled and flattered when some ungodly outstanding figure of the world condescends to say something nice about the gospel. We have reached such a low state of spirituality that we are excited when a prominent personality professes conversion and speaks our evangelical vocabulary--even though his life shows no evidence whatsoever of the revolutionary change wrought by the gospel of Christ. We have so lost the vision of the power and dignity of our blessed Lord that we think it very wonderful when one of these unregenerated leaders “helps God out” in His great enterprise of evangelism.
SATAN’S STRATAGEMS
In the mixed corrupt Christianity we see Satan’s masterstroke exhibited.
The Protoevangelion of Gen. 3:15 describes the Conflict of the Ages, between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. This battle will continue through the ages until Satan is finally cast into the Lake of Fire. The conflict goes on today. We must not be ignorant of his “wiles” (Eph. 6:11) Satan sought to destroy the seed royal to hinder the promise of God from being fulfilled. (See 2 Ki. 11:1-3.) The devil’s business now is to hinder the completion of God’s work for this age through the spread of the pure gospel. Both Paul and Peter warn us of the wiles of Satan in these last perilous days. “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.” (2 Tim. 3:8). Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses by duplicating the work of God by satanic power (Ex. 7:10-12). This is exactly one of Satan’s wiles today.
R.B. Jones has left on record the following warning:
“Satan is not the enemy of Revival in itself. It would not be difficult to show historically that at times Satan, somehow aware of God’s purpose in this respect, has managed to forestall God by sending a counterfeit of the revival God intended. Also, when he had failed in forestalling, it could be shown how he has succeeded in troubling the stream of Revival, which though pure as crystal at its source at the throne of God, gradually became turbid and impure.”
Thus by counterfeiting, Satan hinders the believers praying for the real, supernatural, spontaneous outbreaking of the Spirit of God.
Blasphemous semi-evangelical songs with the music composed in Hell are the “hits” of the hour. What a violent contrast to the hymnology that was born in the great Revivals!
Satan hates the Cross, because the Cross is the symbol of his defeat. The object of Satan’s attack has always been the Cross of Christ. “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Col. 2:15; see also Isa. 53:12).
His be the Victor’s name, Who fought the fight alone; Triumphant saints no honor claim, His conquest was their own.
Bless, bless the Conqueror slain, Slain in His Victory! Who lived, Who died, Who lives again, For thee, my soul, for thee!
In Exodus we have four strategies of Satan. The first suggestion is the most dangerous, and it is highly popular today: “Go sacrifice to God in the land” (i.e. “You don’t have to leave Egypt to serve your God.”) Exodus 8:25.
In “Pot-pourri Evangelism,” the Cross is no longer the Church’s symbol of stigma and reproach (Gal. 5:11; 6:14). General William Booth, with great prophetic insight, stated over fifty years ago: “The chief danger of the twentieth century, will be
Religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ,
Forgiveness without repentance. Salvation without regeneration,
Heaven without hell.”
What would this man of God say to our day and generation regarding this new danger? Satan does not mind our worshiping and preaching a Cross without its stigma. He has garlanded the “Old Rugged Cross of shame and reproach” with bouquets of flowers from worldings who have never left his employment.
How different is the attitude of two godly bishops of the Church of England. “Oh God,” cried Bishop Taylor Smith, “we are neither fit for earth nor heaven, but only to be hung between on a cross!” Bishop J.C. Ryle rightly says, “A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity without a crown.” We are in grave danger when we court the applause of the world.
Think of how Paul bore the stigma of his message! “For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were, appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day” (1 Cor. 4:9-13).
Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood,
Sealed my pardon with His blood:
Hallelujah! What a Saviour.
In “Pot-pourri Evangelism” there is very little emphasis on separation from this present evil age. The challenge of Mark 8:36 is unnecessary. The story of saving grace as described by Paul in Ephesians, chapter two, is meaningless in “Potpourri Evangelism.” Puritan John Bunyan and Bishop John Commenius in their strikingly similar books, Pilgrim’s Progress and Labyrinth of the World portray a Christianity which is sheer nonsense to the friends of “Mixed Christianity.” “Vanity Fair” and “The Market Place of the World” are unrecognized places to many of the adherents of “Mixed Christianity.”
WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURES?
The gospel will ever be foolishness unto the natural man (1 Cor. 1:18).
The gospel will always be unpalatable to the natural man (Isa. 53:2,3; Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 2:14).
The natural man is unable to comprehend and appreciate the things of God (Jn. 3:10; 1 Cor. 2:14).
Christ crucified will always be a stumbling block and offense to the unregenerate man (1 Cor. 1:23).
The unregenerate man is dead and needs new life in Christ (Jn. 3:7; Jn. 5:24).
The unregenerate man can only be born again by the miraculous work of the Holy Ghost, resulting in a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
A regenerate man is a new creation in Christ Jesus and is delivered from this present evil age (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 1:4; Col. 1:12-13).
The regenerate man must bear the stigma of the reproach of the Cross of Christ (Gal. 2:20; Heb. 13:13).
The regenerate man will glory in all the implications of the Cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14).
THE TRUE MESSAGE
In closing, I feel that in order to counteract this “Pot-pourri Evangelism” we must emphasize three definite phases of the gospel Message.
First: Regeneration is the supernatural work of the Holy Ghost which man himself cannot accomplish.
How can we believe in the latter part of John 6:37 and not believe the first part? “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing me of my sin and misery, enlightening my mind in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing my will, He did persuade and enable me to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to me in the gospel.
Second: We are saved from a life of sin to a life of holiness. The gospel is not just that Christ died to save us from the penalty of sin (Jn. 3:16).
That is only part of the gospel Message. What saith the Scriptures?
“Who gave Himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world.” (Gal. 1:4).
“Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people” (Titus 2:14).
“Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.” Why? That He might save it from the future punishment of sin alone? No! “That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5:27).
Salvation is more than a passport to Heaven; it is deliverance from the dominion of sin in this life (Titus 2:11-12).
Third: Receiving Christ as Saviour means repenting from sin and acknowledging Christ as Lord (Luke 13:3; Acts 11:18; Acts 17:30; Acts 16:31; Rom. 10:9).
Evangelical repentance is a breaking from the dominion of sin. True repentance is always accompanied by a heartlonging after holiness. It is a false gospel that divorces Christ the Saviour from Christ the Lord. The sinner is a rebel who must repent and lay down his arms of rebellion before the king of Kings. “Christ will save none but those who are brought to resign themselves sincerely to the obedience of His Royal authority and laws” (Walter Marshall, 1692). “God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” The gospel is not “believe on Jesus, and thou shalt be saved,” but “believe on THE LORD JESUS Christ and thou shalt be saved.” “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the LORD JESUS, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom.10:9).
As in “Hollywood Evangelism,” I plead for true evangelism in the old-fashioned way. Let us preach a full-orbed gospel, setting forth all the implications of repentance and forgiveness. Let us go outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
Our Lord is now rejected,
And by the world disowned;
By the many still neglected,
And by the few enthroned.
But soon He’ll come in glory!
The hour is drawing nigh,
For the crowning day is coming by and by.
Let all that look for, hasten
The coming joyful day,
By earnest consecration,
To walk the narrow way;
By gath’ring in the lost ones,
For whom our Lord did die,
For the crowning day that’s coming by and by.
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
HOW ROME DENIES SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE
HOW ROME DENIES SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE
Republished May 14, 2008 (first published September 5, 1998) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
In ecumenical circles the claim is made with increasing frequency that Rome now accepts the doctrine of justification by grace alone. The recently approved agreement between the Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican, the “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification,” makes this claim. Many supporters of the Promise Keepers movement have written to me making this claim. Those who promote the idea that there are “Evangelical Catholics” often make this claim.
That the Roman Catholic Church does NOT believe in salvation by grace alone through faith alone by the finished atonement of Jesus Christ alone is evident in the following indisputable facts:
JUSTIFICATION BY GRACE ALONE DENIED BY TRENT
At the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the declarations of which are still in force, the Roman Catholic Church formally condemned the biblical doctrine of faith alone and grace alone. Consider the following declarations of Trent:
“If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy, which remits sins for Christ's sake, or that it is this confidence alone that justifies us, LET HIM BE ANATHEMA” (Sixth Session, Canons Concerning Justification, Canon 12).
“If anyone says that the justice received is not preserved and also not increased before God through good works, but that those works are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained, but not the cause of its increase, LET HIM BE ANATHEMA” (Sixth Session, Canons Concerning Justification, Canon 24).
JUSTIFICATION BY GRACE ALONE DENIED BY VATICAN II
In its most formal and authoritative statements since Trent, Rome has continued to deny that salvation is by grace alone through Christ's atonement alone through faith alone without works or sacraments. Consider the following statements of the authoritative Vatican II Council of the mid-1960s, called by Pope John Paul XXIII and attended by more than 2,400 Catholic bishops-–
“For it is the liturgy through which, especially in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, 'the work of our redemption is accomplished,' and it is through the liturgy, especially, that the faithful are enabled to express in their lives and manifest to others the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church” (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Introduction, para. 2).
“As often as the sacrifice of the cross by which 'Christ our Pasch is sacrificed' (1 Cor. 5:7) is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out” (Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Chapter 1, 3, p. 324).
“... [Christ] also willed that the work of salvation which they preached should be set in train through the sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical [ritualistic] life revolves. Thus by Baptism men are grafted into the paschal mystery of Christ. ... They receive the spirit of adoption as sons” (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Chap. 1, I, 5,6, pp. 23-24).
“From the most ancient times in the Church good works were also offered to God for the salvation of sinners, particularly the works which human weakness finds hard. Because the sufferings of the martyrs for the faith and for God's law were thought to be very valuable, penitents used to turn to the martyrs to be helped by their merits to obtain a more speedy reconciliation from the bishops. Indeed, the prayers and good works of holy people were regarded as of such great value that it could be asserted that the penitent was washed, cleansed and redeemed with the help of the entire Christian people” (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Apostolic Constitution on the Revision of Indulgences, chap. 3, 6, pp. 78,79).
ROME DENIES SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE IN ITS DEFINITION OF JUSTIFICATION
Rome's gospel is a confused combination of faith plus works, grace plus sacraments, Christ plus the church. It redefines grace to include works. It confuses justification with sanctification. It confuses imputation with impartation. It views justification not as a once-for-all legal declaration whereby the sinner is declared righteous before God and is granted eternal life as the unmerited gift of God, but as a PROCESS whereby the sinner is gradually saved through participation in the sacraments. There is no eternal security in the Roman gospel because salvation allegedly depends partially upon a man's works. According to Roman Catholic theology, Christ purchased salvation and gave it to the Catholic Church to be distributed to men through its sacraments. This is not only a false gospel, it is a blasphemous usurpation of Christ's position as only Lord and Savior and Mediator. The authoritative Addis and Arnold Catholic Dictionary, with the Imprimature (ecclesiastical authorization for printing) of E. Morrough Bernard, 1950, says justification “consists, not in the mere remission of sins, but in the sanctification and renewal of the inner man by the voluntary reception of God's grace and gifts” This dictionary plainly states that the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification is contrary to that of the Reformation, noting that “the Council of Trent was at pains to define most clearly and explicitly the Catholic tradition on the matter, placing it in sharp opposition to the contrary tenets of the Reformers.” Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia, published in 1991, defines justification as “THE PROCESS by which a sinner is made righteous, pure and holy before God.” “Justification in the Catholic Tradition comes about by means of faith in Christ, AND in a life of good works lived in response to God's invitation to believe. ... That works are clearly required in the New Testament for union with Christ is seen in the many parables such as the Good Samaritan, Lazarus and Dives, and others” (emphasis added).
ROME DENIES SALVATION BY GRACE ALONE IN DOZENS OF OTHER WAYS
Not only in most authoritative declarations and not only by its definition of justification, but in dozens of other ways Rome denies the once-for-all sufficiency of Christ's atonement, His sole mediatorship, and the doctrine of salvation through faith alone by grace alone without works.
Rome denies justification by grace alone BY ITS DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMAL REGENERATION. The New Catholic Catechism (1994) dogmatically declares: “The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are 'reborn of water and the Spirit.' God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism...” (1257).
Rome denies justification by grace alone BY ITS DOCTRINE OF THE MASS, by claiming that in the mass “the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated” and “the work of our redemption is carried out” (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy).
Rome denies justification by grace alone BY ITS DOCTRINE OF THE SACRAMENTS: “The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. ... The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Saviour” (New Catholic Catechism, 1129).
Rome denies justification by grace alone BY ITS DOCTRINE OF PURGATORY, claiming that “the doctrine of purgatory clearly demonstrates that even when the guilt of sin has been taken away, punishment for it or the consequences of it may remain to be expiated or cleansed” (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy).
Rome denies justification by grace alone and the sole Mediatorship of Christ BY ITS DOCTRINE OF CONFESSION. “One who desires to obtain reconciliation with God and with the Church, must confess to a priest all the unconfessed grave sins he remembers after having carefully examined his conscience” (New Catholic Catechism, 1493). “Individual and integral confession of grave sins followed by absolution remains the only ordinary means of reconciliation with God and with the Church” (New Catholic Catechism, 1497). “The sacrament of Penance restores and strengthens in members of the Church who have sinned the fundamental gift of ... conversion to the kingdom of Christ, which is first received in Baptism” (Vatican II, Decree on Confession for Religious).
Rome denies justification by grace alone and the sole Mediatorship of Christ BY ITS DOCTRINE OF THE PAPACY: “For 'God's only-begotten Son ... has won a treasure for the militant Church ... he has entrusted it to blessed Peter, the key-bearer of heaven, and to his successors who are Christ's vicars on earth, so that they may distribute it to the faithful for their salvation'“ (ellipsis are in the original) (Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Apostolic Constitution on the Revision of Indulgences, Chap. 4, 7, p. 80).
Rome denies justification by grace alone and the sole Mediatorship of Christ BY ITS PRIESTHOOD: “The purpose then for which priests are consecrated by God through the ministry of the bishop is that they should be made sharers in a special way in Christ's priesthood and, by carrying out sacred functions, act as his ministers who through his Spirit continually exercises his priestly function for our benefit in the liturgy. By Baptism priests introduce men into the People of God; by the sacrament of Penance they reconcile sinners with God and the Church; by the Anointing of the sick they relieve those who are ill; and especially by the celebration of Mass they offer Christ's sacrifice sacramentally” (Vatican II, Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, chap. 2, I, 5, p. 781).
Rome denies justification by grace alone and the sole Mediatorship of Christ BY ITS DOCTRINE OF MARY: “In a wholly singular way she cooperated by her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity in the Saviour's work of restoring supernatural life to souls. For this reason she is a mother to us in the order of grace” (New Catholic Catechism, 968). “... Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us gifts of eternal salvation. ... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix” (New Catholic Catechism, 969).
Rome denies justification by grace alone and the sole Mediatorship of Christ BY ITS DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS: “Thus recourse to the communion of saints lets the contrite sinner be more promptly and efficaciously purified of the punishments for sin” (New Catholic Catechism, 1475).
Rome denies justification by grace alone and the sole Mediatorship of Christ BY ITS DOCTRINE OF FORGIVENESS THROUGH THE CHURCH: “There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. ... Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin” (New Catholic Catechism, 982).
Rome denies justification by grace alone BY ITS DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES: “An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. ... Indulgences may be applied to the living or the dead” (New Catholic Catechism, 1471).
CONCLUSION
Rome has not changed its doctrinal position or its claims to be the one, true, holy, apostolic church. It is engaged, rather, in a clever ploy. It is using the ecumenical movement to bring the separated sons home to the papa (which is the meaning of the term pope), and it is succeeding brilliantly. The amazing fact is that Rome has not hidden its goal in ecumenical relations. Consider the following statement from Vatican II:
“The term 'ecumenical movement' indicates the initiatives and activities encouraged and organized, according to the various needs of the [Roman] Church and as opportunities offer, to promote Christian unity. ... The results will be that, little by little, as the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion are overcome, ALL CHRISTIANS WILL BE GATHERED IN A COMMON CELEBRATION OF THE EUCHARIST, INTO THE UNITY OF THE ONE AND ONLY CHURCH, which Christ bestowed on his Church from the beginning. THE UNITY, WE BELIEVE, SUBSISTS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AS SOMETHING SHE CAN NEVER LOSE” (emphasis added) (Vatican II, Decree on Ecumenism, chap. 1, 4, p. 416).
For those who claim to be Evangelical Catholics and who claim to believe that salvation is by grace alone, I say you are deceiving yourself and others by remaining in the Roman Catholic Church which explicitly denies what you claim to believe. God's curse is upon those who preach a false gospel and Rome certainly falls under that curse. The Bible warns that those who affiliate with error become partakers with that error.
Do not be deceived, friends.
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4).
“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
TRUE FELLOWSHIP
May 13, 2008 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is by Pastor Buddy Smith of Malanda, Queensland, Australia
Fellowship is a word we often use and seldom understand. It is a relationship word. It describes a two way street. If we make it a one way street it becomes a dead end street. Fellowship really only exists between people who are each contributing something useful to the relationship. It must be so in order to be true fellowship.
Some Christians mistakenly call it fellowship when they receive multiplied kindnesses from others, but contribute nothing to the relationship. That is not fellowship. That is being on “religious welfare.” That's being "on the dole" in church.
Others think it is fellowship when they are the givers, always contributing the lion's share to the relationship, but receiving nothing in return. They are to be commended for their gracious generosity, for their longsuffering, for their perseverance. These are the "parents" of fellowship. They are "striking a match" that they hope will kindle the love of God in the other's heart. But let's be honest, one sided generosity is not true fellowship. It could be called "evangelism" or "compassion" or "mercy,” but it should not be called fellowship.
Fellowship is that blessed sharing, that sweet partnership of hearts and hearths in which each person strives to be always investing his treasures in the other person. It is one of the purest expressions of love.
The example of the blind man and the cripple is an old one, but so illustrative of Christian fellowship. I saw it in action at the nursing home not long ago. A dear old brother in the Lord who lost his sight when his bomber was hit by flack over Europe was pushing his crippled friend in a wheelchair around the nursing home. One man's feet and the other man's eyes were invested in a joint venture. They enjoyed their "fellowship" enormously. Isn't that what true fellowship is? My strengths combined with your weaknesses and your strengths combined with my weaknesses make for growth and progress in this pilgrimage we call life.
After all, if we strip away all the pious sounding words of men, what is a church but a lot of cripples helping each other along the way to Heaven? In essence, that's what true fellowship is. It is me and you each contributing something to our relationship. It means we are both too mature to be sponges. It means we are too wise to be welfare providers. Modern churches are full of "welfare" recipients, always sitting around, hoping for a hand out, but never contributing anything. These churches always have a few "welfare providers" who contribute almost everything, and do almost everything, and receive virtually nothing back from the "welfare recipients." Whatever they have in these churches, it should not be called fellowship.
Once I realized these simple facts about fellowship, I decided I would do two things. I would take myself by the scruff of the neck, give myself a good shaking and tell myself, "Don't be a welfare recipient! Do your part! Make sure you are contributing generously in every relationship." And I would stop pretending that those are "fellowshipping" who never contribute to the relationship. Maybe I should take them by the scruff of the neck and.... No, wait. Maybe I should try one more time to light a fire in their heart. Now, let's see, what was that kind deed a brother did for me this week?
Maybe I could pass it on...
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
UNQUESTIONING LOYALTY TO PASTORAL LEADERSHIP THE MARK OF A CULT
Updated May 8, 2008 (first published September 10, 1999) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
For church leaders to demand unquestioning loyalty is a perversion of biblical truth and is the mark of a cult. The Bible gives authority to pastors and elders (Heb. 13:7, 17), but that authority is not unlimited or unquestionable. Those who demand blind obedience from their people are cult leaders. Consider the following description of the authority that was wielded by James and Ellen White in the early days of the Seventh-day Adventist cult:
“ELDER AND MRS. WHITE RAN AND RULED EVERYTHING WITH AN IRON HAND. Not a nomination to office, not a resolution, not an item of business was ever acted upon in business meetings till all had been first submitted to Elder White for his approval. Till years later, we never saw an opposition vote on any question, for no one dared to do it. Hence, all official voting was only a farce. The will of Elder White settled everything. If any one dared to oppose anything, however humbly, Elder White or wife quickly squelched him. LONG YEARS OF SUCH TRAINING TAUGHT THE PEOPLE TO LET THEIR LEADERS THINK FOR THEM; HENCE, THEY ARE UNDER AS COMPLETE SUBJECTION AS ARE THE CATHOLICS” (D.M. Canright, Seventh-day Adventism Renounced, 1898).
This description was given by a man who was a faithful member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for 28 years and who became one of its top leaders. D.M. Canright knew James and Ellen White intimately. He left the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1884 and became a Baptist pastor in Michigan until his death in 1919.
THE FRIGHTFUL FACT IS THAT THE ABOVE DESCRIPTION OF THE PERVERTED AUTHORITY THAT WAS EXERCISED BY JAMES AND ELLEN WHITE IN THEIR ADVENTIST CULT PERFECTLY DESCRIBES THE AUTHORITY THAT IS EXERCISED BY SOME FUNDAMENTAL BAPTIST PASTORS. If I were to publish Canright’s description of perverted church authority without including the names of James and Ellen White and without explaining who this describes and when it was written, some church members in independent Baptist churches would be tempted to write to me and charge me with libeling their own pastors!
SPIRITUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PASTOR’S AUTHORITY
There are two problems that I see pertaining to pastoral authority in fundamental Baptist churches today: One, there is rebellion against pastoral authority on the part of some church members; and two, there is misuse of pastoral authority on the part of some pastors.
Pastors have God-given authority. God’s word says, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you” (Heb. 13:17). Church members do not all have the same authority in the congregations. Pastors have ruling authority, and those who are not pastors are to submit themselves to this authority. Sadly, there is widespread rebellion against pastoral authority. Many people who leave GOOD fundamental Baptist churches do so because they do not understand or they refuse to submit to biblical pastoral authority. They think they have just as much right as the pastor to make decisions in the church, but that is not true. We have dealt with this in articles such as “SEVEN KEYS TO FRUITFUL CHURCH MEMBERSHIP” (see the Church section of the End Times Apostasy Database at the Way of Life web site -- http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/sevenkeys.htm).
At the same time, the authority exercised by a pastor or elder is to be distinctly different from that exercised by leaders in the secular world, and there are pastors who are abusing their authority. That is the focus of this article. Consider the biblical characteristics of proper and godly pastoral authority.
FIRST, THE PASTOR’S AUTHORITY IS A MINISTERING AUTHORITY--the authority of a shepherd (Mark 10:42-45; Acts 20:28; 2 Cor. 1:24; 13:10; Titus 1:7; 1 Pet. 5:2). The authority of a pastor is strictly for building up and protecting God’s people and work. It is not for his own pleasure and design.
“But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and THEIR GREAT ONES EXERCISE AUTHORITY UPON THEM. BUT SO SHALL IT NOT BE AMONG YOU: BUT WHOSOEVER WILL BE GREAT AMONG YOU, SHALL BE YOUR MINISTER: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-45).
“NOT FOR THAT WE HAVE DOMINION OVER YOUR FAITH, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand” (2 Cor. 1:24).
“Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to THE POWER WHICH THE LORD HATH GIVEN ME TO EDIFICATION, AND NOT TO DESTRUCTION” (2 Cor. 13:10).
“For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; NOT SELFWILLED, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre” (Titus 1:7).
“Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. NEITHER AS BEING LORDS OVER GOD’S HERITAGE, but being ensamples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:2).
SECOND, THE PASTOR’S AUTHORITY IS A SUBMISSIVE, HUMBLE AUTHORITY--the authority of a steward (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 3:9; 4:1; 12:7; Tit. 1:7; 1 Pet. 4:10; 5:3-5).
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).
“For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God’s building” (1 Cor. 3:9).
“Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1).
“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (1 Cor. 12:7).
“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Pet. 4:10).
“Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:3,5).
The pastor is to rule under the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ, not by his own mind or will. The church is God’s property; the people are God’s people; the work is God’s work. The pastor is merely a steward or caretaker.
Contrast this with the ministry of proud, willful Diotrephes (3 Jn. 9-10) who lorded it over the flock and who quenched the spiritual ministry of men of whom he did not approve even though their ministries were scriptural.
SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A DIOTREPHES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
First, he demands unquestioning loyalty and does not teach the people that his authority is restricted and does not encourage the people to test him by God’s Word. He emphasizes certain passages that refer to one aspect of pastoral authority (such as Hebrews 13:17), but he ignores the passages that limit his authority (such as Mark 10:42-45; 2 Cor. 1:24; and 1 Peter 5:2). This is the way that all false teachers misuse the Bible. They develop doctrines from pet verses that appear to support their views while ignoring or explaining away those verses that disprove their views. Second, he wants people to be dependent upon him for direction in life and ministry instead of being dependent upon the Lord Himself. He makes the people feel that they cannot make important decisions and know God’s will without him. Contrast this with Acts 13:3-4, where it was the Holy Spirit who guided the church at Antioch and called Paul and Barnabas to their missionary work.
Third, he exalts himself before the people.
Fourth, he ridicules his associates, making them look small in the eyes of the church members, thus increasing his own prestige and authority and decreasing theirs.
Fifth, he uses an Old Testament pattern for church government to bolster his demand for unquestioning loyalty. He compares himself to Moses, Joshua, and David, failing to note that the New Testament pattern of church government is dramatically different from that of Old Testament Israel. The nation Israel was a kingdom, a theocracy. The New Testament church is the body and flock of Christ. The human leaders in the churches are not lords or potentates or generals or presidents, but are humble shepherds. The Lord Jesus Christ left no doubt about this (see Mark 10:42-45).
THIRD, THE PASTOR’S AUTHORITY IS A KINDLY, LOVING AUTHORITY--the authority of a father (1 Th. 2:7-11).
The pastor is to have a godly, loving, tender, sacrificial consideration for the welfare of the people. His rule is not to be an overbearing, self-serving type of rule.
“But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe: As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children” (1 Thess. 2:7-11).
One of the marks of a cult is the way people are treated when they refuse to follow the leadership unquestioningly or when they leave. When D.M. Canright left Adventism after 28 years, he was treated like a fool and an evil man. All friendship and kindness was withdrawn by the Adventist leaders. They even lied about him mercilessly for many years afterwards. This is a mark of a cult. People are only treated kindly and lovingly if they submit to the doctrines and “authority” of the cult’s leaders; if they question the leadership or if they leave the church, they are fair game to be treated without mercy.
This is exactly what we find in some large (and small but would-be-large) cult-like independent Baptist churches. As long as people unquestionably submit to the pastor, they are treated kindly. As soon as they question his leadership and leave, the kindness is removed and they are treated unkindly.
FOURTH, THE PASTOR’S AUTHORITY IS A LIBERATING AUTHORITY--THE AUTHORITY TO BUILD UP NOT HOLD DOWN (2 Corinthians 10:8; Ephesians 4:11-12).
“For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed” (1 Cor. 10:8).
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-12).
A godly pastor’s objective is to build the people of God up in the faith so that they are strong and can stand on their own feet under Christ their one Head. He wants to see their spiritual gifts and callings developed to the fullest extend possible, and he wants to do everything he can to encourage them to fulfill their calling.
LIMITATIONS TO THE PASTOR’S AUTHORITY
A pastor only has such authority as is delegated to him by God. Christians are never told to submit blindly to a church leader, but to submit to truly God-called men who are leading according to the Word of God. As the Apostle Paul said, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Paul could demand that others follow him because he was following Christ and was faithfully preaching the message given to him by Christ. Apart from that, even Paul had no authority. He warned the churches of Galatia that if even he were to preach any other gospel, they were to reject him (Galatians 1:8). Even in matters pertaining to his own associates, Paul’s authority was not absolute and unquestionable. When Paul “greatly desired” for Apollos to minister at Corinth, Apollos refused (1 Cor. 16:12).
A pastor’s authority is limited in the following ways:
(1) A PASTOR’S AUTHORITY IS LIMITED BY THE BIBLE. Hebrews 13:7 instructs Christians to submit to those who have spoken to them the Word of God. A preacher does not have authority in himself; his authority is the Word of God. If a pastor or teacher strays from the Bible, his listeners have no responsibility to follow him; he has exceeded his authority. The Bereans are praised because they carefully examined Paul’s preaching instead of blindly following a man (Acts 17:11). God’s people are instructed to “prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Every sermon is to be judged by those who hear it (1 Corinthians 14:29). A pastor does not have authority to lord it over every detail of the people’s lives. They are the Lord’s people, not the pastor’s. He is a humble undershepherd who is temporarily caring for the Lord’s flock. The people have the indwelling Spirit of God and He is their main teacher. “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him” (1 John 2:27).
(2) A PASTOR’S AUTHORITY IS BASED ON HIS CALL FROM GOD (Acts 20:28). The elders of the church at Ephesus were appointed by the Holy Spirit. This is a foundational basis for spiritual authority. Christians are only to submit to men who give plain evidence that they are called of God. The pastor’s qualifications are clearly stated in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Many men are unfit to exercise pastoral authority because their marital status is not the example it should be (pastors are to be examples to the flock of God’s perfect will--1 Peter 5:3), or their wives are unspiritual, or because their children are unruly, or because they have a poor testimony in the community, or for other reasons clearly spelled out in the Bible.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PASTORING AND LORDING
“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:1-3).
Pastors have real authority in the church, but it is a different kind of authority than that exercised by the world. Note some of the differences as follows:
Scriptural pastors love the flock and lead by compassion, but lords typically despise compassion; they don’t encourage; they merely demand (1 Thess. 2:7-8).
Scriptural pastors lead by example, but lords merely make demands with little or no awareness or concern that they must model what they demand (1 Pet. 5:3).
Scriptural pastors know that the flock is not their own, but lords feel that they own the people and thus can control them according to their own will (1 Pet. 5:2, 3 “flock of God,” “God’s heritage”).
Scriptural pastors care more about the welfare of the saints than their own profit, but lords rule for personal gain and are not afraid to abuse the people (1 Pet. 5:2).
Scriptural pastors are humble and do not consider themselves greater than the flock, but lords exalt themselves high above the people (1 Pet. 5:2 “among you”; 1 Pet. 5:5).
Scriptural pastors aim to build up the people and free them to do God’s will (Eph. 4:11-12; 2 Cor. 10:8), but lords want to control the people and hold them down. The Greek word translated “destruction” in 2 Corinthians 10:8 is elsewhere translated “pulling down” (2 Cor. 10:4).
Brethren, we must submit ourselves to God-called pastors who are leading the churches according to the Word of God. We should follow them and encourage them and always give them the benefit of the doubt. Not to do so is rebellion and confusion.
We must also beware of men who exercise an unscriptural, cultic type of authority, regardless of what denominational label they wear. The Diotrephes mentality eventually led to the formation of the Roman Catholic Church, with its hierarchy of archbishops and cardinals and popes. We don’t need any more popes!
“But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:42-45).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Updated and enlarged May 6, 2008 (first published December 18, 2007) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” -- Jesus Christ to Pilate just before His crucifixion, John 18:36
There are many heretical teachings on the kingdom of God today. There is, for example, the charismatic “kingdom now” theology with its pathetic attempt to exercise apostolic miracles in this present time. And there is the Emerging Church with its equally pathetic attempt to build the kingdom of God through social-justice and artistic endeavors.
By surveying the Old and New Testaments we can see exactly what the Bible means by the term kingdom of God.
1. In the Old Testament the kingdom of God was God’s rule over all creation (Psa. 103:19) and on earth it referred to His kingdom in Israel (1 Chron. 28:5; 2 Chron. 13:8).
That kingdom was destroyed because of Israel’s disobedience, but Old Testament prophecies predicted that the kingdom would be re-established on earth by Christ, David’s greater Son, and that He will reign in truth and righteousness (Isaiah 9:6-7; Daniel 2:44; 7:14).
2. Christ came to Israel and preached the kingdom.
The gospel of the kingdom is the gospel that Jesus preached when He presented Himself to Israel as the Messiah. Both John the Baptist and Jesus preached, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mat. 3:2; 4:17). This was the announcement of the kingdom promised to David’s Son (Isaiah 9:6-7). (The kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are largely synonymous in the Gospels. One emphasizes the fact that it is God’s kingdom, while the other emphasizes that it is a kingdom that will come from heaven.) Christ came to His own people, Israel, but they rejected Him (John 1:11; 19:15), and He warned them that the kingdom would be taken from them because of their rebellion and given to another nation (Mat. 21:42-26). Christ preached a literal glorious kingdom that would be established on earth. Peter, James, and John were given a foreview of it on the Mount of Transfiguration (Lk. 9:27-31). Christ taught His disciples to pray that God’s kingdom would come to earth (Luke 11:2). He said Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be in the kingdom (Lk. 13:29). He corrected the view of those who thought the kingdom of God was going to be established at that time, saying that the kingdom would not be established until the “noble man” goes into a far country and then returns” (Lk. 19:11-27). Christ said the kingdom would be established after the Great Tribulation (Lk. 21:31). He said He would drink the fruit of the vine with His disciples in the kingdom (Lk. 22:18). When the disciples were arguing about who would be great in the kingdom of God, Christ corrected their thinking about the nature of greatness but He also confirmed that the kingdom of God is a literal kingdom that will be established at His return (Lk. 22:24-30). Jesus plainly stated that His kingdom is not of this world NOW (John 18:36). His kingdom will come when He comes in power and glory to establish it.
Jesus came unto His own people, Israel, and was rejected, and this had been prophesied in Scripture. He then turned his focus from Israel and said, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat. 16:18). Christ stopped announcing the kingdom and turned His attention to dying on the cross for man’s sin, and after He rose from the dead He sent His disciples forth to preach the gospel to every nation (Acts 1:8). In this present church age Christ is calling out a people for His name from among the Gentiles while Israel is largely blinded, but when this dispensation is finished He will turn His attention back to Israel and fulfill His covenants with them (Rom. 11:25-27).
3. The kingdom of God is in a mystery form during this present church age (Mat. 13:10-11).
A “mystery” is truth that was hidden in the Old Testament but revealed in the New (Rom. 16:25-26). The Old Testament did not see the church age in between Christ’s two comings.
During the church age, the kingdom takes a strange form not described in Old Testament prophecy. The king is in heaven and the kingdom is not yet established on earth. Instead, the kingdom of God resides in the small, despised apostolic churches, while the devil’s false kingdom grows quickly and spreads throughout the world (Mat. 13:31-32).
4. Believers enter a spiritual kingdom of Christ when they are born again (Col. 1:13).
This is the kingdom comprised of all who submit to God’s authority.
5. The kingdom of God will come to earth in its prophetic fullness at the return of Christ. See Acts 14:22; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Timothy 4:1; James 2:5; 2 Peter 1:11; Revelation 12:10.
Believers are not building the kingdom of God on earth today. They are snatching brands from the coming fire before the day of salvation is finished (1 Cor. 9:19; 10:33; 2 Cor. 5:11, 18-21; 6:2; Jude 23). Today the “whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19), and the devil is its god (2 Cor. 4:4). The apostles and prophets in the early churches (as described in the book of Acts and the Epistles) did not band together to accomplish grandiose social-justice projects; they did not pursue artsy activities; they did not try to save the earth; they preached the gospel and shined as lights in this dark world by their holy lives. Christ’s Great Commission emphasizes gospel preaching (Mat. 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15; Lk. 24:46-48; Acts 1:8). After Christ rose from the dead and as He was preparing them for His ascension, the disciples asked Him, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Jesus’ reply is very instructive. He did not correct their understanding of the establishment of a literal kingdom of earth. He told that it was not time for that long-expected kingdom to be established and that our duty in this church age is to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. “And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8). After this, Christ ascended to heaven and poured out the Holy Spirit upon the disciples to empower them for this great work. This commission of world evangelism will not be abrogated until church age saints are removed from this world and the Lord regenerates Israel and restores them to the front burner of His plan for the ages.
The rod of iron
The Bible says that in the kingdom of God the Law will be enforced with a rod of iron (Rev. 2:26-27; 12:5; 19:15; Psalm 2:7-9). Christ’s kingdom will not be a democracy but a divine dictatorship, a theocracy, and no one will be given a choice as to whether to obey Him or not. Christ’s law will be established as international law and every individual will be required to obey it, and disobedience will be dealt with quickly and rigorously. Justice and righteousness will reign because injustice and unrighteousness will be punished and punished quickly. If the emerging church is truly building the kingdom of God today, they should be wielding this rod. The very fact that believers are not wielding this rod today is evidence that we are not establishing the kingdom of God on earth. The kingdom of God will be established by supernatural power, not by the feeble efforts of non-empowered saints in this present world in which the devil is god and believers are suffering pilgrims (2 Cor. 4:4).
What about Luke 17:20-21?
“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
In interpreting this passage we must first note that there is a sense in which the kingdom of God WILL come with observation, as Jesus stated in verse 24 of this same passage. “For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.” Christ taught the same thing in Luke 19:11-27 and many other places, as we have seen in the previous study on the kingdom.
In what sense, then, is Christ saying that the kingdom of God “cometh NOT come with observation” and “the kingdom of God is within you”? These statements are addressed to the Pharisees.
Jesus was saying that the kingdom of God would not come with observation in the sense of searching for it in various places. It would not come by searching. See verse 21 and Matthew 24:26-27. It would also not come with observation in the sense of demand. It would not come by demanding it in that present time. The Pharisees were demanding that Jesus show them the kingdom of God, and their demand would not be fulfilled. They had rejected Him as Messiah, so the kingdom of God was not going to come in that present time.
The kingdom of God was in them in the sense that it was already in their midst because Christ the King was present. The term “kingdom of God” is used repeatedly in this sense in the Gospels, as Christ was presenting Himself as the Messiah of Israel. “The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” (Lk. 10:9). Note the following passages carefully: Luke 10:9, 11; 11:20; 13:28-29; 14:15; 19:11; 21:31; 22:16, 18; 23:51.
Jesus was not saying that the kingdom of God was in the midst of the Pharisees in the sense that it was inside of them in a spiritual sense, because they were not saved. He said elsewhere, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44).
As we have seen, the Bible is clear on its teaching of the kingdom of God, and Jesus made it plain that He was referring to a kingdom that was promised to Him as the Son of David and that would be established at His return. To take Luke 17:20-21, which is a relatively obscure passage, and build one’s doctrine of the kingdom primarily upon it and then use it to overthrow the teaching of many plain Scriptures is upside down hermeneutics. This is the way that false teachers (mis)use the Scripture.
What about Romans 8:16-25?
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
The emerging church uses this passage in support of its doctrine that the kingdom of God is being built on earth today, but in fact it teaches the exact opposite. I was amazed when I first saw this passage used by an emerging church writer, because it actually refutes their position. Paul is contrasting the believer’s condition in this present life with his condition in the future. In this present life we are subject to the pain and suffering caused by the fallen state of the earth and mankind. Presently we are subject to vanity, to the bondage of corruption, to groaning and travailing, and to waiting for redemption. It is in the future that we will experience the redemption of the body and the glorious salvation promised in the prophecies. This points to the return of Christ and the resurrection of the saints and the supernatural establishment of the kingdom on earth. The redemption described in this passage is something that will occur in the future and is certainly not occurring today! It is something that Christ will accomplish by His infinite power and not something that we can possibly bring about through socio-political endeavors.
“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” -- Jesus Christ to Pilate just before His crucifixion, John 18:36
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