Be Diligent…

Demons WERE wicked spirits under the control of Satan, opposed to God, and capable of causing misery and pain to humankind. (Matthew 8:28-34; Matthew 12:24)  Using their powers, they could aflict men with blindness (Matthew 12:22), dumbness (Matthew 9:32-33), and insanity (Luke 8:26-36).  They knew the deity of  Jesus and the Lord, knew their own wicked state, recognized the coming judgment, and trembled because of this knowledge (Matthew 8:29; Luke 4:41).  As was Jesus, the apostles were given the power to cast out demons (Luke 10:17-18).  However, because they did not always appreciate the power they had, or maybe not even believe they had it, they were not always successful (Mark 9:18-29).

Some try to “explain” demons in the New Testament as: 

• accomodation of the Lord to common current superstitions,
• illness or insanity,
• popular superstition,
• fallen angels, or
• what is probably the most ridiculous of all, the children of wicked women and angels.

None of these really answer the question because of their own obvious falseness or because they contradict other known facts or teachings of the Bible.

An understanding of the Bible will reveal that

1. they were intelligent beings (Mark 1:24, Mark 5:7-8),
2. they were wicked and knew they would face judgment (Revelation 9:11),
3. they came from the “abyss.”

Can people today be taken by demon possession?  Absolutely not!  Even a casual reading of the New Testament and the incidents given there will show that the circumstances of demon possession in the New Testament do not exist today.  The Lord Jesus Christ met Satan in his own house and bound him (Matthew 12:5-29).  The Gospel is the chain today that continues to restrain Satan and his servents (Revelation 20:1-4).

Then, those whom Satan chose were helpless to throw off his domination.  Now, all men, with the help of the Lord, have the power to triumph over Satan, whose power over men is limited to deceit and temptation…both of which may be overcome if resisted (Matthew 4:1-13; I Corinthians 4:7).  If we accept this help and resist the devil, he will flee from us (James 4:7), because he is afraid of anyone who wields the sword of the Spirit–The Word of God (Hebrews 4:12).

Posted on July 3rd, 2009 by doc
Filed under: Demons, satan | No Comments »

In Exodus 11:1-2, it appears that God instructed the Hebrews “to borrow” jewels from the Egyptians, which they never intended to return.  Those who doubt God have interpreted this as an occasion when God ordered sin.  Knowing that God is good, and cannot tolerate sin, how does the Christian explain this?  When something in the Bible appears to be a contradiction or an error, generally it is because man has interpreted the statement wrong.  This is the case here.

In the King James Translation, the verse reads, “Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver and jewels of gold.” This translation does not convey the truth of the Hebrew word or the true meaning of the statement.  The American Standard Version better translates the sentence: “Speak now in the ears of the people , and let them ask of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver and jewels of gold.” The Hebrew word, shaal, does not mean to borrow, but rather to ask, request or require. The construction of the sentence in Hebrew implies that the Egyptians allowed the people of Israel to ask for these gifts and they accepted the request and granted the favor.

In the area of Egypt and, indeed, the entire area of the Hebrew history, it was a custom to solicit gifts on the eve of departure for a trip, especially on that was to be a long trip.  This custom is mentioned other places in the Old Testament, such as Genesis 12:16, Genesis 33:10, and Judges 3:15-18.  A careful reading of the text shows that the Israelites  made the request with no intention of returning the items, and the Egyptians understood this to be the case.  Even Josephus, the Hebrew historian, commented on this:  “They also honored the Hebrews with gifts; some in order to secure their speedy departure, and others on account of neighborly intimacy with them. (Antiquities 2:14,6)

We can know that this is the logical truth of the matter because, in Psalm 2:8, the same shaal is translated  “Ask of me…” The same Hebrew word is used in I Kings 3:10-12, where Solomon asked God for wisdom.  In neither of these cases will the word borrow suit the occasion.

(Finally, Josephus tells of another remarkable incident regarding these “borrowed” jewels.  He wrote that, when Alexander the Great was in control of Jerusalem, the Egyptians presented a claim against the Israelites for these  borrowed jewels.  The Jews offered to pay for them if the Egyptians would agree to deduct the wages for the years of  enforced slave labor!)

Posted on June 30th, 2009 by doc
Filed under: Old Testament, Word study | 1 Comment »

There are at least 21 Hebrew names for God recorded in the Bible. Names were very special to God’s people. Jacob (meaning he deceives) had his name changed to Israel (struggles with God) by God Himself. Most people in this country name their children after close friends or relatives, or because they just like the name. A Hebrew mother and father would be more likely to name their child because of the meaning of the name itself, than for other reasons.

So God’s people often honored Him through names — “the Lord will provide”, “the Lord who sanctifies”, and “the Lord is my Shepherd”, for example. Every Sunday morning for the next 21 weeks we will see another name for God and learn its significance. We’ll proceed alphabetically.

The name Adonai first appears in Scripture in the 8th Psalm:

¹O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. ²From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. (Psalm 8:1-2)

Normally when you see the name Lord (as opposed to LORD, all upper-case), this is the name Adonai. This name was often pronounced out of reverence for the “formal” name of God (YHWH, or Jehovah), which was considered too sacred to be uttered. There are other connections between the names Adonai and Jehovah, but we’ll see these later.

Next week we’ll see the Hebrew name meaning “The Strong One”.

Related posts:

1. What’s in a name?

Posted on June 28th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Announcement, names of God | No Comments »

You’ve been looking forward to this for the last 5 days. Now it’s Saturday and you’re settling down with that book you’ve been meaning to read. Just when you kick your shoes off and get comfortable, you hear a knock at the door. Sorta sounded like the way the FedEx lady knocks when she has a delivery. What a surprise when you open the door and there are two 20 year-old “elders” in white shirts, black ties, and black name tags. You really want to get back to your “book time” that you so deserve, but you always feel guilty for dismissing them quickly, as you have so many times in the past.

What do you do? I’m sure there’s not a person reading this who hasn’t had to make that decision. I’m also thinking I’d not be far off if I suggested that probably three quarters of us (or more) just want to get the uninvited guests on their way as soon as possible.

I don’t have any research data on this at all, so this is just a hunch, but here’s what I believe:

• We know we should treat them with kindness and respect, and certainly not be rude.
• Many of us have felt guilty for practically slamming the door in their face in the past.
• We want to be able to “let our light shine” (Matthew 5:16), but don’t really know how to get the conversation started.
• Although we feel confident in our own faith, we feel really uncomfortable because we’re not exactly sure what they believe.
• Therefore, we’d rather not say anything than to be in a situation where they say something to us that we know is wrong, but makes really good sense, and we just don’t know how to respond. We’re afraid of looking foolish, looking like we’re not really dedicated Christians, or of speaking up but saying the wrong thing.

There could easily be several dozen posts on the subject of personal evangelism, but let’s just be satisfied for today with a few thoughts.

Peter instructs us to “always be prepared to give an answer to those who ask us about our faith” (1 Peter 3:15), but what exactly does that mean? Does that mean we need to be ready to quote scripture, giving book chapter & verse, whenever people on our doorstep tell us about “a new covenant”? Certainly that’s a goal, but I don’t think that’s what Peter means.

First and foremost, you need to be so familiar with the truth that when you’re faced with a counterfeit, you’re able to recognize it immediately. You certainly don’t have to be an expert in someone else’s faith in order to be a faithful witness of your own, but you do have to know the truth well enough to be able to spot a phony.

Secondly, don’t be afraid of saying “I don’t know but I’ll find out”. It doesn’t make you look any less faithful or any less of a Christian if you have to admit you don’t know how to answer their questions.

Third, the only way you get any better at anything is by practice. The first time you engage these doorstep visitors in conversation, you’ll probably feel a bit uncomfortable, but the more practice you allow yourself, the better at it you’ll be. And you’ll no doubt learn and strengthen your faith in the process!

Posted on June 25th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Christian Example, Evangelism, Faith, Missions, Obedience, Witness | No Comments »

³⁰Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. ³¹He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. ³²He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. ³³Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. (1 Kings 16:30-33)

²⁰Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!” “I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold yourself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD. ²¹‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will consume your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel-slave or free. ²²I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and have caused Israel to sin.’ ²³“And also concerning Jezebel the LORD says: ‘Dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ ²⁴“Dogs will eat those belonging to Ahab who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country.”…²⁷When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. ²⁸Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite: ²⁹“Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.” (1 Kings 21:20-29)

Have you ever felt like such a sinner, like you’ve made so many fall-on-your-face blunders that you’re beyond hope and God will never forgive you?

Ok, let me ask you this — is your life so bad that you could compete with someone who “did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of [the kings] before him”? Unless your name is Jeffrey Dahmer, I’d be willing to bet your life can’t even come close to that of Ahab’s on the scale of “badness”. (Oh, and Jeffrey Dahmer? I fully expect to see him in heaven. If you want to learn about his conversion story, write me and I’ll tell you about it.)

Ahab doesn’t even come close to comparing with King David, but the way he reacted after hearing Elijah’s curse was reminiscent of David’s reaction after Nathan’s confrontation (2 Samuel 12:1-9). Make no mistake; this was real repentance. Ahab was not simply putting on a show to get Elijah to change his curse to a blessing.

So does this mean we can expect to see King Ahab in heaven? Sorry, not my call — nor yours.

Nor is it the point of this post.

The point is God noticed and God honored Ahab’s repentance. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). He waited patiently for Ahab to repent. He waits patiently for you too, but He will not wait forever. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3), when neither you nor I expect it.

God is waiting; what are you waiting for?

Maranatha.

Posted on June 22nd, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Bible Characters, Forgiveness, Grace, Growth, Humility, Love, Old Testament | No Comments »

Although they totally take Jefferson out of context, our government seems dedicated to “separation of church and state.”  And maybe that’s a good thing, in some respects.  However, if that is really their intent, I have to question some recent activity of the government.

The First Amendment to the Constitution, in the Bill of Rights,  according to Cornell University School of Law, prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another.  The free exercise clause prohibits the government, in most instances, from interfering with a person’s practice of their religion.

Cornell also says that the freedom of speech (which is also contained in the First Amendment) allows individuals to express themselves without interference or constraint by the government.  The Supreme Court requires the government to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech where it attempts to regulate the content of the speech.

So…where am I going with this?  Just this:  Recently, our Legislative body passed a bill that makes it a crime to say anything that could, under any circumstances, be considered by the government as  expressing “hate.”  Since, on June 1, 2009, President Obama declared June as National Gay/Lesbian/Transgender Pride Month,  I am wondering what will happen to our preachers who are brave enough and dedicated enough to preach that homosexuality or abortion is a sin?  There seems to be a conflict of interest here.  If the government really believes in separation of church and state, but, at the same time, says that any negative speech about something the Bible teaches is wrong but the government supports is now a crime…Well, you can see where I am going, can’t you?

There are no Bible verses in this article.  I just want you to think about what may be a coming conflict, if not a persecution or even prosecution.  If churches are no longer to preach the Bible because of government regulations forbidding negative preaching, how does this reflect the government stance on separation of church and state?  What stance shall Christians take…will we deny God’s Word, or will we be persecuted?

Think about this for a while, and let me know what you think.  All you need to do is click on the “Comment” tab at the end of the article, and leave your comment.

Posted on June 18th, 2009 by doc
Filed under: Authority of Scripture, Christian Example, Evangelism, Faith, Sin | 2 Comments »

Tim Challies wrote last Saturday in a Crosswalk.com blog that he’s witnessing a disturbing trend: Christians coming to worship not with a traditional paper & ink Bible, but an electronic Bible on an iPod, smart phone, or other such device. He encourages his readers not only to not bring an electronic Bible to worship, but to not do their daily Bible reading with one either.

Challies quotes two “gurus of the technological age”, Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman, to support his thesis. He argues, supported by quotes from McLuhan, that you can’t separate the medium and the message. “The medium is the message,” McLuhan says. Challies claims it’s folly to discount this fact, and also puts into this category singing hymns from a PowerPoint image instead of from a printed book, and listening to sermons online instead of listening in a pew.

I don’t get it, but then I’m one of the ones in our congregation (yes, there are more than just me) who follows the Bible class teacher as he reads from Scripture, I search cross-references, and I even look up Greek words on the Bible that’s loaded onto my iPhone. What’s wrong with that? So I really don’t get the “medium is the message” argument. When it comes to God’s Word, the Message is the message. That Message is the same no matter what the medium. Challies argues that when reading the Bible electronically, sure, we read the same words, but “in a way that influences us toward a different worldview, a different way of understanding the reality of those words.”

I still don’t get it.

There’s another reason I like my iPhone Bible in Bible class. Let’s say the teacher is answering someone’s question, and he says, “Paul says ‘the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing’, but I don’t know where that’s found.” Maybe I’d like to know where that verse is recorded. It’s a lot easier to do a search on my electronic Bible than it is to use the mini-concordance in the back of my NIV Study Bible to find it.

Maybe I’m just deluded and sheltered in my own little iPhone thought-cloud. Maybe there’s more to this that I don’t get, and maybe I really shouldn’t be bringing my iPhone to Bible class and worship. (At least I’m one of the “good guys” who turns the ringer off during services.)

Let me know what you think.

Posted on June 17th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Bible study, Technology, Worship | 2 Comments »

It’s 10 AM on Sunday morning. (Maybe your services don’t start at 10 AM, but humor me here.)

Worship is about to start. How will you know when it does?

1. The song/worship leader begins to sing a song.
2. Someone in the audience spontaneously begins to sing a song, and the congregation follows.
3. An elder gets up to make announcements, and says, “Good morning!” Then he repeats his greeting if the congregation doesn’t reciprocate.
4. As congregants enter the auditorium, they see a scripture displayed on the screen. At 10 AM, a man goes to the podium, greets the congregation, reads scripture, and says a few words to help the assembly prepare for the next hour in the presence of Holy God.

J. Randal Matheny, a missionary in Brazil, writes one of the blogs I read daily. He suggests we’ve become too casual in our approach to worship. He observes…

…kids are text-messaging during worship. Elders must move them to repent (parents, to discipline), and repent themselves for not taking action.
…Praise teams, praise music and contemporary worship have not elevated our sense of the divine presence in worship, but coarsened our spirits to be titillated by sensual and visual stimulation. We miss seeing the Invisible.

We need to prepare for worship — not just appear at the appointed time (or 10 minutes late; after all, what do we miss? A couple songs?), but to recognize that we’re being “ushered into the Lord’s presence”, as Matheny writes.

He also believes it’s shameful to “start a song to quieten people down”. I think I’d agree with that, if that were truly the reason. I’ve been a member of more than one congregation though, where we did begin services that way, and the reason wasn’t to quiet people down. The song was chosen specifically to help us remember that we are indeed sinners in the presence of a Mighty God, and were assembled to worship Him. What’s wrong with that?

“We miss seeing the Invisible.” Indeed!

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:17)

If that’s what’s on your heart when you begin worship — great! If not, why not?

Matheny observes, “Our worship, also, has been sanitized. The blood and gore of the cross have been mopped up.” I agree. The cross was a horrendous way to die! It was painful. It was humiliating.

You’ve seen The Passion of the Christ. If you thought Gibson went overboard; if you thought he made the scenes from the scourging through the crucifixion needlessly gory, I’d like to suggest you don’t have a real sense of how terrible a sentence it was to be sentenced to death at the hands of the Romans. If anything, Mel Gibson sugar-coated it.

Here’s the crux of the matter, according to Matheny:

The main issue, probably, is emotional burnout. We’ve thrilled ourselves to death. Worship doesn’t send a shiver up our legs. So it’s ho-hum, ho-hum, to dreary church we go.

That’s right. We’ve become tired of worship. It does take 1-2 hours out of our weekend, after all. Why be bothered? In fact, I know of people who have admitted to attending worship (not to mention never attending Bible class) only on Sunday morning “because that’s all that’s required”. Ouch. Let’s reverse that. What if Jesus did “all that was required”? Not a single one of us would have a hope of eternity in heaven. Jesus, yes, did what was required in order for us to have a hope of eternal life, but He didn’t do what was required for Him to remain Holy God. He already had that stature, and nothing can change that.

What was required? Nothing. What was necessary in order for His younger brothers & sisters to have a hope of eternal life with Him? Exactly what he did. He, the perfect, spotless Lamb of God, gave His life so that I, the ugly, blemished-all-over black sheep sinner, might live with Him forever.

Hallelujah!

Posted on June 15th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Worship | 7 Comments »

At the cross? Allow me to suggest that’s only partially true.

Ask many Christians about the sins of the Israelites, and they’ll explain that the sins were “rolled forward”, and forgiven at the cross, as if each Israelite kept adding sins to his account until the day he died. I’d like to also suggest this to be an unscriptural concept. Follow me here…

Forgiveness is not a distinctly New Testament concept.

²⁷If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’S commands, he is guilty. ²⁸When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed a female goat without defect. ²⁹He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. ³⁰Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ³¹He shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. In this way the priest will make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. (Leviticus 4:27-31)

Did you notice the words God spoke through Moses in the last verse there? “…and he will be forgiven.” Does that sound synonymous with “rolled forward”? Forgiven is forgiven; it is not “kept on account until such time as it can truly be forgiven”. You know what else? That phrase “will be forgiven” is repeated 7 more times in Leviticus 4-5, once each in Leviticus 6:7 and Leviticus 19:22, and three times in Numbers 15:25-28.

That’s a total of 13 times God promised the Israelites He would forgive them.

“Wait”, you say. The word “will” simply means that it’s a future action — one that doesn’t take place at the present time. Yes, I agree, but the context certainly doesn’t suggest that it would be another 2000 years before God would follow through on any such “future action”. Context demands the conclusion that the point in the future when God would fulfill His promise was when the sacrifice was made — in other words, when repentance was visibly demonstrated.

One more.

In Moses’ plea before the Lord, recorded in Numbers 14, he reminds God of one of His promises:

¹⁷“Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared: ¹⁸‘The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’ ¹⁹In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.” ²⁰The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked…” (Numbers 14:17-20)

What about the fact that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins?

¹The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. ²If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. ³But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, ⁴because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:1-4)

That looks like an apparent contradiction to me. We just saw 8 times in Leviticus 4-5 where God specifically promised to forgive the Israelites. We read in Numbers 14 where He said He already had forgiven them. Now He says that “the blood of bulls and goats [can't] take away sins”. There are only 2 possibilities here. One possibility is that this could be a contradiction. But if you believe, as I do, that the Bible does not contradict itself, that leaves only the second possibility, that our understanding of passages that appear to contradict themselves, is itself incorrect.

If you want the full context of Hebrews 10:1-4, read chapters 9 and 10. The context shows how the sacrifice of Jesus was infinitely more perfect than animal sacrifice. One of the ways animal sacrifices were imperfect is that they had to be offered over and over. After one sacrifice was offered and one sin was forgiven, the newly-forgiven person would soon commit another sin, requiring another sacrifice. And so on.

Christ’s sacrifice, being perfect, had to be offered only once. It had the power to forgive Israelites who lived 2000 years before, and it had the power to forgive me 2000 years later. Animal sacrifice could never do that.

The sins of the Jew were not “rolled forward”. They were forgiven. The sins that were not forgiven until Christ’s death on the cross were the sins committed between sacrifices — between one Day of Atonement and another, between one sin offering and before the next.

God is, and always has been a God of forgiveness. Those aren’t my promises; they’re His.

Posted on June 12th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Contradictions, Forgiveness, Grace, Jesus, Old Testament, Salvation | No Comments »

That’s the title of a book I started reading over the weekend. It’s actually a fairly short book, but with other things stealing my time, it’s taken me a while to finish it.

Part fiction, part nonfiction, it’s taken a good bit from the experiences of the author, who lost both parents as a teenager and was homeless — living beneath a pier. The Noticer is a man known simply as “Jones”. It’s not really correct to say that Jones changed the author’s life. More correct would be to say Jones caused the author to change his outlook on everyday situations, and that’s what changed his life.

Here’s one of Jones’ tidbits:

“Here, for you, young man, is a law of the universe—one of many, to be sure, but one that is especially applicable to your life at present. Remember, whatever you focus upon, increases.” [emphasis the author's]

Jones explains:

“When you focus on the things you need, you’ll find those needs increasing. If you concentrate your thoughts on what you don’t have, you will soon be concentrating on other things that you had forgotten you don’t have—and feel worse! If you set your mind on loss, you are more likely to lose…But a grateful perspective brings happiness and abundance into a person’s life.” [emphasis the author's]

One way Jones causes us to think about interpersonal relationships is to explain the “four major dialects that we use to convey and feel loved.” Here are the four:

1. Spoken words of approval
2. Favors and deeds
3. Personal contact
4. Quality time

I’ll just pass those along without comment other than that we all feel loved in different ways. If we limit the way we convey love to only the way we most feel loved, we’ll fail much of the time.

This book is very biblical, but it’s not based on scripture; it’s based on experience. It’s a book that would be at home on any Christian’s bookshelf, but don’t let it spend too much time there; read it first, share it, and if you’re lucky enough to get it back, read it again. Then put it on your bookshelf!

The Noticer, © 2009 by Andy Andrews. Thomas Nelson Publishers, Inc.
Video of the author’s interview with Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts

Posted on June 10th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Christian life, Faith, Fellowship, Forgiveness, Love, Obedience, Society, Stewardship | No Comments »