LOVE GOD

JOHN CHOWNING

       What simple, yet profound, words!

       Love. For centuries, poets have sought in vain to plumb the wonders of this word. Since God is love (1 John 4:8) and His love has four dimensions—breadth, length, depth, and height (Ephesians 3:18), it ought to be clear why poetry is still being written today.

       God. Philosophers have mightily, yet futilely, attempted to explain or deny Him. Who can comprehensively fathom a self-existent being whose name is “I AM that I AM” (Exodus 3:14)? He is the One from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 90:2) who knows and declares the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). What human mind can conceive of One able to “do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20)?

When asked by a disingenuous lawyer, “Master which is the great commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:35-36), Jesus’ august and succinct answer was “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

Love God. Behold its greatness! The Greek word used by both the lawyer (v. 36) and our Lord (v. 38) was mega. The function of this four letter word was to represent accurately something large in scope, great in intensity, heavy in weight, regal in dignity. How aptly it is used in this question and answer.

Loving God is great because love is a choice: “thou shalt love...” Our Lord places this commandment in the future active, indicating it must be personally and actively pursued in a voluntary manner. God does not irresistibly force you into loving Him against your will.

Loving God is great because God is personal: “thy God...” Jehovah is not an idea, theory, or concept; He is a being, and we reflect Him by having a heart, soul, and mind. No other creature on earth mirrors His image as humans do.

Loving God is great because “all” is exhaustive: “all thy heart...all thy soul...all thy mind...” When these “all”s all meet together, there is nothing leftover of your immortal nature. When “all thy might/strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30) is added, there is nothing of you leftover. It is impossible to obey the great commandment by loving God some of the time with some of your being.

Love God. Behold its pre-eminence. “This is the first...commandment.” Here the word used is protos; it denotes something first in rank, supreme in importance.

Loving God is first because it is what God requires of you: “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear then Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). It is the bottom line, the final litmus test, the authoritative rubric used to determine whether your life is judged a success or a failure.

No speculation about such matters is necessary. No guess work is required. God has communicated the main thing, and it is a personal choice whether you make and keep the main thing the main thing in your life. You cannot improperly prioritize this command and receive the Lord’s “Well done”.

Loving God is first because it is good for you: “...for thy good” (Deuteronomy 10:13). From the sixth day of creation onward, God’s commandments and statutes have always been made for humanity’s well-being. Therefore, obeying every one of His commandments ought never be grievous to anyone’s heart (1 John 5:3).

Love God. Behold its simplicity: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). By the count of the Jewish rabbis, the Old Testament Law contained 613 commandments, ample fuel for endless, unedifying arguments over which was the greatest.

In two simple statements (Matthew 22:37, 39)--quoted from God’s word—Jesus summarizes the Old Testament’s message comprehensively, accurately, and succinctly. Given the apostle Paul’s inspired commentary on how the second greatest commandment is carried out in daily life in practical terms (Romans 13:8-9), it is reasonable to conclude that the same Ten Commandments make a divine commentary of the principles of righteousness on which the first and great commandment is based.

Loving God with all your heart means God is the highest priority in your affections: “Thou shalt have none other gods before me” (Deuteronomy 5:7).

Loving God with all your mind means God’s will is the only authority in your worship and service: “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments” (Deuteronomy 5:8-10).

Loving God with all your soul means utter reverence for the holy, holy, holy God (Isaiah 6:3) and all things identified by Him as sacred: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Deuteronomy 5:11).

Loving God with all your strength means He is lord over your time; every day of every week is under His authority: “Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou” (Deuteronomy 5:12-14).

 Are you obeying the first and great commandment?

JOPPA

DANIEL GOSHORN

Joppa is a small port town that lies on the Israeli coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and on several occasions this small town makes an appearance in Biblical history as a symbolic departure point for world evangelism.  In the Old Testament, Joppa was a place of Gentile exclusion.  Jonah 1:1-3 depicts for us an instance of God reaching out to the nations with the message of repentance.  He determines to send His prophet Jonah to the wicked city of Nineveh, the main city of the mighty nation of Assyria.  At this time, Assyria was a dominant political entity, and they were fearsome foes of the nation of Israel.  Yet, God demonstrated through Jonah that He is a God for all nations. 

At this point in history the Gentiles were welcome to come to redemption, but they had to come to Israel, as the Queen of Sheba did.  The evangelistic message of Old Testament Judaism was an invitation to “come and see,” not a command to “go and tell” as we have under the New Testament.  However, with Jonah 1 we begin to see a shift, a foreshadowing of sorts, that depicts for us God’s New Testament model for global evangelism.  With Jonah, we see the message of God being intentionally carried across geopolitical borders to a pagan nation.  However, Jonah was not in agreement with God regarding this model for global evangelism.  Jonah was extremely prejudiced against the enemy nation, and as we see in the first chapter of the book of Jonah the prophet attempts to flee his missionary call.  From whence does he flee?  He travels to Joppa to flee to the other side of the world.  Jonah attempts to exclude the Gentiles from the message of God.

In the New Testament, Joppa was a place of Gentile inclusion.  Nearly 800 years following the events in the book of Jonah, we read in Acts 10 about another resistant missionary to the Gentiles.  The apostle Peter receives his vision from the Lord, a missionary call to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles for the first time since the establishment of the church.  Again, 800 years later, the prejudice against the “unclean” Gentiles was still present.  Peter should have known better considering Jesus himself had already told his followers to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mk. 16:15), and this included every nation, not just the Jewish nation (Mt. 28:18-20).  By Acts 10 the church had existed for about a decade, but they had yet to truly cross over and evangelize the Gentile world.  However, just as with Jonah, God would not be dissuaded from accomplishing His missionary goal.  Where is he sent?  To the Gentiles in Joppa [Caesarea].  This was the first place the New Testament church truly began to spread to include “all nations.” 

Chris Anderson writes in Gospel Meditations for Missions, “The lack of concern of Jonah for the lost—the utter hatred—is shocking.  However, it is no less shocking when we who have been so lavishly forgiven ignore the needs of fellow “Ninevites” around the world...we, like Jonah, are reluctant to share that same message of saving grace outside our own borders.”  Let us not be lax in our efforts to reach those around us.  Let us not have the attitude of the earliest prejudiced Christians who withheld the Gospel from those they deemed “unclean,” but let us recognize the grace that has been given to us so that we might share it with the world.  Let Joppa serve as an example of God’s inclusionary Gospel for all creatures. 

TIME AND ETERNITY

BEN F. VICK, JR.

January of this new year, 2022, is almost over. It does not seem long ago that we were turning the calendar page to begin 2021, much less 2022. Time is fleeting. When one is young, the summers seem endless, but the years roll quickly past as one grows older. I want to give some thoughts on time and eternity.

Time began at creation. The evening and the morning were the first day. Before creation, there was no time. There will come a time when time shall be no more (Rev. 10:6). The last trumpet will sound. The heavens, earth, and everything therein will be burned up (2 Peter 3:12). No ticking clocks nor watches to hear or view. No clocking in or out of work. No meeting deadlines. No appointments. No birthdays. No anniversaries. We are beings of time, but there will come a point in which eternity will begin with us.

Contrary to time, eternity never began, nor will it ever end. Lloyd-Jones quoted someone who said, “Time writes no wrinkle on the brow of the Eternal.” (Preaching and Preachers, p.51.) The word “eternity” is found in the King James Version only once. Isaiah wrote, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isa. 57:15)

The Word who later became flesh (John 1:1,14) is called “the everlasting Father” (Isa. 9:6). Though the word “father” is sometimes used in the Bible for a teacher, here the meaning is, literally, “the Father of eternity.”  It is said that he who possesses a thing is called the father of it. For instance, the father of strength denotes one who is strong, the father of knowledge indicates intelligence, or the Father of glory expresses that He is glorious. The description, “the everlasting Father,” does not refer to God the Father who became Jesus the Son who returned to heaven and became the Holy Spirit. Such a view is foreign to the Bible.

Micah prophesied, “But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2.) “Goings forth” means origin, of old, ancient past; here before creation. Lexham Theological Wordbook defines this word by saying, “This term means ancient past. It can be used to describe God as eternal in the sense of existing from before the beginning of time.” 

The Psalmist sang, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” (Psa. 90:1-2.) Paul referred to the everlasting God:  “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” (Rom.16:25-26.) Alexander Campbell, in his debate with Skinner, wrote:

…the only word that expresses simple duration without end in the New Testament is aion, the roots of which are aei, and oon, being always existing. The adjective formed from it, more naturally than any other word in Greek, expresses the always being or duration of the substantive with which it stands in construction. While other adnouns [adjectives used as nouns] or epithets speak of other qualities of the things defined, this word regards simple existence, being, or duration alone….

      --Debate on Everlasting Punishment, p. 131.

God identified Himself to Moses at the burning bush as “I Am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Ex. 3:6.) Jesus quoted this verse to the Sadducees and added, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Matt. 22:32.) God did not say:  I was the God of Abraham…. God is eternal, everlasting. He has no beginning and no end. He always was, He is, and He always will be. To the Jews, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58.)  Earlier in his conversation with these Jews, Jesus said, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8:24.) Carefully note that the “he” is in italics. A word placed in italics in the King James Version denotes the translators added it because they thought it helped complete the thought; however, in some cases, the italicized word does not help. This is the case with “he” in this verse. “I am” in reference to God indicates eternal. He is everlasting, no beginning and no end.

Concerning the promises of God, time means nothing. The scoffers say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” (2 Peter 3:3-4.) A part of Peter’s inspired response was, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8.) To the eternal God, a promise made a thousand years ago is no different than if he had made it today. God keeps his promises, unlike man.

Sometimes we use accommodative language in speaking of eternity. We say or sing of spending eternity. However, one cannot consume it; it will not wear or pass away. Eternity is forever and ever. There will be a separation of the wicked from the righteous at the final judgment. The closing sentence in the parable of the judgment scene reads: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” (Matt.25:46.) If life eternal is unending, then everlasting punishment is unending. If everlasting punishment means annihilation, then life eternal means annihilation. The English terms “everlasting” and “eternal” are from the same Greek word (αἰώνιος). What one means, the other means. That is “ungetoverable.”

How are you redeeming the time? Where will you be when eternity begins for you?

COOPERATION

BEN F. VICK, JR.

     To baptize Wanda Young last Sunday night, it took seven or eight men and four women. The reasons were that our steps to the baptistery are too many, and she could not walk. She had to be taken up in a wheelchair, put into the water, immersed, and brought back down the stairs. There was rejoicing over her wanting to obey the Lord and our being able to accomplish the feat. There are pictures of this on our Facebook page. This incident made me think of other examples of cooperation in the Bible.

When Jesus was in Capernaum, his own city (Mark 2:1; Matt. 9:1), he was in a house, and many had gathered to hear him. There were so many inside the house that no one else could enter. The friends of a man with palsy, a paralytic, wanted Jesus to heal their friend, but they could not get near him because of the crowd. What were they to do?  Their solution was to go up on the roof, break up the tile and let their friend down through the roof. Jesus saw their faith, forgave the man of his sins, and healed him. Cooperation brought about the salvation of his soul and the healing of his body.

In Judah’s last gasp of breath before she was taken into captivity, the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, said, “Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live. Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.” (Jer. 38:2-3.)  This angered some of the men in Jerusalem; so, they went to the puppet king, Zedekiah, and said that Jeremiah weakens the hands of the men of war and the people, in having spoken these words. They accused him of not being concerned about the welfare of the people. They said this man should be put to death. Zedekiah told them, he is in your hands, for I cannot do anything against you. So, they took Jeremiah and cast him into a miry pit where he sunk in the mire. Ebed-melech, one of the eunuchs in the king’s house, heard about this and told the king that Jeremiah would die if left there. The king commanded him to take thirty men and rescue him. So, Ebed-melech gathered thirty men, picked up some old rags and rope, and together these men rescued Jeremiah from the pit. By cooperation of this eunuch and the thirty men Jeremiah’s life was spared. Cooperation saved his life. He would live to see another day to prophesy for the Lord. 

When the Jews returned from captivity, the walls of Jerusalem were in shambles. They were broken down, and the gates had been burned by Nebuchadnezzar seventy years before. Nehemiah, having surveyed the walls, said to the men of the city, “Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.” (Neh. 2:17-18.) Nehemiah 3 tells of the cooperation of families repairing the walls. This refrain is repeatedly found: “next unto them.”  All were involved in repairing the walls and closing the breaches, except the nobles of the Tekoites, who would not put their necks to the work. They thought they were too good for such lowly, menial tasks. However, the other Tekoites repaired their portion and even repaired another place, as if they were making up for what their nobles refused to do. Despite the hindrances, Nehemiah said, “So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.” (Neh. 4:6.)  The key to their accomplishment with God’s help was the people had a mind to work. Nehemiah said, “So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.” (Neh. 6:15) Success! The completion of the task was because of cooperation. Many hands made light work.

The chief captain had rescued Paul in Jerusalem and held him at the castle or barracks. Certain Jews had bound themselves under a curse to slay Paul the following day, but his nephew heard about the plot. He told Paul about it, and Paul sent him to the chief captain. The chief captain called for two centurions to make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to escort Paul to Caesarea. They brought him by night to Antipatris about 25 miles from Jerusalem and about the same distance to Caesarea. All but the seventy horsemen returned to Jerusalem. Paul’s life was spared. Four hundred and seventy men and the chief captain, plus the nephew, were all involved in saving Paul’s life. There was cooperation.

The apostle Paul was thankful for the fellowship with the church at Philippi. He wrote, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;” (Phil. 1:3-5.) At the close of his letter to them he wrote, “Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.” (Phil. 4:15-17.) There was cooperation/fellowship between Paul and the church. He preached; they supported his preaching. He stated, “I desire fruit that may abound to your account.”  Any converts Paul made would also be counted as those the Philippian saints made. They worked together. That is cooperation. 

When all work together in the vineyard of the Lord much can be accomplished to the glory of God.

Wanda Young being carefully lowered down the steps in a wheelchair.

AN OVERVIEW OF CRITICAL RACE THEORY

Dick Sztanyo

 The decade of the 1960’s left a deep mark on the culture of the United States and, in many ways, the rest of the world!  It was a tidal wave of change from which we have never fully recovered.  Some of the after effects are being felt even today, in various gender issues, Marxist influenced protest movements, and indoctrination like “Critical Race Theory”  (hereafter identified as CRT).  This false theory is being smuggled into our educational systems nationwide, various large companies, and even our military. 

CRT must not be confused with the Civil Rights Movement of the decade of the 60’s, because CRT turns out to be the Civil Rights Movement in reverse.  We are being pressured once again to discriminate people on the basis of skin color.  Tommy Curry in the Encyclopedia Britannica, defines CRT as: 

The view that race, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is socially constructed and race, as a socially constructed concept, functions as a means to maintain the interests of the white population that constructed it.

CRT starts with an assumption.  It assumes that,

Racism is normal and permanent, and the problem is primarily that people—particularly white people—are failing to see, acknowledge, and address it. . . We are to assume that racism is always taking place and our job is to examine situations for evidence of it.  (Cynical, 132-133)

In the series of articles, I tested this theory for logical argumentation, for a knowledge of the truth, and for ethical considerations.  What I found was that CRT failed to meet every test to which I subjected it. 

For example, in the area of logical argumentation, several fallacies are committed, where no conclusion can be proved at all.  Furthermore, no argument is presented deductively, the conclusion of which would be “Therefore, CRT is true.”  Neither is any inductive argument presented, complete with serious laboratory type investigations and peer reviewed studies, which would yield the conclusion, “Therefore, it is highly probable that CRT is true.” 

Next, I tested CRT with reference to a knowledge of the truth.  Jesus said that, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (John 8:32).  Either we can know the truth, or we cannot know the truth.  There is no middle ground.  However, CRT advocates, heavily influenced by both pragmatism and postmodernism, hold to a subjective knowledge of truth, rather than an absolute-objective knowledge of the same.  In other words, their view of truth is that it is man-made, and supported only by those who feel the same way as they do.  So, they attempt to force people to accept CRT, by guilting them into compliance, or else by influencing the political establishment to favor CRT, and the sensitivity training that goes along with it.  If a person denies that he/she is racist, they say, “that only proves you are racist.”  If a person says that they are racist, then that also proves their case (so they say).  At any rate, you are racist no matter what (according to CRT advocates).  I am only asking them to prove it, not simply say it!  Please prove that I am a racist due to decisions that I have never made, am not making currently, and likely will never make in the future. 

My third test for CRT proponents is the test of ethics.  Ethics is simply the study of what is right and what is wrong.  And, my question to them is, “am I guilty and therefore responsible for choices that I have never made, do not now make, and will never make in the future?”  Or, is it possible that the ones who are truly guilty of promoting racism are the very ones who promote CRT?

All human beings are created in the image of Almighty God, and therefore, are valuable (see Ps. 8:4-8; Mark 8:36-37).  We are part of one human family, and should not be divided or discriminated against regardless of our ethnic background.  Moreover, the judge of all the earth (viz., God) does what is right (Gen. 18:25).  And, He supports any and all efforts to do and teach what is right.  It is definitely not right (and never has been) to seek to divide people into racial camps causing them to hate one another instead of loving one another (Matt. 22:37-40). 

Finally, CRT fails every test of logical analysis, and proves itself to be a false view of life.  Thus, I call on all responsible people to reject this terrible attempt to indoctrinate people in an extremely harmful way. 

There is a series of five articles being published by the Warren Apologetics Center, under “Philosophical Foundations of Critical Race Theory.”  You can access them there by searching www.warrenapologetics.org, under “critical race theory.” 

WORKS CITED

Curry, Tommy.  “Critical Race Theory,” Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory

Pluckrose, Helen, and Lindsay, James.  Cynical Theories.  Durham, NC: Pitchstone Publishing, 2020.

—Shades Mountain Messenger

    Vol. 22, Issue 23.  Nov. 7, 2021