A Voice in the Wilderness - Observations and Excursions of a Christian Zealot

The parable of the laborers

2008-02-01T12:00:00.002-05:00

The purpose of this and, Lord willing, future articles under the same heading, is to present the parables of our Lord Jesus Christ one at a time, in no particular order, but with emphasis placed on those that are especially difficult, either because the content is challenging or the message is one that our flesh would prefer to ignore. I will, as best I am able, glean what practical applications may be had from the stories Jesus used to teach the correct of heart and confound the lost. So let us start with what I shall call “The parable of the laborers” found in Matthew 20:1

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘you also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’

“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”

Some time ago I was acquainted with a Christian co-worker who regularly complained about the burdens and stresses of the conditions he faced on his job. Many of the conditions that management forced upon him were unusual, unrighteous and sometime even illegal considering the current state of employment laws. Because of this he often quarreled with management about their treatment of him. One day he came to me looking for a sympathetic ear, and as he was very fond of saying, he said to me, “I have rights you know, and they are always breaking them.” Knowing him to be a man that would listen to reason I simply said “My friend, God is not interested in your rights and neither am I. However I am interested in how long you intend to swim in the quagmire of your own self idolatrous pity party?” Stunned, he said “Thanks ….. I think.” I could see the question welling up in his mind. He finally spewed, “Are you going to explain to me how God doesn’t care about me?” I said, “That is not at all what I said. God did not send His son to die for someone He does not care about, but God is a jealous God and He deserves and requires His glory. In what way are you glorifying God by always gossiping about, and back-talking to, the very management that God has put in authority over you? You cannot control how others treat you, but you can control your reaction to it. Don’t you know that when you correct a scoffer you only shame yourself, and when you rebuke a wicked man you only harm yourself? (Proverbs 9:7) A scoffer does not listen to rebuke. (Proverbs 13:1b) What right do you have to question the will of God? The Bible says that it greatly pleases God when you are submissive to your boss, not just the good ones but also the harsh ones. It is commendable when you endure grief and suffer wrongfully because of your conscience toward God. But what credit is there if you are treated poorly and respond poorly as well? But when you do good and suffer quietly and take it patiently, this is commendable to God. (1 Peter 2:18-20)” He said, “that’s ridiculous, God doesn’t want me to be treated immorally, we all deserve better than that.” I said, “No my friend, we all deserve to go to Hell, but God chose you while you were yet an undeserving sinner. Get your eyes off the world and focus on eternity. What is 70 years of mistreatment taken for the glory of God, compared to an eternity of perpetual companionship with Jesus?” He looked me in the eye and said, “I get your point, I am serving the wrong masters. I need to focus on serving God not me or my boss.” I said, “Amen brother, Amen. Now praise the Lord, go and sin no more.” He laughed and left.

But what does this have to do with our parable? Turn the page and see.

My friend had several problems inhibiting his correct relationship with God. His sinful self centered thinking has left him blind to the obvious. This man had a job most men dream about, yet he was unthankful to God for it. His focus on himself led him to ignore the will of God toward those God has put in authority over him. This hampered his witness for Christ as people judged him according to his actions. Because he is focused on himself instead of glorifying Christ, when a trial such as unjust treatment is placed in his path, he immediately responds in sin. My friend simply doesn’t understand that as a believer in Christ you give up your human rights for a conscience toward God. This is how Job remained steadfast when faced with an onslaught of trials that none of us will ever suffer, because Job wanted a God life not a good life.

So the next time you are preparing for work, whether it is at home with the kids, or you are driving to your JOB, ponder this; “The name of the man God chose to test more than any other was spelled J-O-B.”

In our parable the first thing one might notice is that the righteous landowner went out seeking servants. 2 Chronicles 16:9a says, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” When the landowner found some people they were not actively seeking the landowner or the servitude of his employment, they are simply standing around, doing nothing. They had no master, nor no purpose to serve because God had not yet hired them. We likewise, outside of Christ, live a perfectly meaningless life. Without the saving grace of Jesus everything you do is sin, even your worship of God is not pleasing to God, if you do not know Him. In the absence of God drawing you to His Son, you cannot nor are you inclined to seek and to know God.

Never the less, the landowner found the people he wanted in his own time, some late and some early. What comes to my mind here is that God gifts each of us differently, some of us he greatly gifts (hires them early in the morning, such as John the Baptist) and others he lightly gifts (hires in the eleventh hour, such as the thief on the cross). Each of us is responsible only for what God has gifted us. We are not called to live the life of the Apostle Paul when we are gifted as much as the repentant tax collector. However we are responsible for the proper use of our gifts. If you have many gifts then God requires many sheep to be fed, (bare the burden and the heat of the day) yet others, judged according to their giftedness and not yours, may feed but a few (have only worked but an hour).

You may have also noticed that at least four times that day the landowner said “whatever is right I will give you”. But who determined the amount that was right? Was it not the landowner when he paid those that were hired about the eleventh hour, the very same denarius? The landowner did to each laborer what was right. He did not treat anyone unjustly. Yet some complained thinking themselves deserving of better than what was pre-determined as right. Their eyes were sinfully focused on the worldly mammon and not the eternal prize. What will be the significance of each of our unequally burdened but equally brief lives be during millennia in Heaven? But while yet alive on earth let us not lose focus that ALL things God works together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) Yes even trials, burdens and being treated unjustly at work are for our own good! Give thanks and Praise the Lord when they come upon you.

The landowner said, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things.” All-powerful, almighty God has the right to do as He pleases within the realm of His righteousness. But is this right? Is it fair for God to do as He pleases? Was if fair for God to tell Rebekah, before the two boys were born, “The older will serve the younger.” This was before the boys had done anything good or bad. God said this so that the one chosen would be chosen because of God’s own plan. He was chosen because he was the one God wanted to call, not because of anything he did. As the Scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”

So what should we say about this? Is God unfair? In no way. God said to Moses, “I will show kindness to anyone to whom I want to show kindness, and I will show mercy to anyone to whom I want to show mercy.” So God will choose the one to whom he decides to show mercy; his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do. (Romans 9:11-16.)

Are we not blessed that our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus loved us while we were yet sinners, that in Him we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will? (Ephesians 1:11)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

So God is not unfair in anything that He wills to do, but rather He always gives to each what is right. In fact, praise God that He has not dealt with us as we deserve, but as His Son deserves.

Which brings me to my final point; the landowner gave to them their wages “beginning with the last to the first”. The Bible has much to say about how we should see ourselves. But let’s look at what the Bible has to say about one of the spiritual giants, John the Baptist.

John the Baptist received the Holy spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. Matthew 11:11a says, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.” But then it goes on to say “but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist.” If the great John the Baptist is not the greatest in Heaven but rather the least is greatest, then the question arises, who exactly is least in Heaven?

While we cannot know the answer to that question quite yet, we can know the heart of such a person. And I would like to reveal his heart in a prayer.

Dear awesome and powerful Lord Jesus, let us fear not the people who can kill our body but after that can do nothing more to hurt us. For we know the One who we should fear. We should fear the one who has the power to kill us and also to throw us into Hell. Yes, You are the one we should fear. So let us not desire to save our own lives but instead desire to lose them for Your sake. Let us not think we are adequate in ourselves to think of anything as coming from ourselves, but let us understand that our adequacy is from You, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Dear Lord let us not think that we stand, lest we fall. Let us not think of ourselves as something, lest we be nothing. Let us not think that we know anything, lest we find we know nothing at all. Let us not think we give anything to You as if You needed anything from us. But rather let us know through and through, branded on our heart and minds, that we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Amen! Luke 12:4-5, Matthew 16:25, 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, 1 Corinthians 10:12, Galatians 6:3, 1 Corinthians 8:1, Philippians 3:2

There is no way humanly possible to teach all there is to learn out of this or any other parable in the span of these few pages. But I hope that this article causes you to open your Bible and read this parable with a new understanding that will greatly bless you in a way that this article never will.

The Bible is the living word of God. It is called the living word, because it is the means by which God has chosen to reveal His mysteries to those who seek Him and to confound those who seek their own. Please seek Him while the day is yet called today, because you do not know if you will ever make it to tomorrow. Just hours ago I found a little bird, a finch possibly, in the building where I live. He sprightly flew around looking for the way he came in, until he found a cache of bugs stuck to a glue trap on the floor. Easy pickins’ until he found himself stuck as well. I found him alive and well but missing a few feathers. Thinking to give him a night of rest, I stuck him in a cage where he soon was calmly sleeping, his head tucked lightly under his wing. Just now I went to see if my new buddy was still sleeping. He was sprawled out, dead, not a wound to speak of. Alive one minute, dead the next!

Won’t you hear me now and come to know Christ? This little Finch will never see Hell, but you will if you do not come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior! I couldn’t save this Finch but Jesus can save you!

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

The Passion of the Christ - A Revue -

2008-01-01T12:00:00.003-05:00

While God can use the recent movie “The Passion of the Christ,” and I am sure that He will, I want to issue a warning to the church at the same time. No doubt Satan can and will use it as well. Therefore, let us be on guard that we might glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I have seen abundant evidence of grave misunderstanding surrounding this movie. There are those I have spoken to that are walking away from this movie completely missing Christ’s purpose. The Bible is the inspired word of God. Jesus is the Word, the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is the word of God that persuades those who have yet to be saved.

Regardless of how good or accurate this movie is, the truth is far more reaching than any form of media is able to show or any mind is capable of imagining. Such as the incredible sin I personally heaped upon my Lord and Savior, or the indescribable, unimaginable, suffering of Christ Jesus, not from hanging on the cross, but by being separated from His Father for the first time in eternity. In the communication I have had with others who have viewed this film, there is much talk about little more than the brutality of His death.

If you do not understand what I am laboring to warn you about, then let me provide an example. It is a heart felt, emotional e-mail I received from a professing believer. The original e-mail is unedited, except for the removal of personal information, and the addition of my responses to each portion of the e-mail. My responses are in blue text.

Hey Guys,
I just felt like I should let you all know just how much our Lord and Saviour loves us all. I know that you are all probably tired of hearing this from me, but you have to hear it one more time.

Our church went for a private viewing of The Passion of Christ last night, and I am still in amazment. I have read about it and been taught about it for all of my life, but for the first time ever, last night I actually saw it with my own eyes. I saw the agony that he suffered and the blood that he shed for you and me, and I am here to tell you all that it was more than we could have ever imagined.

Response:
My friend, you have in no way seen the agony that Christ Jesus suffered. It is beyond human capability to truly grasp the agony of Jesus becoming the propitiation for our sins. What you actually saw with your own eyes, was an actor who was attempting to portray the death of Jesus in a manner that was as realistic as is possible. In reality, even that actor was not seriously harmed. But you have seen this man and related him as Jesus, and in ever sense that is idolatry. This is the very reason graven images are an abomination to God, because they detract from His glory. You were created to glorify God, not an image of Him. The Bible, the very word of God, reveals far more about the character and purpose of Christ than any media can, because the Bible by its very origin is exactly what God wants to tell us, no more and no less. If you have read the Bible your whole life and have never understood and imagined more than the few words of Scripture that are spoken in this movie, then you need to run, don’t walk, back home and pray that God your Father might increase your understanding of His Word.

The actual act of dying was not the hard part of what Christ did for “all of us”, it was what lead up to his death. He was beat with sticks and a "cat of nine tails", which if you don't know what that is it is a stick with nine leather straps hanging off the end, and all of the straps have metal spikes and pieces of glass sticking out of them, he was mocked, spat upon, he had a crown of thorns placed upon his head, and the thorns were at least four inches long, and they were pushed into his head until they were in all the way. They beat him until his bones were exposed, and then they beat him some more. Christ was the only one of the three people crucified that day who was made to carry his own cross, he was also the only one who was beat. The other two men were not beat, and there crosses were carried for them, at least the heavy part anyway, and they truly deserved to be crucified, Christ did not, he chose to die a horrible death for our sins.

Response:
How right you are, the actual act of dying was not the hard part of what Christ did! The physical suffering Jesus went through was no doubt horrific, but necessary as there is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. But the suffering that led to Jesus’ death was not the hard part of what Christ did for those of us who are sealed for the day of redemption, as His Father was with Him during His suffering, but rather His taking upon Himself the penalty of our sins caused His Father to forsake Him. If we concentrate on the mere brutality of His death, which many have suffered in like kind or worse, then we will miss Christ’s true purpose. Yes He died, yes it was excruciating, but who is He, why did He die, and what purpose did His life, death and resurrection serve? Let us concentrate on that, for that is the Gospel. But Jesus did not die as a sacrifice for the sins of “all of us”, but only for those who His Father first drew to Him, (John 6:42) therefore, walk in fear and trembling of your God by Whom wrath is justly applied upon the perpetrator of every act of unrepentant sin.

One thing that really amazed me was to see Christ's reaction toward the people who crucified him. He was so kind and loving, he never had a harsh word or a cruel jesture toward any of them, he never fought back, he was his Perfect, Loving, Wonderful self throughout the whole thing. Not in a happy way, but in a loving way. The pain in his eyes, and the way that he trembled, not from fear, but from pain showed us all just how much he suffered, but through it all there was love.

Response:
Where are all these details in the Bible? And once again you are speaking as if you actually saw the crucifixion of the almighty Savior, Lord and King, Christ Jesus. Were you there to see the pain in His eyes, His gestures and His reactions? God does not react to anything, rather He works all things, everything, including His own mortal death, in accordance with the pleasure of His own will. He is omnipotent. Consider this Scripture in light of your amazement: “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers; that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:27-31) Do you see from this scripture that God is telling us that His Word is what makes the difference, not even the supernatural appearance of your dead brother can keep you from going to Hell, if the truth of the word of God doesn’t make a difference in your life? My friend, this is eternal life and death we are talking about. This is serious.

I know that my husband would do anything for me, and my well being, but I'm not sure about suffering as Christ did, no normal human could survive it. But Jesus did, and He did it all for us, so that we could be Saved and spend our life on this earth serving him and winning souls for him, and so that we could spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

Response:
Actually the Bible says that Paul survived both beatings and stonings. There are even present day cultures that have religious celebrations that include self mutilation by means of striking one’s own back with multiple knife blades tied to leather straps until the loss of blood causes unconsciousness. It is seen as a means of penance for your own sins. Jesus received 39 strikes which was 1 less than the legal limit, after which it was considered cruel and unlawful. Much of the beatings that are shown in the movie are not recorded in Scripture, we cannot simply conjure up what might have happened and accept that as truth, entertainment yes, truth no. Furthermore, Jesus wasn’t trying to survive; He was accomplishing what His Father had sent Him to do. Even the day of Jesus’ death was determined so as to happen during the Passover, as He was the Passover Lamb. Jesus died in the same moment that the Passover lambs where slaughtered in the temple. Jesus died well before the others because “It was finished”, not His life, but His work.

But more importantly than seeing this movie, is seeing Christ's love and accepting him as your Lord and Savior so that we can all spend eternity with Him together in Heaven.

I love you all and want you all to experience the lifetime of joy that comes from knowing, loving, serving and being loved by Christ, but in order for this to happen you have to accept him through salvation as your saviour.

Please don't think that I am just some holy roller blabber mouth because I promise I am not saying these things just to hear myself talk. I feel that this is something that God really wants me to do, and serving Him is my top priority. Sincerely (name withheld)

Conclusion:
My Christian Sister, toward the end of her e-mail, was finally starting to ground herself in the truth. She is obviously fervent. In fact, the something she feels God wants her to do, is to pay for anyone’s ticket that wants to see this movie. I doubt very seriously that God wants her to do that in light of His command against images and idolatry. However, we can say that this movie will certainly be used by God, but just as certainly it will be used by Satan to distract people away from the inspired Word of God. Using this movie as an evangelism tool is an extremely risky thing. As you have seen by what you have already read, people can be caused to believe things that simply are not true, even lifelong readers of the Bible. Let us remember that “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” (2 Pet. 1:3) He has given that to us in His Word as it alone reveals Christ.

Some of us are about to see or have already seen this movie. Let us remember that the Bible is the source of truth for which we seek. Jesus is the Word, this movie is just a gory portrayal. And as good as it may be, it simply cannot demonstrate the true nature and purpose of Jesus Christ, because, by any human effort, whether by song, or eloquent speech, movie or art or any other human endeavor, we can only produce little more than a shadow of Jesus. His glory cannot be contained in a pathetic painting, stained glass window or a movie screen. Jesus told us to love Him with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our soul, He did not say love a likeness of Him. In fact it is an abomination to look upon a shadow and think “I have seen my Savior.” So when you have seen this movie, please remember that your Christ is far greater than the image you are seeing.

Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:11-16)

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Excursions

2007-12-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Cooks for Christ gives "Excursions" a whole new meaning!

On May 19th The American Cancer Society held five Relay for Life events across the upstate of South Carolina. Four were rained out before they even got started. The only one that survived, was the one that Cooks for Christ attended. Perhaps God held the rains back until after our evangelism tent had served it purpose, which after midnight really seemed to become a hot spot, with as many as 10 young adults at one time.

I owe a huge thank you to all that worked so miserably hard at this Mega event. We ran across some extreme resistance, and even though it took several hours to get organized, we met the challenge and glorified God.

Our site was awesome, the food was awesome, the fellowship was awesome, the evangelism was awesome and if you were not there, well then, you have no idea what awesome really is!

Cooks for Christ has held it’s first 2006 “Reel Vacation” in Sabastian, Florida. Like all my previous “Reel Vacations” my intention was to temporally cater and spiritually minister to my guests, and provide them the best possible ocean fishing vacation experience within a Christian fellowship setting. But unlike previous events, this one started with trial, was seasoned with toil and remained tainted by tribulation. And yet it still was one of the greatest vacations I have ever had.

As Luke Roy and I prepared the boat the night before we left, I remembered I had forgotten to find a place for my dog (D-O-G) to stay, so she had to come with us even though she used to get sea sick. Strangely that never happened and she seemed to enjoy herself during the whole trip. Even during the days and the nights she spent on the boat. What a dog! But she still won’t eat fish, go figure!

However, before we left, Luke and I found that the boat trailer main frame tubes were rusted and one was cracked in half. After hours of welding I seared some flesh off my left arm on a hot metal plate. The next, night, the night we were to leave for Florida, a Van ran me and my motorcycle off the roadway and I seared some more flesh off my right arm, presumably from the muffler system, as I high-sided off my bike and into a field. But I long ago learned how to wreck a motorcycle, so, with no serious harm done, Luke and I left to drive, non-stop, all night to Sebastian.

So when we arrive in Florida, Luke and I checked out the Sebastian Inlet State Park and ended up sleeping a couple of hours while we waited for the rest of our vacation party to arrive in town. Luke is so tired, and the truck is so packed, the crazy kid ends up sleeping on top of the two refrigerators we brought along with us! Luke is hard worker and sometimes he works hard at sleeping. He, He, He, sorry Luke!

Later that day the rest of our party arrives in town and we unload all our gear into our two bedroom Resort Suite!

Amusingly the resort calls that tiny thing in the picture a full kitchen! Well at least it was after we wheeled two refrigerators and a freezer into the now full dining room!

One thing for sure, we weren’t going hungry and we weren’t eating out.

During this vacation, most of those that actually could be called my family, would all be there with me. This included my sister, my mother and father, and my biological father and his wife, and my Grandmother.

Of course, not all at once, as that would have been a little awkward for obvious reasons.

So after we arrived at the resort and unloaded 2 or 3,000 lbs of gear, my sister and I left mom and dad at the resort, and went to pick up her fishing license. We drove one block, to the local bait and tackle shop and my biological father greets us at the door. By God’s providence, he works less than 300 yards from where we are staying! Rather shocking to say the least.

So everyone gets a license and we go fishing. My sister hooks a huge one, it’s as long as she is tall, 4’11”, or 5’0” if you ask her, but it turns out not to be real, just a stuffed bass from Cabelas.

Better luck next time sis!

Over the next few days we fish during the day and sometimes at night, which is something you must experience before you die and go to Heaven, because I don’t think that River of Life actually has any fish in it.

So, one day we run into a school of croaker so thick my sister is pulling them in so fast, all I have time to do is throw them in the live well and re-bait her hook. Of course these 8”-10” croaker were not for eating, they were for live bait.

Anyway the toil continues for me as the boat continues to act up. But Luke and I keep everything running. Until finally we pull up to the boat ramp after spending the night on the boat and some evil sinner has stolen some vital bolts off my trailer! The situation is utterly outrageous, but we have no choice but to load the boat and drive to the hardware store. Many hours later everything is fixed! Again!

But this is followed by an incredible day of catching sailcat and missing several huge fish. We even followed an immense 6 or 7’ wide manta ray! After years on the ocean, I had never even seen one before, except on TV. We also saw dolphin and sea turtles and even manatees.

One morning I saw a large black cloud of fish about a quarter mile away, and a half mile off shore, so thinking it was a school of bait fish we headed right toward it. When we got close enough to see it wasn’t bait fish, it was too late, we had scattered a huge school of perhaps 100, 50+ pounds Tarpon, the very fish we went to Florida to catch. I never saw another Tarpon all week. Aaaarrrg!!

But all was not lost, on one of the nights we spent on the Indian River we were catching rather large sailcat when I hooked and landed a 35+ pound grouper, IN THE RIVER on a 9” live croaker!

I let my sister hold it because I didn’t want her to feel bad about me beating out her 10 pound sailcat, which I must admit was rather puny compared to my monster grouper! He, He, He, sorry sis!

But the next day we were fishing directly in the Sebastian Inlet, where the water flows about 10mph continuously. We dropped my huge 40 pound river anchor to hold the boat in place and went to fishing. But when we went to leave, we discovered my anchor was terribly stuck to something on the bottom. For the next four hours I tried every trick in the book, to get my expensive anchor back. I even tried defying death by diving in the fast moving water. But to no avail, it was hopelessly stuck. So even though we could see the anchor chain, we eventually had to cut the rope and go home.

So what does any of this have to do with God or Providence or anything you would be interested in reading about? It’s all about being faithful, no matter what. It’s about serving others even when your anchor has you tied down. It’s all about being Christ-like even when things are at there worst.

You see I didn’t know it, but my sister, the one who’s family I drove down to Tucson to minister to, was watching me. On one of our last days she said “This is the best vacation I ever had.” I responded “I can’t see how you can say that when we have faced trial after trial ever other day, and we have been on the verge of disaster nearly every day.” And my sister said, “No, we didn’t face trial after trial, you did, I just sat back and watched you suffer and struggle for hours to fix a trailer, keep a boat running and then go home and cook us a fabulous dinner every night. It amazed me to see how hard you worked and all the things you tried just to save a silly anchor. I came here to relax and now I am going home, after watching you work so hard, motivated to do more for God than I was. Your work was a witness to me of Jesus.”

Seems I caught the big fish, but my sister went home with something more valuable. A motivation to be more for God. I wish we all could say that.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

The Witness

2007-11-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

During my years on this earth I have heard many religious witnesses, mostly false, some true, and even fewer, faithfully sincere! When I was a Jehovah Witness I did very little witnessing for Jehovah, and most of it was fictitious and certainly not sincere. But when God saved me, I actually had a witness, but by then I was scared to death to speak for fear of leading someone astray. But the other believers around me couldn’t seem to keep quite; they were constantly talking about Christ or at least religion. The problem was that some of these witnesses never grew past the stage of salvation; there was no wisdom in their witness. Beyond the innate understanding of their own salvation, their opinions, not the Bible, served as the basis for their conversation. The Bible says that “where there is much talk, there is much sin” and I believe this to be true for any believer who’s voice exceeds his biblical understanding. I think we would all be wise to follow a simple rule for every word that we speak. If you are not willing to die for what you say, shut up!

However this does not relieve a believer, even a newborn believer, of his responsibility to be “a minister of the New Covenant”. In this endeavor the Bible says that you, as a believer, are sufficient. Your salvation is immediately a powerful witness for Christ. Speak boldly! Speak what you know! And speak no more! There are many examples of people who witnessed for Christ in the Bible. Many of the people healed by Jesus immediately witnessed to others what Jesus had done for them. Understandably, these were saved and unsaved individuals who were witnessing of healing, not salvation. But I have found no example of a “newborn” believer immediately going into a synagogue and teaching Scripture. Our sufficiency in all things comes from our Lord, Who is certainly capable of giving you what you need to know when you need to know it. A wise witness never witnesses beyond what God has given him to understand. But do not remain a “milky newborn”; study to show yourself approved and your witness will grow in God given wisdom. The meat of the Word is satisfying indeed. Be satisfied and let what comes out of your mouth be no more than what went in.

But of all the witnesses that I have heard in my life they all have something in common. They all were voluntary witnesses. They witnessed of Christ because they wanted too. But recently I had a whole new experience. I saw a new way to witness for Christ. The interesting thing is that you don’t actually say anything and it isn’t voluntary. If I have peeked your interest, then let us proceed.

A short time ago I met with Brother Paul, for lunch and fellowship, and while that alone would make any true believer’s day, my heart on this day was particularly burdened. I had questions burning in my mind as to how it was possible to serve in a very public way, without messing up your intentions to glorify God, with pride or selfish interests. Is the using of your gifts for service the same as monetary tithing? What if someone offers to pay you back? And what if you have several gifts? Should you use them all? Is all talent a God given gift? What if you have wide ranging general talent? Isn’t a Christian called to be a specialist, not a “jack of all trades”? And why does panic strike me if someone is verbally thankful for something God gave me to do? The bottom line; I was in all out war with my evil pride, and I wasn’t sure how to keep it in check, while glorifying Christ. These questions were robbing me of the joy I should have in serving my church and you, my fellow believers in Jesus.

When I arrived at the restaurant along with my friend Steven Burch, we discovered that Scott Batson was also at our table. Having never really met before, I thought “the more the merrier, if this poor guy wants to share in my dilemmas so be it”. I soon discovered that Scott is an Elder in our church for a reason; because he embodies all the necessary qualities that the Bible demands of a man in such a position, namely, Scott has a heart for serving his bothers and glorifying Christ without a heart for glorifying himself in the process. My three companions quickly had my mindset straight and my will ever more determined to mercilessly slaughter my flesh. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

So it was, that I met Scott Batson. And I left that restaurant having been comforted by a wise man, that I now had a great desire to know better. So it was with no small curiosity that I attended the church wide meeting, only days ago, to hear what was to be said concerning Scott Batson and his friends.

It quickly became apparent that this meeting was being held to lovingly call wayward church members and long time friends of Scott’s family to repentance. I felt suddenly odd about reviewing the details of Mr. Batson’s personal life. I somehow felt dishonorable and wanted to leave, but figured God must have a purpose in this, Scott must have a purpose, and our church must have a purpose. So I searched for a purpose beyond the obvious act of love for wayward souls; so I listened to what was said and I read every detail.

And then God did something wonderful. Amidst all the contracts and numbers and dates and letters, God revealed to me a heart, the heart of a Samaritan who did not walk by when he found a brother in need, the heart of a wife who would accept financial loss for the sake of a friend and sister in Christ. Scott and Renee did so with no small effort and in anonymous privacy without seeking acknowledgement. The Holy Spirit has truly worked a work in believers such as these. At every turn they acted out of love for their friends and fear of God, striving for a heavenly reward instead of earthly notoriety.

It was never Scott’s plan for anyone to know what he and his family so lovingly did for his friends. Nor would Scott ever write such words as these about himself, but I will, because Scott’s plan to privately glorify Jesus was not God’s plan. Sometimes you can glorify God in private, and sometimes God requires that you give an account of what He has done for you.

For His glory! For His majesty!
For He alone is worthy of praise! Amen!

Just like the blind man when he was healed, witnessed and proclaimed the name of Jesus, so now do Scott and Renee’s lives stand, for all to see, as a shining example of the power of submitted lives to Christ.

Praise the Lord for He is mighty and sovereign and works all things for His glory. Praise Him for exposing this awesome witness, not a voluntary “newborn” witness of salvation, but the un-voluntary witness of seasoned believers with a life style of good works tempered with wisdom and faith. The apostle Paul once told people to look at his life and imitate him. Do as he does, live as he lives! And while I doubt that Scott would ever utter these words, his life never the less speaks them just the same.

Praise the Lord God Almighty for this work He has done in our brother. What an awesome witness it was.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

To Edify a Body - an Introduction

2007-10-01T12:00:00.004-05:00

James 3:2-12 says, “We all make many mistakes, but those who control their tongues can also control themselves in every other way.” Wow, in this verse God clearly states that if we can control our tongues, then all other aspects of our lives will fall harmoniously in line. I love it when God makes it easy. Just keep your mouth shut and life is good. But wait, who of us does not like to hear himself talk? Yes, the world is a better place because God gave you a mouth with which you can tell everyone all about you. Try as we might we simply can’t help ourselves. Just like Job’s friends, who were a silent blessing to him for six days, when they could bear it no longer, they opened their mouths and everything went downhill from there.

Wouldn’t it be grand if we could simply chuck all this useless idle talk, chatter, teasing, joking, rumors, slander, chitchat, clamor, gossip and hearsay? Not only would it be grand but it is exactly what our God commands us to do.

Ephesians 4:29-31 says, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, so that it will bring grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

Isn’t that a great verse? In it you not only have a reminder of your assurance of salvation, but you are given the God given purpose for speaking. You are instructed how to speak, when to speak, and what your goal in speaking should be. And if that isn’t enough it even tells you the result of your poor speech habits, you grieve the Holy Spirit of God, Who is forced to listen to all of your idle talk and gossip. Think about that the next time you are talking about your wife in the lunchroom at work.

The fact is that even Scripture, the very word of God, can be spoken sinfully if you are using it at an inappropriate time or in a manner that is not based on the purpose of glorifying God and edifying the person to whom you are speaking.

Recently I was invited to purposefully edify others, to feed another flock. They in turn were invited to our church. The result of our mutual visits would be an exchange of letters of edification. I thought it a simply, minor task. Intending to write a complimentary, flattering, accolade, I went home and searched my computer Bibles for an example. Excepting the whole of Song of Solomon, I could find not one example of a flattering discourse. Presuming my definition of “edify” in error, I looked up the word and found my natural stupidity verified. To edify someone does not mean to compliment them, it means something much deeper. It means to leave them enlightened and informed. It means to teach them, educate them, instruct them and as a result of your speech, leave them improved. The Greek word for edify means “to build”.

Suddenly my task seemed much harder. Without forgetting that I am to love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind, and I am to love my neighbor as I love myself, how does one edify someone else without ticking them off? So I searched my computer Bibles again and this time I found many examples of apostles edifying others, even those that they had not yet met. The Apostle Paul wrote many wonderful examples of edifying letters, and I chose Paul’s letter to the Ephesians as the basis for my letter. But surely even Paul’s letters occasionally left people angry.

So how does one properly edify out of a motive of love without leaving people angry? I don’t think the answer lies in the hands of the edifier, but rather it is the responsibility of the person being edified to receive the edification in a Godly manner.

Hebrews 12:5-11 says, And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Of Argots and Idioms and Denominational Divisions – It’s A Human Thing!

2007-09-01T12:00:00.001-05:00

My wonderful Christian sister, both biologically and spiritually, recently enlightened me to a particular problem that we should all consider and address in our own lives. The problem is the use of "argots." An "argot" is a specialized vocabulary or set of idioms used by a particular group or culture. (My sister, unlike me, is quite a gifted intellectual.) She correctly believes that the use of such jargon obstructs evangelism and hinders those that might come to know Christ, if it were not for Christians being guilty of throwing around their theological slang. She says, “Argot hinders, yet Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, . . .”” (Matthew 19:14)

My response is thus: How right you are, your understanding is truly insightful. We as humans, especially Christians, seem to love nothing more than to analyze, categorize and on and on until we have lost the fact that it is the heart that matters, not the title, it is the heart that matters, not the semblance of obedience, it is the heart that matters, not the religion. For out of the heart arises your belief, your motive and your manner of life. Why must we complicate things with the use of terms that merely confuse the masses, both laymen Christians and the unsaved alike? With all the ‘ism’s and the ‘ist’s I hear on a weakly basis, I could spend more time in the dictionary than in the Word. I wonder, is there really a need for a true Christian to concern himself with obtaining knowledge of these seemingly endless terms?

When God was asked who He is, He did not recite a litany of Christian theological gobbledygook, (how’s that for argot) He simply said, "I Am". And just before Jesus Christ breathed His last while hanging on the cross, He summed up His entire purpose for His life on earth, the fact that He had perfectly achieved every purpose that His Father had sent Him to accomplish, in a single word, when He said "It" is finished.

Oh yes, Christians are guilty; we are no better, in the slightest, than the unsaved heathens that surround us. We, without Christ are incapable of anything good, are hearts are desperately evil. It is only grace that God chose to give us, which separates us and makes us any different than those on the wide path that leads to destruction and hell. Furthermore, we as Christians have yet to be glorified through Christ, so even though we are dead to sin while yet alive, we yet sin because our flesh is yet sinful by nature. Pride is a main downfall, pride is why some of us use fancy terminology, pride puffs up, and wisdom begets pride. Some Christians use these meaningless terms because, the use of them makes them feel good about themselves and superior to others. These Christians do not have a heart for dying to their own flesh, they have not yet understood that they are nothing without God, that grace alone, is the only reason they are set apart, if they in fact are saved at all. Yes, absolutely, useless argot hinders.

As with most everything, words, even seemingly innocent words, can become sin when used inappropriately, and anyone who uses them indiscriminately all the time, obviously is not following Ephesians 4:29-31. The new covenant gives Christians both a true freedom (from the law), and great amounts of Christian liberties, as Paul states in 1 Corinthians 10:17 “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.” But Paul clearly let us know in Romans that we should be very careful with our Christian liberty. If it causes a person to stumble, as in the example of the child (Matthew 19:14), then we are to refrain. He used the example of eating meat in Romans 14:20-23. Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, there is nothing wrong with these things in themselves. But it is wrong to eat anything if it makes another person stumble. Don’t eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another Christian to stumble. You may have the faith to believe that there is nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who do not condemn themselves by doing something they know is all right. But if people have doubts about whether they should eat something, they shouldn’t eat it. They would be condemned for not acting in faith before God. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.

Paul said that if by eating meat, he caused a person to stumble then he would never eat meat again (1 Corinthians 8:9-13). For instance, drinking or gambling, when done with limitation, is not a sin, Christians are free to indulge, and in the case of drinking, even instructed to do so on occasion (1 Timothy 5:23).

Yet the act of drinking causes many weak Christians and Pagans alike to look upon a Christian drinker as a hypocrite. This diminishes the power of the Christian drinker’s testimony, tearing apart the work of God, so a mature Christian learns this and simply forgoes his liberty, for the glory of God.

But let us take this even further and to a much larger issue, the division caused by denomination. There will be no Lutherans, no Baptists, no Catholics not even a single Presbyterian in Heaven. In addition there will be no family units or no marriage in Heaven. The only division that God will use to divide the human race is the division of the elect from the non-elect, the divisional judgment of the saved and the unsaved. In reality, we are all one body of Christ, one bride of Christ. All true Christians serve the same God. It is out of human pride and ignorance that we choose to separate ourselves into denominations based on religious preference and not the principles and will of God. It is not the Word of God that creates the denominational divisions, but human interpretational error and arrogance. While false religions (based on anything but the will and Word of God) are out there, it is not of those that I speak, but the Bible believing religions that choose to take out of the Bible only what they feel is appropriate for them. We will all be judged by the whole of the Bible, not what we felt was appropriate for us. Yes, absolutely, useless argot hinders, but denominational division hinders much more, pitting Christian against Christian, usually in aspects of the Bible that God Himself saw no need to clearly define, preferring to leave those issues to faith rather than knowledge. The Bible says it is sufficient, not for omniscience, but every God intended aspect of human existence.

An example of denominational division: A short time ago I was witnessing to a group of people, they were very excited, feasting on the word as I presented it in truth; they asked what my denomination was. I told them I was Baptist and immediately some turned away. Whether I attend a particular denomination does not affect the truth of the Bible, or my understanding of it. Truth is truth regardless of whether the teacher is a preacher, pastor, minister, priest, reverend or just a plain pew-warming layman. The fact is, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to think of anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Who is sufficient as ministers of the new covenant? All Christians are. Where does our adequacy come from; ourselves; our denomination, our church? NO, NO, NO. Our adequacy is entirely from God. The fact is that while people may be affected by useless “Christianese”, they are far more affected by their own errant preconceived misunderstanding of the beliefs of other individuals, based solely on the other individual’s denomination. In other words, Christians judge others to be of a certain set of preconceived beliefs or actions just because they belong to a differing denomination, even though the teaching of the other person’s individual church may stand in contrast to those preconceived beliefs. It is so easy to do, it’s almost natural, but it is devastating to the body of Christ.

After much thought, I believe that I do not associate myself with any denomination, but rather I am strictly a Jesus loving, Bible doer. If anything, I should be categorized as an anti-humanist. I am sure that ‘ist exists. But to me it means that I believe in the absolute total depravity and uselessness of man outside of God, and should God choose to save us, then it is only by grace that we are capable of amounting to anything whatsoever.

To me, denomination is the most worthless part of religion, as if anyone really knows what their denomination’s “confession of faith” really is, much less any other faith’s. The fact is that if you study most confessions of faith of the mainstream religions, there are some principle differences, but every one I have ever read, even the “1689 Baptist Confession of Faith” had human errors. But these confessions of faith have little meaning anymore, anyway, as all the faiths have turned from the truth, preferring to satisfy the masses rather than to judge within. They must, because this is predicted in the Bible in numerous places such as 2 Timothy 3:1-5 You should also know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control; they will be cruel and have no interest in what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act as if they are religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. You must stay away from people like that.

You can go to 10 different churches and hear 5 different theologies and none of them follow their own confession of faith. As we read, this will get worse and worse as time goes by until the day of the Lord. The reason for this is that we are losing touch with God’s intended purpose for us. Today we seem to prefer having our ears tickled rather than our souls pierced. That is why you can find a spirit filled church next to a completely dead one. Because we have lost focus on the truth, that we were created for the sole purpose of loving God and loving each other. But how are we to get back to loving God. 1 John 2:3-6 says it all, Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

It’s all there, if you want to love God and to love others in accordance with the will of God, simply live as Christ lived and keep His Father’s commandments. Sound tough? Remember agape love is not a love of feelings, but rather it is primarily a love of the will. So simply change your will. Still not enough? Do you still not understand that it is not in your power that you accomplish anything, but God’s? Your sufficiency comes from God, not you! If you know God, then you are in Him. Is not God strong enough to make you what He says He wants you to be? All you have to do is get out of His way, die to your self, and hold on for the ride. Still not enough? Perhaps you feel weak and alone. But wait, the Bible says you are not alone, God is always there with you, you in Him and He in you. But that is not all! As a saved Christian you are now part of the body of Christ. You are part of the betrothed bride of Christ, of which Jesus does not add unwanted parts only to cast them off later. Even the weaker parts are necessary! This should be your assurance, the power behind your will.

Romans 12:4-6 says
For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,

And 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 says
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Do you now see? All Christians are the body of Christ, now, while we are yet living, regardless of denomination, regardless of our giftedness, regardless of our Christian maturity or level of sanctification. We are in folks! It’s a done deal! God composed the body. Do you think it improperly composed? It is exactly what He meant it to be and if you are saved, you are part of it. That is assurance of faith! Assurance is why Stephen could forgive as he was stoned to death, why Shadrach and the others could defy the King, and why Abraham’s faith grew stronger while his body was dead. It is how you can have a peace beyond your own understanding, and do the will of God while loving those who do not deserve love. Assurance of faith is what empowers pathetic humans to “walk as He walked” while we are yet encumbered by our evil filled flesh. God has commanded us to walk, God has made us sufficient to walk, God has made us into one unified singular body to walk, and God has empowered us to walk. So by God, let’s walk!

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

I Want To Die Like That

2007-08-01T12:00:00.001-05:00

I have often wondered, even as a child, how I would die, how death would finally take me. I have seen the face of death so many times that I could fill a book with all the accounts. In my youth I was a fist shaking God blamer, who once dared Him to kill me and I gave Him plenty of opportunities. After He took me down with a bolt of lightning I assumed another one would finish me off some other day. Then came the jet that implanted a fear in me that few have ever known, I venture to say that no one on that plane thought they would arrive alive. And before that was the day that I got my first set of keys, I was a responsible driver for a short time, but I kept getting hit, so I started to speed. I discovered that they can’t hit what they can’t catch. Soon my entire existence centered around speed, not the drug, but the kind you get from driving 700 miles from Charlotte to Chicago in 7 hours. I lived to fill the hole in my heart with every form of vehicular thrill. Motorcycles, cars, I would race anything anywhere, on the track or on the street, it made no difference. Driving in Chicago made me feel like a shark in a guppy tank. When it came to driving fast there were none finer. By 1990 I had driven well over a million miles and left a wake of carnage behind me, dozens of tickets for speeds that would boggle your mind and easily over a dozen crashes. And this doesn’t count the race wrecks. By the grace of God alone, no one was ever hurt, not even me. Yet in all my life I have yet to see an accident, wrecks and crashes, yes, but never an accident. There is always a human cause, a human error. Recently God decided to change my errant ways so He detached a semi tractor-trailer and sent it through the median directly in front of my truck to get my attention. I got the message; I don’t speed anymore. But yet again, it is literally a miracle I am alive.

But seeing as He didn’t take me when He had the chance, as if He needed one, I am still left to ponder. If God gave me the choice how would I like to go? How ‘bout like Methuselah who lived 969 years? If that were me I would have been disappointed that I didn’t make it to an even 1000, but I definitely don’t have the patience to wait that long to die. How ‘bout like Elijah being taken up in a whirlwind, or Moses overlooking the Promised Land? Na, that’s not for me. How ‘bout like Samson who took out more Philistines in his death than in his life? Now we are talking! But Samson, like me, was a foolish man, and his life was marred by his weaknesses. He spent most of his life wasting his gifts with little regard for the God who gave them to him. Women played a large role in his undoing as he married from among the women of Canaan, which was against God’s law. And Samson certainly hadn’t learned the word of the Lord when God said, “Vengeance is Mine” (Deut. 32:35). Eventually he came to his senses and realized that God had given him his great strength to serve the Lord and his people. That one great act of faith cost Samson his life, but it won for him a place among the heroes of faith (Heb. 11:32). Out of weakness he was made strong by the power of the Lord (Heb. 11:34). Sounds good to me but a little too close to real life for comfort, after all this is my article, if I’m am going to die, I want to die better.

If I am going to die, I want to die like Stephen. Stephen was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council, where charges were placed against him. False witnesses testified against him. The high priest then asked Stephen if these things were true. Stephen was not dismayed. When he stood before them his face was “as the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15). The lengthy speech Stephen made in his own defense is reported in detail in Acts 7:2–53. Stephen summarized Old Testament teachings, showing how God had guided Israel toward a specific goal. He reviewed Israel’s history in such a way that he replied to all the charges made against him without actually denying anything. This amounted to a criticism of the Sanhedrin itself. Stephen denounced the council as “stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears” and accused them of resisting the Holy Spirit. Then he charged that they had killed Christ, just as their ancestors had killed the prophets. He accused them of failing to keep their own laws (Acts 7:51–53). Stephen’s speech enraged the Sanhedrin so that they were “cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth” (Acts 7:54). At this moment Stephen gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” Stephen’s fate was sealed when he reported this vision to his enemies. The crowd rushed upon him, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him to death (Acts 7:55–58). [1]

What a glorious way to die! But as incredible as that must have been, there is something I want far more than to see Jesus in heaven standing in observance of my death. I want to see Jesus stand up in observance of my life. Jesus didn’t stand up for Stephen because of his death, Jesus stood up for Stephen because, in death, he glorified God as he did in life. You see, to be able to die like Stephen, one must first live like Stephen! And that is what I want more than anything, to live as Stephen lived, with a heart that was so filled with the spirit that he asked God not to charge his executioners with the sin of his death (Acts 7:59–60). What kind of life must a man live to forgive as he dies? There is only one answer, “a life that is completely consumed by the love of God.”

Stephen lived such a life. Stephen was one of the first seven “good and worthy men”. Stephen assumed a place of prominence among these seven leaders as the church grew (Acts 6:7). Stephen was probably critical of the system of Old Testament laws, claiming they had already lost their effectiveness because they had reached fulfillment in Christ. This viewpoint, which Stephen argued very skillfully, brought him into conflict with powerful leaders among the Jewish people. Stephen became well known as a preacher and a miracle-worker (Acts 6:8). His work was so effective that renewed persecution of the Christians broke out. Members of certain Jewish synagogues felt that Stephen had blasphemed Moses and God. They accused him of being disloyal to the Temple and rejecting Moses. He was also accused of hostility toward Judaism—a charge that had never been made before against other disciples. In debates the Jews were no match for Stephen; even Saul was outwitted by him.

Thus, because of the way that Stephen lived, filled with the fruit of the spirit, living with wisdom in submission to the fear of God, no one could stand against him, and the truth that he preached divided the men he met. Because of the way he lived Stephen’s enemies had no legitimate recourse, so they resorted to unlawful force and stoned him to death. I want to live a life that glorifies God from morning to night. I want God to use me, a mere useless tool, to redeem the redeemable and offend the offensive with His truth. I want to live a life that leaves a wake, not of unjust carnage of my own understanding, but a wake that leaves the people I meet either further sanctified or cut to their heart, ripped wide open and their sin revealed by the truth of the scripture, leaving them gnashing their teeth at me.

The glory of God is not found in the way of a man’s death, it’s found in the way of living a life for God! So I do not seek to die a Godly death, but rather I seek to live a Godly life! I want to live like that!

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

For God’s Glory, Man, Think About the Consequence!

2007-07-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Most mature Christians are well aware that repentance, faith and sanctification are all gifts from God, and yet the Bible says it is our responsibility to repent, believe and work out our own salvation. There is of course a mystery concerning the connection between the sovereignty of God and man’s responsibility. So while others persuade you of God’s grace and mercy, so too please allow me to persuade you of your duty as true Christians.

When I was young a friend told me, “Life is short, you could get hit by a bus tomorrow, you gotta’ live your life like every day is your last.”

So I did. I seized the day!

Well, guess what? He was wrong! Oh sure, life is but a vapor, but it sure don’t seem that way when there is a price to pay, and every poor choice you make has a consequence.

No, life is long, and that bus won’t hit you tomorrow, or the next day. Instead you will wake up in the morning, wondering what you were thinking, but it will be too late, you done did your dirty deed. And now you gotta’ live with it.

One day you are sinless, listening to your wife in the garden, the next you are toiling, barely gettin’ by from the sweat of your brow. You marry an Egyptian and the next thing you know you’re worshipping another god. You take another man’s wife and the next thing you know your kids are trying to kill you. You are passing through the valley of Sorek, and the next thing you know, you’re vexed to your soul as the Philistines poke your eyes out.

But don’t get me wrong, don’t blame the woman, it’s your own fault, you forgot your life is not your own, you have been bought with a price, Jesus didn’t spare His own blood to save you.

And now look at you! What was fun for a season now seems like a distant horrid memory. Grief and shame comes over you like familiar enemies, regret and remorse like cruel adversaries. True repentance brings restoration, but alas, the consequence remains.

Thankfully your God is a loving God, and mercy is His name, but He is known by another name, Justice, and so your future sins, those you have yet to commit, will not go unnoticed.

So I plead with you young people, gain knowledge from someone far wiser than yourself, listen to the seasoned brother who has tested and learned many things the hard way, and who has become well acquainted with grief over sin.

Choose carefully; make every decision, even the smallest choice, with the greatest of care and thoughtfulness, with concern towards God’s glory, knowing that God is watching. Do not make your choices alone, but with men wiser than yourself, so that you may avoid an abundance of consequence.

There is one thing I have learned in a long life of stuborn disobedience; there is no sin worth its consequence.

Those with grey hair have learned these things to spare you from the same. Forget your feelings and emotions, instead think; then act with a conscience toward God, and if it seems you are unable, then at least think of the consequence and do not choose recklessly.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

“It” and “A Little Touch of Hell”

2007-06-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Well another one has come and gone and I can hardly believe it; I never dreamed I would live long enough to see 44 April Fools Days. But don’t get me wrong, the day has never meant that much to me, I always thought of it as just one of those days created to allow materialistic, money hungry, American corporations to dig ever deeper into our already overly indebted pockets. What exactly is the significance of an April Fools Day sale anyway?

But one April Fools Day does stand out it my memory, that being April Fools Day 1993. That was the day I left Chicago to find God in the south, the day I left the “Windy City” with a sign on the back of my car that said “Biblebelt or Bust”. Most of my friends thought I was nuts, because I had no real plans, no money saved, no awaiting job; no, all I had was a total conviction that God was to be found in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I was going to find Him if it cost me everything I had.

What convinced me that God was in Charlotte? The year before I had visited my Grandmother, and one day, as I strolled along in the very center of the city, a bum approached me and asked for money. But this was no ordinary bum. By Chicago standards he was simply too kind and considerate as he asked for money. A Chicago bum would simply demand what he thought rightfully his for allowing me to walk on his sidewalk. “Obviously”, I thought, “God must be at work here, if even the attitudes of bums are different.” And I so desperately wanted to be different! So, back in Chicago I gave notice to my employer and he said, “Terry, nobody gives 12 months notice, by then you will have changed your mind.” But one year later, I left on that very day, on April Fools Day. It seemed an appropriate day to do something so drastic, in an effort to meet a God that I certainly did not know.

“IT”

So I moved south, intent on finding God, and find me He did. Shortly after I was saved, and with little ado, my pastor, Steve Stout, asked me to go door to door evangelizing with him. I asked him, “Why me, when you have 500 members to chose from?” He responded, “Because they don’t have “it”.” So evangelizing we went; the three of us, me, Steve and Mike McCallum. Mike was my full-time mentor, a converted drug dealer and addict who was on fire for the Lord.

That first year I often wondered what the pastor meant. What exactly was the “it” that made us any different? I knew my pastor was not referring to some form of second blessing, nor was he referring to any apostolic or revelatory gifts, as he was opposed to such beliefs. But I soon learned from observing the fruit of my two friends, that “It” was a verb.

Mike, my ex-addict mentor was a silent giant for Christ, a humble but overwhelmingly fervent evangelist, who was bestowed the title of “preacher man” by those who jeered him. Mike was relentless in his efforts to learn more about the God he so desired to serve. Yet Mike was harmless in spirit, gentle as a dove, particularly toward the lost, and his family bore witness of his Christian leadership. Yet as Mike grew in his understanding he did not retreat to the comfort of Christian isolation, hiding in the bosom of our church or his loving family, because Mike understood the utter grandness of his calling, Mike understood from whence he had come and where he was going. Mike understood that he and his family were just passing through this world. But most of all Mike understood that the path he was on was narrow, and few are those that find it. This grieved Mike’s soul as he wanted nothing more than he wanted others to come to know the God that chose to save him, a drug dealer, a chief of sinners. Yes, Mike had “It” alright, he had the understanding of the ultimate purpose for human existence, and he had the will and desire to do something about it, and he made it his life’s practice to do so.

So what is “It”? Is it not the active loving of God, seeking His face, and serving Him to the utmost extent of your calling, (whether hundredfold, sixty, or thirty) while teaching others to do the same?

“A Little Touch of Hell”

Some time ago God called me to serve Him in a homeless shelter, ministering to those to whom I relate; the black sheep of the world, the lost and down trodden. I comfort those who are in need of the comfort by which I have been comforted. That is the field God presently has called me to plow. But no longer are the soils as fertile as the young minds I use to reap so many years ago. Perhaps God saves such first works for the young Christians. But today everyone I meet is already a little “c” “christian” and their soil is as hard as twice baked Carolina clay.

Oh, what happened to the good ‘ol days when the women at the well knew the men they where with, were not their husbands and that made them anything but Christians? But today no one seems to take seriously, “Go and sin no more, lest something worse come upon you.” The seeds I plant and water today sprout up pointlessly in their minds only to wither and blow away in the winds of preferential sin and pleasure for a season. Sin just doesn’t seem so bad anymore, as the heathen has all but forgotten fear of the Lord, and for the believer, who ought to care for these souls, working out your salvation seems to mean something less than due Christian diligence. A blind eye has allowed ever increasing numbers to remain comfortably un-converted heathens. Oh, for the day when even the heathen understood the worth of inalienable rights. Sin abounds, yet conviction remains as mute as the church remains silent, too busy buying to pay the cost of following Jesus.

Why does the American heathen not fear the eternal unquenchable fire? Is there no understanding of the continual, utter and total destruction of the wrath of God? No man has ever seen, nor will ever see again the righteous fury unleashed on that day. Yet the American Christian seems apathetic toward the lost, unconcerned of God’s indignation and impending judgment of the heathen. What does it take to get the American Christian to stand and fight? When we will rise and speak louder than those voices opposed to God? Perhaps the Holy Spirit has left this country, but we could, as true Christians, at least let the Scripture be the offence it alone was meant to be! Are we as the remnant not to, with love, plant the discomfort of truth in the ears of the unsaved?

On one particular day at the homeless shelter, I found myself in a field of brown vines, dormant from the cold winter chill. But inside those vines resides a foreign evil called Kudzu, and I intended to kill it with fire while it slept. My fire started with a single burning leaf, but soon a tiny errant breeze whipped my little Kudzu fire into a 50ft roaring monster. I fought the fire for all I was worth, not wanting it to devour my neighbor’s trailer park. But the monster fought back as I watched my leather gloves melt onto my hands and blisters form on my arms and legs. I began to pray to God for relief and understanding of the purpose for this fire, but in the end I simply fell back to safer ground. Exhausted from the smoke and burned from the heat, I sat and wondered what God was doing when it dawned on me!

Could this be just a little taste of Hell, a foreshadowing of the Hell to come?

Hell, the real, live, flesh burning, fire and brimstone, pray for death that never comes, Hell! The Hell no one seems to fear anymore. The Hell that will lavish most of humanity with endless, abundant, and copious amounts of insufferable pain, searing torment and eternal separation from Christ, yes that Hell! Could it be that God was using this fire to wake me up from my silent stupor? Could it be that God was using this little taste of Hell, that lost souls are going to experience, to cause me to open my mouth and preach with all boldness, despite the cost of the consequences that I knew would likely result, lest I forget from what He saved me from, and become lukewarm in my own Christian comfort. So now I perhaps bear the scars of lethargy, or maybe the scars of enlightenment, maybe neither maybe both, who knows the ways of God?

But why does it take a potential act of God to open my altogether too quiet mouth to preach the truth that I have so abundantly and undeservedly been granted knowledge of?

Why do I say and do nothing as divorce runs rampant, evangelistic dating replaces the equal yoke, and pre-matrimonial purity falls prey to the sexual immorality that devours the innocence of our children?

Why do I say and do nothing as heathen membership chokes out the wheat, and the filth of thistles stains our baptismal waters?

Why do I say and do nothing as selfishness and debt eradicates compassion and philanthropy, leaving widows hungry, and blood banks and church coffers empty?

Why am I not using my gifts in whole-hearted service to my Lord?

Why am I not striving for the prize, being good and faithful in my due diligence?

Why did I set aside my “It”?

I guess I am just a sinner, and comfort has become my enemy, the enemy of my grand calling and due service to Jesus! Oh, dear Lord, please forgive me for my failure is great! My inaction and negligence grieves me to my core.

It is my hope that you are doing better is such regard, that you are living out your “It” and remembering that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and the Master you are serving is Christ. So let us repent if need be, and let us concern ourselves no longer with comfort and the things of this world, but rather let our concerns be for the glory of God and those that do not yet hear His voice, lest worse things befall us and one of us be found to have an evil heart of unbelief, failing to enter the rest because of disobedience.

So let us work out our own salvation and stand for truth despite the cost. Let us be as Obadiah and serve God in spite of the King. Let us be as Elijah and stand in defiance of the King. And let us be as Daniel and change the heart of the King. And in the end, may we all be counted as good and faithful by the King. What greater purpose could there be for this vapor we call life, than to fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Once Saved Always Saved --- Biblical Truth Without Choice

2007-05-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

In 1993 I sat in the pews of a Presbyterian church under the teaching of a very spiritual preacher who was contemplating the task of explaining predestination, effectual calling, election, assurance of salvation and free will. His fear was that people would misunderstand the Biblical truths of such matters, and church members would feel as though they were puppets, without free will and with God pulling all the strings. In my opinion nothing could be further from the truth, in reality you are free to do anything you want to do in your lifetime, even sin, as long as it is within your capability and nature and does not contradict God’s will. However it is not the nature of a cat to be a dog, nor, if it were possible, would a cat ever desire or make the choice to be a dog. Likewise the natural man's nature is fallen flesh, and as such the natural man cannot be spirit, because spirit is the opposite of flesh, and flesh, the natural man is supremely pleased to be, as no man hates his own flesh.

The will of God cannot be suppressed, denied, ignored, forsaken or overpowered. The will of the sovereign Lord, Savior and King, Christ Jesus will be done regardless of a human’s will to do anything to the contrary. All-powerful, almighty God has the right to do as He pleases, He doesn’t need your permission to call you to Himself and save you, nor can you do anything to save yourself. And what is His purpose for saving any of us helpless, useless, pathetic humans anyway? I believe the answer is simple, to bring glory to Himself! It glorifies God to save the chief of sinners as Jesus said in Matthew 9:13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” So, as a layman with no flock to lose I would like go out on a limb and say that this is what I believe:

Without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we will all, without exception, happily live our lives only to satisfy our lustful desires, die and go to Hell. Those who God, of His own free will and predetermination, made before the creation of earth, decided to conform to the image of His Son, and for the glory of His son, those also called the elect, whose names are already written in the book of life, who being enabled by God’s grace, and who by faith not of their own, but given to them by God, accepted the free, unearned, undeserved, gift from God of His Son’s blood sacrifice and atonement for their sin go on to heaven, to live in eternity in the presence of God. God never recants His gift, nor can the elect resist, forsake, nor renounce salvation once given, for it is in the power of Christ that the effectual call is made and we do not have the power, nor will any of us have even the inclination to refuse His call. All have received general revelation, but few are chosen. For all that were given to the Son before the foundation of the earth, He will in no wise lose. Nor will the elect desire as much, just as the lost are equally as happy to follow their God given course. Those who, entirely because of God’s preordained effectual calling, accepted the free gift of salvation and have been indwelt with the Holy Spirit, can know with certainty and without doubt that they are going to heaven, this certainty brings saved Christians peace and joy that surpasses all understanding. For it is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone and He did this for us “while we were yet evil sinners,” joyfully on the road to Hell and without an inkling to choose God’s grace.”

This is what I say, but you don’t have to listen to me, nor believe it yourself, it is true none the less. No one has ever chosen to be a Christian before God put the desire in their hearts and drew them to His Son.

If that makes you a puppet then praise the Lord, perhaps you will live long enough to gain the wisdom that when it comes to your sin corrupted flesh, being a puppet would be better than what you really are, because, before glory, even at your best, you are but a repentant evil Christian sinner, a mere lamb in need of a Shepard. I have come to understand the shear shame of my horrid sin, and the utter disgrace it’s brings to my Savior's name. To me it would be preferential to be a sinless puppet, with my mind, heart and flesh submitted to Christ, than to sin one more time. But this cursed flesh and evil heart of mine keeps me from lowering my self to be the least on Earth. Damn this accursed free will and choice!

But does this agree with the Word of God? Like good Bereans, let us go and learn and verify what God has to say!

Ephesians 1:3-6 (nkj)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Romans 9:11-16 (ncv)
But before the two boys were born, God told Rebekah, “The older will serve the younger.” This was before the boys had done anything good or bad. God said this so that the one chosen would be chosen because of God’s own plan. He was chosen because he was the one God wanted to call, not because of anything he did. As the Scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.” So what should we say about this? Is God unfair? In no way. God said to Moses, “I will show kindness to anyone to whom I want to show kindness, and I will show mercy to anyone to whom I want to show mercy.” So God will choose the one to whom he decides to show mercy; his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do.

Hebrews 7:25 (nlt)
Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save everyone who comes to God through him. He lives forever to plead with God on their behalf.

John 6:42 (nkj)
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:37-40 (nkj)
All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (nkj)
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Romans 8:28-30 (niv)
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Hebrews 10:12-14 (rsv)
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

2 Corinthians 3:5-6 (niv)
Not that we are adequate in ourselves to think of anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

1 Peter 1:3-9 (rsv)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls.

Romans 8:31-39 (nkj)
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s revelation is simply? Once saved, always saved, the only choice to be made, He made for His own glory!

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Ain’t no cooks in the kitchen!

2007-04-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Have you ever heard the expression “to many cooks spoil the stew?” The general premise being that when too many well meaning, eager beavers, get together in an effort to accomplish a common goal, you usually end up with a dish that is rarely palatable, much less glorifying to God.

Why is that? Why is it that our best effort as a group rarely meets our individual expectations? Why does our best caviar taste like last month’s meat loaf? All our individual ingredients are in order, fresh and white as snow. The recipe seems fine, nothing but biblical doctrine. We prepare it with care, with plenty of study and wisdom. We cook appropriately, with patience and long suffering. But when it’s time to eat, we got nothing but chaff.

What has happened to Christiandom as a whole? What has happened to the body! Oh sure, over here is a church that seems to be experiencing revival and over there is a church that has a resemblance to the churches of old. But what has happened to the flavor of fervor? It seems to be all but lost. It is a sad state that we find ourselves in, when it is far easier to find a church with a homosexual preacher, than it is to find a church that preaches the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them God! There must be a reason for this, and I believe it is because “there ain’t no cooks in the kitchen!”

A real cook, a master chef, knows that the first thing he must do, is to establish who is boss in his own kitchen. Too many so-called cooks, each one adding their individual preferences to the mix, and you spoil the stew. However a master chef knows that without a few bad cooks around, no one would know the difference between an exquisite entree and the green garnish you throw out when you are done eating. The next thing a chef does, long before he starts cooking, is to determine what he wants out of his food. He decides if he wants wild or mild, light or heavy, sweet or sour. The third thing a chef does is to create a plan, a recipe to set some limits. After all, if you fry ice cream too long you don’t end up with fried ice cream, you end up with greasy milk. A master chef knows that no matter what he makes, there will be people who reject what he cooked to perfection. Everyone likes what they like and you can’t change that. A master chef knows that the people sitting at the table are more than likely, going to ruin his creation by adding salt, pepper, or God forbid, ketchup. Patrons will modify and add until his food has lost its very essence. But most of all, the master chef knows that occasionally someone who eats his cuisine, will enjoy it as it is, as the master chef meant it to be. This is what truly pleases a master chef, when a person is filled with joy and overflowing satisfaction that originated from chef himself.

Such is the case with God, our master chef, who cleaned out His own kitchen and cast Satan and the lot to earth, that they might set an alternate example, contrary to His own perfect righteousness. So that man might know the difference between what is wrong and what is right. God decided to create man, forming him from the dust of the ground, for the purpose of His own glory and that His Son might be firstborn among many brethren. God decided before He preheated the oven, that few would be chosen, and those few, through His own will, would be conformed to the image of His Son. God has already set the limits and wrote the perfect recipe. He has instructed us to use it for preparing ourselves for the enjoyable task of glorifying Him. God knows what He wants from his people; He wants us to die to ourselves so that we might become empty vessels, hungry for Him, so that He can fill us to overflowing with the righteousness that originates only from Him, the master chef. Once filled, He expects us, not to remain at the dinner table, but to become cooks ourselves, not as the so-called cooks who add their individual preferences to the mix, leaving out vital ingredients and adding useless ones, that simply confuse the palate. But we are to become master chefs; who follow the recipe to perfection, because to serve anything less, does not satisfy, but rather destroys and leads to death.

But such is not the case today; there are far too many short order cooks, grease monkeys, serving only milk from their own understanding, more interested in pleasing the masses with revelry than preparing them for sanctification, thinking they know something when they know not what they should. Where is the water that satisfies and leaves no one thirsty! Where is the bread of life? Where is the meat!

“God is a God of love.” Where is the meat? Praise be to my God almighty for He is also a jealous God of wrath, in fear and trembling I walk in His way. Do you not know that Jesus did not come to earth to bring peace, but a sword? “Judgment is so judgmental.” Where is the meat? Is there no wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? “I know he is living in sin but he confesses to be a Christian, so I have no reason to doubt his salvation.” Where is the meat? Do you not know that he who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. “It’s no big deal, everybody is doing it, and he really isn’t hurting anybody.” Where is the meat? Do you not know you are to take heed to yourselves? If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. “Christians should be more accommodating and less critical” Where is the meat? Do you not know that the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. “I know she is a woman, but she is a very inspirational preacher.” Where is the meat? Do you not know to let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home. “My child is so sensitive and spanking seems so harsh.” Oh, please! Where is the meat? Do you not know that as many as God loves, He rebukes and chastens. Do you not love your own children?

It sickens me to think of all the churches I have been in that are led by preachers that are weak in all the wrong places. Instead of being weak in the knees they stand upright while teaching fluff. How can preachers who are supposed to be “beyond reproach” find themselves so rightly accused? Accursed be you false preachers. In 1990 I sat in a pew of a church at nearly 30 years of age and listened as the preacher, just prior to serving the Lord’s Supper, warned his congregation of participating with an unclean heart. In stunned silence, having heard this for the first time, I wondered how many people have died because their preacher didn’t warn them. I have seen entire congregations get up to partake, men, women, even children, leaving me alone, in the empty pews, apparently I was the only sinner in the church. In 2002, at 40 years of age, I heard the first preacher in my lifetime preach grace as the only way of salvation. Perhaps this could be understandable if your own history is traced through only a few churches in your lifetime. But I have attended many more churches than a few, from nearly every denomination you could imagine. How is this possible, that the Bible could so clearly detail what is so obviously not preached today?

Because grace doesn’t make our human flesh feel good, we want to think that we control our own destiny, we want to make our own choices, we want revelry, we want frivolity, we want our own cake and we want to eat it to, and we want our cake to be bigger that theirs. And all the grease monkeys have fallen for the same temptation; it’s easier to satisfy than it is to sanctify, and it’s a whole lot more popular.

Why? Because sanctification is like eating vegetables, supposedly it’s good for you, but it doesn’t taste like desert. Sanctification isn’t a comfort food; it’s like the manna that God gave to the Jews. Perfect for existence and growth, but just like the Jews, we get bored of what God says is good for us and we search for something different, something a little more fleshy. Perhaps a little quail will satisfy.

But perhaps I am being overly harsh on today’s so called cooks, perhaps they are not consciously spoiling the stew, perhaps they think the recipe just needs a little update, some modern pizzazz, so as to keep up with today trends. So they leave out the hard sayings, after all who can stomach them. They modify the two edged message of the word to the consistency of a wet noodle. And let in a few abominations so as to not offend the offendable. And soon you have an old leavened lump of a lifeless church. A good example of this is crayons, not very good to eat, but throw the red crayon in a hot pot in you get beautiful red puddle, melt a green crayon and you get a beautiful green puddle, throw them all in and you get black every time.

Do you not understand, that what God wants most from us, is less of us? The less we have of us, in us, the more God can fill us with Himself. That is what He means when He says we are to “die to self.” And the more we are able as individuals and as a church to die to ourselves, the more Christlike we can become, to be what He wants us to be whether our flesh likes it or not.

We as Christian are to be set apart; we are not to live in this world, but in the spirit. And while we can’t bring about revival on our own, we can prepare for it. We can heed our master chef’s recipe and purge the old leaven, that we might be a new lump. Purge it from ourselves as individuals, purge it from our church body, purge it from our religious denomination, purge it from our country’s positions of power. And then we can fall to our knees and beg for what we need most, the master chef to come back to the kitchen.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Anti-Humanism --- An Ecclesiastes Way Of Thinking!

2007-03-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Of all the people who God used to write the Bible, I most relate to King Solomon. Certainly not because of his wealth, wisdom, power, prestige, or fame, but rather because he was given everything and he deeply pondered it all. Not only did he ponder, but he purposefully tested and sampled everything, even sin. So what better person to listen to than one who has tried it all? God gave Solomon his riches, his wisdom, his power, his kingdom, even all those idolatrous wives. Similarly, God has inclined me toward intense contemplation of the aspects of human existence, which leads me to question all the material goods that I possess, and the spiritual gifts that I received when I became spiritual. These gifts I did not earn or learn; I simply have them; they are God’s gift. But what for? What good are they? Have you ever meditated on what purpose God saved you, individually? Yes, for God’s glory, but how does He desire you to specifically glorify Him? What do you think God would have you fill your time on earth with? What is your Christian reason for existence? In Ecclesiastes, Solomon sincerely considered these same thoughts, and as King he had all that was necessary to put his thoughts into action. Solomon, the wisest created man ever to walk the face of the planet, considered every aspect of human endeavor, and determined that all was vanity.

Financial riches are vanity. Labor is vanity. Wisdom is vanity. Honor is vanity. Popularity is vanity. Folly is vanity. Pleasure is vanity. All is vanity.

So what is the point of human existence? Are we to strive to leave a legacy or perhaps to leave the world a better place? I don’t think so. For what can we do that God has not caused to be done. What have we gained that God has not given? And what do we possess on earth that death will not take away?

Certainly the intent of Solomon’s writing is not to say that human endeavor is pointless and that the epitome of a man’s earthly purpose; amounts to little more than the tasks of eating, drinking, and merriment! Nay! Such cannot be the case as his words are like a salve to my wounded soul. Like a bulwark against my own evil flesh, which desires to devour my will to do otherwise. They pierce my soul to relieve the infection of my evil motivations, releasing the oozing pungent aroma of self-glorification. Pride cannot stand against such empowered passages. Can there be any finer words for humanity to consume and contemplate than that which tells us that we are desperately inadequate, incapable and in need? Free at last, Free at last, I am finally free from dwelling on that which will not last.

God allowed no unremarkable passages into His Word, so consider if you will, the wonders of Ecclesiastes 7:1-6 A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death, than the day of one’s birth; better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter; for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. For like the crackling of thorns under a pot; so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity.

Solomon said he knew that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, And nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him. That which is has already been, and what is to be, has already been; and God requires an account of what is past. (Ecclesiastes 3:14-15)

What can we glean from verses that are so contrary to our very natures? What these words speak so clearly to me is that I need not burden myself with the pursuit of earthly endeavors. If I am concerned much about myself, then I dwell little on God. This is not God’s concern for my life. From dust I came and to dust I will return, and my life is His for the taking. If whatever God does, He does forever, then He must want me to pursue that which will last forever. Is this the purpose of Christian humanity? Is it the purpose of a man, to be solely concerned with that which has eternal value and worth? I believe so!

As well I believe our lives would be radically more joyful, more peaceful, more productive and more holy if we had little concern for our earthly life, if we did not seek to cram every moment of our earthly existence with human endeavors that will but vanish as quickly as the heat emanating from our lifeless bodies.

What is a peace that surpasses your own understanding? Is it not a peace that really doesn’t care what your life circumstances are? Is it not a peace that scoffs at hardship and laughs in the face of consequences? Is it not a peace that is a result of having little concern of this life because your assurance, promises and rewards reside on the other side of your death? Halleluiah, praise be to God, these rewards last forever.

Solomon writes: What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 3:9-13)

Do you discern the simplicity of an Ecclesiastes way of life out of this verse? Where is the worry of riches? Where is the burden of selfish toil? Where is the wearisome study? I see joy, I see good works, I see a man who understands that all is a gift from God, and who knows his life is but a vapor that vanishes in the wind. And who understands that faith is required to follow God, Who alone knows from whence He came and to where He is going. But where is the vanity? Vanity has no place in an Ecclesiastes way of thinking.

As if we didn’t grasp it the first time Solomon again writes: Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20)

There it is, the very foundation of the Ecclesiastes way of thinking. “For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life.” Can you imagine the huge burden that can be left on the wayside of your life if you simply did not dwell unduly on the days of your life? If you simplified your life to the very basics of God’s intended purpose for your life, and did only what God keeps you busy doing, without regard for what you keep you busy doing! If God intends for you to do more, He will place the joy in your heart to do so.

Solomon wrote: Notice the way God does things; then fall into line. Don’t fight the ways of God, for who can straighten out what he has made crooked? (Ecclesiastes 7:11 (NLT))

Can life get any more simple than that? Notice the ways of God and fall into line. Determine His purpose for you, and do His will. If you find yourself without joy in what you are doing, then perhaps you are not the one who should be doing it. Instead simply keep busy with the joys of your heart, the joys that He placed there. And what pray tell might that be? What could this simplified, earthly purpose for man entail? I think a new Ecclesiastical way of life would entail little more than two human endeavors.
1. To develop a complete reverence for and a complete obedience to God.
2. And to completely understand your total incapability to do that without Christ Jesus as, not just Savior of, but also as Lord over your life.

Solomon concluded his entire search for man’s earthly purpose thusly: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

The two human endeavors would not only adequately fulfill these earthly requirements but will leave you well rewarded when your life’s work is brought into judgment. So it is my summation that our earthly purpose has little to do with our time on earth, but rather we are to seek that which lasts forever. If we are to strive, then strive in love for Christ. If we are to toil, then toil in joy for Christ. If we are to live at all, then we should live holy for Christ. But whatever God has placed a joy in your heart to do; do it with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, because all else is vanity!

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Confessional Statement --- If you believe it, cast it in stone

2007-02-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Anyone that has two bits of sense knows that each month you can read this blog and do several things with it. You can ingnore it all together or give it the “once over” and forget it. You can give it a good read, ponder it a bit and walk away. Or you can go home, grab your Bible, and sincerely study the depths of it, and when you have understood the biblical discernment contained within these articles, you can glorify God with it by passing on what you have learned to others. The Lord has chosen to use this blog tremendously in my life to help those in need and to help those with a lack of true understanding.

But, beside glorifying God with it, do you know the two things I like best about these blog articles?

The first thing is that for each article I have to spend weeks or even months developing my thoughts, verifying my beliefs, substantiating my interpretation and corroborating my understanding scripturally.

The second thing is that it requires guts to put what I believe in writing. To cast my beliefs in stone! You see; I can’t take it back once it is in print. I can’t make corrections; I can’t deny that I said it; I can’t even blame it on extemporized thought, because it takes me weeks to prepare these articles.

And believe me, in the back of my mind I always remember the biblical warnings about leading people astray. The word millstone appears (5) times in the New Testament (KJV) and always in relationship to punishment and devastation. I can’t possibly swim with one around my neck, so I am always eminently aware of this danger. But Jesus was not asking when He commanded us to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” So if you are commanded to teach, but there is punishment for teaching wrong, you better know exactly what you believe and whether or not it jives with the Word.

So how is your faith? Is it a little weak and wavering? Is the wind blowing you from belief to belief? Have you ever considered writing your own Confession of Faith? A Confessional Statement if you will. You should try it. A solid foundation starts to solidify when you know exactly what you believe. It allows you to see where you are weak and to acknowledge God’s grace for where He has made you strong.

A friend of mine named Ryan Godsey once gave me an article he wrote. It was a very short article. It was awesome in content but short in words, it was a mere (17) or so paragraphs. But Brother Ryan said the words “I believe” (33) times in those (17) paragraphs. This is a man who knows what he believes, and has little to fear when he speaks.

Are you tired of listing this way and that, like a ship on the ocean? Does a solid foundation sound good to you? Then write down everything you believe from creation to eating off the tree of life with Jesus in Heaven. Then grab your Bible and find at least one Bible verse that, while read in context, verifies each of your beliefs. If you can’t find that verse maybe your faith needs a little work. But when you find out that your beliefs are grounded in the Word; becoming more and more biblically accurate, you will find yourself standing up straight for God in a world full of hunchbacks.

“Dear Jesus, we know that without You we are incapable of anything, but in You no one can stand against us. My almighty Lord and Savior, please examine each of our hearts. Look at us as You did when You turned and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered your words, and how You had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” And Peter went out and began to weep bitterly. Oh Lord let us likewise receive Your Godly sorrow that leads to repentance. As with Peter, restore us to a stronger faith that we might build a foundation that allows us to cast Your Word into stone, so that we might in Your power and for Your glory proclaim It from every available hill. In Your precious name, the name of Jesus I pray, Amen.”

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

The Real Blessing

2007-01-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

The Bible is filled with subtlety of message that when read carefully can change your entire understanding of what seemed like a simple passage.

Such was the case for me in Luke 5:3-11 in the King James Version.

Jesus is preaching from Simon’s empty fishing boat, it seams that Simon and his partners, James and John, had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. Not a single fish between the two boats that they had.

But in verse 4, Jesus instructs Simon to: “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.”

In response, Simon whines then reluctantly concedes: “Master we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”

There are several interesting things to note here. First, while Simon was told to use his nets he chose to only use one. Second Simon called Jesus, Master. And lastly, Simon toiled uselessly all night; he was not sufficient in himself to get the job done.

However, Jesus still took Simon’s half-hearted effort and blessed it. If fact, in verse 6, Simon caught so many fish that the net started to break and both boats began to sink. Verse 9 states “For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken”.

This catch represented a handsome monetary gain for Simon and his partners. Would we not all like to receive such a blessing? Such is preached from many pulpits today, that Christians have the right to expect as much.

But was this the “REAL” blessing? Was the divine purpose of this huge catch to be a finacial blessing for Simon and the others?

No! Not so! Because in verse 11 Simon, James and John abandon not only the catch, but their entire livelihood, boats, nets and all.

No, the “REAL” blessing had nothing to do with fish, but rather Jesus used this occasion to reveal Himself as Lord and Messiah to Simon and the others.

After Jesus revealed Himself through the sign: Simon fell to his knees and said, not master, but, “O Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man!” And the Lord Jesus comfortingly says, “Do not be afraid”.

Jesus continues and gives Simon a new command, “from now on you will catch men”. No more useless toiling. No more empty nets for Simon. Jesus had promised; “you WILL catch men”.

So what commands are you half-heartedly or reluctantly keeping? Is your boat sinking, or are your nets empty? Have you caught anything lately? Are you using all your nets or only one?

Make no mistake; Jesus has given you many commands and instructions to keep. In Matthew 28:19 Jesus instruct you to:
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

If God, in His infinite mercy, has seen fit to save you and give you the gift of the Holy Spirit, then you as a Christian, have no option. At salvation, you were made a disciple, a minister of the Word. You are required and expected to preach and help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

For years I have heard many say that they don’t possess the skills required to preach, or teach or even write about their witness for Christ. Hogwash my dear friend, Hogwash. God Himself says in 2 Corinthians 3:5:
“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant.”

God has made you sufficient as a minister of the new covenant, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no excuse for you not to keep His command.

So, what are you going to do? God says that as a saved Christian you are sufficient as you are. Isn’t that incredible! From now on we can catch men, if we use Jesus as our net, our boat, our bait and our anchor. Praise be to Jesus, Amen.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Going Greyhound --- 10,000 miles on the highway to Hell!

2006-12-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

I suppose that most people who read my articles have entered the narrow gait and are ever so slowly walking along the slender path. I suppose that most of you are members of the remnant elect, chosen by Jesus for the purpose of performing the good works, which He has predestined for your implementation. And I suppose you know by now that my purpose in writing is to motivate you past your comfort zone, and to shove you kicking and screaming into the execution of those good works. No, I ain’t the Holy Spirit, but I am praying that if I say it long enough and loud enough, it might just click in the souls of the few of you who can hear, “Repent and get back to work!”

Why are such writings necessary in our American Christian culture? Because we have lost sight of the utter grandness of our calling, we can move mountains, but I see none even quiver. We have traded our first love for lesser things; we have altogether become too comfortable as Christians. Except for the few, our evangelistic fields have shrunk to the size of our living room carpets, as our neighbors die! Thank God we bare heathen kids or most of us wouldn’t evangelize anyone! If God considers the plowing of the heathen a sin, then I wonder what He considers of the furrows plowed by the American Christian, when so much soil is left untouched? If the truth is represented by our declining cultural values and spiritual integrity, then the answer is all too obvious, American Christianity is altogether useless!

Sound harsh? You bet!
But does the truth ring true in your mind?

Perhaps your view is more optimistic; after all, perhaps your church is doctrinally correct, financially sound, member supported, and 80% of the work is done by 40% of the people, instead of the standard 20%. Your church is growing in grace and prayerfully submitted to Christ, and as such it is growing in number and strength. In fact you are surrounded by strong Christians and you have even seen a soul or two saved, and that new ministry what’s his name started sure seems to be working. So you just can’t agree with my rant.

My friends, brothers and sisters, if this is your view, let me ask you a question of two. When was the last time you physically walked down a street where all the stores had bars on the windows? When was the last time you saw a prostitute, a 40oz. can of beer or a used needle on the side walk? When was the last time you spoke to a homeless man or visited a children’s shelter? And the local soup kitchen, do you know where it is? Why I bet you haven’t even seen the inside of a Greyhound bus station!

Despite what you may think this neighborhood is just a short commute from your middle class chunk of the American dream, you just don’t know about it because you have forgotten the utter grandness of your calling.

Why have you retreated from the battle? Has it been so long since your conversion that you have lost the scent of the front lines? Has your spiritual armor gotten rusty from lack of use? Why has Satan lost interest in you as a target for his fiery darts? Could it be that you are no longer a threat to his minions?

May it never be Christian!

It is time to repent, time to rejoin the battle, now. It’s time to stop hang’in with the brothers and sisters, and solely evangelizing your kids, and hit the streets you have left to Satan. It is time to reclaim the streets and proclaim the Gospel. It is time to remember that souls are dieing out there, and to see yourselves personally responsible! It is time to mourn and weep and cry and then to fight, because if we don’t who will? If we, the remnant elect do not do this, if we run to Tarshish, then Nineveh dies, and America is lost.

If you still think I am being overly pessimistic? Then please consider my credentials. I have four times completely traversed this great nation by car, twice by train, and I have just completed my second trip across America, over 10,000 miles, by Greyhound bus. In the last year alone I have stopped at bus terminals in hundreds of cities in 22 states. From Charlotte to Vegas, Cheyenne to San Antonio, I have been there. In the process I have watched as we drove past fine churches, filled with claiming Christians, in their white bread neighborhoods with their picket fences, to get to the “South Side of Town”, the “Red Light District” with its pawn shops, bars and strip joints. This is where you will find the bus terminal, filled with the sick in need of the Great Physician. The blind, lame and lepers are here! The prostitutes and tax collectors are here! But you won’t find hide nor hair of a Christian here, because this is the front line, where Satan rules, Christians fear to tread, and furrows can’t be found. The plowing of these sinners may be sin, but for the Christian to not plow this soil is sin! We have no right not to weep over the souls of these people. Yet we are not weeping.

I have spent countless hours talking to travelers who use garbage bags as luggage and drink Colt 45 for dessert. They tell me of their sexual exploits as if it is something to be admired. So I tell them of true Christianity, but they tell me of their carnal ways and say that we are no different than they 6 days a week! We have no love for them, nor do we share our light with them, so they blaspheme God because of us, the American elect.

It’s time for us to, “Repent and get back to work!” It’s time for us to step out of our church infested bible belt, dust off our armor and “go ye therefore”, past our white picket fences, to the front line and join the battle. It’s time to take up the torch of Jonah, and battle cry of John the Baptist, and start preaching the simple message of repentance again, before we become altogether unprofitable to God, and He leaves us to our own perverted idea of Christian life. Because Christian brothers and sisters this ain’t it! Raising your kids is not the extent of your grand calling!

Jesus did not come to save the righteous, He came to save sinners. Remember sinners? The long forgotten group you were assigned to seek and to save. They aren’t hard to find. They are just about a 10 minute drive from your white bread middle class home. You will find them at the bus stations, the soup kitchens and the homeless shelters that you have yet to set a foot in.

Now I know this message isn’t meant for every Christian, that there are indeed a few of you who do as they can, but when I can ride 10,000 miles, 24/7 for weeks, on such a wide path leading to destruction, and see but one lone Pentecostal Christian passing out a tract, then I feel it quite necessary to say that we, as American Christians, simply do not understand what exactly it is that we are supposed to be doing with our lives, as we ever so slowly walk down our little narrow path.

My God, does anyone live out Acts 20:19-24 anymore? Paul said:

“I served the Lord with all humility and with the tears and trials that came to me because of the plots of the Jews, and I did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit, or from teaching you in public or in your homes. I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus. But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me. Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God’s grace.”

Do we not understand that once Christ saves us, our lives are no longer of any importance! Upon salvation it is our God given ministry that becomes important, the Gospel becomes our burden, and it is our duty to minister to the Jew and the Greek, regardless of their election, because God is and will be glorified regardless.

God will no doubt save His elect, not one will slip through His fingers. But if you never preach to a heathen, you won’t have any part in being used by God to move mountains. But there is good news, God searches to and fro, over the whole Earth, for hearts willing to serve Him. The question is: Are you willing to repent and get back to work?

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

I see dead people --- it’s my sixth sense!

2006-11-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Some time ago I was at a friend’s house watching a Bruce Willis flick. Christian or not I watch all Bruce Willis movies. Some are good, some are ok and some aren’t worth the cellulous that was wasted to create the movie, but, never the less, I watch all of Bruce’s movies. I guess I just relate to his often bad attitude. But this particular movie was an exceptionally good secular suspense thriller with a twist, in that the main character, a young boy, has an apparent gift, this gift being the ability to see dead people. As the movie progresses you learn that the dead people have not gone to the great beyond, because they have unfinished business with the world of the living. It seems that these ties to the living have hindered them from going “into the light”. Unfortunately for the poor terrified boy, these “dead souls” have often met their demise in some gruesome fashion, (apparently the dead don’t clean up too well), yet they seek the youth’s help in solving their various problems, so that they can “rest in peace”. So inevitably the boy comes to grips with his destiny, and learns how to use his gift to do what he can do to help these lost souls. But the twist is that the dead don’t always know they’re dead, and often, as our young hero explains in the movie, “They only see what they want to see.”

By the time the credits rolled I was struck by the undeniable realization that I too have this gift. I too have seen dead people!

This brings to mind a man who, years ago, lay on his death bed in a hospital, dieing of some dreadful cancer. His pain must have been excruciating because the doctors had administered near lethal doses of morphine to lessen the pain of this man’s passing. But this man was anything but sedated. His arms, legs and even his waist were tethered to the gurney with extremely wide leather straps, yet he strained with the strength of Samson against them, twisting and wreathing in every direction. He was intensely alert and overly powerful, like a person overdosed on crack or ecstasy. The heart rate monitor was beeping tones that seem more fitting for a hummingbird than a human. But it was not illicit drugs causing this man’s reaction, nor was his attention focused on anything on this side of death. No, this man’s words made his concerns abundantly clear, as he continually screamed about the sound of chains coming closer and closer, yet no one in the room heard any such sounds. His eyes seemed to peer into a world none other in the room could see, as he stared intently at things that where not there. He kept screaming, “He’s coming, he’s coming closer, let me go, get me out of here.” His screaming and physical wrestling became more and more violent until he announced that Satan was in the room, bound with endless chains. As he stared directly toward the foot of his bed, then toward those in the room, he screamed one last time, “Can’t you see Him?” and he died. The cause of death was not cancer, but an embolism in the brain that burst as a result of elevated blood pressure caused by an excessively high heart rate. The examining doctor noted, “This man was scared to death.” There was no doubt in the minds of those in the room, as to what caused this man’s fear.

Yes, like the boy in the movie, “I see dead people all the time.” When I go to work, there they are, working as if money can buy them life. When I go to Sam’s club, there they are, buying food, as if food is going to benefit their condition. And even when I drive from place to place, there they are again, speeding past me, as if their superior progress will gain them any more time in the long run. And I must say that as I grow older and more mature, their gruesome condition grieves me to the core and keeps my countenance low. These dead souls haunt me as I, most of the time, seem powerless to help.

Perhaps my view of life and death is rather odd. But it seems to me that what most people think of, and experience as their life, is barely a shadow of the real thing, and what most people consider as death, the physical death of a loved one, is really the least significant of the four types of death. And I do not doubt that Stephen or Lazarus would agree with me whole heartedly. Do you think that Stephen would, if he had been given the choice, choose to live another year or two, rather the see Jesus, after sitting at the right hand of God, stand up to mark Stephen’s own death? Do you think Lazarus, once absent from his body and present with the Lord Jesus Christ, preferred to return to his sin sick body and live all over again, amongst the living? And what of the resurrected saints who rose to live again at Jesus’ death, would they have wished that upon themselves after experiencing the glory of almighty God? No, no, while these Christians knew that such exits and returns served a God ordained and glorifying purpose, these Christians also understood the Apostle Paul, when he said, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” It bears repeating with emphasis, “For Christians alone, to live IS Christ, and to die is GAIN.”

Consider the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, son of Berlin’s leading psychiatrist and neurologist, Karl Bonhoeffer, during the days of Adolf Hitler. Dietrich, a theologian intent on reforming the German church, said “It is because of Hitler that Christ has become effective among us.” Bonhoeffer, opposing the Nazis with all his might, called the church to repentance. His outspokenness put him at risk; every day, every year, the crisis grew and the tension deepened.

On Kristallnacht (“Crystal Night”), November 9, 1938, the Nazis unleashed their full fury against Jewish communities in Germany. Windows were shattered, houses stormed, synagogues burned, families brutalized, Jews imprisoned. Bonhoeffer, away from Berlin, raced back to the capital and stood like an intrepid prophet against the violence. He was furious with Christians, who justified the violence, by saying the Jews were reaping only what they deserved as the crucifiers of Christ. He marked the calamitous date alongside Psalm 74:7,8, which he underlined in his Bible.

He was eventually incarcerated at Telgel Prison outside Berlin. His six-by-nine-foot cell contained cot, shelf, stool, and bucket. Here he lived 18 months, writing letters and poems. Eventually Bonhoeffer was taken to Flossenburg Concentration Camp. As he led a small worship service on April 8, 1945, the Gestapo burst in and dragged him away. Shortly after five o’clock the next morning, he was taken to an execution site in a grove of trees and forced to strip. He knelt naked and prayed, then ascended the gallows to God. The last words he cried were, “This is the end --- for me, the beginning of life.”

Dietrich understood, as I do, that to a Christian, physical death, the third type of death, is not death at all; it is the beginning of life, the beginning of life free from a need for hope and faith, free from the burden of God’s mercy and grace. It is my hope that you understand how God’s mercy and grace are a great burden to bear.

Yet there are souls that walk this Earth with but one birth to their credit, having been stillborn, dead in sin, this is the first type of death, inherited from our common, fallen, father. They, as we once did, walk this earth unafraid. We all, Christian and heathen alike share this common death and, except for the rare exception, we all experience the third type as well, the physical death. Yet there are four types of death, two are common to all without regard to your election and two are opposing, the second being for Christians alone. In America I see very few of these dead people, they seem to be a dieing breed.

But there are those that have no fear of Satan, and even less reverence for God. They do not yet hear any chains, nor sense Satan’s presence. They are utterly oblivious, suppressing the truth, they only see what they want to see; they are the dead I see all around me. They are everywhere, a great burgeoning crowd, too numerous to number. Yet they are not through dieing. As a heathen they must die twice more, the latter two forms of death, they will suffer physical death and then kneeling before God, they will confess Him as Lord, receive the realization and fruition of their final death. They will suffer separation from Jesus and an eternal dieing of their flesh and soul. In brimstone and fire they will burn perpetually. In everlasting torment they will nash their teeth in searing anger and despair. But not one drop of relief will ever, ever, even touch the tip of their tongues. In this undying, unending anguish, oblivion would be a merciful end, but they shall have no peace, no rest, no joy, no radiant, glorious light, only the intense unrelenting alertness to their interminable suffering! This is the forth death, set aside for the heathen alone to experience.

I hope by now that you truly sense the gruesome plight of the dead heathen and are stricken to the very core of your soul, oh claiming Christian, to do what you must, to die the second death, to feel the true burden of grace and mercy that comes with being dead in Christ. This is the second death!

Have you died in Christ? Experienced the second death? I am not asking if you made a profession of faith, walked an isle, said a prayer, made a commitment, got wet in a ceremony, passed a class, or even were confirmed as a Christian. I am asking, “Have you experienced the death of your useless flesh, to now derive your entire existence in Christ?” To live IS Christ. Forget about is He my Lord or Savior, is He my Friend or Master! There is no “or” with Jesus, He is all or nothing. I am asking if you are dead to yourself and now find yourself alive in Jesus? Are you no longer flesh, but spirit?

If so then praise the Lord, for He surely revealed this to you. I remember when my second death became real to me. When the understanding of the burden of grace and mercy came upon me like a great millstone, when I ceased to exist and only Jesus within me remained. While the execution of my second death happened at the moment of my salvation, the realization of it occurred the moment that I crawled out of that baptismal pool, having made my public confession of life in Christ, I was unable to walk or stand before the almighty, holy, righteous, just and perfect God, that had both permitted and caused my complete submission to Him. Having vowed my life to Him, I could hear His word speaking to me, “Go, sin no more, and teach those who will listen what I have commanded you, making disciples of those with ears to hear.” From that moment on, to live in the flesh means fruit from my labor, as it has been needful for me to work toward your progress and joy of faith.

So listen, those of you with ears, if you still walk this Earth with two births and two deaths to your credit, then why do you perceive your life with such high regard, why is your countenance so happy, why have you left you first love behind to pursue things of such low import? Can you not see the dead all around you? Do you not know that they only see what they want to see? Where is your grief for them? They do not even comprehend that they are dead! But does this concern you into action? Does this cause you to set your own life aside? How gruesome must their fate be to gain your attention? Can you not smell the brimstone? Will you stand in the face of evil like an intrepid prophet or will you step aside as Satan’s Gestapo reaps their eternal bounty?

God has drawn you, opened your eyes, saved you and set you apart by unmerited grace, and by undeserved mercy he perseveres you to the end. I hope that these great gifts have become your burden to the salvation of others, rather than to your uneventful comfort. I hope that you do not rest in peace until you rest in peace. Indeed, I hope that you see dead people too!

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Why Every Christian Needs a Fish!

2006-10-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid I had a fish tank full of fish. Actually I had a few fish tanks. Ok, to be honest, I at times, had enough fish tanks to hold more than a thousand gallons of water.

I have heard that the soothing white noise of a fish tank always helps a man get to sleep. But I just loved fish. Fresh or salt it made little difference, except that salt water fish are a lot more expensive. But at times, raising fish garnered me something else I used to love, money. Yes mammon, the root of many an evil. So as a kid, I raised fresh water African fish from Lake Tanganyika, the longest fresh water lake in the world, and the second largest lake in Africa, and I sold them to buy salt water fish. That is until I broke a tank, and 39 gallons of salt water ran down the walls of my mom’s apartment, into my neighbor’s below me and started a fire in his electrical outlet. Not sure why I brought that up so forget I mentioned it.

Anyway, I currently have only two fish tanks, about 220 gallons total, but only 30 gallons are salt water. I have fresh water goldfish and salt water mud minnows. The mud minnows were actually fish bait, but the two I still own, have survived so long I figure they deserve to live. The gold fish have grown old with excessively long fins and perfectly over plump bellies. They look like miniature bowling balls with fins. They actually recognize me and will allow me to touch them. But mainly I just like watching them swim around without a worry. They don’t even give thought to whether I will feed them or not. But don’t get me wrong though, I don’t envy my gold fish for their carefree lives. I know their ultimate fate, the “swirly dive straight to oblivion”, because I don’t think there are any goldfish in that river of life. I am not even so sure that the river is an actual river! So despite what you told your kids when they were younger, “no gold fish go to Heaven”. But I do think that while yet alive on Earth, every Christian needs a fish, if for no other reason than to understand the significance of what I am about to say.

Jesus preferred fishermen, and He preferred fish. When He fed the 5,000 men, he didn’t serve a pig. Jews couldn’t even touch the animal. He didn’t use cattle or lambs or turkeys, no, Jesus used fish! And when Jesus fed the 4,000 men, once again, fish, and little ones at that. And when Jesus cooked a little apostolic lunch by the lake, you guessed it, fish again. So I think that is proof enough, Jesus preferred fish. And what did He do over these fish? He prayed, giving thanks. And that is something we all should do more of. Not just give thanks, but pray.

I am a terrible prayer. You know you are a terrible prayer when you pray to be a better prayer. I am not even so sure that it is a real prayer for a Christian to pray to be a better prayer. I am certain the Bible commands Christians to pray. But even if it didn’t, prayer is just one of those things real Christians inevitably and inescapably do. Like something basically essential to even calling yourself a Christian; and it’s a sin if you don’t. You know, something utterly essential, like, …… like breathing! Prayer and Christian go inseparably together, as if neither is true without the other.

Never the less I pray to be a better prayer, especially for those who could be seen as my enemies. I pray the Lord would infect my entire mind with endless prayer, but the truth is far from that ideal.

Many times I don’t pray because I figure I need to exhaust my own ability before I call on God. This is “utterly ridiculous”, as if I have any ability that is not given to me moment by moment by God. A blood cell does not move in my body without its path being directed by God. This sort of self reliant thought and consequent action, teeters, if not plunges headlong, into self idolatry.

Some times I don’t pray because I figure such a prayer would concern things, I think are beneath, or unworthy of God’s attention. But is it not God that numbers the very hairs on our heads and feeds the wild goldfish their daily worm? Oh, God cares, it is I who doesn’t. God brought this home to me recently in a miraculous and very strange way.

A few months ago I purchased an exuberant, pretty, gold fish with unusual markings to add to my collection. But just days after releasing him into my well maintained tank, I found this little gold fish floating at the surface, on his side and barely breathing. As nature would have it, the other fish were merciless and making a meal out of him. So I isolated the fish from the others and waited for his inevitable death. You see I have never, ever, in all the thousands and thousands of fish I have owned, seen a fish recover once they side float with an arch in their back. And this fish looked like a horseshoe and had external injuries as well.

As I sat there watching this little fish die, I thought of all the verses in the Bible concerning fish. I thought of Jonah’s fish, the temple tax fish, Peter’s 153 large fish, and the fish Jesus cooked and blessed on more than one occasion. I sure would have loved to have been there, but it got me to thinking about praying, thinking about praying for this little fish. The thought caught me like a 2x4 across the head. What was I thinking? I live on a world going to Hell in a hand basket and I am thinking of praying for a goldfish! But for once, I ignored my flesh and decided to give it a shot; after all, the life of this fish has to be more important than how many hairs are on the top of my head.

So I sincerely prayed that God would spare the life of my little goldfish and went to bed. And sure enough, in the morning when I woke up, I felt like King Darius finding Daniel still alive in the lion’s den. And that is how my goldfish is to this day, alive, well and as exuberant as ever. The goldfish that Jesus saved! Go figure! Even a prayer for something so insignificant, is truly significant to God. Why? I am not really certain. But then I don’t need to know why. I just need to remember that I need to pray like that fish needs water, without it I cease to reflect Christ, I cease to reflect true Christianity, my fate become unclear, and perhaps my destination becomes a little swirly as well.

So pray my fellow fishermen, pray like never before, and as we seek to save souls, and perhaps God will make our school a little bigger.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com

Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

The Ever Changing Wind of Human Perception!

2006-09-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

For those of you who do not know, I have, since I was 14 years old, been employed in the mechanical engineering field. Although I started as a draftsman, designing plastic injection molds, I rapidly moved up through the ranks until I was a senior mechanical design engineer in my early 20’s, and I have been one every since. There is no doubt in my mind that my engineering talent and abilities are entirely God given, as I am almost entirely self taught. College was most certainly not where I learned how to engineer buildings, machinery and products of nearly every description. I simply was given a temporal gift that surpasses any of my education and I have pushed that gift to its very limits. Or so to me it seemed.

Some time ago I had a supervisor at work who unfairly treated me in regards to my salary for many years. Each year I tried harder, produced more, designed better and literally blew my counterparts away. But each year during my performance review I received the same basic appraisal, “meets job requirements”. This level of performance was considered a 4 out of a 5 scale, while 3, 2 and 1 were considered ever increasingly bad levels of performance. A grade of 5 was described as “consitently exceeds job requirements”. In four years I never received a grade of 5 in a single job requirement category. Yet my performance easily exceeded the work of my coworkers who were being promoted to my level, and receiving much better merit pay increases than I.

My boss’s poor and unjust reviews bothered me so much, that after my third year on the job, I created a system that tracked nearly every aspect of the engineering department’s job functions. Management loved the system, but my fellow engineers despised it. I simply wanted a raise and the system would provide the proof, and the “undeniable truth”, about my performance.

At my next yearly performance review I was loaded for bear. I had stacks of evidence that I had outperformed all my coworkers. I had created nearly twice as many machine designs as my nearest counterpart and with less than half as many drawing errors. During previous reviews, my boss had reported both work volume and drawing errors as the common, but always unverified, reason for my poor merit increases. But I was having none of that this year. So when he indicated that my overall performance, once again, only “met my job requirements”, I unveiled my stack of statistics, the undeniable truth that his own department’s tracking system had acquired. But unbelievably, he remained unmoved.

So I posed the following questions to my unjust manager. I asked “Why is that I have never received a 5 in any job requirement category, even though I far out produce my coworkers, who have the same identical job requirements?” Why is it that they continue to receive much better merit increases than I, when they do half the work?” “If my performance only “meets” the job requirements, then how can they even come close to meeting the same requirements?”

He responded that it was impossible for him to ever give me the highest rating of 5. He explained, “No matter how hard you work or how well you do, that is what I expect from you.” So regardless of the truth, I could never exceed his requirements for my job. But when I showed him the statistics generated by his own tracking system, that indicated that I had indeed completed nearly twice the work of his second best employee, he seemed somewhat flustered that I had countered his first punch.

So he played his trump card and proceeded to tell me that I again made too many mistakes in the previous year and this was the reason, not my work volume, as to why he was giving me such a poor review. So I showed him the unquestionable statistics that proved, without a doubt, that I had made less than half the mistakes as my closest peer, and what he said in response has bewildered me for years, he said:

“While you may out produce your coworkers and actually make fewer errors in the process, there is never the less, a perception that you do otherwise, and I cannot reward you for good work as long as there is a contrary perception. Reality is not nearly as important as what people think of it, and people here think that you make too many errors. Whether you do or not is irrelevant.”

I have thought many times about his comment, and I have come to understand that it, in a very strange way, has some truth to it when it comes to the coercive power of errant human perception of the truth.

What could I possible mean? Am I saying that truth is not as important as what we think of as truth? No, just the opposite is true. God has determined what is true and what is important. Whether we believe it or feel its weight, does not affect the significance of truth. An example would be a Christian’s disobedience, to God and the government He ordained, when traveling at speeds in excess of the lawful posted limit. A Christian may not feel the weight or consider the significance of his sin, but the truth is, all sin is an abomination to God and as such, all sin should be preeminently significant to a true Christian.

Am I saying that perception is king and truth is irrelevant? No, again I say, just the opposite is true. We will all one day be judged or tested in relation to the truth, regardless of what we think, understand or know of the truth. But what I am saying is that while truth is fixed and unchanging, we change how we perceive it to fit our own desires. We manipulate the truth to create a new, more personally agreeable perception of truth. It is this altered truth that we, without God clearing influence, perceive as “real truth”. This self deception is a way of life for the heathen and a constant nuisance to the Christian. It is the Christian battle between the flesh’s desire to be free to sin indiscriminately and the spirit’s desire for perfect obedience to Christ.

This constant manipulation of interpretation of the truth is one aspect of a desperately wicked heart, a heart we all still have, and yet cannot know! Because we consistently tailor what comes into our minds, so as to make our circumstances more bearable to our flesh, it is often difficult even to garner a true knowledge of truth. However, through the God given destruction of your flesh, you can obtain a closer understanding of the truth, less tainted by sinful self deception.

If I am entirely honest with myself, if only but for a moment, I can think of hundreds of examples in my own life to illustrate how people customize the truth to fit their own desired reality. For instance:

When I was child my step brother and I were thieves. I would steal what I wanted and he would steal, just to steal. Once I saw him steal a small light bulb. Thinking this ridiculous, I confronted him, not for stealing, but for pilfering something he could not even use. My brother denied having taken anything from the store, even though the bulge in his pocket said otherwise. So I grabbed my brother, forcible took the bulb from his pocket, shoved it in his face and said “I just saw you steal this. You don’t even own anything that uses this size bulb. This is a Christmas tree bulb.” (The humorous irony of a heathen kid stealing a Christmas tree bulb is just now dawning upon me.) My brother looked at me with wild eyes, and denied knowing how that bulb got into his pocket.

Now one liar knows when another liar is lying, and the truth was obvious to me that my step brother was lying about stealing. But several days later I confronted him again. But this time my brother eyes revealed a mind of self convinced innocence. In a matter of days, somehow my brother was able, in his mind, to deny the obvious truth and modify it into a more palatable reality. He again denied that he stole the light bulb, but this time I was convinced that my brother totally believed that he truly did not steal anything. He had managed to completely deceive himself.

I thought this alternate, self created reality, could be useful in my own life, so at a very young age and with much creativity, I started altering the truth that I shared with people in my life, so as to improve upon the aspects of my life that I thought less desirable. Unlike my “real” life, whether I lied about my circumstances to create a more positive or negative perception of my life; seemed entirely under my control. So, with ever increasingly detailed, well maintained lies, I could make my life whatever I wanted it to be, regardless of the ugly truth of my “real” life. And best of all, it seemed as though I wasn’t hurting anyone, and in time, as with my brother, my lies appeared to me to be better than the truth.

But unlike my step brother, I could never quite step over the line into never-never land. The undeniable truth kept nagging me and maintaining the lies was exhausting. There simply had to be a better way. I thought I would try telling the truth.

So in 1990 I decided it was time to expose the deep seeded ugly truth of my childhood to every member of my entire family. I was going to write a tell-all letter concerning all the family secrets and my lies to cover them up. But a strange thing happened. After many years of hardly even speaking to any members of my immediate family, we, cooperatively, started discussing every detail of our collective memories concerning our family history. But it quickly became apparent that none of us remembered the truth the same way! We disagreed on many major details and sometimes our perceptions were so different, as to make it impossible to determine what the actual truth was!

Like it astounded me that my step brother could so easily deceive himself, it now astounded me that a family could not determine the absolute truth of it’s own past. What I thought so traumatic in my life, was barely memorable to other family members. And things I remembered so clearly, others remembered entirely differently. It was as if my life wasn’t real at all. Like my life was some form of self created fantasy. There was no doubt in my mind that some of my memories were correct, but there was also no doubt that my own lies and self deceptions have marred my memories of my true past. At times I simply had to confess to not knowing whether some of my memories were real or not. However, after several months of very satisfying nightly conversations, we finally arrived at a sort of “probable truth” concerning our collective memories of our family’s past.

Joyfully I can say that my small family and I have closed the book on our past and if you ask most of us we would likely say that our “Good ‘ol days” are right now! Not 20, 30 or even 40 years ago like some people would say. Because God is presently moving mightily in my family and though the truth of my past has long been lost in my own fuzzy, sin marred perception, I count it a virtuous thing that God has managed to work even this to my good and amazingly use it for His glory.

Today I spend the majority of my evangelistic efforts on people who are self deceived. They are a most pitiable lot, who rely not on the accurate judgment and analysis of the evidence emanating from their lives, but rather they stake their claim on Christ through their heart felt emotions, fervor, or past acts of dedication. Some see God working through them to the benefit of humanity and they count this as proof of their salvation, but God need not save you to use you for His good pleasure. Yet the self deceived make light of their disobedience to the new covenant laws, claiming grace and mercy and discounting their responsibility to strive for perfection, to “go and sin no more”, which minimizes their perception of their constant practice of sin. I speak for God to them for endless hours and they no more yield to the Holy Spirit than your right foot does when you are on the highway and late for work. How they do not feel the hot coals heaped on their heads nor smell their own searing flesh is beyond me. I can only know that I have done as I ought, they are accountable for having heard the truth, and that the Word does not return void.

But I can not describe the emotional pain of watching a counselee sink ever so slowly and ever more deeply into a self deceived lifestyle of sin, all the while claiming Christ and justifying his sin with the same breath. It is horrifying to watch because I have done it to myself and I know where it leads. It leads to not knowing what you truly know, not seeing what you truly see and not hearing what you truly hear. And if you cannot see and you cannot hear, then you cannot know that you know Jesus. But the truth is, that Jesus is not deceived, He is the truth, and He knows who He knows, and if He doesn’t know you, then you will know full well the truth when He looks at you and says, “Depart from Me for I never knew you!”

So my friend, it would be wise for you to take another good look, a constant look, at yourself and judge yourself carefully, in truth, as to what evidence is emanating from you? Does the evidence say that you need increased dedication, renewed invigoration or a complete transformation? You without a doubt need one of the three, but which one you truly need is critically important. So let the truth, and not your perception, be your judge. Because it is literally a matter of your life or death!

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Truth or Consequences

2006-08-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

As Christians all of our sins have been forgiven, not just our past sins, but also the sins we have yet to conjure up in our evil hearts. Even though God always, mercifully, provides us a way to escape temptation and sin, we hold on to that “old self” which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit. Oh, how we deceive ourselves to justify our little sins. It’s just a pen; it’s not really stealing. It’s not really a lie if I just don’t tell him. Yea, right! And King David just wanted to know how many Jews there were. Thousands of innocent Jews died because of his little sin. Moses just stole a little glory from God; after faithfully following God for forty years he never set foot on the Promised Land. A bunch of ungrateful Jews decided they were too good for their standard God given rations, and again, thousands of Jews paid with their lives.

The truth is there are no little sins, and while God has forgiven you of yours, your sin has a price to pay, a consequence for every single occasion. Every sin you commit affects your future. That little pen cost you your raise, that untold lie infects your mind with doubt in the truth of the words of others. How can you trust, when you yourself are lying? In the Bible, God himself said to you, “If you love Me you will keep My commandments”.

Do you love God or are you grieving the Holy Spirit who you are forcing to endure living inside you as you refuse to put on your “new self”? What, is three nails in Christ’s flesh not enough for you? Must you drive yet another spike through your own Lord and Savior? Then give what you stole back; cease your corrupt words! Don’t deceive yourself, sin is crouching at your door, its desire is to devour you and to destroy your worth in Christ. The choice is entirely yours; it’s either truth or consequences.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Bitter About Glitter

2006-07-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

A short time ago a co-worker came into my office, sat down, and started rambling about various work related topics. In mid sentence he looked me straight in the eye and asked me if I had went to a strip club. Stunned, I told him that I was a Christian, a “real one”, not some “Sunday saint, Monday ain’t”. His half-heartedly apology died to silence. Curious, I asked him what possibly could have made him think that I would do such a thing? After all, he has known me long enough to know that upon mere discussion of such matters, I rebuke such foul talk and activities and leave the area for my own sake.

He told me that I had glitter on my face and that it wasn’t the first time he had noticed it. Not understanding what glitter had to do with his original topic, I foolishly inquired, and he took great pride in inflicting on me his knowledge of how glitter is used at a strip club. After this, and for what seemed like a very long period of time, the men in the plant enjoyed teasing me about my occasional glitter. I quickly became annoyed at their constant attention and my golden nuisance. It’s one thing to suffer for being a Christian and standing up for God’s word, but this gold glitter thing was driving me crazy. I couldn’t figure out where this stuff was coming from. There is nothing I own or do that requires the use of glitter, and a man without children simply has no need for such a substance. About at my wits end, having suffered endless ribbings from my blue collar co-workers, I must admit that I was having trouble letting “no unwholesome word proceed from my mouth” as instructed in Ephesians 4:29.

But, as 1 Corinthians 10:13 states, God was faithful, and did not allow me to be tempted beyond what I was able to endure, and He put an end to my mystery and misery. As I studied the Bible one night, aided by the entire library of books that a Brother named Johnny Touchet has thrust upon me as “required reading”, to help rid me of the apparent sin he sees in my life, I noticed a gold glint, a flicker off my fingertips. A flash of golden light reflecting off the glitter that now resided on my fingers. The glitter that so annoyed me for so long was coming off the pages of my Bible as I read late at night.

Oh, Lord, what an incredible “badge of honor” you have placed on me for so many months for all to see. I can’t image anything I would rather wear than Your Word! Dear Lord Jesus, please forgive me and if it is Your will, please enable me to be a walking, talking, reflection of You, for this would be worth far more to me than all the gold I could ever possess. Amen.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

My Flesh – What Evil Lurketh There?

2006-06-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Imagine if you will this incredible scene. A short time ago I was at a celebration, a meeting of sorts, with a group of friends, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Christmas was just weeks away and there in the corner was the tree, decorated with the memories of bygone years, softly lit and blinking to it’s own indiscriminate rhythm. The fragrance of scented candles lofted about, as everyone lounged comfortably in their chosen places, on soft inviting sofas. To my dismay, even the children were tranquil as they played quietly at their parent’s feet. Soft music filled the room, as preparations for the anticipated feast were finally nearing their end. In another room, a table, elegantly adorned with china finery, patiently waited the setting of the banquet. Tasty fare from regions far and near, were to be served and sampled, as the guest discussed things of God and man. Finally the table could take no more, not another dish could be placed, as the guests gathered around to admire the sight. How indescribably glorious God’s bounty can be. Before us was laid a vast assemblage of land and seafood delights. There were crawdad nachos, and scallops, and oysters, and mussels with pasta and sausage, and salmon with oranges, and crumbled crab, and whiting, and hushpuppies, and steaks, and pork chops, and breads, and rice with shrimps, and salad with shrimps, and mushrooms with shrimps and even more shrimps of every description. Not a word was needed, but many were spoken, as we all took our places. How I wish Jesus could have been sitting beside me. For it was in His honor that this meal was prepared. But alas a prayer was needed to express our thanksgiving for all He has provided. As I looked around the table at the soft glowing faces of my friends, I wondered how many at the table felt as I? How magnificent it would have been to be with Him, to break His bread and to drink His wine. How glorious to be in the very presence of the Master, teaching us with His own spoken word.

Please forgive me dear Lord Jesus, as I am simply not worthy of such marvelous thoughts.

Because, while this was a glorious moment of true joy in thought, I simply do not deserve to be in the presence of Jesus, not now, not ever. I think more about me than I do of Him, I do more for me than I do for Him, I pray more for me than I thank Him. Yet this is not at all what I want to do. I want to do what is right, but this I do not do.

The truth is that my mind is more often than not, a brutal battle zone. There are times I feel like a combat hardened warrior heaving his bleeding, battle scarred carcass, off the front line before all is lost. Like a righteous army of one against the savage evil blitzkrieg, my mind bears the deep gushing slashes of a near constant, warring battle, against sickening sinful cravings. Look here, a festering lesion of unrepentant urges, and here, on my back, a “sliders” cut, an almost lethal blow of near apostasy. And here, an older wound of hypocrisy and another of immorality. And here, is an unequal yoke, the likes of which oxen could barely lift. And then there is this devil’s gash; I went to battle unprepared. And look, right there, a laceration of self inflicted reliance; I tried to save myself. Oh Lord, when will victory ever find me? Must I die before my enemy is crushed? Look at him, he is barely wounded, nary a scratch! He spits at me, and laughs at my beliefs as he draws his sword for another strike. Oh dear Lord, do not deny your servant, spare me from this evil villain. Oh, dear Lord Jesus, trample him under your foot, and leave him with nothing, an empty vessel, and inflict him to overflowing with every form of sanctification. Oh dear Lord, please deliver me from my fiercest enemy. Oh dear Lord, please deliver me from ME! Amen.

I am, without a doubt, my own worst enemy. My eyes are lamps to my body, yet my eyes see darkness. (ref. Luke 11:33) My tongue is such a small thing yet it is full of wickedness, set on fire by hell itself. (ref. James 3:2-12) My feet are swift to shed blood (ref. Romans 3:10). And my heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: even I cannot understand it. (ref. Jeremiah 17:9). What sin have I forsaken? What commandment have I not broken? Have I not lied and stolen? Have I not had idols and coveted the idols of others? Have I not committed adultery and dishonored my parents? Have I not had gods before You and cursed Your holy name? And have I not even killed with my bare hands on the Sabbath day?

But perhaps you think this all a bit excessive or melodramatic? Or perhaps you are wondering what the first scene has to do with the second? In brief let me say that the first is of the glory, overflowing abundance and magnificence of Christ and the second is of the depravity of man, but neither account is exaggerated. If my suffering, to you may seem acute, it is only because God has use for me to suffer, as one must suffer to help the suffering, as I am called. But that is another story.

However, my temptation is but common, my struggles ordinary, (ref. 1 Corinthians 10:12) and my human reactions are all too predictable. But I am not alone in my struggle; even the great and worthy apostles struggled in the same way. So for a moment let us look at the apostles, Peter & Paul in particular and see how they struggled with their flesh, before and even after they received the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

For nearly the entire time Peter spent with Jesus, Peter thought he was somebody. I believe Peter was a very proud apostle. After Jesus opened his eyes with the sign of a great catch of fishes, Peter left all that he had to follow Jesus. (Luke 5:8-11) Some time later Jesus told Peter and the other apostles “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) But Peter still had a heart for self and later proudly announced his sacrifice of leaving his family and career when he said “See, we have left all and followed You.” But Jesus calmly replied that Peter and the others “would receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Luke 18:28-30) Then still later Peter, in his own feeble power, proclaimed, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” A vow he quickly broke.

The problem was that, like us, Peter was a proud man who hadn’t yet fully understood, what Jesus meant when He said that we must deny ourselves. Peter thought he had given considerably, but Jesus said, “assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God.” Peter thought he knew something, but the Bible says “if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.” (Acts 17:25) Peter thought he was a great servant, but the Bible says “God is not served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.” (Acts 17:25)

I believe that to die to self, to deny ourselves, to become empty vessels to be filled with what God would wish to fill us, demands, not only the requisite continual denial of sinful desires, but also the understanding that even as Christians we do not give to God. No matter how hard a Christian works or how many good works he performs to the glory of God, he will never be more worthy. It is not in the giving that sets a Christian apart from the heathen, but in the receiving, because all things come from God. 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 says “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to think of anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

But does this give a Christian the right to sit around and do nothing? Absolutely not, as 1 Corinthians 10:31 makes it perfectly clear what our life motivation should be when it says “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” It is out of love for Jesus Christ that we should strive to bring Him glory in all that we do, but even the ability for us to bring Him glory came from Him. To understand my position in relation to Christ, it helps me greatly to think of myself as a slave to Christ Jesus. As it says in Colossians 3:22-25 “You slaves must obey your earthly masters in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Obey them willingly because of your reverent fear of the Lord. Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and the Master you are serving is Christ. But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites who can get away with evil.”

A slave has no part in giving to the master, as the master has all that he needs in himself. If a slave works hard, harder than all the others, at the end of the day he has done no more than he should have. You are called, as a slave to Christ, to serve with all your ability, glorying Him in all that you do. If tomorrow you wake up and exceedingly glorify Christ, then you have only done as much as you should have. You have not given to Christ something He did not have, as if He needed anything. And if the next day you even more abundantly serve Him, then praise the Lord for He has given you the ability to do so, but you do not add to God something He was lacking. Is this not the context of Luke 17:7-10 (NRSV) “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

God has the right to demand from you, your best effort as He has made you able. As believing servants we will never exceed what God requires, the best we can do is to do what we ought to have done. The problem is that while we are slaves to Christ, we are also slaves to our flesh. And we cannot serve two masters; for either we will hate the one and love the other, or else we will be loyal to the one and despise the other, (Matthew 6:23) and this is the cause of my great internal conflict. While my will seeks to serve Christ, ever more daily, my flesh seeks to serve it’s natural master, evil itself. There will be no permanent relief from this conflict, until the day that I am glorified.

Is this not the same internal struggle that Paul agonizes over when he writes: For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25)

If ever there was a message I would like to ingrain on the minds of Christians worldwide it would be this.
Nothing good dwells within you, you worthless wretched man, sin oozes out of you as rain drips from the clouds, fall to your knees, before your Christ, and beg Him to make you worthy to live for His glory alone, for the very air that you breathe you are unworthy to take in.

With such thinking, the goal is mortification of the flesh, denying oneself daily, not a self-glorifying idolatrous depression. We all know that there was not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. (Luke 7:28) I take great pleasure and receive great joy in denying my flesh and prideful countenance, because I know that Heaven will be exceedingly joyful. What is 70 years of denial on earth compared to a glorious eternity in Heaven with Christ, you worthless wretched man. But if these statements seem harsh consider this, what sin cannot be traced back to the heart of a man who was attempting to raise himself up to a position he was not created to achieve? As believers we are called to serve our fellow man for the sole purpose of glorifying Jesus, with a life of servitude during which the greatest is the least, and the humble are kings. We are to be as little children, and desire nothing greater than a life of doing as we are asked to do. But every sinner has a heart to raise himself in relationship to God. Think about it!

In Heaven Satan wanted to be God. In the garden, Eve desired the knowledge of God. In Babylon, the people wanted to build above the wrath of God. Just out of Egypt the Jews cast themselves a golden god. In Bethlehem Harod wanted to kill God. In the synagogues Pharisees prayed, but not to God. In the temple the rich made money their god. In Rome the Kings thought they were gods. In Jerusalem the Jews demanded a different God. So they slaughtered the true and living God.

Hell is where we should all be, that is the best that we deserve, but in God’s mercy He chose to save a few for His Glory. Why now that we have been given what we do not deserve, do we take from Him the glory that is not ours? Is the cure for this, not what the wise King Solomon had in mind when he said, “For by a sad countenance the heart is made better.”? Thinking such as this will help you be humble in the sight of God!

By now you might be thinking. “I understand the whole inner struggle thing, but what does that have to do with the Christmas feast you wrote about at the beginning of this article” Well then, if you must know, sit back, relax and imagine if you will, this incredible scene when the bounty of Christ and the depravity of man met in their starkest contrast.

Behold when they had entered the city they found a man carrying a pitcher of water, and they said to Him, “Sir, the Teacher says to you, ‘where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’” So the man showed them the room, which already was completely furnished. The disciples made ready the meal and when all was prepared, they sat about and around the Lord. He said “I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Now while what was laid out before the apostles, on the Day of Unleavened Bread, may not have been a magnificent feast, they did eat, and the Passover Lamb was there.

Imagine if you will, that you were there, serving these men their food, hearing their conversation, occasionally you linger so as to hear the Messiah’s words with your own ears. You eat His words, what a feast indeed, as you indulge your senses and feed your soul. Jesus gets up and begins to wash the apostles’ feet and He says, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is He who is sent greater than He who sent Him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” Jesus sits down and after the men had eaten, they converse on one subject and then another, as silence falls on the room as Jesus starts to speak. “Behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me at the table.” You watch as the disciples become exceedingly sorrowful. One disciple fearfully asks “Lord, is it I?” and another “Master, is it I?” Then Judas says “Rabbi, is it I?” You think that strange that Judas, after all these years, would still be referring to Jesus as “teacher”, when all the other apostles refer to Him as Master and Lord. And Jesus said to Judas “You have said it”. The other disciples do not understand that Jesus just identified the traitor, so John; the disciple whom Jesus loved, asked, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus said “the man to whom I give this morsel after I have dipped it”, and He handed it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And Jesus said to Judas “what you do, do quickly.” You watch as the Devil enters Judas and he immediately goes out, and it is night. You stand in stunned silence as you ponder what you just saw. Judas is leaving to betray Jesus. No wonder Judas still thinks of Jesus as a rabbi and not his Lord, Judas has never been reborn, never received a new nature, never walked in the Spirit. Judas is a heathen! You think maybe you should leave and try to stop him, but then you question your own understanding because the disciples, who must be far wiser than you, do not seem to grasp the fact that the betrayer has now been exposed twice.

Despite the fact that the all twelve of the apostles had already eaten, they think perhaps Judas has simply left to purchase more food for the Passover meal or give money to the poor. But then Jesus took some bread blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

You stand and marvel at the significance of the moment, the Last Supper, the Passover meal, the Lord’s table; who knows what men will call it but they will be writing poems and songs and painting pictures of this moment forever! And only eleven apostles were there, the son of perdition having already left. You wonder if men will paint the pictures correctly. Before you can compose yourself in the realization that the Almighty Savior and Lord of the world, will soon be betrayed and become a sacrifice for your sins, fulfilling Isaiah 53, the disciples, who have not yet determined in their own minds, who the traitor is, begin to dispute which one of them is greatest. Can you imagine the shear magnitude of the naivety of these men? Their concern of being the traitor to their Lord, has now so quickly, been replaced by their own desire to receive notoriety, power or fame. No longer were they concerned with, “Lord, is it I that will betray you?” without yet knowing that it wasn’t them, they now wanted to know which one of them was the greatest apostle.

These were God’s chosen men on whom the hope of the world and the church were built. And yet mere hours before their Master was murdered, they had not yet understood their proper orientation. Just as Christ Jesus did not come to the earth as an earthly King, as the Jews expected; the disciples were not to become great men of valor, but mighty in power as humble servants. As Jesus Himself said when He was washing Peter’s feet, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” Peter and the others still did not understand.

So you quickly clean up and follow the apostles as they finished their meal and leave for the Garden in Gethsemane, and you fall asleep with the rest. But you are awakened by great multitude of people with swords and clubs, and you watch as Judas, leading the way, is the first to greet Jesus saying “Greetings, Rabbi!” and betrays Jesus with a kiss, but Jesus greeted Judas thusly; “Friend, why have you come?” (Matthew 26:50) And Peter woefully denied Christ before the sun rose. And when he had done so the third time Jesus looked at Peter, the two were there, together, at that very moment, and with unimaginable guilt Peter wept bitterly and received a godly sorrow, repented and became a slave to Christ and never was the same weak man again.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

The Cost of Perfection

2006-05-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

As long as I can remember I have always wanted to do something perfect. To be the best at something, it didn’t have to be something big; it just had to be the best. I’m not an athlete; God didn’t grace me in that respect. I’m not an intellectual; my sister was given all the brains. I’m not particularly artistic, nor musically inclined, socially concerned, nor politically motivated. But God gave me an acute analytical focus. I can see and create in my mind things that do not exist. So it was with great abandon that I have used my God given talent in an ever-constant effort to design, create, and build something, just one thing; just one perfect thing.

And there it sits in the corner of my office, were it has sat since the day it was completed in 1990. I designed and built my first one in 1978 and have built 11 or more since then. In 1990 I had built the ultimate and final version, today it would cost about $10,000.00 to build one from scratch. It was designed to run on nitro methane, and travel at speeds well over a 100-mph. It could accelerate 330 feet (a ¼ scale ¼ mile, over a football field) in 3.1 seconds. It weighs a mere 12 pounds, and is the fastest, quickest remote control car in the world. My name could have appeared in the Guinness Book or in any hobby magazine. But no one knows of this achievement because when I finished building it, I couldn’t bring my self to ruin its perfection by starting the engine. So there it sits, over a decade of development, 11 years of my life, 1000’s of hours of designing and building. Over $75,000.00 worth of raw materials and tooling invested to build the world’s most exotic paperweight. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not bragging, oh no, far from it. In fact, it disgusts me just to look at it.

I wasn’t a Christian back then and I am no longer obsessed with achieving perfection. Now I am satisfied with Christ’s perfection. But the other day as I was looking at my paperweight, a few things occurred to me. The first was that most of the raw materials and tooling I had used to make all those cars came from the companies that I had worked for. And what materials and tooling they didn’t willingly give me, I stole. The second thing I noticed was that age had taken its toll. A few parts had rusted, a few dry rotted, even the paint had faded a little. It simply wasn’t perfect anymore, as if it ever was. But the most important thing I noticed was the incredible waste of my life this thing was. The writer and poet, Erma Bombeck, made a request of God from her bed as she lay dieing, she asked God to make her thin, or at least to make all her friends seem fat! Can you image the deception of thinking such a thing significant as you lay dieing and about to meet a God of all wrath?

You see that’s the problem with things, they never last, and worldly perfection cost you more than you could ever imagine. It takes your focus off of what is important and builds idols out of things that are not. But Christ offers to make us “perfect” in His eyes, through a gift he gives, and that lasts forever. You see when God builds he builds perfectly and nothing, not even time, changes that.

Dear Lord, please forgive me, help me focus on the things that do last through eternity, the very things I CAN take with me. Help me to do the things I want to do and the things I don’t, those help me to not do! Amen.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

When Pigs Become Plump!

2006-04-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

The Bible mentions the word pig or swine 20 times or so, depending on the version you are reading. But no matter what version you are reading, you won’t read anything good about a pig.

God’s biblically revealed disdain for pigs seems to center around several themes, don’t eat ‘em, don’t touch ‘em, don’t sacrifice ‘em, and don’t feed ‘em the holy things of God.

A Jewish old covenant pig was a pretty safe creature, as the Jews were forbidden to eat them, or even to touch them in death. God considered the blood sacrifice of a pig an “abomination” and likewise the eating of its flesh.

In the New Testament, you will find that a single story contains the majority of the Bible’s references to pigs. The story, found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, concerns a herd of 2,000 pigs, presumably owned by a Gentile herdsman. In the narrative, Jesus meets two men possessed by demons, with one being of particular interest. Jesus commanded the demons to leave the man, but the demons make an interesting statement, they say, “Why are you bothering us, Son of God? You have no right to torture us before God’s appointed time!” (NLT)

Utterly fascinating is it not? The demons no doubt knew that this was not the great day of final judgment, the day they would be bound and cast into greater torment. But how did they know this? Did the demons bring this knowledge with them from Heaven? This is unlikely as Jesus said only the Father knew the day and time. Perhaps the demons, having extensive knowledge of the word of God, and not only knowing, but fearing its final outcome, knew that if Jesus was standing before them in human form, that His time had not yet come and the Scriptures were not yet fulfilled. This is very likely because unlike us, Satan and his demons discern the times!1 And it would seem that demons had more scriptural knowledge than the Pharisees, who, having the Old Testament, still did not realize that Jesus, in Himself, fulfilled all the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah. But regardless of how they knew, the demons knew it was not their appointed time.

Jesus asked the name of the primary demon and he replied “Legion”, because they were many in one man. And Legion begged Jesus not to command them into “eis ton abusson,” or the deep, the abyss, the bottomless pit or Hell. Instead the demon asked that they be allowed to enter the herd of pigs. Even then, these pigs promptly ran off a cliff and drowned. Considering all the negative connotations the Bible makes concerning pigs, the animal seems a perfect choice for demonic residency.

But my interest in pigs is not a culinary interest, nor whether or not Jesus chose to allow a few demons to relocate. Rather my curiosity is aroused by a more sinister group of pigs. The heathen pigs who claim Christ and gorge themselves on the things of God, offered to them by well meaning true believers, who do not well discern when pigs have become plump!

Many, many years ago, as an unsaved teenager, my tumultuous relationship with God momentarily subsided when an acquaintance of mine, who had radically changed before my eyes, brought me to his non-denominational bible church to meet his pastor. This pastor was the first to truly make a real effort to answer some of the tremendous volume of questions I had about God and the Bible. I was drawn like a magnet to his understanding and knowledge of God, and I even made a profession of faith, and thought for a time that I was saved. But several weeks after my profession, this pastor left the church and was promptly replaced.

For his first sermon, the new pastor chose to preach against what he perceived as an inherent and unmistakable evil that existed in all forms of music. Now while I am not a great lover of music that includes singing, and would certainly agree that many forms of music exist for the sole purpose of aiding one’s soul into a deeper damnation in Hell, I could not agree with this pastor that all forms of music are inherently evil.

On the second and third week, this pastor preached two more sermons that were much the same, but in reference to various other issues that I now know are clearly in the realm of Christian liberty. But on the fourth week this pastor chose to preach on Mark 6:11, which says, “And whoever will not receive you, nor hear you, leave there and shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.” (NAB) The pastor made it clear that this text was a command that, as Christians, “We are to walk away from those who do not accept the truth of the word of God from us, as we go about spreading the Gospel.” In absolute terms he said Christians were to separate themselves from all heathens who do not repent, and this included friends and even family members that show no signs of believing. I was mortified! How could this be from God? At the time I only knew of one true Christian, and he was little more than an acquaintance and my best friend’s brother. Everyone I knew seemed to be a heathen. How could God tell me to walk away from everyone, with me being such a loner already? Is it possible for me to leave a whole world filled with sinners? I got up from my second row pew, in the middle of his sermon, never to return.

That night my best friend’s brother, the only Christian acquaintance I had at the time, spurred by this preacher’s sermon, called his non-practicing Catholic parents and every other member of his family, and wrote them out of his life. He forbade all of them from any further contact with him, his wife and children. Days later, when he heard that I was unwilling to walk away from his family, he forbade me as well. So in seven weeks I was right back where I started, no church, no Christian fellowship, no new nature, and a further mistrust of preachers! Two parents lost a son, a daughter in law, and three grandchildren, and my best friend lost a brother, but gained an even deeper hatred of all things religious.

My friends, there is a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; there is even a time to speak, and a time to keep silent. But for a Christian there is never a time for errant teaching. This pastor’s wayward preaching did not come from God, nor even glorify Him. But rather he was causing significant damage to the witness of God to numerous people that had no need greater, than their need for God. The separating of Christians from the heathen masses is not a biblical concept, but outright sin. 1 Corinthians 5:10 makes it clear that the only way for a Christian to separate from all the sexually immoral people, and the covetous, and the extortioners, and the idolaters of the world, would be for the Christian to leave the planet! There is no place for a Christian to hide in order to get away from all the heathen sinners of this world. And Jesus Himself dined with the finest of lowlife prostitutes and tax collectors.

However, there are several biblical mandates, or commandments, requiring the separation of Christians and various members of society at particular times. Primarily those who claim to be brothers, yet live a life that does not demonstrate holiness, a life that does not reek of the aroma onto life! With so called brothers who are sexually immoral, covetous, idolaters, revilers, drunkards, or extortioners, with these we are biblically commanded not even to eat! With them we are to keep silent! Not without purpose, but for the purpose of reconciliation, greater condemnation, or even giving the Holy Spirit His opportunity to work without our interference. Matthew 18:17 says, “But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.” And what are Christians supposed to do with heathens and tax collectors? Assume them lost and suitable for evangelism!

In fact, to continue in Christian fellowship with such people is to do them spiritual harm! How so, you say? You ask; how can a continued Christian witness in the life of a professing “brother”, but unrepentant sinner, be considered a spiritual hindrance? Not only will I explain but I will say that, not only is continued Christian fellowship with a unrepentant professing “brother” a spiritual hindrance, but it is a sin; a breaking of God’s commandments in need of immediate repentance.

1 Corinthians 5:13b commands, “Therefore, put away from yourselves the evil person.” Not the evil persons of the world, but the evil persons confessing to be brothers. With these we are not only forbidden to eat with, but the only communication should be that of urging them to repent and believe. For a Christian to go beyond this, in an effort to be well meaning or kind, is to deny your due obedience to God. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” The application of this verse goes beyond the context of marriage. You are not doing an unrepentant, sinning, “so called brother” a favor when you continue fellowship with him. Rather you are helping him deceive himself by allowing him a connection to something he does not have. You are allowing him to feast on things that are not meant for him to digest. And in time he will turn on you and attack!

Here is a simply example. I was counseling a married man who was seeing another woman. He refused to acknowledge that his continued unrepentant sin was proof positive of a life that did not demonstrate a spiritual rebirth. Week after week he wanted to speak to me, which seemed odd to me, because I had exhausted all the original material in the Bible that related to him, and now was simply repeating the same thing over and over. I would say, “You are sinning against God and your wife, and as a professing Christian, you have no choice but to give up the other woman, repent and be faithful to your wife. Can you not see that believers are commanded to be faithful? You are not being faithful, and therefore your lifestyle demands the reconsideration of your claim of Christ? If you love Christ, you will and you must, keep His commandments. Jesus says to go and sin no more and He means NEVER! And when you do sin, REPENT! A Christian is a repenting sinner. Repentance is a gift from God, but you my friend, have proven yourself a sinner completely incapable of repenting. As such you can not and do not serve Jesus, but Satan, your master, who has blinded you to the obvious facts of your condition. My friend, you need a Savior, my King and Lord Jesus, Who is the only one who can help you see the truth that I have already presented to you on countless occasions.”

He would then perform a sort of cerebral, moral, gymnastics in order to convince himself, and me, that his lifestyle was in some way justifiable. In the beginning his excuses were easily transparent, like a child with a cookie in his hand behind his back. But because I was able to defend the Christian position through Scripture, I wondered why he continually contacted me, even though I was now speaking strongly against his lifestyle. Then one day it hit me, he was a pig getting plump on the pearls that I preached to him every week! Matthew 7:6 had already warned me “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” But I was a well meaning Christian “do-gooder” who found himself on the wrong side of Scripture.

By allowing continued, but fruitless, fellowship with me, he maintained his only contact with Christianity. Each week he was gaining in biblical knowledge, each week he was better able to use biblical terms, so as to better cloak his sin in religious jargon. In time he became versed in the ways of Christianity, and at times even fervent in his use of eloquent biblical speech. And he was learning it from me. When I would make a new point, such as his need to “walk in the light”, it would only be a matter of time before the concept had worked its way into his dialogue, but the blemish of his infidelity still remained. He continued to practice his sin. Yet he claimed a relationship with Christ ever more passionately. I could see him becoming more and more like the heathens who will stand before Christ and say “Lord, Lord!” Even Legion knew that Jesus was the Son of God! Legion knew it was not yet the great day. My God, how pitiful this man is. He has not the joys of his flesh now, nor the joys of Your Son later! Please open his eyes before it is too late for him. Amen.

What was happening to my “professing” counselee was happening according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a pig, having washed, returns to his wallowing in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:22) All I was doing for my friend was helping him build a biblical vocabulary to better enable him to remain blind to his obvious sin. When I broke off our fellowship he attacked me, just like in Matthew 7:6, claiming that I was the unsaved sinner, that if I was the Christian that I claim to be, that I would care about him and continue our fellowship. He doesn’t understand, and nor did I, that I was sinning against God by feeding him pearls that were not his to feed on, and the best thing I could do to care for him now, was to turn him over to the Satan, for the destruction of his flesh, and “eat” with him no more.

Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 5:4-8, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Brothers and sisters, when we do not head the word and refuse to cast the leaven out, when we continue to eat and fellowship with the unregenerate heathen who claims Christ, when we remain bound when we are commanded to “Put them away”2 or “let them go”3, we sin against God and we must repent. It may seem to us that this is harsh, so we continue our well meaning ways. But what we are truly doing is glorying in ourselves, thinking ourselves better judges than God to determine what is best for the lost. Pigs were never meant to feast on pearls. So let us repent, for now is the time for our mouths to cease taking in sustenance and expelling what is holy in the presence of pigs!

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

1
Luke 12:54-56
Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?

2
1 Corinthians 5:11-13
But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner— not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

3
1 Corinthians 7:15
But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace.

What’s in your closet? A ministry story from the front line!

2006-03-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

During a recent Cooks for Christ ministry project, I was cooking for 30 men who were making major repairs to a house owned by a retired gentleman who could no longer afford to care for his house. I was told the gentleman was a professing Christian with a long history of church service. But this was not my motivation for serving him and the work crew. My motivation was the promise found in Luke 14:11b & Hebrews 11:35b, the promise of a better resurrection for those who are faithful.

Because of its horrid condition, the gentleman’s house has been on the city’s “Emergency House Repair List” for over two years. You could see the night sky from several rooms in his house, and what the rain hadn’t rotted, the bugs and rats had eaten. And what the rats hadn’t eaten, mold and moth had ruined, and what was left wasn’t worth calling a home. There was no hot water in the house because the hot water heater had fallen through the floor into the moldy crawl space. The kitchen was useless and filled with trash, as was nearly every room in the house. And the only bathroom had no functioning appliances, which left little to the imagination as to what we were shoveling off the floor. We shoveled literally tons of garbage and unrecognizable material into dumpsters which made a constant rotation to the dump. I found it somewhat amazing that the city had not condemned this property. I wondered, “If this house was not classified as unlivable, what was?”

As we worked, we would run across clues that revealed the life of our home owner. It was as if the man’s house was speaking to us, providing a witness of this man’s life! On the dark, dingy walls were hung pictures of our home owner in bygone years. And in some he was accompanied by his wife and a daughter. Apparently those were happier times, as he told me his daughter and what remained of his family had long ago deserted him.

As we cleaned the heaps of trash from each dismal, gloomy room, to gain access to the next, I wondered, “Where is the light in this Christian man’s life? Where is the evidence of his faith? Where is the proof of his salvation? Where is the witness of the changed life that he so willingly confesses? Could it be that perhaps he is the old widow that gave her last copper coin to the church, or is this man just a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a heathen hiding in Christian garb?”

Finally we reached the inner sanctum of his house, and there on the walls I saw hanging plaques commemorating meritorious service that this man received from his church. I momentarily thought of the silliness of “church awards”, but chose to praise Jesus instead; after all, I had finally found some proof of this man’s Christian walk, and a reason to praise the Lord for this man. There in the corner was a Bible disintegrating on a tiny table; its cover having sunk deep into the table’s varnish. Apparently this was the least used room in the house as we had to dig our way through heaps of trash just to gain access to the door.

In this way the house continued for two days to give witness to the man’s life, but the evidence was still inconclusive. At mealtime the gentleman would say Amen after prayers and occasionally he would agree with whatever theological topics were being discussed, but the house kept begging me to question, “Who is this guy to Jesus now?”

There is one great thing about a house; it is what it is, and it doesn’t lie. I was determined to find the truth in that house. As we entered the areas of the house where our gentleman actually lived, I thought back to all those church awards which were dated as recent as 2004. Wasn’t 2004 the same year his house was put on the emergency repair list? How could a church let a member live in such squalor? This bedroom looks like something out of a third world country! Unbelievably, he’s urinates out his window. My thoughts ranged from feeling sorry for this man, to being angry at his church, to holding them both responsible for the condition of this poor house, back to feeling sorry for the gentleman.

But none of these thoughts prepared me for what the house revealed to me next. As we sifted our way through to our gentleman’s bedroom we found many used needles, scores of new but empty liquor bottles, boxes of porno and hundreds of centerfolds spread throughout the room. His room was Satan’s den. While his Bible sank ever deeper into table varnish in an unused room, his porno lay neatly folded in stacks, like a now valued commodity.

The house laid bare our gentleman’s life! The truth was found in the darkest room of the house. His lips may utter whatever they might, but to no avail, the true witness of his room makes his speech, mute!

At lunch I watched our gentleman say pray and say “Amen,” and speak of the things of God. But with a slight turn of my head I could hear his house laughing at his hypocrisy and his closets spewing forth the truth. I could smell the sin wafting from his room and thought for a moment that the porno I had thrown in the dumpster was setting his house on fire.

So I thought to myself, “What if I died today and my church friends came to clean out my closets. What witness would my house give? What would the walls say? What would they find in my closets?”

What would I find if I came to your house? In your death would your house speak the same witness as your life? Does your home bear witness of your need to repent? Or do your closets bear a wrong confession that would ruin the true witness of your life, because you held on to evil things from bygone years? Do not allow worthless worldly things to destroy your witness even in your death! It is time for a little spring cleaning. It’s time to hunt down and destroy that one last magazine, video, or CD from Satan, before your old age or death finds me at your house, to find out what’s in your closet.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

The Unequal Yoke!

2006-02-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or does there seem to be a flurry of marriages lately? In the last year I can think of at least a couple I have already missed, three or four coming up in the next few months, and another three during which I was given the honor to serve my Lord Jesus.

During one such marriage, I wondered just what criteria all these individuals used to justify there choice of marital partners. I say justify because I believe that as a Christian you should be able to justify, to give an account as it were, for whatever you are doing, or you shouldn’t be doing it at all!

Some time ago I had a great and challenging opportunity to counsel a group of 6 women, who were all in various stages of divorce. They all claimed to be Christian, and all but one had children. Some were recently separated, having “fallen out of love,” whatever that means. Some had filed for a divorce, which had not yet been granted by the courts. And some had already divorced their husbands, who, according to the wives, possessed various “unforgivable” habits. And one, the one without children, had separated from a wife beating, cheater.

During our group lunchroom “sessions,” these women asked many questions concerning marriage, dating, love, and the roles of men and women, and I would read various verses that related to their questions. Often they found themselves in conflict with the Bible, which oddly didn’t seem to bother them. They simply attributed the problem to whatever version of the Bible I happened to be using. It quickly became obvious that all but one of them could not biblically justify their divorce. But worse yet, was that they could not biblically justify their marriages to begin with.

There choice of spouses was based almost entirely on physical attraction, emotional choice, or temporal security. Yet the more I read to them, the more it became apparent to me, that these were entirely useless criteria by which to judge a potential mate. At best these criterions are icing on a cake, not a reason to buy the cake.

Two of the women were of particular biblical interest. One was a Pentecostal who was certain the God had already chosen her “next” husband, and of course, she felt God had already divinely revealed his name to her. Many hours and many, many verses later, the Lord moved, and she realized the only voices she heard were the ones she created in her own mind, to allow her to continue living in her own sinful lifestyle. By grace, she finally saw this contradiction to Scripture and she went back to her husband, repented, reconciled and remarried him.

I had never seen a woman in such a rush to find a husband as the second lady. She was a very recent divorcee on a mission. Each week she had a new “Beau” and each week’s pick was “The one!” I told her that as a Christian, she had no biblical right to date as she was doing, because to do so contradicts the very thing she claims to be. I said, “As a Christian you must be reconciled to your husband, or remain single, and to do otherwise clearly demonstrates that you should consider whether you are a Christian at all.” She rejected this counsel on the basis of her lack of love for her “X” husband and their mutual growing apart. Christians surely do not classify divorce as growing, so I assumed a lost condition and started evangelizing. But in her haste, my time ran out, when she met a military man over the internet, “visited” him over several weekends, and within a few months she married him, because he was “attractive” and they had “things in common.”

There is certainly one thing these two have in common, without Christ’s salvific mercy, they will spend eternity in the same place. But inadvertently and incorrectly, these two have stumbled on the most essential criterion for choosing a mate. That criterion is the question, “Where will you and your potential partner spend eternity?” So important is this question, that it should be incorporated into a Christian’s justification of any dating choices they make. As a Christian, you must not yoke yourself to an unsaved spouse. This is so significant that it is commanded by God in both the old and new covenants. It is so critical and of utmost importance, because the marital decision you make has eternal consequences.

Now you may be thinking that I have gone a little overboard because your marriage, regardless of its condition, dissolves at your death, so even an unequally yoked marriage eventually experiences relief. So how can an unequally yoked marriage have eternal consequences? Because Ecclesiastes says that your work, what you do while alive on this earth, is your heritage. It is also your witness for Christ. That is why we should take the suspension of our Christian liberties so seriously, because we want to be faithful and maintain a good and prosperous image of Christ in the face of the unsaved masses. But as an unequally yoked spouse, your Christian witness is not the only witness in your household. And that unequal witness can have disastrous results. How? Let’s look at a biblical example.

Short of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, your unsaved spouse will unrepentantly, continuously, sin throughout his/her life against you and God. Everything he does, even falsely worshiping God, is sin. If it were possible your spouse would even take you to Hell with him. (Proverbs 7:27) Not out of a deliberate conscience, but because sin is only natural for him, and sin loves company. (Proverbs 4:16) Sure, general grace may stem the brunt of your partner’s sin against you, but becoming one will be impossible, because to do so requires two spiritual beings. In spiritual matters your unsaved partner will be unable to lift his part of the load, and the yoke will be entirely on your neck, to insure the family’s spiritual direction. And what if you are a Christian woman, married to a heathen man, (like Abigail), to whom you are commanded to submit. As the spiritual head of your household, what direction will your unsaved husband lead you and your children? If you are a Christian who unknowing marries a heathen, the Holy Spirit will continue His work in you, and you will come to a realization of your marital condition, and you will persevere as best you can. But the consequence of your unequally yoked marriage will be encumber you “till death do you part”. With such significant consequences, it is in your best interest as a single person to discern wisely before making any marital choices.

Now let’s compare a few examples of women in the bible and see if we can discern the spiritual differences between these spouses. As a man, would you rather be married to Hosea’s wife or Ruth? How about Job’s wife or Esther? How about Delilah or Sarah? How about Abigail or Shelomith?

Shelomith? Who is Shelomith? Well, she was the Israelite woman who, contrary to the law, married an Egyptian. Egyptians worshiped pagan deities, and undoubtedly dad’s idolatry, influenced his children. You might recall in Leviticus 24:11 that Shelomith’s son, during a fight in the Hebrew camp, “blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed.” In so doing he broke the third commandment, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” (Exodus 20:7) The meaning of the commandment and the incident itself is often misunderstood. The phrase “in vain” refers to a Hebrew word that indicates something that is empty or meaningless; it is frequently linked with idolatry. The “curse” mentioned here is not a swear word, but rather an occult curse: an attempt to invoke supernatural powers to harm an enemy. What Shelomith’s son did was to invoke God’s name in a curse hurled against his adversary in the same way pagans used the names of their demons and deities. This serious violation of the third commandment led to the execution of Shelomith’s son and should be an unforgettable reminder that God is to be honored always as real and present.

Society likes to blame parents, especially mothers, for all the faults of their children. But we must remember that our children have been given the choice to respond to authority or to rebel. Adam and Eve had the perfect Father, yet they chose to rebel. Surely, we do not hold God responsible for their sinful choices, and neither should we hold parents responsible for their children’s sin.

However, parents are responsible for the influence they wield upon their children, and there is no doubt that Shelomith’s choice to unequally yoke herself to a pagan worshiping Egyptian, certainly played a part in her son’s death and probable eternal damnation.

The truth of this story should ring hard and deep into the conscience of all single Christians. Your marital choice matters beyond your grave. You are not the only one who may be influenced by your poor choice of partner. If you yoke yourself to an attractive heathen, to whom you have all but salvation in common, how joyful will you be when your union starts to have damnable results in your children? Or do you believe good always wins over evil? Such is not taught in the Bible until Jesus comes back. In fact the Bible says “the sons of this world are shrewder in their generation than the sons of light.” Luke 16:8

So what is a young Christian man to do when he desires a wife, and feels he has found a young lady who seems to be a justifiable choice?

The Bible says that a man who finds a wife, finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord. (Proverbs 18:22) This verse naturally assumes that this wife meets the minimum criteria for a Christian wife, that of being truly saved, reborn, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and living her life for Christ. When a Christian single man, desirous of marriage, finds such a woman, he should secure the assurance of at least a few wise and Godly men, capable of judging amongst the brethren, to render the same assurance, before he even considers consummating his marital intentions.

Now while this may sound utterly ridiculous by today’s standards, I believe it is both immensely wise and biblical. Are you willing to risk such an incredibly important decision based on your heart? A heart that is desperately wicked and can’t even know itself! Need I remind you that so-called Christian marriages are suffering a nearly 50% divorce rate, so it is obvious that our Christian choices could use some serious verification.

Once the necessities are out of the way a Christian man would be further wise to read and understand Proverbs 31:10 and beyond. Because any man who does not desire to marry such a woman, needs to seek biblical counseling immediately. The benefits of union with such a woman are utterly immeasurable.

Look at this man in Proverbs 31. He sits at the gate with the other civic leaders making decisions that affect the land, (v23) confident, that his wife has his back. (v11). One version says, such a woman will greatly enrich his life, another version says, he will have no lack of gain! (v11) Because such a wife does her husband good and not evil, all the days of her life. (v12) Yet in all things this woman honored and obeyed her husband and submitted to him. And as Sarah did, not seeing shame in even calling her husband “Lord”! (1 Peter 3:6) Talk about HONOR, this woman gives honor to her husband in heaps!

But many woman today seem more interested in living their own lives and making their money the old fashioned way, like Delilah, (Judges 16) who for 1,100 pieces of silver sold Samson to murderers (v5), took delight in vexing Samson’s soul to death (v16), and when he had lost his strength, she tormented him (v19).

So Christian man, think about Samson before you consider evangelistic dating, or even taking the chance of being unequally yoked with an unsaved woman. But don’t take my word for it, Proverbs 5 says:

My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen to my words of understanding. Be careful to use good sense, and watch what you say. The words of another man’s wife may seem sweet as honey; they may be as smooth as olive oil. But in the end she will bring you sorrow, causing you pain like a two-edged sword. She is on the way to death; her steps are headed straight to the grave. She gives little thought to life. She doesn’t even know that her ways are wrong. Now, my sons, listen to me, and don’t ignore what I say. Stay away from such a woman. Don’t even go near the door of her house, or you will give your riches to others, and the best years of your life will be given to someone cruel. Strangers will enjoy your wealth, and what you worked so hard for will go to someone else. You will groan at the end of your life when your health is gone. Then you will say, “I hated being told what to do! I would not listen to correction! I would not listen to my teachers or pay attention to my instructors. I came close to being completely ruined in front of a whole group of people.” Be faithful to your own wife, just as you drink water from your own well. Don’t pour your water in the streets; don’t give your love to just any woman. These things are yours alone and shouldn’t be shared with strangers. Be happy with the wife you married when you were young. She gives you joy, as your fountain gives you water. She is as lovely and graceful as a deer. Let her love always make you happy; let her love always hold you captive. My son, don’t be held captive by a woman who takes part in adultery. Don’t hug another man’s wife. The LORD sees everything you do, and he watches where you go. An evil man will be caught in his wicked ways; the ropes of his sins will tie him up. He will die because he does not control himself, and he will be held captive by his foolishness.

Interesting, isn’t it, when it says, “The ropes of his sins will tie him up. He will die because he does not control himself, and he will be held captive by his foolishness.” Samson spent much time chasing after foreign women. And the Philistines bound him up and killed him. King Solomon married a few foreign wives and they cost him the promise of long life. Abraham took a foreign woman and it likely caused the entire middle-east crisis. Now while these men died as Christians, their foreign women were the cause of horrific consequences.

So I beg you young men and women to control yourselves, lest you meet a person like the married woman, who speech is as sweet as honey, and become deceived, or worse, you wake up one day beside her with a ring on your finger and wonder who she has been with besides you. No doubt, as a Christian, you will persevere, but that is not what God has commanded you.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com

Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Secrets ---- Things aren’t always what they appear to be.

2006-01-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

To be honest; one of the hardest things I do in my life is write. For every article I write, I have two that never make it to completion and five ideas that don’t stick long enough to write about them. And I question if the ones that make it past me, and my pastor's editing, have any effect at all. But every now and then I see a letter or article hit home when someone calls and shares his story of sorrow, repentance and joy. Still, writing is like cooking, except without the great meal afterwards. It’s like watching the first two and a half hours of the “Ten Commandments” and never finding out if Charlton Heston actually gets out of Egypt. It’s like a fishing trip I had with a few of my friends last year.

We were in Port Royal sound, near Hilton Head. With the low tide fast approaching, the current in the channel was swift, but no match for my little boat, when suddenly the drag on one of my 15 foot outriggers “ugly sticks”, running slow and deep, started to sing. 100 pound test line stripped off the spool of my ocean bait caster reel, but no worries, I had 300 yards of the super thick line. I set the hook and handed the huge rod to my “little” big sister, who was barely 1/3 its length.

As she fought the monster fish I piloted the boat to the right, then left, then right again. We sped up and slowed down and followed the goliath fish wherever he cared to swim. But alas, my sister’s arm could no longer restrain the pull of our behemoth, so she passed the mega rod to another mate on board. For another 40 minutes we battled the fish as the ever increasing current rushed down river and into the ocean. Piloting the boat up the rip current was getting difficult, but we continued to follow the fish for what seemed like miles. As we entered the second hour, a third passenger took his turn at fighting the fish, and I began to worry about the 4 ought treble hooks bending and pulling out of our prey. We had been very careful not to stress the line and equipment, so as not to lose another monster fish like we did the year before, but if this was a shark, his teeth were surely cutting through the 250 pound test, stainless steel cable leader, that the 3” long hooks were attached to.

The weather was getting rough, and the arms of my companions were starting to resemble noodles, so I decided it was time to get serious with this fish and at least bring him to the surface so we could get a look at him. So I took hold of the massive rod, nearly two and a half times as long as me and gave it a great heave, and the fish made nary a move. Another heave and progress was made, but it did not fight like a finned fish. Perhaps it was a mammoth sting ray, or a sturgeon. Another heave and the rod bent into a huge graceful arc and I felt a release at the other end of the line, like maybe a 100 pound Halibut coming off the bottom. I started reeling in as the fish seemed to come up through the current, toward the boat. Sometimes huge fish will turn toward the fisherman to put slack in the line, so I reeled furiously. I could feel the 16 ounce lead weight that preceded the 4’ long steel leader, so I knew we hadn’t broken the monofilament line. We watched the battle underneath the boat on the LCD screen of my sonar fish finder, as the sinker slashed from side to side, causing long black lines on the screen. When the large lead weight finally broke the surface, we all hovered over the side of the boat to see the enormous fish. I gave one last heave and pulled our quarry onto the boat. Stunned at its shear size, we all stood aghast at what turned out to be a 9” long piece of fan coral. That’s right, for two hours we fought a piece of coral, firmly attached to the sea bed. We thought we had traveled miles fighting a fish, when in reality the GPS chart showed we had never moved more the 100 yards from our original position. The rip current was so fast that the boat had to travel upstream nearly 10 miles an hour just to stay in the same position! Sometimes things aren’t always what they appear to be. It only appeared that we were moving. It only seemed that we had hooked a huge fish, and in the end we had nothing but a great story to show for our time.

I imagine Hell will be like that. It will be filled with “so called” Christians who have nothing to show for their lives on Earth except great stories. I suppose they will try, as best they can, to rid their memories of their eternal judgment, by recalling their various temporal escapades they pursued while they were yet alive. After all, when there is no hope for your future, beyond that of more searing pain from your burning flesh, you have little else to hold on too except the short time you experienced pleasure. But like age has nearly extinguished the memories of my childhood fishing trips, consequence have a way a making things once cherished, quite forgettable. Do you wonder if those in Hell, after a thousand years of constant torment, will fondly remember their 70 years on Earth? Or do you think the consuming fire that continually ravages their bodies, yet leaves their minds perfectly alert, will cause them to endlessly wish for the never coming relief of oblivion?

Perhaps the Jews, now in Hell, but who were once in Antioch of Pisidia, will think back to the time they were on Earth and consider why they incited the women of prominence, who were worshipers, and the leading men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas for preaching the Gospel to them. (Acts 13:14-52 NABWRNT) But wait! Notice that the gentile “women of prominence” were worshipers and yet they took part in persecuting Paul. One wonders, who did these women worship? Certainly, as worshippers, they thought themselves spiritual and religious. Certainly, as worshippers, they thought of themselves as saved and destined for Heaven. Yet do they not now find themselves in screaming agony within the flames of deepest Hell? These “women of prominence” were not what they appeared to be. While the world saw them as “worshipers”, God saw them as workers of iniquity. Verse 45 says, “Then the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said.” To reject the Gospel, regardless of whose mouth it utters from, is to reject God. The problem here was a hidden secret, a secret of personal idolatry, demonstrated through jealousy. So there it is; the secret reveled, the Jews and prominent Gentiles of Pisidian Antioch loved themselves straight to Hell.

The problem with secrets is that sometimes they are so secret you don’t even know they exist. Such things happen to the unsaved, but even a Christian’s heart remains desperately wicked. And a desperately wicked heart can hide a great deal of evil secrets.

The Jews thought themselves religious worshipers of God, yet when confronted with the truth of the Gospel, they balked without inner reflection or self confrontation. They did not question their presumed salvation through the Law of Moses, even when Paul said, “Through Jesus is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses.” Even after being warned “Beware, don’t let the prophets’ words apply to you. For they said, Look you mockers, be amazed and die!” Paul told them to “Beware,” In other words “Inspect yourselves, be certain of your spiritual condition, lest you be found unjustified.” But because of their refusal to judge themselves accurately, the Jews remained blind, became mockers, and die they did.

If American Chritians are not to end up as the Jews in Pisidian Antioch, we must learn that our hearts too, are desperately wicked. To rely on your heart as an indicator of your spiritual condition, will surely leave you in a state of blind ignorance. We must put ourselves to the biblical test and see how our lives match up, constantly exposing our inner motives and thoughts, lest a secret sin creep in and destroy us. When was the last time you exposed your deepest secrets to a little Biblical light. Sins are like cockroaches, you don’t know you have them until you turn on the lights. Perhaps it’s time for some confessional exposure of your heart to your Savior and a trusted friend. The Savior is for forgiveness and the nosy friend is for accountability. There is no relief like repentantly ripping secret skeletons out of your closet and throwing them into the dumpster of forgiveness, before bitterness and blindness sets in.

Many years ago I had a 25 year female friend, the middle child of three sisters. She and her older sister were badly scalded in a bathtub as infants, when they managed to turn the hot water on while unattended. Their burns were widely scattered all over their bodies and were repaired with numerous skin grafts. As all their burns were below their shoulders, they easily concealed them with their clothes. The youngest sister was born just a year after the tragic accident.

When I first met them, the sisters seemed rather ordinary, with all 3 sisters being single or divorced and living at home with their mother. But as I got to know the family better, it became obvious that there was a dark family secret lurking about. The first sign was a missing father, who left the family 14 months after the accident and just 2 months after the birth of his youngest daughter. The youngest daughter, who was by far the most attractive, was often mistreated by all three of the remaining family members. It was like watching Cinderella, except this was real! My friend used her sister like a slave girl, while paying her with cruelty. One day, when the mother was away, I was invited to cook for all three sisters and all five of their children. I was working at the sink when I turned on the hot water and heard the pipes making an awful groaning sound. The sound came from the basement one floor below me and on the opposite side of the house. The noise was continuous and appeared to be traveling up the water pipes toward the kitchen. Fearful I took a few steps away from the sink, but my curiosity kept me from turning off the water. When the noise finally reached the sink, steaming water burst from the faucet. The water temperature had to be 180 or maybe even 190 degrees! Stunned, I turned off the water, called to my friend, and told her I was going downstairs to adjust her mother’s hot water heater. Not waiting for her reply, I proceeded down stairs to the laundry room. Just about the time I made it past the door, I could hear my friend screaming something as she ran down the basement steps. But it was too late; I had discovered the family secret.

There in the laundry room, in the corner where the water heater surely was, were built two walls, identical to the rest, extending from floor to ceiling, with no means by which to enter the tiny room that enclosed the very same water heater, that 20 years before had burned my friend and her sister. My friend cautiously entered the laundry room as if she were entering the Holy of Holies, and began to tell me the story of her family’s secret. After the accident, her father blamed her mother for not watching the kids and the mother blamed the father for never adjusting the water temperature. A great guilt and bitterness grew between them, so they chose to “solve” the problem through avoidance. Rather than admitting his failure to fix the hot water heater before the accident, the husband built walls around it, “Out of sight, out of mind!” The wife chose to simply stew in her emotions and forever forbid any conversation on the subject. Yet a short time later the wife found that she was pregnant again, which was the husband’s last straw. He deserted the family, leaving the four women to fend for themselves. But the mother’s unresolved guilt caused her to favor her two older daughters, while leaving her youngest child without love or affection. My friend and her sister simply followed the example set by their mother and treated their youngest sister with contempt. The youngest sister, starving for love and approval, ran away when she was only 13 years old, to live on the streets of Chicago. For 5 years her family didn’t know if she was alive or dead. She survived being raped several times and was forced to give up her first two children for adoption. Strangely enough, because of her guilt from loosing her first two kids, she treated her other three the same way she was treated by her mother. Sometimes secrets get passed from generation to generation.

It all finally made sense to me. I could see the motivation behind all the strange behavior and vile treatment. I could see the cause of all the bitterness, anger, and deep rooted and excessive emotional needs. I could understand why none of the 4 women could maintain a relationship or develop a healthy lifestyle. A single secret, because it was not dealt with biblically, was a shaping influence that snowballed into 20 years of divorces, abortions, fornications, and even self deceptions. Only the Lord knows that family’s spiritual condition at the time of the accident. But there was no reason to believe that any of them were saved. Yet some of them confessed to be Christian and were seen by the world as worshipers.

But what does any of this talk of secrets have to do with your church, your family, or even you?

For your church my two fold message is simple.
First and foremost, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. I will not disgrace these pages with the hundreds of accounts of Protestant ministers, teachers and laymen who have been arrested for every form of evil committed inside the walls of a church. Thinking it can’t happen at your church, makes it that much more an appealing target for such a person looking for some religious camouflage. But continual repentance clears the eye and mind to see what so many others do not. Your church must remain pure end ever vigilant to cull any chaff that might seek a foothold as members in your church.

Second and equally important, is the summation of “good and faithful servant” that, hopefully, we will all receive. However, just to be sure, it’s a quick test, so why not take it? Could the deepest secret recesses of your heart be characterized as “Good”? Would your daily service to the Lord, which should be given with ALL your heart, soul, mind and strength, be described as faithful and consistent? And as a meager, humble, servant, only doing as you should, who are you serving, the Lord or yourself?

So how did you do?

Either way I praise the Lord. If you were truthful and did poorly, then you can join my group and vow to improve this year, not only through grace, but by taking responsibility to work out you own salvation. If you were truthful and did well, then I applaud you and the Holy Spirit who has worked this out in you.

But if so many in the American church passed this test, if so many of us are “good and faithful,” why is our country failing spiritually, why is our church body suffering, why are our marriages falling apart and why are most of our ministries prospered by just a few people or even single individuals? A three strand cord is not easily broken, and two have a better reward for their labor, but one alone is a hard row to till.

The Bible says a wise man loves rebuke, and I love the people in the American church beyond measure, but is it wise to concentrate so hard on the things we do right, that we become ignorant to the obvious things we do wrong? Let this year be the year that we have all things in common, and sell our possessions and share the proceeds with those in need. Let this year be the year we as Christians meet together continually and share everything we have, meeting in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and sharing our meals with great joy and generosity, all the while praising God and enjoying each other’s goodwill. Let this be the year we plant, water and watch each day as the Lord adds to our group, those who are being saved.

For your family my message is simple.
Satan desires to sift your children. But he doesn’t have to crouch at your door anymore, because he created Nintendo and he’s on the radio, and he’s beamed right to your satellite dish, and he’s at the video store, and he’s on the other side of your computer monitor. Just because you don’t see the evidence, doesn’t mean that Lucifer hasn’t made it into your home already. He has ample weapons to divert the minds of your children away from Christ. So what are you doing, not just to protect, but to arm and enable your kids for this battle they will someday face alone?

A short time ago an acquaintance invited me over to work on his 16 year old daughter’s computer that was having significant virus problems. As I fixed the last virus I asked him if he wanted to know what his daughter was doing on the internet. Surprisingly he said no, because he thought it was an invasion of his child’s privacy. I asked if his daughter earned such privacy through years of observed appropriate use. He said he doesn’t monitor his daughter’s use of the computer because “she is a good kid who wouldn’t use it for that!” “Then why does she delete files that track and log internet use?” was my response. His daughter has a secret, and as her father, how could he appropriately lead her spiritually without basic knowledge her activities? His mind changed, we found that his daughter did a good job of covering her tacks, but sin is sloppy and soon the files were recovered.

As a parent, do you actually know what is running through you children’s minds? Perhaps not, but today it is easier than ever to monitor the evidence. So many parents I meet hand there kids a computer with a dvd player, 4 tv-vcr remotes, an X-Box, a cell phone with built in camera, an .MP3 player and satellite radio and they wonder why their kids walk away from the faith as soon as they leave home.

Do yourself and your kid’s soul a favor. Once a week, take a look at the things your kids play with, you might be amazed at what you find. If you don’t know how, e-mail me, and we will kick Lucifer out of your kid’s computer, but his mind is up to you.

And for you my message is simple.
Sometimes the greatest challenge is to look at that big honking huge log in your eye and admit you can’t see. Frankly, I am sitting over hear watching and it looks pretty painful. I am just trying to help you by begging you, please, please, repent already, before that thing rips a hole in your head! But don’t get me wrong I ain’t no saint, my boss just gave me the worse review of my life, and the more I think about it, the more I realize I was robbing God. I was supposed to be working for my boss as though I was serving Christ, but there were many days last year when I just didn’t feel like working. So now I have nothing to show for a year of work except for a story, but don’t tell anyone because it’s my little secret.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Ruler of the Universe!

2005-12-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Almighty, Sovereign, King, Lord and Ruler of the Universe?
Who does God think He is?

Before I was saved I knew nothing of the Holy Spirit or Jesus, but I knew of God the Father through what little I had learned in Lutheran church as a child. From what I knew of God, He was in charge, the Big Kahuna, and in my mind that made Him responsible. If He could change things and did not, then by my logic that made Him cruel and I blamed Him for His apparent ruthlessness. How could God allow disease? What kind of God takes pleasure in wars? Who does God think He is killing innocent men just because they aren’t Jews? I hated the God I knew and I cursed Him. I shook my fist at Him and dared Him to kill me, which would have been little loss because I cared even less about myself. I was wretchedly hopeless and blamed Him for my miserable existence. How could God not provide a young boy with what he needed most, a father?

Titus 3:2 says to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. Yet I had nothing good to say of the men I knew. The sorted lot I knew were rapists and drug addicts, liars and cheats that did unspeakable and unthinkable things to their own children. I remember the day clearly that I lost all fear of men, when a man’s fist lost its sting, and I thought “Is that the best you can do old man? I ain’t even bleeding yet!” Fear gave way to evil hatred and I found an outlet in removing battered women from their husbands. It seemed like a good work to me, but the joy of hatred has a way of making you just like that which you hate, and soon the man in the mirror looked just like my enemy.

Then one day a childhood friend came back from school a changed man. He left for college listening to AC/DC’s Back in Black and came back listening to Silent Night. The change was unmistakably, undeniable and exactly what I wanted. I wanted to change more than anything, because I could see myself becoming more and more like the men I knew. I asked him how he did it, and he said “it’s not how, but who did it”. He said he had been reborn, that Jesus had saved him and that he was indwelt by the Holy Spirit. It sounded like something I had read from Isaac Asimov, a science fiction writer and fellow God hater, about a giant praying mantis that saved the human race from extinction by forming a symbiotic relationship with humans for the mutual benefits of salvation and procreation.

But even that sounded better than my condition. I was a dry, arid shell of a man, who desperately wanted to change and had only one possession that held any significant value, a list of hundreds of questions I had written down over many years about the Bible and God. Oh, sure I “read” the Bible like so many today, at least the Old Testament anyway, but I knew it didn’t make sense, I knew I just didn’t get it, because the God in the Bible seemed cruel and angry; He seemed too much like me to be a God, and that is how I judged everything. In my mind, if you were anything like me, then you must be evil and therefore could not be a “real” Christian. Yet I still thought God was the “Top Dog” so I figured I wasn’t reading the Book right.

What I didn’t know at the time was that the very God I hated, yet feared, was the very One who made the Bible foolishness to me! Isn’t that INCREDIBLE! God does whatsoever He pleases, He gives and withdraws mercy from whomever He chooses, and all men, from the strongest to the wisest, are sustained by His purpose alone. At His choice we rise or fall, breathe or die, prosper or wane, become sighted or remain blind forever. What inconceivable power! But I digress from the story.

My friend’s church was a tiny non-denominational Bible church led by a God fearing, Scripture loving man. This Pastor was the first man I ever met that cared enough and knew enough to help. Weeks later I made a confession of faith and a few weeks after that, this man of God left our little church and a hypocrite moved in to take his place. I knew he was a hypocrite because I recognized his voice, he sounded just like me! I left before he could lead me down his pompous, cynical road of Christian isolationism.

Whatever was planted was quickly choked out. Eight years of therapy and several cults later, I found myself in front of another man of God, but this time he didn’t leave, nor was he a hypocrite. Through him God introduced me to His holy Son. Who in the beginning was the Word and He was God just as He was with His Father from the beginning. And nothing was made that Jesus did not make and in Him was life and this life was the light of men.

Does that amaze you as it does me? That Jesus created everything and nothing was ever created that Jesus did not create! And when Jesus was done forming and breathing everything into existence, He proclaimed it all “good.” I wonder just how “good,” good must be to be proclaimed “good” by the holy and perfect Jesus? Yet in the end, a few of us will be proclaimed “good.” And what of the sovereignty of almighty God Who says, “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” Who counsels God to soften His tone and lax His requirements? Nay, there are none, for His standards were set before time, and are as rigid as His choices, which do not depend on what we want or attempt to do. Jesus will show kindness to anyone He wants to show kindness, and He will show mercy to anyone to whom He wants to show mercy. Again; what awesome undeniable power.

So God, for reasons of proclaiming His own glory; had mercy on me and drew me to His Son and through the Son I shall, in time, stand before to the Father. In computer lingo this is called a circular expression. God, before I was even born, chose to give grace to a fist shaking God hater and call him to His Son, so that His Son will be the Firstborn among many brethren, who He then present back to His Father, having lost none that were chosen to begin with. Or you could say, in all times past God exists, and God purposed His plan, God created His means, God allowed the division of good and evil, God provided His solution, God gives His enlightenment, God grants His salvation, then God sanctifies and justifies His own choices, and He ends in the same way He started, by pronouncing His own work good. What an amazing circular expression. It’s brilliant if the goal is to glorify yourself!

When God granted me an understanding of some of this great mystery of His sovereignty, I came to discern a small portion of His great purpose for His eternal life, to glorify His holy Son, Who in turn glorifies Him. Suddenly it was as if the bulk of the Bible just made sense. I am nothing, Jesus is everything. Nothing comes from me, as all things come from Him. The less I am the more He is through me. The more I die to myself the more I live in Him. And there is but two enemies, my old boss, Satan, and my old friend, Mr. Flesh who yet torments my will and corrupts my walk. Yet I, despite alone being responsible for my despicable corruption, am seen God as perfect and holy as I am clothed with His Son Jesus.

Finally I found the truth! I, a miserable sinner, no less so than my father before me, am not responsible for saving a world of battered and broken souls. I am simply sufficient to minister the new covenant, the glorious gospel. Election and predestination were a joyous rest to my weary soul. Yet they are in no way an excuse for laxness but rather a great motivator, because there are others who have yet to realized God’s pre-selection of them. So the question is not if they will see their calling, through the grace of almighty God, but rather who might be the means used in the work of the same. While the ignorance of the elect heathen man, stranded alone on an island, should cause great fear of the Lord, eternal damnation is not possible as Jesus will lose none that were given to Him. But the Christian man should fear that his lethargic choices keep him from getting his feet wet and witnessing the salvation of souls. Make no mistake, relief and deliverance will arise from another place for the elect man, but the lazy Christian will die, never knowing why he was brought into the Kingdom. The elect man will be saved by other swimmers, but will you be on the island to celebrate?

Which brings me back to Titus 3, which says, “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

And likewise the Bible says, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11)

So today I find myself, not a hater of God or men, but understanding toward all men. To the heathen who does the unspeakable and unthinkable, I sorrowfully relate to your condition, and pray that your scoffing heart changes, but you will not find anger in my heart toward you. And to the Christian Brother, I sorrowfully relate to your condition, and pray that you might experience revival in your heart and renewal in your mind, that we might suffer together in these last days, as perhaps God turns His eyes from this country. Perhaps we will be gloriously persecuted together for God’s glory. But if you choose never to get your feet wet, you too will not find any anger in my heart toward you, because I was once foolish, disobedient and deceived, but I have met the Almighty, Sovereign, King, Lord and Ruler of the Universe! And who is He. Well, He’s my Father!

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Sometimes the homeless are better off homeless.

2005-11-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Having some experience serving the homeless, I think I have come to understand and relate to them. Not all of them, of course, as even within homeless circles there are those who simply do not want to be understood. But as a whole I have come to grasp what homeless people want and even more so, what they need. But like most humans, the homeless rarely want what they actually need.

When I lived in downtown Chicago, it was not uncommon to come into contact with the homeless on a regular basis. Because of this constant contact, charity was often abused by the recipients and rarely given with proper motivation. More often than not, people gave to the beggars to maintain the status quo. The beggars got the wine they wanted, and the working class got to feel good about themselves. This is hardly what either group needed. And there were always the professional vagabonds, middle class suburbanites, who drove their SUV’s downtown, while dressed in their raggedy costumes to panhandle in the Diamond District or at O’Hare Airport. Back in the late 80’s it was not uncommon for the pros to make 40 to $50,000.00 a year. As a result Chicago was a difficult place to maintain a charitable spirit.

Once, on a particularly beautiful day in Chicago, it fell my turn to pick up lunch for all my co-workers, so I left intent on picking up some subs from a take-out only sub shop near the high school. After parking, which is always an event in Chicago, I walked up to the sub shop were I was confronted, face to face, by a homeless man who was demanding money. It was obvious this man was not familiar with the unspoken rules of status quo, which required that he remain seated on the sidewalk, and ask for, rather than demand his money. But this man stood in my face and said he was hungry and wanted whatever money I had. Looking at the sub shop sign I told him, “If you are hungry I think you have come to the right place. This place makes the best subs in all Chicago and I am sure kids with extra lunch money will be by any minute.” With that I walked past him to place my order. As I ordered I thought perhaps I had become jaded and uncaring, so I ordered the homeless guy the best sub they had, “The Double Meat Roast Beef Grande”, provolone and Swiss cheese, with a hint of horseradish, brown mustard, au jus sauce and one half pound of the finest, medium rare, roast beef ever to be carved off a cow. It was a meal fit for a king, but when I went to give it to the hungry homeless guy, he looked at me with disgust, like I had horribly offended his sensitive palate, and he said, “What’s this, I don’t want this, I told you I want money, I can’t buy a 40 with sandwiches.” To which I replied, “You said you were hungry while standing outside a sub shop, and if it’s good enough for me and all my friends, it’s good enough for your sorry posterior.” So I left him no better off than he was before I met him. But then I wasn’t saved myself.

Thank God for His infinite mercy in saving such an evil man like me and opening my eyes to what I needed most, what all people really need most. There is no man alive who truly needs a 40 ounce can of alcohol. What a homeless person physically needs is clothing to keep him safe from the elements and sustenance to provide him the physical power to take his next breath. With this, all humanity should be satisfied, and anything else is just God providing abundance beyond our NEED. But I wonder if any Christians out there actually take me seriously when I make the statement, that food and clothing are the limit of our physical needs? How many Christians take the Bible seriously when it says, “Serving God does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have. We brought nothing into the world, so we can take nothing out. But, if we have food and clothes, we will be satisfied with that. Those who want to become rich bring temptation to themselves and are caught in a trap. They want many foolish and harmful things that ruin and destroy people. The love of money causes all kinds of evil. Some people have left the faith, because they wanted to get more money, but they have caused themselves much sorrow.” (1 Timothy 6:6-10 NCV)

Do you catch that? The verse says “we will be satisfied with that.” Would you be satisfied with nothing more than food and clothing? What if God, as He did for Job, took all your earthly possessions, leaving you with nothing but the clothes on your back and a Church body to feed you? Would you be satisfied? Are you part of the “we” who are rich in the service of God? Perhaps you would be better off homeless and understanding these things, than living in your fine house and unaware of your condition. I know for me personally that I was never more miserable than when I was rich. It was my ruin, even causing me to leave the faith. But the temptation that comes as a result of comfort, security and overabundance, is not one that leaps out as a lion, but rather, it infects a Christian ever so slowly like an unseen cancer feeding your fervent worship and good works, until you are an empty shell, a mere shadow of your first works. The horrid part of this disease is that it always attacks your eyes first, leaving you blind to your own cancer, blind to your own true needs.

So what does the homeless man really need? A home? A car? A great job? A fine house in the suburbs with a beautiful wife, a dog and 2.3 kids? No, what the homeless man needs is the same thing a Christian needs, CHRIST! We need Jesus! We need Jesus! We need Jesus on our minds and in our hearts at all times, unceasingly. We need to meditate, pray, ponder, think, reflect, mull over and consider Jesus every moment of every day, lest we allow the cancer of satisfaction, the disease of complacency, or the scourge of thoughtlessness, or the curse of security to take hold and blind us to our sin. It only takes a tiny chink in your armor for the evil one’s dart to find flesh!

But the evil one has found his modern day chink in Christendom’s armor, it’s called cobelligerence. It is the postmodern Christian’s answer to political correctness, tolerance of every form of perversion and lenience toward degradation. Of course, they would never call it that; so called Christians of every persuasion would call it working together, even eating together, to solve a social ill! The problem is that cobelligerence didn’t work for the Jews in Ezra’s time (Ezra 10:3) it did not work for King Solomon (1 Kings 11:6) and it won’t work for us either. Chaff and good wheat simply can’t grow together, and even in this day, a single heart filled with leaven can still destroy a church body. But perhaps you think you are immune, and your church would never fall for such a thing. Yet the tolerance of homosexuality has long had hold of the Catholic Church. It has taken root in the Episcopal Church and has recently begun its infection of the Lutheran Church. If conservative, reformed, evangelical Christians cannot survive the toll of cobelligerence, then what of the lost homeless man.

A short time ago I was having a conversation with a man who questioned me concerning the use of my truck. He thought it unusual that an individual would own a moving truck, even for an odd man such as me. So I told him of my ministry of helps and hospitality toward the needy and homeless. When, after many minutes, I had finished. He said, “Well good for you.” I thought his response unenlightened. After all, I am hardly the focus of the ministry, and whether or not it is good for me is most irrelevant. Should a slave be thanked for doing what he ought to have done? It is God that I serve and those He puts in my path. But our conversation continued as I told him how hard it was to find people who were willing to help, and how money to operate the ministry always seemed difficult to come by. How it seemed to me that Christians are much harder to motivate than even the unsaved heathen, and charity is barely understood today and rarely practiced. The man practically laughed at me and said that perhaps my problem acquiring funds for the ministry was due to being Baptist. He said that his Catholic Church had a homeless ministry in Spartanburg and that they had no problem whatsoever finding supporters or funds. If fact he boasted of receiving a $20,000.00 check from a prominent banker just the day before. I has somewhat surprised, not by the money he received, but because I thought I knew all the homeless ministries in Spartanburg, yet I had never heard of the organization through which his church was involved.

Later that day, I logged on the internet to find out more about this homeless ministry and was stunned and horrified at what I read. The ministry does indeed support homeless families, with a basic and simple premise. The program, (which has branches in cities all over America), is supported by networks of 10-14 local churches, called “host congregations.”

Host congregations provide overnight lodging in their church facilities for 3-5 homeless families (or up to 14 individuals). In the morning the guests are transported to a day center located in a downtown church. At the day center, they get ready for daily activities; going to school or work, or looking for jobs and housing.

For one week at a time, host congregations open up their churches and provide overnight lodging, three meals a day, hospitality and counseling. Each week hosted homeless families rotate among the 14 host congregations in the network of churches. The goal of the network of churches is to “foster, assist and promote growth for a successful transition to independence.”

Sounds great doesn’t it, 14 churches getting together to tackle a social ill, to assist homeless families and aid them back to self-sufficiency, each church, for a week, doing what churches do, teaching, preaching and counseling concerning the word of God. What could be so horrifying about that? Oh, nothing except the list of host churches included:
2 Baptist churches, 2 Catholic churches, 1 Pentecostal church, 1 Methodist church, 2 Lutheran churches, 1 Episcopal church, 2 Presbyterian churches, 1 Seventh-Day Adventist church, 1 Unitarian Universalist church and a Jewish Temple.

Fourteen churches, 10 different denominations, and only God knows how many different errant views about God. What homeless family could survive such an onslaught of varying religious beliefs and maintain any semblance of truth in their understanding of God. Their only hope is to find a job and a house as quickly as possible, to get away from the very group of churches that proposes to “HELP” them. The homeless are better off homeless than they are getting involved in this cobelligerent “ministry”.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006

biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com

Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Has Not The Lord Done It?

2005-10-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

Consider for a moment, if you will, a day that surely still rests unnervingly on your mind. On this day in September at least 6,000 American people died, and some suggest as many as 8,000. Without warning the threat appeared in the skies and soon it obliterated everything in its path. Innocent men, women and children, ordinary and unknowing folk, simply performing their daily duties, were about to have their lives cut short, on the wrong side of the national average. The year is just after the turn of the century, but not this century, and the place is not New York, but Galveston, Texas, and the target is not a couple of buildings, but an entire region of our great nation, and the weapon used was a category 5 hurricane. On September 8, 1900 the most devastating natural disaster ever to occur on American soil, laid waste Galveston and killed a great percentage of its inhabitants. The wrath of this massive hurricane slaughtered indiscriminately. The blood of the righteous and the unrighteous mingled together as the bodies lay strewn about the rubble. And God did it! He decided before hand where every house would fall, where every horse would land, and whose body would wash up on the beach and whose would never be seen again. Amos 3:6 says: “When a trumpet blows a warning in a city, the people tremble. When disaster befalls a city, the Lord has caused it.” And Job 38:22-23 says: “Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?”

Such is the mystery of God. What the Lord gives, He as well takes away and He is to be praised in so doing as He owes us nothing! Not even His mercy does He owe us. As well God need not apologize as some “wise” men outrageously suggest when they say, “After Katrina, God has something to answer for!” Oh people, how quickly we forget. Is Katrina truly a formidable event in history? Did God answer for laying waste the land with locusts in Joel? When Jerusalem suffered the greatest calamity that has ever occurred under heaven, (Daniel 9:12) did the Lord repent? Does not the same book say, two verses later say, “for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does!...” And what of the terrifying day of the Lord, when even the mountains will tremble, will He answer to us then? No, no, on that day every knee will bow and every mouth will confess to the majesty of the great I Am.

But God has not abandoned the righteous, nor turned His wrath from the sinner, as the wicked woman preacher proclaimed, saying, “God doesn’t work in New Orleans anymore.” And others, wise in their own eyes, speak as kindred brothers of Bildad the Shuhite, inferring that the wicked alone suffer wrath. Do we reproach God as Bildad 10 times reproached Job? Or perhaps we act as Eliphaz and accuse God of wickedness as Eliphaz wrongly accused Job.

Listen you men of understanding; “Far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to commit iniquity. For He repays man according to his work, and makes man to find a reward according to his way. Surely God will never do wickedly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice. Who gave Him charge over the earth? Or who appointed Him over the whole world? If He should set His heart on it, if He should gather to Himself, His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.” (Job 34:10-15) God owes us nothing. All flesh submits to His will, and all flesh, righteous and sinner alike, takes another breath only by the mercy of God.

Does God need to answer those of this age from a whirlwind? Can we not read for ourselves the greatness of God within the very Scriptures already given to us? Elihu said of God’s Goodness, “Behold, God is mighty, but despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding. He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the oppressed. He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; but they are on the throne with kings, for He has seated them forever, and they are exalted. And if they are bound in fetters, held in the cords of affliction, then He tells them their work and their transgressions; that they have acted defiantly. He also opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they turn from iniquity. If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. But if they do not obey, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.” (Job 36:5-12)

And God responded to Job:
“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band; when I fixed My limit for it, and set bars and doors; When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’ Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? It takes on form like clay under a seal, and stands out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, and the upraised arm is broken. Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, that you may take it to its territory, that you may know the paths to its home? Do you know it, because you were born then, Or because the number of your days is great? Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? By what way is light diffused, or the east wind scattered over the earth? Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, or a path for the thunderbolt, to cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, a wilderness in which there is no man; to satisfy the desolate waste, and cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass? Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? The waters harden like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen. Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season? Or can you guide the great bear with its cubs? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that an abundance of water may cover you? Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, and say to you, ‘Here we are!’? Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart? Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven, when the dust hardens in clumps, and the clods cling together? Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait? Who provides food for the raven, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?

Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth? Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young? They bow down, they bring forth their young; they deliver their offspring. Their young ones are healthy, they grow strong with grain; they depart and do not return to them. Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager, whose home I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwelling? He scorns the tumult of the city; He does not heed the shouts of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger? Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you? Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him? Will you trust him to bring home your grain, and gather it to your threshing floor? The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s? For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust; she forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may break them. She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain, without concern, because God deprived her of wisdom, and did not endow her with understanding. When she lifts herself on high, she scorns the horse and its rider. Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror. He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; he gallops into the clash of arms. He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; nor does he turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and javelin. He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded. At the blast of the trumpet he says, “Aha!” He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of captains and shouting. Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, and spread its wings toward the south? Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make its nest on high? On the rock it dwells and resides, on the crag of the rock and the stronghold. From there it spies out the prey; its eyes observe from afar. Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there it is.”

Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said: “Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.” (Job 38, 39 & 40:1-2)

Dear God, what man can answer? We as Job are vile, and should lay our hands over our mouths. While we once spoke, we can no longer answer and we need not proceed any further.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006

biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com

Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

For an eye witness account of the 1900 Galveston hurricane, follow this link
http://www.history.noaa.gov/stories_tales/cline2.html.
The author’s wife and 32 other people were thrust into eternity when their house collapsed. 18 people survived the collapse of the house, but the author and two other adults drifted on the wreckage of rooftops for 2 hours, being swept out to sea, before being washed inland once again. For another hour the drifting mass of wreckage they clung to slammed into and destroyed other residences before finally coming to rest. Miraculously all three of the author’s children survived the ordeal, floating on rooftops beside their father.

Be satisfied with nothing less than raising the dead!

2005-09-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

Dear reader, I normally struggle for weeks on a single article, but this month I struggled with two, and this article is neither of those. During my studies, as I wrote of one article the Scriptures led me only to the other. And when I wrote of the second, the Scriptures led me only to the first. In frustration I thought, perhaps, to print one of Paul’s articles in my stead. But then God put me in the most unusual of circumstances, and just hours ago I found myself in the cavernous halls of one of those mega churches. I had heard many rumors concerning this church’s sermons, based solely on drawing huge heathen crowds for “feel good” messages. I could not image why God would bring me here. But then I wasn’t really here for me. A lost soul, who I will call Lost Tom, who I have evangelized at great lengths with no evidence of change, had invited me to meet “the new counselor.” Lost Tom made all the arrangements, but at the last moment he cancelled our meeting. In recent years I have had several opportunities to stand before pastors as a witness for the Word, and sensing another opportunity, to once again, sit before a man of great influence on the souls of others, I called the counselor to recommit to a little one on one time. My goal as always was to glorify Jesus and to spread His message, to learn what can be learned, edify the edifyable, rebuke the sins that require such and to see what else the Lord might have me do. I shall call the counselor, “Dr. Bob”.

I had prepared a list of 25 questions that I thought would quickly determine Dr. Bob’s spiritual understanding so as to judge his ability to help Lost Tom. It soon became apparent that Dr. Bob had a decent grasp of scripture even though he was not a certified biblical counselor, a degreed doctor, or even a psychiatrist. Dr. Bob was just a regular Joe, just like me.

In response to my questions Dr. Bob said that every human was born spiritually dead, and as such, did not seek after God, could not repent, nor even please God. As we all are born dead, if we remain that way, our heathen lives serve “not much” purpose. Dr. Bob said that Christians have no business judging the actions of heathen sinners, but yet are commanded to judge the actions of confessing brothers. Dr. Bob went on to say that if a person confesses to be Christian but has no fruit, then a true brother has reason to think that this person is likely no brother at all, as there is no such thing as a carnal Christian.

Beginning to get excited about Bob’s discernment, I went on to question him further and Dr. Bob gleefully indicated that, Christians cannot accept Jesus as Savior but not Lord over their lives, and when we unrepentantly sin against our Lord, our brother is commanded to tell us of our sin. On the subjects of wives and marriage, Dr. Bob said that wives are to submit to their husbands in all that they do, unless to do so would be sin, and that husbands have two allowable reasons to divorce their wives, but even those reasons are only allowed due to the hardness of human hearts. I disagreed on one portion of his point, but Bob was undeterred and told me that the Bible was the very mind of God and to understand it, is to understand God.

I was on the edge of my seat! Well, actually I was sunk so deep into his overstuffed leather couch that I couldn’t move, but if I could have moved, I would have been on the edge of my seat. Never the less, aside from my own church’s biblical counselors, I had never met a counselor with such a grasp of Scripture. So I asked him my last question, “Does a Christian have the ability to get angry without sinning?” Dr. Bob thought for a moment and said, “Of course, as long as he forgives the person who caused his anger before nightfall.”

It was like watching Jeopardy as the champ answers incorrectly and the big buzzer goes off. But Bob had made it so far, that I thought it only fair to give him a chance to redeem himself, so I explained how the context of Ephesians 4:31 must regulate the meaning of Ephesians 4:26. We agreed to disagree and got down to the business of discussing the intended goal for our meeting.

Dr. Bob told me that he was a member of an organization called “Elijah House”, and my heart jumped for joy. I knew nothing of this organization but certainly Bob, as a member of an organization named after this great prophet, would understand my goal for Lost Tom. Like both Elijah and his successor Elisha, I desired nothing less than to “raise the dead,” that is to raise Lost Tom’s soul from the dead. But Dr. Bob looked at me puzzled, and said, “Are you speaking of salvation? My ultimate goal is not the salvation of souls; we do not do that here!” I was stunned as he went on to tell me how he would take Lost Tom back in time, to the point in his life where he exchanged the truth for a lie, perhaps even back to his childhood, and once there, Tom might understand how the acceptance of this lie as truth, had caused the undoing of his adult life. Once Lost Tom had exchanged this lie for the truth, then and only then, would Lost Tom be able to possibly meet God and accept Him. Dr. Bob said that Lost Tom cannot come to God unless his heart is free from this original lie.

I had heard this dung heap of useless jargon before. 5 years I spent listening to A.C.O.A. and A.L.A.N.O.N. 12 step group leaders telling me that it was my mom’s fault, that I was such a pathetic, worthless person. And throughout that time I had “professional help,” and actually paid psychiatrists to tell me to beat pillows with bats while thinking of my dad. My rage did more than think it, I actually dreamed of it. You will never find a cure for sin and relief from its consequences, when those who seek to “help” you, do everything to encourage the very sin that enslaves you.

Dr. Bob sounded just like one of the psycho-babble shrinks, like John Bradshaw of the “Inner Child” movement, years ago. Dr. Bob made it sound as if even reborn Christians are slaves to their emotions and unresolved events in their childhood, and unsaved heathens have no choice but to make the rearward journey to discover their historic errors. Years ago I went through the whole “retro trip down memory lane” in an effort to find my “inner child”, and when I met him I smacked his little behind and told him to “grow up, get over it and repent you spoiled brat!” So, I asked Dr. Bob about rebirth, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the “new man”, sanctification, dying to the flesh and striving for the prize, but I had lost Dr. Bob to his Freudian whims. Dr. Bob knew nothing of how to raise the dead through Christ.

Fellow Christians, I think of the Shunammite woman who had received her heart’s desire, a son, her heritage and family heir, only to loose him in death. The bereaved, but surely believing mother rushed to the man of God, Elisha, through whom his Divine Master originally delivered unto the woman her promise of a son. Elisha’s response is recorded in 2 Kings 4:29-37:

Then he said to Gehazi, “Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.” And the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child has not awakened.” When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. He went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she picked up her son and went out.

Now while Elisha was dealing with the natural death of a child, we too are no less dealing with a matter of the same significance and magnitude; that is the natural spiritual condition of the adults and children round about us. The natural man, as surely as the natural child, is dead in trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1). If we do not concern ourselves to understand the shear magnitude and inevitable destruction of the lost little ones around us, then we do them nothing but harm. Dr. Bob seeks the lessening of Lost Tom’s feelings of misery and insecurity, while I seek no such secondary benefits for Tom. I seek nothing less than the salvation of his immortal soul. Resurrection is my ultimate and only goal, it is my mission and my only aim, nothing less will do anything for Tom but send him to an eternity of damnation.

I can practically smell his damned soul burning in brimstone. Do you think we should take such, so lightly, that we would rather go to the ball game and exercise yet another Christian liberty? Did Elisha dawdle when there was the Lord’s work to be done? No! He went straightaway to raise the child! Did Elisha settle for merely cleaning the boy’s body and preparing him for burial? No! He sought nothing less than to raise the dead! So too is our high calling, not of our own feeble power, but without unbelief, we are to administer that which we were made capable of doing through Him who sent us to do it. Not even the prophets and apostles raised the dead in their own power, yet the same God is within us today that empowered them.

Are we any less capable of exercising faith in regard to our own children, having been, by faith, empowered into the service of our great God to pray down mighty salvific wonders? I do not shorten the arm of my God, and if Lost Tom is to be saved, then by God, He will do it through my witness, if not my witness, then by another likewise purposeful Christian’s witness.

Perhaps you think this is not your calling, that God should not put any souls in your care. Oh, how this reminds me of another who, for a time, thought the same. Ester, having been warned of Haman’s plot and resulting decree of Jewish genocide, feared another decree of sure death if she went to see the King without being called. She had not been called to see the King for 30 days. But Mordecai reminded her of her Jewish heritage and the fact that she was not safe from Haman’s plot, not even in the palace and not even if she remained silent. Mordecai said “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:11)

Seemingly, Ester was going to die one way of the other, either in silence or when she went to see the King. She had no idea whether seeing the King would result in saving the Jews or not, and she never would if she never tried. However someone will surely be blessed with the task, because God will save whoever God wishes to save and if Ester was not up to the task, then God’s will, will come to pass through someone else or some other means.

Likewise, unless Jesus comes back soon, you and I will die. There are a fixed number of elect round about us and Jesus will save them all, the only question is who gets blessed with the task of being used by God in the process. If you never try to win a soul for Christ, you are the only loser. The Lambs Book of Life is not modified by your neglect; deliverance simply arises from another place.

But how does one raise a person from the dead? Why even Elisha was not successful on his first attempt. Perhaps he did not follow the example set before him by his mentor Elijah. In 1 Kings 17 we see the example of Elijah raising a dead child and it was not until Elisha followed this example that this second child’s life was restored. So too do we so often fail when trying to imitate our Master’s examples, yet like Elisha, do we continue in belief and assurance of success, or do we quit in unbelief, soothing our conscience with thoughts that “it’s not our calling anyway?”

Look at Elisha, first he gives Gehazi his staff to send him on his way, as if the raising of this boy need not even require Elisha’s effort, as if this staff itself had within it the faith to dispense God’s divine power. Do we not do the same to the lost round about us when we leave it up to others to witness to the lost in our charge? Or maybe we think the Holy Spirit, without us separating our lips in an effort to spew forth the Gospel, will magically testify to saving grace. Make no mistake Christian, God expects you to stretch out yourself onto the lost souls around you. And when you find that after you have applied your best effort and “the child has not awakened,” then you try another method and another and then still another, improving each time, each time studying the ways and methods of our Master to learn the art of winning souls. With loving compassion for the lost, in humble service to His Father, with deep sympathy and sorrowful condition, Jesus yearned to see the lost come to Him as little children.

Seeing mans grave condition.
Poor Gehazi, do you sense as I, that Gehazi is not convinced that the child is really dead? He speaks as if the child needs only to be awakened. To him the child is not dead, only asleep. I believe he does not grasp the child’s grave condition. And what if the staff had awakened the child, would Gehazi have thought that the child was simply startled out of a deep sleep or would he have perceived that a glorious miracle had taken place?

Similarly if we do not perceive the grave condition of the unsaved around us, then we too may be blind to their need of salvation. In truth they are spiritually dead, but if we, like Dr. Bob, are satisfied to only provide emotional relief, rather than seeking the ultimate spiritual rebirth and a complete new nature for the lost around us, then we do them a disservice, likely leaving them in their natural condition. If you foolishly think that the lost, even the little children are not depraved, then you should not be surprised when your ministry remains unfruitful as was Gehazi’s efforts.

God works, but can you see it?
Now, I am not saying that God can not or does not use the weak Christian or even the lost man, to draw souls to His Son. But why should God work a glorious work through you if you do not grasp the total depravity of man? Why should He, when the weak Christian or the lost man can not fully appreciate or glorify Jesus for miraculously raising the spiritually dead? How can such a man truly praise God for undeserved, unmerited grace, when in his eyes the lost are pre-deserving? A person who does not see the grave condition of the natural man, will not bless and magnify the regenerating grace from God, Who makes all things new. This person’s ministry may be used by God, but the weak and the lost will likely be incapable of perceiving its glorious nature. Rather this man’s eyes are blurred by his high view of human dignity and innate self-worth. How can grace be perceived as grace if it is thought that God is obligated to give it? And is glory seen through such a limited eye, nearly as glorious? How much more can a Christian free from a sense of self worth glorify God when he sees the full panorama of God’s grace and power when He raises dead sinners to life!

Do you see their need for salvation and your calling to be its means?
Also, how can you be a blessing to those around you if you do not have a clear sense of their spiritual ruin? If we think our duty as Christians is merely to preach the Bible to instill morality, then our preaching will have been a failure when those around us remain dead. Is not our calling to be the means, in the hands of God, to bring life from Heaven to dead souls?

But we so often fail as Gehazi did. But after the initial failure what does Elisha do? He comes into the room and shuts the door; he gets serious and separates himself from distractions, and isolates himself from a world filled with unbelief and prays. Dear Christian, supplication is the means by which your Lord chooses to oft hear your voice, but not just prayer, but meaningful, true and powerful supplication. In 1 Kings 17:19-22 Elijah cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard his voice. Do you cry out for the sake of the unsaved in supplication?

But is prayer alone enough? In the words of C.H. Spurgeon, “Prayer and means must go together. Means without prayer --- presumption! Prayer without means --- hypocrisy!” Elisha laid atop the boy and member for member matched the form of the cold lifeless child. Strangely enough the words say that this full grown man stretched himself out upon the smaller child yet met him eye to eye, mouth to mouth and hand to hand. I see this as a picture that we must go to great lengths to wax warm the heart of the unsaved. If we must endlessly study, then study with urgency. If we must pray, then pray fervently. We must stretch out and truly feel the lifeless cold condition of the lost soul. Is his ruin your concern, as if your life were dependant on his? If he remains dead, do you feel your life slipping? Do you feel the heat of your soul warming his lifeless body? Look at Elisha again pacing back and forth, contemplating every facet of his patient’s condition. His heart is moved, he is restless, troubled, and unlike Gehazi, who simply carried a staff and announced that there was no change, Elisha expected more and was unwilling to give up.

Likewise, I do not want Lost Tom to be merely warmed, coming only to taste of the Lord, become chilled again and walking away. I won’t be satisfied until his ultimate end is assured, until his cold stony heart beats with new flesh. Is it warmth that we seek for the lost, or life? We must reach beyond the length of our relaxed frame in order to see the working of the Holy Spirit wax warm the souls of the lost around us. Do not be satisfied, but restless, always walking to and fro, stretching out again and again until the warmed flesh sneezes out the impurities of an unregenerate soul.

But Dr. Bob seeks to aid the lost by raising them into a position of warm death. Sitting up, but not yet standing, warmed heart but not yet beating. Dr. Bob carries the staff, but everyone around him is never the less, DEAD. My hope and prayer is that you are not satisfied with walking around with a worthless staff, thinking it alone is capable of doing anything more than leaving a shadow on a lost child’s face. Be satisfied with nothing less than raising the dead! Amen.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

The Good Looking White Guy.

2005-08-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Has your heart ever been burdened by the Holy Spirit that resides within you, when you have visited a church or a Christian university and there, hanging on the walls, filling every available space is countless graven images, illustrations of angels, demons and even Christ Jesus? In a local church I recently visited, I counted over 30 images of heavenly things, including several Bibles purposefully opened, not to the Word, but to pages containing likenesses of Jesus. And as unbiblical as it is to create and publicly display these images, it seems as though even our staunchest conservative Christian organizations, such as Bob Jones University, seem to have no understanding of the danger to weak Christians and heathens that such imagery poses. And why is it that so often these images incorrectly portray our sovereign Lord and King as a handsome and good looking white Caucasian, which He most certainly was not? Jesus was neither white, nor handsome!

So what is a wise Christian to do when he finds himself surrounded by churches, seminaries, and other Christians that seem to be ignoring the fact that the creation and public display of such imagery is un-Scriptural? What does a Christian do when every conceivable form of media seems Hell bent to bring God the Son down to our level? What does a Christian do when he finds himself on the unpopular, but correct side of Scripture, and a yearning in his soul to encourage his brethren to practice purity and holiness?

We Christians need to do what we always should do when sin is involved, preach the truth in love and pray that the Holy Spirit will move in the hearts and minds of those ‘round about us. To that end I recently wrote a letter of loving rebuke to a Christian counseling organization that on occasion uses graven images within its newsletters that are distributed to the masses. This ministry is a fine organization that prospers the work of the Lord, but has simply not been enlightened to the consequences of graven images. As my purpose was edification, the name of the organization has been changed.

Dear Christ Like Counseling Ministries,

I am sure you guys get a lot of e-mails, and I am just as certain that you don’t have time to read them all fully, but I ask with all humility that you read this e-mail and consider it fully.

I receive your newsletter via e-mail on a regular basis and find your articles inspiring and edifying. I have appreciated your ministry in the past and look forward to witnessing how you prosper the work of the Lord in the future. My hope in this is based on the fact that your ministry general holds to a Biblical theology and presents a genuine understanding of Scripture.

However, I have just received your August 2005 newsletter and was saddened to find yet another graven image aside your article “The Un-Christing of Jesus”, and as is so often common amongst Christians today, your photo displayed “the good looking white guy”, who is clearly not of Jewish decent.

You may think that you have the Christian liberty to display such images at your discretion, and you may be right if the context was within your own house where this image may not be viewed by the masses. But you have sent this image out amongst the heathens and the weak brothers! Do you not understand the damage that can be done when a weak brother or lost soul sees such imagery? As a counseling ministry you certainly must have counseled people, as I have, who after doing so, find themselves enslaved by idolatry to the images that now reside in their heads. It is often more difficult to rid one’s mind of images of heavenly things than it is to remove from the same mind the lingering images of pornography. Both are knowledge of evil we were never meant to have and a weak mind at worship often perceives the image and not the Divine. This is not good for man, or glorifying for Christ!

Do you not understand that you Un-Christ Christ and detract and distract from Him when you propose a particular appearance for Jesus? Christ, who could have been as handsome as He chose to be born, was born a common looking man, with no outside appearance that would draw anyone to Himself. Nor did Jesus choose to allow any man to describe His outward appearance.
Perhaps Jesus thought it best not to provide us with such a description because we are naturally weak, and as such, with knowledge of His outward appearance, we would gravitate not toward His character, divinity and sovereignty, but we would simply admire Him for His handsome features or external frame. This is not the kind of worship Jesus had in mind.

The Bible clearly says not to make an image of any heavenly thing, yet you have chosen to provide countless people with an image of my great Lord and Savior.

Do you think I am making something out of nothing? Many Christians forgo their liberty to drink alcohol for the sake of conscience toward their witness for Christ and to avoid causing another person to stumble into sin. The Apostle Paul said he would never eat meat again if it caused another man to stumble. Yet Christians and churches today think nothing of the images they portray to the masses. They are causing people not to worship the true and divine nature of Christ, but rather these resulting stumblers worship the little “c” christ they think they have seen. Yet none of us alive today have seen Christ Jesus and we ought not to worship Him as if we have.

Can you still not see the distractive damage you are causing? Let me provide you with a letter I received from a lady I ended up counseling concerning the cause for her newfound fervency after watching the movie “Passion of the Christ”. She was so moved by the movie that she offered to pay the price for anyone who wanted to see the movie. As you read, notice her focus concerning Jesus. Does she understand the Biblically revealed events that occurred on the day of our Lord’s death? Does she understand the true nature of Christ and what He accomplished on the cross, or is her understanding flawed by the images she saw on that movie screen?

Hey Guys,
Our church went for a private viewing of The Passion of Christ last night, and I am still in amazment. I have read about it and been taught about it for all of my life, but for the first time ever, last night I actually saw it with my own eyes. I saw the agony that he suffered and the blood that he shed for you and me, and I am here to tell you all that it was more than we could have ever imagined.

The actual act of dying was not the hard part of what Christ did for "all of us", it was what lead up to his death. He was beat with sticks and a "cat of nine tails", which if you don't know what that is it is a stick with nine leather straps hanging off the end, and all of the straps have metal spikes and pieces of glass sticking out of them, he was mocked, spat upon, he had a crown of thorns placed upon his head, and the thorns were at least four inches long, and they were pushed into his head until they were in all the way. They beat him until his bones were exposed, and then they beat him some more. Christ was the only one of the three people crucified that day who was made to carry his own cross, he was also the only one who was beat. The other two men were not beat, and there crosses were carried for them, at least the heavy part anyway, and they truly deserved to be crucified, Christ did not, he chose to die a horrible death for our sins.

One thing that really amazed me was to see Christ's reaction toward the people who crucified him. He was so kind and loving, he never had a harsh word or a cruel jesture toward any of them, he never fought back, he was his Perfect, Loving, Wonderful self throughout the whole thing. Not in a happy way, but in a loving way. The pain in his eyes, and the way that he trembled, not from fear, but from pain showed us all just how much he suffered, but through it all there was love.

I know that my husband would do anything for me, and my well being, but I'm not sure about suffering as Christ did, no normal human could survive it. But Jesus did.

Notice this lady is completely wrapped up in the external suffering of Christ, as was the movie, not the fact that it pleased God to bruise His Son, or that Jesus counted it a Joy to suffer the cross. While her little “j” jesus trembled in pain, my Jesus preached “Whoa to you women” as he alertly carried His cross. In the movie the actor portraying Jesus stumbles about and falls with regularity and at time seems bewildered and nearly unconscious. This is the jesus this lady perceives in her head after a lifetime or reading the Bible!

This lady believed she had seen Christ, she was moved by the actor’s jestures, movements, and portrayal. She has read the Bible her whole life and her concept of what Christ accomplished on the cross was limited to His physical suffering as portrayed in the film. She did not understand Christ’s substitutionary atonement. She does not understand that the real pain that Jesus experienced that day was when God the Father forsook His Son when He took upon Himself the sins of the world. For the first and last time in eternity Jesus was not in fellowship with His Father. That pain is simply unimaginable and unportrayable with any form of media. The images portrayed in the movie caused this woman to stumble into sin as she worshiped an image of Christ and not Christ Himself. And to think her church provided her with the opportunity to stumble into sin, and to cause much time being spent in counseling because of the damage her church and this movie caused. Yet she did not immediately perceive that she had unrepentant sin in her life until she had been counseled from Scripture and the Holy Spirit moved her to repentance.

Perhaps you think that one woman falling into sin is worth the greater good. Do you believe we have an inalienable right to cause even one person to sin? And this was no isolated case, in my church alone I spent months working with people to teach them that, like every word that proceeds from your mouth must bring grace to every hearer, so too must every image you cause another to view.

So I wonder if “Christ Like Counseling Ministries” will see the light and cease causing weak brothers to fall into sin by implanting a knowledge of evil into the heads of onlookers by providing images we as Christians were never meant to have, nor make, nor provide to others.

To continue doing so only causes Jesus to be seen as less Christly.

I look forward to receiving future newsletters from your fine organization and hope that your articles will encourage, enlighten and exhort me, as they always have, but do so without the unnecessary use of graven images.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

Sincerely
Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

How to reduce crime?

2005-07-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

Statistics say:

“Kill the criminal before he grows up to commit a crime!”

The other night, well past Jay Leno and before daylight, I found myself awake for some unknown reason. The last time this happened I turned on the TV to discover America was at war, so with curiosity I turned on the TV. Through the horrific reception I watched a news program, such as nightline or 20/20, and what the guest speaker had to say horrified me. It reminded me of a Tom Cruise movie I saw some years back called “Minority Report.” In the movie Tom plays a futuristic cop who nabs people who will, in the future, commit murder. Mind you the criminals haven’t actually committed the crime yet, but through the use of three sedated, immobile, diviners of the future, Tom is able to foretell who will commit murder in the future and arrest the bad guys before they do the dirty deed. Murder, as a result, ceases to be committed. The movie fails to mention how society might respond with morality to such severe punishment. Under the old covenant, a rebellious child who dishonored his parents was to be stoned. With such severe punishment, it was unlikely that this crime was widespread, as Jews are still around to this day.

The guest speaker on the program was Steve D. Levitt, Professor of the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago, and co-author of “Freakonomics”, which currently is number three on the New York Times best-seller list. The wildly popular book, co-written by journalist Stephen J. Dubner, contains supposedly solid evidence to support all types of claims concerning economic and social trends.

In the book “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything”, the two Steve’s impose their statistical prowess on all sorts of subjects such as sumo wrestling, teacher performance, teenage drug use, gun ownership, gangs, crime rates, and they propose various causes for the trend changes in such things.

Steve Levitt has appeared on The Today Show, The Daily Show with John Stewart, and The O'Reilly Factor in addition to the show I watched. But that is not all; Steve Levitt recently received an award as the best American economist under 40 and recently was interviewed by Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). Mr. Robertson, of 700 club fame, couldn’t get enough of Mr. Levitt and even said of Steve’s book, “This is a tremendous read. If you want to have some fun this summer, read “Freakonomics”.”

So if Pat Robertson liked this guy’s book, what could cause me to be so outraged and horrified? Because Steve Levitt claims that legalized abortion reduces crime rate. In case you didn’t catch it, I will say it again:

Legalized abortion reduces crime rate

Of course that is my wording, so let me use Steve’s own words directly from the abstract of his own paper "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime."1

---- Abstract -----
We offer evidence that legalized abortion has contributed significantly to recent crime reductions. Crime began to fall roughly 18 years after abortion legalization. The 5 states that allowed abortion in 1970 experienced declines earlier than the rest of the nation, which legalized in 1973 with Roe v. Wade. States with high abortion rates in the 1970s and 1980s experienced greater crime reductions in the 1990s. In high abortion states, only arrests of those born after abortion legalization fall relative to low abortion states. Legalized abortion appears to account for as much as 50 percent of the recent drop in crime.

But Steve’s abstract is filled with legalese, and is written specifically for factual purposes, so let us look at a time when he is freer to express himself, like during his Pat Robertson interview when he was asked the following question: (taken directly from the interview transcript @ http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050701a.asp)

ROBERTSON:
There was a dramatic drop in crime that took place roughly 20 years after Roe versus Wade. You looked at all of the factors that limit crime, and what was your conclusion?

LEVITT:
I want to be clear. In no sense, are we advocating abortion - this is not about whether abortion is right or wrong. We are simply trying to look at the social manifestations. We found that abortion was one of the three factors that seems to have reduced crime in the 1990s. And the logic of that is simple. There were a huge number of abortions performed in the 70s – about a million a year. And only three million children are born in this country each year. And, the kind of women who were opting for abortion tended to be young women, single women – women who didn’t feel they could take care of their children. So then you fast-forward 20 years, and those children simply were not there. They hadn't grown up to be the criminals. And that’s the logic of our argument, which we support with data. But I can't caution enough that in no way are we trying to advocate abortion, or saying it is right or wrong. We are just trying to understand why crime fell, and not spend a lot of public resources on things that maybe didn't work. But people are claiming credit for it.

In his answer Mr. Levitt goes out of his way to say that he is, in no sense, is advocating abortion. Could it be that his cautious wording was due to the fact that he was speaking to a man seen by many in this country as a Christian leader? On the show I was watching on July 7th, Mr. Levitt never mentioned a single word of caution concerning “not advocating abortion”, or “social manifestations”, and he never said a word concerning God’s law, right and wrong or even civil morality. No, Mr. Levitt doesn’t climb out on a limb to actually speak what his statistics say loud and clear; and his statistics indicate that:

Primarily because of legalized abortion, 10,000,000 (that’s 10 million), aborted fetuses of ‘70s women, 30% of an entire decade of children, a future generation, never grew up to become criminals and commit crimes, thankfully, effectively reducing the crime rate in a cost efficient manner.

And Steve Levitt does not see the need to speak as to whether this is right or wrong! But as a Christian I must, and so I will.

Mr. Levitt and all my fellow Americans, you and I mourned the loss of thousands of American lives on September 11, 2001. Our lives were inexplicably changed by this grievous loss of innocent life. It was indeed a crime against humanity in this country. But when I deeply consider “legalized abortion effectively reduces crime” I can think of nothing but Hypocrisy! An oxymoron! Abortion is a crime, perhaps not a criminal crime, but it is a crime against Jesus Himself. You are destroying a living soul creating in His very image. Why, by participating in this very crimeless crime you are committing crime. You are swift to shed blood! By the use of these very statistics and the conclusions they support, one could justify the taking of innocent life. “Better to have an abortion than to chance raising a criminal.” This is wrong in the strongest sense of wrong, it is sin, in fact, the word sin does not do this sin justice. We need a stronger word like “abomination”.

Erik Rudolph sought to reduce crime. He sought to reduce the injustice of legalized murder by committing the very act he chose to reduce. Do we rationalize his murder because the end justifies the means? No, Erik was just as wrong, and his actions no more reflect Christ than does the actions of people participating in abortion.

But I want to be clear, in no sense, am I advocating the killing of guilty abortionist doctors who commit American genocide. But I also will do what Steve Levitt will not. I will say whether this is right or wrong. Abortion does not reduce crime, it increases it. You, Steve, are simply not counting the obvious, as 10,000,000 women across America committed murder in the ‘70s, killing their children, sacrificing the innocent ones in the fire for the gods they idolize, … themselves. This is detestable to God and is a crime against His Son.

We as Americans are horrified, fearful and even angry at the terrorists that attacked the Twin Towers and killed a few thousand of our countrymen. And our British allies are mourning the loss of perhaps a hundred of their own. But I count these deaths nothing compared to the outright slaughter, and the shedding of innocent blood of an unborn generation of human souls. We as Americans should not be fearful of Muslim extremists, but of the righteous, holy God, Who has the power to cast us all into Hell. We all need to rip our clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes on our heads and repent, repent of our complacency, repent of our inaction, repent of our sins! You need not waste time finding suitable ashes, just fall to your knees, confess and repent to God.

America, if you want to fight terrorism, look in the mirror and see the enemy, it is us! We commit genocide without blinking an eye and we justify it with this! A reduced crime rate! My 44 mag. reduces crime; I have never been robbed with it strapped to my shoulder. More Americans own guns than ever before, but perhaps Steve didn’t count the effects of increasing gun ownership on crime. Just ask the women of Florida, who before a serial rapist was caught, purchased firearms in droves, by the thousands, and rape nearly vanished, because a bullet tends to discourage rape. But if guns were the answer then perhaps Erik Rudolph had an effective way to solve a problem.

But I am a Christian and anger and vengeance has no place in my life, nor even in my thoughts. For Christians our weapon is not the gun, but the sword, the sword of the Gospel, preached with knowledge, love and fervency. Not with complacence or tolerance, as the Gospel, preached properly, divinely divides, and is sharper than a two edged sword.

So let us not stand for this outrageous silent statistical justification for murder, rather let us stand fast for the truth of what is right and holy and pure. As for you, Pat Robertson, I cannot believe that you would encourage Steve Levitt by saying, “Thank you for the work you are doing. I hope you write more like this. This is a tremendous read. If you want to have some fun this summer, read “Freakonomics.” It is number three on the New York Times best-seller list.” Perhaps you have strayed too far from your Father to remember His book, you know, - the Bible - , the book that has endured centuries of time, and will continue to long after Steve Levitt’s book, and all the people who unwisely followed it’s assumptions, find their proper place – in Hell!

If you disagree with Steve Levitt and his assumptive conclusions concerning abortion and its effects on crime, please feel free to send him an e-mail or a letter at:

Steve D. Levitt
Address:
Department of Economics,
University of Chicago
1126 East 59th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637
Telephone: (773) 834-1862
Fax: (773) 702-8490
Email: slevitt@midway.uchicago.edu

Better yet pray for him, that God might open his eyes to his need for a Savior or a new purpose in life, that neither guns, nor abortion reduces a man’s desire to commit a crime, but rather the Lord Jesus Christ alone has the power and ability to change a man’s desire to swiftly shed blood. Only Jesus can change the stony heart of a man who would even think that murder is an effective means to reduce murder.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

1 "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime." NBER Website. Thursday, July 07, 2005 file:///C:/terry/The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime.pdf

Faithful, but of what faith are you full?

2005-06-01T11:00:00.001-05:00

Dear brothers and sisters, a short time ago I was considering the summation given to all Christians in regards to the extent we prospered the work of the Lord during our lives upon this Earth: the synopsis of “Well done My good and faithful servant.” It seems such a simple and short sentence to describe an entire lifetime of Christian effort. And this sentence is completely devoid of any gratifying expressions of speech. Where are the words such as great, superior, magnificent, awesome, marvelous, spectacular and incredible? But then I walked past a mirror and it quickly became clear that these words are best saved for the One who is deserving of such accolades. It takes a significant stretch of my imagination to consider myself “good”, and being faithful is such tiring work? So as I meditated on these words my thoughts revolved around loyalty, steadfastness, dependability, constancy, devotion, commitment and fidelity. Are these attributes not the very essence of the meaning of the word faithful in this verse?

But then a thought came on me, “What of the word faithful itself?” I thought of my good friend and mentor Roland Moore as he packs his five kids into the family van on a Sunday afternoon. One might say that that he has a car-full of family, as his van is most definitely packed. And when I go to his house for Sunday lunch he always serves me more than my share, a complete plate-full, and my tea, always a cup-full. I guess one could say that when something is filled to capacity it is full. Simple enough! So how wonder-full would it be if we were all faith-full? Oh how I pray we would all be utterly filled to capacity with faith.

So I set about to think of which type of faith I would pray for us all to be filled with. With all the types of faith available, the choice is very difficult. Certainly spurious faith is not a good choice, likewise for limited faith or conditional faith. But what was the best type of faith? I needed to know. So I turned to the Bible to search for examples of faith and ran across John 4:46-54 which says:

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!” Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!” Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

When I read this text at least four types of faith jumped out at me, some are easily evident and some are less so and take a little geographical and time study to recognize. So let us delve deeply into the text and see what the Lord may reveal.

First we take note of the Nobleman’s condition. Everyone in his household is mourning and lamenting over his son who is very sick, all remedies at his disposal are obviously failing, and hope is fading as death and desperation fill the air. Possibly his wife, children and servants are all wailing in grief, being sinners without hope. He thinks frantically for any possible solution as his son slips ever closer to the grave. Perhaps someone in town has the answer? But a father does not leave the house of his dieing son. Then he remembers the story about the Galilean who performed signs and wonders, even changing water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, a mere 20 miles away. The boy’s father was in crisis and felt that he had little choice but to fetch this “Jesus” who performed signs and wonders. Perhaps He could save his son’s life. He inquires to find that this Jesus is indeed back in Galilee and upon hearing the news he immediately “went” to meet Him. Being a nobleman has its advantages, and in this hour of great need it is doubtful that a nobleman would walk or even run the required distance. A horse or donkey could easily make the trip in less than 2 hours. Perhaps before noon the nobleman had completed his journey and found Jesus.

But before we go further we must also take into account that this father had a much larger problem than the pending death of his son, because at this moment the nobleman’s entire household was spiritually dead. They were all sinners seemingly destined for Hell. The Nobleman did not believe in God, yet here he stood before God in the flesh who he hoped could save his son. This is a form a faith I shall call crisis faith. It’s a belief shared by sinner and saint alike. It is a faith in something higher and mightier than ourselves yet is not always grounded in faith in Jesus Christ, to the ultimate detriment of those who do not possess the good soil needed to prosper godly seed.

Which one of us does not remember the crisis faith this country experienced after the terrorist attack against our great nation on 9/11? We rallied together in one unified cry, we purchased Chinese made flags by the millions, churches were flooded with converts and bumper stickers across the land announced our newfound sentiment, “One nation under God”. But today the bumper stickers have peeled and faded, the flags rot in our dumps, or wave worn and tattered as a testament to our lack of honor toward our American symbol of independence. And what is to be said of the millions of new Christians that this national tragedy spawned? They quickly became visitors, then pretenders, and now they are as they were before, content to watch Billy Graham on the telly and wish the world was a better place. The seed sprouted, withered and died for the lack of good soil in which to grow. I wonder how many Americans actually remember the year we were attacked. But yet this crisis was not without its purpose as God used it to call and save the remnant elect.

And so we find our unsaved nobleman before Jesus, imploring Him to come to his home to heal his son, as if Jesus could not do the work of His Father from wherever He happened to be. Jesus was aware of the nobleman’s spiritual condition and his lack of saving faith, as well as the faith of the gathered crowd, and said, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” Perhaps changed but undeterred the father again asked Jesus to come to Capernaum and heal his son. Jesus had bigger plans than the simple healing of a sick boy and set about to save not only the child, but his father and family as well, so Jesus said exactly what the boy’s father wanted to hear “Go your way; your son lives.” It was 1 o’clock in the afternoon.

Now this is when things get interesting. The text says that the nobleman believed the word that Jesus had spoke to him. He had believed the word of God and had a newfound type of faith, a confident faith. With certainty he believed his son would be healed. How do we know this? Not only because the text indicates as much, but also because the actions of the father prove it to be the case.

The text says that the nobleman “went” to meet Jesus and later, after he believed the words that Jesus spoke, he “went” his way. But friends, these are entirely two different “wents.” On the way to meet Jesus this father most certainly, “urgently went”; after all, his son lay dying at home in Capernaum. But when the nobleman went his way, after he believed the word of Jesus, he most certainly did not go home with the same sense of urgency. In fact he did not go home at all. Without any means to verify his son’s condition, the father chose not to urgently proceed home, but rather he lingered throughout the rest of the day. The father’s newfound faith, a confident faith, allowed him to progress homeward at his leisure and without the anxiety he experienced on the way to Galilee.

Remember, Jesus preformed His miracle at 1 o’clock and Galilee is only 20 miles from the father’s house. The nobleman could have easily have been home for evening dinner. Yet he spent the night away from his home, his wife, his family and his, as yet unconfirmed, healthy boy. Why the father did not immediately go home, the text does not say. But surely the father’s newfound confident faith is a necessary reason for such behavior.

Nevertheless, the next day, as the father moseys home with no sense of urgency, he meets up with his own servants, sent by his family, who as yet do not know that the father was successful in meeting with the Miracle Worker. The servants tell the father that his boy was healed “yesterday.” But then, if the father had had any doubt, he would have “went” home yesterday instead of today. This new word brought by the servants concerning what the father already believed would happen, changed the father’s confident faith to a new type of faith. The father although still not home, having not yet seen his son, had received his sign and he believed with a new confirming faith.

When the nobleman finally made it home to find his son both alive and healthy, the family most certainly shared its experience of the son’s sickness miraculously leaving his body, and their desire to “tell dad all about it.” You can almost hear the wife saying, “What took you so long? Did your donkey end up in a ditch? Junior was well yesterday afternoon, so we sent the servants to find you. Did you ever meet up with that Jesus fellow?” And you can almost hear the nobleman as he gathers his whole household around the table to tell them about “Jesus, the Savior in Whom I now believe, has done this thing and saved my son.” And he and his whole household believed because of the father’s newfound contagious faith.

Shortly after I was saved my pastor saw something in me that I did not see in myself and he invited me along on his evangelism trips. In a very short time God was saving people all around me. It seemed as though everyone I met was either being saved or reviling me in public. My few remaining unsaved friends thought it most peculiar to be around me because of the reaction of total strangers to my presence. At times strangers would come up to me, even in public places, and in fits of rage they would say the most bizarre and hateful things against my Christian faith. How these strangers even knew I was a Christian was beyond my understanding. Yet at other times I would meet a person and simply knew “she’s next”, and sure enough, two weeks later that person would be begging me to hear what the Bible had to say. So confident was I in God, so confirming was He toward me, so contagious did Jesus make my faith, that at times I even tested these thoughts by purposefully avoiding speaking at all to a prospective person, only allowing myself to live before them. I would not even mention Jesus, God or even religion. And yet every one came to ask me what I had that they did not? It was an awesome time in my life as God used an idiot like me to reap souls for Himself. Yet, over much time, I have come to see that I was a very weak believer. You see, it doesn’t take a whole lot of faith when you see God in action and the Devil’s work all around you. When the war is so evident and the signs and wonders of Jesus are everywhere, you don’t really need to rely on faith. Certainly there has to be a deeper faith than that of contagious faith.

To that end, God doesn’t let me reap much these days preferring me to toil in harder soil, and increasing my faith and reliance in Him, by not allowing me to experience the signs and wonders He once showed me so often. It takes a great deal more faith to plant seeds in soil that you may never see sprout, and to water soil that may or may not even have a seed, requires still more faith. Yet we will never know if the nobleman ever went beyond a contagious faith, because his story ends with the salvation of his family.

But there was a another man in the nobleman’s own hometown of Capernaum that possessed a much greater faith, a faith that we all should desire, a faith greater than a crisis faith, greater than a confident faith, greater than a confirming faith and even greater than a contagious faith.

This man had a faith that saw Jesus not as a rabbi, not as a miracle worker, or performer of signs and wonders, but rather he had a faith that merely sought a Word from Christ and knew that that Word was truth, and would come to pass, because this man’s faith knew Jesus as “Lord”. This man was obviously a Christian as sinners cannot be saved unless they know Jesus as Lord. And do not think that I am saying a person can receive Christ as Savior, but not as Lord, as if we humans could wax short the arm of God. Nor I am saying that we in some way make Jesus Lord. Jesus alone is Savior of the saints and is Lord over sinner and saint alike, and whether the saint believes this or not, this truth remains unaltered.

It behooves us all to understand that as we grow in our faith, as we study the word, as we avail ourselves of the means of grace and take the word seriously, we can know more and more about Christ. As we know more about Him intellectually and experientially, we will know him with a fullness of faith that perhaps others do not. We know He is sovereign. We know He is King. We know these things and never doubt them. We have cognizant faith: a faith that is increasingly aware of the power of God in our lives, regardless of what we see, based upon a knowledge of God that many believers themselves reject: a knowledge of His absolute sovereignty. When you see God as Lord with all authority and power, over you and all things, you do not need your faith to be confirmed with signs and wonders. You simply trust that He will do what His word says He will do. This is why Abraham’s faith grew stronger while he was yet childless. This is why Samson killed more Philistines in his death than during his life and this is why the centurion’s servant lived to see another day. These men believed in God with a Cognizant faith, fully aware of who God truly is.

Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a certain servant of a centurion, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, “for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.” And they pleaded with Him saying, “The centurion’s servant is lying at home paralyzed and dreadfully tormented.” And Jesus said to them, “I will come and heal him.” Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Then Jesus said to those who were sent, “Go your way; and as he has believed, so let it be done for him.” And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick. (Assemblage of Luke 7:1-9 & Matthew 8:5-13)

I pray that the Christians of this church body would be filled with this cognizant faith, being every moment, fully aware of who Jesus is, for He is Lord, Savior, Messiah and King. And from this day forth live every moment of the short life you have left becoming wise as defined by Proverbs 11:30 when it says “He that winneth souls is wise.” For if we are truly cognizant of who Christ is, we will be confident in our faith and our faith will not fail to be contagious.

But if you do not know Jesus as all four, and render under Him as much, then you likely don’t know Him at all and I beg you to see that Jesus is not far off, like the nobleman, you can be with Him while today is yet today, and remain with Him forever if you will repent and believe that He is Lord, Savior, Messiah and King, Amen.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

From Dust to Dust and All the Toil in Between

2005-05-01T11:00:00.000-05:00

In Genesis 2:15, God took Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. Later He commanded Adam and Eve to, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28b).” No blood was shed, either by animals or man, for God had given every green herb for food for both man and animals. The fruit of every tree, less one, could be enjoyed. The Earth yielded its abundance freely, in perfect measure and with its full strength, and God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good, and the man and his wife were naked and were not ashamed.

I venture to say that no man beyond Adam has the capability to comprehend the true and utter magnificence of life within the Garden of Eden, because no man since Adam has experienced an Earth that was “very good,” an Earth free of toil, free of futility, free of vanity, and free of death. Can you imagine such a life? That’s what I thought; neither can I. Such a life is simply beyond our understanding.

But Eve, while living such a life as we cannot even comprehend, heeded the voice of the serpent and ate. She usurped the role of her husband and was judged by God. She, and all women, would bring forth children in pain. In like manner, Adam heeded the voice of his wife and ate of the one tree he was commanded not to eat. By God, he was forewarned that from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he should not eat, for in the day that he ate of it he would surely die. In the Garden of Eden there was another tree, the tree of life, from which Adam could freely eat. But Adam, now in a fallen condition, having sinned against God, could no longer be allowed to eat of the tree of life, as doing so would have caused him to live forever. Adam, fully capable of choosing to sin or remain upright, had chosen poorly and had become the same as you and I, a wretched sinner! Can you imagine living such a dreadful life, a sinner’s life, and living it forever? If you are Christian you most certainly can relate, because you were born evil, and until glory, evil you will remain, for even our present redemption has not yet delivered us from our decaying bodies. But thankfully, through our God’s mercy, He has predetermined the number of our days and will bring them to an end before we bear more than we are able.

So our faithful and loving God, having mercy on Adam’s fallen condition and knowing of the misery that was to beset him, cast Adam and his wife from the garden, to till the ground from which Adam was taken, saying beforehand, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

So it was with this one act that all the Earth was cursed with futility. No longer would man easily tend a garden which gladly yielded its full strength. Now all mankind would struggle with constant futility. Man’s simple tending had become ineffective toil. Man would forevermore strive pointlessly. Man would endeavor to prosper, but to no avail. The lives of the sons of men had become vanity, sharing the same fate as the dogs. King Solomon, wrote, “I said in my heart with regard to human beings that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again (Ecclesiastes 3:18-20).”

A short time ago I heard a radio pastor speaking on this verse as he attempted to use it to prove that King Solomon, the wisest man ever created, had no idea of the concept of bodily resurrection, and that the grave was all that followed death, even for the believer. This pastor mistakenly attributes Isaiah 22:13 to King Solomon when the Bible says “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” The Holy Spirit simply has not granted this Pastor the understanding that King Solomon was fully aware of a human resurrection after death. Was it not King Solomon that wrote, “He that winneth souls is wise (Proverbs 11:30)?” If one wins a soul for God but it is simply lost with the onset of corruption, then both new believers and their Christian soul winners should be pitied more than anyone else on the earth. For they have died to themselves while yet alive and have denied themselves daily only to die the same fate as the dogs. But such is not the case as our hope in Christ is not for this life only (Based on 1 Corinthians 15:19). This is a concept King Solomon understood entirely.

In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon took his time to record in detail, the pursuit of human endeavor while on Earth. Numerous times in this small book does he give us the answer to the age old question, “What’s the point of life?” So let’s delve deeply and find out what the Bible has to say about what a Christian is to do with his life, despite all this futility. First let’s look at some people who are doing it all wrong.

Example #1 -- The Selfish Worker --- Ecclesiastes 4:8
There is one alone, without companion: He has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, “For whom do I toil and deprive myself of pleasure now?” This also is vanity and a worthless task.

This unsaved man will die having succeeded in accumulating nothing more than a pile of garbage, which stands in stark contrast to the man who wrote, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:8) It is in Christ alone that our work and our labor become meaningful. Our work is still toil, but in Christ it is toil with purpose.

Example #2 -- The Selfish Saver -- Luke 12:16-21
The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?” So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” “So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

This man said “I” and “my” so many times I lost count. He laid claim to everything. In his mind his crops were his, his barns were his, his goods were his, his land, his labor, his time, even his soul he thought of as his. He was not rich toward God but rather rich toward himself. But that night God, the owner and giver of all things, was going to take one small thing from this rich man, his breath. And then what would become of his riches, his life’s work, not to mention the fact that he lost his soul? Of this King Solomon said, “Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19).”

So what is the point and purpose of all this futility? Why would God curse the Earth and the labor of mankind in the first place?

One must understand that God’s purpose in all things is to glorify Himself. If you grasp this understanding then many things become obvious. God did not destroy Satan because, in letting him live, mankind now knows the difference between good and evil. As well we equally understand our need for God’s mercy because, without salvation, we inherently serve Satan (Luke 16:13). Satan’s and our sins stand in greater contrast to God’s righteousness because we now have a knowledge of good and evil (reference: the tree in the garden). No longer are we naked and unashamed, but rather now we have a need for a covering just as in the garden when God killed an animal to cover Adam and Eve. But an animal’s blood would not suffice. So it pleased God to send Jesus, our redeemer, who came to save sinners, not the righteous. Why? Because those who have been forgiven much, love much in return. Again, the further a heathen is from Christ-likeness the more glorifying it is for God to save him. I think of the Apostle Paul who once persecuted Jesus, then later labored more than all the other Apostles in the name of Jesus. He, a chief of sinners, had been forgiven much. It is in these contrasts that greater glory is found. So for the same glorifying contrast, God cursed the Earth because to do so magnifies God’s mercy when futility in a man’s labor drives him back to Christ through Whom all things come. The harder a Christian’s life, the more he must rely on his Father for faith, grace, and mercy. The less a Christian has in his life, the more his hope secures when he no longer has need of hope. So now that the deed is done and futility is upon us, what is a Christian to do?

Let’s look at the perfect worker Himself.
Jesus repeatedly said throughout His life that He was sent to Earth to accomplish the will of His Father. Jesus labored in this task perfectly despite the many toils listed in Isaiah 53:6-9. But, in verse 10b God says of His Son “and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.” This task and all the others that His Father assigned, Jesus accomplished.

So what is the point of your life? First and foremost you must be converted! Without salvation your life will serve to glorify God only in His ultimate condemnation of you. Without salvation nothing you do will please God and everything you do, even worshipping God, is sin (Romans 8:8)! Jesus said “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of Heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3-4).” But what does this mean, “become as little children?” Little children have no money, no wisdom, no knowledge, no power, no job, they own nothing and have no ability to give back for all that is given to them, and they rely entirely on their fathers and mothers for their very existence. But then, perhaps this is the very thing that Christ had in mind. The Bible says that we are not adequate in ourselves to think of anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God (2 Corinthians 3:5). Perhaps the difference between little children and adults is that little children have not yet forgotten who to rely on for their daily bread. If you have yet to rely on Jesus, do so while the day is yet today, because tonight your soul may be required of you, and the flames of Hell a real and cannot be quenched.

Ah, but you are saved, praise the Lord Jesus. God has blessed you with many spiritual and physical blessings. You go to church and fellowship with the brethren. You do not covet or steal. You are content with all that you have. (Hebrews 12:29). You are aware that there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for you brought nothing into the world, nor will you take anything out of it. But if all you had was food and clothing, would you be content with these? The Bible says that people who want to be rich, fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains (Based on 1 Timothy 6:6-10).

I have been blessed with many material blessings. In past years my household has gained more than enough in a single year to buy another two or more households. Yet these material things never brought me joy, in fact they nearly destroyed me by bringing me to the brink of apostasy. Likewise, I have watched as others I know have become entirely consumed with the selfish acquisition of material wealth, denying family, loved ones, themselves and even the truth in the process. Ecclesiastes 5:12 says that the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not permit them to sleep. I sleep well these days. Like King David, I am surrounded by ten thousand enemies, and my sleep is sweet. Yet God has not chosen to take from me the abundance of material things He has given me, preferring to make me a worker, using my calling to feed the sheep and toil under the sweat of my brow. I praise God that He has restored me and made me His worthless slave.

Serving God and His Sheep
Colossians 3:22-24 says, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord. Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ.”

I serve the Lord Christ, but do I serve him with a whole heart? A short time ago I heard some brothers say that I do nothing half way; that I go all out in all that I do. Oh, how I pray this was true, but I fail miserably. I and Christians worldwide are far too content to be motivated, we are too easily pleased; we do not set our hearts on the joys in Christ. We read of the incredible rewards and promises of God written in the Gospels and are not stirred into a greater pleasure in our God, nor do we increase in our labor for Him, and our pursuit of joy in Christ is set aside so that we may play with our earthly trinkets. Repent and serve Christ!

Robbing God of His Due
Malachi 3:8-10a says, “Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house,” Are we not robbing God when we do not seek to serve His sheep with our whole heart? Jesus said that the first great commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

How can we think that we can love the Lord yet not serve His sheep who know him? While the old covenant believer had a set rule of 10%, the new covenant believer knows that God owns it all, and that we are but stewards of all that God gives to us. We are to spend and give as God would have us to. So who controls God’s money in your house, God or your own selfish flesh?

A Changing of Your Ways
Ephesians 4:28 says, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.”

Does your labor return enough to allow you to give to others, or do you spend all that you earn on you and your family’s lifestyle? The Bible says “a worker is worth his wages”; are you receiving wages worthy of the Lord’s work that you are providing to your master? It is your duty to earn what your work is worth so that you may have something to give to others.

The Pleasure and Duty of Giving Material Things
Romans 15:25-27, says “But now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints. For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem. It pleased them indeed, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.”

Do you minister to others not only in spiritual things but also in material things? If you are not blessed financially, but are able bodied, then you likewise have a duty to serve through the means you possess.

Toil Without Vanity
1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

The Bible says that the word of God does not return void. Likewise the labor of a Christian doing the work of the Lord will never be in vain.

So this brings us to a certain point. You are saved. You understand that because of the curse, your life will be filled with futility. You have seen the error of your ways in the way that you handle both your labor and the assets that you receive in return, but you still would like to know how to deal with the constant distress and misery that come with life lived in a fallen world.

Let’s take a look into an example from a good friend of mine, Roland Moore. A man I have studied and questioned and observed with great inquisition for what to him must seem like years (I am a high maintenance friend). A short time ago I arrived at Roland’s house to find him elbow deep in grease from his car’s radiator, which futility would have it, needed to be replaced. Seems that a routine trip blew a hole in the radiator, and the leak could cause serious engine damage. Karen, Roland’s wife, drove to Roland’s location to exchange vehicles, but not before Roland, McGyver style, temporarily repaired the radiator with bubble gum or putty or some other substance he had handy at the time. Karen was able to limp the car home without incident. Roland upon arriving home asked Karen if she smelled anything on the trip home, perhaps leaking radiator fluid. Karen, who strangely enough knows these things, said she smelled nothing “but the engine sure did squeal.” Roland, assuming damage to the water pump, went to investigate the matter only to find that the squeal was his now totally destroyed alternator. With the radiator now replaced and returning from yet another trip to Auto Zone, Roland installs the new alternator only to find that the alternator he just bought is not the correct one. Another trip to the store, another alternator installed and now my friend truly resembles a full fledged grease monkey. So I inquire of my friend as to how he remains in good spirits and without frustration during his obvious suffering of futility and toil. And my remarkable friend says that he praises God because of His mercy. He said, “God could have allowed this to happen while on the highway, or on a family trip, but God instead worked it out so that I could fix it in my driveway and not even miss the evening service.”

You see, my friend, whether he knows it or not, has learned not only to persevere during suffering, but also to deny his flesh’s desire. He could have allowed his emotions to get the best of him with anger, or self pity, or depression, but Roland instead remained steadfast, immovable, and abounded in the work of the Lord. Because of this, God’s pleasure, which was to teach me, prospered in Roland’s hand. This is the difference between a mature Christian and an adolescent Christian who is blown about by every wind that blows. A mature Christian does not simply read and gain wisdom and express it through fervent emotions, but rather he works what he has learned into a lifestyle of experience that glorifies God in all that he labors to do.

So how do you handle your life’s futility? How do you respond to others when they cut you off on the way to work? When the waiter himself wouldn’t eat what he just served you? Or when the grass grows faster, the bills come quicker, the in-laws just show up and the kids act a fool? How ‘bout much harder things, such as your daughter telling you she just had an abortion, your husband running off with his secretary, your brother refusing to abandon himself to Christ despite your best soul winning effort, and the diagnosis you never wanted to hear?

When these things come you will need more than any willpower you are able to muster, you will need to know and believe that God’s grace is sufficient for you. And there is no better time than now to start living and believing as Paul did when he said, “I consider 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 creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.” (Romans 8:18-25)

Oh, dear Lord please seal these verses to our hearts and minds that we may not only be prepared to persevere when suffering comes, but that we might so deeply believe that we will without fail count it all joy when we fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces patience. We ask that you let patience have its perfect work in us that we may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Amen

The great and wise King Solomon wrote:
“Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18)

May God say of you when your days are done “My pleasure prospered in my good and faithful servant’s hand; his toil has not been in vain, well done My good and faithful servant.”

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

P.S. God in His providence always amazes me. He is a magnificent God and plays with irony as a child plays with his toys. At this moment, as I type these very words, I hear the muffled sounds of a storm, remnants of a hurricane, raging outside and the sound of the Coleman generator that is supplying the power to this computer. As futility would have it, the storm took out the power some time ago, endangering my chance of finishing this article and the church directory before tomorrow’s deadline. So I had no choice but to go out in the rain and hook up the generator and all the cables so I could finish this article about toil and futility. How is that for providence? Thank you God, I count it a joy, Amen.

Let there be light.

2005-04-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Once again I find myself sick, and when I am sick I become deeply meditative about larger things that I rarely think about when I am well. I think about the heavens and celestial planets whirling about on their God given courses. I think about subatomic particles and the forces that God chose to hold all things together with, and I reflect of the incredible complexity and physics of God’s natural laws.

I know it is not the Gospel, likewise this article won’t save anyone’s soul, but someday you might be sick and need to get some sleep. So on that day you grab this article and let me assist you in that endeavor.

We all know that God created the heavens and the earth and all things on it. Nothing was ever made that God did not make. And when He was done He pronounced it good. God created, matter, time and all three dimensions of space and chose how all things relate to others. He in effect created the laws by which all created matter interacts with all other matter. Yet he is not limited to, nor controlled by His creation, and can interact with it outside of the very laws he created, such as when He stopped the sun for Joshua. But by and large God works within the realm of the initial laws He chose to govern time and space with. But there is one law that God always works within, by virtue of His nature, God cannot sin. He cannot bear false witness through the very laws he created.

So what do the laws of physics and God have to do with each other? Only one of the greatest mysteries to face a Christian, that is if you like to consider the ways of God. But I see some of you are getting very sleepy already. Night! Night!

For the mathematical geeks and the deep thinkers that are still reading, this article will attempt to resolve a question I have had on my mind for years. A question concerning light, that’s right, light, a word that God uses to describe Himself. Have you ever wondered why Heaven is described as being made of all those precious jewels, the very jewels that reflect light? And what is the ultimate form that all the elect take? Do we not become images of Jesus Christ, a very reflection of Him, a reflection of the very light that emanates from Him? Yet at the other end of the spectrum, that is, in the beginning instead of the end, there is a problem with light. Because God said “Let there be light” at a single point in time relative to the creation of man, this poses a great problem. You see light is more than just light, light emanating from an object illustrates the very essence of the object and reveals vast amounts of actual truth about the object and its actions. Keep this thought in mind as it is the very basis of the mystery.

For instance, when you look at the moon reflecting the light given off by the sun, you are not blinded by a yellow ball blazing in the night, but rather you see the very features of the moon. You see rotation, movement and reflections of actual craters and fields of rocks and other real surface features. At the speed of light the reflection of the sun’s rays off the moon take a certain amount of time to reach the earth. We all understand this from high school in the simple formula: Time = Distance divided by Speed

Although a lot faster, the speed of light is similar to the speed of sound. I can shoot you with my 375 Holland & Holland Magnum from so far away that the bullet hits you seconds before you actually hear the sound of the bullet. Yet the bullet is just as real the first two seconds as it is after you hear it. Likewise light reflects the actual truth of real events whether they take a long time to get to earth or not. Let’s take our example of the moon. When we look at the sun’s light reflecting off the moon’s surface features, what we see is like a slightly delayed movie of the actual surface of the moon. A movie because we are seeing continual true and actual visions of the surface features on the moon and slightly delayed because light is not instantaneous, it takes a short amount of time to get from the moon to our eyes. But never the less, the light reflection reveals true and actual moon features. Do you remember when Jupiter was hit years ago by numerous asteroids? We could actually see the asteroids hitting Jupiter with telescopes on earth, but because of the distance, the actual light revealing the event to our telescopes took a much longer time to get to earth. The event was actually over by the time we saw it happen here on earth. Yet still we witnessed an actual true event revealed in the light emanating from Jupiter, just more delayed than looking at our own moon. In other words an astronomer is perfectly justified in interpreting, as truth, what is revealed in the light reflecting off the moon or even light reflecting off or emanating from even more distant planets and stars. When there is a dust storm on the moon it is a real dust storm, and it is reflected as such to us on earth through the medium of reflected light.

Now let us, in our minds, move our moon a distance of twenty thousand light years away from the earth. Would the light reflecting off the moon still reveal the same surface features and events? Of course, but the light would just take longer to get from the moon to our eyes. Now as Christian creationists we believe that the Bible supports a young universe, not a universe millions of years old as our opponents believe. However because distance from one planet to another can be accurately measured on earth by numerous methods, we as creationists cannot argue with the fact that the known universe is so vast that light, at it’s currently accepted speed, would take longer to travel across it than the years we believe the universe existed. Yet we look up in the sky and see the light of stars too far away to account for how the light has already reached our planet. With our moon twenty thousand light years away, we should still have to wait another ten thousand years, give or take a few thousand, before we actually see it. Herein lays the problem and the basis for our creation dilemma. The mystery of “how can the light of a star twenty thousand light years away be seen by a Christian in a universe that is perhaps less than ten thousand years old?”

The obvious solution is for God to have simply created light in transit, already on its way to earth before Adam was created. However this poses a far worse problem, as this would mean that God created a detailed series of signals revealed in the light beams reaching earth, signals that seem to reveal actual and true events, when they in fact do not reflect events that had actually happened and therefore this light would have no conceivable purpose. Or in other words, Adam on that first night would have seen the behavior of distant stars and what he saw happening, never happened at all. This would be like saying that God created fossils within the rocks on earth, only to fool us, as they do not represent a real animal that had actually lived and died on earth at some actual point in the past. This would be a strange deception on God’s part and therefore cannot be true. There must be a better explanation of how direct or reflected light from distant planets and stars made it to earth for Adam to see on his first night or even for us to see now.

So how did God create light that we know reflects true and actual features of that off which it is reflecting, in a young universe created just days before man was planted on it? How did a star with real surface features, and actual climate events such as solar flares, shine light onto earth on day seven when it was one thousand light years away? When Adam looked up and saw the light emanating from a billion stars, what exactly was he looking at, a real movie of actual surface features and real cosmic events of real stars, or some strange light lie? Or did Adam simply see the close stars and one by one the light emanating off ever most distant stars appeared in the night sky? If this were the case, ever more distant stars would still be showing up today. Yet new stars are not appearing in the night sky.

So if the distance to stars is measurable, then perhaps the speed of light was once much faster than it is now. This theory once promoted by Barry Setterfield and later by co-author Trevor Norman,1 has an insurmountable problem in that consequences of a degrading speed of light would still be discernable in light from distant galaxies. Yet this does not appear to be the case. 2

So if the distance to stars is accepted and provable and the speed of light has remained constant then the only untouched feature of our formula: (Time = Distance divided by Speed) is time.

Sir Isaac Newton long ago formed the basic mathematical formulas for the Theory of Gravity. This theory remained largely unchanged until Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity (GR) deduced that light traveled at a known and calculateable rate of speed. Light could be bent by the gravitational pull of a dense mass but the speed of light could not be increased by the same mass. In effect light has a speed limit, which is assuming, as most scientists do, that the universe is endless. The reason they must assume an endless universe is that without it, there is an increasing gravitational effect as one moves closer to the center of a limited universe. Such a limited universe, with an actual edge, like a balloon or ball, is supported by the Bible as God is beyond the heavens and will one day roll it up like a scroll (Revelation 6:14). With a limited universe, time goes faster the further out from the center you get. Einstein’s (GR) has told us for decades that time is not constant, as a simple test will prove. If you take two identical digital watches set at either extremes of the Sears Tower in Chicago, they run at different speeds with the higher running faster. When you reverse the location of the watches, the faster one that once was on top of the tower, now runs slower and eventually is surpassed by the once slower watch now higher up. Gravity affects time. It is also interesting to note that in (GR) - without mass there is no time.

When Darwin’s wife died and he went on a personal rampage of vengeance to defame God, likeminded scientists needed an answer for the origin of all things. They created the Big Bang out of nothing theory that would seemingly introduce a central point of origin, yet these same scientist hold on to the theory that the universe is boundless without any means of proof. How did their center point of origin become a boundless universe without the gravitational distortions of time? With a limited universe, once you reach the edge time ceases to exist and as you travel inward, toward the center, time slows and gravity builds.

When you introduce the assumption of Biblically supported finite space to the universe, the planet masses at the center have a slower time and a higher gravitational effect on time, as the whole of the universe in effect acts as one massive, contained object. Even if we accept the Biblically supported young and limited universe theory, there is considerable evidence that the universe is expanding. This too is Biblically supported as the Bible tells us that at creation God stretched out (or spread out) the heavens. (Isaiah 42:5, Jeremiah 10:12, Zecheriah 12:1). This could indicate that perhaps there was a time when the universe occupied a much smaller space. An expanding universe makes sense if you are God and desire to glorify Yourself by never allowing created humans, as their technologies improve, to fully discover the limit of Your creation.

In The Answer Book, by Authors Ken Ham, Jonathan Sarfati and Carl Wieland, 3 a new cosmology theory by creationist physicist Dr. Russell Humphreys is introduced and explained in the simplest of terms. This article is based on Dr. Russell Humphreys’ cosmology theory and its associated mathematical formulas. In abridged and edited form author Ken Ham had this to say about Dr. Russell Humphreys’ new cosmology theory.

Dr. Russell Humphreys, a creationist physicist proposed a new cosmology that could solve the creationist problem with distant light in a too young universe. It has passed peer review before the 1994 Pittsburg International Conference on Creationism. Although this new cosmology model has come under fire from old universe, big bang scientists, Dr. Humpreys has been able to defend his mathematical model as well as develop it further. 4

Dr. Humphreys' new creationist cosmology literally "falls out" of the equations of Einstein’s (GR), so long as one assumes that the universe has a boundary. In other words, that it has a center and an edge - that if you were to travel off into space, you would eventually come to a place beyond which there was no more matter. In this cosmology, the earth is near the center, as it appears to be as we look out into space.

This might sound like common sense, as indeed it is, but all modem secular ("big bang") cosmologies deny this. That is, they make the arbitrary assumption (without any scientific necessity) that the universe has no boundaries - no edge and no center. In this assumed universe, every galaxy would be surrounded by galaxies spread evenly in all directions (on a large enough scale), and so, therefore, all the net gravitational forces cancel out. And therefore no time distortions can exist.

However, if the universe has boundaries, then there is a net gravitational effect toward the center. Clocks at the edge would be running at different rates to clocks on earth. In other words, God made the universe in six days as we experience them on earth, but if we were near the outer edge of the universe, these same six days would have seemed much longer to our experience? (If we say six days in "God's time" we miss the point that He created the flow of time as we now experience it; He is outside of time, seeing the end from the beginning.)5

If the universe is not much bigger than we can observe, and if it was only 50 times smaller in the past than it is now, then scientific deduction based on (GR) means it has to have expanded out of a previous state in which it was surrounded by an event horizon (a condition known technically as a "white hole" - a black hole running in reverse, something permitted by the equations of (GR)).

As matter passed out of this event horizon, the horizon itself had to shrink - eventually to nothing. Therefore, at one point this horizon would have been touching the earth. In that instant, time on the earth (relative to a point far away from it) would have been virtually frozen. An observer on earth would not in any way "feel different." "Billions of years" would be available (in the frame of reference within which it is traveling in deep space) for light to reach the earth, for stars to age, etc. while less than an ordinary day is passing on earth. This massive gravitational time dilation would seem to be a scientific inevitability if a bounded universe has expanded significantly.

In one sense, if observers on earth at that particular time could have looked out and "seen" the speed with which light was moving toward them out in space, it would have appeared as if it were traveling many times faster than the speed of light. (Galaxies would also appear to be rotating faster.) However, if an observer in deep space was out there measuring the speed of light; to him it would still only be traveling at the accepted speed of light. There is more detail of this new cosmology, at layman's level, in the book by Dr. Humphreys, Starlight and Time, which also includes reprints of his technical papers showing the equations.6

It is fortunate that creationists did not invent such concepts as gravitational time dilation, black and white holes, and event horizons and so on, or we would likely be accused of manipulating the data to solve this problem. The interesting thing about this cosmology is that it is based upon mathematics and physics totally accepted by all cosmologists (general relativity), and it accepts (along with virtually all physicists) that there has been expansion in the past (though not from some imaginary tiny point (big bang)). It requires no "massaging" - the results "fallout" so long as one abandons the arbitrary starting point which big bangers use (the unbounded cosmos idea, which could be called "what the experts don't tell you about the 'big bang'").7

This new cosmology seems to explain in one swoop all of the observations, methods and formulas used to support the false "big bang" theory, including progressive red-shift and the cosmic microwave background radiation, without compromising the data or the Biblical record of a young earth.

CAUTION
While this is exciting news, all theories of fallible men, no matter how well they seem to fit the data, are subject to revision or abandonment in the light of future discoveries. What we can say is that at this point a plausible mechanism has been demonstrated, with considerable observational and theoretical support.

What if no one had ever thought of the possibility of gravitational time dilation? Many might have felt forced to agree with those scientists (including some Christians) that there was no possible solution - the vast ages are fact, and the Bible must be "reinterpreted" (massaged) or increasingly rejected. Many have in fact been urging Christians to abandon the Bible's clear teaching of a recent creation because of these "undeniable facts." This reinterpretation also means having to accept that there were billions of years of death, disease, and bloodshed before Adam, thus eroding the creation, fall and restoration framework within which the gospel is presented in the Bible.

However, even without this new idea, such an approach would still have been wrong-headed. The authority of the Bible should never be compromised by mankind's "scientific" proposals. One little previously unknown fact, or one change in a starting assumption, can drastically alter the whole picture so that what was "fact" is no longer so.

This is worth remembering when dealing with those other areas of difficulty which, despite the substantial evidence for Genesis creation, still remain. Only God possesses infinite knowledge. By basing our scientific research on the assumption that His Word is true (instead of the assumption that it is wrong or irrelevant) our scientific theories are much more likely, in the long run, to come to accurately represent reality.

It is my hope, if you are still awake, that you found this article interesting. For me it answered a vital question, the answer to which is simple. God did not have to create false images in light, nor was it necessary for God to perform some sort of light miracle, in order to create a glorious star filled night for Adam’s enjoyment and God’s glory on the seventh day, the day God rested.

So next time you look up at night and see the moon and that far more distant star, you remember that what you are seeing is real and represents truth, created by an almighty God, Who said “Let there be light” and there was, instantly, and possibly He did it through gravitational time dilation.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

ENDNOTES
1 T.G. Norman and B. Setterfield, The Atomic Constants, Light and Time (privately published, 1990).
2 Ken Ham, Answers Book, Master Books, 27th printing Oct 2002, p. 97
3 Ken Ham, Answers Book, Master Books, 27th printing Oct 2002, p. 99-102
4 D. Russell Humphreys, “Progress Toward a Young-earth Relativistic Cosmology” Proceedings 3rd ICC, Pittsburg, Pa. 1994, p. 267-286
5 Genesis 1:1; Ecclesiastes 3:11; Isaiah 26:4; Romans 1:20;1 Timothy 1:17; and Hebrews 11 :3
6 D. Russell Humphreys, Starlight and time (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 1994).
7 Ken Ham, Answers Book, Master Books, 27th printing Oct 2002, p. 99-102

Twice born and twice to die!

2005-03-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

In 2002, after years of suffering with physical problems and constant sickness, my doctor, a Christian physician by the name of Dr. Terry Johnson, took me not into his examining room, but into his private office and told me that because of my constant illnesses he was thinking of adding another examining room just for me. He was joking, but what he said next was a matter of life and death, that is to say my spiritual life or spiritual death. He said he could find no physical reason why I was sick all the time and out of the blue, and in God’s providence, he asked, “What is wrong in your life?” Partially out of frustration and partially out of spite and envy of his Christianity, which I once enjoyed, I enlightened him with every evil detail and how I sought to move to far away Puerto Penasco, on the Gulf of California in Mexico. When I was simply too tired to speak anymore, Terry said, “Terry, you don’t need another prescription, what you need is to meet a man I know.” He handed me a card and on it was the name of Johnny Touchet. I said, “Touchet! You must to be kidding! Who has a name like Touchet?” My doctor said, “Johnny is a biblical counselor and a Cajun from New Orleans.” It was to turn out to be the best $20 co-payment I ever made.

What my doctor did not know is that I have a great love for the ocean. I love everything about it and I love seafood. And no one cooks seafood better than Cajuns. I have even traveled to New Orleans, not to gamble or to participate in its pagan celebrations, but just to eat. To utterly indulge in Cajun cuisine, which is the most glorious of foods. In between New Orleans and tiny Cocodrie on the Terrebonne Bay you will pass some the last French speaking Roman Catholic Cajuns in America. And if they choose to speak to you in English, then they likely will also serve you some of the finest food on earth. So it is little wonder that I found much interest in talking to Johnny, a Cajun and Christian, preacher and counselor, “Oh this I got to see!”

But my trust in pastors and preachers was at an all time low, as one after another proved completely incapable of expounding upon the sufficiency of Scripture, or utilizing the power to be found within the Word. After 40 years of life, dozens and dozens of churches, numerous denominations and cults, I had spent only 2 years of my life under the leadership of a godly preacher, and he allowed the leaven of gossip to divide the church of my rebirth. A sheep on his own is like a lamb being led to the slaughter, but I was one ticked off sheep and I ate shepards for breakfast. Even though I felt my soul was on the verge of apostasy, I was determined never to allow another preacher to lead me astray again, after all, I was perfectly capable of doing that on my own!

When I found out that Johnny was associated with a church that went by the name of “Providence” I committed in my heart to set aside my move to Mexico and devote myself 100% to one last effort to find the God of my salvation. But I was fed up with preacher men who claimed Christ yet knew Him no better than I. Not one more church, not another preacher, not one more worthless counselor would I speak too if this Johnny fellow was not worth his words.

So on the first night that I met Johnny, my response was simple, “I will do anything to get back to God!” I my mind I thought of the absolute peace and incredible miracles that God allowed me to experience during my faithful years, the 2 years I committed every moment to Him. I thought of the hatred of who I had become and the money. Oh, how I hated mammon, to root of all evil that stole my life away from me. With one match I was willing burn the cars, houses, motorcycles, everything, even my boat to ashes to get back to my Lord and Savior. Johnny said, “Oh really, well then, why don’t you pray to Him?” I said “Pray! Pray! You must be crazy! Why would He want to hear from me after I walked away from Him?” I thought “Apparently this big guy doesn’t understand, I am an apostate, I have counted His blood a common thing, there is no sacrifice left for me! I have already tasted the miraculous power of Jesus. I have seen souls saved by His words emanating from my own mouth. I know of The Way, and have lived it whole heartedly, yet I walked away!” Johnny told me that if I could not pray, he would be gladly pray for me. I thought “Well this is nice, I wonder if any of those worthless preachers ever thought to actually try praying, I doubt most of them knew who they were praying to. I guess I would find out when I got to Hell.”

Johnny’s prayer went something like this, “Dear lord Jesus, do not let this evil sinner sleep another night until he falls to his knees and repents of his …”, I stopped him mid sentence screaming “What are you doing? You are sicking God on me! I thought you were going to pray FOR me!”

Two nights later two things were apparent, I loved this Cajun, and I was never going to sleep again if I did not repent. A year later, two years ago this month, Johnny baptized me in the Providence Pool, I was the last person he baptized before God called him away. He was the only pastor that ever yelled at me, the only pastor that spoke worse English than I do, and when he left I had a hole that would take many godly men to fill. God has since been gracious and filled me with Himself, and then He ran my cup over with godly men anyway.

The Bible says of all Christians that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10) Johnny was a preacher without a pulpit and I knew the day he left for Mt. Moriah that I had lost a counselor. But for the glory of God, I am glad my great friend and mentor is gone, as he was beforehand committed elsewhere and God in His time told Johnny the things which were appointed for him to do. (Acts 22:10)

The Bible makes it clear that we Christians are appointed certain tasks and good works, for which we were purposefully prepared before we were called into salvation, to accomplish through the spiritual gifts we receive upon adoption as sons and daughters of the first born Christ Jesus. As Baptist we believe that newborn believers should be baptized as a sign of this adoption and willful commitment to the body of Christ. It is also appointed for men to die once and after this comes the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27) Yet I propose that true Christians die not only once into corruption, but also once prior and progressively thereafter in relation to their own flesh.

I looked forward to my Baptism for many months yet it was long put off for one reason or another. One Sunday I came to Johnny with more zeal than before and demanded, “Why can’t I be baptized today?” He responded that if I had a change of clothes I could. Strangely, providentially, I had a change of clothes with me for no particular reason. Being gripped with wonder and fear of God, I could not go first as one by one others went into the pool and came out soaked and freezing, but smiling and joyful. I thought, “Apparently dieing to one’s flesh and committing heart, soul and body to Christ must not hurt too much or my church mates would not be smiling.” I entered the frigid water and in my mind made the following commitment, “Dear Lord Jesus, I submit and commit to You what I have considered ours until now, and if I ever unrepentantly spit upon Your blood again for any length of time, then I beg that You kill me without mercy. Do not let me bring reproach upon Your name again. I ask this in Your name and expect this to be true, Amen.” There, it was done, my yes would be yes or I would be dead, praise the Lord. I am sure what Johnny said as he dunked me was really beautiful and meaningful, but I was more interested in total commitment to the glory of my Messiah and death to my flesh one way or the other.

As I stepped up out of that baptismal pool, I felt as though I had died, I had left some part of me behind, to be disposed of when the dirty water was discarded; it was a very strange sensation. On my knees, I bitterly wept uncontrollably, long after my pool mates had changed and left. I simply felt incapable and unworthy to stand.

To this day I crawl, evil snake that I am, unworthy of the election to which I was predestined, unworthy of adoption unto salvation, unworthy of the honor of sanctification. In my mind I am not worthy even of His condemnation.

Yet Christ created me in His image, I am His workmanship, I am sufficient in His power to minister His Word, I am able to walk uprightly in His grace, I will persevere to the end with His mercy, I will forever have the words to say when He gives them to me, I can move mountains with the power of His will, and if He is within me, who can stand against me? I am invincible through the Son who alone sustains me.

Oh, how I can’t wait to know the true, pure freedom from the bonds of this flesh. Free from fear, free from unfaithfulness, free from lust, to be free at last from the evil me. I yearn, I dream, I crave to sit at the table of the feast and drink the best wine, saved till last, with my Lord and Savior and listen to Him receive magnified glory from 10 billion Christians when He tells them how He justified such as one like me. Can you imagine the sound of that many Christian praising Jesus in one accord for the forgiveness of that much sin? The heavens will rumble and shake!

I praise Jesus now, and look forward to that day. But until the day He takes me out, I owe Him my all, not out of some obligation, but rather out of the love and honor I feel toward Him for electing me, saving me, forgiving me and once again restoring me. Can there be any finer commitment than to commit to the mighty God, the great I Am, who first committed to you?

So my eyes now look to you and I wonder who are you committed to? Has the logs of unrepentance clouded your vision? Has the weight of lethargy slowed you to a crawl? Has apathy left you prayerless? What are you hiding in the dark corners of your mind that you cannot love your enemy? Does your tongue steer you on a proper course? Has the lamp of your body viewed evil so long that your body is filled with darkness? Take heed brothers and sisters, listen, I hear the voice of my Master, our Shepard, calling us from across the field, follow me, repent and believe, repent and be restored and we shall sit at His feet and smell the fragrant spikenard of His anointing and eat and drink the new wine, the best wine, saved for last, and our liberty will not be constrained on that day, but rather we will be free, complete and full because He is there. Amen.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

Every Appearance of a Christian.

2005-02-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

In 1993, just months after I was saved in a large Presbyterian church in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Pastor, a wonderful and godly man by the name of Stephen Stout, invited me to tag along on one of his weekly door to door evangelism trips. He said “the fields are ripe brother, and the workers are few.” Actually the workers numbered only two as the only other person, out of a 500 member church, which felt motivated to do the same, was my first spiritual mentor and biblical teacher Michael MacCallum. Shortly after I was saved, I demanded a like minded mentor and Pastor Steve instantly suggested Mike. Mike was neither a Deacon nor an Elder, he held no office or position, and because his calling is not very popular today, Mike did not particularly stand out at any church functions. No, rather, Mike was a timid and quiet ex-drug addict, machinist and family man with two young boys and a lovely wife, who ran a very joy filled Christian household. Mike and I unrelentingly studied together and devoured the Bible at tremendous rates, his calming, tranquil voice always urging me into deeper study, meditation and prayer. But when Mike “hit the road” his quiet, passiveness evaporated in the fervent heat of his zeal for evangelism. Mike was on fire for the Lord and the Lord used him mightily.

Yet I doubt many in that church even knew who Mike was, even though he was a relentless reaper for Christ. You see Mike just didn’t have the appearance of a Christian.

So here I am, in the presence of the two godliest men I had ever met, stricken with fear, as they asked me to join them as they reaped souls. I thought them both most insane as I had no idea how to assist is such matters, being just saved myself. I asked my Pastor what in the world I should say, and he responded as he would only to me, and said, “If the Holy Spirit doesn’t lead, hopefully you will keep your mouth shut.” That’s what I liked about Pastor Steve, always straight forward and appropriate for the person.

And so I did for several weeks, until one day my heart was greatly burdened for a woman who had suffered greatly at the hands of an evil man. The Pastor could not find the words to compel the woman to see that he understood her plight, but I, having suffered similarly, suddenly knew exactly what to say and soon she understood the biblical solution the pastor was trying to convey. It was as if the Holy Spirit, through the word, had given me the very words to say. I was hooked and during the time we three spent going door to door, I saw numerous lives changed, marriages reconciled, shattered lives made whole, and the rebirth of many souls.

It was a wonderful time in my Christian walk as nearly everyone I met either literally cursed me or was ready to accept Christ. But that is not where I find myself these days. Today my battles are fought in the minds and hearts of those God sends my way, not for reaping, but for counsel and mentoring. Strangely enough I still find myself stricken with a fear of God, and thinking Him rather insane for using someone as pathetic as myself to further His glory. Perhaps it is because I have a great burden on my heart for a particular group of people. Not true, elect, blood bought believers, as the angels have already sung for them, and the Holy Spirit will sanctify them in due time. Not the happily heathen masses, even though I would not turn down the chance to take one with me, if God so gave me the opportunity. But rather I have a heart for the lost soul, but claiming Christian, for he neither enjoys his earthly years, nor will he enjoy eternity with my Lord. Can there be a worse position on earth than to be a lost unbeliever who lays claim to the Christian way? If you are going to reject Christ as Lord, then the pleasure you may experience while you are yet on this Earth is your only consolation. Why then waste what precious life you have on trying to obtain righteousness without Him Who alone supplies it? Shall you be good in order to endure less condemnation in Hell? Will your lighter torment be more bearable after ten thousand years?

Such was the life of Judas Iscariot, a claiming Christian who Jesus chose, a man who Jesus befriended, entitled with power and trusted. Judas had every appearance of a Christian, so much so that none of his peers had an inkling of the traitorous heart that was hidden within Judas.

The Bible tells us in Mark 3:13-19 and Luke 6:12-16 that Jesus called to himself those He Himself wanted, and He called them apostles and chose Simon, whom He named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot.

But not only were the twelve chosen, but Jesus wanted each man to be with Him so that He could send them out not only to preach, but to have the power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons. This power was given to all the apostles including Judas Iscariot. (Matthew 10:1) Not only was Judas given miraculous power but Judas had a place in the apostolic ministry of the twelve. (Acts 1:16-19, 25)

But not only was Judas chosen as an apostle, gifted with miraculous power and contributed to the ministry, but Jesus considered Judas a trusted friend. Psalm 41:9 prophesied of Judas saying, “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” And again in the Garden in Gethsemane during His very betrayal, Jesus greeted Judas thusly; “Friend, why have you come?” (Matthew 26:50)

By nearly every meaningful measure Judas had it made. He was a trusted, money box carrying, member of the inner circle of apostles. But there was a problem and it wasn’t that Judas was not from Galilee, as were all the other apostles. (Judas is presumed to be from Kerioth in Judah1)

Upon Judas the Bible has given the distinction of being the only human ever to be called the Son of Perdition, a name he shares only with Satan himself (John 17:12, 2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV) And Jesus Himself said of Judas that he “was a Devil.” (John 6:70) What kind of evil must a man possess in his heart to deserve such distinctions? It is a question I had to answer, as it leads to the point of this message.

You can read every verse dealing with Judas Iscariot, in both the Old and New Testaments in less than an hour. Give it another week to meditate on what the Bible has to say and, if you are honest, you will walk away with a singular notion about the state of the evil within the heart of Judas, he ‘aint much different than you or I. He was an ordinary man who was merely a petty thief. He did not kill countless children as Herod did, he did not commit genocide as was Haman’s desire, or even slaughter saints as Saul had done, before he became an Apostle. No, Judas simply betrayed Jesus for a mere 10 shekels of silver more than the Ishmaelite slave traders paid for Joseph. (Genesis 37:28)(Luke 22:3-6) And while I have heard people say that Judas may have been trying to force Jesus’ hand, in an attempt to rush what he thought would be an earthly kingdom with Christ as King, I do not give Judas such tribute, as I believe that Judas was simply a small time crook, no worse than I was years ago, no worse than any of us were or still are! Judas was just a common heathen, doing what the unsaved do, with an unclean heart and only one birth to his credit, he could do little more than serve his real master, Satan. (Matthew 6:23) The same as you and I did before grace alone snatched us from the pit into which Judas fell headlong, that is unless you are still falling.

But did Judas really know, as he went hither and yonder executing the duties of his ministry and apostleship, that he was the son of perdition; that he would have been better off having never been born? (Matthew 26:24)Were you aware of your spiritual condition before the Holy Spirit removed the scales from your eyes? How much less do you think Judas’ awareness was, as he was gifted to perform great wonders? Judas was blind to his sin. Judas was unaware that the Bible was speaking to him when it says that the heart is evil, (Jeremiah 17:9), the flesh is evil, (Romans 7:14-25), the tongue is evil (James 3:2-12) even the eyes can be evil. Luke 11:33a says “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.”

But Judas did not take heed that the light which was in Him was not darkness. He had every appearance of a Christian, but his body was full of darkness.

We are all desperately wicked. Are we in some way more superior to Judas that we can know our own hearts? Nay, yet does this not make you wonder “Do I simply have the appearance of a Christian? Am I a Judas also?” When was the last time you really searched your heart for that hidden sin? When was the last time you thought of the purpose behind your every motive, confronted your every action and watched your every word? The Bible is clear, without the Holy Spirit your body is dead, and so to is your faith dead without works. (James 2:26)

Are your works dead? What about your faith? What do the motives behind your works and faith reveal to your mind? Maybe they are alive and just need a little motivation. What is the first commandment? Is it not to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength? (Mark 12:30) What do you think all those all’s mean? If Judas had done the same personal inventory and self confrontation as I am suggesting that we all do, continually, what may have been revealed? We look at this from a responsibility perspective while affirming without apology God’s sovereignty over Judas’ life.

First,
Had Judas considered his lifestyle of unrepentant sin, as he often helped himself to the contents of the money box for which he was entrusted, a sin not noticed by any of the other apostles, it might have revealed to him his heart’s lustful desire for money. The Bible says you cannot serve God and mammon both, and the rich man will lie down but not be gathered up, He opens his eyes, and he is no more. (Matthew 6:24)(Job 27:17)

Second,
Had Judas considered his manner of speech it might have reveled his uncommitted, unsubmitting heart. When Jesus announced that one of the twelve was a traitor, each apostle in turn asked “Is it I Lord?”, that is, all but one, Judas asked “Is it I Rabbi?” And on the night that Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, he first greeted Jesus saying “Greetings, Rabbi!” Is Jesus your Lord or Rabbi? Even sinners have teachers, but only true Christians have the Lord. Make no mistake, there is no such thing as Jesus being the Savior of your soul but not Lord over your life. He is either both or neither. You cannot have two masters. (Matthew 6:23) When Jesus said ALL your heart, soul, mind and strength, He meant ALL!

Third,
Had Judas considered his lack of sorrow over his sin, he might have become aware of his unrepentance and need of a Savior. The Bible says that godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10) Judas had remorse for taking money in trade for innocent blood, but in the end his worldly remorse left him hanging from the end of a rope. (Matthew 27:3-4a)

As we are now under the new covenant, it is the pureness of heart and not the letter of the law by which we must judge ourselves. Yet so few today look within to see the darkness of their hearts, preferring to strive for the lesser gifts, seeking that which will see corruption, or simply preferring to remain pleasantly naive. Judge yourselves brothers and sisters, dig deep into that insidious heart and rip out that infectious puss of denial. Your days are numbered and the last one is getting ever closer. You have every appearance of a Christian, but is it just an appearance or is your heart pure?

Let us test ourselves.

Would you rather laugh or mourn, be rich or poor, be full or hungry, be assertive or meek, be accepted by all or persecuted? Would you rather be care free or afflicted with tribulation? And would joy be the result if those around you reviled you and despised you and spoke evil of you?

I tell you that Judas did not want to be poor. The Pharisees did not want to be meek. The Scribes wanted all to know of their fasting and sought attention for their deeds, and the Sadducees took the finest seats at every table leaving the poor to go hungry.

Oh dear Lord, why do we not grasp Your words with all our hearts and minds and commit ourselves to Your service? Which of us is exhausted to the point we can’t lift our arms to wash another’s feet? Which of us mourn out of a love for our enemies? I cry even as I write and my heart breaks over our lethargic apathy. Break us oh Lord and let us understand. Amen

Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets. (Luke 6:20-26)

Let us lend without repayment, love those who spitefully use us, give to all who ask and hope for nothing in return, for what credit is it to us if we do as the sinners do, for even sinners do good to those who do good to them.

Dear Jesus let each of us examine our own hearts and say is it I Lord? Is it I Lord, who walks with washed feet but a filthy heart? Is it I Lord, who denies You with a kiss and a song on Sunday? Is it I Lord who will cast but a mite back at Your feet?

Brothers, Sisters, let not another minute be wasted in useless daytime slumber while we still breathe air on this earth. If we are Christians, who do not merely have the appearance of Christians, then let us make an oath of commitment, not to a rabbi, but to our Lord, not dwelling unduly on this life, but striving for the prize of that which is great in Heaven, not with halfhearted anemic exertion, but serving the Lord Jesus with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength, working out our salvation with fear and trembling, and tonight we, for once, might sleep the sweet sleep of a laboring man (Ecc 5:12) having exhausted everything that is within us and doing so with a conscience toward our Lord Christ Jesus, our King, Savior and Messiah. Amen.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

1 MacDonald, W. 1997, c1995. Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Lk 6:13). Thomas Nelson: Nashville

Who Am I?

2005-01-01T12:01:00.000-05:00

Who am I that you should listen to me? When I was asked if I would like to become a “Blogger” for the advancement of the name and glory of Jesus, I thought it a worthwhile cause, not “blogging” per se, but glorifying God through the proclamation of His Gospel. Being a modern day voice from the wilderness shouting out, “Repent and be ye saved.” In fact I think it to be “The Cause” for which I was created. But who am I that I should think my writing and the words of my mouth worthy of your precious time, time that you should be continually dedicating to the Lord? Whether you are a sinner or saint, who am I that my “Blog” should cause you to open your eyes and see or open your ears and hear? Indeed, who I am at all? I can think of no question more useless in relation to Jesus Christ than, “Who is Terry Walker?”

Yet “Who is within me?” is an entirely different matter. Through He who is within me, I reflect the very image of God in me; I was called by His drawing, saved by given faith in Jesus, His Son, through His grace, and indwelt by the Spirit who now inescapably resides within me. I have been sealed, my ultimate destination is secure. I have been declared righteous and holy through Christ, and sufficient to minister the new covenant. When I speak as Terry Walker, I speak as fool, but when I speak in the name of the Lord, every person who hears is accountable for having heard the very word of God. God’s word does not return void, even when emanating from my mouth! So do not be misled, the words that I write in His name, will surely result in your edification, your sanctification or add to your ultimate condemnation. So delight with joy dear reader, be edified, be sanctified, repent and be rectified or believe and be ye justified!

But woe to you scoffers, though you may simply walk away from me, you cannot escape in ignorance from what God has made so clearly evident. You suppress the truth in rebellion to the obvious. My heart cries out for you, tears of grief and sadness fall from me in concern for your condition, so you, even you should listen to me, a voice in the wilderness, crying out to you, “Believe and repent.” My God is a God of love as you may well be acquainted, but my God is a God of jealousy and justice equally as well, and His righteous wrath cannot be turned from you unless you come to know His Son as Lord over your very body, mind and soul. But while today is yet today, before your body has breathed its last breath, you could inherit paradise with me. No, not a Heaven without Christ, as so many call paradise, but to walk in life with Christ as your Father, because wherever Jesus is, that is paradise. Heaven without the light of Jesus would not be paradise, but would be a dark and evil place, and if Jesus chose to visit Hell, then those to be found there would rejoice if but for the relief of the length of a momentary visit.

But those to be found in Hell did not savingly believe in Jesus as their Lord. They did not know Him even though many thought themselves to be Christians. Perhaps they thought Jesus was their Savior, but not so much so, their Lord. Ninety two times does the writer of Acts refer to Jesus as Lord, only twice is He referred to as Savior. Yes Jesus is both, but you must know and live in Him as both. Belief in Jesus and His Lordship over your life and motives are inseparably intertwined and you can not, and do not, have one without the other. The assurance of salvation is not in feeling that you know Jesus, but in Jesus knowing you. The Bible says that you cannot serve two masters, you either serve Satan or you serve Jesus. So how then can you believe that Jesus can be your Savior if He is not likewise your Lord and Master? How then can you serve Jesus when you do not submit and serve Him as your Master? Have you no fear of God? While you may feel that you know Jesus, take heed, do you know that Jesus knows you? If Jesus knows you, you will hear and heed the words of His voice within the Bible. You will keep His commands because He has written them, not on tablets, but on your heart. But if you know Jesus, in the same way as your master Satan does, then why do you not quiver in fear knowing as Satan does, that Jesus does not know either of you and will not claim you as His own? The sheep of Jesus know his voice and hear His call, yet do you submit to the voice of His word? He is calling this very moment through this article.

Perhaps you think yourself a good person, you do the best you can and try to do what is right. But the Bible says that if you have committed a single offence then you are guilty of breaking the whole law. One lie and you are Hell bound! But wait, the Bible also says that because your father sinned, and your father’s father sinned, all the way back to Adam, who sinned, you were born a natural sinner. So then how can anyone be saved? How then can you have hope for an eternity with Christ when you have already failed, when even your righteousness is seen by God as filthy rags? If you die and stand before God alone, your meritorious life will only sentence you to Hell. The sins you committed while you were yet physically alive, but spiritually dead, require complete and total remission before you can enter the presence of a holy God. Even under the old covenant there was a veil between even the high priest and the presence of God. In order to enter the “Holy of Holies” the high priest had to take extraordinary precautions including a sacrifice of blood, as there is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. Once the animal was sacrificed and the other precautions were made, the high priest alone and only once a year on the day of atonement, could come into the presence of God. Even then a rope was tied to his waist in case he, in some way, was found unworthy and the wrath of God came upon him and he was killed. In this way his lifeless body could then be dragged back out. A non-Jewish descendant could not even approach as there were armed Levite guards who would instantly kill any who attempted to cross the four foot tall barrier outside. God has not changed and His wrath and requirements have not changed. Today God is no more or less just than He was in the beginning. Your sins still require a blood sacrifice for their total remission. Yet no animal’s blood, not even the blood of a physically perfect animal, was an ultimately acceptable sacrifice. So God sent His Son Jesus to perfectly fulfill every command within the Old Testament laws, yet it pleased God to sacrifice His perfectly righteous, holy, Son, and place upon Him all the sins of the world, both from the past and the future. So holy, righteous, perfect Jesus was crucified on a cross, the sign of a sinner’s death, and His blood that was shed upon the cross was acceptable to God, His Father, as payment and sacrifice for the sins of all people who come to know Jesus as their Lord, both from the past and the future.

But if you now see your sins as you should, and your need for a Savior, perhaps you feel too evil to be saved. Praise the Lord, because the Bible says that Jesus did not come to save the righteous, (those who think they are good), but rather Jesus came to save the sinners. This was great news for me as I was once an incredibly evil sinner, having even cursed God, daring Him in rebellion to kill me. There is not a single command in the old covenant Decalog that I have not broken, even the shedding of innocent blood. Yet the Bible says that “He who has been forgiven much, loves much.” So my Lord Jesus, the Christ, Messiah, and King saved me out of my bondage to sin and Satan and placed within me a new nature. I was reborn a new man, no longer of flesh, but of spirit, no longer am I a slave to sin, yet I am not sinless, yet I sin less, but I am yet a sinner never the less. Even though I am redeemed, my body, my flesh, remains bent toward sin, but if I had my way, divorced from this wretched curse and evil flesh, I would, by God’s grace, live every waking moment on this earth in total submission to the will of my Lord Jesus. I would like to glorify God the Father and work without ceasing, day, night, always in service. I would prefer being the lowest of worthless slaves for Christ, prospering the work of my Father, excepting in times of rest and worship of my God. I would live without thought of my own life, considering the souls of the unsaved more meaningful as their destination while living is as yet unknown to them. And if my Lord so equip me, I would like to call blood bought brothers to repentance so that they might further their walk with Christ and persevere in Him, so that we as brothers would walk in loving unison, working the soil of human hearts with the good seed and watering the wheat that grows in good soil, with strong and biblical doctrine, because there is only one way to fight the weeds that hide within the wheat and that is to insure that the wheat remains strong and pure. The weeds will wither and leave as their consciences can not handle the strength of the truth, the very water that causes the wheat to become strong.

So the ultimate question is not “who am I?” But, “Who is within me?” So it is, who it is that is within me, that is the reason that those of you who have ears to hear, should hear, and those of you who have eyes to see, should see, because I have spoken to you the truth of what I have heard my Master say to me.

Brother Terry Walker
864-363-5006
biblicallyravenous@yahoo.com
Providence Baptist Church
Greer, South Carolina

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