The Lion of Judah (Volume VII, Issue 11)
October – November 2002
You’ve read the articles. You’ve watched the reports and listened to the stories. Routinely they allege or at least suggest that the Bible isn’t really believable. By now everyone knows that these reports imply the Bible’s stories could not have happened the way they are written. After all, plenty of reporters, professors, and scientists tell us such is the case – that the Bible is mostly myth.
But is it? Or is a different myth being foisted off on us?
Surveys show that belief in the Bible is declining at an astounding rate. According to pollster George Gallup: "As recently as 1963; two [Americans] in three viewed the Bible as the actual word of God, to be taken literally, word for word. Today [1999], only one person in three still holds to that interpretation" (1999: 36). Only two years ago in 2001, the Gallup poll showed that only 27 percent of Americans – barely one in four – still believed the Bible to be the inspired Word of God and literally true in every respect.
In other countries, belief that the Bible is the true Word of God is far lower. A 1991 survey found that only 25 percent of the Irish, 20 percent of Italians, 13 percent of Britons, Norwegians and Dutch, and 10 percent of former West Germans believed the Bible was absolutely true and should be taken literally. A 1999 poll in Britain indicated that fewer than half its respondents believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Even more startling, 14 percent said they knew nothing at all about Him. More than one in five believed He was "just a story." Almost half of those polled had never attended a church service.
What’s behind these trends? Only a generation ago, the common view among most Americans, and much of the Western world, was that the Bible was literally true – and the direct revelation of God and of His will. Now why do so many people, including many professing Christians, distrust or disbelieve what the Bible says?
A Shift to Unbelief
For many centuries, people simply assumed that everything in the Bible was true. But then, from the late 1600s through the 1800s, a series of scientific discoveries came to light that many assumed contradicted the Bible. In reality they didn’t contradict the Bible, but only the common assumptions religious leaders and others had made about the Bible.
However, the damage caused by these false assumptions had been done, and the Bible had been discredited in the eyes of many. In the mid-1800’s, Charles Darwin proposed the theory of evolution which many intellectuals quickly latched onto as a way to explain the existence of a creation with a Creator. His theory quickly found fertile ground and paved the way for a widespread belief in a creation with a Creator.
It wasn’t long before many intellectuals, particularly those teaching in European universities, began to "deconstruct" the Bible. They soon concluded that, among other things, the books of the Bible couldn’t have been written by their reputed authors – and, for that matter, the Bible couldn’t have been written until hundreds of years after their lifetimes. All in all, they decided, the Bible’s stories and characters were simply a collection of myths and legends pieced together by writers many centuries after they supposedly happened.
For them the Bible was only a collection of ancient fables no different from the timeworn myths of any other ancient tribal history. Sadly, their thinking not only persists to our day, but permeates the curricula of many universities. Students are saturated with these ideas by professors who aggressively promote an anti-Bible bias.[Read "What Wrong With America’s Universities]] That bias now pervades the mass media and most of the scientific community.
Richard Dawkins, professor of zoology at Oxford University is an aggressive proponent of evolution whose contemptuous view of the Biblical creation account is typical of those who dismiss the Bible as being the inspired of God. He writes,
Nearly all peoples have developed their own creation myth and the Genesis story is just the one that happened to have been adopted by one particular tribe of Middle Eastern herders. It has no more special status than the belief of a particular West African tribe that the world was created from the excrement of ants (1986: 316).
Critics Formulate Their Own Myths
So which is it? Is the Bible the revelation of man’s Creator, as it claims to be? Is it an accurate history of ancient peoples – men and women who lived long ago whose stories were recorded for us – or is it a patchwork collection of fables?
Critics of the Bible have long ridiculed its value as a historical document. For decades many vehemently argued that the Hebrew Scriptures couldn’t be what they claimed to be since, according to these critics, the art of writing dated back only to about 1000 BC – around the time of Israel’s King David.
Anything earlier than a few centuries BC, they argued, was unreliable oral tradition at best and wildly exaggerated myth making at worst. Thus they could safely dismiss the entire Old Testament as any sort of reliable historical document. The events of Genesis, the Exodus from Egypt, King David and his exploits, stories of armies and empires, the kings of Israel and Judah and so much more – all, they said, were nothing but fable.
Although critics of the Bible still abound, fewer and fewer are willing to make the same arguments on those same grounds. Why? The evidence grows daily that the modern-day mythmakers were wrong – spectacularly wrong.
Empires Emerge From the Sands of Time
Rather than accept the Bible’s witnesses as true until proven wrong, critics took the position that the Bible is untrue until proven otherwise – a way of thinking that regrettably, permeates the minds of many scholars and thinkers to this day. But is their bias justified?
Evidence for the authenticity and accuracy of the Bible began to surface virtually the instant archaeologists started to scratch the surface of Biblical lands in the mid-1800’s.
One of the earliest of these scientific explorers was the American Edward Robinson. He identified the location or ruins of literally hundreds of Biblical towns and cities by a remarkably simple method: he simply talked to the Arab inhabitants, who had preserved the traditional names of the locations in their own tongue for centuries. Subsequent excavations at many of these sites have proven they were correct; the names were indeed passed on accurately over many generations.
Shortly after Robinson’s first forays into the Holy Land, English, German, and French excavators began to explore ruins in what is today Iraq. Their finds were staggering. They uncovered not only the great cities of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires mentioned in the Bible, but palaces and monuments of the very kings recorded in the Scriptures. Some even contained accounts of military campaigns that matched the Bible’s, as well as carvings depicting the actual battles.
A Lost People Emerges
Another major shock to those who maintained that the Bible was myth was the 1876 discovery of proof of an entire empire that had been lost to history. Though they are mentioned 47 times in the Bible, many scholars had come to regard the Hittites as simply a fable.
However, the discovery of inscribed clay tablets at a Turkish site led to an excavation that uncovered a fortified citadel, five temples, enormous stone sculptures and a room containing more than 10,000 tables.
Says archaeologist and author Randall Price:
Once they were finally deciphered it was announced to the world that the Hittites had been found! [The site] had in fact been the ancient capital of the Hittite empire. … The rediscovery of this lost people, one of the most outstanding achievements in Near Eastern archaeology, now serves as a caution to those who doubt the historicity of particular Biblical accounts (1997: 83).
By no means are these the only people and empires mentioned in the Bible whose existence has since been proved by the archaeologist’s spade. As more sites have been explored, many more peoples and even specific individuals recorded in the Scriptures have been verified as real.
Proof that Biblical Figures were Real
As recently as a decade ago, some argued that Israel’s most famous king, David, was but a myth. The record of the Bible wasn’t good enough, they insisted; proof of his existence must be found elsewhere.
In 1993 that proof emerged when Israeli archaeologists discovered an inscription that referred to the royal dynasty David founded. Recorded on a monument some 150 years after David’s death, the inscription commemorates the victory of the king of Damascus over the forces of Israel and their king, who was "of the house [dynasty] of David."
Over the years, dozens of artifacts and inscriptions bearing the names of individuals mentioned in the Bible have been uncovered. In 1982 a cache of 51 ancient baked-clay seals that were used to bind papyrus or parchment scrolls was uncovered in a Jerusalem excavation. One bore the impression of the seal "Gemaryahu [Gemariah] the son of Shaphan." This same "Gemariah, the son of Shaphan," was a scribe in the court of Judah’s king Jehoiakim as mentioned in Jeremiah 36:10-12, 25-26.
In 1975 another hoard of seals emerged, apparently uncovered in unauthorized digging in Jerusalem. One bore the name of Ishmael, the man who assassinated Gedaliah, the governor appointed by the Babylonians after they destroyed Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:25).
Even more surprising, another seal bore the name "Berekhyahu [Baruch] son of Neriyahu [Neriah] the scribe." This man was none other than "Baruch the scribe," trusted friend, confidant and scribe of Jeremiah the prophet (Jer 36:4-32; 43:1-6; 45:1-2).
As if that were not astounding enough, another seal in a private collection in England was found to bear not only Baruch’s name but a fingerprint along one edge – apparently Baruch’s own fingerprint from when he impressed his seal into the soft clay some 2,600 years ago!
These are only a few of the finds that prove specific people mentioned in the Bible – many only in an incidental way – were indeed real and lived at the exact time and in the exact location in which the Bible places them. A complete list of such finds would fill many pages of this magazine.
Other Finds Foil Critics’ Claims
What about the critics’ assertion that the Bible couldn’t have been written when it claimed to be because the ancient Hebrews didn’t know how to write at that time? This assumption was demolished in 1979 when, in the course of excavating a tomb in Jerusalem from the seventh century BC, archaeologists discovered two tiny gray cylinders.
The objects turned out to be silver foil amulets covered with delicately etched Hebrew characters. When deciphered they were found to contain most of the words of the blessing recorded in Numbers 6:24-26. This remarkable find proved that not only did the ancient Hebrews know how to write centuries earlier than the critics said they did, but one of the oldest portions of the Bible was obviously in use at a time well before the critics maintained it had been written!
One by one the claims of the critics have fallen as new archaeological discoveries have come to light. These finds have repeatedly demonstrated the truthfulness of the Bible. We can be sure that even more evidence will emerge as the sands of time continue to be sifted in that ancient land. As the distinguished Jewish archaeologist Nelson Glueck eventually came to conclude, no archaeological discovery has ever been made that contradicts or controverts historical statements in Scripture (Henry 1979: 31).
But what does this mean for you? It’s bad enough that so many people are drifting away from belief in the Bible, as noted at the beginning of this article. But an equally disturbing trend is the growing number of people who claim to believe the Bible but know little of what it says or reject its authority over them.
Predications of Our Age?
Ironically, at a time when the Bible is more widely available than ever before, fewer and fewer people are willing to put it to the ultimate test of its accuracy – by actually accepting and living by its instructions.
We shouldn’t be surprised, though, that so few are willing to put the Bible to the test by putting it into practice. Jesus Himself prophesied that, just before His return, people would have the same mind-set that characterized Noah’s day. They would be "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage" – going about their everyday lives blissfully unaware of their Creator and the growing danger – "until the day that Noe entered into the ark,.... And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away..." (Matthew 24:37-39).
In other words, Jesus warned that people of our modern world would also be living comfortably and normally, with no growing sense of concern or alarm, until they were overwhelmed by catastrophe.
Does It Matter?
Does it matter whether the Bible is true? Absolutely. Without it we are left clueless as to where we came from, why we are here and where we are going. Without the Bible, we can only stumble in the dark and search in vain for answers to these questions.
Jesus Christ promises to return to teach humanity God’s way of life. At that time, says the Biblical prophet Isaiah, "...for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Isaiah 11:9). No longer will people doubt and scoff at God’s Word. Yet, to those who willingly and humbly seek God and His guidance now, He promises they will reign forever with Christ in His world-ruling kingdom (Revelation 5:9-10; 20:6; 22:5).
But before then a time is coming when the overwhelming majority of mankind will follow a path to disaster because of disbelief and ignorance of the Bible.
Will you be the exception?
[Bible and Spade 15. 3 (2002)]
–Christian News
3277 Boeuf Lutheran Rd
New Haven MO 63068-2213
Bibliography
Bleibtreu, E.
1991 Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death, Biblical Archaeology Review 17:1: 52-61,75.
Dawkins, R.
1986The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design, New York: Norton.
Gallup, G., Jr., and Lindsay, D. M.
1996 Surveying the Religious Landscape: Trends in U. S. Beliefs. Harrisburg PA: Morehouse.
Henry, C. F. H.
1979 The Authority and Inspiration of the Bible. In The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 1, ed. F. E. Gaebelein. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Johnson, P.
1996 The Quest for God. New York: Harper Collins.
Magnusson, M.
1977 Archaeology of the Bible. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Price, R.
1997 The Stones Cry Out. Eugene OR: Harvest House.
Editor Charles Lawson: The Bible is not only historically correct but is spiritually correct.
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12
For many years, some critics have asserted that many Biblical figures, including King David, are nothing more than myth. But in 1993, a dramatic find once again forced Bible critics to retreat. A team of archaeologists digging in northern Galilee found an inscription dated from the ninth century BC that referred both to the "House of David" and to the "King of Israel" [see "David" Found at Dan," Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 1994: 26].
This discovery was sensational enough to make the front page of The New York Times. The inscription also shows that Israel and Judah were important kingdoms in the ninth century BC, disproving the position of scholars who claimed Israel and Judah were never nations of significance and even disputed that there had ever been a united monarchy under David.
Although this is one more piece of evidence that refutes the arguments of those who have rejected Biblical history, we must realize it is impossible to verify every Biblical event through archaeology. Much of the original evidence no longer exists. Many perishable materials have long since disappeared. Looking for physical evidence of a particular person is like looking for a needle in an enormous haystack.
In spite of those difficulties, David joins many other kings of Israel and Judah whose names were recorded in inscriptions that have been found from neighboring nations, among them Ahab, Ahaz, Ahaziah, Hezekiah, Hoshea, Jehoiachin, Jehu, Manasseh, Menahem, Omri, Pekah, and Uzziah.
We must keep in mind the relatively small amount of the archaeological record that scientists have uncovered. Excavations will, without a doubt, continue to uphold the events of the Bible. In spite of the relative paucity of evidence that has been uncovered, that which has been found has supported the Bible.
British historian Paul Johnson observes a shift in thinking concerning even the most ancient events recorded in the Bible: "…The science of modern archaeology and historical philology actually provides verification of the most ancient Biblical texts. Whereas … throughout the 19th century and almost up to the Second World War, systematic criticism of the Old Testament texts tended to destroy their historicity, and to reduce the Pentateuch, in particular to mere myth or tribal legend, the trend over the last half-century has been quite in the opposite direction. The Flood, for instance, has been restored to history. Archaeological discovery provides now a firm historical background to the patriarchal society described in the Book of Genesis" (Johnson 1996: 12).
[Bible and Spade 15.3 (2002)]
–Christian News
3277 Boeuf Lutheran Rd
New Haven MO 63068-2213
Perhaps archaeology’s most dramatic find among the treasure troves of the past was the remains of the ancient Assyrian Empire. Assyria first appears as an empire early in the second millennium BC. The remains of a ziggurat, or temple tower, from that era still stand near the site of its ancient capital.
In the ninth century BC, Assyria developed into an aggressive and powerful empire. By this time, about 40 years after the reign of Solomon, Israel had split into two distinct kingdoms – Israel and Judah (I Kings 12:16-24). Led by able and ruthless monarchs, the Assyrians began to menace and eventually conquer their neighbors. They eventually subjugated the whole of the Fertile Crescent from Mesopotamia to Egypt. According to the Bible, by the late eighth century they crushed the kingdom of Israel and invaded the southern kingdom of Judah, conquering its major cities and besieging its capital, Jerusalem (Isaiah 36:1-2).
Did this really happen, or is it a fable? Remember, many scoffers at one time disputed even the existence of the Assyrian Empire. But it was no myth. As the debris of centuries was removed from Nineveh, the capital, dramatic proof of the Assyrian invasion was laid bare.
Assyrian records of these events quote King Sennacherib of Assyria boasting of his devastating invasion of Judah: "Forty-six of [Hezekiah’s) strong walled towns and innumerable smaller villages ... [I] besieged and conquered ...As for Hezekiah, the awful splendor of my lordship overwhelmed him" (Bleibtreu 1991: 60).
By the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles, no physical evidence of Nineveh could be seen. Lucian of Samosata (AD 120-180), a Greek writer, lamented: "Nineveh has perished. No trace of it remains. No one can say where once it existed" (Magnusson 1977: 175). Such a lack of visible remains led some scholars of the 19th century to express skepticism that Nineveh or any part of the Assyrian Empire even existed, much less dominated a significant part of the world.
Indeed the only historical source in those days that verified the existence of the empire was the Bible. The Old Testament histories and prophecies spoke about Assyria. Jesus proclaimed the existence of Nineveh as a historical fact (Matthew 12:41).
Yet some scholars disputed the testimony of Jesus and the prophets: that is until one spectacular decade in the middle of the 19th century … [when] Austen Henry Layard and Paul Emile Botta rediscovered in northern Iraq the ancient remains of three Assyrian cities [including Nineveh] and evidence of the military panoply that had crushed all resistance from the Tigris to the Nile. The Assyrian empire … in all its awesome power had been resurrected through archaeology (Magnusson: 175).
The skeptics were silenced. There was nothing they could say. The excavations at Nineveh and other cities in the area yielded a staggering wealth of evidence that confirmed many details of the Bible account.v
[Bible and Spade 15.3 (2002)]
–Christian News
3277 Beouf Lutheran Rd
New Haven MO 63068-2213
By Dr. Don Jasmin
The July 19, 2002 issue of The Bay City [MI] Times July 27, 2002, 6A, contained an article that was written by Los Angeles Times [LAT] staff writers, Mike Anton and William Lobdell. Appearing in the June 19, 2002 LAT, the article was entitled "Hold the Fire and Brimstone." In that lengthy piece, these two news writers analyzed a sad factual trend now occurring in America’s pulpits. According to Anton and Lobdell, the "mention of hell from [American] pulpits is at an all-time low."
These staff reporters declared that hell "is being frozen out" from sermons by U.S. preachers. In their opinion, in most mainstream Christian denominations, the theme of hell has become a "cultural fossil," where America’s clergy have become "increasingly hesitant to sermonize" on this traditional theological theme. These writers believe that this trend is not limited to America’s pulpits, but that it has also penetrated America’s pews, as the average professing Christian ignores Hell’s teachings.
(I)
THE CULPRITS INVOLVED
IN THIS STUNNING DECLINE
In analyzing this astonishing article, the Fundamentalist Digest editor discovered four major culprits whom the reporters cited as deeply involved in this tragic decrease.
(A) The Downplay by Abandoning Compromisers. As validation, these reporters cited a personable Charismatic and a prominent New Evangelical. Bill Faris is the popular pastor of the growing Charismatic Crown Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Orange County, CA.
According to these reporters, while Faris "believes in hell," "he never mentions the topic, and his flock shows no interest in it." Believe it or not, the incredible reason that Faris cites for not proclaiming this Biblical theme is that "It (Hell) isn’t sexy anymore!" In this writer’s opinion, Faris’ remark is blasphemous ridicule of the basest degree! For the devout Man of God, preaching "Hellfire and Brimstone" is a sacred responsibility, not a "sexy" rite (Mark 9:43-48).
Rick Warren, the popular New Evangelical pastor of the SBC related mega "Saddleback" church in Arizona, is another influential diminisher of Hell in the pulpit. On Saddleback’s website, Warren "says the Bible’s teachings on hell guide his ministry." When one "scan[s] the list of Warren’s sermons for sale," however, he will search in vain for a sermon on hell." The article states that there are "sermons on abortion, addiction, and ambition, laughter, leadership and love, war, work, and worry. More than 350 topics. Nothing on hell."
(B) The Disregard by Apathetic Christians. The report declares: "Even among some ‘born-again’ Christians, hell is a rare topic of conversation. Born-again Christians believe in hell, but they also believe that their decision to embrace Christ has earned them a one-way ticket to the other direction." Bruce Shelley, professor at Denver Theological Seminary, stated, "It’s just too negative...churches today feel the need to be appealing rather than demanding." The spiritual tragedy in this is that according to a May 2001 Gallup poll, 71 % of adults who were surveyed stated that they believe in hell, but that they just don’t want to hear about it.
(C) The Disposal by Assailing Churches. The article indicates that "traditional denominations have pushed hell to the margins." The Presbyterian Church in the USA’s [PCUSA] catechism is cited as an example since it only mentions hell once. George Hunsinger, the "catechism’s principal author," declared that he "would have liked the document to address hell more directly," as well as "talk about divine judgment in a responsible way," but that the "committee rejected the idea without much debate."
(D) The Disavowal by Accommodating Clergy.Billy Graham, the famed evangelist, has disavowed his former beliefs in a literal hell, accommodating them to an apostate Christianity and a secular society. When Graham hit the religious scene about 55 years ago, he was a staunch believer and proclaimer in a literal hell -- the literal fires of a literal hell. Over the years, however, Graham has quietly and gradually changed his views. Graham now states: "I believe that hell is essentially separation for God, so that we can have hell in this life and hell in the life to come…but to describe hell in the vivid terms like I did 30 or 40 years ago, I’m not at liberty to do that because … whether there is actually fire in hell or not, I do not know."
Robert Schuller, the noted TV preacher and pastor of the glass Crystal Cathedral, has also adapted different views regarding hell. According to the report, "perhaps more than any other pastor," Schuller "is credited with inspiring the movement to supplant hell with feel-good messages." Schuller declares that "he stopped preaching on the subject 40 years ago." Scalier stated: "I don’t want people to become Christian to escape hell."
(E) The Distortions by Altering Catholics. Not to be outdone by others, Roman Catholics are rapidly joining the literal hell abandoning bandwagon. Pope John Paul II, Romanism’s most prominent figure, made religious headlines when he said that hell "should be seen, not as a fiery underworld," but "as the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God." The University of Chicago’s Martin Marty, himself a rank liberal, correctly declared that "when you take [hell] away as a threat, everything changes."
(II)
THE CAUSES FOR THIS
SAD DECLENSION
The news article delineates several forces that have dumped "buckets of water" on the former emphasis upon a literal hell.
(A) The influence of Secularism on Christian Theology is part of the article’s subtitle. It is also listed as the first source for the massive decline in preaching on hell. According to the reporters, the philosophy of existentialism is the major force that has contributed to this secular outlook. This secular world view has resulted in a professing evangelical Christianity whose emphasis is no longer on the hereafter, but on the here and now. "Career Success," "child-rearing" and a host of other topics are now the major themes.
Harvey Cox, himself a rank left-wing liberal historian and professor at Harvard Divinity School, declared that "there has been a shift in religion from focusing in what happens in the next life to asking ‘What is the quality of life we’re leading now?’" Cox claimed that "you can go to a whole lot of churches week after week, and you’d be startled even to hear a mention of hell." New Evangelical theologian, Bruce Shelley stated, "Churches are under enormous pressure to be consumer oriented."
(B) The Change in Spiritual Authority from Scripture to Self is offered as another startling cause for the loss of emphasis upon Hell in America’s pulpits. Anton and Lobdell, the LA Times writers state that "hell’s fall from fashion" can partly [be] attributed to "a secular society that stresses individualism over authority." This involves more than simply a "change" of authority: it includes a LOSS of authority. In America’s pulpits, the authentic authority on hell, the Word of God, is being ignored and neglected as the emphasis shifts from the divine to the human.
(C) The Rise of Psychology is cited as a third reason for the negation of Hell. In America’s pulpits, sermons have been replaced by seminars, preachers by psychologists and the cross by the couch! The two largest programs on religious radio stations are not by preachers, they are by psychologists.
(III)
THE CURE FOR THIS
SERIOUS DECREASE
(A) Return Preaching to its Primary place in professing Bible-believing Churches, along with A Corresponding Abandonment of Psychology in Christian Circles. In the New Testament Scriptures, Christ and the apostles were preachers not psychologists. Psychology is a modern human conceived non-Scriptural entity! Christ was primarily a preacher: Mark 1:38, Mark 2:2. The early believers emphasized preaching: Acts 4:29 & 31; Acts 8:4; I Cor. 1:18 & 23. The New Testament apostles were preachers: Acts 6:4; Gal. 1:11 and 1:16. The great need today is men who will simply "preach the word" (II Tim. 4:2)
(B) Place the Emphasis upon Hell that the Scripture Gives to it as a Literal Place of Eternal Divine Retribution. While it is true, that the unconverted are eternally separated from God in the location the Scripture calls hell (Mark 9:43-48) and the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15), hell is also a literal place! The inspired word that delineates heaven as a lovely place where the saints reside in joyous glory (John 14:1-3), also describes hell as a literal ghastly place (Luke 16:28) where sinners revile in justifiable gnashing and torment (Matt. 13:42 & 50).
(C) Revive the Old Fashioned Evangelistic Meetings where the unconverted were first held over the fires of hell as the evangelist passionately preached on divine retribution (Matt. 25:41 & 46), repentance (Luke 13:3), divine judgment (Heb. 9:27) and hell (Luke 16:19-31) and then magnificently presented the precious message of Christ’s blood redemption for sinners at Calvary (Eph. 1:7, I Cor. 1:23). The F. D. editor would love to preach again in those old-time services. For soul-burdened N. T. Christians and churches, such meeting should not be relegated to the services of the past. They should be a current reality!v
–Fundamentalist Digest
P O Box 489
West Branch MI 48661
(989) 873-4778
Evidence is mounting that the world is getting increasingly dangerous for our children. The Boy Scouts spent a bundle of money appealing all the way to the US Supreme Court to protect their boys from sodomite scoutmasters. Apparently the Girl Scouts have not even attempted to fight it. A recent Focus on the Family newsletter cited a report that up to one third of the Girl Scout leaders are lesbians.
In July, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America ordered all 500 local affiliates to include active homosexuals as volunteers and mentors to the children in the program.
Apparently we have not learned the lesson from the deepening pedophile priest scandal in the Roman Catholic institution. For years, concerned people inside and outside Catholicism had decried the growing number of homosexual priests. They were told that it didn’t matter because the priests were celibate anyway so they would minister in purity.
Some people are just now making the connection that almost all the victims of the priests were boys and that statistics show that the majority of homosexual men will admit to engaging in sex with teen age males.
Since homosexuality is a chosen behavior instead of an "orientation" as they claim, it is only natural to assume that a sodomite will play out his perverted fantasy whenever he thinks he can get away with it. Fueling this abomination are homosexual publications that promote the joys of adult-child sex. One priest charged with child abuse, was one of the speakers at the founding of the North American Man-Boy Love Association, known as NAMBLA. This organization advocates removing the laws against statutory rape and incest if it is consensual.
Many countries have lowered the age of sexual consent to early teens. In the US, some states set it at 16. In Canada it is 14, Spain, 13, and 12 in the Netherlands.
The sodomite strategy over the last 20 years has been extremely effective. At first they came out of the closet and requested toleration. Our children watched as we agreed to let them do their thing as long as they kept quiet about it.
Then they asked for acceptance. "Just an alternate lifestyle," they told us. They began to parade their perversion in front of us on TV and movies and again we failed to tell our children that God called it sin.
Next, our children saw us stop calling it a "sexual preference" which made it clear that it was really a choice. We bought their lie that it was not their fault, it was their "orientation," making God to blame.
Finally, they are now demanding direct access to our children through our schools, churches, scout clubs, Big Brother Big Sister type mentoring programs as well as TV and movies. Their goal is no less than to teach our children to imitate their perverse and unhealthful sexual practices.
If decent people continue to look the other way, how long can God hold back the judgment He rained on Sodom and Gomorrah?
–As reported in Battle Cry (Serving the Bible-believing Protestants of the World)
Chick Publications
P O Box 3500
Ontario CA 91761-1019
www.chick.com
House minority leader Richard Gephardt (D-MO) has promised homosexual activists that he will hold hearings on homosexual concerns if the Democrats win back the House of Representatives in the November, 2002 elections. Gephardt has long supported the homosexual agenda and promised that he would see that the homosexual agenda is enacted into law once the Dems regain control.
Fortunately, the current Republican House leadership has been unwilling to promote homosexuality.
American Airlines is still suffering from the 9/11 attack on our country and is laying off 7,000 workers. However, it has not cut back on its pro-homosexual diversity program in spite of its economic woes. American Airlines was one of the first airlines to offer domestic partnership benefits and openly courts homosexual travelers.
American Airlines has served as the official airline of Human Rights Campaign (HRC), one of the most aggressive homosexual groups in the nation. Other airlines are also helping promote the normalization of sodomy in our culture. In 1999, United Airlines began offering homosexual benefits. Since then, US Airways, Delta, Southwest, Northwest, Continental West, and Alaska Airlines have also offered benefits to homosexuals.
[http://www.traditionalvalues.org]
WASHINGTON (CNSNews.com) -- A "vast majority" of people of faith support a woman’s right to get an abortion, according to a participant at the annual conference of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC).
"It’s a well-kept secret, but it is really true," said Ann Hayman, who spoke with CNSNews.com [June 11] at the conference in Washington, DC. "The Religious Coalition really represents that seventy, eighty percent of the folks out there," she added.
Rev. Carlton Veazey, president of the coalition, said his group supports "a woman’s right to determine when or whether to have children according to her own conscience and religious beliefs without governmental interference."
However, a spokeswoman for the conservative group Concerned Women for America (CWA) said the real motive of the RCRC is to "persuade public opinion on the issue of abortion."
"Birds of a feather flock together....," said Wendy Wright, spokeswoman for CWA. "They may think that a lot of people of faith have that belief, but that is because everyone they know holds the same belief that they hold..."
"What I have found with these same people is that they claim they are in support of women having options, but the only option that they provide is abortion," [Wright] said. "They do virtually nothing to help women who chose the more difficult decision of carrying a child to term, so their rhetoric just doesn’t live up to their actions."v
–Sword of the Lord
P O Box 1099
Murfreesboro TN 37133
www.swordofthelord.com
The gospel, according to Oprah, offends no one, promises everything and asks nothing except that devotees earn their way to a nebulous salvation.
Oprah says, "One of the biggest mistakes humans make is to believe there is only one way. Actually, there are many diverse paths leading to what you call God."
Calvary Contender[http://home.hiwaay.net/~contendr]
How then does Oprah explain John 14:6:
| Jesus saith ... I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. |
By Victoria Thacker
"O my God, my soul is cast down within me…" (Psalms 42:6)
Do you remember the old nursery rhyme "Rock-a-Bye-Baby? (Be careful when you answer this question; it will definitely date you. Ha!)
Rock-a-bye baby on the treetop.
When the wind blows the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby cradle and all!
This is one of the childhood nursery rhymes that were sung by mothers to their little babies in my generation. I still haven’t figured out why it was such a favorite rhyme. The words aren’t exactly enduring, nor does it have a happily-ever-after ending. In fact, its story line reads more like that of a scary movie. Today, I would like to use this nursery rhyme as a tool that might help us better get a glimpse of what’s happening to tens-of-thousands of families across this country.
Rock-a-bye baby on the treetop:
In this rhyme, the tree represents our homes.
We know trees are homes to many different birds, animals and thousands of insects. Notice the location of the baby’s cradle. This is very important to this rhyme because positioning the cradle on the top of the tree represents putting the baby in a safe place. Our homes need to be a safe and secure place for our children. Mother birds lay their eggs in a nest that is built high up in a tree so that their babies can be secure. As we all know, the higher the nest is built the harder it will be for predators to eat the eggs and the baby birds after they are hatched; subsequently, it is the safest place for the birds to build their nests. This is the paramount place for the baby birds to live until they are grown.
When the wind blows the cradle will rock:
The cradle is the safe, secure, cozy place where the baby abides.
We have dust storms in Arizona, so I really understand what damage the wind is capable of doing. Winds can be dangerous and cause hurt and harm. The degree of damage they can cause depends primarily upon how long and strong the winds blow. When winds of unrest and/or trouble blow into the home, the boughs can vehemently sway back and fourth. This is unsettling, causing stress, strain, and pain for the family. Even though it may be a bit scary and alarming for the children, it is usually not an all-encompassing disaster such as happens when the bough breaks. (Divorce takes place.) The difference in pain and devastation is like the difference between cutting yourself with a paring knife or with a power saw.
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul?
and why art thou disquieted within me.."
(Psalm 42:11)
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall:
This is when a marriage ends in divorce and the home breaks apart, causing enormous suffering.
When a bough becomes detached, this means that the home is severed in two, causing a major crisis. A home is all about relationships. Through no fault of their own, the children will no longer have both parents in the home. These all-important relationships are forever changed. Because the baby was placed in the uppermost part of the tree to assure the utmost protection, when the bough breaks severe damage occurs. Divorce is a miserable time for children and leaves them full of confusion and insecurity. It is like a rug has been pulled out from underneath them. When their secure place is taken away, they go slipping and sliding, falling in every direction. Their happiness and sense of well-being are lost, causing emotional instability.
We would like to believe that divorce is a problem solver and that it is not at all harmful to children. After all, if the adults aren’t satisfied with their marriage the children can’t be either. If divorce will benefit the parents, surely it is okay to assume that it will benefit the children. Even if at first the children don’t like the idea of the divorce, they will get used to it. RIGHT! After all, children are resilient; they bounce back quickly! If the divorce takes place when the children are young, so much the better. They will probably adjust even better than their parents will. Who’s kidding whom? This scenario is only a figment of one’s imagination or maybe a hopeful assumption. It is unrealistic to believe that divorce does not traumatize the children. Children can recall no life without father or mother. In fact, just trying to imagine life apart from a parent may be nearly impossible for them. They can never have more than half a home at a time. If you fall into the category of those who tend to downplay a child’s pain, you need to know what documented research indicates. Few children (less then 10 percent) experience relief of any kind when their parents divorce. In fact, from a child’s point of view, it is one of the worst traumatic events to have to experience. There is no use in pretending that there is a good side from the children’s point of view to divorce, excepting in a case when they are protected from physical or sexual abuse.
Divorce ends a marriage; it does not solve the problems we carry inside. I found it interesting to learn that there is a new alternative for diagnosing children between the ages of 9-18 for PTSD. It is called My Worst Experience Scale (MWES). It is given to individual children or to large groups of them as part of a mental health audit. There are twenty-one different events listed on MWES, one of them being divorce. Maybe something positive is beginning to happen in this generation. Society might finally be waking up and admitting the impact divorce can cause to children. With so many children being intensely insecure and dissatisfied with their lives in the post-divorce family, it’s just in the nick of time.
This year 1.4 million American families will face divorce. How many lives have been devastated by all these divorces? The only reason that there won’t be more divorces accounted for is because the trend now is for couples to live together outside the bonds of matrimony.
"The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation"
Numbers 14:18
Down will come baby cradle and all:
Divorce not only affects the couple, and the well being of their children but also their children’s children and their children.
When the bough breaks, not only are the children affected by the divorce, but everyone related or connected to that family suffers as well. Unfortunately, many of these divorces are taking place in Christian homes. Why do we struggle so in our efforts to treat one another according to biblical principals? "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." John 13:34
The high rate of divorce has caused havoc amongst tens of thousands of people who are victims of this harmful practice. When family relationships reach the breaking point of divorce, life goes chaotic for the entire family. It’s essential to communicate the larger story of divorce so that the cost can be counted. We need to take heed to our ways and redirect our paths.
Why do you suppose that divorce was never part of God’s perfect plan? God knew the significance of staying together and the serious widespread problems and devastation that divorce could cause. There is only one reason that the Scripture gives to divorce. No! It is not irreconcilable differences; you know the correct answer. It is when one of the parties in the marriage has committed adultery. If this has occurred, the other has the option to divorce that party. Bear in mind that this scripture does not say that you must divorce or that you should divorce. There is not a commandment to divorce your partner, but there is only an option to do so. Even if the divorce is well founded, you need to take into consideration that there are innocent bystanders that will be affected by your decision. There are always consequences to pay when a divorce occurs. What might be some of those consequences?
Divorce can be traced to a multitude of different problems facing our society at large. I believe that direct connections can be made linking the high level of anxiety and stress people are experiencing, the now so-called AD/HD (hyper activity in children), the disastrous financial debt many are encountering, and the ultra extreme amount of depression that is so wide spread in our society to divorce. These related links are only the tip of the iceberg. Depression is amongst the most widespread link in this chain. In my opinion depression is becoming a national disaster. I believe that depression is a plague we have brought upon ourselves, transmitted to us through divorce. This is one of the reasons why entire families are now being treated for depression.
I read an Internet article called "Symptoms of Depression" that pointed out that, if one member of your family exhibits the signs of depression, their depression can affect the entire family. It isn’t unusual for family members of a depression sufferer to begin developing depression symptoms themselves. In other words, the article was actually indicating that depression is contagious; IT IS INFECTIOUS. This made good, horse sense to me because young children are afflicted with depression, teens are suffering from depression, there is depression in adults, depression in new mothers, (One in every three births is to an unmarried woman. No wonder they’re depressed.) and then there is what is currently being termed Senior Sadness. Is there a common thread between the one in five Americans declaring themselves to be depressed and so many divorces? Therapists claim that STRESS and SELF-ABSORPTION are the major causes for depression. When every member of a family gets ripped apart by thetraumatic event of divorce, there is an incredible amount of stress, and I personally know children who have become self-absorbed in fantasizing that their parents will get back together. The two major origins for depression can be readily observed in divorced families.
*Note: I am not saying that the only explanation for depression is divorce. What I am saying is divorce can be a major contributor to depression.
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."
(Genesis 2:24)
Instead of down playing marriage, we need to be doing everything we can to support families. Earlier in the year there was an article in Newsweek called "Giving Lessons in Love" that was encouraging to my soul. Oklahoma is fighting its sky-high rate of divorce (second highest in the nation) with state-funded marriage ambassadors. I am not advocating state-funded programs as solutions to divorce, nor am I suggesting that the government ought to be in charge of mediating marriages, but, hallelujah, there is a shift in their thinking! Maybe they finally realize divorce is corroding our society and causing all sorts of others problems. The program is called the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP). Some are hailing the governor of Oklahoma as a visionary. Other states have now followed suit with similar programs including Arizona, the state in which I live. Last month the Bush administration proposed setting aside $100 million in federal welfare funds for state-run programs that support marriage.
Now, it is time for social scientists and doctors to get on the same bandwagon starting with linking the immense amount of depression seen in our society today with the massive divorce rate we have. (Read "Are the Blues Contagious") Perhaps if this were to take place, maybe doctors would stop handing out drugs for depression and start revealing to their patients the pitfalls that have caused their condition. Patients need the core issues addressed not just the symptoms treated. The wounds of divorce are real, even though they may be invisible to the naked eye. Divorce is a loss of the greatest magnitude. I am convinced that, if there were less divorce taking place, we would see less depression.
If divorce has already taken place in your family, I don’t want this article to make you feel like everything is hopeless! With Jesus in your life, there is always hope, help, and health possible. "...but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).God is a miracle worker! Turn your life over to Him. Let the Lord change the boulder that is hindering your pathway to the Solid Rock that can guide you into all righteousness.
"From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed:
lead me to the rock that is higher than I."
(Psalm 61:2)
[If you would like to subscribe to Victoria Thacker’s publication, Pur-r-r Fect For Women, please call or write to: Broken Arrow Baptist Ministries, P O Box 469, Pearce AZ 85625-0469 E-mail: BROKNARRW@vtc.net; website: http://www.azstarnet.com/public/nonprofit/broknarw]