Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. (2 Tim 2:8-9, NIV)

Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Rom 1:1-4, NKJ)

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. (1 Tim 1:12 NIV)

“Remember Jesus Christ,” a real human being who lived long ago, born into an ancient royal family with a documented genealogy, long after the dynasty had lost political power and wealth. “Remember Jesus Christ,” who truly lived as a human being, and truly died, and truly rose from the dead, demonstrating God’s power and his own divine nature. “Remember Jesus Christ,” the One who completed God’s eternal plan so that we might have life. “Remember Jesus Christ,” someone Paul knew and talked to and trusted enough to serve him at any cost, even though Paul didn’t meet him until after Jesus died — and rose again. “Remember Jesus Christ,” and remember, like Paul, to thank him for what he has done for you. The historical man Jesus clearly admired remembering to give thanks and show gratitude. He gave verbal applause to a Samaritan who bothered to come and say thank you for his healing from leprosy (see Luke 17:12-19). Like the Samaritan, throw yourself at Jesus feet and thank him, praising God (see also Revelation 5:11-14). “Remember Jesus Christ.”

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
–Cicero

When King Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” Jehu replied, “as long as the prostitution and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?” (2 Kings 9:22)

“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.” (Isa 48:22, 57:21 NIV)

“From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace. (Jer 6:13-14, 8:10-11 NIV)

“‘Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. (Ezek 13:10-11 NIV)

Joram didn’t answer Jehu’s question (see 2 Kings 9:22 above). Rather, “Joram turned about and fled, calling out to Ahaziah, ‘Treachery, Ahaziah!'” (2 Kings 9:23). Treachery indeed! Jehu chose to listen to God, and actively seek to fulfill his word on this occasion. The context tells us that Jehu had already known what God said about the house of Ahab, about Jezebel and their children, but before this he had not acted on that knowledge, nor apparently even spoken out about it.

Jehu’s statements affirm that he knew what Jezebel was doing was morally and spiritually wrong. But he and many others, knowing what God had said, knowing the difference between right and wrong, had been tolerant of her behavior, and its overflow into the whole society of Israel. Jehu and his fellow officers had ridden behind Ahab when he was denounced and his doom pronounced by God’s prophet (2 Kings 9:25-26). Jehu and all the people knew what Elijah had foretold about Jezebel, and why (2 Kings 9:36-37). But it wasn’t moral outrage or righteous indignation or zeal for God that prompted Jehu to move against Joram and Jezebel, it was the opportunity to become king himself. He moved against Joram only when he was assured he had the support of the army (2 Kings 9:1-15) as well as God’s condemnation of Ahab’s son and wife.

Nevertheless, Jehu’s question in reply to Joram’s question was on target. Tolerance of evil does not produce peace. How can there be peace when immorality and idolatry are openly flaunted? Whether the prostitution is physical immorality or spiritual ambiguity, whether the witchcraft is occultism or basic selfishness and personal power trips, evil does not and cannot produce peace. Like Joram, or the nation of Judah in the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, there will always be people who think that they should just be left alone to do as they wish, and no one should speak against their behavior. “Peace” they say, “tolerance” they insist, but there is no peace. While Joram asked “is it peace” he and his mother and father before him had of course actively opposed and persecuted those who followed Jehovah. There is a double meaning to Isaiah’s statement that “there is no peace for the wicked.” While they want to be tolerated and accepted, they are never really willing to extend the same privilege to those who disagree with them, and so they neither know peace themselves nor allow peace for others.

Those who follow the Lord Jehovah today are not called upon to shoot arrows at the opposition as Jehu did or throw wicked people from windows as the eunuchs did to Jezebel, but if more of those people who intermittently identified themselves as being “on the Lord’s side” had just spoken the truth and stood up for what they believed, maybe those extreme actions would never have been called for at all. Jezebel could arrange the murder of Naboth with a flimsy cover story (1 Kings 21) not because she expected people to believe it was really justified, but because she expected people like Jehu and the eunuchs to just be quiet and follow on. And they did, for years.

Jeremiah and Ezekiel (see scriptures above) both decried the pretense that said “everything is fine” when political and spiritual leaders were morally and spiritually wrong. Whitewash may cover blemishes, but it endows no strength. Pretending that things are OK when they’re not, tolerating and even justifying wickedness, does not produce peace. Rather it ensures that the flimsy whitewashed wall will fall when disaster could have been averted. Honesty about what’s right, and what’s wrong, a dose of truth, can make a real difference.

“Treachery” Joram said. We should never resort to violence, but Christians must dare to speak the truth, to label sin as sin and decline to go along with it. Do so and you too will learn that those who most loudly acclaim tolerance are not tolerant, and know no peace. To speak the truth is, in those terms, treachery. But peace is only found in obedience to God, not tolerance of evil. Going along with the choices and behaviors of wicked people will never produce peace. How can there be peace when prostitution and witchcraft abound? Again, peace is only found in obedience to God, not tolerance of evil.

One of the worst periods in the history of Israel was that time when Ahab was king and Jezebel the Phoenician his queen (I Kings 16:29-22:40). In many respects Ahab’s kingship was marked by success, especially in areas of commerce and foreign policy, but Ahab and Jezebel led the Israelite people on a campaign of idolatry that threatened the extinction of the worship of YaHWeH (JeHoVaH). Kings summarizes Ahab’s life by saying, “There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife. He behaved in the vilest manner by going after idols, like the Amorites the LORD drove out before Israel.” (I Kings 21:25-26, NIV). He is characterized as a man without peer for the damage he did, the evil he engaged in, and the rebelliousness of his attitude toward God. Chronicles refers to him as one who hated the LORD (II Chron. 19:2) and tells us that Jehoshaphat, an admired and Godly king of Judah, jeopardized his own relationship with God and endangered his people by forming alliances with the house of Ahab. The moral and religious record of Ahab is horrible from beginning to end. He “did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.” He thought the past sins of idolatry were “trivial” and set out to do more than any of his predecessors. He “did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.” (I Kings 16:30-33, NIV).

Ahab was periodically rebuked by the prophets of YaHWeH, such as Elijah (I Kings 17:1, 18:18); sometimes he was benevolently guided by them (I Kings 20); and several times his doom was pronounced by these messengers of God (I Kings 20:41-43, 21:17-24, 22:17). His behavior toward God was not due to a lack of information or communication. God reached out to him repeatedly and demonstrated the reality of his power, especially through the prophet Elijah. In spite of God’s abundant demonstration of concern for Ahab, and concern for Israel, his messages and his displays of power, Ahab persisted in rebellion, persisted in hating God, for no reason we can discern in the narratives. Ahab’s life does not seem to have been unduly hard or bitter, and his attitude toward the God who persistently revealed himself is remarkably hostile. Thus, if ever a man justly deserved the condemnation of the Almighty, Ahab seems to be that man. According to the prophets who knew him and wrote about him, he was the worst-and certainly had no excuse for his wickedness. He could not claim ignorance nor argue lack of proof.

However, when Ahab hit rock bottom in his behavior because of his petty covetousness in the matter of Naboth and his vineyard, when the crime of “false witness”, and the perversion of justice facilitating murder and theft seemed acceptable as a means of gaining a piece of ground for a garden, at just that time when God’s justice in condemning Ahab seems most obvious, and the most severe denunciation of Ahab’s evil behavior had been pronounced, and the horrible description of violent and ignominious doom for Ahab, Jezebel, and all their offspring (I Kings 21:17ff) had been given; at that time of utter moral debasement and contempt for right, Ahab, completely out of character, went through the motions of repentance. He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He “went around meekly.” (I Kings 21:27). The prophets didn’t want us to think in reading this that Ahab’s character was showing its true lights, or undergoing an abrupt but long lasting change, and so it is immediately before this event that the scathing summary of Ahab’s life recalled above is presented (verses 25-26). He was, we are reminded, sold to evil and behaved in the vilest manner. But this time, out of all the times God addressed Ahab through his prophets, a responsive chord was struck. Ahab the wicked king humbled himself, and God was frankly pleased and compassionate (verses 28-29). All the consequences of Ahab’s sinful life could not be wished out of existence, and yet God forestalled the disaster, just because Ahab humbled himself this once. A few years later the same old God-hating Ahab died violently and the elements of Elijah’s prophecy against him began to coalesce against his family, but for a time Ahab, even wicked, rebellious, God-hating Ahab, was as worthy a recipient of God’s mercy as any of us, because he too humbled himself before God (James 4:10).

While Ahab is not the only example of such a generous response by God to the gestures of repentance, he certainly is an impressive example. No matter whether Ahab was or could be reformed for the long haul, God perceived the meek behavior as genuine, and accepted it as such. Was God momentarily fooled by Ahab? Or by the Ninevites (Jonah 3-4)? Or by me when I promised I wouldn’t and then I did? Didn’t he know that in a day or two they(we)’d be back to their(our) old behavior? Of course he did, and of course he does. This is that appalling kind of forgiveness that we want to receive from God, but are reluctant to give to one another. Forgiveness at the drop of a sorry that doesn’t beg the question by saying “what about last time?” or “what about tomorrow?” God could respond generously to Ahab, even wicked, idolatrous, cruel, rotten Ahab, to whom he owed nothing, who would soon be back to his evil ways. And he can respond to me, just as readily, just as favorably, and to you. But the tough question is, how readily can I respond to you, and how favorably? And how readily will you respond to me, and how favorably? God’s kind of forgiveness doesn’t dwell on past failures or worry about likely future failures so much as it responds to current needs and attitudes. It’s hard for us to live that way, to forgive that way, and yet Jesus seems to expect us to exactly that, to learn to forgive in the same way that God does, to be able to forgive even Ahab (Matt. 6:12, 14-15) and give him another chance when my mind argues, “he doesn’t deserve it.”

But really, neither do I.

It’s a tricky thing, trying to summarize nearly three weeks of travel, teaching, learning, observing, discussing, and sharing in a few lines. February 1-19 Tom Woody and I made such a trip to the Philippines. Various things leave strong impressions. The young sister, a widow at 25 with three children, who loves to sing and prefers the soprano or bass lines of hymns in the English language. The old man who has started several congregations and baptized most of the inhabitants of remote villages but can’t walk the long distances or climb the steep hills so well anymore at 84, and can’t see the print of his Bible, but continues to encourage the brethren and seek the truth. The third class rice that tastes of mold, being eaten gladly by destitute brethren who barely survive from harvest to harvest, when there is a harvest. The dozens of children gathered around the bamboo walls of the meeting places to see and hear the American visitors, children that often out number the adults present. Brothers and sisters who come to Bible study with long knives or machetes in hand, because these are the tools of their livelihood and they’ve taken time off from farming or woodgathering to come and hear a message from God’s word. Backless slat benches moved repeatedly during morning studies to escape the sun pouring through openings in an incomplete roof that awaits additional materials. The “preacher” who is known to have sinned grievously and still tries to take the lead. A bottle of aspirin carefully divided among villagers plagued with fevers and headaches and malaria symptoms. A young brother sickened with a toothache who tries to refuse money to see a dentist because others need it more. Confusion and distress over teachings some American preachers use to try to divide and control the churches. Generous sharing of chickens and eggs from scanty flocks for visiting Americans. “Weak” bridges with boards laid over holes so that they can still be driven across. All this and much, much more.

Many in the Philippines show a good spirit, a desire to know the truth and serve the Lord. Poverty is not a hindrance to entrance into the kingdom of heaven, but poverty can be very discouraging. I’m thankful that generous brethren here have been willing to give, to join in fellowship with brethren overseas, that they may have some of their needs supplied and be encouraged in love. We will never overcome poverty in this world, but it is praiseworthy to help poor brethren and encourage them to continue in faith, and to support the preaching of the gospel. I want to say thank you to all those brethren and congregations who have done so, whether in the Philippines or your own communities or elsewhere on this globe. May God indeed provide an abundant harvest from the seed you help to scatter.

.. God … answered their prayers, because they trusted in him. (1 Chr 5:20 NIV)

1Thes 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

Prayer and thanksgiving are a commandment of God. God’s will for prayer is that those who are “in Christ Jesus,” that is, those who are in the church (see 1 Thes 1:1), should pray and give thanks frequently and with regularity. Prayer and thanksgiving are activities that the Christian, one who is in Christ Jesus and a part of his church, can engage in anytime, anywhere, on any occasion.

But what is prayer, and what does it do?

Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matt 6:5-8 NIV)

Prayer is presented by Jesus as a simple activity, personal conversation, one on one with God. It should be natural, as is conversation with anyone we know, not stilted or formalized or wordy or showy. There is a need for private prayer, Jesus says, the believer alone with God. Jesus also talked about shared prayers, prayers in the presence of others in the example often called the Lord’s prayer (Matt 6:9-13, where the pronouns indicate a shared prayer). Simplicity is a key feature, most prayers are about the basics of our lives, which include our physical needs, and our relationships with God and man.

Paul wrote, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” (Rom 10:1 NIV)

Paul’s prayer came, he said, from his heart’s desire. Our prayers too should come from our heart’s desire. And our heart’s desires should become our prayers. If by any chance our heart’s desire is something we don’t want to talk to God about, we surely need a change of heart and better desires. “From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” Jesus said (Matt 12:34). It is God’s desire that we should “know that we belong to the truth,” and “set our hearts at rest in his presence” so that “we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” (I Jn 3:19-22 NIV) A heart yielded to God approaches him with peace and confidence in prayer and deed.

Paul wrote: So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind. If you are praising God with your spirit, how can one who finds himself among those who do not understand say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified. (1 Cor 14:15-17 NIV)

Public prayer is a part of the regular meetings of the church, and must be done in a way that conforms to the teachings of Jesus and Paul. Prayer is not for making the one praying look good to others, but is to present an understandable, heart-felt message to God, that others can agree with and say amen to. Public prayer should build up those who hear it, as God is praised and thanked. Vocal prayer is meant by God to be a blessing to the church as well as a means of bringing him praise and presenting our requests and concerns to him. Congregational prayer, as Paul describes it, should engage the whole being physically, spiritually, and intellectually. Prayer is rightly emotional, but it is emotion with intelligent direction and content. Group prayers call for thoughtful speaking and listening, that believers may join together in presenting their hearts’ desires to God, knowing that he cares and responds.

Statements in Acts that relate to mutual edification:

Acts
• 2:41-47, from the earliest days of the church when the power and authority and knowledge rested peculiarly upon the apostles the church was a one another organism.
• 4:32-37, while the apostles continued to exercise their special gifts and fulfill their unique responsibilities as witnesses of Christ, others made their own kind of contributions to the encouragement of the body of believers.
• 9:36-43, acts of kindness and charity are an important part of mutual edification.
• 15:30-35, prophets, apostles, commissioned preachers, and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.

Statements in the epistles that relate to mutual edification:

Romans
• 1:11-12, strengthening/establishing and encouraging are a two way street with both give and take, based on faith, even when an apostle was directly involved.
• 10:14-15, a preacher’s role, sent by the church, not hired into it.
• 12:1-8, every member has a responsibility for testing and approving God’s will. Every member has a responsibility for using their “gifts” for the good of the body. Those gifts vary, and are not necessarily miraculous at all. Probably none of these gifts need be thought of as miraculous or “spiritual gifts”. Consider for example Paul’s reference to a Cretin “prophet” who was a philosopher poet and had some accurate insights (Titus 1:12). People should use their gifts or abilities for the good of the church, the body. No one is especially singled out for a specific unique role (the preacher, for instance). Each church may have various people with various capabilities to make use of, some of which will overlap. Neither the Roman church nor any other was encouraged to hire someone from elsewhere to come and do any of these things for them or fill some role being left vacant by a lack of appropriate talent. The Roman church, like others in the New Testament, was expected to be a body, complete in itself in its relationship to the head, meeting its own normal spiritual needs in Christ by mutual edification.
• 14:19, mutual edification is to be an underlying goal of Christian choices, along with peace. Christians are to work and sacrifice for the sake of building each other up in peace.
• 15:1-6, each Christian should have the welfare of other Christians at heart, endeavoring to build up (edify) our neighbor. Each Christian has a responsibility (or privilege) of knowing the scriptures so as to find encouragement in them-which can in turn be shared with other believers. This encouragement and endurance given by God (v.5) through the scriptures (v.4) to each of us (v.2 & 4) produces a spirit of unity among Christians (v.5) so that each and all can verbally and heartfully glorify God (v.6). No one is singled out for particular leadership in achieving these things, nor is anyone uniquely qualified to do them in behalf of others.
• 15:14, Paul’s expectation was that the Roman church was adequate or complete in terms of being able to provide instruction for members, by members. As with the other epistles in general, there is no suggestion that there was a specialist in the employ of the church who was competent to teach them or teach for them, but rather that they ordinarily met this need among themselves. Who was “the preacher” of the Roman church? Had there been such a person, is it reasonable to suppose Paul would speak this way or to suppose that he would not specifically address himself to the man who had this particular responsibility? The lack of reference in Romans and the other epistles to any presence of located/hired “preachers” is strong evidence that such a system did not exist in the New Testament church, but rather that the system in use was as described in this verse, “instruct one another”.

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do– living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. (1 Pet 4:3 NIV)

–pa·gan n. 1. One who is not a Christian, Moslem, or Jew; a heathen. 2. One who has no religion. 3. A non-Christian. 4. A hedonist.
–pa·gan adj. 1. Not Christian, Moslem, or Jewish. 2. Professing no religion; heathen.
(American Heritage Dictionary)

We are at that holiday time of year. Halloween is just past, Thanksgiving is just ahead, and Christmas is everywhere in the merchandise aisles. It may be pointed out that the traditions associated with these holidays, or any holidays or anniversary celebrations, do not originate in the New Testament but rather are of pagan, or perhaps Catholic, origin.

It is a fact, easily verified, that our holidays are by and large adaptations of popular pagan celebrations. However, before reacting to that we should perhaps at least consider that many of our readily accepted ceremonies and practices originate in paganism. Realistically, how could public ceremony exist at all apart from non Biblical origins, since the Bible doesn’t define or prescribe any public ceremonies to speak of (excepting perhaps the Lord’s table and baptism, which are broadly defined as to intent and content)? The traditions of Thanksgiving are associated with a pagan (native American) harvest celebration and Puritanism. The traditions of Christmas are associated with a pagan (European) winter celebration and Catholicism. Neither have a legitimate religious role or any obligation associated with them, but neither “as a modern holiday” has much to do with its roots either. They are not associated with debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry, in the context of family celebrations, feasting, decorating, or gift giving.

Every day each of us accepts the relics of pagan tradition when we use the calendar. The names of the months, the names of the days of the week, the length of the months and of the year, can all be shown to have origins in paganism and idolatry. We see the names of Greek, Roman, and Norse Gods in most of the calendar names, and yet we use these traditional names without thought as to their origin, and with no idolatrous intent or consequences. And we should.

When we celebrate marriage we celebrate an event that is Biblical in origin, certainly, but the traditions of the wedding are almost totally pagan–because the Bible doesn’t define any such traditions. The traditional placement of the bride on the groom’s left, the use of a bridal veil, the wedding ring, the ring finger, the throwing of grain, the candles, the wedding cake, and so forth all originate in paganism and superstition. It is a mistake to attribute any of these traditions of celebration with Biblical mandate or shroud them with a patina of inspired holiness, but such traditions are not bad nor are they anti Christian, any more than the names on the calendar are or wearing black to a funeral or using spoons and forks at dinner. These things have had, and in some contexts may still have, religious implications. Each and all of these things have to be viewed in their current cultural context–what does it mean to us and the people around us?

This is of course the very criteria that Paul prescribed for being tolerant of holiday traditions, but not carried away by them, in Romans 14:5-6 and Colossians 2:16-20. Holidays are neither inherently good or bad, but our attitude about them may be. Don’t forget that Christ is our head, our hope, our salvation. Observing a holiday tradition (without the pagan behaviors of debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry of course) or ignoring one, is of no great consequence, so long as we do so giving honor and thanks to the Lord.

It would be impossible to eliminate all things from our lives that have pagan origins, nor are Christians called upon to do historical, etiological or etymological searches in order to know what to accept or how to live. It is unreasonable to selectively designate certain things (holidays, for example) that have pagan origins as unacceptable, while casually accepting others (wedding ceremonies and calendars, for example). Instead, all things must be tested and then handled appropriately.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Thes 5:16-23 NIV)

Jesus at Feasts and Festivals

The gospel of John mentions many times that Jesus went up to Jerusalem for Jewish feasts. Most of these, of course, were those mandated in the Law of Moses (Passover, John 2:23, 4:45, 6:4, 13:1, and Tabernacles, 7:2ff). John also mentions one festival Jesus attended without naming it (John 5:1) and one that Jesus attended which was not in the Law, but rather a tradition that grew up apart from scripture (The Feast of Dedication, also known as Hanukkah and the Feast of Lights, is apparently mentioned only once in the Bible, John 10:22. It developed in the era of the Maccabees and celebrated the cleansing of the Temple after its desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes. The Feast of Dedication is observed on the 25th day of the ninth month of the Jewish calendar.
~from Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

There may have been various reasons for Jesus participating in these feasts or holidays. In part, the ones mandated in the Law may have been attended as a religious obligation. However, since Jesus stressed the idea of the intent of the Law (see the sermon on the mount, for example), it is unlikely he attended the festivals without a genuine holiday spirit. And his attendance in Jerusalem at a non Biblical feast would suggest that he saw in the holidays something more than duty. For one thing, he may well have seen the holidays, as many today do, as an opportunity to have a wholesome good time, celebrating with friends and family and thanking God (consider Luke 7:33-35). But John also suggests that Jesus saw in the holidays an opportunity to present his message to people who for a time have turned their attention away from the ordinary and, to some extent, toward the extraordinary. Perhaps such opportunities still exist today.

Someone has said, “Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” We regularly experience irregular weather, whether El Nino or whatever may be the cause, and we hear speculation and alarms about global warming, acid rain, deforestation and other fears about weather on a worldwide scale. Radical weather changes of global magnitude aren’t a new phenomenon (consider Noah’s wet year, for example). It is clear that there have been many shifts in the weather over the millennia. Historical records demonstrate cycles of cooling and warming in recorded history, as well as some geographically significant changes in precipitation. Some of these events may be connected to human activity and others regarded as “acts of God” or weather cycles within the boundaries of the cycles God set in motion (note Genesis 8:22, Ecclesiastes 1:5-7).

If you’ve ever been to the Grand Canyon or Yosemite or a number of other parks or monuments you’ve probably heard something of the “Ice Age(s)” and glaciers, a time or times when the planet’s temperature was several degrees cooler than our era, and great ice sheets (glaciers) covered large areas of the northern hemisphere. There are many problems in the modern interpretations and time schemes employed to explain the occurrence and duration of the ice age(s), and it can be confusing trying to connect these geological models with Biblical information. We realize of course that the Bible is not an exhaustive account of the geological history of the earth, many things are dealt with briefly or not at all because they do not relate to the necessary message of the Bible, and the Bible doesn’t always discuss the broad effects of events that are mentioned (as perhaps in Genesis 10:25, or the account of the ten plagues in Exodus 1-14).

With regard to ice ages(s) in particular, some creationists who explore scientific issues and also believe in a literal interpretation of the Genesis accounts of creation and the flood, including the time spans mentioned in those accounts, also believe that there was an ice age of several hundred years duration following the great flood (Michael J. Oard, “An Ice Age Caused by the Genesis Flood,” Institute for Creation Research, 1990). Without getting into the science of this interpretation, let’s just consider the circumstantial evidence found in the Bible. Besides the brief descriptions of great change in the world and the global environment found in Genesis 5-11 (and other scriptures, such as 2 Peter 3:5-6) there are also the incidental references found in what is generally considered the oldest book of the Bible (and closest in time to the great flood), the book of Job.

The book of Job, set in a time frame close to that of Abraham, mentions the weather, and severe weather, much more than any other book of the Bible. Of twenty Biblical references to snow,* four are in Job (see Job 6:15-17, 38:22-30 for example; and nine of the non-Job references are not about weather at all but use snow as an illustration to emphasize whiteness). Three of four Biblical references to ice are in Job. Twice Job mentions the cold. There are two references to tempest, five to storms and another to “gale.” Wind is used as an illustration thirteen times, lightning comes up seven times, thunder three times, rain seven times and five times the dialogues of Job mention a flood as an instrument of judgment that destroys the wicked and their schemes. Job does also mention heat and drought twice, a hot east wind once and dry weather three times, so not all the weather references are to cold and wet and storm, but Job lived in the fertile crescent region which has a temperate Mediterranean climate, which can be summarized as rainy winters and dry summers. It is at least interesting that Job’s references to weather include mentioning hot and dry weather only about eight times altogether while cold, wet, and severe weather are mentioned more than fifty times in total.

Of course, the book of Job is “only” around 4,000 years old, which is not nearly old enough to fit into an uniformitarian evolutionary cosmology for the timing of an ice age, but then there are other reasons for questioning the time frame required for traditional evolutionary geological dating. Just based on the references in Job, one could suspect that his homeland, the fertile crescent, was significantly colder and wetter in Job’s time than in more recent historical eras, which would suggest regions further north were colder and wetter still.

We cannot know for certain whether or not the book of Job reflects Ice Age weather on a global scale, but the possibility that Job lived at the latter part of a flood-induced period of planetary frigidity is at least intriguing, and may be circumstantial confirmation of both the antiquity of the book of Job and the far reaching effects of the events associated with the deluge in the days of Noah.

*note: all weather terms are as used in the NIV

At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place. Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back. God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor. The animals take cover; they remain in their dens. The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds. The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen. He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them. At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them. He brings the clouds to punish men, or to water his earth and show his love.
(Job 37:1-13 NIV, the words of Elihu)

Chick·en Little (chîk¹en) noun
A confirmed pessimist, particularly one who warns of impending disaster. [After a character in a story who is hit on the head by an acorn and believes the sky is falling.]

Don’t be a chicken little. Better, perhaps, to be an acorn…

The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.–Ralph Waldo Emerson

And watch the little things…

Little strokes fell great oaks.–Benjamin Franklin

And listen carefully…

A wise old owl sat on an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard;
Why aren’t we like that wise old bird?
-Edward H. Richards

Remembering the details matter…

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For the want of a horse the rider was lost,
For the want of a rider the battle was lost,
For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horse-shoe nail.
-Benjamin Franklin

The rescue of Lot’s family
Gen 19:17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!” Gen 19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. (NIV)

Luke 17:32 Remember Lot’s wife! (NIV)

The rescue of Israel
Exodus 14:10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD.

Exodus 14:19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, (NIV)

Gen 45:5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. (NIV)

Exodus 23:20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
Exodus 23:23 My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
Exodus 23:27 “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.
Exodus 23:28 I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. (NIV)

The right choice
Luke 9:62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (NIV)

Jer 7:24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. (NIV)

Phil 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
Phil 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

2 Pet 3:12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
2 Pet 3:13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
2 Pet 3:14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. (NIV)

Heb 11:10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Heb 11:26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. (NIV)

Where the enemy is
Matt 16:23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (NIV)

Joshua 8:20 The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising against the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction, for the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the desert had turned back against their pursuers. (NIV)

Jer 46:5 What do I see? They are terrified, they are retreating, their warriors are defeated. They flee in haste without looking back, and there is terror on every side,” declares the LORD. (NIV)

Qualification
2 John 1:9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (NIV)

It seldom fails, dealing with funeral homes or other businesses where secular and religious intermingle, that Rev. slips into the printed announcements or verbal introductions. Sometimes the question is asked, “do you want to be introduced as Reverend or Pastor?” The answer is, just use my name, or if you really need a title, “Brother” will do. But it seldom sticks. Many well meaning folks just don’t understand. But let’s think a little bit about titles and descriptive terms.

In Matthew 23:1-12, in the prelude to the “woes” Jesus pronounced against the Pharisees and Scribes, Jesus sternly warned his disciples not to take religious titles upon themselves such as Rabbi, Teacher, or Father. In that warning – which I think Jesus meant quite seriously – he said that rather than being exalted with titles, we should know that we are all brothers, and serve one another. He reminds us that we have one Rabbi (Master) and Teacher, the Christ, and one Father, God.

The titles men take upon themselves, or impute to one another, are sometimes quite remarkable. Reverend is one such title, remarkable in its implications. The King James Bible has the word reverend in one place, “He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.” (Ps 111:9 KJV) Now, it’s not too hard to see that the one whose name is “holy and reverend” is God. The next verse continues with the declaration that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.” (Ps 111:10 KJV) Clearly the word reverend is appropriate to God, and not to any man. This word is rendered “awesome,” “terrible,” and “awe-inspiring” in other versions. What person who has the wisdom of fearing the LORD would want to have such a title attached to their name, or would want to attach such a title to any human? In fact the same (Hebrew) word turns up in the first verse of Psalm 112 as fear, “Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.” (NIV)

So Jesus told his disciples to abstain from exalting themselves or each other with religious titles, and the commonly used religious title “reverend” is a word that is only befitting of God himself. It refers to one who is awesome or worthy of fear, and again Jesus taught that only God is worthy of fear, Luke 12:4-7, but that we are important to God, and so we should not be afraid.

I wonder, how about substituting awesome or terrible or awe-inspiring as a religious title? Instead of Reverends we might have the Awesome Bob Smith or the Terrible John Jacobs or the Awe-inspiring Bill Tong. Hopefully this seems absurd, but this is just what “reverend” means. The desire to honor servants of God with honorific titles is, according to God’s word, a mistake, in fact, a sin. The way to honor servants of God who are placed in leadership, according to His word, is to “imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7) and “submit to their authority” (Hebrews 13:17).

Another word used a lot today, that deserves some comment, is pastor. In the Bible of course pastor is a lower case word, that is, not a title, but a description. It’s found in Ephesians 4:11 of most English versions. In fact several descriptive words are used in that passage, including apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher.

Most of us make the mistake from time to time of using one or more of these words as titles, honorifics, instead of descriptions. It is not Biblical, for example, to refer to the Apostle Paul or the Apostle Peter. Rather, it is Peter, an apostle or Paul, an apostle. The word is a descriptive term, not a title, and it means “one sent.” I can’t find any example in my Bible of the word being used as a title. On the other hand, while the words Lord and Christ are also descriptive words, I find numerous times when they are used as titles applied to Jesus, directly attached to his name. Jesus is Lord (Rom. 10:9) and he is the Lord Jesus (Rom. 14:14). He is the Christ (anointed one, Matt. 16:16) and he is Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:1) and Christ Jesus (Acts 24:24) and the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 11:17).

Thus, while it is consistent with the example and teachings of the Bible to say Christ Jesus or Lord Jesus, it is not consistent to say Apostle Paul or Pastor Smith. But it is in the Biblical pattern of things to describe someone as an apostle, or a prophet, or an evangelist, or a pastor and teacher.

As briefly mentioned, the word apostle means someone who is sent, and it is particularly applied to that group of men, including Paul, who were sent out as witnesses of Jesus, by Jesus himself. It is not used as a title or honorific in the Bible, but as a descriptive word, and is used in reference to some other men, including Barnabus, who was sent out by the church (1 Cor. 9:5-6, Acts 11:22). The same usage is found with the word prophet (generally one who speaks the word of God). Using an NIV Bible I had to wonder whether in fact the word prophet was sometimes attached to a name as a title, since the NIV has examples of such usage as the prophet Jeremiah or the prophet Elijah, but the literal reading in each case is in fact Jeremiah the prophet, Elijah the prophet, and so forth in both Old and New Testaments, not titles but descriptions. Just as apostle and prophet are not used as titles, neither is evangelist (one who brings good news, a preacher or proclaimer) nor pastor (a shepherd).

While the word pastor(s) as a noun only occurs once in most English Bibles (Eph. 4:11) the Greek word actually occurs 18 times. Every other time it is rendered shepherd(s) as in John 10:2. There is also a verb form of this word which is rendered shepherd, or tend, or take care of, or feed in John 21:16, Acts 20:28, 1 Cor. 9:7, and 1 Pet. 5:2, in reference to caring for the Lord’s flock, his church. These verses are in reference to 1) the work of Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, 2) the elders or bishops of a congregation, 3) Paul and other apostles and church leaders (including the Lord’s brothers and Barnabus), and 4) again the elders or bishops of congregations. So again, pastor is not used as a title, and in Eph. 4:11 is a descriptive term (along with teacher) referring to elders. But the word pastor or shepherd is an appropriate Biblical description of work done by those sent out to preach the word of God and those who lead within congregations (as Peter and Paul, sent by Jesus; and Barnabus, sent by a church; and James the Lord’s brother, an elder of a congregation; and Jude the Lord’s brother, a prophet and teacher sent out by a church; and all the elders of the Lord’s churches).

The Lord Jesus is concerned about the spirit with which we view him, the Father, ourselves, and each other. In that concern he admonishes us not to take or use titles or honorifics, but to do our work (serve) and view each other as brothers. This is the core relationship of the Christian church, brothers in the same family, of equal value to our Father and our Savior.