1989 Issue 1
Bob Miller was a man of unquenchable hope who was consumed with a vision of a world conquered by the gospel of Jesus Christ. As the years went on this vision clarified, and his Christ-centered approach to life and history became more and more emphatic. He learned to understand that this world-wide victory of biblical Christianity will come about only through Spirit-empowered perseverance in duty to Christ among Christians. So, to the very end of his life, Bob was seeking to influence people, particularly young adults, for Christ.
Here, in I Corinthians 15, is the solid basis for our victory-oriented hope of the future. It is rooted in the actual, historical, irrefutable resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead in the same body in which He suffered.
I was born into the home of a farmer and public school teacher/administrator of what were then called consolidated public schools in rural Ohio in 1930. At the age of six, I contracted a disease that is today called rheumatic fever but was not known then as such and of course not treated properly as a result. In my youth, growing up on the farm and in a home where education was revered and honored, in the world of books and ideas being cast about constantly, and in a very Christian home, my soul and spirit .... and my physical body .... could not have been nurtured any better, I am sure. Hard work, honest enterprise, good food, good neighbors, extended family around one for support and encouragement, clean living in a rural atmosphere and in a home where the aura of reverence for God and all His creations pervaded the atmosphere, no television, the pristine environment of sports competition properly administrated, provided an atmosphere that, even today, I find unequalled anywhere.
Prepare for it! Spiritually, Psa 90:12. Also, make arrangements with the deacons concerning your funeral. "IT IS lMPORTANT THAT WHEN WE DIE WE HAVE NOTHING TO DO BUT TO DIE." - Charles Hodge. Make sure you have a will, and a proper (biblical) one. Leave your children as little debt as possible.
Prepare your family for it! Spiritually, mentally, and financially, l Tim. 5:8.
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (ll Tim. 3:16-17).
Few passages in the Bible are better known than the one quoted above. It has served as a rallying cry against religious liberalism and is quoted by nearly every Presbytery candidate as a proof text for the Bible's claim to be the inspired word of God. It is the biblical and intellectual basis for Luther's Reformation platform of Sola Scriptura.
A popular word today used to describe activist groups is the word "agenda." An agenda is the goal or purpose of an organization usually as it seeks to shape the political and social forces of its culture. Communism, for example, has an agenda of redistributing the wealth of nations through revolution. The Gay Rights movement has the agenda of changing attitudes towards sodomy so that it will become accepted as an alternate and normal lifestyle by the American people.
Sometimes groups which claim one goal actually have another one which is called a "hidden agenda." The National Education Association (NEA), which claims to be interested only in the education of our children, actually has a hidden agenda of promoting the religion of Humanism and putting all education under the the control of the state.
In the following material the reader will find the first letters in an exchange between Counsel of Chalcedon contributing editor, Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., and a man who refers to himself as a "Rev." and who has a Th.D. degree. This man, who we shall refer to under the pseudonym "Mr, Gray," wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper, in which he castigated those who would prevent the showing of the film, The Last Temptation of Christ. Ken Gentry responded with his own letter to the editor, and, after that, Dr. Gentry and "Mr. Gray" continued corresponding with each other personally through the mail.
I believe many of our readers will benefit from this exchange. "Mr. Gray" is not an untypical person in our society. While most of his views are as liberal as you can get from one claiming to be a Christian, nevertheless he is fairly typical of ministers and laymen in most of the large mainline denominations, be they Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal or whatever.
I could not believe my ears. A well-known member of the presbytery of which I was then a part stood and pleaded with us to not become involved in counseling members of our congregations! Then another stood and echoed those sentiments. And, the members of the presbytery nodded in agreement.
Of course, the reason they did so was that four pastors in as many years had to be disciplined for sins of adultery and wife abuse. Three of those problems arose due to "counseling situations gone wrong." So the solution, we were being told, was to stop or radically cut back our counseling activities. Instead of dealing with people's problems we were to refer them to "professionals" who knew how to handle those matters.
Because of Judah's "roaring defiance" at her covenant Lord, He, in righteous judgment, "forsakes," "abandons," and "delivers her up" to her enemies to be ravaged by them.
Although Jehovah had treated Judah as his dearly beloved and prized possession, He, as the Holy God, would not tolerate her impenitent apostasy. Any love He had for Judah, was an holy love, which could not tolerate unholiness and disloyalty.
Therefore, Jeremiah says that Jehovah hates Judah. "Hate" in Hebrew is sina. It is the opposite of "love." It means to oppose, detest and despise those persons or things with which one desires no contact or relationship. "Love draws and unites, hate separates and keeps distant. The hated and hating persons are considered foes or enemies and are considered odious, utterly unappealing." - Van Gronigen
What is Calvinism? Or the Confession of Faith in Harmony with the Bible and Common Sense. In a series of dialogues between a Presbyterian minister and a young convert. Dialogue XXII, Presbyterianism of the Reformers.
