3 January 2010

The Last Day

(Kent Heaton)

The last day of the year is a day to remind us that everything comes to an end. Each year has a beginning and an end as does each month, each week and each day. The new year is only the beginning of twelve months that end on December 31. Life is expressed in the cycle of time that has a beginning and has an end. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8).

As we begin to reflect upon the new horizon of 2010 we should also pause to reflect the sober reminder that we are mortal creatures that have a beginning and at least on this earth – an end. Yet the irony of this message is that we still exist beyond death. Our ending here is a beginning in eternity and upon the frail time of space we share in life eternity depends. “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). “This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

The last day of the year is a day of reflection. It reminds us that time does not stand still. We grow older with each passing year and draw nearer to our eternal abode. Paul looked at his life near its end and said, “For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day: and not only to me, but also to all them that have loved his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:6-8). He looked back on his life and forward to the life to come. The apostle had confidence in his life in service to Christ. His last day was fast approaching and he could see the fight coming to an end; the race nearly completed; the maturing of his faith in God as nearly complete. Can we have the same hope as Paul on this last day?

He also looked forward to a new day coming. This hope was built upon faithful service to the Kingdom of God. Paul knew that his last day on earth would propel him to that eternal home with God. What vision to live with faith in this life that will guide us across the final day. The final day for the Christian is the beginning of the eternal day with the Father. The last day of mortality will be the beginning of our immortal joy. “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:51-54).

The last day is a day of victory. It will be a time when all the grace of God is revealed and the joy of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ will be revealed in the resurrection. The last day of this year should be a time of victory to see how we have grown in our faith toward God - looking forward to that final last day of our life; whether in death or in the glorious coming of our Savior. December 31 – the last day! What a great day to reflect and enjoy the blessings of God. The new year gives opportunity to strive with more zeal to live for the last day. It will not be a day of sadness but a day of awakening. The last day is a day that will last in eternity when we are found faithful.

Does One Have A Right To His Own Belief?

(Eugene W. Clevenger)

A question that we often hear asked is, Does every person have a right to his own belief? I cannot answer that question honestly and completely with a simple "Yes" or "No", because to me the answer is both "Yes and "No".

Looking at it from the human standpoint, as far as our constitutional rights are concerned as citizens of the United States, there can be no doubt about it: everyone does have a right to his own belief. Our democracy was founded on religious tolerance, and every freedom loving American desires its continuance. Also, in a very true sense, the Scriptures teach that an individual has the right to choose what he will believe or disbelieve. But the point that many overlook in discussing this question is, the Bible teaches that if one chooses to believe error and disbelieve Truth, he must suffer the consequences of his choice.

God has made man a free moral agent with the power and permission to choose what he will believe and how he will live in this life. God uses no force whatsoever to compel a man to believe something or do something against his will. In this sense, man does have a right to what he will believe. But every man has placed before him right and wrong, truth and error. If man wills to believe that which is wrong and that which is error, he must suffer the consequences of his choice. In this sense, man does not have a right to his own belief; that is, he cannot believe anything he simply wants to believe and still be Pleasing in the sight of God.

The Right of the Atheist - For example, a man who does not believe in the existence of Jehovah God says, "Everyone has a right to his own belief, and I choose not to believe in God." The question is, Does that atheist have a right to his own belief? Yes, as far as God's forcing him or anyone's forcing him to believe in God Almighty. He has a right to his own belief or disbelief in that sense. But if when he says, "I have a right to my own belief," he implies that he will not have to suffer the consequences for such atheism, I maintain, the Bible being true, he does not a right to his own belief.

The Right of the Infidel - Here is a person who denies the tenets of Christianity, and especially the deity of Jesus Christ. He does not believe that Jesus was the divine Son of God, but accepts him as a mere man. We try to show him by the Bible that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh, but he replies, "Everyone has a right to his own belief, and I choose not to believe in the deity of Jesus." Does he have a right to that belief? Surely he does! No one in heaven or earth will compel him to believe against his will that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. He is a free moral agent; he can choose to believe what he wants to believe. But if when he says, "I have a right to my own belief," he means that he will not have to suffer the eternal consequences for such infidelity, I affirm positively he does not have a right to his own belief. If he thinks he is as pleasing to God in his infidelity as I am in my belief in the deity of Christ, he is wrong! lie has a right to his own belief as far as coercion is concerned to make him believe otherwise, but that is the only sense in which he can truthfully say he has a right to his own belief.

The Right of the Denominationalist - Here is one who denies that baptism has anything at all to do with one's salvation from sin. He maintains that a sinner can be saved, die and go to heaven without submitting to baptism. We try to reason with that person by showing him that Jesus said, "He –that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," and that Peter said, "Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins," but he replies by simply saying, "Everyone has a right to his own belief, and I choose not to believe that baptism has anything to do with salvation."

Does that person have a right to his own belief? Yes, to be sure, he does if by that expression he means that no one has the right to force him to believe in baptism. God has made him a free moral agent with the right to choose what he wants to believe. Before him are placed God's Word on the one hand and man's opinion on the other. God has given him the intellect to learn of both, and God has likewise given him the will to decide which he will believe. Here is God's Word as clear as the noon-day sun when it says, "Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins," and here on the other side is man's prejudiced opinion equally clear when it says, "Baptism is not for the remission of sins." The choice as to which we will believe is given by God to all of us. He will not compel us to accept His Truth, but he leaves the decision up to us. In that sense, everyone has a right to his own belief.

But here is the truth that is overlooked—if, when one stands up in the face of God's clearly revealed Word and ridicules the command of Christ to be baptized and scoffs at its importance, and then to ease the conscience he tries to pass it off by saying, "Well, we all have a right to our own belief in religion," he ought to realize before he stands before the Christ in judgment that he is fooling nobody but himself. If, by his affirming that he has a right to his own belief, he implies that at the judgment he will stand just as acceptable and approved as the man who had enough faith to obey that command, he is unmistakably wrong!

My sincere plea to all is: let us not use the liberty that God has given us to choose between truth and error to believe and practice that which is false, because it is possible for us to believe a lie and be damned. [The Preceptor, April 1952]

Isaac Asimov Analyzes the Bible

(Paul R. Blake)

I saw a book some time ago with the above title. My first thought was: “Now, there's an unlikely match-up.” I can think of a couple of other books that could be written and make just as much sense. How about “An Analysis of Mother Teresa's Humanitarian Work” by Adolph Hitler. Or maybe “How To Be As Mannerly As Shirley Temple” by Mike Tyson. What Isaac Asimov knew about the Bible could fit in a twelve ounce drinking glass with room left over for a can of Pepsi. He was a staunch secular humanist, an avowed atheist, and a rabid evolutionist. What could this man possibly write about the Bible that could be considered remotely objective, let alone beneficial to the reader?

Brethren, we do not wage the war with evil on a level battlefield. The unbelieving world rejects the word and work of the devout as unqualified and unlearned, yet at the same time purports to be expert in debunking a book they do not understand, and, in all likelihood, have not read. They mock the Christian who questions the specifics of the General Theory of Evolution, while they go about parroting the same tired old clichés and ignorant platitudes ridiculing religion.

One of my biology professors in Arkansas began the semester by telling the class that we were to keep our religious mouths shut when he speaks of evolution. He said, “I do not go into your churches telling your ministers what to preach; you will not come into my class and tell me how to teach biology.” Unfortunately, he had a problem with consistency. He taught religion in class, the religion of atheism. He spent thirteen weeks firing a barrage against believers in God, making fun of religion at every opportunity. Obviously, educated unbelievers can be hypocrites, too!

Do not fear the arrogant unbeliever. His unbelief is a desperate choice. Unwilling to face the evidence of his own eyes, and fearful of answering for the consequences of his weakness and sin, he finds hiding his head in the sand of denial to be his only protection. If he looked around himself in honesty, he would see God. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:20-22). To look around and see God's hand in all things would be too terrifying for them, so they curl up tight in their mental beds and pull the covers of intellectualism up over their heads like frightened children.

Do not be intimidated by educated unbelievers; they are quite limited. Like the Jewish Sanhedrin, they have broken their own rules of objectivity. The atheist refuses to consider any answer that involves God or His word. How's that for open-mindedness? In their diseased frenzy to impose their religion of evolution on society, they have violated their own scientific method by calling a theory fact, without experimentation or observation. Sounds more like zealotry than reason, does it not? Pity them, for their pride and worldly knowledge will make it difficult for them to see the wisdom of God and be saved.

See the irony and grieve for them; they have become what they abhor... fools. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works... The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? Who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD” (Psalm 14:1-2, 4). How sad... to think oneself to be so wise, and to actually be a self-made fool.

Do not be bullied by the cultural and political power of unbelievers. While preaching freedom from the “shackles of religion,” they tyrannically force their own philosophy and dogma on the world around them. The intellectuals of Old and New Testament times killed the prophets and the Son of God, but that did not prevent God from completing His work of salvation. They killed the apostles and early Christians, but that did not stop the Gospel from being preached in all the world.

They took prayer and discipline out of schools and put evolution and condoms in the classrooms, but that hasn't come between the faithful and God. Satan's army of unbelievers will always be at the dishonest, domineering cutting edge of cultural decay. It has always been, it presently is, and it will always be... UNTIL. One day, the Lord will return. The persevering righteous believers will go to heaven, and the man who refused to believe in God will spend eternity in perdition.

“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:6-8). Incidentally, Isaac Asimov is dead. Do you suppose he is a believer, now that he is in Hades awaiting the Judgment?