Holy Nehushtan!

We, as Christians, don't always see the forest for the trees. We are easily bewildered and habitually forgetful. We spend our lives both blessed and cursed and too often confuse the sources of both.

 "God sends rain to fall on the just and the unjust." Matthew 5.45 (paraphrased)

Yes, we even confuse cause with effect. Good things happen; bad things happen. We know we should be grateful to God for His goodness, but, historically, we haven't always thanked Him. Sometimes we give credit for our blessings to the wrong person...or thing. We forget that even though that thing is designed and/or sent by God, it is not God. Had we been paying better attention, we surely would have noticed the difference.

Most are familiar with at least some of the Old Testament stories of the Israelites sojourning with Moses in the wilderness. They always seemed to struggle with their faithfulness to God and, so to speak, keeping their eyes on the prize.

On one of the more famous occasions recorded in the book of Numbers, the children of Israel were doing what they did best: grumbling and complaining! Well, the Lord God, shall we say, got his bellyful. He went so far as to send a swarm of fiery serpents, biting their way through the midst of the camp. These vicious vipers bit many, many of them and many, many of them died.

And, as they were dying in their numbers, they, of course, despaired, crying***** out to Moses for help. I at least give them credit for having the good sense to turn to one who, in turn, turned to God. Moses then prayed for his people.

God gave Moses an interesting, even cryptically prophetic remedy. He told Moses to make a serpent of brass, one that resembled the others, but wasn't one of them, put it on a pole in the midst of the camp and tell the people that if those who were bitten would merely look at this "brazen serpent," they would live. Simple enough! Well, people being what they are,  some looked and lived, but some refused. Those who followed the Lord's command of merely looking were healed of their wounds and lived to tell the tale. The others? Well...

Incidentally, it's probably best for another blog, but much could be said about the fact that the brazen serpent on the pole was similar to the biting serpents on the ground, but was not one of them. Why did God order Moses to make a serpent of brass? Why did he not just have him choose one of the fiery serpents? Why hang it on a pole? Who made the serpent? Who made the pole? Why so many questions?

Fastforward a thousand years or so. Many leaders and kings of Israel had come and gone. Hezekiah, a particularly good king and a direct descendent of David, now sat on the throne in Jerusalem.  The Bible says there was "none like him." (II Kings 18.) He followed God faithfully and destroyed the "high places" and groves of pagan worship throughout all of Judah.  He even broke into pieces something called Nehushtan!

The Israelites, as they were wont to do, (as are we,) had long before confused the cause and effect of their miraculous deliverance from the legendary "fiery serpents." The brazen serpent, created by God's command, had become so much more than a family heirloom for Israel over the centuries. It had become a thing of reverence and awe. The people had even begun to burn incense to it.

I can only imagine the old Hebrews telling stories to their children and their children's children about how the "fiery serpents" had invaded their camp and that those who looked upon the brazen serpent were healed and lived! It must have been exciting for the young ones as they too looked upon the serpent. They were surely filled with wonderment and awe, listening to the stories grandpa told them about this snaky creation. I can easily imagine how the story might have evolved over the centuries, inflating the brass thing's power.  I'm sure it's supposed vigor would be even more exaggerated if the one relating this drama somehow managed to forget to mention that it was the Lord God who not only sent the deadly serpents into the camp, but instructed Moses to create the one which they held in such admiration.

Yes, it's a rare man indeed who can repeat an even already interesting story without embellishment, exaggeration, hyperbole or, even for some, downright lying. It's not hard to understand someone wanting to be known as the best story teller even if the story isn't exactly, shall we say, accurate. Imagine the old men falling to the siren song of the "ooh's" and "ah's" and wide-eyed attention of an enraptured audience.  Sounds like a few, a lot, of preachers I know these days.

Yes, whether on purpose or by accident, it's so easy to see how the crux of this seminal event could be lost with the waxing and waning moon over the centuries. Since they had not been heedful of God and His commands, not to mention His mercy, they had forgotten that this was done so not all stiff-necked Israel would die that day!

It's easy to see how, when looking for something to blame or thank, people often default to what they can actually see. People form entire religions out of worshiping stars, trees, mountains and any number of other observable, awe-inspiring objects of nature in their search for life's elusive meaning.

Yes, the serpent was made by God's design at God's command, but it was only an instrument made by a man that was intended for the blessing of God's people. It was not a living, breathing god itself. It was merely a brass thing!

That's why Hezekiah called it "Nehushtan." It was an insult, a term of derision and, frankly, a proper assessment.

"Nehushtan" means a thing of brass. This good king was making the point that this lifeless serpent was neither deity nor holy and was nothing that should have incense burned to it. He then proved his point by breaking it into pieces. So much for the power of Nehushtan. Oh, yes, Hezekiah was literally an iconoclast.

Fastforward to today. So much of what we have incorporated into our services, rituals, programs and more, stuff that was prayerfully intended for the good of God's people and salvation of souls, have taken on a life of their own. There is nothing inherently wrong with programs. They give us useful ways to organize and avoid the chaos into which we so easily slip. Yet, we find ourselves needing more people to run more programs to enable us to have more programs so people can run these programs so we can start new programs. I always laugh, on the rare occasion I attend a local Associational Meeting, when I hear them discussing the "Committee on Committees." It's the circle of life!

The Holy Bible, the inestimable gift of God to man, a book which contains so much that is edifying and strengthening, so much instruction for believers, a history of God's saints and the tenets of God's plan, has become, for all too many, a thing to worship. Even it has become Nehushtan!

Do you doubt me? How many times, in any given sermon, will a preacher refer to the Bible as "The Word of God"? How many times have you heard preachers, et al., say that this book "contains all we need to know about God"? How many times have you heard preachers say that this book "contains the mind of God"?

They back-peddle and side-step and talk out of both sides of their mouths claiming they don't mean it that way, (whatever way they think they mean it,) but their words speak louder than words. If they spoke of a man the same way they speak of this, albeit, holy book, they would be accused of worshiping the one in discussion.

I suppose anything, if out of order, can become Nehushtan. The Jews worshiped traditions, the Torah and Jerusalem. We worship traditions, song books, buildings and more. (Some apparently worship Nashville.) We often think we are worshiping God, when, in actuality, we are only worshiping the things that pointed us to God.

Mom & Dad were great! Those old songs were awesome. Sunday School at ten and worship at eleven are wonderful. Sunday evening service can be special. Wednesday night service can be sweet. The KJV is surely given to we English speaking people by divine intervention. Still, none of those things are the things that paid the ultimate price for our salvation. They are all Nehushtan! They are no more than things made of wood and paper and brass! Good they may be, but they are obviously not the best!

I've seen far too many habits, (I won't even say traditions,) held onto with a death grip because they were handed down to us by mom & dad. Whether it's seating arrangements, order of service or old songs. Some just don't seem to care how many lost souls burn in Hell as long as they get to sing one more rendition of, "Mansion Over the Hilltop."

Our churches and families can also very, very, very easily become our Nehushtan. Too many times has it been heard in any given congregation, "That's the way we've always done it." Or perhaps, "That's the way mom & dad did it."

Now, those things may or may not be good. Those may even be the things and people who pointed us to Christ. Yet, they are not Christ! They are never to be the object of our worship.  And, by-the-way, don't say you don't worship a thing when you revere it as holy; don't say you don't worship a thing when you fight with and abandon your friends over their objections to it; don't say you don't worship a thing when it takes pre-eminence even over the salvation of lost souls.

We remember our deceased loved ones, as we should, but we set them so high on a pedestal as to turn them, at least in our eyes, into holy things. We treat the memory of mom & dad and family members with the utmost care and reverence, remembering exactly which pew that sat in at church. Yes, sometimes there's even a bronze  plaque.

We take good care of our bodies. We feed, bathe and clothe ourselves in the finest raiment we can afford. (Some of us, yes, even go so far as to burn incense to ourselves.) And when we die, we preserve our remains as best we can, covered within the bosom of Mother Earth, having a marble monument to ourselves placed above our heads. Furthermore, we expect this body, that we frankly worshipped, to somehow reincorporate itself at the return of our Savior and rise to spend an eternity in Heaven "walking on streets of gold."

We are blessed with so much that God gives us as He seeks to lead us to His Saving Grace. Whether it be signs, books, friends, family members or buildings, none of these should be the first object of our effection. These are only the trappings of our faith.

Don't get me wrong! I love miracles! I love good music! I love good sermons! Good services! Good friends! Good feelings! Yet, all of this is Nehushtan!

I once read a very popular book and  in it, the author was continually trying to make the point that we are to seek God's face and not just His hands. Though the point was excellent, I wondered if the man had ever actually read his own book. He incessantly related anecdotes about exploding pulpits and people falling down under the influence, allegedly, of the Holy Ghost. The author seemed caught in his own trap. He couldn't seem to realize that the thing he was talking about avoiding was the very thing in which he was ensconced.

Everything the man seemed to say, every story, concerned things and events that surrounded supposedly committed believers. It was real miracle-a-day stuff. The problem? It was all just about the stuff! It was the trappings and surroundings and excitement and miracles of the Bible and Christianity. It seemed to have little to do with the Gospel and the One who died for me.

It usually works that way. We, as the Jews of old, have no intention of letting our affection slip from the One who deserves it to someone or something else. It just happens when we don't pay attention. Much like a man with wandering eyes who stops paying attention to the one he loves because another has captured his attention.

We forget that God is a jealous God and that He desires all of our attention and affections for Himself. Since He gave everything for us, it seems only fair that we would requite His love.

Even the cross is no more than wood. The nails only iron. The tomb a hollow place in a rock. All are wonderful and meaningful, but all these too are just so much stuff!

I haven't thought this entirely through. I'm treading on thin ice, but I'll keep walking out until it breaks. (I'll sink, swim or the Lord will lift me up, I suppose.) Somehow, it seems to me we even worship the man Jesus over the eternal Christ. Many make the man Holy to the point of making Him a part of the Trinity as opposed to God in the flesh of a babe born in a barn. Not a few forget that His flesh was truly flesh. Yes, He was God in the flesh, but in the final analysis, Jesus was just a man. He was like me. He sweated, thirsted, ached, grew tired and suffered from every bodily function and malady that I do. He would have been no more than any other man had He not embodied the indwelling of Jehovah. Is it possible that we can even make Jesus Nehushtan?

He was a source of worship for many, (though He always pointed to His Father,) as was Nehushtan. (John 5.30) He was broken in pieces, by a King unlike any other, as was Nehushtan. (Isaiah 53.10) He even broke the bread at the Last Supper and referred to it as His Body. (Matthew 26.6) The parallels are obvious. Alas, they are opaque and, sometimes, esoteric. It's something I'll be praying about for a long time to come.

I suppose the lesson here is that everything is Nehushtan! Everything but Christ, at least. All must be broken and torn down for the Word of God that became flesh. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith.

All Glory and holiness to Him!

Statement of Faith

Everyone and every organization seems to have a purpose statement, a manifesto, a statement of faith, if you will. I often, very often, differ with people. I often differ even with those with whom I have affiliated myself for years. Yes, I'm fond of saying, I sometimes feel I am at war with the world and the world doesn't even know it.

The following statement is meant to be nothing more than that...a statement. It is neither an argument or an apology. I merely wish to express my particular beliefs on the following subjects. I have, for brevity and the aforementioned reason, left off many Scriptural references, (though I still found myself adding many,) that might be necessary and appropriate for a doctrinal thesis that was intended to teach, persuade and indoctrinate.

This, though, is about what I think. What I believe. For whatever reasons. My reasoning and convictions are as valuable and, likely, as fallacious as those of any one else. This is to record, for posterity, and my progency, what I believe to be the truth concerning the Holy Scriptures, our Heavenly Father and His plan for mankind.











1. The Holy Scriptures


The Holy Bible, at least the present day King James Version, is both instigated and inspired by God Almighty. It is inviolable, without scientific, historic or doctrinal error. It is useful for education and inspiration, for correction and reproof. The Holy Bible is the ultimate written authority on God and His doctrine, subordinate only to the Holy Ghost. The Holy Bible is an "it."

The Holy Bible is not the "Word of God"! It is the Holy Scripture. It is the Divinely inspired Book that God, through the Holy Ghost, enkindled mortal men to put pen to paper. It is infallible and holy, (separate from others,) but it is not Divine.

No book, no matter how glorious, no matter how marvelous and inspiring, can contain the Mind of God. David understood that no building could contain God. We should understand that neither can any book.

The Bible contains the words of prophets, apostles and sundry witnesses as inspired and lead by the Holy Ghost. It is an infallible, if not complete testament of God and His Love and Wisdom. It is words of God. It can be referred to as the "word" only in the most tortured and abstract sense.

I like to quip that Fundamentalists treat the Holy Bible as if it is the "fourth person of the Trinity." They seem to prefer to call the Bible the "Word of God" because they believe, somehow, that adds authority to what they have to say. It is not, as I've heard some preachers say, everything we need to know about God.

My dad once asked me, "If somehow, every Bible in the world were to somehow disappear, would we have anything to preach?" Innumerable congregations throughout the centuries have preached and prospered, staying true to the Gospel, without the advantage of having one single written verse among them. Obviously, until Paul, et al., had written what we refer to as the New Testament, the Disciples had only the Old Testament for written knowledge and inspiration. No one had a personal copy of the Old Scriptures. They were rare and precious to those fortunate enough to have access to them. It would behoove us to remember that, before Moses had written the Pentateuch, Abraham "believed God" and Noah was a "preacher of righteousness."

There are certainly other writings that give illumination to the Love of God and His plan of salvation. Surely these should not be cast aside, but neither should they be given the gravitas of what lies bound within the leather covers of the sacred tome I read nearly every day. Pundits and theologians will argue about the veracity of other texts, but I have found the Holy Bible, as millions before me, to be tried and true.











2. The Holy Father

God is our Father, not our mother. God is not a man; He is not flesh and bone. God is a Spirit. Though He is not a man, He is masculine. He acts as a father in His protection, providence, nativity and nurturing of His children.

3. The Holy Ghost

The Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, is a Person. He is not an "it"! He is the Comforter that is with God's children every minute of every day. It is perhaps fair and accurate to refer to Him as the "Third Person of the Trinity." (He certainly is one of the three of the One.) He leads us in witnessing and living and is the ultimate authority on doctrine; He will never lead us in any way that will contradict the Holy Scriptures.

4. The Christ/Word

He is a Person of the Trinity, immemorial, immortal and eternal. He appears repeatedly in the Old Testament, (the Rock and the Cloud, etc.,) and He ultimately appears in the Person of Jesus, the Man from Galilee. He is the Creator, in that all things were made by Him, and the Voice that walked in the Garden in the cool of the day, who called out, "Adam, where are you?" He is very God!

5. Baptism/ The Lord's Supper

There seem to be only two ordinances listed in the Holy Bible: Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Baptism is to be done by an ordained minister, on the authority of a local congregation only, in water, by full immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Baptists have suffered contempt, derision and even persecution over the centuries for refusing to accept alien immersion, (baptism performed by other denominations,) but, over the past half century or more, in the interest of political correctness, self-consciousness, the desire to appear falsely humble, avoid conflict and, incredibly, increase donations to the SBC and its local congregations, Southern Baptists have more and more began to accept the alien immersion that had been repugnant and anathema to Baptist congregations since the Lord's time.

The Lord's Supper should never proceed Scriptural Baptism. Jesus had no disciples who were unbaptized, no one but His disciples were present and participatory at the Lord's Supper. In the Great Commission, He said to first make disciples and baptize them. He didn't even mention a meal.

I have, inconceivably, had debates with Southern Baptist pastors who feel that baptism is an unnecessary prerequisite for partaking in the Lord's Supper. I don't think any of those men would support ordaining an unbaptized man to be deacon or hold any other office, but the more important thing takes second chair to pride.

I, for some few years, grew fond of the term "communion." I've decided, though, that it is actually a way to avoid discussing to Whom this humble meal belongs and who has power to decide who sits at His table.

The meal should consist of unleavened, unbleached bread that has been broken by human hands and not cut by a machine. I suppose grape juice is functional, but red is a better choice. Sharing from the same cup, like the old-timers, seems more Scriptural to me. Would it kill us to have a sip of real wine on extreme occasion?

6. The Bride of Christ or the Church

Much talk is made by Fundamentalists today about the church, but little about the Bride. They profess, by their own argument, that salvation equals membership in the church. They will, conversely and convolutedly, argue church membership does not equal salvation.

They also speak of the "local church" and the "universal church." As if there are two "churches. One and one still equals two.

The mystery of the Bride, the Church, renders itself to no pithy formula. Still, to examine and understand the human body and the multitudinous billions, rather trillions, of cells that make but one body lends itself to, hopefully, at least a shadow of this great miraculous marital relationship.

The Church is the Congregation of God. A congregation is not a congregation if it is not congregated.

Their is one Bride. There is one Church. The Bride of Christ is washed in the Blood of Christ, prepared and presented by Him to His Father as a chaste and pure "Help Meet" for Him, drawn, like Eve, from the side of the Groom.

The Bride is both local and temporal. She is not an "it." She is the earthly Body of Christ. Her Head is Christ. Her Glory is on Her head, like the long hair of a woman and the oil that flowed down Aaron's beard. She is on this earth to be the Vicar of Christ, to represent Him, to tell the world about Him, to spread His Gospel and to be like Esther who was born for "such a time as this," to be the one who encouraged her king to provide a means of salvation to her people. (Unlike Vashti who refused to be presented as the "trophy wife.")

Members include only those who have been born again, Scripturally Baptized after having presented themselves as candidates for said membership. Membership, as it were, is only at the behest and approval of the Congregation. To be one, ask many.

Baptists for centuries considered themselves to be THE Bride of Christ. Whatever name they may have been called by, they shared a common doctrine, legacy and genealogy that lead back to Christ building of His Church before His Ascension.

7. Salvation or Regneration

Salvation is granted by God through the sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son. We must accept this sacrifice by faith and works of goodness and righteousness have no affect on either our salvation nor our relationship to God. If anything can effect either, we will surely lose our salvation or our relationship.

Salvation is for each person who chooses to accept Christ as Lord. (Being first drawn by the Holy Ghost.) You must be born again was an admonition given by Christ to Nicodemus for those who desire to see the Kingdom of God. Regeneration is the first moment of becoming a Child of God. Repentance and works of righteousness always, always follow salvation.

We are regenerated. Life begins again. We are a new creation in Christ.

　
8. End Times

John wrote of "things which must shortly come to pass." Pastors, preachers, theologians, et. al., all of whom have books to sell, love to talk for hours in seminars, for which you are charged admission, about the "Tribulation" and the "Millennial Reign." They grow their book sells, viewership, listening audience and popularity by regurgitating the same old nonsense that they and their pals spew across the airwaves and from the pulpits Sunday after Sunday. Yes, to quote one preacher, "It's a Jim Dandy way to sell books about end time prophecy."

9. Suffering

Suffering molds us and makes us. It is the fire that purifies and shapes. It tries us and strengthens us. It binds us and molds us. It provides opportunity to share in our Savior's suffering.

When we suffer for him, allowing ourselves to be used and persecuted by Satan and his cohorts, we begin to understand, in the smallest of ways, what Christ went through, what it cost Him, what it cost His Father to make us like Him.

Suffering also helps us identify with others who have and are suffering. We recognize the pain that we ourselves feel and we can not only sympathize, but empathize with their condition. That is why Christ came, born of a woman and lived those decades with us. So, that He could know, not just imagine, what life, and death, are for us.

It helps to remember that the word "suffering" means "to allow." We must ask ourselves, what will we allow our Master to do with us?

10. Wisdom and Knowledge

Wisdom, alas, often comes from experience and that being bad experience. Most of the the good ideas I now have are fomented by stupid ideas I have held in my past. If I am circumspect, I will learn, not only from my mistakes, but from those of others.

"The heavens declare the Glory of God." Much can be learned of our Heavenly Father by studying His creation. We "have the mind of Christ." We should use it. Faith is not the abandonment of reason.

For example, Deism, an often misunderstood and misapplied word, when properly understood and applied, connotes an idea of understanding and appreciating our Creator by empirical and rational methods. While I recommend such methods as useful and, hopefully, mind-expanding, they will always, always fall short of Divine Revelation. Of course, the ultimate revelation was when God became flesh and dwelt among us.

11. The Trinity

I consider myself a Trinitarian. The argument: Three in One or Three revelations of One. All believers have struggled with this great mystery since God first shed light on men.

Muslims call us pantheists because they claim we believe in more than one god. Fundamentalists have further obfuscated the discussion by talking about Jesus, as the Eternal Son of God, (incidentally, a Catholic concept,) a Person who pre-existed the manger in Bethlehem.

Although I have the good sense to admit my ultimate ignorance on how the Trinity might actually work, I believe the view of the Fundamentalists, et al. are far, far off base. I see this Holy Three more as three Persons in One. Not only just in name and office, but, somehow, in actuality.

A perusal of the first three verses of Genesis lays out the first appearance of these Holy Three.

1) "In the beginning God..."
2) "...and the Spirit moved upon the face of the waters.
3) "...and God said..."

12. The Unborn

The unborn are babies at every stage of development. They have gender. They have souls. Those souls will spend an eternity somewhere. Most believers will attribute hope for the salvation of these little ones to their innocence. They believe that, since they have never reached the "age of accountability," thus, they go to Heaven.

The problem is, these same people argue that salvation is only through faith in Christ. They will continue that those who have never heard the Gospel, the unevangelized, will not go to Heaven because they never accepted Christ. They make the insane argument that these will be beat with "fewer stripes," thereby also arguing for degrees of Hell and even Heaven. They see no contradictions in their argument.

I once agreed with the "innocence" argument myself. Somehow, someway, how I do not yet understand, the unborn, like the unevangelized, are received into God's Heaven through they same Blood that saves me and all of us who have given our lives to Him.

13. Fundamentalism

Fundamentalism, along with political correctness, has brought the Southern Baptist Convention to its knees and not in a good way. It is so entrenched in Fundamentalist dogma and the pursuit of monolithic, centralized control of its membership that it has forgotten the priesthood of the believer. Individual conscience has given way to thought control and lock step, lifeless, monotonous uniformity. From the control of literature and monthly and weekly promotion of sundry theme Sundays. Not only are parishioners afraid to follow the Holy Ghost, but they have been convinced themselves incapable of doing so. This approaches the kind of strangling and stifling dominance the Catholic denomination had on Europe for centuries.

The Fundamentalism that was argued to be the defender of the "Authority of the Scriptures," has come to be ever more the defender of political correctness and the oppressor of independent thought. Southern Baptists have come even to except such wild, foreign doctrines and apostasies as premillennialism, rewards, "deaconesses" female pastors, alien immersion and, perhaps worst of all, the concept of a universal church. The Bride, alas, is an anachronistic, archaistic idea that is rarely even peeped from SBC pulpits.

14. The Bridegroom

The creation of Adam and Eve, the first bride and groom, the first family, was no accident and no coincidence. God, the Creator, in his Divine Wisdom, gave us a picture, early on, of God's plan for salvation and His very own Bride. One day, like Adam, the Second Adam would have His side pierced and would, from the contents thereof, His Blood, build His Church, His Bride.

Not all those saved are members of His Bride. Salvation and Church membership are not one in the same. Those who join the Bride, who are allowed to join by the Bride and become members, (in the sense of a part of a body like the hand, foot and eye are,) are His physical Body on earth, who, like a good wife, are to do the part and work of her groom.

You don't have to be a doctor to understand that body parts cannot be transplanted from one body to another, nor can blood that is not of the same type be transfused from one body to another. Simply because a body is a body, does not make it necessarily compatible with another body.

The Church, like any self-respecting bride, knows her primary job is to give life to her husband's children. Sarah understood this; Hannah understood this; Elizabeth understood this. Those who claim to be members of the Church of Christ do not seem to understand. If the Bride of Christ is not procreating, does she really have a purpose?

Much talk is made by Fundamentalists of a future "Marriage Supper of the Lamb." They argue that, after this world's passing, all the "saved of the earth" will one day be present for this inestimable event. Frankly, though, if there has been no such "marriage supper" already, is the Bride of Christ no more than a concubine and are we, Her children, no more than bastards?

　
Much has changed today so far as our concept of marriage, the bride and groom, the husband and wife, but, Scripturally speaking, they are one and the same, they support one another, there is one head and the wife has no issue with being subservient to him, because he loves her so that he would lay down his life for her.

Christ, our Groom, did exactly that! He laid down His life for us. We are his Body. His body can be seen. It is not invisible. It is not to be ravished and raped by those who attempt to force themselves upon Her, but is protected and kept clean by the awesome power of an Almighty God, Her Husband, Her Groom. No one joins to Her, but through Her own consent. She is not a powerless waif, having no say so. She is the Queen of Heaven. God's Body here below. She deserves respect, as any queen does, and there is no help in Heaven or Hell for those who misspeak Her name, abuse or threaten Her or show disrespect to Her. For Her Husband watches over Her, loves Her, died for Her and will bring swift agony and judgment on any who think they might harm Her in any way!

15. Israel

The Bible makes it emphatically clear that the Church is Israel. Fundamentalists, though, with their own agendas and desire for power and control, have promulgated the idea of Jews being "God's People." This is pushed regardless of whether or not these individuals are even saved. Their support for the nation of Israel is based on their interpretation of Scripture and "prophecy," even to the detriment of America. Any who disagree are shunned.

16. Creation

There is no reason to not believe, scientifically or theologically, that God created all that exists in the physical realm in what we would recognize as six days. This concept is mostly held by modernists as a quaint, uninformed idea. They have found themselves swayed by political correctness, the desire to not be seen as anachronistic and what is reported as scientific fact, that is no more than unproven and unprovable theory, in order to fit in with those who consider themselves, frankly, smarter and superior to the rest of us..

An omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God is certainly able to make a universe in six days or six seconds or no seconds. If God is able to make a universe from nothing, how could we hope, with our finite understanding, to be able to honestly determine its chronological age? What we puny humans take as age, would God not see as functionality? If Einstein was right and it's all relative, it would be truthfully impossible for us to make an accurate determination from our point of view.

God created all things in His own way for His own reason. The question that should be asked is, why did He do it so?

17. Marriage and Divorce

God hates divorce. Why? For many reasons, but mostly, because, according to Jeremiah, God has been through a divorce Himself...and it was an ugly one!

　

Much argument, especially since the "women's liberation movement" and womens' sufferage took hold, about the roll of men and women in the marriage. Who is in charge of whom?

Well, I like to tell women that if they want to terrify their husbands, start doing what he says. I tell the men, if they want to terrify their wives, start listening to what she says.

18. Holiness

Completeness and separateness. "God does not need either man's works nor his own gifts." He is as far above us as the stars above earth. As Moses, hidden in the cleft of the Rock and covered by God's unchanging hand, we can only hope to catch glimpses of Him.

19. The Unevangelized

The unborn, the baby, the toddler, those who have reached chronological adulthood, but are stricken with mental retardation that harshly limits their understanding, as well as those who have never been under the preaching of the Gospel and the conviction of the Holy Spirit are all under the Blood of Christ.

While Fundamentalists make contradictory claims about children going to Heaven, but adults who never heard the Gospel going to Hell where they receive "fewer stripes," they cannot see the contradiction. They say God would never condemn the child, the retarded adult, but would condemn a man to Hell who never had opportunity to accept or reject the Gospel. They say they can see God in nature. Yes, but can they see Christ? How could they possible know that a man named Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died for our sins and will one day return for us? How can they know unless they are told. Paul said, "How can they hear unless there is a preacher? How can there be a preacher unless one is sent?" It is my job to share the Gospel. Not nature's. Not even that of the Holy Ghost. It is His job to convict the heart to repentance upon hearing the Good News.

"Will God condemn a person for not responding to evidence they've [sic] never had?"

John Lennox

　
20. Repentance

Is salvation a result of repentance or is repentance a result of salvation? Are we saved because we turn or do we turn because we are saved?

It seems evident, that if salvation is dependent solely upon the sacrificial work of Christ, even repentance cannot save us. Yet, if we are unrepentant, are we truly saved? Can the Holy Spirit move into us without effecting a change that brings about true repentance?

If we are truly indwelled by the Holy Ghost, like Mary, can there be no change? And, like Mary, we are still imperfect, but that does not prevent God from using a willing vessel. Even, sometimes, an unwilling one.

21. Sons of God

God has no daughters. Being a son of God is a matter of office, position and authority, not of gender. In Heaven, we will be neither given in marriage or taken in marriage. All will be as He is.
22. Prayer

Jesus prayed and prayed and prayed! We have only a  few instance recorded of Him reading the Holy Scriptures, although He obviously knew them and quoted them, but much is said about Him praying.

This all begs some questions, if Jesus is God, why did He need to pray? Why did He call God, His Father? These are not silly, trivial questions, but speak, I believe, to the humanity of Jesus.

The abject loneliness suffered by our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane was testimony to his total humanity. He needed His Father! He was God, Christ, in the flesh, but He was so separate from the God of Heaven that He did not even know when He shall return to bring time, space and all creation to an end. It is a great mystery! Yet, we must examine and compare it to our very existence and intertwining with our Father and our own separation from Him while on this earth. He lives in us, but we cry out to him Abba! Father! He is us and we are Him. Like Adam and Eve, the twain have become one flesh. Yes, it is a great, great mystery!

23. Heaven and Hell

Both exist. How can there be reward without punishment? How can there be punishment without reward? Vice and virtue will be rewarded.

How good will Heaven be? That's how bad Hell will be. Can you earn your way into Heaven? Can you earn your way into Hell? Is Hell the default and Heaven the exception?

Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us and if it were not so, He would have told us. Paul said that we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.

The old Fundamentalist idea of literal streets of gold, twenty room mansions, harps and robes seems to make less and less sense as the years go by. All of that stuff seems, somehow, earthly and temporal to me these days.

I like to say, if you can draw it, it won't be there.

I do not believe we will be lost in God, like some deranged Nirvana. I believe that we will, somehow, know who we were and who we are. We'll recognize loved ones and saints of old. We'll know who God is. Yes, we'll then know! Then we shall be known as even also we are known. Mom and Dad won't exactly be Mom and Dad anymore, but that won't make them strangers to me.

Will we remember or think of loved ones who did not make it? How will we feel about them?

Will we remember the suffering we went through on earth? The sins that we were forgiven for? The sins that cost our Savior's life and blood to be forgiven?

I can't help but think that there will be some type of remembrance of years gone by and our sojourn on this earth. How else will we know what to be thankful for?

Still, perhaps our attitudes will be different? Certainly, our understanding will be greater. Will we no longer be subject to our own humors and finally, in full illumination, will find the understanding that we thought, preached and sung about for so many years down here?

I am certain that our Father knows of the souls that have been lost and that His heart breaks for them. Still, He knows He gave the ultimate sacrifice, paid the ultimate price, so they wouldn't have to be separated from Him for eternity.

There are certainly no "degrees" of Heaven or Hell. The Bible emphatically teaches us that salvation is through the unmerited grace of an Almighty God who gave Himself to save us and that we have no power in the formula other than, if it may be called a power, yielding to Him.

Many vainly hope for crowns and rewards and "outer darkness" in Heaven, so that the more faithful are somehow more rewarded while the less faithful are, well, not so rewarded? (They never do make that quite clear.)

The same will usually make the argument that the unevangelized, and sometimes the ones who do less sin, but die unsaved, will be beaten with "fewer stripes," grossly misinterpreting Scripture. They see some parts of Hell as hotter than others, I suppose.

They do not seem to understand the simplicity of Heaven and Hell: Heaven is with Jesus. Hell is without Him.

24. Questions

Too many people are afraid of asking questions! Though, I think they are less afraid of the questions than the answers they might receive. I believe God, like any good teacher, is desperate for us to ask the hard questions, because He wants to answer those questions. Satan's initial temptation to "be like gods," was not as far removed from the truth as we might think. God actually wanted us to be like Him. He wanted us, in His ultimate plan, to, one day, be like Him. One day we shall. For we shall see Him as He is.

25. Incarnation

It is one of the greatest mysteries of the Gospel how God became man. It is ordinarily explained quickly and lightly with weak theories that not only do not begin to explain this unspeakable mystery, but are actually wrong.

It would be vain to say that I think I have the answer, but I think I might have some illumination on the subject.

I ask the question: was Jesus God? If I say, no, I would be condemned by Fundamentalists and others as heretical. Still, if you recall that every man has a spirit and Jesus was a man, might His spirit have been the Holy Spirit. In my mind, the dichotomy between the manhood of Christ and the God-ness of Christ is, hoping not to fall prey to reduction, simply, (not so simply,) that, yes, He was a man, born of woman. (A man like me.)Yet when the Holy Spirit moved upon Mary, just as He did the "face of the waters," and she became with child, this Spirit indwelling the fetus within her was the spirit of very God. Ergo, God, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, became flesh and, yes, dwelt among us.

It has for years been a point of fascination and just one more reason to love my God that He, in fact, truly, totally became a man just like me. With all the feelings and growing pains that came with it.

Had God not became a man and walked on this earth, all of us sinners could stand before His Throne of Judgment, look Him in the eye and say with unfaltering self-righteousness and honesty, "You don't know what it's like down there!"

26. The Word of God

There is one Word of God. Not two! The Holy Bible, the Holy Scriptures, is not the Word of God. The Word of God is a Person. That Person is Christ. The Bible is a thing; it is an it.

27. Tithing, Giving and Fasting

Floyd Davis said, "If you don't believe in tithing, you don't believe in missions." Tough words! I wish I adhered to them. Perhaps, I make excuses and try to spiritualize the concept of these three words.

Our Lord obviously fasted on many occasions. He would become so caught up in staying close to the Father that He would simply neglect the things of this world.

God owns it all and wants it all. We can't give portions of property and time and feel we've fulfilled God's commission.

Isaiah spoke of fasting as more than just abstaining from eating. Jesus said the man who doesn't help his poor parents because he claims he's always given it to God, has "made the commandment of God of none effect."

When we become so involved and dedicated to the will of God that we have lose sight of ourselves and go without because we gave it to him without self-consciousness, when we leave all behind for Him, then we will truly be tithing and fasting as God desires us to do.

28. Guilt

It seems we may never shed all the feelings of guilt we have in this life until the next life. We are forgiven when we ask it, but it is so very hard to forgive ourselves. It is, possibly, wrong to forgive ourselves too easily. We certainly should never demand forgiveness from either God nor man. We should never feel resentful if it is never granted.

Guilt haunts us in our sleep and our waking hours. It invades our thoughts when we first arise and linger in our minds when we rest our heads. It is often unshakable and inescapable. Yet, God has promised He would forgive us when we ask. We must accept that fact on faith. The rest, we must leave in the Lord's hands.

Guilt has no true power over those who have been redeemed. Fear and shame, the bastard children of guilt, are not for those who have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb.

Remember, it is not all about us! We can become so distracted by our own guilt that all we think about is our selves and it can keep us from, not only missing the peace that He promised, but, if possible, missing out on the plan He wants us to follow.

Finally, guilt may describe a feeling, but guilt is actually a condition. We are guilty, yes, but we are also pardoned. Therefore, there can now be no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. The feelings sometimes do what feelings do, but the Holy Spirit will remind us of Whose we are, if we will only listen.

29. Peace

Peace is not just quiet. Peace is not just the absence of war or strife.

We have peace that we cannot understand. If we could understand it, it wouldn't be Godly. As much as anything, it's the ability to have faith that, whatever hell we and our loved ones may go through today, we will spend an eternity together in the presence of our Savior.

30. Witnessing

"How can they hear unless there is a preacher? How can there be a preacher unless one is sent?"

It is our job to carry the Gospel to the lost and dying. It is not nature's job. It is not even the Holy Ghost's job. It is our's.

We are to first live the Gospel. Yet, if we wait until we do all we should do, we will never go and we will never share. Jesus said, "Go."

When we live a life, by God's grace, that illustrates our sincerity, He will bless our testimony. Then, when we share the Gospel, people will be more apt to believe.

I have heard more than one funeral preached where the preacher talked about the deceased not being the type of man who talked about the Gospel, but lived it. Bologna! That would be like saying you can teach a man to work on a car by letting him watch you work on yours. You'll learn some things, but I wouldn't want you working on my brakes.

The "Heavens declare the Glory of God," but God sent His Son to literally speak the words of life to us. Yes, sometimes, many times, we must actually, literally speak.

We all must not only live the Gospel, we must speak the Gospel. The sinless Son of God didn't just walk around living the perfect life, He spoke the words that the masses needed to hear. He lived and he spoke. We should follow His example.