Roots by the River

Does Psalm 112 Describe you? Praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord,     who find great delight in his commands. 2 Their children will be mighty in the land;     the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Wealth and riches are in their houses,     and their righteousness endures forever. 4 Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,     for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. 5 Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely,     who conduct their affairs with justice. 6 Surely the righteous will never be shaken;     they will be remembered forever. 7 They will have no fear of bad news;     their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. 8 Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear;     in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. 9 They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor,     their righteousness endures forever;     their horn will be lifted high in honor. 10 The wicked will see and be ve...

The next few posts will be on effective teaching. First, pay attention to the commands. “...teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) He does not say “teaching them everything I have commanded you.” We are not teaching the commands; we are to teach obedience to the commands. We may not know how to teach obedience; we do know how to teach information. We can grade that. We cannot grade obedience. So our Secondary Schools, catechisms, Bible schools, Seminaries, sound churches teach the commands. Teaching obedience means teaching the heart. Teaching commands means teaching the head. Head commands might get will-power obedience, or legalism, or rebellion. It is not the same as heart obedience. Heart obedience is grace obedience.

I have mentioned several kinds of closed Christians. Some of them are hard to recognize because they have been around so long we think they are normal. This kind is in denominations. Even if we accept differences we can still be closed. The differences may be in church government in systematic theology in holiness in eschatology in baptism in form of worship in ethnicity in language in communion and any combination of the above. Even if the differences are okay, the way we hold to our distinctives is not ok! The way we hold on to them makes us closed Christians. Read and meditate on all of Romans 14 and I Corinthians 1:10-12, I Corinthians 3:1-4, and I Corinthians 11:18-19. The last three are posted below. “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe...

This group can be small churches or mega churches. Because of this they do not seem to be closed. Their superiority is not in doctrine but in personality. They are Christians who follow one man. He may be right in his teaching. The followers may also hold to the truth, not because Jesus is the Truth but because the teacher said it was the truth. This is very dangerous. The teacher could add something false and the followers would buy it because he said it. Many years ago I was visiting a new Presbyterian Church in Omaha. The congregation, not big, was sitting on folding chairs. The pastor, a young man, had previously been a campus pastor in Iowa. His text, I think, was Matthew 18:6, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” He was liberal in his theology so I wondered what he was going to say about the text. He preached for a while and finally ...

Small groups can be a wonderful means of fellowship. They can be a great means of building each other up in the faith, increasing unity. They can be a better means of studying and understanding the scriptures. They can be one with other small groups. However, they can also be a “closed” group of “us four and no more.” They are superior and exclusive. This is sin.

The extreme “closed” Christian is the one who does not go to church of any kind because the churches are all “wrong.” The second extreme “closed” Christian does not go to church because most of them are “wrong.” The third extreme “closed” Christian does not go to church because the people in the church are not Godly. They are gossips, etc. The fourth does not go to church because it is judgmental. The fifth does not go to church because it is held on Sunday Morning. All of these Christians are, in themselves, extremely judgmental and proud. They are isolated Christians. They are part of the body but acting like they are not part of the body. They are unbiblical. “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment.” (Proverbs 18:1 NKJV) The isolated Christian is an anomaly. “Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that rea...

This is an “open” letter to, or about, “closed” Christians. There are many kinds of “closed” Christians so there might be more than one “open” letter. One of the difficulties in this type of writing is that many “closed” Christians are so “closed” that they do not receive letters. First, I will define the minimum of truth that defines a Christian. “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.” (I Corinthians 15:1-5) Second, I will define the response to this truth. There are several works that are used in this re...

The Bible has many statements that describe unbelievers. Here are a few: “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:22) “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (I Corinthians 2:14) “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (II Corinthians 4:4) “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:19) All of this is inexcusable. It is understandable, but not excusable. The above statements are obviously true of all non-Christians of whatever description. They do not explain the...

The Old Testament is a history of sin. The cause: Adam and Eve. The history: Genesis 1:6. “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” (Genesis 6:5) 430 years in Egypt 40 years in the desert 400 years of Judges “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” (Judges 21:25) Israel, the Northern Kingdom, 9 dynasties, 200 years of kings, all of them evil Judah, another hundred years of increasing evil From Malachi to Jesus, another 400 years of sin Sin defined: “And where there is no law there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15b). “But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness” (I John 3:4). Sin is ubiquitous. “As it is written: 'There is no one ...

William Jennings Bryan, about 100 years ago, was Secretary of State of the United States. He was a great orator and a committed Christian. He was a great leader in the abolition of war and for arbitration. Between 1913 and 1914 he signed twenty-six treaties of peace with foreign nations. The first World War began in August 1914. At present there are attempts in Qatar for the U.S., Taliban, and Afghanistan to make peace. Hamas and Israel have not been at the peace table since 2008. North Korea and South Korea signed a truce, but not a peace treaty in 1953 (60 years ago). Shiites and Sunnis in several different countries are at war. Even if there is a treaty signed by governments, there are great movements, the press, internet, and religions that will override the treaties. Jesus said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom....

If you read something I have written previously, it is for one of two reasons: 1. I am too old to know that I have written it before. 2. I think you need the repetition. Here goes a possible repetition. Over the years (more than 60 of them), I have heard the following nonsense: “That is your belief. This is mine.” “That is true for you, but not for me.” This conversation can be about atheism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, homosexuality, and all kinds of religious beliefs or immoral practices. One of the first of these remembered conversations was in the home of a family in Sasebo, Kyush. It was probably in October, 1950. It was with their college-age daughter, Suziko. We had been talking about the Daiutsu in Kamikura (idol Buddha). We were seated on the tatami at a low table. We were talking about the time this giant idol was made and about the prayer wheels in front of the idol. A prayer wheel is like a roulette wheel. It has many little posts on the perimeter of the wheel....

If we had to vote for truth or fiction we would probably vote for truth. If the vote were between truth and lies, there would be no question, we would vote for truth. However, fiction and lies are not synonyms. They would be if the fiction was about real people. If the fiction is about imaginary people then they might be more truth in the novel than in the biography. I am going to quote a few paragraphs by two great American women novelists of the 20th century. “Pa Kurtz was slight and wiry, all muscle and bounce. His wife had avoirdupois to spare and her leisurely walk was what is known in common parlance as a waddle” (Star Across the Tracks, Bess Streeter Aldrich, copyright 1949, pg. 18). She is the heroine in the story. “A door opened at the back of the hall, letting in light, and a woman came through it, a country lady of immense size and immense charm. She advanced with a stately swaying motion, shifting her great weight from foot to the other with patient humorous determi...

The New Testament was written when there were no printing presses and literacy was not for everyone, so oral communication was the means. It included reading aloud, teaching, and preaching. “After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.” (Colossians 4:16) Oral communication requires listening, not just preaching. Listening is not just hearing; it is also paying attention. James expresses this several times. “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (James 1:19) “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22) “And that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 30:20) “Let the wise li...

Read the Bible in 67 Days! For a downloadable PDF version of this click here: ccmbooks.org There are many Christians who read the Scriptures sporadically in time and place. In other words, they read the Scriptures “now and then” and “here and there.” They gravitate to their favorite chapters. If asked the last time they had read the New Testament through, they would not be sure they had ever read it through. Consequently there is an appalling ignorance of the God’s Word in the body of Christ, and a consequent lack of obedience. Listening to the best Bible teachers in the world will not make up for the personal ignorance of the individual. There are several reasons why there is an unwillingness to read through the New Testament or the Bible: 1) “It is difficult to understand the “thees and thous.” 2) “I ran into the “begats.” 3) “When I don’t understand a verse, I stay with it, trying to understand it; so then I don’t progress.” 4) “It’s dull reading.” 5) “It’s too long; it woul...

There are many ways of studying the Bible. Two of these ways are: • Topical • Contextual I am going to dwell on the contextual. It is very difficult to come up with a wrong theology or heresy when studying the Bible this way. If I want to study one book of the Bible, I start by reading it through at one sitting. Tomorrow I read it through again. The next day the same. When I do this, it reinforces what I learned the first time, plus I learn something additional that I missed. I do this every day for a week. The second week I read the first half of the book each day. The third week I read the first chapter every day. When I am reading this first chapter I cannot possibly take it out of context. I know where it fits in the whole book. This is called deductive contextual study . I start with the whole and bring it down to one verse. If I want to have a group contextual study of the book, deduction is difficult, so I use induction. I start with verse one and continue verse b...

The following is the result of a conversation with and atheist Buddhist. From the conversation, I realized that we agreed on a few things: • It is difficult to prove a positive. • It is impossible to prove a negative. • Believing something doesn’t make it true, e.g., believing the earth is round does not make it round, and believing the earth is flat does not make it flat. As I understand it, there are three kinds of atheists. You can recognize them by what they say: 1. “I don’t believe in God.” “Don’t” modifies “believe.” It does not modify God. This kind of atheist is really saying, “There is a God in whom I do not believe.” He is not really an atheist. 2. “I believe there is no God.” Here, “no” modifies “God.” It is a belief statement. This man is really saying, “I have a positive belief in nothing (or “matter” or “naturalism” or Darwinism). That is a greater faith than I have. 3. “There is no God.” That is a dogmatic statement about a supposed “fact.” Once someone makes...

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20) A few years ago, a man was convicted of a double murder here in Moscow. He had killed his wife and the baby she was pregnant with. The baby was considered a human being who had been murdered. However, if a woman wishes to abort her baby, the baby is not considered a human being, and killing the baby is not considered murder. Apparently in this country we can have it both ways. We cannot have it both ways with God. There are two kinds of laws of men (of all nations): 1. malum in se : This refers to behaviors which are evil in themselves. 2. malum prohibitum: This refers to something which is evil simply because it has been prohibited. An example of the first is murder. All states have laws against murder. Making the law is not what makes the murder evil. It was already evil. An example of the second is a 55 mph speed ...

All false religions require complete loyalty to their teachings. To leave their teachings is to be lost in hell. This keeps people in bondage. They are afraid to leave. Islam says the Injil (the New Testament) was changed by Christians in the first five hundred years. Mormonism says the Bible (the KJV version) is inspired when it is correctly translated. Any place where it differs from Mormonism is “incorrectly translated.” As a result, Mormons do not read the New Testament. When they do read the Bible, faith is created in the idolaters, atheists, animists, Muslims, and Mormons, and they turn to the Father through the Son. “Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.” (Romans 16:19) Do not study these religions. Become an expert in the Truth. In your contact with these people, love them, befriend them, be kind to them. But do not let your conversations dwell on Mohammed a...

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:6-9) Joseph Smith either wrote the Book of Mormon himself, plagiarized it, or got it on the golden plates from an angel. In any case, it is “a different gospel which is really no gospel at all” (vs. 6-7). All false religions change three things: 1. Who Jesus is: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). 2. The complete work of salvation on the cross: “And by that will, we...

Animism is not the same as idolatry. It is the direct worship or placating of demons. It is found from Finland to New Guinea. It is in Africa, Latin America, the Pacific Islands, Australia, and Siberia. Animism is found in thousands of languages which cannot speak to each other. There were no missionaries to propagate it. It is everywhere. These demons are believed to dwell in rocks, trees, houses, mountains, and streams. They do not dwell in these created things, but they are real and dwell in people. Jesus cast demons out of people. “They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!’ ‘Be quiet!’ said Jesus sternl...