Heaven or Hell?

     When is the last time you heard a good sermon about hell? No, you didn’t mis-read that. I used the word “good” on purpose to refer to a truthful, straight-forward sermon on what the Bible says about hell. You might not know it by listening to a lot of contemporary preaching, but hell is still a reality according to the Holy Bible. It’s still there, although it’s no longer found in the sermons many preachers present. But we can’t just blame the preachers. The fact is for millions in our relativistic, “this is my truth” age, hell will no longer sell. The doctrine and place called “hell” by Jesus just won’t jive with the God many contemporaries have created in their own free-wheeling way of thinking. The very notion that God might actually punish and cause pain in an eternal place the Bible calls hell is very unpopular in this age when, as it was said of another people long ago, “every man [is doing] what is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 17:6). For many preachers as well as people who sit in pews, hell has cooled off or been frozen out altogether. The fire of hell has been thoroughly drenched with the water of theological liberalism and faithless thinking. There is barely a flicker of hell left in the minds of many. We can choose to ignore it, we can get angry about it, and all hot-under-the-collar if the preacher preaches on it from time to time, but the Bible’s teaching about hell is still there right alongside it’s gloriously good news about Heaven. Jesus Himself taught about Heaven and told us to lay our treasures up there (Matthew 6:19-21). But the Lord also talked about hell. He pulled no punches about it when He warned (talking to His disciples of all people!) in Luke 12:4-5 — “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” Read more of His sobering words about hell in Mark 9:44-48 (do it now if you haven’t read that passage lately); if what you read there doesn’t give you a big case of the heebie-jeebies, you didn’t read closely enough. Whether your preacher or church will preach hell or not, Jesus preached it.  
       Words by eighteenth century English poet Edward Young should provoke serious thought: “Time flies, death urges, knells call, heaven invites, hell threatens.” All of that reflects Bible teaching, and especially the vein of thought in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 (and several preceding verses) — “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” We don’t have space to study it here, but the “wrath” Paul mentions is God’s wrath, and its final and fullest form will be in hell (Romans 1:18ff * Matthew 5:22 * 1 Thessalonians 1:10). That’s bad news. The good news is, praise be to God, because of Jesus you don’t have to go! Mark Twain said he didn’t want to commit himself about heaven or hell because he had friends in both places. Millions never grasp the fact we can go to Heaven, but we must commit to it. If we don’t, we automatically commit to hell. Serious stuff. Are you committed to Heaven? Have you thought about it?

by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN 

 

Prepare or Predict?

       I’m about to make a prediction. I’m going to tell a joke that I predict you will think is really goofy (as in wacky, silly, ridiculous, and “lame-brained!”). Here goes. Have you heard about the preacher who kept making false predictions about the second coming of Christ? The church he preached for finally had to file as a “non-prophet organization.” I’m certain my prediction came true. That joke IS goofy. I know that and you surely know that. But I told it to illustrate a point. Some predictions are fairly easy to make. For instance, I can with 100% accuracy predict the score of any NFL game or even the Super Bowl before it ever starts, and you can, too. It’s always 0 to 0 before it starts! More seriously, most things are not so easy to predict. Things like the weather or the outcome of the next Presidential election or what the stock market will do. In 1903, the President of the Michigan Savings Bank tried to dissuade Henry Ford’s lawyer (Horace Rackham) from investing in the newly formed motor company telling him, “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.” Oops. In 1920, a “New York Times” article dismissed the possibility of space travel and declared, “A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.” The paper issued a light-hearted retraction in 1969 as      Apollo 11 headed to the moon! Niels Bohr accurately stated the situation when he said, “Prediction is a very difficult art, especially if it’s about the future.” The ancient wise man warned in Proverbs 27:1 — “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”
      Truly we can't. But there is a day (yet future as I write these words and if you are reading them!) we can predict with absolute accuracy. Sort of that is. That day is the day the apostle Paul wrote about in 1 Thessalonians 5:2. There he declared by inspiration to Christians living in the ancient Greek city of Thessalonica, “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” More than merely a prediction, those words are a promise from the God who cannot lie (Titus1:2). Verses could be multiplied. Christ is coming again to save those who believe and judge those who have not believed and obeyed the Gospel (see 2 Thess.1:7-10 * Acts 1:11 * John 14:1ff * 1 Thess. :10; 4:13-18, etc.). The verse cited above contains both clarity and obscurity. Clearly, Christ is coming again. We can be certain of that — “you yourselves know the day of the Lord comes.” But there is also obscurity — the coming will be “as a thief in the night.” That is, the coming is uncertain as to the exact day and time. Jesus teaches we can be certain nobody can know for certain when He will come again in Mark 13:35 where He urges His disciples, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” So much for all the prognosticators who come along fairly frequently predicting the day Jesus will come back. You can be trust this — nobody but God knows for certain when that day will be! The take home point: we should all worry about preparing for His eventual return instead of obsessing about predicting when it will be. As Jesus urges in Matthew 24:34, "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Are you ready?

Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN  

Would You Swallow That?

       A story tells about a mother who was sick in bed with the flu. Her darling six-year-old daughter wanted to be a good nurse. She fluffed the pillows and brought Mommy a magazine to read. She even showed up with a surprise cup of tea. “My, you’re such a sweetheart,” the mother said after swallowing several sips of the tea. “I didn’t know you even knew how to make tea.” The little nurse replied, “I do, Mommy. I learned by watching you. I put the tea leaves in the pan and then I put in the water, boiled it, turned off the stove and then I strained it into a cup. But I couldn’t find the strainer, so I used the fly-swatter instead.” Horrified, Mom screamed, “You what?!” And the little girl said, “It’s okay Mom. I didn’t use the new fly swatter. I used the old one.” The moral of that story: know what we swallow, but also what kind of strainer was used as a filter for what is served up to swallow! Strainers filter and separate out stuff we don’t want in what we prepare to eat or drink, etc. Who would knowingly drink tea strained through a used fly-swatter? Yuk! Flies are nasty, disgusting, disease-ridden creatures. They feed on stuff you consider to be trash and sewage! They get into your trash, load up on all kinds of pathogens and bad bacteria, then land and walk their filthy little fly legs all over your food or the rim of your glass. Gross. Would you willingly and knowingly swallow tea strained through a flyswatter?                       
    I think of all this when I hear somebody spout off some kind of morally and / or spiritually extreme idea. One example (by no means the only one) is when someone insists that gender is not “binary” but multiple. A computer search on “how many genders do progressives say there are” revealed an article entitled, “68 Terms That Describe Gender Identity and Expression” (@ healthline.com). A summary statement declared, “Gender is a spectrum, and there are dozens of ways to describe your individual gender identity. Man, woman, cisgender, and transgender are just a few options.” The article went on to say many people grew up with the idea that there are two sexes, male and female, that “match” with two genders, male and female. That view is condescendingly described as “simplistic.” In no uncertain terms it is stated, “In reality, neither gender nor sex is binary” (composed of two).  We are asked to swallow that, and many do. But what kind of filter is that kind of thinking slipping through? A fancy name for the philosophy is autonomy, the idea that each person is self-governing, self-ruling, and totally independent, free of any kind of control beyond each person. You’ve heard it expressed as, “This is my authentic truth.” Gender autonomy allows a man to say, “I identify / feel like a woman” or vice-versa.” I don’t pretend to know how people feel. I do know this — that kind of autonomous, feeling-based thinking, untethered from the idea that objective truth exists and is knowable, is not new. Long ago the inspired ancient wise man said, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death” Proverbs 14:12). That’s God’s truth. The folks who insist there is no absolute truth expect you to accept that statement as absolutely true. Forgive me for being simplistic, but I can’t swallow that.

            “ ... He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female’” — Jesus, Matthew 19:4 

by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

 

 

 

 

Sign the Ball and Kiss My Boo-Boo!

What would you do if you got clobbered on the head with a hard-hit baseball? Keep reading. No pain, no gain” is an expression most of us have heard and many have likely used. The words are often used in reference to exercise, implying that if you don’t feel any pain, you won’t lose weight or gain muscle. Some sources trace the idiom to Jane Fonda in her 1982 video series of aerobic workouts, although Benjamin Franklin said, “There are no gains without pain.” Long before Fonda or Franklin the Bible said, “Count it all joy when you call in to various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3). Trials and testing can be productive. Like muscles that get sore but get stronger from “working out,” so faith does, too. No pain, no gain. Even when we feel the “burn” from life’s various trials and tests, because of the heavenly hope offered in the gospel of Christ, we can, as the apostle Paul directs in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice.” Paul was in prison [likely in Rome] when he wrote those words about 62 A. D. But he had earlier learned to “sing in the pain” from a prison in Philippi along with his co-missionary Silas (read Acts 16:22-25ff for that amazing attitude and equally amazing results of it).

Let me tell you about Cory down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I don’t know this guy, but he seems to know how to sing in the pain. He was in the news very recently. He is a big fan of the LSU Tigers baseball team and was one of thousands attending a game on Tuesday April 23, 2024, in Baton Rouge. Tyler Nettuno tells about Cory in an article posted @ sports.yahoo.com on April 24. LSU easily defeated the rival team from Nicholls 9-0. The victory was sealed in the bottom of the 8th inning when Tommy White smashed a three-run bomb to left field to give the Tigers a decisive 9-0 lead. That’s where Cory comes into the picture. He was in the bleachers and according to him in an interview before the game ended, the home run ball “was on a rope” and came straight to him. He was even wearing a baseball glove. He caught the high-flying hard ball missile traveling at over 100 mph — not in his glove, but on his forehead! In the interview he said, “Hole in the glove, man, what can I say? Beaned off my dome.” He even showed off a big “goose egg” on his ‘noggin where the ball bounced off his head! When asked if it hurt, he said, “It didn’t feel good.” But he had a great attitude and was laughing and joking about the whole thing. He couldn’t retrieve the ball, which bounced over the fence. But Tigers outfielder Josh Pearson later gave him a warm-up ball between innings. Cory (last name never given) went on to say, “I’ll probably go get Tommy White to sign it for me and maybe kiss my boo-boo.”                                                 

Touché Cory! What an attitude! His words and joyful attitude while wearing a large and no doubt painful “goose egg” on his head bring the words of Revelation 21:4 to mind: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Take heart, hurting Christian friend. Stay faithful to Jesus. Persevere through the pain and the rain. Someday your pain will give way to eternal gain literally out of this world. 

by: Dan Gulley

More Love!

Doug Stone, America country music artist, released a song called “More Love” in 1993. The song, as country songs occasionally manage to do, had a meaningful message. After a relationship fails, the character in the song is trying to figure out what he did wrong. He realizes what she really wanted, and what he should have given her, was “More Love” and less material things. Only too late does he realize it, and she’s gone! My interest is not in that song so much but in the words that are repeated again and again in the song. What she needed from him was “more love.” Who can argue that our world had enough love this morning? And I’m not talking about the romantic kind the world so often portrays when it writes and sings and makes movies and videos about “love.” Sadly, far too often, what the world means when it talks about “love” is in reality not much more that “lust” and, to dust off a Bible word “lewdness.” A good Bible passage that illustrates the point is Romans 13:13-14 where the apostle Paul wrote these words to Christians living in a culture where lust was on the loose: “Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (New King James Version). The King James translates the words for “lewdness and lust” as “chambering and wantonness,” and the New American Standard Bible (1995) renders them “sexual promiscuity and sensuality.” A point I want to make here is that sexual lust / immorality driven more by hormones and emotions and physical excitement have long been mis-labeled by the world with what the Bible often means when it tells us “love one another.” Just before Paul wrote the words above, he had instructed Christians in  Romans 13:8-10 — “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery ... not murder ... not steal ... not bear false witness ... not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” These verses make one thing clear. The world could use a lot more of this kind of love. The shocking frequency of sexual immorality, lust, lewdness, sensuality and what is called “sexploitation”, along with the rest of the harmful, hateful things humans do to each other that dominate daily headlines — surely all this should convince us we need more genuine love.       

Christians know God-like love is not just words, and certainly not just always doing what “feels so right.” The cross of Christ proves that (John 3:16 * Ephesians 5:1-2 * 1 John 3:16-18). God wants His church to love more. The Holy Spirit still speaks through what the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Thess 4:9-10 – “But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we  urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more.” There’s always a need for more love!  Love more!

by: Dan Gulley

Sing His Praise in the Pain!

Many years ago, I read the anonymous observation that pain and suffering are inevitable, but misery is optional. The Bible strongly reflects a similar kind of message. James, our ancient and Holy Spirit inspired brother in the Christian faith, wrote at James 1:2-3: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” The apostle Peter wrote words that bear out what happens to us and around us is not as important as what goes on in us in response to life’s pain. He wrote these words to suffering Christians: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.” Peter has just reminded them they had been “begotten again to a living hope … to an inheritance and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-6). These Bible passages and many others support the idea that while pain and suffering are inevitable, misery is optional!

 

Misery is the default setting for many people when pain crashes into their lives. So, what do you do when a storm blows in as you sail life’s unpredictable sea? Bell Calloway, an African American historian in Omaha, Nebraska, once said, “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” The apostle Paul calls for us to adjust our sails with words like these: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice … giving thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4 * 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV). Those all’s and always’s in the Bible always bother me! I’d much rather they said, “Rejoice in the Lord if you can or rejoice if life is good.” Didn’t Paul ever have “a bad day?” Bible students know much of Paul’s life was spent in miserable circumstances after he came to Christ. He was constantly in physically miserable circumstances. It was from prison he directed the Philippian Christians to rejoice in the Lord always as cited above. Acts 16:24ff finds Paul and co-missionary Silas in a prison in Philippi a number of years before Paul wrote the words of Philippians 4:4, but he’s practicing what he preached! They are in great physical pain. As a result of preaching Christ and doing good in His name, they had been libeled, falsely accused of breaking the law, unjustly beaten, thrown into prison, and their feet fastened in stocks. Pain was pouring down on their preaching parade. They are suffering, and they can’t get out (but eventually did due to God’s intervention!). They couldn’t control their physical position. What they could control and did control was their disposition! They refused to give in to miserable circumstances. In a prison cell, they adjusted their sails and kept prison from getting in them. Acts 16:25 says that at midnight (the darkest and deepest part of the night) “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.” Prisoners were listening. More importantly, God was too. Shortly after God delivered them by means of an earthquake (!!), the jailor who guarded them relieved their pain, asked how them to be saved, was taught the Gospel, and he and all his family were baptized into Christ! And it all began with two suffering Christians who chose to sing in their pain. Remember — suffering is inevitable, but misery is optional. When suffering, sing God’s praise—not for your pain, but in your pain.

 

  by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN 

The Bible: Wonder But Never Wander!

 

Somebody observed that the Bible will make you wonder, but it will never make you wander. To that I would say a hearty, “Amen!” Does the Bible ever make you “wonder?” Wonder is defined @ merriam-webster.com as “a cause of astonishment or admiration; rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one's experience.” The Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the birth of my sons — I (and perhaps you) have been blessed to see at least some of these things that are “a wonder to behold.” Astonishment, admiration, rapt attention and awesomely mysterious — those are words that describe our reaction to such things.

 

So why would anyone say the Bible makes you “wonder?” First, consider its inspiration. The Bible claims, and tons of evidence support the claim, that God is its author. “All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God” is the claim in 2 Timothy 3:16 (also 2 Peter 1:20-21; 3:15-16). “God-breathed” is the way the New International Version says it. The Library of Congress in Washington D. C. contains a vast collection of 110 million items stored on 838 miles of bookshelves. The wonder in that is the Bible is the only book in the whole bodacious thing that can rightfully claim God as its ultimate author! Hundreds of times the Bible’s authors record the words, “Thus saith the Lord.” As someone said, if you want to hear God speak audibly, open your Bible and read it out loud! Now consider the Bible’s preservation and duration. Psalm 119:89 says, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.” There is no debate in Heaven about the Bible being from God. Meanwhile, on earth, the Bible is booed, banned, belittled, burned, denounced, debated and devalued. But one thing the devil and his agents will never be able to do is destroy the Bible! In the words of theologian and author Bernard Ramm, “A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put. No other book has been so chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized, and vilified.” And yet, like the Energizer Bunny, it just keeps “going and going and going!” It always will. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Now consider the Bible’s translation and propagation. It has been translated into 704 languages as of 2021, the most of any book in the world, reaching 6.1 billion people worldwide (biblica.com). As to propagation, “Christian missionaries” in some 160 of the 195 countries teach the Bible today. Given fair consideration, as stated above the Bible will make you wonder.

 

The Bible makes you wonder, but it will never make you wander! In the words of Psalm 119:105, God’s word “is a lamp to my feet and a light to path.” Faithfully followed, that light guides us to God and to Heaven. The proper attitude we ought to have toward the Bible is captured by the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 2:13 — “when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” In light of eternity, the real wonder about the Bible is why more people don’t welcome it.

 

Dan Gulley

Worried About the Church?

 Somebody reported a church bulletin blooper with this announcement: “Our church will have a seminar entitled, “WINNING OVER WORRY. Don’t let worry kill you. Let the church help.” Do you ever worry about the church? My aim here is not to discuss the stuff we worry about — our health, houses, kids, the economy, politics, severe weather, war, terrorism, school shootings, money, the rapid rate of moral decline, etc., etc., etc. Rather, my worry here is about whether or not we worry about the church, and if we should. Concern is another word for worry, and concern is defined as having a worried feeling or state of anxiety about some thing or someone that is important to you. See the point? The apostle Paul suffered what he called a “deep concern for all the churches” (that is, congregations — 2 Corinthians 11:28).

 

So it is, if you find yourself at least to some degree concerned and worried about the spiritual health and faithfulness of the church in general and your local congregation in particular, you are in good company. Consider another passage from 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5 — “1 Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, 3 that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4 For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. 5 For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.” The apostle Paul wrote those words perhaps a few months after events we read about in Acts 17:1-10. By preaching Christ he established Christ’s church in Thessalonica where there a “great number” obeyed the Gospel. But the devil wasn’t happy about that and so he set out to do to that congregation what he seeks to do to every faithful Christian and congregation today. In Paul’s words Satan sought to “tempt” them away from Christ and so rendered Paul’s spiritual labor and work there “in vain.” Note the sobering prediction in vs 3 and 4 the apostle had issued when he preached there earlier — their spiritual gain by accepting the Gospel would bring physical pain in the form of suffering, afflictions and tribulation. And they had suffered (1:6; 2:1, 14). So it is, twice in chapter 3 (verses 1, 5), Paul confesses, “I could no longer endure it,” or as the New International Version puts it, “I could stand it no longer.” So he sent his co-missionary Timothy back to see how they fared. Turns out they were standing strong, bringing him great comfort and encouragement. I think the case can be made every New Testament writer was concerned (or “worried” if you wish) about the church. The letters Jesus sent to the seven churches of Asia in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 leave no doubt about His love and concern about the strength and faithfulness of His church. If you never “worry” about the church, maybe it’s high time you got started.

 

Dan Gulley

Popinjays in the Church?!

I  may be showing some ignorance here, but I recently read the term “popinjay” for the first time in nearly 70 years of living. It was in an article by Cable Neuhaus in the March/April 2024 issue of “The Saturday Evening Post Magazine” (p 12). Keep reading. The title of the article was “STARSTRUCK” and a sub-heading read, “Once upon a time people became famous because they did great things.” The article was a thoughtful critique of what we call “celebrities” in America. He notes the number of people we call “celebrities has proliferated in modern times, writes: “Today, what we refer to as serious ‘celebrity’ is cooked up in a stew consisting of personal vanity, bejeweled popinjays, and hyper- caffeinated publicists, amplified a billion times by the internet, especially on social media. The process by which [a person] is fabricated into a bonafide celeb’ is not always ugly, but usually it ain’t pretty. Having talent helps, although it’s not essential. (Hello, any Khardasian).” Neuhaus also states the obvious — our biggest celebrities are found in TV, film, and music, and already famous professional athletes who seek even higher profiles in showbiz. His view is that neither our definition of nor our rabid fascination with these “bejeweled popinjays” as celebrities and “stars” are positive forces in our culture.

Let’s define these “popinjays” Neuhaus referred to in the paragraph above. The term originally referred to a parrot, and being compared to such a beautiful bird was considered a compliment. But over time the term popinjay developed a pejorative sense and has come to mean a vain or conceited person, especially one who dresses or behaves extravagantly. As used today popinjay describes a strutting, supercilious person (that is, a person who thinks and behaves as though superior to others). The website vocabulary.com defines popinjay as “a person who is talkative and cocky, who struts around chattering like a parrot.” Let’s see now — conceited, cocky, extravagant, supercilious, talkative, chattering, strutting people. Seen or heard any of them lately? Abundant evidence points to a proliferation of popinjays in our culture. Yep, from the well-known on the national stage to those who are legends only in their own minds, to be a popinjay seems to be the rage of the age as cocky, conceited people strut and chatter. What’s the point, preacher? Just this. No Christian, including preachers, should ever be a popinjay. Words from the Bible in 1 Thess. 2 provide Biblical proof for that assertion. In that chapter the apostle Paul denies he ever used flattery or deceit or was greedy (vs 5); he denies self-centered motivation or that he ever sought glory or praise from people (vs 6). Instead, he asserts he was “gentle, just as a nursing mother cherishes her children” (vs 7). He expressed genuine affection and his desire to share not only the Gospel but also his own life “because you had become dear to us” (vs 8). He affirms they were witness to “how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you” (vs 10), as he “exhorted and comforted and charged” them with all the care / concern of a loving father for his own children (vs 11). His whole concern was to help them “walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (vs 12). Cocky, strutting, chattering popinjays in the church’s pews and pulpit? May it never be!!

by: Dan Gulley,  Smithville, TN 

Climbing Up Higher!

There’s a joke about mountain climbing that asks, “Why do mountain climbers tie themselves together? The answer makes complete sense to me — “So nobody can turn back.” My aim in this little article is not to talk about mountains or mountain climbing per se. It is about a teaching of Jesus that, like mountain climbing, requires determined and sustained effort to go up higher. The teaching has long been known as “The Golden Rule.” Found in Matthew 7:12 it reads this way — “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Luke 6:31 states it this way — “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (New International Version). That principle is easy to understand but not always so easy to practice because some people just seem bent on doing to you what they jolly well please. So what does the Golden Rule have to do with mountain climbing? To quote one preacher, “The Great Commandment is probably the most universally praised statement that Jesus ever made. It has been called ‘the topmost peak of social ethics ... the Everest of ethical teaching.’ ” Why would anyone make that comparison? You may or may not know that Mount Everest, part of the Himalayan Mountain range on the border between Nepal and China, is the tallest mountain peak in the world (29,032 above sea level). Even pictures and videos of its height evoke awe and wonder that any sane person would dare try to climb it! Successfully reaching the summit of Everest is viewed and praised almost universally as the pinnacle of achievement in mountaineering.

 

Back to the words quoted above. The Golden Rule is “probably the most universally praised statement Jesus ever made.” In similar words, David Roper said, “Almost everyone admires these words — even people who do not live by the precept admire the principle.” But that’s precisely the problem, isn’t it? It’s one thing to praise Jesus’ teaching but quite another to practice it. Some 8.1 billion people now share space on Planet Earth according to recent United Nations estimates. It is abundantly clear that if life is to be livable and doable human beings must observe certain rules of behavior toward each other. Jesus squeezes the grand solution to interpersonal relational problems into the few words of the Golden Rule — “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” The following will illustrate. Ed called his mother one week after moving into a new apartment to complain about his neighbors. He said, “I can’t believe it, Mom. I’m surrounded by people with problems. One woman cries all night, another lies in bed moaning, and then there’s the guy next door who screams and just keeps beating the wall.” Ed’s mother advised, “You better keep away from them.” Ed said, “I do. I just stay inside and play my tuba all night.” There’s a right time and place to play a tuba — but I’m pretty sure playing it all night in your apartment is not loving your neighbor or practicing the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule has never tarnished. When observed, it changes the world and makes it more kind, forgiving and loving. Edwin Markham said, “We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life.” You may never attempt to climb Mt. Everest. But you go up higher anytime you do to others as you would have them do to you.

 

  by:   Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN

Real McCoy Christians!

The phrase “The Real McCoy” is defined by idiomsthefreedictionary.com as “something that is genuine, authentic, or exactly what it is claimed to be; the real thing.” They add that the origin of this phrase is not definitively known. We might also note many people use the phrase to describe a person who is of high moral and ethical character. A synonymous phrase would be that something or someone is “the real deal.” That is, not a fake. Harry Truman said, “Always be sincere, even if you don’t mean it.” I wonder if he really meant that, or was he faking it? Truman was President, of course, and his quote brings to mind the little girl who asked her dad, “Daddy, do all fairy tales begin with, ‘Once upon a time’?” He replied, “No, sweetheart. A whole lot of them begin with, ‘If elected, I promise ...’ ” Ever hear the term “fake news?? The words are used to describe false or misleading information presented as news. It is often created to influence political views or as a joke. The term does not have a fixed definition and has been applied broadly to any type of false information presented as news. Fake news reduces the impact of real news by competing with it. The Bible’s words for “fake” include words like “deceive, deceit, guile, false,” etc. We don’t have space to refer to many Bible passages, but a very famous one by Jesus warns in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” He was talking about religious leaders who advocate false doctrines / teachings. Fake gospels? Religious fakes? Even fake preachers and fake Christians?! Say it ain’t so. But the evidence is in — and sadly, it is very true.

 

The topic we are thinking about here is character, and perhaps a little more precise, integrity. Things like honesty, truthfulness, goodness, sincerity, purity, etc. The Bible has many statements about integrity and the difference that it makes in a person’s life. Proverbs 11:3 states, “The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.” Again, Proverbs 19:1 declares, “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity Than one who is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.” Jesus was talking about integrity when He first met Nathanel and said in John 1:47 (New King James Version), “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” The King James Version uses the words “in whom is no guile.” Nathanel was not a fake! He was “the real deal.” He was “the real McCoy.” The take home point in all this is Christians should always “keep it real.” Have integrity. Be honest. When the apostle Paul reminded Christians at Thessalonica how he and his companions Silas and Timothy behaved while in their city, he used these words — “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ” (1 Thess.2:1-6). The character Paul personally claims should describe every Christian — no pretense, no attempts to fake others out or teach something false or do a cover-up. As a Christian, just be a “real McCoy.”

 

 by: Dan Gulley,  Smithville, TN

Are We Too Slow To Go?

You are about to read a preacher’s story. Be advised it may be fictional (!!). Three turtles in the forest decided to have a cup of coffee. Rain started to fall, so the biggest turtle said to the smallest turtle, “Go home and get an umbrella.” The little one replied, “I will if you won’t drink my coffee.” The other two turtles echoed together, “We won’t.” Two years went by and the little turtle did not return. The big turtle said to the middle-sized turtle, “I guess he isn’t coming back, so we might as well drink his coffee.” At that, a little voice called from behind a nearby bush, “If you do, I won’t go.” Talk about slowwwww to go! What was he waiting on?!!

 

A goofy story, but I want to use it to make a very serious, sobering point. That turtle was waiting when he should have been going. After all, A slow go is better than a no go. In 1 Thessalonians 1:7-10 the apostle Paul makes a most interesting point about waiting. He is pouring out praise for the way these Christians had responded to the Gospel. The passage reads, “so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” If read carefully, Paul’s words stand our common notion of what it means to “wait” on its head. Dictionary definitions of the English word “wait” read like this — “stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens.” It’s definitely okay to wait in some situations. Like when you ring a doorbell. Or sitting at a 4-way stop when another vehicle got there first. But there are times when waiting is not only not good but very bad. Like if you discover your house is on fire. Or for that matter if you discover your neighbor’s house on fire. Now re-read the description of the church at Thessalonica cited above. Paul describes them in verse 10 as “waiting” for Jesus to return — but his earlier words in verse 8 make clear they did anything but stay where they were or delay action until something else happened! Instead we read, “For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth .... in every place .... Your faith toward God has gone out.” This church was on the go with the Gospel even as they waited on Jesus to return! They were not “silent saints.” Far from it. Why were they so bent on “sounding forth” the word? Why did they want their faith toward God to “go out?” They no doubt knew, as we should know, Jesus commands the church to go with the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20 * Mark 16:15-16). But the naked and uncomfortable truth is too many of us in the Lord’s church are too mum about Jesus. Instead of a “go, stand and speak” approach,(Acts 5:20), we are frozen in place, standing still and delaying to go, under the grip of a “come, sit and listen” approach. Here’s a vital, sobering question — are we “sounding forth” the word while we wait on Jesus? Or are we been too slow when we know the Lord says go? Just asking.

 

by: Dan Gulley,  Smithville, TN