ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, ONE God and Father of all

It’s in the 4th chapter of Ephesians that we find those oft cited verses about the “ONES.”  You know what I’m referring to.  The verses that read: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.  ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, ONE God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”  (Eph. 4:4-6).  And then further along in the chapter, verse 25 to be exact, we’re told that we are “members ONE of another.”

 

What caused me to think about these verses is the “goings-on” in our nation’s capitol this past week or so.  To say that Congress is divided is putting it mildly.  And, when you think about it, the whole world seems to be divided in just about every way possible.  The ONE place where divisions should never be found is The Church and yet, sometimes that occurs and is something that we should always guard against.

 

I cited the aforementioned passages in Ephesians to show that the Church should never have divisions such as we see in the world around us.  It has race divisions, gender divisions, wealth divisions, political divisions and yes, religious divisions.  And, it’s not hard to see any and all of those divisions, is it?  We should always strive to keep those divisions in the world and not let them creep there way into the Church.

 

The ONE absolute, sure thing about divisions such as those mentioned is that they are temporal.  They only apply to earthly life.  But, keep in mind that there exists a division in the eternal life and it’s the only division found there.  It’s the division of the “saved” and the “lost.”  And, you know what else is true about this division?  Everyone of us will be members of one or the other.  Either “saved” or “lost.”

 

I know that you’ve heard many sermons and lessons about the crucifixion of Christ along with the two “thieves,” or “malefactors” as Luke puts it.  (Lk 23:33) But, let me ask you this - did you ever consider what those two men represent?  If you haven’t, allow me to present them to you as an illustration of our “eternal” divisions.

 

If you open your Bible to Luke 23, verses 39-43 you can read the account that I’m about to present to you.  In the short version, one of them rejected Him and the other believed in Him.  The “believer” went to paradise and the other to condemnation.  Returning to our question as to “what those two men represent?”  here’s the answer:   Everyone on earth is represented by one or the other of those two.  Either “saved” or “condemned.”  Then the next, and most important question is: Which one represents you?

 

It has to be one or the other.  No one can be neutral here.  Jesus provides us with the answer to that last question when He said in Matt. 12:30 “He that is not with me is against me...”  One “malefactor” was against Him and the other was “with him” and one or the other represents you.  There is no “fence-sitting” when it comes to which side you’re on.  Or, as John wrote to the church in Laodicea, you’re either “hot” or “cold.”  You can’t be “lukewarm.”  (Rev. 3:14-16)

 

Well, I suppose another way of looking at this is - is Jesus our “friend” or isn’t He?  There’s an easy way to know the answer to that question.  In John 15:13-14 Jesus says: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”  Yes, it really is that simple.  We’re His friend if we obey Him.

 

We sing an old familiar hymn entitled “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” and it’s so appropriate to think about this song as we close our lesson.  It originally was a poem written by a man named Joseph Scriven and was inspired by two tragedies in his life.  I think that as we read about his reasons for writing this poem we can all assimilate with him as we all experience tragic events in our lives.

 

Joseph had just graduated from the university in Dublin, Ireland and was engaged to be married to, in his words, the prettiest girl in the world.  That was when he experienced his first tragedy.  On the day before their wedding was to be held Joseph’s bride-to-be drowned.  Trying to ease his pain, he left Ireland and moved to Canada.  But, it’s told that he never got over the loss of his fiancee.

Then ten years later Scriven’s mother became very ill.  He wrote this poem in hopes that it would comfort her:

 

    What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!

       What a privilege to carry, Everything to God in prayer!

    Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear,

       All because we do not carry, Everything to God in prayer!

 

Something else interesting about this poem was that Joseph never intended it to be a hymn.  As a matter of fact, he hadn’t even meant for anyone else to see it.  However, it has became one of the most favorite and loved hymns of all times.

 

Well, as I said earlier, we all drink from the cup of woe at times in our lives.  We all have burdens to bear but God assures us that none of them should be able to pull us away from our greatest “Friend.”  (1 Cor. 10:13)   The world may sympathize with us, but only Christ can provide us our greatest strength when tragedies come on us.

 

In closing, let me just add one more little thought to what I began this editorial with - the seemingly endless divisions we see in our society.  An ancient Greek proverb tells us something that perhaps should be a guide to our Congress and society in general.  It simply reads:

 

   “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.”

 

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Covey

 

God's Definition of a Christian

    

     Today’s society is totally confused in understanding the word “Christian”. God defines “Christian” in three key verses where the word is used.

     The word “Christian” first appears is Acts 11:26: “And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” These disciples were first called Christians by their neighbors because they could only associate the tremendous changes which they saw in the disciples to the influence and impact that Jesus had upon their lives.

     The first thing we learn from God’s definition is that Christians live changed lives because their lives have come under the new management of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. What a tribute to the early disciples’ dedication to Jesus that when others saw them, they thought of Jesus. Acts 4:13: “When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus”.

     Today so many in our society claim to be Christians that the definition of the word has become so watered down that you cannot tell if he/she thinks he/she is a Christian unless he/she happens to tell you by word of mouth. According to God’s definition, a Christian’s life-style is so different from the world and his/her attitude is so much like the attitude of Jesus, that he/she simply must be a Christian!

     The Christian life is a changed life because Christians have repented of the practice of sin and selfishness. A Christian’s past attitude was focused upon “me, myself and I”; his attitude is now focused upon Jesus and the spiritual things above (Col. 3:1-2). A Christ-focused attitude will become apparent to others as the spiritual light of Jesus begins to shine in and through these Christians.

     The 2^nd reference to “Christian” is in Acts 26:28, where King Agrippa told Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian”. Paul had told Agrippa the story of his conversion (vv. 1-21). He preached the gospel by telling him how all that had happened to Jesus was foretold by Moses and the OT prophets (vv. 22-23). As Agrippa listened to Paul’s powerful testimony, he said that he was almost persuaded to become a Christian.

     From this passage, we conclude that not only does the Christian life involve a change, but it involves a choice to follow and obey Jesus as the one and only Lord as we also trust Him as the Savior of our souls.

     Acts 26:28 teaches that the choice to follow Jesus as Lord involves more than “faith only”. In v. 27 Paul said: “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.” Paul knew King Agrippa was a believer in God and His word. But even Agrippa knew that belief alone did not automatically make him a Christian, for he himself said, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.”

     If the choice to become a Christian does not involve “belief only”, what else does the choice involve? Paul told Agrippa, (v. 29), “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become . . . such as I am, except for these chains.” Paul wanted Agrippa to follow Jesus the same way he had chosen to follow Him. When we study Paul’s conversion, we will know exactly what we must do to become a Christian.

     When Ananias contacted Saul he told him, “and now why are you waiting?  Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Saul was commanded to call upon the name of the Lord by obeying Him in water baptism. Saul had to make this choice to begin a life of obeying Jesus as Lord.

     We are living in an age of religious emotionalism and quackery!  Men are urged to become Christians by praying for Jesus to come into their hearts, by signing a commitment card or similar things. The New Testament teaches that people became Christians by believing in Jesus as God’s Son, by repenting of their sins and by being buried with Him by baptism into His death (Rom. 6:3-4). Jesus Himself said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved . . .” (Mk 16:16).

     The 3^rd and final verse the name Christian is mentioned is 1 Pet. 4:16: “if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.” We put these three key verses together and we are driven to an obvious conclusion. God’s definition of a Christian involves a change, a choice and a challenge (the challenge to suffer as a Christian).

     This is where most 21^st century Christians draw the line in serving Christ. We want to follow Him if it is convenient. We want to be a Christian if it doesn’t cost too much time, money or inconvenience. But when the going gets rough and people look upon us as “weird” or if they talk behind our backs or make fun of us, we don’t want to be a Christian any longer!  We had rather go along with the crowd and be popular with them, rather than go along with the Lord and become unpopular with people.

     Christianity, in its purest form, has never been a popular thing. It is so contrary and opposed to the world and what the world thinks and practices that those who seriously follow the Lord Jesus will face some opposition and/or persecution.

     In deciding if we are going to meet the challenge of following Jesus, we need to give some very serious thought to one important matter. If we choose not to follow Jesus because we want to be popular with the world, we need to be willing to pay the cost of being friends of the world. James says, “Whoever . . . wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

     Each person must decide whom he/she will befriend. If we choose to be friends of the world, we make ourselves enemies of God. If we make the opposite choice of being friends of God, we end up as enemies of the world. I don’t know about you, but I had rather fight a temporary battle with this world and be eternally free, than to be friends of this temporal world and end up an eternal enemy of God!

 

Ralph Weinhold; Danville (AR) church of Christ.

 

tv violence

"It's OK -- It's Just The Violence"

It is time for us to re-evaluate a position that many have advocated throughout the years.  Concerning the content of television shows and movies, the comment has been made again and again, "it's not bad, it just has a lot of violence in it."

Years ago it may have been true that so-called "violent" content was not a big problem.  In the old westerns, for instance, there was a lot of shooting, but the bullets seldom found their mark.  When they did, there was remarkably little in the way of blood and gore.  Fistfights were common, but the participants usually walked away with little more than a bloody nose or lip.  The times have certainly changed.  The realism of modern cinema is stunning.  Now, when violence is depicted, we see it all.  Little is left to the imagination, as we see bullets piercing through bodies, bombs exploding, cars disintegrating, and people dying everywhere. 

And, what is the result of all this graphically detailed violence in the modern media?  Statistics bear out that we have become an increasingly violent society.  We hear about the extreme cases of mass murders, school shootings and the like.  But more commonly we see the aggression in the everyday conduct of average people.  We’ve come to expect angry people issuing forth a barrage of curse words and threats.

As Christians, we are only kidding ourselves if we think we are immune to this violent conditioning.  We, too, can be conditioned toward more aggressive behavior because of what we see and hear.  When we dismiss this danger and allow ourselves to be bombarded with these evil images, we are directly disobeying the command to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8).  As a consequence, we become less motivated to "live peaceably with all men" (Rom. 12:18). 

We are disciples of the One who "when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not" (1 Pet. 2:23).  As such, we need to exercise greater discretion about what we watch in this modern media world.  Think!

- by Greg Gwin

 

How to welcome new minister

GIFTS FOR YOUR NEW PREACHER & HIS FAMILY!

 

INTRODUCTION

     A.  Money for a gift for us is being accepted. We have gifts from every congregation we have worked with in the past. All of them are special to us. The one from here will be very special to us because of the relationship we have had over the last 15 years.

     B.  As I thought about this, I thought about the new preacher who will be coming and his family.

     C.  I thought of five gifts that you can give your new preacher & his family.

 

I. YOUR LOVE

     A.  Agape love – Godly love

     B.  Agape love puts their needs above your own – Philemon 1:5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints,

 

II. YOUR FRIENDSHIP

A.    Phileo love – Brotherly love

B.    Relationships – John 11:3 Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."

 

III. YOUR SUPPORT

A.    They need your help to accomplish God’s work in Monticello

B.    Romans 1:12  that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

 

IV. YOUR UNDERSTANDING

     A.  Of their humanity – Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

     B.  Of their short comings – (Paul) Romans 7:21-23 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. [22] For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. [23] But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

 

V. YOUR FAVORABLE COMPARISONS ONLY

     A.  Comparisons Will Be Made

     B.  But comparisons are not wise - 2 Cor. 10:12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

     C.  Discount those comparisons which make me appear better

     D.  Accept those which make him appear better

 

CONCLUSION

     A. Gifts are wonderful remembrances to give but these gifts are what will really be remembered most.

     B. Churches

I think that I shall never see; A Church that's all it ought to be

A Church that has no empty pews; Whose Preacher never has the blues.

A Church whose Deacons always Deke; And none is proud but all are meek

Where gossips never peddle lies; Or make complaints or criticize

Where all are always sweet and kind; And all to other's faults are blind

Such perfect churches there may be; But none of them are known to me

But still we'll work, and pray and plan; To make this Church the best we can!

 

Larry Pasley

 

Daily Christianity

Our Daily Walk with Jesus

 

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Matthew 6:9-13

 

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:25-34

 

In the Scriptures above, and in what follows, note the emphasis on “day(s),“ daily,” “always,” “time” and “opportunity.”

 

We participate (commune) in the sacrifice of Jesus every first day of the week when we partake of the Lord’s Supper, Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 10:16; but in fact Jesus commands us to participate in his sacrifice every day as we die to self and live for Him!!

 

In Luke 9:22-23, Jesus essentially says that because He is going to die for us, then we should die to self and live for Him on a daily basis.

 

In Matthew 6, Jesus urges us to pray to God asking that he provide our needs daily, every day, as we do His will and seek His reign in our lives.

 

Later in the same chapter, Jesus says that because each day brings its own troubles, instead of being anxious about how we will survive, we should seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness and all our worries about the physical necessities of life will be taken care of on a daily basis.

 

In the very last verse of Matthew 28, Jesus comforts us with the promise that though He is about to ascend to heaven (note Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-11), He will in fact still be with us always until he returns. “Always” in this verse is literally “all the days”!!

 

So, Jesus commands us to follow Him every day as we take one day at a time, and that He will be with us every one of those days!

 

Acts 2:46; 5:42 and Hebrews 3:13 reveal some examples of how Christians follow Jesus daily. Please read these Scriptures now.

 

Many times during His ministry on earth, Jesus told us there will be a “last day” when he will return to raise the dead and judge the world. John 6:39,54; 11:23-24; 12:48.

 

That is why feeding on His spiritual bread of life is more important than anything physical. John 6:27-38.

 

When Jesus says he will be with us to the end of the age, it’s easy to wrongly assume that His  return is “ages” away, and so we doze off … get a bit sleepy and careless about our daily walk with Jesus, let our guard down, and indulge in some sinful things.

 

This is why we read:

 

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:11-14

 

When we assemble each Lord’s day, let us not simply be “Sunday Christians,” but, rather, encourage

one another to be involved daily in God’s work, Titus 2:11-14; 3:8,14; Hebrews 10:23-25.

 

always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 1 Thessalonians 5:15

 

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:9-10

 

but in your hearts honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behaviour in Christ may be put to shame. 1 Peter 3:15-16

 

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

 

at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:8-17

 

--David Carr

Nichol's Pocket Bible Encyclopedia

The Inscription

 

I have many books.  In fact, I don’t even know how many books I have!  I have purchased many of them, many of them come from my Dad’s library, some of them have been handed down from my loving grandparents, and the rest have been given to me by friends and fellow Christians that want to help me in my study of the Scriptures.

 

I was recently going through some books that Susan Thomas gave to me from her Uncle Trent Toland’s collection after he passed away.  One of the books was Nichol's Pocket Bible Encyclopedia.  As I thumbed through the pages of this little booklet, I found this hand-written inscription inside: "To Trenton on his 28th birthday from Aunt Mamie.  Study this book to be wise, believe it to be holy, obey it to be safe."

 

Aunt Mamie gave this book to her nephew Trenton 70 years ago.  Trenton, a longtime member of the church of Christ, attended and served with the old Government Street church and then the Creekwood congregation.  He passed away in 2013 at the age of 94.

 

One of the influences in his life was Aunt Mamie.  But who was Aunt Mamie?  I asked Susan Thomas.  Here is her reply:

 

“Aunt Mamie was my grandmother’s sister.  (My grandmother being Louella Toland, mother of Trent and my mom, Cecile Wiggins.)  She was Mamie Counselman, married to Claude Counselman.  They were charter members of the old Plateau Church of Christ [which later became the Central church], which predated Government Street.”

 

“Aunt Mamie was quite a character.  She married at 14, had her first of five children at 15.  She was very cheerful and upbeat, wrote cute little poems, always happy...  One of her sons, Claude Jr., became a preacher.  He lived in California.  All of her children have passed away.”

 

As I’ve shared this story with others, some have reflected fondly about the lovely character and lasting influence of “Aunt Mamie.”  Her nephew, Trenton, also influenced others to follow Christ.

 

Note the inscription again that she wrote in the Bible Encyclopedia for her nephew: “Study this book to be wise, believe it to be holy, obey it to be safe.”  Aunt Mamie believed that that little encyclopedia would help her nephew understand more about the Book, the Bible, the guide to the abundant life and eternal life to come.

 

The Book reveals God’s plan of salvation.  It reveals that we are sinners (Romans 3:23) doomed for destruction (Matthew 7:13-14).  But “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  Jesus, God’s Son, paid the price on the cross to redeem us from our sins (Ephesians 1:7).

 

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  The redeeming blood that Jesus shed on the cross on our behalf will continue to cleanse us from sin as we walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).

 

The Bible: “Study this book to be wise, believe it to be holy, obey it to be safe.”

 

Won’t YOU?

 

-- David A. Sargent

 

P.S.  Thanks again, Susan, for the books.  My thanks to God also for the influence of Aunt Mamie, your Uncle Trenton Toland, and many members of your family, past and present.

 

David A. Sargent

The Faith of Christopher Hitchens Larry Alex Taunton

The World’s Most Notorious Atheist

    Such an epithet is applied to Christopher Hitchens by his friend (and Protestant preacher) Larry Alex Taunton in the subtitle to his book The Faith of Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens passed away a few years ago (Dec. 15, 2011) from esophageal cancer. He is now, of course, no longer an atheist (Phil. 2:10-11).

    If you have heard of Christopher Hitchens, it is likely from hearing of his book god Is Not Great. I have only read parts of the book but he is most well known for being disrespectful, vulgar, offensive, and irreverent, often intended to shock and horrify. Basically, that is how he made his living, a lucrative living at that: criticizing and offending Christians and getting paid to do it. 

    Taunton was a conservative, and close friend of Hitchens, especially after 9/11. Taunton wrote this book (at the request of Thomas Nelson Publishers), basically to describe his friendship and experiences with Hitchens. According to Taunton, Hitchens was much more respectful and circumspect in their private discussions than he was in public and through his writings.

    At the funeral, the Steve Winwood’s song Higher Love was played. Taunton’s son, Michael, commented that Hitchens had told him that he longed for a “higher love.” Hitchens was born into an English family in 1949. His dad was a Calvinist Baptist. Calvinism is that system of teaching that legitimates the flogging and beating of children, to drive the devil out of them, because children are born in sin, from the tip of their head to the bottom of their feet. The boarding schools that Hitchens attended as he matured were also of that same bent of mind. Hitchens’s mom hid her true faith for many years - she was a Jew. When Hitchens was young, his parents had him baptized into the Church of England.

    Those three spiritual facts - in hindsight, it seems to me - contributed mightily to the rabid atheist that Hitchens would become. A father and religious environment that was too harsh and exacting, based on false theology. A mother who was a religious charlatan, hiding her true faith. And forced into a relationship with an old, dated, stodgy church consumed more with ritualism than Christ.

    So it was, at the age of 15, that Hitchens declared himself an atheist. Taunton spent a lot of time with Hitchens, to the dismay of Hitchens’s atheistic and left-wing friends. Taunton writes that, for Hitchens, “God was inevitably interpreted as that looming, fuming, grim-faced schoolmaster with a cane, accusing him of transgressions of which he was either not aware or felt no guilt” (11).

    Taunton quotes Hitchens’s brother, Peter (who also became an atheist but then returned to theism), to the effect that “Christopher decided to hate God when he was about fifteen years old” (15). That is a telling statement. You obviously cannot hate something that does not exist. What this illustrates is that Hitchens rejected a faith in God for emotional reasons, not for intellectual reasons. His experiences with “God” from his childhood would not lead him to see God as love and Christ as the epitome of that love.

    To make a short book (181 pages) even shorter, Taunton writes that two events really softened Hitchens’s atheism. The first event was 9/11. To the consternation of his leftist friends, Hitchens supported Bush’s “War on Terrorism.” He saw 9/11 as “simply evil,” from an article he wrote in Slate magazine. Of course, it is not possible to speak of evil if there is no God. Thus, at the heart of Hitchens’s atheism is a common contradiction among atheists - to be against evil and against the existence of the ultimate source of good - God. 

    As Hitchens carried on his discussions with Taunton about Christianity, he came to realize that neither the Bible nor the New Testament sanctions the type of evil that allows one to indiscriminately kill your enemies. That is not, however, the position of Islam.

    The second event that thawed Hitchens’s atheism was the adoption by Taunton and his wife of a little girl from Ukraine, Sasha, at ten years old. The little girl was HIV positive. Hitchens had, years before, become pro-life because he believed babies ought to be given the freedom to live. But it did surprise him that Christianity would motivate Taunton to adopt a girl who would require so much attention, emotionally and financially.

    Toward the end of his 62-year-old life, Hitchens was beginning to make a distinction between pseudo-Christianity and those who were truly convicted. He debated Al Sharpton but saw him as a charlatan. He also thought Jerry Falwell was a fraud. But he deeply respected Taunton and Francis Collins (another Protestant) because they believed in what they defended and they practiced what they preached.

    At the end of his chapter on “Sasha,” Taunton writes: “For the whole of his life, Christopher had longed for, but had cynically dismissed the possibility of, a higher love. Here was a glimpse that such love might be real” (111).

    If you have a “Christopher Hitchens” in your life - at work or in your family - you might benefit from reading Taunton’s book. The scars he suffered as a result of fake Christianity, in the name of Christianity, motivated him to tear apart real Christianity and damage the faith of many people. Deep convictions, defended with true courage but patiently and lovingly and lived out in daily life is a strong component of our evangelism.

 

Kintsugi

Broken Hearted

 

Steve Higginbotham recently introduced me to a new term, a new art, and a new perspective on a great truth.  He asks:

 

Have you ever heard of "Kintsugi"?  Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with a "glue" made of gold.  Rather than throwing away a vase, bowl, or cup that had been dropped and broken, these items can be repaired by gluing the pieces back together with gold.  The repair can actually make the piece of pottery more beautiful and more valuable than it was before it was broken.

 

Instead of broken pottery, consider broken hearts.

 

Here’s a beautiful truth: God specializes in mending broken hearts.

 

Steve Higginbotham informs us that he knows the blessing of this truth personally:  On a personal level, I have learned the value of brokenness.  For the majority of my life, everything was easy.  The biggest challenges I faced throughout my youth seem trifling to me today.  My life, along with my wife, had a fairy-tale beginning, but eventually we began to experience "breaks" (e.g. the miscarriage of a child; the death of my father-in-law, mother-in-law, and my dad; and most shattering, the choices of one of our children).

 

These breaks, and countless others, could cause one to retreat, give up, and become bitter.  They hurt (present tense), but my wife and I refuse to allow our life together to be little more than useless, broken shards of pottery littering the floor.  No, instead, we've given the broken pieces to the Lord who has put us back together, I believe, even more valuable in His service than before. The breaks haven't been desired, but they have been profitable in the hands of "The Potter" (Romans 9:20-23).

 

As Steve indicates, there are many different things – situations, trials – that can break our hearts.  One thing that should break our hearts, however, is sin.

 

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.”

-- Psalm 51:17

 

These words were written by David in a penitential psalm that he wrote after Nathan the prophet confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 12).  David acknowledges his sin and his heart is broken.  He desperately seeks the cleansing of his sin by God (see Psalm 51:1-4).  God, observing David’s repentance and confession, forgave him (see 2 Samuel 12:13-14; Psalm 32:1-5).

 

A broken and contrite heart, God will not despise.  The brokenness is evidence of true godly sorrow which leads to repentance.  God “honors” the heart that is broken by sin by healing it with His forgiveness and love.

 

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” --Psalm 147:3

 

Even though we are sinners, God loves us so much that He gave His One and only Son to die on the cross for our sin (John 3:16).  Through Jesus, we can have our sins washed away by His blood (Ephesians 1:7).

 

God will forgive and give the gift of eternal life to those who will place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).

 

Steve Higginbotham encourages the broken-hearted: “If your life has been shattered by loss, disappointment, and sin, don't give up (Galatians 6:9).   God can do amazing things with the pieces of your life.  In fact, He can make you more useful and beautiful than you were before you were broken.”

 

And He will, if only you will submit your heart and your life to Him.  Won’t YOU?

 

-- David A. Sargent

 

Source Cited: “If It Isn’t Broken…Break It” by Steve Higginbotham in MercEmail (June 24, 2017).