Winter 2005Volume 117 No. 1

FEATURES The Myth Of The Tolerant God 5

by Dean Waldt

Whatever Happened To Jesus? 8by John Caldwell

DEPARTMENTS The Editors View 2The Presidents Page 3Letters To The Editor 4The World To Win 42nd Thoughts 6News From The Hilltop 10Revivalist Family 10Dear Phil 14World Pulse 15Alumni Focus 16Revivalist Pulpit 17Mending Nets 21Thoughts For The Quiet Hour 23

EDITORLarry D. Smith

STAFFAndrew Street, production managerKevin Moser, art director, managing editorJon Plank, graphic designer, webmaster

Gods Revivalist and Bible Advocate (ISSN 0745-0788) is published ninetimes a year for $10.00 per year ($11.50 in Canada and foreign countries)by the Revivalist Press of Gods Bible School, College and MissionaryTraining Home, 1810 Young Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. Periodicalpostage paid at Cincinnati, Ohio, and at additional mailing offices. POST-MASTER: send address changes to Gods Revivalist and Bible Advocate,1810 Young Street, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202.

Gods Revivalist and Bible Advocate, the official organ of Gods BibleSchool, is a magazine founded by Martin Wells Knapp in July of 1888. Weseek to proclaim the good news of salvation; to stir a revival spirit amongChristians; to stimulate Christian growth and responsible Christian living; topresent the happenings and interests of Gods Bible School.

Please obtain permission before reprinting any articles from GodsRevivalist and Bible Advocate. Unsolicited manuscripts are welcomed,but not returned.

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CONTENTS

LARRY D. SMITH

WORSHIP THE HOLY TRINITY!

Lex credendi, lex orandi. The law of faith is the law ofworship. This statement has echoed repeatedlythroughout Church history, which just as repeatedly hasproved its worth. In Latin or in English, it emphasizes thisindisputable fact: our faith will shape our worship, and ourworship will state our faith.

For example, if we are deeply committed to Christiantruth, our worship will assert that truth with vigor andexcitement. If, however, we are uncertain about the truth,our worship will be just as muddled as we are. Privatedevotion is concealed from general scrutiny, of course; butpublic worship openly registers the spiritual health of everycongregation.

Worshipno act is more central to the Christian life,as historian Mark Galli observes. It gives rhythm and struc-ture to the Christians life; it is the heartbeat of congrega-tional life. What happens on Sunday morning is thus themost important event in your churchs life, for it reveals,then reinforces, the priorities and convictions that driveeverything else. For worship is what the Church is all about;and its other activities, such as evangelism, discipleship,and apologetics, are necessary corollaries to it.

If our worship is to glorify God and to sanctify His peo-pleand its purpose is to accomplish bothit must beoffered in spirit and in truth, as Our Lord has declared. Toworship in spirit, Dr. Clarke explains, is to do so from theheart. To worship in truth is to do so according to thatdivine revelation which He has given men of Himself.

In other words, intense devotion, freely offered, isthe subjective attitude of authentic worship, whileScriptural truth, continually affirmed, is its essential content.For worship is never to exploit emotional excitement, stagetalented performance, or wallow in syrupy feelings.Rather it is to celebrate before God the truth of His (p13)

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The writer of Proverbs gives us a list of seven things that God hates. First on the list isa proud look. A further search of Scripture will yield another list of about one hun-dred verses describing Gods utter contempt of human pride. One of the moredescriptive verses is found in James 3:6, which in one translation reads, God stiff-arms theproud, but gives grace to the humble.

Why is God so angry with pride?

The reasons are ample, but the one that tops the list is the fact that pride is the completeanti-God state of mind. Pride arrogantly sets up man as his own master. It breeds enmitybetween God and man, as well as between man and man. Pride destroys meaningful rela-tionships and leaves misery in its wake. As C.S. Lewis pointedly observes, It was throughpride that the devil became the devil.

Though the Bible has so much to say about pride, few of us readily admit to having anyproblem with it. In all my years of ministry, I can recall only a handful of people who everacknowledged struggling with pride. In my own spiritual journey, I, too, found it difficult toface up to any problem with pride. I believe we dont talk much about it because its mani-festations are so subtle that we dont always recognize them. Consider a few ways that pridemanifests itself and ask God if these are a problem in your life.

Proud people have a need always to be right.

Proud people focus on others failures and tend to be highly critical.

Proud people tend to be argumentative, especially with those in authority over them.

Proud people are more interested in being heard than in hearing.

Proud people are angry, irritable and impatient, and they usually have a demanding spirit.

Proud people lack a submissive attitude. They tend to be controllers.

Proud people are defensive of their actions and not easily corrected.

Proud people tend to be self-righteous and highly exclusive of other Christians who are notof their own stripe.

Proud people find it difficult to discuss their own spiritual needs. They would rather cover uptheir sin than confess it. Most proud people feel they have no need ever to repent of anything.

If you are struggling with pride, acknowledge it and repent of it. James 4:10 says,Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up.

DIVINE ENEMY NUMBER ONE

by Michael R. Avery, president

TO THE EDITOR

MISSIONS REPORTS

Each month we publish brief field reports from missionar-ies around the world. Missionaries are invited to send us theirnewsletters and other information about their activities. GBSgraduates are especially urged to respond, but we also wish toinclude others who uphold our vision and our commitment.

AFRICA. Pieter Marais, Philip Geise, and othersreturned safely from a more than 4,000 mile tripthrough Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia. Five thou-sand Bibles and ten thousand tracts were distributed,many in the most remote areas of Zambia. Yourprayers were their protection as they traveled throughwild animal country. All supplies for eating, sleeping,car repairs, etc., had to be taken with them. At onepoint, they walked under a tree where a BlackMamba snake hung just six feet above them. Yourprayers are important. Anita Brechbill, Servant, APublication of Mission Helps, Inc.

BELIZE. Glen Pelfrey is giving valuable assistance tothe work in Corazol Town, where Hugh Wade is thenational pastor. He is teaching in the Christian dayschool and assisting in the preaching services. BrotherPelfrey says, It seems that God has given me a newlease on life. Street meetings were begun on Fridayevenings in Corazol on November 5th. Ropeholders

BRAZIL. Our Monte Pascoal church has worshipedunder a tent for about two years [but] a wind has tornit down. No one was hurt, but now where will thepeople go to worship? The next Sunday they used theporch area of the school; and at night, they wor-shiped under the moon and stars in the yard next towhere the tent had been. Please pray for PastorNaldo and his congregation. Rod and Cora Wells(New York PH), Newsletter

MONTANA. The eighth annual Indian MissionsWorkers Convention is now history. Rev. S.C. Raineydid a good job of ministering to both staff and stu-dents of Northwest Indian Bible School. (p6)

Letters should be addressed to the Editorial Office, 1810 YoungStreet, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202, or e-mailed to revivalist@gbs.edu.Letters reprinted here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of theeditor of Gods Revivalist nor those of the administration of GodsBible School. Names and locations of writers will be withheld at theirspecific request or at the discretion of the editor. We reserve the rightto edit and condense.

TO LOVE IS TO BE VULNERABLEThanksfor To Love Is To Be Vulnerable

(Mending Nets, Richard Miles) and HelpingSomeone Today? (J. Grant Swank, Jr.) We have hadsome suicide threats among the girls I counsel, andsome attempts before they came to Muskegon RiverYouth Home. We have had group sessions on thissubject all week. Four girls have now saidthatGod is helping them, or they have made mepromises never to attempt such a thing again.Michael, in the story, reminded me of so many ofour boys. God help us to reach the hurting teens ofthe USA! We can say they have had too much, orthey have never had to work like kids in otherlands, but what will things and time profit themwithout love?

LINDA HARVEY KELLEYEvart, Michigan

THE PASTORS CHILDRENThe article by Dr. Brown, The Pastors

Children: Blessing or Curse [The RevivalistPulpit, Oct. 2004], is excellent. Im not a pastor,but Ive clipped this message and have it in myBible. His list of resources for rearing godly childrenis applicable to everyone who is a parent. Thankyou for your practical insights, Dr. Brown.

MICHAEL WRIGHT

KUDOS FOR THE REVIVALISTI particularly enjoy articles by Larry Smith and

my former instructor and pastor, Dr. Allan P.Brown. Thank you for many helpful and encour-aging articles. You are doing a great job.

JAMES M. BREWER,Utica, New York

(continued on page 21)

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If there is an absolute value in therelativistic world of post-modernWestern culture, it is tolerance.Political correctness, medical ethics,and public policy are gauged by thepolestar of tolerance. People say tol-erance is an absolute virtue, which, inthe realm of theology, must make it anattribute of God. Yes, God must be eternally and infi-nitely tolerant, because tolerance is an expression oflove, and we all know the Bible tells us that God is love.

Since everyone accepts that God is love, the thinkinggoes that God must be the most tolerant of all. Just lookat the tolerance of Jesus! The Pharisees did not toleratethe tax collectors and sinners, but Jesus regularly ate din-ner with them. Jesus was hospitable. Thus, people sur-mise, for us to be otherwise would be to reject the exam-ple of Jesus and follow in the footsteps of the Pharisees.

To be enlightened, in todays common thinking, wemust tolerate nearly everyone and respect his individualchoices, provided those choices do not harm others.Even when other persons are harmed, personal choicesare entitled to great deference and respect. In somecases, were told we must recognize that even the defin-ition of who is a person is a matter of personal choice.Tolerance and the worship of personal autonomyper-sonal choiceare inextricably intertwined.

To tolerate someone is to allow the other person toexist unmolested, to abide him, to peacefully co-existwith him. It is the moral equivalent of dtente. Youdont have to agree with or even like the other person.You simply must respect personal choices, on the onehand, and refrain from imposing your personal choices,on the other. If you fail to do the former, you are con-

sidered intolerant, perhaps theonly true sin which remains inour culture. If you fail to do thelatter, you are thought a bigot. Ifyou seek to convince a group ofpeople that their collective per-sonal choice is morally wrong and

that your personal choice is morallyright, you are at best insensitive and unloving, andquite often you are cast as an oppressor.

It gets worse: If you claim divine endorsement ofyour personal choice, you get pegged as a fundamental-ist. This is very bad. Fundamentalists are seen as danger-ous, because they truly believe their personal choice isabsolutely true and that God agrees with them. This nec-essarily means that all others are absolutely wrong andthat God disagrees with them. In fact, God may even dis-approve of anddare we speak it?condemn andjudge the personal choices of others. To tell someone hispersonal choice is the subject of Gods condemnation isdefinitely considered an act of intellectual or spiritualviolence. Some have declared this tantamount to assaultor, if the victim is a woman, even rape.

Fundamentalists are dangerous people, were told,the only intolerable people in our culture of tolerance.They are the only ones with whom the god of toleranceis displeased.

Right? Wrong!

A PERNICIOUS LIE

All of this should sound familiar. How often it ispreached from our pulpits, taught in our seminary class-rooms, and read in publications funded with our denom-inational dollars! In its own way, it sounds right, (p7)

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FRETOR FLOURISH

My wife and I are avid players of thegame of Scrabble. Weve jokedabout the need for counseling after anintense game with a controversial, razor-thin margin of victory!

I used to think that winning inScrabble was primarily dependent uponthe selection of letters. Give me the ten-point Z and Q and Im a guaranteedwinner. But if my letter tray displays arow of one-point vowels, Im finished!However, as I reflect on the times whenthose valuable letters have ended up inmy hands, I reluctantly admit that I didnot always walk away from the contesttriumphantly. Thus, I have arrived at abrilliant conclusion: the secret to win-ning in Scrabble is not drawing out a per-fect set of letters but maximizing thosethat do end up on the letter tray. Goodadvice in ScrabbleGood advice for lifeand ministry.

When facing circumstances thatseem overwhelming, we human beingseasily fall prey to the if only mentality.Whether its a difficult marriage, un-pleasant employment, financial strugglesor ministry challenges, our default think-ing can easily run along the lines of howmuch more satisfied and successful wemight be if only we had been dealt abetter hand. It then becomes easy tonotice the more favorable circumstancesthat others seem to have. At this pointour hearts are prime targets for the seedsof bitterness, envy, lust, discontent andingratitude. Let these sprout in yourheart, and in short order they will hijack

every waking hour, turning challengesinto chores and robbing your soul ofpeace and joy.

In the opening verse of Ezekiel Iobserve that this prophet-priest has beenforced into the most unpleasant and dis-couraging of circumstances. He is simplyamong the exiles by the Kebar river. Iremember that he is here through nofault of his own; he has just been sweptaway to this foreign land because of thejudgment that has fallen upon Judah, thenation of which he just happened to bea citizen. Furthermore, Ezekiels plightneeds to be framed in the context of therapid advancement of Daniel, who wasprobably Ezekiels age, if not younger.Daniel had quickly risen to prominencewithin the kingdom of Babylon and wasrecognized by the king as being a trust-worthy reservoir of wisdom and under-standing. But Ezekiel? He sits amongthe exiles by the Kebar river!

Commentators speculate that,given Ezekiels extensive and reverentessays on the Temple, he must havebeen captivated by his call to the priest-hood. But this dream had been tornfrom him, and he is set aside. But ratherthan let if only language control hispresent and his future, this godly manopened his heart to the dreams of theHoly Spirit in his present circumstances.The result of this submissive attitude ofadaptation is that we have the mar-velous book of Ezekiel and its keen spir-itual insights that anticipate, and thusvalidate, the New Covenant and offersthe promise of a better day. Ezekieldoesnt fret; he flourishes.

Ben Durr Jr. is a pastor and member of the faculty inthe Division of Ministerial Education at GBS.

I was among the exiles by theKebar river (Ezekiel 1:1)

(p4) Several students whoserved at summer internship loca-tions in Ghana, West Africa, andMexico also shared their min-istries. The whole convention wasa continuation of the revival effortsheld earlier in the semester. Wil l iam and Hannah Reese ,Northwest Indian Bible School

NEW YORK. Tom and Faith Kiserwrite: New York is like no othermission field on earth. People fromevery country in the world livehere, and they speak English.Everywhere we reach out, weencounter fields white unto har-vest. Pray for those who man thePrayer Station, one of the Kisersmost effective tools. A report readslike this: All six of us that after-noon were busy praying with peo-ple. We received 31 names andaddresses f rom people whodesired follow-up. While we werepacking up, a militant man full ofhate climbed the steps above us toturn the people against us. Thiswas a wonderful opportunity formore witnessing. Ropeholders.

UKRAINE. It is a joy to serve theLord as your ambassadors to Biblecollege students at Kiev WesleyBible College. We are becomingvery attached to many of the stu-dents . We [a l so ] have beenpreaching both in the collegechapel and at area churches.These opportunities are very spe-cial to me, and I cherish theopportunity to share the love ofChrist through the proclamationof His Word. Last week we hadthe joyous privilege to accompanyone of our students to her churchin a small village about midwaybetween Kiev and Chernobyl. Iwas one of three preachers for themorning. We ask you to pray thatthe Lord will give us wisdom,love, and patience in everyopportunity to share Christ. Tim Boyd (HIM), Newsletter

(p5) because it resonates with our culture. We learnat an early age to prize our individual freedom and toprotect it against unwelcome incursions.

However, as Christians we see in all of this a perni-cious lie. It is based on a premise that originates not fromdivine inspiration, but from precisely the opposite.

The popular virtue of tolerancethe absolutevalue of a relativistic cultureis founded upon theabsorption of truth into the individual. Truth is no longerconceived as an outward objective reality. After all,people say, who can really know what is truth? Whatauthority can we call upon to verify the truth? Only thenave and uninitiated believe that Jesus loves thembecause the Bible tells them so. We have moved beyondthat childrens song to understand that one must engagethe Bible to listen for Gods truth for us.

When truth is absorbed into the individual, itbecomes ultimately subjective. Truth becomes a matterof opinion, merely a personal choice. Therefore, whenI reject a persons truth, I am seen as rejecting the per-son. When I try to convert a person from his truth to mytruth, I have become an oppressor, and the other per-son has become a victim. In a world of only personaltruth, truth cannot bind us together as a church.Personal truth has no adhesive properties to bindtogether individual Christians into the temple of God.But without truth, what can bind us together? Our cul-ture provides the answer: tolerance, the ultimateattribute of its loving god. It is tolerance that unites usand inclusiveness that exhibits our tolerance, our cul-ture reckons. God would be pleasedif, of course,such a god of tolerance were to exist.

IS GOD TOLERANT?

Is the true God tolerant, as our culture defines thatterm?

Not according to the Word of God. The tolerantgod is a myth. It is an idol crafted by human hands inthe image of individual autonomy and personalchoice, the same virtues the serpent suggested toEve as a preferable alternative to servitude to God.Indeed, in some theological circles, Eves choice hasmade her a heroine for rejecting the patriarchaloppression of a God who would impose His truth onher right to choose. As our culture defines the term,the God of the Bible is not tolerant. That is why Godmust be re-imagined.

But it is the essence of the sin of the Garden to re-imagine God into the mythical tolerant god rather thanchallenge and alter our own definition of tolerance toconform to the revealed truth of God. Tolerance as aconcept is skewed in a church captured by its culture,because it is defined without the Cross. The Cross isfoolishness to those who are perishing, but to thosewho are called, it is the power of God and the wisdomof God (1 Cor 1:24).

We live in a world supposedly without sin, becausepeople can no longer define it. One persons sin is anoth-ers personal choicethe liberating choice if you believethe serpents promise from the Father of Lies. Godrequires nothing and gives everything. God only blessesand never curses. This god is a myth.

The real Godthe God of Abraham, Isaac, andJacob; the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christis the God who flooded the earth (Gen 6:3), rainedfire on Sodom (Gen 19:3), and sent Assyria andBabylon to chastise His own people (Isa 3). He is theGod who told Eve the truth: If you sin, you die (Gen3:3 NASB). This is the true God who became incarnateand gave his life as a ransom for many (Mt 20:28). Itwas this Holy Father who sent His Son into His owncreation to die on a cross. God made Him who knewno sin to become sin on our behalf, so that we mightbecome the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21).The real God canceled out His own decree of judg-ment against us by nailing it to the cross of His onlybegotten Son, the Lamb of God, who paid (p19)

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This past June I completed thirty years as pastor ofKingsway Christian Church in Avon, Indiana, and fortyyears in the preaching ministry. In recognition of thosefacts, the elders released me from my ministry responsibili-ties for a three month sabbatical. It was a wonderful time oftravel as my wife, Jan, and I journeyed through sixteencountries and twenty-three states. It was a wonderful timeof inspiration as we attended four major conferences. Butmost fulfilling was the opportunity to visit forty-two church-es and hear sixty-two sermons.

I was privileged to visit ten of the seventeen largestchurches in America. Of the total of forty-two churches vis-ited, nearly half were independent Christian Churches. It isimportant to note that we witnessed some wonderful thingshappening in churches all across the country and around theworld. But I also witnessed a number of trends that I believeare cause for concern, including one that supercedes all the

rest. I am not trying to sit in judgment on anyone. It wouldbe totally unfair to judge any congregation based on atten-dance in one worship service. But I do want to report onsome of the trends I observed and the concerns I have.

Although there were some wonderful exceptions, I wit-nessed a great deal of spectatorism in many churches. Whatoccurs on the platform gets better and better in quality, butmore and more people seem content to simply watch andlisten rather than participate.

Such is the antithesis of worship, as I understand it. Partof the problem could be the lack of familiarity with praisechoruses that tend to change with regularity; but I noticedthe same thing in churches that primarily sang hymns.

Going hand in hand with the trend toward spectatorismis the fact that churches, and preachers in particular, seemto be working harder and harder to entertain. There is cer-tainly nothing wrong with worship being enjoyable and

REFLECTIONS ON A SUMMER SABBATICAL

GOD'S REVIVALIST and BIBLE ADVOCATE

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illustration by Krieg Barrie

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entertaining, but such should not take precedence oversubstance. In that regard, I heard several very fluffy sermonsthat made people feel good but had little of Biblical signifi-cance or life-changing impact. By comparison, two of themost effective, Biblically-based sermons I heard were inevangelical Anglican churches in England.

I observed a trend toward a de-emphasis on communion.In several instances it seemed like the Lords Supper was sim-ply something to be gotten out of the way as quickly as possi-ble and certainly not a primary purpose for coming together. Iwitnessed a great deal of immodesty, both on the platform andin the congregation, that was, at the very least, distracting.More and more churches are completely eliminating adultBible School classes. It was also noticeable that fewer andfewer people carry their Bibles to church. There were somechurches where it appeared that you would have been hardpressed to find a Bible, even in the pulpit.

One of the most observable trends, especially inChristian Churches, is the trend toward abandoning a pub-lic invitation to salvation and membership. Nearly half of theChristian Churches visited this summer offered no such invi-tation. I am very aware that such an invitation is an inven-tion of men, a methodology used to accomplish a Biblicaland spiritual end. However, we had best be sure we havesomething more effective in place before we abandon amethodology which has been used so effectively. My fear isthat many churches simply follow the crowd, rather thanmaking such changes with real purposefulness.

As significant as the trends mentioned thus far may be,the most worrisome of all has yet to be mentioned. I satthrough two entire services from beginning to end withoutthe name of Jesus being mentioned even once. There wereno songs about Jesus, no special music containing Hisname, no mention of Him in the sermon, no communionmeditation that would reference the Savior, nor even anyprayers offered in His name. Obviously there was no men-tion of Christs death, burial, or resurrection, the very ele-ments of what the apostle Paul identifies as the Gospel. (ICorinthians 15:3-4) And while the name of Jesus was nottotally absent from other services that I attended, His namewas rarely mentioned in several.

All this led me to review the praise songs we sing in ourchurches. While many refer to Lord, or even Savior, itis amazing how many of them fail to mention the God-given name of that Savior, Jesus. (Matthew 1:21) Much ofour felt-needs preaching seems to have no place for Jesus.Even many prayers are offered without mentioning thename that gives us access to the throne room of God. I amwriting the week of the Republican National Conventionand am incredibly disappointed that one of the mostrespected Christian ministers in America gave the benedic-tion on the opening night, but opted for a generic closing tohis prayer that is politically correct.

A number of years ago the famous psychiatrist, KarlMenninger, wrote a book, the title of which asked the ques-tion, Whatever Became of Sin? An even more important

question is Whatever happened to Jesus? In Joe Stowellsexcellent little book, The Trouble With Jesus, he points outthat following 9/11, God was in. Everyone was talkingabout God and praying to God. Huge interfaith serviceswere held in which clergymen of many different world reli-gions took part. But one name was sadly missing, the namethat is above every name. Just last weekend one of the ladiesin our congregation told me of an International Church herson, along with thousands of other university students, hasattended where people of all faiths come together. You cantalk about anyone and anything there except Jesus.

In the first century, Christians in the Roman Empirewere welcome to worship Jesus, as long as they simplyadded Him to the pantheon of other gods. However, it wastheir stubborn insistence that Jesus alone was Lord and theonly way of salvation that infuriated the Roman authoritiesand resulted in the martyrdom of many believers. MostAmericans claim to believe in God. But we have to ask whatgod they believe in, for it takes little probing to learn thatmany do not believe in the God of the Bible who revealedHimself in His Son, Jesus Christ.

I believe that even Jesus would be welcome in modernAmerica if it were not for His stubborn claim to exclusivityin regard to salvationI am THE way and the truth andthe life. No one comes to the Father except through me.(John 14:6) I fear that in our pluralistic society, with itsemphasis on tolerance, the church has sometimes beenintimidated, perhaps without even realizing it, into playingdown the name of Jesus.

But if we have and if we do, we also deny that samesociety its only hope.

Some of the trends that concern me are merely mattersof expedience, mans attempts to find the most effectivemethods of communicating the truth. But the name andperson of Jesus are the very essence of truth. May no oneever say of the congregations where we serve, Whateverhappened to Jesus? Rather let us reaffirm Peters teachingregarding Jesus:

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no othername under heaven given to men by which we must besaved. (Acts 4:12)

And may we always acknowledge the teaching of Paul: Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equalitywith God something to be graspedTherefore God exaltedhim to the highest place and gave him the name that is aboveevery name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shouldbow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and everytongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of Godthe Father. (Philippians 2:5-6, 9-11)

John Caldwell is Senior Minister of the Kingsway Christian Church of Avon,Indiana, where he has served since 1974. He received the Master of Divinity(M.Div.) degree from Cincinnati Christian Seminary, where he has served onthe adjunct faculty since 1985.

Krieg Barrie is a freelance illustrator living in Hoquiam, Washington.

10GOD'S REVIVALIST and BIBLE ADVOCATE

On these pages, we featureitems about GBS alumni,vital statistics, significantevents scheduledthroughout the Revivalistfamily, and brief newsnotes from across theholiness movement. An itemfor inclusion in theRevivalist Family must besubmitted within fourmonths of the event which itreports and should beaddressed to the EditorialOffice, 1810 Young Street,Cincinnati, Ohio 45202; orrevivalist@gbs.edu.

MICHAEL MATER NOVEMBERSTUDENT OF THE MONTH

For the rest of my life I wantto be involved in helping peoplefind Jesus and keep Him Lord andSaviour of their lives. ThusMichael Mater, GBSs NovemberStudent of the Month, emphasizes

his response toGods call toChristian ministry.The fourth yearministerial major,a native ofOntario, was con-verted at the ageof four through

the witness of his sisterJulie. Jesus changed mylife forever.

Since I am called topreach, I was looking for thebest ministerial program Icould find, he recalls. The

ministerial faculty, especiallyDr. Brown I, and Larry Smith,

caught my eye and was themajor factor in my choosing

GBS. And I havent been disap-pointed. Michael, who plans tomarry and become a pastor adds,Ive gained a lot of spiritual train-ing to strengthen my Christianwalk, and Ive learned how toshare Jesus with the worldevery-thing from running sound equip-ment to learning to preach. Imconstantly gaining valuable knowl-edge here that will assist me for therest of my life.

SMITH COMPLETES TEN YEARSAS REVIVALIST EDITOR

With the December issue of thispublication, Larry D. Smithcompleted ten years as editor of

Gods Revivalist. Anative of Nebraskawhose life hasbeen spent as apastor and as ateacher in bothpublic and privateschools, he wasappointed editor

in January 1995. As he emphasizes,his editorial focus has beendynamic recovery of our Wesleyanpast as springboard to our future.

A 2002 collection of his editori-als, When Steeples Are Falling, waspublished jointly by the RevivalistPress and Schmul Publishing Co.This gracefully written and deeplyspiritual collectionis a potent illus-tration of why Gods Revivalist is thepremier Wesleyan periodical of ourour day, according to Dr. WilliamKostlevy, well-known holiness move-ment scholar. Smith, who alsoteaches church history at GodsBible School and College, is theeleventh person who has served aseditor of the Revivalist since itsbeginning in 1888. Kevin Moser,Managing Editor and Art Director

BIRTHS

To Robert and Deanna(Paulus) Kennedy, Goshen,Ohio, a son Duston FlynnKennedy, born June 10,2004. Both parents are GBSalumni.

To Gary and Sonya Seniva, Oswego,Kansas, a daughter, Cassidy GayleSeniva, born October 20, 2004. After

initial health problems, sheis reported as improving.Both parents are GBSalumni, and Sonya wasformerly a staff member atthe Revivalist Press.

DEATHS

Mrs. Ruby Mae Davis Agan, 84,Gadsden, Alabama, died December 7,2004. An alumna of Gods Bible Schooland College, Mrs. Agan was a devout

follower of the Lord JesusChrist and a faithfulmember of His church.She was a loving partnerin ministry to her husband,the Rev. V.O. Agan, widely

known evangelist and church leaderwho served as president of theAlabama Conference of the BibleMethodist Connection of Churches for35 years. Sister Agan was also president

11Winter 2005

of the missionary society of the Alabama Conferencefor 20 years.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by twodaughters, Janan A. Miller and Regina Stetler; one sonVerlon O. Agan, Jr.; nine grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, and other relatives and friends. Funeralservices were held in the Agan Tabernacle on the BibleMethodist campgrounds, near Pell City, Alabama, withthe Revs. Walter Hedstrom, Randall Crotts, JamesKeaton, and Leonard Sankey, officiating.

We shall remember Sister Agan for her clear-cut con-victions, her solid courage, and her undoubted commit-ment to Gods Kingdom. GBSC salutes her as another ofthose earnest Christians who have brought credit to theirfamily, their church, and their alma mater. God bless hermemory and comfort her grieving family! MichaelAvery, President, Gods Bible School and College.

Mrs. Marie (Vernon) Bartlett, 82, died June 19,2004. After high school, she attended Gods BibleSchool and later Asbury College, from which she gradu-ated. In 1947, she was united in marriage to the

DR. PHILIP BROWN ATTENDSEVANGELICAL THEOLOGICALSOCIETY CONVENTION

GBSC provided funds forministerial faculty member Dr.Philip Brown to attend the annualconvention of the Evangelical

TheologicalSociety, SanAntonio, Texas,Nov. 1719. Heattended the firstsession of theETSs newly-formed WesleyanStudy Group, as

well as sessions in both Old andNew Testament studies. As a resultof his participation in theconvention, he was invited tocontribute to the ETS CreationFellowship, a study group on Young-Earth Creation Theology.

Especially notable was the con-ventions vote by 78% of its votingmembers to identify the ChicagoStatement on Biblical Inerrancy as adocument clarifying what ETSmeans by its statement on inerrancy.

BRIEFLY NOTED . . .

Under date of November 18,2004, The American Israelite, aJewish publication, carried an arti-cle by guest writer Idelle Datlof,detailing the visit of Holocaustsurvivor Ernest Michel to GBS,November 8. Ernest, now 81,recounted the horrors of the Naziregime to GBS students, one ofwhom, according to the Israelite,called his talk powerful; anothersaid emotional, especially whenthe evil was perpetrated on Gods

chosen people. The paper alsonoted Dr. Kenneth Farmers warmwelcome and the students mod-esty in appearance. Under thetitle, Studies in the Book of Ezra,four chapters of Dr. PhillipBrowns PhD dissertation will bepublished in the 2005 issues ofBibliotheca Sacra, journal of theDallas Theological Seminary.Entitled A Literary and TheologicalAnalysis, the entire dissertation willsoon be published on the BiblicalStudies Foundation web sitewww.bible.org.

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR ERNEST MICHEL INTERACTS WITH STUDENTS AND GUESTSHOLOCAUST SURVIVOR ERNEST MICHEL INTERACTS WITH STUDENTS AND GUESTS

1943 GBS LADIES TRIO, MARIE BARTLET, CENTER1943 GBS LADIES TRIO, MARIE BARTLET, CENTER

GOD'S REVIVALIST and BIBLE ADVOCATE

12

Rev. Howard L. Bartlett, andtogether they served in theMethodist Church from 1949through 1958. They then united withthe Evangelical Methodist Churchand continued to serve the Lord inLouisiana, Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky,and Tennessee. Her husband of 56years passed away in 2003.

Mrs. Bartlett was a fine teacher,an accomplished pianist, and vibrantChristian witness. She had the gift ofhospitality, loved people, and was amighty intercessor in prayer. She issurvived by one daughter, one son,six grandchildren, one great grand-child, and other relatives.

William E. (Bill) Strehle,Circleville, Ohio, was my father. Hepassed to his eternal reward from asmall country church in RossCounty, Ohio, at the age of 82years. His death was attributed to aheart attack. He had served as asong evangelist for many years, andthe evening of his passing he hadgiven a wonderful testimony fol-lowed by a solo, Little Is Much IfGod Is In It. He has joined mymother in that land where partingcomes no more. He had been terri-bly lonely in the previous 21months without her by his side.Their marriage of 61 years hadmade her loss very difficult for him.His funeral service was conductedin Circleville by Rev. Richard G.Humble, longtime friend and formerpastor. Angelene S. Malone,Chillicothe, Ohio

Rev. Virginia Pearl PaivaTroop, 77, died November 30,2004, at Stockton, California. Sheattended Gods Bible School,where she met and married LeonE. Paiva in 1947. After their gradu-ation, they moved to Pennsylvaniaand later to California. For 25years, Mrs. Troop served as aPentecostal minister in the BayArea and Sacramento Valley.

She was preceded in death byMr. Paiva, her husband of 33 years;Raymond Troop, her husband of

four years, and a son. She is sur-vived by ten children, 23 grand-children, and 15 great-grandchil-dren. Funeral services were con-ducted in Stockton with burial inFremont, California.

MARRIAGES

Megan BessMcCall to DonaldEric Nichols, July 31,2004, Eureka, Illinois.Both bride and groomare GBS students.

Valerie Nichols toAdam Profitt,December 18, 2004,Lima, Ohio, Rev.Donald Nichols,officiating, assisted by

Mr. Eric Nichols. Both bride andgroom are GBS students.

ALUMNI INTEREST

The Rev. Carl Eisenhart (GBS89 BA) and his wife Gayle wererecently honored at a banquetsponsored by the Cozaddale, Ohio,Christian Nation Church, for com-pleting 20 years of pastoral servicewith the congregation. The photo-graph pictures all the GBS alumnithat attended the celebration andincludes guest speakers, Dr. BenceMiller, former GBS president, andhis wife Cordelia; Dr. RichardHumble, former GBS campus pas-tor, and his wife Virginia; and Dr.

Michael Avery, present GBS presi-dent, and his wife Ruth.

The Rev. David Elsey (GBS 77BRE) has been appointed Directorof Advancement for CirclevilleBible College, Circleville, Ohio.According to a special release,Daves background in ministry,marketing, and professional devel-opment services will be a blessing toCBC as the College prepares toenter into a major building cam-paign. He will be responsible for allenrollment services and alumni rela-tions, in addition to his leadershipof the development department.

NOTICES

We have just 200 packets leftof the book and CD containing thecondensed, dramatic version ofJohn Bunyans Holy War. No morewill be printed. These are availableat $10 each. All proceeds will godirectly to support missionaries andmissionary projects. The narrationby Ethel Barratt will hold you spell-bound. Ropeholders, 203 MifflinPlace, Mifflinburg, PA 17844.

Rev. Sidney Stewartwelcomes Revivalist readers tovisit his Bible web site,www.parchmentministries.com.Emphasizing simple Biblicalanswers for lifes complexproblems, the site contains essayswritten by Stewart on such issues asarchaeology, family problems, anddefending ones faith.

THE EISENHARTS CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF MINISTRYTHE EISENHARTS CELEBRATE 20 YEARS OF MINISTRY

REVIVALIST FAMILY continued

Winter 2005

13

(p2) supreme worth and of His mightydeeds. We may mutter chants to skulls orstones with fiery passion; but such worshipis a sham, because it is based in nonsense,not the gospel. I am the Lord thy God;thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Granted, the First Commandment isviolently offensive to our inclusive post-modern culture that mocks at every claimto absolute and universal truth. Pretendingto believe in everything, it really believesin nothing at all. Thus, witches andWiccans slither across the religious sec-tion of our Saturday newspapers, politi-cally-correct multi-culturalistsseem-ingly as outraged by the manger as KingHerodare replacing Christmas with theholidays,and why Canada is about toaccept perverted sexual unions as legal-ly equivalent to Holy Matrimony.

This is also why so many of our mod-ern theologians, clergy, and seminariesare remaking the Christian faith, changingit into a confusing blend of New Age pan-theism, Gnosticism, scientific reduction-ism, ancient superstition, and sexuallicense, as George Koch, an informedAnglican pastor, has charged. They con-tinue to maintain Christian labels, words,and appearances, but what is insidethecore of the faithhas been replaced withsomething alien.

So our generation has sold its soul tothe Zeitgeist, the spirit of the age whichalways seeks to supplant eternal verity withgilded falsehood. What is truth? Pilatesugly sneer echoes everywhere throughoutour seats of government, our universities,and even now our churches!

Christians face an enormous chal-lenge, but that challenge is also an enor-mous opportunity to assert the truth! Weknow the truth, of course; for it is revealedto us in Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word,our crucified and risen Lord; and weknow that in Gods time and according toHis purpose, the truth will yet destroy thelie. It is the truth that has set us free; andit is the truth that will do the same foreveryone who will receive it. Our age maybe hostile and indifferent, but God hascalled us to confront it courageously andfaithfully with the truth.

To do this, we must use every sharp-ened tool of effective procla- (p22)

TO RESTORE TRINITARIAN WORSHIP IN OUR CHURCHES

1. This begins with our philosophy of worship. As Christians, we mustrecover our heritage of public worship as the adoration of GodFather,Son, and Holy Spirit. Warm-hearted, evangelical worship centered inScripture is not merely a sentimental, me-centered experience thatmakes us feel good about ourselves. Rather it is our sacrifice of praise andthanksgiving to the Holy One who also is the Holy Three.

2. Pastors and other worship leaders should use the Triune Name inpublic worship. For example, the call to worship may summons us to wor-ship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and the invocation may call upon eachmember of the Godhead. The benedictionwhich is not just a closingprayer but a blessing which the minister pronounces on the congregationmay do the same. Our Methodist forebears often used the apostolic bene-diction, which is Triune (II Cor. 13:14). The historic communion benedic-tion ends: And the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and theHoly Spirit, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.

3. Address each member of the Trinity by name in prayer. Ordinarily weoffer prayer to the Father as the representative of the Godhead. Yet onoccasion it is appropriate to address each person of the Trinity. For exam-ple, the Book of Common Prayer begins one prayer as follows: O God theFather, Creator of Heaven and earth; O God the Son, Redeemer of theworld; O God the Holy Spirit, Sanctifier of the Faithful.

4. Often use great Trinitarian hymns, especially at the beginning ofSunday morning worship. Examples include Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord GodAlmighty! (No. 2 in Sing to the Lord); Come, Thou, Almighty King! (No.3); or Holy God, We Praise Thy Name (No. 12). At various times, also usehymns about each person of the Trinity, such as Praise to the Lord, theAlmighty (No. 20); Our Great Savior (No. 109); and Spirit of God,Descend upon My Heart (No. 298).

5. Regularly incorporate Trinitarian doxologies into your worship. Theoldest hymn in Sing to the Lord is Glory Be to the Father (Gloria Patri) (No.9). Many churches use it every Sunday, often after the scripture readings.The great Protestant doxology, Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow,isnt just to sing when we are successful in taking up a large pledge offering.Its a brief hymn to the Trinity, often used after receiving the regular morn-ing offering, though our Methodist forebears used it at the close of worship.

6. Use the great creeds of the Church. These are needed because theyaffirm the great objective truths of our salvation. They are always Trinitarianpointing to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Sing to the Lord, the ApostlesCreed is No. 8, and the Nicene Creed is No. 14.

7. Follow the cycle of the Christian Year. It emphasizes different aspectsof Gods being and His mighty works. Advent, Christmas, and Epiphanyunderscore the love of the Father and His gift of Jesus; Lent, Holy Week,and Easter stress Christs passion, death, and resurrection for us; andPentecost points to the Holy Spirit and His sanctifying graces.

8. Preach on the Holy Trinity. God has revealed Himself as Father, Son,and Holy Spirit; and obviously He expects us to center on Him as oneGod in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Trinity Sunday, the first Lords Day afterPentecost, would be a great time for a sermon on the Trinity.

STUDYING THE BIBLE

Dear Phil, How can I study my Bible

so I get something out of it?Randy

Great question! How youstudy the Bible depends in parton why you are studying theBible. You can study the Bible tolearn its facts, its theology, or itshistory; or you can study it tounderstand its literary structure,and so on. I assume your ques-tion means that you want to seesomething that personallyapplies to your life.

But how you study the Biblealso depends in part on why theBible was written. God hadmany purposes for giving us HisWord in written form, but one ofthe most important purposeswas to reveal Himself to us (Heb.1:1-3). In every book in theBible God is teaching us some-thing about Himself. Therefore, Irecommend that you ask your-self a key question every timeyou read some portion of Scrip-ture: What is God trying toteach me about Himself in thispassage? This question willfocus your thinking on perhapsthe most important purpose ofScripture. (There are other pur-

A BIBLICAL RESPONSE

GOD'S REVIVALIST

14

poses for Scripture, but this is proba-bly the best place to start.)

If you were to open a book andfind, Once upon a time, far, faraway, lived , what kind of bookwould you think it was? A historybook or a fairy tale book? If youopen another book and read, Inchemistry we have a study of thingsround about us, not merely in regardto their outward appearance, but inlearning about their composition,would you assume that you hadpicked up science fiction or a sciencetextbook? We all know that wewouldnt read a chemistry textbookwith the same expectations that wewould read science fiction. Unfortu-nately, many Christians have nottransferred this knowledge to theirreading of the Bible.

The Bible contains 66 books, notjust one. Since these books were notall written in the same genre, weshould not read them all the sameway. A basic list of the genres or typesof literature in the Bible includes nar-rative history (Genesis), poetry(Psalms), wisdom (Ecclesiastes),prophecy (Isaiah), gospels (Matthew),personal letters (Philemon), treatise let-ters (1 John), and apocalyptic (Revela-tion). Each of these kinds of literaturehas its own characteristics as well asmethods of communicating Godstruth to us. You do not study Proverbsthe same way you do Romans; or ifyou try to, youll be rather frustrated!For this reason, the first step in study-ing your Bible is to identify the basickind of literature you are reading.

Once youve identified the genreof a book of the Bible, then you needto understand how that genre com-municates truth. Lets look at OTpoetry for a minute. English poetry isvery different from Hebrew poetry.We like rhyme and meter. TheHebrews liked thought repetition withlittle or no rhyme and meter. This iswhy many of the verses in the Psalmsare somewhat repetitious: The earthis the Lords and the fullness thereof;the world and they that dwell therein(Psalm 24:1). If you expect Hebrewpoetry to read and work like Englishpoetry, you will be confused at times.The Psalms are inspired patterns forworship, and one of the best places inScripture to spend time learning aboutGod and how to relate to Him. If youhavent read through the Psalms look-ing for what God is revealing aboutHimself in each one, you should. It isa richly rewarding study.

I have only started to scratch thesurface of your question. If you wouldlike to go deeper in this area there areseveral books I would recommend. Ifthis is new to you, then start with KayArthurs How to Study Your Bible(Harvest House Press) or Howard &William Hendricks, Living By the Book(Moody Press).

Blessings, Philip

Dr. A. Philip Brown II is a member of the min-isterial faculty of Gods Bible School andCollege. He may be contacted by e-mail atpbrown@gbs.edu.

WINTER 2005

15

MORAL VALUES AND THEPRESIDENTS REELECTION

Bush successfully appealed tohis base and to a wider base onmoderate to conservative socialissues like gay marriage and prayerin school. These comments byProfessor James Thurber of Ameri-can University underscore the rolewhich moral values played inPresident George W. BushsNovember reelection. Commenta-tors have credited his success tochurch-goers, especially evangeli-cals and conservative RomanCatholics, who gave high priority tothe Presidents commitment to tra-ditional Christian views on socialissues. The fact that valuestrumped the economy sends a verystrong signal, commented WhitAyers, a Republican pollster. Its asubliminal message that this guythinks more like I do.

UNITED METHODIST LOSSES

According to the August 13issue of Newscope, UnitedMethodist membership at the endof 2003 has declined by approxi-mately 60,000 persons, or 0.7 per-cent, from the year before. Aver-age attendance at the principalworship service declined by about60,000 persons or 2 percent,according to Good News, one ofthe denominations most impor-

tant evangelical coalitions. Onlythe Mississippi Annual Conferencereported both an increase in mem-bership worship attendance. Theloss accents the UM Churchs longperiod of membership decline.

METHODISTS DEFROCK LESBIANMINISTER

A lesbian minister who lives withher partner has been defrockedfrom the ministry for violating theUnited Methodist Churchs ban onactively gay clergy. By a vote of 12-1, a jury made up of Methodist min-isters convicted Rev. Irene ElizabethStroud and later by a vote of 7-6removed her from the ministry. Lastyear Stroud announced that she wasliving in a committed homosexualrelationship with her partner, ChrisPaige. The United Methodist Churchis one of several mainline Protestantdenominations divided over the roleof gays and lesbians in the church.

RELICS RETURNED TOCONSTANTINOPLE

Relics of two early Christiansaints have been returned to theEastern Orthodox Church 800years after Crusaders stole themfrom Constantinople. BartholomewI, leader of the worlds OrthodoxChristians, brought the relics ofSaint John Chrysostom and SaintGregory Nazianzen back from

Rome to Istanbul, Turkey, hoursafter Pope John Paul II returnedthem in a gesture of friendship.They have been placed on displayin the Patriarchal Cathedral of St.George.

ANGLICAN DISTRESS

The report lacked both teethand timetable as to the means ofresolving the deep crisis that hascome upon our communion. Thesedeficiencies were extraordinarilyconcerning. Thus Bishop RobertDuncan of Pittsburgh underscoredconservative response to the Angli-can Communions Windsor Report,released in October 17. In responseto the massive reaction to last yearsordination of a practicing homosex-ual as bishop of Vermont, the reportdelivered a mild rebuke to the Epis-copal Church USA but also criticizedforeign orthodox bishops who hadintervened to assist orthodox Episco-palians. Meanwhile the exodus con-tinues. According to the latest statis-tics put out by the Church Pensiongroup from 2002 to 2003 the Epis-copal Church lost an estimated30,221 members, equivalent to thesize of the Diocese of Colorado,according to conservative commen-tator David Virtue.

RESPECT FOR THE LORDS DAY

Condemning the perniciousideology of secularism, Pope JohnPaul II has called for Catholics tostop watching movies and footballgames on Sunday. When Sundayloses its fundamental meaning andbecomes subordinate to a secularconcept of weekend dominated bysuch things as entertainment andsport, people stay locked within ahorizon so narrow that they can nolonger see the heavens, the Popesaid in an address to Australian bish-ops visiting the Vatican. Sunday,he added, is the supreme day offaith, an indispensable day, the dayof Christian hope.

GOD'S REVIVALIST and BIBLE ADVOCATE

16

BUILDING CHRISTS KINGDOMTHROUGH MISSIONS

By Rev. Jack Hooker

For over a century GBS has sentmissionaries everywhere aroundthe world, and thats why an oldalumni motto asserts, The SunNever Sets on the Students fromGods Bible School. On a personallevel, this is forcefully illustrated inthe life of alumnus Bob Croft. Hisheritage in missions really beganwith his grandparents, EverettPhil l ippe and Eunice Petry-Phillippe, who attended GBS in the1920s. They went on to serve theformer Pilgrim Holiness Church forover 40 years as missionaries.

Everett and Eunice had four chil-dren. All of them (including Bobsparents) served as missionaries inZambia, Swaziland, Brazil, Surinam,and the Cayman Islands. Bob attend-ed GBS from 19751979 and mar-ried the former Cindy Franklin. Histwo sisters, Eunice and Dorcas, andhis brother John also attended GBS.All his siblings have carried on thefamilys heritage of mission work. Hissister Eunice and her husband Rickserve as Jesus Film coordinators forthe Wesleyan Church in SouthAfrica. His brother John and his fam-ily were the first Wesleyan missionar-ies in the Czech Republic. His sisterDorcas has served for a number ofyears in Swaziland, Africa.

Bob is the only one in his familywho has not been a foreign mission-

ary. But as a pastor he has been veryinvolved in missions ministry. Boband Cindy answered the call of Godto pastor a small church in Hyde,Pennsylvania. On their first Sundaythere were 17 people in atten-dance, including their family. Theattendance grew to an average of33 and stayed there for the next sixyears. The annual income of thechurch averaged $15,000.

In 1991 Bobs burden for mis-sions began to make a difference.He challenged the people to give$1,000 to missions. On that FaithPromise Sunday, they met the goaland pledged nearly $4,000 for thecoming year. Each year the amountincreased until this year the churchgave $68,000 to world missions.This year Bobs congregation willcross the 1/2 million mark in mis-sions giving since that first offeringin 1991.

So often God honors thechurch that honors Him in missionsgiving. Bobs church has grown toan average of 150, necessitatingtwo services on Sunday mornings.Five people in his congregation arepresently in ministry, and nine

more are in college preparing forservice. The church has sent 60people on various missions trips. Ithas weekly services in five areanursing homes. But Gods blessingsdid not stop there. In need of anew church building, Bob chal-lenged his people again to give. Onthe first Faith Promise BuildingFund Sunday, over $40,000 in cashand nearly $500,000 in faith com-mitments were raised. This fall thechurch had its second MiracleSunday when over $400,000 incommitments were received.Construction on the new church iswell under way with a completiondate of February 2005. God hastruly honored sacrificial giving.

Bob Croft has never served as afull-time missionary, but as a pastorhe has led his people in missionsministry and support. Truly, he andCindy have carried on the mission-ary heritage of his family and ofGods Bible School.

The Rev. Jack Hooker is Vice President forAdvancement at Gods Bible School andCollege.

THE

SABB

ATH

AN

DTH

E C

HRI

STIA

N

Part

I

Scri

ptur

es:

Exod

us 2

0:8:

Re

mem

ber

the

Sabb

ath

day,

to

keep

it h

oly.

I

Tim

othy

1:8

: B

ut w

e kn

ow t

hat

the

law

is g

ood,

if a

man

use

it la

wfu

lly.

Pict

ure

your

self

sittin

g in

my

offic

e at

God

s B

ible

Sch

ool a

nd C

olle

ge li

sten

ing

to a

sin

cere

stu

dent

ask

the

follo

win

g qu

estio

n.

Dr.

Brow

n, I

am c

augh

t in

a di

lem

-m

a. I

go to

a c

hurc

h th

at d

oes

not f

eel t

here

are

spe

cial

rule

s th

at a

pply

to S

unda

y.Fo

r exa

mpl

e, m

any

of th

e pe

ople

go

out t

o ea

t afte

r the

ser

vice

s an

d no

one

thin

ksan

ythi

ng a

bout

it. N

ow th

at I

have

com

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Bib

le C

olle

ge, I

am

bei

ng to

ld b

y va

ri-ou

s stu

dent

s and

teac

hers

that

Sun

day

is a

spec

ial d

ay a

nd o

ne is

not

to b

uy o

r sel

lon

God

s h

oly

day.

Who

is r

ight

?

Agai

n, p

ictu

re y

ours

elf b

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ask

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since

re st

uden

t, C

olos

sians

2:1

6 sa

ys,

Let

no

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ther

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in m

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or in

drin

k, o

r in

res

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n ho

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ther

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ans

14:5

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ays,

One

man

est

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s on

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ove

anot

her:

ano

ther

est

eem

s ev

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day

alik

e. L

et e

very

man

be

fully

per

suad

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his

own

min

d. H

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at r

egar

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ay, r

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oth

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nd h

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at re

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t the

day

, to

the

Lord

he

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rega

rd it

. I h

ave

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tau

ght

that

God

no

long

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equi

res

His

peop

le t

o tre

at S

unda

y lik

e th

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ldTe

stam

ent

belie

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tre

at t

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Sabb

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are

simpl

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kee

p ou

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n-sc

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ear a

bout

wha

teve

r we

choo

se to

do

on S

unda

y. In

oth

er w

ords

, Le

t you

rco

nsci

ence

be

your

gui

de.

Is th

is tru

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Wha

t wou

ld y

ou s

ay?

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e a

copy

of a

ser

mon

pre

ache

d by

an

acqu

aint

ance

of m

ine

who

ass

ert-

ed th

e fo

llow

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(1)

The

Sabb

ath

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vent

h da

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the

wee

k, n

ot S

unda

y (th

efir

st d

ay o

f the

wee

k). (

2) S

unda

y is

not t

he S

abba

th. (

3) T

he B

ible

doe

s no

t cha

nge

the

Sabb

ath

to S

unda

y. (4

) The

Bib

le d

oes n

ot g

ive

com

man

dmen

ts a

bout

not

de

s-ec

ratin

g Su

nday

or

the

Lo

rds

day

as

Sun

day

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so c

alle

d. T

here

is n

othi

ng in

the

Bibl

e th

at s

ays

ther

e ar

e th

ings

that

can

not

be

done

on

Sund

ay th

at a

re a

ll rig

htto

do

on o

ther

day

s. (

5) T

each

ing

the

com

man

dmen

ts o

f m

en

abou

t Su

nday

is

false

doc

trine

and

disp

leas

ing

to G

od.

Was

my

acqu

aint

ance

cor

rect

in h

is/he

r te

achi

ng?

Wha

t do

es t

he B

ible

tea

chab

out t

he

Sabb

ath

and

the

Chr

istia

n? I

subm

it th

e fo

llow

ing

info

rmat

ion

for

your

serio

us a

nd p

raye

rful c

onsid

erat

ion.

1

14

15.

Jesu

s is

the

Lor

d of

the

Sabb

ath

(Mat

. 12:

8). T

his

mea

ns H

e ha

s th

e au

thor

-ity

to

tell

us w

hich

day

of

the

wee

k H

e w

ants

His

peop

le t

o se

t ap

art

as t

heSa

bbat

h. T

he S

abba

th is

not

like

a p

erso

ns

birt

hday

th

at n

ever

cha

nges

. It i

sa

desig

nate

d da

y of

the

wee

k th

at G

od te

lls u

s to

trea

t in

a sp

ecia

l, ho

ly w

ay.

16.

The

Apo

stle

s w

ere

led

by

the

Lord

of

the

Sabb

ath

(M

at.

12:8

) to

cha

nge

the

day

of w

orsh

ip t

o th

e fir

st d

ay o

f th

e w

eek

in h

onor

of

Jesu

s r

esur

rec-

tion.

Thi

s is

why

Sun

day

is c

alle

d t

he L

ord

s D

ay,

as

wel

l as

the

Chr

istia

ns

Sabb

ath

day.

Thi

s oc

curr

ed i

n th

e fir

st c

entu

ry a

nd C

hris

tian

wor

ship

on

Sund

ay, t

he C

hris

tian

Sabb

ath,

has

bee

n th

e pr

actic

e of

the

Chu

rch

thro

ugh-

out t

he la

st tw

o m

illen

nia.

a.

In A

cts

20:7

, Luk

e w

rites

, A

nd u

pon

the

first

day

of t

he w

eek,

(Sun

day)

whe

n th

e di

scip

les

cam

e to

geth

er t

o br

eak

brea

d, P

aul

prea

ched

unt

oth

em,

read

y to

dep

art

on t

he m

orro

w;

and

cont

inue

d hi

s sp

eech

unt

ilm

idni

ght (

Acts

20:

7). S

unda

y ob

serv

ance

for w

orsh

ip is

bei

ng p

ract

iced

at

this

time.

b.

In 1

Cor

inth

ians

16:

2, P

aul s

ays,

U

pon

the

first

day

of t

he w

eek

let e

very

one

of y

ou la

y by

him

in s

tore

, as

God

hat

h pr

ospe

red

him

, tha

t the

re b

eno

gat

herin

gs w

hen

I co

me.

Pa

ul i

s in

dica

ting

that

the

chu

rche

s w

ere

now

mee

ting

for

serv

ice

on th

e C

hrist

ian

Sab

bath

, w

hich

was

the

firs

tda

y of

the

wee

k (S

unda

y).

c.In

Rev

elat

ion

1:10

, Jo

hn w

rites

, I

was

in

the

Spiri

t on

the

Lor

d's

day,

ex

pect

ing

that

his

read

ers

wou

ld u

nder

stan

d w

hat

he w

as t

alki

ng a

bout

.In

oth

er w

ords

, by

A.D

. 95-

100,

the

ter

m

Lord

s D

ay

mus

t ha

ve b

een

in c

omm

on u

sage

am

ong

the

chur

ches

, ot

herw

ise J

ohn

wou

ld h

ave

expl

aine

d w

hat h

e m

eant

. Oth

er e

arly

exa

mpl

es o

f the

use

of

the

Lord

sda

y t

o re

fer

to S

unda

y w

orsh

ip a

re f

ound

in

Igna

tius

s Ep

istle

to

the

Mag

nesia

ns 9

(c. A

.D. 1

10),

the

Did

ache

14

(c. A

.D. 1

20),

and

the

Epist

leof

Bar

nabu

s 15

(c. A

.D. 7

0-13

0).

d.Th

ese

refe

renc

es s

erve

as

early

indi

catio

ns th

at th

e C

hurc

h of

Jesu

s C

hrist

bega

n ha

ving

Chr

istia

n w

orsh

ip s

ervi

ces

on S

unda

y,

the

Lord

s d

ay,

dur

-in

g th

e fir

st c

entu

ry A

D.

The

evid

ence

tha

t th

e ch

urch

rec

ogni

zed

the

Lor

ds

day

to

be t

he c

hrist

ian

Sab

bath

an

d ap

plie

dth

e O

ld T

esta

men

t pr

inci

ples

of

Sabb

ath

obse

rvan

ce t

oSu

nday

, will

be

give

n in

Pa

rt Tw

o o

f thi

s m

essa

ge.

[To

be c

ontin

ued]

s

erm

on o

utlin

e by

DR.

ALL

AN P

. BRO

WN

1 I h

ave

chos

en to

use

a li

stin

g in

stea

d of

par

agra

ph fo

rm to

mak

e it

easie

r to

follo

w th

e lo

gica

l pro

-

gres

sion

of th

ough

t.

CO

MM

ITTE

DTO

EXC

ELLE

NC

EIN

PREA

CH

ING

10.Both the anim

als and the human w

ork force were to rest on the Sabbath.

No one w

as to hire another person to work for him

on the Sabbath (Exo23:12; 31:15; D

eut. 5:14). This rule applies even during the harvest sea-son (Exo. 34:21).

11.A

nyone who did w

ork on the Sabbath was to be put to death. This teaches us

how strongly G

od feels about Sabbath desecration! For six days work m

ay bedone, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of com

plete rest, holy to theLO

RD; w

hoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to

death (Exo. 31:15). There were not m

any sins for which the penalty w

as phys-ical death. W

hen God did require capital punishm

ent, it was to teach that H

isstandard for that particular area of life w

as inflexible. Thus it seems incredible

to me that people teach that G

od no longer cares in this New

Testament dis-

pensation whether or not w

e honor one day out of seven as a Sabbath untothe Lord.

12.The Sabbath is to be a day of rest from

our normal pursuits. It is not to be a

day of idleness. We are to em

ploy ourselves in religious exercises. And we are

to keep the whole day holy, not just a few

hours during church. On the sev-

enth day you shall have a holy convocation [worship service]; you shall do no

laborious work (N

um. 28:25).

13.The Lord Jesus, w

ho is our example, kept the Sabbath. H

owever, H

e explainedthat there are three classes of deeds w

hich do not violate the universal princi-ple of Sabbath observance: a.

Deeds of m

ercy, such as healing, or feeding animals, are perm

issible (Mat.

12:10-12; Mark 3:2-5; Luke 6:6-10; 13:10-17).

b.D

eeds of necessity, such as the proper care of animals, are perm

issible(M

at.12:1-12; Mark 2:23-28; Luke 6:2-5).

c.D

eeds associated with w

orship, such as priests offering sacrifices, are per-m

issible (Mat. 12:5). The priests had to kill the anim

als for sacrifice, skinthem

, cut them up as prescribed by G

od, and place them on the altar. This

involved work on the Sabbath. But it w

as not secular work for personal

financial gain. It was w

ork associated with G

ods requirement for w

orship.14.

The basic principle that is to guide ones activities on the Sabbath is given inIsaiah 58:13-14: If you turn back your foot from

the Sabbath, from doing your

pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of

the LORD

honorable; if you honor it, not going your own w

ays, or seeking yourow

n pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD

, and Iw

ill make you ride on the heights of the earth; I w

ill feed you with the heritage

of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LO

RD has spoken. Interestingly, the

only place where G

od directly tells us how to delight ourselves in H

im is here

in Isaiah 58:13-14. The Lord is saying that when w

e take pleasure in the dayH

e has set aside for rest, then we w

ill be delighting in Him

. When w

e look atthe Sabbath from

the perspective that it reflects Gods loving provision for rest

and refreshment, should w

e not thank Him

for the blessing of a whole day set

aside to spend time draw

ing near to Him

?

1.G

od instituted the Sabbath during the first week of creation, long before H

egave the Law

to Moses on M

t. Sinai. Therefore Sabbath observance predatesthe giving of the M

osaic Law, and is not to be classified as only or prim

arilyM

osaic law, and thus dism

issed with the statem

ent, in this dispensation we

are not under law, but under grace.

2.The Sabbath w

as instituted before the fall of man [before m

ankind sinned] andis part of G

ods eternal design and plan for mankind.

3.G

od deliberately created the heavens and earth and all that is in them in six

days and then rested on the seventh day. He did this to establish H

is design form

ankinds week. A

week is to be seven days consisting of six days for w

ork andone day for rest and w

orship (Gen. 2:2; Exo. 20:8-11).

4.The w

ord Sabbath (Hebrew

: shabbat) means to rest, to cease from

work-

ing. It does not mean seventh (H

ebrew: shebii) as in seventh day. The

word Sabbath does not m

ean Saturday. The word Sabbath does not

inherently contain in itself an indicator of a specific day of the week. G

od toldm

ankind which day of the w

eek he wanted them

to rest (keep as the Sabbath).If he had not said the seventh day (Saturday), they w

ould not have known

on which day to rest.

5.A

t the end of this age, when G

od destroys this present world and creates

the new heavens and the new

earth, Sabbath observance remains part of

Gods plan for m

ankind in eternity and is mandatory for everyone in the

coming new

world. For as the new

heaven and the new earth, w

hich Im

ake, remain before m

e, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name

continue. And it shall com

e to pass from m

onth to month, and from

sabbathto sabbath, that all flesh shall com

e to worship before m

e in Jerusalem, saith

the Lord (Isa. 66:22-23). 6.

Since God instituted Sabbath observance at the creation of the w

orld, requiredit of H

is people during the duration of the Old C

ovenant, and requires it of allpeople in the future on the new

earth, does it seem reasonable to assum

e thatG

od does not care whether or not a person honors the Sabbath during this

New

Testament age? In m

y opinion, the answer is, N

o. God presently

expects everyone to keep the Sabbath day holy.7.

Sabbath observance is so important in G

ods plan that He placed it in H

ism

oral code (the Ten Com

mandm

ents - Exo. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12). M

oral stan-dards, unlike the changing aspects of a culture, do not fluctuate. M

y covenantI w

ill not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of M

y lips (Psa. 89:34). When

the Lord speaks, His w

ord stands firm forever. H

is standards of right and wrong

do not change from age to age: A

ll His precepts are trustw

orthy. They areestablished forever and ever, to be perform

ed with faithfulness and upright-

ness (Psa. 111:78). 8.

On the Sabbath no one is to buy or sell (N

eh. 10:31; 13:15-21). 9.

No secular w

ork is to be done on the Sabbath. For example, G

od did not allowthe Israelites to collect m

anna on the Sabbath. They were to w

ork (collectfood) six days, and then rest and w

orship on the seventh (Exo. 16:23-27).

23

Winter 2005

19

(p7) the price we could not pay for a debt He didnot owe (Col 2:14).

That is real love. The tolerant God who demandsnothing and gives everything and calls it love is a worth-less lie in the light of the Cross. Love is the Cross. Forthose who worship the tolerant god, the Cross is offen-sive. It is a stumbling block.

TOLERANCE AS GOD SEES IT

Is God tolerant in any sense at all? Yes! Did we drawbreath this morning? So did faithful Christians, honestpagans, and despicable terrorists, murderers, and rapistsall around the world. The rain falls on the just and theunjust as the gift of life is renewed each day (Mt 5:45).

Where is the judgment of this holy God? It is delayedfor one purpose: to provide an opportunity for repen-tance and faith. Justice delayed is not justice denied. It isthe merciful tolerance of the one true God.

Paul warns the Romans not to think lightly of theriches of Gods kindness and tolerance and patience(Rom 2:4). The kindness of God should lead us to repen-tance. That God allows rebellious sinners any opportuni-ty to repent and be saved from the just wages of sin is anact of supreme tolerance.

However, much of the so-called church today takesGods kindness lightly, using it as license rather than as anopportunity to repent. They sin that grace may abound(Rom 6:1). But, we hear from God, do not be deceived.God is not mocked. Each person will reap what he or shesows (Gal 6:7). The true God is mercifully tolerant for aseason, pending a final judgment to come.

GODS INCLUSIVENESS

Just as tolerance is skewed without the Cross, soinclusion gets redefined as the universal acceptance byGod of all our personal choices, as long as they aregrounded in love. But Jesus Christ did not come to tell uswe are just fine the way we are. The essence of theGospel is Repent and believe!

Is God inclusive at all? Yes, indeed! God actually soloved the world that he sent his only begotten Son thatwhoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternallife (Jn 3:16). The offer is extended to alland acceptedby few. Broad is the path that leads to destruction andnarrow is the gate to life (Mt 7:14).

How seldom we hear the rest of Jesus words toNicodemus in John 3: he who does not believe isjudged already, because he has not believed in the nameof the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment,that the Light has come into the world and men loveddarkness rather than the Light, because their deeds wereevil (Jn 3:18a19 NASB).

Jesus told us that some invited guests will never sitdown to dinner (Lk 14:24), that some will be cast into

outer darkness (Mt 8:12), that wheat will be harvestedand tares will be burned in the fire (Mt 13:41). Godissues an all-inclusive call to repentance and faith in JesusChrist, but true faith in Christ involves death to sin and alife of obedience to God (Rom 6:11). Thus, if we say wehave fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness welie, and the truth is not in us (1 Jn 1:6).

This is the inclusiveness of God. God is under noobligation to save anyone. Yet our gracious and mercifulGod offers salvation to all who repent and believe inJesus Christ.

UNITY THAT IS GODS UNITY

Unity founded on diversity is the final lie spun off themyth of the tolerant god who is not there. If all our per-sonal choices are endorsed by a wholly acceptant god,each of us then, as self-contained units of divinity, canjoin together into a coalition of personal choices calledthe church.

Certainly this, too, is a lie, for the Church of JesusChrist is composed of repentant sinners who have castthemselves on the mercy and grace of God through faithin the One who bore the penalty for their sins on theCross and rose again to give them new life, a lifeenslaved to righteousness by the sanctifying power of theHoly Spirit (Rom 6:22).

The true unity of the Bride of Christ is founded not ondiversity, but on the common bond of the Truth that makesus free (Jn 8:32). Christ is the cornerstone of the Church,and the teachings of the prophets and apostlesthe Wordof Godis its foundation (Eph 2:20). Unity means unity intruth, standing firm in one Spirit, with one mind strivingtogether for the faith of the gospel (Phil 1:27).

As with tolerance and inclusiveness, the true meaningof unity is only grasped at the foot of the Cross. We areunified in this and by this alone: That we are those whohave been washed by the blood of the Lamb, wretchedsinners saved by grace alone through faith alone, fallingon our faces in worship and thankful praise to our onlySavior and our acknowledged Lord, Jesus Christ.

If we would be unified as the church, we must bowtogether at the foot of the Cross. There alone is the Truththat makes us free. Not free to make our personal choic-es and create our personal truth; free to live in obedi-ence to God, slaves of righteousness who are free at last.

For there will come a time when they will notendure sound teachingand will turn aside to myths.But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, dothe work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.(2 Tim4:35 NASB)

Rev. Dean Waldt, Medford, New Jersey, is a practicing attorneyand member at large of the West Jersey Presbytery, PresbyterianChurch U.S.A.

The next project in Phase II is the expansionof the Academy. The project is progressingvery well. To date we have committed nearly$90,000. This leaves us with a little over$60,000 to go. This area of our ministry is oneof great potential and activity. The reason is thatthis educational ministry is where we mostdirectly touch the city. One business leaderasked this question. How are you helping ourcity? One answer to that question is that weprovide a quality Christian education to residentsof the city who cannot afford the upscale schoolsof the suburbs. There is over 40% racial diversityin our academy and high school. Over 50% are considered by government standards as low-income. Over 50% are residents of the city of Cincinnati. This means we are reaching our city witha great educational opportunity.

One campaign goal is to double the classroom space in the basement of the Revivalist Building.In this 8,000 square foot area, state-of-the-art math, science, reading, and computer labs will be con-structed. This will open up new opportunities to offer specialized teaching of advanced students aswell as students with learning challenges. Presently, our academy enrollment has been cappedwith a waiting list. Our high school has potential next year for significant growth. We must posi-tion ourselves to answer the growing call for Christian value-based education. The campaignwill address these needs. Below is a floor plan of the new academy/high school floor. Thiswill be a great addition to this growing ministry. Also, there will be some changes to theentrance to the academy with a new front and new signage. We presently have tworooms that donors have funded and named in memorial to family or friends. Pleasecontact the Advancement Office for more information on naming opportunities.Phone: (513) 721-7944, ext. 223; email: jhooker@gbs.edu.

JACK HOOKERVice President

for AdvancementPHASE I Facilities

BuildingAcademyExpansion

$1,400,000$1,400,000 $200,000$200,000 $150,000

$90,000$90,000

LETTERS continued

Danger, Leadership Area Ahead! This sign should accompany anynew leadership position. For you must know the dangers thatcome with leadership, then learn the ways to minimize them.Such dangers include misplacing priorities, taking unwarranted responsibil-ities, and assuming superiority attitudes over others.

First, leaders misplace priorities when their work and success are moresignificant than relationships and personal development. Its essential toremember that work for God is to result from relationship with God. Jesusdid not reprove Martha for her work but for putting it above the One forWhom she was doing the work. Her preparations were for Jesus. But per-haps she missed this fact and was doing her work for what it did for her ownfeelings about herself.

How often we are like that! Work and busyness take control and becomeus. Our work becomes our identity, and we have no life or significanceapart from its success. Coco Chanel said, Its amazing how many cares dis-appear when you decide not to be something, but to be someone. ThomasJ. Watson, Sr., adds, Nothing so conclusively proves a mans ability to leadothers as what he does from day to day to lead himself. To determine whatshould be your top priority, write your epitaph now. What legacy do you wantto leave when life is over? To leave that legacy, begin living your legacy now.

Second, leaders take responsibilitity they should not take when they try toplay God. Life revolves around them, as they think. Everyone has to agreewith them and serve their wishes without question. If you are a leader, askyourself if others around you do not also have a vision. Do you think that noone elses version of the vision is acceptable to you? Perhaps others fail to seethe vision because you have not presented it appealingly and meaningfully.

Leaders wear themselves down trying to be God, because obviouslythey dont have Gods all-sufficient attributes. They must never forget to relyupon God no matter how high their position. Like the Israelites who weredeceived because they did not inquire of the Lord, they may think theyknow what to do without asking His guidance (Josh. 9:14). We should nottry to assume Gods place, when of course we cant. This is the ultimatePeter Principle of achieving a position beyond our capabilities.

Third, leaders assume superiority when they look down on others as inferiorand insufficient. They think sometimes that they can accomplish (p23)

LEADERSHIP BURNOUT

I am constantly worn out with responsibilities of leadership. I cantget anyone to catch the vision. I dont think I can keep going.

(continued from page 4)

ABOUT FENCESI truly appreciate how Dr.

Avery articulated what many of ushave been thinking for years[Fences, Nov. 2004]. I, too,appreciate the fences; and howthey (with the help of wise saints inmy life) assisted me in focusingupon the Saviorthe Savior who isnot displeased with the fences,as long as they are Biblically erect-ed, for they show us that He caresso much about us that He usesthose fences to keep us fromwandering out into a world that isnot a friend of our Savior.

REV. DARIN GARYGreenfield, Indiana

KNEELING PORTRAYS REVERENCEThank you for your article Fix

the Foundation [Larry D. Smith,The Editors View] that appears onpage 2 of the November 2004Gods Revivalist. In it you state:Kneeling for prayer was aMethodist custom cherished fordecades in the holiness movement.I am old enough to remember whenkneeling was the only position forprayer in the holiness church. Iwould be happy to see a return tothat. When we approach theCreator and the God of the uni-verse, kneeling portrays an appro-priate respect and reverence.

D.R. KAUFMANThomasville, North Carolina

WARM MEMORIESI have warm memories of my

conversion on September 2, 1945, atGBS during fall revival. Today as Iread several articles which I hadoverlooked previously, the tone satis-fies a spiritual yearning and remindsme of the atmosphere I felt on cam-pus back in the mid-40s.

ROBERT DAUGHENBAUGH(HS 48), Flushing, Michigan

Winter 2005

21

GOD'S REVIVALIST and BIBLE ADVOCATE

22

(p13) mation, superior scholarship, and profitableengagement. These all must be centered