The Blood That Is Never Anemic

Brent Pollard

A hematologist once quipped that the bone marrow is like a brick-making factory. The bricks are blood cells. He told me that my body made poor bricks.

Hence, anemia has been an issue I have dealt with for a long time. I have sometimes joked that if “the life is in the blood,” then there have been periods when I must have been partially dead.

Obviously, that is only a joke. When Moses wrote, “the life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17.11), he was not saying that someone with a low hemoglobin count possesses only part of a life. Nor was he giving Israel an advanced lesson in modern hematology.

His point concerned sacrifice.

The Life of the Flesh Is in the Blood

God continued: “I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement” (Leviticus 17.11).

Blood represented a life surrendered.

Anyone in the ancient world could observe the connection between blood and death. An animal whose blood poured out soon ceased to breathe. Long before anyone understood hemoglobin, oxygen transport, or circulation, people understood the more basic truth that blood was intimately connected with life.

But God took that observable reality and gave it theological significance. He did not describe biology; He assigned meaning.

The blood placed upon Israel’s altar said, in effect, that a life has been given.

That explains why blood was treated with such seriousness under the Law. Israel was forbidden to consume it because “the blood is the life” (Deuteronomy 12.23). It belonged to God, who had appointed it for the altar. Hebrews compresses the arrangement into a clause: “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9.22). Sin has never been cheap.

Sacrificial Anemia: Bulls and Goats Fell Short

Yet there was a problem.

An animal’s blood represented a life, but it could never equal the human life stained by sin. Hebrews states the limitation plainly: “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10.4).

Those sacrifices were not mistakes. God commanded them. They taught Israel holiness, guilt, substitution, death, and atonement. But they were shadows pointing beyond themselves.

A bull could die. A goat could bleed. A lamb could be offered. But none of them could provide the final answer to human sin.

They were, in a sense, sacrificially deficient.

That brings us back to anemia.

When a person is anemic, the blood is deficient in something the body needs. Perhaps too few healthy red blood cells, perhaps too little hemoglobin. Whatever the cause, the blood cannot do its work, and the person may grow weak, tired, dizzy, or short of breath.

Israel’s altar carried a comparable deficiency. Every priest stood “offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (Hebrews 10.11). Standing. Always standing. The tabernacle held no chair because the work was never finished.

Human blood can be deficient. The blood of Jesus Christ never is.

Blood and Water at Calvary

John brings us to Calvary in his nineteenth chapter. Because the Sabbath was approaching, the soldiers intended to hasten death by breaking the legs of the crucified men. They broke the legs of the two beside Jesus.

“But coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs” (John 19.33).

Then John records the detail we cannot forget: “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (John 19.34).

Notice the order.

The soldier did not take Jesus’ life. Jesus was already dead. Earlier, He had said of His life, “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative” (John 10.18). Rome furnished the spear. Rome did not furnish the sacrifice.

The spear demonstrated what had already happened. Jesus had truly given His life, and Calvary fulfilled the principle God had taught Israel through centuries of sacrifice.

The blood represented life. And this time, the life offered was not that of a bull, goat, or lamb. It was the life of the Son of God.

Jesus anticipated this when He took the cup and said, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26.28). Peter described Christians as redeemed “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1.19). Weigh the adjective. Precious. Paul wrote that in Him “we have redemption through His blood” (Ephesians 1.7). Hebrews says Christ entered the holy place “through His own blood” and obtained “eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9.12).

The Blood of Christ Never Runs Low

Moses’ sacrifices continued to be offered because their work was never complete. Jesus did not need to repeat His sacrifice. His offering was sufficient, and He “sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10.12).

Once was enough.

Yet here is the wonderful paradox: the sacrifice happened once, but its cleansing power continues. John writes: “If we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1.7).

John writes to Christians—people who have already come to Christ. Yet they still need the cleansing His blood provides.

Christ’s blood does not become less effective with the passing of time. It does not weaken after cleansing a certain number of sins. It does not become depleted because millions have appealed to its power. It does not cleanse yesterday’s sins only to prove insufficient for today’s.

There is no shortage in the supply God has provided. Stop rationing your repentance as though the fountain might run dry.

Walking in the Light

John does not teach that Christians may deliberately live in darkness while presuming upon that sacrifice. The promise belongs to those who “walk in the Light.” Neither does it mean sinless perfection; John immediately acknowledges that Christians still sin. “If we confess our sins,” he writes, God “is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1.9).

So walk. Confess quickly. Forgive the brother whose debt costs far less than yours.

The Christian lives, therefore, not in terror that Christ’s sacrifice may someday prove insufficient, but in grateful dependence upon the blood that never loses its sufficiency.

My bone marrow may occasionally make poor bricks. My blood may sometimes fail to carry what my body needs as efficiently as it should. I can joke that there have been times when, if life is in the blood, I must have been only partially alive.

But there is nothing deficient about the blood upon which my spiritual life depends.

The blood of bulls and goats could point toward forgiveness but could never finally provide it. The blood of Jesus does what theirs could not. It cleanses. It redeems. It reconciles.

And for those who continue walking in the light, it continues to cleanse “from all sin.”

Human blood may become anemic. The blood of Christ never will.

Can I Lose My Salvation

Carl Pollard

That is one of the most important questions a Christian can ask. In this day and age, many believe that once a person is saved, salvation can never be lost. No matter what happens afterward, their eternal destiny is secure.

That sounds comforting. But is it what the Bible teaches?

Scripture definitely teaches that Christians can have confidence in their salvation. John wrote, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). We don’t have to live every day terrified that one mistake has erased our salvation.

But confidence isn’t the same as impossibility. The New Testament repeatedly warns Christians about the danger of turning away.

Paul told the Corinthians, “Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). You can’t fall from a position you were never in.

In Galatians 5:4, Paul says it even more plainly, “You are severed from Christ…you have fallen away from grace.” Whatever else we say about that verse, Paul clearly believed it was possible for someone connected to Christ and His grace to abandon that relationship.

Peter gives a warning when he describes people who had “escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” but then became entangled in sin again (2 Peter 2:20–22). Their problem wasn’t that they had never escaped. They went back!

Like a branch connected to a vine, Jesus said, “Abide in me” (John 15:4). Then He warned that if anyone doesn’t abide in Him, “he is thrown away like a branch and withers” (John 15:6). The warning only makes sense if leaving is possible.

Does that mean we should constantly wonder, “Did I sin too much today? Did God stop loving me?” Absolutely not.

Our salvation isn’t so fragile that every stumble destroys our relationship with God. Christians still sin, and “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us” (1 John 1:9). Peter denied Jesus three times, yet Jesus restored him.

There’s a huge difference between stumbling while following Christ and deciding to stop following Christ.

God isn’t looking for an excuse to keep you out of eternity. He wants you saved. He gave His Son to make salvation possible. But He also refuses to remove our freedom to walk away.

So, can I lose my salvation? Biblically, yes.

But maybe the better question is, am I abiding in Christ? Stay close to Him. Keep walking in the light. When you fall, get back up.

The same Savior who warns us not to leave is the Savior who promises, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

All Nations!

Gary Pollard

Malachi 1.1ff — 

This is the message that the Lord gave to Israel through the prophet Malachi: “I have always loved you,” says the Lord. But you retort, “Really? How have you loved us?” And the Lord replies, “This is how I showed my love for you: I loved your ancestor Jacob, but I rejected his brother, Esau, and devastated his hill country. I turned Esau’s inheritance into a desert for jackals.” Esau’s descendants in Edom may say, “We have been shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins.” But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies replies, “They may try to rebuild, but I will demolish them again. Their country will be known as ‘The Land of Wickedness,’ and their people will be called ‘The People with Whom the Lord Is Forever Angry.’ When you see the destruction for yourselves, you will say, ‘Truly, the Lord’s greatness reaches far beyond Israel’s borders!’ ”

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says to the priests: “A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. If I am your father and master, where are the honor and respect I deserve? You have shown contempt for my name. But you ask, ‘How have we ever shown contempt for your name?’ You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar. Then you ask, ‘How have we defiled the sacrifices?’ You defile them by saying the altar of the Lord deserves no respect. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

“Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?” asks the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings. But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

“But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the Lord,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the Lord. “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations!

The Assumption Of Moses

Dale Pollard

The Assumption of Moses

 One of the strangest references in the New Testament appears in the tiny letter of Jude. Jude makes a passing reference to a supernatural confrontation that seems to have taken place immediately after Moses’ death:

“But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’” Jude 9

That raises an obvious question:

Why was Satan arguing with Michael over Moses’ body?

The Old Testament tells us that Moses died on Mount Nebo and that God buried him, but it gives no explanation for what happened afterward:

“So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab… and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab… but no one knows the place of his burial to this day.” Deuteronomy 34.5–6

Jude’s statement is therefore unusual because it introduces a supernatural dispute that is not recorded in Deuteronomy.

The Book of Moses’ Assumption

One ancient Jewish work appears to relate to Jude’s mysterious reference, and it’s called the Assumption of Moses (Assumptio Mosis), a Jewish text probably originating around the first century AD. Early Christian writers knew the work, and Jude’s wording appears closely connected with the tradition.

The second-century Christian writer Origen In De Principiis (On First Principles), Book 3, chapter 2, writes that Michael and the devil disputed concerning the body of Moses and makes mention of the Assumption of Moses as well.

The surviving manuscript breaks off before the relevant material, leaving us with one frustrating gap in the evidence.

Why Did Satan Want the Body?

Ancient commentators offered possibilities, but Scripture never gives us the answer.

One possible explanation relates to Moses’ murder of the Egyptian (Exodus 2.11–12). Satan could have been portrayed as accusing Moses before God because of his past sin.

Another possibility is that the dispute concerned Moses’ body itself and God’s purpose for it. Moses had been uniquely chosen by God, appeared with Elijah at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17.1–3), and had a unique death and burial.

There is also another detail in Jude’s wording. Michael does not personally condemn Satan. Instead, he says:

“The Lord rebuke you.”

The point appears to be that even an archangel doesn’t arrogantly pronounce judgment on Satan by his own authority.

Whatever the original dispute involved, Jude clearly presents it as a genuine supernatural confrontation—interesting enough on its own.

And perhaps the strangest part is what Scripture leaves out.

Moses’ body was buried by God. Its location was never revealed. Yet Jude tells us that, somewhere beyond the human story, “heaven and hell” were apparently concerned with what happened to it.

Life And Favor

Tired Shoulders

Dale Pollard

It’s common in the age we live in to get stuck on the “daily grind.” We wake up, drink coffee, get dressed, go to work or school, come home at the end of the day, and start all over again in the morning. It’s repetitive and the days can seem to blend together. On top of this monotony, you have your own problems to solve. We’ve got our own responsibilities to keep up with. For some it’s family and for others it’s homework or any number of other duties. This can cause anxiety or depression. Those thoughts that are familiar to so many can creep into our minds. Thoughts like, “why am I even doing this? What’s the point?” Our shoulders are tired with the burden of life. There’s too much going on and we may just want to shut down or sleep to escape the day. The weight is heavy.

So try something. Wake up! When our minds are full of our problems and our responsibilities and everything that’s wrong with our lives and our circumstance, we miss something precious. We miss out on the lives of everybody else that also share this planet. Solve your problems and shake the daily grind by branching out. Strive to achieve selflessness by loving others and showing compassion. Solve your problems by trying to help others with theirs. If I personally have my own problems as a young adult, I know that there are others with problems much bigger than mine. Their shoulders are killing them and they’ve been carrying the weight longer than me.

There are people all around you struggling with the same things or worse. The next time you Tweet, begin to create a Facebook status, or blog, are you about to be another problem for someone else? Or are you about to ease their aching shoulders?

Two Faces

Neal Pollard

Recently, I witnessed something I have seen before but that never gets easier to watch.  A person who on several occasions has had something negative and disparaging to say about another person when he was not around was speaking to him, using sweet, flattering and complimentary words.  The same person has used similar words in speaking to me.  It left me cold, certain that I cannot trust the kind words this person directs my way.

By definition, one is two-faced who is “marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another” (Princeton University, Wordnet).  One etymology source says the first recorded use of “two face” was in 1619, though nothing more is said of that record (www.etymonline.com).  But, many scholars see the origin of the concept in Roman mythology and the god Janus for whom the month January is named.  He is said, as a symbol of change, to see into the past with one face and into the future with another face.  His faces pointed in the opposite direction (en.academic.ru).  Apparently, the concept morphed from looking two directions to showing two sets of feelings, being duplicitous, deceitful, and hypocritical.

When you do a New Testament word study, the word most closely akin to “two faced” is “hypocrisy.”  In fact, the word itself is simply a transliteration (writing or printing out a letter or word using the closest corresponding letters of a different alphabet or language) of the Greek word.  The original word first was theatrical language meaning “playacting.”  Thus, the verb form of the word, found in Luke 20:20, is used to describe how the scribes and high priests pretended to be sincere in order to trap Jesus.

Such a practice is dishonest, for it makes the subject of the hypocrisy think you feel or believe one way when in reality you do not (cf. Mt. 23:28).  Such a practice is harmful to influence, because in showing others your “second face” you reveal yourself as not genuine, trustworthy, or honorable (cf. Gal. 2:13).  Such a practice is sinful and, thus spiritual darkness.  Peter says to “put it aside” (1 Pet. 2:1).

Let us be careful that we do not confuse attempted tact and diplomacy with dishonesty, evil influence, and sin.  Let us keep our ethics aboveboard and our integrity intact.  Let us have one face, the same face, for everyone wherever we are and to whomever we speak.

Mind Lock: Setting Your Mind on Things Above

Brent Pollard

George Lucas opened his career with a story about attention. In THX 1138, an underground society sedates its citizens into compliance and assigns each one a station. The protagonist works a line handling volatile material, where a single lapse in concentration ignites a chain reaction no operator can reverse. Then he stops swallowing the prescribed drugs, his affections wake up, and his focus splinters. The monitoring voice logs the failure with one clinical phrase: mind lock. The plant slides toward meltdown. No saboteur cut a wire. A man simply thought about one thing while his hands worked on another.

That fiction diagnoses what the Holy Spirit addressed nineteen centuries earlier. “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3.2). Paul offers no gentle recommendation for the contemplative temperament. He issues an order binding every Christian who draws breath. And beneath that order lies a warning our own biographies keep confirming: the meltdown never arrives first. It arrives last.

What Colossians 3.2 Actually Commands

Verse two rests on verse one. “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3.1). The imperative presupposes an accomplished fact. God buried us with His Son and raised us up in baptism through faith in His working (Colossians 2.12). We contributed nothing to that empty tomb. Grace did the raising. Yet the man God raises must now direct his thoughts, because resurrection life does not steer itself.

The verb Paul selects reaches well past the intellect. It governs disposition, taste, allegiance — what a man relishes when nobody supervises him. A mind “set” leans. It prefers. Knowing where the North Star hangs differs entirely from steering by it, and Colossians 3.2 demands the steering. Verse three closes the argument: “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Corpses do not negotiate with old appetites.

How Spiritual Meltdowns Actually Happen

Scripture records no righteous man who collapsed without warning. David’s adultery began on a rooftop with idle eyes and an empty afternoon while other kings marched to war (2 Samuel 11.1-2). Demas never argued theology with Paul; he “loved this present world” and slipped out quietly (2 Timothy 4.10). Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom because the plain looked well-watered (Genesis 13.10-11); the look preceded the ruin by years.

Paul locates the outcome in the aim. Those who live according to the flesh fix their minds on fleshly things, and those who live according to the Spirit fix theirs on the Spirit’s. “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8.5-6). Death and peace do not fall from the sky. They grow from where a man parks his daily attention.

Consider Martha. She served the Lord in her own house, yet Luke reports she “was distracted with all her preparations” (Luke 10.40) until devotion soured into complaint against her sister. Her hands worked holy labor. Her mind had wandered to the kitchen. James names the condition exactly: a double-minded man proves “unstable in all his ways” (James 1.8). Not some ways. All of them.

Why Earthly Things Cannot Bear the Weight We Give Them

Paul smuggles in no contempt for material creation. God pronounced His handiwork good (Genesis 1.31) and “richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6.17). The problem lies in proportion, not in matter. A man can drown in a bathtub of perfectly clean water.

“We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen” — the seen expires, the unseen endures (2 Corinthians 4.18). The verb translated “look” means to aim at, to take as a target. Paul describes marksmanship, not daydreaming. Every mortgage statement, every diagnosis, every headline lobbies for front-page space in your mind and pays its rent in anxiety. They are real. They are also expiring. Jesus settled the matter: “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6.21). He never commanded us to drag our affections uphill by willpower. He told us to move the treasure and let the heart follow it home.

The Joy That Makes a Heavenly Focus Possible

No one empties a mind. We only crowd it, which is why Paul supplies a list of occupants — whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute — and commands us to “dwell on these things” (Philippians 4.8). Yet the man who obeys Colossians 3.2 finds better than a list: a Person seated at the right hand of God, worth more than everything the plain of Sodom ever advertised.

This is why the command carries no drudgery. “In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever” (Psalm 16.11). Asaph nearly slipped, envying prosperous scoffers, then recovered his footing in the sanctuary, where God’s supremacy reordered every value he held (Psalm 73.2, 17). He walked out saying, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Psalm 73.25). Delight, not duty, dismantled his envy.

Underneath that delight runs the deepest astonishment available to us: the Christ we contemplate never waited for us to deserve Him. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5.8). Grace of that magnitude licenses no drift; it instructs us “to deny ungodliness and worldly desires” and to live righteously in the present age (Titus 2.11-12). Gratitude burns as the cleanest fuel a disciple ever pours into obedience.

Practical Habits for Setting the Mind on Things Above

Begin the day upward. David directed his prayer to God in the morning and watched (Psalm 5.3); the feed and the forecast can wait an hour. Guard the intake: “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes” (Psalm 101.3) reads as a media policy long before it reads as poetry. Load the memory until the word of Christ dwells in you richly (Colossians 3.16), because a mind stocked at eight in the morning has ammunition at eight at night. Sanctify ordinary labor rather than resent it — “whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3.17) — since the command redirects the mind, never the hands. Gather with saints who stimulate you to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10.24-25). And when a thought arrives that has no business in a raised man’s head, take it captive at the doorway (2 Corinthians 10.5), while it remains a visitor and not yet a tenant.

The alarm always sounds before the meltdown. Christ has already raised you, hidden your life in God, and seated Himself where your attention belongs; the discipline that remains is refusing to look away. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory” (Colossians 3.4). Fix your eyes on Him (Hebrews 12.2). Keep them there through the diagnosis, the layoff, the funeral, and the tedious workday. A mind anchored above holds steady when everything below shakes — and one day the One you have contemplated will step into view, and you will discover you were rehearsing for that sight your whole life.

Celebrating Six Months!

Are you looking for an “old school” and fun way to connect? Kathy began “A Tiny Spark” snail mail club in March. This subscription mail club comes packed with a personal letter, an interview with a Christian woman, a recipe card, fun stickers, a personal art print painted by her, and a new “tiny surprise” all in a letter personally addressed! Ladies from 38 states and five foreign counties have enjoyed their “Tiny Spark” this year! If you’d like more information about subscriptions, follow the link below:

https://www.posthouseos.com/preview: Celebrating Six Months!

Turn The Other Cheek

Carl Pollard

Few statements of Jesus have been misunderstood more than Matthew 5:39, “But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” 

Some have tried to soften Jesus’ words until they mean almost the opposite of what He said. But we need to allow the context to determine the meaning.

Jesus is addressing personal retaliation. Just before this, He quotes the Old Testament principle, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Matthew 5:38). That command was originally given as a standard of justice (Exodus 21:23–25). The punishment was to fit the crime. It wasn’t permission for an individual to take revenge.

By Jesus’ day, however, people could use that principle to justify getting even, “You hurt me, so I have the right to hurt you.”

Jesus says His followers must live differently. The slap on the right cheek is important. For a right-handed person to strike someone on the right cheek would most naturally involve a backhanded slap. In that culture, this could function as an insult and humiliation. Jesus describes someone attacking your dignity and says essentially, you don’t have to answer every insult with another insult.

That doesn’t mean Christians can never protect themselves, protect their families or flee from danger. Scripture recognizes the legitimate role of civil authorities in punishing wrongdoing (Romans 13:1–4). Jesus Himself sometimes withdrew from those seeking to harm Him (John 8:59). Paul appealed to his legal rights when he was mistreated (Acts 22:25).

Matthew 5:39 is about revenge, retaliation, and the heart that demands payback.

Peter explains it perfectly. When Jesus, “was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten” (1 Peter 2:23).

Jesus isn’t teaching cowardice. He’s teaching extraordinary self-control. Anybody can return insult for insult. Anybody can strike back when their pride has been wounded. Anybody can demand the last word.

Jesus calls His followers to something harder. When someone insults you, you don’t have to destroy them. When someone embarrasses you, you don’t have to embarrass them. When someone wrongs you, vengeance doesn’t belong to you.

Turning the other cheek doesn’t mean pretending evil is good. It means refusing to become evil because someone was evil to you.

Theos

Gary Pollard

One of the most difficult words to nail down is “god”. Our understanding of God is very different from how most cultures have understood it for the last few millennia. Even with the Mystery revealed in the person of Jesus — the one who showed us the Father — “God” is a nebulous enough word that it makes understanding it very difficult. This will remain true for as long as we’re in these limited bodies with their limited consciousnesses. But the New Testament writers still used the Greek word θεος, different from their pagan counterparts only it that it was nearly always singular in Christian writings (when referring to God). God is one, not a pantheon of over 400. Egypt had a staggering number of gods as well, though this was not always the case. In the earliest writings, the things venerated as gods appeared to be personified forces of nature. In fact, there’s some evidence that our word nature was inspired by the Old Egyptian word for god — ntr (sing. neter or netjer). 

Moses recorded that, at one time, all people worshipped God by whatever name he had before the Flood (Gen 4.26). Both the Deluge itself and the collapse of the Bronze Age reset all of civilization and seriously muddied the waters of memory. Plato recalled the words spoken to Solon by Egyptian priests some centuries before, “These things escaped your notice because for many generations [after the cataclysms] the people had no power to express themselves in writing.” Contrary to what the mainstream has taught for a long time, it seems the most ancient systems were monotheistic first, then devolved into polytheism later. It is difficult to grasp the significance of this, but all cultures venerated deities that represented planets (the chief “gods”), or forces of nature (lesser “gods”), or even human emotions. There was usually only one highest deity responsible for creation, but everyone under them was worshipped, too. 

So in practically every culture, the “gods” were powerful aspects of creation (especially planets), with one or two deities worshipped as the creator. In every culture, the story goes that these “gods” in great wrath destroyed the world because of its wickedness. Moses, thanks to his position among the elite of the late Middle Kingdom, likely had access to very ancient records. With the help of divine inspiration, his account of creation, destruction, and God is beautifully simple — but still frustratingly vague, if its symbolism is rejected in favor of reductionist literalism. 

We still cannot and will not understand the nature of God fully in this body. But it is reasonable to say: God is the Source of everything in existence. From him come the forces of nature. His power and light are what all things, material and immaterial, visible and invisible, exist in. He is the totality of the universe. He is consciousness itself, from this infinite reservoir each human life briefly borrows. I believe we will rediscover the fact that there is only one force at work in the universe (all others being aspects of the one, or otherwise deriving their power from the one), its fundamental state being that of light. It issues from God, either at his command or as a seamless extension of his being. Jesus is the visible form of God, and he used this power to make earth habitable for life. Everything else that exists is necessarily inferior to God in position and power because all things came from him. They are a descent in the hierarchy of being. This is why we worship one God, and someday we will see him just as he is. 

THE ALTAR OF NOAH AND GOBEKLI TEPE

Dale Pollard

 There’s a theory that Göbekli Tepe—said to be the world’s oldest known megalithic site—is the altar built by Noah immediately after exiting the Ark.

Located in southeastern Turkey, the site aligns very well with the geographical and cultural transition that’s described in Genesis. Here’s some of the best supporting evidence. 

Evidence Supporting the Altar Theory

Perfect Proximity: Genesis states that the Ark came to rest on the “mountains of Ararat” in ancient Armenia/eastern Anatolia. Göbekli Tepe is situated in southeastern Turkey, directly down-mountain from the Ararat and Judi massifs. It sits at the exact gateway where a descending population would first enter the fertile plains of Mesopotamia.

Cool Carvings: The limestone pillars of Göbekli Tepe are famous for their high-relief carvings of animals, including foxes, boars, cranes, ducks, leopards, snakes, and scorpions. Proponents argue this serves as a permanent, stone-carved catalog of the diverse fauna released from the Ark, explicitly commemorating the beasts.

Suspected Sacrifice: Archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of thousands of butchered animal bones (primarily wild gazelle, aurochs, and birds) mixed into the soil filling the stone enclosures. This aligns with Genesis 8:20, which states that Noah “took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”

From Ark to Agriculture: DNA sequencing traces the origin of all modern cultivated wheat directly to the Karacadağ mountains which are located just twenty miles from Göbekli Tepe. Genesis notes that immediately after the flood, Noah became a “man of the soil” and planted a vineyard—putting the agricultural rebirth of humanity at this exact geographical ground zero.

Funny Lookin’ Figures: The massive, T-shaped pillars are abstract, stylized human forms with carved arms and belts. These pillars might represent the patriarchal figures or the specific families of Noah’s sons establishing a monumental place of worship. The first altar mentioned after the flood is Noah’s, and the significance that the site would hold for future generations makes sense.

Caged Creatures: The circular, high-walled enclosures could have been constructed to temporarily keep, sort, or protect the vast multitudes of animals immediately after they descend from the Ark. Even among the secular opinions, this seems to be a popular position to hold. We’ll touch on that more.

The towering T-shaped pillars inside the circles are heavily carved with specific animals—foxes, boars, birds, and snakes. Under this theory, each circular enclosure may have been dedicated to holding a specific class or category of beast, with the stone reliefs serving as a permanent signpost of what was penned inside.

Fury Funnels: The sunken design and narrow entrances could have functioned logistically to funnel animals down into the center for Noah’s post-flood sacrifices.

The secular view claims that Göbekli Tepe’s round, stone structures were not built to save or domesticate animals, but to trap, corral, and slaughter massive quantities of wild animals. This still aligns with the Bible. In Genesis 7.2 we read that God told Noah to, “Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals… and a pair of the unclean.” After Noah left the ark, he built an altar and sacrificed some of every clean animal and bird and offered them as a sacrifice to the Lord (Gen. 8.20).

The extra clean animals were provided so Noah would have enough for food, survival, and the large sacrifice after leaving the ark.

One writer claimed, “Recent studies estimate the total number of living and extinct kinds of land animals and flying creatures to be 1,398. With our “worst-case” scenario approach to calculating the number of animals on the ark, this would mean that Noah cared for 6,744 animals” (arkencounter.com/HowManyAnimalsontheArk).

This would make the ark’s cargo feasible for its size described in scripture but also provides an idea of the scale of sacrifice made by Noah after landing in the post-flood world.

Gobekli Tepe and its theoretical connection to Noah’s altar is a fun hypothesis. Maybe something from the site will be excavated in the future, and more conclusive evidence will be found. 

Note: The author has no strong opinions about this site and any possible Biblical connections.  

Christian, Who Are You?

The World’s Most Venomous Snake?

Neal Pollard

As one who could not be more afraid of snakes, I was thrilled when one of my sons told me what was the deadliest snake in the world.  The Inland Taipan, native to Australia, is the most venomous land snake on earth, and it has the most toxic venom known to exist.  Yet, it is a shy snake, not known to be aggressive toward humans.  Far more people die from cobras, rattlesnakes, and mambas than reclusive, though deadly, snakes like the Taipan, the boomslang, and the tiger snake.

Mike O’Shea, author of Venemous Snakes of the World, was interviewed by Princeton University Press, and in the course of the conversation he mentioned many of the fables and myths about treating poisonous snake bites that actually do more harm than good.  He listed tourniquets, razor-cuts, venom extractors, and herbal, magical, or traditional treatments, and all of us have heard of some or all of these suggested “cures,” as wrong ways to treat such a bite.  Then he said what was most effective: keep the bite area and the victim still, keep the victim awake and as reassured as possible, keep pressure on neurotoxic bites, keep the airways clear, and perform CPR as needed.  Obviously, in all cases, the biggest, best thing to do is get the victim medical help and get a description of the offender if unable to kill and bring it with you and the victim to the hospital.

The Bible calls the devil “the serpent of old” (Rev. 12:9; 20:2).  It also draws some correlation between the serpent and the devil in 2 Corinthians 11:3, 13-14 (deceiving and craftiness).  Most feel certain that the devil was involved in the Eden events in which a serpent beguiled Eve.  Likening the work and effects of the devil to that of a deadly snake is not a stretch.

If a species of snake enjoyed in physical terms the success the devil enjoys in spiritual terms, every health and emergency services agency in every nation around the world would rise up today and make its eradication their top priority.  They would not rest until this creature was fought and defeated.  To say they would be diligent would be to grossly understate the matter.

Yet, the devil is inserting his toxic poison into the hearts of willing victims every second of time.  If only the worst he could do was kill the body.  He is ruining souls (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25-26), which impacts eternity.

We should avoid places where he is likely to be (1 The. 5:22).  We should take precautions (1 Pet. 5:8).  We should know his habits and methods (2 Cor. 2:11).  We should fight him (1 Pet. 5:9; Js. 4:8; Eph. 6:11).

If we are “bitten” by him, we need to seek help, being reassured that Christ has the power to heal us if we properly treat the “wound.”  As scary as the devil can seem, God is more powerful.  We have the help of others at our disposal, but more importantly we have God’s help and His cure is 100% successful if applied.

Wounds Without a Cause

Brent Pollard

Solomon buries a strange phrase inside a warning about strong drink, and most readers hurry past it.

“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine…” (Proverbs 23.29–30 NASB95)

Wounds without cause. The phrase arrests me.

Recently, I found myself thinking about those words after developing a painful hematoma. There had been no fall, no bump into a table, no memorable injury. It simply appeared. As someone taking blood thinners, I know there is a medical explanation, even if I cannot point to a particular moment and say, “That is when it happened.” Even so, Solomon’s phrase echoed in my mind for days. Somewhere in my body, a small vessel failed. I never felt it. I only saw the aftermath.

That experience sent me back to the proverb, and the proverb sent me somewhere I did not expect to go.

What Proverbs 23.29–30 Actually Describes

Solomon was not writing about medication or fragile capillaries. He was sketching a portrait of the drunkard who wakes bruised, battered, and unable to account for his injuries. The wounds are not genuinely causeless. The man cannot trace them, because the wine that battered him also stole his judgment, his awareness, and his memory.

Read the end of the chapter, and you hear him speak for himself: “They struck me, but I did not become ill; They beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink” (Proverbs 23.35). There is the horror of it. Sin anesthetizes the very faculty that would identify sin as the culprit. It leaves scars and then erases the fingerprints.

Every generation invents new anesthetics. The substance changes; the mechanism does not. Whatever dulls conscience will eventually dull the ability to name what has gone wrong. That is why the wise man begs us to stay awake.

When Suffering Has No Explanation: Job and the Man Born Blind

But the phrase carries a second freight, and Scripture will not let us set it down.

Sometimes life wounds us in ways we cannot explain, and no moral arithmetic will balance the ledger.

Job’s friends tried the arithmetic. They reasoned that extraordinary suffering must indicate extraordinary sin, and they pressed that logic on a shattered man for chapter after chapter. God’s verdict on their theology was withering: “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has” (Job 42.7). They defended God with arguments God rejected. Zeal did not excuse them.

Centuries later, the disciples made the same mistake with a beggar’s face before them. “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9.2–3). He refused the question as framed. He did not assign blame; He gave sight.

Jesus dismantled the same reasoning again when men brought Him news of Galileans slaughtered at their sacrifices and eighteen crushed beneath a falling tower. Were they worse offenders than everyone else in Jerusalem? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13.5). Tragedy is not a scoreboard. Tragedy is a summons.

Why Christians Must Not Invent Reasons for Pain

Here is the practical discipline this demands of us.

Christians should be careful not to invent explanations where God has revealed none. A diagnosis is not necessarily divine punishment. An accident is not always the consequence of poor decisions. A chronic illness is not proof of weak faith. We live in a fallen creation where bodies weaken, diseases develop, blood vessels rupture, bones break, and hearts fail. These realities are not always traceable to a specific personal failing.

When we manufacture a reason for another believer’s affliction, we are not comforting them. We are prosecuting them. And we do it, usually, because their unexplained pain unsettles our tidy assumptions about how God runs the world. Silence feels like weakness, so we fill it with explanation.

Note what Job’s friends did right before they did everything wrong. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, “and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great” (Job 2.13). That week was ministry. The speeches were not.

Sit down. Bring food. Say less. Weep with those who weep (Romans 12.15). You are not required to explain the wound to bind it.

A Groaning Creation and the Redemption of the Body

That does not mean God is absent.

Paul teaches that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now, and that we ourselves groan within, “waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8.22–23). Every unexplained ache, every mysterious diagnosis, every wound that seems to appear from nowhere testifies that this world is not the one God originally intended and not the one He will finally leave us in. Groaning is not faithlessness. Groaning is the sound of hope straining forward.

So Paul can look straight at a wasting body and call the affliction momentary and light, because he weighs it against an eternal weight of glory and fixes his eyes on what cannot be seen (2 Corinthians 4.16–18). That is not denial. That is accurate accounting. He also carried a thorn he never had explained to him, only answered: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12.9). God gave him Himself instead of information, and Paul counted it the better bargain.

We are pilgrims desiring a better country (Hebrews 11.16). Pilgrims do not demand that the road make sense. They keep walking because they trust the One who mapped it.

Trusting the Great Physician Until Every Wound Is Healed

One day the Great Physician will complete His work. There will be no unexplained bruises, mysterious illnesses, failing lungs, aching joints, or wounded hearts. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain” (Revelation 21.4). Every effect of sin and death will finally be undone, and the undoing will be thorough.

Until then, entrust your soul to a faithful Creator in doing what is right (1 Peter 4.19). Not in understanding what is right. In doing it. Worship on Sunday with a body that hurts. Serve someone whose suffering makes less sense than yours. Refuse bitterness the way you would refuse a drink that promised to make you forget.

Some wounds will still seem to come without a cause. They may puzzle us, inconvenience us, or frighten us. They are never outside the knowledge of our heavenly Father.

We may not always understand our wounds, but we can always trust the One who does.

Why Doesn’t God Just Kill The Devil?

Carl Pollard

This is a question that has been asked for centuries. If God is all powerful, why doesn’t He just kill Satan? In order to adequately answer this question we will need to look at a few different aspects of the Devil himself, as well as the attributes of God.

It’s not hard to find evidence of a world filled with sin, and logically it would make sense for God to just destroy the source of the problem…or would it? Let’s notice a few things about Satan.

Where did he come from? In Genesis 1:31, God sees His creation and it says, “everything was very good.” All of God’s work was perfect. From this we can conclude that Satan started off as good and became evil. While Scripture doesn’t reveal his exact origin, it says enough for us to draw a logical conclusion. For example, 2 Peter 2:4, Matthew 12:24, and 25:41 point to Satan as the leader of a groups of angels that have abandoned heaven. So we have to ask, why was Satan cast out of Heaven?

Based on the previous verses and what we read in Jude 6, the angels were created with free choice. And Peter explains that the angels sinned (2 Peter 2:4). We read the phrase “The Devil and HIS angels” so Satan was most likely the leader and instigator of this rebellion in heaven. Satan tried to rebel against God and failed miserably and will face the consequences of his actions (Revelation 20:1-3). Since Satan cannot win against God, he now wants to get payback by taking his anger out on God’s creation.

So why doesn’t God destroy Satan? Aside from the fact that he’s an angel and killing him would be different from killing a human, we run into another issue.

Even if Satan were destroyed, man would still sin. James 1:14 tells us that as humans we are carried away by our OWN desires, and these desires lead to spiritual death. Satan doesn’t cause everyone to sin, at every location on earth, because he doesn’t have this kind of power. Even if God destroyed Satan, there would still be sin on earth.

There is one other aspect we must look at in order to answer this question; What is the definition of good? Without evil, how can good exist? If God is good, then evil must exist. Without darkness, how can we recognize light? There is balance and perfection in everything.

We are given free will, and if there were no other choice except faith in God, we would not have faith by choice. We would have faith by force. I think about when I was younger and got in a fight with my siblings. Mom would force us to hug each other. That hug was not done out of love, but by mom telling us to get it done. Do you prefer to be loved by choice or by force?

Satan will get what he deserves, but God is defined as a God of love. If God took away our free choice (either to serve Him or sin) then He would be a God of Force. God has the power to destroy Satan, but in doing so we would still be in a fallen world filled with sin. God loves us enough that He wants us to come to Him by choice. This is something each one of us should strive to do.

Seneca’s Search

Gary Pollard

The following passage was written by Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 BC — AD 65) in Book I of Naturales quaestiones. There’s a decent chance that he was born the same year as Jesus of Nazareth. These seven books are certainly an interesting read, but I found his Preface to Book I especially fascinating. Reading this brings to mind, “God wanted people to look for him, and perhaps in searching all around for him, they would find him. But he is not far from any of us” (Acts 17.27). And, “There are things about God that people cannot see — his eternal power and all that makes him God. But since the beginning of the world, those things have been easy for people to understand. They are made clear in what God has made. So people have no excuse for the evil they do” (Rom 1.20). Seneca (and many of his predecessors, contemporaries, and spiritual descendants) looked for meaning and goodness in that aspect of reality that cannot be seen. Christ did come “at just the right time”! We’re reading an excerpt from a pagan historian and naturalist today because it gives valuable insight into aspects of the culture, worldviews, and concepts of the transcendent (as well as a refined understanding of words and concepts used in the first century) held by many when Christ and his followers operated on earth. 

Lucilius, my much esteemed friend — While a great gulf separates philosophy from the other learned arts, there is to my mind an equally wide gulf in philosophy itself between the portion which relates to human conduct and that which deals with the nature and the power of heaven. The latter is more exalted and more speculative, it allows itself wide liberty. It is not satisfied with mere observation, it surmises that there is a greater and fairer realm placed by nature beyond human sight. Between these two divisions of philosophy, in short, there is as wide a gulf as between their subjects, God and man. 

The one teaches us what should be done on earth; the other, what is done in heaven. The one dispels our errors and flashes a light by which to thread the mazes of life; the other far transcends this gloom in which we grope, rescues us from the darkness, and leads us to the very source of light itself. For myself, I am grateful to nature, not so much when I see her on the side that is open to the world, as when I am permitted to enter her shrine. Then one may seek to know of what stuff the universe is made, who is its Author or Guardian, what is the nature of God. Is He wholly absorbed in Himself, or does He sometimes regard us? does He do something daily, or has He done once for all? is He a portion of the world, or the whole world? may He issue new decrees even to-day and thus modify the laws of fate, or is it an infringement of His majesty and an acknowledgment of error to alter what has once been made? for surely the same must always please Him who can be pleased only with what is best. Nor yet withal is His freedom or power diminished, for He is a law unto Himself. 

Life would have been a useless gift, were I not admitted to the study of such themes. What cause for joy would it be to be set merely in the number of those who live? In order to digest food and drink? To repair a diseased, enfeebled body, that would perish unless it were continually refilled, and thus lead the life of a sick man’s attendant? To fear death, to which our very birth destines us? Away with the priceless boon! Life is not worth the heat and the sweat. How despicable a creature is man, unless he rise above the earth! What great thing can we do as long as we have to wrestle with our passions? Even if we prevail, we but conquer monsters. What cause have we to esteem ourselves because we are not quite so bad as the very worst? I can see no great reason for self-satisfaction because one’s strength is rather above the average of those in the same hospital. You are still very far from good health and vigour. Or, again, you have escaped vices of soul, the hypocrite’s brow, the flatterer’s speech fashioned to serve another’s will, the dissembler’s heart, the miser’s spirit, which robs all, but yet mortifies itself. You are a prey neither to luxury, which loses basely and repairs its losses still more basely; nor to ambition, which leads to place of worth only by unworthy means. But yet you have accomplished nothing. You have escaped many perils, but not yet that of self. 

The virtue we aim at raises to a splendid eminence; not so much because escape from vice is in itself a blessed thing, but rather because the soul is emancipated, prepared for the knowledge of heavenly things, and rendered worthy of entering into communion with God. 

Clarke, J. (1910). Physical science in the time of Nero, being a translation of the Quaestiones Naturales of Seneca. Macmillan & Co., London. pp 54-55

Where Do You Go When Life Gets Heavy?

The Heart Of Jonah

Dale Pollard

The book of Jonah is a unique book in the Old Testament. Unlike other prophetic books, God chooses to focus on the prophet himself rather than the message being preached by him. While many lessons can be pulled from this four chapter book, there’s one in particular that we can all benefit from hearing from time to time. That lesson is that in order for true change to occur in our lives there must be a genuine transformation of the heart.

The book begins with God’s call to Jonah to preach to the wicked people of Nineveh and then closes with God’s response to Jonah’s anger at the penitent hearts of the Ninevites. Between these two divine speeches you read about the prophet’s incredible experience in the belly of a great fish. Many artist’s have painted pictures of Jonah desperately trying to keep his head above the waves while a terrifying monster breeches the surface with its mouth wide open preparing to swallow him. While this may be the image that comes to mind, Jonah gives us an interesting detail in his prayer. He recalls how the waters closed over him and he eventually reaches the sea floor where he is helplessly tangled in the weeds. While the murky waters cloud his vision his fate seemed very clear. Jonah admits that he called out to the Lord provoked by his great distress and this mental plea was a desperate attempt to preserve his life. God answers this cry by sending him a slippery savior. Jonah, while known to be a little on the dramatic side, will later recall how it was in the moment when his life was fainting away that he “remembered the Lord.” God saved a blatantly rebellious man who in no way deserved that salvation but He also allowed Jonah to reach great depths and come face to face with his own spiritual reality. Jonah was a long way from God, but not geographically.

Before Jonah became soaked by the stormy seas, he was soaked in a sin problem that had taken root in his heart. God allowed Jonah to physically experience rock bottom so that he could acknowledge some spiritual issues that distanced him from God. While Jonah may have desired to run from God, he came to the conclusion that being away from God was not the relief he thought it would be.

As traumatic as this event was, Jonah seems to emerge from the belly of the fish with lingering spiritual issues. Though he preaches to the city of Nineveh, there is still anger and hatred dominating his heart. The last chapter gives us a glimpse of this as he directs this anger towards the very God that saved him. In order for true change to occur, there must be a genuine change of heart. While low points can help us examine our heart health for a moment, relentless determination to live life differently is the key to success. A hopeful reminder for anyone who may find themselves in the depths of sin, there is no place too dark where God is not able to hear your prayers. 

When God Says, “Grow Up”

Neal Pollard

It does not matter how long a church has existed at a location. Nor does it matter how long an individual Christian has been a baptized believer. It is still possible for a Christian or a congregation to be deemed immature or in need of growing up. To a congregation that had been established for some time, Paul writes, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-15). 

This is a rich passage of Scripture, from which we can draw so much application. However, notice the specific thing Paul writes about achieving spiritual maturity. The way to avoid being spiritual infants, according to the context, is three-fold.

No longer be tossed here and there by waves. The imagery is of instability and lacking an anchor. Know what you stand for and stand there! Follow God’s Word and reject anything else. Because many don’t know God’s Word, they accept every new teaching that comes along without studying it through and examining it critically.

No longer be carried about. The imagery is of being easily led and duped. The old circus mogul, P.T. Barnum, liked to put it, “There’s a sucker born every minute!” Paul says no longer be carried about “by winds.” There were others claiming to have the truth and who denied Jesus. No longer be carried about “by tricks.” There were others trying to back up their message with false proofs and perhaps claims that were meant to trick those not grounded in the truth. No longer be carried about “by schemes.” There were strategies and ploys attempted to try and truth people from God’s grace. 

Speak the truth in love. Paul says that if the Ephesians believed what he was saying about Christ, the blessings in Christ, and the blessings of the church of Christ, they would be a grown up church. Notice that by not only rejecting all other ways but by doing what they can to teach and live the right message, they were going to be a full-grown, mature church. The right message produces the right kind of response in the right kind of hearts. 

Ephesians 4:16 says that the whole body causes the growth of the body. This growth relies on good joints and individual working parts. In other words, we’ve got to work together and realize our interdependency,. A few people cannot do the work of the whole body. Imagine how you’d go through life in only three or four of the parts of your body functioned. You might be able to chew, blink, and smell, but what if that was it? There’s not a part of your body that is not important and necessary. Try walking without a big toe or wearing glasses without an ear lobe.

The church can’t grow like it should if you and I aren’t doing our part. Paul has spent three and a half chapters talking about how important the church is. Then he writes these words. It is Christ’s body, it was in God’s mind from eternity, and it is how God is glorified. He wants each congregation, and every individual member of it, to do what it takes to grow up! 

Never Assume Someone Is Beyond Saving

Brent Pollard

Never assume someone is beyond saving.

The Deadliest Single-Aircraft Accident in History

On August 12, 1985, on the eve of Japan’s Obon holiday—when millions travel to their hometowns to honor departed loved ones—524 people, many of them families, boarded Japan Airlines Flight 123 from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport bound for Osaka. Seven years earlier, an improper structural repair to the aircraft’s rear pressure bulkhead had unknowingly planted the seeds of disaster. After more than 12,000 pressurization cycles, the weakened bulkhead failed just 12 minutes into the flight at an altitude of 24,000 feet. The aircraft’s vertical stabilizer tore away, all four hydraulic systems were destroyed, and the pilots had almost no means of controlling the airplane.

For the next 32 minutes, the crew fought to keep Flight 123 airborne as it oscillated in a violent Dutch roll while repeatedly climbing and diving in what aviators call a phugoid cycle. The aircraft lurched through the sky in a terrifying, three-dimensional motion that made it nearly impossible to maintain a steady heading. At 6:56 PM, it slammed into Mount Osutaka in Gunma Prefecture. Only four people survived. To this day, Flight 123 remains the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history.

At first glance, this sounds like nothing more than another aviation disaster. It wasn’t. It is also a story about what can happen when people conclude there is no one left to rescue.

A Tragedy That Hits Close to Home

This tragedy also strikes an oddly personal note for me. Mount Osutaka lies in Gunma Prefecture, the birthplace of my late Aunt Maki Mitchell (née Iishi). Her hometown is only about sixty-six miles from the crash site. Since she married a U.S. Air Force airman stationed in Japan, other parts of this story resonate personally as well.

When Rescuers Concluded No One Was Left to Rescue

Survivors of the Flight 123 crash were seated in the back, as the front absorbed most of the impact with the mountain, acting as a crumple zone that reduced G-forces at the rear. One survivor was off-duty stewardess Yumi Ochiai, who noted that there were more survivors initially. Some believe that additional lives were lost because the JSDF helicopter reported seeing no signs of life from the air, reducing the perceived urgency of the rescue. The principal rescue force spent the night approximately thirty-nine miles from the crash site and did not reach the wreckage until daylight.

The tragedy worsened as the U.S. Air Force, based in Western Tokyo’s Tama Area, monitored the doomed flight on radar. Unaware of the damage, they offered their 11,000-foot runway for a landing. After the crash, a C-130 located the wreckage in 20 minutes and, at 7:17 PM, informed Japanese authorities and Yokota, triggering the deployment of a rescue helicopter. By 8:30 PM, a Marine helicopter arrived to lower two pararescuemen. The crew searched for a drop site with searchlights. At 9:15 PM, Japanese authorities claimed full jurisdiction over the incident, and at 9:20 PM, U.S. personnel were ordered to leave despite their willingness to assist.

Spiritually, we can make the same mistake by looking at someone’s life and concluding there is no one left to rescue.

Waving in the Darkness

Meanwhile, Yumi Ochiai lay on the ground. She had heard the helicopters and could see the probing lights. Yet she was too pained to yell loudly, so she waved her hand, hoping to attract their attention. Other survivors called out to the lights in the sky above, all in vain. The helicopter hovered over the canopy, and the engine noise kept U.S. personnel from hearing their cries. Personally, I cannot imagine what the poor souls lying on the mountain below must have thought when they were suddenly left in darkness again.

Imagine waving with what little strength you have left while those sent to help cannot see you. There are people around us who are doing the spiritual equivalent every day.

As Long as There Is Breath, There Is Hope

Eight-year-old survivor Mikiko Yoshizaki and her mother, 34-year-old Hiroko Yoshizaki, took turns yelling at each other to stay awake during the 14 hours they waited for rescuers. Sadly, Hiroko’s husband and two other children seated beside them had perished in the crash. Twelve-year-old Keiko Kawakami spoke to her father and sister in the wreckage before they finally grew cold and quiet in the early morning.

As long as there was breath in their lungs, there was hope. As long as a sinner is alive, there is hope.

The Great Physician Never Gives Up on a Soul

Jesus never assumed anyone was beyond saving. He sought tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, thieves, and even the persecutor Saul of Tarsus. While others saw hopeless cases, our Lord saw souls worth rescuing. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19.10).

The heartbreaking part is that this may not have been inevitable. A Japanese physician whose identity remained anonymous said that dozens of victims did not suffer fatal internal trauma from the impact itself. They died from hypovolemic shock (severe blood loss) and extreme hypothermia caused by the cold, damp mountain air at 5,135 feet. He said that if rescuers had arrived only ten hours earlier, they could have saved more lives.

Let us not end with the thoughts of one physician, but the teachings of the Great Physician.

Seek the Lost and Leave the Results to God

Every congregation has someone others have quietly given up on.

Every family has someone everyone assumes will never change.

Every community has people whose lives appear beyond repair.

Yet as long as there is breath, there is hope. As long as a sinner lives, the gospel still has work to do.

Christians have never been commissioned to decide who is salvageable. We have been commanded to seek the lost (Luke 15.4ff), proclaim the gospel (Matthew 28.19–20), and leave the results to God (1 Corinthians 3.6; Isaiah 55.11).

Never assume someone is beyond saving.