Category: salvation

“Let’s Go Throw Rocks At The Campbellite Preacher!”

Neal Pollard

That one statement was what introduced my great grandfather to the gospel and is a big reason why my mom was raised in the church and why I was, too.  A “Campbellite preacher” (so named because of Alexander Campbell, a leading figure of the 19th Century who pleaded with people to throw off the division of denominationalism and restore simple New Testament Christianity) was in their Mississippi community, preaching at the local school house.  Several teenage boys, including my then 19-year-old great-grandfather, conspired together to stand outside and throw rocks at the preacher.  The big talk apparently came to nothing harmful, but standing out there my grandfather was convicted by the preaching.  As the result, he studied more deeply and carefully the Scriptures and found that the denomination he was a part of did not teach the same plan of salvation he read in the New Testament.

Plain, New Testament teaching and preaching, which faithfully and accurately handles the Scripture, has a profound effect on an honest heart.  One who is already persuaded that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, who is convicted that it was faithfully transmitted through time, can see from gospel preaching what God’s will is for “matters of life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).  Such allow the powerful Word to operate skillfully upon their hearts, being persuaded of its penetrating truths (Heb. 4:12).  Even one who may start out angry at the messenger but who is “fair-minded” (cf. Acts 17:11) will “receive the word with all readiness, and [search] the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things [are] so.”  Such an unprejudiced, open-minded attitude will serve such individuals well not only in learning how to become a Christian, but also in how to live the Christian life.  We must keep an honest and good heart if we will be the “good soil” Jesus praises in His parable of the soils (Luke 8:15).

Whatever your age, position in life, race, education level, or physical address, are you teachable? Do you receive the word in humility (Jas. 1:21)?  James says that your soul’s salvation is ultimately at stake.  Whether it regards becoming a Christian or living the Christian life, keep an open and tender heart!  You’ll be eternally grateful that you did.  So may many of your descendants!

What Do We Make Of God’s Second Chances?

Neal Pollard

We were living in Cairo, Georgia, and I was in the third grade. It was during a game of kickball on the playground and I was the “pitcher.”  A kid kicked it hard and I caught it.  As the ball hit me in the gut, I felt a sharp pain.  Something wasn’t right.  My parents took me that week to see the local doctor.  He thought it might be a hernia. Exploratory surgery in Thomasville instead revealed a tumor on my liver.  My parents and I flew to Atlanta, Georgia, where I was checked into Egleston Children’s Hospital.  Extensive testing there and Emory Hospital, the general campus for Egleston, led my team of doctors to the same conclusion. It was cancerous. They tried to prepare my parents for how slim my chance of survival was.  Even if their diagnosis was wrong, surgery and attending blood loss may well be more than I could stand. My parents maintained great faith, and my dad solicited prayers from congregations all over the place. Dr. Gerald Zwiren, who led a team of highly-skilled doctors, brought the news to my parents that I survived the surgery and later shared the oncology report that my tumor was benign. That was close to 40 years ago and to this point I have never had further complications. I certainly received a second chance.

Periodically, I ponder at length what I have done with that second chance. The scar I bear from that surgery has long since become invisible to my daily view.  I suffer no lingering consequences. That event is certainly not why I chose to become a preacher, as if to try and pay a debt to God for saving me. Sadly, despite His mercy in sparing me, I have sinned in ways great and small that reveal, in addition to all else, a failure to appreciate that blessing. Spiritually, whether as a preacher, husband, father, or Christian, I am saddled with the realization of how far I have to go.  With the help of His Word, His providence, and His strength, I continue to try to make the most of this extra time He gave me back in 1979.

All of us who are New Testament Christians face the same spiritual situation.  We suffered the terminal condition of lostness in sin. By all human calculations and efforts, nothing could be done to save us.  Yet, when we responded to His grace by believing, repenting, and being baptized (cf. Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38), He gave us all a “second chance.”  We passed from death to life.  More than that, God gave us a way to continually receive the benefits of the blood and grace of His Son as we strive to walk in His light (1 Jn. 1:7-10).  You may have messed things up badly in your life.  You may feel that it is impossible for God to love and forgive you.  Friend, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26).  God is the God of the second chance!  His diagnosis is perfect, and His is the only one that counts!  Trust in the Great Physician.  He has never lost a patient who followed His prescription!

Picture of me (2nd from left) about a year after the surgery.

Do You Love Your Country?

Neal Pollard

Are you one who looks back with affection,
Reminiscing about days of yore?
Waving flags and praying for protection,
For your nation from shore to shore.
There are songs and celebrations sweet
Speeches that rouse the emotion
Fierce loyalty for the land beneath your feet
That inspires a most patriotic notion

But what about the better land beyond,
The place you can truly call your own?
Is that yearning great, is that hope fond,
To live in the land of the Risen Son?
If so, are you packing and preparing
For the journey that will reach beyond time?
Down here do you feel alien and wayfaring?
Is citizenship there of importance most prime?

Join a people most ancient whose love was great
For a better, a heavenly country
Who felt like exiles here, were the object of hate
By earthly counterparts who put their scorn bluntly
Fix your eyes on a grand immigration
Made possible by the Great Emancipator
Make sure you’re a member of the holy nation
And your eternal home will be infinitely greater.

Ft. McHenry (Maryland)

“Is It Possible To Be Born With The Wrong Skin?”

Neal Pollard

Freedom of speech may be a constitutional right, but do you ever wish people did not feel so free to exercise that right?  It’s hard not to bemoan the cultural lunacy that appears to be another step down the slippery slope from rational to irrational thought.  Bruce Jenner claims to identify as a woman despite the biology of his birth.  Now, Rachel Dolezal, the president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP who is born to two white parents, identifies herself as African-American.  Her story has ignited yet another “identity crisis” conversation, complete with its own Twitter Hashtag (#WrongSkin).  Some who have posted there are engaging in some intelligent tongue in cheek and sarcasm, but many more seem to be seriously conflicted about their racial identity.  Our ancestors would be in utter disbelief of the lack of critical thought they would hear in such discussions.

But let’s carry this line of “thought” further:

  • I was born to middle class parents, but I identify as the son and heir of Bill Gates.
  • I barely passed High School, but I identify as a Rhodes Scholar.
  • I am a lazy couch potato, but I identify as an elite triathlete.
  • I cannot carry a tune in a bucket, but I identity as a musical virtuoso.
  • I scorch water and ruin Ramen noodles, but I identify as a world-class chef.

You know, you can claim anything, but that does not make it so.  Sometimes, the best way to expose an absurdity is to escort them further down that slope.  Then, they can get a better look at themselves.

Claiming to be a woman when you are a man or to be one race when you are another is head-scratching, but did you know that there are people making a much more serious claim whose incorrect conclusion is infinitely more grave?  A great many people, asked if they are a Christian, say “yes.”  However, though they identify as a Christian, they have not followed the plan God put in place whereby one becomes a Christian.  Jesus says that claiming does not equate to being (cf. Mat. 7:21-23).  He also says there is but one way (John 14:6).  We can strongly identify ourselves as a Christian, but have we actually been “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5)? Jesus said, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved…” (Mark 16:16).  Peter said, “Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38).  Ananias said, “Get up and be baptized, and washing away your sins, calling on His name” (Acts 22:16). Paul wrote, “We have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). He also said, “All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal. 3:27). Peter wrote, “Baptism now saves you” (1 Pet. 3:21).  Now, Scripture sets other conditions in place one must meet in order to receive God’s grace and salvation, but the overwhelming majority do not reject faith and repentance.  They do, however, dismiss the role of baptism as a divine condition for salvation. In light of the above Scriptures (and there are others, too), how can one refuse to obey this and yet still claim to belong to Christ (cf. Luke 6:46)?

Love The Lamb

NOTE: One of our brand new Christians (Jeff Wiant) has an extensive music background.  He has written a song, “Live Like Jesus,” that we will be learning at Bear Valley very soon (Kathy Petrillo is doing the musical note composition for his melody now).  I’m very excited for you to learn it! While the following will probably be adjusted by Jeff with his considerable knowledge of meter and music, here is the poem that will at some point become a hymn.

Neal Pollard

When Moses and the Israelites were crying and enslaved

God shared His plan to free them and help them to be saved

The plan spelled the difference, and none of them were lost

But the way of their deliverance must come at a great cost.

The price was a little animal, flawless and innocent and young

He lived with them for four days before his blood was hung

Across the door. And through that step the obedient were spared

The lamb that saved their lives showed them that God cared.

They loved the lamb, The gift of the Great I Am,

They killed the lamb, And their faith passed the exam

No other way would have saved them on that night

The cherished sacrificial lamb led them to the light.

Each year the lambs were slaughtered to take care of their sin

Thousands upon thousands, a river of blood again and again

But God had a better solution, though more costly than them all

His Son, a Lamb without defect, who would save us from our fall

He came and lived among us before His blood was shed

The people, filled with anger, hung Him until He was dead

And by the gift of His perfect life, God gave us a door of hope

If we will follow His great plan, we have the way to cope.

Do you love the lamb, The gift of the Great I Am,

Do you see His love, the love of that Precious Lamb,

No other way can save us from sin’s dark night,

Obey the lamb to walk in the Son’s pure light.

Right Back Into The Deep

Neal Pollard

I read the account of Ron Ingraham, who was lost at sea last December in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii after his boat had taken on a dangerous amount of water.  He was presumed dead by the Coast Guard after he made distress calls and they responded, searching for four days, covering 12,000 square miles, and finding nothing. 12 days later, while his friends were planning his memorial, he was found weak, hungry, and dehydrated, but alive.  Family and friends hailed it as a miracle, and Ron felt he was given a new lease on life.

Then, tragically, near the end of April, Ron was fishing with a buddy when the 34-foot-boat they were on, The Munchkin, was smashed against the reef after midnight and totally broke apart. His friend found their emergency radio (EPIRB) in the wreckage, but there was no sign of Ingraham.  Now, a month later, it is almost certain that he perished in that water about a mile from the cliffs of Molokai (facts from The Washington Post, Elahe Izadi, 4/30/15, http://www.washingtonpost.com).

What a graphic illustration of something that happens all the time in a spiritual sense.  Paul urged Timothy to fight the good fight, “keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith” (1 Tim. 1:19).  At times, it can be very difficult to live the Christian life as the world assaults our faith through temptation or persecution.  The trial may be internal, as we struggle with doubt or suffering.  We may allow an unhealthy relationship to do the damage. In so many different ways, we can suffer shipwreck to our faith. Sometimes, we can be overtaken by one of these spiritual threats, leave and then return.  We experience the thrill of forgiveness, the peace of restoration, and the hope of a new start.  Then, we find ourselves returning to the very thing that upended us before.  We must realize that there is more than one hazard while sailing on life’s sea.

Peter warns the Christian about the possibility of falling away.  He says, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.  For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. It has happened to them according to the true proverb, ‘A dog returns to its own vomit,’ and, ‘A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire’” (2 Pet. 2:20-22).  Certainly, as John reminds us, we can live with blessed assurance (1 John 5:13), but that is not for those who put themselves in peril by doing what will certainly shipwreck their faith.

May we live the beautiful prayer of Edward Hopper: “Jesus, Savior, pilot me over life’s tempestuous sea; unknown waves before me roll, hiding rocks and treacherous shoal; Chart and compass came from Thee—Jesus, Savior, pilot me.”

CHANGING YOUR ORBIT

Neal Pollard

On September 16, 1991, the space shuttle Discovery dodged a chunk of a Soviet Cosmos rocket.  It came within 10 miles of the van-sized debris.  If Discovery had not changed its orbit, it would have been so close a call that it would have been yet another tragedy for our then active space program.  Mission commander John Creighton said it was “very simple” to maneuver, but absolutely vital to ensure the crew’s survival.

When I mention “conversion” in a spiritual context, what do you think about? Following his mention of Elijah’s exemplary prayer life, James ends with a big dose of encouragement.  James uses the word translated “convert” or “bring back.” It is an active word, meaning we cause one to change his or her belief or course of conduct, with a focus on that one then turning in the right direction.  The end result, conversion, is the state of their having done that.

To me, it is a blessing to see somebody back in attendance and being involved after they have been away from the Lord and His church.  It would be better for a brother or sister to never fall away, but it is definitely a joy to see one have the determination and courage to come back home.

Doesn’t heaven view it the same way? Jesus says in one of the “lost parables,” “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Luke 15:7).  In conversion, one is changing what their life is orbiting.  It is no longer sin and self, but God.  What a blessing to see someone go from a path of destruction to the way of life! May this perspective drive our actions in reaching out to our “erring brethren.”

Selling What You Don’t Own

Neal Pollard

One of the more ingenious and amusing entrepreneurial moves I’ve ever heard is the company that offers to sell you a star.  For a price, you can buy a star and name it for a loved one.  The company will send you a gift pack along with registering the star in the name of the one you, the buyer, designate.  I have never been able to figure out how that company earned the right to sell something no one will ever visit, hold, or otherwise show tangible ownership of.

When I think about some of the new, strange religious ideas along with some long held, established ones, it reminds me of the folks selling the stars.  Preachers and whole denominations offer salvation on their own terms, altering and subtracting from the Lord’s established will as if salvation was theirs to offer.  They urge people to pray a prayer or accept Christ in their hearts, guaranteeing them salvation by so doing.  Or they tell a seeker that the Holy Spirit will irresistibly come upon them, filling them and by so doing indicate an experience of grace.  Or they urge parents to sprinkle their babies, saving them from what they call inherited sin.  The problem in all these scenarios is that people are offering what is not theirs to give.  Christ has already established the plan that saves the lost person—hearing the gospel (Rom. 10:17), believing it (Rom. 10:10), repenting of sins (Rom. 2:4; 6:17-18), confessing Christ (Rom. 10:10), and being buried in water in order to enjoy the new life in Christ (Rom. 6:1-4).

The same things occurs with worship.  People claim to stand in the place of Christ and tell others what is and is not acceptable to God.  They propose changes in who can lead in worship (cf. 1 Tim. 2:11-12), how worship music is to be done (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16), and when the Lord’s Supper can be taken (1 Cor. 11:23-26; Acts 20:7).  Some would say that dance, weightlifting, incense-burning, drama, and the like are acts of worship God will accept, though they do so without a scintilla of appeal to the New Testament.

When it comes to the will of God, He has exclusive rights over that.  Christ does not share His authority with anyone (Mat. 28:18).  He makes the rules and determines right and wrong.  Beware of anyone who is selling anything else (cf. 2 Cor. 2:17).

“Freedom Is Not A Luxury. It Is A Necessity”

Neal Pollard

Earlier today, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spoke to a joint-session of the United States Congress. It was an impassioned plea, from beginning to end, as he spoke in his broken English about the trials his people have endured for many months now.  He gave poignant examples of brave men who were killed for their courageous stand against ruthless enemies.  One of his imploring calls for help invoked our own past path as a nation and our pursuit of liberty.  It was about then that he exclaimed, “Freedom is not a luxury. It is a necessity!”

Poroshenko was speaking not of the Ukrainians but of the Russian people, who he believed had been fed the idea that freedom is a luxury that they should not necessarily expect to enjoy.  He rebutted such a view.  We have such a hard time in our nation comprehending life in a land where freedom is such an elusive commodity. But, for those people, it is a daily battle!

In the spiritual sense, this stated idea is most true and important. Sin is a horrible dictator and master, brutalizing and bringing death to those who are under its power. Eternity is in the balance for us.  Will we leave this life as free men and women or as slaves?  What makes this so much more paramount is that it is harder to discern spiritual bondage than physical bondage.  We may think ourselves perfectly free all while toiling in the chains of darkness!

Paul made his own impassioned plea to the saints at Galatia.  He wrote them, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (5:1).  Can you imagine a nation or even an individual who had endured torture and seen loved ones murdered now enjoying the rights and privileges of freedom but volunteering to return to that former way of life?  It is unthinkable, unless we speak in the spiritual sense.  People continue to run toward and embrace the enslaver of souls.  To any one, we would implore, “Freedom is not a luxury. It is a necessity!”

What The Blood Of Christ Meant

Neal Pollard

  • To Christ, an expression of love (John 15:13)
  • To God, an appeasement of His wrath (Rom. 5:9).
  • To the Devil, the scribes, and Pharisees, a sign of their supposed victory (Heb. 2:14; John 19:6ff).
  • To the mob, apparent weakness (Mat. 27:42).
  • To the disciples, seeming defeat (John 21:3).
  • To those who lived rebelliously, nothing (1 Cor. 1:17).
  • To those who died in disobedience, an essential but missing element (cf. John 6:53).
  • To those who lived obediently, atonement (Eph. 1:7).
  • To those who died having walked in the light, everything (1 Jn. 1:7).

Untold millions are unaware of the value of the blood of Jesus. You and I must decide what the blood of Jesus means to us. Interestingly, in four different ways, the Bible tells us that what the blood does for us we obtain the benefit of through baptism.
—The blood of Christ sanctifies (Heb. 13:12). We are sanctified by baptism (Eph. 5:25-27).
—The blood of Christ washes away sins (Rev. 1:5-6). Sins are washed away at baptism (Acts 22:16).
—The blood of Christ remits sins (Mat. 26:28). Sins are remitted through baptism (Acts 2:38).
—Jesus shed His blood in His death (John 19:34). We contact the dead of Jesus at baptism (Romans 6:3-4).
The Bible makes clear not just what the blood of Christ means to our souls, but also how we get the benefit of that blood. May we do what God says do to receive the benefits of Jesus’ blood and continue to walk in the light of Christ in order to have that blood continually cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:7).

Have We Misunderstood Grace?

Neal Pollard

Perhaps the subject of grace has been neglected in some pulpits and congregations.  Undoubtedly, it has been misunderstood and improperly taught since the first century (cf. Rom. 6:1; Gal. 5:4).  It is vital to properly emphasize and explain such a huge concept within the gospel message.  Why? Because of what it is—the completely free and undeserved expression of God’s lovingkindness and favor toward mankind, because of what it does—brings salvation (Ti. 2:11; Eph. 2:5) and comfort and hope (2 Th. 2:16), and because of what it cost to make available (2 Co. 8:9; Heb. 2:9).  Perhaps some try to restrict God’s grace, making the requirements of Christ more stringent than Scripture teaches.  If we forbid what God permits, we are distorting grace.

However, our age tends toward the other extreme.  Far more try to make God’s grace extend further than Scripture teaches.  This is not novel to our times.  From the time of the early church, some apparently wanted to make God’s grace embrace things it simply does not cover.  Jude contended against some who attempted to have grace cover excessive indulgence in sensual pleasure (Jude 4). By leaving Christ’s grace for another gospel, teachers contradicting the gospel message distort not just the gospel but also grace (Gal. 1:6-9).  Paul also contradicts the idea that continuing in sin, without repentance, is abiding in God’s grace (Rom. 6:1).  Passages like these serve as a warning not to make God’s grace cover what it simply will not.

Grace will not cover willful disobedience, a refusal to repent, a lifestyle or habit, or relationship that violates the expressed will of God.  Some in adulterous marriages defend the relationship, trying to hide behind grace. Some feed addictions, sure that God’s grace will sweep away the guilt of it.  Some refuse to follow God’s plain plan of salvation, claiming that they will ultimately be saved by grace on the day of judgment.  Such ideas and claims are tragic misunderstandings and ignorance of revealed truth.  The source of grace is Divine.  So are the explanation and terms of it.  Paul’s teaching is definitive when he says, “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom. 6:2).  The life in Christ is a new life (Rom. 6:4), a life characterized by turning away from sin, lust, and unrighteousness (Rom. 6:12-13).

Let us never restrict God’s grace.  By the same token, let us never redefine it—especially to excuse or validate a lifestyle of sin.  How that disgraces and cheapens the act that brought grace, Jesus’ painful sacrifice.  May each of us grow in knowledge and appreciation of this great Bible doctrine!

Chris Greicius

Chris, less than a week before he died.

Neal Pollard

Make A Wish Foundation has granted 310,000 wishes worldwide with the help of 30,000 volunteers in 49 countries as well as numerous, generous donors.  Very often, the wishes are granted to children with life-threatening conditions.  This is appropriate since this is the genesis of the now highly-successful collection of nonprofit organizations which grants a wish to a child an average of once every 38 minutes.

But it began in 1980 with a 7-year-old boy named Chris Greicius.  He wanted to “catch bad guys.”  His mom, Linda, was friends with a U.S. Customs Agent’s wife in Arizona.  Several individuals were able to solicit help, pull strings, and get Chris a police uniform in his size and a helicopter ride to tour the Arizona Department of Safety facilities. Four days later, Chris dies.  But he dies a happy little boy, and several people allow his dream to come true (info via wish.org).

Perhaps the most beautiful part of this touching story is the powerful impact for good that follows when people work together, selflessly, for a common cause.  When no one is looking for credit but everyone devotes their energy to a good and noble cause, who knows to what extent it can grow?  God’s people have that power, and David proclaims it, saying, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1).  “Good” depicts the action and “pleasant” demonstrates the effect of it.

The function of evangelism campaigns, workshops and lectureships, mass mail outs, organized home Bible studies, friendship evangelism, Vacation Bible Schools, and the like can be the saving of souls.  When we see our congregational events and activities as opportunities to work together to reach the lost, beautiful results follow!  Heaven’s heart is touched by the earthly efforts of Christians to seek and save them (cf. Luke 19:10).  Who knows what profound, positive things follow the conversion of even a single soul?  So, let’s find ways to work with our Christian family to save souls from death (cf. Jas. 5:20)!

DID CLAIRE DAVIS’ FATHER FORGIVE HER MURDERER?

Neal Pollard

Claire Davis’ father spoke at a memorial service honoring his daughter, an Arapahoe High School student shot by a classmate who was angry with his debate team coach.  In the course of his extremely emotional, but poignant talk, Michael Davis said, “My wife and I forgive Karl Pierson for what he did.  We would ask all of you here and all of you watching to forgive Karl Pierson. He didn’t know what he was doing” (http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_24829368/). This young man entered the school with a shotgun, 125 shells, a machete and three homemade bombs (ibid.).  He ended his own life.  Despite all these facts, Davis says that he forgives Pierson.  Is that possible?

Some say that this is not Mr. Davis’ right nor is he able to do so.  I disagree.  Mr. Davis says that he did and I have no reason to disbelieve him.  His forgiving Pierson cannot effect the young man’s eternal destiny.  He does not have the power to absolve or wash away Karl’s sins.  Only the blood of Christ can do that.  But Mr. Davis’ incredible, magnanimous step is not only possible, it is vital.  Taking the step to forgive someone who has sinned against us is a crucial part of healing our own hearts and preventing ourselves from spiritual struggles like bitterness, anger, hatred, malice, and vindictiveness.

A heart ready to forgive is something that must characterize the Christian, for sure.  He or she may be hurt or violated in some way by a person who is impenitent and brazen.  While the Bible does not suggest that we allow ourselves to be hurt and sinned against repeatedly and without recourse or protection, God’s child eagerly hopes for the best and stands ready to extend forgiveness to others.

Mr. Davis is to be admired for his gesture.  It will not bring his daughter or even that young man back from death, but it may be key to his own mending.  Many who have been sinned against and have stood ready to forgive have found this to be beneficial to themselves.

The Father in heaven will not forgive those who are not abiding faithfully in His Son, but who doubts that He stands ready to welcome the vilest sinner who truly comes to Him?  That disposition could not be more worthy of our adopting.  Even in tragedies like that involving Miss Davis we can be reminded of the power of forgiving!

PRODIGIES OR PRISONERS?

Neal Pollard

There is a video clip all over the internet showing five very young children playing an incredible piece, each with full-sized guitars.  Not only is it a complicated piece, “Our Kindergarten Teacher,” but their synchronized performance from the play to the choreography, is mind-boggling.  The children are from North Korea, leaving many to speculate whether this is a group of children with enormous desire and natural ability or a group of children playing for their and their parents’ lives.  The talent is rare and undeniable, but the hope is that this is born of choice and not coercion.

 

There have been people in nations and societies who have been brainwashed, blackmailed, bullied, and beaten to force their compliance in one way or another.  While such tactics may produce the results desired by those in positions of power, they usually control the body without winning the heart.  No child, spouse, employee, citizen, or other person wants to be made to do what they do or prevented from actions and behaviors without the exercise of their own free will.

 

While a Christian is one who has submitted to the will and Lordship of Christ, God has made this completely voluntary.  There are extreme consequences involved in not giving one’s life to Him and great reward for one who does, but He has made us with the freedom to choose.  Men and women have done tremendous acts of Christian service and have even made the ultimate sacrifice for Christ, but not as His prisoners without volition.  What sets Christianity apart from other religions is this very thing, that people love and revere Him so much that they are willing to lay down their lives for Him.  True Christianity is not based on one trying to earn salvation.  Paul says our salvation is “not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:9).  Christianity does not thrive and grow through guilt, manipulation, terror, or brute force.  Instead, this occurs when people truly get ahold of the depth of God’s love and the value of His sacrifice.  For those with good and honest hearts, this produces obedience and “good works” (Eph. 2:10).  Let us understand why we serve Him—not because we are pushed but because we are passionate to reciprocate His love!

The Three Survivors Of HMS Hood

Neal Pollard

On May 24, 1941, the fifth salvo of the German battleship Bismarck sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood. The hit split the ship in two and it sank in three minutes!  1,415 members of its crew perished.  But, three survived—William Dundass, Bob Tilburn, and Ted Briggs.  Dundass survived by kicking out a starboard side window and swimming away. The two other survivors praised him for helping keep them awake and alive as they awaited rescue. Tilburn was a gunner, spared by his gun’s splinter shield. But two fellow sailors at the post with him were killed and he witnessed this.  This horrible sight made Tilburn sick and he was leaning over the side of the ship when he saw it sinking.  This allowed him to wind up safely in the water and, after some harrowing entanglements with debris, he paddled over to the other two survivors.  Briggs, a signalman and only 18, was near the bridge when the ship began to roll.  He was sucked under but somehow propelled back up to the surface. He found a small raft—”biscuit float”—and was joined by the other two survivors on their floats. They were in the frigid waters of the Denmark Strait three hours before being rescued by a British destroyer (info via UK Telegraph, H.M.S. Hood Association, and wikipedia).

Death came violently and quickly for the overwhelming majority of the crew.  The three who did not die survived through a combination of skill, determination, and fortunate circumstances.  In the aftermath of surviving the sinking, they leaned on one another to live through it all.  It is profoundly sad that so many men lost their lives in this one action and intriguing that three were saved.

From the beginning of time, the Bible has revealed that the overwhelming majority are going to be lost.  Jesus teaches that few will find eternal life (Mat. 7:13-14).  We see this principle of “few” in Noah’s days (Gen. 6-8), in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19), among the nation of Israel (2 Ki. 17; 2 Chr. 36), and the idea is conveyed by Jesus’ teaching about the end of time.  In our case, we are looking to help others survive.  We should not only be concerned with our own survival, but look for anyone else we can reach!  We may not be able to save many, but our work is to help anyone we can (cf. Mat. 28:19-20)!

Are There Diamonds In Antarctica?

Neal Pollard

With the recent discovery of kimberlite on the east coast of Antarctica around Mount Meredith in the Prince Charles Mountains, there is considerable talk that much more may lay beneath the ice and cold at the south pole.  Kimberlite is a type of rock known to contain diamonds, named for Kimberly, South Africa, which lays not far to the north.  It is a rare rock, and the discovery of it in Kimberly led to a 19th-century diamond rush.

Despite the promise and prospect of diamonds in Antarctica, there will not likely be an onslaught of prospectors there.  There is the forbidding cold, isolation, and winter darkness, the meticulous restrictions forged by environmentalists, and how difficult it is to travel there.  For now, it is an interesting discovery.  Whether or not there will be diamond mining there in the future, time will tell (Alister Doyle, Reuters, 12/18/13).

Is it possible that an even bigger treasure is buried, not beneath ice or international treaties, but rather mounds of fear, indifference, and the like?  Paul says “we have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Co. 4:7).  The treasure is the message of salvation through Christ (cf. 2 Co. 4:2-6) and we are the earthen vessels.  God gets this treasure to the world through us.  But, far too many of us are burying this treasure like one man did in the parable of the talents (Mat. 25:25).  In a similar parable in Luke, a man hides his mina in a handkerchief (19:20).  In both parables, the application is the same.  God does not want us to keep this treasure hidden and inaccessible.

The soul-saving message of grace should not be buried.  We should not keep it in isolation, be cold or forbidding in any way.  God wants every person to have access to this treasure (1 Ti. 2:4), and He is counting on us to share it!

PLAGUE IN MADAGASCAR

Neal Pollard

It is hard to believe that bubonic plague could be a problem in any country in the 21st Century, but that is exactly the case in the African nation of Madagascar.  Helped mainly by extreme unsanitary conditions in that nation’s prisons, 20 people died from the plague there just in the first week of December. There were 256 cases and 60 deaths in 2012, and while that is nothing to compare to the 25 million deaths in Europe during the Middle Ages it is alarming.  Since inmates’ relatives visit those detained, the disease can leap the walls of confinement and become an epidemic throughout the impoverished country bereft of a good, organized public health system. Though 90% of the world’s plague cases have occurred in Madagascar and the D.R.C., there have been outbreaks in India, Indonesia and Algeria in the last decade or so and this summer Kyrgyzstan had its first plague case (and death) in 30 years.  While it seems like ancient history, the last global pandemic occurred just over 100 years ago ( (BBC Scotland, BBC Africa; Quartz).

Read any medieval chronicles of the black death and they seem like horror stories, compounded in those days by the people’s ignorance concerning how the disease spread.  But what was obvious was how swift, painful, and fatal it was.  The resilience of the disease is demonstrated in the fact that it can still be a story today, despite the development of antibiotics and sophisticated means of detecting and preventing it.

Sin is a spiritual disease that cannot be contained by geographical boundaries, technology, medicine, education, or any such potential preventative.  While its effects impact the unseen part of a person, its threat is eternally more great.  People who die with it untreated are lost forever.  There are ways to cope with the symptoms, but there is only one cure.  It is universally accessible and no one who seeks treatment will fail to have the cure.  If we can fathom ourselves, as Christians, and relay to the lost how terrible the sickness of sin really is, we will reach more people and lives will be saved!  Of all the Bible passages that speak of the matter, perhaps none is more impassioned than Paul’s words to Rome as he says, “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 7:22-8:1).

72 Hours And 100 Feet

Neal Pollard

By now, many have heard the incredible story of Harrison Odjegba Okene, the Nigerian cook whose incredible survival and rescue from the tugboat where he served as cook has been made public. He was actually rescued near the end of May, 2013, but video of the rescue has just recently hit the internet.  Okene rose early on the morning of May 26 at about 4:30 A.M. and was in the toilet when the tugboat keeled over and sank, eventually drowning the 10 Nigerian crew members and Ukrainian captain.  Okene groped in the dark until he found a cabin where there was an air pocket.  He spent the next three days, certain no one would look for or could find the small boat but still praying, reciting psalms his wife sent to him each day, and reflecting on his entire life.  His rescue, by a Dutch diving crew who happened to be working at an oil rig 75 miles away, was as much a shock to divers—considering this strictly a recovery effort— as it was to him, but disbelief quickly gave way to joy.  In a space of about four square feet, 100 feet from the surface of the vast Atlantic Ocean, Harrison Odjegba Okene, lived to tell this incredible tale (http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/12/04/man-survives-60-hours-at-bottom-atlantic-rescued-after-finding-air-pocket-in/).

There will likely never be a story of rescue more incredible than this unless we are thinking in spiritual terms.  From that perspective, each person who is saved by God is an incredible, unlikely rescue.  In a world of darkness, each of us finds ourselves groping along and heading toward almost certain spiritual death.  Most will not make it through “alive” (Eph. 2:1).  Yet, Paul speaks of (Col. 1:13) and Peter implies (2 Pe. 2:7) a heavenly rescue mission.  The difference between our story and that of Okene is that we can choose to be rescued or, as most do, elect to perish.  It should humble us and strike us with awe that we have had access to His saving plan and that we can submit to it and be saved.  Most incredible is the length to which God was willing to go and the price He was willing to pay to find us and save us.  May I suggest that salvation from sin is a bigger story than surviving in a capsized, tiny boat for 72 hours 100 feet deep? One forestalls physical death for a time, but the other eliminates spiritual death for eternity!