Tag: salvation

A GLOBAL EPIDEMIC

Neal Pollard

MERS is the latest pathogen to seize the world’s attention, and this middle-eastern sprung virus, having a 30% mortality rate, is cause for some concern.  Yet, it is the latest in a long line of alarming diseases that have struck fear in people—AIDs, Asian Flu, Spanish Flu, smallpox, bubonic plague, and leprosy, just to name a few.  Whether the horrific presentation, swift action, or painfulness of these conditions, just the names of these diseases raise the shudders of those informed about how deadly they are.  An ailment that commonly brings about mortality gets our attention.

Sin, however, often does its work on the individual without the dramatic presentation and many times in a way that feels painless to the “sufferer” until it is too late.  But, nothing is deadlier or more serious.  That is why God made it a prominent subject in the only book He ever wrote.  He identifies it in its every form, reveals the symptoms, warns of the potentially deadliness of it, and provides the cure.

The majority do not recognize it for what it is, they incorrectly identify it, offer the wrong cures for it, and a great many just ignore what it is doing to them.  They call it by other names, thinking that by doing that they are eradicating it from themselves.  While that may numb them through this life, it will not serve them well in eternity.

Variously, the Bible says “sin is exceedingly grave” (Gen. 18:20), “sin is unhealthy” (Psa. 38:3), “sin is a disgrace” (Prov. 14:34), “sin brings guilt” (Mark 3:29), “sin brings spiritual death” (Rom. 6:23; Jas. 1:15), “sin enslaves” (Rom. 7:14,23), “sin is deceitful” (Heb. 3:13), “sin entangles” (Heb. 12:1), “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4), “sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8), and “sin is unrighteousness” (1 John 5:17).  Yet, despite this, we know “fools mock at sin” (Prov. 14:9).  A vicious disease is at work in them and, unresolved and untreated, it will lead them to eternal pain, but because it afflicts the unseen part of a person they cannot see the damage to their souls.  They often see its effects in their own lives and in others’.

That’s where Christians come in, Physician’s assistants for the Great Healer.  We are to get healing to as many as are willing to take the cure.  We may be treated hostilely by some of those eternally ill, but we must risk sharing it for their good.  We face a terrible epidemic but we have a cure that is 100% effective when properly applied!

Avalanche Season

Neal Pollard

They are calling it an historic avalanche season in Colorado.  With snowpack at well over 100% due to massive amounts of mountain snowfall, conditions are prime for avalanches to breakout all over the backcountry. Already, six have died in avalanches this winter.  In fact, there have been three deadly slides just in the past week.  Warnings continue to come in from The Colorado Avalanche Information Center about dangerous conditions following two weeks of heavy snow.  Others have escaped death, but have harrowing tales of survival and, in some cases, broken bones.  Avalanches travel at the rate of a speeding car and hit with the force of a freight train. Typically, those buried in an avalanche lie beneath a ton of snow and the most common killer is either suffocation or blunt force trauma.  The head of the CAIF says the three most important tools are the beacon, probe, and shovel. The first is worn by the potential victim, while the other two are used by the rescuer.  Though these events can happen and be over in a matter of seconds, they can bring permanent consequences (information via FoxNews and Time’s Science And Space).

How often do we face overwhelming circumstances which we might liken to an avalanche?  They happen suddenly and seriously, and the aftermath can feel almost suffocating.  Though with different images, Bible writers speak of the feeling of burdens and sins being heavy and over their head (Ps. 38:4; Lam. 3:54).  David says similar things about trouble (Ps. 119:143) and iniquity (Ps. 40:12) overtaking him so that he cannot look up.  Maybe you can relate to such feelings, whether brought on by the guilt of sin or the difficulties of life. Both can threaten to bury us.  These things have even led to spiritual death.

May I suggest that we need the same three tools for our spiritual escape.  We have a beacon (Ps. 119:105), yet it also serves as a probe (Heb. 4:12) and a shovel (cf. Ps. 107:20; 147:16ff).  He also blesses us through prayer and providence.  Through all He does, God provides us a way of escape (1 Co. 10:13)!   We can survive, even in those times when problems crowd into our lives and threaten to bury us!  God is greater and stronger.  When swept up, hold on! Help is on the way.

The Blood of Christ

Neal Pollard

The topic above should cause one’s mind to focus on some precise areas. Naturally, the blood of Christ implies thoughts of the “incarnation” of Christ (that Christ took on the form of man, while all God, and thus had blood coursing through His veins; Philippians 2:8). The blood of Christ further induces from one’s thoughts the atonement Christ made for all mankind through the shedding of His blood on the cross (cf. Hebrews 9:12-14). The blood of Christ also elicits reflection upon the suffering and death of the sinless man from Nazareth (1 Peter 2:24). And on one might reflect.

The phrase, the blood of Christ, appears verbatim in the New Testament in four verses. With each reference one finds important lessons about the function and significance of His blood. Christ’s blood is central in the Father’s plan of salvation and life within His favor. What does the blood of Christ bring to needy man?

The Blood of Christ Brings Redemption (1 Peter 1:19)
In 1 Peter 1, one sees the inspired apostle speaking to persecuted (1), predestined (2), purified (2), and pliant (2) people of God. What would cause a Christian to suffer wrong for doing right? What would cause a Christian to search out from the Scriptures the term of election, accept the terms of pardon, and follow the terms of Christian living? Simply, an understanding of redemption.

Perhaps the verse most loved and quoted is John 3:16. Yet, so be known and familiar, this verse is sorely misunderstood and under applied. Jesus, the speaker of the words recorded in this verse, foretells the act of redemption. With His divine foreknowledge, Christ understood that the gift of the Father’s only begotten Son (Himself) meant the shedding of His blood at Calvary. The purpose of that shed blood, He knew, was to redeem the lost race of man from the power and hopelessness of sin. Paul says, “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4,5). By inspiration, Paul reinforces this with Titus (Titus 2:14).

The Blood of Christ Brings Removal (Hebrews 9:14)

The King James Version uses, in this verse, the word “purge” in translating the effect of the blood of Christ upon the conscience of one to whom that blood is applied. Purge means “to purify, especially of sin, guilt, or defilement” (The American Heritage Concise Dictionary, 1994). Thayer shows the original word translated “purge” in this verse means “free from the guilt of sin” (The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, 312). Clearly, the Spirit-guided writer of Hebrews speaks of the effect of the applied blood of the Savior. The audience of Hebrews, of which modern man is a part, needs some agent to remove the guilt of sin (dead works) from their lives. The blood of Christ is that agent. For the agent to be effective (to do the job as it was intended to do), one must come in contact with it. Where does one come in contact with the blood?

Jesus shed His blood when He died (John 19:34). Paul writes “that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death” (Romans 6:3). One cannot literally go over to Jerusalem to a hill called Mt. Calvary and find the man Jesus bleeding to death on a cross. Furthermore, because one cannot do this, one cannot in some literal way reach up to Him and take some of His shed blood and apply it to himself. Thus, there is no literal, physical way for today’s man or woman to contact the actual, shed blood of our Lord.

Yet, Revelation 1:5 reveals that Christ, on His cross, washed us from our sins in His shed blood. God would not allow His Son to shed His life-blood and then provide no means for mankind to contact that blood in some way. And, there is a way and only one way. In identifi[cal] terminology, Acts 22:16 says that baptism washes away sins. In summation, Christ shed His blood in His death. We are buried with Christ in baptism. Christ washed our sins with His blood. We wash away our sins in the act of baptism. The blood of Christ and baptism, inseparably joined, remove the sins of those who recognize and submit to the authority of Christ in being baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21).

The Blood of Christ Brings Return (Ephesians 2:13)
At the creation of man, there was no need for means whereby man could return to a right relationship with Jehovah. The idea in Ephesians 2 that, specifically here, the Gentiles were “far off” implies the need to return. How could they come back to God? Paul stresses the fact that Christ’s blood was the only means whereby reconciliation could be made. Thus, Paul penned the glorious fact that Christ “made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself” (Colossians 1:20). As if an inseparable gulf was crossed by Adam and Even through their sinning at Eden, that gap of sin separated man from God (cf. Isaiah 59:1, 2; Note: This is not to suggest that all inherit Adam’s sin – the false idea of Hereditary Depravity – but rather that through Adam sin entered the world, Romans 5:17; and, consequently, all have sinned, Romans 3:23). Not with acts of goodness or meritorious works could man ever earn his salvation (Titus 3:5). Yet, there are conditions that God expects man to meet in order to have past sins forgiven and the restoration of a right relationship with the Father (Titus 2:12; Hebrews 5:9; Ephesians 2:8). By shedding His blood, Christ paved a road of return (i.e., the “narrow road” of Matthew 7:13, 13) to take us back to God. There was no access before and without Him and after sin was in the world (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5; John 14:6). How did Christ affect this return with His blood?

He took the first, old covenant God made with Moses and Israel out of the way by dying on the cross (Ephesians 2:12, 14-15). He placed all believers in the faith into one body [the church] (Ephesians 2:14, 15, 16; 4:4). He provided the message of reconciliation in commissioning the preached word to all men (Ephesians 2:17; Acts 1:8). He opened the avenue of prayer by His death on the cross, encouraging petitioning the Father to enhance our relationship with Him (Ephesians 2:18). He sets aside a place in the Kingdom [the church] for all the faithful obedient into which all spiritual blessings flow (Ephesians 2:19-22; 1:3; Matthew 16:18-19). To all who obey the commandments of God relative to entrance into His church, reconciliation and return to God are provided.

The Blood of Christ Brings Remembrance (1 Corinthians 10:16)

As Eden shows the importance God stressed in mankind before the cross to anticipate that great event, this verse shows the importance God stresses in mankind after the cross remembering it. Those washed in the blood of Christ, contacted in baptism, are added to the church (Acts 2:41-47). Therein, those added (Christians) are governed by the Word of God in worship and conduct. A vital part of New Testament worship is the weekly participation in the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7). Why has God authorized that Christians do so, and with such frequency?

The answer is “communion.” In connection with the Lord’s Supper, this word is translated “communion” only once in the New Testament. Yet, the original word from which it is translated is koinonia, among the most recognized of all Greek words even among those who have little knowledge of that language. Most often, koinonia is translated as “fellowship.” “Fellowship” is also employed by the inspired New Testament writers to make reference to the “Memorial Feast.” The apostles and early Christians continued steadfastly in the fellowship of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42). The fellowship of the Lord’s Supper was not to be defiled by the presence of idolatry at Corinth (1 Corinthians 10:20), but rather the communion was to be exclusively with the Lord.

In 1 Corinthians 10:16, Paul stresses that there is communion. That fellowship is with the blood of Christ, which suggests a multitude of things. First, the blood of Christ places one into the one body (the church – Colossians 1:18; Acts 20:28). Therefore, the fellowship of the Lord’s Supper involves corporate (collective) activity. Together, children of God are drawn closer to one another remembering the Savior whose blood purchased them from sin. This communion, then, is a means of expressing encouragement and thanksgiving together as the redeemed. The Lord’s Supper cannot, then, have significance to those not members of the body as there is no celebration and fellowship with Christians. Also, the Lord’s Supper provides a communion between the individual Christian and his Lord. Thus, Paul instructs each to “examine himself” (1 Corinthians 11:28). None other can obey the command of self-examination and remembrance for another in the Lord’s Supper or in any spiritual matter. Yet, the Lord’s Supper is special because of both the sharing with others and the individual responsibility. As an institution, the Lord’s Supper is, in both regards, a crucial means whereby Christians remember the sacrifice, suffering, and death of Christ in shedding His blood on the tree.

The blood of Christ purchased man’s pardon (1 Peter 1:19). The blood of Christ purges man’s conscience (Hebrews 9:14). The blood of Christ propels man closer to God (Ephesians 2:13). The blood of Christ provides recollection of atonement (1 Corinthians 10:16). His blood was important in prophesy (Isaiah 53:3-5). His blood was important [physically] (John 19:34). His blood is important in perusal (Matthew 26:28; 1 Corinthians 11:28).

Is Your Life “Award Winning”?

Neal Pollard

CBS News reports on 19-year-old Chris Strickland, a very ordinary young man who seems unaware of how heroic his split-second action was. In his first job, Chris, working at a Home Depot in Anchorage, Alaska, happened to turn around and face a shopping cart at the moment an unattended baby fell out of a baby seat sitting atop it.  Store surveillance video captures the whole thing, as Strickland rushes over and reaches out to catch the falling infant.  For this simple, profoundly important act, Strickland will receive the Home Depot Angel Award, “reserved for those who perform exceptional acts of heroism” (via http://www.cbsnews.com/news/quick-thinking-home-depot-employee-saves-falling-baby/).

If all goes well, some day that baby will grow up, maybe get married and have children, and, optimists might say, do some great thing—become president, save an entire burning building full of people, or, better yet, become a faithful Christian responsible for scores of folks getting to heaven.  No matter what happens with the child, it will not diminish the heroism of this young man who, at the right place and right time, chose to save another human being and one literally helpless.

In 2 Timothy 4:8, Paul speaks of Christ giving an unequaled reward on the Judgment Day.  It will be for those heros and heroines who loved His coming and appearance, who fought, finished, and kept the faith (7).  In a parable about the Judgment, Jesus speaks of the award winning “sheep” who will enter heaven.  What did they do?  Cared for those who had needs.  James 1:12 speaks of a reward Christ will personally give to those who persevere under trial.

You didn’t consider yourself a “hero,” did you?  Passages like those above speak of how ordinary folks like us can receive the highest honor of all time and eternity.  How?  By faithful endurance, service, and response to Jesus, the Lord!  Congratulations!

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!

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!

 

Only In God Is Rest

The governing hand of God

Traversing the universe wide

Can calm the wildest storms abroad

While standing by my side!

The discerning Eye in heavenly portals

Who watches all by day and night

Can see the trials of us mere mortals

Viewing His creatures with encompassing sight

The swelling heart of our Heavenly Monarch

Reigning with His powerful Arm

Will lead His children from the dark

And protect us from the threat of harm

Why would one search for any safety

In another port or fortress?

The Heavenly Father faithfully

Makes and offers and gives us rest!

What If He Wanted YOU Hung There?

Neal Pollard

What would happen if God changed the “plan of salvation” in this dramatic way? What if the voice of God parted the skies and spoke a new revelation to us, saying, “If you are crucified on a cross for your sins, you will be eternally saved!” Would you do it? Assuming that every human living heard and understood His mighty voice, don’t you suppose countless millions would line up to fulfill this requirement?

The Bible says with Divine credibility that death on the cross was absolutely necessary for the saving of mankind. Many may scoff at that, but that truth must be believed. Yet, no one could save himself by dying on a cross for his own sins. God would reject that sacrifice! Such a sacrifice is blemished and flawed by the filth and disease of sin. The only spotless and unblemished sacrifice that could ever be offered was Jesus (1 Pet. 1:18), who condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. 8:3) and “put away sin by the sacrificing of himself” (Heb. 9:26). He was “once offered to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:28) upon the cross.

If Christ had taken the mockers’ challenge to come down from the cross to prove His deity (Mk. 15:32), all mankind would have lost all hope of heaven. He endured the shame and pain of Calvary (Heb. 12:2) to make heaven possible for all who obey Him (Heb. 5:9).

Now, consider this. Through the Bible, the voice of God rings out, demanding that we figuratively crucify our desires and lives on Jesus’ cross through sincere obedience (Gal. 2:20). He tells us to obey the Sacrificial Lamb, Jesus, in order to have sins forgiven (Rom. 6:17). No one has to die the death of a thousand deaths, nailed to a literal cross, to be saved. No one could! But if we come to the One who did so die, we can avoid the only fate that is worse than crucifixion (see Rev. 14:10-11)!

God does not call you to get up on a cross for your sins. He calls you to take up the cross of self-denial, following Him (Mt. 16:24). In this way, may we crucify ourselves!

COMIC-CON’s Courageous Conquerors

Neal Pollard

Since 1970, San Diego has been home to a Comic Book convention that has grown to international renown and is patronized by over 100,000 people per year.  This is where your comic book aficionados, sci-fi fans, and the like congregate to celebrate imaginary heroes from the entertainment world.  From Spider Man to Spock, these fictional characters are honored by attendees who dress, act, and talk like them.  It matters little if the patrons are 5’6″ and 300 pounds.  It’s a place and time to pretend.

This year, three stuntmen promoting an upcoming movie heard the screams of onlookers as a drunk, jilted woman had climbed outside the railing of the balcony of her fourteenth story apartment.  In her inebriated, distraught state, she intended to take her life.  The stuntmen sprang into action, scaling a fence and then racing up to her apartment, before stealthily racing out to stop her from what seemed to be an imminent jump.  They had been trained for lifesaving operations, but they typically used those skills for entertaining moviegoers (via http://www.abcnews.com).

When I heard about this, I thought about the wonderful opportunities you and I have, week after week, to assemble and study God’s Word together.  Added to that, hopefully, is daily time spent by each of us in the Bible in personal devotion.  While this time and effort is meant to spiritually strengthen and protect us, it is also training for the work we have to do as Christians.  If we are not intentional, however, we can find ourselves in some ways resembling New Testament Christians without doing the heroic things they did.  Or, we can undergo that continuous spiritual training without putting it into practical use to save those who relatively soon will head into eternity.  God needs us mustering the courage and conviction to put what we know into practice in order to save those in desperate need of rescue.  What will we do this week to reach out and help someone in need of Jesus?  Doing nothing, as a matter of practice, makes us, at best, pretenders.  Seeking to save the lost makes us heroes on an unparalleled magnitude!  May we so strive.

Curing Gray Hair?

Neal Pollard

As one who has been possessed of gray hair since college, I was particularly intrigued by the article I ran across from Popular Science.  A cream developed for a skin condition called “vitiligo” helped to restore lost pigment in the skin of some of those suffering from it.  Researchers believe it might do the same thing for those with gray hair. The theory is that those with gray hair have too much hydrogen peroxide in their hair follicles and shafts. They believe this cream could reduce that and restore a person’s natural hair color (via FASEB Journal, http://www.fasebj.org).

Reversing gray hair, restoring bald hair, shedding those extra, stubborn pounds, and similar ambitions appeal to our vanity, but they are not necessary for our souls.  Millions try product after product to address such perceived needs, willing to spend money and make sacrifices in such pursuits.  After all, we want to do what we can to look our best.

Yet, the greatest need of every generation has a 100% success rate for every one who has ever obtained it.  It goes beyond skin deep.  It reaches to the soul.  It may not change the outward appearance, but it renews the inner person (2 Cor. 4:16ff).

It is baffling that so many more do not move heaven and earth to address this true need.  Many are unaware they suffer from it.  So many more are in denial.  Still others are not dedicated to doing what it takes to have it.  The reasons are varied, but the majority do not want this cure.

Jesus’ blood.  It cost Him His life to make it available (John 19:34).  But, it is the unfailing cure (Eph. 2:13; Heb. 13:12; 1 Jn. 1:7; etc.).  Long after these bodies have decayed and disappeared in the ground, it will be working for us.  It has an eternal guarantee.  You cannot beat that, but you definitely must have it!  If you would like to know how to obtain this cure, read more about it here.

VACCINATION

Neal Pollard

Despite the work of some special interest groups trying to expose the health risks to children who get vaccinated, there has historically been inestimable value derived from them.  Perhaps no incident proves this better than the deadly, debilitating outbreaks of polio in the 20th Century.  Starting early in the 1900s, polio cases turned into outbreaks. In 1916, 9000 cases were reported in New York City alone.  Even a U.S. president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, contracted it as a young man. Physicians raced to find remedies, treatments, and preventatives.  The “March of Dimes” was created to fight Infantile Paralysis due to polio.  The Mayo Clinic got involved around the time the U.S. was drawn into World War II, which distracted America’s best medical researchers with military-related projects. In the last five years of the 1940s, there was an average of 20,000 new cases of polio per year.  It is hard for most of us alive today to remember the panic and fear struck by this mysterious malady. Then, Jonas Salk develops the first successful vaccine around 1950.  Albert Sabin eventually develops an even more effective vaccine. By 1964, there were only 121 cases in this country.  By 1994, the World Health Organization certified the entire western hemisphere as “polio free” (much information via timeline at http://users.cloudnet.com/edrbsass/poliotimeline.htm).

 It would be hard to imagine parents who knew of other infected children not rushing to take steps to protect their own.  For that matter, they would surely move to prevent their own infection.  Whatever perceived risk or sacrifice, the risk of doing nothing was surely, universally seen as worse.  

 To call sin an epidemic is to grossly understate.  Beyond even pandemic proportions, this spiritual malady is universal.  Every accountable person has the problem (Rom. 3:10,23; 1 Jn. 5:19).  The effect is spiritually fatal in 100% of untreated cases (Rom. 6:23).  Yet, it is an affliction mankind always chooses to contract.

 No words can adequately describe the love, mercy, grace, and compassion that drove God to supply the cure.  While it came at an incomparably high price (cf. Jn. 3:16), it is 100% effective in eradicating the effects of the malady.  That is, no one who ever obeyed from the heart God’s plan of salvation ever failed to receive what God promised–forgiveness (cf. Rom. 6:17; Ac. 2:38).  Can you imagine, then, that people every day and every week have the opportunity to be cured, but choose to refuse it.  May God give us courage and compassion to persist in making the cure available!

Not far from the kingdom

Neal Pollard

Jesus’ teaching was intensifying opposition from the Jewish religious community. In Mark 12:12, they sought to lay hands on Him. In Mark 12:13, they sought to catch Him in His words. The Pharisees and the Herodians started it, the Sadducees tried their hand, and then a scribe approached Him. In Elihu-fashion, he had been listening to the others interrogate Jesus and He decided to ask a plain, simple question. “Which is the first commandment of all?” (Mark 12:28). That was it. No silly scenarios. No disingenuous flattery belying sullied motives. It was a solid, serious, and substantial question. Jesus masterfully, straightforwardly answers the man, then he responds, “Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33). Jesus’ evaluation of the man is captured by the inspired Luke: “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34). What does that last statement suggest?

Improvement. It was a definite improvement over the other religionists represented on this occasion. It may have been an improvement over his attitude before he saw and heard Jesus handle these critics. That he was not far from the kingdom of God suggests progress. He was going the right direction.

Integrity. He had used no cunning and did not try to justify himself. The words hypocrisy and greatly mistaken tell Jesus’ attitude toward those others, but this exchange with the scribe seems marked by honesty and openness. He could see that true love was more crucial than the entire Old Testament sacrificial system. Jesus would prove that at the cross (cf. Gal. 2:20).

Insufficiency. As hopeful as this encounter was for the scribe, it closes with the man not far from the kingdom, yet not a part of it either. This is not to suggest that the man’s circumstance was hopeless. Certainly, with a heart like that, he could easily be imagined as one who obeyed the gospel when the apostles soon began preaching it. Yet, we must be reminded that “not far from the kingdom” is not enough for anyone today. The religiously sincere, the moral, the ethical, the honest, and the charitable have much to commend them, but none of those things alone suffice. Be grateful for those you meet who demonstrate these character traits, but let it propel you to try and persuade them of the gospel. If they are so honest-hearted, they will submit to Jesus’ will.

Swept Away, Enslaved Then Reunited

Neal Pollard

 

Seven years ago today, an 8-year-old girl was torn from her family by a violent tsunami wave that struck her hometown of Meulaboh, Indonesia.  She was recovered by a wicked woman “who called her Wati and forced her to beg, sometimes beating her and keeping her in the streets until 1 a.m.” (Fakhrurradzie Gade, AP, via Denver Post, 12/25/11, 14A).  When she stopped bringing money in to the woman, she told her to leave and find her parents.  She even told her the hometown from which she hailed.  Now a teenager, “Wati” had to draw on vague recollections to find her family.  She remembered her grandfather was named “Ibrahim,” and locals in Meulaboh took her to the man and ultimately to her parents.  They had long given up hope that she had survived.  230,000 people perished in that infamous tsunami, including tens of thousands in her province alone, but Meri Yuranda, Wati’s real name, was reunited with her overjoyed parents (ibid.).

Such reunions are, sadly, rare, but they are thrilling when they occur.  The imagination races with all the twists and turns of a seven year journey that began with a tidal wave and ended with a solemn, yet happy, rejoining.  That the girl would escape death and then survive an unhappy experience far from home is amazing enough.  That she would be resourceful and savvy enough to rediscover her family is almost unbelievable.

How it illustrates the terrible, spiritual circumstances facing the vast majority of this world.  Swept away and enslaved by sin (Eph. 4:14; Rom. 6:16-18), they find themselves in the cruel far country (cf. Lk. 15:13).  Too often, they never find their way to the Father.  However, when they do search for Him, they find Him (Ac. 17:27)!  It sets off a joyful celebration in the Father’s House (Lk. 15:25ff)!  The Father never ceases hoping and longing for the return of the wayward ones, but we must come back to Him.  What a happy ending is made when we are reunited with the loving, waiting Father!

“IS BAPTISM FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS?”

Neal Pollard

A very cordial and kind denominational preacher visited our church web site and had questions about the page teaching that baptism is essential.  He had two good questions about what we were teaching.  The first centered around why, if baptism is necessary, people filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts ten needed it.  He sought to reconcile this with Acts 2:38.  Second, he wondered about the thief on the cross and why he was saved without baptism.  How would you answer that?  No doubt many of you could do far better than I did, but here is what I said.
(1) Acts 2:38 and Acts 10:48.  I want you to notice that nowhere in Acts is anyone commanded to receive Holy Spirit baptism.  It is always mentioned as a promise, blessing or gift.  In the same context of Acts 2, Peter says, “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” (39).  In proper interpretation of scripture, one of the questions we must ask is, “To whom is the speaker or writer speaking?”  The answer here is, “To Jews” (see Acts 2:22).  Also, Jesus had told them to start in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and then the uttermost parts of the world (Acts 1:8-11).  The promise of Acts 2:39 is the receiving of the Holy Spirit.  The “you and your children” would most logically refer to Jews.  Who would “them that are afar off” reference?  Well, in New Testament terminology, there were only two groups-Jews and Gentiles.  Jesus intended for the gospel to go to the Jew first, but also to the Greek (i.e., Gentiles) (Rom. 1:16).  Cornelius is often cited as the first “Gentile convert.”  Why would the Holy Spirit come upon this Gentile household in Acts 10?  The context tells us.  The Jews are amazed because this gift of the Holy Spirit came on them ALSO (Acts 10:45-46).  After this occurs, Peter asks the logical question, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit the same as we have?” (Acts 10:47).  Incidentally, baptized was then commanded of them (Acts 10:48).  In Acts 11:14-15, Peter said they were told words whereby they should be saved.  Those words must have included instructions to be baptized.  You will notice that throughout Acts, baptism was part of the instructions for salvation (Acts 2:38,41; Acts 8:12-13; Acts 8:36-38; Acts 16:14-15; Acts 16:31-34; Acts 22:16).  Other books show us the role of baptism as part of God’s plan to redeem us (1 Peter 3:21; Romans 6:1-12; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13).

(2)     The thief on the cross.  We’ve got to remember that baptism is part of God’s plan under the new covenant.  There can not be a change of the testament without the death of the testator (i.e., the one who creates a will)(Hebrews 9:16).  We must remember that Jesus and that thief died under the old covenant, the Law of Moses.  In fact, Jesus nailed it to the cross when dying there (Colossians 2:14).  Also, while Jesus was on earth, He had the power to forgive sins (Mark 2:10).  The thief, then, is not a good example for how we come to salvation today.  He was subject to a different covenant and enjoyed a different circumstance, having Jesus there with Him to forgive His sins.  In light of all of those passages already mentioned telling us how to be forgiven, we must conclude that the terms of pardon are different from us than it was for this penitent thief.

I am sure this is an honest, searching man interested in knowing the truth.  What a reminder that there are those who are willing to open their hearts to scripture.  May we ever be that way, too.  And, let us all be ready to fulfill 1 Peter 3:15 in all its component parts.

A DROP OF JOHN’S BLOOD

Neal Pollard

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, Poland, presented a drop of the late Pope John II’s blood to the St. Mary Roman Catholic Church in Greeley, Colorado, last month.  The Associated Press reported that this is a highly-prized relic for the church, especially in light of rumors that the Vatican will soon name the late pontiff a “saint.”  Father Pawel Zborowski, of the Greeley church, said that Dziwisz “presented the drop of blood on a cloth encased in a decorated gold cross last month in Poland” (via Colorado Springs Gazette online).

The discerning Bible student will find much in the above paragraph to deconstruct, but focus for a moment on the value some have attached to the blood of a man venerated by a sizable percentage of people around the globe.  They carefully encase it, preserve it, and desire to display it.  They call it a “relic” (i.e., a part of a deceased holy person’s body or belongings kept as an object of reverence). It is a rarity to be prized and treasured.

My purpose is not to debate the good and bad qualities of John Paul II.  He will stand before “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15), the same as you and me.  It is amazing, though, that much ado is made over inefficacious, ordinary blood, while the vast majority reject the only blood that can save.  His blood redeems (Eph. 1:7), washes away sins (Rev. 1:5-6), acquits (Rom. 5:9), makes holy (Heb. 10:29), brings near (Eph. 2:13), cleanses (1 Jn. 1:7), cancels our sin debt (Mt. 26:28), clears our conscience (Heb. 9:14), and purchased the church (Ac. 20:28).  I cannot literally contact that blood.  Jesus died 2,000 years ago, 8,000 miles from here.  In four different ways, God ties the blood of Christ to baptism (see John 19:34 + Romans 6:3; Matthew 26:28 + Acts 2:38; Revelation 1:5 + Acts 22:16; Hebrews 13:12 + Ephesians 5:25-27).  Christ’s is the only blood that matters!