restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

The God of Ethiopia

 David Alan Black 

Hear the words of the Psalmist:

Ethiopia shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God (Psalm 68:31).

It is God Himself who causes this stretching out of hands. Just as He prepared the Ethiopian eunuch for the coming of Philip, just as He made the eunuch to know his own ignorance, so today He is preparing for the coming of the evangelist, whether from America, Europe, or other Ethiopian tribes.

There is a touch of wonderful tenderness in the words of the Psalmist. Becky and I are witnesses to God doing a special work in Ethiopia. Men and women must be brought into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ! There is religion aplenty in this benighted nation, including “Christian” religion in the form of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Like the apostle Paul before his conversion, the Orthodox is closed against truth, in favor of an ancient prejudice. But where there is an honest heart, an open mind, a willingness to receive the truth and to follow the truth at all costs, the result is life.

Everywhere we work in Ethiopia God is raising up a little army of those who have heard, and have believed, and have received the gift of life, and have become members of Christ, and have been filled with joy unspeakable. That He should deem Becky and me worthy to share in this work is beyond our understanding. I say this not to magnify the success of the work but its difficulties, and to inspire the brethren to persevere.

Know that you are loved and that we are eager to see your faces again. Remember that it is through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God. Do not forget the words of Paul: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God.”

You are a great, intrepid witness, and it is through you that the kingdom in Ethiopia is to be won for our God and His Christ!

April 20, 2006

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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God Didn’t Make Me to Suffer (Part Three) 

Becky Lynn Black  

In this last part to our series, let us consider the final reasons for suffering. 

According to the Scriptures, as I understand them, there are four reasons for suffering. The first is the fall-out of the choice for independence made by the first man and woman. Since we are part of the human family, we all bear the consequences of their Fall. So our bodies age, our minds get befuddled, our relationships get tangled, etc. This is all a natural consequence of living this side of the Curse. But we do not bear this suffering in despair. The One who gave the Curse has promised to come Himself and make a new heaven and earth that is without the Curse. So as we suffer, we have an eye upon the Heavens, waiting patiently for Him to keep His promise.

The second reason we suffer is because the same independent streak displayed in the Garden is still being displayed today. As we ourselves, or those with whom we are associated, act like Adam and Eve (declaring independence of God and His way), then a ripple effect from the sin occurs. Many innocent people get caught by the ripple. All sin affects more than those who commit the sin; there are no isolated acts of disobedience. Much, much pain exists in the world because of our stubborn rebellion. We are, indeed, children of Adam and Eve!

But if we will confess the ripples we cause, and respond with forgiveness to those ripples caused by others, then a healing oil flows over the situation. And though there will be life-long scarring, we can choose to embrace that scarring and welcome the residual pain. For it is often that scarring and residual pain that helps us to consider our own future choices.

We must consider our goal in life. To live without pain and suffering is not a worthy goal. But to live a life growing in holiness, growing in intimacy with our Savior, growing in solidarity with His plan – this is worth every price! And if the Lord can use residual pain from acts of rebellion by ourselves or those associated with us, then let us welcome that pain and yield to its purifying results.

The third reason that suffering may be our experience is because of our association with Christ Jesus. Now, obviously, those whose lives have no mark of the Savior will not suffer because of Him! But those of us who are dedicated to Him and His kingdom will be hated, mocked, ridiculed, belittled and persecuted by those who do not love Him. 

Jesus Himself warned His followers that this would happen. And the book of Acts, as well as many sections of the Epistles, tell the stories of this suffering.

Today it is no different from then, although the suffering might be in a slightly “more sophisticated” vein. Today, those in our country who identify with the Savior might not be promoted in the workplace, or might be mocked on the playground, or might be brushed off in conversations. (In other countries, like Ethiopia, they are still beaten, left for dead, homes burned, etc.)

If we are not sensing any opposition from non-believers, then we must examine ourselves to see if we are indeed following Jesus. His way goes in the opposite direction of Society. Where Society says “fight,” He says “surrender.” Where Society says “hold onto it,” He says “let go of it.” Where Society says “take revenge,” He says “love and forgive.”

If we are truly living His way, then we will at some time be in sharp contrast to those around us. And then they will begin to hate us, despise us, disdain us. It is the conflict of two world views, two laws, two roads. How can we travel together through Life with those around us, unless we are agreed in our direction and method of travel? If we follow Jesus, and they don’t, only conflict will result.

And that conflict brings suffering.

So how do we respond to this suffering? With patience, with sympathy, with kindness. We do not seek revenge. We do not seek justice. We do not fight for our “rights.” We respond to those without Christ with humility, remembering that once we were like them. And, but for the grace of God opening our eyes to the Savior, we wouldstill be like them!

So our suffering is mingled with the joy that we are “found worthy” to suffer for His Name. There is a quiet, radiant, inner warmth of joy inside that cannot be squelched by the mockery, the prejudice, the accusations, the disdain of those who do not follow to Jesus.

The last reason for suffering that I have found in the Scriptures is that which is shown so clearly in the Book of Job, as well as other sections of the Epistles.  Simply put, it is this: There is someone who will fight to the death to destroy the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus. He has many names: Satan, the Evil One, the Father of Lies, the Angel of Light, the Wicked One, the Deceiver. 

He has many names, but he has only one purpose. His sole purpose is to destroy all that the Lord God has created – to destroy physical things, to tear apart relationships, to squash spirits, to break hearts. Everywhere he goes, and whatever he does, his purpose is to destroy.

This Wicked One can bring us personal suffering as he targets us or those associated with us. His way is so insidious, so utterly wicked, so abhorrent, so deceptive! He will lie in wait until we least expect him, and then he will pounce.  Sometimes he springs on us after we have experienced a fantastic spiritual victory and are “riding high” in the Lord. Sometimes he’ll capture us when hormones or fatigue or pain are wracking our minds and bodies. Sometimes he’ll set his trap when we are just going about the mundane duties of life.

Always, he and his servant demons are waiting to destroy. And his focus is upon those who are active in the Kingdom. His ultimate hatred is the Lord Jesus and His Kingdom. So if we are dedicated to the Savior, we have the very special interest and hatred of the Evil One.

Does this frighten you? Does the reality of the Evil One make you want to run away from the Savior and His way in your life? Are you uneasy about obedience to the Lord, knowing that with that obedience will come suffering caused by the Evil One?

Let me reassure you. The Savior has already whipped him! And all we need to do is (1) remember that the Evil One exists to destroy the Savior’s Kingdom so we must be alert to him, and (2) practice the instructions of the Scriptures in how to “fight” him.

The Scriptures teach very clearly that the Evil One is already doomed, that the Lord Jesus is the one to fight him (not us), and that we must simply put on His armor to be protected from destruction by the Evil One. Ephesians 6 outlines the armor of the Lord Jesus: know the Truth, live in Righteousness, be busy with the Gospel work, respond with Faith, remember the way of Salvation, obey the Spirit as taught in the Scriptures, have a running conversation with the Lord about your situation, keep diligent, be connected to the other soldiers (the Body).

If we will develop a lifestyle of “warriorship,” Jesus-style, then the Evil One will have difficulty in getting to us. I do not know that Job ever knew that his troubles were because of Satan’s attempt to discredit the relationship of love and honor between Job and God. From Job’s perspective, his life had become one big Trouble! He suffered in every way possible! But his lifestyle before his troubles was one of humility towards God, and his lifestyle after his troubles began remained unchanged. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”

Our lives must be the same. We must be fully surrendered to the Lord and His way. We must be bound to Truth, obedient to the Spirit in following the Truth, and completely trusting the One whose Name is Truth!

Job suffered greatly because he was dedicated to the glory of the living God. He lost his children, his health, his wealth; he was mocked by his closest friends and his wife; he suffered the greatest form of disgrace. Yet he “hid” in the reality of His God and the utter trustworthiness of that God. And in the end, Job survived the onslaught of Evil One and was restored to everything good. And today he stands as a testimony to the faithfulness of our God in defending His own.

For myself, as I look at this cancer, not knowing the future, looking at bleak human statistics, I have settled the matter. My life belongs to the Lord Jesus. He may do with me as He pleases. If this cancer is due to the Fall and the Curse, I look to Him to restore my body to one without the effects of the sin-curse. To my knowledge, there is no personal sin in me or in any I know that has resulted in this cancer; it is not due to personal sin. It is not a result of my identity with Christ, caused by the hatred and persecution of those who hate Him. It has been suggested that this is because the Evil One has targeted me, because of the great work that God is doing in Ethiopia. Perhaps this is so; I likely will not know until reaching heaven.

But regardless of the specific reason for this cancer, I know one thing: the solution to suffering is the Son. Only He, who was called “Man of Sorrows,” fully understands all suffering and can carry us with His own power through seasons of suffering.

And in the end, when all of Life is closed, it is He who gets the glory, as the One who redeemed His creation from the Evil One and sin. To Him be all the praise!!!

(Recommended readings: Job 1:1-22; Ephesians 6:10-; 1 Thessalonians 2:17-18; 1 Peter 1:3-16, 2:1-12 and 19-25, 3:14-4:6, 4:12-19, 5:6-11; Hebrews 12:1-4; Revelation 20:7-10.)

August 18, 2009

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God Didn’t Make Me to Suffer!(Part Two)

Becky Lynn Black  

In considering this assertion, we are forced back to our belief system, and how we have formed our beliefs over the years. We are forced to question the reliability of our belief system. Most of us have a belief system that is a combination of TV shows, talk radios, Sunday sermons, and talks with friends. All of these items change with time; each season brings its new advice. But there is a Truth that remains unchanged through all of Time; it flows from the heart of God Himself, who is changeless. Only His Truth can withstand Life and its sufferings.  Only His Truth gives a correct understanding of Life, and that Truth is found only in the Scriptures, the writings of the true and living God, as taught by the Holy Spirit.

Over the past 8 months, I have thought much about this assertion made by a young man suffering in Ethiopia. And I have thought about the belief system from which it springs. In Part One, I shared how it is very important that we build our beliefs only from reliable sources. The only completely reliable source is the Scriptures, those words written through men by the Holy Spirit. And when we study those words, we must allow ourselves to be taught their meaning by the Holy Spirit, and we cannot be taught by Him unless we and our sinfulness are “covered” by the purity of the Lord Jesus.

Surgery is coming to me in only a few days, and I know that there will be much physical pain in the weeks following the surgery. Even in the past week, tears have been shed as I consider the possibility of parting with those I love here. Like most people who have lived to my age, this is not the first time pain has been experienced; there have been many, many times of physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual “pain.” 

How can I make sense of why a loving God would allow such pain?  I cannot gain assurance and confidence apart from the Scriptures. All other rational grounds are suspect, cracked with the flawed thinkings of Man. So, having covered myself with the perfection of the Lord Jesus, and yielding to the teaching of the Holy Spirit as we opened the Scriptures together, this is what I have learned about suffering in the Scriptures.

Suffering came into the world of human existence in the Garden of Eden in direct response to the declaration of independence made by the first man and the first woman. The anguish that immediately followed their act of independence has echoed through the centuries to us today. By reason of my connectedness to them, by my association within the human family, I am feeling that anguish. This is the first reason why we suffer.

The consequence of that first declaration of independence has spread to the whole universe! The Scriptures state that “all creation groans (suffers, agonizes)….”  Much that we suffer is the fall-out of that decision made in the Garden. Our bodies age, we get exhausted, we have misunderstandings, infections overwhelm us, etc. These are a natural part of life, a normal suffering that falls to us because we are living this side of the Fall and the Curse.

And how do we handle this suffering? We cannot escape it. The suffering covers the whole universe! But we have hope…we look for the Savior to come! 

You see, the Scriptures teach that one day the Lord Jesus will come and make a new Heaven and a new Earth. He will completely remove all traces of sin’s debt, and the Curse will be lifted. Until then, we suffer from the Fall, but we do not suffer in despair. We suffer with one eye upon our situation, and the other eye upon the Heavens, looking for the Promised One to return. His first coming was prophesied thousands (yes, thousands!) of years before He came. Just as those prophesies were fulfilled, so the prophesies about His second coming will be fulfilled.

I believe this Truth. If He has promised to wipe away all traces of sin, to make a new heaven and earth, then He will do it, because He cannot betray His character. He cannot lie. He cannot be unfaithful to His word. He cannot fail to save fully those whom He has promised to save.

So as I suffer the things that all persons of Humanity suffer, I sorrow for the rebellion of Adam and Eve, but I do not sorrow with despair. My eye is upon the Heavens, looking for the One who will return and repair all things in His Time.

The second reason we suffer is a personalization of the first reason.  “That isn’t fair!” some cry out. “Why should I suffer because of what they did back in the Garden?!” 

But let’s be honest. Isn’t there within each of us the same spirit of independence that was in Adam and Eve? I know there is in me. All I have to do is see a “line in the sand” that God has drawn (for my own good, by the way) and everything within me says “NO! I will be my own boss! I will run my own life!”

How foolish we are to think that we can question God, as Eve did, and not suffer. But daily, overtly or covertly, we declare our own little independence from Creator God. We refuse to come under His authority. And when we do, we suffer, just as those first rebels suffered. And like them, many suffer with us.

Our culture says that our private lives are our own. As long as we hurt only ourselves, it’s OK. And we’ve swallow the lie that sin (ANY sin) can be kept to ourselves; we believer that only the perpetrators of the sin will suffer from the sin. Our society says that as long as we are willing to “be adult” about it, and bear the consequences of it, then it’s OK. We’re told that as long as it won’t hurt anyone else, then it’s OK to sin.

What a lie! Since when did the consequences of sin stay to the one who did the sin? Name one single sin where there is not a ripple effect in its consequences. A “little white lie,” a “discrete affair,” an “alternative lifestyle,” a “fixing the books” – the consequences of all of these things are not limited to those who commit them.

We suffer, not only because of that first Fall, but also because of the repeated falls of ourselves and those around us! There is a price to be paid for that little spirit of independence, that heart of rebellion, that self-deception. And the price is often paid by the suffering of innocent parties.

Today, perhaps you are carrying in your heart or body the consequences of someone else’s sin – or perhaps your own. Just as that first choice for independence drove a wedge between Adam and Eve, so our choices drive wedges between us, and we suffer.

What do we do when we suffer for this reason? We confess and we forgive. The pain, the suffering is still there, but now healing oil has been added to the suffering. And it is no longer a suffering until death, but a suffering unto Life.

Sometimes we think that if we confess and forgive, then all pain is removed. Not so. For our own good the pain, the scar, remains. In my own life, I have asked the Lord, “Please, don’t remove the pain; don’t clear the scar. Keep it there, so that I will not be tempted to repeat that sin!”

My dear brothers and sisters, to live a pain-free existence is not the end all and be all of life! Holiness is the end-all and be-all of Life! Pain is very useful. And as long as residual pain from personal sins (ours or others) can help us grow in holiness, in purity of thought and choice, in greater dedication to submission to His way, then let us embrace that pain as our companion and our helper!

So the first reason for our suffering is the fall-out of what happened in the Garden; our identity with the human race causes us pain. But our suffering is borne without despair; we have an eye heavenward, looking for His return to erase the Curse.

And the second reason for our suffering is the fall-out of repetitions of the Garden in personal lives today – ours and others with whom we are associated. When this becomes our lot, we must confess our sin and forgive others’ their sin. In this way our suffering is blended with healing oil. And we must embrace the residual scar so as allow it to help us to grow in holiness, in deeper commitment to His way, in a firmer solidarity with His Person.

(Recommended readings: Genesis 1-3; Matthew 18:21-35; Romans 5:1-19 and 8:16-39; Hebrews 4:13-16 and 12:5-13; Titus 2:11-14; James 5:14-16; Revelation 21:1-5)

(Coming in Part Three: the other reasons for suffering.)

August 15, 2009

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God Didn’t Make Me to Suffer!

Becky Lynn Black  

Last fall these words came from the lips of a young Ethiopian man. We were sitting on the “front porch” outside my room. He had been working hard in the church, and Life was not as easy as he had expected it to be. His heart was full of bitterness, anger, disappointment; he felt betrayed by others and by God.

In the ensuing months, I decided to study the Scriptures on the issue of suffering.  I had no idea that God would bring this cancer to me, and that I would be referring to my own research so quickly. 

There are voices out there who say, “If you belong to Jesus, then you should expect a life of comfort, even luxury. After all, God delights to give good things to His children, and you are a child of the King!”

This is a false Gospel and wrong doctrine. Those who counsel and teach along these lines have excluded from their Bibles major portions of Paul’s life, even of Jesus’ life, and almost all the book of Acts, and of the Old Testament prophets. Where do they get this idea? It is a mixture of the American Dream, their own desires for a successful “ministry” (people will send money to preachers who tell them what they want to hear), and a few isolated verses taken out of context. It is certainly not the message of the whole of the Scriptures. 

That which is taught in the Scriptures is Truth. Truth does not change from culture to culture, from generation to generation, or from continent to continent.  It is timeless. It is not a fad that comes and goes. It is not a new way of thinking that some high-profile person is promoting on the talk shows! Truth is anchored deep in the heart of God Himself.

And that is why it is absolutely essential that we know the Truth, that we study the Scriptures under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, taking the whole of Scripture (not a verse here and a verse there as it suits us). We must not be satisfied with being spoon-fed by other people, who themselves are subject to error. It is not enough to sit for an hour in Sunday services and listen to 20 minutes of teaching.  This is a spiritual starvation diet. It will do nothing to make us spiritually strong for the times of stress that will invariably come into each of our lives.

We must grapple with the Scriptures ourselves…reading, studying, meditating, digesting…looking always into the face of our Teacher, the Holy Spirit.

How can we look into the face of the Teacher? Only if we are clean in our spirit.  He cannot abide sin. He cannot look at sin. And if we have sin in us, known or unknown, then He will close Himself away from us.

How can we possibly rid ourselves of sin? There is only one way: confession of our sinfulness and placement of ourselves under the blood of Jesus.

What a mouthful that is! Confession of our sinfulness is more than simply naming off sins; it is admitting, openly and honestly acknowledging, our propensity toward all that is against a holy God. Our thoughts, our desires, our dreams, even our “good works” have this streak of selfishness in them, this bent towards independence, this stubbornness of spirit.

We can confess to each other, or to a religious professional….but what good is that? The other person is in the same boat as we are! It’s like two people in a lifeboat, and one confesses to the other, “I’m lost. I’m going to die.” The voicing may ease the conscience a smidgeon, but not much of value is accomplished.

No, we must confess our sinfulness to Someone who can do something about it; we must confess this to the Lord Jesus.

And He has said, “He who comes to me, I promise you, I will not cast away.”

What a relief! What a comfort! He not only doesn’t cast us away, and He doesn’t request or demand a payment for His confessional services…..but He spreads Himself over us, covering our sinfulness with His own holy body, much like He covered the sinfulness of that first man and woman with the lamb that was slain for them. At the right time in history, Jesus left Heaven as God and became a man….the result was the one person in the history of the world who is a God-Man, capable of being a mediator between the holy God and the sinful man.

“There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.”  When there is an international crisis, we cannot send just any old American citizen to represent our government in negotiations. Only the word of an Ambassador has the authority of our government. And so it is in dealing with God. We cannot send any old person to deal with Him; we must only send the Lord Jesus. Only He is Holy enough to be accepted by God. As holy God, Jesus became man, so that as a holy man he could represent sinful man. And as holy man, he offered himself to “negotiate” our spiritual release from sin. He took our sins on Himself, and died in our place the death of a criminal…the Just for the unjust, the Sinless for the sinner, the Perfect for the imperfect.

And in His covering of us, our sinfulness is removed from the sight of the holy God who wants to teach us the Scriptures, who wants to relate intimately and personally with us, who wants to heal us spiritually, emotionally, relationally, and physically.

So, before we can know Truth, we must have a Teacher of Truth…the Holy Spirit…and before we can have the Teacher, we must have our sinfulness covered by the Person of the Lord Jesus.

Only then can we understand suffering in Life.

(Recommended readings: 1 John 1:3-10, John 6:35-40; John 3: 13-21; 1 Timothy 2:5-6, Romans 5:1-21, 2 Corinthians 5:14-21, Romans 10:8-17.)

(Part 2 to follow.)

August 13, 2009

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God’s Better Way (Phil. 2:1-11)

 David Alan Black  

Philippians 2:1-11 is one of the richest texts in the whole of the Greek New Testament. It is a passage that any modern theologian would have been honored to write. It emphasizes the humanity of the historical Jesus – His earthly life, teaching, suffering, death and resurrection, and example. If confesses belief in the full humanity of Jesus along with His oneness with God as full Deity. It identifies the core requirement for Christian unity, namely the cross as a symbol of suffering and self-denial.

Once again, Paul is no arm-chair theologian. He seeks to relate faith to action in the world. The mind of Christ must permeate the real world of everyday life, not only in the fellowship of the saints but also the realm of “secular” affairs.

The Bible does not separate believers from the world in which they live. It never divides one’s private life from one’s public life. At the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and at the very center of the book of Philippians, is a message of power through weakness, joy through sorrow, victory through defeat – in the real world. Just as Jesus taught us that the way up is down, so Paul teaches us that there is only one way forward in Christian unity, and that is for Christians to lay aside their “rights” and with humility of mind esteem others as more important than themselves.

No Christian can be at peace with God if he or she is constantly at odds with other Christians. There can be no unity where there is desire for personal prestige. Disunity destroys the very heart of the church. It is useless to think that we can be unified unless we are first willing, like Christ, to empty ourselves and make ourselves of no reputation.

Humility and self-renunciation – these, then, are the great qualities that marked Jesus’ earthly ministry. He led, not by personal ambition, but by self-sacrifice. We may well think to ask ourselves some questions at this point:

• Do I live in broken submission to Christ?
• Am I prepared to give to Christ an obedience and a loyalty that I am prepared to give to no one else?
• Is my one aim in life to serve others even as Christ served me?

Paul is telling us that it is the very nature of God to give rather to grasp. Jesus really and truly becamethe slave of humanity even though He was (and is) Master and Owner of everything.

Although we may have not robbed or defrauded another person, we may still not live sacrificially. Like the Rich Young Ruler, who had great possessions, it never occurs to us to give away what we have and spend it on others. But, Paul says, in a world bent on getting, the Christian is to be bent on giving. An honest assessment of our own priorities, without conceit or false modesty, is one of the first steps in recovering the teaching of Phil 2:1-11.

It is surely significant that Paul singles out the life of Christ as the great example of self-abnegation, for Christian love is nothing other than Christ’s sacrificial love poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Thus he concludes this wonderful passage by saying that if a Christian is honestly living out the Christ-life, God the Father will receive glory and honor for it. That, in a nutshell, is the message of Phil. 2:1-11: the follower of Jesus does not think of his or her own glory, but only of the glory of God.

This indeed is God’s “better way.”

March 2, 2009

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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Go Judge Brown!

 David Alan Black 

The lynching has begun. Yesterday, federal appellate nominee Janice Rogers Brown defended her work as a conservative California jurist and said the personal opinions expressed in her speeches would stay separate from her role on the bench.

Brown is the daughter of an Alabama sharecropper and the first African American woman to be appointed to the California Supreme Court. She was elevated to the bench by former Gov. Pete Wilson in 1996. Thomas Sowell has defended Brown, noting that left wingers and black racists are out to lynch her, or at least to derail her appointment. 

Here’s what the fuss is all about. Brown supports the U.S. Constitution. She supports limits on abortion rights. She opposes affirmative action, calling affirmative action programs “entitlement based on group representation.” “Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies,” she was quoted as saying during yesterday’s hearing. “The quixotic desire to do good, be universally fair and make everybody happy is understandable,” she wrote in one of her opinions, where she dissented from a majority decision, adding: “There is only one problem with this approach. We are a court.”

Ah, music to my ears.

During the hearing, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) commented, “You have described the year 1937—the year in which President Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation started taking effect—as ‘the triumph of our socialist revolution’.”

Truer words were never spoken.

Brown defended herself, disputing the charge of intemperance. “I may speak in a very straightforward way, a very candid way, and sometimes I’m passionate about what I believe in,” Brown said. “But often I am talking about the Constitution, and what is being reflected in those speeches is that I am passionately devoted to the ideals on which I think this country is founded.”

Amen and amen!

My friends, Brown’s lynching is simply a reflection of the movement among social activists to wrest legislative power from the Congress and give that power to the courts. Recently we have seen several examples of the Supreme Court overstepping its bounds and rendering judgment with the force of law. In such cases, the Court is not interpreting the law but actually enacting it by fiat. The case of Roe v. Wade was just such a judicial fiat.

Brown seems to understand this. She seems to be willing to abide by the Constitution, which specifically ordains a balance of powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. She seems to be willing to forego turning the bench into a political soapbox and changing the laws to suit her own social and political beliefs. I say, let’s hear her out.

The Bible says, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering” (Heb. 10:23). In other words, get back to the basics and stay there!

The Republican Party is becoming more and more the party of Christian social thinkers. There are many people in this nation who are true conservatives, who respect the traditional values of this country and the Constitution. They are not the problem; they are the solution. The only threat Judge Brown represents is to those Democrats and Republicans who hold liberal and socialist views that are contrary to the general welfare and historical greatness of this nation.

May her tribe increase.

October 23, 2003

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. He is currently finishing his latest book, Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon.

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The Gift of Fixing Towel Racks

 David Alan Black  

As I watched Nathan make repairs in our downstairs powder bath (see photo), I was reminded again that whatever your particular gift is God can use it for the blessing of people, for the extension of His kingdom, for the building up of His church, the conversion of the lost, and the glory of His name. God may not necessarily use your qualifications (a Ph.D. in New Testament will not in itself make anyone a better classroom teacher, for instance), but He can always use your abilities to His glory.

The ability to fix a towel rack is God-given, and to use that gift honorably and efficiently is valid stewardship and genuine testimony. Nathan is just as important to God while he is doing manual labor as when he is playing the organ at church or singing in our men’s group or going on a mission trip to Ethiopia.

In Luke 12:48 Jesus establishes a very important point that we often overlook: “Everyone to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand more.” The principle is that your responsibility exactly matches the gifts God has given you. Are you experiencing to the full the stewardship of your special gifts?

Paul said to Timothy, “Do not neglect the gift you have!” (1 Tim. 4:14). You may shrink from your stewardship and refuse to do it, but are never absolved from the fact and responsibility for it.

How good a steward of God’s gifts are you? Am I?

October 31, 2006

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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Gibson’s “The Passion” 

 David Alan Black 

Christian leaders are enthusiastically endorsing Mel Gibson’s new film depicting the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life, calling it “historically and theologically accurate.”

Gibson recently brought the movie to Colorado Springs to make sure its depiction of the Gospel was acceptable to leaders at Focus on the Family and other church leaders, including Ted Haggard, the pastor of New Life Church and president of the National Evangelical Association.

Gibson appeared on stage at the New Life Church before the film’s screening to address an audience of more than 800 ministers gathered for the annual Life Giving Leadership Conference. “I’m not a preacher, and I’m not a pastor,” Gibson said. “But I really feel my career was leading me to make this. The Holy Ghost was working through me on this film, and I was just directing traffic. I hope the film has the power to evangelize.”

Afterwards, Haggard said that the movie, which uses Aramaic and Latin exclusively, “conveys, more accurately than any other film, who Jesus was.” Focus on the Family President Don Hodel added, “I was very impressed. It’s certainly the most powerful portrayal of the passion I’ve ever seen or heard about. The movie is historically and theologically accurate.”

I’m a bit confused. The movie is in the “original” languages, Aramaic and Latin, but the Mediterranean world of the first century spoke Greek as a result of Hellenization, later adopted by the Roman Empire (though they still spoke Latin in Rome). All of the books in the New Testament—including Romans—were written in the Hellenistic Greek of this period, as was the most popular translation of the Hebrew Scriptures of that day, the Septuagint.

Shouldn’t Jesus and Pilate be speaking Greek in the movie? Naturally the Roman rulers spoke Latin, but Greek was the lingua franca of the Empire. The Jewish leaders would have spoken Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek, and certainly Jesus and the disciples, being from “Galilee of the Gentiles,” would have known Greek but nary a word of Latin. Still, if you insist on Pilate speaking Latin, why use the ecclesiastical pronunciation (rather than the classical) when “church” Latin obviously did not exist at the time!

Moreover, if Gibson wanted to show Christ’s passion in an accurate way, why did he include the classic misconception on how Jesus carried the cross to His execution? The cross was made up of two pieces of wood: the upright, called the “stipes,” and the crossbeam, called the “patibulum.” Historical sources indicate that it was not the complete cross that Jesus was carrying, as is invariably depicted in art, but rather the crossbeam only, to which the outstretched arms were bound with a rope.

Neither were the nails hammered through the palms of the hands as depicted in the movie, but through the wrists or forearms—another classic misconception. In 1968 a team of archaeologists under the direction of V. Tzaferis discovered four cave-tombs at Giv’at ha-Mivtar, located just north of Jerusalem. The date of the tombs ranged from the late second century B.C. to A.D. 70. Within the caves were found 15 limestone ossuaries that contained the bones of 35 individuals.

These skeletons reveal a startling tale of the agony that confronted the Jews during the century in which Jesus lived. Nine of the 35 individuals had met with a violent death. Three children, ranging in ages from eight months to eight years, died from starvation. A young man of about 17 burned to death bound upon a rack. A slightly older female also died from conflagration. An old woman of nearly 60 probably collapsed from the crushing blow of a weapon like a mace; her atlas, axis vertebrae, and occipital bone were shattered.

Finally, a man between 24 and 28 years of age had been crucified, probably between A.D. 7 and 66. His remains reveal that the lower third of his right radial bone contains a groove that was probably caused by the friction between a nail and the bone. Hence his arms were nailed to the patibulum through the forearms and not through the wrists, the bones of which “were found undamaged.” It is logical to infer, therefore, that Jesus had His forearms and not His hands pierced, contrary to the customary portrayal in paintings.

I can certainly appreciate Gibson’s passion to tell the story of the crucifixion realistically. But judging from the movie’s trailer, it’s pretty clear that he didn’t do his research very well. Why, then, the unending accolades about the film’s accuracy? Are reviewers simply unaware of the facts concerning crucifixion and the linguistic milieu of first century Palestine? Or do they dispute these findings? Perhaps their praise is intended more as a general commendation of the movie than as a commentary on the details. I really don’t know.

I can, however, say this: caveat spectator.

P.S. To see the trailer, click here. Viewer discretion is advised.

August 2, 2003

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

George W. Bush, Weapon of Mass Destruction

 David Alan Black 

Congratulations, Mr. President. You’ve earned the title, “World’s Greatest WMD.” And not just from me. It’s from the millions of people worldwide who think it’s a bad idea to start a war by invading Iraq.

Our reasons?

The war will cost an unknown number of lives—American and otherwise.

It will waste billions of taxpayers’ dollars.

It will escalate the world’s tensions.

In will exacerbate the rage already directed at the U.S.

Above all, an attack will have neither moral nor constitutional justification.

Why are you intent on invading Iraq even though that country has not attacked us and was not involved in last September’s events?

Why do you insist on ignoring the fact that U.N. inspectors combing Iraq for weapons of mass destruction have come up empty-handed?

Why do you refuse to believe that it is possible to create peace through diplomacy and by isolating troublemakers through sanctions (witness North Korea)?

Why do you despise and denigrate our allies Germany and France for putting reasonable brakes on war in the U.N. Security Council while awaiting evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to turn up?

To whom do you propose to hand the reigns of power after Saddam?

Despite your rhetoric about Saddam being a dangerous threat to American security, the rest of the world is unconvinced. That’s because Saddam is not a threat. Six-gun justice? Mr. President, it’s unnecessary—and it won’t work.

You have squandered the goodwill of the world towards our nation after we were attacked. People now see us as arrogant, hypocritical, and contemptuous of others.

The war will likely inflame the Muslim world resulting in devastating attacks on our closest friend in the Middle East, Israel. Will Israel retaliate with nuclear weapons?

Though the war drums beat loudly, and though congressional opposition is shamefully collapsing, “We the People” have made our voices heard on Iraq.

Mr. President, I am not a pacifist, but you have no authority to act unilaterally. If you want American support for the war against Saddam, there’s one thing you must do. It’s what the Constitution requires of you. It’s what you swore to uphold when you took office.

You must ask for and get a Congressional Declaration of War.

If this happens, you will have my support. If it doesn’t, you will have a  graceful way out of the box you’ve constructed around yourself.

Now is the time for action.

February 19, 2003

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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