<BrethrenVoice> <GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> <20 August 2002> Contents: --------- (1) <Exhortatory> " Taken captive or taking captive" - Ravi Zacharias (2) <Testimonial> "The storey of the shoe-shine boy" (Pt-2)- C.E.Wigg (3) <Doctrinal> "To what should we be loyal?" (Pt-5)-William MacDonald (4) <Prophetical> "The Redeemer's Return" (Pt-8)- A.W.Pink (1) <Exhortatory><Slice-of-Infinity> TAKEN CAPTIVE OR TAKING CAPTIVE Ravi Zacharias Few influences in life are as dominant and faltering as the power of culture. While we boast of individuality and freedom of thought, by nature we often surrender to culture's demands. This absorbing effect of culture is analogous to the heartbeat of a people. Let me illustrate this: A medical doctor who is a friend of mine suffered a serious heart attack while he was still in his thirties. He described the pain of that event as different from any other pain he had ever felt. Every prior injury or hurt, whether a broken arm or a sore knee, he had experienced as a hurt to a part of his body. In some measure he could separate himself from the pain. "But during my heart attack," he said, "I was in the pain. There is no other way to describe it." The notion conveyed is instructive-that the very organ that should have been pumping life was instead disseminating pain. I can think of no better analogy to describe the all-consuming hold of culture as it becomes the source of thinking and feeling in its members. So engulfing is this power that we cannot discuss the essential themes of our culture without being locked into it ourselves. We are in it, and are hard pressed to find a fulcrum outside of it with which to leverage a shift. An old Chinese proverb says if you want to know what water is don't ask the fish. The fish does not know any other kind of life because it is submerged in the monotony and single vision of a watery existence. To the fish, no other environment is possible; hence, it can conceive of nothing by which to measure its own existence. Similarly, we need to recognize that proximity does not necessarily guarantee an accurate perspective of the environment. Sometimes a culture can so absorb and transmit ideas that it is hard for those within it to be objective about its values and practices when measured against a counter-perspective. Undeniably, being part of a culture brings about a level of comfort with the ways and means by which people live. But that familiarity does not guarantee sensitivity or objectivity. For the Christian, then, to live wisely in this age is to heed the words of the Apostle Paul: "We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Otherwise we may find that it is we who have become captives. --- Copyright (p)(c) 2000 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. _______________________________________________________________________ (2) <Testimonial> THE STORY OF JOHN CHAUBEY, THE SHOE-SHINE BOY (PART-2) Charles E. Wigg .... I never cease to be amazed as I think back over these events, how that God had timed, and arranged everything. First that John should be on that train, there are express trains that pass through Trichur on their way south, sometimes every 30 minutes, yet God arranged for him to be on that train. That I should have chosen to travel first class, that there should be no seat available, compelling me to sit outside on my case, (because if I had been able to get a seat, then the meeting would never have taken place). That the train should stop at Puddukkad, where it was not supposed to stop, all of these things were part of a divine plan. God had seen the sadness and loneliness of this poor boy, and had determined to bless him. My dear friend, God is just as interested in you, as he was in John Chaubey, it is no accident that you have this little paper in your hand, and are reading these words, God loves you, He wants to make you eternally happy. He knows your circumstances, your disappointments, your failures, even your sins, every one of them, but He loves you still, and wants to cleanse your sins away, make you His very own child, to give you a new life. Please do not close your ears, or your mind, do not reject His love! Now read on. Hearing the tragic circumstances of his life, I then asked what he would do if he had an opportunity to continue his education, he replied that he would gladly grab such an opportunity. I then told him that I was a servant of God, and a preacher of the Gospel, that I was going to Ernakulam to speak at a Gospel meeting, that if he would come with me I would try to find someone who would take an interest in him, and help him. I asked him where he intended leaving the train, and he told me Alwaye, but when I made the suggestion that he should come with me, he replied that he would gladly come, but when the train stopped at Alwaye, many passengers got down, and I was able to get a seat. I told him that I was getting down at Ernakulam station, and that he could come and be my coolie, or porter, that is carry my case. I was afraid that he would change his mind, because though such a life as he was living was very hard, yet it also had it's attractions and fascinations, he was free and did not have to answer to any one. However I never needed to have any worries, because his hardships had taught him to make wise decisions, and from stories he told me later I found he had acquired a remarkable ability to discern the character of people whom he met, he judged that I was genuine, and that he could trust me. When the train was slowing to stop at my destination, he came smiling through the carriage, picked up my small case, put it on his head like a regular coolie would do, and marched off ahead of me. A brother from Kaloor assembly came to meet me, and asked if I could ride pillion on his motorbike. I assured him that was no trouble, but that I had found this shoe polish boy, and that I wanted to help him. This brother looked at John and asked, quite surprised, "You are taking him to Commander Shikhamany's house?", I replied that I was, but not to worry, that I would get an autoricksha and come. [To be concluded] ______________________________________________________________________ (3) <Doctrinal> TO WHAT SHOULD WE BE LOYAL? (PART-5) William MacDonald .... CHRIST, THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH A third important truth for which we must stand is that Christ is the Head of the Church (Eph. 5:23; Col. 1: 18). This means that we must look to Him for direction and guidance in the affairs of the local assembly. We all realize that the truth of Christ's headship is denied when a pope, for instance, claims to be head of the church on earth. But we must guard against the more subtle error of thinking that any of us has any right to manage the affairs of the assembly. It is so easy to give lip service to the Headship of Christ, and yet to maneuver, lobby and connive in a carnal way in order to get one's own way. Instead of waiting upon Him in fasting and prayer, we apply successful business methods and the wisdom of this world. All this is a practical denial of the Headship of Christ. If Christ is Head, then everything must be done under His guidance and control. THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS Then there is a fourth truth-the truth that all true believers are priests. In I Peter 2:5-9, we learn that we are holy priests and royal priests. As holy priests we offer up spiritual sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ (v. 5). These sacrifices include: the sacrifice of our bodies (Rom. 12:1, 2). the sacrifice of our praise (Heb. 13:15). the sacrifice of our possessions (Heb. 13:16). As royal priests we show forth the excellencies of Him Who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (I Peter 2:9). This means that every believer is expected to witness for Christ, both by life and by the spoken word. As holy priests we go into the sanctuary to worship. As royal priests we go out- into the world to testify. The idea that worship and service are the functions of a special group known as priests or clergymen is foreign to the New Testament. All believers are priests and should be free to exercise their priestly functions. [To be concluded] _______________________________________________________________________ (4) <Prophetical> "THE REDEEMER'S RETURN" (PART-8) Arthur W. Pink .... VIII. THE REDEEMER'S RETURN IS NECESSITATED BY THE LAMENTATION OF ALL CREATION. The effects of the Fall have been far-reaching--"By one man sin entered the world"(Rom. 5:12). Not only was the entire human family involved but the whole "Kosmos" was affected. When Adam and Eve sinned, God not only pronounced sentence upon them and the Serpent but He cursed the ground as well--"And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee" (Gen. 3:17, 18). These words suggest a solemn and far-reaching line of thought--Sin not only brings punishment to the actual transgressor but it also involves others in its terrible consequences. The punishment which was meted out to the antediluvians was not limited to the human family, it fell upon the lower orders of creation as well--all were swept away by the flood! The judgments which God sent upon the haughty Pharaoh extended to the fishes in the rivers and the cattle in the fields as well as to all his subjects! When the Angel of Death passed through the land of the Nile, he slew all the first-born of beasts as well as the first-born of the Egyptians (Ex. 12:12). When Jehovah's wrath visited the land of Palestine in the days of Israel's apostasy it descended upon the animal kingdom as well as the human, for we read, "How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate" (Joel 1:18). And again, "How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end" (Jer. 12:4). To what extent the entire universe has suffered the evil consequences of sin it is impossible to say, but certain it is that they are not limited to our earth. Adam was not the first offender, for before his fall Satan also had apostatized from his Maker. What other worlds were affected by Satan's fall Scripture does not inform us, yet we may infer from those principles which are revealed in God's Word that the awful consequences of Satan's rebellion were far-reaching in their scope. Astronomical observation reveals the fact that there are numbers of far-distant worlds upon which no life exists, while Scripture speaks of "wandering stars." The moon is a ruined planet where Death holds absolute sway and death is the wages of sin. If then Adam's transgression brought down upon the earth which he inhabited a curse from God, may we not soberly conclude that the fall of the highest of all God's creatures brought down a Divine curse upon those worlds over which he may have exercised a delegated rulership? Be this as it may, Scripture does reveal the fact that the consequences of sin have reached far beyond the four corners of our earth. We read "The heavens are not clean in His sight" (Job 15:15), and again, in Rom. 8:22 we are told, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." In the last mentioned Scripture we learn that the whole creation is in pain and misery. Surely this is abnormal. Surely things were not like this at the beginning, nor were they;' and surely things will not continue thus for ever, nor will they. We quote now the entire passage in which the above statement is found--"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to usward. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the Sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God" (Rom. 8:18-21, R. V.). The order of thought here appears to be as follows:- The whole of God's creation, which is directly concerned and connected with our earth, (The "whole creation" can not be taken absolutely for the unfallen angels must be excluded) suffered the consequences of Adam's sin, being brought under the bondage of corruption as the direct result. But this "bondage" is not to last for ever. A hope is set before creation: a promise has been given that it shall be "delivered" and in expectation of the fulfillment of this promise and the realization of this hope creation now "waits." The "hope" of creation is linked with "the manifestation of the sons of God" and "the liberty of their glory." The sons of God will be manifested or revealed with their Redeemer at the time of His Return for it is written "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory"(Col. 3:4). It is at the Second Coming of Christ, His return in "glory" that His people shall enter into the liberty of their glory. Then will it be that creation shall be delivered from its present bondage of corruption. Thus we learn that though the whole creation has suffered in consequence of sin, yet shall it soon share in the glorious benefits of the Death of Christ who came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. How clear then is the need of our Redeemer's Return! None but creation's Creator (John 1:3) can emancipate it from its sufferings. Hence we say that the present lamentations of Creation necessitate and demand the personal Return of our Lord. [To be concluded] ____________________________<BrethrenVoice>____________________________ [which seeks to be guided solely by the New Testament Biblical pattern, facilitates free flow of Christian information. To God be the glory!] Contact Moderator/Gleaner, eMail: <brethrenvoice-owner@...> Subscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-subscribe@...> Unsubscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-unsubscribe@...> FAQs & Statement of Faith, eMail:<brethrenvoice-faq@...> "BrethrenVoice" Home: http://associate.com/digests/brethrenvoice/ eFellowship Home: http://groups.msn.com/BrethrenChristiansForum/ ["Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith." 2 Cor 13:5] ["You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jn 8:32] _______________________________________________________________________