Monthly Archives: July 2024

BIBLE, CHRISTIAN LIVING

NO ALTERNATIVE THOUGHT — BOB PRICHARD

The May 14, 2007 issue of National Review had several memorial tributes to the late Patricia Taylor Buckley, the wife of National Review founder and retired Editor at Large William F. Buckley, Jr. In his tribute to his wife, Buckley included a portion of a letter from a friend that praised her elegant greatness. “I am a confirmed nonbeliever, but for once I would like to be mistaken, and hope that, for you, this is not goodbye, but hasta luego (“See you later”—BP).” Buckley concludes, “No alternative thought would make continuing in life, for me, tolerable.” Is not he correct? What is the alternative to knowing that there is something beyond this life, that we will see one another again?

Pity the poor nonbeliever who does not believe in the life to come. Has he considered the fact that if we believers are wrong, and there is  nothing beyond this life, then we will still have had full lives of hope and, the blessing of associating with fellow believers? And if he is wrong, then he will not only have lived a life of hopelessness, having missed the greatest blessings in this life, but he will have also forfeited the blessings God has prepared for His children. “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

The resurrection of Christ was not only the heart of apostolic preaching, but it was and is the motivation for us to trust and look to the future. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:51-54).

BIBLE, BIBLE QUESTIONS, CHRISTIAN LIVING

IS ANGER ALWAYS WRONG? CAN IT BE CONTROLLED? — BOB PRICHARD

Anger is a destructive emotion that has led to every kind of sin, including murder, as when Cain killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:4-8). The elder brother of the “prodigal son” refused to go to the party for his brother because “he was angry, and would not go in” (Luke 15:28). Paul wrote “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26). It is possible to be angry without sinning, but very difficult.

As Jesus saw the moneychangers cheating His people in the temple, He made a scourge of small cords, and drove them out of the temple, saying, “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise” (John 2:16). Undoubtedly Jesus was angry. He acted out of  “righteous indignation.” He was angry, but He did not sin because He was zealous for the glory of God. The child of God ought to be angry when the glory of God is challenged, and it is a great tragedy for Christians to be so tolerant that nothing makes them angry.  

James gives a simple prescription for dealing with anger: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).

To be “swift to hear” means to be a ready listener. All too often we become easily angered because we do no have enough information. When a person really listens to another person, sometimes even “reading between the lines,” he may find that what would have otherwise provoked a reaction of anger may instead provoke a reaction of concern or pity. A reaction of anger is often simply a reaction out of emotion. If one listens to discern all the facts, he can deal with the problem rationally.

To be “slow to speak” means to control the tongue, which is a very difficult task. James himself said, “every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:7-8). Solomon said, “Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him” (Proverbs 29:20). Hasty words spoken in anger will almost always be regretted.

To be “slow to wrath” is also difficult. The old adage of counting to ten works on this principle. If one realizes that he is becoming angry, he can slow the process. Prayer is helpful in this area, as well as the realization that each person controls his own reaction to a problem. A person can choose to be angry in dealing with a problem, or he can choose to cope with the problem without anger.

The “new man” in Christ lays aside worldly anger. “Put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: … but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:8-11).

BIBLE, CHRISTIAN LIVING, GENESIS

NO RAINBOWS AT NOON — BOB PRICHARD

Rainbows are caused by the refraction (bending) of light through raindrops. The water droplets divide light into the seven basic colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, but actually many other minor colors as well. Primary rainbows appear between 40 and 42 degrees above the horizon, with the center of the ark directly opposite the sun. Because of this, you cannot see a rainbow at noon, when the sun is directly overhead (David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim, The Intellectual Devotional, 2006, p. 235).

I cannot verify that I have never observed a rainbow at noon, but I have observed that the rainbows in my life don’t come in the noonday hours of good times. God gave the rainbow as a token of His covenant after the flood, promising that he would not again destroy the earth by a flood. “And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:12–13).

The Lord says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30). The yoke he offers is to be yoked with Him. His yoke is easy because He pulls the extra weight in our lives. In the midst of the storm, this is often hard to see. But when the storm passes, new rainbows of joy and comfort come into our lives.

I can trust the future because I have experienced His loving care through the storms of life. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,” because I know the Good Shepherd is with me, and that with His rod and staff He will comfort me (Psalm 23:4). The rainbows come—but only after the storm. “Jesus loves me this I know.”

BIBLE QUESTIONS, NEW TESTAMENT, SALVATION

DID THE LORD SAVE PAUL ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS? — BOB PRICHARD

No. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus (later known as the apostle Paul) is the most thoroughly documented conversion in all the Bible, but it is still widely misunderstood. As Saul was making his way to Damascus to persecute Christians, Jesus appeared to him, but Saul was not saved simply because the Lord appeared to him. Luke records, “And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:6). The Lord did not save Saul until he completed what he “must do.”

The first mention in scripture of Saul of Tarsus is in Acts 7, where those stoning Stephen, the first Christian martyr, lay their clothes at his feet. Luke reported, “Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles” (Acts 8:1). Saul was in the middle of all this persecution: “As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison” (Acts 8:3). Because of his zeal for persecuting the church, Saul went to the high priest and asked for letters to the Damascus synagogues, so that he could arrest the Christians in Damascus and bring them back to Jerusalem for punishment.

As Saul journeyed to Damascus, a bright light blinded him, and he heard Jesus say to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4). After Jesus identified Himself to Saul, He sent Saul into Damascus with the words, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:6). Saul then spent the next three days in prayer and fasting. This showed that he was serious about following Christ, but his three days of prayer and fasting did not save him or show that he was saved. His penitent behavior was preparing him for the necessary obedience.

The Lord then directed Ananias, a Christian of Damascus, to go to Saul to tell him what he “must do.” Although it must have been a daunting assignment, Ananias, “a devout man according to the law” came to Saul, a fellow Jew, and said, “Brother Saul, receive thy sight” (Acts 22:12-13). Saul was no longer blind, and Ananias warned him of what was ahead of him if he chose to follow Christ. “The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.  For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard” (Acts 22:14-15). Having warned him what lay ahead of him in Christ’s service, Ananias then told Saul what he “must do.” “Why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16). Why was Saul not saved before?  Because he was still in his sins.  That is why he needed to call on the name of the Lord by by washing away his sins. As he obeyed the Lord’s command through the messenger Ananias, he received the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation he had spent three days praying for in his blindness.