Here a Little, There a Little

 

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Isaiah 28:13 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹³ Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them,

“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

            here a little, there a little,”

in order that they may go and fall backward

            and be broken and snared and taken

 

This past week I watched The Final Events of Bible Prophecy, by Doug Batchelor. It reminded me of the times I have studied, and what I used in my studies with others. For example, when studying the importance of the Sabbath, Batchelor covered all (is it?) New Testaments texts that mention the “first day” of the week, plus numerous NT and OT texts that mention the Sabbath, to convince us of the importance of Sabbath keeping. I have listened to another pastor (from a different persuasion) use a similar technique, and the same eight texts, to convince me of the sanctity of Sunday.

Once while hitchhiking from Lusaka to Salisbury (Harare today), I was picked up by a Jehovah’s Witness elder. We had to wait for at least 45 minutes near the Zambesi River as a tropical storm dropped so much rain that we couldn’t see the road we were on. While he was driving and waiting, he gave me studies of the key doctrines of his denomination. In those days I was an irreverent 17-year-old, who had studied all those texts he used in 10 years of study in Adventist parochial schools. I would use those same texts to show that they could also support a completely alien doctrine to his. Eventually I became so obnoxious that he couldn’t take me anymore. The road we were on was in dense bush and very wild. When he was near the Sinoia Caves (now called Chinhoya), about 400 km from Lusaka and 100 km from our destination, he pulled over, took my little suitcase from his trunk, and told me had taken me as far as he was going to take me. Then he drove off leaving me standing beside the road.

In retrospect I find the following:

1.      He was a far better Christian than I. He dropped me near the only bush hotel on this desolate road where all of Africa’s “Big 5” freely preyed. Anywhere else I would have been easy prey. At Sinoia Hotel, I could at least find food, water, and a bed.

2.      He knew his Bible very well and enjoyed the comfort of resting in his faith. He supported his faith from scripture, confidently.

3.      My uses of his texts to support a different view than his may have started to cause him to doubt his faith. He did what the Bible admonishes us to do—flee from the devil.

4.      I worry that using the proof-text method to support my faith may result in my going or falling backward and being broken and snared and taken!

Surely Isaiah viewed the Bible study technique described in verses 10 and 13 of chapter 28—the proof text method—as valid. Yet he also sounds the warning that this method could become a snare.

Lord, may Your Holy Spirit guide our study and lead us into all truth!

 

 

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[1] https://bible.art/p/eknuZ6meXfZX7KL7nN0D  I take no responsibility for the misspelling in the picture. I do like the complicated design--which matches the complicated reasoning we sometimes employ.

Damocle's Sword

 

 

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Revelation 22:10-12 (King James Version)

 ¹⁰And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

 ¹¹He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

 ¹²And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

 

It started early in life. We were discussing the closing of probation in a class in my parochial primary school. I had already discovered the inevitability of sin in my life. Time and time again I had had to seek forgiveness for something I had done. I began to understand how basically evil I was, even though I was not yet ten years old. This doctrine that God would draw a line across time after which the solemn declaration would be pronounced, petrified me:

The threat of this proclamation hung over my head like Damocles’ sword. It struck fear into my young breast that haunted me. My teacher explained that if there was a sin in my life that was unforgiven, it could no longer be forgiven. The fires of hell were awaiting me.

Timidly I raised my hand and asked a question that haunted me. Since, my entire life had been a sequence of sins for which I had to ask forgiveness, not only of God but also some mortal soul I had wronged. “What if I’m on my way to ask forgiveness and the close of probation is declared? Will it be too late?”

My teacher, who loved us kids, realized the distress I found myself in. But I’m not sure that she had encountered that question. Her answer left a lot of uncertainty in my mind: “I’m sure that if God sees you’re actually going to confess a sin that He will understand.” But her answer lacked conviction.

To her the guardian angels God had assigned to each one of us carried a black book and continually wrote down every evil thought or action we might have. That picture of my guardian angel had been burned into my young mind, too. The angel might indeed be guarding me from harm, although he never stopped me from getting hurt, possibly because he was too busy writing down the continuous notes about my sins.

My life span had to double before I would begin to put Christ’s yielding His life for me together with His love for purity. Christ loved me and that is why His grace took care of my evil nature. Probation might indeed close, but God’s love and grace would never end.

Thank You, Jesus, for Your infinite and eternal love. Help me to show others this great love.

 

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[1] https://media.bizj.us/view/img/9823622/howtodamocles*1200xx2184-1230-0-103.jpg

Emotional Religion Pitfalls

Ephesians 4: 24

King James Bible

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Twice a year in boarding school we had a week of prayer. These were often conducted by great preachers locally or from overseas. Twice a day for a week they would tell stories and experiences of the mighty power and self-sacrificing love of God. These stories would tell how God renewed the lives of great sinners. They also told of the terrible punishments that God would inflict on wanton sinners.

By the great culmination of the week of prayer series, on Friday nights, with soft music being played on the piano, the preacher would invite us up to the front to tell about our experiences. For an hour and many times longer than that one student after another would go forward and with lots of tears and sobbing the students would tell of their sins. They would bring up a pack of cigarettes or an evil book or an object they had stolen and throw it in a waste basket provided for that purpose, renouncing their old lives.

Then with deep fervor they would “put on the new man.” They would promise that from then on they would live the righteous life God had given them. On Sabbath morning we would witness the baptism of some of these students. I would sit there in the audience, but I would not feel the great emotion that the other students expressed. I did not go forward except on very rare occasions when peer pressure would force me to. On my part there was never any weeping or remorse, even though I counted myself as being a worse sinner than the others.

Like a new garment, this “new man”, would quickly become soiled and torn. I knew this from early experience—these twice annual weeks of prayer had been a part of my education ever since the first year I went to school. I knew what the result would be. The man of God who had brought about such a marvelous emotional transformation in every student would leave to conduct the next week of prayer at the next school. He would be rejoicing that “God had used him” to save so many lost sinners. The conference leaders would claim another great success and heap accolades on the preacher.

However, by Saturday night or Sunday at the latest, the “new man” of Friday night would be so stained and tattered as to be scarcely recognizable. None of these preachers ever showed us how to keep putting on a fresh “new man” every day. The penitents would rapidly sink into greater sin. They would deny the origin of the repentance they had professed and boldly blaspheme God.   

Like a vain dieter who discovers a new diet, loses 10 pounds in 3 weeks and then over the course of the next few months adds 15 pounds back on, becoming fatter and less healthy by each experience, the poor student would be plunged more deeply under the control of the devil.

Lord, create a new man of righteousness and true holiness for me today and see to it that I wear it today.