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by Nathan Buck

Have you ever considered the cost of your freedom? Would you know how to get free if you were trapped?

I cannot and will not pretend to understand the price that has been paid for our freedoms in America - the blood spilled, the lives surrendered, the lives taken, the families grieved by loss, the souls lost to hell, the cultures destroyed, the nightmares endured, and the gratitude lacking. This is not meant to be a tribute to soldiers, first responders, and others who put their life on the line every day, but while I am on the subject I will say, “Thank YOU for your service.”

This is meant to be a blog post that helps us realize that rebellion against God has a cost. That cost is often paid by suffering, or human lives - as any soldier or first responder knows all too well. This post is also meant to help us see the primary tools God has given us to overcome consequences/circumstances in order to live morally - following God and being faithful to what is right, and good, and true.

Take a moment and read Judges 3:12-30. As you read, I want you to take particular notice of how Israel wound up in a bad place, and then the cost of their rescue and deliverance.

Did you see it? The people “did evil in God’s sight” - which usually means they broke God’s rules and worshipped other gods as well. So God lets them experience the consequences, by allowing them to be conquered by Eglon, the king of Moab. For 18 years they served Eglon and the Moabites. The Hebrew word used here in verse 14 for “served” means to be in servitude (like a slave), and its second definition can be translated as “worship.” Clearly based on this we are to understand that what Israel had done to the inhabitants of the land when they took over was now being done to them, and it was not at all good. They were being forced to serve (maybe as slaves), and there is a hint that this service may include some form of worship of the king of Moab (e.g. through the ‘tributes’ offered).

God raises up Ehud, a judge, a rescuer. And God positions Ehud as the one to go and offer the tribute to the king. Ehud’s name means “I will give praise.” Eglon’s (king of Moab) name means “circle” and carries the idea of going around and around and around.

Ehud kills Eglon, and the verses describe this in rather graphic detail. Perhaps the detail is to help us understand how bad the situation was and to give us insight into God’s judgment of Eglon and Moab. The Moabites were a people born from the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughter, when she took it upon herself to make herself pregnant (check out Genesis 19:30-38 for context). Perhaps the emphasis on Eglon’s size is also to make a point about how the Moabites lived - taking for themselves and indulging themselves, just as Lot’s daughter did. Regardless, Ehud brings freedom for Israel. And verse 30 says the “land was undisturbed for 80 years.”

Again we see a connection to the LAND benefitting from the peace and restoration of Israel from their own disobedience. Any time God restores Israel, the land gets a rest from turmoil.

Historically, these events are important and demonstrate God’s faithfulness to rescue Israel (and now followers of Jesus) even from situations we create for ourselves. Emotionally, physically, and morally, these events are a parable to remind us of the costly price of our rebellion and our freedom. But is there more to this story?

Remember the meaning of Ehud’s name? “I will sing praise!” Remember that Ehud was sent by the people to the king, and that Ehud had turned away from the worship of other gods or idols. Remember the weapon that he made? A sharp double-edged sword!

What seems important to remember, after considering the cost, is the way we see Israel returned to freedom. Worship/praise (Ehud) is the vehicle, the delivery method by which we become free. And the Word of God, “sharper than any double-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12), is the weapon we deliver to take down any stronghold, any oppression, or any self-inflicted bondage.

What trap are you caught in, what hole have you dug for yourself, or what slavery have you become bound to? Are you ready to seek God, align your life to Him, give Him thanks and praise, and deliver His Word into the middle of that situation? If so, your freedom and peace for the land you live in may be just ahead of you.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Charlie Wolcott

Truthophobia? What is that? It’s actually a word I completely made up. The Latin equivalent is alethephobia, but for this post, I will use “truthophobia” simply because it sounds better. Truthophobia is what I describe as the “fear of truth.”

Stephen Hawking once said, “Religion is for people who are afraid of the dark.” John Lennox replied, “Evolution is for people who are afraid of the light.”

Today, there is a great fear and outright hatred for truth. No one wants to listen to a standard not determined by themselves. As I have discussed creation and other topics with both militant atheists and other Christians alike, it is like finding a rare gem to come across someone who actually longs to seek the truth. Too many people are out to prove their position without examining the actual facts, only listening to that which supports their position. They are ultimately so easily swayed by any teaching that pleases their sinful flesh. Again, I’ve found this in both non-believers and believers alike.

Many of the atheists I deal with are emotionally charged in their attacks on Scripture. If the Bible or any truth standard that does not let them decide on their own what is right and wrong is mentioned, they are quick to attack. They completely reject the Bible as the standard of truth, and I have noticed that they are completely devoid of the use of logic, reasoning, or even holding to their own definitions. Yet they hold evolution as absolute fact. If it was true, why is it they have to keep the theory in muddied waters, where you can’t independently go out and test it? Why it is they have to keep multiple definitions to terms, like evolution itself, “transitional fossils,” “scientist,” “evidence,” and “science” itself. If I were paid a nickel for every time I heard someone equivocate definitions with these terms, I could pay off the United States’ national debt in one fell swoop. Why do they so hate being held to their own definitions, let alone an outside standard of truth?

The old earth creationists and theistic evolutionists are no different. The majority of them claim to be Christian yet with very few exceptions, I cannot tell them apart from the militant atheists who hate Christians and God and the Bible. They very quickly side with the militant atheists against those who stand for the authority of Scripture (regardless of one’s “interpretation” of Genesis). They also refuse to be held to any standard on how to read Scripture. Their entire basis for how they read Scripture is based on a “could be,” completely disregarding context, and all of it is based on their opinions on Scripture, not on what Scripture actually says. I will dig into that point more in another post soon. But they claim to hold to the truth, yet they dislike it. Why? If you have read Steve Risner’s posts for any part of almost the last year, he has been addressing a theistic evolutionist, someone who claims to be a Christian and yet whose doctrine is so atrocious and bears such disregard for a standard of truth to follow, you may notice there are problems with these positions.

But it is not just that. I see this problem with many in the church itself. If God were just a God of love, kindness, compassion, mercy, and that was it, most people would have no problems with him. If God just allowed people to do what they want without consequence and be there to give them what they want like some kind of genie, how many more would turn to God? That is what the emergent church and that type of thinking has done. They have tried to redefine, “repaint” what truth is, to make it malleable and foldable, bendable to meet our desires. It is taking the secular concept of “relativism” that truth is relative to the person who holds it, and decorating it with Christian terminology. Beware of such people because they are not followers of Christ, but of their own belly.

What does the truth say? How can we define truth? And why are so many scared of hearing it? They’re so scared that they fight and rage and do everything they can to silence it or minimize its effect. There are several reasons for this; among them includes a desire to please all different crowds. They want to sound smart before Christians and non-Christians at the same time. They want to please two opposing worldviews at the same time. Another reason is for moral reasons. They know that if they consistently sought the truth, their moral life and desires would be exposed, which they don’t want.

People like Sigmund Freud, who founded modern psychology, hated the Bible and hated truth. If you read his writings and dig further into him, you will find he was a pedophile who had a keen interest in young boys. But that’s an extreme example. Here is a much more common moral reason to hate truth: because the truth reveals that when you live your own life the way you want to, the end leads to death. Proverbs speaks this twice. Many people hate the truth because they love their sin. John makes this clear in John 1. People hate the truth and they are scared of it, because they do not want it revealing who they really are.

Here at Worldview Warriors, however, we do not have Truthophobia. We are not scared of the truth. We are not ashamed of the truth. When presented with challenges to our position, we are not afraid to stand our ground. We know (and are still learning at times) when to pick our battles, but we are not afraid of the truth, nor afraid of what standing for it entails. We are not afraid to take what Scripture says at its word and follow its logical conclusion, even if it does not bode well for us.

Samuel Clemens said: “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand.”

This accurately depicts the mindset of those who are not willing to change themselves when the truth speaks. If there are parts of the Bible that bother us, let it bother us until we bend ourselves to agree with it. Let us not be fearers of truth. Let us be lovers of truth. If you are a lover of truth, you will not be popular. You will not be well received by a generation that does not love truth. But as our leader Jason DeZurik has learned, which he wrote in his book “How Being Consistent Changed Everything,” when you focus on the truth, it is exhilarating and freeing. “Know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Are you free? Or do you think you are free, but actually enslaved? What the world says will enslave you (Scripture) actually makes you free. What the world says will make you free (their system) enslaves you. Be free. Find the freedom that can only be found in Scripture and the Author it points to. Be a lover of the truth. When you do, you cannot go wrong.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Steve Risner

[This blog post is part of a series. The previous post is here, and the next post is here.]

Today we zoom in on question number 7 in our quest to answer “10 theological questions no young-earth creationist can answer.” We've been going through blogger Tyler Francke's writing point by point for the last several months. Today's question tells me Tyler's faith is built on... well, nothing really. He wants to reduce the Bible—the Genesis account of creation specifically—into a fable. Today's question: Can you name any other piece of literature in which the existence of a talking snake and trees with magical powers would suggest to you that it was meant to be taken literally?

To be sure, if you're a denier of the Word of God, this question may seem legitimate. However, as a follower of Jesus Christ, this seems like an attempt to mock the very written Word of God which he has claimed he loves and honors.

Tyler begins this critique of the Bible by mocking (which seems to be his mode of operation) a creationist organization that compared the word usage of “day” in Genesis with the other over 2000 uses in the Old Testament. He acts like this is absurd when, in reality, people like Tyler and others may make the claim that the word “day” in Genesis may mean something other than what the text obviously means. This is just a fact—I've engaged those who believe this way quite frequently and it's unfortunate, yes. But to mock someone for it seems a little immature. Many old earth creationists will say the word “day” can mean an indefinite period of time—which actually doesn't do anything for them. It just creates different issues. But the truth of the matter is that “day” in Genesis cannot mean anything other than a 24-hour period in the context. But he thinks that this somehow is connected to the serpent that tempted Eve, making the entire account fictional. The trouble with this, in the end, is that Jesus Christ must be fictional as well and our faith is for nothing—or our faith is in a fictional story of a man that died for our sins because fake people were duped by a fake snake that tempted them to sin, cursing all of creation.

He asks if talking animals or trees with magical powers are found in other literary works that are to be taken literally. The bottom line: I know of no other literary works that were inspired by direct revelation from God Almighty, so the question is pointless. I don't know of nonfictional works aside from the Bible that have angels slaying cities. I haven't read much about water drawing back and standing in a heap so an entire nation of people can walk through a sea on dry land. Are there nonfictional books written that tell about dead men coming back to life, thousands of people eating a small child's lunch and having tons left over, or men running faster than horses? I have yet to find a single authentic work that is to be taken literally that says the sky can open up, resulting in fire falling down to consume an alter of rock, water and animal carcass... or the earth opening up at random to swallow rebellious people. What about a man that could tear a lion in half with his hands, kill a thousand men with donkey's mandible, or bring down an entire temple with his strength? Yet all of these things happened in the Word of God. You cannot compare the Bible to any other work in such a way because, as I've stated already, it stands alone as the ONLY book breathed by God Himself. It's not a book written about God. It's a book written by God.

He mentions Balaam's donkey, oddly. He thinks this is excused because it says God opened the mouth of the donkey. So, in other words, even Tyler apparently believes the story of a talking animal is to be taken literally in the Bible. The irony is strong with this one.

Is salvation a myth? Was Jesus real? Did He die (physically) for a fake story?

The trees mentioned do not possess “magical powers.” What a shallow attempt at mocking the Word of God.

Finally, he attempts to say that making a figurative comparison to something means that that something must be imaginary. The Tree of Life, which he fails to understand at all—especially its place in heaven where it's mentioned according to John in Revelation, is mentioned in Proverbs. It's compared to wisdom and fulfilled desire. Since God holds a high value on wisdom, He compares it to the Tree of Life. To be sure, there are those who do not believe the reference to the Tree of Life here is accurately the tree found in the Garden of Eden or in heaven. It's “a tree of life,” “well or spring of life,” or “something that gives life.” Either way, it makes no difference. And who's not super happy when they finally get what they've so longingly desired? These mentions of the Tree of Life don't make the Tree of Life less real. In fact, they further solidify it as a real thing. Why would God compare wisdom to a fake tree that never existed? Is wisdom fake? Is wisdom something only to be talked about to make a point but isn't real?

This is the clearest representation we have thus far that theistic evolutionists (or this one at least) are hostile toward the Bible and will mock it to make their points. They don't stand on the Word of God but on the word of men. This cannot be stressed enough. Secular humanism is at the foundation or the core of theistic evolution. As such, it's quite an easy thing for the theistic evolutionist to abandon the core of Christianity and jeer at it as the scoffers do, as the God deniers and God haters do, and as the unbelievers do. When we decide we can insert whatever we like because we don't like what the Bible says, we're doomed (literally). If we decide we like this sin or that one, or if we decided we like this account more than the Biblical account, we will rewrite the Biblical account or hand wave it and claim it doesn't really mean what it clearly states. Don't be fooled! God will not be mocked. There is literally no reason to accept anything other than the Biblical account on origins. Remember, pray for the theistic evolutionists you know. They're trying to live in two worlds at the same time and, as Jesus said of serving two masters, they will likely cling to one and hate the other. I feel quite often they claim Christ while scoffing at much of His Word, so the one they cling to is obvious.

Next week we take a look at one of the most common criticisms by atheists for the Bible—especially Genesis. Stay tuned!

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Bill Seng

“Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel.” ~Judges 3:12

It is important to obey God’s commands, not just for our sake, but for the sake of our children. And I’m not stating this in a manner that our poor decisions today will immediately affect our children. I mean that our children might be adults before they reap the consequences of our bad decisions. It’s possible that it won’t even be until our grandchildren are grown up that the consequences of our actions are fully manifest.

In the above passage, Israel suffered from the consequences of not only their immediate sins, but those of one of their distant relatives. Back in Genesis 19 you will remember the story of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. Lot fled from Sodom with his wife and two daughters. His wife was ultimately lost as they fled the city, leaving only Lot with his two daughters. His daughters became fearful that they would be unable to find husbands and decided to get their father drunk and take advantage of him so that they could become pregnant and have children. They were successful in their misdeed and one of them gave birth to a son named Moab. The descendants of Moab are the ones in this passage who were used to oppress the Israelites as a judgment from for the sake of their disobedience to God. It took many years for Lot’s sin to manifest fully, but it happened (Genesis 19:30-38).

Take a look at our present circumstances. Most people will recognize that our country is a shadow of its former glory. It’s difficult to find good jobs. Health insurance is a mess, along with the health care system. People who do have jobs are struggling to make a livable wage. And the majority of people are crushed by debt. The easy way to address this issue is to blame the current generation that suffers from these realities. The more difficult thing to do is to acknowledge how we got here.

The problems we are suffering today have been brewing for quite some time. Let’s look at illegal immigration as an example. Currently, it is projected that there are 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States. It is being touted as a serious problem that needs to be taken care of right now. Slick politicians that can maneuver an immediate fix in their favor have proposed what they would call compassionate solutions for the problem. But what they won’t tell you is that this was already done once before only to re-emerge as a bigger problem later.

In 1986, Ronald Reagan signed a bill that granted amnesty to 3 million illegal immigrants. Although many would say that this distinguishes Reagan from the conservatives of today, they often fail to mention that it was a compromise. 3 million illegals would be granted amnesty, but a wall would be built to secure the southern border to prevent the influx of illegals from getting out of hand once again. Today, I believe 30 miles of that wall has been built, and not only do we have to worry about illegal immigrants but also terrorists infiltrating the droves of refugees who seek sanctuary in our country. It went from a bad situation to a dire situation.

Americans need to take note of the story of Lot and his daughters. His daughters behaved in a manner that reflected the culture of Sodom and resulted in wickedness upon wickedness. When we fail to consider the consequences for today’s decisions, not only do we suffer from their consequences, but our children will in the future. But there is good news.

Things do not have to remain as they are. We can humble ourselves before God, confess our past transgressions, admit our wickedness, and ask God to set us on the right course. This is a very intentional process that will make us uncomfortable, but if we desire a blessed life we must be willing to pay the price.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

This week’s passage is rather lengthy, but it’s really a great story! Make sure to read it here before continuing on with this blog post.

Again we see that “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (verse 12). We can look at this from our perspective and be amazed that they just didn’t learn their lesson from what they’ve been through so far. But, if we take a good look at ourselves, we’ll see that we really don’t learn this lesson either!

Because of this continued sin, “The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years” (verse 14). In the previous passage, they only had 8 years of slavery; now God has bumped that up to 18 years. Perhaps they need longer periods of slavery to get the point across that they shouldn’t keep disobeying God.

Again the people of Israel cried out to God, and God gave them a deliverer named Ehud (verse 15). The story of how Ehud killed Eglon, king of Moab, is a pretty interesting one, and perhaps not what you’d expect to read in the Bible! King Eglon was not a small man, in fact he was rather large. Ehud tells Eglon that he has a message from God for him, but instead of a verbal message, he whips out his sword and plunges it into the king’s belly! King Eglon is so obese that the sword is completely swallowed up by his fat, even down to its handle. The passages tells us that his sword was about a cubit long, which is about 18”. Just picture that for a moment - an 18” sword being completely swallowed up by a man’s fat! Yikes. Needless to say, Ehud left his sword there and fled the scene.

Nobody else was in the room at the time Ehud killed Eglon, so after a while Eglon’s servants started to get concerned. They honestly thought the king may be in the bathroom! So after waiting “to the point of embarrassment” (verse 25), they finally unlocked the doors, went in, and saw the scene.

After Ehud delivered Israel from Eglon king of Moab, they experienced peace for 80 years. They had slightly longer slavery this cycle than last, but they also had twice as long of a period of peace as well.

While the story of Ehud killing Eglon is an entertaining one to us, it really does have a point. The people of Israel keep messing up and God gives them negative consequences for that, but He still continues to save them. But, He doesn’t save them until they realize their mistakes. The same is true for us. We need to realize what we’re doing wrong, be truly sorry for it, turn away from our mistakes, and turn toward following God before He will save us. Do the people of Israel deserve God’s salvation? Do we deserve God’s salvation? No to both of those. But that’s what God’s grace is - a gift that we do not deserve.

It’s important to note that as amazing as God’s grace is, we don’t have permission to keep sinning because of grace (Romans 6:1-2). Our motivation needs to be such that we are truly trying to honor and obey God, not that we’re sinning because we know we have a “get out of jail free” card. When we mess up and are truly sorry for it, God will always save us, just as He continued to do for the people of Israel throughout the book of Judges.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Jason DeZurik

Grace: What is it, and do we really understand it in light of our culture today?

A miracle: What is it, and do we really understand what a miracle is, also in light of today’s culture?

Recently someone asked me, “Why all of the focus in the Old Testament? Didn’t Jesus come to offer grace and love?”

Well yes, this is true: Jesus Christ did come to offer grace and love to all people. He also came to help us understand that we not only need to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness of those sins, but He also came to remind us that we need to repent of our evil and wicked ways and turn toward the path of righteousness and believe in Him. He really was teaching right living, if you are willing to be honest about it. (Check out the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.) It seems many people have forgotten this, or at the very least they do not understand what grace really is.

It seems to me that people today think that a miracle is actually grace from God.

Please bear with me here. When a person goes against God and His good and right ways, the penalty and consequence for that action is death. We know this because of Romans 6:23. Yet, when someone goes against God and His ways, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, it is actually quite rare that a person immediately receives the wage they are due. In fact, they go on living their life and are given grace by God to learn why not to live in sinful ways. They get an opportunity to confess, ask for forgiveness, and to repent of their sin in order to live out good and right ways. This is so very important because learning the benefits of righteous living far outweighs a sinful life filled only with negative consequences. Yet, do we really believe this? I’m asking this of everyone reading this post, but more importantly I’m asking the believer in Christ if they really believe this, since you claim to follow Him and His ways.

In today’s world, it seems that people would like to take this one step further and get rid of the consequences to their actions that are all a part of God’s natural law. For instance, don’t be shocked when a person starts doing illegal drugs and gets addicted to them, then they start reaping the consequences of God’s natural law because of this decision. Let’s not be left scratching our heads when someone we know has smoked for a long time and gets cancer, or if a person possibly gets cancer after eating very unhealthy foods for many, many years. Also, don’t be surprised when year after year of playing the victim yourself, your children take that mentality to a whole new level and you begin to wonder where you went wrong. They were trained by you to think that way. But in and through all of this, God gives grace. Yes, grace.

Almighty God gives grace time and again to each one of us because He loves us. He does this so we can grow, mature, and become complete in and through Him, so that you and your children can learn His ways and put into action what is good and right and true. Will we still receive our just wages of death? Unfortunately, yes. This is a part of God’s natural law though, so we really shouldn’t be shocked.

If you are hoping and praying for God to take away these natural consequences from you or your family and friends, then you are not really wanting grace anymore; you are wanting a miracle. Think about it.

When I finally did a serious self-examination of my thoughts, beliefs, and actions on this while seeking God’s direction, I began to see how far away I really was from the truth. I made intentional life choices and actions to start down the narrow path of Jesus Christ.

I encourage you to do the same. Need help to know how to do that? Leave a comment here or contact us on Facebook and we’d love to have a discussion with you.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Nathan Buck

How do you handle failure? How about when that failure was an intentional choice to do the wrong thing?

As much as we may like to blame circumstances, blame others, rationalize, negotiate, and basically do anything to avoid admitting we chose to do wrong, the truth and consequences cannot be avoided. But if we avoid owning our rebellion, we may miss out on the grace intended to help us make progress. Worse yet, we may miss our lesson entirely, and just keep repeating the cycle of our selfish chaos.

As we continue in this series of blog posts on the book of Judges, feel free to go back and read the previous week’s post here. For this week, read Judges 3:7-11.

Notice in verses 7-8 that Israel does evil; they go against God's ways again and worship other gods. And as a result, God allows them to be captive to the king of Mesopotamia for 8 years.

After 8 years, they have been crying out to God for rescue - begging God to undo their consequences. Israel may not have taken responsibility for the evil they did, but they are shattered and asking God to help them. It's in this place of failure and brokenness that God demonstrates grace. Look at verses 9-11.

God raises up a leader, a judge, to get Israel back on track. His name is Othniel. He is the younger brother of Caleb. Caleb was one of the two leaders that obeyed God when Israel had the chance to leave the desert and enter the promised land (see Numbers 13). Now, God raises up Othniel to lead them out of the captivity to Mesopotamia and back to the life God intended for them.

Empowered by God, Othniel judges Israel and overcomes the king of Mesopotamia and frees Israel. As a result, in verse 11 the Bible says "the LAND had rest for 40 years." The Hebrew word for "land" there can mean the whole country, the nation, all the people, or the whole world. And the word "rest" means silence, stillness, security, or lack of strife. Take a moment and reflect on that for a second. When God gives Israel a leader to get them back on track and hold them accountable to God's ways, the people and the land (perhaps the whole world) had rest, security, and a lack of strife for 40 years.

Not only was there progress for Israel when they owned their failure and got right with God, but there was a lack of strife for the whole nation or maybe the whole world. God's grace and correction are meant to get us to a place where our lives bring about His grace and peace in our circumstances and for the lives of others also. Think about it: when we do wrong, others are hurt. Anger, bitterness, strife, or even war can come about when we do what is evil, selfish, and wrong. But when we own our failure, when we pay attention to grace and learn from the correction God gives us, we may experience a change of circumstance far greater than just 'getting out of trouble.'

We are all likely to fail. We may even rebel against God's ways and find ourselves in desperate circumstances. We all deserve separation from God - eternal death. Certainly, we need Jesus, and He is the only way to right relationship with God - eternal life. Perhaps God has even sent you an 'Othniel,' a leader, a 'judge' to get you back on track. The question is, how will you handle your failures? Will you grow through the grace and accountability God offers? Will the world and the people around you experience God's blessing because you are making progress with Him?

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Charlie Wolcott

This will be my last post on this mini-series on missions. I’ve written about why we go and whether short-term or long-term is better. Today, I will address who goes with you. Answers in Genesis had an article about missions and whether children should go with you and one person had a very emotional-driven comment about how one should never bring their children along on the mission field because you will not be able to focus on the missions. Is this true?

Who should go with you to the mission field? Who do you take with you? Do you wait to be empty nesters and your kids are gone? Do you send your teenagers? What about your grandparents? What about the handicapped that want to serve? I come from a very unique perspective because International Family Missions was perhaps the only organization in the world that actually focused on family missions - how to do ministry as a family unit. We took everybody on our trips: toddlers, kids, teens, adults, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, physically handicapped, and if possible even some people with special needs. The majority of mission groups out there may allow couples to take their children, but the children were more seen as extra baggage. They were not implemented into ministry plan. IFM, however, explicitly plugged in anyone and everyone who came.

I have a good friend who is severely physically handicapped. He can barely walk on crutches and is often wheelchair bound. Yet when he would come on our trips, he often had kids flocking around him. Image how much of an impact that has. He can’t walk and yet he comes into the desert, sits in the dirt with the kids and just loves on them. He has a major physical weakness and yet God uses him greatly.

One of the greatest moments of my missions experience came when I was just eight years old. I had my own challenges growing up and being off my routine had devastating results. Anyone who has been on a mission trip knows that “routine” is just not going to happen. I was not very popular among the other kids on the trip and I was often left out of the activities they were doing. So I was just hanging around the bus while the leader of our team spoke to several local pastors in the area explaining what we do. Our leader asked me to grab a “Wordless Book” and show how we can explain the Gospel using a five color felt booklet. The pastors were amazed how a child of my age, not even knowing my background, could explain the Gospel so simply.

Now because of the age and physical limitations of many of IFM’s groups, we did not do a lot of work projects, but rather did “visits in Jesus’ name.” It was much more relationally focused. Again, there is nothing wrong with work projects, and there is nothing wrong with helps. I have nothing against groups like Mercy Ships who come to provide medical attention to many desperate people. And it can be a challenge for children to come along with those types of things.

Those who refuse to allow children to come, however, tend to have other things in mind besides “focus on the ministry.” They think of the child’s safety. They think of typical American family life rather than letting the children see a lifestyle other than their own. Two stories come to mind that many mission organizations would find completely outrageous. Two children, Steve Saint and Bramwell Booth, were exposed to missions at an early age. And both were in places no “normal” or “wise” parent would ever take them.

Steve Saint was just a boy when his parents, along with Jim Eliot and others, sought to bring the Gospel to the Wadoni Tribe of Ecuador, a very violent tribe on the verge of self-extinction. Most people would consider the move to be extremely foolish, but not as foolish as what his mother did after Nate Saint, Jim Eliot, and three friends were killed: the widowed wives went into the jungle with their kids in tow to directly minister to the tribe. The story re-told in the movie “End of the Spear” is one of courage and obedience to the Lord, no matter what the cost.

William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, did not travel to the jungles of the Amazon or to China. He went to one of the most impoverished civilized areas of the world: the East End of London, where just a mile away, the West End was one of the wealthiest areas of the world at the time. William Booth sought out the destitute and the worst of sinners in London. It is reported that at least one occasion, William took his son Bramwell into one of the pubs in the East End, showed him the decadence and told him, “Bramwell, these are our people.” Bramwell was 11 years old at this time.

Most people in their right mind would never consider doing that. Many God-fearing, Bible-believing people would never consider taking their children along on mission trips where they might be exposed to the darkness, the drunkenness, the violence, the language, the smell, the decay, the death. But one thing I have learned in my own missions experience: following the Lord in obedience is often ridiculous. It often sounds stupid and foolish and unwise. My parents were told repeatedly not to take me to Juarez with IFM, and their response was this: even after I had regressed tremendously as a result of the first trip, they said they would take me again, and again, and again. And because of that, I am able to do what I am doing today and I have the heart to expand the Kingdom of God that I have today. The people who told my parents not to take me were well meaning. But they were thinking in the natural, they were not thinking as God was thinking. And had my parents listened to that advice, I would truly be held back from where God wanted me to be.

Now to be absolutely clear, I am NOT by any means suggesting everyone should take their children with them on missions. That is something between them and God. Not everyone is called to go out to the jungles or to the deep inner city. Everyone has a job to do in serving the Kingdom and some of those jobs are to be the financial basis for those going out. My purpose of this post is to not let fear and the natural mind keep you from taking who needs to go with you. If you have kids and God calls you to go, you need to go. He is not just calling you; he is calling your kids as well. My parents were called to serve in Juarez for 22 years. He did not just call them; he called me too. Even though I was just a child, I was called to go too. Even though I did not know I was being called at the time, I was to go. And it was one of the wisest decisions my parents ever made for me growing up.

Wherever you are, whoever is with you, wherever God takes you, the best place to be is in the center of God’s will. If you are obedient to the Lord, you are safer in the middle of a war-zone in God’s will than you are in the comforts of your home outside of his will. God has called us all to make disciples of all nations. He has called us to preach to Gospel to anyone we can. And let those around you see how it is done. Because if you don’t, how will they know?

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by Bill Seng

“But when they cried to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.” ~Judges 3:9

It is written that when God established the foundations of the earth, the angels shouted out with praise (Job 38:6-7). Have you ever thought about why? Forget all of the other questions that might come to your mind when you read about this; why would the angels shout for joy at the founding of the earth? Well, we must first answer this: what part of Genesis 1 defines the foundations of the earth (being the creation account and all)?

My guess is that more happened on day 1 than just the creation of light. For one, I believe that the angels had to have been created. But what is too often missed is that the first verse says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” He created the heavens and the earth on day one, apparently before he created light. The foundations were established there. What caused the angels to shout out in praise? In my opinion, it was the creation of light.

The angels were created under the cover of darkness and were temporarily blind, but before there was light, I believe that it makes sense that there had to have been darkness. The heavens and earth were created and yet unseen. If this is true, then I believe that when the angels were created, they could not see. Then God created light, and all of a sudden what they saw was marvelous, the foundation of God’s creation. Out of the darkness, into the light, they sang songs of praise to the one who created them.

Out of the darkness we cry out to God and in the light we sing him praises. The Israelites in Judges 3:7 had started disobeying God and aligned themselves against him. As a result, God turned them over to oppressive rulers for eight long years. They had fallen into deep darkness. Within the darkness, they could see no respite. But all the while, as their hearts became aligned toward God once again and they humbled themselves as they cried out to God, God raised a leader to thwart the enemy and deliver Israel from their oppressor. In the darkness Israel cried out, and into the light they sang songs of praise.

Are you experiencing a dark time right now? We all go through dark times. We don’t always want to share the particulars with everyone, but life can be tough. When we are surrounded by darkness, we need to remember that God is still in our midst. The angels could not see God or the plans he had for creation. But when he shined light on the universe, what they saw was more marvelous than what they could have imagined.

Through my most recent struggles, I have finally started to learn that there is a higher purpose to what I am going through. The more I suffer in my circumstances, the more useful I become to those who are going through the same thing. For me, this helps me to develop strength to endure even through circumstances that seem unconquerable. It is my hope that in enduring through these dark days, the glory will be all the greater when the light shines brightly.

God responds when we cry out. It might take some time, but that’s because his answer is dependent only on his timing. All we can do is prepare for that day. If you are going through dark days, as difficult as it may be, rejoice in knowing that God is still in control. Although you have not yet seen what God is up to, take hope in knowing that God is always at work.

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by Katie Erickson

“The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.” (Judges 3:7-11)

Today’s passage starts out with a phrase that is common throughout the book of Judges: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (Judges 3:7). We also saw this in last week’s passage, in Judges 2:11, and we’ll see it more in the future as well.

Last week, I wrote about the 5-step cycle that happens often with the people of Israel throughout the book of Judges. Those 5 steps are:
1. Sin - The people disobey God.
2. Slavery - God allows them to be enslaved by their enemies.
3. Supplication - The people cry out to God for deliverance.
4. Salvation - God delivers them.
5. Silence - There is a time of peace.

We see Israel’s sin when they did evil and worshipped other gods, in verse 7: “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.” The Baals and Asherahs were pagan gods, so serving them was clearly forbidden by God back in Exodus 20:3-6.

Because of this sin, in verse 8 we read that God allowed them to be in slavery to the king of Aram Naharaim for 8 years. They needed to experience a negative consequence so that they would realize their sin and repent and turn away from it. We don’t have any details on what this slavery entailed, but the general nature of slavery is that it’s not a fun experience.

We see Israel’s supplication and salvation in verses 9-10: “But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.” Israel cried out to God, and God provided them Othniel as a deliverer, who saved them from the king’s power.

We see silence for Israel in verse 11: “So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.” They experienced peace until their deliverer died, and then the cycle starts all over again in the next passage.

How many times do we go through this same pattern in our lives? We’re attracted to the allure of this world, so we sin and take our focus off of God and what he wants for us. One example of this is buying too many material possessions because we want them, when they’re not thing we truly need. This puts us in the slavery of being stuck in debt and spending too much money. Once we realize that we’ve messed up when we run out of money or see the mountain of debt continue to grow, we cry out to God and ask Him to help us get out of this mess! Hopefully at that point, we realize that it was us who messed it up and not put the blame on anyone else. In this case, our salvation comes through God helping us to realize what we should do and make better financial moves in life. This takes hard work, but focusing on God and His plan for us will get us through it and come out victorious on the other side. The time of silence comes when we hopefully continue in the good pattern we’ve learned for many years.

This is just one example of how we can go through the same pattern as the people of Israel in the book of Judges. How do you see this happening in your life?

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by Ami Samuels

What fragrance do you saturate the world with? Do you emit a peaceful aroma like lavender or eucalyptus? Maybe you bring a joyful scent like florals or citrus. Is it a sweet smell like vanilla or brown sugar? What fragrance do you bring into a room when you walk in?

2 Corinthians 2:15 says that we are the fragrance of Christ. Consider your life for a moment. Do you light up a room with a smile and bring a peaceful attitude, or do you enter with a scowl permeating a critical spirit and tension?

What is the fragrance of our hearts? Being the fragrance of Christ reminds me of Galatians 5:22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” If we are to be the aroma of Christ, our lives should reflect these characteristics.

We can all think of people that we have come in contact with that emitted a sour spirit to everyone around them. Maybe it is a rude customer in front of us in the checkout line, or a grumpy worker at the DMV. Likewise, we have all met people that sweeten a room with their presence as they are so Christ-like we want to be around them and get to know them.

Join me as we examine our hearts and lives, striving to saturate the world around us with the fragrance of Christ.

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by Nathan Buck

A test can show us our current state and the progress we have made so far.

Every year, public schools have academic achievement testing. At the time I am writing this, my kids are prepping for their two weeks of standardized tests. These are meant to measure their absorption of information, concepts, etc., and also demonstrate the effectiveness of the teachers and school district in their educational methods. The tests will be graded, and then ratings are assigned to each district base on the scores. The ratings will effect everything from government funding to the number of families that move into the district for their kids to get a good education. These tests are stressful for students, teachers, administrators, and local government leaders. And whether you believe in these types of tests and their effectiveness or not, whether you like tests or not, the bottom line is a “test” gives insight into our current state and our progress we’ve made since the last test.

The last couple weeks we looked at the book of Judges chapters 1-2, and what happened when God lead Israel into the land He promised them. (Go read the last two blog posts here and here if you need some context for this week’s.)

Israel not only ignored what God asked of them when the took the land, but they made bargains with the current inhabitants, and then went so far as to make them slaves - becoming the oppressors of another people, after having been oppressed themselves. God told them that because of their poor judgement and disobedience, that He would allow them to face the consequences of their choice. The people they had made slaves, the people they allowed to worship other gods in the midst of their villages, would cause them to stumble and struggle, and even deny God.

When we continue with Judges 2:6-23, we see it wasn’t long until this came true. When Joshua dies, verse 10 tells us the generation that followed did not know God and did not remember what God had done for them. They turned to and worshipped the other false gods. They continued to make choices apart from God’s best way of living, and God responded by delivering them over to plunderers and oppressors - people who did to them what they had done to the original inhabitants of the promised land. When Israel was finally broken and desperate, they cried out to God and He sent them judges - leaders/advisors to rescue them from oppression and point them toward choices that honor God and followed His plans.

  But even with the judges, they would forget God and abandon His ways. Read verses 10-21 again. Look at how they willfully turned against God, even when He had mercy on them. Look at how Israel abandoned God each time a judge died.

God knew Israel would continue to flip-flop, and their obedience would only last until they were out of trouble, or until the judge was no longer leading them. Their faith in God was self-serving, and only based in self-preservation. Their obedience and wise choices only lasted as long as someone was constantly reminding them and pushing them toward what is good. As a result, God decided to be really slow in removing the influences of the false gods and destructive paths that came from the original inhabitants they had let stay in the land. God let the presence of destructive influences become a test for Israel.

The test was not about a temptation to fail, but rather examining and EXPERIENCING the hearts of the people of Israel as they continued to face opportunities to do right, or do evil. God was testing the current state of their hearts, and searching for any progress toward good, as they faced each day with the other people and false gods among them.

What’s amazing to me about this section is that in this one decision, God demonstrates BOTH accountability for their choices and sets up a system of grace where they can progress forward toward good as they developed a distaste for evil. By allowing Israel to taste the consequences of each choice, by letting them be tested by the false beliefs and selfish practices of the people around them, God could see if they were growing and learning that life apart from Him would never satisfy them or bring peace.

So, think about your life and where you have gone your own way apart from God. Are you still experiencing consequences from that choice? Have you asked God to remove the consequence or any temptation to do wrong?

Consider for a moment that God may be wanting to experience your growth with you, and He may be testing the sincerity of your commitment to Him. He is not interested in worthless tests, so if He has allowed consequences or temptations to remain in your life, He is not wanting you to fail, and He is not being cruel. God wants us to be so sick of evil, so sick of how life is apart from Him, that we are never again tempted by it and seek only satisfaction in and with our relationship to Him. He graciously allows us the struggle and even goes through each struggle with us. He holds out hope and even offers us His power in order to succeed.

If you are already a follower of Jesus, God’s presence and power is already in you to live God’s way through any trial, temptation, challenge, or test. If, you are not a follower of Jesus, will you continue to be angry with God, frustrated that life isn’t going how you want, and continuing to flip-flop between good and evil, selflessness and selfishness?

What if God is testing you and wanting to experience and share in your growth toward good, toward a trusting and committed relationship with Him? Will you repeat the mistakes Israel made? Will you blame God for the consequences of your choices, or the choices of others? Or will you live the best way, God’s way, and trust Him with your life and choices? The choice is yours. I hope this test goes well for you.

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by Charlie Wolcott

Last week, I wrote about the need for missions, the need to go share the Gospel. Today I want to expound upon that and address how we should go. One of the more popular methods for going out and sharing the Gospel is the short-term mission trip. There are many perks to the short-term mission trip, however, there are also many concerns. I wrote last week how I grew up with my parents serving with International Family Missions. My family was there long-term, but most of the people we worked with were there short-term. So I know and understand both sides of this debate.

First, let me examine the perks of short-term missions. For those who like the comforts of American life, short-term mission trips can offer the chance to go share the Gospel, but in the back of your mind, there is always that “expected date of return.” You know when you get to go back home. You get to experience the life of others, but know you get to return to what you have grown accustomed to. Other perks include being helpful to the other people without staying so long that you are a burden to them. While you come to bless others, you often find yourself being blessed even more. And the greatest joy is getting to see people come to Christ.

However, there are some catches. While I mentioned the expected date of return, such a mentality can very easily make the mission trip becoming nothing more than a memory just a matter of days to weeks after the trip. Being there for such a short time does not leave room for discipleship and continual training. So it is easy for such trips to be more about making converts and receiving proclamations of faith when you really don’t know if such a decision actually carried anything real with it.

I have seen many great things take place with short term mission trips. I’ve seen food multiply. I’ve seen many people get authentically saved. And I’ve seen people who were not called to Juarez, Mexico long-term return home changed people. One family that came on IFM trips took the model we used in Juarez and moved to Cambodia long-term and used that model there. Another family soon stopped coming with IFM because they could do it on their own with ease. They founded the Lifelight Music Festival, one of the largest Christian music festivals in the nation in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That festival is a fruit of what God did through short-term mission trips. Another family still was locked into a hyper-conservative church - suits/ties and dresses only, only an organ for music (guitar was considered blasphemous). This family came and saw other cultures and they left that church (as did others) and were free to follow God as they were led.

However, I have seen the dark side of it as well, when the concept is used wrongly. There were a number of people on the trips that treated it as a vacation. They came as tourists and instead of seeking to meet the needs of the people of Juarez, they sought to bring their American ideals and comforts as they came to visit. The people being “served” can tell very quickly if someone comes with an authentic care for them or if they are there to “do their good deed.”

Another problem is when the focus becomes on work projects. Not that helping the people with their buildings and property is bad, but I’ll never forget a comment the kids of an orphanage we visited who had many groups coming said: “The other groups build our houses and paint our fences, but you are the first ones to just come and play with us.” I am not knocking work projects entirely, but it does not take long for that to become the focus and the relational side of things are ignored. Sure many of these groups will do VBS camps and preach the Gospel, but how many of these groups would do something like visit an orphanage so the staff could have just a few hours of breathing room? Not many.

There one other major problem with short-term mission trips. Jesus told us to make disciples of all nations, not converts. The short-term trips do not take long for the people to seek as many fast decisions and proclamations of faith as possible, when in reality there is no evidence that such a person ever was born again. That is a dangerous product of American church culture: the false conversion, making a statement of faith, saying a prayer, and being declared saved, when there is no regeneration, miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. My post two weeks ago about if your salvation is real is important to understand here. In short-term trips, how can you be sure those you are witnessing to are saved? The answer to that one is to use the long-term missionaries or the church staff who can continue with follow up. So what about long-term missions? The perks are interesting. You get full commitment to the area you are ministering to, and saying goodbye is not as hard of a chore, because you know you will be back. You get to disciple and train people to become followers of Christ. You get to know their culture and know better how to reach them. You get to see the fruit of your works more often than with short-term trips.

There are challenges as well. Long-term missionaries do not get to return quickly to the perks of comfortable life. It could mean putting your life on the line. One long-term missionary I know is a church planter. During one service, a gun man came into the church, pointed the gun into his face at point-blank range, and fired. The gun did not go off. Five times he tried and it never went off. But when he ran outside and engaged with Juarez police, it worked just fine. Another worship pastor’s son faced other gunmen and took 38 bullets before going down. Several others lost their lives, but the only reason the entire team was not wiped out was because they ran out of bullets. Long-term missionaries tend to get the diseases. Some do not see fruit for decades.

Which one is best? The answer is neither. The real secret to missional work is just obedience to the Lord. Go where he sends, when he sends you, and with whom he sends you. If you go short-term, use that experience to give you a missions-minded perspective and think about how you can use that wherever you are. Your very neighborhood could be your ‘long-term’ mission field. But remember that the real reason for missions is not to “help the people” but rather to serve the King.

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by Steve Risner

[This blog post is part of a series. The previous post is here, and the next post is here.]

We are plugging away at these questions now and I feel like we're able to see light at the end of the tunnel. We've been discussing “10 theological questions no young-earth creation can answer.” We've actually been doing this for about 9 months give or take. My goal was to be thorough; I don't think anyone will say I was not. But I hope the time we've put into this has helped you see that a solid Biblical understanding and an unswerving faith in our Creator can open up extremely deep theological ideas found in God's Word. If we trust Him, the answers show themselves quite often.

This week we are answering question number 6: If the punishment for eating from the tree was that Adam and Eve would physically die… why didn’t they physically die? Good question, right? I thought so. It's certainly not unanswerable, but it's a good question. Let's see what Tyler Francke, the author of this question, has to say on the topic first. He says you may ask, “Wait a minute. The Bible says they would die, and they did die. What’s the problem?” And here is where he immediately goes into why his Biblical literacy is the problem. In a matter like this, my first response is to make sure I know I understand the basics. He does not. Let me explain why I say that. He tells us, “The Bible doesn’t just say they would die, it says they would die 'in the day' that they disobeyed.” One of the difficult things in any situation like this is translation. We all understand, I'm sure, that the Bible was not written in English. Hebrew is very different from the English language. So we need to keep in mind that translators do the best they can to bring out the meaning of a text, but it's often the case that we may lose a little in translation. This theistic evolutionist is referencing Genesis 2:16-17. The text actually says, “...in the day” or “...on that day” and is the same phrasing used in Genesis 2:4. Now Tyler, the author of the blog post we are looking into here, says, “We know from the literalists that the word ‘day’ in the Genesis creation accounts can’t mean anything other than a 24-hour day.” We do know that under the right circumstances the word “day” can only mean a 24-hour day. It's all about context and word usage—like it is in many other forms of communication. However, Tyler is making a classic strawman statement here. A strawman fallacy is when you misrepresent someone's position to make it very easy to knock down. That's what this is. No one suggests the ONLY meaning of the word “day” is a 24 hour time period. In fact, we do know from this passage as in Genesis 2:4 that the term is an indefinite time period. “In that day” doesn't mean THAT 24 hour time period. Charles Ellicott wrote in 1897 that the phrase “’in that day’ was the same as in Genesis 2:4 and means an indefinite period of time.” This is how nearly everyone understands the passage in question. This actually could be the end of the discussion here, but I think we can further support this and further expose theistic evolution for the unbiblical doctrines it inserts into Christianity. I'll give a couple of commentary excerpts to expand our understanding here.

Matthew Henry in 1706, long before Darwinism and long before the erroneously accredited founder of the young-earth creationist movement Ellen White was even born, says of Genesis 2:16-17, “Let us never set up our own will against the holy will of God. There was not only liberty allowed to man, in taking the fruits of paradise, but everlasting life made sure to him upon his obedience. There was a trial appointed of his obedience. By transgression he would forfeit his Maker's favour, and deserve his displeasure, with all its awful effects; so that he would become liable to pain, disease, and death. Worse than that, he would lose the holy image of God, and all the comfort of his favour; and feel the torment of sinful passions, and the terror of his Maker's vengeance, which must endure for ever with his never dying soul.” This fairly well establishes that for centuries the common understanding of Genesis was that man was created immortal and that physical as well as spiritual death was the result of the Fall.

The Pulpit Commentary in 1884 says it this way: “For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die; literally, dying, thou shalt die. That this involved death physical, or the dissolution of the body, is indicated by the sentence pronounced on Adam after he had fallen... universal experience attests that permanent escape from its execution is impossible. In the case of Adam it was thus far put in force on the instant, that henceforth he ceased to be immortal. As prior to his fall his immortality was sure, being authenticated for him by the tree of life, so now, subsequent to that catastrophe, his mortality was certain. This, more than immediateness, is what the language implies.” And in reference to the pronouncement at the Fall in Genesis 3:19 the Pulpit Commentary reads, “...in consequence of his transgression he had forfeited the privilege of immunity from death, and must now return to the soil whence he sprung.” Is Tyler going to suggest that all of these highly respected sources are simply just spewing young-earth creationist dogma? I would hope not since they didn't really know there was such a thing—this is especially true of Matthew Henry who wrote long before there was any real doubt.

We do know that, according to the account in Scripture, that man was prevented from living forever by God (Genesis 3:22). We need to just toss out the entire account and say it has nothing to do with anything important if we just hand wave all this stuff. Man was cursed. According to this curse, he'll die. There is no mention of man dying prior to the pronouncement of the curse other than God's warning that if man disobeyed, he would die. Even the Amplified Bible has a footnote for Genesis 2:16-17 indicating that man was created immortal and that physical and spiritual death both occurred as a result of Adam's sin. Physical and spiritual death has been the long held position for a very long time.

Because I know Tyler loves Ken Ham, I will quote from an Answers in Genesis article on the subject: “The phrase ‘you shall surely die’ can be literally translated from the Hebrew biblical text as ‘dying you shall die.’” In the Hebrew phrase we find the imperfect form of the Hebrew verb (you shall die) with the infinitive absolute form of the same verb (dying). This presence of the infinitive absolute intensifies the meaning of the imperfect verb (hence the usual translation of ‘you shall surely die’). This grammatical construction is quite common in the Old Testament, not just with this verb but others also, and does indicate (or intensify) the certainty of the action. The scholarly reference work by Bruce K. Waltke and M. O’Conner, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1990), gives many Biblical examples of this, and they say that “the precise nuance of intensification [of the verbal meaning] must be discovered from the broader context.” Clearly in the context of Genesis 3, Adam and Eve died spiritually instantly—they were separated from God and hid themselves. Their relationship with God was broken. But in Romans 5:12 we see in context that Paul is clearly speaking of physical death (Jesus’ physical death, verses 8–10, and other men’s physical death, in verse 14). We also find the same comparison of physical death and physical resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:20–22. So both spiritual death and physical death are the consequences of Adam’s fall.” I realize that's a little wordy, but the point is excellent.

That article goes on to look at other times in Scripture that we find the exact same wording for “dying you shall die” which seemed helpful. The exact same phrasing is used in Numbers 26:65 when God tells the Israelites they'll die in the wilderness because of their distrust of Him. It took 40 years for that to occur. Do we have to conclude that this didn't mean they would all physically die because they didn't die the moment they heard the proclamation? No. We understand that this phrasing in Hebrew means that there will come a time when this will come to pass. And it did.

Another point to make is that God sacrificed an animal to cover Adam’s shame. This was because death is the result of sin—physical and spiritual. This sacrifice of an animal is insufficient to forgive sin as Christ’s death did, but the death of an animal was necessary to not warrant some of the immediate consequences.

I think that really explains it. But we find near the end of this “unanswerable question” that Tyler once again exposes his lack of Biblical knowledge. He says, “Faith in Christ is our one hope of restoring that connection, and restoring that connection is our one hope of eternal life, because our spirit — not our physical bodies — is the only part of us that can live forever.” Faith in Christ is our hope for sure and praise God for that. But we know from our series entitled “In Adam All Die” (specifically part 2) that the Word of God is very clear on this. We do not spend eternity as spiritual beings. We will have a resurrected body much like the physical body that Christ has since He has risen. He was physical, and Paul mentions for us that the resurrection of dead bodies (literally) is the hope we have in Christ Jesus. This theistic evolutionist, like many I have encountered, does not understand God's Word at all and has such little knowledge that he doesn't even know he's exposing his ignorance when he writes. But take heart, the end is coming! This series has but 3 questions more!

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by Bill Seng

“But when the judges died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshipping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.” ~Judges 2:19

In April of 1997, the legendary golfer Tiger Woods won his first Master’s at the age of 21 years old. With his success, he brought thousands of new fans to the world of golf. Rarely had such a dominant force arisen in the world of professional sports, and Tiger Woods’ fame rose to unspeakable heights. In 2009, it was discovered that Woods had been engaged in numerous extramarital affairs and his career suffered. His fame was greatly diminished and many fans that he had attracted to the PGA would never tune into professional golf again. People loved the player; they did not love the sport.

The people of Israel had developed an unhealthy attachment to the various judges that were sent to their nation. These prophets were mighty in word and in deed. They not only deserved the respect of the people they led, but they were appointed by God to positions of authority. But the problem with their popularity among the people of Israel was that it seemed as though they did not think they had to follow God’s rules all of the time, only when a good judge was placed in authority over them. This is a normal, sinful human tendency.

In years past, great preachers have come and gone. Charles Spurgeon, John Whitefield, Charles Wesley, Martin Luther, Billy Graham; all of these men were great preachers. Now, as the days of the humble Billy Graham dwindle away, people are asking, “What are we going to do?” A man of Graham’s great preaching ability has not yet arrived on the world stage. He has impacted the lives of perhaps millions of people across the world. But was it really Graham? If you find yourself asking, “What are we going to do?” maybe you have fallen victim to the charisma of his personality. Perhaps you loved the preacher and have forgotten his God.

Jeremy Camp sings a song called Same Power. In this song, he sings,

The same power that rose Jesus from the grave
The same power that commands the dead to wake
Lives in us…
The same power that moves mountains when He speaks
The same power that can calm a raging sea
Lives in us…
He lives in us…

What is Camp’s point in this song? Why do we fear the dark powers in the world? The same power that drove Jesus’ ministry and rose him from the grave is the same power that empowers us through faith. Billy Graham, for instance, did his part in being a faithful witness. Paraphrasing a friend of mine, Christianity did not begin with Billy Graham and it will go on long after Billy Graham is gone. Maybe there will not be another preacher like him… maybe there will be tens of thousands of Christians preaching the message of the Gospel to crowds that pale in comparison to those of which Graham drew. But maybe they will reach more people in total. Or maybe not. But God’s purpose will be accomplished nonetheless.

Turn your focus to what matters. Like everyone else, I love it when a preacher faithfully delivers God’s Word. But it is wise to remember that the messenger is an imperfect vessel, chosen by God, to deliver HIS message. It’s easy to criticize the Israelites for lacking faith in God when their beloved leaders passed away. They probably felt no different than we do when our best preachers near their last days.

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by Katie Erickson

This week’s passage of Judges 2:6-23 is too long to include in this post, so please go read it here. I’ll wait til you come back.

This passages starts out with some of the historical context of this book. Joshua was the leader of the people of Israel after Moses, who brought them out of Egypt. Israel was faithful to God during the time of Joshua’s leadership, so when he died things changed. We see in verse 10 that Joshua’s generation did not leave a legacy of following God with the next generation. They were too far removed in time from the people who had left Egypt to have firsthand experience of God’s deliverance then. If the people did not continue to share the importance and significance of that event then the next generations were likely to go astray from God’s purposes, and that’s exactly what they did.

This story is the first one we see in Judges that sets up a pattern that is repeated often throughout the rest of the book. This repeated pattern has 5 pieces to it:
1. Sin - The people disobey God.
2. Slavery - God allows them to be enslaved by their enemies.
3. Supplication - The people cry out to God for deliverance.
4. Salvation - God delivers them.
5. Silence - There is a time of peace.

We’re going to take a look at this week’s passage in light of these 5 steps, and we’ll continue to use this structure in the coming weeks for other passages in Judges.

We see Israel’s sin in verses 11-13: “Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.” Their sin was serving other gods instead of God Almighty. God had clearly laid this out as sin in Exodus 20:3-6.

We see Israel’s slavery in verses 14-15: “In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.” Not only was Israel sold into the hands of their enemies, but God was against them any time they tried to fight their enemies. This was the negative consequence that they needed for their disobedience.

We see Israel’s supplication in verse 15 (“Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.”) and in verse 18b (“For the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them”). Israel did not like to be oppressed, and neither would we for that matter. They were in great distress; they cried out to God and groaned about their situation.

We see Israel’s salvation in verse 16: “Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.” God had a plan to bring them back from their disobedience and get them on the right track again. The problem was in this particular case, that they didn’t stay in that salvation but instead continued to disobey God. Verses 17-19 says, “Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.”

We still see the period of silence in this passage, where the God would deliver them and keep them safe from their enemies as long as the judge was alive, even though the people did not deserve it.

Have you had times in your life where you see yourself following this pattern? It may look a little different for you than being captured or oppressed by enemies, but you can probably see a similar cycle in your own life. Take some time this week to think about when you’ve gone through this, and perhaps where you’re at on this cycle even now.

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by Jason DeZurik

“When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.” (Judges 2:4)

As we continue in our look at the book of Judges, especially verse 4 in chapter 2, the following text in Titus came to mind: “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:11-12).

In our society today, just like back in the days of the Judges, people do things that are against God. As we go through this incredible book of the Bible, we believe you may notice many similarities to today. What I am talking about is doing God’s will or going your own way. Oh sure, things back in Old Testament times were different than today, but I think if you are open to seeing the truth, that the heart of human beings really hasn’t changed all that much. Many of us are still very selfish and impatient people who still want our way over God’s way.

This really is nothing new. The one thing that does stay consistent through all of this is God’s natural law, which He put into place from the beginning of time.

When we go our own way, natural consequences to our decisions inevitably will take place. Sometimes they build up and take a while for us to see these consequences come to fruition. Other times we see immediate consequences to our sinful actions. In God’s incredible love for us, many times he will offer grace. Other times, we will need to deal with a consequence and either learn from it or keep going down the path of sin to deal with more and more complex consequences in the process.  This too though, like it or not, is God’s grace offered up to us.

Just because you may feel sorry for what you did doesn’t mean the consequences of your actions will necessarily will go away. They may seem like they go away, but generally you have in a sense earned what you have sown into.  On the flip side, if you choose to go God’s way and not your own, your life will not necessarily be easier, but you will have a peace that passes all understanding and you will not be anxious or worry about anything. That is a huge benefit of choosing to sow into God’s ways and not your own. Obeying God’s will can reap you benefits that you never even knew existed until you’ve chosen to go his way consistently. You can also reap major consequences for going your own way that you never knew existed until it may be too late. This brings us to lifting your voices and weeping from our verse in Judges.

Even if you confess, ask for forgiveness of your sin, and repent (go God’s way), you’ll still usually get a consequence. Strangely enough, this is a part of God’s grace. “How?” you may ask. Well, Scripture is clear that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).  Just like God gave Adam and Eve grace in the Garden of Eden, so God gives us grace in allowing us to grow and mature in Him through learning in and through these natural consequences and benefits. He desires to not just know us but he desires for us to know him. In knowing him, we will want to stop ungodliness and worldly passions in our own lives and to live out his ways in self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age.

I encourage you to call out to God and ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit this day.

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