by Francisco Bezerra

In the last several weeks, few people have been in evidence as much as soccer forward Marcelinho Carioca of the Corinthians team. Not only in the media, because of numerous games in which he has participated, but people everywhere talk about him, not because of his ability, talent, or the goals he has made.

This young man has been at the forefront for two other reasons: his undisciplined, violent, and extremely irreverent behavior. The second reason is that this behavior goes against the faith he has professed before millions of people in interviews.

Through the gospels and the Pauline letters, the Lord Jesus exhorts us numerous times about holiness in our attitudes: "... so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God" (1 Thess. 3.13a, NASU).

We can never forget that all of us who accept Jesus Christ as our Savior were chosen by him "that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love he predestined us to adoption as sons" (Eph. 1.4-5a). So whether we be "Athletes of Christ" or "Executives of Christ" or Christian Police" or whatever be our professional activity, our testimony must be irreprehensible.

"But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness" (1 Tim. 6.11).

Another fairly common example can be seen in the streets and avenues: someone whose car has the sticker "In the King's service" or "Exclusive property of Jesus" ou some other that identifies its owner as a servant of the Lord, but who drives as if they did not care for the people in the other cars or for the pedestrians. "Look there! A 'disciple of Christ' running the red light." Or, "I was cut off by a 'servant of God.'"

To belong to Christ, to be of him, is to give oneself up to his will. What does it matter to SAY we are "of Christ" when our day-to-day testifies against the new life? Let's be imitators of Christ.

"I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who tesified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Tim. 6.13-14).

Francisco edits Edification Magazine, aside from teaching, preaching, and evangelism in two Sao Paulo, Brazil, congregations. He is Assistant to the Commercial Diretor of Varig Airlines.

by J. Randal Matheny

On TheBible.net, someone asked in a forum discussion if the four gospels are not to be considered as a part of the old covenant, since Jesus lived under the old law.

In the years after the first centry, Christians designated the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as "gospels." It appears to capture a good perspective for these books.

These four record a period during which Jesus and his disciples lived under the old law. So the history it records is pre-gospel. But they were written in what is often called the Christian era by Christians, probably for Christians, or, at least, to familiarize non-Christians with the Lord Jesus and his teachings and purpose for coming to earth.

One big discussion in most circles has been for whom the gospels were written, Christians or non-Christians. In either case, the assumption has been, correctly, that these documents are meant to be understood within the context of the Christian message.

Yes, elements of the old law appear there: Jesus is a Jew, observes the Jewish feasts and laws, and teaches in the temple and synagogues. But the entire new covenant holds him forth as Savior, Lord, and Example. Therefore, in order for us to understand what he has done and taught, how he saves us, in what way he is Lord, and in what manner his life serves as our example, we need these four gospels for our faith. They are, in every sense, new covenant documents.

At the end of his work, John wrote, "... these [signs] have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name" (20.30-31, NASU).

Whoever "you" refers to (Christians, non-Christians, or both), the object is clear: the author of this book wrote with the purpose of bringing people to faith -- or to strengthen faith, depending on how one reads the Greek verb here -- in Jesus as a part of the perfect covenant. We may safely assume the same for the other gospels.

That is why, to take another tack, the four accounts devote so much space to the last week of Jesus' life and, particularly, to his death. These are no mere biographies, we have been rightly told for so many years. These basic documents spell out for us the true facts of the life, ministry, teaching, and sacrifice of our Lord and Savior. Since our belief is based upon the historical truth of the person of Christ, these are basic books for Christianity.

Christian books, these, through and through!

This question surfaces with more interest because in recent years some people have attempted to classify the four gospels as Old Testament in an effort to exclude the teaching on marriage, divorce, and remarriage from application to Christian living today. This is a dangerous and false teaching, for it appears to relegate what Jesus did and said to an Old Testament classification which can be ignored. Such a position is so distant from the truth of the gospel.

We can be sure: the four gospels are gospel. We need them for our Christian faith, teaching, and practice.

by Doug Couch

About the size of California, Iraq is home to more than 24 million people, 97% Muslim and 3% "Christian," 80% of whom are Arabs and 20% are Kurds. Two great river systems, the Tigris (550 miles long) and Euphrates (800 miles long), join to form the Shatt al Arab River about 100 miles north of the Persian Gulf into which it empties. The ancient Greeks called the land between these two river systems, Mesopotamia, meaning "land between the rivers."

Iraq was once home to the world's greatest civilizations including the Sumerians (2800-2000 BC), the Assyrians (1850-612 BC) and the Babylonians (626-539 BC). The Sumerians invented irrigation technology by using water from the higher Euphrates River that drained across the river valleys into the Tigris River. Through a series of canals, dikes, and reservoirs, ancient Mesopotamia became a "Fertile Crescent" with agricultural yields per acre which exceed anything we can reproduce in the Western world with cultivation, irrigation, and fertilization. This allowed these nations to become wealthy and powerful.

Genesis 11 also records the beginnings of ancient tribes which lived in the Mesopotamian River valleys including Nimrud, Accad, Assur, and Calah (Gen. 11:10-11). The remains of a dozen royal Sumerian and Assyrian palaces exist today up and down the Tigris River including Tiglath-Pilezer's palace (called Pul in 2 Kings 15:19 & 1 Chronicles 5:26) and Sargon's palace near modern Khorsabad.

Nineveh was once the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Located on the Tigris and Khosr rivers, it had broad streets, parks, gardens, and a system of canals and aqueducts that transported clean drinking water 30 miles into the city. The warnings of the prophet Jonah were unheeded, and it fell in 612 B.C. Today, near the remains of Nineveh is a mound that for centuries (according to Jewish, Islamic, and Christian sources) is the tomb of the prophet Jonah. Across the Tigris River from Nineveh's ruins is the modern city of Mosul with 570,000 people.

Babylon was once the capital city of the Babylonian Empire. Located on the Euphrates River about 55 miles SW of Baghdad, the city was geometrically designed with streets at right angles, canals, bridges, an underwater tunnel, and an artificial mountain (the Hanging Gardens of Babylon). An impenetrable wall surrounded the city that was wide enough for chariot races. Navy vessels patrolled the moat that protected the walls. Nebuchadnezzar expanded and beautified the city and had his name inscribed on every brick of every wall and building. Saddam Hussein rebuilt some of the ruins of ancient Babylon and had his name inscribed on the newer bricks.

Today much of what was Babylon lies in marshy land. Erosion from the brick mortar of ancient walls poisons the soil with nitrites. Irrigation through the centuries brought salt into the soil, rendering it sterile. Nomads avoid the city fearing their sheep may be poisoned.

Isaiah’s words have been literally fulfilled:

"And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there" (Isaiah 13:19-20).

by J. Randal Matheny

The Arctic rockcod (trematomus, below) lives in cold waters and lives within a four degree variation of temperature, between -2 Cº and +2 Cº. Outside of this range, the fish dies.

On the other hand, the pupfish (Cyprinodon), found in some desert lakes, can survive a difference of 10º to 40ºC with no variation in its behavior. That, for Fahrenheit heads, is a difference of between 50 to 100 degrees.

One species has little tolerance to temperature changes, another can handle extreme fluctuations. There are special terms for these types. The term stenothermic refers to organisms having or tolerating a small range of temperature; eurythermic refers to organisms having or tolerating a wide range of temperature. The prefix steno- means narrow; the prefix eury- means wide.

Other ecological conditions give rise to other technical words: The salmon, for example, is euryhaline, able to exist in waters widely varying in salt content; it can live in both the salty ocean and in fresh-water rivers. Most fish, however, are stenohaline, needing a stable salt content to survive.

Time for a spiritual application.

I'm not an expert at creating new words, but Christians should be stenodidactic, that is, they have a narrow tolerance for what can be taught. They believe and teach a narrow range of truth. (Steno- = narrow; didactic fr. didakein, to teach.) Jesus speaks of the narrow (stenos) gate and the narrow way that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14). His teaching was hard for many to swallow (John 6:66), but he did not soften his words or broaden his approach for those who wanted a more tolerant view.

The word of God praises the stenodidactics. As Paul wrote, "Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you" (1 Corinthians 11:2).

In spite of that, some people prefer to be eurydidactic (remember: eury- means broad). They tolerate a wide range of beliefs and doctrines. They are happy to believe and teach one thing and let you believe and teach another. But Scripture does not look favorably on such tolerance.

"But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, his is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" (Galatians 1.8-9).

In the area of relationships, the situation changes. The love, patience, forgiveness, and acceptance which members of the body of Christ should show one another indicate that Christians should be eurycardiac (eury- means wide; -cardiac you already know: heart).

Paul chides the Corinthians for having a narrow heart -- they don't have room in their hearts for him (1 Corinthians 6:11-13). Twice he uses the Greek verb "stenochoreo" (note the prefix), meaning "to cramp, crowd, confine, restrict," to speak of their unwillingness to accept his love and concern.

Some people will be, however, stenocardiac. They insist on being critical, condemnatory, harsh, unwilling to bear others' burdens, authoritarian, and manipulative. They don't understand what it means to be "tender-hearted" to one another (Ephesians 4:32). The stenocardiacs look at others with a disapproving frown and a pointing finger.

Eurycardiacs don't necessarily give up the narrow way, but they do look upon others with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.

To sum up, Christians should be narrow-minded in the truth of the gospel and broad-hearted in their relationships with their fellow man. Like the temperature-intolerant rockcod, the disciple will not and cannot tolerate teaching outside the "range" of Christ's words; the result is death. And like the adaptable pupfish, the disciple thrives in the "extreme temperature differences" of human relationships.

May it truly be so of each one.

*I am indebted to a speech of Dr. Eugenio Mussak, given 26 May in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the applicability of the ecological terms to other areas of concern; his, to business and human resources; mine, to the spiritual realm. His material can also be accessed, in Portuguese, at his website: www.eugeniomussak.com.br

by Ron Harper

"This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me" (1 Corinthians 11:24).

This weekend we in the U.S. celebrate Memorial Day. We set aside a day to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. It is safe to say that we, as a nation, would not exist without that sacrifice. It is more than fitting to remember such people. To do less would be the ultimate in ingratitude.

We Christians have our own unique and special memorial. Each Sunday we assemble to worship. A part of that worship may seem unusual. We take a small piece of bread and drink from a small cup of grape juice. That bread and grape juice make up the most significant memorial in all the world. They are reminders of Jesus' death.

The Lord's Supper is, for us, a time to remember. We are reminded of the body of Christ. We remember that actual nails pierced his hands and feet. His physical back was bloodied with the scourge. He really did wear a crown of thorns.

We are reminded of his blood. He died in order that we might live. He went into the presence of God with his own blood and offered it for our sins. Without the sacrifice of Jesus we would not have our sins forgiven. We would have no peace. We would have no hope of heaven. Life would be absolutely meaningless. Because of it we enjoy all of those things.

Worship is a time to remember. It is a time to remember the greatest sacrifice ever made.

"He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and By His scourging we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

There are some things that we dare not forget.

Ron has worked with churches in Alabama, New Zealand, and Tennessee. He has served at the Minerva Drive church in Murfreesboro for 18 years.