by Stan Mitchell

"The Lord said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people and your father's household, and go to the land I will show you" (Genesis 12:1). Donna Mitchell, in her book "Among the People of the Sun" recalls the day her family left the United States for mission work in Southern Rhodesia, Africa. She recalls the tears of friends and family at the airport. Then she adds:

"Once a friend remarked, 'I could never go to another land, because our family is very close.' I wanted to cry out, 'Our family is very close too!'"

I have just read of a missionary family in Tallinn, Estonia. The missionary's father in the States suffers from inoperable cancer. I think of the grandchildren, and what they have sacrificed. Our missionaries give up a great deal in order to bring the lost to Christ. In many countries they forfeit the civil rights we take for granted in America. They usually take a loss in quality of life because third world countries lack the material and technological advancements of America. They are paid a fragment of the salaries of preachers back home. I remember missionaries talking about missing the little things –- Snicker's Bars or watching the Rose Bowl on New Year's day.

It's easier to send the Gospel message over short-wave radio, or by mail. It's easier to go to the mission field for short, intense campaigns. But mark this: there is no substitute for a missionary committing years of service to the Lord on a mission field. You cannot calculate the value of learning the language, the culture, setting a living example of Christianity, and gaining the trust of the local people.

God had only one son, and he was a missionary.

This is budget time for most churches. You have received many slick pamphlets and presentations this year from many church organizations. Let me put in a plug for the humble, long-term missionary. I know what I will be suggesting to the leadership in my congregation. Will you consider this, too, please? Back a man and a family who has made a long-term commitment to serving God on the mission field. When all is said and done, evangelism is still about one man teaching one man about the Savior!

by Richard Mansel

A young man once received a short wave for his birthday. Weeks later he turned it on and heard a transmission: "Mayday! Mayday! This is the Blue Dolphin, One Seven Seven. We have encountered a storm! (static) taking on water (static) Mayday! Mayday! Any ships in the area, please (static)."

Then there was silence. A chill came over him as his heart pounded. Their terror was now his.

In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus told a parable about the rich man and Lazarus, a beggar. Both men died and Lazarus went to be with God while the rich man went to Hades.

The rich man was tormented in the flames and cried out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame" (Luke 16:24, NKJV).

The rich man was told that there was a barrier between him and God that no one could pass through. There was no hope for his lost soul. Turning his thoughts to his loved ones, he begged that Abraham would send Lazarus to his five brothers to warn them not to come to Hades. Yet he was told that if his brothers would not listen to the prophets or the word of God, then they would also ignore someone who returned from the dead.

Soberly we read Revelation 20:10, "And the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." The term "tormented" refers to the intense pain and agony of torture.

In Luke 13:3, Jesus says, "unless you repent you will all likewise perish." Jesus will come get his disciples and take them to heaven with him (John 14:1-6; Matthew 25:31-46). Those who are not washed in the blood of the lamb will be lost (Mark 16:15,16). We do not want to go there. Nothing we can ever conceive will match its horror.

In this parable the rich man made mistakes and is begging us not to make the same mistakes. Would we be swayed if a voice spoke out from beyond the grave?

Imagine a funeral scene. The preacher says the deceased man is in a better place and lauds the life of the gentleman. Then a shriek comes in the unmistakable voice of the dead man saying, "Please, somebody help me! I'm in agony in this flame! Please help me!" Pandemonium would result. Theories would abound. Charges would be laid and investigations conducted. Yet little would change in the lives of those who heard the cry, sadly.

The rich man had waited too late to come to Christ. If he had sought Christ with as much ferocity as he sought water, he would never have been in the flames.

Jesus said he was the living water and the bread of life and the Jews ignored him. Years later when they were under siege, trapped in Jerusalem killing one another for food, they could have understood what Jesus meant. But then it was too late.

Please don't wait until it is too late for you, because Hebrews 9:27 says, "it is appointed unto man to die once and after this the judgment."

by Phil Sanders

David Barton said, “We know that between 1992 and 1996, Christian voter turnout declined in America 17 percent. We know that between 1996 and 2000, it declined an additional 23 percent, so we’ve had a 40 percent drop in Christian voter turnout over the last four elections ... Because of the attrition of Christians over the last four elections—we’ve lost several godly, God-fearing {people} out of the Senate.... So, part of {the problem} is that we don’t get Christians to the polls.” Pundits on television are saying the election favored conservative candidates, because Americans voted more strongly for moral issues in this election than in many years. Eleven states overwhelmingly voted in favor of traditional marriage values. Perhaps one lesson of this election is in seeing what godly people can do when they find the courage to speak up against moral evil. For too long Christians have sat silent while the politically correct badgered them into retreat. If there was ever a time in our land when God needs a strong, clear voice to speak out against evil and for good, it is now! Postmodern America would like to tell God to “shut up” and “go away.” This is not really new. Ancient Israel faced some of the same kinds of problems. When they demanded Samuel give them a king, God knew they had forsaken Him for other gods (1 Sam. 8:8-9). Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah 120,000 in one day, all valiant men, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers (2 Chron. 28:6). In the days of Jeremiah, God mourned, “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). God looked for a man to stand in the gap before Him in the days of Ezekiel, but He found no one (Ezek. 22:30). Thankfully, there were godly souls who did stand in the gap today, souls who said no to sin and yes to God’s way. The greatest need of our day is for godly people to point to God for all the answers to life’s questions. There is a great need to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, so that we as a nation of people might see the truth and come back to our God. Your voice matters.

by Kevin Cauley

Many years ago, scholars thought that the Greek language was a "specialized" language that was in place for the New Testament alone. More recent scholarship has dismissed this theory in favor of the idea that New Testament Greek was the common everyday language used by the average Joe of the day. What swayed scholars in this direction was the uncovering of tens of thousands of papyri written in Greek that discussed everyday Greek life during those years. The term "Koine" (common) is applied to the Greek of the New Testament, because that Greek was, in fact, the "common" language of the people during that period of time. The term is used in contrast to what scholars consider "classical" Greek of the Greek homeland proper in which genre many of the classical Greek works are written.

The fact that New Testament Greek is not a specialized sort of Greek, but the common every day kind of Greek that folks used during that time, stems from the conquests of Alexander the Great. As Alexander moved through, conquering the various countries of his day, he took along with him as the official state language, Greek. He also made a great effort to "hellenize" (convert to Greek culture) those countries that he conquered. By the time the Romans took over the Greek empire, the Greek culture had thoroughly saturated Alexander's conquered world. Greek remained the most popular language of the day, though Latin became the language of law under the Roman empire.

In the midst of this Greek cultural revolution, some Hebrew speaking scholars made a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. This translation of the Old Testament was called the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX). It testifies as to how popular the Greek language was that the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek. Tradition states that the translation was done in the city of Alexandria by seventy-two scholars from the country of Israel sometime around 250 B.C. Most modern day historians, however, doubt the reliability of this story, favoring a view that has the translation being accomplished in various Jewish synagogues and then compiled sometime before 130 B.C. Regardless the time of accomplishment, the entire work was in broad circulation well before the time of Christ. Many Jewish communities outside of Palestine (and some within) used the work as their primary text in studying the Old Testament because their knowledge of Hebrew had grown diminished from living in the Gentile world for so long.

There are several reasons why the Septuagint is valuable to the Greek student today. First of all, it gives the Greek student an additional source of reference in order to evaluate grammar and vocabulary in the Koine Greek language, particularly in regard to religious terminology. Much of the religious terminology of the New Testament was used in the Septuagint in translating the Old Testament. Second, the New Testament writers often quote from the Septuagint when citing Old Testament scriptures. One such quotation is found in Hebrews 1:6. The quote, "Let all the angels of God worship Him," is not found in a translation of the Hebrew (and most will not find it in their English Bibles today), but it is, however, found in the Septuagint. Third, many ancient Latin versions of the Old Testament relied heavily (if not entirely) upon the Septuagint. The King James Version favors the Latin translation in several Old Testament passages. This means that the Septuagint does have some influence upon one of the predominant English translations of our time. While purists may not appreciate this, there is something to be said for the knowledge of the ancients who translated this work from Hebrew into Greek. They were much closer to the language of Hebrew as spoken by the Hebrews than we and likely had resources to do the translation that we do not. Finally, the Septuagint is helpful in studying the Old Testament. I often look to the Septuagint to help clarify difficult passages. The Greek of the Septuagint can also help give us a better idea of how New Testament Christians would have read and evaluated the Old Testament.

The Septuagint is a valuable document in the study of both the Old and New Testaments. Today, the Septuagint continues to serve as the official Old Testament of the Greek Orthodox Church. We can gain a greater understanding of Greek through studying it, but more importantly, it can aid us in understanding New Testament Christianity. From time to time, in these articles, I will refer to the Septuagint (as I have already done) to clarify or illustrate the meaning of certain Greek words or grammar. I hope that you can use this article as reference when considering those studies.

(If you would like to have a Greek copy of the Septuagint, or if you would like an English translation, both may be found as part of the free online Bible program, www.onlinebible.net.)

by Tim Hall

The name "Leroy Brown" has lost some of its notoriety. Since Jim Croce's 1973 hit song told the story of "Bad, bad Leroy Brown", just the mention of that name sets the tune spinning through my mind. That may now change. A story carried by USA Today on August 24, 2004 is responsible.

According to that story, Leroy Brown, age 19, of Pine Bluff, AR discovered that his wife was being a little too friendly with another man. To show his disdain for her actions, he took the pants she wore on her latest outing and set them on fire. Alas, the fire got out of control and the house in which they lived was destroyed. Now a song is waiting to be written about "Sad, sad Leroy Brown".

The story brings to mind the old adage about cutting off one's nose to spite their face. That has always been a hard proverb for me to figure out exactly, but I think I get the gist. It points to the foolish attempts of one to extract vengeance on another, not realizing how much damage they themselves will incur. Leroy Brown certainly illustrated the principle.

Webster's defines "spite" as "petty ill will or hatred with the disposition to irritate, annoy or thwart". The offended one wishes to see the offender feel pain in some form, and actively works toward that end. In many cases, however, the one acting out of spite feels even more pain before the day is done.

God's ways are always best. What does the Lord advise when we've been wronged? "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. 'Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:19-21, NKJV).

Good people are often innocent victims of the schemes and devices of the wicked. But when the victim decides to make the perpetrator feel pain (in whatever degree), they move themselves out of the realm of "innocent". They have been overcome by evil, not being willing to wait for the judgment of God.

Leroy Brown probably now wishes he had learned this principle from Romans 12. How much easier his life would be if the Lord's will had prevailed in his situation. Sad, sad!