Old Answers to "New" Questions

Ever wonder about how to live in the world but not of it? Sometimes we can be discouraged by the effect of sin in the midst of Christ’s church, but we should know that Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 5:23). This quotation from an anonymous letter to Diognetus (probably during the second century) encouraged me as a Christian and a leader in the local church to continue motivating and inspiring Christ’s church in this endeavor.

"For Christians are not differentiated from other people by country, language or customs; you see, they do not live in cities of their own, or speak some strange dialect, or have some peculiar lifestyle.

This teaching of theirs has not been contrived by the invention and speculation of inquisitive men; nor are they propagating mere human teaching as some people do. They live in both Greek and foreign cities, wherever chance has put them. They follow local customs in clothing, food and the other aspects of life. But at the same time, they demonstrate to us the wonderful and certainly unusual form of their own citizenship.

They live in their own native lands, but as aliens; as citizens, they share all things with others; but like aliens, suffer all things. Every foreign country is to them as their native country, and every native land as a foreign country.

They marry and have children just like every one else; but they do not kill unwanted babies. They offer a shared table, but not a shared bed. They are at present ‘in the flesh’ but they do not live ‘according to the flesh’. They are passing their days on earth, but are citizens of heaven. They obey the appointed laws, and go beyond the laws in their own lives.

They love every one, but are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and gain life. They are poor and yet make many rich. They are short of everything and yet have plenty of all things. They are dishonored and yet gain glory through dishonor.

Their names are blackened and yet they are cleared. They are mocked and bless in return. They are treated outrageously and behave respectfully to others. When they do good, they are punished as evildoers; when punished, they rejoice as if being given new life. They are attacked by Jews as aliens, and are persecuted by Greeks; yet those who hate them cannot give any reason for their hostility.

To put it simply---the soul is to the body as Christians are to the world. The soul is spread through all parts of the body and Christians through all the cities of the world. The soul is in the body but is not of the body; Christians are in the world but not of the world." 1

Take encouragement because, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

1 Dowley, Tim, ed. Introduction to the History of Christianity. Minneapolis: Lion Publishing, 2002. p. 67.

Naming the Anti-Christ?

The importance of Biblical scholarship and valid teaching is accentuated with the advent of podcasts, YouTube and church websites. Here is an example of a video that has been viewed by almost two hundred thousand people:

An interesting video does not always mean that it should be trusted. This is one of the many reasons you want your pastor to go to seminary and study the original languages. When stuff like this comes out it is certainly worth your time to ask the questions--is it true and trustworthy? The scholarship of this video is an interesting attempt to link Barack Obama to the anti-Christ. There are several red flags concerning the validity of the claims in this video. The first one rises in studying the verse under discussion, Luke 10:18. In context, this is not a verse about the anti-Christ, but it is a warning to the seventy-two disciples that Christ was sending out to preach the truths about the kingdom of God (just as the 12 were commissioned). Jesus is warning them against the demonic/satanic forces they will face. This quotation of Jesus is an allusion to the Isaiah 14 passage about Satan, but the emphasis is Jesus' authority over Satan and the demons they will face on their journey. Jesus was literally there when Satan fell from the sky like lightning. Another huge problem is found at the very end of the clip. There is an admission that we do not know exactly what Jesus said in Aramaic. Aramaic and Hebrew are closely related, but they are not the same. The author of the video speaks as though there are no issues and what Jesus spoke would have been in Hebrew. The evidences are the Hebrew words and roots, but those may not be the words spoken by Jesus. There are also many words for high place, as the word he uses (bama is one of them), but I would think the word used for heaven or sky (shamayim) would be more likely to be used here. It is all based on speculation of what Jesus might have spoken in Hebrew, but he would have spoken it in Aramaic in the first place! This issue is in addition to the contextual issues which clearly show that the verse is not prophetically speaking about the anti-Christ or end times at all. Rather, it is a warning to his disciples (the 72) about Satanic forces in opposition to their journey whom he has authority over because Jesus is the Word who was present at creation and when Satan fell from his "high place." This verse is about Jesus' authority over Satan not about the identity of the anti-Christ. Obama may or may not (probably not) be the anti-Christ, but this is certainly not proof. Also, the Lord gave us the Bible in the form that he did as revelation to his people (that includes us!). It is not a code that we have to trace back and try to figure out what Jesus "actually" said. His message is recorded in Greek by Luke accurately (see Luke 1:3-4) so we may know with certainty the things Jesus taught. What is spoken about in the video is again speculation and conjecture and is NOT the certain things that Luke recorded concerning Jesus' life and teaching.