Weekly Articles

On August 24^th the world ended – at least, it did for the more than twenty- thousand  inhabitants of Pompeii.  The year was 79 AD, and Pompeii was a popular vacation spot for wealthy Romans, as well as an active port.  The area had a healthy economy, rich social scene, and was well-protected in the heart of the Roman Empire.  But money and power could not save Pompeii; all of that wealth and influence served only to give the residents a false sense of security.

In the last years of his life, the Apostle John wrote the Revelation letter, including a passage for the church at Laodicea.  This town was well-known for its medicinal salves, wool products, and banking institutions.  Thus were the Laodiceans ripe for possessing a false sense of importance and security.  And since the town was peaceful and prosperous, the church there lacked the sense of urgency that characterized so many other congregations.

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:  these are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.  I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’  But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.  Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.  So be earnest, and repent.  Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.  To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  (Revelation 3:14-22 NIV)

Jesus said “I know your deeds” and indicated that by their deeds they were shown as being lukewarm in their love and obedience of Christ.  The “ruler of God’s creation” was telling them that he wished they would be hot or cold, but not ambivalent towards his commands and commission; not a good situation to be in, but one that is more and more common today.

American Christians live lives of wealth and safety that have no parallels in history; we do not have to worry much at all about the freedom to worship or the ability to talk about Jesus.  We do not have to fear being imprisoned or killed for our beliefs, nor do we have many conflicts in abiding by the laws governing our land – inasmuch as those laws do not prevent us from being Christians (even if some are immoral, such as legalized abortion).  We have been blessed beyond belief, but that has also set us up for the temptation to become lukewarm in our devotion, just like the Laodiceans.

Jesus does, however, present for us the answer to this problem:  use that earthly wealth and power to obtain heavenly wealth (Luke 16).  Jesus also states that he only rebukes and disciplines those that he loves – do not be dismayed by the Lord’s discipline, but rather be encouraged by the fact that he has not abandoned us.  He says that he wants us to buy from him gold refined in the fire, obtain from him white clothes to cover our shame, and his salve to heal our eyes so that we may truly see (John 9). 

What do our deeds reveal about us?  Are we depending on our safety and security in worldly things?  Do we simply go through the motions, attending church services as just another activity in our week?  Or do we try to learn and grow every day, seeking God in all that we do?  We have to remember that America is not our protector, but rather the same “ruler of God’s creation” that warned the church in Laodicea.  It is this same “faithful and true witness” that stands at our hearts, knocking on the door.  Make sure that you invite him in.

-Charles Peterson

Some of the most engaging stories are those dealing with perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.  We remember heroic leaders such as General Washington, as he kept up the war effort despite every problem from shortages of pay, food, and clothing, to a lack of solid support from the Continental Congress – not to mention fighting the strongest and most advanced army in the world at that time!  We look at business successes such as Sam Walton, who endured scathing ridicule when he proclaimed the desire to build the world’s largest retailer, a distinction that belonged to Sears until Wal-Mart eclipsed it in sales shortly before Walton’s death.  Even the tales we tell our children ring with this image – remember that it is the “little engine that could”, not the “great big engine meeting no resistance”.

The church at Philadelphia was not known for great wealth or political power; the town was situated in fertile farming lands.  They seemed to be an out of the way small town church.  What they did have was faith. 

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:  these are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David.  What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.  I know your deeds.  See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.  I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.  I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.  Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.  I am coming soon.  Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.  Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.  Never again will he leave it.  I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. “  (Revelation 3:7-13 NIV)

Jesus, through their example, gives us three important lessons for Christian perseverance:  God controls opportunity (“I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut”); God expects us to obey him and to acknowledge him no matter how great the persecution or how weak we seem to be (“you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name ”); and all we have to do is to hold on to his teachings in reverence and patience, and we will receive an eternal place with God (“hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown”).  We are therefore told that if we do these things (as the Philadelphians did), God will shelter us from the trials that the world will have to undergo, and that the enemies of God will acknowledge that Jesus loves the church (meaning that the church is the one true bride).

We should not measure the trials that we face by how large the enemy is, or how powerful, or how numerous.  We should instead recognize that the enemy is indeed larger, more powerful, and more numerous than us, but that God is greater than any enemy and that he guides and protects his children.  We do not need to worry about making the opportunities for us to be faithful to God; God will make those opportunities for us.  And we do not need to worry about how to overcome the forces arrayed against us; God will overcome them for us.  It is not the strong, numerous, or famous who get God’s opened doors, but rather the faithful.

Jesus is holding the key of David, and is opening doors for us that no one can shut, and closing doors that no one can open.  We simply need to have the faith to enter the opened doorways, accepting our path to becoming pillars in the temple of God.

-Charles Peterson

A couple of years ago at my parents’ house a tree fell against the deck, narrowly missing the garage and thankfully causing minor damage and hurting no one.  It had been a particularly strong windstorm that caused the incident; the tree had been one of the tallest near their house.  In fact, only the top half of the tree fell, with the remaining half still towering up with the taller trees.  When we had looked at the tree before it had seemed healthy and strong; afterwards, it was easy to see the evidence of damage and rot that the core had suffered.  After years of decay, the structure was compromised and the tree lost its ability to remain whole.  And my parents’ deck needed a new railing.

Isn’t it amazing that appearances can truly be deceiving?  What seems to be strong and healthy can actually be weak and dying.  Every year hundreds of hikers fall to their deaths because the glacial surface of ice and snow they were traversing hid a crevasse hundreds of feet deep with a thin cover.  What is on the surface is not necessarily a good indicator of what lies beneath.  In fact, isn’t this the reason we developed x-ray machines and MRI’s?  How many people have looked to be the picture of health only to find out that beneath their healthy appearance lurked the ravaging scourge of cancer?

God’s word and spirit is received and grows within us as we mature in a healthy way.  But when we lose sight of God’s will and his commands, when we stop hearing his call and following his ways, we grow coldly apathetic and spiritually lethargic.  This doesn’t always manifest itself in an outward manner, but can remain unseen for quite some time.  Jesus warned the church at Sardis of just this sort of problem:

To the angel of the church in Sardis write:  these are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.  I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  Wake up!  Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.  Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.  But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.  Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes.  They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.  He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white.  I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  (Revelation 3:1-6 NIV)

The Christians in Sardis didn’t suffer under persecution like those at Pergamum, or have to fight great heresies like those at Smyrna.  No, the Christians in Sardis were being afflicted by apathy!  They were becoming more and more indifferent, so much so that they were dying spiritually.  Though they were known as a church that was alive and growing, they were in fact dying in unseen ways.  They were falling asleep and were in danger of being cut off from the root that supported them (and which they had earlier received – that being Christ and his gospel message).  Just as with that tree in my parents’ yard, the Christians in Sardis were rotting away in their core.

Jesus gave them the warning to wake up and not to let the spirit within them die; he also gave them encouragement.  The Christians in Sardis were falling asleep spiritually and were thus soiling their clothes with the mud and filth of the world.  To the ones who were not, who were mindful of God’s laws and Christ’s teachings, Jesus promised clothes of white and to never blot their names out of the book of life (implying the danger the others faced), but promising instead to make them known to God! 

We have to be ever vigilant against the insidious rot of apathy towards Christ and his great commission.  We must renew with vigor our love and devotion to him and not neglect his work in the harvest.  Remember that he who comes like a thief in the night will be checking to see if you kept yourself pure, or if you got soiled with the concerns of this world. 

-Charles Peterson

Recently, the internet video-sharing site YouTube made a decision to ban terror training videos (and other violence-inciting content).  While this by no means will clean up the internet, it does illustrate that people and groups have a limit as to what is acceptable, and that sometimes a line has to be drawn that says “stop here – go no further.”  Winston Churchill drew the line for Hitler at Poland’s border – Germany invaded Poland and England declared war.  This concept is a basic one for mankind; in every situation, there is a point at which no compromise is permitted and no ground may be yielded.

In the church, we have debated many concepts, theological ruminations, and doctrinal issues.  We often make concessions and trade-offs based on personal preferences and needs.  This is simply how we are made, and the church was structured to allow us a great deal of lee-way.  The apostles set very few administrative details in stone, allowing the individual congregations to organize themselves along certain guidelines.  The churches were told about elders, deacons, preachers, teachers, prophets, and the use of gifts.  They were told about giving, singing, and the communion supper.  They were told about maintaining order and church discipline, especially about expelling unrepentant evil-doers and heretics.  The churches were not told what was the optimum size for a congregation, whether they should sit in pews or chairs, whether the communion plates should be gold or silver, or if there should be a kitchen in the building.  These are things left to the churches to decide (along the guidelines set forth) and not matters for dissension and strife.

The matters that are viewed an important in the Bible are matters of godliness, love, faith and doctrine.  The early church had very strong views about everything (just like today), but what unified them was perseverance in the face of violent oppression and sinister infiltration.  The church in Thyatira was praised for its perseverance in expressing its faith through deeds of love and faith.  But there was a sinister infiltration of evil heresy that they had allowed to take root and survive among them.

Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.  (Revelation 2:20 NIV)

Notice that the charge against the church at Thyatira was not “you have engaged in sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols” but that they had tolerated the presence of someone who advocated and taught these things.

I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.  So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.  I will strike her children dead.  Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.  (Revelation 2:21-23 NIV)

Here Jesus tells about the line he has drawn:  repentance has a deadline and there are consequences for everything that we do.  This woman (labeled “Jezebel”) had crossed that line, refusing to repent.  Therefore Jesus set forth grave consequences for her and her children, and for her compatriots in her adultery.  He also tells us that not only will this judgment result in punishment for these evildoers, but that it will result in glory for Christ and reinforcement for the faith of the church.

In the church today, we are beset with persecution from without and sinister infiltration from within.  We must remember that the same Jesus who was at work in the church at Thyatira two-thousand years ago is the same Jesus who is at work in our churches today.  American churches tend to hold up well under the outside persecution, especially since it is fairly peaceful in nature (though no less destructive).  What we have struggled with most is the infiltration of heresy and false doctrines, many times under the guise of being gentle with weaker brethren and being open-minded. 

As we face this infiltration, there are two things we must do.  First, we need to recognize that the line that has been drawn by Jesus so that we can know where to stand.  Second, we must make sure that we are standing beside Jesus on his side of his line, not trying to redraw the line where we want it to be.  Because this same Jesus promised if we hold the line with him, we will not only receive authority just as he received it from the Father, but also that we would be given the “morning star”, his blessedly abiding presence in our lives.

-Charles Peterson

Proper nutrition as a major health concern is a fairly new development in human experience.  I am not saying that mankind has only recently begun to suffer from malnutrition, but that only recently have we been able to focus on choosing what to eat and when to eat it.  For most of human history, we ate whatever we could – a lot of it consisting of things that most Americans would find inedible and disgusting.  Meats that we would declare rancid and spoiled were eaten as normal fare; fruits and vegetables we would see as rotting would be the norm.  This is not because people have only recently developed delicate palates, but rather because food is far more plentiful today than ever before.  In short, we are choosy because we are not beggars.

Nutrition is so important to us that we use it as an analogy for demonstrating how things should work; for example, instead of saying that a fire is extinguished due to a lack of a sufficient supply of fuel, we simply say that the fire was starved – the analogy of starvation illustrating that the fire died because it could not continue to feed.  With that in mind, we look at learning as a process of nutrition:  we feed our minds information that we digest and use to build our identities.  And just as good nutrition helps a person build a healthy body, good learning helps a person develop themselves in a healthy way.  Conversely, poor learning leads to unhealthy development in much the same way as poor nutrition leads to an unhealthy body.

I remember that I was told to eat a certain way so that I would be healthy.  I have seen commercials declaring that their particular cereal was a “part of a balanced breakfast”.  There were vitamins shaped like cartoon characters, fortified breads and milks, and even shakes and candy bars promising nutrition.  Today, we are told that some vitamins are able to be used by the body only in certain ways, that some should be taken with others or the body won’t absorb them well, and a vast host of information (many of these pieces of “truth” contradicting each other).

In the same way, we are often given information that is proclaimed to be the “truth” and that we are told will help us develop in a healthy way.  Some of us seek earnestly after truth and take the truth given us, not realizing that we are ingesting poison instead; this is much like the first emperor of China who desperately wanted to live forever and so he ingested vitality potions whose base was mercury (highly toxic to humans).  Some people take a verse (or a part of a verse) and fashion their whole way of thinking around that, not realizing that they are wrapping a nutrient in toxic sludge.  For example, there are people today who take Ephesians 5:22 and say that the wife must submit to the husband in everything, and that if she is obeying him she does not sin no matter what she does (they say that the husband bears that sin for what he ordered her to do).  This is an example of taking a portion of the nutrition of God and wrapping it in poisonous filth.  The result of this is much like eating an apple covered in arsenic.

The truth of God must be what we adhere to, without mixing it with the poison of the world.  The Nicolaitans were a group of people who took the ideas of Nicolas (one of the Seven from Acts 6) about eschewing worldly pleasures to mean that no matter what you did physically, it was only the spiritual things that matter (and so they practiced unrestrained indulgence of their desires, claiming to be indifferent to the flesh).  They quickly went from hearing that the worldly pleasures should not be our pursuit to believing that anything done in the flesh did not matter!

The church in Pergamum was praised for not renouncing their faith in Jesus, even when some of them were put to death publicly.  But Jesus goes on to say this:

Nevertheless, I have a few things against you:  you have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.  Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.  Repent therefore!  Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.  (Revelation 2:14-16 NIV)

The warning is that they need to repent – those who were following the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans needed to repent of that, and those who were tolerating the evil among them needed to repent of that tolerance.  Jesus warned that if they did not repent, he would come to them and “fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”  The implication is that Jesus, who said in verse 12 that he had a “sharp, double-edged sword”, would destroy the evildoers and punish too those who tolerated the evil.

We must take heed to this warning as well.  We need to take in the proper nutrition of the Word of God, taking the manna of his blessings and growing in a healthy and Godly way.  He promised to give to those who overcome some “hidden manna” and a “new name”.  But remember:  if we grow unhealthy on the world’s beliefs, that sharp sword of truth might just be used to cut the fat away.

-Charles Peterson

Do you ever wonder why God allows his children to be martyred?  If you take a look at the first three hundred years of the church, you will find that persecution was the norm and martyrdom was fairly commonplace.  I am not just talking about Christians being killed, but about Christians who willingly went to their deaths letting everyone know why they were doing so.  One famous example is Polycarp (disciple of John).  Polycarp was a man who had learned about Jesus from the Apostles and others who had actually known Jesus.  As he aged, he remained stalwart in his faith and was often a bulwark against the shifting tides of Gnosticism.  Marcion (a prominent Gnostic) reportedly came up to Polycarp and asked “Do you know me,” to which Polycarp replied “I do know you, the firstborn of Satan!” 

When Polycarp was eighty-six years old he was arrested and brought before the Proconsul, who gave him multiple chances to recant and swear to Caesar (as god).  Polycarp engaged in dialogue in such a way as to provoke more punishment for himself, making sure that everyone (especially the Proconsul) knew that Polycarp worshipped and served only Jesus.  When he was threatened with being thrown to wild beasts, Polycarp said “call for them.”  When he was threatened with burning at the stake, he explained that he had no fear of the fire that burned for only a little while but rather he feared the fire that burned eternally!  When they went to nail him to the stake, Polycarp told them that Jesus had granted that he would endure the fire, so he would also grant to Polycarp to remain at the fire with the “security” of the nails.

What faith allows men and women to face horrible death, even making it worse on themselves, just to testify to others?  What faith allowed Stephen to pray for forgiveness for the hateful mob that was hurling stones at him before he was finally killed?  Of course, the answer is the faith that comes from an intense desire to be like Jesus.  Jesus could have stopped at any time and not have endured the cross.  Jesus could have defended himself, or called upon his Father who would have sent legions of angels.  Jesus could have defended himself in that trial.  Jesus could have done something else, but then we would all be lost in our sins and facing eternity in hell.  Jesus loved us, so he died in our stead; Jesus loved us, so he entered the grave; Jesus loved us, so he raised from the dead.

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:  these are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.  I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!  I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.  Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.  I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.  Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death. “  (Revelation 2:8-11 NIV)

The Christians in Smyrna were being slandered by the Jews and were being persecuted for their faith.  But Jesus (through John) told them to stay strong, even if it costs them their life.  Why?  Because he (Jesus) was guaranteeing their eternal life!  The lesson for us today is the same as that given to the Symrnan Christians:  put your faith in Jesus, be buried in baptism with him, and have no fear of the Second Death (the lake of fire in Revelation 20:11-15).

See, the Christian view of life and death are a bit different from the world’s view.  The world would have us be pragmatic, saying that it makes perfect sense to renounce Christ to avoid danger, and then to repent and be forgiven.  What cowardly nonsense!  No, Jesus told us plainly that if we deny him, he will deny us to the Father; but if we confess him, he will confess us to the Father.  If we overcome the lies and slander of the world through truth and abiding with Jesus, then hell has no fury for us!

-Charles Peterson

I truly believe that one of the greatest tragedies in the Church today is the lack of interest in the Bible among God’s people.  Quietly disappearing are the men and women (today’s elderly Christians) for whom reading the Bible is as much a part of their daily routine as eating and sleeping.  Their children, the “Baby Boomers”, are much more ambivalent about daily scriptural nourishment; for my generation (now being called the “Baby Busters”), daily Bible reading is a rarity.  What does this say to the next generation?

I remember a conversation that I had at the campus ministry with which I was associated in the late 1990’s.  This conversation was with one of the assistant campus ministers, someone whom I had known since my high school years.  Now, although he had come to Christ in his twenties, by this time he had been in the Lord for close to a decade at least.  The conversation was about reading the Bible and the need for leaders to immerse themselves in the Word.  I was shocked when this individual disagreed with me, saying that all he had to do was “show the people Jesus.”  When he had been a new Christian and was involved with teaching a high school Bible class (of which I was a student), the youth minister at the time had evidently told him this; he had never moved on from this philosophy.  My response to him then was “how can you show anybody who Jesus is if you don’t know yourself who he is.”  My point is that it is only through the Bible that we get a clear picture of the Savior.

I know that many view reading the Bible as a chore (one best left to ministers and old people).  After all, who wants to read through all of those genealogies and dietary laws, anyhow?  And then you get the plagues, invasions, idol-worshipping, God being mad all the time, and endless disappointment.  Better to stick with the New Testament, books like Mark, Acts, and Revelation.  For anything else, the footnotes in a Study Bible have all the information that you need to appear smart in Bible class.  A concordance has everything else.  Right?

Wrong.  If the Bible were just a collection of ancient documents that were bound up so that we would have continuity for our cultural identity, then reading it would only be important for academics.  But it is the inspired word of God; when you read it, the Spirit that resides within you illuminates different things so that you are able to draw closer to God.  That is why eighty-year old people who have been reading the Bible their whole lives still keep reading it:  God is still talking to them through it. 

In addition to this, constant reading and discussing of the Bible is essential to remain sound in doctrine and judgment.  In Revelation 2:1-7, John records the message of Jesus to the church at Ephesus, in which he commends them for being firmly rooted in sound doctrine, testing false apostles and not tolerating wicked men.  But the Ephesian church had lapsed from doing the things they had done at first; the love and charity for which they were praised by Paul [Eph 1:15-16] had grown cold.  Jesus told them that he would remove their “lampstand” if they did not repent.  But even after this harsh admonition, Jesus remarked on their dedication to sound doctrine: 

“But you have this in your favor:  You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”  (Revelation 2:6 NIV)

You see, the Ephesian church was able to withstand great hardships and to resist false and evil teachings because they were dedicated to the scriptures and the teachings that they received from the Apostle Paul [Acts 19].  Because of this, when the Nicolaitans spread their teachings of immorality and debauchery, the Ephesians knew that it was false doctrine.

In today’s church, the message is the same as it was then:  we must remember our first love, which is Christ.  But if we love Jesus, we must have the desire to know him; this means we must have a burning desire to discover him through the scriptures so that we can share him with others.  We also must be able to properly discern God’s will for us and refute lies and false teachings; this can be done only through a mature understanding of the Bible [Romans 12:1-2].

Man’s wisdom causes us to fall away from God.  Seek to know God, as revealed through the scriptures.  Jesus is waiting to give us the right to eat from the tree of life.

-Charles Peterson

There are a lot of Christians today who believe that the King James version of the Bible is the only “authorized” version.  In this, they are correct, but not in the way that they believe:  the KJV is the only “authorized” version of the Bible – authorized by the British Parliament!  King Henry VIII had authorized the “Great Bible” previously, but it had some severe limitations (“Great” refers more to its very large size than any comment on its appeal as a text); King James then “authorized” a new Bible – which was called the “Authorized Version” until published in America as the King James version.  Thus, when people claim that the KJV is the “authorized” version, they are telling you that they respect man rather than God.

I am not denigrating the KJV; it must be remembered that the KJV acted much like the Latin Vulgate in that it helped unify Christianity behind one book.  None of the German texts did that, nor did any other Bible; the KJV provided a Bible that was read by the masses, at a time when the English language was being spread across the world.  But the elevation of the KJV as holy (as opposed to the Bible as holy) is wrong.  By the standards of its day, the KJV was remarkably well done; but the methods and texts used leave a lot to be desired by today’s standards.

The KJV followed in the footsteps of the Bibles that came before it, most notably Tyndale’s Bible and its successor the Great Bible, in that it primarily used the Textus Receptus (previously called the Instrumentum or Testamentum); this document was translated/compiled from what was available (mostly from texts dating after 600AD).  This was fine – in the 17^th century.  But for us to accept the KJV-only crowd’s premise is to say that God gave the wrong message to the Apostles and used centuries of scribal errors and hidden agendas to get it right.  You see, the manuscripts used by later versions (such as the NRSV and the NIV) date much closer to the original message.  There are fragments of texts that get as close as fifty years from the time the Apostle John was writing!  Some, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls (found in 1947) were not available in the 17^th century, but were preserved nonetheless and reasonably should be closer to the truth.

What the KJV-only crowd does not tell other people (and maybe they haven’t realized themselves) is that of the major translations used, the KJV is the only one that was subjected to agenda-based editing.  What this means is that the KJV was translated by 47 Anglican scholars (the NIV, by comparison, was translated by scholars from five nations and many groups – including the Churches of Christ).  What surprises me is how good a translation the KJV is!  That is the miracle and proof of inspiration in this story. 

From the beginning there were attempts to keep the Scriptures out of the hands of the masses.  The Latin Vulgate was originally translated to make the Bible available to be read in the common tongue of the day; a thousand years later, only the clergy read Latin and there was the need for a common-language version.  William Tyndale was burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English!  Even when it was allowed (authorized) to translate into English the Word of God, the translation efforts were often helped by Royal agendas (such as Henry VIII and the Great Bible).  Many men risked their lives to get the Word of God into the hands of ordinary people.  Through the centuries, despite major upheavals throughout the world, the Bible was preserved for man; this proves that the Holy Spirit is alive and working through our lives to effect God’s plans.

By modern standards, the King James Version is a poor translation; but even so, it is still good enough for you to get the Word of God out of it.  I am not anti-KJV, but I am against the KJV-only crowd because they are worshipping the works of man (the translation efforts) rather than the living God.  The message of the Bible is clearly understood, even from the KJV.  I should know:  I came to know Christ from reading the KJV.  But I also grew up to understand that God wants me to give my allegiance to HIM only, not to an Anglican Church translation of the Bible!

-Charles Peterson

I still remember my first multi-geared bicycle.  It was a glittering silver Schwinn 10-speed with red lettering and pinstripes; I was so excited that not only did I get the bike, but I also got a handlebar-attached satchel bag, a seat-mounted storage bag, and a protective helmet (which was quickly abandoned – it was 1983 and nobody took those seriously).  I remember learning about how changing the gears changed how hard you had to pedal.  I also remember learning that the chain jumped off of the gears when the changing was done improperly. 

Our spiritual lives can be looked at like a long ride on an eight-speed bicycle.  Each of the eight gears is a representation of a Christian quality, as listed by the Apostle Peter.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.  (2 Peter 1:3-9 NIV)

Imagine a new Christian starting out on the road of his new spiritual life.  He starts pedaling in first gear, because it is the easiest to pedal and thus he can keep his balance as he begins to pick up speed.  But can he go very far?  No, because he has to pedal at an exhausting rate just to keep enough speed to stay balanced.  If he does not shift gears soon, he will grow very tired and may even quit.  This first gear is FAITH.  It is very easy to pedal, but it does not allow you to build up any amount of spiritual momentum.  But it is perfect at getting you moving, and allowing you to get started on your spiritual journey.  But that second gear of GOODNESS has to be engaged quickly, in order to build on what faith has allowed you to do.

This process is the same for all of the gears:  they can only help you grow so much, and then you need to add the next gear.  But it is not just about going to a higher gear; sometimes you have to downshift to make the pedaling easier.  When the new Christian is riding along, pedaling in third or fourth gear (KNOWLEDGE or SELF-CONTROL) and he encounters a hill of adversity or temptation, knowledge or self-control may not be enough to carry him over; indeed, he may still be immature with those qualities and unable to fully utilize them to push over the hill.  It is then that he needs to downshift and rely on the easier pedaling of goodness and faith.  Then, after the hill, he can with confidence shift back to the higher gears and continue his journey.

Remember that the whole purpose of these qualities (gears) is to give us a venue through which we can participate in the “divine nature” and “escape corruption”.  We are also told that if we possess them, we will be effective and productive.  But in this process, you have to remember two very important things:  to reduce drag, bow down to the one you are following, and you have to keep pedaling or you will fall.

-Charles Peterson

An article in the August 14, 2008 issue of Fortune magazine was titled “Wal-Mart enters the ad age”.  It discussed the struggles that Wal-Mart’s marketing department had been through in recent years and the solution that they found.  I think that this deserves closer scrutiny, because the problems Wal-Mart encountered mirror closely the problems that the church has encountered recently.

In recent years Wal-Mart, as detailed in the aforementioned article, experimented with its image in trying to compete with rival Target; they hired a marketing expert who tried to spice up their ad campaigns and introduce trendier brands.  The results speak volumes:  the ads flopped, the brands didn’t sell, and the scandalized expert left.  And Wal-Mart learned a valuable lesson.

For most of its history, Wal-Mart used advertising merely to get their name before the public and preach the “lowest cost” message.  Ads were budget affairs with little high-production value to them (compare the smiley face slashing prices to the rival ads featuring hip songs and choreographed dancing).  But Wal-Mart destroyed all competitors because people came to Wal-Mart to buy lots of stuff at low prices.  When they forsook their founding principles, they lost their focus and their customers (among the most price-sensitive in the marketplace) lost interest.  So Wal-Mart abandoned its new, failed campaign and returned to its roots:  they took a phrase that founder Sam Walton had spoken in 1992 and renewed their vigor around the new campaign of “Save money. Live better”.

So that’s great for Wal-Mart; what does it have to do with the church?  Everything.  The church had a founder – Jesus Christ; the church was given founding principles – going out, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching the to obey everything Jesus commanded.  When we stay with those principles, we stay on track; when we depart from them, we lose focus and purpose.

The church has struggled for relevance over the past twenty years or so.  This is ironic, because God’s word remains highly relevant and the need for Christ is even more apparent today than ever before.  But we are often caught between two opposing forces:  the desire to remain unchanged and the desire to change. 

We have people who want things to remain as they have been – not meaning scripture, but the manmade things that we do to facilitate our worship such as our buildings, order of worship, styles of fellowship gatherings, programs (such as buses), etc.  Now these are not in any way bad things, but they must be recognized for what they are:  culturally sensitive things that we have designed.  And if they are culturally sensitive, then they can lose their relevance over time.

We also have people who want to change everything about the church in order to remain relevant.  Now, if they propose to change the manmade things (such as buildings, advertising and programs), then that should be looked at carefully; sometimes changes in these areas can yield great benefits.  But changes should be weighed with a great degree of caution.  We should never be trying to update God’s word in order to make it relevant – it already is relevant.  And when making changes to the manmade things, we need to exercise great care and reflection so that the changes are made appropriately.  

Just as Wal-Mart discovered, the church needs the guidance of its founder’s principles.  Jesus established his church and told us what our guiding principles were to be.  As we focus on those, we are successful; as we depart from those, we fail.  And just as Wal-Mart lost customers when it lost focus, the church loses its people when it loses focus; Wal-Mart’s customers are sensitive to the low-cost image, and the church’s audience is sensitive to the sound doctrine image. 

We need to make sure that everything we do is done with our founding principles in mind.  We need to make disciples of Jesus:  they must be baptized, taught God’s word and taught to obey that word.  Everything else that we do should support that mission.  If it hinders, it needs to change or be removed.  If it helps, it should remain or be expanded.  God’s word reaches people just fine.  Let’s share it with others.

-Charles Peterson