WHY SHOULD GOD HELP US?

We are all praying for the Lord to bless again America. But why should He do that since the nation has so turned against Him? Here is what we've done: Passed out condoms in public school. Open the doors wide for homosexuals. Spawned raw socialism and replaced hard work. 53 million babies aborted since the 1970s. (This is more than all who died in WWII) Military chaplains cannot pray in the name of Jesus in public meetings. No prayers in school or at sporting events. No recognizing Christmas in public school (as it happened in the past).    The list could go on and on! The Bible speaks to our national and personal sins:    "The wicked strut about on every side, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men" (Psa. 12:8).    "Because men do not regard the works of the Lord nor the deeds of His hands, He will tear them down and not build them up" (Psa. 28:5).    "Where there is no vision the people are unrestrained. But happy is he who keeps the law" (Prov. 29:18).    It has been said that with a nation: (1) the first generation GENERATES, the (2) second generation SPECULATES, and (3) the third generation DEGENERATES!    –Dr. Mal Couch (8/10

PROGRESSIVE DISPENSATIONAL WAY OFF BASE!

Online there is posted a short article on Progressive Dispensationalism. Who wrote it is not important, and I have no intention of attacking the person. But What he wrote should be answered because it is misleading. Below are quotes from that article. Some of the points I will take the time to respond to and other points I will just let stand, because they are so far off, any thinking person would catch it! PD: "Both sides have good arguments (Classical and Progressive Dispensaionalism)." Answer: Both beliefs can not be right. Someone is not doing his homework. And clearly, the PD folks admit that what they hold is a compromise with Covenant Theology. Therefore, such a mixture is just plain stupid, and dead wrong! PD: "Everyone should be able to have a great deal of understanding and empathy. If they do not, I suspect they have not really studied the issue." Answer: This is false. It is because many of us have studied the issue into the ground, that we know for certain that PD is foolishness. Again, the founders of this view admitted that they wanted to be accepted by the Covenant folks. They were ashamed of classical dispensationalism! Empathy (to be empathic) implies emotions and we do not study the Bible with our emotions but with our objectivity. The PD folks want to take this into the realm of "feeling" because those who advocate such a few are younger guys who are not "strong" in their Bible study. They have been raised with secular psychology! PD: "God made one covenant of redemption to man(?) that has been progressively fulfilled. The first 'installment' was made with Adam and Eve in Eden when God promised to fix what was broken (Gen. 3:15). This was a covenant of redemption made by God to man. All successive covenants are further installments to this covenant." Answer: Where in the world did this guy get this view? Where is the covenant of redemption mentioned or found? There is no such thing! Even Charles Hodge and Louis Berkhof admit that such a covenant is "implied" but not "explicit" in Scripture. It was made at some time in eternity past, they argue. So our writer just follows what the covenant guys have said without any objective facts to back up their views! In other words, they proclaim doctrine without biblical doctrine to establish what they teach! Where does it say all successive covenants are further installments? What sorry teaching! PD: "The one covenant of redemption is the central focus." Answer: How can this be if there is no such thing as a covenant of redemption? PD: "The Edenic Covenant of redemption was extended first in the Abrahamic Covenant in that God's promises to Abraham provided an avenue through which the covenant of redemption would be accomplished. Answer: I do not know how to answer this because the writer bounces all over Genesis to try to make some point. Now he connects the so-called Edenic Covenant with the so-called Covenant of Redemption, which we cannot find in Genesis. Then he somehow connects this with Abraham or the Abrahamic Covenant. I'm just terribly confused, as you should be also! By the way, the only covenants I deal with are the biblical covenants that we can see, read about, and measure. And there is no such thing as an "Edenic Covenant." This is some kind of man-made idea that will not fly! I must have the word "covenant" in a Bible passage in order to call it "a covenant." PD: "The Mosaic covenant was an extension of the Abrahamic Covenant." Answer: Now we really went out to woo-woo land! I have never ever heard that the Mosaic was an extension of the Abrahamic. Some one is making up ideas as they go along! PD: "The eternal peace that is promised is redemption from the toil of the curse (2 Sam. 7:11)." Answer: What in the world is this PD guy talking about? 2 Samuel 7:11 is about the one thousand year millennial reign of Christ. It has nothing to do with "spiritual" redemption but it is about a political redemption in which the earthly kingdom is established. And peace is not mentioned here but "rest" is. And it is not mentioned as eternal. We know that the millennium ends in chaos and rebellion not "eternal" redemption. Again, the PD guys are fishing in a dry hole. How could anyone follow such crazy off base teaching? PD: The Abrahamic covenant is an extension of the Edenic covenant. There is not a distinct future for the physical descendants of Abraham." Answer: This is so silly I can't even answer it. How crazy is that last sentence! PD: "In the end, there is only one people of God, one New covenant, one heaven. ... There is no eternal distinction between the church and Israel." Answer: This is only partly correct. While the church saints will be in the millennial kingdom, and have work to do in it, there is a reminder in Revelation of the two distinct peoples of God, Israel and the church. I am convinced the PD guys do not read their Bibles. In the eternal New Jerusalem, Israel is specifically and separately honored, and so is the church. We read in Revelation 21:12 of the "twelve gates, ... which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel." And, we read of the "twelve foundation stones ... with the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (v. 14). Is this not recognition of the distinctiveness of Israel and the church, and the fact that the two groups have separate recognitions even in eternity? Clearly, the PDs are not reading and studying their Bibles! PD: "God will bring Israel into the church which they birthed." "Israel will be assumed into the church." Answer: I have never heard of these two ideas. I don't know where they are found in the Scriptures! Again, this is an illustration of figment-of-the-imagination made-up theology! And some of you want to follow the views of PD? PD: "The covenant of redemption has been progressively revealed throughout Scripture starting in Eden. Therefore, I am a 'Progressive Dispensationalist.'" Answer: There is no proof for such an idea. Finally, to show that these man-made covenants that this PD is so enamored with, you must read pages 158-163 in my hermeneutics volume "Classical Evangelical Hermeneutics." There all the pages are given from Hodge and Berkhof that show that they admit the man-made covenants are not scriptural—which they are open and honest about. What a mess the PDs have made of the Bible! –Dr. Mal Couch

STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING!

David Gergen reports in his column that strange things are taking place in America and even worldwide. Now I am not an alarmist but, hhummm, most interesting!    It is estimated that of the 20 costliest catastrophes in the world over the past four decades, half have occurred in the past decade along—and no less than 13 of the world's total have been in the U.S. It is also estimated that 91% of Americans now live in places with moderate-to-high risk of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.    All that is now happening, socially, domestically, spiritually, etc., is clearly a judgment from God. This nation is closing down because it is moving away from the blessings and protection of the Lord. We are deserving what we are getting! Pray for the country as we face elections in November. Only by God's Spirit can we be turned around!   - Dr. Mal Couch (8/10)

CIVIL WAR IN ARIZONA

We have just been sent photos of the "whoevers" destroying the American and Arizona flags in Phoenix at a rally on July 31. This may not have made the news but the pictures were forwarded to us by the relatives of friends of this ministry. At some point this behavior will come home to roost. It cannot go on forever! It is a form of revolution and civil war. It will not stop. The energy to do such destruction will not just evaporate and go away. It will bear fruit in the form of some kind of response. Prepare for some form of civil war, many are telling us.    Everything that takes place in this world is spiritual and theological. It is not simply social or cultural. Wrong is being perpetrated and evil is having its day!    The question many are asking is "Why don't the illegals go home and build up their own country?" The founding fathers of America came to these shores and asked no one to give them a handout. They developed the nation on their own, and it took blood, sweat, and tears.    The administration in Washington is doing nothing about the border problem. It wants to get support for the Democratic Party in order to further socialism in America. Socialism is already here and it will not turn back. The younger generation and many of the minorities want socialism because it guarantees free everything!

WE ARE INTO FULL BLOWN SOCIALISM!

I could not believe this morning's TV news. There were three items that tells us we are into total socialism in this country. We are not moving in that direction—we are there already!    (1) On one news item we were told that the government is going to be telling us what to eat. This will be happening in full measure this fall with our school children. They "must" eat what is ordered by the federal government. The school system will lose its federal funding if they do not comply with the federal government's orders. Then (2) we were told that 95% of us are wearing wrong-fitting shoes. The government will be judging the fitting of shoes for the public to wear. We no longer have the common sense to choose for ourselves! And finally (3) we can no longer sing the songs we want to at very strategic places, like the Lincoln Memorial. A group of high school students were told they could not break out into singing of the national anthem there because it was disruptive! They were asked to stop by the Park Rangers! What better place to sing the national anthem than at the Lincoln Memorial!    Our liberties are gone, our choices are over. Our freedoms are no more. We are like the frog in the pan of water. The socialistic heat is being turned up and we don't even notice it. And by the way, if you have not noticed, we have no recourse, no redress as to our grievances. No matter what we say, the powers that be do not listen to us. They go on and do what they want to do, and completely ignore us! It is not impossible that we could move into civil war if the citizens get fed up with the slavery they are taking us toward.    Please pray for our nation. The time is getting shorter.    Dr. Mal Couch  (8/10)

THE IGNORANCE OF LIBERALISM

If you have ever watched Glen Beck on TV you will see how the ignorance of liberalism is so clearly exposed. Liberals think they are brilliant but in reality, they do not know all that they think they do. Many conservative Christians have studied more about the founding of this nation than the liberals. The liberals have rarely read the original works of many of the founding fathers of this country, and therefore, they do not know how America was founded.    I place myself in the "know" camp. I have recently spent hours studying how the nation began and what the expectations were of those who crafted our constitution. For example, the liberals think the phrase "separation of church and state" is in the constitution, and, many liberal teachers in universities tell the young students that it is! Thus, the students go out and quote the lies created by these professors.    Another example of liberal stupidity was given to me in the form of a newspaper column written by a former Baylor University history professor by the name of Ralph Lynn. In his 2006 newspaper column he wrote how Christianity thwarted science and was narrow minded when it came to the expansion of the field of science.    Lynn then went on and praised the development of science by the Greeks and Romans. He argued that it was Christianity that slowed the scientific process that has so benefited mankind. Again, Lynn is ignorant. He failed to point out that it was Catholic "Christendom" that tried to blunt the exploration and develop of science. It was not biblical Christianity, nor was it the influence of true, strong Protestant Christianity that was the culprit in setting science back. In fact, it was just the opposite. Biblical Christianity, and its logical development of thinking, caused science to flourish.       This fact is brought to light by the writings of Francis Schaeffer and also by David Noebel in his well-documented book "Understanding the Times." The Catholic Church was backward in its attitude to science. But it was men like Isaac Watts, who were influenced by the Bible, who led the way in the scientific method and changed attitudes about true science, physics, and biology.    No people carried science forward like the British. And they did so long before evolution began to be heard. The British Museum is a credit to the scientific method. The English scientists added tremendous amounts of knowledge to the fields of biology, chemistry, and physics. They cataloged animals, insects, birds, and fish, setting forward the understanding of God's creative world as no other people have ever done. The logical-ness of the Bible was the foundation of this work.    Millions of high school and college students are lied to every year in the classroom by teachers like Lynn. And the sad thing is that this is happening now all over in so-called Christian institutions.    A warning to those attending Christian academies: When Christian academies began, it was a pleasant change from what was happening in the "state and government" schools. But I am told that the direction of Christian academies is shifting. More and more are being secularized and dropping the standards that they once held on to. The curriculum they are using is becoming more secular in its emphasis. It will not be long before evolution will take hold of such institutions and Satan will win again in misleading our Christian youth.    It seems impossible to keep the ship sailing on a straight course. Satan is alive and well, indeed, on planet earth! –Dr. Mal Couch  (8/10)

DOES THE PUNISHMENT OF HELL LAST FOREVER?

It is sad to see that there are a few evangelicals who hold to the doctrine of annihilation-ism, that is, they believe that the lost spend some time in the pains of hell but then are simply "poofed" and completely disappear. Annihilation-ism is a doctrine sometimes taught by the cults but almost never by biblical evangelicals.    I recently examined a chapter on this subject by one who is an evangelical but who holds to the doctrine of the poof! In fact the article taught a new view that I had never seen before, and that sounds very close to Catholicism. The article said that the lost do indeed go to hell and are punished for a period, but then just disappear after a season of torment. The author implied that the length of time for the punishment can vary, and I guess by how bad the person was on earth. This sounds close to Catholic purgatory to me.    The real reason why this author holds to this view is stated by him. And clearly what he is doing is questioning the justice and purposes of God. The author becomes the judge and juror of God's ways. He writes:      "I have never been able to fully embrace the traditional viewpoint of conscious, eternal punishment. My first difficulty with the traditional view is that it seems to impugn the character of God."    I found something interesting in this seventeen page chapter written against eternal punishment. The word "traditional" view is used twenty times and the word "annihilation-ism" is not used at all, though the word "annihilate" is used once! By this, I would say he is trying to argue that those who hold to eternal punishment are simply traditional but are not actually biblical or doctrinal. And as well, he seems to be avoiding the word "annihilation-ism" because this smacks of heresy!    The author does not explain the two most important passages of Scripture on the subject: Matthew 25:46 and Revelation 14:10-11.    Matthew 25:46 reads: "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." The Greek word for "eternal" is "aionos" and it is used to describe the punishment of the lost, and the [forever] life of the righteous. If we received "eternal life," and that lasts forever, then so is the punishment of the lost—it lasts forever. The same word is used to describe punishment and spiritual life. If the life we receive lasts forever then so does the punishment—it goes on and lasts forever.    Revelation 14:11 speaks of "the smoke of their torment going up forever and ever." The annihilationist would say "Well, the smoke lasts forever but the lost do not last forever experiencing this punishment." Note the possessive pronoun "Their." It is the torment that belongs to them and its smoke goes on and on!    But the next line reads: "And they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image ..." These two lines are tied together. They have no rest because they exist forever and the smoke of their torment continues to rise because of the flames of punishment.    Christ quotes Isaiah 66:24 in Mark 9:48 that reads: "In hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." Notice again the possessive pronoun: "Their" worm. This means the worm that does not die and is eating on the lost. It is "their" worm! Also, the fire does not go out. Now what is the implication being put forth: to speak of a forever-burning fire? This passage is a kind of poetic statement in that the body turns to dust, but the picture is vivid in implying that a judgment continues forever on those who have died without Christ.    What good news for the lost if the pains of hell only last for a short period and then they are just poofed away! Many who deny Christ would then say, "Oh well, I can take the pain for awhile and then I will just disappear!"     Do not listen to those who wish to tamper with the teachings of Scripture, even with a very unpleasant truth about the eternality of hell. –Dr. Mal Couch   (8/10)

THE BIBLE AND THOUSANDS OF YEARS OF WISDOM DOWN THE DRAIN!

On Wednesday, August 4, America fell into the drain hole of brazen heathenism. A California judge (we could have guessed) said that homosexual marriage was legal in that state. We all knew that it would go this way. And even with a Supreme Court appeal, the die has been cast. This means the end of America as we know it. The citizens can do nothing about it. Our will, common sense, the Scriptures, nothing can change the evil hearts now ruling and taking our nation into the pit.    The Bible makes it clear: there are three levels of responsibility in a nation: (1) The king (or the president), (2) The priests (or religious leaders), and finally, (3) The people, all bear part of the responsibility of what happens morally in a country.    Judgment is on its way. There is no turning back for America. Here are the verses that are clear about this issue:    "A woman shall not wear a man's clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God" (Deut. 22:5). The issue is not simply about wearing the clothes of the other gender, it is about acting out the role of the other sex. Homosexuality is the signal being sent. Unger puts it right:    "The law forbidding one sex to wear the clothes of the other sex was primarily aimed at preserving God's ordained order. God created them male and female with distinctive natures and functions. To abrogate the divine order of the sexes, as in present-day sanction and practice of homosexuality and so-called women-liberation movements, is a species of anarchy fraught with confusion and many ill effects. An 'abomination' is that which sets aside God's supreme authority and thus violates all gradated authority, springing from this fundamental concept, God, Christ, husband, wife, children."    The Jewish orthodox Rabbis say:    "An interchange of attire between man and woman would promote immodesty and, in consequence, immorality. This law is probably directed against rites in Syrian heathenism, which included exchange of garments by the sexes and led to gross impurities."    Notice that the passage says the person who wears the opposite sexes' clothes IS themselves an "abomination." The Hebrew word can mean "detestable," or "an offense." It is also used in Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination." This is "profaning the name of your God; I am the Lord" (Lev. 18:21).    In the NT the word for homosexuality is "arsenokoitees" or "man-bed," that is, "taking a man to bed." It is used in 1 Cor. 6:9 and 1 Tim. 1:10. Also, it is an offense to God for one of the men to be "effeminate" (1 Cor. 6:9), that is, to play the female role in the sexual act.    Can homosexuals, by the power of the Holy Spirit, change?    Absolutely! Paul writes in 1 Cor. 6:11: "And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God."    What criteria are American judges using to make their rulings? All morality was put forth from the Bible—this was just understood and had no argument in reference to such a source. Since now that there is no source by which to judge, the judges only have their own standards or opinions upon which to make a ruling.    We are doomed. There is no way out! –Dr. Mal Couch (8/10)

G8 WORLD RELIGION SUMMIT

There seems to be another push to put into place a summit for world religions, and of course, the Obama administration is behind it. This effort does not seem to stop. It keeps coming up. And someday, it will bear full fruit and unite the entire world behind a one religious expression. In their prayer recently those pushing for this effort wrote: "We give thanks for the world's religions, for Behai and for Buddhism, etc."    It may surprise some but this effort is old. In 1893 the World's Parliament of Religions met during the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago. The great religious faiths assembled with the motto "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?" One speaker talked on The Bearing of Religious Unity. It was stated at the Conference "All religions whatever in any age or country is in its essential springing forth from good and not evil."    In 1912 there was a meeting of The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. Their purpose: "To secure a larger combined influence for the Churches of Christ in all matters affecting the moral and social condition of the people." "Surely Christian ethics are not left entirely to be determined by Congress."    These organizations ran out of steam but we now have a vacuum that may be soon filled by liberal forces not too far off. The Bible predicts a one-world government with the head being the Anti-Christ. He will deceive with "signs and false wonders" (2 Thess. 2:9). He will deceive with wickedness "for those who perish because they [do] not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved" (v. 10). This happens during the seven year tribulation and period of the wrath. God will send a "deluding spirit (influence) that they might believe what is false" (v. 11). "They will not believe the truth, but will take pleasure in wickedness" (v. 12). The Anti-Christ will have authority "over every tribe and people and tongue and nation" (Rev. 13:7). "All who dwell on the earth will worship him" (v. 8).    It is during this period of the seven year tribulation when the Anti-Christ will be successful! We are moving rapidly toward the apostasy. Nothing seems to stop the downward slide taking place in our culture!    --Dr. Mal Couch (8/10)

FEAST OF TRUMPETS & THE RAPTURE

I have friends who believe the Trumpet of God is the Trumpet for "The Feast of Trumpets," and that is when, at some point in the future, the Rapture will take place. Now where did we get the idea that the blowing of that Trumpet announces the Rapture of the Church?    I don't know who started this idea but the rapture is about the church and the Feast of Trumpets is about Israel. Why would a Jewish Feast have anything to do with the rapture of the church?    I think the confusion began when even some "good guys" got fouled up with Matthew 24:30-31. Verse 30 speaks of the Son of Man, the Messiah, who will come with "power and great glory" in order to reign on earth in His kingdom. Then verse 31 says "He will send His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."    The elect would be Israel, and concerning also possibly Gentile believers, at the end of the tribulation, that is, those who have believed during the tribulation. Many do a knee jerk when they read "elect" and instantly say "the church." This is wrong! You can have "the elect" of Israel as well as "the elect" of the church. Before this trumpet is sounded in Matthew 24:31, the sun "will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light" (v. 29). Does this take place just before the rapture? Somebody is not thinking clearly!    The Feast of Trumpets is mentioned in Leviticus 23:23-24. This is all Jewish and has nothing to do with the rapture of the church!    The rapture trumpet is then mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52. It is about "those who sleep" in Jesus. The "we shall all be changed" is the church believers. And this trumpet is simply called "the last trumpet", last in terms of calling for the last event of the church, not Israel. In the great rapture passage of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Paul speaks of "the trumpet of God" and when it is blown "the dead in Christ, not Israel, shall rise first and then those who are alive will be caught up together with the resurrected." Again, nothing about the Feast of Trumpets or about Israel.    In Revelation, the Seventh trumpet is sounded by the seventh angel announcing the future arrival of the kingdom. Again, there is more of the tribulation coming, the bowls of wrath, and this certainly would not be the sounding of the trumpet to take the church home!    I'm not confused but some Bible teachers are all fouled up. They are not using good observation when discussing this issue.    On the Feast of Trumpets in Leviticus 23:23-24 Unger says "The blowing of the trumpets prefigures Israel's age-end regathering from worldwide dispersion."    When interpreting the Bible, keep the lines straight. Don't cross over the lines and run various subjects together that should not be run together.    Do yourself a favor after reading the above. Look up all the passages of Scripture and see what you can see! The Bible becomes the authority on the issue. I'm shocked that some Bible teachers say that the Feast of Trumpets is about the rapture! They are just dead wrong! –Dr. Mal Couch (8/10)

SCHOOL DENIES STUDENT

Augusta State University in Georgia alleges school officials gave a Christian grad student, majoring in Counselor Education, remediation for her beliefs that homosexuality was a sin. She had a choice of going through this brainwashing or dropping out of the program. The student had to read literature promoting homosexuality as part of her "sensitivity training." Her Christian beliefs could get her expelled from the graduate program, she was told. Miss Jen Keeton filed a lawsuit against the school to stop their anti-Christian harassment against what the Bible says. Miss Keeton was told again that she could not graduate unless "she commits to affirming the propriety of gay and lesbian relationships if such an opportunity arises in her future professional efforts."    The avalanche of hate and liberalism has begun in America and there is no sign that it is letting up, in fact, it is increasing in speed and intensity. Our nation will be completely different in five years with no chance of stopping the momentum.    What is happening is similar to what happened in Nazi Germany. In less than twenty years almost the entire nation was changed in its support for Hitler and its hatred against the Jewish people. One wonders how it could have happened so quickly. We are seeing how that could be with the present growing hatred against our faith. But of course the hatred is not just against us; it is against God, His Son, and against the Word of God as well.    We are told in Psalm 2 that the world's rulers and leaders will someday "take their stand together against the Lord and against His Anointed (His Christ), and will say: 'Let us tear the [Lord's and His Son's] fetters apart, and cast away their ropes from us!'" (vv. 2-3). The world wants no restraints placed upon it from God and from His Son! This is part of what will bring on the Day of Wrath upon the entire globe! And that Day is drawing closer! –Dr. Mal Couch  (8/10)

BORDERING ON ERROR

There are some today who seem to be teaching a view that borders on scriptural error. They argue that if one does not openly articulate that they have eternal life in Christ when they confess Him as their Savior then they may not be saved. To make the point they say that the Gospel of John is the only evangelistic book in the NT. While that could be disputed they seem to go further and come close to heresy. One of these advocates writes:    "The vast majority of people in Christianity [Sam points out], have never believed that they are eternally secure by faith in Christ. Thus, if the assurance view is correct, then most people in Christianity are lost."    This advocate also says "If we look at the Gospel of John, the eternality of the gift is always stressed." Again, he writes: "I do not believe that there is a single evangelistic verse that lacks a statement about the eternality of the gift [of salvation]."    Hoping that I am wrong this person argues that one must also say "I believe that Christ is giving me eternal life." And if he does not verbalize that, then he is not saved! The point he is making is about the words "eternal life."    It is of course absolutely true that the one who believes in Christ receives eternal life because of His work on the cross. But to say that every verse in the NT, and certainly in the Gospel of John, mentions eternal life when it speaks about faith in Christ, is absolutely in error!    Throughout the rest of the NT one cannot find every verse speaking about faith in Jesus mentioning "eternal life." Nor does the Bible say "You must say openly that your faith causes you to have eternal life"! Again, we know that it is true, that we do receive eternal life, and what a blessing that this is the case. But to argue that one is not saved if he does not mention those two words, is wrong!    For sixty years I have been witnessing to the lost about accepting Christ as Savior. And I have discovered that most people coming to Him as Savior are not thoroughly knowledgeable in all the doctrines about salvation. People have to learn what they have received in Christ. They do not know it all when they proclaim Him as their personal Savior. I would dare say that most people who witness to the lost mention the fact that they are receiving eternal life in Christ. But to so mention is not said to be required for that person to be saved. He will quickly learn from the sharing of a saved friend that indeed he is given "eternal life."    Many verses mention the fact that the saved receive eternal life but many passages do not. Here is a sample of those that do not:    "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12).    "Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes" (5:21).    "This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (6:29).    "He saved us ... according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:5).    "I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake" (1 John 2:12).    "God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him" (John 3:17).    "After listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13).    "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8).    My biggest question is, why do we continually have error raise its ugly head in the community of believers? Someone always seems to come along and bring confusion to the saints in Christ! It just seems impossible to go along and fly the plane straight and level! When you hear something that seems so contradictory to the truth, check it out an d do not be quick to embrace what "sounds so wrong." The Bible is our authority not what someone has said in order to counter its plain and simple truth. –Dr. Mal Couch (8/10)

THE LORD’S LITERAL PROMISES

This morning I was doing my daily translation work in the Hebrew language in Genesis and ran across something interesting. In Hebrews 6:13 it says "God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself."    In Genesis in several verses Moses used the Hebrew word Sha'vay which is often translated "to swear." But by the full definition the word can be translated: "To promise, to swear, to make a pledge, an oath," or in 22:16 "to swear by Himself." That's what the author in Hebrews says. He obviously translated the Genesis passages and got the grammar "right on."    In the Grammar, the word Sha'vay is always used in the Niphal form which is a reflexive. "To do something himself." Or "by himself."    This word in the OT would be the NT word "to promise." In Gen. 24:7 it says: "The God of heaven, who took me [Abraham] from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me, and who SWORE [PROMISED Himself] to me, saying 'To your seed I will give this land ...'"    To Isaac: "I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I SWORE [Myself PROMISED] to your father Abraham ..." (26:3).    Joseph to his brothers: "God will bring you up from this land to the land which He PROMISED [He Himself PROMISED, SWORE] on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob ..." (50:24).    The writer of Hebrews also knew Exod. 32:13. Look at that verse. "You (God) DID SWEAR [Yourself PROMISED] ... 'I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it [the land] forever.'"    How can the amillennialists squirm around these verses that are so literal? They try to say that God is finished with the Jews, and, they minimize the land promise God made to the Jewish people. Mercy!    May God bless these great verses of Scripture.    --Dr. Mal Couch

OCTOBER 31: PRAY DAY SUNDAY FOR YOUR CHURCH

Pass the word on: Some are now calling for churches to hold a Day of Prayer, Sunday October 31, two days before voting day on Tuesday November 2. Whoever started this wants to see 100,000 churches praying that day for the nation and for the placing of good men in office in our government. Only godliness will return our country back to moral truth and a firm trust in God.    Please pass this on and enlist your congregation to join in on PRAY DAY, OCTOBER 31.

THE TERRIBLE NATURE OF RETRIBUTION: THE SINKING OF THE WILLIAM GUSTLOFF

Presently, I am doing a verse by verse study of the book of 2 Thessalonians at the Clifton Bible Church. The first chapter deals with God's retribution that will come upon the lost for their mistreatment of the saints. God's retribution can come for that reason but also for any reason by which a people can be so evil and cruel. This reminds me of the sinking of the German liner The William Gustloff at the end of World War II.    It was January 1945 and the Russians were flooding in to Germany at the very end of the war. On the Baltic Sea thousands of Germans in East Prussia went to the seacoast and attempted to get on this ship to sail out of the way of the advancing Russians, who were bent on retribution against the Germans for the loss of twenty million Russians during that conflict. It is estimated that nine thousand people crowded onto the ship. The liner had wounded German soldiers, and thousands of women and children crowded on board.    A Soviet submarine caught the ship just nine hours out of port and fired three torpedoes into her. She sank in fifty minutes in the stormy waters that were 39 degrees. Obviously, anyone who fell into the ocean would not live long. It was horrible on the ship. People were trampling each other, pushing many overboard. One sailor even shot two children and then killed the mother also in order to spare them from the horrors of an icy death.    Only one thousand survived out of the nine thousand. The eight thousand who perished were four times the number of those who died on the Titanic. Because the war was coming to a close, and there were many news items that occupied the newspapers, most never read about the sinking of The William Gustloff. The people getting on the ship did so for a good reason. In every German city where the Russians entered every woman was raped, no matter what their age. The Russians were animals and had no mercy toward the victims at the end of the conflict.    What is most interesting is that after the war, the captain of the Russian sub just disappeared from view. No one knows what happened to him. He made no comments or gave no testimonies about the affair after the war.       The entire German nation was somehow a party to the evil that came forth from Germany, which brought on the death of some 50 million people throughout the world. God brought a terrible retribution. It compares to what Paul said about the evils coming on the believers in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-6. The passage reads: "This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you. ... dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ... And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."    While this passage does not exactly fit The William Gustloff issue, there is at least some parallels. God keeps good records and will call to account all of the lost for their sins. Too, He will call the believers to account for the works done as children of the Lord. Human beings are responsible and none of us will get away with any of our sins!     –Dr. Mal Couch (8/10)