Aug 13 2012

Letters in red


35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

This is what Jesus said.

Aug 13 2012

If I should die….then what?


I think it is safe to believe that every person on planet earth who would label themselves “Christian”, at a minimum, hopes that in the end he or she will be able to avoid final punishment, and instead enjoy whatever God has in store for His own.

Now that punishment and that reward is as varied as the tens of thousands of Christian churches that dot the globe. And it seems to me, those who do want to end up on the good side, with God’s people, want to come on their own terms. Most of them, if you ask, will agree that you must be good (by some measure) or at least good relative to being better than those who are worse sinners than themselves. Many people envision some cosmic being with a set of moral scales in his hand where one’s life is weighed with the good on one side and the bad on the other. The hope is that the scale will tip toward the good and God will approve on that basis.

The inevitable result of this sort of flawed thinking is that we measure ourselves morally by ourselves. Joe reasons “I am more moral and more generous than Sam” and church “A” reasons “We are better than church “X””.

Interestingly, God hardly figures into the equation at all. He is seen as largely being the score keeper of the universe. Oh, He did in some way send Jesus to show us how we should live and he was killed for being a good guy but God did raise him from the dead so….?? What does it all mean?

Well, its different from what most people think.

Not one person can ever be good enough to be accepted by God….without regard to which church you favor. The reason Jesus came, lived a perfect life and gave that perfect life as a perfect sacrifice was that everyone was condemned. Every last one of us comes up short when measured by God’s standard and not by ours. We all defy God’s rules on purpose. Some are worse than others but all of us are equally guilty.

Every person who breaks God’s law has committed a capital crime. The person who offends must die. Jesus came to assume your law breaking (sins) and mine and loved us ungodly people so much that he died for us. Our sins are taken away by his sacrifice and we are then, and only then, able to be in fellowship with God. Because God is boss he accepts us as his own children when we take him at his word about Jesus and start obeying his commands the best we can.

God doesn’t grade on the curve. There are only those who pass and those who fail. Those who pass do so only upon the merit of  Jesus. And those who fail do so because they refused to acknowledge and believe God’s record of his Son the Lord Jesus and his work.

 

Jun 10 2012

Duck Dynasty – What you probably know and what you probably don’t know


What has become a hit show on the A&E Network features a group of unusual characters that could not have been cast by a Hollywood professional and dialogue that could not have been scripted by the best writers.

The show features Phil Robertson, the Duckcommander, his extended family, and a few friends and employees of the family business. After winning all the best awards at the Outdoor Channel with the Duckcommander show, they have taken cable by storm and are quickly rising to one of the top shows on cable. It is an unlikely bunch to enjoy such fame and to amass such a loyal fan following. They are not entertainers, at least not trained entertainers, they are just…well….they are just the Robertson bunch.

Most of the above is what you probably already knew. Now for some things you probably didn’t know.

Just how popular are they? Recently, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, arguably the best show on CNN, was able to only attract just over 500,000 viewers. Meanwhile, the last episode of the season for Duck Dynasty had 2.6 million viewers. Not too shabby, and they are trending upward. Soon they will start shooting for their second season, this year will have a healthy 25 episodes.

What drives them? You might be shocked to know that the motivating force is not fame and the money that comes with TV stardom. What drives them is a simple mission that began with the elder Robertson soon after his conversion to Christianity. They are focused on telling as many people as possible about the story of Jesus Christ and what he has done for sinful people, (that’s all of us..).

An open door. After reading the paragraph above you might question, “Yes, I see them say a prayer before they eat and Phil will say something about the Bible occasionally but they don’t share about Jesus on the show do they?” Of course it’s a fair question and I think many people who know the Robertson’s might have similar questions when they hear someone make the claim that they are all about evangelism.

What Duck Dynasty and other family media has done is to open doors that could never have been opened any other way. Phil, Jase, Alan, and John have all the speaking opportunities they can handle and more. Even before Duck Dynasty Phil was booked up for about 3 years in advance. They speak at sports shows of all sorts, sports banquets at churches and other venues, and almost anywhere they can get an audience. What you might not know is that every speaking opportunity features a rugged looking outdoors type dude with duck calls in one hand and a Bible in the other. They almost never speak anywhere that they don”t preach the gospel. This family has preached the good news about Jesus to far more people in the last several years than many major ministries ever could. They walk the walk and talk the talk, for this I most respect what they do and who they are.

The lost sheep returns. Duck Dynasty is truly a family business but one of the Robertson sons has been missing most of the time. The oldest son, Alan, has only had cameo appearances a few times, is clean-shaven, and has not worked very much in the business. For several years Alan has been one of the pulpit ministers at the church where the family worships. He is a gifted preacher and one of the very best I have ever heard. The lost sheep is coming home! Alan announced to the congregation of his church today that he will be stepping down from his preaching job at White’s Ferry Road to return to the family business where he worked building duck calls when the business was just getting off the ground. He will still worship with us, still be an elder, and will still preach often, but his principal job will be helping his family reach even more people for Christ. It’s a sweet bonus that they get to have so much fun doing it.

So, tune in when the new season begins and keep in mind that what you see on the screen is just a fraction of what the Robertson clan and their friends are all about. To them, Jesus really is Lord!

Jun 3 2012

HELL A Final Word by Edward William Fudge – A review


Some weeks ago I was contacted by Leafwood Publishers (leafwoodpublishers.com) and asked if I would be willing to receive a complementary copy of Edward Fudge’s latest book, (Hell A Final Word) read it, and publish a review here at Grace Digest. Of course I eagerly said yes.

Before I discuss the book I am compelled to say something about the author. I could say a lot of good things about his credentials, his education, and his dedication to biblical scholarship. I believe those things speak for themselves. I do want to make a few observations about the man Edward Fudge.

I had admired brother Fudge at a distance for quite some time because of his character as a preacher, teacher, and author, and his devotion to Christ and what the Bible has to say about him and those who submit to him by faith. Edward Fudge is one of a handful of men who have been used to open the eyes of many Christians, especially in the Stone-Campbell tradition, to the grace of God in salvation vs. legalistic merit. My admiration meter shot up drastically when I was able to get to know brother Fudge personally. We shared several meals together, a perfect setting for two old men to discuss life, theology, and some of our experiences of following Jesus. I am certain that I have never met a more humble, sincere, devoted, and loving disciple of Jesus than Edward Fudge. So it is with this background of love and respect that I make the following remarks about his book, Hell A Final Word.

Most everyone who reads this probably knows about Edward Fudge’s earlier works, Two Views of Hell and The Fire That Consumes, the later now with three revisions. This latest book tells the story not only of Edward’s biblical challenge of the traditionalist view of everlasting torment in hell but also is a personal story of how all of this study on the final end of the lost  and the subsequent writings came about. As I read the narrative it was as if I was sitting in the room as events happened. Few authors are able to tell a story in conversational language so that the reader can’t wait to turn the page and gets annoyed by the slightest interruption while reading.

There is no doubt that our God prepared this good man for such a work. His family history, his education, his work, his study, and yes, even his enemies were all used by the providential hand of God to bring Edward Fudge to the writer’s table to tackle such a subject. The odds were very much against him. For 1600 or so years only one view of hell really mattered. That view was that God would torment lost men and women forever in conscious suffering in the fires of hell. When student and researcher Fudge dug into history and the pages of the Bible he was surprised to find no support for the traditional view of hell as unending conscious torment, or for the immortality of the human soul (except for the saved). I’ll quickly admit that I too was surprised when I first read some of Edward’s conclusions. I will say more about that some other time.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to know more about what the Bible teaches about the final end of the wicked, and especially for those who are familiar with Edward’s earlier books on the subject, specifically The Fire That Consumes. I think of this easily readable book of about 185 pages as sort of an umbrella covering the life and work of the author and his conclusions given in more detail in earlier books. I think that perhaps this book should be read before the others because of the importance of context.

Not only did the author spend months and months of research in libraries, reading books and articles, writing letters, and making phone calls, but he paid a price sometimes at the expense of his own immediate family, and his Christian family at large. Brother Fudge was already suspect in Church of Christ circles because he taught the assumed heresy that people outside the churches of Christ could be saved. That grace teaching was the beginning of a life lived swimming upstream in the river of biblical teaching. His enemies were fierce, his circumstances were unfriendly, and his health was fleeting, but his God was ever faithful. Buy this book! Read it, pray over what you read, and make up your own mind. You might agree or you might disagree but you will come away with at least some of the respect I have for my friend and mentor Edward Fudge.

(The book is available at all the usual outlets or you can order from the author at EdwardFudge.com)

Royce Ogle
Monroe, LA
June 3, 2012