“Committed to the Absolute Truth of the Word of God”

Friend of the Family is a newsletter that is published quarterly by Biblical Family Ministries.  You will find articles on the family and other topics, as well as prayer requests and praises.  We hope you enjoy reading our latest edition of Friend of the Family!

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The Middle East is being shaken. What will the ultimate changes be in Tunisia, Lebanon, Egypt,Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq? And what will become of our beloved friends in Israel? And, what does it all mean to us?

The truth is, of course, we never know exactly where we are in God’s plan for this age. On the other hand, our Lord Jesus condemned the religious leaders of his day in Matthew 16:3, when he said, “Oh ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky, but ye cannot discern the signs of the times”. Referring to these things, A.T. Robertson said, “But, we ought not to be blind when others are gullible.”

So what does the shake up in the Middle East mean to us? We live in a day, when a shake up is also happening in the church. There seems to be a resurgence of the view that if there is a Rapture, it will occur after the Tribulation. There is also the view that there is no Rapture at all. To those who hold that view, the return of Christ will end the world. I recently was directed to a web site that claimed the Rapture is not in the Bible.

Well let’s talk about it. Since Paul told Titus to “live...looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our  Savior Jesus Christ...”(Titus 2:12-13), we should know a little bit about the timing of the event.

Is the Rapture in the Bible? It is true that the English word “rapture”is not found in the King James Version of the Bible, but the event is clearly described. In I Thessalonians 4:17, Paul told about the Rapture. He said, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord”. Our English word “Rapture” comes from a Latin word meaning to be caught up. You can see the term “caught up” very clearly in verse 17. That is the rapture. The same term is used of Philip being “caught away”, by the Spirit of the Lord in Acts 8:39. He was found in Azotus (Ashdod). The term is also used in II Corinthians 12:2,4, where Paul tells of being “caught up”, to the third heaven and paradise. I Thessalonians 4:17 tells of a generation of believers which will be “caught up”           (raptured) to meet the Lord in the air.

I want my children and my grandchildren to be alert to the times in which they live, don’t you? We’ll discuss this more next time. For now - keep looking. Christ is coming.

                                Hebrews 10:25 says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Of what day was the writer of Hebrews talking? If we consider the surrounding context we find two significant verses. Hebrews 9:28 says, “So Christ was offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Hebrews 10:37 says, For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” The “approaching day” of Hebrews 10:25 is the day of Christ’s return. Apparently, early in the Church Age, professing believers were ignoring public worship in the local church. The writer of Hebrews not only warned believers to be faithful in worship, but said we should gather more often and exhort each other more fervently, as the time of Christ’s return draws near.  This is the very opposite of what is happening. For many years it has been the practice of local Bible believing churches in the United States to meet on the first day of the week (what we call Sunday), for three meetings. Then there has typically been a midweek service.  These meeting times have been for worship, through Bible study, singing, prayer and preaching of the Scripture. In many church ministries there have been other weekly activities for fellowship, evangelism and discipleship. Christian families built their lives around the local church. The dedicated family attended every service on Sunday, was faithful at the midweek service, and was involved at some level in other regular activities. WHAT HAPPENED? What happened to YOU?  In many churches it is common to have the largest attendance on Sunday morning. On Sunday evening one half may come back. At the midweek service the number may be cut in half again. Are you and your family faithful to all the services? Was there a time when you were fully involved, but not anymore? Who or what got in the way?     

“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the Word of our God shall stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8). As life continues on, nothing seems to stay the same. The older I get I realize more and more how life changes. Great places to eat seem to fade away; hair stylists you really like change locations; buildings from your childhood are torn down; areas you grew up in are being changed so that you wouldn’t even recognize them. Isn’t it comforting to know that God will never change! His wonderful Word to us, the Bible will never change! Isn’t that an exciting thought? He never changes! When all else in this world changes, our Heavenly Father stays the same. He has given us wonderful promises to claim. He has told us where we came from, what we are, how we should live, what the future will be, and best of all; He is waiting for us in Heaven, if we have believed in His Word and trusted in Him. In the midst of constant change, one thing we can depend on is our Lord Jesus Christ. He never changes. We have seen some life altering changes for some of our friends over the last year. They have lost their mates to Heaven. It is wonderful for their sick loved ones, but so hard on those who are left behind. God is so good; He never makes mistakes, and no one loves us more than our precious Savior. All we have to do is believe Him, trust Him and live for Him, and our lives will be full of peace and joy as we travel through this world.

                                      In our 4th quarter, 2010, article in this column, we took our search for the meaning of the term fornication, as used in Matthew 19:9, to the unique situation that faced the early church in Acts 15. We briefly examined the decision of James regarding Gentiles and their obligation to follow the Mosaic Law. We saw that he limited the obligation to four areas from Leviticus 17 and 18. One of those areas was fornication. In Leviticus 18: 6-18, there are a series of warnings about near-kin marriages. Such relationships were prohibited for the people of Israel and the strangers who dwelt among them. This seems to be the limited issue to which James was referring, when he said Gentiles must refrain from fornication. We pointed out that the term “fornication”, used in its broadest sense, can refer to many types of immorality. With these facts before him the interpreter (you and/or me) must make a choice. Was the Lord Jesus intending to make divorce legitimate in the case of virtually any form of immorality or was he limiting it to the very narrow case described in Leviticus 18? If we look at Matthew 19, it seems obvious that our Savior was restricting divorce to a very narrow situation. Moses had allowed divorce as taught in Deuteronomy 24. The Lord Jesus narrowed it with the saying, “And I say unto you… except it be for fornication”. As we suggested previously in this series, the disciples understood the narrowness of the restriction, because they said in Matthew 19:10, “If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.” Indeed it seems that our Lord was saying that the only reason for divorce would be if the marriage had been between two near-kin parties – a relationship that should not have been established in the first place.

Human reasoning, coming from hardened and broken hearts, has opened the door for divorce. No one enters a marriage with the desire or plan that it will someday end in early dissolution. What happens? Some are not prepared to get married, nor have faced the seriousness of their promises made before the Lord. Many go through hard times and give up. Some see it as a human contract, thinking that God has no part or say in it. Regardless of what people think, here are some sobering facts. God created mankind and established marriage as a life long relationship to be established between one man and one woman. While some will try to reason their way out of the marriage, God gives us this revelation, “What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder.” Our focus is not to condemn people whose marriages have fallen apart. Our focus is to challenge those who are married or who will someday get married. Marriage is for the rest of your life.  

    Appropriate attire in court

Here is a thought from Deleware Superior Court Judge, William Whitham Jr. He said, “Courts are a place where serious business is conducted, and that demands appropriate attire. We’re not out to treat people as school kids, but we do expect if you come to court, you need to treat it with the appropriate respect and dignity it should deserve due to the occasion.”

Wow! I wonder where the Judge goes to church. Does it amaze you that the world gets it, but too often Christians do not? What happened to respect and dignity in the worship of Almighty God?

BFM ITINETARY

February 20 – 25

Baptist World Mission

Decatur AL.

February 27 – March 2

Faith Baptist Church

Decatur, AL

March 4 – 6

People’s Baptist Church

Frederick, MD

March 13-16

Forest Area Baptist Church

Marienville, PA

March 18-19

Calkins Baptist Retreat

Lancaster, PA

March 28 – April 7

BFM Israel Tour