American Atheists at it again

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Jerry

You can read all about it at this link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11265926/American-Atheists-launch-provocative-campaign-in-religious-Deep-South.html

The atheists have launched yet another billboard campaign to impugn the Christmas message.

The billboard attractively portrays a mischievous little girl writing to Santa:

“Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is to skip church! I’m too old for fairy tales”

True to form, American Atheists, and perhaps all atheists, have no positive message to bring to humanity or to America this season, or any season.

And just who is it that is believing in fairy tales? I suggest it is the atheists themselves. If they would study history a bit further than they have, they might learn that no culture in history has adopted a non-theistic world view.

If atheists would check into their own worldview, most of them would likely discover that it includes a belief in materialistic evolution. Now that is most certainly a belief in a contemporary cultural fairy tale. The facts of genuine science do not support the so-called theory of evolution. The theory of evolution is an agenda-driven atheistic, humanistic, fairy tale. It is a world view that masquerades as science but is really a flawed philosophy. Most atheists and most scientists are too narrowly schooled in their academic discipline(s) to know the difference.

The billboard does not specify just what fairy tales they are objecting to. But we can draw a strong inference from the little girl’s request to be exempted from church attendance, that the atheists are attacking–as usual–the Church or Christianity and the Bible.

Recent events in Ferguson, Missouri surely point to the fatal error of the philosophy endorsed by the American Atheists.

Atheists are unaware of the extreme hazard of skipping church, the one source of moral guidance remaining in society when the church teaches the Bible effectively. If Michael Brown had been grounded in a Biblical faith, and made Proverbs 15:1 a central part of his personal philosophy and behavior, the dreadful events in Ferguson, Missouri would not have happened.

The proven solution to our cultural problems is to be found, as always, in the Bible. That is a Book that atheists know very little about. And they know it.

No atheist has dared to enter a discussion with me to defend their atheism or to “disprove” the Bible. But I have repeatedly invited them to do so!

Their abject silence is deafening!

Proverbs 23:10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:

Rather than attacking the Bible, Church, and even Christmas, American Atheists ought to get about the business of solving the real problem of helping all our young people choose the right path in life, rather than repeatedly engaging in their foolish attempts to “remove the old landmarks” that once made this nation great, and could do so again, if we all would return to them.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 698 for Proverbs 23:10.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 735 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for Proverbs 23:10.

(3) Most people today do not have access to those two resources, so I have posted cross references for this passage as I have developed them even more completely for your study as given below:

Proverbs 23:10. Remove not. *Pr 22:28. *Dt 19:14. *Dt 27:17. Jb 24:2. old. Heb. olam, +Jb 22:15. landmark. or, bound. Pr 15:25. +Pr 22:28mg. enter not. *Pr 22:22. +**Ex 22:23. +*Dt 24:15. Am 4:1. fatherless. FS171I14, +Ex 22:22. Fatherless put by the Figure Synecdoche (of Species) for all bereaved ones. +**Ex 22:22-24. +Dt 10:18. Jb 6:27. 22:9, 10. 24:3, 9. 31:21-23. Ps 94:6. Je 7:5. *Je 22:3. 49:11. *Ho 14:3. Zec 7:10. +*Mal 3:5. *James 1:27.

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Daily Bible Nugget #330, Ecclesiastes 10:6

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Ecc 10:6 Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in low place.

My Comment:

I happened upon this verse (Ecclesiastes 10:6) in my studies today. Perhaps many will not agree with my application of it. I think in our day “folly is set in great dignity” when people get more excited about sports than they do about the Bible.

I think “folly is set in great dignity” when the unfortunate death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri is made the excuse for a wild rampage of burning and looting and destruction of property, even to the burning of the church where Michael Brown’s parents had just been baptized the preceding Sunday, that is, the Sunday before the Monday of the announcement of the Grand Jury decision not to indict the police officer who shot Michael Brown.

The church, called the Flood Church, is pastored by Reverend Carlton Lee. I am pleased that Pastor Lee’s church has Thursday night Bible studies. I wrote an email to Pastor Lee. I hope he will find it possible someday to visit this site. The destruction of his church, and the death of the son of a member family in his church is surely tragic, and we need to pray for the pastor that he would continue his outreach to children in the community. I pray that he will find it possible to share the Gospel not only with the children, but with young people too.

It seems that often in smaller churches the children are reached, but when they reach high school age they often drop away from church. By experience I found a way to reverse that tendency, by God’s grace. Young people are interested in more than just pabulum. They can be taught the Bible, and how to study it. They can be taught how to win souls for Christ. They can be taught about prayer, and see real answers to their prayers. They can be taught apologetics and hermeneutics and cult apologetics. They can be taught the way of holiness and how to live a life pleasing to God. They can be taught how to win their friends to Christ and then become faithful and committed disciples of Christ. They can learn how genuine Christian fellowship with other Christians their own age can encourage them to walk on that straight and narrow path that leads to life, and avoid the broad road to destruction.

Now all this and more will prove most interesting to young people. Had Michael Brown been reached with the Gospel of Christ in this manner, and had he become as interested in the Bible as at least some of the young people I have worked with over the years became, he no doubt would be living yet and living for the Lord. But that did not happen. That is why it is most important to get involved with doing, sharing, and emphasizing Real Bible Study. Not to be involved is an indication we have put “folly in great dignity” in our lives ahead of what is really far more important, and that we are not living up to the potential God has granted us to serve Him.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 698 for Ecclesiastes 10:6.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 735 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for Ecclesiastes 10:6.

(3) Most people today do not have access to those two resources, so I have posted cross references for this passage as I have developed them even more completely for your study as given below:

Ecclesiastes 10:6. Folly. ver. Ec 10:1, 3, 14. Judg 9:14-20. 1 K 12:13, 14. Est 3:1. Ps 12:8. Pr 14:29. 26:1. 28:12, 28. dignity. Heb. heights. Judg 5:18. 2 S 22:17. 2 P 2:10. the rich. ver. Ec 10:17. James 2:3-5.

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Daily Bible Nugget #329, Joshua 4:22

Posted on November 26, 2014 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Jos 4:22 Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.

My Comment:

As I was studying the book of Joshua yesterday and the day before, I came upon Joshua 4:22 and saw immediately that this verse declares a mighty and powerful solution to the affairs currently going on in Ferguson, Missouri.

While the death of so-called “unarmed” Michael Brown is surely a tragedy, the tragedy is not at all where the media focus suggests it is. This case is not about police brutality, it is about young people allowed to grow up with insufficient or no positive exposure to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I received an email the other day from the ACLU which reads in part:

You’ve probably already heard the news. The grand jury in Missouri failed to indict Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Black teenager, Michael Brown.

Events in Ferguson have brought the broader problems we face into painful relief, inspiring profound anger and frustration from communities around the country – I feel it too. We’ve all heard this story too many times, and it’s easy to feel like there’s nothing left to be done. But we can’t stop here.

This is exactly the right moment to stand together and push for police accountability and systemic change. We can’t lose another young Black person at the hands of the police. And we need to end racial profiling, excessive force, and unconstitutional policing practices.

Michael Brown’s death is a tragic loss to his family, community, and this nation. But because of this tragedy, and the protests that followed, national leaders are finally paying attention to racial profiling and discriminatory policing.

We must not allow the killing of Michael Brown and other unarmed individuals across this nation to be in vain. With enough widespread public pressure we can push our leaders to implement effective structural changes and transform policing across the country. It’s about time.

Like the rest of the “mainstream media,” little or no mention is made of the facts in this case.

Michael Brown was by no means innocent. Just before his death, Michael had stolen merchandize from a local store, where store video shows he returned and roughed up the store clerk on duty. He stole smoking materials which he intended to use to smoke “pot.” A toxicology report showed he had nine times the so-called legal limit (by Colorado standards, I understand) of a chemical substance in his blood which is a marker for the recent use of “pot.” Michael Brown and his friend were walking down the middle of the street, and the police officer asked the young men to use the sidewalk. Michael Brown responded with expletives unsuitable to repeat on this site. He was utterly disrespectful and contemptuous of the police officer. When the police officer attempted to get out of his scout car, Michael Brown slammed the car door back shut. Michael Brown then struck the officer through the open car window with several powerful blows to the head, and reached in through the car window and attempted to grab the officer’s gun. Is this the kind of thug behavior black young people are being raised to engage in? Is this the kind of thug behavior the community is aroused to defend? The grand jury after 100 days of examining the evidence determined that Police Officer Wilson had acted properly in self-defense against a very large black man literally charging at him full force after officer Wilson got out of his car.

The media nonsense that officer Wilson shot Michael Brown in the back has been fully disproven by forensic evidence and three independent autopsy reports which show Michael Brown was shot from the front in accordance with the officer’s testimony that Brown was rushing at him, not fleeing.

This event is not a racial matter. It is not a police brutality matter–in this case Michael Brown was the one brutalizing and attacking the police officer. Michael Brown well represents far too many in the black community who are spiritual derelicts, utterly crazy by civilized standards once observed here in America.

He represents a mission field for the Gospel of Christ that is largely untapped or unreached. Why send missionaries to Africa when we have a mission field needing our full attention right here at our doorstep?

Are there no Gospel preaching and teaching, soul-winning churches in Ferguson, Missouri? Where is their local evangelistic outreach to the neighborhood where Michael Brown lived?

At one time Christian teachers could have an impact on students in their classroom. Bible clubs were in many high schools. Child Evangelism Fellowship had a mission in the elementary schools.

This impact for good has been suppressed by the very group I quoted material from just above–the ACLU, not to mention the other atheistic group in the news these days, the so-called Freedom from Religion Foundation, that squelches every aspect of any effort to provide spiritual guidance or support by, in the latest case I noticed, football coaches praying with or for their athletes.

The results of atheistic suppression of religious liberty and freedom to express and practice our faith in the public square, the school house, and everywhere else have led very predictably to the uncivilized pandemonium in Ferguson and the widespread moral delinquency and depravity seen just about everywhere else. The fruit of atheism is barbarism. Failure to follow the morality of the Bible always brings very undesirable consequences (Numbers 32:23; Galatians 6:7).

The solution to these problems is stated clearly enough in today’s Bible Nugget from Joshua 4:22.

Be sure to carefully consider my newly-added cross references for this verse given immediately below.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 223 for Joshua 4:22.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 242 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for Joshua 4:22.

(3) Most people today do not have access to those two resources, so I have posted cross references for this passage as I have developed them even more completely for your study as given below:

Joshua 4:22. let your children know. +*Dt 4:9. +*Dt 6:7. 11:19-21. 31:13. *Ps 78:4, 5. 90:16. 111:4. +*Pr 22:6. Is 28:9. 38:19. Jl 1:3. Jn 21:15. +*Ep 6:4. saying. See on Jsh 3:17. *Ex 14:29. 15:19. Ps 66:5, 6. Is 11:15, 16. 44:27. *Is 51:10. Re 16:12.

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Daily Bible Nugget #328, Psalm 119:63

Posted on November 23, 2014 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Psalm 119:63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.

Psalm 119:63 I keep company with all your worshippers, and those who have your orders in their memory. (Basic English)

Psalm 119:63 I choose as my friends everyone who worships you and follows your teachings. (CEV)

Psalm 119:63 I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts. (ESV)

Psalm 119:63 I am a friend to all your loyal followers,
and to those who keep your precepts. (NET Bible)

My Comment:

I would ask every young person, “Who do you choose as your friends?”

If you were a student in my English class, I might encourage you to write about (1) How do you choose your friends? (2) What do you most like in the best friends you have? (3) What qualities would you like to find in a best friend? (4) Where have you found the best friends that you do have? (5) What do you and your closest friends most like to do together? (6) What interests do you and your friends have most in common? Each of these topics could easily form the basis of a separate written composition. But at this point, you can surely think about each of these topics.

I would guess ahead of time that no student would happen upon the most important quality in a friend that David mentions in Psalm 119:63. David wanted for his best friends individuals who were close to the Lord, who worshipped Him, and who obeyed God’s commandments found in the Bible.

One major problem even Christian young people must face is that they are often guilty of associating closely with the wrong kind of friend.

The wrong kind of friend is probably more easy to find than the right kind of friend. Think about just how you found the friends you have now. Where did you meet them? How did you get to meet them?

The right kind of friend should have qualities of character and commitment to God and the Bible that would be an encouragement to your own growth in the Lord and spiritual things. Do you have friends that you can spend time praying together? Do you read and study the Bible together? Do you share your faith in Christ with other friends together? I think that friends like I just described are the kind of friends you should seek to have.

Where can you find such friends? Sometimes such friends may seem very scarce. When I was a young person I found them at the youth fellowship group at a close by church in my neighborhood. I found still more friends in the Bible club at the high school I attended.

If you do not have access to a local church youth group that is solidly Christian and Bible centered, you can get into the Bible deeply for yourself even by reading the posts on this site and following the Bible reading suggestions I have made here. Then share your excitement about the Lord and the Bible with your best or closest friend. If your friend is not yet a Christian, pray that God will work in your friend’s heart and that your friend will be receptive to God’s Word and your testimony. God may use you as an instrument in His hands to influence your friend to come to a genuinely saving knowledge of Christ.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on pages 629-630 for Psalm 119:63.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 674 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for Psalm 119:63.

(3) Most people today do not have access to those two resources, so I have posted cross references for this passage as I have developed them even more completely for your study as given below:

Psalm 119:63. a companion. ver. Ps 119:79, 115. +*Ps 15:4. *Ps 16:3. 26:4. 45:7. 55:14. +*Ps 101:4, 6, 7. 122:8. 142:7. Ge 13:11. Judg 20:11. Ru 1:10. 1 S 23:16. %*2 Ch 13:7. **2 Ch 19:2. Pr 2:20. 12:26. *Pr 13:20. 27:17. Ec 10:10. **Ml 3:16-18. +Mt 15:14. Lk 24:15, 32. Jn 13:34. Ac 4:23. *Ac 28:14. Ro 1:12. +**Ro 15:7. *Ro 16:17. *1 Cor 12:13. +*1 Cor 15:33. **2 Cor 6:14-17. 7:6, 7. Ep 5:3, 7, 11. Col 2:2. *2 Th 3:6, 14. +*1 Tim 6:5. *2 Tim 2:19, 22. 3:5. +*He 3:12, 13. 10:25. 1 P 3:8. 1 J 1:3. 3:14. fear. ver. +*Ps 119:74, 120. *Ps 15:4. 22:23, 25. 55:19. 66:16. 76:8. 103:11, *Ps 103:17. 112:1. 115:11. 118:4. 128:4. 135:20. +*Ex 18:21. Jb 1:1, 8. 2:3. 37:24. Pr 1:29. 14:2. Ec 8:12. Is 50:10. Je 26:19. +*Ml 3:16. Ac 13:16, 26. keep. ver. Ps 119:2, 4. *Ps 103:18. Pr 1:10. +*Lk 11:28. 2 J 1:9-11. precepts. ver. Ps 119:56. Ps 111:10.

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Daily Bible Nugget #327, 1 Corinthians 15:33

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Jerry

The Nugget:

1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. (KJV)

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be so misled: “Evil companionships corrupt good character.” (Williams NT)

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” (ESV)

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be tricked by false words: evil company does damage to good behaviour. (Basic English)

1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived; “Evil stories corrupt well-disposed minds.” (Murdoch)

1 Corinthians 15:33 Don’t fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you. (CEV)

My Comment

As much as I usually favor using the King James Version, its rendering of 1 Corinthians 15:33 is probably next to meaningless for modern readers. One good method of studying a verse is to read it in several English translations. I have found that while parallel Bibles–sometimes presenting four translations at once side by side–are sometimes helpful, their biggest failure for me is that the translations they contain basically repeat each other with little additional insight. What is needed is to compare translations that are distinctively different, as I have done for you above for 1 Corinthians 15:33.

The rendering given by the Contemporary English Version, “Don’t fool yourselves. Bad friends will destroy you,” is perhaps the most direct and easy to understand of them all.

Young people, and everyone else, need to learn that lesson well. It is far better to seek wisdom and guidance from proven sources of wisdom like the Bible than to suffer the consequences of learning these truths by bitter personal experience!

I have seen this flaw in human character on display daily for nearly four decades–that is 40 years–as a teacher of high school students in Detroit. It seems that some young people are almost intentionally sabotaging any chance they might have for success in life by falling into the trap of keeping company with the wrong friends. I worked with one young man for four years. He started out very far behind in his reading and writing skills. I was able to help him greatly improve them. It turns out that he was good in sports. In this case, he was an excellent swimmer. The coach worked with me almost daily over time to keep this student on track. During his senior year this student won a scholarship to college based upon his athletic ability. Then he was absent from class unexpectedly. I checked with the coach that very day. The coach said that because the matter was very private, he could not say more than that this young man ruined his once wonderful opportunity. I could read “between the lines,” and I believe that my inference that this young man had fallen as a result of significant moral failure is correct.

After that, I determined to address those issues more directly in my history and later English classroom by means of weekly units of carefully chosen daily Proverbs and Quotations, which I wrote on the blackboard one by one each day. Students have told me directly in their written compositions and when I have chanced to meet them in person years later, and visitors who made presentations on Career Day each school year observed in their comments to me that my strategy worked wonders in positively transforming the motivations and lives of my students.

Encourage any young people in your circle of influence to make the right choices when it comes to who they choose for close companions or best friends. “Hanging out” with the wrong friends can surely destroy young people in more ways than one.

So, as a practical matter, how can you correct yourself or assist young people to in your potential circle of contacts to go in a better direction? Where practical and possible, encourage young people to read and read again and again from the Bible regularly, even daily. Students have thanked me over the years for encouraging them to read the New Testament.

In my literature classes I listed as one of many recommended classics for students to read, the work by John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress. I can remember yet the faces and names of several young men in my English classes at Cass Technical High School who spoke to me personally to thank me for recommending that they read that book.

Parents can help their young people by encouraging church attendance, Bible reading, Bible study, and active participation in a suitable young people’s group.

We can help young people and ourselves by teaching or learning how to make better use of valuable time. It is my judgment that far too much time is spent and wasted on television and other mass media and electronic devices. It is my considered judgment that sports take up far too much time and effort of our young people which would be better spent on developing character by getting more thoroughly acquainted with the Bible–something that counts for time and eternity.

Other interested persons–which ought to include all Christians–need to be active in winning young people to Christ and providing them guidance and encouragement. Tragedies like Michael Brown currently in the news about Ferguson, Missouri, surely need not and could not have happened had parents and teachers and neighbors and people in the neighborhood churches assisted Michael Brown with academic, moral, and spiritual guidance. One way I dealt in English class with this issue is through poetry. One poem in particular (“Crumbling,” by Emily Dickinson, I think it was) had as its theme and lesson that people do not fail or fall all at once, but that every failure is preceded by a sometimes long series of unaddressed failures or wrong choices.

People need to quit making such failures a racial issue. It is not a racial issue. It is a moral and spiritual issue, as are so many of the problems faced in society and our nation today. God has provided the solution to these problems in His written Word, the Bible. It is about time more people get involved with Real Bible Study themselves! Real Bible Study transforms lives.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on pages 1326-1326 for 1 Corinthians 15:33.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 1348 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for 1 Corinthians 15:33.

(3) Most people today do not have access to those two resources, so I have posted cross references for this passage as I have developed them even more completely for your study as given below:

1 Corinthians 15:33. Be not deceived. Gr. planaō (S#4105g, Mt 24:4). +**1 Cor 6:9. *Mt 24:4, 11, 24. Mk 13:5. *Ga 6:7. Ep 5:6. Col 2:8. 2 Th 2:10. James 1:16, 22. Re 12:9. 13:8-14. evil communications. or, evil company. or, associations. FS138C, +Ge 22:14. FS92H, +Ac 17:28. 1 Cor 5:6, 9, 10, 11. *Ge 13:12. 39:10, 12. *Ex 23:2. Le 11:24. Nu 11:4. 33:55. Dt 7:16. 20:8. Jsh 23:7. Ru 2:23. 1 K 11:2. 22:4. *2 Ch 13:7. +*2 Ch 19:2. Jb 31:1. 34:8. +*Ps 1:1. 26:4. 84:10. 106:35. +**Ps 119:63, 115. 141:4. **Pr 1:10, 11, 14, 15. 2:11, 12, 16, 19. 4:14. +*Pr 9:6. 12:11. **Pr 13:20. 16:29. 17:12. 20:19. +*Pr 22:5, 10, 24, 25. 23:6, 7, 20, 21. 28:7, 19. 29:24. Ec 9:18. +Je 10:2. Ezk 14:10n. Ho 4:9. +*Mt 15:14. 24:12, 13. Mk 13:5. Lk 22:55. Jn 18:18. Ro 6:19. 16:17, 18. 2 Cor 6:14, 15. Ga 2:13. *Ga 5:9. Ep 4:29. 5:11, 12. 1 Tim 5:22. 6:3-5, 9-11. *2 Tim 2:16-18. 3:2-4. +*He 12:15. *2 P 2:2, 18-20. corrupt. 1 Cor 3:17, 18. Le 14:36. 15:4, 20. Dt 20:18. Pr 22:25. manners. Gr. ēthos. Only here. In the plural, morals. A quotation from the Thais of Menander, an Athenian poet (CB). Judg 16:4. Joh 18:18, 25. Ac 17:22, 23, 28. Col 2:21. Titus 1:12.

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Daily Bible Nugget #326, Proverbs 9:6 Part 2

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Proverbs 9:6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. (KJV)

Proverbs 9:6 Abandon your foolish ways so that you may live,
and proceed in the way of understanding. (NET Bible)

Proverbs 9:6 Give up the simple ones and have life, and go in the way of knowledge. (Basic English)

Proverbs 9:6 If you want to live, give up your foolishness and let understanding guide your steps. (CEV)

My Comment:

Consulting other translations of the Bible is helpful to increase understanding of statements in the book of Proverbs. Studying the cross references available for the verse under study is another way to dig much deeper into the connected truths of the Bible.

I took a closer look at my penciled note on the back of an envelope where I originally sketched out a series of three Bible passages I believe are must reads to help young people especially, but everyone else too, to correct a common failing or pitfall that can bring long lasting and extremely negative outcomes in life. My original note reads “Expand [the cross references for] Proverbs 9:6 and use for a ‘Daily Bible Nugget’ to help young people gain discernment to adopt the right friends.”

Only a day or so after I wrote Bible Nugget 325 on Proverbs 9:6 did I look at my original note. I did not follow my original plan for discussing and applying this verse, so here are my additional thoughts in line with my first intention.

Especially early in our life, while we are still young, it is important that we choose our friends wisely. One application of the command “Forsake the foolish” is to follow the directions in the Bible for choosing our friends. This may be a very sensitive area for some to consider.

I read a quotation very recently by a Canadian writer who said “It is better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction” (Diane Grant, Canadian playwright and screenwriter, cited in ASCD SmartBrief for 11-10-14). This relates directly to what the Bible teaches about standing alone in such verses as Exodus 23:2; 2 Chronicles 19:2; Esther 1:12; Psalm 101:4; 119:63; Proverbs 1:10; Daniel 1:8. Each of these verses makes for a most instructive cross reference Bible study.

When I was the sponsor of the Bible Discussion Club at Cass Technical High School in Detroit one of the young ladies who attended the club quite regularly asked my advice about how she should handle a rather uncomfortable situation she was facing. A young man became very interested in her, but she had good reason not to be interested in him. She wanted to be kind and maintain a testimony that was in every way honoring to the Lord Jesus Christ. She basically asked me, “Mr. Smith, how can I get rid of him?” I told her that is very easy. If he really does not have the commitment to Christ that you seek in a good friend, here is what to do. Invite him to come with you to solidly Christian events, like attending the Bible Discussion Club, coming to the morning prayer meetings, joining with you in active participation in spiritual activities at your church. I told her, if he does not have a real, solid commitment to Christ, but is simply wanting to come after you, you will know that is the case when he shows no solid, even increasing interest in such things. If I recall correctly, she thanked me for my advice, and not long after told me it worked. The last memory I have of her is that she went off to Moody Bible Institute to further study music.

I have told a number of Christian teenage girls, “You can do better than that,” rather than settle for less than God’s best by getting involved in a relationship with a young man who shows no solid evidence reflecting the proper commitment one should have to spiritual things. You must not suppose that you will pursue a relationship with the intention of “converting” the person. In terms of what the Bible teaches us, young ladies should seek out relationships with young men who clearly will exercise spiritual leadership in the home.

The same advice can be given to young men. Genuinely Christian young men are in rather short supply and harder to find, many Christian young ladies have told me. Young men should seek to invest their lives in a long term future permanent relationship only with a solidly Christian young lady who is committed to the Lord, who loves the Bible and Bible study, and who is on the same wavelength when it comes to compatibility of spiritual commitment to Christ and His written Word in the Bible.

Young men and young ladies have asked me over the years just where to find such committed Christians. You certainly won’t find them at a bar, at a “club,” or similar places where non-Christians like to gather. Rather, find committed Christians in a genuinely Bible believing, Bible teaching, soul winning local church in a fellowship group or Sunday school class.

If you do not know where to find such a church, try asking the staff or owner of a local Christian bookstore, or the staff or management of a local Christian radio station. They should be able to put you in contact with a suitable church environment where you can grow as a Christian, and make friends with the right kind of people who will be an encouragement in your life.

Finding “friends” at work or a secular school environment is not the best way to proceed unless such potential friends are clearly Biblically literate, vibrant Christians wholly committed to Christ.

We ought to be friendly to everyone. We ought to seek their good, and as the Lord provides the opportunity, seek to influence them to find faith in Christ and the Bible. It is good to have unsaved friends. Many otherwise fine Christians have isolated themselves from the world to such a degree that they have no impact on the lost. But the “world” is not the place to build permanent relationships. Secular friendships can sometimes prove disastrous, both in the short term and the long term (1 Corinthians 6:18, 19, 20; 2 Corinthians 6:14, 17). Satan can use them to greatly disrupt the direction our lives ultimately take. Yet God can bring ultimate victory out of such past mistakes if we learn from now on to make right choices by forsaking the foolish that we may live, and by going in the way of understanding as that way is informed by our study and application of the Bible to our lives.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 658 for Proverbs 9:6.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 701 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for Proverbs 9:6.

(3) Lacking access to those two resources, consult the cross references for this passage as I have developed them as given below:

Proverbs 9:6. Forsake. Pr 1:15. 2:12. 4:14, 15. 12:11. *Pr 13:20. +*Pr 22:3. 28:13. %Ge 38:1. +*Le 11:3. +*Le 19:17. Nu 13:30-33. 14:6-9, 38. Jsh 2:9-13. 6:25. Ru 1:16. 2:11, 12. 1 Sam 15:6. +**2 Ch 19:2. 20:37. Ps 26:4-6. 37:8. 45:10. 75:4. *Ps 101:4. +*Ps 119:115. Ho 7:11. +**Mt 15:14. Lk 22:55. Ac 2:40. 17:34. 19:19. 1 Cor 5:9. **+1 Cor 15:33. *2 Cor 6:17. Ep 2:13. 5:7, **Ep 5:11. Phil 1:13. 4:22. He 11:24-27, 31. **James 4:4. Re 18:4. the foolish. ver. Pr 9:4. Pr 1:22. 14:7. Jb 2:10. +*Ps 19:7. +*Titus 3:3. 1 P 2:15. and live. ver. Pr 9:11. Pr 4:4. 6:23. 7:2. +*Le 18:5. +**Is 55:3. +**Jn 10:10. go in the way. Pr 2:8, 20. 4:11, 18. 5:6. 8:20. **Pr 10:17. 11:19. 12:28. 15:10. 19:23. **Ps 1:1-3. 139:24. Is 26:7. Je 42:3. **Mt 7:13, +**Mt 7:14. Lk 1:79. 13:24. Ac 17:4. of understanding. ver. Pr 9:10. Pr 1:2. 2:3. 3:5, 6. *Pr 4:7. +*Pr 8:9. 19:25. Jb 28:28. +*Ps 119:99. Is 29:24.

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Daily Bible Nugget #325, Proverbs 9:6

Posted on November 16, 2014 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Pro 9:6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

My Comment:

This is an important word of advice we all need to heed. The advice applies to all of us. It applies to parents. It applies to children. It applies to teenagers. It applies to young adults.

How we spend our time speaks directly to what our priorities are.

God, in the words of Solomon here, commands us to forsake the foolish, and live. That would seem to indicate that if we fail to forsake the foolish, we shall not live. Think about that–it is a striking thought that should wake us out of our spiritual lethargy.

Any person who does not know our Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior has failed to “forsake the foolish,” and they surely are not going “in the way of understanding.”

There is a great difference between these two ways (Matthew 7:13, 14). It should be a most fearful thing to hear from the Lord Jesus Christ, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23).

Any one who is not saved, and anyone who is not vibrantly growing and thriving in their Christian life, has not learned to forsake the foolish.

How can you tell where you stand? James tells us the Bible acts as a mirror (James 1:23-25). If we look in the Bible, if we read it regularly and carefully, we will know from the outset that we are not to love the world (1 John 2:15), for if we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us. “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:16, 17).

On the same theme, James tells us forthrightly that anyone who loves the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4).

So how does this work out in practice? Genuine Christians love the Lord, not the world. Genuine Christians live in a way, and even dress in a way (1 Timothy 2:9, 10; Proverbs 7:10; 1 Peter 3:1, 2, 3,4) that is honoring to our Lord Jesus Christ and to God, and distinctly different from the contemporary standards of surrounding society or the world. It is possible for young women to be fashionable without being revealing. Christian young ladies in particular need to be aware that wrong dress on their part can become a stumbling block, a sinful distraction, to others (Matthew 5:28, 29; 1 Cor 8:9).

And again, how does this work out in practice? Genuine Christians love the Lord, and are very careful about how they allocate their time. They “Take time to be holy, speak often with the Lord” and spend time in His Word, and as God provides the opportunity, they share their faith with those who do not know the Lord.

If these things are not abundantly manifest in your life, choose now (Joshua 24:15) to forsake the foolish, and go in the way of understanding, that you might truly live (Pr 9:6; Jn 10:10).

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 658 for Proverbs 9:6.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 701 or in Logos 5 or 6 Bible software for Proverbs 9:6.

(3) Lacking access to those two resources, consult the cross references for this passage as I have developed them as given below:

Proverbs 9:6. Forsake. Pr 1:15. 2:12. 4:14, 15. 12:11. *Pr 13:20. +*Pr 22:3. 28:13. %Ge 38:1. +*Le 11:3. +*Le 19:17. Nu 13:30-33. 14:6-9, 38. Jsh 2:9-13. 6:25. Ru 1:16. 2:11, 12. 1 Sam 15:6. +**2 Ch 19:2. 20:37. Ps 26:4-6. 37:8. 45:10. 75:4. *Ps 101:4. +*Ps 119:115. Ho 7:11. +**Mt 15:14. Lk 22:55. Ac 2:40. 17:34. 19:19. 1 Cor 5:9. **+1 Cor 15:33. *2 Cor 6:17. Ep 2:13. 5:7, **Ep 5:11. Phil 1:13. 4:22. He 11:24-27, 31. **James 4:4. Re 18:4. the foolish. ver. Pr 9:4. Pr 1:22. 14:7. Jb 2:10. +*Ps 19:7. +*Titus 3:3. 1 P 2:15. and live. ver. Pr 9:11. Pr 4:4. 6:23. 7:2. +*Le 18:5. +**Is 55:3. +**Jn 10:10. go in the way. Pr 2:8, 20. 4:11, 18. 5:6. 8:20. **Pr 10:17. 11:19. 12:28. 15:10. 19:23. **Ps 1:1-3. 139:24. Is 26:7. Je 42:3. **Mt 7:13, +**Mt 7:14. Lk 1:79. 13:24. Ac 17:4. of understanding. ver. Pr 9:10. Pr 1:2. 2:3. 3:5, 6. *Pr 4:7. +*Pr 8:9. 19:25. Jb 28:28. +*Ps 119:99. Is 29:24.

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Daily Bible Nugget #324, Psalm 119:18

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Psalm 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (KJV)

Psalm 119:18 Open my mind and let me discover the wonders of your Law. (CEV)

Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes so I can truly see
the marvelous things in your law! (NET Bible)

My Comment:

I am very concerned that most people, especially young people, but actually everyone, are not excited enough about the Bible. They may give lip-service to having an interest in Bible study, but rarely if ever do actual Bible study for themselves and on their own.

It seems that very few are actually reading the Bible like it really matters!

Well, it does matter–for time and eternity.

If you are not regularly reading your Bible, I encourage you to start today. Whether you have five minutes or twenty minutes to start with, take time to read the Bible. You can start anywhere in the Bible you please, but in my experience I started reading the book of Matthew at the beginning of the New Testament and read it straight through about two and a half times when the Holy Spirit made it clear to me just where I stood and what I needed to do about that. I wrote about that last time in Bible Nugget #322 on John 3:7.

I began to take time to read the Bible daily as a teenager 61 years ago. I have found that the more I read and study the Bible, the more exciting and interesting it gets.

Make the prayer of the Psalmist in Psalm 119:18 your own. That is what it is there for. Let God open your eyes so you can really see the wonderful things in God’s Word as found in the Bible.

This is the key to everything!

You must start someplace. You will be most encouraged in your life to start now, this very day, to make it a habit to read God’s Word from the Bible every possible day you can.

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 627 for Psalm 119:18.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 672 or in Logos 5 Bible software for Psalm 119:18.

(3) Lacking access to those two resources, consult the cross references for this passage as I have developed them as given below:

Psalm 119:18. Open. Heb. Reveal. Or “uncover:”—remove the veil from them (Kay). T#1482. ver. Ps 119:27, 125. Ps 146:8. +Ge 3:7. 2 K 6:15-17, 20. Is 29:10-12, *Is 29:18. 32:3. 35:5. 42:7. 43:8. Mt 13:13. 16:17. 20:30-34. Lk 11:34. +Lk 24:16, +*Lk 24:45. Jn 9:30, 39. Ac 26:18. 1 Cor 2:9-16. 2 Cor 2:11, 14. *2 Cor 3:14-18. 4:4-6. *Ep 1:17, 18. Re 3:18. that I. ver. Ps 119:7, 10, 125. Pr 14:6. 20:12. Da 9:13. Mt 11:25. Jn 3:27. 6:45. wondrous things. Heb. Niflaoth;—the wondrous, spiritual, truths that lie hid beneath the letter. Compare ver. Ps 119:27, 129 (Kay). ver. Ps 119:7, 96, 129. *Ho 8:12. 2 Cor 3:13. He 8:5. 10:1. thy law. ver. +Ps 119:1, 7, 96.

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Daily Bible Nugget #323, John 3:7

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Jerry

The Nugget:

John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

My Comment:

Today is November 7, 2014. It was 61 years ago on November 7, 1953, that I was born again, that is genuinely saved. I was saved as a result of reading the New Testament intensively from late August until early November that year. On Saturday morning, November 7, 1953, while delivering the Detroit Shopping News to my 300 customers, I thought about the many Scriptures I had been reading. While delivering a paper to a home on Lumpkin street in Detroit, I crossed to the east side of the street in the middle of the block, and while folding the paper for the next house, I thought, “What if I were struck dead by a car while I crossed in the middle of the block?” I then thought about what my eternal destiny might be. I realized, from the Scriptures I had been reading, that I had never really been saved, though I had been taken to church by my parents since I was an infant. I stopped right then, prayed to be saved, asked for the forgiveness of my sins, prayed for Christ to enter my life, and went on with the delivering of my papers that morning whistling the Gospel song, “Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me, not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.”

My experience demonstrates that an ordinary reader of the New Testament can understand what it teaches enough to know how to be saved, and can be saved anywhere, any time, without even being in a church! Now many people do experience salvation and respond to the Gospel while at church, but being at church is not required.

Jesus said that we MUST be born again, so this is no optional matter.

Some churches mistakenly teach that to be born again a person must be baptized. That is NOT what the Bible teaches.

Some churches mistakenly teach that a person is saved at the moment they have been baptized as an infant. The Bible nowhere teaches this either.

Some churches teach that in order to be saved a person must be baptized by one of their pastors or baptizers. Some of those churches claim to possess an unbroken line of baptizers traceable back to John the Baptist. Other churches holding this doctrine say that to be baptized outside of their line of baptizers is to experience an invalid alien baptism which does not save, and such persons will ultimately be lost unless they are re-baptized in their church.

One religious organization, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, teaches that no one today needs to be born again, because there were only to be 144,000 individuals with a “heavenly hope,” who needed to be born again, and that number of persons has since been reached, such that everyone else can only have an “earthly hope.” I suspect Jehovah’s Witnesses may have a problem with what Paul said in Ephesians 4:4 that we have only “one hope,” which flatly contradicts what the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach about two different hopes, a heavenly and an earthly hope.

Some years ago I was asked by my school administrators to be the sponsor of the newly formed Bible Discussion Club at Cass Technical High School. I met many wonderful gifted young people who were interested in and excited about the Bible. One time a young lady stopped me in the hall to tell me why she no longer attended the Bible Discussion Club. She said I was not giving out the Gospel, was not stressing the plan of salvation, never gave a Gospel invitation for lost students to come forward to be saved. I told her that many students had come to me personally to let me know that they had personally received Christ as their Savior as a result of hearing our discussions at the Bible Discussion Club. The young lady did not agree. She asked me how many people attended the church I go to. I told her well over 100. She asked me how long my local church had been in existence. I told her the church had just celebrated its 75 anniversary. She was horrified. She said my church must not be giving out the Gospel, for after that many years it ought to be a huge church. Her church, Temple Baptist Church in Detroit, had 5000 people in attendance in Sunday School every Sunday.

We can be grateful to God for those churches God has allowed to grow large. But little churches also have a most significant ministry, often as neighborhood churches. Little churches that give out the Gospel faithfully in their neighborhood not only reach souls, but also transform the neighborhood where they are without being “sheep stealers.” What do I mean by “sheep stealers”? Some churches have what they call an effective “bus ministry.” They have big programs, even helicopter rides, to attract young people to their church. But after the fanfare of the special emphasis weeks dies down, I found the pupils “stolen” from our Sunday school came back to our little church, where they were known, cared for individually, and felt at home.

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Daily Bible Nugget #322, Matthew 24:7

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

My Comment:

We may be in grave danger of “nation rising against nation.” With turmoil in the Middle East, with Russia not being on the best of terms with the United States of America, and with the idiotic threat of ISIS prominent in the news at this time, there should be reason to remain aware of what is going on (1 Chronicles 12:32).

Among other things, Jesus spoke of the threat of famines and pestilences in various places.

There has been a scare, somewhat overblown in the United States, concerning the potential threat of Ebola. But so far Ebola has not been spread here. One person has died, and he brought it from Liberia, where he had been in direct contact with someone who had it.

Our President, who seems wrong more often than he is right, has not chosen to see to it that the most effective protections against Ebola are put in place: (1) close the southern border and every other border as is only proper to do; (2) do not allow entry to this country of anyone who would wish to come here from the affected countries of West Africa; (3) insist that a full quarantine of 21 days be rigorously enforced for all persons entering this country or who are now in this country who have been exposed to Ebola to avoid exposing people here to those who may be or are infected with the Ebola virus.

If the increasing rate of spread of Ebola were to continue to increasingly spread in a uninterrupted rate of cases and deaths, everyone in the world would be dead in 22 months, counting from the start of October, 2014. But anyone who would attempt to make a valid projection based upon past and current events in an effort to predict the future will be wrong every time. Unforeseen factors always enter in that change the trajectory of every projection into the future attempted by man or machine.

Only the Bible contains accurate predictions or prophecy about the future. You would be wise to check out the Bible any time you wonder about the future. One of the things the Bible repeatedly declares is that the world will never end; the Bible also declares this world will not be utterly destroyed, and that natural people will continue to populate this earth forever. See the cross references I have gathered for Psalm 72:5. See also Ecclesiastes 1:4 and its cross references.

Even with all this going on, “the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6).

For those who desire to DIG DEEPER into this subject:

(1) Consult the cross references given in Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible on page 1062 for Matthew 24:7.

(2) Consult the cross references given in The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge on page 1082 or in Logos 5 Bible software for Matthew 24:7.

(3) Lacking access to those two resources, consult the cross references for this passage as I have developed them as given below:

Matthew 24:7. nation shall rise against nation. On the four judgments here predicted as signs of “the end” (ver. 6), compare the same, and in the same order, attendant on Christ’s coming in power in Re 6,—namely, war, Re 6:3, 4 (with Re 6:1, 2); famines, Re 6:5, 6; pestilences, Re 6:7, 8 (i.e. death, as super-added to sword and hunger); earthquakes (Re 6:12). See also Ezk 14:21 and Le 26:23-26 (De Burgh, p. 111). *2 Ch 15:5, 6. Is 5:25. 9:19-21. >Is 19:2. Ezk 21:27. Hag 2:21, 22. *Zec 14:2, 3, 13. He 12:27. **Re 6:3, 4. kingdom against. +Judg 7:22. Is 19:2. Je 51:46. Hag 2:22. Zec 14:13. famines. +1 K 8:37. Jb 5:20. Ps 59:15. *Is 24:19-23. Je 38:2. Ezek 14:21. +*Joel 2:30, 31. +*Zec 14:4. Lk 21:11, 25, 26. Ac 2:19, 20. *Ac 11:28. **Re 6:5, 6, 8. pestilences. 2 S 24:15. Ps 91:6. Ezek 14:19. +Ezek 38:22. **Re 6:7, 8. earthquakes. Ex 19:18. 1 S 14:15. 1 K 19:11. Is 2:19, 21. 5:25. 13:13. 24:19-23. 29:6. Joel 3:16. *Hag 2:6, 7, 21. +Zec 14:4. Lk 21:11, 25, 26. Ac 2:19, 20. Ro 8:20-23. +*He 12:26. **+Re 6:12. 8:5.

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