The following is a list of this month's articles.

Editorial - The Painful Trial

At the Lord's Table - The Perils of Self-Delusion

The Jesus Who Will Come in Glory

Workers in the Vineyard - Human Nature in Action

Review - Modern Medicine and the Bible

Editorial
The Painful Trial

It has been suggested that in the apostolic age, the world was providentially ripe for the preaching of the Truth. Roman roads, one world empire, advanced technology, many people disillusioned with paganism and ready to adopt a new satisfying moral religion - these have been cited as favoring the spread of the Christian brotherhood in the first century A.D.

Modern secular humanism has glorified classical (Greek and Roman) culture. The school I attended as a youth openly ridiculed religion of any kind and deliberately adopted spartan ideals. But in reality, there was very little that was noble in the world of antiquity. Like every dictatorial, militaristic regime from Sennacherib to Stalin, behind the wonderful architecture, great literature, the marvelous road system, and the advanced technology, there was unspeakable savagery and depravity. Extreme sports like chariot racing and other bloody games were a worldwide rage drawing millions of fans. The hippodrome in Caesarea held nearly a quarter of a million raving spectators. There was a flourishing industry producing musical organs, but most of the instruments were installed in arenas to drown the screams of dying victims.

No human age has been "ripe" for the preaching of godliness. Even the nineteenth century, the great "missionary" age of "Christendom" was full of hypocrisy. An Anglican bishop of that period once suggested that if the Shona people in what is now Zimbabwe resisted conversion, then they should be exterminated.

Preaching the Truth is always a miracle wrought by the living Christ through his willing servants – in every place and every age. When sending forth young missionaries in the first Christian century, an ecclesial elder would say: "O God, Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, look upon this your slave, and impart to him the spirit of grace, counsel and leadership so that in every place which becomes your sanctuary your name will be praised and thanked unceasingly." Preaching has always been carried out in the teeth of animosity at best, persecution at worst.

You think that it was easier to live the Truth in the first Christian century, or the sixteenth, or nineteenth, than in our day? Please think again! The passionate prayer of a brother Klementos in the apostolic age pulls aside the veil a little from the lives of our brothers and sisters of those days.

At the recent Australian Christadelphian Youth Conference, I was asked, Do you think Christadelphians will experience serious persecution before Jesus returns? I feel sure from Mark 10:30 that the answer must be "Yes."

It is a year since the assassination of Bro. Glen Isaacs (Kingston). Before him were Sis. Karolyn Andrews (Georgetown, Guyana) and bro. Mahendra Prashad (Kilcoy, Guyana). All three martyrdoms – for that is what they were – have led to new waves of Christadelphian emigration from the Caribbean. That is to be expected, in fact Jesus encouraged it (Matt. 10:23). With leaders gone, of course life is going to be much tougher for those who have no option but to remain. And, as more Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Catholics, Orthodox, and members of fanatical cults come to learn the Truth and are converted, increasing persecution is inevitable. More of us must be prepared to lay down our lives for our Lord.

Do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed (I Pet. 4:12-13).

Alan Eyre

QUIZ – MARTYRS ALL
How did they die? Stephen (Acts 7:58). Naboth (I Kgs. 21:14). Peter (John 21:18). Samson (Jdg. 16:30). Uriah of Kiriath Jearim (Jer. 26:20-23). James brother of John (Acts 12:2). Zechariah son of Jehoiada (II Chron. 24:21). Isaiah (Heb. 11:37, according to tradition).

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At the Lord's Table
The Perils of Self-Delusion

The article which follows was submitted to "The Caribbean Pioneer" as a tribute to Bro. Aaron (Glen) Isaacs on the anniversary of his assassination this time last year. Anyone who knew Bro. Glen will recognize instantly his characteristic spirit, with its mixture of powerful wisdom and humor, shining through in his writing. The article has been adapted by the editors for this issue of our magazine. A.E.

This is a faithful saying: "The things we want to believe often keep us from learning the things we need to know."

Star wars
In 1984, United States President Ronald Reagan startled the world by announcing Star Wars. A nuclear powered X-ray laser system called Super-Excalibur had been developed by a friend of his, Edward Teller. It was supposed to destroy any and every missile aimed at the U.S.A. before reaching its target. At the historic Reykjavik Summit, Teller’s friend, Paul Nitze, boasted to the whole world that America was now invincible. In reality there never was an X-ray laser. It was all a giant exercise in self-delusion. The one and only test of the device, in the Nevada desert, was a total failure. All the test equipment was blown to smithereens. But it was a costly delusion: the bill to the long-suffering taxpayer was thirty billion dollars. Teller and all his team should have been discredited as charlatans. Instead, they were all promoted.

Fusion power
Indeed, Teller became involved in another extraordinary exercise in mass self-delusion. In 1989, the world’s media announced that two prestigious European scientists would soon be able to provide the world with unlimited electricity at virtually no cost. The key was in using fusion power, just like our sun does, but without the heat. Every first year student at my Science Institute knows that fusion power on earth is simply impossible. It defies every law of the universe. Yet at a meeting in Dallas, the two scientists were given a standing ovation by thousands of scientists and political sycophants. Governments and universities across the world spent billions of dollars of your money for "research and development" of fusion power. All in vain, of course. There never was any fusion power, and never will be. It was all a gigantic delusion. However could it have happened? Intelligent people wanted to believe it, because it offered unbounded prosperity, which is what they really wanted. Remember? The things we want to believe often keep us from learning the things we need to know.

Vitamin O
Hundreds of thousands of people have testified to the benefits of taking Vitamin O regularly. The manufacturers of Vitamin O claim that they use the newest generation of super oxygenation technology. The label on the bottle is truthful: "stabilized oxygen molecules in a solution of distilled water and sodium chloride." The bottle contains salt water. Nothing less. Nothing more. Vitamin O is a total delusion. So why have multitudes spent millions on bottles of salt water and testified to its value as a cure all? Because, The things we want to believe often keep us from learning the things we need to know."

Dogma of delusion
Fifty years ago there were tens of thousands of Marxist scientists all over the world. They were convinced by "science" that God didn’t exist, and that a man-made communist utopia was "the wave of the future." Where are they now? It was all a delusion, a total fantasy without a shred of reality.

As another example, perhaps a billion people give unthinking assent to a patent mathematical contradiction – that God can be one and three at the same time.

Magic sugar
Christadelphians are as prone to self-delusion as other mortals. In 1887, two leading Christadelphians persuaded many brothers and sisters to invest in some magic process for refining sugar which, like fusion power, defied the laws of nature. It would produce everything for nothing. Instead of vast profits and a new technology, the promoters were covered with shame and disgrace. The degree to which this was a setback to our missionary effort is a matter for speculation as much available money was lost to the community.

Why?
If scientists would only read their own textbooks, they would not be sucked in by Teller and over-enthusiastic inventors. If we, too, are to avoid cruel delusion, we must read with understanding and honesty our own textbook, the scriptures of truth.

The twelve apostles
The apostles of Jesus were prime examples of the dangers of self-delusion. They wanted the kingdom of God to come so badly that they misread every sign of their times. They should have realized that riding a little colt into Jerusalem was no sign to expect immediate conquest. But they joined in the excitement and were devastated when their Master wept over the city instead of demanding its surrender. If only they had believed their own cherished, well-loved Bibles, they would not have been so cruelly deluded. Fortunately for us, the risen Lord mercifully removed the scales from their eyes.

Our own agenda
Jeremiah tells us about some people who asked him for advice. Should they stay in Judah, which lay in ruins, or go to Egypt? (A bit like West Indians asking for advice about staying in the islands or going to America!) He gave them the answer ten days later: stay in Judah. They went to Egypt. They had their own agenda.

When we have committed ourselves to an agenda of our own, we are impervious to any reason. A scientist who has convinced himself that there is no God will soon come to believe in that chance is the blind watchmaker of all created things, and that bacterial slime had the intelligence to make the world.

Christadelphian fire-eaters
We have in the brotherhood sincere brethren who want to believe that they, and their work, are essential in keeping the truth pure and preventing apostasy. Despite Jesus’ warning, they feel that it is their duty to do his work in eliminating the chaff from the wheat. What they need to know is that our Lord has all the plans and help he needs for threshing the grain and burning up the chaff in his own good time. He has made that much very clear. A divisive, catastrophic policy of fire-eating and heresy-hunting goes against everything we learn from the word of God about how Christ’s community should be run.

Pride is the problem
In the fusion case, a court eventually ruled that the two Nobel aspirants were "separated from reality." The problem was pride. For decades scientists proclaimed the dogma that people manifesting violent tendencies have "low self esteem," in other words, no pride in self. Millions have swallowed the delusion and encouraged ego-inflation with, to my way of thinking, predictable consequences.

Recently a very famous scientist has questioned the received dogma and proposed that violence stems from pride and arrogance: "Conceited, self-important individuals turn nasty toward those who puncture their bubbles of self-love."

I think the Bible backs him up totally. The only way any of us, scientist or saint, can avoid self-delusion is by accepting open discussion, peer review of our ideas, and a ruthless humility which is prepared to reconsider cherished beliefs and findings. It does not mean lack of conviction. Whether in theology, science, history, linguistics, prophecy, morality, or whatever, surely we must never be guilty of being "separated from reality." Let us be warned by that maxim: The things we want to believe often keep us from learning the things we need to know.

At the Lord’s table
There is profound irony in the fact that, as disciples, we are most at hazard of self-delusion when we are at the Lord’s table. At the last supper, Jesus told the twelve that a traitor was in their midst. But they just could not come to terms with the idea. So they deluded themselves that Judas must have gone to the grocery store. At the well-respected ecclesia in Laodicea, this table was obviously no more than an opportunity for self-congratulation and monumental self-delusion. In Ephesus there was purity without love. At Sardis, Jesus said that it was mostly living corpses who shared the bread and wine.

Some words of Justin, one of the early Christians, appeal to me and really make me feel strengthened when I am at this table. God has announced that He has joy in the meal of thanksgiving of the bread and the cup, which is celebrated by Christians in all places throughout the earth. They offer prayer and thanksgiving when they celebrate the meal of remembrance. In this way they commemorate the suffering which the Son of God endured for their sakes.

Glen Isaacs (the late)

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The Jesus Who Will Come in Glory

I know that my redeemer lives and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth. I know, like Job, that I shall see him for myself. And though, like Job’s, my skin is shriveled and wasted, and my body now isn’t much to boast about, I know that like Job and poor doubting Thomas, in my flesh I shall see my Lord. And I shall see the wounds he received in the house of his friends, and perhaps even the stripes by which I was healed.

When I lie and ponder, often I see a man riding a white horse. Not a little cubby foal of an ass now, but a great white horse like the Caesars used to ride in triumph when the Revelation was written. Let’s bring it up to date. I see him flying the presidential jet.

Jesus Christ, the conqueror on the white horse, we are told has four names. He is called Faithful and True. His name is the Word of God. On his robe and on his thigh is written the name "King of Kings and Lord of Lords." And then, mysteriously, he has a name written on him that no man knows but he himself. Of course, I cannot hope to guess such a name, but I am sure it is full of meaning.

Yes, I often think of that horse and rider. His own robe is stained with blood, but following him are armies, also riding on white horses, dressed in fine linen, starched and white – the faith of the saints which has been counted for righteousness.

The spirit through John quotes Psalm 2. The rider is the Son of God, resplendent in glory, an unerring judge, a just and merciful ruler, the invincible sovereign of the whole earth. Gone will be the Stalins and Pol Pots and every proud and petty tyrant. My King will rule from Zion in righteousness. The poor and needy, the despised and humble ones who have been my loving friends for half a hundred years will then be honored – to my great joy - in a world where there will be no place for the arrogant. As my Bible namesake sang: The Mighty One has done great things for me; holy is His Name.

Yes, I often think of that Man riding his white horse. "With justice he judges." I have done many vain and foolish things in my life, but I know him in whom I have believed, and sixty years ago I gave my life to him and I believe his promise that he will never leave or forsake me. I was busy in his household until this infirmity closed in upon me, and I am sure he will not forget.

I cannot grasp eternity. Not now. But if I do experience it, it will only be through the mercy of Jesus my Lord.

As I took the emblems today, in my imagination I did see Jesus as he will be when he comes in his glory. When John heard the Lion of Judah roar, he turned and was amazed to see a Lamb! Although in the plenitude of his power, king of the world, Jesus’ glory will be all-surpassing, yet somehow he will, to his redeemed, always be the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. Then I will have a much stronger voice. And I will want to sing with every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, singing, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever! Amen!

Mary Eyre

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Workers in the Vineyard
Human Nature in Action

Come! Test your human nature and your discipleship. It is very hard to be given one cuff on the right jaw and to turn the other jaw for another cuff. But that is the kind of challenge we face for our discipleship.

Pointedly, when we look at Matthew 20:1-16, the story of the Workers in the Vineyard, we are given an ideal example of the difficulties we face in applying the teaching of Jesus to our day-to-day life.

Was the employer fair to those who worked all day? They had agreed freely to the wage, so he was fair. Was he fair to those who worked one hour? He was more than fair, he was generous.

The grumblers in Jesus’ story were his disciples. "Are you envious because I am generous?" was his question to them – and to us. The early workers ought to have been thankful for their blessings, that they had a good job and not had the worry of being unemployed. But no, they griped because somebody else got a break. The employer was kind enough to make sure that all his workers had their reasonable needs met that day, however long they worked. That is the spirit of Christ. To be glad when others are blessed.

When called from our idleness, we are so often touched by that measure of ungratefulness. And when given a task, because of our human nature, we murmur about the inequities measured out to us.

This parable should be a timely reminder for us who have been bearing the heat of the day. It is a reminder that we should rededicate our energy to the goal of reaching the kingdom of God, lest we become ungrateful of our calling. We must be grateful to the Caller.

God having called us from idleness has set before us life forever in His kingdom. What is the burden of the work and the heat of the day compared to that prospect?

Let us pray that he who has started a good work in us, will continue to mould and position our choices and our character to be more like his own.

Tamara Brown

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Review
Modern Medicin and the Bible

Modern Medicine and the Bible, by Bro. Alan W. Fowler. Bridgend, Wales, 2001.

Available from Bro. Forrest Brinkerhoff, 565 South Traffic Way, Arroyo Grande,
California 93420, U.S.A.

When we were young, the Caribbean was a very unhealthy place. During every rainy season virtually all the members of the Broughton, Jamaica ecclesia were prostrated with malaria. Tuberculosis was so rampant there was actually a fair-sized ecclesia in a hospital, meeting around an old operating table. Police took one of our interested friends away to be confined in a leprosarium. Elephantiasis, known as Barbados leg, yaws and polio were widespread, brothers and sisters included. One sister was told that her child had "every kind of worm that we know of." At that time, yellow fever had been controlled, but dengue fever was epidemic at times. There was little that any of us could do about those illnesses. They were looked upon as scourges from the Almighty. Medical science and improved hygiene have almost banished them now from our region.

Half a century later, the Pan American Health Organization still considers the Caribbean region to be more or less a medical disaster area. But now most of the sicknesses are very largely preventable. Diabetes, AIDS and other sexual diseases, allergies, "pressure," stress, depression and malnutrition: these are the killers today.

All Caribbean Christadelphians need to read Bro. Alan Fowler’s book. There is a great deal of advice about diet and healthy, moral living. He demonstrates that many of Moses’ divinely inspired guidelines for healthy living still apply today. Cleanliness, really safe sex (not the bogus kind promoted by the media), a balanced diet, disease prevention rather than cure, and many other interesting features are discussed in great detail. He shows how obesity, "pressure," diabetes and ills of digestion – all terrible scourges in the Caribbean – can be prevented. He demolishes many comforting but false myths about sex and procreation that are so rife in our society. Most searching of all are Bro. Alan’s carefully researched sections on mental health. Psychological ills are serious but down-played in our region, and these include addiction to ganja (marijuana), alcohol, tobacco and other dangerous drugs – as well as addiction to television, videos and gambling!

He also briefly discusses genetics. Less than two percent of the human genome is uniquely human. Self-congratulating bio-geneticists like to inform us that we are 98 percent chimpanzee. Actually, the mapping of the human genome has revealed just how little our genes have to do with what we really are. More than half of our genome we share with cockroaches. Surely we know now for certain that hardly anything about our truly human nature is determined by our genes. We are human because we are made in the image of God, and have potential for immortality or for oblivion according as we use our God-given freedom. We have great freedom to choose what kind of person we will be.

The most interesting part of this book is the skill with which Bro. Alan demonstrates the artificiality and unnaturalness of modern life in all its aspects. We may live longer but "life" is often merely a prolongation of misery and spiritual emptiness. Youngsters are obese, brainless, with numerous addictions, and strut about in American designer clothing, the despair of their elders, and a burden on the medical services. Many have developed diabetes already. Young expectant mothers have multiple complications, mostly due to bad diet and lack of exercise. Everything in this book is vividly exemplified in our islands! The clinics and hospitals are being slowly modernized, but they serve a population that is chronically ill through deliberate and systematic abuse of the wonderful bodies with which God has endowed us. The Caribbean region has the highest incidence of preventable diseases in the world.

There is much more of interest in this fascinating little book. Do try to obtain a copy or persuade one of your ecclesial elders to obtain one to share around. Perhaps a generous brother or sister might supply a few copies to our Caribbean ecclesias.

The Editors

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