(July/August 2002 Edition)
At the Lord's Table - Anointing with Oil
Please, Let Us Get the Right Emphasis
The children of God should be sober-minded and self-controlled. They are not to be easily excited or impulsive. They are to cultivate a sound mind, nourished and built up in the truth, directed and motivated by clear, well thought out decisions upon the basis of God’s Word.
Its origin
Self-control originates in the mind. This inward or internal feeling of
goodness is then reflected in outward or external behaviour. The end
product is a completely balanced display. There is no place or space for
disorderliness or flamboyance. Instead the self-controlled brother or
sister is orderly, decent, well-mannered, and uses acceptable means of
communication especially in public. Not only is the sober person open, but
he is also courteous and considerate toward others. Even in small affairs,
the sober-minded brother or sister can actively and publicly reflect the
example of Christ.
Action and
speech
Our
actions and our speech must be controlled by the desire to do right in the
sight of God. Therefore we do not try to hurt or wound one another, nor
disgrace our brethren and sisters. With the mind of Christ in us, we do not
gossip or slander any one. Many of our brethren and sisters seem very
quarrelsome and argumentative. If you don’t agree with them you are in for
a rough ride! Sometimes there is no obvious reason for this other than self
exaltation. This should not be so. It is a deviation from the teaching of
holy Scripture. Let everything we say and do be done in a controlled
manner.
The Christian journey requires a great deal of self-control. The child of God orders his life on moderation, love and peace. Judging by their writings, there are brethren who actually glorify contention, and urge us to be aggressive in our attitudes to others. Ignoring Jesus’ warnings, they find what they think are justifiable occasions to judge and condemn. This is not the mark of a true believer or a godly person. It is actually a sign of spiritual immaturity and psychological insecurity.
“Slackness”
There is a rising culture in the Caribbean that is disgusting. It is
popularly known as “slackness.” We all know that it glorifies and takes
pride in sneering at everything that is decent, upright and moral, boasting
of casual, sloppy, untidy minds and bodies, clothing, behaviour, appearance
-- everything. It is increasingly the “life-style” of our age. But it
should have no place amongst us. Slackness is spoken of as a sign, even a
typical characteristic of the “last days” (II Tim. 3:3; Rom. 1:30; II Pet.
2:12).
Patience
Self-control requires patient waiting in meekness for the salvation of God
(Lam. 3:26). There is no room for being over anxious over things of this
life, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and they that
desire to be rich fall into temptation (I Tim. 6:9). Real patience is faith
in God’s ability and willingness to perform that which He has promised,
believing that there is nothing too hard for God to do. The believer is
self-controlled and calm even in the midst of a raging storm. His heart is
“fixed” as the psalmist put it, full of true inner peace, knowing that
ultimate deliverance will come from God. A real antidote to feelings of
impatience and frustration is to read Acts 27, the story of Paul’s journey
to Rome. Paul’s behaviour on that voyage was a marvelous blend of all those
qualities: inner peace, quiet confidence, patient assurance, and
self-control. He was the master of the situation in the midst of more than
200 distraught people.
Manner of life
Our
manner of life should reflect spiritual development (I Pet. 2:12). We are
to shun every appearance of evil. Don’t give either believer or unbeliever
any reason to doubt our profession of loyalty to the Lord and our high
calling in Christ Jesus. Some of us send bad signals in the brotherhood and
in the world. The true believer lives a clean, clear, self-controlled life
so that at no time is there any reason to doubt his or her behaviour.
Through self-control we refrain ourselves from giving the adversary any
occasion to “blaspheme” the holy Name or to speak against us (I Pet.
4:12-16). By practicing self-control, we also keep or raise our
self-esteem, and can take a proper godly pride in ourselves. Not
arrogantly, but with a sense of worth and integrity.
Body language
Don’t forget that self-control guides our body language. If we become
thoughtless and careless, we will soon find that our behaviour is sending
the wrong message. It has long been accepted that actions speak louder than
words. In Proverbs 16:32 we are told, “He that ruleth his spirit is better
than he that taketh a city.” Therefore, whatever we say and do, thoughts
that we encourage in our hearts, wherever we go, the things that we enjoy or
find pleasure in are all to be subject to godly self-control.
In other words, our life style must be a reflection of a self-controlled mind. How is this possible? Paul gives us the answer in I Thessalonians 5:5-8: “We do not belong to the night, or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”
Gerzel Gordon
At the Lord's Table
Anointing with Oil
It is a great privilege to visit you and meet with you around the Lord’s table. We should all be most thankful to Almighty God whenever we are able to be here.
There is nothing magical about the bread and wine. We are simply sharing two simple symbols of faith in a mighty Master.
Some brothers and sisters are too ill, old or frail to be here with us. It is our duty to make sure that they receive the communion of bread and wine on a regular basis. Ecclesias that do not do this with their ‘shut-ins’ are neglecting their responsibilities.
The elders of this ecclesia also have another responsibility to these less robust and unfortunate members. James says that, if such a member requests it, the elders should “pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord” (5:14).
The oil referred to is the “holy anointing oil” described in Exodus 30:25 and 37:29: Take fine spices and make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. I am a perfumer by trade, and I blend and sell aromatic oils and frankincense. I am often asked, Why does James tell us to anoint the sick brother and sister?
It is not a magic thing. It is not the oil that makes the sick person well. It is only “the prayer offered in faith” and the Lord’s will and power which are efficacious in this regard (James 5:15).
The anointing is not superstitious; it is symbolic, just like the breaking of bread. It gives sacredness to the occasion. It makes sick visiting a lot more than just a friendly passing chat. The fragrant oil has been shown to aid memory, and Psalm 133 explains why it is significant when visiting the sick: “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head...For there God bestows the blessing, even life for evermore.” That is clear enough.
Spiritual symbols are vitally important. Let us not forget or minimize them. They strengthen faith. They express unity. They breathe the fragrance of love and concern. David well understood that what we do merely symbolizes what our heavenly Father does. “You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psa. 23:5-6). So as we share the bread and wine this morning, we strengthen each other. And let us not forget those who cannot be among us today.
Dennis Adams (exhorting in Kingston, Jamaica, May, 2002)
Brothers and sisters around the world will be sad to learn that the Plain Truth Tabernacle, the assembly hall of the Port Antonio, Jamaica, ecclesia, is no more. It was demolished by the government to make way for some new port development on the waterfront.
The Tabernacle was one of the most remarkable Christadelphian meeting places in the world. In the ‘socialist’ years of the 1970’s, the Parish Council granted permission for sister Jemima Hall, then nearly one hundred years old, to build a “Tabernacle to the glory of God” on a piece of government-owned land literally worth millions of dollars in the very centre of town. It became well known for the vigorous preaching of her son, our late Bro. Edgar Hall, former mayor of Port Antonio. The deed of gift stated that the building should be the home of the Christadelphians “as long as they continue to preach the Truth,” a caveat which the Parish Council later found rather difficult to interpret! It was Jemima herself who insisted on the name “Plain Truth Tabernacle.” It was a name we loved, although occasionally we would have to explain that we had no connection with a one-time religious magazine called Plain Truth. Tourists were often seen photographing the Tabernacle, and a popular picture postcard which sold all over Jamaica carried a biblical message worldwide.
The Tabernacle held one hundred and fifty comfortably, and sometimes at campaigns and fraternal gatherings it was well filled. There were some windows right on the main street, and sometimes there would be more interested friends looking in than sitting down. There was always a lot of traffic noise, but we were at least prominent, and our two leading evangelists, Bre. Edgar Hall and Peter James, used a powerful amplifier to very good effect. Between them they delivered more than two thousand powerful testimonies to the Truth from the Tabernacle. Bro. Edgar was also a fine musician, and used the beautiful organ most effectively. For a few years we had a choir which sang musical items which he composed.
And now it is gone. Very many citizens of this town are sad at losing one of Port Antonio’s landmark buildings. More grievously, a great lightstand has lost its stand, but – while we live – not its light.
Louise Nunes (aged 93).
Please, Let Us Get the Right Emphasis
A very prominent and influential British ecclesia has circulated to ecclesias throughout the Caribbean a Statement on the Sacrifice of Christ, implying that it considers its interpretation to be a fundamental doctrine.
For more than one hundred years Christadelphian ecclesias in the Caribbean have taught the Scriptural doctrine of redemption and eternal salvation through faith in the death and resurrection of the Son of God. “What I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:3-4).
The emphasis always given in the apostolic preaching, and by us, is on the amazing grace and love of God in sending His beloved Son to save sinners, among whom we are chief (Isa. 53:6; Acts 8:35; Acts 5:31; I Tim. 1:15; I John 3:16; I John 4:9).
The emphasis always given in the apostolic preaching, and by us, is that we are saved by “the man Christ Jesus.” He was victorious over temptation, the ‘devil,’ sin and death. He is the wonderful counselor, the mighty Elohim, the father of the Age, the prince of peace (Isa. 9: 6). He saw no corruption. The grave could not hold him.
As our pioneer brethren constantly stressed, even in the days of his flesh he was more than mere man. He was and is the wondrous Son of God, filled with the Holy Spirit without measure, sinless manifestation of Deity, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy (Col. 1:15,18). We are urged to worship him, along with millions of angels, and every creature in heaven, earth and sea: because he was slain and with his blood he purchased men for God from every nation (Rev. 5:9). “Be assured of this,” preached Peter, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). This is the Saviour and Redeemer whom we proclaim to all the world, so that they might obey him and live forever.
The full humanity of the Lord Jesus is a fundamental doctrine. It is essential to “acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (I John 4:2). It is important to recognize that he was tempted as we are; that he could have given way to the ‘diabolos’ if he had so chosen. His victory over sin in his mortal body was real. Like us, he obviously benefited from his own sacrifice, since immortality is not inherent and was bestowed upon him as a gift for his obedience unto death and his sinless life (Phil. 2:5-11).
We consider that a firm belief in the full humanity of our Lord does not require us to put heavy emphasis on the view that Jesus was “inherently full of sin,” that “Jesus was sinful flesh,” that “his body was unclean,” and that he was “accursed because of his human body.” We are of the opinion that this is an emphasis which is not warranted by the word of God. He was “made sin for us, who knew no sin” because he was “reckoned among the transgressors” (II Cor. 5:21; Luke 22:37). He, though the “holy one of God,” was “made a curse” for us, because he was executed as a criminal and hanged upon a tree (Gal. 3:13). “In saying that Christ ‘was made sin for us’, Paul did not mean that he was made an actual sinner, but that he was made a sin-offering for us. Our iniquities were laid upon him. He bare our sins in his body on or to the tree” (John Thomas).
We would recommend among the pioneer writings the sensitive essay On the Nature of Christ, published in The Ambassador in April 1867. Consider the following: “That Jesus was constitutionally good and righteous there can be no doubt.” “Jesus Christ was the wisdom of God embodied in the flesh, the express image of his person, because it was ordained that in him should dwell the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” that “he might be the Lamb of God without spot and blemish.”
The consequence of Adam’s transgression was “painful toil,” leading to death and dissolution into original dust (Gen. 3:17-20). As his offspring, we are a “natural body” subject to sin’s impulses, disease and bodily decay. So much so that all except the Son of God have sinned and fallen far short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). In the days of his mortal flesh, Jesus had a “natural body” (I Cor. 15:44). He longed for the redemption of his body, as we all do (Rom. 8:23). His sacrifice was the means of accomplishing his own redemption and salvation.
Concepts such as the absolute depravity of the human body, original sin and substitutionary sacrifice originate from apostate Christendom which we have abandoned for Bible truth.
Finally, we are reminded by the apostle that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says Jesus is cursed (I Cor. 12:3). To suggest that unless we consider the “person of Jesus to be cursed” we do not believe the truth is an altogether wrong emphasis. Surely we should be singing, and urging others to sing with all our hearts and minds, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise” (Rev. 5:12).
Walter Draper and a group of Caribbean ecclesial elders
Islam in Trinidad Since September 11
It is twelve years since Yasin Abu Bakr and the militant Muslimeen took over our country in a brief but bloody coup that left around thirty people dead. They were subsequently ousted and pardoned, but openly used their freedom to rally moderate Muslims to their cause, build up financial links with Libya, the Sudan and Muslim activists in Britain, and smuggle “massive quantities” of arms into Trinidad.
Like Yaser Arafat and Muslims everywhere, Trinidad’s militants speak out of two sides of their mouths. While “mourning the loss of life at the WTC,” they insist that in the war the “Jewish and Christian infidels” have declared on Islam, they will win or die in the attempt. “Islam is the only medicine that can cure the world,” Umar Rajeem stated in launching a recent big recruitment drive for Jamaat al Muslimeen, Yasin Abu Bakr’s particular sect, which now numbers ten thousand throughout Trinidad.
Jamaat’s version of Islam boasts of a wave of converts since September 11. They claim that Islamic family life is very attractive to West Indians, with its emphasis on male dominance, polygamy, and highly regulated home life. Abu Bakr’s own family of three wives and fourteen children is held up as a “beautiful family model,” according to their printed propaganda.
Whatever we may think of the morals and devious piety of Islam, the fact is that it is growing in popularity, especially since September 11. The notion that Jews, supported covertly by Christians, run the world for their benefit through their financial, business and political networks is absolutely basic to the education of thousands of young Trinidadians. I know personally three Islamic schools in Port of Spain where this indoctrination is carried on. They are taught that although Hitler and Stalin were unsuccessful in destroying Judaism and Christianity sixty years ago, and the Jews were allowed to create the state of Israel, God [Allah] has promised that militant Muslims will soon succeed in establishing Sharia’ [Islamic law] throughout the world. Obviously, a head-on confrontation between our preaching of the Truth and militant Islam is inevitable. It is hard for us to accept, and it is a bit scary, but little Trinidad has become a miniature of the whole world.
Our ‘man in Trinidad’
According to Judges 6, an angel of God told Gideon of Manasseh: Go and save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Understandably, Gideon was timid and very cautious about the idea – as I am sure I would have been. After all, those Midianites destroyed the increase of the earth and left no sustenance; they came as grasshoppers for multitude: for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.
Coping with the Midianite occupation must have been difficult enough for Gideon and his countrymen, and now this! His initial response to God’s commission was not surprising: Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then has all this befallen us? But God fully understood and sympathized with his nervousness. That’s what’s so encouraging about this story. Adapting Hymn 121 in Praise the Lord,
Have we trials
and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged: take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share?
The Lord knows our every weakness – take it to the Lord in prayer!
Gideon sent out an appeal for help in this daunting task of delivering God’s people. And he heard that help was on its way. Then the misgivings, the “ifs,” all came rushing back. God had called him “mighty man of valour,” but he didn’t feel anything like that. He had knots in the pit of his stomach. So he did a kind of deal with his God: he would put out a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If the ground was dry and the fleece was wet, then he would know that everything would work out. Next morning, there it was. Gideon looked at the bowl of water and wondered. Someone could have played a trick on me. It’s easy to pour a bowl of water on a fleece. So he went back to God. Don’t be angry, Lord. Let me pray again. Let me prove You, please. Let it be dry on the fleece, and wet upon all the ground. If the ground is wet and the wool dry, you can’t fake that. That’s got to be God. And so, next morning, there it was. Right, I am going. I know He will be with me in the dark.
Every day we need to be like Gideon, looking for evidence of God’s hand. If we don’t, we will surely lose our way and be very lonely too. I have asked for a wet or dry fleece many times. I have been through Gideon’s experiences, and I know how hard it can be when the Lord has pointed the way for us and we feel inadequate and fear to accept it.
When I think about that fleece, I realize that it is not shameful for even a mighty man of valour like Gideon to need divine assurance. These days I tremble when I read in our magazines of some sister who has “borne affliction with exemplary fortitude and patience.” I wish I was in that category, but I am not. But then neither was Gideon, and I am glad because he will be in the Kingdom. Neither was Elijah and Jacob and David, and they will all be there, for they all died in faith.
So when I am faint hearted, I pray for my wet or dry fleece, and I know that God will understand, and that helps me so much.
Mary Eyre