The
SUSQUEHANNA SENTINEL
February 7, 1999
Vol. I, No. 41

In This Issue

SHOULD GOD HAVE DROWNED NOAH?

We live in an age when results are demanded. Pressure is applied, ultimatums are delivered, rigid quotas are set, and goals must be met.

For example, certain sales people are under enormous pressure to reach specified quotas or else. Some resort to unfair tactics, dishonest schemes, and less-than-honorable approaches in order to reach their assigned percentage. They feel that they are in a do-or-die situation.

The coach for a ball team may be a fine man and an excellent coach. He may do a good job in teaching his team good sportsmanship. However, some fans will demand that he be fired if there is a long losing streak. Winning is to them more important than fair play.

On production lines there is poor quality work in many cases because of the demand for large quantity and rapid turnout. The management wants mass production rather than quality merchandise. Slap it together and put in on the market.

Gospel preachers sometimes are victims of this kind of thinking. No matter how faithful the preacher or how hard he works, if certain numerical results are not visible, some in the church will insist that he be replaced. The contributions and the attendance figures are used as gauges. The preacher's work is evaluated by statistics.

Poor old Noah work long and hard in building the ark. He was a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Pet. 2:5). Although he may have preached and worked on the ark for many years, when the showdown came, only his immediate family went into the ark with him. All that work and only eight souls (counting the preacher) were saved! Some of our hard-nosed folks who assess preaching by numerical results probably wonder why God did not drown old Noah in the flood! They would argue that his work was ineffective and without impact. But God demands faithfulness, not what we add up as "visible results." We need more preachers like Noah.

The concept that in the absence of certain numerical developments a preacher is not doing his job may lead to tactics and schemes that are wrong. A preacher may

feel pressured and obligated to attain "results." The message is watered down. Emphasis is placed on whatever may attract more people. Higher statistical ratings take priority. Dedication to "preaching the word" takes a back seat.

God blessed Noah despite the small numerical showing from his work. There are some things far more important than counting noses and adding monetary amounts. God promised through Isaiah that His word would not return to Him void, Isa. 55:11. Spiritual increase is more valuable than mere numerical increase. Let us show faith in God by loyally proclaiming the gospel without trying to force a particular kind of increase. Paul said, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase" (1 Cor. 3:6). Our task is to be faithful in planting and watering. God handles the increase.

--Irving Himmel

"PEACE, BE STILL!"

In Matt. 8:23-27, Matthew records that Jesus "got into a boat [and] His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, 'Lord, save us! We are perishing!' But He said to them, 'Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?' Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, 'Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?'"

Mark's account gives the story in more detail. It is his account on which the familiar hymn, "Peace, Be Still" is based. As the storm rages, the disciples worry. Jesus is in the back of the boat asleep on a pillow. The severity of the storm is obvious when we remind ourselves that four of the men with Jesus had been professional fishermen and no doubt had ridden out many lesser storms. But this one has them cringing in fear. "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" they ask as they wake the sleeping Master. "Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still?' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm" (Mark 4:38-39).

Remember that the major purpose of Christ's miracles was to produce faith in the hearts of those who witnessed them -- faith that He indeed came from God, John 3:2; Matt. 9:6; Heb. 2:3-4. John tells us in John 20:30-31 that the reason these miracles were recorded in the Scriptures was so that we who were not there to see His miracles may know of them and come to believe that He is truly the Son of God.

In fact, perhaps it was because His disciples had seen so many of His mighty deeds already that He rebuked them in the context for their unbelief. At any rate, this miracle, at least for the time being, served the purpose for which such miracles were intended: they "marveled, saying, 'Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?'"

Demons, when He rebuked them, came out of men in obedience to Him, because He overpowered them. But you and I are creatures endowed with free will. In this present time, which Paul calls "the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2), we are free to obey or disobey as we choose. It is to our advantage to obey because He has become "the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him" (Heb. 5:9). After this "day" or age of salvation has ended, the Bible says that all will be compelled to bow their knees to Jesus and confess His lordship, Rom. 14:10-11; Phil. 2:9-11, but it will be too late to seek mercy or forgiveness. Those who have previously persisted in rejecting Christ's lordship "will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matt. 25:46).

--CRJ

IN DEFENSE OF THE NBA

NBA is an acronym for the National Basketball Association. The NBA has the dubious distinction of being alleged to average one out-of-wedlock birth for every player in the league. There are several players who have not fathered any illegitimately but, as has been observed, for every player who has none the average is maintained by a large number who have two or more, with some having as many as six and seven.

There really is no defense or justification for this disgraceful distinction. But there is a defense offered in another arena that, accepted, completely exonerates this behavior. It is an absolutely astounding philosophy that, accepted, justifies the NBA's unwed dads.

It is quite simply the popular and politically correct philosophy that one's sex life does not matter, that it is purely personal, private and is not a matter of character, integrity or morality.

On this premise homosexuality and "gay rights" are militantly defended. Walt Disney World even has perks for gays, and legislators push for cohabiting gays to have the same legal status as married couples, which results in a broader base of political correctness for social acceptance.

The most appalling defense offered on behalf of the president relative to the accusations of multiple sexual affairs, is that "it does not matter." We should all hope the allegations are not true, and should respect and rejoice in whatever vindicating evidence of innocence can be set forth. But to shrug the shoulders, as many prominent politicians, columnists and broadcasters have done, and say "it does not matter," is destructive to the very foundations of integrity and morality.

Political leaders are supposed to exemplify wisdom and morality. But many of them are promoting, ad nauseam, the idea that all that counts is one's job performance, and not their personal life. What can we expect when loud voices from high positions say it is your body to do with as you please, and if an unwanted child "invades" it, you may abort (kill) it. When you sow to the wind, you can expect the whirlwind. (Hosea 8:7)

NBA players are doing their "job," which is to play a game and slam-dunk a basketball. They are rewarded with millions of dollars and celebrity status. What can we then expect from them? Unlike political leaders, they make no pretense to being moral leaders. And those who are our political leaders preach a philosophy that justifies their outrageous lack of moral principles.

What can we expect from teenagers, in whose bodies biological changes have given them new and strong passions? When they are told that all that is important is to do a good "job" ("Just get an A in algebra, Johnny, that's all that matters."), what can you expect?

The thousands, no, now it is millions - who are living together out of marriage, the children who are fatherless, and those who are aborted, the NBA, the brazen rationale that it does not care if our president is an unfaithful husband and philanderer - these are not warts or tumors that have appeared on our national body. They are a part of our very muscle and fiber - they are exactly what humanists and godless philosophers have advocated and defended.

They have betrayed our youth who spread such philosophy. They call darkness light and put bitter for sweet. Woe to them! (Isaiah 5:20-24) They disgrace our nation. They make us a reproach to ourselves. (Prov. 14:34) They bid to destroy us. Woe to them! 

--Jere E. Frost

The giver always lives a richer
life than the miser.