In This Issue

• THE KISS OF DEATH
• BARZILLAI
• TAMMY FAYE SAYS YOU'RE OKAY!
• MORE INFORMATION...

THE KISS OF DEATH

Jesus, after praying in the garden of Gethsemane, awoke Peter, James, and John, saying, "'Rise, let us be going. See, he who betrays Me is at hand.' And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, 'Whomever I kiss, he is the One; seize Him.' Then immediately, he went up to Jesus and said, 'Greetings, Rabbi!' and kissed Him. And Jesus said to him, 'Friend, why have you come?' Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him" (Matt. 26:46-50).

This is perhaps the best known betrayal in all human history. It is almost certain that the expression "the kiss of death" is an outgrowth of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot.

It is interesting to note that the kiss had been a common form of greeting among the Jews and certain others in their part of the world for centuries. It was by insincere kisses that Absalom flattered and won the hearts of the Jewish people away from his father David, 2 Sam. 15:1-6. And it was by this same form of greeting that Joab deceived Amasa, stabbing him with a sword even as he kissed him and asked, "Are you in health, my brother?" (2 Sam. 20:9-10).

The kiss of greeting continues to be used as the most common form of greeting in many parts of the world, even today, in some cultures. When Paul admonished some of the Christians in the first century to "Greet one another with a holy kiss" (Rom. 16:16), and Peter admonished, "Greet one another with a kiss of love" (1 Pet. 5:14), neither of these apostles was binding a specific form of greeting on all Christians for all times. Rather, they were regulating the form of greeting already being used -- the kiss. They were saying, make it sincere and pure, not tainted by lust or deception. In speaking of the common form of greeting as a "kiss of love," Peter used the word AGAPE, the Greek term for the highest form of love -- the love that seeks what is best for the person who is the recipient of that love.

In our own culture, the kiss is not as common a form of greeting as in many other cultures. This does not mean that it would be wrong to greet one another with a holy kiss. We believe it would be wrong, however, to legislate that such is the only acceptable form of greeting. And whether one greets by a kiss, a handshake, a salute, or some combination of these or other methods, let it be a greeting that is built on love, not lust -- and let it be genuine, not deceitful. We should greet our brethren with a greeting of holy love, not a "kiss of death."

--CRJ

BARZILLAI

The name "Barzillai" is not familiar to most Bible students; it never comes up in "Bible Drill" classes. And what a shame. In an era when many worship at the shrine of youth, those who are aged and those who will be someday unless death gets us first (i.e., everyone), need a role model to instruct us in proper attitudes and conduct as we get older. We have such in a brief encounter with Barzillai (please read 2 Sam. 19:31-39 before continuing.) In a chapter filled with quarreling Israelites and the likes of Shimei, this old man (term used respectfully) is a refreshing change and teaches us many lessons. Among them...

Old age is nothing to be ashamed of and the frailties of old age should be freely admitted. The text plainly tells us: "Now Barzillai was very old, being eighty years old" and Barzillai himself said quite frankly, "Can I distinguish between good and bad? Or can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Or can I hear any more the voiced of singing men and women?" (vs. 35a). He was in the "evil days" (Eccl. 12:1-ff) when bodily appetites and functions change -- and not for the better. In a day when the elderly and those headed in that direction try -- literally, sometimes -- to cover up the "hoary head" and other signs of advanced years and avoid all discussions of death, we need to heed this good man’s example: he did neither but, instead, spoke freely of both.

He faced old age gracefully. There is no hint of bitterness in any of this good man’s statements about his advanced years nor any wistfulness for "the good old days" of youth. He knew he could not turn back the hands of time and that he had but a few more steps in life’s journey (vs.. 34, 37). Instead of a tone of regret there was eager anticipation (see Phil. 1:21-23). The loss of those things which were once so dear should lead to a longing for that land in which "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death..." (Rev. 21:4).

He didn’t want to burden others (vs. 35b). While David considerately and rightfully offered to care for his aged benefactor, there was no "you owe it to me... look at all I’ve done for you" attitude on the part of venerable Barzillai; he had a considerate concern for others, realizing he could do little to help and, perhaps, much to hinder.

He spent his last days helping others (sustaining David in Mahanaim and then escorting him as far as the Jordan as he returned home (17:27-29, 31-32). The word "retirement" was not in Barzillai’s vocabulary. How sad that retirement is taken all too literally by older saints today and to see those with so much they could and should offer (Job 32:7; Psa. 71:18; 92:12-15; Titus 2:4) either get "on the road again" or sit down and turn the Lord’s work over to the younger and less mature. A careful consideration of Barzillai’s example should shame such into renewed activity.

He gave to others what he could have saved for his own. No doubt he could have rationalized that, instead of making generous provision for David, he needed to save his wealth for his children. But Barzillai evidently understood the joy that comes from giving to others while we are alive and can see and enjoy the use of what we have to share. How preferable is this rather than leaving material things to ungrateful, undeserving family members who do not appreciate and will misuse.

Let us keep alive the story of Barzillai the Gileadite -- on our tongues and in our lives -- and "yield fruit in old age" (Psa. 92:14).

--David Smitherman, Bible Comment, #15

TAMMY FAYE SAYS YOU'RE OKAY!

With tears in her eyelashes, the former Tammy Faye Bakker soothed an audience of homosexuals this week by promising, "God loves you just the way you are."

No doubt, the minute fraction of the one percent of Americans who live homosexual lives and care what God thinks were enthused and relieved. Tammy Faye Messner's assurance will also enforce their conclusion that God made them this way and there is no reason even to try to change or control themselves (2 Peter 1:6).

Messner, the ex-wife and coconspirator of defrocked televangelist Jim Bakker, has been on a quest for new acceptance in recent years. She has shed her ex-con husband and some of the clownish makeup that brought her fame and ridicule in the 1980s. Now, it seems, Messner has adopted the "I'm okay, you're okay" philosophy that infects so much of Christianity by destroying the very plea for conversion on which grace is proffered (Matt. 18:3).

Now, if homosexual behavior is not a sin, Messner is right. If homosexual activity is a liberty authorized by God, she is correct to tell its practitioners to press on despite what the naysayers may think. That begs the question, which used to be answered so obviously among Christians that it was rarely even asked: "Is homosexuality a sin?".

Prior to the issuance of the law of Moses, God went on record in judgment against homosexuality. He created mankind male and female in the Garden of Eden and authorized them to marry and reproduce. When this pattern was perverted by the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, he moved to raze those twin cities of the plain. Jude comments about the divine fire and brimstone reaction of Genesis 19 thus: "Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 7).

The Sodomites were not destroyed for being inhospitable to Lot's guests, but because they had devolved into a sexually perverted lifestyle that extended even against the angelic beings who graced their fair city one fateful night. When man sought after man, God called it going "after strange flesh."

When the law of Moses was instituted, Jehovah did not suddenly become tolerant of homosexuality. "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination" (Lev. 18:22). This law regulated the morality of Israel up until the cross of Christ, when it was fulfilled, removed and replaced by the new testament.

Perhaps we can expect the New Testament to be tolerant of what was once sexual perversion. No, Messner has willfully and criminally overlooked the will of God and lied about his perspective on this sin.

The Holy Spirit calls such acts "vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due" (Rom. 1:26-27).

Just as importantly, the inspired writer dispels the defeatist concept that homosexual tendencies cannot be overcome. Among a list of unrighteous people, Paul numbers homosexuals and sodomites. Speaking directly to the Corinthian church, he says, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:9-11).

Homosexual desires both can be and must be overcome as much as any other sin, including fornication, idolatry, drinking and extortion, which are mentioned in the same context. Messner is making excuses for people who want to live homosexual and Christian at the same time, but have realized that you have to use an X-acto knife on the Bible to accomplish it.

We know that John the immerser possessed the spirit and character of Elisha. What if he instead had been moved by the spirit of Tammy Faye (see Luke 3:7-14)? When the greedy tax collectors came and asked to be approved of God, John would have said, "God loves you just the way you are. You can't help being thieves!" To the soldiers, he would have replied, "God loves you just the way you are. He made you intimidating, violent liars."

Sorry, Tammy Faye, you have forgotten the message of the New Testament is about conversion and overcoming sin, not finding new and innovative ways to rationalize it away from our consciousness. Tolerating sin is a vice, not a virtue, for it perpetuates the iniquity and deepens the delusion (cf. 2 Thess. 2:11-12, 1 Cor. 5:6).

So many sins are being recategorized today. We say to God, you made me this way, so I can't help being a drunk, an addict, a striker, a loudmouth, a gossip, a fornicator, a homosexual. Truly, you are who you are, but you can be more. Stop giving place to the devil and start judging morality by the ancient standard again. Then we can overcome sin rather than being overcome by it.

--J.S. Smith, Woodmont Beacon, July 15, 2001

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