Bible Quiz The answers are at the end of the blog. Have fun!!
According To the Bible (True or False)
1. Solomon was severely depressed or even suicidal when he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. 2. Job is the first or earliest book of the Bible, predating Moses and the writing of the Law.
Dear Prayer Warriors,
“Come on, John! Snap out of it! Keep your head in the game!!!” I can’t think of how many times I heard this in the days of my youth. A line drive, hit by my coach during practice, goes zipping past me in center field. He was working with the infield but caught me daydreaming. The ball is passed to me by the power forward going for the bucket - I thought it was a done deal, he flips it to me, and it bounces out of bounds. I run hard to the right as a pulling guard and the quarterback hits the dirt. It was a pass play not a running play. Yep, rookie mistakes by a kid - “keep your head in the game” - but it should not be something the Holy Spirit has to “shout” at me between mission trips, as is often the case. I have been asked to major on 2 Timothy chapter two at the leadership conference in Cameroon. Naturally, I have been reviewing this chapter in my Scripture memory time. One passage has stuck out to me of late - 2 Timothy 2:5 which exhorts that “Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” If you want to win, you have to keep your head in the game. There are game rules, but there are also team rules. For every coach I ever played under, the number one rule for a player was to “keep your head in the game.”
I have been thinking about two verses the past couple of weeks, and two events about which the Holy Spirit has been after me in terms of my keeping my head in the game.
The passages are Ephesians 2:10 ("For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them") and 1 Peter 1:13 ("Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit"). God has created for us appointments with destiny if we will only look about. Knowing this truth, we should be ready. Since God has prepared us for appointments with destiny, it is important to keep our heads in the game. When God passes us the ball, we don’t want to watch it go bouncing past us. We want our minds prepared for action. We want to be ready to score, to contribute to the win, to be part of the action.
Last week, I was at Lowe’s Hardware Store. The gentleman helping me mentioned he was so helpful because when you die it is good to have some good deeds on your side. I should not have let this go. I should have shared Christ with him and then come back later and given him a New Testament. It was an appointment with destiny, but I was not "prepared for action," I was not "sober in spirit."
Yesterday, I visited the dentist. I brought New Testaments for all the staff at the office. One lady said, "Oh, I already have one. A Christian gentleman left some last week (that was me). I have a teenage son, and we have been reading through it together every morning." Last week, for my initial visit, I was "prepared for action," I was “sober in spirit” - thus I was able to keep my appointment with destiny.
Ants invaded our kitchen. Now we have a philosophy that when something goes wrong and we have to call in a repairman, then this is an appointment with destiny. By the front door I keep water, Cokes, New Testaments, tracts, and booklets. He already had the New Testament so he took the Jehovah Witness booklet. He said that they had come by his house. Praise God that he will be protected from this cult! This time I was “prepared.” My head was in the game.
A package came for delivery. The deliveryman said, “What I really need is something on Mormonism. They are always coming by my door." He left with a bottle of water and a booklet on the Mormon cult. This time I was prepared; my head was in the game.
The garage door repairman came by yesterday - another appointment with destiny. He said he belonged to a Baptist church but had not been going. I gave him some water and a New Testament. He said that he would begin reading it to his family at the dinner table (at my suggestion) and that he would be in church Sunday. This time I was prepared for my appointment with destiny.
In each of the New Testaments, I include either a Four Spiritual Laws or a Peace With God tract. Many say they are Christians and most do not have time to hear the gospel, but for all, I tell them about the tract and offer to read it through with them. This, of course, is what it is all about. The goal is not to just be nice to deliverymen and repairmen. The goal is to be ready for the appointments with destiny that God brings by, to be alert for them, to be sober in spirit, knowing the issue is those dealing with the eternal destiny of the soul. The issue is eternity in heaven or in hell. The gospel, then, is always the goal.
Do not be deceived by those who are proponents of the “lifestyle” witness, who tell you, “just do good works and don’t worry about sharing the gospel.” I was discussing this with my son this past weekend, and I will close with an illustration of the dangers of good works without a testimony. In his own words, “I absolutely agree. One thing I tell people when they talk about a nonverbal witness is that three times I have been asked if I was a Mormon because I don't swear, love my wife, am religious, clean-cut, and have three kids. If I hadn't shared the gospel with them, they would have never known I was a Christian - scary thought - really has made me re-think this whole nonverbal testimony deal.”
Well, there it is – God is providing for us appointments with destiny. We need to be both alert to see them and sober in spirit as to the issues. The issue is the eternal destiny of men’s souls. The issue is whether this person will spend eternity in everlasting joy praising his Savior or eternity in everlasting agony in the flames of Hell. I must admit, that is a little sobering and worthy of attention.
My prayer is this - “O Lord, throughout the day as I am presented with appointments with destiny, keep me alert, keep me sober.”
By His mercy, II Corinthians 4:1 Rev. John S. Mahon Director: Grace Community Int. – In the last stages of preparation for our departure for Cameroon
Answers to this week’s Bible quiz 1. False - How long will Bible students and scholars put up with the fantastic imaginations of liberal theologians and unqualified writers of introductions to Bible studies? The time is long-past for the evangelical Bible student to simply open his mouth and accept without question whatever is fed to him. There are no instances of Solomon being depressed or suicidal in any of the historical records of his life. Nor is there evidence of this in his extensive writings in Proverbs. In fact, just the opposite is true. Solomon is depicted both in his own biographical memories and in his Proverbs as a man full of life (1 Kings 11:41–44; 2 Chronicles 9:22–41). The same can be said for Ecclesiastes. Take the theme “Enjoyment of life in Ecclesiastes.” There are many passages on which to reflect from this book on this topic (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25; 3:4-5, 12-13, 22; 4:6; 5:18-19; 7:14; 8:15; 9:7-10; 11:7–10; 12:1, 13-14). In addition, there are many teachings in the practical living of life and on preparation for the future in Ecclesiastes. There exists no academic evidence of suicidal tendencies in Solomon, nor in any of his writings. This teaching is simply the attempts by liberal scholars to defame the authority of this book and the character of Solomon.
2. False - The Book of Job makes no such claim. This is another example of liberal and/or unqualified Biblical teachers being allowed to make statements which are accepted unchallenged by publishers and then passed down from commentary to commentary. The written revelation of God to man begins with the first five books of Moses. Nowhere in the historical revelation of Scriptures is there any mention of a book which predates the giving of the Law at Sinai through Moses - nor does there exist any mention of Job as a man who lived and walked with God. We may, however, glean from the Book of Job certain facts that could only be known later in the period of Biblical revelation. There are facts contained in the Book of Job that place it historically well into the period of Biblical revelation.
– Job offers burnt sin offerings for his children and for his friends (Job 1:5, 42). – Job refers to the written Word of God - this book comes well after the beginnings of written revelation (Job 6:10; 22:22; 23:12). - Job refers to Rahab (Job 9:13; 26:12). - Job makes mention of the second coming of the Messiah (Job 14:12). - Job makes mention of the coming Messiah (Job 19:25). - Job refers to the sin of moving landmarks or boundaries as forbidden in the Law (Job 24:2). - Job refers to Adam as revealed in the Law of Moses (Job 31:33). - Elihu mentions the creation of man as revealed in Genesis (Job 33:4-6).
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