4th Quarter Surge Powers Fit To A Tee to 24-20 Opening Victory

A 10-0 run by the Fit To A Tee 3rd Grade Boys Basketball team turned a 20-14 deficit into a 24-20 victory as Fit To A Tee opened up the 2009 YMCA Youth Basketball League season, defeating Diesel Speed Truck Shop.

Fit To A Tee used a balanced scoring attack as 6 players scored with Ben Mendella leading the way with 8 points. Donovan Ferguson, Lance Warfel and Jacob Spitz chipped in with 4 points each.

Donovan Ferguson looked very smooth as his offensive rebound and reverse put back sparked the run as Diesel Speed led 20-14 before Donovan's basket. Defensive stop after defensive stop frustrated Diesel, and the Fit To A Tee boys started finding the hoop after poor shooting early on found them in a 6 point deficit to start the 4th quarter. Donovan had a huge block under the basket that landed in the hands of teammate Jacob Spitz, who drove the length of the court to find Lance Warfel open under the hoop for an assist as Warfel's shot went in, hitting nothinng but the bottom of the net. On the very next possession for Diesel, Donovan had his third block of the game and Ben Mendella grabbed the loose ball this time, driving in for an uncontested lay-up.

Donovan led his team with 6 rebounds, pulling down 4 offensive boards, which resulted in 6 points for Fit To A Tee as they were able to maintain possession of the ball.

Faith Versus Belief

There is a difference between faith and belief. A belief can be apathetic or complacent, faith cannot, and Abram was a great man of faith. Hebrews 11:8 [RSV] says, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go.” Faith is alive and active. If faith does not draw a response, it is not true faith. We call many things faith that, in fact, are not faith at all. This problem is not new; James confronted the same problem in the early church. James began by saying (to paraphrase), you believe in one God, good for you. Even the demons believe this and they tremble. But a demon’s belief does nothing to save him. In James 2 [RSV], he goes on to say: 20. Do you want to be shown, you shallow man, that faith apart from works is barren? 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? 22. You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, 23. and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness"; and he was called the friend of God. 24. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

True faith is active faith. When you believe, you act and thus prove your faith is real through your obedience. God said, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.” Abram did not begin his new life when God commanded. He did not get the blessings when he heard God’s promises. God calls for faith. Faith is seeing God’s promises and believing them as though they are absolutes. Faith is hearing God’s commands and valuing them as a treasure. As David stated in Psalm 119:72-73 ]RSV] we read, 72. The law of Thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. 73. Thy hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn Thy commandments.

Once we value God’s word, we will receive the promise of His direction. Once we are following His direction, we will obtain every promise. Faith is strengthened by seeing. God said many times in Scripture, "You have seen the mighty things I have done, now choose to obey or not to obey." We continue to see His works. We see the lives of those following Him; we see God working in our lives as we put Him to the test by obeying. We see His works all around us. Faith is strengthened by seeing and by evidence, but faith does not come by evidence. Faith comes by believing and obediently responding. Once we believe and we step into the dependence on His care, we have the promise of Psalm 37:23-25 [RSV]: 23. The steps of a man are from the Lord, and He establishes him in Whose way He delights; 24. though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord is the stay of his hand. 25. I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread.

Smoking Ziggurats

From Genesis 10 we first encounter Nimrod, the first world emperor. Moses writes about how he went about subduing other kingdoms in his quest to consolidate his empire under his rule in Genesis 10:8-12 [RSV], 8. Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord." 10. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. 11. From that land he went into Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and 12. Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

In chapter 11 of Genesis, we see how Nimrod set about to build his empire in rivalry to God: 3. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole Earth." (Genesis 11:3-4 [RSV])

In order to accomplish his goal of gaining a world empire, Nimrod needed to accomplish two things. First of all, he needed a center of unity, a city headquarters or capital were required. Secondly, he needed to supply a motive for the encouragement and inspiration of his followers. This latter was supplied in the phrase "let us make us a name." It was an inordinate desire for fame. Nimrod’s aim was to keep mankind all together under his own leadership "lest we be scattered."

It is tough to build an empire while simultaneously defeating one’s enemies. While Nimrod was engaging in putting down all of his opponents, he began the building of the great ziggurat temple, the Tower of Babel, which would reach to Heaven. Finally, he was left with just one enemy group left to defeat. Try as he might, Nimrod was unable to locate where his nemesis and his enemies’ followers were meeting. So Nimrod decided to send out his top general in order to search out and destroy this group. So one night while the general and his company were out on patrol, they noticed something strange and peculiar taking place inside the unfinished temple. No one was supposed to be inside the temple at that hour of the night, and yet there was smoke seen coming out of the ziggurat. So the general and his men slowly entered the temple to see what they could find. They discovered that they had stumbled upon the hidden lair of Nimrod’s last enemies! The general and his men captured Nimrod’s last rival and all of his followers who had been hiding out in secret in the ziggurat all that time. So when a reporter for the local Babylonian paper called The Babble On interviewed the heroic general, the headline ran in the next day’s edition read as follows: WARNING: The Searching General Has Determined that Smoking Ziggurats Can Be Hazardous to One’s Stealth.

Ghosts and the Bible

There is a supposedly true story of a preacher who was holding a gospel meeting several years ago in a little town in Arkansas. One day, while carrying his Bible as he walking to the church building for the gospel meeting, the preacher heard the sound of someone running up behind him. Soon, the preacher was overtaken by a young man who accosted him, saying, “So, are you a Christian?” The preacher looked the young man directly in the eye and responded by saying, “Yes, I am a Christian!”

The young man, caught off guard by the preacher’s forthright admission, stuttered and stammered a bit, eventually saying, “Well, the Holy Ghost told me to ask you that question!” Without missing a beat, the preacher looked the young man right in the eye and told him, “No, He didn’t, because I was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. He already knows me! You, sir, are running from some other ghost!”

This is an amusing tale, and it makes for a good lead-in for this topic, which is Ghosts in the Bible. I have known many Christians who struggle with their privately held personal belief in the paranormal versus what they have been taught is “church doctrine.” But what does the Bible actually say about ghostly phantoms and apparitions? What are they? Is it heretical to believe such things exist?

Many, if not most in the church, claim that the popular concept of a ghost and spectral hauntings are unbiblical. Some people claim that what are believed to be ghosts are in actuality demonic spirit activity mimicking the behavior of expired human beings in order to lead people astray from “pure” Christian faith, while others say that even demonic activity is no longer possible. As with all matters pertaining to Christianity, the best thing to do is to study it for yourself, because obviously there is not agreement within the brotherhood on this topic.

Others believe that ghosts are merely the physical residue left behind of a past life that does not have anything to do with the actual person’s soul or spirit. In other words, they believe there is a natural, heretofore unknown physical anomaly explanation in which the natural world captured an event from the past and replays them over and again, such as what happens when we take photographs or videos today. This would explain the stories of hauntings in which the alleged ghosts reenact the same event over and over, seemingly oblivious to those around them.

But what it really all comes down to is what is the view the person takes regarding the afterlife. Where do we go when we die? Does the soul just sleep, as many believe and teach, unconscious of anything, including the passing of time, until called by the Lord on the Last Day? Or do we immediately receive a reward, as others believe and teach? Once again, even within the brotherhood there is wide disagreement between good people. There are many references in the Bible that point to the destination of the person after death. Let us take a few moments to first look at these.

The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:1, 6-8 [RSV], 1. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.

6. So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7. for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Many people who argue against ghosts as unbiblical point to verses 6-8. When we are dead, they say Paul states we are with God in Heaven. So according to this view, there can be no such thing as a real haunting because the soul and spirit are in Heaven when we die, if we are in Christ. However, it is possible this view may be taking the Scripture out of context. The Apostle Paul’s purpose in writing this must be taken into account. He was writing this epistle from a Roman prison. He was about to give his life for the cause of Christ. Christianity was an illegal religion at this time and those who aligned themselves with believers faced persecution, torture and even death. Paul was easing the troubled hearts and minds of the Corinthian congregation. Our lives on this world here are but passing, but the afterlife is eternal. That is what is most important. Our mortal body will die, but we will be given a new one that is immortal by Christ, if we are a part of His body in this life. The Apostle Paul was speaking of his desire to be in that new immortal body so he can physically be with the Lord. And what seems to be the teaching of the New Testament is that it is on the Day of Judgment that we will be given a glorified, resurrected body like the Lord’s, not when we die. So it would seem is the teaching of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:20-21 [RSV] as well: 20. But our commonwealth is in Heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21. Who will change our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power which enables Him even to subject all things to Himself. So writes the beloved Apostle John in agreement with Paul: “Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2 [RSV]).

It is on Judgment Day that Jesus will descend from Heaven at the end of days and resurrect all His followers just as He was resurrected after He died. The mortal body will be replaced with a supernatural, immortal body. Two additional Biblical passages that give details about this are found in 1 Corinthians 15:50-58, as well as in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. I will not supply all of these passages now, but will suffice to include three of these verses that are, in my opinion, the most telling and revealing: 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 [RSV] and 1 Thessalonians 4:13 [RSV]: 51. Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

13. But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

The term “sleep” here used by Paul is a euphemism for death in Christian Scripture. The writer of the passages we just read was the Apostle Paul. So rather than supporting the idea that when we die we are unconscious and asleep, as some teach, it seems that Paul is teaching that it is the body that sleeps, and not the spirit or soul or one’s consciousness. It would seem that Paul is only reiterating what his Lord taught while He walked the Earth. Listen closely to this familiar passage from the Gospel of John: 11. Thus He spoke, and then He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep." 12. The disciples said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." 13. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He meant taking rest in sleep. 14. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead; 15. and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." (John 11:1-15 [RSV])

So how do we know that it is the body that sleeps, and not the spirit, soul or consciousness? Because that is the context of what Jesus was teaching His disciples. He was teaching of a bodily resurrection, and how that would be accomplished through Him. Further down in this chapter John writes, 21. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22. And even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You." 23. Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." 24. Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." 25. Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26. and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

39. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." 40. Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" 41. So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. 42. I knew that Thou hearest Me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me." 43. When He had said this, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." 44. The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." (John 11:21-26; 39-44 [RSV])

So it would seem that in light of the context, it is the body that sleeps, the body that is changed. Lazarus’ body would have begun decaying and putrefying, just as Martha had said. But Jesus was demonstrating that He is the power of the resurrection. He was giving the people a preview of what was to come on the Day of Judgment, the Last Day. The body sleeps at death until it is changed into a new supernatural one at the end of days.

So what happens to our invisible part, the spirit or soul after death? Can the spirit still roam the Earth after death? It is true that the Bible does talk about ghosts, and the spirits of the dead returning to the Earth.

Almost everyone has heard the story of Jesus walking on water, and teaching Peter to have faith and to trust in Him. However, just before the text tells us about Peter’s attempt to walk to Jesus on the water, the text also tells us something else quite unusual: 25. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. 26. But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. 27. But immediately He spoke to them, saying, "Take heart, it is I; have no fear." (Matthew 14:25-27 [RSV])

The disciples were afraid because they thought Jesus was a ghost. Now if it is true that ghostly apparitions are all demonic presences as some Christians proclaim, then why were the disciples afraid? Just a few chapters earlier Jesus had demonstrated how to exorcise evil spirits and then He had even commissioned the disciples to go all over the land and do so themselves (Matthew 8:28-34; Matthew 10:1-4). It would seem that they should have had some personal experience in exorcism of demons by themselves. “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” (Luke 10:17 [RSV]) So why were they afraid? They were afraid because they believed in ghosts. They believed disembodied spirits of the dead could still roam and haunt the Earth. Additionally, it is also very telling that Jesus did not rebuke them for thinking He was a ghost. Instead, He chose to calm them down and let them know it was Him. If the concept of a ghost is so foreign to the Scriptures, if it is so unbiblical, as some claim, then why did Jesus not take that opportunity to teach them the truth? I cannot think of a single case that exists whereby Jesus let a teaching opportunity slip by without correction.

In fact, I believe a positive statement of the existence of ghosts is made by Jesus Himself in Luke 24:36-39 [RSV]: 36. As they were saying this, Jesus Himself stood among them. 37. But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. 38. And He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? 39. See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have."

Not only do we have a second event in which the apostles believed they were seeing a spirit, once again Jesus remained silent. He did not take the opportunity to correct them by teaching them the supposed truth that there are no such things as ghosts. But instead of correcting them by saying, "there are no such things as ghosts," Jesus says, "a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." When we look at His actual words as well as notice the words that are conspicuously missing from this statement, it seems to me to offer up the proof that ghosts or spirits could be encountered by the living.

In the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel chapter 28:7-25 we see Saul, King of Israel, visit a medium when God does not answer him when war approaches. The Prophet Samuel had died and King Saul asked the medium to bring up Samuel from the dead. The ghost of Samuel talked to the king and told him his fate was sealed, just as he told him while he was alive. Verses 11-15 [RSV] talk about the appearance of the ghost of Samuel:

11. Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me." 12. When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul." 13. The king said to her, "Have no fear; what do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up out of the Earth."

14. He said to her, "What is his appearance?" And she said, "An old man is coming up; and he is wrapped in a robe." And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance.

15. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" Saul answered, "I am in great distress; for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams; therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do."

The Bible clearly states that this is the ghost of the prophet Samuel. Nowhere in the text does it state that he is otherwise. The spirit is the disembodied essence of the man, and he is recognizable. He is “brought up” from the Earth by the Witch of Endor, brought from the grave to their presence. Therefore, according to the Old Testament and the gospels, the concept of a ghost or disembodied spirit of a deceased person is not only real, it is Scriptural.

Some people believe that the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus proves that ghosts cannot exist. We cannot even agree if this is a parable or a true story, so how can we make doctrine about ghosts from it when we cannot even agree what it is? Secondly, what is the context of the passage? Is the reason the true story/parable is told to us in order for us to make a doctrine regarding the existence of ghosts and the paranormal? I say, absolutely not! The purpose of the real story/parable is to teach us that judgment occurs at the point of death, and we should never put our trust in the riches of this life, but place them where they rightfully belong, in God and Him alone.

To conclude that the dead cannot come to the Earth from this passage is erroneous. The passage does not teach this at all. It says a gulf existed between the dead where the Rich Man was, and the dead where Lazarus was that could not be bridged. This proves again that death is when judgment occurs, also agreeing with the teaching of Hebrews 9:27. There are no second chances once we die. One place of the dead was for punishment, and the other place was designed for reward. Once it was established that this gulf cannot be crossed, it is then that the Rich Man begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his living brothers. Abraham does not say that is impossible at all. We make that assumption. He just says that in this case, it would be fruitless. Fruitless, but not impossible. "They have Moses and the prophets," says Abraham. If they will not listen to them, then neither will they listen to Someone Who is dead and comes back to life. And in this case, I believe Jesus has Abraham referring to Himself. He was the One Who was going to "rise from the dead," and still these hard-hearted Pharisees would not believe. Why? Because as Jesus said, Moses and the prophets spoke of Him (John 5:46).

Please go back and read this passage and see that what I have written is true. Abraham says nothing at all about it being impossible for the dead to go and visit the living.

Let us examine another passage routinely used to "prove" that ghosts cannot come back and interact with the living, Ecclesiastes 9:5 [RSV], which says, "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward; but the memory of them is lost."

Wow! If we are going to form doctrine from this verse and teach that it is impossible for ghosts to walk the Earth then we MUST also conclude that no one will be living when Jesus returns, and all other passages that teach otherwise are in error. This verse does not add a clause that says, "Except for those living when Jesus returns." It simply says that "the living know that they will die." If we are going to take it literally that the only explanation for the clause "but the dead know nothing" is that the spirits of the dead cannot have intelligent interaction with those who are living, then we must hold the same hard and fast standard in our interpretation of "the living know that they will die." There cannot be any living person on the Earth when Jesus returns.

Secondly, we also MUST teach that no one can remember anything about a loved one who has passed away, and if they think they are remembering their deceased grandmother they are really being deceived through the counterfeit actions of a demon. Why? Because the exact words from this verse say "the memory of them is lost." Some claim that what we perceive are the spirits of the dead are really all counterfeit, demonic manifestations in order to deceive us because this verse teaches that the dead cannot appear as a spirit or a ghost to the living. If that is what we conclude from this verse about the existence of ghosts, then we also must conclude the same thing about our memories of the dead: They are demonic manifestations. Do we really want to go down these roads, too? I daresay the answer is no. So if these conclusions are wrong, then so, too, are the conclusions wrong about the context of what is being discussed here.

By the way, we also must conclude that the same fate awaits everyone, regardless of whether or not they are good or evil, or in Christ or not in Christ, because verse 2 of this same chapter says so [RSV]: "since one fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good man, so is the sinner; and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath." Are you going to tell me (rightly) that I am taking this out of context if I interpret it to mean that everyone goes to the same place? Then I am going to tell you (rightly) that interpreting verse 5 to say it forbids the existence of ghosts is also taking it out of context. Solomon is making no declaration one way or another about the existence or lack of the existence of ghosts. He is teaching as he does in this entire book that everything we do in this life is fruitless, it is "vanity of vanities," if we forget our purpose, our whole duty of man, in being here in the first place, and summed in chapter 12:13 [RSV], which is: "Fear God, and keep His commandments." That is it! That is the meaning of this verse! Our lives are worthless if we do otherwise. It has nothing whatsoever to do with creating a doctrine about ghosts!

Lastly, we cannot ignore the appearance of Moses and Elijah with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. They had to have appeared as spirits or ghosts, because this was before Jesus had been resurrected. He is the first to receive a glorified, resurrected body (1 Corinthians 15:20). It is not until Jesus returns that we will be resurrected (if dead) or translated (if living) into a glorified body like His (1 John 3:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). Once again, we have an historical record of the appearance of ghosts or spirits of men who have died and interacted with the living in an intelligent manner. Dare we say this was a demonic counterfeit?

We should never allow anyone to fool us. I could be wrong, but it would seem from what we have read that belief in the existence of ghosts, the disembodied spirits of the dead, is Scriptural, and not heresy. It would seem to me that later Bible readers and teachers have read into the text their own preconceived notions which led to faulty conclusions, instead of reading from the texts and basing their ideas from the Scripture itself.

The Day of Atonement

The problem of sin in the Old Testament, pre-Christian era was dealt with by the use of substitutes. The Old Testament substitutes were animals such as sheep, goats and bulls. These animals, which were pure and unblemished, were sacrificed, and their blood offered on the altar by priests. And the entire Jewish sacrificial system was a type of the one to come when Jesus Christ went to the cross on our behalf. In the 16th chapter of the Book of Leviticus the holiday of Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, was established. It was a day set aside for the people to afflict their soul to atone for the sins of the past year. It was a day for repentance and making amends. Of all the Jewish holidays, Yom Kippur is probably considered by most Jews to be the most important since many Jews who do not observe any other holiday will keep this holiday by refraining from work, fasting and attending synagogue services.

The Israelites were taught that the sacrifice of an animal atoned for their sins. They believed in the power of sacrifices and offerings. They believed that the blood of animals helped to counter their sins and restore them to God. The most important offerings for sin were made on the annual Day of Atonement. The high priest, on this day, and only on this day, entered the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle or Temple with a blood sacrifice. The blood sacrifice the high priest brought before God was to make atonement for the sins of Israel. Salvation and atonement were rooted in the Old Covenant. But numerous Old Testament references show that the sacrifices in and of themselves were unable to atone for sin (Psalm 51:16-17: Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8). Only the pure sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son and the shedding of His holy blood could accomplish what the blood of bulls and goats was unable to do (Hebrews 10:4). And when Jesus entered the Most Holy Place when He offered Himself on the cross of Calvary, the veil of the curtain was ripped in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). No longer do we have to have a sinful man as a priest act as our mediator between God and us, we have God Himself as our Mediator, Jesus Christ, who walked this Earth as a Man, and yet He lived His life completely free of sin. He understands us, “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One Who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15 [RSV]).

It was customary for the Jews to wear white on the Day of Atonement, for white symbolizes purity and calls to mind the promise that our sins shall be made as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). In Jesus Christ we are clothed in His white, pure garments, and we become clothed in His holy garb when we submit to have our sins washed away in baptism. In Jesus Christ we are reconciled to God, and no longer His enemy (Romans 5:10). As the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3:27 [New Revised Standard with Apocrypha], “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Are you ready for your Day of Atonement with Jesus as your sacrificial Lamb? All things are ready.

Making a Strong Church

The value of physical strength is recognized in a large variety of areas. The most successful sports teams are comprised the best and strongest athletes who excel at their positions. A military is well trained and its members maintain the highest of conditioning before they take the battlefield if they are going to be successful. Businesses who wish to get and stay ahead need to hire the best employees if they are going to remain solvent. Strength that comes from the body and the mind cannot be denied for any organization to succeed, and this goes for churches, too. In the case of churches, however, there are even greater blessings to be received in spiritual might. Tragically, in the world in which we live today sin has lost much of its stigma and temptations are everywhere. Since it is impossible to shelter oneself from all temptation, a person must learn how to say “No!” to temptation. The best way to do this is to have a strong character, a built-in defense system based upon self-control coupled with a keen awareness that one belongs to Christ. Self-control is a mark of a strong, mature child of God: 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23. gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 [RSV]) Yes, there are blessings in being spiritually strong, and this is true o both the individual and the congregational levels.

There are churches that have left their first love, and churches that are lukewarm and dead (Revelation 2 and 3), but we are interested in what makes a strong church. The best role model we have is the church in Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 2:41-47, and from this we have some excellent information given to us on how to build a strong church.

The church at Jerusalem was strong because it was devoted to teaching the apostles’ doctrine. The people respected the men the Lord had appointed to carry His message, and they followed their lead. By believing their word and teaching others, the word of God was able to convict lost sinners of their need for Jesus Christ, and the church grew at a tremendous rate.

The church at Jerusalem was strong because they maintained close fellowship with each other. There was joint participation in all areas of their life. They prayed together, they ate together, they shared their possessions with those in need, and they worshipped together. They continued daily with one accord, praising God and having favor with all people. Fellowship kept them strong.

The church at Jerusalem was strong because it continued in the breaking of bread. We learn from Acts 2:42 and Acts 20:7 that the church came together and that they partook of the Lord’s Supper. This memorial feast would keep their hearts and minds centered on Christ. The only way the church can be strong and remain strong is by keeping its eyes fixed upon Jesus – the Lord designed the communion for this purpose (1 Corinthians 11:20-26).

The Tree of Life, the Wisdom of God and the Holy Spirit

Last week I was asked the following questions:

“Did Adam and Eve know of this Tree or one that they might discover if left in the Garden? Maybe they were told at another time not to eat of the Tree of Life. If they had eaten of the Tree of Life and lived forever, would that have interrupted the plan of salvation and would their children have also lived forever? I couldn't find anything that elaborated on the Tree of Life beyond what is said in Genesis.”

I will answer the second question first. I would have to say, based upon what the Scriptures tell us in Genesis 3:22-24 [RSV], the answer would be “Yes”: 22. Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever" – 23. therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24. He drove out the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

What appears to be an easy answer becomes much more complicated when one answers the first question and digs a little deeper into the study of the Tree of Life. It would seem the answer to the second question is Yes, they would have lived forever without physically dying, but they would have remained forever spiritually dead. Just as it is the Spirit Who gives our spirits life in Christ (Acts 2:38; Romans 6:4), so, too, is it the Spirit Who gave life to the dead body of Jesus Christ when He was resurrected from the dead (Romans 8:11). Each one of us is also promised a new, resurrected body when Jesus comes to claim His own (Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15; 1 John 3:2). Had Adam and Eve had access to the Tree of Life after the Fall, then they would never have been given the opportunity to obtain life eternal in a glorified, resurrected body and be with the Lord. In a very real sense, they would have lived forever as a zombie.

To answer the first question, I believe Adam and Even knew of this Tree before their sin, and that they did, indeed, eat of it. I say this because the Tree of Life was in the Garden (Genesis 2:9) and God told them they could eat of all the trees in the Garden of Eden except the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:16-17).

It is interesting that the next time the Tree of Life appears in God's word after Genesis is in Proverbs 3:13-18 [RSV], and this is a reference to Wisdom being the Tree of Life, and Wisdom is given a feminine characteristic.

13. Happy is the man who finds Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding, 14. for the gain from it is better than gain from silver and its profit better than gold. 15. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 16. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18. She is a Tree of Life to those who lay hold of Her; those who hold Her fast are called happy.

Now what makes this even more interesting is what follows on the heels of this in the next few verses:

19. The Lord by Wisdom founded the Earth; by understanding He established the heavens; 20. by His knowledge the deeps broke forth, and the clouds drop down the dew. 21. My son, keep sound Wisdom and discretion; let them not escape from your sight, 22. and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck. (Proverbs 3:19-22 [RSV])

I have seen that Spirit in the Greek is masculine, but Spirit in the Hebrew is feminine. What is being stated here in Proverbs is also what was being stated in Genesis 1, with Wisdom and Spirit being synonymous. It was with God's Spirit that the world was created.

"And the Earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (Genesis 1:2 [RSV])

We also have the tree of life mentioned in Proverbs 11:30 [RSV], once again associated with Wisdom (Spirit?): "The fruit of the righteous is a Tree of Life; and he that is wise winneth souls."

Here are a couple more passages in Proverbs [RSV] where the Tree of Life is encountered:

Proverbs 13:12: "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; but when the desire cometh, it is a Tree of Life."

Proverbs 15:4 : "A gentle tongue is a Tree of Life; but perverseness therein is a breaking of the spirit."

For further evidence that Wisdom is synonymous with the Holy Spirit, listen to what Jesus says in Luke 11:49-52 [RSV]: 49. “Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,' 50. that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation, 51. from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it shall be required of this generation. 52. Woe to you lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.” It was the Holy Spirit Who sent the prophets of God to warn the people and proclaim His word, and the lawyers were blasted for withholding the knowledge, the Wisdom of God, from the people, and “teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Matthew 15:9 [RSV]).

The next time we see the Tree of Life we find it in Revelation 2:7 [RSV]: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. ‘To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the Paradise of God.’"

Revelation 22:2 [RSV]: "And on this side of the river and on that was the Tree of Life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the Tree were for the healing of the nations."

Revelation 22:14 [RSV]: "Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the Tree of Life, and may enter in by the gates into the city."

Revelation 22:19 [RSV]: "and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Tree of Life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book."

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that we must be born of water and the Spirit. We must be reborn if we are to obtain eternal life: 5. "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5-6 [RSV])

In the very next chapter in the Gospel of John, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well that only those who worship in Spirit and in Truth can worship the Father: 21. "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth, for such the Father seeks to worship Him. 24. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth." (John 3:21-24 [RSV]) We receive the Holy Spirit of Christ when we come to Him in obedient, saving faith and are immersed into His body (Acts 2:38), and clothed in His holy garments (Galatians 3:27). The Holy Spirit is our down payment, or God’s guarantee, of our eternal salvation as long as “we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7 [RSV]). The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:13-14 [RSV], 13. In Him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14. Which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory. When was the promise of the Holy Spirit given, and Who gave it? It was Jesus Christ, Who promised in John 14:15-17; 26 [RSV], 15. "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, 17. even the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; you know Him, for He dwells with you, and will be in you. 26. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Jesus Christ is Truth: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me” (John 3:16 [RSV]). Therefore, when Jesus said we must worship in Spirit and Truth He was saying we must worship the Father through Him and in Him.

We must partake of Christ and His Spirit if we are to obtain eternal life. Jesus told the disciples in John 6:53-58 [RSV], 53. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; 54. he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me will live because of Me. 58. This is the Bread Which came down from Heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this Bread will live forever.” Whenever we gather around to partake of the emblems of His body and blood in communion with our Lord and each other, His body and blood given in sacrifice for our sins, we are symbolically doing what we will do in Heaven throughout eternity. “For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 [RSV]). Jesus said in Matthew 26:26-28 [RSV], 26. “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27. And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; 28. for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:7-10 [RSV], 7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8. which He lavished upon us. 9. For He has made known to us in all Wisdom and insight the mystery of His will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ 10. as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in Heaven and things on Earth. It is the Holy Spirit Who reveals the mystery of the Lord’s will to us through the word of God, whereby our faith derives (Romans 10:17). Once again, Wisdom is synonymous with the Holy Spirit. We have redemption in His blood for life is in the blood: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life” (Leviticus 17:11 [RSV]). And only in the shedding of the blood is there forgiveness of sins, and only through the sacrifice of Christ is atonement, or reconciliation, made for our sins: 22. without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 10. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. 21. And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22. He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him, 23. provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which has been preached to every creature under Heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. (Hebrews 9:22; Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21-23 [RSV])

Therefore, from these passages we have seen, I believe that the Tree of Life is the Spirit of Christ, It is the Wisdom of God. Only those who have the Spirit of Christ are His, and only they will be privileged to continue to partake of His Spirit, the Tree of Life, throughout eternity. 12. So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh – 13. for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. 14. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16. it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17. and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.