Bio

Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, the author of Truthspeak and his new book, The Gospel of Grace and Truth: A Theology of Grace from the Gospel of John," both available on Amazon.com. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing to Dr. Halsey at michaeldhalsey@bellsouth.net and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Fellowship Journal."

Comments may be addressed to michaeldhalsey@bellsouth.net.

If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.

Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM at the above address. You'll be glad you did.

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
clarityministries.org

Also:

Biblical Ministries, Inc.
C/O Dr. Richard Grubbs
P. O. Box 64582
Lubbock, TX 79464-4582

Friday, January 31, 2014

THE MAN IN THE MIRROR

It's 1915 and a movie is causing a stir in America. It's a film called "Hypocrites." It has upset the masses.

The film begins in a church service and the minister is preaching a sermon based on Matthew 23. As the pastor speaks (although it's a silent film) we're to understand by the dialogue written on the screen that he's talking about hypocrisy to his wealthy and well-dressed congregation.

As the reverend delivers his Sunday sermon, the camera shows us the reactions of various members of the church as they sit in their appointed pews. The reaction of some is boredom and we notice a yawner or two, and we note that one poor soul has nodded off and is in the arms of Morpheus.

Yet the powerful among the congregation are restless, frowning, and they await the end of the homily so that they can have a secret discussion about the reverend who's gone too far this time.

The sermon is over, the members are filing out, but only one comes to the minister to thank and encourage him for his words. She does, but he looks sad. Outside the church building, one well-dressed pillar of the church is talking to the other powers within the flock. It's sort of a secret meeting. We read what he's saying: "We must ask for his resignation, but don't involve me in it." The pillar in the church will work behind the scenes; he's the serpent in the garden. The minister has struck a nerve.

The pastor, still in the auditorium, believes himself a failure and, disheartened and discouraged, sits in a chair just off the platform. As he sits, his eyes close; he falls asleep and dreams a dream.

In his dream, which we see enacted on the screen, he sees a an olden day monk busy at work in a closed off space in a monastery sculpting a work of art, not allowing anyone to see it. Over the course of time, he finishes the statue and holds the great unveiling.

As many gather from the monastery and the town, we see men, women, children, and dignitaries all in festive dress and mood awaiting the great unveiling.

At last the moment arrives and the artist unveils his masterpiece. It's the figure of a woman, and he has named her "Truth." But, as works of are wont to be, she is The Naked Truth. The townsfolk are outraged; they rise up and kill the monk.

The dream continues as the the statue comes to life and begins going from one segment of society to another, holding up a mirror to various groups of people--a family, politicians, a party, and in each case, the mirror shows the naked truth: they're hypocrites.

Truth visits a group called, "Society," those of wealth, education, and culture. A member of "Society," upon learning that Truth is coming says: "Truth is welcome if clothed in our ideas." And that sentence, writ large in the film, gives us food for thought.

Klebold and Harris, the Columbine killers, made secret videos of themselves as they talked and plotted the unthinkable, what Eric Harris called, "The Rampage." Their profanity-laced tirades often turned philosophical as they talked about their evolution, their being "godlike." Harris, enamored with natural selection, the mechanism of evolution, talked about how "the stupid, the fat, and the crippled" needed to be weeded out so that at last, "the human race could be proud of itself." The Columbine killers deemed themselves as having evolved to a superior state; therefore they just the ones to do the weeding and help natural selection along. 

The authorities have not yet released all of the transcripts of the videos, but you get the idea.

But here's a question: did you know about the killers' rants about their plan to help the evolutionary process? Probably not. Why not?

Could one reason be that such logical conclusions about evolution are not acceptable in our society? After all, if we're all animals, why not do some weeding? Could it be that we don't want untoward things said about the results of thinking evolution through? Is this an example of "We welcome the truth if clothed in our ideas?" Is this an example of, if truth doesn't come clothed in our ideas, we banish it, so there's no discussion of the conclusions of the killers.

Do you know that there is one book, a book highly touted by the intellectual elite, that was found in the possession of three infamous killers?

The first incident occurred in 1980, when Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon with five bullets. Chapman was carrying a copy of The Catcher in the Rye at the time he was arrested. After committing the crime, Chapman even pulled the book out of his pocket and started reading while still steps away from the murder scene.

The second incident happened a year later when John Hinckley, Jr. plotted to kill President Ronald Reagan to impress actress Jodie Foster. Hinckley said that The Catcher in the Rye was his favorite book. He told police that he drew strength from reading the book and got pumped up to shoot Reagan.

Robert John Bardo took a bus all the way from Tucson, Arizona to Hollywood because he was obsessed with "My Sister Sam" actress Rebecca Schaeffer. He found out her home address by going to the DMV, stalked her for a while, and even went to her house to get her autograph. This is similar to what Chapman did before killing Lennon. Bardo was carrrying a copy of The Catcher in the Rye when he shot the actress in cold blood in front of her apartment.

Coincidences? If one person, carrying a copy of The Catcher in the Rye, murders someone in cold blood, that's a coincidence. But three? Come on!

When I was a freshman, fall semester, sitting in my English class, my professor was going down the roster assigning each one of us a book to read and give a written and oral report about it. (He was assigning each of us a different book.) When he came to me, he said, "Mr. Halsey, are you open-minded?"

Not knowing what he had reference to, I answered, "No, I'm not."

He ignored my answer and told me that he was assigning me the book, The Catcher in the Rye to read and report on. I'd never heard of the book and I'd never heard of its author, J. D. Salinger.

Then the professor went on to the next person to give him or her their assigned book.

There is much that transpired after that, a long, but interesting story, but you need to know that I didn't read the book. I faked it. I got hold of "Time Magazine," read a review of it, and put that review in my own words into the report he wanted and that was that. (Time and space prohibit my telling you how I got out of giving the oral report. Maybe another day, another place.)

Yet our intellectuals brag on the book as a must-read. They hail its reclusive author as a genius, a person we should admire for what he wrote. (I still don't want to read the book; as a matter of fact, I'll never read it, but one who has, calls it "Sheer drivel.")

The naked truth about The Catcher in the Rye? It has warped people's minds. But since that statement doesn't come clothed in the ideas of the intellectual elite, it's bad form to point out that three murderers read it, loved it, were inspired by it, and carried it with them on a mission to kill and assassinate. Let's not talk about that, let's just keep on assigning the book to college freshman and let's keep on telling everyone how they must read it.

Here's an interesting item, yet another case in point--on a television program, a woman is an absolutely crazed killer of absolutely innocent people. Just as she's about to kill one more person, the FBI finally catches up with her and they take her into custody.

In the next scene one FBI agent asks, "Now that she's been interrogated, what have we learned about her?" The other agent rattles off a few things they've learned about her, including, "She believes in creation."

Hey! How about that for a nifty, yet nefarious move! Talk about crafty! The writers slipped, "She believes in creation" into the dialogue so that you and I, the great unwashed, will think, "That woman is a crazed killer. She believes in creation. Therefore, people who believe in creation are crazy."Just think--of all the things the writers could have included in their list of things they learned about the woman, "She believes in creation" is the one they chose. Deliberate? Of course.

[By inserting that line into the dialogue, the writers have committed a logical fallacy called, "The Genetic Fallacy - an attempt to endorse or disqualify a claim (in this case to disqualify the claim of creation) because of a person who holds the belief. It would be like my saying, "The Nazis developed the Volkswagen Beetle. Therefore, you shouldn't buy a VW because Hitler believed it was a good car."]

That dialogue is interesting because it shows us that, whereas, on the one hand, we're not to mention how The Catcher in the Rye is directly linked to three men on a mission to kill, we're not to discuss the influence of evolution on Klebold and Harris, but, instead, we should discuss how creationism somehow connects with a nut. Hinckley, Chapman, Bardo, Klebold, and Harris were real people creating real havoc. The loon on the television program was fictional.

We shouldn't be surprised at all this because that's what the world system does. It is deceptive. It censors our conversations by pressure.

Is there a statement in the Bible that says that fallen man welcomes the truth only if clothed in his ideas? How about John 1:10-11: "He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive ["welcome"] Him." 

Jesus came in "grace and truth." Man's idea is that of working for salvation.Grace doesn't come clothed with man's ideas; the flesh doesn't want grace. The flesh wants God to come applauding its good works. Grace is an insult to works. 

Jesus, like Truth in the film, holds up a mirror to the flesh and reveals its pride, its hypocrisy, and its need of grace. Many do not like what they see in the mirror of grace. Their solution is to try to break the mirror. 

But one day, the Mirror will break them.
___________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, and the author of Truthspeak, available on Amazon.com. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing sue.bove@gmail.com and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Fellowship Journal."

If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.

Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM at the above address. You'll be glad you did.

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
clarityministries.org

Also:

Biblical Ministries, Inc.
C/O Dr. Richard Grubbs
P. O. Box 64582
Lubbock, TX 79464-4582

 







Friday, January 24, 2014

JOHN BOOKMAN AND HIS BOY: PARTS I AND II


JOHN BOOKMAN AND HIS BOY

[John Bookman is a God-fearing, church-going deacon, loving husband, and caring father. He is also a firm believer in the teachings of something called “Lordship Salvation.” Mr. Bookman is concerned about his nine-year-old son and his spiritual state. One evening, he calls his son into his study for a man-to-man talk.]

JB: Son, it’s time you and I had a serious talk about the good news of the gospel. Now I know son, that you’ve been in church all your life from the Cradle Roll on, that you’ve gone to Sunday school every Sunday and you’ve been in the church’s Youth for Truth group since you were seven. I just want to go over a few things with you so that we’re clear.

Son: What are we gonna talk about?

JB: I just want to go over the gospel with you and make sure you understand what it is. I mean, you know, what you have to do to be saved. OK?

Son: Sure, Dad. This is great for you and me to talk like this. I really like it.

JB: Well, son, first off, I want you to know that salvation is a free gift from God, no works, no good deeds to get it, it’s free. Now, then, to be saved you have to repent.

Son: What’s “repent?” I’ve heard the pastor talk about it, but I don’t understand it.

JB: That’s a good question, son; I’m really glad you want to know, so, ask questions when you don’t understand. “Repent” means that to be saved you renounce sin and you start longing for righteousness. Along with that, it means that you feel sorry for your sins and you confess them.

Son: OK. . . I guess. What if I can’t remember all of them? How many should I confess? And what does “confess” mean?

JB: Don’t worry about the number, son, just think of a few of them, the more the better, and confess those. “Confess” means that you say what they are.

Son: Who do I say them to?

JB: Name them to God; that would be good. But there’s more to “repent,” so let me finish. “Repent” also means that you need to make restitution for those sins.

Son: What’s “restitution?”

JB: There’s a dictionary over there; why don’t you look it up? There’s nothing like looking it up so you can really learn what it means and you won’t forget it.

[After thumbing through the pages of the huge dictionary his father was using as a doorstop, he finds “restitution,” and reads:] “Reparation made by giving an equivalent or compensation for loss, damage, or injury caused; indemnification.”

Son: Gosh, Dad, there are a lot of words there I don’t understand.

JB: Yeah, but let’s don’t get all bogged down in this; let’s just say that “restitution” means that you go to the boys and girls you’ve sinned against, tell them you’re sorry, that you want to make it up to them, so you buy them a candy bar or buy them a new toy to replace he one you broke when you got mad at them, something like that. See what I mean?

Son: Yes sir; I guess so. How many of them do I have to go to? What if I can’t remember them all?

JB: Uh . . . don’t worry about that son. God will tell you who to go to. The next thing you have to do to repent is to resolve that you’re going to do better, promising you’re going to change your life. You know, promise to turn from your sin; then do it. That’s like a 180-degree turn.

Son: What’s 180 degrees? And do I have to turn from all of my sins?  

JB: A 180 degree turn is like when we’re in the car and I’m driving along and Mom says that she forgot to turn off the oven, so we turn around and go back. Well, uh, let’s say you turn from some of your sins; we can’t be perfect, you know, so, like, turn from the big ones. That covers “repent.” Now that you understand that, you need to publicly express your faith in Christ and identify with our church.

Son: I have to get up in front of all those people at church and tell them? Then I have to join the church? But, Dad, I’m scared to get up in front of people. I don’t know what I’d say. Just walking down that long aisle is scary. Why do I have to do that?

JB: I don’t know why you have to do it; I think Jesus said you have to in Matthew somewhere. But, don’t be scared, son. God will give you the words to say when you get up there in front of all those people.

Now, let’s talk about some other things you need to do. You also must commit your life to Christ, tell Him you’re going to serve him for the rest of your years. You need to enthrone Christ and deny self. I like the word “surrender;” surrender your life to Christ. Like our pastor always says, “If He’s not Lord of all, He’s not Lord at all.” (Mr. Bookman emphasized “of” and “at,” just as his pastor always did.) This means a life-long commitment to Christ. You do your part and God does His part. You know son, grace is costly. It costs you your life, just like salvation cost Jesus His life, so why shouldn’t it cost our lives?

Son: “What’s “deny self?” What’s “grace?”

JB: “Deny self” means you don’t do what you want to do; you do what Jesus wants you to do. Grace means “unmerited favor,” it means salvation is free, like a gift.

Son: But you just said that grace costs something, like my life. I don’t understand. You just said it’s a free gift. How can it be a free gift if it costs something and I have to do my part?

JB: Well, let’s look at it this way; maybe this will help. Last Sunday our pastor said, “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone.”

Son: Uh? I don’t get that either. “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone?” If faith alone saves, doesn’t it have to be alone to save? This is really complicated stuff. This doesn’t sound like good news to me; it sounds to me like it’s pretty hard to get saved. It’s going to cost me my life? Are we talking about me getting killed in some jungle somewhere? Yet it’s free? Can I go play a video game?

JB: Wait a minute, son. I want to be clear on this; it’s important. Just a few more minutes. To be saved, you must submit to God, resist the devil, draw near to God, cleanse your hands, purify your heart, be miserable, mourn, weep, let your laughter be turned to gloom, and humble yourself in the sight of God. In addition, you have to sell all you have, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus.

Son: Gosh, Dad, that’s an awful lot of stuff. Do I have to do all that? When did you and Mom sell all our stuff? You haven’t sold all we have. We have a car, a new TV, and a house, lots of other stuff, and besides, do I have to sell my video games and give the money to the poor? The pastor drives a nice car and lives in a nice home, too; his son plays video games. If they haven’t sold anything, then why do I have to?

JB: Good question, son. I think the Bible means you don’t have to do it, but you have to be willing to do it.

Son: But that’s not what you said a minute ago. You said that I have to do it. Are you and Mom gonna sell our house, car, and our new TV and give the money away? Where would we live? Please don’t sell the TV until after the Super Bowl.

Can I go play video games now?

JB: Sure, you can go play, but think about what I’ve said. I’m glad we’ve had this talk. It’s important. I like it when you ask me questions. You’re never going to understand things unless you ask questions.

John didn’t want to admit it, but as he talked to his son, even he was getting confused. “He’s right; this is complicated. He just doesn’t get it. I guess we’ll have to wait until he’s older for him to be saved,” John mumbled.

John felt uneasy. It was hard for him to sleep that night, so he turned on his 50-inch Samsung flat screen plasma HD TV and watched “Billy the Kid vs. Dracula” until midnight.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

The above conversation is a hypothetical one, but really, not so hypothetical at all. What John Bookman was telling his son is actually compilation of the “gospel” as presented by lordship salvation teachers, writers, and preachers, direct quotes from them, as a matter of fact. 

They are such highly respected individuals as Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. John R. W. Stott, Dr. J. I. Packer, Dr. James Montgomery Boice, A. W. Tozer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, with the Wesleyan Articles of Faith thrown into the confusion and Anna B. Mow, a quote from her book, Your Child: A Guide for Parents and Teachers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1963)

Mr. Bookman’s uneasy conclusion about his son was a correct one; how could a nine year old be saved by that “gospel?” Here’s the conclusion of one of those listed above on the matter of child evangelism, speaking at a Q/A session at a conference in Brewster, Maine on September 25, 1990:

Now let me say this and I don’t want you to panic when I say it. Saving faith is an adult issue. Saving faith is an adult experience.

Am I saying that a child cannot be saved? I’m saying that salvation is a conscious turning from sin to follow Jesus Christ with an understanding of something of the sinfulness of sin, its consequences and something of who Jesus Christ is, what He has provided and that I’m committing my life to Him.

At what point can a child understand that? I tell parents that salvation is an adult decision. There is no illustration in Scripture of childhood salvation. There is none. People want to throw the Philippian jailer and his household [oikos] [at me]; well that’s talking about his servants so there is no reference there about his children. So there is no such thing as a childhood conversion. [Incorrect: “household” in the ancient world included the family. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, pg. 441 Def. 2: oikos--“The inmates of a house, all the persons forming one family, a household [as in] Acts xvi.31”]

Don’t misunderstand: Dr. MacArthur is not saying that a child cannot be saved. But he is saying that if a child is to be saved, he must understand as an adult, make an adult decision, and have an adult experience. Yet, in Matthew 18:3, Jesus tells us that to be saved, adults must become as children (simple faith alone in Christ alone), not the other way around where children must have an adult understanding, make an adult decision, and have adult experience.

Since 1990, the speaker has become more cautious, writing, "Children cannot be saved before they are old enough to understand the gospel clearly and can embrace it with genuine faith.”

But the question remains, “How old does a child need to be before he can understand the gospel as defined by Lordship salvation advocates?”
   
The bottom line is this: Lordship salvation is complicated for a child and for an adult.

Salvation by grace isn’t complicated: anyone can have eternal life by trusting Christ alone, the Son of God, who died for our sins and rose from the dead.

The Bookman boy would understand John 3:16, but he sure couldn’t understand his dad. 

 PART II

During all of last week, John Bookman had been worried about the conversation he and his son had regarding salvation. The boy found the talk with his dad confusing and John himself had to admit it was no wonder that the boy didn't understand.

John had told his son that salvation was free, but then told him that, although it was free, it would cost him everything. This didn't seem to make any sense to his son, and it didn't make any sense to John either, he was just parroting what he'd been told.

As John recalled the conversation, he'd told his son that to be saved, a person had to sell all he had and give it to the poor. But when the lad had pointed out that neither his dad nor his mom, nor any one he knew, including his pastor had done that, John had backtracked and said, "Well, you have to be willing to sell everything."

But that didn't make much sense to the boy, because he wasn't willing to sell  everything, not really.

John was wondering how the conversation last week had gotten off track when his son came into the room and said, "Dad, can we talk like we did last week?"

"Sure, son, I'm always here for you. What's on your mind?"

The Bookman boy sat down on the couch opposite his dad's recliner and waited respectfully until until his father put "Wheel of Fortune" on mute. (John was sitting on the remote, so it took him awhile to figure out where it was, but when he found it, Pat Sajak and Vanna White fell silent.

"Well, dad, I've been thinking. How can I know if I'm saved or not? I've tried to feel sorry for the sins I could think of; I've told myself that I'm willing to sell everything, and I guess I've done  like you said, 'Submit therefore to God.  Draw near to God. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts.  Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord.' I've felt sorry, made restitution, surrendered, turned, vowed, and promised all those things you said to do, but I still wonder how I can know if I'm saved or not."

Mr. Bookman began to think of all the things he'd heard his pastor say and, with a deep deep breath and exhalation, said, "Son, that's a good question, a very good one for an eleven-year old. A lot of adults ask that same question too. 

"Son, the way you can tell is if you produce fruit in your life."

The boy got that look in his eye and asked, "What's fruit?"

"Well, son," John began," it's like the good things you do, things like helping people, being nice, you know, good works."

The boy was getting confused again and said, "But people who don't even claim to be Christians do good things too. Many celebrities give a lot of money to good causes, people lend a helping hand to their neighbors and live morally good lives of providing for their families, taking care of their aging parents, things like that. And, besides that, what if I stop doing these 'good things?'"

John Bookman wanted to change the subject, so he continued, "You'll love the brethren, son, like the Bible says. That's another way you can tell if you're saved or not."

"But Dad, you and Mom don't like Bertha Johnson at church; you say that she's a gossip, a busybody, a troublemaker, and I heard Mom tell you that she'd like to tie Mrs. Johnson to a tree and shout Bible verses at her."

"Son," Mr. Bookman said, "I'm sure Mom didn't mean it in exactly that way, but let's go on. Do you have any other questions?"

"Yes, Sir, I do. What if later on, after I'm grown up and all, I kill somebody, or maybe like the man at the church who walked down the aisle six years ago, that everybody was so proud of, what if I get addicted to drugs and gambling, leave the church, and kill somebody and go to prison like you said he did in your prayer request last Sunday."

"That's another good question, son. Mr. Randall is his name and he really backslid didn't he? Well, that just goes to show that he wasn't really saved in the first place, like we thought. He didn't persevere to the end."

Now the boy was getting confused even more. "But wait a minute. How do I know I won't go off the beam like Mr. Randall?"

Mr. Bookman got really serious and said, "You don't; we don't have any guarantees in this life."

"Then, I really can't know if I'm saved or not because I don't know if I'll commit murder or suicide or if I might leave the faith. None of us knows what we'll do in the future, do we?"

The boy continued, "And what about my Sunday school teacher? He said that he doesn't believe that once we're saved, we're always saved. He believes that after you're saved, you can lose it if you sin, like a really big sin. So, from what you're saying and what he's saying, Mr. Randall either lost his salvation, or according to you, he never had it in the first place. 

"I'm really confused, dad."

Now, Mr. Bookman was getting confused again. This conversation, which he'd hoped would bring his son assurance of his salvation, had turned into its depressing opposite; fear of losing salvation,  confusion, doubts, and no assurance. Things were a mess and getting messier.

About that time, Mrs. Bookman, who'd just gotten off the phone with Sister Bertha Johnson, told everyone she was too upset to cook dinner and that they were going out to eat. She asked her husband if, after dinner, they could stop by Home Depot. She said she wanted to buy a rope.
________________________________________________________________________

John Bookman's error is a typical one for Lordship Salvationists: they try to find assurance of their salvation based on their subjective experiences and introspection. Instead of looking to Christ and His word, they look inward, at themselves and their works. They hope against hope that they'll be faithful to Christ to the end of their lives. When sins come, as they will, they lose their assurance and wonder if they were "really saved," many times doubting that they were. They live in a world of fear and doubt. 

Doubts depart when the believer looks to Christ and to His word because those are objective foci. We look to Christ's promise that "whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life," that "whoever comes to Me, I will in nowise cast out," as well as Romans 8 and a host of other promise texts. After all, eternal life is eternal. His word tells us that if we trust Him alone for salvation, no matter what we do at any point in life after that, nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8). That's why we call grace "amazing."

The Bookman boy was confused because his Sunday school teacher was telling him one thing, his father another, and both were wrong.

Mr. Bookman got his "tests of salvation" from a misunderstanding of the book of I John which he thought was telling a person how to know if he's saved, whereas I John is telling a Christian how he can know if he's in fellowship with the Lord. (See I John 1:3-7. for the purpose statement of the book)

We can know if we're saved or not: look to Christ--have you trusted Him and Him alone for forgiveness of sin and eternal life? When a person's faith meets the right object, Jesus Christ, that person is saved and forever so. 

That's it! Amazing grace! 
__________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, and the author of Truthspeak, available on Amazon.com. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing sue.bove@gmail.com and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Fellowship Journal."

If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.

Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM at the above address. You'll be glad you did.

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
clarityministries.org

Also:

Biblical Ministries, Inc.
C/O Dr. Richard Grubbs
P. O. Box 64582
Lubbock, TX 79464-4582



Friday, January 17, 2014

8 AM SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

It's 8 AM, September 11, 2001, and here's what the reporters on ABC's "Good Morning America" are excited about:

"IT'S PRIMARY ELECTION DAY IN NEW YORK CITY AS FOUR DEMOCRATS AND TWO REPUBLICANS WANT TO BE THEIR PARTY'S NOMINEE FOR MAYOR OF GOTHAM."

"ELIZABETH DOLE WILL RUN FOR THE SENATE."

"THE BIG NEWS THAT'S OCCUPYING WASHINGTON DC AND MOST OF THE NATION IS THAT MICHAEL JORDAN IS HINTING THAT HE MAY COME OUT OF RETIREMENT AND BACK TO THE NBA."

Forty-six minutes later, a plane going 470 miles an hour crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, the carnage begins, and the world changes.

The previously reported news stories didn't seem important after 8:46. The story about Michael Jordan, which, as one reporter said at 8 AM, "Is the talk of the nation," at 8:46 had less less weight than a serving of cotton candy. At 8:46 it was, "Michael Jordan? Who cares?"

At 8 AM, we were wondering, "Is Elizabeth Dole going to win the Senate seat from North Carolina?" At 8:46, we were asking, "Elizabeth Who?"

Our focus at 8 AM, September 11, 2001, was on the trivial.

Committees, both church and business, are infamous for keeping track of the minutes and wasting the hours chewing  on the trivial. It has ever been thus. Back in 1957, a finance committee spent hardly any time approving the construction of a nuclear power station, then spent hours debating the construction of a bike shed. Maybe that's why one comedian said, "A committee is a group of men who individually can do nothing, but as a group decide that nothing can be done."

There is a book, a best seller that makes us take our focus off the trivial and onto THE BIG STORY.

The Bible is the Book of THE BIG STORY about the God who created us and loves us becoming Man in order to redeem us from the wreckage our guilt and our sin have done to us. The Bible is THE BIG STORY of God's moving history along: the Incarnation, the Crucifixion (the substitutionary atonement for our sins), the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the return of our Savior Jesus Christ. Add heaven and hell to the THE BIG STORY,  and do we ever have a story!

Wow! No other story comes close. All other stories are pygmies compared to THE  BIG STORY. All other stories are like the Michael Jordan story when it's compared to 9-11. All other stories are popcorn compared to sirloin.

I'm wondering if, when we go to church, are we hearing THE BIG STORY, our part in it, and how we can proclaim it?

I think that we've got many substitutes out there pretending to be THE BIG STORY, but they aren't. Take, for example, all the "How To" sermons. Millions of these are preached every Sunday. "How to Be a Success," "How God Wants to Promote You." "How to Manage Your Teenager." "How to Construct Lasting Friendships.""How to Build Self-Esteem." "Get Rich." Throw into all that the usual sentimental Mothers' Day sermons and the excoriating Fathers' Day sermons and we have a parade of the trivial.

Along with those sermons come the ubiquitous bullet points and outlines which are our guides to get us the success, the promotions, a docile teenager, friends, money, and the highly prized self-esteem. Can the Christian life be lived according to neat outline? If it can, why can't I find such a three, four, or five point one in the Bible?

I don't think we can or were meant to live our lives by an outline.

Let's face it: our lives aren't neat; they're messy. It's like the old saying about war: after the first shot is fired, battle plans go out the window. In life, when we take the "shots" our nice, well-formed outlines seem to be written in invisible ink. Even when our outlines are alliterated, they don't seem to be of much help when battles are raging and bullets, not bullet points, are flying. Drama disrupts the alliterative "D's."

One writer says: "I'm very burned out by filling out sermon outlines and ABC bullet points that are mostly far-fetched. I seem to always be able to figure out the sermons before they're finished (boring!) either that, or I'm so very distracted by the fact that point "B" isn't in that/those verse(s) anywhere!"

The writer is describing what Mark Twain wrote about a church service in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

In Chapter 5, he shows Tom’s faults to be those of the adults. Tom is restless and inattentive in the usual childlike manner, but he is not alone—the congregation silently snuffles toward slumber, and “many a head by and by began to nod.” The congregation is so easily distracted; this supports the idea that Tom’s lack of interest in and misunderstanding of the sermon constitute the universal response to the monotonous minister. Twain didn't mention it, but I wonder if Tom's pastor began each points with a "D."

As we read or hear THE BIG STORY, all of a sudden, it grabs us and invites us to become a part of it! Hey! That's what we're looking for--to become part of a story that's bigger than we are.

In Genesis 3:15, THE BIG STORY tells us that a Deliverer is on the way to rescue us from the wreckage of sin and the misery of our guilt. The rest of the story is how God moved history along so that the Deliverer was born into the human race! The story identifies that Deliverer as Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died as your substitute, paying for all your sins and rose from the dead. He invites you to become a part of THE BIG STORY by trusting Him, who He is an what He's done, for eternal life and for the forgiveness of sin.

When you do that, "you're in!" Now you're part of THE BIG STORY, and you'll be a part of it forever.

Not only are you then a part of the BIG STORY, but you get to tell it to others so they can become a part of it too by trusting Christ.

Along with that, there's a bonus: you can meet and grow with others who are also in the story of God's grace. 
________________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, and the author of Truthspeak. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing sue.bove@gmail.com and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Journal."

If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.

Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM at the above address. You'll be glad you did.

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
clarityministries.org

Also:

Biblical Ministries, Inc.
C/O Dr. Richard Grubbs
P. O. Box 64582
Lubbock, TX 79464-4582









Thursday, January 9, 2014

WEAPONS OF MASS INSTRUCTION

Scene 1

Listen. Listen to these children. They're singing songs standing on the sidewalk of a downtown street. The children are watching a parade as they sing the songs they learned in school and in their youth group. Their parents and other adults are proud of their children as they stand with them, watching the parade. The eyes and ears of the children and adults are pleased with what they're seeing and hearing.

Scene 2

Look at this picture, a drawing of children in school, an elementary school. It's in color and you see the teacher standing at his desk as he and the children, seated at their desks, are watching and listening to a fellow student use a pointer to point to the drawings on the blackboard. The teacher and the children are well-dressed, well-groomed, and attentive.






In the first scene, the songs the children are singing are evil. The parade is evil. The "parade" isn't a parade at all; it's a forced march of Jews who've been rounded up by the Nazis in Germany. As the soldiers march the Jews down the street, those on the sidewalk begin shouting insults at the Jews and spitting on them.

The classroom in Scene 2? It's evil. It's a picture in an anti-Semitic textbook for children published by the Nazis titled, The Poisonous Mushroom.

The student in the drawing with the pointer has designated the numeral six on the board which is among several of faces drawn on the blackboard. The faces are cartoon drawings of Jews and underneath the picture the caption says, "The Jewish nose is crooked at the tip. It looks like the number 6."

How in the world could Scene 1 occur? How could children sing such songs and they and their parents spit on other people?

The answer is Scene 2, the Nazi control of education in Germany into which they introduced a core curriculum so that they could monitor at all times what was being taught in the schools. This core curriculum centered on history, physical education, geography, and mathematics with a Nazi twist.

The immersion of the children into Nazism began in kindergarten and never ever let up. The teachers taught the children to become Nazis through this core curriculum and by daily rituals and routines.

The teachers had sworn an oath of allegiance to Hitler and to teach Nazi ideals and values. They wore their Nazi uniforms to school; when they entered the classroom, they greeted the children with a Hitler salute, shouting, "Heil, Hitler!" The students responded with the same and sometimes the teacher and the students did this before every lesson, eight times a day.

Hitler's picture was in every classroom. The books the children read recounted stories of the thrill boys and girls had at seeing the Fuehrer for the first time. 

Of all the professions, more teachers joined the Nazi party than any other career group.By 1936, 300,000 of them had joined the party and that was equal to 97% of all public school teachers.

All teachers had to be careful about what they said as children were encouraged to inform the authorities if a teacher said something that did not fit with the Nazi's curriculum for schools. Therefore, every classroom consisted of thirty or so spies as the students spied on the teacher and the teacher spied on the students, each at the ready to report the other.

The immersion into Nazism was so total that even the exams asked Nazi oriented questions. Here's a question from a math exam: "To keep a mentally ill person costs approximately 4 marks a day. There are 300,000 mentally ill people in care. How much do these people cost to keep in total? How many marriage loans of 1000 marks could be granted with this money?"

Here's another math question: "A bomber aircraft on take-off carries 12 dozen bombs, each weighing 10 kilos. The aircraft takes off for Warsaw, the international centre for Jewry. It bombs the town. On take-off with all bombs on board and a fuel tank containing 100 kilos of fuel, the aircraft weighed about 8 tons. When it returns from the crusade, there are still 230 kilos left. What is the weight of the aircraft when empty?"

The Nazi's tampered with history: They explained the German defeat in WWI as the work of Jewish and Marxist spies who had weakened the system from within; the Treaty of Versailles was the work of nations jealous of Germany's might and power; the hyperinflation of 1923 was the work of Jewish saboteurs.

In physical education, they humiliated those who failed the physical fitness tests and they could expel them from school. P. E. took 15% of the weekly school hours. It was mandatory that all boys take boxing and, for those who excelled, they created special schools.

The most fit went to Adolf Hitler Schools where they were taught to be the future leaders of Germany. Six years of tough physical training took place and when the pupils from these schools left at 18, they went to the army or to university. 

The very best pupils went to the Order Castles. These were schools which took pupils to the limits of physical endurance. War games used live ammunition and kids were killed at these schools. Those who graduated from the Order Castles attained a high position in the army or the SS. 

Well, enough of educational evil perpetrated on an entire nation and its children. As stated earlier, those weapons of mass instruction that took a nation from being cultured and civilized to having its adults and children spitting on other human beings and approving of their extermination. 

The Nazis changed the worldview of a nation in a short time and the primary way they did it was through education. Through education, the media, parades, and even the games and toys of the German children, they forged a worldview that unleashed death wherever it went.

A person's worldview is the filter through which he makes decisions; it organizes all the information he encounters. A person's worldview influences his choices, thoughts, and deeds.

Research shows that a person's worldview is already formed and firmly in place by age 13. After that, it's refined through experience during the teen years and early adult hood. Then the adult passes his worldview on to others. (This means that if your child or grandchild is 11, in a mere two years, his worldview will be formed and in place for the rest of his life, apart from conversion to Christ and commitment to Him and His Word at some point.)

The Nazis so encrypted their worldview into the nation's children that even after the unconditional surrender of the Nazi regime in May 1945, some German boys continued to fight in guerrilla groups known as "Werewolves." In 1946 the Allied authorities required young Germans to undergo a process to undo what the national regime had done to them in the 12 years of enduring the Nazi weapons of mass destruction. 

According to the Barna Group, their 2009 survey showed a sobering statistic: only 9% of all Americans have a biblical worldview.*


Do we need to reexamine our Christian education? Are our children learning legalistic rules, thinking those rules are Christianity? Are our kids learning the worldview of the Bible, and the application of the wisdom of that worldview to the decisions and choices of life? Are they exposed to more than churchy fun and games? Are they taught to how to think Christianly or merely exposed to churchy entertainment? Are they sitting in church filling in the blanks, completing outlines and recording bullet points? Can the Christian life be lived by an outline? By bullet points? Are they learning to think critically or to be the unthinking property of the state? Are they learning Bible stories, but have no context of God's grand redemptive purpose (the overarching story of all the Bible stories) into which to put those stories?

It's dark out there. Thirteen years is a mighty short time, and with each passing day, it becomes shorter.
____________________________________________________________________________
 *You can find the Barna Group survey at: https://www.barna.org/barna-update/21-transformation/252-barna-survey-examines-changes-in-worldview-among-christians-over-the-past-13-years#.Us63OvYVmHk
_____________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, and the author of Truthspeak. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing sue.bove@gmail.com and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Journal."

If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.

Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM at the above address. You'll be glad you did.

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
clarityministries.org

Also:

Biblical Ministries, Inc.
C/O Dr. Richard Grubbs
P. O. Box 64582
Lubbock, TX 79464-4582




 







  

Friday, January 3, 2014

WHAT I LEARNED FROM "THE WAR OF THE WORLDS"

The decade of the thirties was a miserable time in the America. There was the Great Depression from shore to shore and in Europe, Hitler was foaming at the mouth, raving all over the place, and marching his armies into one country after another. Then there was the Dust Bowl adding to the economic havoc that was already bad enough. The Dust Bowl was plague of biblical proportions and some saw it as just that, a judgment from God.

They were trying to cope with a depression the likes of which no one living had ever seen and, while trying to keep body and soul together, they could hear the drumbeat of war. It was coming and they knew it. And then there was that Dust Bowl.

But it was during "The Dirty Thirties" that, in spite of everything, America was involved in a love affair. Millions and millions of Americans were in love with radio and they gathered around it every night. American families went silent as their radios did the talking for the evening. They were so in love with the radio that, during the time of the Great Depression, they would fall behind on their washing machine payments and their car payments, but they kept on buying radios by the millions.

And it was on the night of October 30, 1938, that men and women, mothers and fathers, boys and girls gathered around their radios, innocent and unaware about what was going to be unleashed on them, not knowing that they were about to live through a nightmare they'd remember for the rest of their lives.

Orson Welles, a dramatic genius had spent all week getting ready to present H. G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" for his "CBS Mercury Theater of the Air" as if it were a news program, presented by live "reporters,"and "military commanders" on the scene. Other actors were to portray average citizens either shrieking in horror or describing the terrible things they were seeing.


Americans had become accustomed to hearing live reports from reporters on the scene in Europe as the nations were moving toward war. They'd heard a frantic, beside himself reporter witness and describe the burning and of the Hindenburg, as he shouted, "Oh, the humanity, oh, the humanity!" They'd heard the bulletins about the horrible kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, and had been conditioned to hearing bad news a "We-interrupt-this- program"statement would always bring. 

Whereas H. G. Wells had placed his story of a Martian invasion in England, Orson Welles placed the  advent of the Martians in Grover's Mill, New Jersey, and the rest is history.

The most popular radio program that night, as usual, wasn't "The Mercury Theater of the Air;" it was "Edgar Burgen and Charlie McCarthy," a ventriloquist and his dummy who kept the nation in stitches week after week. But that night on the Edgar Burgen program, there was a musical interlude and, as usual, people started, as they said back then, "twisting the dials" of their radios and they hit on Orson Welles and his "War of the Worlds." The problem was that when they left the ventriloquist's program, they arrived at Orson Welles' program just a few seconds late, so they didn't hear that this was a dramatic recreation of the book, "War of the Worlds," and thereby hangs a tale.

They thought it was real, that a place (which was a real place) in New Jersey had been invaded by an advance vanguard of Martian ships and the hideous monsters that the reporters were describing emerging from their flying saucers were slaughtering thousands of Americans with their light rays.  

The terrified listeners heard a "professor at Princeton" describe how he'd observed explosions on Mars that night, and now here the Martians were, arriving on our planet slaughtering the State Militia of New Jersey, called out to protect the citizens, and they heard a reporter interview the commander of that militia as he watched the massacre of his men.

What frightened them most occurred as they listened to a reporter describe the encroaching Martians coming closer and closer and as they heard the screams of the people being attacked, all of sudden the mic goes dead by deliberate design and Orson Welles wrung the dreadful silence for all it was worth, at least 15 seconds of radio quiet and the horrified listeners assumed the Martians had killed the reporter.

As the program progressed, terrified Americans heard that their countrymen were "dropping like flies," "jumping off bridges," "fleeing like rats," and soon they learned that New Jersey had been "cut off," and New York City had been "cut off" from the rest of the country too. All this was happening within the first fifteen minutes of the program, but no one stopped to think that that was too fast to be real. How could you assemble the New Jersey National Guard in fifteen minutes?

It was so real, Americans everywhere became convinced that the Martians were on their way to get them. Twenty families gathered up what belongings they could, piled into their cars, sped off, and jammed into the local police station.

People would look out their windows and see the streets. If they were empty, they assumed that everybody had already fled and they needed to flee too. If they saw that the streets were crowded with cars, they assumed that people were trying to get away and they needed to get away too.

In a town in Washington State, the power went off (a classic case of bad timing) and resident's fled to the mountains. There were reports of suicides that night. All this within the first fifteen minutes of "War of the Worlds."

A screaming woman interrupted a prayer meeting at a Methodist Church with the news of the Martian invasion. Calls jammed telephone lines at 8:15 PM EST, as people were calling their families to warn them and to say goodbye. They were trying to get through to the police, and the newspapers. Neighbors were warning neighbors.

A man and his wife heard the broadcast on their car radio and started back south toward Los Angeles to say good-bye to their children, but they ran out of gas, then sat in their car waiting for the death-dealing Martians to come over the California mountains to kill them.

What some people later swore that they heard that night on the radio wasn't "a Martian invasion," but "a German invasion." Many thought the Germans had landed, although America wasn't at war at the time.

One lady told her little boy that there was some chicken in the refrigerator they should eat because, as she said, "We won't be here tomorrow." There were reports of college students fainting. Not only girls, but also boys.

There were near riots and panic in the streets of America that night before Halloween in 1938.

Creative genius that he was, Orson Welles had one of his actors imitate the accent of President Franklin Roosevelt during the program, but the program introduced him as "the U. S. Secretary of the Interior" to give the government's warning of the invasion. Yet, in spite of telling the people that it was the Secretary of the Interior, people later claimed that they heard FDR himself on the radio that horrible night.

"Reporters" described the "poisonous black smoke" that was choking people to death; they described the flames that were all over the place. Some listeners later claimed that they saw the smoke and started choking and that they also saw the flames. All over the United States, people were literally choking and seeing things in the darkness.

When the executives at CBS started hearing that their program was causing a nationwide panic, one of them raced into the studio and told someone there to make Welles stop the program for a station break to tell the nation it was all make-believe. It just so happened that Orson was at the mic at that moment and he had control of the studio. He didn't do it. He didn't stop the program for that announcement until a full 20 minutes later. 

Orson Welles' broadcast of "War of the Worlds" was before my time (!) and when I read about the widespread panic it caused in America and how 12,500 articles were written about it, and how it haunted people for decades, I thought, "What morons. How gullible. Those idiots back then really believed something so stupid."

But then, when I heard a rebroadcast of parts of the program, it did seem real! I saw how people, trained to trust their radio reporters, would believe it. I heard the screams, I listened to "average citizens" describe the death-dealing light rays of the Martians. I heard the interviews of the military and government officers as they described it.

Those radio actors were better than good; they were better than better; they were the best! If I were in that situation as those listeners in 1938 and were responsible for protecting my family, I'd have fallen for Orson Welles' hoax too. If I didn't choose to run, I'd at least have been worried.

The human brain is a marvel of God's creation, but the human mind is limited and finite. Its judgments can be clouded by fear, by emotion, prejudices, and by a threat, real or imagined.

The program shows us this much: people hear reports of "poisonous black smoke choking people to death," and then they swear to high heaven that they saw the smoke that night and that they started choking. People hear reporters describing the flames of the Martian invasion and they swear they saw those flames. Rational? Logical?

It's difficult for the human race to admit that, by its mental processes, it can come to ultimate truth apart from divine intervention. It's hard for our proud race to admit that there are things we don't and cannot know apart from God's telling us.

We think we have it all figured out: a person gets to heaven if his good works are good enough to counterbalance his bad ones.We've got that down pat. To us it's as logical and rational as can be. But this is "man's wisdom" as Paul says in I Corinthians 1. Grace (God's unmerited favor at the cross) is not something man would figure out. Man's mind, his fallen logic, his fallen intuition, his fallen feelings, and his fallen emotions, all lead him to the erroneous conclusion, "For by works we are saved," and thus, all over the world, he's invented one religion after another over the course time, working his way to God.

But God's wisdom is summed up with, "For God so loved the world, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." Believing in Christ is equivalent to believing the good news about Christ.

God's wisdom is that forgiveness of sin and eternal life come without cost to us when we trust what He's told us in the Bible: His Son, Jesus Christ, died for our sins, rose from the dead and that we can have that forgiveness and that eternal life immediately upon trusting Jesus and Jesus alone for it. (I Cor. 15)

It comes down to this: You have to put your ultimate trust somewhere. Do you trust Christ and the Bible or your finite, limited, and fallen intellect, capable of being blinded by emotion, fear, appearances, intuition, prejudice, and feelings?
_____________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, and the author of Truthspeak. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing sue.bove@gmail.com and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Journal."

If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.

Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM. You'll be glad you did.

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org