GRUMBLING

From the time Moses went back to Egypt until after they were settled in the promised land, a constant murmuring was heard in the camp of Israel. They were a nation of grumblers. If things were not just right, they would grumble against Moses and against the LORD. They grumbled about the work, the water, the food, the leadership, the desert, the giants in the land and it went on and on and on for more than forty years.

Having seen this characteristic in God's people Israel after they had been redeemed, we should look carefully at ourselves. After all, we are all human and what is a problem to one person is often a problem to more of us, though it is sometimes hard to see it in ourselves.

Take note of the tone of your conversation next time you find yourself talking about someone else. Are we praising them, planning encouragement or criticizing and complaining? Does it make a difference whether we think they deserve our criticisms or not? Israel seemed to think that Moses deserved their grumblings - and yet how wrong they were!

The bottom line is that God does not like us grumbling. It is a sin. Let's remove it from our lives and be positive. Let's encourage instead of complain, and share our needs with God instead of gossiping about things that have gone wrong.

Are you humbly grateful or grumbly hateful?

Robert Prins [Auckland - Pakuranga - (NZ)]

Tribulation

"God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain." C.S. Lewis

The Apostle Paul was not a Trinitarian

Paul, the most prolific New Testament writer, gave honor to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in the introductory salutation of every one of his epistles. However, he did not mention the Holy Spirit. Why would he not honor the third person of the Trinitarian Godhead?

It is interesting to note that when he does include a third name it is not the Holy Spirit. Consider:

1Ti 5:21 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels,.....

If the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity, why are angles mentioned in the place of it.

One can only conclude that Paul was not a Trinitarian.

The Only True God

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

These are Jesus’ words. He was speaking to his Father and called Him the only true God. How then can Christ be God?

Live as though Christ died yesterday, rose from the grave today, and is coming back tomorrow.

Theodore Epp

Power on Earth

In Matthew chapter 9 we see a story of a man sick of the palsy brought before Jesus. Jesus said to him, “Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.” (v. 2) The scribes got upset and considered this blasphemy. (v. 3) But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking said to them, “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” (v. 6)

The Greek word for power, as in “power on earth” above, is expisoa. Thayer (1), and Strong (2)both say this Greek word means: power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases; leave or permission.

It can be seen from the above definition of the Greek word expisoa, that although the word means “power of choice” there’s a strong sense of having “leave or permission”. In other words, this power of choice is delegated (3).

Delegated from whom? Leave or permission from whom? The answer can be found in verse 8, “and the multitudes having seen, wondered, and glorified God, who did give such power to men.” This power came from God!

If then, according to the doctrine of the deity of Christ, Jesus is co-equal with the Father, why did the power to forgive sins need to be delegated to him from God?

The answer can be found in verse 8. God gave “such power to men.” Jesus, although the Son of God, was a man and only a man. (See Rom 5:15, 1 Tim. 2:5,)

Reference:

(1) Joseph Henry Thayer, D.D., The New Thayer’s Greek - English
Lexicon of the New Testament (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers,
1981) p. 225

(2) God’s Word for Windows, Strong’s # 1849

(3) W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger and William White, JR., Vine’s
Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Atlanta: Thomas
Nelson Publishers, 1985), p. 479