The Word for today
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (I Corinthians 15:58).
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Book review
The Two Treatises of Servetus on the Errors of the Trinity
Author: Michael Servetus (1511-1553)
Publisher: Harvard University, 1932; reprint: Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, 2013; 264 pages; paperback; 25.75 at Amazon
Michael Servetus could have changed the course of the Protestant Reformation—and religious faith in America in the process. And he might have if John Calvin had listened to him rather than burning him at the stake. And if King James in England had given two other non-Trinitarian ministers, Bartholomew Legate and Edward Wightman, an honest hearing in 1612 instead of burning them alive, the Mayflower might have had a different crew in 
1620 as it landed at Plymouth Rock.
Those three men gave their lives for truth about the Trinity doctrine. Like other reformers, Calvin was fearful of challenging the cardinal doctrine of the RCC. It was too ingrained in the Christian mind to tackle. They had to settle for smaller issues, like communion, the sale of indulgences, and priestly vestments. King James just wanted no challengers to his personal biases.
But Servetus, by the time he was twenty, had set his sights on the “big one”—the Trinity. It was the untouchable cornerstone of the church around which liturgy was constructed, but this artisan’s tools were not hammer and chisel but pen and paper. At age 21 his keen mind produced works exposing the cracks in that stony doctrine. He was a literary genius, a wordsmith par excellence. He could quote virtually every Bible writer, ECF, philosopher and classic author as though they were personal acquaintances. Perhaps no other man of his time could have produced these treatises. A subsequent and the last of his books was called Restoration of Christianity. In the past, l have reviewed a tome dubbed Out of the Flames, by Lawrence Goldstone, about Servetus’ book Restoration and the impact it had on his life and the Reformation. The original of that work lies deep in the bowels of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris. While visiting there, I tried to see it but was unable to do so. It is listed as one of the rarest and most valuable books in the world.
Servetus’ images stand in several cities of Europe. He was a medical genius as well. He is renowned in this field for his work on the circulation of blood and his observations on pulmonary circulation.
But alas, those who are too far ahead of their time become a threat to the tiny-brained folk already seated in positions of power. He had to die, they said. But his written works have become immortal. Few men could have written Treatises, and perhaps none other at age 21.
His views on the Godhead are quite close to our own Apostolic position—how close each reader can decide for himself. But you will know by the time you read the first few pages that there is no three-person Godhead or an eternal Son. To read his approach, one will feel his passion for truth. He joined his quick wit with powerful word choices and theological insights that shook the religious establishment. Trinitarian word jugglers did not have a chance.
Worth your time and worth the price.
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Is the Bible just a “book of rules”?
The Bible isn’t merely “a book of rules,” an oft-stated accusation by those ignorant of the Scriptures, but some rules are included there. We all understand rules. They form our lives from its earlies stages. Every nation has rules, called “laws.” Every home and parent has particular rules that must be obeyed, which may include admonitions like…
…Don’t eat with your fingers
…Sit up straight
…Don’t leave your clothes on the floor
…Don’t run through the house with scissors in your hand
…Don’t stay out past 9:00 p.m.
…Don’t talk back to your parents
- Schools have rules by the score. Libraries have rules. Nations have rules called laws. Municipalities and government have particular rules and ordinances.
- Churches have to have guidelines, else some would not be distinguishable from a homeless enclave or a cookout on the Malibu beach. If members had no encouragement from Paul or Peter, they might look and live like anyone else…sporting mini skirts, shorts, or beachwear or whatever. Visitors can show up in some trashy or ungodly attire and likely won’t be asked to leave, but members know better and they will never be used in any capacity to teach or represent the church in any way without a lifestyle that reflects a compliant and willing spirit. No one “forces” anyone to wear or do anything they don’t want to wear or do. Just if they wish to participate at this level of involvement, there are requirements. Most every place of employment where workers meet the public there are guidelines and expectations. Why not churches too?
- The Bible has some guidelines and “rules,” called commands, to guide believers in right living. Just a quick glance over a few pages can be found several rules: I Timothy 2:9-12; 5:1; 5: 21-22; 6:17; II Timothy 1:13,14; 2:16; Titus 3:1-2; James 2:1; I Peter 1:16; 3:1,8; I Peter 5:5,8; I John 2:15; 3:24. Committed Christians do not disdain rules that are biblically based. Only persons who wish to conduct their lives according to their selfish desires despise rules. See Ephesians 2:1-3; I Peter 4:3.
Rules serve like the metal railings on highway curves and places where a car might plunge off into a ditch or off of a mountain road. They are placed there for our safety. The very word obedience indicates that there are principles and specific commands that we are to honor. Low expectations do not motivate one to obedience. Jesus said, “ And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment” (John 3:36 NLT).
You would not want to live in a nation without laws. You would not want your child to attend a school without rules. You would not want to attend a church that had no guidelines for members. They are, in part, what gives the church definition, shape, and meaning—and a respected, authoritative voice. That makes sense.
In fact, real Christianity is loaded with common sense.
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If it’s not a baby…
She has all the human chromosomes in place from day one, and is a genetically unique one-of-a-kind human being; she has a beating heart and her own blood type; she has eyes, legs, hands, fingernails, fingerprints, all her internal organs, bones, teeth, and independent brain waves, and she can 
kick, swim, turn her head back and forth, make facial gestures, grasp objects and even have dreams. …Doesn’t that sound an awful lot like a human being? If she’s not a child, then what is she?
The scientific data has removed any legitimate doubt about what is growing inside the woman. The baby is not just a “blob,” “a mass of tissue,” “uterine contents,” “birth matter,” or “the products of conception”—these are deceptive euphemisms designed to disguise the truth that is now clearly known: she or he, but not “it”—is a real human child.” – Mark Mittelberg, The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask (Carol Stream, IL; Tyndale House, 2010); p. 165.
Well spoken, Mark.
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The Intercession of Christ For Sinners
“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
The Tabernacle in the Wilderness provided the type and setting for the amazing truth that would later be conveyed in this verse by the writer of Hebrews. The earthly Tabernacle in the Wilderness was patterned after the Tabernacle in Heaven (Hebrews 8:5), having the same instruments, items, spaces and purpose. It featured a Holy Place, the Most Holy Place, and a Mercy Seat upon which the atoning blood of the sacrifice was to be sprinkled.
The role played by the earthly Tabernacle was that a sacrifice (a bullock) without blemish was to be brought and slain upon the altar on the Day of 
Atonement. The High Priest would enter the Holy Place, the first room inside the Tabernacle, where the table of shewbread, the golden menorah, and the altar of incense were situated. He would offer the incense, then return to the outer court to get the bowl of blood from the brazen altar. He would reenter the Holy Place but proceed past the thick veil into the Most Holy Place where stood the Ark of the Covenant, containing the stones upon which the ten commandments were inscribed, the rod of Aaron which had miraculously budded, and a container of manna, the food that sustained the Israelites on their wilderness journey. The lid of the Ark was overshadowed by two golden cherubim. Underneath their wings, which touched over the middle of the Ark, was the Mercy Seat, toward and beyond which the High Priest would sprinkle the atoning blood (Leviticus 16:14). When this was done, the sins of the Hebrew people were rolled ahead one year (Leviticus 16:34) until the day of atonement the following year.
This earthly process would be displaced by Christ’s intercessory sacrifice on Calvary. His mediation and interposition for sinners came into sharp focus during the days just prior to His death. His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane expressed an extraordinary passion for the lost. As He prayed, sweat like great drops of blood fell from His brow. Shortly afterward, when Christ, the literal Son of God, died on Calvary, His sacrifice would be honored in Heaven as….. [to continue reading this article, CLICK HERE.]
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How the Switch to “Fossil Fuels” Saved the Forests of New England
Throughout the thousands of years of human history that preceded the 20th century, the primary fuel—in fact, almost the only fuel–for heating, cooking, smelting metallic ores, producing glass, blacksmithing and all other such uses was wood, cut in immense quantities from the forests of the six inhabited continents. Even to the present day, in not a few places, particularly in Central and South America, and rural parts of Asia and Africa, wood is still the primary fuel for most of these activities.
When Europeans first began to settle on the eastern coast of North America, particularly what became known as “New England” shortly after 1600, the
region was heavily timbered with vast virgin forests of almost unimaginable extent and diversity, certainly far beyond anything known to the settlers in their European homelands. An estimated 90% of the land was forest, the other 10% being mostly land the native populace had previously cleared for their gardens and farms of corn, pumpkins, sunflowers and other native crops. The colonists would also clear land for farms and gardens, and do so to a much greater extent than the Indians had.
These extravagant forests were soon utilized for every imaginable use—houses, barns, fencing, ship-building, wagon-making, and fuel for blacksmithing, glass making, ore smelting, and especially cooking and heating. Early colonial homes with their large hearth fireplaces would require 10 or 20 cords annually, which consumed an ever-increasing quantity of the forest’s production as the population rapidly grew.
As these forests were cut, overcut and depleted, the great piney woods of the Great Lake states began to provide the bulk of the construction timber in the mid- to late-19th century. But exploitation of the remaining New England forests for fuel wood continued, until by 1900, only about 10% of the land remained in forest, and the annual cut exceeded the annual growth. But then, so-called “fossil fuels”—coal, petroleum, natural gas—began to be utilized for fuel, replacing much of the wood cut for this purpose. As a result, the annual growth of New England’s forests began to exceed the annual cut, and the forest areas expanded, until a century later, a full 40% of New England was in permanent stands of trees. Fossil fuels had saved the forests of New England, as petroleum (particularly kerosene) had saved the whales in the mid-19th century.
—Doug Kutilek AISI v20n5
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How to get “hell” moving
A Harvard professor said that “all hell broke loose” and he was forced to go out in public with armed security after he published a study that found no 
evidence of racial bias in police shootings.
During a sit-down conversation with Bari Weiss of The Free Press, Harvard Economics Professor Roland Fryer discussed the fallout from a 2016 study he published on racial bias in Houston policing. Read the story here: Harvard professor says ‘all hell broke loose’ when his study found no racial bias in police shootings (msn.com)
Now we know how to get hell moving…dare to tell the truth.
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Will it ever stop getting better?
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Last Words
A little b0y was heard talking to himself as he strode through his backyard, baseball cap in place and toting a ball and bat. “I’m the greatest baseball player in the world,” he said proudly. Then he tossed the ball into the air, swung and missed. Undaunted, he picked up the ball, threw it into the air and said, “I’m the greatest baseball player ever,” and again swung and missed. He paused a moment to examine the ball and bat carefully. Then once again he threw the ball into the air and said, “I’m the greatest baseball player who ever lived. “He swung the bat hard, but again missed the ball. “Wow,” he exclaimed. “What a pitcher!”‘ – Robert Schuller, God’s Vitimin C for the Spirit.
Sometimes a change of viewpoint is wise, even for preachers.
JREnsey
JREnsey Blog 
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