Gary Sharp

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Should I be baptized again as an adult if I was baptized as a baby?

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  I speak in tongues more than you all - A biblical exploration about the gift of tongues. Two pitfalls are pointed out: The dangerous error of counterfeiting the truth and the chilling error of a dead orthodoxy.

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Sunday School Teacher Resources

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Ron Mills' Story - At the age of 22 I started to consider suicide as an answer to feelings of hopelessness. By the time I was 23 I would get brief periods of wondering “is this all there is to life?" I remember going to night clubs after drug use and drinking and just standing amongst hundreds of people and feeling very alone and tired of life. There had to be more to this Life (more...)

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Debby Stickfort

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Do the two loaves of Levticus 23:17 represent Jews and Gentiles?

And why were they “baken with leaven,” which speaks of what is evil?

The feast of Leviticus 23:15-21," TARGET="_blank">Leviticus 23:15-21, called in Deuteronomy 16:10," TARGET="_blank">Deuteronomy 16:10, etc., “The Feast of Weeks”; in Acts 2:1," TARGET="_blank">Acts 2:1, etc., “The Day of Pentecost”: and in Numbers 28:26," TARGET="_blank">Numbers 28:26, “The Day of the First-fruits”; is doubtless, as C. H. M. expresses it, “a type of God’s people, gathered by the Holy Ghost, and presented before Him in connection with all the preciousness of Christ.” This being so, the presence of leaven in the two loaves is, as he further says, “because they were intended to foreshadow those who, though filled with the Holy Ghost, and adorned with His gifts and graces, had nevertheless evil dwelling in them.” But the leaven was not burnt on the altar to God, either in this case or any other (see v. 20). That the number “two” may represent the elements, Jew and Gentile, out of which the Church is formed, seems reasonable enough.

W.R.

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How should an assembly of God act, according to the Scriptures, in the case of a member who has married a Roman Catholic?

To us it may seem worse that a professed Christian should marry a Roman Catholic, than that one should marry an unconverted Protestant; and generally it means much more in the way of trouble in the flesh to the one concerned. But we have to remember that, from the point of view of the Scriptures, and of the principle involved, the one act is as wrong as the other; and whatever may be said as to the assembly’s attitude in the case mentioned in the question, would be applicable in the other case also. Not only so, but since the evil in the act is that of being “unequally yoked together” (2 Corinthians 6" TARGET="_blank">2 Corinthians 6: ) with an unbeliever, it would to a large extent be applicable to other cases of the unequal yoke as well.

A clear understanding as to all this would prevent an assembly from acting with undue harshness in the one instance, while perhaps entirely ignoring the others. Yet, that a member of an assembly of God’s people should at all wish to marry a Roman Catholic is very strange, and suggests some grave considerations. One may well wonder whether such a one has divine life; for if so, it is difficult to imagine what common interest there could ever be to bring the pair together in the first instance. At least there must have been much preliminary declension from God’s ways, ere such a thing could be possible. And that suggests another matter for thought, namely, what kind of guides were in an assembly where departure from God on the part of a member could reach to such a climax as this, without faithful warnings having been given at an earlier stage which might have prevented it.

But the most surprising feature of all would be if the one who had done this thing, afterwards desired, as the question seems to imply, to remain in the fellowship of the assembly. The Roman religious authorities exercise such pressure on their people in the matter of a mixed marriage, that it would almost certainly have taken place in one of their own places of worship, and only after the non-Roman party to it had climbed down very low in agreeing to all their demands. Therefore it is not easy to understand why anyone who has gone so far should wish to continue the former associations.

If, however, all this has occurred or should occur, the assembly should certainly not ignore what has taken place. I do not think that (unless other complications are present) the Scriptures would warrant putting away from the fellowship of the meeting on that account alone. But the guilty individual should be rebuked; and since it is an evil to which a large amount of publicity is necessarily attached, I suggest that the rebuke should in like manner be public, i.e. in the presence of the assembled saints (see 1 Timothy 5:20" TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 5:20 and Galatians  2:14).

W.R.

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Who are the speakers in the Song of Solomon?

Some say they are Christ and the Church; others, God and Israel. Who is the questioner In Song of Solomon 5:9" TARGET="_blank">Song of Solomon 5:9?
The Song of Songs is not, of course, a mere love-song; nor is it a song of espousals, but a marriage song. Certain companies of persons are introduced and take part in the dialogue, e.g., the watchmen, the daughters of Jerusalem; but the Bridegroom and the bride are the principals. Who are they? The Church was an unrevealed mystery in the Old Testament, so may safely be ruled out. Surely there can be no doubt that we have in this Book, a beautiful picture of the affections of Jehovah toward the true Israel, and the response of the bride. “I am married to you, saith Jehovah” (Jeremiah 3:14)." TARGET="_blank">Jeremiah 3:14). “Thy maker is thy husband” (Isaiah  54:5). The watchmen of the city seem to represent men of the world with no sympathy for the bride, while the daughters of Jerusalem may stand for nominal Israel. These distinctions being made, the inspired language of the Book fits in well with the affections of a believer to-day toward Christ, when enjoying communion with the “Lover of his soul.” The spiritual believer knows how to use the Book in this way to his own soul’s blessing and to the glory of Christ.
W.H.

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"They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!’

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey”

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