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 Sketches of Jewish Social Life

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10 Ways to Read the Bible

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Jane Aubry - I remember one day in the 1970's playing my guitar, looking up to heaven, and saying, “If there is a God, I want to know Him.” When I met Roger, my husband to be, he told me he was “saved”.  I had never heard the word before.  I had thought we could only “hope” to go to heaven. He told me how he was saved and that was the end of talking about it for a time. more...

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The Music of Glorybound

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Binding Satan

Ministers who try to deliver people from problems often speak of binding Satan or binding a sickness or binding poverty or binding some other problem.  A prayer to “bind” Satan usually takes the form of something like this:

“In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God, I come against you, Satan, the Prince of Darkness to bind you, paralyzing your power, forbidding you to come near this person and influencing her thinking.  I demand that you leave her immediately!”

By “binding” Satan, claims are made to be able to paralyze Satan or silence him or forbid him from influencing a person.  As powerful as this commanding prayer may sound, it is unscriptural.  Nobody in the history of the Bible ever spoke to Satan this way, nor are we commanded to speak to him like this. We resist Satan by teaching and obeying the truth of the Bible.

For a more detailed answer see the question:

Do Christians have the ability or the authority to bind Satan?

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What is Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday, also known as the “Day of Ashes” is the first day of the season of Lent.  It occurs 46 days before Easter.  Ash Wednesday and Lent are extra-Biblical holidays, meaning that they are based on traditions from centuries past, but are not mentioned in the Bible.  Lent is often associated with Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran churches along with others.

It is wise to have a Biblical point of view in regards to religious celebrations.  While taking time to remember Christ's work on the cross and the events preceeding his crucifiction is a wonderful activity, Christians are not commanded in the scriptures to celebrate Lent, Ash Wednesday or even to make Easter a special holiday.  God is not impressed by someone practicing a ritual to gain acceptance or forgiveness.  Instead, Jesus warned the Pharisees of celebrations without faith.

Mark 7:6-8" TARGET="_blank">Mark 7:6-8  And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;  (7)  in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'  (8)  You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men."

The pattern of the scriptures tells us that the Apostles and the first Christians regularly celebrated the Lord’s Supper to commemorate the Lord’s death and resurrection on the first day of the week meaning that we should be celebrating Christ's work on the cross 52 times a year in stead of just once.

1 Corinthians 11:26" TARGET="_blank">1 Corinthians 11:26  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Acts 20:7" TARGET="_blank">Acts 20:7  On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

1 Thessalonians 5:22" TARGET="_blank">1 Thessalonians 5:22  Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 4:3" TARGET="_blank">1 Thessalonians 4:3  For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality

During the period of Lent, some foods such as beef or pork are avoided as a penance for some sin.  This too, is a curious teaching since the scripture teach the exact opposite in regards to forbidding what a Christian may eat.

1 Timothy 4:1-4" TARGET="_blank">1 Timothy 4:1-4  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,  (2)  through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,  (3)  who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.  (4)  For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

Shad David Sluiter

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What was the wise woman’s line of reasoning in 2 Samuel 14:4-14" TARGET="_blank">2 Samuel 14:4-14?
The woman followed the example of the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12:1-7," TARGET="_blank">2 Samuel 12:1-7, by getting the king to decide a hypothetical case which Joab and she had invented. When he did so, she told him (v. 13) that he was setting a bad example to the people of God, by not acting himself in accordance with the decision he had given in the case of others, and bringing home the banished Absalom, En verse i she backs this with another argument. God Himself, she points out, has devised means that His banished be not expelled from Him (referring doubtless to the cities of refuge which God had provided so that the manslayer should not have to leave the country). Why then should not David act as God does?
She thus struck two chords that were sure to find an echo in David’s heart. He would wish to set God’s people a good example, and he surely would like to act as God did. Had he not shortly before sought out the grandson of his bitter enemy, Saul, in order that he might show “the kindness of God” to him (2 Samuel 9: 3)" TARGET="_blank">2 Samuel 9: 3)? Of course her reasoning was bad, for she was persuading him to act at the expense of justice; and God’s “means” were not for wilful murderers such as Absalom. But “the king’s heart was toward Absalom” (v. i), so he was not difficult to persuade. His son was brought back, and all seemed well. But two factors had been ignored, the claims of God’s broken Law, and the unchanged heart of the offender; and the result was a harvest of sorrow to be reaped later.
With regard to the first two clauses of v. 14, she apparently meant to suggest that, like water spilt on the ground, that which was past, i.e. the death of Amnon, could not be recalled. Possibly also, that life is too short to be wasted in a prolonged quarrel.

W.R.

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FORGIVENESS
Is there to be forgiveness without acknowledgment of wrong?

There are various categories of forgiveness in the Scriptures, which must be distinguished—God’s forgiveness of sinners; the Father’s forgiveness of His children; ecclesiastical forgiveness; and personal forgiveness.

As to the first named, though it is a mistake to apply to the conversion of the sinner, the words of 1 John 1:9" TARGET="_blank">1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, etc.,” which have to do directly with God’s children, yet it may be confidently affirmed that no sinner ever received divine forgiveness without acknowledgment of sin in one form or another, tacit or explicit, leading on to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, when revealed. But here it is not so much a confession of particular sins, as of sinnership—”God be merciful to me a sinner.” This corresponds with “repentance unto life,” the result of the Holy Spirit’s work in conviction, without which there can be no true conversion to God.

In the case of the Father’s forgiveness to His erring children, it is conditional on confession of sins; then “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” It is perfectly true that God’s forgiveness has already covered the sins in question, but His forgiveness as Father is needed, if communion with Him is to be restored. The confession should be real and full, and at once forgiveness and cleansing follow, though not often realised to the full at once. David was forgiven the instant he confessed his sin in the presence of Nathan, but later he wrote the 51st Psalm. This may correspond to the application of “the water of separation” on the third and seventh days (Numbers 19: 12, 19)." TARGET="_blank">Numbers 19: 12, 19).

As for ecclesiastical forgiveness, this is that which is referred to in Matthew 18:18" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 18:18 and John 20:23" TARGET="_blank">John 20:23—the “binding or loosing,” the remitting or retaining, of sins, not by ecclesiastical officials, the pretended priests of Christendom, but by the local church. Nothing is said in these passages of the condition attaching to the forgiveness, but the case that arose in the Corinthian Church (see chap. . i), throws light on this, for in the second epistle, the restoration of the offender is recommended by the apostle on the ground of his repentance—”lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with over-much sorrow”—and if they forgive him, he (Paul) will forgive also (2 Corinthians 2: 7-10)." TARGET="_blank">2 Corinthians 2: 7-10). Paul does not appeal to some leaders in the Corinthian Church, but to the Church as a whole. This ecclesiastical forgiveness has been perverted into what is known as auricular confession, and priestly absolution, things, as we believe, totally foreign to the New Testament and Christianity. As for individual forgiveness, there should be from the first a forgiving spirit on the part of the offended person; he must not bear a grudge or count the offender as an enemy, but be ready to forgive (Matthew 18: 15, 21, 22)," TARGET="_blank">Matthew 18: 15, 21, 22), but he must not express his forgiveness until the offence is acknowledged. To do so would be a subtle way of putting your opponent in the wrong, and be an insult rather than a favour. “If thy brother tresspass against thee rebuke him, and if he repent forgive him” (Luke 17:3, 4)." TARGET="_blank">Luke 17:3, 4).

William Hoste

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