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| Volume 21 Number 5 May 2019 | Page 10 |
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| Volume 21 Number 5 May 2019 | Page 10 |
Mark McWhorter
The prophet Elisha traveled the country of Palestine. One place he stayed on numerous occasions and grew to have a friendly relationship with was the home of a Shunamite woman and her elderly husband. They gave him food and even built a guest room on their roof for him. The woman did not have any children, but Elisha promised her a son. At the appointed time, she had a son.
When the son was just a lad, he fell sick and died. Elisha raised him from the dead. Later, there was a great famine in the land. Elisha told the woman to leave the land until the famine was over in seven years. When the woman and her son returned, her land and home had been taken over by someone. Evidently, they did not want to give her what was legally hers. She decided to go to the king and ask for his intervention. The fact that she was the one asking indicates her husband was dead. (Remember, he was elderly before the son was born.) King Jehoram was not a good king. He did not follow God’s commandments. So why would Jehoram consider and care for this lowly Shunamite woman? He probably would not have except at that moment he had asked Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, to tell him about the marvelous things Elisha had done. Gehazi was telling the king about Elisha raising a woman’s son from the dead. Gehazi recognized the woman and told Jehoram that she was the very woman he was telling about.
Jehoram by this circumstance was influenced to take the woman’s property case and appoint an officer to correct it. Not only did Jehoram make sure she was given her house and land, but he insisted that she be given the equal of everything that had been produced on it during her absence. By God’s providence, she was given justice (2 Kings 8:1-6).
Study your Bible. Learn all you can about our God who cares for even a lowly widow and her son. He loves and cares for everyone, and God wants everyone to obey Him. This incident would have turned out very differently if the Shunamite woman had not followed God’s desires and plans. Make sure you are following God. If any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
Over the Line
Donald R. Fox
If one does not accept alternative lifestyles, he is viewed as the problem. We are seeing a complete change or rebellion within our USA society against past generations’ morality. Our society is being led to believe and to accept promiscuous lifestyles such as homosexuality and same-sex marriage as completely normal, which must be approved by everyone. If one rejects this, he is marked as over the line. The term “over the line” is an idiom that is defined as “beyond what is accepted” or “to change from being acceptable to being unacceptable.” According to many within our society, to reject or not to embrace unrestrained lifestyles, one refuses what is totally acceptable. Accordingly, a person is marked as one who has gone beyond what is accepted, and therefore, he is over the line.
Christians have had many formal debates, both oral and written, over many years. I have before me a book chronicling a debate between a Christian and an atheist. The proposition discussed, and the title of the book is The Existence of God—A Debate. The Christian debater was James D. Bales of Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. The atheist in this debate was Woolsey Teller, Associate Editor of The Truth Seeker and one of the founders of The American Association for the Advancement of Atheism. The discussion was held at Harding in October of 1947. This is not the only debate concerning similar propositions.
Between non-believers and Christians, there was an accepted normal standard of right and wrong. In past generations, promiscuous lifestyles were not acceptable. There have always been degenerate people hidden from the general public. Such types of people were not accepted as normal, and they concealed their true selves.
The following section in the book may be of interest and bring to light the moral argument. You will observe the general realization even between an atheist and a Christian that social morality was understood, yes, agreed upon without any doubt by our culture. Mr. Bales observed:
Now, I advance a moral argument for the existence of God… My opponent throughout the three nights past has failed to see my argument from morality. It has either been my fault in that I failed to make it clear; or perhaps it was because he was thinking of something else at the time I made the argument. My position is not that all men know exactly what is right and what is wrong. I know that they need to be taught. That is the reason we are trying to teach now. But, ladies and gentlemen, men to be taught the difference between right and wrong must have a capacity for being so taught. They must have sensitivity to right and wrong. We do not think that we can appeal to it from the standpoint of morality, but we can so appeal to man. And so then I say that men have this moral capacity that is not found in matter; we must therefore conclude that it came from something superior to matter. All men move from some moral impulse although it may be wrongly directed because their knowledge is wrong. For example, all men try to convince themselves that they are doing the right thing. I am confident that my friend is moved by this very principle. (He does not know what is right with reference to this question. I cast no personal reflection. But if I thought that he was right about it I would not debating him, of course.) And so he is trying to do what he believes to be right. There is a moral impulse. All men also want the approval of their own conscience. All men thus want to feel that they are making some good contribution to civilization and they (atheists) believe they can do this through destroying religion. All men have some sense of justice and fairness and keenly resent unfairness. For example, Mr. Teller would not think it fair for us to quote from his books and to attribute his ideas to some other person. (141-142)
Further, from another source note the following. “The homosexual agenda will do its best to present this ‘normality’ through every available avenue. Since the genetic front is lost so far as science goes, this will be the new fight. The defense of homosexuals will be how nice, well-adjusted and friendly they are… There is a movement to gain acceptance in politics, education, media and religion” (Litke 474-475).
It is very obvious that the promotion of all alternative marriages and other deviant sexual behaviors have increased drastically. For many of us, it is beyond understanding. Will man/boy sexual relations take on acceptability? When will it stop? Have we as a society opened Pandora’s box and have allowed all sorts of evil to spread throughout our nation?
The Word of God will stand as everlasting Truth. “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet” (Romans 1:26-27 KJV).
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
[Editor’s Note: Obviously, what the inspired prophet predicted is happening in the world around us today, too. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20 NKJV). ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]
Works Cited
Bales, James and Woolsey Teller. The Existence of God—A Debate. Searcy: Harding College, 1947.
Litke, Geoff. “Homosexuality is Immoral.” Morals—From God or Man? David P. Brown, Editor. Spring: Contending for the Faith, 2005.