Conclusion from Peru and Mexico

email from Randall Easter | 25 January 2008 | Randall Easter

[Manfred the Wonder Dawg]

January 25, 2008

ESV Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

In recent days I have spent time in Lima and Sullana Peru and Mexico City and I have discovered that people by nature are the same. Man has a heart that is inclined to selfishness and idolatry. Sin abounds in the remotest parts of the land because the heart is desperately wicked. Thousands bow before statues of Mary and pray to her hoping for answers. I have seen these people stare hopelessly at Mary icons, Jesus icons, and a host of dead saints who will do nothing for them. I have talked with people who pray to the pope and say that they love him. I talked with one lady who said that she knew that Jesus was the Savior, but she loved the pope. Thousands bow before Santa Muerte (holy death angel) in hopes that she will do whatever they ask her. I have seen people bring money, burning cigarettes, beer, whiskey, chocolate, plants, and flowers to Santa Muerte in hopes of her answers. I have seen these people bowing on their knees on the concrete in the middle of public places to worship their idol. Millions of people come into the Basilica in Mexico City and pay their money, confess their sins, and stare hopelessly at relics in hope that their sins will be pardoned. In America countless thousands are chained to baseball games, football games, material possessions, and whatever else their heart of idols can produce to worship.

My heart has broken in these last weeks because the God of heaven is not honored as he ought to be honored. People worship the things that are created rather than worshiping the Creator. God has been gracious to all mankind and yet mankind has hardened their hearts against a loving God. God brings the rain on the just and unjust. God brings the beautiful sunrises and sunsets upon the just and unjust. God gives good gifts unto all and above all things he has given his Son that those who would believe in him would be saved. However, man has taken the good things of God and perverted them unto idols and turned their attention away from God. I get a feel for Jesus as he overlooked Jerusalem or Paul as he beseeched for God to save Israel. When you accept the reality of the truth of the glory of God is breaks your heart that people would turn away from the great and awesome God of heaven to serve lesser things. Moses was outraged by the golden calf, the prophets passionately preached against idolatry, Jesus was angered that the temple was changed in an idolatrous business, and Paul preached to the idolaters of Mars Hill by telling them of the unknown God.

I arrived back at home wondering how I should respond to all the idolatry that I have beheld in these last three weeks. I wondered how our church here in the states should respond to all of the idolatry in the world. What are the options? First, I suppose we could sit around and hope that people chose to get their life together and stop being idolaters. However, I do not know how that could ever happen apart from them hearing the truth. Second, I suppose we could spend a lifetime studying cultural issues and customs in hope that we could somehow learn to relate to the people of other countries. However, the bible is quite clear that all men are the same. Men are dead in sin, shaped in iniquity, and by nature are the enemies of God. Thirdly, we could pay other people or other agencies to go and do a work for us while we remain comfortably in the states. However, there is no way to insure that there will be doctrinal accuracy or integrity. If we only pay other people to take the gospel we will miss out on all of the benefits of being obedient to the mission of God. Lastly, we could seek where God would have us to do a lasting work and then invest our lives there for the glory of God. The gospel has the power to raise the dead in any culture and we must be willing to take the gospel wherever God would have us take it. It is for sure that our church cannot go to every country and reach every people group, so we must determine where God would have us work and seek to be obedient wherever that is.

It seems that some doors are opening in the Spanish speaking countries below us and perhaps God is beginning to reveal where we are to work. There are some options for work to be partnered with in Peru and there could be a couple of options in Mexico. The need is greater than I can express upon this paper for a biblical gospel to be proclaimed in Peru and Mexico. Oh, that God would glorify his great name in Peru and Mexico by using a small little church in a town that does not exist to proclaim his great gospel amongst a people who desperately need the truth.

I give thanks to the LORD for allowing me the privilege of going to these countries and broadening my horizons. The things that I have seen will be forever engraved upon my heart. I will long remember the pastors that I spent time with in Peru and I will never forget Adolfo who translated for me in Mexico. I will relish the time that I spent with Paul Washer and the others. When I think of church I will forever remember being on top of that mountain in Sullana at that church which had no electricity and no roof. I am convinced that heaven was looking down on that little church on top of that mountain and very few people on earth even know that it exist. Oh, God I pray that the things of this world will continue to grow dim and that God’s people will be caught up in his glorious presence.

Because of the truth: Pastor: J. Randall Easter II Timothy 2:19 "Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases."(Ps. 115:3) "He predestined us according to the good pleasure of His will."(Eph. 1:5) Those who have been saved have been saved for His glory and they are being made holy for this is the will of God. Are you being made holy? Spurgeon says, "If your religion does not make you holy it will damn you to hell."

[kosta50]

The EO take a little bit different approach allowing their clergy to marry if they are going to stay at the parish level

Not for the monastics. Different rites among clergy fall under different discipline. Celibate parish priesthood was something favored in the west almost from the start. The East allows its future deacons and priests to marry (before receiving the Holy Orders).

If a priest is widowed, he is not allowed to remarriy. Bishops cannot be married. Most of them come form the ranks of the monastics, and a few are wodowed.

The Latin practice is a disciple to which the priests voluntarily agree. Those who cannot control their hormones can always seek ordination in the Eastern-Catholic or Orthodox Churches.

When you book an airline ticket and don't show up for the flight, you lose. You knew the risk and you took it. Every seminarian knows the rules and every seminary gives candidiates plenty of time to get out of the kitchen and seek an alternative.

[Uncle Chip]

Are you going to base your entire argument on your translation of the Bible, and I do focus on the word TRANSLATION?

Okay -- I'll read it to you out of my Catholic Bible:

"And Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross, and there was written "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews". Many of the Jews therefore read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin." [The Holy Bible, The Catholic Press, Chicago, Illinous, with the approbation of His Eminence Samuel Cardinal Stritch, 1950]

Is that translation clearer for you???? Are you going to disagree with His Eminence as well as your own Catholic Bible????

[MarkBsnr]

***Well, go ahead and spout your stuff. The Holy Spirit within doesn’t want me arguing such nonsense with you.***

Are you trying to prove my point for me?

[MarkBsnr]

***Geez, these holy people are inspiring! Guess that’s why we have Padre Pio’s and St. Theresas, and all the consecrated men and women. I have “miles to go before I sleep.”

Cheers and have a blessed Lent!***

I have further to go than most, I’m sure.

And to you and yours, sir.

[MarkBsnr]

***As a I understand it there has been a real effort to try and weed out the problem at the seminary level, but that will probably take a generation.***

At least.

It is a cross that our children and ourselves should not have had to bear.

[MarkBsnr]

***I pray that is true. However, somewhere along the way all kinds of rituals, self proclaimed authority and exclusivity have become the foundation of the RCC.***

We have no authority except that which comes from Jesus. We have no authority over, for instance, the Jews or the Muhammedans. The rituals come from Scripture and from the earliest Church. We do not practice or preach exclusivity except to acknowledge the role of the Church.

We do not believe in either moral equivalency or church equivalency. If you do not believe that the church that you attend is the closest to the One True God, then why go?

If you do not believe that any doctrines or beliefs that you follow are the most optimal Way to salvation, then why believe?

[Uncle Chip]

Are just trying to be intentionally obtuse? Do you call the language of the Americans American? (you probably do, it wouldn't surprise me).

We speak English, not the English that was spoken a 200 or 400 years ago but we still call it English. Did Shakespeare write in English??? Do we write or speak in that kind of English today??? But it is still called English today -- right????

They didn't speak Hebrew in the 1st century. The name "Hebrew" referred to Biblical Hebrew (to differentiate it from Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew). In the Greek New Testament it is Hebraisti which was the koine Greek word for Chaldee (Aramaic).

Baloney -- Hebraisti means Hebrew not Aramaic or Chaldean. What part of that don't you understand?

The New testament Greek (look up any source) says Habrais means: Hebrew, the Hebrew language, not that however in which the OT was written but the Chaldee, which at the time of Jesus and the apostles had long superseded it in Palestine

LOLOL -- they may not have spoken in Mosaic Hebrew, or even Isaiah's Hebrew, or even Ezra's Hebrew in the first century Judea, but it was still Hebrew -- 1st century AD Jewish Hebrew -- but Hebrew nonetheless. Just like we may not speak or write Shakespeare's English, or 17th century English, or even early American English, but what we speak and write today is still called English. So go stick your obtuse comment up your deliberation --

[the_conscience]

***Christians were largely recruited from the lower class Jewish and Gentile populations who were illiterate. Having written Scripture was fine for the temples and for the priestly class, but over 95% of the population was illiterate. Icons were developed in the first century in order to remind the people of the faith, prayers, etc.***

I don’t suppose the children of Isreal were any more literate yet Moses was able to teach through the oral tradition. Why is it that God is so set against graven images?

[MarkBsnr]

God is a jealous God. He wants us to concentrate on Him, not on man made replacements.

Icons are not replacements; they are the theological equivalent of a string tied on your finger to remind you of something.

[ScubieNuc]

Then I suggest you post your thread about your self-titled term, S-E ("sado-evangelism") in Chat, because it certainly doesn't belong on the Religion Forum.

That's a good suggestion. Regardless of where he decides to post his idea though, I think it will be understood in the same manner as the term 'homophobic' is understood.

The pro-homosexual people take refuge in their made up term, because they think that their new term convicts those that disagree with them of some kind of disorder or crime. For me, when someone brings up the term 'homophobic' it provides an opportunity to discuss what homosexuality really is, it's dangers, and what God thinks of it.

I believe that same will be true with MD's made up term. It will provide more opportunities to discuss what the Bible really says. I'm reminded of what Joseph told his brothers...

Gen 50:19,20 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for [am] I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; [but] God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as [it is] this day, to save much people alive.

All things for the glory of God and the proclamation of His Word.

[Quix]

Good points, imho.

Thx.

[Mad Dawg]

I agree about the term homophobic.

Those who are able to read and occasionally take that skill out for a trot will see that "sado-evangelism" is not about disagreement but about the manner of disagreement. Those who decide to figure out what it is they are mocking before they begin the mocking will have seen that it is possible to be Catholic or Orthodox and suffer from Sado-evangelism and it is possible to be Calvinist or a Sola Scriptura person and to be the target of an S-E sufferer. It's a syndrome not a theology.

But it's so much harder to make fun of the concept if one takes the trouble to find out what is meant by it.

And yes, I do think the routine and almost ceaseless derision and disparagement of Catholic thought, often unhindered by any sign of understanding it, will be turned by God's grace into good, God willing, even for those who took the lead and were most persistent in the taunting and guffaws and hogwashes and so forth.

[MarkBsnr]

As I posted to kosta, the problem with Gnostic belief in the indwelling Spirit is that since the Holy Spirit directs one, one cannot do wrong. And if one does come into conflict with another, then they, by circular logic, do not have the indwelling Spirit.

So, the iconoclast certainly worships his/her own image in the mirror since everything else falls short or is an icon or graven image.

The problem that we frequently run into is that the folks we are debating are firmly convinced that 33 AD Jewish folks were completely literate in English and had the KJV tucked into their pockets. It was only the Catholic Church that put the kibosh on the free distribution of the KJV in the first century. We are bad.

[MarkBsnr]

***Why don’t they see that when they mock those who believe that Paul’s writings are true, they are also mocking Paul, as well as God? Oh well. I guess for some, parts of God’s truth are truthier than others. :)***

All of God’s truth is true. Misinterpreting Paul does not lead one towards God’s truth. It leads one towards the Gnostics, as evidenced by several folks on boards here. The great deceiver nets a great number of souls by deceit and by causing misunderstanding.

He is harvesting a great bounty.

[MarkBsnr]

***Trudeau was a Jesuit educated French Canadian

Who dated Margot Kidder...before she dove into the bushes toothless!

What kind of a way is that to run a government?!***

It depends on whether she was toothless before or after the date.

[Pyro7480]

It’s still a translation. What does the Greek say (not like it’s already been said already on this thread)?

[the_conscience]

Projection.

[Quix]

RC straw dogs are no more attractive than Protty straw dogs.

[MarkBsnr]

We have the faith and do not need to resort to dogs.

What language do you believe that Jesus spoke?

What was the literacy rate?

Who painted the first century icons in the catacombs?

When did Peter get his authority as Pope?

When did the Church get its authority as the teaching institution of Jesus Christ?

Answer these correctly, and you too have the ability to join the true faith and the Church of Jesus Christ.

[kosta50]

From New Testament Greek

Home > Lexicons > Greek > Hebraisti

The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon

 Strong's Number:   1447

 Browse Lexicon 

Original Word	Word Origin
ÔEbrai>stiv	from (1446)
Transliterated Word	TDNT Entry
Hebraisti	3:356,372
Phonetic Spelling	Parts of Speech
heb-rah-is-tee'	Adverb

 Definition

1. in Hebrew, i.e. in Chaldee

 King James Word Usage - Total: 6

in the Hebrew tongue 3, in the Hebrew 2, in Hebrew 1

KJV Verse Count
John	4
Revelation	2
Total	6

You have not provided a single educated, academic, learned, intellectual or credible piece of evidence that the use of Hebraïsti in the NT is anything but Aramaic (Chaldee), not Hebrew.

Of course, you will notice that the KJV translates it incorrectly (imagine that!), and how one lie (oh the devil is so happy with KJV!) becomes the "truth."

You are more "Hebrew" in your zeal than the Jews, whose sources are actually rather objective. Your claims run contrary even to the Jewish Encyclopedia!

If you want to be the 'king" in your bubble world and pontificate what is true, that's your prerogative, but I am not interested in your foolishness.

You have serious issues. I am sorry for you.

You can find someone else to convince that the Greeks don't know their own language, or that  faulty, damned and corrupt English bible versions are the "word of God." You can go on living in your own little fantasy world (but I suggest you get some help