The Old Paths

Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. --Jeremiah:6:16-17

Why wouldn't the Israelites want the "good way" and "rest for their souls"? Why wouldn't they "hearken to the sound of the trumpet," i.e., want to hear what God has to say? Let me suggest one reason that could certainly apply. They were so far removed from doing things God's way that they couldn't relate to the "old paths." Furthermore, their idea of "good" was not God's good, and the "rest" they sought after was not the rest of God. Doing their own thing for their own selves for so long may have pushed God's way well beyond their interests and comprehension. This condition was not unique to ancient Israel; we also see it in the church today.

For decades Dave Hunt and I have been addressing the detrimental influence of psychological counseling among evangelical Christians. Trying to convince believers that psychotherapy is both pseudoscience and antibiblical quite often has been like endeavoring to paddle a canoe upstream, mostly in the face of rapids and occasionally as though challenging a Niagara Falls. One reason for this is similar to what probably contributed to the rebellion documented by Jeremiah: the church has been so seduced by psychological counseling for so long that anything that seems at odds with the current counseling practices is usually considered a consequence of ignorance.

I recently received a book written by Dr. Martin and Deidre Bobgan titled Person to Person Ministry: Soul Care in the Body of Christ . It is, in part, an indictment of the unbiblical way the evangelical church has gone about counseling. It is also a call to return to the "old paths," that is, God's instructions for how He wants believers to minister to one another. This is not a critical treatise directed at the problems inherent within professional psychotherapy; the Bobgans have shined the light of Scripture in that dark arena in their many other books (see resource materials) . Rather, Person to Person Ministry reproves those approaches that call themselves biblical counseling yet have gleaned much from the way the world counsels.

My experience has shown me that questions rush through the minds of many who take exception to our criticism of psychological counseling (although they may appreciate our addressing other things): "So what are you saying? Are you now telling us that even biblical counseling is wrong?" In a few words, yes--in most cases. The Bobgans' book gives enough examples to make anyone who loves the Lord and His Word very cautious about recommending someone who calls himself a biblical counselor, even if he claims that he is anti-psychology. On the other hand, the greater value of what the Bobgans have written is in their "sounding the trumpet," that is, exhorting and encouraging believers by reminding them that God has provided everything they need to deal with and benefit from the troubling issues of life "through the Word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit...[and] the fellowship of the saints...." (p. 172).

What will perhaps make Person to Person Ministry upsetting to some is not necessarily the content, which is simply and clearly biblical, but the fact that unbiblical ways and means of counseling have so permeated the church that anything that challenges them is likely to be regarded as extreme. Here are some "counseling" problems that should concern those who want to minister, and be ministered to, God's way. As I list some of the errors they expose, see if there is either a practice or teaching found in the New Testament to support these current practices. In other words, in reference to the old hymn, was it "good for Paul and Silas"? Many "biblical" counselors mimic the way professional counselors counsel. They have a counseling office, a calendar of appointments, meet with people on an hourly basis often once a week or more, and that sometimes goes on for months or years. They charge fees or accept donations for their church (which pays their salaries). Some don't see a problem here as long as the counselor is "using the Word of God." Other than the fact that the methods are at odds with what Scripture teaches, I'm not sure what "using the Word of God" means, because the "biblical" concepts and methods vary from biblical counselor to biblical counselor. For example, most biblical counselors integrate psychological concepts in some fashion, often incorporating humanistic or behavioral psychology that has been spiritualized, so they sound as though they were biblically consistent.

Teachings such as Freudian psychic determinism and the unconscious or Jungian dream analysis and the collective unconscious or behaviorism or inner healing, etc. (without using those specific terms), are rampant among those who nevertheless claim to counsel sola Scriptura . Exploring the past and looking for causes for sinful decisions based upon one's parents or one's environment or a life trauma are also common. Some specialize in deliverance from demons while others major in the unbiblical four temperaments. Most of those who practice the healing of memories would argue that they are adhering to the Scriptures rather than psychology. However, as the Bobgans point out, "Each counselor uses the Bible according to some combination of personal experience, secular theories, biblical doctrines, and common sense....While some have attempted to control the field through certificates, diplomas, degrees, and organizations, there is no single model or method of biblical counseling" (p. 49). Yet for all the differences among biblical counselors, including those who attempt strictly to adhere to God's Word, they all have this in common: they have set themselves up (some unwittingly) as experts in solving the problems of living that are adversely affecting Christians. This problem-solving approach is plagued with problems of its own, as the Bobgans demonstrate.

First of all, neither the God of the Bible, nor His instructions in Scripture, nor the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is about fixing our daily mental, emotional, and behavioral problems. Every believer is a new creature in Christ, and his objective in life is to have Christ formed in him. That is the process of sanctification-being set apart from the ways, means, and lusts of the world to a life that is in submission to the Lord and in which choices are made that are pleasing to Him, the One with whom every true believer will spend eternity. It's a growth process, which at times involves sufferings and trials that the Lord allows in our lives to help us depend upon Him and mature in our relationship with Him. Yet most biblical counseling is trapped in a "just fix the problem" or "get rid of the symptoms" mentality and mode, along with other concepts that are contrary to the biblical way. The Bobgans write,

Problem-centered counseling appeals to the flesh of both the counselor and the counselee....The counselor appears as the expert who has it all together and who is able to fix the one who does not....The appeal to the counselees' flesh exists because the counselees can present their case usually without being contradicted, condemned, or judged, but with gaining great sympathy and support. The more directly problem-centered one becomes, the more self-centered the counseling is. Problem-centeredness and self-centeredness are linked.

[J]ust as the psychotherapists are looked up to as experts in the world, so too have their problem-centered biblical counterparts been looked up to as experts in the church. The counselor is often regarded more highly than the pastor, and counseling is often regarded more highly than the teaching, preaching, and evangelizing. (pp. 24-25)

Preaching, teaching, and evangelizing are gifts of the Holy Spirit. Counseling, however, is noticeably absent from among the gifts. Why is counseling missing, especially since high profile counselors and others in that position are arguably the most influential people, either nationally or at the local church level, in the evangelical community today? The answer is that counseling is not a biblical ministry. Those who function as counselors (biblical or otherwise) are erroneously involved in an activity that is primarily a function of the Spirit of Christ. He is our Counselor. More often than not, counselors supplant the Spirit of Christ as they try to do in the life of a believer what only God can do. They attempt to peer into the heart of the counselee, grasping for motivations, connections, sin inducements, and other insights, in order to remedy troubling conditions. They are grasping at straws because such an activity can only result in man's speculations at least, and, even more important, it displaces the convicting, correcting, and comforting ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God as the only true "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews:4:12) .

So, if psychological counseling is out, and biblical counseling is rarely--if ever--biblical, what are believers left with? The "old paths"! The old paths, as applied in this article, are simply the way God wants us to minister to one another. One third of the Bobgans' book is titled "What Can Be Done: Christ-centered Ministry." What they supply from the Word of God is so simple and true that it no doubt will seem alien, even incredulous, to multitudes of believers conditioned by psychology's pervasive influence on the church. That, sadly, is not a wild guess. I've experienced such a reaction for years when I've voiced my concerns about the unbiblical nature of psychological counseling.

Let me give you a current situation, which I believe is analogous to what the Bobgans are encouraging in the Body of Christ. I hope that it will help some to better understand. The American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association have spent billions of dollars, over decades of years, searching for the cure for cancer and heart disease respectively. At some point, both organizations recognized that a better strategy would be to promote a program of prevention rather than putting all their time, energy, and funding into curing the illnesses themselves. Today, they are mostly committed to recommending changes in a person's lifestyle that would help to prevent cancer and heart disease, particularly through health-sustaining diet and exercise. It's a secular "old path" plan, and it has produced "good" results for those who have followed their advice. As Benjamin Franklin noted, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Yet many have decided, "We will not walk [or run or bicycle] therein." The discipline necessary for a lifestyle involving a beneficial diet and reasonable exercise is not high on their agenda, preferring (wishfully) a quick fix or cure of the disease, should it show up in their bodies.

God's "old paths" are primarily preventive . The emphasis is on the growth and maturity of the believer. Again, the Bobgans point the reader to the Scriptures: "'The just shall live by faith' (Habbakuk 2:4; Romans:1:17; Galatians:3:11, Hebrews:10:38) . Therefore faith in all that Christ has done (to overcome sin, secure salvation, provide new life and power through the process of sanctification, and give believers the solid hope of eternity with Him) constitutes the primary emphasis of all New Testament ministry" (p. 171). A believer's life in Christ is to be led of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within every believer, enables him to make righteous choices, helps him to be fruitful, to understand and know better the Word and the Word made flesh, to love Jesus more, and thus to do what pleases Him. Such an approach is not a method or technique or program or anything else conjured up by man but rather a miraculous life superintended by God. It is a life of faith, without which it is impossible to please God (Hebrews:11:6) . Problem-centered counseling is tragic by comparison. The Bobgans write,

Becoming mature in the faith far surpasses any change in circumstances or immediate solutions to temporal problems, though temporal change does accompany spiritual growth. What we are talking about here has eternal consequences, not just solutions that make people feel better for the time being. (pp. 171-72)

Those who have concluded that what the Bobgans are urging is impractical for dealing with life's problems need to consider this: which troubling issues can you think of that do not involve "the lust of the flesh," i.e., sin? They need to take that up with the Apostle Paul, who, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would....If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians:5:16-17, 25) . These are God's instructions, His "old paths," which the church has followed successfully for two millennia. Nothing could be more practical . Furthermore, His words are for every believer, every one of whom He has equipped to minister to fellow believers. That is the clarion call of Person to Person Ministry:

By God's grace and enabling, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who are walking daily with Him and maturing in the faith through the trials of life are already equipped to minister to fellow believers who are suffering from the same kinds of problems generally addressed by trained counselors. These believers are equipped to do this by what Christ has already done in them through the Word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, the trials of life, the fellowship of the saints, and opportunities to serve.

Paul wrote the following for every one of us who desires to follow the Lord and minister in His truth: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Galatians:6:1-2) .

This should be the heart's cry of each of us: Lord, concerning the "old paths"--Your ways--help Your Body of believers "to walk therein." TBC

Quotable

In a world of constant flux, it is assuring to find something that is unchanging, namely, the love of Christ. Our love moves in cycles. It is an emotional roller coaster. Not so with our Lord. His love never tires or varies.

And it is a pure love, utterly free from selfishness, unrighteous compromise, or unworthy motive. It is untainted and without a breath of defilement.

Like His grace, His love is free. For this we can be everlastingly thankful because we are paupers, beggars, and bankrupt sinners. And even if we owned all the wealth in the world, we still could never put even a down payment on a love so priceless.

William MacDonald

The Disciples Manual

Question: Where do you get the courage to expose what you believe are false teachings...?

Question: Where do you get the courage to expose what you believe are false teachings of some of the best-known and most popular Christian leaders? Have you gone to each of them privately first, as the Scripture says we should? Can't correction be accomplished simply by referring to the false teachings without bringing in personalities? Is it really productive to identify by name those who teach these things? Wouldn't that instead be counterproductive by offending them and their admirers? And isn't it very costly financially by causing you to lose the support of many people?

Response: This is the most frequently asked of any question and I am confronted with it everywhere. First of all, it is not a matter of courage but of obedience to our Lord and to His Word. We have no choice but to "earnestly contend for the faith" (Jude 3) and as we preach the Word to "reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Tm 4:2; 3:16) . There is no alternative. We dare not ignore these commands--for the glory of our Lord and for the sake of those who have been deceived and whom we must do all we can to rescue.

We believe that correction must be as public and widespread as was the erroneous teaching. This is necessary both for the sake of the teacher and for his or her followers. Error which has been taught publicly must be corrected publicly. Private discussion about it does not benefit the multitudes who have been thereby deceived. We have found private discussion to be largely unproductive. Those whom we have confronted privately seem to agree with us at that time, then continue to teach the same error.

Yes, we believe that in most cases it is necessary and productive to identify false teachers by name. How else can reproof be accomplished? To identify false teaching in a general way is of little benefit. We must specifically identify not only the error taught but those who teach it because they are often so highly regarded that whatever they say is unquestioningly accepted without even noticing what is wrong with it--and thereby many are led astray.

The biblical requirement to go to someone alone is only when one has been personally "trespassed" against: "Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone" (Mt 18:15) . Any Christian leaders we identify by name have not offended us individually but have publicly taught what we sincerely believe to be false doctrine harmful to hearers and readers by the thousands (in some cases by the millions).

Does it keep us off radio and TV shows and take away from donations we might otherwise receive by standing for the truth and identifying those more popular than we are who teach error? Yes, but that is something we leave with the Lord. God forbid that we should ever allow such concerns to influence in any way our fidelity to our Lord and to His Word! That would be as foolish as exchanging the praise of God for the praise of men and an eternal heavenly reward for a temporal earthly one.

Question: I know God's Word is infallible and inerrant, but I can't reconcile Jeremiah's statement that Jerusalem would be desolate for 70 years either with history or the Bible.

Question: I know God's Word is infallible and inerrant, but I can't reconcile Jeremiah's statement that Jerusalem would be desolate for 70 years either with history or the Bible. When did this 70year period begin and end? Nor can I get it straight concerning Darius, Cyrus, the rebuilding of the temple in Ezra's time and the rebuilding of Jerusalem under Nehemiah.

Response: The entire subject of the 70-year desolation of Jerusalem seems to contain several apparently hopeless contradictions. I have learned that God allows seeming contradictions to force us to dig deeper and in the end to have our faith strengthened thereby.

First of all we encounter the apparent contradiction about the duration of Daniel's time in Babylon. Daniel:1:21 says, "Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus...." But 10:1 says, "In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel...." If Daniel continued only unto the first year of Cyrus, how could he still be alive and receiving revelations in Cyrus's third year?

Obviously 1:21 can't mean that Daniel died in the first year of Cyrus. The statement is made because it was in his first year that Cyrus allowed the Jews to return. Thus we are told that Daniel lived to see the return of the captives under Cyrus. That the first wave of captives returned in the first year of Cyrus is stated clearly in 2 Chronicles:36:22-23 and Ezra:1:14, 5:13 and 6:3.

This brings us to what appears to be a hopeless contradiction due to the fact that Cyrus II, known as Cyrus the Great, ruled from about 550-529 B.C. The first year of his reign, in 550 B.C., would be much too early for a return of the captives to Jerusalem if that indeed marked the end of the 70-year desolation thereof. Even if we count from the first carrying away of captives into Babylon in 605 B.C., that gives only 55 years instead of the 70-year desolation of Jerusalem prophesied by Jeremiah (Jer:25:3-11; Dn 9:2) . We could legitimately extend the period to the first year of his reign in Babylon, which he captured in 539 B.C. This is undoubtedly when the decree was given and what is meant by the first year of his reign (he had no jurisdiction over the Jewish captives until then) but that would still leave us 4 years short of the necessary 70-year desolation.

However, it seems clear that the first wave of returnees to Jerusalem by Cyrus's decree, resulting in the commencement of temple reconstruction, did not end the 70-year desolation. Eight years after the death of Cyrus, Daniel is still praying for the restoration of Jerusalem (Dn 9:1-19) in the first year of Darius. Cyrus died in 529 B.C. and was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who in turn was succeeded by Darius in 521 B.C. (after an eight-month interlude of a usurper in 522 B.C.). So at least 18 years after the first wave of captives returned to Jerusalem and began to rebuild the temple, Daniel is still fervently praying for an end to the desolation of Jerusalem (Dn 9).

Obviously, then, the 70-year desolation of Jerusalem is not considered by Scripture to have ended with the decree of Cyrus allowing the captives to return. The unfounded belief that the desolation ended at that time creates this confusion. While we are told at least four times that this decree was given in the first year of Cyrus (the first year of his reign in Babylon), nowhere is it stated that this decree marked the end of the prophesied desolation of Jerusalem.

That the desolation did not end at that time becomes clear from a careful reading of the book of Ezra. The foundation of the temple had no sooner been laid than opposition arose. The adversaries "weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building...frustrate[d] their purpose, all the days of Cyrus...until the reign of Darius..." (Ezr 4:15) . Although Cyrus no doubt had good intentions, apparently after giving the decree he was too preoccupied to make certain that it was being effected in Jerusalem. The captives had been allowed to return, and the fact that they were frustrated in building the temple was overlooked if ever reported to him. Verse 6 tells of the opposition during the reign of Ahasuerus (known as Cambyses in secular history). Verses 7-23 refer in more detail to the decree by Artaxerxes, which caused the work of the temple to cease by force and power. This Artaxerxes was also known as Smerdis, a usurper, who seized the throne in 522 B.C. and was murdered eight months later and was succeeded by Darius. The suspension of temple reconstruction held unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia (Ezr 4:23-24) . Now we see the answer to Daniel's prayer with the restoration of temple construction in 521 B.C.! The temple was then finished in the sixth year of the reign of Darius (Ezr 6:15) , in 516 B.C.

Thus the 70-year desolations are actually counted from the destruction of the temple in 586 B.C. until its completion in 516 B.C., exactly 70 years. All of the apparent contradictions disappear and the biblical account perfectly fits a very complex scenario, further reason for absolute confidence in whatever else the Bible has to say.

Question: The Bible does seem to state a number of times that the Jews (the people of Israel) are God's chosen people...

Question: The Bible does seem to state a number of times that the Jews (the people of Israel) are God's chosen people. They mean something special to Him. I don't understand, however, why there even had to be a chosen people. Can you explain this?

Response: To bring the Messiah into the world is one reason for a chosen people. The Messiah had to come through a special line of descent; He couldn't be a member of all races. One particular group of people had to be chosen, and God had to keep them isolated and identifiable in order to fulfill prophecies concerning Messiah's coming first of all to them and their rejection of Him. Numerous prophecies were given so that there would be no doubt as to the identity of the Messiah and His mission. His genealogy was an important factor in His identity.

Another reason for a chosen people is that God needed a special people through whom He could reveal Himself and also to show, in them, the relationship He wanted with all nations. Yes, He wanted to bless all nations, but in order to do so He must start with a particular people.

The Jews were also chosen to receive and preserve God's laws. They were chosen to be a holy people. They were chosen to be an example of both God's discipline and His grace. By their history of continued rebellion and God's patience with them, the Jews have provided assurance that God does not go back on His promises and is infinite in grace and mercy.

Another major reason God chose a special people was to prove His existence to the world by foretelling through His prophets centuries and even thousands of years beforehand exactly what was going to happen to them. We have gone into this in detail biblically and historically in several books, among them A Woman Rides the Beast and Judgment Day!

To summarize briefly, God promised the people of Israel the land of Canaan; when He brought them into the land He warned them that if they disobeyed Him they would be cast out and scattered everywhere. They would be hated, persecuted, and killed as no other people (anti-Semitism is a phenomenon unparalleled in history), but God would not let them be totally destroyed. After hailing the Messiah as He rode into Jerusalem on the colt of an ass, bringing salvation, Israel would reject Him; He would be crucified, and Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed once again and the Jews scattered to every nation in the final diaspora. Nevertheless, they would be amazingly preserved as an identifiable, ethnic group of people and brought back into their land in the last days. At that time, as God foretold 2,500 years ago, He would make Jerusalem a cup of trembling and a burdensome stone around the necks of the nations of the world. Jesus foretold that Jerusalem would be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

We have seen in our generation, exactly as prophesied, Israel's restoration as a nation to her own land (actually a small part of it thus far), the determination of the world not to let Israel have sovereignty over Jerusalem, the repeated attacks against her by her Muslim neighbors, and Israel's triumph each time through God's preservation. Today Jerusalem (and especially the Temple Mount) is a burdensome stone around the necks of all the nations of the world, as the news continually reports. The Bible tells how it will all end, but the world is unwilling to believe and to submit to God's plan.

None of these proofs would have been possible without there having been a chosen people. There is much more in Scripture, but space limitations govern.

News Alert

The Denver Post, 08/09/2009: Buddhism Strengthens Ties to Church [Excerpts] --

What in the recent past seemed exotic and foreign is now almost routinely folded into "the fold." Buddhism is not only accepted as a mainstream American religion, it is a path increasingly trod by faithful Christians and Jews who infuse Eastern spiritual insights and practices such as meditation into their own religions.

When John Weber became a Buddhist at age 19, his devout Methodist parents were not particularly pleased. In recent years, however, they've invited their son, a religious studies expert...to speak at their church about Buddhism. "That never would have happened before," Weber said. "They would have been embarrassed."

The Pew Forum's Religious Landscape Survey in 2007 found that seven in 10 Americans who have a religion believe there is more than one path to salvation. A growing number of people are contemplating more than one each. And they are contemplating contemplation itself.

There are Jubus--Jews who bring Buddhism into their practice of Judaism--and Bujus, who are Buddhists with Jewish parents. Then there are UUbus, or Unitarian Universalist Buddhists, and Ebus, or Episcopalian Buddhists. There are Zen Catholics.

"There is a definite trend and movement that will not be reversed," said Ruben Habito, a laicized Jesuit priest, Zen master and professor of world religions at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "We are in a new spiritual age, an interreligious age."

People are hungry for a deeper spiritual experience--meditation, mindfulness, personal transformation, deep insight, union with God or the universe....For many Christians cut off from the past, or alienated from the faith of their upbringing, Buddhism has served as the bridge to ancient wisdom.

"The problem is the contemplative tradition in the Christian Church has had its ups and downs over the centuries," said Father Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk and leader in the Centering Prayer movement, a modern revival of Christian contemplative practice. "We sensed that the Eastern religions, with their highly developed spirituality, had something we didn't have....It's important to recover the mystical aspects of the gospel."

[TBC: No. "It's important to" understand and believe the simple gospel, which is mankind's only way to be reconciled to God. Buddhism is "a bridge to ancient" paganism, and as a "path increasingly trod by [un]faithful Christians," it is a highway that leads to eternal separation from God.]

Letters

Dear Tom,

Thanks so much for the comments on The Shack in the August issue. We know many "Christians" who relish the book. I know the material you offer will help us defend the truth. F&MM (TX)

TBC,

Thank you for your faithful work each month. My only hope, as I open my Berean Call email, is that you might make it twice as long as it was the previous month! God certainly blessed me when I started receiving your newsletter. May God continually bless your work. SK (email)

Dear TBC,

[Thank you for] seventeen years of blessing and information I could get nowhere else. I wish you could do two newsletters a month, as I devour it the day it arrives. You are blessed by the Lord, and I so thank you for sharing what you have been given by Him with others. JW (OK)

Dear Dave and Staff,

I, along with doubtless thousands of us, am much relieved to hear you are on the mend. You and your staff are in my daily prayers and I am thrilled to hear how God is answering. I am so grateful for your love for and commitment to Israel. As we read of their superiority in military and intellectual arenas, it would be hard not to recognize God's special influence on this people. Thank you for your biblical perspective and love for the Truth. May the Lord be pleased to keep you around for many more fruitful years. PB (MN)

Dear Brothers Dave & T. A.,

Before anything else, I want to thank you both for your ministry and your faithfulness in serving God and His people. I have been a Christian since shortly after my original arrest some 16 years ago, having been born again by the free, sovereign grace of God. During the course of those years, I have had the opportunity to have read a number of your books and have been blessed, encouraged, and challenged in the doing. I am also a regular reader of The Berean Call , which also has been a blessing. Thank you, and may our great God and Savior strengthen and encourage you both as you continue to walk in His love. MF (prisoner, AZ)

Dave Hunt,

I just rec'd an e-mail from a customer, and she sent me info from your critical web-site. I asked her a question. Where do these guy's make up this stuff? Then I mentioned, perhaps Mr. Dave Hunt and his friends were standing outside my window when I was worshiping Yahweh, while blending our Third Heaven Vision anointing oil. Thanks for the article, Dave Hunt [ see TBC Extra, 5/06, "'New Reformation' Prophets Peddle Products With Promise Of Power"]. I made a copy of it years ago. I'll be glad to send you a bottle of our Third Heaven Vision anointing oil, perhaps you would enjoy it. You've cursed us, for that I forgive you in Jesus' name. Please consider taking those logs out of your eyes. TP (email)

Hi Dave,

I appreciated the many insights in your book, What Love Is This? [ see Resource Pages] in regards to the false teaching of Calvinism. I totally related to the ficticious "Al" in your book. That really mirrored what I have gone through and at times am still going through. I was gloriously saved and believed Christ died for my sins, and with that came all the new desires and affections and changed actions. About four years after I got saved, I started to see election and predestination and started searching into that. Well, I became a "Calvinist." The only problem with that was that doubts and fears started to arise [as to] whether I was one of the elect....It seems the Calvinists, or at least a lot I have read (Puritans, Pink, MacArthur, Shelton, Piper), always address the assurance of salvation and that examination is imperative, and yet they never really say (other than MacArthur) that you can be absolutely sure of your salvation. They stress this idea that those with a false faith can act very close to those who have a true faith ( that's a great shot in the arm!) and that our heart is so deceitful that we can really deceive ourselves, and that it seems to please God to bring people close to salvation, with apparent evidences of a new life, but actually still not be saved. That has been the hardest for me to overcome. It seems clear from Scripture that those who have trusted Christ and have been born again are clearly evidenced from those who haven't (1 John:3:10). Anyway, thank you for the book. It has been a blessing. I'm sure I will refer to it several more times. From a recovering ex-Calvinist. JL (email)

Dear Dave,

Your TBC for July, "Stars and Stripes Forever?" was power-packed, timely, anointed! I've read it (every word) three times [and] will no doubt read it again. If only every "Christian" in America were sincere enough to take it to heart and pray God's will for Israel and America in the days ahead. I am so glad (and know it's no coincidence) that Benjamin Netanyahu leads Israel now. Clinton treated him shamefully! God bless, keep, and supply all of you with your needs to accomplish His will in the days ahead. JH (WV)

Hello Dave,

Just a short note to let you know that I thank our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for the ministry he has entrusted you and Tom with. I have been blessed with all of the learning materials I have, by the grace of God, been able to purchase during such a famine for the Word of God in the nation where I currently reside. I have listened to the Gospel of John discussions and expositions on mp3 and I have read many of your books from Beyond Seduction to In Defense of the Faith ....Thank you for being faithful to the Word of God and for sharing what God has taught you. AD (Australia)

TBC Notes

"Old Paths" Instructions

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy:6:4-9)

T. A. McMahon

Executive Director

TBC Extra

The "Suitable Helper"

It's an awesome responsibility for a man to take on the role of husband. Let's consider some ways that a wife can help her husband to be a good one. In Genesis:2:18 we read that God provided Adam with a helper suited to his needs. Today's "suitable helper" will desire to do her husband "good and not evil all the days of her life." That's Proverbs:31:12.

One: The suitable helper will make home a place of shelter and refuge. When the door is closed, the world's turmoil is left outside. I like to think of the Christian home as a temporary abode where husband and children are sheltered and cared for on the way to their heavenly home.

Two: She will communicate wisely. I believe a wife should be her husband's chief counselor, but in dispensing wisdom, "Let your speech always be with grace," we're told in Colossians:4:6. An alternative to discussing an issue verbally is to write it down. You'll have no interruptions. You won't get off track. Your emotions won't spill over, and you can think as you write and revise. Your husband can then read, re-read, ponder, and respond by whatever means he chooses.

Three: She will have a genuine interest in her husband's problems and concerns. Six PM is the danger hour of the day in many homes. Our husband comes through the door, and we can be so hung up on our horrible day that we can hardly wait to unload. The solution has something to do with Philippians 2:3: "Let each esteem others better [more important] than themselves." Then there's Galatians:6:2, where we're told to "Bear one another's burdens." Best of all, we'd be following Christ's example. He gave His very life for us, and He gives us His full attention when we pour out our hearts to Him in prayer.

Four: She will be trustworthy when he shares confidences. They are for her ears only. He doesn't want his poorer moments advertised with the girls over coffee, or his confidences given away, even to her best friend, or her mother.

Five: She will be courteous. The sweet, gracious ways that won his heart during courtship are sometimes left behind at the altar. Consistent courtesy smooths the path in every situation.

Six: She is submissive to her husband. In God's wisdom, it's a command: "Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands," we're told in 1 Peter:3:1. Way back there, Satan wanted to be "like the most High" (Isaiah:14:14). But how many "most Highs" can there be in any relationship? Satan was cast out of heaven for demanding equal rights with God. God commands wives to obey their husbands (in the Lord). He commands husbands to love their wives "even as Christ loved the church [His bride]." That's Ephesians:5:25. It shouldn't be difficult to decide which is the greater challenge.

Seven: She is a good manager, a good executive over her little kingdom. "She looketh well to the ways of her household," says Proverbs:31:27. The whole chapter is a recital of all that this amazing woman accomplishes. She had to be organized. And the result? Her husband could relax and do his job more efficiently because she was doing hers.

Eight: She will be contented with her lot. "Godliness with contentment is great gain," says 1 Timothy:6:6. How can we be godly and not contented, when our Lord "daily loadeth us with benefits," as Psalm:68:19 reminds us. Try thanking God for things you never dreamed of being thankful for before: the wildflowers growing among the weeds in your yard, the sun that's drying your clothes because you don't have an electric dryer, the coupons that have come just in time to buy the groceries you need. Practice being thankful for all those little things, which aren't really little because they're also God's gifts.

Nine: A gracious wife accepts his love, however offered. Husbands are not all poets and romantics. They may work hard, be loyal, faithful, helpful, but have a problem saying the words she longs to hear. Love can be unspoken and just as real. Accept it.

Ten: Most important of all, the wise woman attends to her inner beauty because "Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who feareth the Lord will be praised," Proverbs:31:30 tells us. Those many virtues listed throughout chapter 31 add up to a zero if her relationship with the Lord is not the priority. So--number ten is really number one.

A final thought from an unknown author: "Who are better suited to wedlock than men and women who have already died to self? Already they have learned to serve and please Another [our Lord Jesus Christ]."

Happily, in this way, our relationship with our Heavenly Bridegroom can be the pattern for our earthly marriages.

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