We turn now to our final segment.
UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES
We resume our excursion through the Book of Acts. Here again are Dave and Tom: Tom:
This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts chapter 17. Dave, last week we only covered two verses, but hopefully it was still a blessing to our listeners. We are going to pick up with Verse 16. This is Acts chapter 17, picking up with verse 16: “Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.”
Dave:
Tom, we had better refresh people’s memories, why is he waiting for them, and who are they? Well, because he had to run out of town, out of Berea because some Jews from Thessalonica came there and stirred up things, and Paul has already been stoned and so they thought, Well, Paul, why don’t you take off, because Jesus did say, when they refused, shake the dust off your feet—don’t cast your pearls before swine, don’t try to force anyone. We are offering them salvation as a free gift and if they don’t want it, then we will go on to those who would accept it.
Tom:
Also, Dave, in this situation some people might think that you need to stand fast and hang in there right to the last drop of blood, and so on, that you are being a coward if you do anything less. But no, again they were spirit led, and there are times to stand and fight and there are times to pull back and retreat. But mainly it’s got to be led of the Holy Spirit.
Dave:
Well, God does not force himself on anyone, then it wouldn’t be love.
Tom:
Right. So—but well, Dave, what about this? He saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Any cities like that in this country?
Dave:
Well, Tom, you find it everywhere, but it’s a little different kind of idolatry. There they had statues in ancient Greece. They are into gods, a lot of gods. If the Christians wouldn’t have been thrown in prison, they wouldn’t have been killed, thrown to the lions, and so forth, if they had been a little bit more ecumenical. You’ve got a lot of gods, we’ll offer you another god. How about Jesus? How about Yahweh? And you can put them in your pantheon too, but it was because they said Jesus is the only way, there’s only one hope, He is the one who died for our sins, there is only one God. They would not accept that.
Tom:
Now Dave, between verse 16 and 17—tie these two together because I don’t quite follow this. It says, Therefore, after he saw the city wholly given to idolatry and his spirit was stirred in him. It says, “Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.” So, is he including the Jews in the synagogue and the devout persons with idolatry? I don’t quite understand that.
Dave:
No, I don’t think it says that.
Tom:
Okay.
Dave:
But it included—it’s a compound sentence there and it includes the market place, devout persons and so forth.
Tom:
I got it.
Dave:
He goes to the synagogue first, every town he went to, because, as he says in Romans 1:16, This is the gospel, the gospel is to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Probably some of the Jews were getting a little bit soft on idolatry as well. Who knows, they may have been partners with idolaters, maybe they were even selling statues.
Tom:
You think ecumenism goes back to this time.
Dave:
I think so.
Tom:
I think so, too.
Dave:
The money rules, and if you can make a little money, you know, even a criminal has to make a few honest dollars, if you can make a little money selling statues and who knows what.
Tom:
But also wanting to get along with people, I mean, that’s what we see today, this business of tolerance. Well, we just had it in our earlier segment. Look at the Episcopal church and what’s going on there.
Dave:
Tom, let’s get some people, let’s take them to CBA, Christian Booksellers Assoc. National Convention, and walk through the convention—what do you call it? Walk through the floor where they display, and you’ve got everything there. This used to be a Christian organization, I thought it was a Christian organization, and you’ve got crucifixes, scapulars, you’ve got monstrances.
Tom:
Booths by craftsmen who create a monstrance, create the items for the Catholic priesthood, for the worship of the piece of bread.
Dave:
You had better explain what the monstrance is.
Tom:
It’s actually a container that’s like a sunburst either in gold or in bronze, it has a glass center in which the consecrated host, the transubstantiated host, that is, the piece of bread that the Catholic priest claims to transubstantiate into the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ under the appearance of this piece of bread. It’s then inserted into this sunburst container and put on a side altar, usually in a church to which Catholics will go and bow down and worship this piece of bread. It’s called the Eucharistic Holy Hour. Now, a couple of years ago—I didn’t go last year—but the year before, when I took some pictures, there was a booth in which this craftsman was selling monstrances as well as other articles for use in the mass.
Dave:
It was there last year, as well, Tom, so this is idolatry. I was in Rome in June, and in most Catholic cathedrals, instead of having it up on the altar or to the side of the altar, they have a chapel—they call it—off to the side—well, they’ve got all kinds of chapels for this saint and that saint, and so forth, but they have what they call, perpetual adoration, and people are there 24 hours a day, and praying to this wafer as though this were Jesus, as though this were God. So Tom, I would say that that’s idolatry as well. So, the Jews—how they were involved in idolatry I don’t know, but the fact is that Paul always went to the synagogue first. But then he goes on, he’s disputing with the devout persons in the market daily with them and there are those who are meeting with him, too. He probably has a place off to the side, and there are people who come to listen to him, and dispute with him.
Tom:
So, what was he doing? Was he bashing this? Why couldn’t he just be more tolerant, let this thing go?
Dave:
Well, that’s what we would do today, Tom, some people would, unfortunately, but that is not what the Bible teaches. You know, Tom, my illustration—I’ve probably given it a hundred times. If I’m a medical doctor and you come to me—you’ve got a ruptured appendix—I’ve examined you and I know you’ve got a ruptured appendix and it has probably been ruptured for several days—
Tom:
It actually happened to me, as you know.
Dave:
I know. And if you’re not on that operating table very soon, you’re dead! But Tom, I wouldn’t want to upset you, I wouldn’t want to shatter your fragile self-esteem, and I wouldn’t want to seem to create a breach between us, I want us to be able to get along and be friends. So I pat you on the back and I say, Tom, you’re going to do really well, everything is going to be okay. You get a little pain, take an aspirin. I’m not a friend, this is not good advice and it’s really not love, and it’s not love to not give people the gospel for fear you might offend them. Better to offend them and rescue them from hell than to be their friend without any correction or any sound advice and let them go to hell. So Paul is not going to make that mistake, he disputes with these people.
Tom:
Right. Now Dave, we only have a couple of minutes left but I’ll read verse 18, we’ll come back to it and make some comments next week, the Lord willing. “Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him.”
Dave:
These guys believed the opposite. One of them is in self-indulgence and the other one is not going to indulge anything.
Tom:
Right. “And some said, What will this babbler say? Other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.”
Dave:
Well, they take him up to where they have this big discussion going on all the time, Mars Hill, and they call it the Areopagus, and they put him in front of them and they say, May we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is? Well, that’s great, they want to have a little discussion and he’s going to give it to them. I guess we can come back next week to hear what Paul had to say.
Tom:
Dave, It reminds me, I don’t know, you know it had to be decades ago, but I remember a church, and it was a fairly good sized church, and their item was to always have something new. They didn’t care what you thought. They always brought in something new because that was more interesting and more entertaining.
Dave:
That was Athens exactly.
Tom:
Yeah, and of course it has nothing to do with truth, it has to do with entertainment.
Dave and Tom will continue their discussion on the topic of salvation next week, we hope you can tune in. This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Would like to expand your knowledge of God’s Word? We offer a wide variety of items that will greatly assist you, from books and tracts to audio and video recordings, CD-ROM, our website and much more. For a complete list of materials or to get a copy of today’s broadcast, write to us at POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708, call us at our toll free order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org. If you would like a copy of this broadcast on tape or compact disc, ask for Program #5106, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And now, if you would like to watch Dave and Tom, our weekly broadcast is available on DVD. Ask about a subscription when you contact us. You can also download both audio and video podcast at our website. If you receive television programming from Sky Angel, you’ll be able to view our video, A Woman Rides the Beast, with Dave Hunt on January 13, starting at 9:00 PM Eastern. We invite you to tune in. Get a pen or pencil ready, we’ll repeat our contact information in just a moment.
Next week, we’ll continue our series of programs based on Dave Hunt’s book, When Will Jesus Come? And, are you a preterist or a futurist? In Religion in the News, Christian Contemplation, we’ll take a look at that story, and address the question: Are You Guilty of Adultery? We hope you can join us. If you have questions or comments about this program, we urge you to contact our offices. Search the Scriptures Daily Radio Ministry is made possible by God’s grace, your prayers and your financial support. I’m Gary Carmichael and for Dave, Tom and everyone here at The Berean Call, I would like to thank you for tuning in and invite you to join us again next week. Until then, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily. For more information about The Berean Call, write to us at POB 7019, Bend, Oregon 97708. Call us toll free at our order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org.
