Karluk: The Great Untold Story of Arctic Explorationby Willaim Laird McKinlay has now been told. Setting
off in June 1913, Vilhjalmur Stefansson was a Canadian explorer who captained
the Karluk, a ship with a 25-member crew of seamen and scientists. Shortly
thereafter the ship became stuck in Arctic ice, stranding the crew which, fortunately,
included an Eskimo family consisting of mother, father, and their two daughters,
Helen and Mugpi, aged five and three. This family was an invaluable Godsend,
using their Arctic skills (hunting, shoemaking, clothe making and repairing,
cooking skills etc.) to help save the survivors as they wandered around the
frozen wastelands of drifting and raggedy icefloes for six months. Eleven of
the crew never made it.
Dogsleds and snowdrifts, polar bears and snow
blindness. The weather was extreme and brutal, especially during times of 24-hour
darkness. Yet periodically there were rays of hope. The author, William Laird
McKinlay, lived to tell the tale, wanting to set the record straight, which he did in 1976 before dying in Glasgow at a ripe old age of 95 in 1983.
McKinlay does well describing the personality clashes and
group dynamics of men when under unimaginable stress. They were ill-equipped,
lacking in leadership and survival skills, and were suffering from malnutrition and many mysterious
ailments.
Aged only 25, McKinlay was the ship’s magnetician and
meteorologist, a scientist not an Arctic explorer, yet not without hope. McKinlay wrote,
Just
before I left home our family minister had given me a Bible, with ‘Psalm 121’ inscribed
on the fly-leaf. My Bible was somewhere on the Mary Sachs or the Alaska,
but just the thought of it sustained me. And when I walked along the sandspit
and looked at Wrangel’s distant mountains, I was seeing my own Scottish hills
and remembering those lines from Psalm 121: ‘I to the hills will lift mine
eyes, from whence doth come mine aid.’ My thoughts were not gloomy. (Page106)
Many times, close to starving, sick and weak, with periods
of malnutrition, bouts of diarrhoea and constipation, surely for McKinlay the
timeless truth of Jesus’s words rang true, when He said, ‘It is written, Man
shall not live by bread along, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God.’ God’s Word sustained him. Spiritual food! Facing one gruelling ordeal
after another, day after day, night after night, he just seemed to ‘get on with
it’ as the party struggled to walk from the ice-crushed Karluk to
Wrangel Island, from whence they hoped to be rescued. And rescued they were! What
a remarkable story of resilience. McKinlay concluded,
It
is enough for now that the whole story of the Karluk has been told. I
thank God that I have been spared to tell it. I have never ceased thanking Him
for bringing me through the experience of the Karluk and Wrangel Island.
I believe it was my faith in God that sustained me, a faith kept alive by the
memory of Psalm 121: ‘I to the hills will lift mine eyes, from whence doth come
mine aid.’
As
that great Scottish theologian, Professor William Barkley put it: ‘The fact
that God is on our side does not mean that we will enjoy a comfortable troublefree
existence. What it does mean is, that no matter what comes to us, we can face
it erect and foursquare.’ (Page 162)
The Bible is full of contrasts and even opposites; darkness and light, heaven and hell, life and death etc. Whereas the first man Adam was treacherous
unto death, the Last Adam (i.e., Jesus) was loyal unto death. The former’s
treachery and subsequent death brought death to all mankind. However, the latter’s
loyalty and subsequent death brought life to all who trust in Him. “Therefore,
as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men,
resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous
act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification
of life” (Rom. 5:18).
To what and toward whom was Adam treacherous and Jesus
loyal? For Adam’s treachery to bring death to all humanity, he must have been
representing himself, his wife and his posterity. And for Jesus’s loyalty to
bring life, He must be representing those who trust in Him for salvation. Therefore,
Adam and Jesus are federal representatives, or, in Biblical terms, both are
covenant heads. In other words, both represent their own constituents before
God. Whereas Adam’s constituents are fallen and are therefore dead, those who
belong to Jesus have been raised to life, everlasting life.
As representing the nation, it is the Sovereign or Prime
Minster or President who declares war. Adam declared war on God by sinning
against Him. The late great theologian RC Sproul provides a sense of gravity
and proportion for what Adam did while representing us. 'Sin is cosmic treason. Sin is
treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude
toward the One to whom we owe everything, to the One who has given us life
itself.' Without Christ Jesus we remain in our state of cosmic treason against
God because Adam is our covenant head. However, having instead Christ Jesus as
our Redeemer, i.e., as our covenant head, we will remain forever in a condition
of complete loyalty to God. Jesus lived the perfect life that we as sinners cannot
live, and He died a substitutionary death to pay to God what we owe for our
treachery against Him.
God genuinely offers to forgive the treachery of those
who have Jesus to represent them before God. “For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). In Christ and Him crucified, God’s
grace and forgiveness is displayed. Says Jay Adams, “The cross was not
merely an act of compassion and mercy directed toward mankind; it was a cosmic
event in which God demonstrated who and what He is before all the universe.”
Image from Web
The sparkling diamonds of God’s grace, mercy and
compassion gloriously stand out against the black velvet backdrop of our treachery,
yes, our cosmic treason. We see this illustrated time and time again
throughout the Old Testament, even by those who should have known better, 'But
like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt treacherously with
Me' (Hos. 6:7). However, we believers now have a better covenant than the one
between God and Adam our old covenant head. We even have a better covenant than
that between God and Old Testament Israel.
Yet, even as Jesus was inaugurating the promised new
covenant (as per Jer. 31:31f., Heb. 8:8-12), there was treachery at the table
among the twelve. “He also took the cup after supper,
saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which
is shed for you. But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with
Me on the table' (Luke 22:20-21).
Which is it for you dear reader, treachery or
loyalty?
As you come
to him, the living Stone – rejected by humans but chosen by God and
precious to him – 5 you also, like living stones, are
being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For
in Scripture it says:
‘See, I lay
a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts him
will never be put to sham
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is
precious. But to those who do not believe,
‘The stone
the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,’
8 and,
‘A stone
that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.’
They
stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were
destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once
you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Introduction
In Glasgow, Scotland, there once were rows and
rows of old tenement buildings. These old brick buildings used to house the
workers in the day of Clydeside shipbuilding. As the shipbuilding industry died
a death in Scotland so did these buildings. They became slums – good only for
the wrecking ball! And so whole communities were disrupted as the demolition
crews moved in.
Whole communities such as the Gorbals were demolished!
The displaced people became known as the “Glasgow overspill.” There was social
upheaval – social unrest. Then someone had a brainwave. Instead of destroying
the community why don’t we renovate? And so rows and rows of old tenement
buildings were spared. After renovation people flocked to these buildings
wanting to live in these communities. It’s amazing what can be done with an old
house.
If you were an old house, what do you think
could be done with you? Do you think you should be condemned as unsafe? Or do
you think you could be renovated to become a home fit for royalty? Well, in
terms of the Bible, all mankind is standing like rows of condemned houses.
We are like derelict and dilapidated buildings
with broken windows and leaky roofs. We stand covered in grime and soot
awaiting the wrecker’s ball. But God has decided to spare some of us. He has
decided to renovate us! He has purchased us and He is forming a new community.
So let’s consider some of the work the Lord is doing as He renovates us.
Walls Removed
There has been a solid
brick wall built up between you and God. Of course,
this wall was demolished when you were converted. For when God began His
renovation in you, He removed that wall. How did that wall get there? Well, sin
built a wall between you and God. You inherited your house from your great,
great… grandfather Adam. Adam was the master plan for every house that was to
come after him. And he was the one that built the wall that separates each of
us from God. His design was passed down from generation to generation.
Therefore, you live in a house with a wall separating you from God.
However, when God moved into your (ie, the
Christian’s) house, the wall of the carnal mind which is enmity against God was
torn down. Romans 8:7 says, “The mind
governed by the flesh is hostile to God…” Or as the NKJV puts it, “The carnal mind is enmity against God...”
“Enmity” or “hostility” is something that separates. Enmity is a barrier, a
wall. And as the walls of Jericho came a tumbling down, God levels that wall in
you first off. Then He begins to patiently clear away the dust and rubble of
that wall.
There’s another wall
that needs to be torn down. The wall between you and your
brother and sister in Christ. Scripture says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there
male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” Galatians 3:28.
There may be racism, social distinction, sexism
in the world outside, but there is to be none of it in Christ’s church. Each of
us has our different roles to play in the church and in society, but we are not
to despise others because of their station in life.
In New Testament times, the Jews despised the
Gentiles and called them dogs! But when a Jew and a Gentile were converted,
they became as one. “For He
Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the
barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” Ephesians
2:14.
However, the wall
between you and your non-Christian neighbour stays in place. If
you’ve ever renovated a house, you’ll know about “supporting” walls. A
supporting wall cannot be removed unless you want the house to fall down. It’s
kind of like our spine – we need it to keep us upright.
It was Adam who erected the wall between you and
God. This wall is taken away by Jesus Christ. But it was God who put the wall
in place between the Christian and the non-Christian. The Lord said to the
serpent in the Garden after Adam fell, “And I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;
He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.’” Genesis 3:15.
The “Offspring” or “Seed” of the woman is of
course Christ, Galatians 3:16. And since the offspring of the serpent are all
the non-elect, it means that there is a barrier between those who are of Christ
and those who are of the world. Jesus says, “‘If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you
belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not
belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the
world hates you.” John 15:18-19.
Therefore, the wall between the Christian and
the world has to remain or Christianity crumbles. Christians need to be aware
that it’s not a flimsy plasterboard partition. It is a load-bearing wall. The
Apostle Paul emphasizes this where he says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and
wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have
in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God
and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will
live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will
be My people.” 2 Corinthians
6:14-16.
This doesn’t mean that we are to turn our backs
on the world. No of course not! Jesus sends us into the world with good news
for the world. The point is that we are not to become like the world. There is
to be a difference between His Church and the world.
So we’ve then seen a couple of walls removed in
the “old house” which is the Christian’s body.
Wires Replaced
What we’re talking
about here is the rewiring of the mind. You wouldn’t
renovate an old house without rewiring it. If you’re going to think the
thoughts God wants you to, you’ll need a new electrical system. Scripture says,
“Do not conform to the pattern
of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will
be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and
perfect will” Romans 12:2.
You used to be wired according to the system of
this world. But now you’ve been rewired to accommodate a power way
stronger than the power in the world. You can now do things that you couldn’t
before. You now have the power to glorify God.
Before your regeneration and subsequent conversion,
you didn’t have the power to do any spiritual good. Sin had tripped the
breaker, blown the fuse. Sin had broken the connection with God. But now God
has come into your house and is busy rewiring.
Now you have the ability, not only to understand
the will of God, but to obey and do it. Where before, you were at best like a
Pharisee able only to keep God’s Commandments outwardly. Now you can say with
Paul, “I can do all
this through Him who gives me strength”
Philippians 4:13. This means that sin has no power over you. It doesn’t
mean that you’ll never sin again. It does
mean that sin has lost its dominion over you. Your sin used to rule in your old
house like a tyrant. But now that the Lord has begun His renovations, you are
back in control.
Your mind that was once controlled by sinful
impulses, is now capable of resistance. Those sinful cravings can now be
resisted by the power of God in you. If you were a glutton, for instance, the
Lord has given you back control of your appetite. If you were a drunkard, the
Lord has empowered you to control your drinking. Paul says to the Corinthians, “Do not be deceived: neither the
sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with mennor
thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit
the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were.” 1 Corinthians
6:10-11.
The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
The Lord is able to save even the vilest of sinners from their sins. He does so
through regeneration and conversion whereby the power of Christ and His cross
is, by the Holy Spirit, transferred to the Christian’s old house.
But this old house needs to be rewired to
accommodate that power. You need to be converted from Alternating Current to
Direct Current. The difference between AC and DC is this: Alternating Current
means just that, that the current alternates back and forth, whereas Direct
Current flows constantly in one direction only.
So then, before your conversion from AC to DC
you would flip flop back and forward over things. You were like the children
mentioned by Paul, who were “tossed back
and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and
by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming…” Ephesians 4:14. But the Holy
Spirit has rewired the old house in which you live.
Conversion from AC to DC was complete when you
were hooked up to the new power generator. The living, active and powerful Word
of God is hidden in your heart like a battery in a watch. The Holy Spirit has
flicked the switch and enabled you to welcome Christ into your home.
While running on this new power source you heard
a knock at your door. You recognized the voice of the Lord and He came into
your home to dine with you (Revelation 3:20). Things are still a bit of a mess
in your house – what, with a couple of walls removed.
And when there are wires being replaced it can
look like spaghetti-junction for a while. In fact, you’re embarrassed the Lord
has come to visit and the place is in such a mess.
But don’t ever forget the reason why the Lord
has come to your house. He has come to renovate, and He will clean up the mess.
And the Lord will keep on renovating and cleaning up the mess until the job is
completed. “He who has begun a good
work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians
1:6.
But what about all those grime-covered and
broken windows?
Windows Repaired
An old building wouldn’t be an old building
without its grime-covered windows smashed. The world has been throwing mud and
stones at you all your life. But the Lord is repairing your windows.
What are windows for? Windows are for letting in
air and light and seeing out of. However, they also let out light, don’t
they? When the Lord turns on the power in the Christian’s house the lights come
on.
If Christ the Light of the world comes, by His
Spirit, to live in your home it stands to reason that the lights will come on.
A Christian house with all the lights on is warm and inviting on a cold dark
night.
Now, Australia is a strange place at Christmas
time. The sun is splitting the concrete in the streets. Even though it’s the
middle of summer the Christmas cards are covered in snow! Therefore, no matter
where you live you’ve all seen the little house with the warm glow emanating
from it. The one with the snow-covered roof that looks all warm and cozy
inside.
It would be a lie to tell you that the
Christian’s heart is always like the house in that picture. However, there is a
peace that transcends all understanding in the Christian’s heart. And that
peace comes across to those who are on the outside looking in.
Where there were once panes of glass that
couldn’t be seen through, there is now a welcoming warmth emanating out into
the surrounding world. It’s a place of rest and refreshment for weary
travelers. Why? It’s because Jesus, the Light of the world, lives in that house
by His Spirit.
He is the One who is breaking down the walls. He
is the One who is rewiring your home. He is the One who doesn’t want you hiding
your light under a basket. He is the One who says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”
Matthew 11:28.
If someone came to you with a heavy problem,
would you try to hide Jesus in the closet? Would you say, “Quick Jesus, in
here! There’s someone at my door!”? No! It might very well be that the person
has seen the light on in your home on a cold and dark night, when everyone else
in the street has gone to bed so to speak.
And when the Lord repairs our windows, we begin
to see the world through different eyes. We begin to see the enmity, the
hostility, between the world and the kingdom of God. We begin to see the
forces of darkness at work. We begin to see the battle between light and
darkness.
We see it in the political arena. We see it in
the state schools. We see it in the streets. We see it on the TV – on the radio
– and in the newspapers. We see clearer and clearer the enmity between the seed
of the serpent and the Seed of the woman.
But never forget that the Lord is more than able
to save even the vilest of sinners. However, when the Lord repairs your windows,
you are able to see the vileness of sin in the world outside – the sin that at
one time had overcome your heart. But thank the Lord that you are able also to
see the kingdom of God. Jesus says, “Very truly I
tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” John
3:3. To have the Lord renovating your old house is to be born again which is to
be converted. And when, by the grace of God, you are converted you see the
world in a different light.
I began by talking about the old derelict
tenement buildings in Glasgow being renovated. And we used that as a picture of
the individual Christian being renovated by God. But let’s not miss an
important point – as we begin to tie things together.
Christians tend to be a bit too
individualistically minded. In other words, we tend to act as single people. But in Glasgow whole
communities were renovated, not just individual houses. And so it is with us –
we are part of a renovated community – a Christian community. We are a
community within a hostile community. The world with all its false religions
and philosophies setting themselves up against God.
Now, Jesus says that we are to go into all the
world and preach the Gospel to every nation. It seems to me that the local
churches have been doing this in their communities. However, I believe a
strange thing has been happening.
Because the churches have been so busy out there campaigning, they’ve been
neglecting the upkeep of their houses, even their own Christian community.
It’s good and Scriptural that we reach out to
the lost and dying in the world. But what about the Christian home? Scripture
says, “Therefore,
as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who
belong to the family of believers” Galatians
6:10.
So it’s right that we seek to do good to our
non-Christian neighbour, but it is clearly wrong to neglect our own household.
In fact, it makes you worse than an unbeliever if you neglect your local
church.
Scripture says, “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their
own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever”1
Timothy 5:8.
A neglected house becomes dilapidated. A row of
neglected houses becomes a slum. And a slum becomes ready for the wrecking
ball.
At present, many other churches are obsessed with outreach in the
community. On the surface this looks good. It’s good to care about winning the
lost – but what’s really happening? Well, like any army on a campaign overseas,
the home front becomes weak and prone to attack. A bunch of old codgers like
“Dad’s Ary” are guarding things at home while the forces are overseas as it
were. The enemy has been busy on the Home Front – busy swinging the wrecking
ball. Whole Christian communities are being demolished rather than renovated.
And how does the enemy swing the wrecking ball?
He does it by talking Christians into removing supporting walls. Do you
remember that the Lord has put a wall between us and the world? Well, the enemy
wants that load-bearing wall to come down. Remove that one and the
building is liable to collapse and destroy everyone in it!
The enemy swings the ball by filling churches
with people desiring to have their ears tickled. The Devil is filling the
Lord’s Church with people who have no interest in sound Biblical preaching – as
more and more churches become like the world to attract the world. Then the
Christian community becomes a slum.
Think of the church at Corinth. The Corinthians
received the Apostle Paul’s severe rebuke for turning the Lord’s Supper into a
common meal that you could find in any everyday restaurant. When we evangelise
and invite people to church, make sure they are coming to hear the Gospel of
Jesus Christ proclaimed, that they are coming to a place that is special, a
place that is as different from the world as the Lord’s Supper is to a Happy
Meal from Maccas!
However, the Lord is in the business of
renovating. He can even rebuild run down Christian communities. He can remove
walls. He can renew wires. He can replace windows.
Conclusion
I don’t want to live in a slum – do you? So
let’s encourage our brothers and sisters in the faith. God has renovated you
the individual along with others. He has renovated our whole church
community. Your number one priority is to build up your brother and sister in
the faith to the glory of God. Therefore, live as God wants you to live at
peace with your Christian neighbor in a God-glorifying community. The Lord will
draw others into your community as He spares other houses from the wrecker’s
ball.
If all the old houses the Lord has renovated
were gathered into one place, what a picture that would be. Think of it, all
those little lights making up one greater light – the church. Now picture this
on the top of a hill on a cold and dark night. What a sight this would be to a
traveler wearied by this world.
Look around, people are sick to the back teeth
with crime in the community. They’re sick of people spray-painting slogans on
their walls. They’re sick of break and enters. They’re sick and tired of
criminals getting away with murder. They don’t want their neighbourhood to
become a slum. The whole nation is becoming weary of it all.
We have the answers! Can’t you see? The harvest
is white so shine the light. But make sure there are walls where there should
be walls. But also make sure there are no walls where they shouldn’t be. Make
sure the wires are able to handle the power of the Lord. And finally, make sure
the windows are clean. Make sure you can see the world outside. But make sure
that the world can see the lights on in your home.
Isn’t it amazing what the Lord can do with an
old house?
It's not the writing, it's the marketing we authors struggle with most. How will anyone buy our books if they're unaware they exist?
The following is a list of my books, all of which can be found on Amazon in whichever country you reside. The big idea is not about book sales but to help you grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Those who attend church with me or live locally may purchase copies from me at cost price - $5, $10, $15, $20 dollar max, depending on book size. View on Amazon to learn about book's specific content.
1. Gleanings from Galatians - Weemac
Publishing Publishing (Australia) 2026
2. God’s Kingdom: What! On Earth? -
(with D. Rudi Schwartz) Weemac Publishing (Australia) 2026
One
difficulty reading centuries’ old books is that, because of length, some
sentences make little sense to us moderns. Antecedents tend to get lost in the
crowd of verbosity.
Chapter headings act like street signs and shorter
sentences like stop signs. We must make a full stop and look both ways before
proceeding, while watching out for the grammar police. Periods give pause for thought. Like vintage cars, archaic words
and complicated sentence structures may look impressive but surely the object
of communication is to be understood by the ordinary person on the street.
Chapter
headings and short sentences may also help the reader row their boat gently
down your verbal stream of consciousness. Take Moses. He didn’t feed us a mess
of verbal porridge. He feeds us the Word of God. In the opening chapters of the
Bible, he has us spend a moment in eternity, in the presence of God. He then
gets us look at God’s creation before landing us safely on planet Earth. Then
we’re invited to walk around in a beautiful garden. Then he shows us his
story’s props, two trees, before introducing us to his main characters, a man
and then a woman. He tells us their names. Then the story unfolds.
Presbyterian
theologian, Robert Lewis Dabney, gives us a sense of historical context to
Moses’ writing, “Adam was contemporary with Methuselah 243 years, Methuselah
with Noah 600 years (dying in the year of the flood) and Noah with Abram 58
years. Thus Abraham received the revelations of paradise through only two transmissions!"[1]
When
Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible (Genesis to Deuteronomy) he made
use of written records, books, and such like, that Noah had preserved
from the Flood. E.g., pre-Deluge Genesis 5:1 states: “This is the book of
the genealogy of Adam.”
In
Genesis, Moses used ten books (called Toledoths) to serve as what
we would call ‘chapter headings.’ The following are these ten books or
‘chapter headings’:This is the history of the heavens and the earth
(Gen. 2:4); This is the book of the genealogy of Adam (5:1); This is the
genealogy of Noah (6:9);The genealogy of the sons of Noah (10:1);The
genealogy of Shem (11:10);The genealogy of Terah (11:27);The genealogy
of Ishmael (25:12);The genealogy of Isaac (25:19);The genealogy
of Esau (36:1, 9);The history of Jacob (37:2).
And
when it came to sentences, Moses used what is called the waw consecutive,
i.e. the word ‘and’ to connect what comes after with what came before. It acts
like our modern ‘full stop, new sentence’ formatting. Some Bibles translate the
waw consecutive as ‘but’ or ‘then’ etc. to save the modern aversion to
the repetitive usage of ‘and. However, read the opening chapters of ye olde
King James Version (1611) to see the word ‘and’ get star billing!
Therefore,
when writing, be mindful of your readership. Don’t needlessly and carelessly
weary readers with what may be excellent content poorly presented. Think
attractive chapter headings and pithy short sentences. Your readers will thank
you.
[1] Robert Lewis Dabney, Systematic Theology, (The Banner of Truth
Trust, Edinburgh, Scotland, first published 1871, reprinted 1996), 445.
The Christian Nationalist Vision: Rebuilding Christendom
from the Ashes of Modernity by Andrew Torba was a superlatively refreshing read!
For years it has seemed as if Christianity has been on its deathbed in a dark stuffy room with drapes drawn tightly awaiting the appearance of the Grim Reaper to take away its dying and dead
bones. This is also known as the equally depressing so-called ‘Rapture’ of the
Lord’s Church from earth that has its death-grip around the throat, squeezing the life out of many
Christians. But here is a book that not only opens the blinds but also lets
fresh air and light flood the room thereby bringing release, hope, life and colour
back into the Christian’s face.
In the back cover blurb on the paperback version it
says, “The Christian Nationalist Vision is a call to recover the ancient
Christian understanding that Christ’s reign extends over every sphere of life. Beginning
with the Gospel and the Kingship of Christ, Andrew Torba presents a comprehensive
vision for rebuilding Christian civilization in an age of decline.”
This book was such a treat. I found myself
highlighting pithy passages throughout as Torba pointed to the problems while
supplying solutions from Scripture.
Again, from the back cover, “The
Christian Nationalist Vision is not merely an argument about politics. It
is an argument about reality: who rules, what nations are for, what Christians
are called to build, and how a people can recover their future by submitting
every sphere of life to the authority of Jesus Christ.”
Dear Christian, get a copy, read, digest and act on it,
and recommend The Christian Nationalist Vision to your brothers and
sisters in Christ.
The three main religions
referred to as Abrahamic are Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The star and crescent,
the Star of David, and the cross symbolise each respectively. However, since
all three of these systems of belief contradict each other, which of these
three religions is true religion? In other words, which religion does
Abraham belong to? Which one would he approve of?
Islam came on the scene some
6oo years after the advent of Christ, and though Jesus is honoured as a prophetby their Koran, He is not acknowledged as the eternal Word who became
flesh. This is the same for Judaism. Thus, both Islam and Judaism deny the
incarnation. Therefore, only Christianity believes that God became human by “being
conceived by the Holy Ghost, [and] born of the Virgin Mary”, as succinctly stated
in The Apostles’ Creed.
Indeed, both Islam and Judaism
deny that God is three eternal Persons in one Godhead; the eternal Father, the
eternal Word or Son, and the eternal Holy Spirit. And contrary to much
contemporary belief, Judaism is not the same as the religion of the Old
Testament. It is important that the reader understands this, as it will help in
a proper understanding the rest of this book.
If you will, Abraham’s religion
was Christianity before it was called Christianity. Jesus spells this out for
us in the following example in which He corrects the followers of Judaism. They
were saying to Jesus, “Abraham is our father” (John 8:39). Jesus makes it clear
to them who their real father is, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do…” (John 8:44). Jesus then went on to say,
“He
who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not
of God.” Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that
You are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
Jesus
answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you
dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One
who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My
word he shall never see death.”
Then the Jews said
to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the
prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste
death.’ Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets
are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?”
Jesus
answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father
who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known
Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like
you; but I do know Him and keep His word. Your father
Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and
was glad.”
Then the Jews said
to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to
them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Then they
took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the
temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. John
8:47-58.
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Don’t
miss that Jesus says His Father is not their God, and that He calls them liars,
and says, “before Abraham was, I AM.” Thus, Jesus is claiming to be God,
the great “I AM”, the same God who spoke to Moses. “And God said to Moses, ‘I
AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “I
AM has sent me to you.”’” (Exod. 3:14).
Islam
and Judaism deny that Jesus is God, i.e., the “I AM’ that spoke to Moses. Thus,
they deny that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Therefore,
they deny the Son. “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the
Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the
Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has
the Father also” (John 2:23).
To
be the true children of Abraham we must believe in the One in whom Abraham
believed, i.e., in the One to whom the promise was made, “just as Abraham ‘believed
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness,’ Therefore know that only
those who are faith are sons of Abraham” (Gal. 3:6-7). Thus, the children
or the seed of Abraham are those who are in the One to whom the promise was
made. In other words, Abraham heard God the Father making that promise to His
Son. That promise is the Gospel.
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This
can be observed in the following, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God
would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham
beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing
Abraham” (Gal. 3:8-9). And “What purpose then does the
law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till
the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed
through angels by the hand of a mediator” (Gal. 3:19).
Both
Islam and Judaism have no faith in Jesus. Therefore, they are Abrahamic
religions in name only. However, the good news is that we see that only those
nations who are of faith will be blessed along with believing Abraham.
Therefore, we pray that the Islamic and Judaistic nations will turn to Jesus
Christ and be blessed with Abraham. For it is through belief in the Jesus of the
Bible individuals and nations are redeemed.
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And keep in mind that
the Gospel promise is not merely about a small number of people and a little
piece of land, “Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven,
and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to
him, “So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in
the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:5-6).
Yes, Abraham was also promised a place spacious enough for his countless seed
to dwell in, even the world. “For the promise that he would be the heir of
the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith” (Rom. 2:13).
