Unassigned Radio 2006–2010

About the Last Days #2

June 23, 2009 • Ronald L. Dart

What did the First Christians believe about the last days? Forget about the expression “the End of the World”—the end of the *planet* is a long way off. It is plain, though, that the First Christians believed there was to be an *end of the age* (however one might take that) because that is what they asked Jesus about one day on the Mount of Olives. They were familiar with the Old Testament prophets and their view of the last days and end of this system. Peter cited Joel with clarity on the day of Pentecost. He would be less than human if he had not seen what looked like the initial phases of the end times. And yet, Christ would not come in his lifetime, for some 2,000 years to come, or (for all we know) many more years yet. The prophets told of a “day of the Lord”, a day of God’s wrath. And while they also saw it as a near-term thing, there is good reason to think that they also saw it as a distant event. It would be so cataclysmic that the destruction would boggle the mind. And they also saw it ushering in a new age. And not only did the First Christians have the prophets, they had Jesus’ Olivet Message to make them a little hypersensitive to prophetic events. Peter and the others thought they saw it coming, but they were also quite careful to avoid crying wolf. And they had good reason for that as well. [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link on this page.]

About the Last Days #1

June 16, 2009 • Ronald L. Dart

What did the First Christians believe about the last days—the end time of man on the earth? It may not have been a lot different from what some of us believe today, as I suspect more than a few of us have been disquieted by events in the Middle East. Even if we don’t fully understand all the implications of biblical prophecy, we know that the Middle East looms large at the end time, along with *serious* loss of life. With the Iranian regime *certain* to develop nuclear weapons, and with the stated intent to destroy Israel, you have to take this seriously and wonder how much longer are we going to be able to go on this way. But we aren’t seeing a lot more than the First Christians did, and they can be excused for thinking the return of Christ would be in their lifetime. There were prophets among those First Christians but strangely, as far as the record is concerned, they express little interest in the far horizon. Perhaps, because they thought it wasn’t all that far away. The activities of the prophets in the church seem to be very timely—that is, concerned with the events of the immediate future. But that doesn’t mean at all that there was not a broader view of prophecy in general and of the last days in particular. In fact, you are probably already thinking about the Book of Revelation. But it is plain that they had a belief system about the last days which was, at first, somewhat off-base. To some extent, this is accounted for by something Jesus said. We’ll find it in Matthew, chapter 24. [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link on this page.]

Surviving the Last Days #2

June 26, 2007 • Ronald L. Dart

If you want to know about “the last days” one of the places you’ll naturally go looking is the Bible, and if you grab a concordance and do a search for the expression “in the last days” you will find exactly six occasions where the term is found, Old Testament and New. However, if you search the Hebrew phrase, you will find the expression some 13 times in the Old Testament alone. The reason is that in over half of the occasions where it is used, it is rendered “in the *latter* days”. I presume there are contextual reasons for choosing one expression or the other. We would like to insist that the expression always means exactly the same thing, but English doesn’t work that way and we shouldn’t expect Hebrew to be any more precise. We run afoul of some very bad interpretations because amateurs find a meaning of the Hebrew that fits their assumptions and then they impose that rendering everywhere it is found because it supports their particular bias. I have the impression that God wants us to be less dogmatic and more enquiring, but that’s a hard adjustment for some people to make. The last time I spoke here, I introduced the topic of the last days with Paul’s warning of debilitating, weakening times in 2 Timothy. Then came Peter’s powerful admonition in 2 Peter 3. I’ll begin here with another occasion when Peter addressed the question of “the Last Days”, the “Day of the Lord“, and the prophet Joel. We’ll find it in Acts, chapter 2, occurring on the Day of Pentecost. [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link below.]

Surviving the Last Days #1

June 14, 2007 • Ronald L. Dart

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Timothy 3:1 KJV). There are two things that need attention in this statement: “This know also” connects what he is saying with what he has just said—and we will need to talk about that. The word “perilous”, though, is not exactly what Paul said. Other translations render the Greek word here as “terrible” or “difficult”. Actually, it comes from a Greek root that means “to weaken”. It is certainly true that what Paul describes here is a perilous time for men of faith, but it is perilous because the times are *weakening*—that is, they are debilitating, they tend to take us *down*. For Paul to caution Timothy as he did is suggestive that, for all he knew, they might be living in the last days. Paul didn’t know, of course. Jesus made it plain that no man knew the day or the hour. But that didn’t keep him from looking at the signs of the times. But then he when on to explain to Timothy, at some length, what it was he was driving at. We’ll see this as we continue in 2 Timothy, chapter 3. [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link below.]

Reclaiming Christianity

September 5, 2006 • Ronald L. Dart

I recently found an article with the title: *Religious Left's Battle Cry: “Reclaim Christianity”*. I thought sure that was a mis-characterization, so I looked it up. Sure enough, that is precisely what a lot of progressive religious figures are saying. They have apparently got together and made this their talking point. It isn't too much at all to call “Reclaim Christianity” a battle cry. On the Internet, there are over 500 sites that trumpet the term. Speaking as a Christian, that sounds a bit absurd to me. I don't consider myself a part of either the religious right or the religious left. I find, on the political scene, ideas that are either compatible with Christian faith or anathema to Christian faith—and some I can live with while I don't like them very much. And the difference doesn't track perfectly along party lines. To me, the arbiter of all my values is the Bible applied. By that I mean that my external value system is informed by the Bible. That being the case, my choices in the voting booth are mostly a matter of choosing between two unpleasant alternatives—the lesser of two evils, as it were. The term “the Religious Left” doesn't sound any better than the “Religious Right”. In both cases, we are talking about politics, informed by religion (or corrupted by religion, as the case may be). Or maybe it is religion that has been corrupted by politics. Whatever, the relationship is sour, and in the last half of the 20th century, the division between left and right did solidify. What happened? [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link above.]

Stay Safe

November 9, 2006 • Ronald L. Dart

I recently saw a cover on *US News and World Report* with a picture of a prominent bureaucrat and the headline: “Can This Man keep America Safe?” I am going to answer this question for you in no uncertain terms. **No!** There is no man, no combination of Secretary, Vice-President, or President (and much less congress), that can keep America safe. You don’t have to be religious to realize that to place that kind of responsibility on any man or any combination of men is to imply God-like qualities—qualities that no one possesses. But the idea of being “safe” or “safer” has embedded itself so deeply in our national consciousness, that it dominates even media thinking. What is wrong with it is that it is *unrealistic*, and anyone who is paying attention knows that. Yet, safety is a powerful biblical idea—but not the safety that any human can provide. And I have two important things to say about it. [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link on this page.]

The Survival of Jerusalem

August 15, 2006 • Ronald L. Dart

From a purely secular point of view, the Middle East must really be an enigma. There seems to be *no logic* there. War after war has been fought over Jerusalem in history. If someone recounted them for us, I’m sure we’d sit astonished at the blood that has been shed, the thousands of lives lost (millions, perhaps) over *that city*. Now, I’ve been to Jerusalem, and I saw no great beauty there. And that was disappointing after all I’d heard and read about the place. But I saw nothing there worth shedding a single drop of human blood for. I can understand the longing of the *Jewish* people for Jerusalem; it’s a longing for home—of a people long displaced who have only one center on the planet. I understand the longing of Christian people to go there, because that’s our Lord suffered and died for us, and it makes it more real somehow. What on earth did the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Turks see in Jerusalem that made it worth fighting over? There’s a prophecy in the Book of Zechariah that serves to illustrate the future of Jerusalem. Now, I can’t say that it is a prophecy of Jerusalem today. Many scholars see it solely in historical terms. What I *can* say is that the prophecy applies *in principle*, and that it is set in what seems like the last days. We’ll find it in Zechariah, chapter 12… [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link on this page.]

Out of Darkness

November 13, 2007 • Ronald L. Dart

I find it impossible to criticize a woman like Mother Teresa of Calcutta. You can’t find ulterior motives in the life of someone who gives their live in service of the poorest of the poor—living among them, providing for them. It isn’t necessary to explain people like this. It’s enough to admire them. What may need explaining, though, is how a woman like Mother Teresa could live her life in doubt—not so much in God, but in God’s love for her. It may need explaining for no other reason that so many of us live out our lives in doubt of one kind or another. The Christian apologist Os Guinness wrote in *In Two Minds* that there is a difference between doubt and unbelief. Doubts all of us live with. They come and they go. But unbelief is another matter altogether. The atheists who are making so much noise these days are in a state of settled unbelief. They are, in my opinion, dishonest, because no one can know with certainty that there is no God. They strike me as men whistling past the graveyard. They dread God and deny his existence as a defense. The honest people are those who admit their doubts. They may, like Sister Teresa, make a hard decision to trust God in spite of any doubts. One reviewer of the book *Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)* said this: “She went forward, answering that divine call, even though the ‘darkness’ and ‘desolation’ [her words] within her own soul was deepening, even though ‘the more I want him, the less I am wanted by him.’ Even though ‘The longing for God is terribly painful, and yet the darkness is becoming greater.’” My heart breaks for her. How could anyone so dedicated to God’s service not realize God’s love for her? Yet, there is a part of me that understands. It is possible to love Jesus, to serve him, to do what you think he wants you to do, and yet not know him very well at all. He makes it clear enough that faith is not a feeling. It is a decision to trust *in spite of* feeling. He makes it clear that his grace can cover the faults and flaws of men. But it is a truism that human beings have a hard time accepting God’s mercy and trusting his grace. We just keep on worrying. I think that may explain why some people have what we could call a “joyless” Christian life. Let’s turn to the words of Jesus to see why this does not have to be, beginning in Matthew, chapter 4. [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link above.]

Obligations of a Great People

October 20, 2009 • Ronald L. Dart

Today's message is about the greatest, wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever seen. I know, in their own days, Greece and Rome were great and powerful. And the British Empire at its peak was indeed a great Empire. These were nations that created empires. Yet there is no American Empire, because Americans have never wanted one. In our history, Americans have mainly wanted to be left alone. Left alone to build families and businesses. Left alone to live and enjoy life. Fortunately, or unfortunately, history has not left us alone. During Ronald Reagan's funeral, as I watched the greatest nation bury one her greatest presidents, I was overwhelmed with an awareness of how great, how wealthy, how powerful this nation has become. And some questions grew in my mind. To what do we own our greatness as a people? Are there any obligations that go with that greatness, that power? [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link on this page.]

What Christians Have

May 4, 2006 • Ronald L. Dart

Sometimes I wonder if Christian people know what they have. Oh, I know they parrot Christ is the answer. I don’t think one in ten understands what the questions are. And still fewer understand exactly how Christ is the answer. Now I am always awestruck at the miraculous way Jesus can change a life. He can rescue a drug addict from the trash heap. He can save an alcoholic and make him a good husband again – it’s happened over and over again. And I’m nearly as amazed that most people have no idea how that happens. Oh yeah, I know, it’s a miracle. Actually the Holy Spirit comes along, God performs a miracle, and the guy is saved. But there is more to be said than that. Christ is the answer to a whole wide range of human problems. He’s the answer to poverty, to drugs, to violence, to family failure, but how? How on earth does this work? Well, one thing is certain. It happens only at the personal level. Christ is not the answer to the national drug problem or he would have put an end to it a long time a go. That’s outside of his purview. I’ve heard very believing testimonies from people who, having invited Christ into their lives, by whatever terminology they describe it, who say their lives were turned completely around from the destructive behaviors that went before. But you know, I’ve never heard anyone explain exactly how it happened. It is as though there’s this mystical change. Yesterday I wanted a drink, today I don’t want a drink. Now, far be it from me to question whether that’s a true statement. I just think there is more to it than that. And it has to do with what Christian people have that they don’t seem to know that they have. They have a way of living a life. Here’s the way Jesus put it. He said “Enter in at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and there are few who find it.” This is one of the most fundamental ideas of the Christian faith. It is a *Way*. [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link above.]

Demonic Warfare

February 6, 2007 • Ronald L. Dart

When the survivors of the Holocaust speak, the rest of us would do well to listen. Telling the story of their liberation, one of the survivors told of how their SS guards changed into civilian clothes and tried to hide. The GIs had the survivors point them out so they could be dealt with. And then he said something I will never forget as long as I live. He said: “These men were not human. Human beings don’t do what they did.” And I wondered how literally we should take that. Was he speaking figuratively, saying that the men responsible for the camps were lacking pity, kindness, or mercy? Or was he speaking literally, suggesting *a non-human class of beings*? And the question arises naturally: Are there non-human beings? Oh, I know there are dogs and cats, but we don’t describe them as “inhuman”, do we? I realize in raising this question that I am stepping out into metaphysics, but I’ll take a chance. Understand, though, that I am not going into flying saucers and visitors from another galaxy. I am simply going to the Bible and the spirit world. Jesus himself had an encounter with a nonhuman being immediately after his baptism. We find the account in Matthew, chapter 4. [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link above.]

The Problem with Sin

February 27, 2007 • Ronald L. Dart

I used to be a teenager and, although it was a long time ago, I still remember some of the questions about the Bible that troubled me back then. Young people ask a lot of questions that their elders are embarrassed to ask and that somehow never get answered. Faith survives, sometimes, but it often gets badly bruised along the way. I remember as a teenager wondering about some of the stuff I heard from the pulpit and in Sunday school. For example: Why would God give Man a set of laws he cannot possibly observe, and then punish him for not observing them. Yes, I know, “by grace are you saved”, but if you think about it long enough you will realize that doesn't answer the question. Even my parents didn't punish me for not doing something I *couldn't* do. If they gave me a rule and I broke it, at least it was a rule I could have kept if I tried. And the punishment fit the crime. They weren't cruel to me. The worst I ever got was a few swats on the behind. I survived. But my question about God remained: Why would God give Man a set of laws he cannot possibly observe, and then punish him for not observing them? I don't remember when the answer occurred to me, but I came to realize that my question made an assumption. The assumption was that the law was arbitrary. That is to say that the law depended on the individual discretion of the judge; in this case, God. There were, in fact, two assumptions. One, that the law was arbitrary and could have been otherwise. (That follows naturally from the assumption that the law could have been set aside.) Two, that the enforcement of the law depends on a sovereign act of God. In other words, God can let me off or punish me. If he doesn't, then I got away with it. But what if my assumptions were wrong? If they are, then there are two conclusions that might follow... [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link above.]

Beyond Redemption

September 23, 2008 • Ronald L. Dart

I have heard it said that the Nazi war criminals were convicted and hanged because of the testimony of Jews against them. It’s not true, you know. The testimony of the survivors of the death camps was important, but it was not the *most* damning testimony. The most damning evidence at Nuremberg was the Nazis own meticulous record keeping. I’m not sure what it is about such wickedness that the men who do it seem to maintain such good records. “They weigh the violence of their hands.” When you find the words “the Wicked” in the Bible, it is not talking about sinners. It is not talking about weak-willed, heavily-tempted people who fall short. It isn’t talking about difficult children or rebellious teenagers. In fact, the wicked often seem quite ordinary much of the time—even smooth. They tend to be rather banal. It is not even talking about people who do wrong even when they know better. No, the Wicked are something altogether different. And unless we understand something about this, we will find many things in the Old Testament incomprehensible. All this came to mind when I was reading the 58th psalm… [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link above.]

Thy Will Be Done

March 8, 2010 • Ronald L. Dart

The disciples of Jesus came to him one day with a request: “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus replied with a remarkably concise, model prayer. We call it “the Lord’s Prayer” and everyone knows it by heart, if only from simple repetition. But I don’t think repetition is exactly what Jesus had in mind. Rather, I think he gave us an outline for prayer and left it to us to fill in the details. But in the process of thinking it through, we can see a lot of interesting things in that prayer. For example, take this sentence: “Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven.” Every time I come to that phrase, I seem to come up with new questions. Consider the wording: Thy will be *done*, on earth as it is *done* in heaven. Who carries out God’s will here on earth? Who is supposed to measure up to the heavenly standard of implementation—us? If so, the problem I hear from people is that, when faced with a difficult situation, they are rather unclear about what God’s will actually is. *Can* we know? [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link above.]

Your God Is Too Small

September 16, 2008 • Ronald L. Dart

There is very little in the way of direct revelation of a world that *exists alongside* our world. We get little glimpses from time to time in the testimony of men who, in vision, were privileged to see a little of it. But we know next to nothing about the properties of that world—about the laws that govern its working. We know the names and jobs of some players, and that is about it. What I am saying is that we are, by any definition of the term, *ignorant*. And since admitting we are ignorant makes us very uncomfortable, we try to create truth for ourselves. But since my truth differs from your truth, we are left with *relative* truth, which is merely ignorance by another name. I’ll try one more simple idea: Any explanation of God offered by man can only diminish God—make him smaller. Any attempt to make God relevant to our world will create a God made in our image—which is no God at all. After all, the *making* is the other way around. Does this mean we *can’t* understand God? [Image credits, if any, may be found by visiting the "View Online" link above.]

Christian Educational Ministries

188 messages