____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ July 24, 1994 ____________________________________________________ 1929: That Was A Good Year by William B. Bright Historians write of 1929 as a year of disaster, of the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression in the United States. In a short time stocks lost 40 percent of their value. As a Christian, I look at life in general, and that year in particular, in a much different light. On January 29, 1929, my brother was born. On February 9, 1929, I reached my 4th birthday. Of those first four years, I remember bits and pieces, ``here a little, there a little.'' By 1929, life had become a continuous event for me. Life almost always involved my father and my mother. My mother was a loving, caring person who knew how to talk to little boys and little girls. I sat on her lap. She told me about herself. It involved poverty and being raised by a widowed mother with five little children who did her best to keep her family together. She told me about the Bible. As a child she had memorized Ruth 1:16-17 which she repeated for me a number of times. Those are the first Bible verses I remember. She spoke of God, Christ, and heaven. My father got drunk, took God's name in vain, used very coarse language, and was--or seemed to me--a dominating figure that little boys were well-advised not to cross. But early in 1929, something drastic happened. Dad ceased the use of coarse and filthy language, stopped getting drunk, cleared our home of alcoholic beverages, started attending the worship of the church which met at 210 Cedar Avenue in Moundsville, West Virginia, and gathered us each evening for prayer before we went to bed. The change was radical, an about face. But a 4 year-old boy doesn't understand the grace of God, the doctrine of baptism, salvation from sin, and eternal life. It was, no doubt, many years later that I came to understand the significance of what happened then. But though I didn't understand it, I saw that something profound had happened. He (they) had been, as I later learned, born again. But little boys view such a change from a quite different perspective than would an adult who is a Bible student. My mother appeared no different. She was good and kind before and after. She didn't engage in evil conduct. But dad, what a change!!! Whereas before I had perceived him as aggressive and foreboding, now he seemed to become mellow and responsive to us. My perceptions could be all out of joint; but a significant change DID OCCUR. Why do I say that? Because he was a new man. ``Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new'' (2 Corinthians 5:17). When the new birth is real it affects every relationship one has in life. Paul described it in Ephesians 4:22-24: ''...that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.'' He then followed with a series of commands as to how to put this principle into practice. The first is, ``Therefore, putting away lying, each one speak truth with his neighbor...'' (4:25). Another is, ``Let him that stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need'' (4:28). I often wish that I had talked with my father before his death regarding the change that took place in him in 1929. Unfortunately, I didn't. However, except for names and places it probably was no different from what has occurred millions of times in the Christian Era. The gospel was plainly preached to a human being. In my father's case, the preaching was done by one of the humblest and best men I have ever known: brother C. D. Plum. Brother Plum was a man of conviction and great courage. As all others do who embrace the faith in Christ, my father listened to the preaching, which aided him in ``coming to himself,'' which led him to repent, confess with his lips that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father, and to accept baptism in water for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Then he arose to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4). But an event like this has far-reaching implications. Suppose my father had seen no need to change and had continued to live his life as he had. Then where would I be today? The religious heritage that I received has been handed on to my three sons and my daughter. Every time that I stand before people to preach and teach the gospel of Christ, I need to remember that except for that man's change in April 1929, I might not be there. I suppose it would be impossible to count the number of people in his own family and many others who have been influenced by his change 65 years ago. WAS 1929 A GOOD YEAR? BELIEVE ME! IT WAS! GOD CAME TO DWELL WITH US. -- Via With All Boldness, May 1994, Vol. 4, No. 5 ___________________________________________ God: One Or Three? by Tom Edwards Three Individual Persons Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit are each individual persons who make up the eternal Godhead. We are introduced to this plurality of Deity in the Hebrew word ``Elohim'' (a plural form of God) which is translated as ``God'' in the very first verse of the Bible: ``In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth.'' As we continue our reading though the first chapter of Genesis, the plurality of God is made even more obvious when we hear the Lord saying: ``Let US make man in OUR image, according to OUR likeness....'' (Gen. 1:26). The ``US'' and the ``OUR'' are again referring to the Godhead of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Consider also Zechariah 2:10,11: ''...I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord...and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.'' Who sent the Lord? The Lord, or in other words, one member of the Godhead sent another member. (cf. Zech. 2:8,9). At the baptism of Jesus, obviously Jesus was present, but so also was God the Father whose voice announced from the heavens, ``This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased'' (Matt. 3:17), while in the meanwhile the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended as a dove upon Jesus (Matt. 3:16). All three of the Godhead were present; each were involved in separate acts, but each were working together in spirit for the same purpose. Furthermore, in John 14:16,17, Jesus states, ``I will ask the Father, and He will give you ANOTHER helper....'' (emphasis mine). Here we find one person (Jesus) asking His Father (another person) to send someone else (the Holy Spirit). If Jesus were the Father, though, why would He need to ``ask the Father'' for anything? And if Jesus were the Holy Spirit, how could it be said that the Holy Spirit was ``another helper''? Yet, One in Purpose, Spirit, and Unity Clearly, these passages reveal that God is not ONE person. Rather, the Godhead is made up of three persons--each being distinct, but each being one in the sense of unity, purpose, and spirit. As the Lord states in John 10:30, ``I and the Father are one.'' To better understand this ``oneness,'' consider John 17:21: ``that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us....'' (John 17:21). Without question, Jesus is ``one'' with His Father; but if this ``oneness'' means being ``one person'' then the Lord prayed that each individual Christian would become just one and the same individual. But I'm a Christian, and I am me: I am not my brother; and my brother in Christ is himself, and he is not me. We are two separate entities, but we are one in the Lord when it comes to unity and the spirit. Paul exhorted the Philippians to be ``of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on purpose'' when it comes to spiritual matters (Phil. 2:2). In this way, brethren are ``one'' in Christ--though separate individuals with their own unique personalities. Deuteronomy 6:4 reads: ''...The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!'' ``One'' comes from the Hebrew word ``echad,'' which connotes a oneness in unity, purpose, and spirit--and not that the Godhead is ``one person.'' For if God were only ``one person'' then the Hebrew word ``yachid'' could have been used, which denotes an ``absolute one,'' in the same sense that you are ``one individual.'' As these verses reveal, there is only one God (or Godhead); and this God is made up of three distinct persons: the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Though different individuals, they are each just as much God as the other. Understanding these basic principles will remove the enigma of certain passages and help us see more clearly as we realize these different relationships that exist in the Godhead. ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 1314 Montgomery Avenue, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________