Letters to the Editor

Is Gog Russia?

Dear Bro. Don,

When I read the letter in the June, 1997 Tidings, pg. 232, I was disap­pointed by the comment made about the weakened condition of “the physical state of Russia and its military.” Hitler made a similar mistake.

In November 1939, Russia attacked Finland with a million men, 1,500 tanks and 3,000 planes but could not overcome a small Finnish army. So in 1941 Hitler thought that with his army, the best trained in the world, he could destroy the Russian army in no time. As he came close to Moscow, Stalingrad and Leningrad with the Russian army on the run, he was sure that he had Russia on its knees. To his consternation, he found he was up against a stronger and more powerful opponent than he ever would have imagined.

At present the Russians are playing a power game showing the world that they are weak and that communism is overthrown. It is just a play. Consider this: the West is paying for their military build-up — $11 billion for the last election. The Russians sought information about the infiltra­tion of U.S. spies and who gave them the information? President Bush!

In the near future, we will see an­other Stalin arise.

The U.S. is demobilized, bankrupt and sleeping —just like before Pearl Harbor. The Vietnam war showed the world that the U.S. could not over­come a little country.

The problems in Russia are no worse than those in the U.S. and the Russians have a superior game plan. When the world is in a deep sleep, Russia and her allies will attack Is­rael.

Brethren, let us not argue about the exact identity of Gog but let us note what is said in Ezekiel 38 and 39: A great northern army will come up to Israel. And we see clearly the result. It is clear the U.S. and the West, when awakened out of their sleep, are powerless.

John Booy, Delta, BC

Dear Bro. Don,

In your response to the letter “Is Gog Russia,” you provided sound geographical evidence to exclude the possibility that the Gog of Ezekiel 38 refers to Turkey or the Muslim repub­lics of the old USSR. I would like to reinforce your response by noting some strong biblical evidence.

The location and direction from which Gog comes is given in Ezekiel but is not as clear in the KJV as in other versions. In 38:15 and 39:2 the Septuagint has “the farthest north” and “the extremity of the north.” The Tannakh ( a Jewish version based on the Masoretic Hebrew text) has “the farthest north” and “far north.” The RSV has “the uttermost parts of the north” in both places.

The specific identifying location of “farthest north,” “extremity of the north” and “uttermost parts of the north” excludes Turkey, which is only about 200 miles north of Israel. It also excludes the Muslim republics, which are about 600 miles north and well east of Israel. Moscow, on the other hand, is about 1,000 miles north of Jerusalem and is the most northerly military power. In point of fact, if one takes a string from the north to south pole, one would find Jerusalem is slightly to the left of the string and Moscow slightly to the right. There is no significant military power further north than Russia whose capital coincidentally is directly north of Jerusalem.

Given Ezekiel’s information that Gog comes “from [his] place out of the uttermost parts of the north” which is the “farthest north” and the “extremity of the north,” can any rightly divide the word of truth and not come to the conclusion that the Gog of Ezekiel 38 is Russia?

Joe Arabia, Clifton, NJ

Dear Bro. Don,

I enjoyed the article last month concerning Russia and the “kingdom of the north.” It seems people are looking in other directions, assuming the Russian strengths are gone. I think we need to remind ourselves, we live in an ever-changing world.

This is especially so when we have the sleeping giant, China. As China grows, both financially and politically, they could decide to help Russia both financially and militarily.

Russia may be down, but they are not out!

David M. de Caussin, Simi, CA

Major Developments

Dear Bro. Don,

Through conversation and correspondence, we are learning of a very positive and sizable movement within the Dawn Fellowship for union with the Central Fellowship. It does not seem that such news is widely known as yet among North American Cen­tral Christadelphians.

The Dawn Fellowship has its larg­est following in England, with other ecclesias worldwide. I do not think we are aware of the magnitude of this movement into the Central Fellowship, not only from the standpoint of numbers but also from the significant rethinking required for such a decision.

My immediate family in Ontario has been with the Dawn Fellowship for approximately 25 years, during which time I have not been able to break bread with them. There are oth­ers, family members baptized into the Dawn Fellowship, with whom I have never broken bread. It is not a pleas­ant experience to have the emblems of Christ’s sacrifice, which should be our very life, passed around oneself by family or friends. But perhaps such an experience is not all bad since it can cause individuals to think deeply about the reasons (?) for such an ac­tion.

I have yearned for the day when such a situation would be healed.. and not just in the kingdom age and not just for the Dawn Fellowship…

The recent news is good, it is marvelously good! We have (or perhaps I should say that we may now recognize) many new brothers and sisters whom we may greet, love, work with and with whom we can remember our Savior’s death. There are new faces in new places — places hard to find on maps, names we can’t pronounce, some places hitherto hidden and in­accessible behind an “iron curtain:” Erevan, Annenia; Kalulushi, Zambia; Poznan, Poland; Novomoskovsk, Ukraine; Kaporo, Malawi; Riga, Latvia; Tambou, Russia; Kirov, Russia for just a sample.

Such decisions as these brothers and sisters have made, to affiliate themselves with us, are serious and soul-searching and costly to them, whether they are experienced believers or novices. It is difficult even for the “well-seasoned” brothers and sis­ters to bear the bitter rebukes and slanders from those left behind, who now see those who have gone over to Central as “castaways,” “reprobates” and “infidels” who have “left the Truth.”…

To top it off, many of these believ­ers in hard-to-recognize places also have to live with economic upheav­als and civil wars and political unrest — all for the “Good news!”

What about us, brothers and sis­ters? What can we do to help?

• We can subscribe to the Gos­pel News (information below).
• We can contribute financially to the continuing work of preaching in these areas.
• We can encourage others by let­ters and maybe even personal visits.
• We can all pray for our new brothers and sisters m the places we read about.

Barbara Booker, Austin, TX

The following was enclosed giv­ing pertinent information on the Gos­pel News (also see Tidings, 7/97, pg 267)

Gospel News
Editor
Duncan Heaster, P O Box 1903,
Vilnius 2012 Lithuania
Tel/Fax 011 370 2 775503,
email dheaster@post 5ci It

Gospel News is published privately with the help of voluntary do­nations by the Christadelphian Advancement Trust, P O Box 544, London, SE27 OUL, UK Registered Chanty No 1014615 We would remind readers that many of our 700 readers outside the UK cannot make donations The minimum cost is 10 PST per year ($20 US) All moneys payable to the “Christadelphian Ad­vancement Trust” Please remember our work in your prayers and, if appropriate, in your will Our aim is to fully preach the Truth Gospel, and to encourage brethren and sisters to grow spiritually and maintain a high standard of doctrine and practice, to the end they may attain the Kingdom.

A Brother’s Appeal

Dear Bro Don,

We are in the last days before the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ The signs are all around us The earth is full of wickedness as it was m the days of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah.

If then all things are ready, why has the Lord delayed his coming? Are there still things to be done in the earth? We know our God is patient and longsuffering, not willing that any should perish. Are there still people out there He is waiting for? If so, it is our task to work harder to preach the good news of the kingdom to those from whom God is patiently and lovingly awaiting a response.

What else? Could He be waiting for the ecclesia of Christ to reach a certain stage of development? In John 17, we find the beautiful prayer of Christ to his Heavenly Father that his followers should be one, even as he and his Father are one In the first part of the prayer, Jesus expresses his concern for his followers at the time Christ goes on to say that while he was physically with his followers, they remained as one, except for Judas We know that Jesus continued to work even with Judas right up to and including the first breaking of bread service, even though he knew him to be the man who would ulti­mately leave the one body.

Jesus then prays for us “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word” His prayer was and is that we all may be one, “as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us” His rea­son for praying his followers should be one was, “That the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:20-21).

In summary, it is for these two rea­sons we should work toward unity 1) the return of Christ may be “on hold,” waiting for his followers to be one and 2) our preaching may be in vain, or at least not as effective as it would be, if we were united as one body in Christ.

If the basic truths are believed among all of us, what is preventing us being together? Could it be pride? Because of our limited human under­standing, we need to realize that if we try to be dogmatic about our expan­sions on these simple truths, we are in danger of obscuring the simplicity of the gospel message The Lord puts us in mind of our humble abilities “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways saith the LORD For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8-9)

Let all those who believe the principles of the Gospel be resolved, through much prayer and trust m one another and m looking to Jesus as our head, to walk together as the one body of Christ, not striving against each other, but against the world and the lusts thereof Let us remember that Christ is our judge, and he will judge us according to how we treated our brothers and sisters, not an exhaustive understanding of the atonement or every statement of the apostle It is by grace we are saved

Rick MA Richmond Hill, ON

Leavened or Unleavened Bread

Dear Bro Don,

I noticed a question m the January “Tidings” titled “Leavened or Unleavened Bread” I read your answer with interest It seems that your assumption artos refers to leavened bread was due to your not having any evidence to prove this untrue Please consider the following notes and questions.

The generic Greek word for bread is artos which refers to the “shewbread” m Matthew 12:4 (and the comparable records Mark 2:26 and Luke 6:4) and Hebrews 9:2. The shewbread was unleavened, as seen from Leviticus 24 5-9 In the Septuagint [the Greek version of the Old Testament], artos refers to unleavened bread in Ex 29 2,23,32,34 and is used of the manna (Ex 16:14).

The word for “leaven” (zumee, zumos) is used 17 times, 13 in a bad sense (teaching of Pharisees, malice of wickedness) and the other four probably so.

My Questions

1. Taking into account what leaven is used to represent, how does leaven represent Jesus’ body? How does wrong doctrine and practice, hypocrisy, malice and wickedness apply to our Lord Jesus and his body? Leaven is used in scripture of the working of sin – not of mortal nature without sin working (i e our Lord Jesus).
2. God says in Exodus 34:25 “Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven” No offering under the law where the blood was shed in sacrifice was allowed to in­clude leaven Who was God’s sacri­fice? How was the law (which pointed to our Lord Jesus) fulfilled by our Savior not offering his blood with leaven IF leaven represents his body?

Mary Simpson, Whangarei, NZ

Thanks for your query and thanks, too, for your accompanying letter which forms a significant part of this month’s editorial.

In seeking to understand this mat­ter; we must squarely accept the fact there is a word for “unleavened” — azumos (the Greek a is a negative in­dicating “not” leavened) which is not used in any passage to define the bread used at the breaking of bread. This cannot be accidental for; as you note, given the symbolic meaning of “leaven,” we would expect unleavened bread to be very clearly speci­fied, it never is.

We agree that artos is used of un­leavened bread in Exodus 29. Since artos is the generic word for bread or loaf we do not find this surprising and do not think this overthrows our above point – that is, if unleavened bread were to be used at the break­ing of bread we would be told so very specifically. We agree with the figu­rative sense of “leaven” in the New Testament. There can be no doubt it represents committed sin in doctrine or practice.

There are a couple of factual points you have made which deserve a word of comment.

1. The shewbread is not specified as being of unleavened bread in Leviticus 24. Josephus says unleavened bread was used but scripture leaves the bread unspecified
2. Leavened bread comprised the meal offering (Lev. 23:17) at the feast of weeks (Pentecost) in striking contrast to Passover (the feast of unleavened bread). Since leaven could not be burned on the altar; we would assume these leavened loafs were eaten, not burned The connection between Pentecost and the beginning of the ecclesia is unmistakable, as is the fact those forming the ecclesia are sinners (although forgiven in God’s grace).

We note, as well, the bread repre­sents the ecclesia made up of many persons (grains) blended together devoted to God’s service (“For we being many are one bread, and one body” I Cor 10:17).

Specifically, then, in relation to your questions:

1. The presence of leaven in that which represents the ecclesia (body of Christ) is particularly appropriate. Here are sinners for whom the power of sin is broken because of their association with the Lord Jesus.

We also repeat our earlier suggestion that the presence of leaven (committed sin) in association with the work of the Lord Jesus is not inappropriate. It is the power of committed transgression which was broken by God in the life, death and resur­rection of our Lord.

2. Under the law, blood could not be drunk. But we drink the wine which represents Christ’s “blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” Watt 26:28). Further we note the law was effective only in “purifying the flesh” and its sacrifices could not take away sins of heart and mind (Heb. 9:13; 10:4).

There are sharp differences between the law and Christ. We submit the presence of leaven in the breaking of bread usefully draws our mind to the fact that “Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, [purges] your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14). Real sin is thus dealt with through the sacrifice of Christ.

While the significance of the leaven may be open to question, we feel the facts leave us with no warrant to insist on unleavened bread at the Memorial Service. Rather, we should recognize the anomaly of the presence of leaven (transgression) and reflect on its significance. We come to God as sinners, yet forgiven by His grace as we acclaim His righteousness and joy in His grace through our faith in His conquest of sin by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Charitable Work Discouraged by Calvinism

Dear Bro Don,

Is it not significant that the discus­sion in the Tidings on the lingering influence of Calvinism in the brotherhood should coincide with concern over the inadequacy of our giving?

Reginald Heber (Hymn 131), who was for a time Archbishop of Australia, expressed the classic Calvinist doctrine which considers any mate­rial offerings to God as “vain” (note the wording of verses two and three) It stigmatizes our money and the ma­terial blessings God gives us as “filthy lucre,” merely worldly, not spiritual, assets God, so the idea goes, doesn’t want money from the rich, He is quite happy to accept the prayers of the poor.

This doctrine is totally at variance with countless scriptures We do not offer to God “vainly” when we give materially to the Lord’s work Money cannot buy salvation, of course, but we will surely not lose Jesus’ favor by caring for the little ones who be­lieve in him.

The story of Naaman is a wonder­ful illustration of the divine principles He was saved by baptism (as Peter says) He wanted to reward the prophet materially, but this was stead­fastly refused Cleansing of the soul cannot be bought with money Yet Naaman was so anxious to express his joy in overflowing generosity that he never checked out the rascally Gehazi and lavished gifts on him We are not told this oblation was “yam!” Elisha simply asked Gehazi, “Is it a time to receive money’?” He did not refund Naaman, or insist Gehazi give it back Naaman went home blessed, and Gehazi and his descendants were cursed — not by money, but by ava­rice.

The very suggestion that our ma­terial gifts are a “yam oblation,” and that the prayers of the poor are more acceptable to God “by far” as the hymn says, misrepresents God’s ac­ceptance of all our gifts and use of them m His program to call men and women to His kingdom.

Anon, KY

Publication of the Calvin series at the same time as noting our underfunded welfare was certainly not planned. But, as you point out, it was timely.

Money is not an easy subject to address. On the one hand there is great need for it to support preaching and to care for circumstances among us; on the other hand, we must not let contributing money substitute for personal participation and we don’t want to emphasize it as we see done by some contemporary preachers. So often today religion is noth­ing more than another business upon which people depend for their livelihood.

The area where we feel the great­est need for change exists is in re­membering the Lord’s work in our bequests During the past 50 years, a lot of wealth has been accumulated through Investments We have seen the good this wealth can do when part of it is deeded to various organizations in our community Unfortunately, however, this seems to be the exception and not the rule Hopefully, this will change as needs become more widely publicized.

A Last Word on Calvinism Series

Dear Bro Don,

Reading the May Tidings, I must express appreciation for your bal­anced defense of the Truth Naturally, I also have received voluminous cor­respondence, nearly all of it very posi­tive and encouraging.

I wonder if it would be possible for me to add my own “last word” on the issue.

I would like to assure any and ev­ery reader I believe the Holy Scrip­tures are the inspired Word of God Further, I reject as false the modern humanistic philosophy of the inher­ent goodness of man, but also reject the Calvinist dogma of the impossibility of goodness in those possessing human nature.

A few so-called “works of the truth” notwithstanding, original sin is not Christadelphian doctrine, it is a popish dogma which Calvinism merely seductively renamed “total depravity”

We cannot divorce “doctrine” from its purpose or its consequences The purpose and consequence of the Catholic dogma of original sin was and is to make salvation dependent upon the services of members of a priestly caste who can then exploit the ordinary believer for their own ends This is not caricature, as every Catho­lic convert to the Christadelphians will testify.

The purpose and consequence of the Calvinist dogma of the “total de­pravity” of human nature was and is to make salvation dependent upon membership man elect, holy and pure caste of religious elite who have the unconditional blessed assurance of salvation because they have been cho­sen, not on the basis of faith or works, but solely by God’s predestine, sov­ereign choice This is not caricature, as every Calvinist convert to the Christadelphians will testify.

To support these two heresies, Bible teaching that Jesus Christ was born a real man and shared our na­ture has to be denied, the scriptures wrested and the truth of God turned into a lie.

Contrast Bible truth! Human ex­perience and divine revelation concur that we are weak, sinful, mortal people, knowing good and evil, ca­pable of goodness but constantly fall­ing short of the glory of God through sin dwelling in us So God, m His wonderful, unmerited love, sent His own beloved Son into the world that whoever truly believes m him — his sinless life and sacrificial death — will not perish but have everlasting life This is not sterile theology but the simple gospel for all the world and every age.

I have been asked why I wrote the Calvinism series at this time, after 50 years service to the Truth!

The answer is both simple and pro­found In a few short years, the over­all makeup of the Christadelphians has undergone a dramatic change We have gone from a close-knit, inward-looking sect represented solely in the English-speaking, developed countries to a worldwide brotherhood, embracing converts to the Truth from outright paganism (both ancient heathenism and the modern humanistic version), Islam, Buddhism and Hin­duism as well as a plethora of forms of apostate Christendom Converts from any form of Christianity are now a minority m the community worldwide.

This is a miracle being accom­plished without our diminishing or diluting one single element of saving truth.

Moreover, in many countries, more and more people are being discovered who have come to a knowledge of the Truth through studying God’s word prayerfully and not through primary instruction from us This is a source of joy and satisfac­tion What better evidence do we need that Christadelphians hold the Truth than that it readily stands out when the Bible is read without prior bias’?

But it is possible to “hold the truth m unrighteousness” and m hypocrisy It is not at all difficult for converts to the Truth from non-Christian back­grounds to “see through” any of us if and when we stubbornly hold on to a notion that some of us belong to a holy elite chosen by a sovereign God, that as such we can do no wrong, never make mistakes, know all the answers, never need listen to or dia­logue with anyone else, invest our own pet theories with unwarranted scriptural support – and “despise oth­ers”

I thus felt the Calvinism series was appropriate for the crosscurrents I see in the community as I have been privi­leged to see and experience so much of our worldwide brotherhood.

Alan Eyre, Jamaica

Is Gog Russia?

Dear Bro Don,

I think the insistence of many m the community to look at Russia as the only possible “king of the north” might be misguided I say that by considering two factors, both of which are, admittedly, debatable.

The first point is based on our in­terpretation of the first six verses of Ezekiel 38 The peoples of the north referred to here were found in present-day Turkey during the time of Ezekiel The maps m the back of any Bible will show this I have only heard two arguments supporting the notion that the groups named in these verses are the Slavic peoples inhabit­ing present-day Russia One is that Meshech sounds like Moscow and Tubal sounds like the name of a river in central Siberia (the Tobol river) The other is that some of these groups, though originally from Asia Minor, eventually migrated north to central and eastern Europe.

An analysis of recent events m and around Turkey provide ample evi­dence that it could very plausibly be the northern power referred to in Ezekiel 38 It has a large and well-armed army, a crumbling economy and a new fundamentalist Muslim prune minister who is anti-west and pro-Iran.

The second factor is the physical state of Russia and its military Rus­sia positively does not have the financial or logistical means to move any substantial number of troops any­where. The briefest way to present a picture of the situation is to compare two recent military campaigns, the Russian experience in Chechnia and the U S involvement in the Persian Gulf war.

At the start of the Chechnian cam­paign when Russia experienced stun­ning losses at the hands of Chechnian rebels, the most battle-ready units of the army were moved into the area as quickly as possible Both the perfor­mance of the troops and speed in which they were deployed (or lack thereof) was a colossal embarrass­ment to the one-time superpower Though a surprise to many, the fact is that moving troops over any dis­tance is a slow and costly venture that requires a remarkable amount of re­sources and organization.

By contrast consider the Persian Gulf conflict In the early 1990’s, the United States was at the zenith of its military strength It had just com­pleted a trillion plus dollar spending spree in the 1980’s In addition, the American military has been renown for one thing more than anything else since World War! its ability to move an effective fighting force over long distances All this considered, it still took over six months to assemble a viable force in Saudi Arabia to retake Kuwait What is even more amazing is the U S spent millions in the 1980’s preparing for a conflict in the Gulf by building secret bases in the Saudi desert and depositing military stockpiles in and around the Indian Ocean, still the preparation took six months.

Considering these factors, I sug­gest we might need to look at other possibilities than Russia as the invading northern host.

Jonathan Styles, Olympia, WA

While we customarily assume the accuracy of maps, such confidence is not always deserved by those depicting the location of ancient peoples. Today’s map makers have the same problems as anyone else in locating the nations of antiquity. They must research ancient literature for clues, which is why maps of the ancient world differ For example, most Bible maps have Gomer located in central Turkey but one or two have it north of the Black Sea. In doing a bit of research, the evidence we could find in this case is a sample of how these ancient peoples are located. The Greek historian Herodutus IV 11,12 has the inhabitants of Central Turkey as descendants of people who mi­grated there about 700 B.C. from north of the Black Sea (i.e. southern Russia). This area (later known as Cappadocia) is Gimirrai (similar in sound to Gomer) in the Assyrian records (International Bible Encyclo­pedia). The same source indicates the Armenian name for Cappadocia is Gamir The similarity in words leads to the conclusion that Gomer — Gamir,. = Gimirrai. Therefore the conclusion is drawn that Gomer was located in Central Turkey but the people had descended from north of the Black Sea. Certain points are apparent: similarity in words is not irrelevant when mapping ancient peoples, a few historical records go a long way and locating ancient na­tions is not an exact science.

Meshech and Tubal are taken to be the Musku and Tobal of Assyrian documents in the Westminster Bible Dictionary (W.B.D). Again the simi­larity in verbal sounds is the key evidence. These were warlike people north of Assyria which today would be northwest Turkey and southern Russia. The similarity of these words to Moscow and Tobal should not be ignored.

Magog offers little debate as Josephus identifies Magog with the Scythians (Antiquities 1,6,1) and this is commonly accepted (W.B.D., IS.B.E., etc). The Scythians were a major people covering the area north of the Black Sea going well up into southern Russia.

The massive force is identified as coming from the “uttermost parts of the north” (v.6 RSV cf. v.15). The nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 were the northernmost nations known to people of the Middle East. Turkey was not unknown and was not in the “uttermost parts” of the north.

Some have suggested Ezekiel 38 points to the Muslim republics of the old USSR such as Kazakstan or Uzbekistan, which are to the east and north of Israel. If this were the case, we would have expected such nations as Elam (east of Iran in ancient times) to be named by Ezekiel.

For all of these reasons we con­tinue to be comfortable with the identification of the Ezekiel force as Rus­sia and her allies.

So far as Russia’s physical ability to mount such an offensive, given sufficient time, Russia’s basic resources and extent of her manpower we don Y see this as a compelling obstacle to application of the prophecy to Rus­sia.