This show marks 14 years since Cheryl Ott’s father’s death by suicide. There are many negative things that can be recalled concerning the event, however, this show will focus on the positive and honor him for the man he was, a loving husband and father, a dedicated servant of the Lord and His people, and eccentric lover of music.

Episode: A Tribute To My Dad
Aired: Thursday, March 15, 2012

As the early church blossomed, there arose those who continued to hold on to waning ideology, specifically the rules and regulations of Moses’ Law.  Though converted, conservative Jewish teachers still held on to the notions that in order to be God’s people one must obey the previous pact of God; the Ten Commandments. Along with the law there was the teaching that one must be circumcised as mandated to the Hebrews. Essentially, as Kulikovsky asserts, Gentiles who wished to be saved must have, grace under Christ as well as the law under Moses ¹.  However, Paul clarified this point by asserting that circumcision was nothing; what mattered more was faith (Galatians 2:16, 20, NIV ²). Paul would further remark that preaching the law and circumcision was a perversion of the Gospel ³. It was a new day where acceptance into God’s royal family came only by belief in Jesus. This seven step conversion as expressed by Towns ⁴ is based upon acknowledging God, acknowledging responsibility to God, realizing your sin and the wedge sin has driven between you and God. The second half is recognition of reconciliation to God through Jesus, a willingness to be saved and lastly repentance. You will note that there is no step for circumcision. Paul’s letters instead seek to heal the bifurcation of the church through continuing the lessons of Christ.

As John records in his gospel account, Christ taught that the Holy Spirit would come to guide the believer (John 16:5-15, NIV). This guidance was assured to come from Christ who received it from the Father. This is important because in a spiritual society that historically had been guided by religious men like the Judaizers, there was now a greater teacher that would lead believers into all truth. It would be the promised advocate that would prove the world wrong in their sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8, NIV). This additional advocate (John 14:16, NIV) would be the Spirit of Truth. So to all who sought the truth about salvation had a guide directly from God; not just with us as in Jesus’ case but now in us (John 14, 17, NIV). Faith was the new key that unlocked the door to the kingdom. No longer were acts of contrition enough. Nor were the bonds of the law and rituals of the Jewish people sufficient to gain entrance into God’s Kingdom. The gate pass would now resemble the threefold likeness of the Triune God. According to Kang⁵, the quest for the believer would now consist of theoria or contemplation, praxis or practical application and poiesis or formation. Tradition was not enough, the kingdom dweller would need to consider the kingdom first (Matthew 6:33, NIV) and how the teachings of Christ are applied to their life.

In conclusion, Paul’s answer to the abounding issue of the Judaizers not only bore historical context but foresight as well. Even today there are those in the Christian church who believe that singing on the choir or serving on a board in constant faithfulness will equate to a place in the Kingdom of God. However, as Paul was clear to relay, it is not by any thing that we could do but by grace through faith that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8, NIV). As for the circumcisions marking God’s people as a sort of identity tag, Christ would declare that the new proverbial moniker would be those who keep His commandments (John 14:21, NIV). No act of cutting or eating with socially acceptable people can make one righteous, but it is the faith in the work of the cross and he that wrought it that has become our catalyst into the kingdom. Thanks be to God for sending His Holy Spirit to guide and direct us into all truth; least we be over burdened with ritual and tradition to no end. This writer prays that the readers of Paul’s epistles find the clarity and morality expected of believers in Christ, so that our church can be the beacon on a hill shining brightly through the darkness of this world.

1. Kulikovsky, Andrew S. (1999) The Historical Context of Paul’s Letters To the Galatians and Romans (April 8, 1999) located at http://hermeneutics.kulikovskyonline.net/hermeneutics/galromhc.pdf
2. Tyndale House Publishing (1988) Life Application Study Bible, New International Version Carol Stream Illinois
3. Kulikovsky, Andrew S. (1999) The Historical Context of Paul’s Letters To the Galatians and Romans (April 8, 1999) (p.8) located at http://hermeneutics.kulikovskyonline.net/hermeneutics/galromhc.pdf
4. Towns, Elmer L. (2004) Your Ministry of Evangelism: A Guide For Church Volunteers (p. 70). Evangelical Training Association, Wheaton, IL
5. Kang, S. (2002). The church, spiritual formation, and the kingdom of God: a case for canonical-communion reading of the Bible (p. 137). Ex auditu, 18137-151. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

According to Camping and Family Radio, the whole world has been “under God’s judgment” since May 21. Everyone, except for the elect, or “true believers,” has been hanging under God’s wrath, which will unfold on Oct. 21.

God was only trying to shake up the world when He “hid” His actual plans from Camping, Family Radio purports in a document published on its website titled “What Happened on May 21?”

Although observers and critics agree that what happened on May 21 was Camping actually proving himself once more to be a poor student of the Bible, the California broadcaster insists that he still had it right, but that God had not been very forthcoming with sharing His judgment plans.

The Family Radio document claims that, to get the world’s attention, “God withheld from the true believers the way in which two phrases were to be understood. Had He not done so, the world would never have been shaken in fear as it was.”

The two phrases Family Radio refers to are “the completion of God’s salvation program” and “God’s final judgment.”

Speaking rather unclearly for God, Family Radio explains that the completion of “God’s salvation plan” is concentrated in the word “rapture” and that the phrase “God’s final judgment” is concentrated in the word “earthquake.”

Without explaining its hermeneutics or offering an examination of the original Greek usage of the words “rapture” and “earthquake,” something Bible teachers might do, Family Radio insists that all one needs is a “critical” understanding of “rapture” and “earthquake” to understand why Camping’s doom and gloom May 21 predictions were dead wrong.

In providing that “critical” understanding, Family Radio explains that “earthquake” can also mean “people,” so people, instead of the earth, were shaken on May 21. As for “rapture,” God is no longer in the business of saving people, Family Radio states simply.

The unsaved were not plunged into hell and believers raptured on May 21 because Camping and Family Radio did not understand what God was doing. Now that they do, unbelievers will enter into eternal punishment and believers into eternal bliss on Oct. 21 – because God has finally opened up the Scripture a little more for Camping.

On May 21, “each and every true believer had become eternally safe with God in Heaven” and “no one who had not become saved by that date can ever become saved.”

Instead of a “horrible destruction” of the unsaved, as previously explained, unrepentant sinners can now expect to go “quietly” into eternal damnation, according to a September audio message from Camping.

Camping has revealed that he now believes “that all of our unsaved loved ones will not receive special vengeance of God at all. … We must believe that probably there will be no pain suffered by anyone because of their rebellion against God.”

The 90-year-old California broadcaster added that he found it comforting that the unsaved will “quietly die.”

If Camping and Family Radio and their supporters hand not “warned” the world of God’s impending doom, more people would not have been saved by May 21.

Those who came to belief in Jesus Christ after May 21, however, are out of God’s good graces, according to Camping. The period of salvation is over, so any new believers with genuine faith in Jesus Christ are essentially damned, based on Family Radio’s explanation.

While it purports that “only God knows who His elect are that He saved prior to May 21, Family Radio insists that “anyone can continue to beseech God for mercy because salvation and the election program are entirely in God’s hands.”

Family Radio closes its explanation of Camping’s failed May 21 prediction by noting, “You, too, without your knowledge may have become saved before that date.”

Source: The Christian Post

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