Remembering Our Creator in Our College Days
Ken Embry
University of Kentucky

University and college life is a very wonderful opportunity coming to more and more young Christian men and women today. This is the period of our lives in which we really start making our own decisions. Many of the decisions that we must make bear directly upon the spiritual training that we have had before going away to school. There could hardly be another period in our lives in which our minds are challenged to function so nearly at their capacity than in our college years. We all are aware of this great challenge afforded us to learn. However, we sometimes overlook the even greater challenges that we meet when coming to college— the challenges to our spirit.

Much has been said about the 'great evolutionists' of our modern colleges and universities and no doubt most of it is true. Most of us expected to find in college a great deal of skepticism and ridicule of spiritual things and to have actually found it has not been a great surprise. Things were no different in Paul's day when by inspiration he wrote, "For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God . . .” (I Cor. 1:21). Understandably, this skepticism is lethal to those unsteadfast souls who after swallowing a dose of unbelief fail to take the antidote of reason. But it is not this blatant skepticism that is so very dangerous to young men and women in college. It is something subtler than that; for indeed it is the undermining of our spiritual character — our sense of discernment between right and wrong. The greatest danger, then, is from the lies and temptations of Satan as he seeks to destroy our spiritual discernment. For this reason, we must give diligence to consider the admonition of the Lord through Solomon as he wrote in Ecclesiastes, "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (12:1).

There are many 'conflicts' in college for the Christian. There are conflicts of interests, of recreation, and of time. For each of these conflicts there is a simple, but often difficult, "Yes-I-will-put-the-Lord-first" answer and there is the also simple, but tragic, "No-I-will-do-as-I-please" answer. For many the spirit is too weak to say 'Yes' to the Lord and even less able to say 'No' to Satan. The devil thus provides some seemingly compromise answers — 'if,' 'when,' and 'maybe.' Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other: or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). From these words we can know that there can be no middle ground and our compromises become simply a way of appeasing our consciences in refusing to obey God's will.

While we are away at school it-seems that Satan has many alluring temptations to draw us away. “But with every temptation that comes upon us, God provides a way of escape” (I Cor. 10:13). We can find those ways of escape if we look for them. Then dear brother or sister, when Satan comes with temptations to dance, drink, and engage in reveling; when he tempts to lie and cheat; when he would seduce us to commit fornication by the eye or in the flesh; when he seeks to prevent us from assembling with the saints; or when he comes with any other of his stock in store, let us remember then our Creator and His will for us and let us answer the devil with a determined and emphatic 'No!' "Be subject unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Having done these things we will be able to affirm with Paul as he wrote, "I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me” (Phillippians 4:13).

TRUTH MAGAZINE X: 10, p. 1 July 1966

"The Substitute"
David A. Sargent

His name was Barabbas, meaning “son of the father.” However, he was not the kind of man that would make his father proud. Writers describe him as “a notorious prisoner” (Matthew 27:16), an insurrectionist, a rebel against the government of his day (Mark 15:7), a murderer (Mark 15:7; cp. Acts 3:14), and a robber (18:40). He was found by the governing authorities to be GUILTY of these crimes, and having committed a capital crime, he deserved the DEATH sentence. Since he lived in first century Palestine, occupied by the Romans and therefore under Roman law, his manner of death was to be crucifixion.

But, when the paths of Barabbas, “son of the father,” and Jesus Christ, Son of the Heavenly Father, crossed, the course of his life would change forever. Herein, we see an illustration of the condition of ALL mankind under sin and the sentence of death. We also see Gods solution for ALL who have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) everywhere proclaimed by the URGENT and VITAL message of the "GOSPEL"

Barabbas was guilty and deserved punishment for his crimes. He was NOT an innocent man who was suffering unjustly for crimes that he did not commit. He was guilty, and he deserved to die. You and I are also guilty and deserve the punishment for sin. Rebellion against God’s ultimate authority over life, in whatever form it manifests itself, is called SIN.

The TRUTH is that “ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) AND “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). THEREFORE, ALL the world stands guilty before a holy God, and deserving of death. There are NO exceptions. Unless, that is, someone acceptable to God is willing to die in our place.

Jesus became Barabbas’ substitute. Pilate, the Roman Governor, found nothing worthy of death in Jesus. Nevertheless, the angry Jews cried out for His crucifixion. Pilate had a custom that during the Jewish Passover, he would release one prisoner to the people as a show of good faith. He offered them a choice: Jesus or Barabbas. The people chose Barabbas. And so, Jesus was crucified in his place.

And in this "EXCHANGE OF LIVES" we see a picture of what Jesus actually did for
you and me. Barabbas was WITHOUT HOPE - imprisoned and awaiting the sentence of death. Apart from Christ, we too are WITHOUT HOPE - in bondage to SIN and under the sentence of death, looking forward with a fearful expectation of judgment. God’s justice demands FULL payment for our sin, which is DEATH. But in His mercy, He provided a Substitute for us. On the cross, Jesus not only died in Barabbas’ place; He died in OUR place.

When you and I deserved to die in payment for our OWN sins, God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Scripture declares that Christ “Himself is the propitiation [or the Substitute who paid the price for] our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Yet, NOT all will be saved from their sins (Matthew 7:13-14). Why? Christ’s substitutionary sacrifice MUST be accepted! We accept Christ’s gift through our faith (Acts 16:31), repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confession (Romans 10:9-10) and baptism for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38).

Will you accept God's Substitute? 

CHURCH HISTORY: A BIBLICAL VIEW
Part IV - No. 22 Compiled and written by Gary Eubanks

A. Cathari. The Twelfth Century witnessed the rise of two heretical sects which presented a severe challenge to the Roman Catholic Church by virtue of their extreme popularity and their radical divergence from what was regarded as orthodox doctrine. No doubt, their formation was due to, or at least aided by, the increasing worldliness and moral laxity of the Catholic Church. Both groups were characterized by emphasis upon moral purity to the point of extreme asceticism.

The first of these was the "Cathari" (from the Greek word, "katharos," meaning "pure"). They were also known as Albigenses, from Albi, one of their chief centers in southern France. The basic and distinctive feature of the Catharite doctrinal system was dualism. This is belief in the existence of two co-eternal and supreme powers, the one Evil and the other Good, who are in perpetual conflict with one another. The Cathari approximated Gnosticism in their attitude toward material things. They asserted that the physical world was the creation of the Evil Power, which dominated the body. The Good Power dominated the spirit. Thus, material things, particularly the body and anything pertaining thereto - eating, drinking, and possession of worldly goods - were deemed evil and to be renounced. Consequently, the Cathari forbade the eating of all meats (except fish) and even eggs and cheese, since these were the products of fleshly intercourse. Marriage and marital relations were especially scorned by Cathari. They believed that the physical world was the prison of those souls which had been taken from the realm of the good God. Thus, human reproduction, thought to be the original sin of Adam and Eve, merely increased the number of prison-houses. Salvation, then, was a renunciation of these things and a life of strict asceticism. (Some Cathari even underwent a rite known as the "endura," which was a voluntary starvation unto death.) Cathari also rejected baptism, the Eucharist, the killing of animals, war, capital punishment, oaths, many of the ceremonies, trappings, and doctrines of the Catholic Church, and the Old Testament as the work of the evil God.

The Cathari were divided into two classes: the "perfect" and the believers. The perfect received a rite known as consolation with the understanding that they would abstain from those things inconsistent with Catharite beliefs. The believers, who formed the majority, were allowed to partake of the forms of the world. If they died without having received consolation, they would be reincarnated until they, too, attained salvation

B. Waldenses. The Waldenses arose about the same time as the Cathari and shared much of the same territory, though the two groups differed markedly in their beliefs. The Waldenses received their origin and name from Valdez, or Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons, France who was so impressed by the song of a wandering minstrel and the words of Christ to the rich young ruler (Matt. 19:21) that he sold all of his property and gave the proceeds to his family and the poor. Determined to follow Christ's directions to His apostles (Matt. 10), Waldo and his followers donned woolen robes and sandals, lived by what was given to them, and went about preaching two by two.

Unlike the Cathari, the Waldenses adhered to Catholic doctrine for the most part and probably would not have broken away from the Catholic Church had it not been for its opposition. When Waldo and his associates continued to preach despite a denial by the Pope to do so, they were excommunicated in 1184. Thereafter, the doctrinal gap between them and the Catholics began to widen. Their distinguishing principles were emphasis upon the Scriptures as the sole rule of faith, emphasis upon preaching, and rejection of papal authority.

A. Dominicans. This order had its origin with Dominic, a Spaniard born about 1170. During a journey through southern France in 1203 he was deeply affected by the advances made by the Cathari and the contempt in which they held Catholic missionaries. He urged that only by the Catholic missionaries becoming as devout and zealous for apostolic poverty and preaching as the Cathari themselves could they hope to make any headway in converting them. Those who followed Dominic's advice became known as the "Order of Preachers," or "Dominicans." They received papal sanction in 1216.

B. Franciscans. Francis of Assisi, from whom the order he began takes its name, is often regarded as the preeminent saint of the Middle Ages. Like others before them, Francis and his associates made poverty and preaching their primary method of imitating Christ. The Franciscans received papal sanction in 1223.

The Dominicans and Franciscans were alike in many respects, and efforts were made in their early years to combine them into one order. They both sustained themselves by mendicancy. They were alike devoted to poverty, preaching, service to their fellowman, and scholastic learning. Finally, they both supported subjection to papal authority. They vowed allegiance directly to the pope and thus became a bulwark to the papacy. As strong defenders of the papacy they found themselves being employed as inquisitors in the effort to stamp out the heretical sects.

When the missionary efforts of the Catholic Church proved to be far too ineffective in turning back the tide of the Cathari and Waldenses, sterner measures were employed. Because these heretical sects had made much use of the Scriptures, a “church” council in Toulouse in 1229 forbade the laity to possess the Scriptures and denounced all translations thereof. This council also systematized the investigation of heresy, or inquisition. Those found to be guilty of heresy had their property confiscated, were sentenced to life imprisonment, or were subjected to lesser punishments.

Those who were condemned but refused to recant were turned over to the secular arm to be burned at the stake. Military crusades and other forms of persecution were also brought against the Cathari and Waldenses until the former were thoroughly eradicated and the latter greatly reduced.