The Heart of Man

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” ESV Jeremiah 17:9

Welcome to hell. Those were the words spray painted in red onto an old rusted sign just south of town. It was my first trip into the hill country of eastern Kentucky. I had spent the night in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee and at first light I made my way through the Appalachian mountain pass long associated with Daniel Boone who led 18th century settlers through the pass on what was known as the Wilderness Road.

With an early morning sales call under my belt, I forged northward along narrow, twisting two-lane roads that never seemed to stray far from a stream or the side of a mountain it seemed. The scenery was picturesque, but even in my naive bliss the road seemed a somewhat desolate and lonely. Just before my second stop the sign appeared on my right and even though it was 1993, I still recall it vividly—words scrawled with red spray paint onto a weathered metal sign with a heavy basecoat of rust. Why? I wondered.

Stopping at McDonalds for lunch, I picked up a national newspaper whose headlines announced that Clay county Kentucky was one of the poorest counties in the nation; not exactly a distinction endeared by the locals. But this headline was neither the first nor the last that the locals would endure.

My second stop was at a mobile home lot that sat on top of the hill behind McDonald’s. A one-lane gravel road rose from the highway to a flat spot on top of the hill where several dozen homes and an office sat. This particular business had made headlines recently after an arsonist set fire to every other home on the lot. The pictures of the aftermath looked like a war zone. Why? I wondered.

On September 12, 2009 Clay County made national news again after a 51-year-old census worker was found dead and hanging from a tree in a remote cemetery with the word “fed” scrawled across his chest. Why? Why such senseless, evil behavior I wonder? Perhaps the teaching of the prophet Jeremiah sheds as much light on it as anything. The heart of man is truly wicked; “deceitful above all things and desperately sick...” the prophet says.

This is not an indictment against Clay County Kentucky nor is this is an indictment against the poor. Evil knows no geographical or economic bounds. If anything, this is an indictment against mankind. Ever since that first sin in Eden, evil has tainted the world we live in. Clay County Kentucky is not immune and neither is Franklin County Alabama.

While Jeremiah pegs the problem, he also pegs the solution just a few verses later. In verse 14 he prays, “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.” May that be our prayer today whether we live in the mountains of eastern Kentucky or the foothills of Franklin County; Heal us, O Lord...

Absolute Truth

But he answered, "It is written, "' Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" ESV Matthew 4:4

Some things never change. And in the case of the Bible, God’s word, I sure am glad; glad that the Bible speaks absolute truth. If God’s word is not absolute, if it is situational or “relative,” then what have we got to lean on? If the bible is relative, Christians are to be most pitied because our faith is built on shifting sands.

We can come up with many examples of truth from our daily experiences, but they all fall short of being “absolute.” Let’s take deadlines for instance. This newspaper imposes deadlines on me. Regardless of whether it suites me, this paper goes to press on a schedule; with or without my article for the week! Zig Ziglar has a unique way of dealing with this type of truth. He says that he made a deal with the airlines long ago that they could just go ahead and leave without him if he were not at the gate at departure time. But these are truths that may or may not come to pass; deadlines change, flight schedules change, etc. But the word of God never changes; it is absolute and enduring.

Too many times we make truth “relative” by acknowledging “truth” based on our circumstances and/or personal convictions. I call it the “this is truth for me” mentality. But when we do this, truth becomes relative. And when truth is relative, we can manufacture and twist it to fit our particular circumstance or need of the moment. Of course, the results of this kind of thinking can be chaotic; leading everyone to do what is right based on his or her opinion. That’s one reason why I find great comfort in the fact that the Bible speaks absolute truth that endures forever. I like what Isaiah had to say: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” ESV Isaiah 40:8

When Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness after forty days of fasting, he used the phrase “it is written” four different times to refer to absolute truths that we find in the Bible. Interestingly, God’s word was the only defense that Jesus used against Satan himself!

Now I ask you, if God’s word is a reliable and sufficient defense against the Devil himself, how much more so can we rely on it in our daily lives? Rest in the truth of the Bible this week; regardless of what comes your way, you will find it to be a reliable and sufficient guide for daily living.

Ken Askew

Among the tombs

“And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain...” ESV mark 5:2-3

“He lived among the tombs.” How fitting it is that a demon possessed man would live contentedly in a graveyard among the dead. I say contentedly because we are told that even chains would not hold him anymore. Society had not found a proper or effective way of dealing with him and, left to his own devices, he wound up in a cemetery; a spiritually dead man living with physically dead men.

Even though, perhaps because, he could not be cuffed and no man had the strength to take him, this man wandered the tombs and the mountainside outside of town making a scene and doing himself (and no doubt others) physical harm. But interestingly, the bible tells us that when he encounters Jesus he “fell down before him” and calls him the “Son of the most high God.” So once again the writer of Mark shows us that Jesus is God; this time by giving us a picture of Jesus’ ultimate authority–even over demons.

The story goes on to identify not one, but many demons living within this man. Having begged permission from Jesus to be cast into a herd of pigs rather than meet with some other demise, Jesus grants the demons’ request. Interestingly, the pigs immediately ran down an embankment and drowned themselves. The scriptures don’t tell us why, but I can’t help but imagine that it’s a picture of self destructive, spiritually dead people; a picture of a lost world running into the darkness without God.

The heartwarming side of this story is that the dastardly wicked and nasty man that we met early in the story is now in his right mind, clean, and in fresh clothes. The change in his behavior is so drastic that the townspeople are afraid of him still, but for entirely different reasons than before. Now they are marveling at the change that has apparently taken place in his life. Isn’t it wonderful how knowing Christ as Lord instead of the devil as lord changes lives?

This changed man asks Jesus if he can go with him as he leaves the area but Jesus turns him down. Instead, Jesus, uncharacteristically at this point in his ministry, tells the man to “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord as done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” In his commentary on the gospels J.C. Ryle points out that Jesus was effectively assigning, calling if you will, this man to a ministry. Not necessarily the ministry of the man’s own choosing, but to an effective ministry for the kingdom of God, right there in his hometown, telling people about the mercies of God.

I hope that you’ve encountered Jesus, the living God. May your life be a testimony and a ministry to His great mercies.

Arturo says hello.

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”” ESV Matthew 28:18-20

A few weeks ago I shared a stirring video I found online with some friends that highlighted the need and importance of Christian missions around the world. I labeled the video link with my feeling at the moment, “Thinking about foreign missions.”

The video elicited several responses, but perhaps the most moving to me was the one from a local man that said, “I think about foreign missions every hour I’m awake.” True to his word, he and his wife are volunteering Haiti as I write this column and this is not their first trip. As I think abut his comment and his trip it occurs to me that every Christian should be thinking of how they might further the Great Commission every waking hour.

Another Franklin County son has been to India distributing bibles more times than I can recall. Proving that age is no hindrance, he didn’t take his first trip till after he retired from teaching. One of the strangest requests I’ve had professionally was from a Sunday School teacher wondering how much it would cost his class in dollars to convert into enough rupees for him to buy a scooter on his next trip to India.

Two friends from the Shoals who are full-time missionaries just returned from a seven-week trip to Peru where they visited some of the same Peruvian pastors that I was able to meet just about a year ago. To my surprise and great joy one of pastors made them promise to “tell Ken Arturo says hello.” He and his family overwhelmed our team with hospitality while we were in Peru.

There are perhaps more of your friends and neighbors traveling and ministering abroad than you know because most of them do it quietly. I’m aware of one young couple currently in town for some rest and relaxation who are missionaries to Peru and many others who have been on short term trips here in the U.S. Our new pastor at Tharptown Baptist Church, Josh, just returned with his wife and daughter from a twenty month missions tour in India.

As a Christian, the command to spread the good news is clear. The question is sometimes how; how do I make disciples of all nations? Well, here locally there is no excuse for not sharing your faith. Internationally? Admittedly, international missions is not everyone’s calling, but I see two solutions; either go or send. If you make yourself available, plenty of opportunities to “go” will appear. If you choose instead to “send” you’ll find your choices so plentiful that in the interest of good stewardship you’ll have to be cautious about the organizations you give to.

Will you go or send?

Ken Askew

God in a Box

“And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and by the prince of demons.” ESV Mark 3:22

As I read Mark’s gospel I get the feeling that he’s bullet pointing Jesus’ ministry in some kind of outline form. A Dragnet version if you will; “...just the facts maam.” The early chapters of the book move so quickly from one event to the next that I find myself having to stop and think about what just happened. Even the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness for forty days only comprised two verses. Yet in every story, in every bullet point, the writer of Mark strives to make one overriding point that must not be missed: “Jesus Christ, [is] the Son of God.”

So, as we read about Jesus preaching repentance, cleansing lepers, healing the paralytic, calling disciples and attracting crowds that would make the most influential politician green with envy, we must understand that these things are taking place so that people will know that Jesus is the Son of God.

By the time we get to chapter three the elite of the community, the Pharisees and the scribes, are plotting against him. And while Jesus is angry at their hypocrisy, he is also grieved at the hardness of their heart.

Mark 3:22 is one of those places where I had to stop and think about the text. I asked myself why the Pharisees and scribes couldn’t see that Jesus was the Son of God. How could they go so far as to say that his ministry was of the devil himself? And here’s the conclusion I came to. The religious folks of the day didn’t accept Jesus for who he was because he didn’t fit their image of God. They were blinded by their own hard hearts and they never came to know Jesus as the Son of God. In other words, Jesus would not fit in the neat, tidy box that they imagined.

Fast forward till today. Does God fit into your box?

Hindsight is 20/20 they say; or is it? We have the testimony of the Old Testament prophets concerning Christ that is documented and confirmed in many cases by the New Testament eyewitness accounts. The public ministry of Christ is well documented. All the Apostles, excepting perhaps John, met a martyrs death for their enduring faith and testimony. Evidence abounds that Jesus was and is the Son of God yet many still reject this truth.

Will you worship the Creator who crafted you in His image or will your craft a god that will fit into your box?

Ken Askew