DEMAS
Why does the Bible record the lives
of wicked men like Ahab, Manasseh and Judas Iscariot? Is the Holy Spirit
telling us that we can learn from bad examples just as we can learn from good
examples? Paul's first letter to the Corinthians lists some of the wicked
actions of the Israelites in their wandering in the wilderness. "But with
many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the
wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent that we should not
lust after evil things as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters, as were some
of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up
to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed, and fell
in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of
them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents. Neither murmur, as some of
them also murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these happened
unto them for examples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the world have come" (1 Cor. 10:5-11).
We need these examples so that we
may avoid falling into the same sinful conduct. Although Demas may not have
been as wicked as Ahab, Manasseh or Judas Iscariot, he turned his back on the
Lord. Paul wrote concerning this once-faithful Christian. "For Demas has
forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed into
Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia" (2 Tim. 4:10). I
invite you to think with me about Demas and others who have forsaken the Lord.
What do we know about Demas? The
truth is we know very little. Paul mentions him two other times. In his letter
to the Colossians, Paul lists a number of people who joined him in sending greetings
to the Colossians. "Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ,
salutes you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand
perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record, that he has
a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis.
Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you" (Col. 4:12-14). Paul
calls Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke his "fellow-laborers" (Phile.
23-24). Would Paul have listed Demas along with Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus and
Luke as a "fellow-laborer" if Demas had not been a faithful servant
of the Lord?
Paul was deeply troubled that Demas
had "forsaken" him. The word "forsaken" means to desert, to
leave in the lurch, to abandon. The word translated "forsaken"
appears eight other times in the New Testament. On the cross, our Lord cried
out: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me" (Mt. 27:46)? The
author of Hebrews used the word when he wrote of our assembling to worship.
"And let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works: not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but
exhorting one another: and so much more as you see the day approaching"
(Heb. 10:24-25).
Demas forsook Paul and the great
work in which Paul was engaged. Paul says Demas had forsaken him "having
loved this present world." What does Paul mean by the expression,
"having loved this present world?" Does Paul mean Demas was engaging
in immoral activities? There is no doubt that fornication, drunkenness,
adultery and such behavior constitute worldliness. James asked his readers:
"You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship of
the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world
is the enemy of God" (Jas.4: 4). The Apostle John admonished his readers:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,
is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the
lust thereof, but he who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John
2:15-17).
One does not have to be a fornicator
or an adulteress or a drunk to be guilty of loving this world. When a person
becomes so enamored with this world that he does not have time for serving the
Lord, he is guilty of worldliness. When I was in the sporting goods business in
Dalton, Georgia, I had a man who came into my store regularly. He was a member
of the Gideon Society - the people who place Bibles in motels and hotels. He
also attended the services of his denomination. But he said to me on one
occasion: "I work six days a week. I have no time for myself. I would
rather be hunting or fishing on Sunday than going to church." The man had
a good reputation in our community. He was not immoral. But he had a worldly
attitude.
I had many customers in my sporting
goods stores who worked hard during the week. They reserved Sundays for fishing
and other sporting activities. They did not usually hunt on Sunday since
hunting on Sundays in Georgia was illegal. I wondered, but had no way of
knowing, if some of my customers gave as much to the Lord as they spent on
hunting and fishing equipment. I believe hunting, fishing and playing golf are
great sports, but they must not interfere with family, with one's duty to serve
God and to serve our fellowmen. We are guilty of loving this present world when
we permit any activity or any person to interfere with our work in the Lord's
vineyard. Could that also apply to watching too much television?
Many people in our generation
forsake the Lord for worldly wisdom. By "worldly wisdom," I do not
mean math, English, science and other academic subjects. In fact, one of my
passions is urging boys and girls, and men and women to read widely in many
fields. I have even written a book with the title, Books, Books and More
Books (Fayetteville: International Gospel Hour, n. d.). My book
discusses about 350 different books on about fifty different topics. My purpose
in writing the book was to encourage all Christians - especially gospel
preachers - to be informed with what is occurring in our world. How can we know
how to apply the word of God to our culture if we do not know what is happening
in our culture?
I am applying the term,
"worldly wisdom," to those people who accept the worldviews of
philosophers or scientists or theologians in preference to the inspired
teaching of God's book. The Apostle Paul discusses two kinds of wisdom: the
wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. "For the preaching of the cross
is to them who perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of
God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to
nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? .... For after that in the wisdom
of God the world by its wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them who believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the
Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a
stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them who are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because
the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men" (1 Cor. 1:18-25).
James uses somewhat different
language, but arrives at the same conclusion. The physical half-brother of our
Lord asks: "Who is wise and endowed with knowledge among you? Let him show
out of a good conversation (or manner of life) his works with meekness of
wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not,
and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above, but is
earthly, sensual, devilish (or demonic). For where envying and strife are,
there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above, is
first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and
good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy" (Jas. 3:13-17).
Tragically, there are a number of
areas where men and women have been led into apostasy because they listened to
worldly wisdom. I think especially of the advice that is often given by people
like the late Ann Landers and her equally foolish sister, Dear Abby. In
hundreds and hundreds of cases, marriage counselors, including men and women
with doctor's degrees in counseling, have destroyed marriages and lives by the
advice they have given to married couples. Unless marriage counselors know what
the Bible teaches about marriage, divorce and remarriage, they are likely to
give the wrong advice. As utterly stupid as it sounds, there have been marriage
counselors who have encouraged men and women to have affairs to stimulate their
love for their married partners. If you are having difficulties in your
marriage, search for a counselor who has respect for God's pattern for the
home. I know of counselors who have actually broken up marriages. Such
counselors should be sued for malpractice. They are not following the wisdom of
God, but of fallible man.
There has been a tremendous amount
of moronic advice from people on television. After it was learned that Sarah
Palin's eighteen-year-old daughter was pregnant out-of-wedlock, the pundits on
television argued against teaching young people abstinence before marriage.
There is not an intelligent person on earth who thinks that any advice is
always foolproof. My parents taught my brothers, sisters and me not to smoke.
We grew up on a tobacco farm. Occasionally, the three of us older boys would
slip out behind the barn and smoke. Were our parents not aware that boys will
often ignore their advice about smoking, drinking and gambling? Although some
of the Claiborne boys did smoke during our youth, not one of the eleven
children who grew to adulthood smokes. I wonder if that helps to explain why we
have lived so long?
How utterly foolish for anyone to
object to teaching children to wait until marriage to engage in sexual
intimacy! Will all of our young people listen to those who promote abstinence?
Obviously the answer is no. But in all the years I have taught marriage and
family courses in the university and have worked with troubled marriages, I
have never met a person who regretted waiting until marriage to engage in
sexual intimacy. But there are millions of people who regret until this day
that they were sexually promiscuous before marriage. Many couples have
difficulty adjusting because of their checkered past. I know of very few
counselors who would disagree with that.
Besides, some of those people who
were sexually active before marriage are reminded of their past misbehavior
every time they have to take drugs to control their sexually transmitted
diseases, such as, genital herpes. Dr. Meg Meeker has practiced pediatric and
adolescent medicine for more than twenty years. She has also spent a great
amount of time counseling teens and their parents. Her outstanding book, Your
Kids at Risk: How Teen Sex Threatens Our Sons and Daughters (Washington,
DC: Regnery, 2007), should be in the hands of the parents of all children and teenagers.
Dr. Meeker discusses seven ways to protect your kids from the deadly epidemic
of teen sex. I shall take time to read a few brief observations from Dr.
Meeker's book. "19 million new sexually diseases occur in Americans every
year" (p. xii of the Introduction). 2 to 4 million of those infected will
be teenagers. How many of those 19 million have been taught abstinence? How
many of them sincerely wish they had been abstinent?
Dr. Meeker tells of a young woman
who had a "tubo-ovarian abscess which had ruptured." The doctor had
to remove one ovary. The ovary she left did not appear to be healthy. The young
woman had pelvic inflammatory disease, "caused either by chlamydia or
gonorrhea." Dr Meeker says: "It is highly unlikely she will bear a
child" (p.5). One final excerpt from Dr. Meeker's book will have to
suffice today. "We see precancerous conditions in girls as young as 14,
infertility in girls barely old enough to get pregnant, babies infected with
STD's (sexually transmitted diseases) their mothers didn't know they had, and
infants born with herpes-caused encephalitis infections, which cause massive
brain swelling. We see children dying from HIV (human-immuno virus) or cancer
caused by HPV (human papilloma virus)-dying before they've barely a chance to
live" (p. 12). How tragic that some people listen to the wisdom of men
spouted by television pundits who would do well to consult God's wisdom!
I have two other areas I need to
mention. I speak especially of scientists, philosophers and theologians who
preach organic evolution as if it were gospel truth. Perhaps most people expect
scientists and philosophers to believe in and to promote evolution, although no
scientist as a scientist believes in evolution. When he preaches evolution, he
becomes a philosopher since science has not and cannot by the very nature of
the case prove evolution. How can a scientist embrace evolution when every
argument Charles Darwin offered to support his theory has been destroyed? I am
reminded of a great book about evolution by Dr. Michael Denton, an Australian
physician and a molecular biologist. Dr. Denton's book has the title, Evolution:
A Theory in Crisis (Bethesda, MD: Adler & Adler, 1985). Dr. Denton blows evolution away, but concedes
he is still an evolutionist. Incidentally, Dr. Denton's latest book, Nature's
Destiny: How the Laws of Biology Reveal Purpose in the Universe (New
York: The Free Press, 1998), probably uses the word "design" at least
a hundred times. Dr. Denton concludes chapter 14 with these wise words:
"In effect, modern biology has revealed a watch, a watch with a trillion
cogs!-a watch which wonderfully fulfills William Paley's prophetic claim in
this famous section from his (book), Natural Theology; or Evidence of the
Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of
Nature, published in 1800, that 'every indication of
contrivance, every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists
in the works of nature; with the difference, on the side of nature, of being
greater and more, and that in a degree which excels all computation'" (p.
350). Of this fact, you can be absolutely sure: the theory of evolution and the
idea of design are irreconcilable.
Many of you are almost certainly
familiar with the New Age movement, although you may not call it that. Millions
of Americans are involved in some phase of the New Age movement, such as,
psychic phenomena, astrology, UFOlogy, reincarnation, extrasensory perception,
extraterrestrials, automatic writing, trance channeling, and other
superstitions. There are a number of educated Americans, such as, Sylvia
Browne, who actually claim to believe in ghosts. Shirley MacLaine is one of the
leaders in this movement. She has written a number of books that have become
national bestsellers, such as, Dancing in the Light, Out on a Limb, It's
All in the Playing and others. Her latest book has the title, Sage-ing
while Age-ing (New York: Atria, 2007). She is affirming that she is
getting wiser as she is getting older. I know very few people who have a
greater need to get wiser as they get older. Her book is literally filled with
junk, if you will pardon my technical language. One brief excerpt from her book
should show how far off base the New Age movement really is. She mentioned
having visited with the so-called "psychic surgeons" in Brazil. She
says she saw them "take out human eyes to restore sight to a blind woman.
One psychic surgeon removed a human heart, fixed the four-part bypass, restored
it to the human chest, and with 'energy' closed the wound without
stitches" (p. 16). How can educated people be so completely gullible?
Dr. William Nolen, an American
surgeon from Minnesota, has written a number 'of very enjoyable and profitable
books, including The Making of Surgeon, A Surgeon under the Knife and
others. One of his books has the title, Healing: A Doctor in Search of a
Miracle (New York: Random House, 1974). He has chapters on Kathryn
Kuhlman, the infamous faith healer, on Norbu Chen and on the psychic surgeons
in the Philippine Islands. The psychic surgeons could hoodwink people like
Shirley MacLaine, but they could not deceive a medical doctor. After visiting
Kathryn Kuhlman, Norbu Chen and the psychic surgeons, Dr. Nolen reached two
conclusions. "It demonstrates once again that intelligence and common
sense don't necessarily protect one from charlatans." Word-of-mouth has
convinced many people of the legitimacy of the psychic surgeons and other
fraudulent operators (pp. 258-259). Dr. Nolen dogmatically affirms - and I
strongly agree - "There are no miracles to be found" (p. 268). But
the Bible is filled with genuine miracles.
Tragically, worldly wisdom too
often leads to desertion of the Lord's cause.
Winford Claiborne
The International Gospel Hour
P.O. Box 118
Fayetteville, TN 37334