What God Requires

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Theology

–Winter of 2001

What God Requires

In every age there are those who aspire to an intimate relationship with a holy God and to live the godly life resulting from that relationship.  It is also true that in every age there are those who have constructed their own brand of cheap grace to insure a minimum demand upon their life.  Standing between these two categories is a veritable host asking the eternally important question, “What level of living does God require of His people?”

We know that salvation and acceptance with God comes by grace through faith.  Yet no serious Bible student can escape being jolted by the flat ultimatum to “be holy for I am holy.”  Nor can we overlook the command to pursue holiness, “without which no man shall see the Lord.”  The call to holy living is repeated in various ways throughout the whole of Scripture.  If God means what He says, then salvation by grace through faith has some serious behavioral ramifications.

The Old Testament sets the tone and standard for God’s expectation of His people.  A summation of the first few books of the Old Testament clearly teaches us that God’s goal for human life is that we should live in real fellowship with Him—a fellowship that requires a correct understanding of who He is and a sharing of His revealed character.  Four times in the book of Leviticus (often referred to as the “Holiness Code”) God tells His people that He is holy and, because that is so, they must be holy.  He is requiring a holiness of life that is not only relational (meaning, a holiness that is derived and dependent upon a right relationship with God), but one that is also replicational (meaning, a holiness that shares His character and is behavioral, touching every aspect of our personal, social, moral, civil and religious life).  This behavioral aspect is presented further when we are given an Old Testament description of true religion, “Thus shall ye do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully, and with a perfect heart” (II Chron. 19:9).  Clearly God expects us to serve Him reverently with a life that is totally yielded and faithfully obedient to His revealed commands and statutes.

The New Testament standard is the same as the Old.  It teaches that we are redeemed from sinful bondage and brought into a relationship with God by saving grace.  This salvation is more than going to Heaven when we die.  It is an intimate personal progressive relationship with Christ.  It means that God radically and immediately re-orients our lives to the Lordship of Christ so that obedience to Him is a normal practice in our lives.  It means that He will also “purify our hearts by faith” through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, enabling the Holy Spirit to reproduce Christ’s character in us.  Although this is not done in our own strength, we are fully cooperative participants in this effort by the application of Biblical truths as we see new truth and by the exercise of certain disciplines that help maintain true piety in our lives.

Both Testaments call us to live lives that are morally pure, ethically righteous, and faithfully obedient.  This call to holy living is clear, and every Christian needs to take this call seriously.  Dr. John Oswalt in his book, The Call to Be Holy, makes the observation, “The fate of the American church and the church around the world depends upon what it does with the biblical doctrine of Christian holiness.”  Dr. Oswalt is right.  It is also right to note that my fate and yours depends upon what we do with the biblical call to holy living.  God requires holiness of heart and life.

Peace on Earth

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Holiday

–December of 2000

Peace on Earth

This month thousands of pilgrims from around the world will descend upon the ancient town of Bethlehem and its surrounding shepherds fields to celebrate the birth of our Lord and sing the beautiful words of the “Gloria in excelsis!”

Most of us in America will celebrate Christmas watching our children timidly parade in front of church congregations re-enacting the Christmas story.  Our brave little ones will be transformed into Jewish shepherds, wearing oversized bathrobes and white towels draped about their heads, or angels, wearing white sheets with tinsel-lined wings.  We will all smile proudly, nod our affirmation vigorously, and listen carefully as they join the pilgrims of Bethlehem in saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.”  (Luke 2:10)

The words “peace on earth” will slip by most of us without notice.  Yet the cynic, as well as the serious saint, will recognize that the world has not found the formula for peace.  The god of war continues to stalk up and down the earth, threatening men and nations with bloodshed and destruction.  The Balkans are still trembling from the horrors of ethnic cleansing and falling bombs.  The Middle East is a boiling cauldron of tension, spilling over in outbreaks of violence.  Here in America broken-hearted families will stare at empty chairs this Christmas because of loved ones who lost their lives in the terrorist attack upon the USS Cole.

The god of this world also goes about seeking whom he may devour.  He has wrought havoc in a world now haunted by demons, disease and death.  Sin has ruined men by violence and squalor, misery and hatred.  The piercing words of the prophet, “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” are painfully accurate.

Is there any hope for meaningful peace in our world?  Can men find calm in the midst of such chaos?  Oh yes!  The Prince of Peace has offered it, but it will be realized only in obedience to the divine formula for peace.  The divine formula is expressed in the form of a cross.  Paul said, “He has made peace through the blood of His cross.”  The cross of Christ has made inner peace possible now.  It can bring about an end to inner warfare and outward of misery in any man’s life.  The prospects of world peace look dim to those who gaze with a temporal eye.  But, the Savior who came as a babe in Bethlehem’s manger will one day return as a mighty King.  He will put all His enemies under His feet and usher in the time when it can truly be said that there is “peace on earth, good will toward men.”

The Battle for Truth

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Culture, Theology

–October of 2000

The Battle for Truth

The Clinton Presidency has forced to the forefront of this election year the two very important issues of moral absolutes and religious faith.  I suppose this ought to be cause for celebration, but I, for one, am deeply troubled with how I see these issues being addressed.  Both candidates have spent a considerable amount of energy trying to convince the American public that they are decent, honest, God-fearing men who have the integrity and character it takes to be president.  But a closer look at what is being said and how it is being communicated deeply troubles me.

The vice president has told the American public that he is a committed husband and father, who is solidly anchored in the traditional moral values that are important to our nation.  To reinforce his own testimony, he has secured testimonials from a high-profile lesbian, a movie star, and Ted Kennedy.  Furthermore, he has told us that as president he would defend the moral values of the American family while in the same breath telling us that he would fight for a woman’s right to an abortion and oppose the overturn of Roe vs. Wade.  He says and does all of this with no apparent thought of contradiction.

The nomination of an Orthodox Jew has opened up the other issue of religious faith.  This nomination has allowed the media to openly talk about the “barrier of race and religion” finally being torn down.  They have also been able to discuss the validity and equality of all other religions with that of Christianity.  A prominent media figure asked a guest this question, “How could an Orthodox Jew be elected when the vast majority of Americans say they are Christian and in saying that they believe that Jesus is the only way to Heaven?”  His guest replied, “I am a Christian.  I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.  But, I do not believe He is only way to Heaven.  I believe He is simply a way to Heaven.”  He went on to proclaim that the Islamic faith and the Buddhist faith were all legitimate ways to get to Heaven and Christ was just one of many.  The program host thought his response was just outstanding and applauded the fact that America is finally growing up.

What the vice president, the media, and the educational elite see as intellectual enlightenment, I see as an encroaching darkness.  Why?  Because both perspectives undermine the absolute truth found in Scripture.

Our civilization, both morally and judicially, was built upon the absolutes embodied in the Judeo-Christian faith as revealed in Holy Scripture.  Decency, civility, morally and justice all rest upon these moral absolutes.  Our own constitution would be in shreds if these moral absolutes were pulled from underneath it.  The rejection of these values bring chaos, confusion, contradiction and emptiness.  When a society proclaims that there is no transcendent source of moral truth, it is left to construct its own belief system out of a moral vacuum.

The perfect example of this took place some years ago when Cal Thomas had just finished giving a lecture at the University of Michigan.  A student who heard the lecture strongly objected to his thesis that our nation needs to promote values rooted in fixed absolutes.  Thomas responded, “If you reject my value system, what do you recommend to replace it?”  The young lady couldn’t answer.  Thomas pressed further by asking, “What is your major?”   “I am a senior, and my major is ethics.”  “On what do you base your own ethics?” Thomas posed. “I don’t know.  I’m still trying to work that out.”

Here is a typical example of what our American educational system is producing.  This young lady has been given no moral foundation for right or wrong.  She has been stripped of a belief in the Bible and even taught an antagonism towards values founded on Scripture.  Her moral compass has been completely destroyed.  Consequently, she has no way of finding what real truth is.

It is out of this moral wasteland that the modern mind has developed post-modernism.  This is a view of life that rejects not only Christian truth, but any claim to absolute truth.  This means that all viewpoints, lifestyles and religious faiths are equally valid and acceptable. A post-modernist has no problem accepting two completely opposite points of view. Growing out of post-modernism is multi-culturalism.  Multi-culturalism opens the door to say that the faith of a Muslim is as valid as that of a Christian because both are anchored in their own perception of truth.  Since neither can know absolute truth, the one is as adequate as the other for salvation.

Most of my readers see the fallacy of all of this and may be wondering what the point is.  The upshot of it all is this.  There is an orchestrated endeavor to destroy belief in the absolute truths of God’s Word and in Jesus as the only way to be saved.  The educational system that has produced both of our presidential candidates has been at the very heart of systematically destroying the absolutes that we have embraced as a nation.

The success of this endeavor will not be to stamp out Christianity, but to gain enough room to claim a society so pluralistic that the message of toleration and inclusiveness will be preached by politicians, made into laws by Congress, upheld by the Supreme Court, and enforced by police until most of the vestiges of Christian values are gone and Christianity is just one of many views.  This, my friend, will lay the foundation for a new world order.

We are, indeed, in a battle for truth.  Your voice and your vote can still make a difference.  If I were you, I would use them both.

A Monument to Christ’s Willingness to Answer Prayer

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Ministry

–Summer of 2000

A Monument to Christ’s Willingness to Answer Prayer

In the late 1800’s, Martin Wells Knapp, Methodist evangelist and founding editor of God’s Revivalist, felt that God was going to use him for more that just the publishing work in which he was then engaged. His diary entry for July 17, 1890, reads as follows:

A training school for gospel workers is on my heart and in my head. It seems as if God put it there. I agreed tonight that if He will give me the building for the Home, to use it for His glory and to put this or a similar statement on it: “This building is a monument of the power and willingness of the loving Christ to answer prayer.”

That prayer became a reality in 1900 when Knapp bought property at 1810 Young Street, Cincinnati. The red-brick mansion, which is still the administration center for GBS, was filled to capacity when classes began on September 27. Few if any could have envisioned what God would do on this campus in the century ahead. God’s Bible School and Missionary Training Home was to give life to a number of notable religious organizations, provide a home for the Revivalist Press, host one of the largest camp meetings in the Midwest, and send a steady line of courageous and dedicated graduates to so many places at home and abroad that the alumni motto would become “The Sun Never Sets on the Graduates of God’s Bible School.”

Throughout this century on the Hilltop, GBS and God’s Revivalist have been united in a happy marriage which has blessed the world. Knapp founded the periodical twelve years before the school and used the former to create the latter. Probably there would be no GBS without the Revivalist; and probably there would be no Revivalist now without GBS. Both are the result of Knapp’s genius and sacrifice, and both still bear his imprint. Together they have made the Mount of Blessings the vital holiness center which it has been and which it still remains. In God’s kindly providence, they will continue to do the same in the years before us.

It is therefore appropriate that this special commemorative issue for the GBS Centenary appear in the very pages which helped give birth to the school one hundred years ago. Obviously we have encapsulated the century past with only the briefest summary. We hope our readers will seek more exhaustive treatment in the two official histories now in preparation—one a rich pictorial presentation with accompanying verbal vignettes; and the other, a scholarly, interpretive narrative.

The history of this venerated institution has demonstrated that Knapp’s prayer has been answered again and again. After a century on its Mt. Auburn campus, God’s Bible School still remains a “monument of the power and willingness of the loving Christ to answer prayer.”

It’s Time to Come Home

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles

–Summer of 2000

It’s Time to Come Home

Over the past five years of my presidency, a number of alumni have sought to reconnect with their alma mater. They have written, e-mailed, or just dropped a word to the right person letting me know of their interest in getting in touch with the school. A typical conversation will go something like this: “I haven’t been back on campus since I left twenty-five years ago. I’ve occasionally driven by just to take a look, but I couldn’t get up the courage to stop.” As the conversation winds down, usually this statement will be made: “You know, maybe it’s time I came back home.”

GBS has always has a diverse alumni within the various traditions of Methodism. Students have left these halls and gone in a number of directions to take up the work of spreading the gospel. Our graduates have served in every branch of the holiness movement and nearly every missionary-sending agency within the Methodist/holiness tradition. There are others who have become doctors, lawyers, financiers, executive within major corporations, and those who have taken up blue-collar jobs. Because of this tremendous diversity, some alumni feel a little uneasy about returning to campus. For most, it has been simply a matter o flossing contact and never taking the time to initiate or reestablish a relationship with the school. There are few who, because of a bad experience, do not want to reopen the pain that they have put behind them. Others feel that since they no longer share some of the same distinctives, they will not be welcomed. Then there is the final group who have lost their way spiritually and feel ashamed to return.

There is one thing that all of them would agree upon. Namely, that their days at GBS molded them forever. There is something about the time that was spent here that they cannot get away from. It always surfaces as a very warm and precious memory. Their mind at one point or another will always bring them back to the Hilltop. They have deep spiritual roots that lie embedded in events that happened while they were here. These grounds are precious, and hold a lot of memories for those of us who are GBS alumni.

Those who have made the initiative to reconnect, or those who have let us know how to reconnect with them, have unanimously found one thing—a very warm welcome awaiting them! This September 27th, 2000, God’s Bible School and College will celebrate its centennial anniversary. This will be one of the most historical moments in the life of this institution and the holiness movement. As a fellow alumnus and as president, my words to all of our alumni scattered across the world are simply this, “Wherever you are, wherever you have gone, whatever you have become, it’s time to come back home.”