T H E   E N D - T I M E S   T I M E S              March 7th, 2000
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Dear friends,

Welcome to this issue of The End-Times Times.
This newsletter is being sent to you at your request,
and your name will not be made available to any other
person or organisation.  You may request to be removed
from this list at any time by simply writing to me.

  Please feel free to write to me at

      davidmwilliams@geocities.com

and visit my Web site at

      http://geocities.datacellar.net/Athens/Forum/5951

Good quality theological books can be purchased from
the Web site, through Amazon.Com.  Previous issues of
this newsletter are also available.

In this issue some projects are outlined that I hope
you will prayerfully consider supporting.

Regards,

David M. Williams

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1 2   K E Y S   T O   V I C T O R I O U S   L I V I N G
F R O M   T H E   L I F E   O F   J E S U S

By Pastor Stanley Vasu.


1. SPIRITUAL BIRTH

   Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35; John 3:15

   Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore the first key to
   a victorious life is to be born of the Spirit.  The born again
   experience is the first step to a victorious life.

2. SPIRITUAL POWER

   Matthew 3:16-17; John 3:36; Acts 1:8; Luke 4:14,18,19

   Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit without measure which was
   the secret of his power.  Therefore we must be filled with the
   Holy Spirit in order to have such a victorious life.

3. SPIRITUAL MATURITY

   Luke 2:40,52; I Cor 13:11

   Jesus experienced continous growth and increase in his life from
   his childhood.  Therefore we must be constantly growing in our
   spiritual life in order to have a life of victory.  Those
   remaining stagnant in their walk with God cannot walk in victory.

4. SUPPLICATION

   Luke 11:1; Luke 5:16; Luke 6:12; Matthew 14:23; Mark 6:46;
   Luke 9:18; Hebrews 5:7-8

   Jesus had a strong and powerful prayer life.  His strength came
   from his intimate fellowship with God where he received all his
   guidance and empowerment.  We need such a prayer life in order
   to live a victorious life.

5. SCRIPTURES

   Matthew 7:28; Matthew 22:33; Mark 1:22; Mark 11:18; Luke 4:32

   Jesus was deeply grounded in the word of God.  He was well
   versed in the Scriptures and in his understanding of the
   revelation of the word of God.  He spoke the word of God with
   authority and power.  We need such strong foundations in the
   Scriptures in order to live victoriously.

6. SINLESS LIFE

   Luke 4:1-13

   Jesus never fell into sin.  He always overcame temptation and
   lived a sanctified life.  We need such a sanctified life in order
   to be victorious.  A life of falling into temptation cannot produce
   victory.

7. SELF-EFFACEMENT

   Matthew 11:29; Matthew 5:5; James 4:10; I Peter 5:6;
   Mattthew 18:4; Matthew 23:12

   Jesus lived a life of humility. Therefore God highly exalted him.
   We need such a humility for God to lift us and use us for His glory.

8. SLOGGED LABOUR

   Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35; Mark 1:39; Luke 8:11; Luke 13:22;
   John 4:34; John 9:4; Mark 6:31

   Jesus worked hard in the ministry.  He travelled much and
   sometimes had no time even to eat.  There can be no victory in
   our life and ministry without hard work and toil.  Anyone who is
   not willing to toil and labour has no hope of victory and success
   in life. Jesus did not lead an easy and lazy life.

9. SUFFERING

   Hebrews 12:2-4; Proverbs 24:10; Matthew 10:22; Luke 9:62

   Jesus faced much suffering and opposition during his life.
   A life of victory means a life of battles.  There is no victory
   if there is no battle.  We need to be willing to endure
   sufferings and face battles in order to live a life of victory.

10. SPOILED WORKS OF THE DEVIL.

    I John 3:8; Acts 10:38; James 4:7; I Peter 5:8-9

    Jesus was constantly destroying the works of the devil and
    delivering people from the bondage of Satan.  A life of victory
    is possible only when we are willing to destroy the works of
    Satan.  As long as we tolerate his works in our life we cannot
    lie in victory.

11. SACRIFICIAL LIFE

    Phillipians 2:5-11; I Peter 2:21-24; Luke 17:33; Matthew 10:37-39

    Jesus lived a life of total dedication to God.  He did not live
    with a divided heart nor did he withhold any part of his life.
    He was obedient even to the point of death.  A life of victory
    is not possible without a total surrender of our life.  A partial
    commitment will only result in a life of failure and defeat.

12. SIGHT OF ETERNITY

    Hebrews 12:2; Matthew 26:64; II Timothy 2:12; Romans 8:16-18

    Jesus didn't live for this world.  He did not long for the glories
    and pleasures of this world.  He lived with eternity in sight.
    A life of victory is possible only to those who have eternity in
    mind in all their desires, motives and activities.  A preoccupation
    with the pleasures of this life will confuse our priorities and we
    will spend our time and energy chasing the vanities of life and end
    up having wasted our life.  Therefore a life of victory requires a
    vision of eternity.

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A   L O O K   A T   L I B E R A L   I N T E R P R E T A T I O N
M E T H O D S

By Jim Hodge.


Throughout the centuries, the methods of interpretation applied to
the Holy Scriptures has been a subject of great concern and
importance, yet there seems to be a diversity of opinions as to the
proper approach to be taken. The need for a set of standards
regarding the interpretation of the Bible is apparent when we see the
diversities of thought and culture among men. If man is to receive
the full value and worth of God's revelation to man, a sound set of
principles regarding Biblical hermeneutics must be achieved.

Only as exegetes come to adopt common principles and methods of
procedure, will the interpretation of the Bible attain the dignity and
certainty of an established science.

One of the most recent approaches to the interpretation of Scripture
involves that of the liberal school of thought. By this we mean the
radical criticism of the Scriptures that has reached its full tide in
the nineteenth century and has become a prevalent force in twentieth
century theology. The debate over the Bible in modern times is a
debate of rationalism versus authoritarianism. It can be said that
rationalism is the assertion that whatever is not in harmony with
educated mentality is to be rejected. The authoritarian position
asserts that if God has spoken, the human mind must be obedient to the
voice of God. It can be confirmed that there appears to be a blind
faith in a certain authority, yet it must be pointed out that this
subjection to authority is not necessarily uneducated or anti-
intellectual.

At the heart of liberal interpretation is their views regarding
revelation and inspiration. According to the liberal, all conceptual
thinking, even our knowledge of God, is conditioned sociologically,
culturally, and historically, and no exceptions can be made for
dogmas, Biblical propositions, or religious truths. The liberal
understands truth to be a progressive, growing entity rather than
an unchanging collection of facts. This seems to imply that revela-
tion is progressive, open-ended, and partial in nature. Therefore, it
is not surprising that the liberal rejects all forms of verbal,
plenary inspiration and revelation is redefined as human insight into
religious truth, or human discovery of religious truths.

Another important theme of liberal interpretation involves a modified
view of the supernatural. When the liberal encounters miracles or the
supernatural in Scripture, it is simply treated as folklore,
mythology, or poetic elaboration. To the liberal, the supernatural
refers to that which is above the material order, or beyond mere
natural processes such as prayer, ethics, pure thought, or
immortality. Miracles are not viewed as being historical events, but
rather are seen as a myth with some inner significance for the reader.
This is sometimes known as existential interpretation. The liberal is
not asking about what happened but about what the story or miracle is
saying to our situation now. He is not concerned with the factual
content of a story, but seeks to translate into it a possibility for a
new self-understanding. What the liberal is really saying is that the
Scriptures can have different shades of meaning depending on an
individual's present circumstances.

The method of existential interpretation can be a valuable tool in
interpreting the Bible as long as a traditional grammatical and
historical method of hermeneutics is applied. Ramm declares:

The Bible is not primarily history, although it contains history. It
is not primarily a theological textbook although it contains theology.
It is a book about existence, about life at its most comprehensive
expression, about God. To understand it at this level one must read it
existentially. By this existential reading the Bible may become the
word of God to the reader.

While an existential method can be helpful to the reader's
understanding of truth, we must realize that the Bible is the word of
God, regardless of whether we read it existentially or not.

Another error found in the liberal interpretation is the idea that the
Scriptures must accommodate the customs and cultures of the day in
which they were written, yet cannot have the same meaning in modern
society. For example, the only terms in which Paul could describe the
death of Christ were from bloody Jewish sacrifices. Thus Paul's
doctrine of the atonement is accommodated to the expression of his
time and these are not binding on us.

The liberal feels it is his duty to recast the essence of the New
Testament doctrine in the language of modern man, and in so doing must
take away the concepts and images of the Old and New Testament
cultures.

Because the liberalistic method of interpretation is relatively new,
it has been greatly influenced by philosophers of the past. Immanuel
Kant's moral interpretation theory is one such philosophy which the
liberals have taken from. It is not uncommon to hear the liberal
speak of the value of the moral teachings of Jesus, yet in the same
breath disregard any passages referring to His virgin birth.
Therefore, according to the liberal, if the literal and historical
sense of a given passage yields no profitable moral lesson, he is at
liberty to set it aside, and attach to it the words such a meaning as
is compatible with the religion of reason.

It is easy to see that such a system of interpretation, which
professedly ignores the grammatical and historical sense of the Bible,
can have no reliable or self-consistent rules. Like the mystical and
allegorical methods, it leaves every thing subject to the peculiar
faith or fancy of the interpreter.

Each method of interpretation employed may have some value regarding
the exegesis of Scripture. However, if the hermeneutical principles
are inconsistent and unwarranted, the result will be an improper
understanding of God's revelation to mankind. A proper method of
interpreting God's Word should produce God's intended purpose in the
lives of believers and the church that Christ founded. If no fruit
is apparently being produced, then it might be fair to assume that
the method of interpretation is faulty.

Mr. Richard Coleman gives an honest attempt to compare the thoughts
and methods of liberals and evangelicals in his book "Issues of
Theological Conflict." In dealing with the different methods of
interpretation of both groups, he states:

Modernity can exercise hermeneutical authority over Scripture, just as
orthodoxy can, because both are incomplete if they do not return full
circle and let themselves be tested by the Holy Spirit speaking
through the biblical gospel. The final test of a theology is not its
starting or ending point, but the fruit it bears in the life of the
church.

And again he writes:

The final test of biblical authority and inspiration, regardless of
the arguments made, is whether evangelicals and liberals will resist
the temptation to possess and control God's Word and will instead
submit themselves to the Word. Each says he does and accuses the
other of not doing so; but the proof will rest in their actions, not
their words.

With these words in mind, we must honestly look at the liberal method
of interpretation and determine if it is indeed producing the kind of
fruit that the Scriptures speak of, and if it is not, then it must
be rejected as unwarranted.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cauthen, Kenneth. Science, Secularization, and God. Nashville,
Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1969.

Coleman, Richard J. Issues of Theological Conflict. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972.

Ramm, Bernard. Protestant Biblical Interpretation. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Baker Book House, 1970.

Ramm, Bernard. Varieties of Christian Apologetics. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Baker Book House, 1962.

Terry, Milton S. Biblical Hermeneutics. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Zondervan Publishing House.

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P R O J E C T S

Dear friends, you will recall previous issues of the End-Times
Times, where I wrote about my missions trip to Belarus in
Eastern Europe.  God is at work in this country and I hope to
return soon.

The Lord has very much laid some areas for support upon my
heart, and these are the projects I am working towards.

In particular, I would like to take funds with me for the
purposes of buying food and clothing, for buying village
Churches (just $US 3000 can buy land, and provide for a Church
to be built!), and to support several Bible College students
(the fees at the Minsk Theological Institute, where I taught
on the Kingdom of God, are 400,000 rubles per month -- which
equates to about $US 4.00).

Won't you ask the Lord about being involved in His work in
this country?  Please do contract me should you be interested
in contributing.

I am now able to accept credit card payments through a
secure internet site.  Please e-mail me for more details on this.

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T H E   E N D - T I M E S   T I M E S              March 7th, 2000

davidmwilliams@geocities.com