General Articles

Paul’s Sermon at Athens: The Historical Background :: By Dr. Donald Whitchard

Published on: by RR7

Summary: This is the first of a series of messages centering on the sermon that the Apostle Paul gave before the groups of philosophers in Athens and how it is a perfect model for Biblical apologetics and evangelism.

People today tend to sidestep, ignore, deter, apologize and question the concept of reality in a world that gladly embraces the concept that reality, truth, and fact are not absolute but just a matter of opinion, experience, or personal interpretation. We have become terrified of the possibility that right and wrong, good and evil, black and white, and truth and reality are actual facts of nature, law, and existence. We cannot accept or deal with that because of fear of offending someone or hurting their self-identity or some other excuse that is convenient. No one wants to hear truth, facts, and standards if it interferes with their little world where their ideas and convictions are safe, sound, and out of the reach of anyone who would dare challenge them.

I do not have to go on because wherever and whoever you are reading this message, you are seeing the down-grade of common sense and fear of upsetting the status quo of your country, state, city, or territory whose ideas of what is real are like the house built on sand that Jesus described in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:26-27).

Even the church, founded on the Rock that is Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:18-19), has, for the most part, decided that He is not good enough for the well-being of the church and so goes off chasing trends, fads, ideas, traditions, popular causes, and worldly methods of bringing in the people without preaching the Gospel and living as Jesus calls for us to do (Mark 1:14-15; Luke 14:25-33).

It seems that the reality of obedience, holiness, witness, devotion, heaven, and hell do not bother most “believers” today because they do not believe in the Bible they claim to read and follow. They are practical atheists not brave or honest enough to cast aside their “fake Christianity” and have reaped the whirlwind (Matt. 7:21-23).

I want to focus on the subject of reality as it applies to the Gospel and how the Apostle Paul presented the reality of God, Christ, salvation, judgment, and the standards of Scripture to an audience of skeptics who reveled in the past glories of their nation and methods of thought that had permeated the western world for hundreds of years.

In Acts 17, Paul finds himself in the intellectual capital of the Roman Empire – Athens, Greece. The Greeks had a colorful and dynamic history and culture that still invokes admiration today. Volumes have been written on the influence of Greek thought, government, education, art, mythology and language, architecture on civilization, and the giants of philosophy such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. Zeno, Epicurus, along with the military genius who spread all of this across the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Persia, Babylon, Asia, and Europe through both wars and colonization – the Macedonian king, Alexander the Great, who established an empire by the time of his death in 323 B.C.

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines ‘reality’ as “actual being or existence of any thing; a fact in distinction from mere appearance. It is something intrinsically important and not merely a matter of show. In law, it is the immobility of a fixed permanent nature of property. It is also a full and absolute being of itself, not considered as part of anything else. It is the study of things as they are rather than as they are imagined to be.”

It is worth noting that Mr. Webster based his definitions and work analyses on the Holy Scriptures, seen by him and countless others over time as the basis of authentic reality and not the product of fallible human thinking (Isaiah 1:18; 2 Peter 1:19-21). This is the concept upon which this message and the ones to follow are founded, along with the reasons. This will be examined later in the series, but for now, we need to return to our background study.

Greek philosophers had differing ideas on what was meant by reality. They saw reality either as uncertain, limited, or an abstraction that depended on the situation at the time.

Plato taught that reality first begins with ideas and self-concepts.

Others like Zeno, the father of the Stoics, saw reality as what we experience in this world and to accept whatever comes one’s way, either good or bad – a type of fatalism.

Epicurus saw reality as a time to get all the pleasures out of life as one can because, after death, there was nothing. He was the father of what we know as hedonism, the love of pleasure above all else.

The gods and goddesses of Greece were not much help in terms of advice, counsel, or comfort. Zeus, Hercules, Minerva, Hera, Narcissus, Bacchus, Aphrodite, Mercury, Atlas, and Hades were known as “heroes” but were also indifferent to the plight of humanity and just as devious and immoral as they were.

Long wars, political corruption, inept governments, and a cultural decline began hitting the Greek Empire over the years, and by 100 B.C., it was a shell of its former glory. Within a few decades, the Romans became the superior power over Europe, Asia, and Egypt, where the forces of Octavian, the nephew of Julius Caesar, had defeated the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, the last Pharaoh at Actium in 31 B.C. They both committed suicide, Rome overtook Egypt and coastal North Africa, and Octavian was later crowned Augustus Caesar, the first Emperor of Rome (27 B.C. -14 A.D.) and who was in power when Jesus was born.

Rome borrowed its mythologies, laws, and art from the Greeks and adapted them for their own purpose and pleasure. They also adopted Greek as one of the official languages of the Empire. The New Testament was written in “koine” (common) Greek and was able to be read by everyone from all parts of the Empire. The Old Testament had been translated from the Hebrew language to the Greek in 200 B.C. and was known as the Septuagint (LXX). It had been translated by seventy Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt, and as a result, the Bible was able to be read and understood by all citizens.

When Paul arrived in Athens shortly after being chased out of Thessalonica for preaching the Gospel (Acts 17:13-15), he decided to play “tourist” and look around the city, which still showed most of its former beauty and glory. He would wait for Silas and Timothy to join him as he continued on his missionary journey. As he walked through the city, he came upon a pedestal with nothing on it save for an inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD (v.23). In a city filled with statues, busts, and temples of varied deities (demons), it seemed as if the city fathers wanted to cover their tracks and make sure they did not pass over any god by mistake or oversight.

If ever there was an open door to tell the Athenians about the true God, here it was.

We will examine Paul’s message and the reaction it got from those who listened with both curiosity and contempt. What I want to do is to show you that skepticism and hostility towards Jesus and His Word is nothing new or out of the ordinary. And even though it seems that more people are hostile towards the Gospel, more hearts are open than we are aware of.

Paul’s message is a great model for proclaiming the Gospel to your friends, family, and others.

donaldwhitchard@gmail.com

www.realitycityreverend.com

 

Mounting the Red Horse :: By Terry James

Published on: by RR7

Podcasters, some of whom I respect, but others whom I find alarmists beyond their acumen about geopolitical intrigues, are more and more these days forecasting fears of attacks on America. Many of the assaults they talk about involve cyberspace invasions and the like. But increasingly, the talk is of direct military action—invasion of our nation from the north and the south.

Russia, they say, will invade from the north, I suppose in concert with the cooperation of the Canadian government. China, they fear, already has troops in large numbers ready to cross the U.S. southern border. Mexico, I suppose, along with countries farther south, is in collusion in some way with this planned invasion.

The enemies most mentioned are Russia and China. We might expect direct military action by as early as the fall, according to the direst warnings the podcasters are predicting.

Daily the bloggers talk of the burgeoning military capacity of both of these enemies that voraciously look at the grand prize—the United States of America. Their submarine forces—according to the bloggers—are simply without peer and surround our nation, poised to launch missiles that are hypersonic—whatever that means in terms of diverging in effectiveness from missiles that are already capable of speeds that can’t be defended against.

It’s as if American military forces have shrunk to the extent that they make these diabolist aggressors impervious to any fear of being themselves destroyed—like they feared during the Cold War era of MAD (mutually assured destruction).

From my reading of prophecy yet future I can say with assurance that war on the scale that would result from such an attack won’t eventuate as these folks forecast. Both of these aggressor-nations are prophetically scheduled to instigate such war, but not at this time—unless the Rapture is immediately upon us in that twinkling-of-an-eye moment we all, as believers, long to take place.

Both aggressor nations are destined to be totally decimated when they do instigate such warfare. That said, there are preparations for war on an unfathomable scale being planned by Satan and his minions, both demonic and human, that will make all other wars of history seem mere skirmishes. Again, we have God’s Holy Word on this eventuation.

Nuclear—and even more horrific instrumentalities of war-making—are in development. And the preparations for unleashing such instrumentalities are in the scientific/technological incubators of a growing number of nations as they make plans for war that God’s prophetic Word foretells is on the way.

An article of interest frames those developments:

A Pentagon report secretly published in 2020 and first disclosed this week, raises the potential for some form of armed conflict between nuclear-armed powers.

The Pentagon’s “Joint Nuclear Options” report, dated April 17, 2020, was released through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by the Federation of American Scientists.

The report states, “Despite concerted US efforts to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in international affairs and to negotiate reductions in the number of nuclear weapons, since 2010 no potential adversary has reduced either the role of nuclear weapons in its national security strategy or the number of nuclear weapons it fields.”

“Rather, they have moved decidedly in the opposite direction,” the report continues. “As a result, there is an increased potential for regional conflicts involving nuclear-armed adversaries in several parts of the world and the potential for adversary nuclear escalation in crisis or conflict.”…

The report notes Russia is modernizing Soviet-era nuclear systems and developing and employing new nuclear warheads and launchers, three new intercontinental-range nuclear weapon systems; a hypersonic glide vehicle; a nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered ground-launched cruise missile; and a nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered, undersea autonomous torpedo.…

On China, the report states, “China continues to increase the number, capabilities, and protection of its nuclear forces. China has developed a new road-mobile, strategic, intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM); a new multi-warhead version of its DF-5 silo-based ICBM; and its most advanced ballistic missile submarine armed with new submarine-launched ballisticmissiles (SLBMs). It has also announced development of a new nuclear-capable strategic bomber, giving China a nuclear triad.”

The Pentagon report states, “North Korea‘s continued pursuit of nuclear
weapons capabilities poses the most immediate and dire proliferation threat to international security and stability.”…

“Iran’s development of increasingly long-range ballistic missile capabilities, and its aggressive strategy and activities to destabilize neighboring governments, raises questions about its long-term commitment to forgoing nuclear weapons capability,” the Pentagon report adds. (Ryan Morgan, “Pentagon Sees Increased Chances of Nuclear Conflict, Newly Disclosed Report Says,” American Military News, July 8, 2021)

As has been stated, no weapon has ever been invented that hasn’t been used to kill in wars. It is obvious that the buildup of weapons of war—ultimate weapons in terms of destructive capacity—is taking place at a pace worthy of the alarmism the podcasters are forewarning. It’s just that their perspective isn’t biblical with their forecasts. Some are partially from the right perspective, that of Bible prophecy. But the forecasters fail to take into account that the Restrainer of evil is still present in this soon-to-be-judged world of corruption and rebellion. God the Holy Spirit is still resident with in each believer–the collective of which is the Church–the Body of Jesus Christ.

The most horrific war-making of human history is yet future, and It can’t take place until the Church is removed in the Rapture, and God again begins dealing with the nation Israel and all of humanity in judgment and wrath–a time out of which Israel will emerge, in remnant form, to become the head nation of the world, from which King Jesus will rule and reign.

Russia, if it attacked America from the north, would be completely destroyed. China, if attacking from the south, would be completely destroyed. Our Pentagon generals and admirals are not that far diminished in their fealty to duty, honor, and country that they wouldn’t respond with massive retaliation.

Russia must be around, prophetically speaking, according to the prophet Ezekiel, to lead the invasion against Israel. This is where God, Himself, will completely destroy that Gog-Magog juggernaut, except for one-sixth of their forces. China must be around to cross the dried-up Euphrates, as prophesied in Revelation chapters 9 and 16. They will, after destroying one-third of the earth’s population with their nuclear weapons and massive hordes of demonically driven military troops, be utterly smashed to bits along with all other war-making peoples on the killing field called Armageddon. The Lord Himself will bring about the destruction of both of these satanic, tyrant-led nations.

All of these considerations point to one prophetic truth. War on an unfathomable scale is about to take place. This assurance from God’s own Word is encapsulated in the following prophetic utterance given John the Revelator:

And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. (Revelation 6:3)