B.A.S.I.C. NEWSLETTER # 98

I Cor. 16:9 “For a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

June 9, 2007

The Lord Has Seen Fit to Take Home Brother John Bishop John Kungu Muiruri of Muranga, Kenya has gone to be with the Lord. He was leading his people in the study of the catechism and our teachings under the CLCK. We pray that his wife, Mary, is comforted with the sure and certain knowledge of the reward Christ earned that it is now her husband’s in heaven. May God continue to bless the people of his churches in the study of the Word. Blessed are those who die in the Lord. Conferences

September 26-28 at Nellore, India – For those attending please prepare your essays far enough ahead that you can submit it to the district chairman to help with any problems. You can bring a clean copy of the essay to conference and we will duplicate it. Announcement for the conference will come from the secretary, Pastor Jyothi. Pastor Moses is hosting the conference and Pastor D. Paul will chair it. Individual travel expenses for the conference will be paid to those who attend and submit the cost to Pastor Koenig.
October 30-31 at Arusha, Tanzania – For those attending please prepare your essays and seek any help with them from lead pastors. Bring one clean copy and we can duplicate it at the conference. Pastor Jeremiah will be hosting the conference and will be sending out the invitation. Pastor Fred was the secretary at the Etago conference and the conference will decide who will be secretary continuing. Individual travel expenses for the conference will be paid to those who attend and submit the cost to Pastor Koenig. Since this conference will be in part on Reformation Day, consider essays in regard to the Reformation.

Audit and Year Requests

As we have been doing, a yearly audit will be made of all monies coming from the CLC for each sister church when the missionary is in the field. Please submit a written report. I will be doing this in India during September. For the CLCI and the BELC hopefully we can do this in the evenings of the conference.
For the brothers in Kenya and Tanzania this will be when I am with you in Oct.-Nov.
For the brothers in Ghana and Togo this will be when I am with you in Nov. or Jan.
For the brothers in Nigeria this will be when I am with you in Jan. ’08.
With each sister church we will sit down again during the time I am present with you and consider what requests we might send to the Mission Board for the year from the time I am present until the time I return. We do not want to have requests coming at various times during the year as the Mission Board has to make budgets and allow the offerings that come in for the various projects ahead of time. We want to do things in an orderly manner. 1 Cor. 14:40 Of course there are at times emergencies that arise that the board considers in love.

BIBLE QUESTIONS

Inevitably there are those who point to the Bible and say there are contradictions in it. We know though it is the truth, Jn. 17:17, and that it is entirely trustworthy because it comes from God, 2 Pet. 1:21. In this series we will be looking at various sections of Scripture where the enemies of God claim the Word is mistaken. In every case as we will see, God is God and the devil, the father of lies, is behind the attacks. In all this we will be seeing again how we should give the glory to God for giving us His perfect and beautiful Word. These will be in both the Old and the New Testament.

The Maniac(s) and Pigs of Gadara

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke record an incident of Jesus healing the maniac(s), those possessed by evil spirits at Gennesaret(Mt. 8:30-34; Mk. 5:11-14; Lk. 8:27-33). There are two supposed problems. First, Matthew indicates there were two demon-possessed maniacs, while Mark and Luke only mention one. This is simply solved. Just because two accounts only mention one does not say there was not another. The attention is simply focused on the one who was more prominent and memorable. Secondly, in Matthew 8:28 it is Gadara(or Gerasa) and the people are referred to as Gadarenes. They lived southeast of the Sea of Galilee. This region is far from the sea, and it would be impossible for the swine to run off a cliff into the sea as indicated in that region. The people though in the general region were still referred to as Gadarenes based on the prominent city of Gadara or Gerasa. So, the people in the region were accurately called Gadarenes, although the actual place of the swine running into the sea was at Gennesaret.

Jairus’ Daughter

Some say there are two versions of the incident of Jesus being called upon to heal this young girl. In Mt. 9:18-19 she is said to be already dead. A “ruler” came to Jesus and said, “My daughter has just died.” But both Mk. 5:22-23 and Lk. 8:41,42 indicate that Jairus himself came to Jesus and that his daughter was dying. It is simply that Mk. and Lk. recorded a first visit by Jairus. Jesus was being detained by a throng of people (Mk. 5:23-24; Lk. 8:43-48). And, then upon a second visit, Jairus announced that his child had died.

Staff or Staffs? Shoes or Sandals?

Some have been concerned with what Mt. 10:9-10 and Mk. 6:8,9 say. Matthew indicates that Jesus commanded His disciples to minister without staffs and not to take shoes. Mark says that they take only a staff and wear only sandals. It seems to be a contradiction until one looks carefully at the words. The plural use of the word “staffs” was generally regarded as preparation for fighting, while a single staff was regarded as needed for walking. Also, there is a difference in the word for shoes and sandals. Sandals were a much simpler form of footwear. So Jesus was instructing His disciples not to take anything more than that which was required. They did not need staffs for fighting and a pair of simple sandals was enough.

How Many Donkeys?

In Mt. 21:2 we find two donkeys mentioned in preparation for Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday—a donkey and her colt. Yet in Mk. 11:2 and Lk. 19:30, only a young male donkey is mentioned. All three Gospel accounts agree that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a young donkey, or foal. So what about the second donkey and was it male or female? Notice that Matthew refers to the prophecy of Zech. 9:9. The prophet indicated the Lord would ride on a donkey. On the point of the second donkey, it would be common for a foal to follow its mother, which makes sense in the context of Jesus riding on “a colt, the foal of a donkey” on Palm Sunday.

Pastor Koenig

B.A.S.I.C. NEWSLETTER # 98