Spring Update

Hi folks,

Just wanted to let you know what's been going on, and why I haven't been posting lately. I'm midway through a 16-week semester and have been quite busy. I've been taking my second semester of Hebrew, and just finished the midterm this afternoon. Whew! It's hard, but I'm so pleased to finally be able to study this language. I've wanted to for years. My two years of Greek in Bible College have always been helpful, especially because, when you study theology, some textbooks have lots of Greek words interspersed throughout the English text, so I can read and understand those and it's a big help. They also have Hebrew words interspersed, so now, I can finally pronounce those words too, and look them up in the lexicon if I don't know them. Even my limited knowledge of Hebrew has already made my Bible reading more interesting, because often words mean more than the translation says, and when I look them up, I gain deeper insights into the meaning of the text. Now I wish I could take Latin, because so many of the Church Fathers wrote in that language. Maybe in heaven I'll learn it? This might sound strange to some of you, but when I read a well-known text in Hebrew, it gives me goose-bumps, because I'm pronouncing it as the ancient Israelites did! I felt the same when I read in Greek for the first time, "In the beginning was the Word..." It just blessed my socks off, as the saying goes.

I've also been taking a course on the Trinity. I have taught about the Trinity in the past, so I know a lot of Bible texts that teach it. But in this course, the professor is a church history man, so he's teaching us from that basis. We're seeing how the doctrine of the Trinity developed over centuries of Church history, and it's fascinating. Think of how hard it must have been for the early Christians, who were mostly Jews, and had been steeped in monotheism, to grasp that the Son and the Spirit were also God, coequal and coeternal with the Father! It was profound, but beautiful at the same time. Our God is an eternal relationship! That's why He is called Love. The Trinity was a relationship of love long before man was even created. Now I am preparing to write a research paper for that course, and I'm thinking I'll write about how an Eastern Christian, living in lands conquered by the Muslims, wrote about the Trinity and used it as an apologetic tool to refute Islam. They attack the doctrine of the Trinity, but it's actually something wonderful that we can use to show them their religion is wrong!

The other course I've been taking is on the Protestant Reformation. Man, this course has also been fascinating! It's really rather miraculous that God helped the reformers to understand the doctrines of justification by faith, and come out of the confusion caused by centuries of tradition in the Roman Catholic Church. I was able to download an entire series of videos by R. C. Sproul ( did you know he passed away?) about Luther, and it has brought tears to my eyes a few times. What these men went through, what they risked to bring the Church back to the truth, is really inspiring! I have discovered one reformer I'd never heard of before, named Martin Bucer. Wow, this guy was a wonderful man of God! But the whole course is so great, because it is making us appreciate what we have today, and how difficult it was for these pioneers. It is especially making me aware of the importance of careful study of the Word of God, because only by studying carefully can we avoid false doctrines and really understand the wonderful good news of the gospel! Besides that, I'm so thankful that I got to go to Europe this winter, to be with my daughter and her family, but also to see some of the places where the struggles of the Reformation were taking place. History fascinates me!

Well, now we're beginning our Spring break. I will have one week off, so my brother has asked me to paint two buildings for him, and that will help me make a little money, so we're going where he lives (Orlando, Florida), to paint these building in the coming week. Lynn will be with me. She has been looking for work, but hasn't found anything over here, so you could pray for our finances and our situation regarding that.

One other thing I'd like to share. A Jamaican man, raised as a Pentecostal, has turned from Christianity and is considering the merits of Judaism. His friend knew a friend of mine (in whose house I used to lead a Bible study), and I have been asked to meet with this man to answer his questions and see if I can steer him away from Judaism and back to Christ. We have met a couple of times, and it has been very interesting. I have been studying books by Dr. Michael Brown (Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, in five volumes), and watching YouTube debates with Brown and various rabbis. I've learned a lot by doing this, and have had some great discussions with this Jamaican man, Solomon. Last week I loaned him one of those books, which are really great. You might pray for him to see the light, and for me to help him find that light. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah; they just don't want to admit that! But if He isn't the Messiah, guess what? There won't be one! The prophecies said He had to come before the second temple was destroyed. Jesus did. Nobody else has!

Well, I just wanted to update you on what's been going on. I have a series of teachings in mind that I'd like to share with you, based on a paper I wrote for a class sometime back. But I've been too busy to get to it. As soon as I'm able though, I'm thinking of doing a series of podcasts or videos on this paper, which has to do with what we as believers must do in cooperation with God, in order to live a successful Christian life. Stay tuned for that, will you?

Till next time, thanks for praying and giving to us during this time. May the Lord bless all of you!

Warren