Bill Adcox, Editor P.O. Box 726 Bethany, Oklahoma 73008‑0726 (405) 789‑8843 badcox@gospeltidings.com
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Muslim Divorce: Talaq
We returned from India encouraged by the growth of the church and commitment of the India churches to evangelize their own people. Despite the growth, Christianity remains a religious minority in India. Surprisingly, the India news reported during 2006 the Buddhist have been the fastest growing religious group in this portion of Asia! Likely, we’ll need to start boning up on the Buddhist belief system, along with our efforts to understand the Hindu and Muslim doctrines.
An interesting teaching of the Muslim religion that has been drawing attention from the Indian community is the Talaq-i-Bid’ah. Talaq means divorce. It is defined as a divorce that is pronounced three times in one sitting. The man merely says: "I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you." According to the Hanafis, when triple divorce is pronounced, the wife must become totally alienated from her husband and he cannot remarry her. She becomes haram (totally prohibited) for him. Neither can he take her back nor can he go for another marriage with her. The Muslim law does provide a loophole. The initial couple can remarry should the divorced woman marry another man and then is divorced again or widowed. (www.irfi.org/articles/articles_151_200/triple__talaq.htm)
In a story reported in the Calcutta Telegram (August 28, 2004), Shahzad Alam, 30, pronounced a triple talaq while his newly married 14-year-old bride was sleeping, and then he stormed out of the house leaving his ex-wife to learn of the divorce from family members who were awake at the time. Of more recent history, a story was reported in the DailyIndia.com (Aug. 21, 2006) in the state of Orissa, concerning a 40-year-old man and his 36-year-old wife. It seems during an argument, the inebriated husband pronounced "talaq" to his wife bringing about an immediate divorce. The Muslim leaders in their village are following the demands of the Muslim law and ordering the woman must be married to another man and then divorced before she can be reunited with her husband. The village Muslim leaders presented the woman a short-list of three men, including the 60-year-old president of the village committee, as possible second husbands. Generally, the Muslims pick older men to marry a divorced woman. The newspaper reported the original couple are said to be greatly dejected, but expect after the woman enters her second marriage and is divorced a second time, she will be allowed to remarry her first husband.
Christ simply said, "It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce,’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulterous, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery" (Matthew 5:31-32). In a maze of confusing religions and doctrines, it is no mistake that the teachings of Christ offer the simplest and wisest pattern for building strong marriages and homes. But before we laugh too hard at the foolishness of the Muslims or scorn their irrational doctrine of "Talaq," maybe we should look at some of the customs we are allowing in our own land, under the guise of Christianity. Christ's ways are always best. —Bill Adcox
COUNTING ANNIVERSARIES AND OUR DAILY BREAD
This issue marks the Adcox families’ fifth anniversary at the helm of Gospel Tidings. Anniversaries seem to come and go much quicker these days. Sandy and I marked our 23rd anniversary with the 50th Street congregation in Oklahoma City in December, our 16th year of involvement in the India mission work in October and will mark our 27th wedding anniversary in a couple of months. What I have learned is if you just keep living---life will eventually bring anniversaries. But for those of us who walk with the Lord, our journey is meant to be so more than merely marking time.
Just marking time lends itself to a much more serious problem of forgetting the hands that provided life’s necessities each step of the way. Jesus knew our tendencies so he taught us to pray, "Give us today our daily bread." In this section of the Lord’s Prayer Jesus notes three petitions (food, forgiveness and fortification) for self. In Matthew 6:11and Luke 11:3, a rare Greek word is used that is translated "daily" in most English versions. How rare is the orginal Greek word? It is found in only one other place in the history of the Greek language. Generally, our understanding of language in the New Testament is based on understood usage, but such is not possible with only three occurrences of this word (two are quotes of the same statement made by Christ.)
What was Jesus teaching as he spoke the word that has been translated "daily?" Already he has denoted the importance of time—this day or today—in this sentence. It's quite possible that "daily bread" relates to the portion size. The "daily" amount of food would be whatever is necessary to sustain us this day. Imagine a prayer life built upon my faith that God would provide my essential needs on a day by day basis.
Furthermore, it is for bread we are taught to pray, not the luxuries of this life. What a challenge to our modern hearts. Due to our abundance, we like the Laodiceans, may be tempted to brag, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing" (Revelation 3:17). The humble hearts truly understand all gains and victories have come only as the Divine One has granted this day the daily portion of life’s necessities.
Stanley Jones was noted to say, "If you do a small thing as though it were a great thing, God will let you do the great thing as though it were a small thing." The small things, such as trusting God for our daily bread, really do pave the spiritual road to trust God for the greater spiritual things he is calling us to do. Counting the years may not prove as great a blessing as recounting the number of days—even this day— that we have been able to depend upon God to provide exactly what we have needed most. —Bill Adcox
GOD'S RICH AND GLORIOUS INHERITANCE
What does God get when it’s all over? You and me—if we are a part of the church. Someone might respond, "That’s not much!" Don’t tell God, he thinks it’s rich and glorious. How do I know? Well, as the song goes, "The bible tells me so." In one of the magnificent power-passages found in the New Testament (Ephesians 1:18-19), the Apostle Paul prays that the Ephesian saints’ spiritual eyes might be enlightened to see and understand better by faith three things: 1) God’s Calling, 2) God’s Inheritance and 3) God’s Power.
Much like the birth order may affect that middle child, who seems to get lost between the authority figure of the oldest child and the attention-showered youngest child, God’s inheritance (you and me, his church) found in this list is often overlooked. The Ephesians seem to have two of the three "big ones" (1 Corinthians 13:13) of Christianity as Paul proclaims he had heard of their faith and love, but apparently they lagged when it came to the matter of their hope. Christian hope is a mixture of two things: desire and expectation. Thoughts of the now syndicated Lost In Space TV show from the 60’s come to mind. If you ever watched Will Smith and his robot, you’ll remember at the most dangerous moments the robot was often heard saying, "Warning! Warning! That does not compute." The bubble-headed booby, as Doctor Smith would often refer to him, was rarely wrong. The dangers faced on Lost in Space were all fictional. On the other hand, there is nothing more dangerous than loss of hope. When God’s people lack hope and all expectation is lost, well, nothing seems to compute, spiritually speaking. No wonder Paul prays for his readers’ spiritual eyes to embrace not only their calling and God’s power, but also that they might not accept a lower economy in God’s ranks than they should. Our God calls us into his kingdom with his riches and wealth determined by the value he places upon each and every soul.
Lord willing, by the end of this month the Adcox family will have multiplied by two grandbabies. You ask their expectant grandmother (Sandy) about these coming bundles and her eyes sparkle. Why? Well, we’ve learned with our own children, and now grandchildren, that our wealth is not measured by what we hold in a bank account. We can hardly wait for the arrival of the grandbabies. If we feel this way, imagine the sparkle in God’s eyes when someone mentions your name or mine, his inheritance. No wonder God waits with great expectation for the culmination of all things here upon the earth. You see, when it’s all wrapped up this side of eternity and this earth is no more—God gets us! The church is his glorious inheritance. Praise God! —Bill Adcox
SHOULD I STOP AT THE RED TRAFFIC LIGHT?
Thoughts of being pulled over by a police officer for speeding normally curtails most folks from exceeding the speed limit—but what happened a few days back, takes the cake. After finishing the memorial service at Wilson Funeral Home in El Reno, Oklahoma, the group of mourners proceeded to the cemetery. Rick Crooks, my good friend and brother in the Lord, did what any good son would do at his own father’s funeral; he followed the cortege of bereaved in their freshly washed and shiny cars toward the Red Rock, Oklahoma graveyard. Even before we got out of El Reno, the police car pulled into the middle of the procession—right behind Rick and Sharon’s pickup. Within moments the red lights were flashing and the funeral procession was in disarray. Rick showed no hesitation in showing full complicity to the authority of the flashing lights by pulling to the side of the road. The police officer had not noticed the hearse or the long line of cars sporting their emergency flashers. What the officer did see was Rick and Sharon’s pickup ignoring the red traffic light and every stop sign they approached. Unfortunately for Rick, his "illegal acts" were the only ones noticed by this custodian of the El Reno streets.
When pressed why he would so blatantly thwart the El Reno traffic laws, Rick calmly told the officer he was following the hearse along with the rest of the funeral cortege to the graveside. Without another word the officer hurried to his car, turned off the flashing lights and took the first side street leaving the puzzled, funeral caravan. Was the officer justified in stopping these hardened criminal as they proceeded through the red stop light and stop signs without halting? Well, the answer is quite simple if one knows the traffic laws of Oklahoma. During the 2nd Session of the 47th Legislature (November, 2000), Oklahoma passed with the following provisions for funeral processions: "…all other vehicles in the funeral procession may enter and follow through the intersection without interruptions, regardless of any official traffic-control devices or right-of-way provisions prescribed by state law or municipal ordinance, and each vehicle in the funeral procession shall have the right-of-way at the intersection…" As a sign of common courtesy the state of Oklahoma made provisions allowing funeral processions to legally break traffic laws.
Recently, on Yahoo! Answers a relatively new resident to what I believed was the Oklahoma region was perplexed when a funeral procession took the right-of-way blocking the intersection and his green light. A majority of the respondents chastised the man for not wanting to show respect, but to me all their answers seemed to fall short of the best answer to his question: read the law. When this fellow accepted his state driving license, it was based upon his agreement or covenant to abide by the traffic laws of our great state. While others reprimanded him for his lack of common courtesy, the bottom line is what the law demands. The same simple truth stands true when it comes to matters of our relationship and worship of God. —Bill Adcox
CHURCH
My apologies to Jim Bullock and Travis Allen. The age of electronic mail has forever changed the filing habits of GT. This past week with old GT filing cabinets overflowing I prepared to do the unthinkable—shred old letters. With the help of my Fellows PS70-2 shredder, former missives were one by one prepared for regeneration into new writing tablets and other recycled paper products. I made a horrible mistake; I read one of those former communiqués. Sitting in shredder silence, the temptation to read all the letters vanquished my resistance and what followed was hours of heavenly, almost sinful, reading.
The old epistles were filled with names, places and events that evoke strong memories for me. Postcards from the late G.B. Shelburne, the original editor, seemed a most common source of news items and updates about various ones. I found a letter from a previous Editor and CRF founder, Baxter Loe, plus letters that had literally come from around the world. I’ll refrain from being a name-dropper, although doing so would be an easy task with the letters coming from preachers and church leaders that have been part of my family for as long as I can remember. Most of the notes were positive in nature, although there were a few with a disparaging tenor to them. The negative notes were generally folks who took issue with a particular article or maybe struggled with the teaching of a whole issue. In some ways, things never really change.
The shredder has done its space-saving work. Jim and Travis, I usually don’t read other folks’ mail but what a blessing this journey provided this editor! The letters and sometimes copies of Jim or Travis’ response reminded me of the blessing of spiritual family. The GT readers weren’t merely consumers of a publication to you fellows; they were your family—because they were God’s family. The Apostle Paul put it this way, "For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name" (Eph 3:14). As the church struggles in our age to find her identity, may we not forget the family bond that stretches from heaven to earth and lasts for an eternity. We may not always agree on every teaching or method, but the unifying factor in our relationship is Christ. "In him you (we) too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (Eph 2:22). Maybe if we saw "family" first, finding truth among us might come more effortlessly. —Bill Adcox
DEFEATING DIOTREPHES
The erratic driver handled his car like he owned the road. His illegal U-turn captured my attention as he whirled his white luxury car around in the middle of our busy downtown street. Race car drivers might have stood in awe as the elderly driver managed his 180 degree turn by leaping the street curb, rolling over the grass, mounting the sidewalk and finally in a mighty move his car lunged back onto the street. What seemed so urgent? A parking spot opened up in front of the local post office. I am always amazed at folks who will endanger other drivers and pedestrians just to get a parking space that might save them 10 or 15 steps! That same attitude is rarely seen by folks trying to get the front bench at church, but the "me first" mentality is not foreign within the church ranks.
The Apostle John spoke of one such church leader, Diotrephes (3 John 9-10). The protracted list of Diotrephes’ character and spiritual flaws can easily be seen. Diotrephes loved to be in control, showed favoritism, gossiped and was just downright unfriendly. Any one of these spiritual flaws might be enough to adequately affect the spiritual and numeric growth of a local congregation, but having all four spells pure disaster.
Unlike Diotrephes, effective spiritual guides establish the possibility of spiritual growth in a local congregation. If the value of reading about Diotrephes serves any profitable lessons, surely the characteristics he lacked should become prime areas of introspect for every shepherd and deacon.
1. It starts and ends with a servant leader’s heart! Those who stand tallest in the body of Christ always find bowing before the Lord their most comfortable spiritual posture. There’s little room for selfishness when Christ’s priorities reign supreme.
2. Church leaders rejoice in unity. The fleshly concerns that segment society, like race, economics and power, etc., are always the bitterest enemies of spiritual guides. Good shepherds pursue the mind of God who sought through Christ to unite all mankind.
3. Discreet Church leaders know the value of using words and speech that are helpful in building others up (Eph 4:29). While no man is perfect in the use of his tongue. Church leaders above all, must be trustworthy in keeping others confidence, concerns and confessions.
4. It’s not just a good idea, but always a good practice of being friendly! Albert Einstein was noted to have said, "Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means." Congregations that have a welcoming spirit usually develop that spirit from the top down.
The church ought to be a place where this world finds the egotistical Diotrephes’ mentality in decline. To the many church elders, deacons and members who exhibit the mind of Christ in your daily lives—thank you. Thanks for making the atmosphere of the church a place where Jesus can be exalted and where the lost come into our buildings and fellowship to realize this is the people they’ve longed to find all their lives. —Bill Adcox
WHEN JERRY VANQUISHED TOM
"Tenacious cat Tom is forever on the tail of his elusive nemesis, Jerry the mouse, and no tricks, traps or cast-iron frying pans will stop him in his timeless pursuit," so says CartoonNetwork.com. News from our local Postman Klay is that Jerry, a lowly field mouse, appears to be turning the tables on the cat population. Recently Klay’s wife was in the family kitchen when a mouse decided to pay a visit. The families’ aggressive Himalayan cat went into his "pounce" mode while at the same time Klay’s wife took her position on top of the kitchen countertop. What had normally happened in similar circumstances is that the mouse would turn tail with the cat in hot pursuit, only to be captured and killed by the pussycat. Oddly, this time the mouse didn’t run; he stood his ground, even rising up on his hind-two legs taking a more imposing pose—as only a field mouse might do. The little rodent then charged the frightened feline who ran for his life! To the families’ amazement the same scene unfolded a few days later in the kitchen with the same results.
Years of successful mouse catching seems to have left the Himalayan cat’s future in a state of flux as Klay’s wife was noted to say, "We’ve got to get a new cat!" Poor kitty! What cat could have possibly expected that a weakling, 3-ounce mouse would ever be so foolish as to withstand the mouse-catching prowess of a 26-pound feline!
I think of the many folks who find themselves facing their own Goliaths and who stand victoriously. Unlike the mouse, there are men and women who are successfully facing modern day giants, like cancer, divorce, losing their job or their health, only because they know their victory is ultimately in Christ Jesus. Like David, these folks face their "giant" with a genuine faith—except without any fanfare or great notice. David, son of Jesse and man after God’s own heart, had genuine faith in a day when faith in God was in a deep famine. David’s belief was not a faith based upon the unreliable words of men or upon his own ability to scare his enemy, but rather upon the trustworthiness of his God who had never abandoned him in tough times. Listen to David in the Psalms:
"The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!"Your face, O Lord, I will seek!" (Psalms 27:1,3,4,7,8).
Surely the life and faith of David revealed in scripture are worthy of our attention and learning. This month three perspicacious writers have been asked to explore the various life phases of David: his early years, the years on the run from King Saul and finally his palace years. Our hats are off to the pesky rodent who survived to fight another day although my money is eventually on the 26-pound Himalayan! Surely the biblical David has some valuable faith lessons that can help us win our battles, not momentarily but eternally. —Bill Adcox
WHAT MOVES YOU?
What moved me this week? An appeal of the Bethany Police Chief and the tearful, spoken gratitude from a grieving mother seemed more than enough motivation. The body of Lauren Barnes still has not been found as this CrossTies is being written. Her young lover, and father of the child she was carrying, is suspected of taking her life and disposing of her body in a wooded area outside of our city. Yesterday morning around 300 volunteers gathered to search more than 1000 acres of heavy brush and trees in an area of the Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge. Rick Crooks and I were among that group of volunteers. We were first assigned to a group of about 20 volunteers that was lead by an Oklahoma City Police Officer. Later, a group of officers from the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s department invited Rick and me to join their search team. We were instructed to be looking primarily for the body of the young 20 year old girl, along with any of her personal articles, clothing, jewelry or her purse. The morning progressed with us traversing the brush and rough terrain. When the Police Chief called the search off in the early afternoon Rick and I were not ready to quit. We stopped for a bite to eat and then drove back by the Wildlife refuge in hopes we might see some of the County Sheriff’s department still at work and be invited back into search. While the Police Chief seemed contented that a grid search had been completed, something lingered inside our hearts that the task would not be complete until the grieving family had closure.
What moved the Apostle Paul? Paul seemed to express his motivation to the Ephesian Elders in Acts 20:22-24. Warned repeatedly not to go to Jerusalem because hardships and persecution awaited him, the same Holy Spirit was relentless in compelling him to go. We must appreciate the fact that Paul was not deterred by the difficult terrain that God was calling him to traverse. He would even boldly say, "None of these things move me" (v 24, KJV). He was compelled to complete his God-given task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. The Holy Spirit had left no doubt that Paul’s finish line included, as it had for Jesus, going to Jerusalem. Paul would not be stopped.
What moves you? Even as I typed this CrossTies I am called away to minister to a family that has come by our church for help. Their needs are so many: no food, no jobs, their utilities are shut off and soon they will be retreating into the homes of relatives with an eviction coming within 48 hours. The woman could not contain her great sorrow and tears. But this families’ greatest need comes right above their signature on our benevolent forms—religious affiliation. Maybe a better question than religious affiliation would be, "How are you and Jesus doing these days?" There is little wonder why Paul could not be deterred from his mission. Others needed desperately to know about Jesus before it was too late. If he didn’t tell them, who would? If you're not motivated to traverse the rough terrain that others might be found, who will? As we began this New Year, may Jesus bless his church with the courage and motivation to tell His story to those who are hurting, hopeless and lost.
(Lauren Barnes body was found the day after this article was written. She had been buried 3 feet deep in the search area and covered with debris.) —Bill Adcox