As we head into 1996, the United States of America is at a significant crossroads. Since World War I, we have been recognized as the most powerful and wealthy nation. In many ways, we have been a beacon of light to other nations around the globe. Now all that is rapidly changing.

Today, we are increasingly becoming a nation of criminals drug abusers" adulterers, deadbeats and liars. Even our top military academies report increased cheating and dishonesty among their cadets. And every few days, it seems, a news report comes out about some type of serious moral corruption involving governmental or business leaders, right on down to young people literally setting on fire a pizza delivery man.

The Associated Press recently reported: "The number of state and federal prison inmates grew by a record 89,707 in the 12 months ended last June 30. That's the largest annual increase in history and equivalent to adding 1,725 new prison beds each week.

"The incarceration rate also set another record. The United States locks up a greater share of its residents than any other nation" (San Diego Tribune, Dec: 4, 1995).

By abortion we murder our children at the rate of 4,500 a day. Yet major articles are regularly published in the news media showing how actively involved millions of Americans are in “animal right”—even to the point of becoming total vegetarian Apparently, animal rights are far more important than human rights. Doesn't anyone read the Bible anymore?

As some 20,000 American troops head into the middle of the Bosnian war (some call it "peacekeeping"), we need to realize that—far more than Vietnam—God may let us be truly chastened and humbled as a nation. And, unless we repent—we richly deserve it. Before this Bosnian adventure is over, will America have lost even more credibility in the eyes of our European allies and of the rest of the world as well?

Even while American diplomats were assisting the negotiations in Dayton, Ohio, notice what was happening behind the scenes:

"As Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic negotiates a peace settlement in Dayton, the army under his control is rebuilding the Bosnian Serb military in violation of Milosevic's own pledges, U.S. and U.N. officials said yesterday" (San Diego Tribune, Nov. 18, 1995).

And now the Los Angeles Times reports that Serbian General Ratko Mladic is balking at following the terms of the peace accord:

"`We cannot allow our people to come under the rule of Butchers,' Mladic said, referring to the Muslims and Croats his troops fought for 3 1/2 years. `A just solution, especially for Sarajevo must be found,' he said in a speech to mark the formation of a new Bosnian Serb army brigade.

"U.S. officials have ruled out any changes to the agreement, which gives most of the Serb-held suburbs of the capital, Sarajevo, to a Muslim-Croat federation.

"Mladic's statement bodes ill for the safety of the 60,000 NATO troops—an estimated 20,000 from the United States—being sent to enforce the peace agreement" (Dec. 3, 1995).

Meanwhile, our national debt is soaring higher and higher. What few people seem to realize is that neither the republican budget plan nor president Clinton's far less ambitious plan, would prevent Medicaid, Medicare and the entire Social Security system from going bankrupt in the coming years. Some say the Republican plan would be a start toward truly solving the problem. But with all the lying, subterfuge and politicking involved on both sides of this debate, it is exceedingly doubtful that much of the problem will be corrected.

America is going BROKE. As a people, we are apparently unwilling to accept the strong medicine needed to correct our economic illness. We are determined to continue living beyond our means. And with more and more of our debt piling up in foreign hands, it is just a matter of time until foreigners begin to intervene—cut off our credit , replace the dollar as the international reserve currency—and bring us to our knees financially! Right now, in 1996, we have perhaps the last realistic opportunity to save ourselves from national insolvency. Will we?

Notice what God told our ancestors, and is prophetically telling us who are the descendants of the so-called lost Ten Tribes of Israel "The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you” (Deut. 28:43-45).

Although our nation may not repent as a whole, it is my personal prayer that all of you who earnestly read The World Ahead may understand and HEED the ominous warning signs of what is just ahead. We individually, can be blessed and protected from the coming holocaust IF we will do our part and truly turn to God (Luke 21:36).

Let us all pray for one another and for our nations. For our Creator promises, "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chron. 7:14).

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by Roderick C. Meredith

Staggering events are destined to overtake America and the British-descended peoples in the near future. The year 1996 may see a significant turning point in world affairs.

The United States, Russia, Israel and the Palestinians will all hold important national elections this year. In Europe, Germany’s Chancellor Kohl has proposed bring Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary into full membership in the European Union. This momentous step, which many political observers consider certain, will greatly enlarge the E.U. in membership, significantly augmenting the Europeans; economic clout and potential military power. A New World Order is coming!

But first, many of the present “peace” treaties in world hot spots are going to be undermined and some will totally fall apart. Even as President Clinton sells the American people and Congress on the idea of sending, even if only grudgingly, 20,000 troops to help ensure peace in Bosnia, the Clinton-engineered peace treaty in Haiti is crumbling. Remember, we also sent 20,000 soldiers to Haiti just a year ago to lead an international peace-keeping force there.

The result? “In little more than a month, the U.S. commitment to Haiti and to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whom the U.S. military restored to power in an effort to rebuild democracy in Haiti, has gone from showcase to headache.

“Relations with the Aristide government are deteriorating, political violence has Revelation-emerged, the economy is on the skids, and the Haitians have begun expressing dissatisfaction with the foreign presence here” (San Diego Union Tribune, Nov. 30, 1995). And the outflow of large numbers of Haitian boat people seeking to emigrate to the U.S. has started up again.

“Peace” in Bosnia?

The outcome of the Bosnian peace effort, however, will be much more significant than the Haitian one. Both Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Defense Secretary William J. Perry have repeatedly stressed that the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) hinges on the outcome of the Bosnian peacekeeping mission. “’This is a moment of truth for NATO,’ Perry told a news conference. Christopher said the deployment in Bosnia ‘will be a noble mission, unique in the history of Europe. It will be a defining challenge for this alliance. It will have profound consequences for our interest today and for out hopes for the future.” (Los Angels Times, Dec. 6, 1995).

And at the start of this “defining challenge” NATO has just made some remarkable changes, Spanish Foreign Minister Javier Solana has been confirmed as NATO’s new secretary-general. Also, for the first time, Germany will be sending 4,000 troops to assist this effort outside the alliance’s territory. Germany sat out of the Persian Gulf War saying it had no authority to send its soldiers outside of NATO territory. German Defense Minister Volker Ruche has now said, “It is a relief that Germany has become part of the solution and not part of the problem. There is a new unity, a new decisiveness in the alliance” (Los Angeles Times).

Also, France has decided to rejoin NATO almost 30 years after General Charles Deuteronomy Gaulle pulled his country out of the alliance. This decision is also extremely significant.

“According to political observers familiar with the French decision, the reasoning behind the move, as much as the decision itself, carries critical importance for Atlantic relations. One French government official said the announcement was preceded by a lengthy policy review in Paris that began earlier this year during the final months of [former] Prime Minister Edouard Balladur’s government.

“France consistently challenged American influence in Europe but apparently concluded that keeping the United States engaged on the Continent is an important priority.

“’The only real way to do this is through NATO,’ explained the official, who said that greater French involvement in the alliance then became inevitable” (Los Angeles Times, “France Rejoins NATO Military,” Dec. 6, 1995).

But the Anglo-Saxon/French rivalry will not disappear. Perhaps for the moment the French have put on hold their plans to create a separate, European-only defense force. Nevertheless, if the Bosnian grand adventure turns ou8t to be a disastrous mess that disgusts the U.S. public and Congress, and prompts a call for an American pull-back from Europe—a return to American isolationism—then who would be the heavyweights left in NATO? The French and the Germans with their E.U. allies would predominate over the British!

“Despite the outward signs of allied harmony, analysts and officials said deep tensions remain at a critical time for the alliance as NATO troops head to Bosnia to enforce the Dayton peace agreements…. Reinvigorating the Euro-American relationship faces tough political problems on both sides of the Atlantic. Europeans are exasperated by Mr. Clinton’s inability to act on foreign policy without major concessions to a hostile Congress. And they worry that the highly complicated, costly and dangerous operation in Bosnia will open new trans-Atlantic conflict” (The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 4, 1995).

U.S.-inspired “peace” treaties have not always worked out the way they were planned. As the editors of The World Ahead have predicted for many years, a powerful new force in world affairs will soon emerge in Europe. This coming European Empire will enforce peace. And millions will love it—at least for a few years.

But a political-military adventure in the Middle East could be the trigger that ignites World War III. Yet before humankind will destroy itself, the Creator will intervene to stop it. As explained in last month’s lead article, Jerusalem will become the capital of the whole world! How will all of this affect you? What is ahead in your personal future?

You Must Decide

The answer depends partly on you. When these dramatic geo-political convulsions erupt on the world scene, you will be forced to choose. As a student of the Bible and a reader of The World Ahead, you will have to decide whether or not to compromise the Truth you have learned and hopefully are learning from the Bible. If you compromise, you will fit in very nicely with the temporary New World Order that is coming.

But it will not last long.

For after a few years, this European Empire will be CRUSHED by the returning Jesus Christ. Then, a permanent New World Order will be established under Christ as King of kings. Are you willing to prepare for that future which is definitely prophesied from one end of your Bible to the other?

In Matthew 24, Jesus Christ predicted that at the END of this present age or human society there would be increasing wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes (vv.3-8). He said, “This Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (v. 14). You are reading about that very Gospel right now! Next, Jesus described the horrifying Great Tribulation which will come on this earth.

As we have explained in a number of articles, it will come most directly on the American and British-descended peoples! For a full explanation of this, be sure to write for our powerful new brochure, America and Britain in Prophecy. Then, heavenly “signs” will occur followed quickly by Christ’s literal return to this earth (vv. 30-31). Note the Apostle John’s inspired description of Christ’s return: “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The Kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” (Rev. 11:15). It is the kingdoms of this world—NOT up in heaven—over which Christ will rule. He will destroy the wicked who oppose Him and bring genuine PEACE to a convulsive human society (V. 18).

But, again, what will you be doing? What is your future IF you respond to the Jesus Christ of the Bible—if you truly give your life to Him, walk with Him and do what He says?

Your Future Described

Jesus Christ described your potential future when He prophesied, “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—He shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the potter’s vessels shall be broken to pieces—as I also have received from My Father” (Rev. 2:26-27). So those who—through Christ living in them—“overcome” Satan, the world and their own human nature will be given the responsibility to RULE the nations of this earth under Jesus Christ! For they themselves will have totally surrendered to God, let Christ live in them and so built within them the very character of God which will make them “fit” to rule under the King of kings.

Remember, Christ is King of kings. There will be many other kings serving under the sovereign leadership of the Living Christ as He returns to straighten out the problems here on planet earth. Notice the inspired “prayer of the saints” as recorded in Revelation 5:9-10: “And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.’” Again, the true saints of God do not rule up in heaven, but here on earth!

God inspired the Apostle Paul to explain the same thing: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” (1 Cor. 6:2-3).

The true saints of God have before them an AWESOME challenge and opportunity! For we will rule not only humans on this earth but even the ANGELIC HOSTS of God who are now used to “minister” to us and help us prepare for our coming responsibilities in the World Ahead (Hebrews. 1:14). For some who have not really studied the Bible much in the past, this may seem startling and “quite a departure”—to say the least—from the traditional idea that most Christians have of going off to heaven with NOTHING to do! Yet, the inspired Word of God continually sets before you and me this calling and this hope.

In the famous “Parable of the Pounds,” Jesus is pictured as a nobleman going to a far country to receive a kingdom. Then He returns and rewards His employees according to how well they have used the money He gave them for trading (Luke 19:12-27). The first man came saying that he had increased his pound ten times. So Jesus said, “Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities” (v. 17).

The second servant came saying that he had increased his pound five times. Again Jesus said, “You also be over five cities” (v. 19). So the “reward” that these men received was RULERSHIP over five or ten cities—obviously on this earth!

So, once again, literal authority or rule over cities and nations is clearly indicated. This is the reward of—and the awesome challenge to—the true saints of God. We need to use our talents and abilities now in God’s service. We need to overcome sin and Satan and so be truly prepared to serve under the Living Jesus Christ.

Can all this be “spiritualized away”? Are true Christians really called to just drift off to heaven and do NOTHING for all eternity?

After describing how the final “evil empire” is taken away and destroyed, notice what Daniel prophesied: “Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him” (Dan. 7:27).

Coming right after the destruction of the final revival of the Roman Empire, this is obviously speaking of a literal government set up on this earth. And this government is given to the “saints of the Most High.”

How clear!

Also, in Psalm 149, we read a plain statement about the opportunities of the true saints of God to deal with the “little Hitlers” who will exalt themselves just before Christ’s return to earth. Notice: “Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment—this honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD!” (vv. 5-9).

If you and I will genuinely surrender ourselves to the Living Jesus Christ, if we will OBEY Him and serve Him, then the Father will give us the magnificent opportunity to help really bring PEACE and JOY to this earth at last. For we will have learned the way of peace which the nations of this earth do not now know (Is. 59:8).

How will this soon-coming government of God be organized to rule the earth? What kind of structure will it have? How will it function?

God’s Government Described

Within the lifetimes of many of you, Jesus Christ will return to this earth only to find it in chaos and rebellion. Men will then be at the very point of unleashing the weapons of total destruction if not stopped by Christ’s intervention: “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matt. 24:22).

Christ will return in TOTAL POWER: “And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:14-16).

One of the key leaders under Jesus Christ will be King David of ancient Israel—then resurrected from the dead and given his former job back! For Jeremiah the prophet clearly indicates that , right after the Great Tribulation, all Israel will be restored. Jeremiah says, “They shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them” (Jer. 30:9).

Also speaking of the regathering of all Israel at Christ’s return, God says through Ezekiel, “I will establish one shepherd over them. And he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken” (Ezek. 34:23-24).

Again, speaking of the same time, God says, “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statues, and do them” (37:24). Notice that the people will be obeying God’s judgments” and His “statutes.”

Speaking of the World Ahead—the coming rule of Christ on earth—God said earlier in Ezekiel, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (36:27). So it is obvious that if we are the true saints of God, then we must LEARN God’s laws and statutes now so we will be able to teach them in the World Ahead!

Remember how Jesus answered the young man who asked, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” Jesus told him, “KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS” (Matt. 19:16-17).

So the true saints who will rule with the Living Jesus Christ will be obedient to God’s laws and ways. As John was inspired to write, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12). For more understanding on how to become a true Christian—a true saint of God—call or write for our free booklet, What Is a True Christian?

Those who rule under Jesus in the World Ahead will be obedient to Him and the Father. Beyond mere sentiment, Christ will really be their “Lord”—their BOSS. As Jesus said, “Buy why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

Serving under King David, ruling over the Twelve Tribes or nations of Israel will be the twelve apostles. Christ Himself stated this directly when He spoke to them just before His crucifixion: “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:28-30).

Future Rulers Now Being “Prepared”

Christ is “preparing a people” for His Father’s Kingdom. His true saints must be obedient to the Father’s will or they will NOT be worthy to be entrusted with the awesome responsibilities of kings and priests in a literal government soon to be set up on this earth! For Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).

If you and I not only believe in Christ, but also if we believe what He said—what He tells us in His inspired Word—then we will learn to keep the Ten Commandments as a WAY OF LIFE! We will build the kind of godly CHARACTER which He purposes for us to build. For the Ten Commandments describe the very character and nature of God Himself. “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14).

Of course, this requires total surrender to God and to Christ our Savior—acceptance in faith of His shed blood to pay for our sins, the receiving of the Holy Spirit to live His way, and it requires our willingness to continue to yield to God in every way. For God, through Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, is fashioning and molding all true Christians into His own image to make us “fit” to live forever without the fighting quarreling, envy, jealousy, lust and frustration that characterize the existence of all humans cut off from God and His ways. As Isaiah wrote, “Yet, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Is. 64:8 NRSV).

There is NO VOTING, no politicking in God’s government! Jesus will NOT be elected by the people. In fact, as Jesus—acting for the Father—pours out the seven last plagues, men will curse Him and blaspheme Him until the very end! (Rev. 16:5-11).

No, Christ was appointed by the Father and sent into this world to carry out the Father’s will. “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me’” (John 8:42). Also, after much prayer, Jesus CHOSE the twelve apostles (Luke 6:12-13). So there will be no elections when Christ returns—NO VOTING, politicking, promising things that can’t or won’t be delivered. No more lying!

But there will be absolute unity and total PEACE! Those who have overcome and are counted worthy of that Kingdom will have learned the WAY of peace. “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Is. 11:9).

To be a true saint of God, to be an overcomer, to be a king in the magnificent Kingdom soon to be set up on the earth—that is your future! It is your future IF you are willing to learn “true religion.” If you are truly willing to believe the Bible and DO what it says! “But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word: (Is. 66:2).

God grant that you will SEEK Him and be granted repentance and understanding, and so be counted worthy of entrance into the His glorious Kingdom! “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).

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by Jeffery H. Patton

Estimates vary according to whomever you wish to believe, but the experts say that anywhere from 10 to 18 million Americans will suffer from depression in 1996. Sadly, millions have been driven into a dark and bleak tomb, a suffering, sun-shineless corner of their souls, by that black dog—depression. Close to 20,000 people in America will commit suicide due to depression this year. You need not be one of them!

Depression is dearly costing the United States and the Western world—perhaps as much as $43.7 billion for the U.S. alone in 1990, according to figures cited by author Sandra Salmans from the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Also, "The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1989 reported that clinical depression is the most incapacitating of all chronic conditions, in terms of social functioning. It ranks second only to advanced heart disease in exacting a physical toll, measured by days in bed and body pain" (Depression: Questions You Have... Answers You Need, People's Medical Society, 1995, pp. 11-12).

What Is Depression?

In the 1990s, many people consider depression a disease. And as such, they think it should be treated with medicines and other appropriate therapies. The medical profession doesn't classify feeling down in the dumps during the winter holidays, or short-term grieving over a lost loved one (minor mood adjustments), as "clinical depression." Rather, they see depression as being a major disabling disease characterized by abnormal, negative feelings, thoughts, behavior and overall lack of well-being that affects people for months and even years.

Mental health professionals will classify you as having "clinical depression disease" if, nearly every day, you feel four or so of the following symptoms: 1) depressed mood, sometimes manifested as irritability in children :and adolescents; 2) loss of pleasure or interest in your activities; 3) significant weight loss or gain even when not attempting to diet; 4) insomnia or its opposite, hypersomnia; 5) abnormal increase or decrease in your speed of thinking or doing; 6) abnormal fatigue; 7) feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt; 8) inability to concentrate, indecisiveness; 9) suicidal thoughts.

This unhealthy condition has been increasing rapidly throughout the 20^th Century. Thirty-year-old women today are “20 times more likely to have had an episode of depression than women born around World War I” (Salmans, p. 27). Why this dramatic increase? What has changed in 80 years?

Society has dramatically changed! Today we have the prevalence of materialistic values in public education, collapsing family structures, acceptance of promiscuous sexual behaviors, decreased well-paying employment opportunities for the average person, rising crime rates, rising pollution levels, widespread use of pesticides and artificial chemical fertilizers for food production, increased drug and alcohol use, traffic congestion and everybody is busy, busy, busy. Perhaps we should wonder why we aren’t ALL depressed! Talk about increased stress levels!

Martin Seligman, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist, thinks that the major change in modern society is an unhealthful focus on “the self.” He thinks that too many people lack a commitment to a cause or purpose in life—whether God, country or family—which is larger than themselves. Consequently, personal failures seem unbearably catastrophic. “’Depression and meaninglessness follow from self-preoccupation,’ Seligman has written in his recent book, Learned Optimism” (p. 28).

What Causes Depression?

No one knows for sure, but many mental health professionals think the cause of depression is a combination of biochemical, psychological or genetic factors. In other words, your overall health, plus what you’re thinking about and how you think, play major roles in determining whether you will suffer from depression.

“Scientists have believed for years that depression is related to a deficit of neurotransmitters [chemicals that transmit nerve impulses across the microscopic gaps or synapses between nerve cells]—either the chemicals norepinephrine or serotonin [or dopamine]—at critical synapses in the central nervous system” (Salmans, p. 42). With such a deficiency, an emotional difficulty in a relationship or some personal loss, whatever might be considered a significant event, can then overwhelm a person’s capacity to maintain emotional balance.

“Some researchers believe there’s a syndrome called ‘depressive personality disorder.’ People with this disorder tend to be pessimistic and brooding, critical of themselves and others. They see the world as cruel and unsupportive, themselves as unworthy and the future as hopeless. Because of their essentially negative view of life, they’re predisposed to depression” (p. 56).

How did the “depressive personality” become this way? Some researchers believe there is clear evidence that certain people are genetically predisposed toward depression. Others say that the depressive’s childhood environment teaches a “learned helplessness” of down-beat, self-flagellating, pessimistic thinking.

How do you view your life? Are things just permanently rotten, stacked against you forever? Are you all washed up? Or are your problems just temporary, things that can be overcome or modified?

Many mental health professionals believe that depression can have organic, biological reasons. For instance, hypothyroidism (reduced thyroid function) is known to cause depression as do hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal weaknesses.

Traditionally in modern Western cultures, women with depressive symptoms are seen by doctors twice as often as men. “Reproduction-related events—infertility, miscarriage, childbirth—as well as the use of birth-control pills, have been linked to depression in women. Precise cause-and-effect isn’t fully understood; there’s mixed evidence regarding the influence of fluctuations in female hormones and other biochemicals on mood, and reproductive events have a strong psychological as well as biological component. But whatever the cause, it’s clear that these events trigger major depressive episodes in many women” (p. 60).

Treating Depression the Medically Orthodox Way

Orthodox medical practice uses antidepressant drugs and psychotherapy (“talk” therapy) to treat depression. Drug therapy is extremely popular and profitable. The most fashionable antidepressant on the market (featured on the Mar. 26, 1990, Newsweek cover), is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) known as Prozac.

“Prozac’s 1993 annual sales reached nearly $1.2 billion…. Toward the end of 1993, it was estimated that 6 million Americans and an additional 4 million people worldwide had taken the antidepressant, with no end in sight to the mounting numbers” (Peter R. Breggin, M.D., Talking Back to Prozac, St. Martin’s Press, 1994, p. 3).

Today, because drug therapy is much less expensive than talk therapy, medical insurers are more inclined to pay “pill bills” rather than fund a psychiatrist’s talk time.

But if you are thinking about rushing to your doctor for a quick prescription muzzle to that black dog who’s hounding your life—watch out! Even the ads paid for by the drug companies warn of such side effects as “nausea, sleepiness, dry mouth, dizziness, constipation, nervousness, sweating, lack of energy, sexual impairment, and anorexia” (Time, Deuteronomy. 4, 1995, p. 7).

Rarely mentioned is that one of the most popular classes of antidepressants (tricyclics or TCAs) is "the leading cause of death by drug overdose in the United States. Because people with major depressive disorder may be contemplating suicide, the danger of overdosing must be taken into account by any doctor prescribing TCAs" (Salmans, p. 127).

In Talking Back to Prozac, Dr. Breggin draws this observation from his research, "A pattern emerges from one story after another. Often it begins with people feeling better—sometimes better than ever. Then other things begin to happen—violent or suicidal feelings that seem alien but compelling, obsessions and compulsions, impulsive and often grandiose behaviors, and especially a lack of empathy for oneself and others—a human disconnection" (p. 69).

At this point the reader is cautioned to not self-prescribe. The body is a complicated organism. One man's meat may be another's poison. If you think you have a physical reason causing depression you should seek competent professional advice.

Amid the ranks of American psychiatry, some professionals have become profoundly uneasy, wondering if there really is any sort of drug that is safely and genuinely "antidepressant." In 1992, two professors in the State University of New York's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Roger Greenberg, Ph.D and Seymour Fisher, Ph.D, conducted a statistical analysis of 22 independent double-blind, scientific studies of three new antidepressant drugs (amoxapine, maprotiline and trazodone). "Each study included both a placebo group [innocuous sugar pills] and a comparison to an older [antidepressant] drug.... `Thus, patient ratings of outcome for both standard and new antidepressant medication showed virtually no benefit beyond that obtained from placebo'” (pp. 64-65).

What's going on? According to Dr. Breggin, "If you believe, as we do, that depression is a form of psychological suffering based on hopelessness and despair, it would seem unlikely that drugging the brain could substantially help" (p. 64). While talk therapy may be expensive, Dr. Aaron T. Beck, the founder of "cognitive" therapy insists that his method can make a difference in the lives of his patients. Beck notes, "`We often employ behavior techniques such as list-keeping, planning productive activities and scheduling potentially enjoy[able] events. These techniques help to break into the depressive circle.' They also serve to distract patients from their depressive thoughts and disprove their belief that they can't do anything or help themselves feel better" (Salmans, p. 103).

The cognitive method is just one of several hundred different types of talk therapy that either help the depressive get an insight into what's causing his or her problem or teach some way to resolve social interaction inadequacies or change negative behaviors.

Whether by drugs or talk, orthodox medical therapy claims a 70-80 percent success rate in "curing" depressives. But how does a person "cured" by orthodox therapy feel in many cases? "A study at Massachusetts General Hospital found that there were significant differences between people who' d recently recovered from depression and a control group without any history of depression. Researchers said the recovered depressives continued to have symptoms of depression and anxiety, and had problems with cognitive function, social adjustment and problem-solving" (p. 80)! Were they really "cured"?

How to Treat Depression the Natural Way

In contrast to the standard medical approach to depression, in the early 1990s, orthomolecular doctors began presenting an alternative therapy. "At the present day... it is universally accepted that the brain is the organ through which mental phenomena are manifested, and therefore it is impossible to conceive of the existence of an insane mind in a healthy brain" (quote from J. Batty Tuke, M.D. lecturer, School of Medicine, Edinburgh by Pat Lazarus, Healing the Mind the Natural Way, G. P Putnam's Sons, 1995, p. 145). Perhaps or perhaps not!

According to these doctors, the health they are concerned about restoring is the normal, natural physical state of the body, which feeds and maintains the brain. "While orthodox medicine reports relatively high success in treating depression... orthomolecular doctors report as high or higher rates. Since nutritionally oriented doctors attempt to rebalance body chemistry for total health, rather than using drugs to cover up isolated symptoms, a patient treated successfully by nutritional means is less likely to have the recurrences common with orthodox therapy that is considered successful. Competently chosen nutritional therapy also will have no adverse side effects" (Lazarus, p. 147).

The doctors who practice this method point out that a deficit of almost any of the B vitamins can cause depression. "Vitamin B6, for instance (along with the mineral magnesium), is needed by precursor amino acids for the synthesis of the brain chemicals serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine.... An excess of copper in the body is implicated as a factor in depression, not only in clinical depression... but also in women with PMS and postpartum depression. Excess copper can be counteracted by elevating amounts of zinc (a copper antagonist) and by other nontoxic means" (p. 155).

Searching for a physical, natural explanation for depression can include looking at a person's tendency toward hypoglycemia (low blood sugar paradoxically aggravated by consuming too much refined sugars and carbohydrates), candidiasis yeast infection or intestinal parasites which excrete toxins into the body, food addictions-allergies and much more.

"Patients with depression, particularly when it is suicidal, should be tested for low blood sugar.... The symptoms disappear almost magically when hypoglycemia is corrected" (p. 146).

How to Treat Depression the Spiritual Way

There are many recognized physical sources of depression: thyroid and neurologic disorders, cancer, Alzheimer's, nutritional deficiencies, and many others. The human body is weak. It is physical; it breaks down under stress. What can be done about that? Some people have tried this or that for years with no success. Is their situation hopeless?

Not at all! Depression is beatable. You can kick the black dog! Yet sadly today, many people forget to consider the most effective, side-effect-free method of treatment because it relies on an unseen Source—humanity's Creator—to resolve a depressive's suffering. Read this account of one person who sought and received divine healing:

"Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment; for she said, `If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.'

"Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, `Who touched My clothes?' But His disciples said to Him, `You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, "Who touched Me?'” And He looked around to see her who had done this thing.

"But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, `Daughter your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction'” (Mark 5:25-34).

This woman tried all the doctors to find relief. Having faith or seeking a spiritual solution to depression does NOT mean you should abandon looking into and following some sort of physical treatment if your body has low thyroid function, deficiency in vitamins, hypoglycemia, parasites, infections or any other disease or physical weakness. Doctors have a useful role in society. Jesus said, "'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick" (Matt. 9:12). But human doctors are limited by their knowledge, skill and power. However, the LORD God is a doctor "who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction" (Ps. 103:3-4).

Plainly, as in the case of the hemorrhaging woman in Mark 5, there are times when the doctors just can't help. For 12 years that woman tried everything, spent all of her money, but only got worse. Broke, emotionally exhausted and desperate, she must have been very depressed.

Yet finally, she found the faith to come trembling to Jesus of Nazareth, to be healed when she but touched his cloak. And Jesus sent her away with perfect peace of mind. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You" (Is. 26:3).

Of course not everyone with depression can look to physical afflictions as a source of his harassing black dog. Consider this proverb: "The human spirit will endure sickness; but a broken spirit—who can bear?" (Prov. 18:14 NRSV). Perhaps what you really need is spiritual therapy for a broken spirit.

One of the most famous heroes of the Bible wrestled with depression. King David of ancient Israel had to deal repeatedly with vengeful foes outside like the Philistines plus treacherous friends and family members inside. Yet, when David was down, he knew where to turn. Notice David's "therapy" to cure depression:

"As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, `Where is your God?' These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God, with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God" (Ps. 42:1-5 NRSV).

We can most assuredly find peace, rest and comfort for our broken, oppressed spirits if we wholeheartedly and humbly go to our heavenly High Priest who hears our prayers and intervenes for us. The Scriptures clearly promise, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:15-16).

Perhaps you have been struggling to find that special relationship with God and you have passed many days and nights emotionally thrashing about with tears and crying in an effort to achieve it through Christ. But somehow you have downplayed or not understood the principles and laws which the Scriptures clearly teach because such "Bible notions" do not connect to your sense of Truth. Or maybe they have seemed inconvenient, perhaps even too embarrassingly old-fashioned? Are you suffering, not finding peace with God, others or yourself, because you are ignoring a vital spiritual point?

Many people these days are not living by the Bible's teachings. Rather, they do the exact opposite by thinking: "That's the way I look at it," or "Nobody is going to tell me what to do" or "Don't try to impose your values on me." But the Apostle Paul insisted, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). If you are doing something contrary to what the Bible teaches, then there is a spiritual penalty that you will pay, perhaps in a lack of peace of mind.

Shortly before He was arrested and executed, Jesus told His disciples—people Jesus intimately and carefully taught how to walk and talk with God—"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). The peace of mind that Jesus gives to a person who faithfully follows His instructions is totally different from that offered by antidepressant drugs. And that includes any talk therapy apart from, or contrary to, God's Word.

Paul explained how to have godly peace of mind this way: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6-7).

A Christian is never without a transcendent GOAL, a hope that remains steadfast regardless of the uncertainties of life in this unjust, violent society. Christians have the certain goal of assisting Jesus Christ in creating a new civilization—a new way of life that will naturally produce an abundance of joy, happiness, beauty and contentment. "But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace" (Ps. 37:11 ).

Jesus Christ plainly sets the priority for any person who seeks godly peace of mind: "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?... But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matt. 6:25, 33).

As some of you wrestle with the black dog of depression, be sure you include the spiritual element or you may get only partial relief—or NO RELIEF at all! You can obtain genuine peace of mind if you really come to know the true God as your Father.

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by John H. Ogwyn

We are within five years of the dawn of the next century. This past century has seen the most incredible scientific advancements in the entire history of humanity. Men have gone to the moon and returned safely. Computers have become a part of everyday life in a way absolutely unimaginable a mere 25 years ago.

There has been an astonishing explosion of scientific knowledge. Yet today's number one bestseller remains the Bible—not some science book! The Bible was written in faraway places a long time ago. How can it possibly be relevant to the soon-dawning 21st Century?

Perhaps the most persuasive reason for the Scriptures' continuing popularity is that it claims to be the infallible word of the Creator God (2 Tim. 3:16). With all of the increase in knowledge about the past due to archaeological discoveries, how well does the Bible really stand up to careful scrutiny? Does it really hold up as historically accurate?

The Bible and Modern Scrutiny

In the l7th Century an intellectual movement called the Enlightenment arose in Europe. It was a reaction to the climate of superstition and ignorance of the natural world that had so characterized the medieval period. A mood of inquiry began stimulating leading thinkers to try and take a fresh look at virtually every subject. Though the Bible was regarded by early Enlightenment scholars as the Word of God—gradually—skepticism about some of its claims was introduced.

By the l8th Century, many of the leading thinkers regarded themselves as "Deists." They believed in a Creator, as a rational conclusion deduced from the creation. However, though the Bible was seen as a source of inspiration and moral instruction, any account not viewed as "rational" was regarded with skepticism. These Deist scholars, and even many theologians, considered the Bible as a humanly contrived "husk" which merely contained a "grain" of divine truth.

A skeptical approach toward the miracles of the Bible was politically correct among those who regarded themselves as educated men. Belief that the Bible was historically accurate when describing events such as Noah's flood or Jericho's falling walls fell into disfavor. This view flourished among the intellectual classes during the l9th Century, though popular religious belief among the working and middle classes actually increased during that period.

The 20th Century opened with many intellectuals confidently predicting the demise of the Bible as relevant to the modern world. In a society that increasingly viewed itself as modern, sophisticated and scientific, it seemed that the Bible would have to be regarded as hopelessly out of date. After all, wouldn't increased scientific knowledge about the past expose the accounts given in the Bible as being merely myths and legends—legends that were, in reality, only written down many centuries after the events which they purported to describe?

It was in this vein that "higher criticism" of the Bible arose in German universities at the end of the l8th Century. By 1878, Julius Wellhausen had formulated his famous "Documentary Hypothesis." For more than a century his theory has been highly respected in most scholarly circles.

This theory argues that Moses couldn't have written the books traditionally assigned to him (Genesis through Deuteronomy). Rather, it is asserted, documents from four different sources were anciently cobbled together to produce the first six books of the Bible, the five books of Moses plus Joshua. These "documents" were imagined to have originated, in chronological order, with four different groups of people.

Early on, this hypothesis holds, there were worshippers of Yahweh, ("Jahwists," German spelling), who recorded their legends. A little later, the theory states, worshippers of Elohim ("Elohists") recorded their myths and traditions. Later, in the time of King Josiah (early 7th Century B.C.), legal reformers ("Deuteronomists") supposedly forged the Book of the Law which they then proceeded to "find" in the Temple. This theory goes on to hold that finally a "Priestly school" of editors, which flourished during and after the Babylonian exile, put together the books that have come down to us.

Wellhausen, who wasn't the initial author of this idea, "restated the Documentary Theory with great skill and persuasiveness, supporting the JEDP sequence upon an evolutionary basis. This was the age in which Charles Darwin's Origin of Species was capturing the allegiance of the scholarly and scientific world, and the theory of development from primitive animism to sophisticated monotheism as set forth by Wellhausen and his followers fitted admirably... [with] Darwinian evolutionism. The age was ripe for the Documentary Theory, and Wellhausen's name became attached to it as the classic exponent of it. The impact of his writings soon made itself felt throughout Germany... and found increasing acceptance in both Great Britain and America" (Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, p. 79).

Using this evolutionary model, the critics "determined" that Moses certainly couldn't be the author of the books traditionally ascribed to him. The religion of Israel must have gradually developed, they reasoned. Some even went so far as to assert that the Hebrew alphabet didn't exist in the days of Moses. The Israelites were illiterate, they postulated, and simply developed oral legends which were written down by much later generations.

How much real proof existed for such revolutionary assertions? None whatsoever! For all of their talk of scientific rigor, the critics showed themselves to be most unscientific. They started from a premise that rejected a real God who intervenes in the affairs of men. If there is a God, they reasoned, He must be remote and not actively involved in running the cosmos. Therefore, they thought, the Bible cannot be what it claims to be, the revealed and infallible Word of that Creator God.

Science Looks at the Bible

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, a virtual wave of archaeological discoveries shed new light on the Bible and the accounts contained in it. U. S. News & World Report noted that such discoveries were affirmed "that the Bible is more historically accurate than many scholars thought" (Aug. 24, 1981).

Most Bible critics and scholars long ago dismissed as myth the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19). The existence of those cities themselves was considered highly doubtful. "Now two highly regarded American archaeologists, Walter E. Rast and R. Thomas Schaub, believe they may have found the remains of those cities, plus the three other settlements referred to in Genesis as the `cities of the plain.' The ruins lie where the Bible indicates they would be—within a few miles of the Dead Sea. Moreover, at least three of the cities appear to have been destroyed by fire, which the Bible says was rained down by God in vengeance" (U.S. News, pp. 38-39).

Another set of discoveries, which not only corroborates the existence of Sodom and Gomorrah as historical cities, but also sheds light on many other biblical narratives, are the clay tablets of Ebla. The ancient city of Ebla was located in the northern part of what is modern Syria. Excavations at the site of this ancient metropolis have produced a treasure trove of information. An Italian professor, Giovanni Pettinato, has translated cuneiform tablets found there which contain commercial transactions that involved both the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

As Time magazine noted, "Findings from Ebla may have an even broader impact. Many liberal Bible scholars treat Abraham not as a historical figure but as a sort of Semitic King Arthur. Their view is that the stories about Abraham and the other patriarchs must have been written down more than 1,000 years later than the events they purport to describe. Now in the area of the world that produced the Bible, Ebla has established that a sophisticated and extensive written culture existed well before Moses and even Abraham.... After Ebla, we've got to take the Bible much more seriously as a historical document" (Sept. 21, 1981, p. 77).

In addition to information relating to the patriarchs and to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Ebla's excavations provide information relating to the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. According to prominent Johns Hopkins University Egyptologist Hans Goedicke, an Ebla tablet not only tells of the Exodus from an Egyptian perspective, but also dates the event to around 1475 B.C. This is about two centuries earlier than conventional scholarly opinion, yet it is in general accord with the time frame set by the Bible itself.

What about the theory of multiple authorship of the traditional books of Moses? According to Time, Bible scholar Yehuda Radday of Haifa's Israel Institute of Technology reported that a five-year computer study of the book of Genesis showed that it is the work of a single writer. Professor Radday and three associates studied the words of the Hebrew text and concentrated on 56 criteria of language behavior that are outside the conscious control of an author. He reached the conclusion from his analysis that Genesis is the work of a single writer and that the JEDP hypothesis, therefore, must be rejected.

On and on we could go. What we find when we shine the light of scientific scrutiny on the Bible's historical accuracy is that the critics are the ones shown to be lacking—not the Bible. It is the God-rejecting scholars whose views will not stand the careful, objective examination of time.

Did the Walls of Jericho Really Come Tumbling Down?

There have been few, if any, historical accounts in the Bible more lampooned by scholars than the fall of Jericho. The Bible tells of the Israelites walking around it's city wall for seven days. On the final day its walls simply tumbled down when the priests blew the trumpets and the people shouted. This has seemed farfetched to skeptics.

There have been two major excavations at the site of ancient Jericho. Both were conducted by British archaeologists. The first "dig" was directed by John Garstang from 1930 to 1936 and the second was led by Kathleen Kenyon from 1952 to 1958.

Dr. Kenyon died in 1978 without having lived to see final publication of her work at Jericho. However, in 1982 and 1983, two volumes on pottery excavated at Jericho were finally published. This, together with the 1981 publication of stratigraphic data from the excavation, has finally made possible an independent assessment of previous conclusions about Jericho. This assessment was made by Dr. Bryant Wood and published in Biblical Archaeology Review magazine in its March-April 1990 issue.

Kathleen Kenyon had ascribed the date of the fall of Jericho to a period over a century prior to the time of Israel's invasion. She decided that the biblical account must have been a fabrication. How did she reach such a conclusion?

"Kenyon based her opinion almost exclusively on the absence of pottery imported from Cyprus and common to the Late Bronze I period.... In other words, Kenyon's analysis was based on what was not found at Jericho rather than what was found.... To make matters worse, Kenyon based her conclusions on a very limited excavation area—two 26-foot by 26-foot squares. An argument from silence is always problematic, but Kenyon's argument is especially poorly founded. She based her dating on the fact that she failed to find expensive, imported pottery in a small excavation area in an impoverished part of a city located far from major trade routes!" (p. 5).

Garstang and Kenyon both found in their excavations at the Jericho site that the city they labeled as City IV was burned and destroyed. Did the destruction of City IV occur at the time the Bible says Israel entered the Promised Land under Joshua? Or was it merely an ancient catastrophe totally unrelated to events recounted in the pages of the Bible?

"Dr. Wood gives clear evidence that the destruction of City IV discovered by archaeologists must be dated to about 1400 BC. This is the time when the Bible clearly shows that Joshua was leading Israel into the land of Canaan. Notice a couple of proofs Dr. Wood gives. `[One] of chronological significance is a scarab series discovered by Garstang. Scarabs are small Egyptian amulets shaped like a beetle with an inscription (sometimes the name of a pharaoh) on the bottom. In his excavation of the cemetery northwest of the city, Garstang recovered a continuous series of Egyptian scarabs extending from the l8th century B.C.E. (the XIIIth Dynasty) to the early l4th century B.C.E. (the XVIIIth Dynasty)... the continuous nature of the scarab series suggests that the cemetery was in active use up to the end of the Late Bronze I period.'

"Finally, one Carbon-14 sample was taken from a piece of charcoal found in the destruction debris of the final Bronze Age city. It was dated to 1410 B.C.E., plus or minus 40 years, lending further support to the view that the destruction of City IV occurred around the end of the Late Bronze I period, about 1400 B.C.E" (pp. 52-53).

Even if Jericho was destroyed about 1400 B.C. when the Israelites entered the Promised Land, is there any evidence to show that it was destroyed as the Bible said? Absolutely! In her excavations Kathleen Kenyon found red mudbricks from the collapsed city wall outside the city proper. As Dr. Wood states:

"It appears that a wall made of red mudbricks existed... until the final destruction of City IV The red mudbricks came tumbling down, falling over the outer revetment wall at the base of the tell [mound built up over the centuries due to successive layers of occupation]. There the red mudbricks came to rest in a heap. Thus, in Kenyon's opinion, the pile of bricks resting against the outer face of the revetment wall came from the collapsed city wall.

"Here is impressive evidence that the walls of Jericho did indeed topple.... When the wall was deposited in this fashion at the base of the tell, the collapsed mudbricks themselves formed a ready ramp for an attacker to surmount the revetment wall.

"According to the Biblical account, the Israelites who encircled the city `went up into the city, every man straight before him' (Josh. 6:20). Note that the Bible states that they went up into the city" (pp. 54, 56).

There are various other facets of the excavations at Jericho that confirm the details of the biblical account. One of these is the presence of large amounts of grain found amidst the charred remains. This shows that the city wasn't looted as was normal custom. God had forbidden Israel to take a spoil from Jericho. The quantity of grain present also makes plain that the siege must have been short. The Bible shows that it only lasted seven days.

Simply put, when the record of archaeology directly touches on incidents described in the Bible, and when that record is correctly interpreted, it inevitably shows the details of the biblical account to be correct! The Bible has nothing to fear from scientific scrutiny. Rather, it is the theories and ideas of men that cannot stand the test of time.

Is the Bible on the verge of being shown to be obsolete and irrelevant? Not on your life! There has never been a book MORE relevant than the Bible. Not only that, but there has never been a TIME when that book has been more needed to answer the big questions in people's lives than today!

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by Raymond F. McNair

Since remote antiquity, man has asked, “Who am I?” Philosophers, theologians and thinkers of every sort have pondered the oft-asked question. “What is man…?” (Ps. 8:4; Hebrews. 2:6). This question is still hotly debated.

Apart from divine revelation, is it possible to settle the debate? Can the creature called man ever determine of or by himself what he is? Or, does he need to look into the divine revelation of His Creator to find out what he really is and what is his incredible human potential?

Is Man Merely an “Animal”?

Those who reject the Creator and His revelation, the Bible, assume man is merely the highest of all this earth’s creatures—the very pinnacle of all the primates. By accepting evolution as a valid explanation of the Creation without a Creator, they conclude that man simply evolved over a period of many hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years.

Furthermore, those who believe in man’s evolution wrongly conclude that man (Homo sapiens) is not really all that different from the other primates—apes, monkeys, lemurs, etc. Clearly all scientific investigation demonstrates that there is a very wide gap between mankind and the most intelligent non-human creatures; whales, dolphins, chimpanzees, etc.

Scientific research has demonstrated that man is the only creature with God-like capacity to will, plan, choose and to work out complicated problems. He is also the only creature capable of making moral judgments—deciding what is right and what is wrong!

Scientific investigation of all the other creatures of this earth has shown that they live by instinct—acting or reacting instinctively in any given situation. But what is instinct? “INSTINCT… [is] a natural or inherent aptitude, impulse, or capacity… a largely inheritable and unalterable tendency of an organism to make a complex and specific response to environmental stimuli without involving reason…. [or is defined as] behavior that is mediated by reactions below the conscious level” (Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10^th ed.). Even the remarkable fact of teaching American sign language to chimpanzees involves only the most rudimentary of higher-learning skills. These “brainy” chimps simply cannot engage in complex thought processes.

Clearly, there is an vast gulf between man and all other creatures on this planet. It is possible to really know who or what man is without first knowing what man’s Creator has said about His human creatures? What does the Word of God have to say about man? Was man created with inherent immortality? Does the Creator put an immortal “soul” or immortal “spirit” within each human He creates? Or, did He make man a purely mortal being—but with the potential to later receive immortality as God’s free gift?

Modern Expressions of “Immortality”

Few subjects have evoked as much speculation and controversy as whether or not man inherently is an “immortal soul,” or has a “soul.” Many believe every man and woman created by God possesses immortality in the form of an “immortal soul,” while others think all humans are mortal—with only the potential to become immortal, by receiving immortality as God’s free gift. They believe immortality is a gift received through the merits of Christ’s death (to erase all sin), and His resurrection by which God then sends His Spirit into each believer to impart the gift of “eternal life” (John 6:53-54; 1 John 5:11-12).

Again, we ask, “Is man mortal or immortal?” If man is mortal, how can he become immortal?

Whether or not humans have a “soul,” is eloquently expressed in the following prayer by an agnostic: “O, Lord, if there be any, save my soul, if I have any!” Multiple millions are not sure whether they are a soul, or whether they have a soul, a soul, then exactly what is that soul?

Most of us will recall a bedtime prayer which our mothers may have taught us: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take,” Does God, at birth, give a “soul” to each and every human, then take back that “soul” when he dies?

Interestingly, on Columbus’ voyage to America in 1492, it was the custom of the age that a young sailor would announce the arrival of each day by singing out, “Blessed be the light of day…. Blessed be the immortal soul and the Lord who keeps it whole.” A modern usage of this English word “soul,” is found in the refrain of a once-popular American song—“I owe my soul to the company store.”

The idea that man either is or has an immortal soul is deeply ingrained in most people brought u p in any Christian nation. As an example, the great American statesman Benjamin Franklin wrote, “I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that He made the world, and governed it by His Providence, that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal” (Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, p. 72).

Exactly what, according to the Bible, is a soul? Is each human a soul, or does every person merely possess a soul? And if each human has a soul inside him/her, then is that soul mortal or immortal?

Ancient Belief in Immortality of the Soul

It seems almost all peoples, whether ancient or modern, believe man is immortal, or has an immortal soul! It is perfectly natural for…. Surely, few would prefer to believe there is no life beyond the grave. It is horrifying to contemplate the thought that when one dies, his life ends abruptly—like the final flicker of a spent candle!

Notice what the famous English historian Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) says about the antiquity of the belief in the immortality of the soul: “The writings of Cicero represent in the most lively colours the ignorance, the errors, and the uncertainty of the ancient philosophers with regard to the immortality of the soul” (The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 1. p. 398).

Further, says Gibbon, “They [the ancient philosophers] soon discovered that, as none of the properties of matter will apply to the operations of the mind, the human soul must consequently be a substance distinct from the body, pure, simple, and spiritual, incapable of dissolution, and susceptible of a much higher degree of virtue and happiness after the release from its corporeal prison [the body].

“From these specious and noble principles the philosophers who trod in the footsteps of Plato deduced a very unjustifiable conclusion, since they asserted, not only the future immortality, but the past eternity of the human soul” (p. 399(.

How die Plato’s idea of the immortal soul come to be adopted by…. A footnote in Gibbon’s history says, “The pre-existence of human souls, so far at least as that doctrine is compatible with religion, was adopted by many of the Greek and Latin [church] fathers.”

Clearly, Plato and the other ancient pagan philosophers were merely groping for the answers to the age-old question—what is man!

Gibbon hit the nail squarely on the head when he said, “Since therefore the most sublime efforts of philosophy can extend no farther than feebly to point out the desire, the hope, or, at most, the probability of future state, there is nothing, except a DIVINE REVELATION that can ascertain the existence and describe the condition of the invisible country which is destined to receive the souls of men after their separation from the body” (p. 399).

Edward Gibbon also shows how this idea of human immortality was very widespread throughout the ancient world. “The important truth of the immortality of the soul, was inculcated with more diligence as well as success in India, in Assyria, in Egypt, and in Gaul” (p. 400). Clearly, the immortality of the soul was an important part of the religions of all ancient nations. Gibbons also tells us that even though “the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is omitted in the law of Moses,” many Jews … false belief (pp. 400-401)!

Further, he says the Sadducees “piously rejected the immortality of the soul as an opinion that received no countenance from the DIVINE BOOK, which they revered as the only rule of their faith” (p. 402).

But since the Pharisees “had drawn into their party the [main] body of the Jewish people, the immortality of the soul, became the prevailing sentiment of the synagogue under the reign of the [H]Asmonean princes and pontiffs [2nd century B.C.]” (p. 402).

What Does the Old Testament Teach Concerning the Soul?

Notice this frank Protestant admission: “ON the other hand, hope of an eternal life based on the immortality of the soul is entirely foreign to the OT" (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 2, p. 689). Furthermore, we are told, “The OT thinks of man as a psycho-physical organism which is related to God as a whole. There is in man no immortal part which can survive death on its own account” (vol. 3, p. 242).

We also read, “ We are not to conclude that man is compounded of two separate entities, body and soul—the view characteristic of Orphism and Platonism…. The Hebrew conceived of man as an animated body, New Testament as an incarnated soul” (p. 243). We are also informed, “The Hebrew did not think of the soul as having a body but as being a body which was alive” (p. 244).

by Staff

Many people try to put their own interpretation or spin on the Bible. But the Bible interprets itself. The book of Revelation gives an account of end-time events. Christ did the same in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. If we parallel the seven seals of Revelation with the end-time events described by Jesus, we immediately learn the meaning of the first four seals—the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”—in Revelation 6:1-8. Jesus revealed them to be: 1) false ministers; 2) war; 3) famine; 4) disease epidemics and natural disasters (Matt. 24:4-8).

Then John says, “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under [at the base of] the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed” (Rev. 6:9-11).

Matthew 24:9-28 explains the same time—the Great Tribulation—when a terrible martyrdom of Christians would take place. Notice that, according to John’s vision, they must be killed as others were in a previous martyrdom (that of the Middle Ages, when many true Christians met their deaths at the hands of cruel Inquisitors). Those who have died in the previous martyrdom are the ones crying out to God in Revelation. They are told to “rest a little while longer,” i.e. remain in their graves (cf. Acts 2:26-27—Gk. Hades=”grave”) until this later, end-time martyrdom is complete. There are, of course, no graves in heaven!

The “souls”—i.e. persons—crying “avenge our blood” is just like what God told Cain after he murdered his brother Abel: “The voice of your brother’s blood [life—cf. Lev. 17:14] cries out to me from the ground” (Gen. 4:10). As blood cannot talk, this is obviously figurative. And, as the dead cannot talk either (Ps. 115:17; Ecc. 9:5, 10), the “souls under the altar” crying out must be figurative in the same way.

Remember, we must let the Word of God interpret itself. The Bible says that Adam “begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth” (Gen. 5:3). Seth looked like his father, just as Adam looked like God!

According to one Bible reference book, “The Hebrew word for ‘image’ [tselem] usually refers to a statue (often used in the Old Testament for pagan idols), while a different word for ‘likeness’ [demuwth] suggests physical resemblance” (ABC’s of the Bible, Readers Digest, 1991, p. 16). The same source then tries to argue against this by saying that “later generations interpreted the terms more generally… as resembling God not in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense by possessing… intelligence, and the capacity to make moral distinctions” (p. 16). But whatever nonsense “later generations” tried to make God’s Word say is irrelevant—especially when the truth of what God did mean is so very plain!

The Bible is replete with references to God having human form—with a head, arms, feet, etc. Many will attempt to argue against this fact by saying that such references are mere poetic metaphors or just visions that God gave so that people could relate to Him/ But when God allowed Moses to see Him, saying, “Thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen" (Ex. 33:23 KJV), that could, in n o way, be a mere metaphor or vision!

Furthermore, notice that God angrily told Moses’ brother and sister when they spoke against Moses, thinking that God spoke through them just as much as through him: “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; and I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses [what Moses saw was not a mere vision]; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face [as meeting with a friend], even plainly, and not in dark sayings [not in poetic metaphors]; and he sees the form of the LORD” (Num. 12:6-8). What Moses saw was the actual FORM of God! It wasn’t a vision, dream, apparition—or anything like that.

No, God is not a way-off, totally incomprehensible “Beatific Blob”! Our God is knowable—inasmuch as He has revealed Himself to us. To help you come to better understanding the great Creator of mankind, please request our brochure entitled The God You Can Know!

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by Douglas S. Winnail, Ph.D., M.P.H.

The dietary laws about "clean" and "unclean" meats are among the most unique yet puzzling instructions found in the Bible. For thousands of years these laws have been a striking mark of identity separating God's people from the world (Lev. 20:25-26). Consequently, for centuries, these same instructions have been a source of controversy and confusion among various religious groups who all claim to get their beliefs from the same book—the Bible.

Some have felt that "these laws express God's will" and as such are wise, reasonable, and beneficial dietary regulations revealing "God's care for the health of His people" (Expositor's Bible Commentary, "Introduction To Leviticus," 1990). This public health focus of those dietary laws was "espoused by Maimonides, the great Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages in Spain and other notable scholars" (Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1980).

However, other theologians have openly referred to the Levitical dietary guidelines as meaningless, repulsive, arbitrary and irrational ideas that originated in primitive superstitions—not in the mind of God. These theologians have confidently asserted: there are no logical explanations for many of the guidelines—that health was definitely not their purpose; that it is a waste of time for Christians to study this section of Scripture. They have asked, "What has all this [the dietary laws] to do with religion?" (Interpreter's Bible, "Lev. 11-15," 1953). Some have even stated, "The texts [Scriptures] do not claim that health is a factor [in the dietary laws], though possibly hygiene was a by-product" (Expositor's Bible Commentary, 1990, p. 526).

Yet God said His laws were for our good, prolonging our lives (Deut. 5:29, 33; 10:13). His dietary ordinances were not arbitrary. Their purpose was to benefit us. That being so, why would God later inspire a New Testament that supposedly shows that "Christ repealed all the Levitical regulations on unclean meats and practices" (Illustrated Bible Dictionary)? Why would an all-wise Creator function in such a contradictory manner?

If you have ever pondered such questions, perhaps it's time you really looked into the subject to determine for yourself what the real truth of the matter is. The God of the Bible challenges you to "prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thess. 5:21 KJV). The answers could change your life and positively impact your health!

The Scriptures reveal several important reasons for the dietary laws. In Exodus we learn that God chose the nation of Israel for a special purpose (Ex. 19:5-6). Interestingly, the dietary laws were designed to make the Israelites distinct from other nations. Why? God told Moses, "I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore distinguish between clean beasts and unclean.... And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine" (Lev. 20:24-26).

God chose Israel for the purpose of becoming a model nation—a light and example to the world. "Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, `Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?" (Deut. 4:6-8).

God separated Israel from other nations so the results of His laws could be clearly seen by the other peoples who would be attracted to Him by the wonderful benefits provided by His righteous ways. "My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you" (Prov. 3:1-2). God's intention was that other nations would want to follow the example of the Israelites when they saw the wisdom and happiness of living according to God's instructions—which would include physical well-being and freedom from disease (Deut. 4:40; 7:12-15)!

The dietary laws were also designed to promote wise management and efficient utilization of the environmental resources that God entrusted to mankind. The instructions about "clean" and "unclean" foods are important in fulfilling the commission given in Genesis 1:28 and 2:15 to "tend and keep" the earth. To rightfully understand the dietary laws, they must be seen in the context of God's purpose for all humanity.

Stay ON the Grass!

Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 are the primary chapters in the Bible that discuss this subject. These passages give very specific information summarized in simple, easy-to-understand principles. As one commentary observed, "These were rule-of-thumb laws that God gave in His wisdom to a people who could not know the reason for the provision" (Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 2, p. 569). Today, however, the discoveries of modern science are revealing just how practical and important these laws really are.

Beginning in Leviticus 11:1-3, we read that "the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying... `These are the animals which you may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth... whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud.'” This describes plant-eating mammals (herbivores) classified as ruminants. A ruminant is "the name given to a grazing animal that has a highly specialized digestive system and splits the hoof' (World Book Encyclopedia, 1995).

These animals have four-chambered stomachs that convert grasses that are inedible to humans and other animals into nutritious, high quality protein products (meat and milk) that people can then use for food. Examples of such clean animals would be all cattle, sheep, goats, deer, bison, moose, antelope, gazelles, caribou and giraffes. They are all herbivores that obtain their food by grazing or browsing on grasses and other plants.

From the standpoint of wise environmental management, these guidelines make a lot of sense. Vast areas of the globe are covered by rangelands (savannas, veldts, pampas), which are often called marginal lands because they do not have enough rainfall to support the production of food crops like corn or wheat. "The only way millions of acres of range land can be used for human benefit is via ruminants" (Dairy Council Digest, Jan.-Feb. 1973). Grass-fed animals also produce meat that has a lower fat content than grain-fed animals—which we now realize is a health benefit. Raising meat animals on grass and other plants is also much more economical.

The clean animals that God permitted His model nation to eat—designated simply by split hooves and cud-chewing—were designed to produce nutritious food in an economical and ecologically sound manner. These guidelines were given long before the sciences of ecology, economics and nutrition were ever heard of. This was one of the benefits that God wanted the world to see through the example of the nation of Israel.

Hold the Bacon!

The dietary laws regarding cud-chewing beasts also prohibit the consumption of all carnivorous animals and omnivorous animals for very logical reasons. God created clean animals to provide food and by-products for human use. He created animals unsuitable for human consumption for other purposes. Carnivores, as beasts of prey, play an important role in controlling the populations of other animals. As an example, wolves and mountain lions, which feed on herds of deer, control not only numbers, but help maintain the health of the herd by culling out older, sick or infirm animals. That's one reason we shouldn't eat carnivores. They may eat sick animals and transmit diseases to humans.

The pig or swine is specifically mentioned as being unclean and not permitted as human food (Lev. 11:7-8; Deut. 14:8). While some theologians have stated, "We do not know why the swine was forbidden" (Interpreter's Bible), other writers find numerous logical reasons related to ecology, economics, nutrition and public health.

In the wild, swine are often nocturnal animals that root for food. Their nighttime feeding habits should have kept their contact with humans at a minimum. Domesticated pigs, however, have been used for centuries as scavengers around human settlements. Having an omnivorous animal around that could put on weight rapidly by eating anything from garbage to dead animals and human wastes—and that could later be slaughtered and used for food—has seemed like a pretty good arrangement to many peoples. But is it?

Today, domesticated hogs "are fed a diet composed mainly of corn and grain" (New Standard Encyclopedia, 1993). However, as non-ruminants with digestive tracts similar to that of humans, pigs are unable to survive on grasses and thus have been ecological competitors with humans for the same types of food grains (such as wheat, corn and barley). In America about 20 percent of the corn harvested is fed to hogs.

Basically, pigs enjoy eating the same types of food that people eat. This is not a wise use of resources in a world where an exploding human population is outstripping our capacity to produce food. Probably this is another reason why God doesn't want us to eat pigs. He foresaw that great herds of hogs would take life-sustaining grain out of the mouths of poor people!

Jesus Christ Himself didn't feel it inappropriate to allow an incident that caused the destruction of a commercially raised herd of pigs! "Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. And they [demons] begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned" (Luke 8:32-33). Would Jesus have allowed the destruction of someone's valuable property, without cause, through carelessness or accident?

Let's Not Eat Worms!

One of the major diseases transmitted by swine and other unclean animals is trichinosis. It is caused by a small parasitic roundworm that gets into the muscle tissue of animals and humans. The disease has a global distribution and affects about one percent of the world's population—nearly 60 million people (Gerald Tortora, Microbiology,5th ed., 1995). This is not surprising considering that "people throughout the world eat more pork than any other kind of meat" (World Book Encyclopedia, 1995). Americans consume about 60 pounds (30 kilograms) per person each year. It should be noted, however, that many carnivorous and omnivorous animals are infected with the parasite Trichinella spiralis. Bear meat, walrus and wild pigs have been significant sources of infections in humans (Baron, Medical Microbiology, 1993). The list could also include squirrels, rats, cats, dogs, rabbits, foxes, horse meat and marine mammals (Nestor, Microbiology, 1995; Benenson, Control of Communicable Diseases in Man, l2th ed., 1975). It is hardly an accident or coincidence that God prohibited the consumption of these animals by His divinely given dietary laws.

Tapeworms, which afflict about three percent of the world's population (about 180 million), are another serious health problem encountered when pork is eaten (Tortora). While beef and fish can also contain tapeworms that will colonize the human digestive tract and cause discomfort, the pork tapeworm is much more dangerous. The larva of the pork parasite, once inside the human intestine, can migrate through the tissues to the heart, eyes and brain—and can eventually cause death (Morello, Microbiology in Patient Care,5th ed., 1994). With reference to pork tapeworm disease, "the highest rates of infection are seen in countries with lower levels of hygiene and where pork is a major part of the diet, such as Mexico, Latin America, Spain, Portugal, Africa, India, southeast Asia, and China" (Baron, Medical Microbiology, 1994).

Although the general advice for avoiding parasitic infections from pork and other unclean animals is to adequately cook the meat, the most effective way to avoid these diseases is to avoid eating unclean animals that don't have cloven hooves and don't chew the cud—as God instructed Moses and the Israelites 3,500 years ago. If only this portion of the biblical dietary code were applied today, the global burden of parasitic disease could be dramatically reduced within a generation!

This fascinating look into the controversy surrounding God's dietary laws will continue next month.

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by Gary Foster

Who exactly are the singles of the 1990s? We should keep in mind that the group of unmarried adults—often called singles—is really a combination of several very different groups of people.

In 1985, I began attending church services in Pittsburgh. At my first singles’ social event I remember being surprised to find so many different people there. The diverse group ranged in age from recent high school graduates to senior citizens. There were widows, single parents and those who had never married. There were people actively looking for a partner and those who had no such intentions at all. In other words, many of us singles had very little in common other than the fact of being unmarried.

There have always been widows, divorcees and single parents. However, because of advances in health care and improved life expectancy, there are more widows and widowers living longer than ever before. And, sadly, due to an ever-increasing divorce rate, which now stands at 50 percent in the United States, there are far greater numbers of divorced “singles” as well.

Conservative political victories in the United States reflect, among other issues, renewed focus on family values—including marriage and raising children. Among many singles, it is no longer a common goal to remain unmarried and unattached throughout adult life like the “swinging” singles popularized in the 1960s and 1970s. And yet, sometimes against their will, many people still find themselves without partners and living alone well into the twentysomething and even the thirtysomething years. In the last 25 years, single-person households in the U.S. have more than doubled, currently surpassing 23 million. One-half of these households consist of people younger than age 55.

Whatever the reasons for being single, some of the consequences are universal.

Sharing a Drink They Call Loneliness

The decision to delay or avoid marriage carries a price. One of the legacies of single living is loneliness. It can be nothing more than garden-variety blues. And yet, for some, it can become a deeper problem—the sources of despondency, lack of productivity and depression. This may be more of a problem for us, single Christians, than for others. While many people today think nothing of premarital sexual encounters—even living together with no long-range commitments or responsibility—we know that God expects more from us.

The Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Ephesians, writes, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, and offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints” (5:1-3). We are to imitate Christ, who lived His life according to the law of God, including God’s prohibition against sex outside of marriage. But waiting patiently can be difficult. Everyone wants to love and be loved.

Another face of loneliness can be having no one to regularly share day-to-day events with. This is something that’s so natural for many married couples, yet can be almost entirely missing in the life of someone who lives alone. Even regular contact with others, perhaps on the job or at school, may not be much help if it’s not the right kind of interaction.

Several years ago, I worked at a job that involved fairly frequent interaction with others. For a while I went through a particularly depressing period and was not even sure, at first, why I was feeling down. After a time I came to see that, despite talking to others regularly, I didn’t have enough personal communication. Discussing job problems or schoolwork isn’t enough. It’s also important to regularly share the things that affect you personally with others.

When we are lonely, we are vulnerable—lacking the emotional and social support that we need. According to The Anatomy of Loneliness, “Personal vulnerability and loneliness are inseparable; they are often merely different ways of looking at the same thing” (Hartog, Audy and Cohen, International University Press, 1981, p. 95).

What does loneliness make us vulnerable to? For one thing, it can render us less equipped to deal with the daily stress of living. Getting the car to the shop, meeting the cable TV installation crew, or any of a host of other workaday inconveniences can become major stumbling blocks for people without adequate social support—vulnerable people.

We are also susceptible to loneliness perpetuating itself as it makes us less capable of finding the personal warmth and friendship which we need to successfully combat it.

In their book, Loneliness: Theory, Research and Applications, authors Hojat and Crandall note that “lonely persons appear to manifest ineffective interpersonal behaviors” (Sage Publications, 1989, p. 146). They also observed that lonely individuals tended to lose self-esteem and came to “doubt their ability to master social encounters” (p. 145).

Generally, God did not intend men and women to remain as isolated beings. We were meant to function at peak performance in a committed, cooperative partnership—marriage!

Then intimate relationship is evidently essential to the human condition itself. People’s health and longevity have long been correlated with their relative social connectedness. “Health experts and demographers have long observed that married people are healthier than unmarried people and that death rates—from all causes—are consistently higher among single and socially isolated people…. The evidence suggests that trends toward less social integration among Americans will exact an increasing toll in terms of health costs” (Business Week, “Living Alone Can Be Hazardous to Your Health,” Mar. 5, 1990, p. 20). This article goes on to say that the increased mortality rates associated with social isolation are “roughly in the same ballpark as the effects of… smoking.”

What Should You Be Doing?

What about you? Are you one of the millions of single men and women living in a culture that revolves around married couples and families? How are you supposed to fit in? Do you experience loneliness or depression from your life situation? As a single Christian man or woman, do you sometimes wonder what God has in store for you—or expects from you? What should you be doing?

Adults never before marriage, waiting for that special someone to come along before taking the plunge into matrimony, probably make up the largest subgroup of the diverse group of all singles. However you came to be single, there are some common points to consider and common goals to be working toward.

Make God a part of the process. It can seem that God is disinterested in our romantic pursuits or our future happiness—particularly for those of us who have been single for many years of our adult lives. But if we really think about it, we know that can’t be true.

God is the One who created romance and marriage. The Apostle James wrote, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). There could be no more perfect gift for most people than a loving spouse and family (cf. Prov. 18:22).

God is interested in all of us and has our best interests in mind. We need to pray to Him diligently to provide a spouse with whom we can be mutually complementary and supportive. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:9-10).

Build a strong network of friends and companions. I’ve found this to be strong medicine to combat loneliness and depression. It’s important to have as many friends as you can, but particularly to cultivate a small number of close, emotionally intimate friendships. An army of acquaintances won’t necessarily care if you’re having a bad day—but your best friend will!

The Bible provides many examples of such relationships. In ancient Israel, David and Jonathan developed a deep-seated, soul-to-soul personal friendship (1 Sam. 18:1,. 3). Jesus Christ also provided us an example of proper and healthy friendship with His disciples. And He apparently enjoyed His closest relationship with John, who is referred to as the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26).

Many people living alone have found their own versions of good-friend therapy. David C’DeBaca has been living alone for more than 20 years after leaving the military at age 24. He suffers “occasional bouts of severe loneliness. ‘About twice a year I get really down,’ he says. He relies on a network of six especially close friends—both male and female—who, he says, instinctively sense the problem when it comes up. ‘So I spend some serious visiting time’” (Newsweek, “The Art of Flying Solo,” Mar. 1, 1993, p. 71).

Spend quality time with friends of the opposite sex. Although the majority of one’s friends are often of the same sex, we should try to make sure we don’t lose touch with those of the other gender. Men and women are different in many ways—not just the obvious ones! When I don’t date as frequently as I should, or have enough meaningful conversation with my female friends, I find that I lose touch with the female perspective and become a less-well-rounded individual.

Frequent dating is also an important tool in protecting ourselves from one of the pitfalls of loneliness. “When the feeling of vulnerability and loneliness becomes unbearable, one may rush into love blindly, making the wrong choice” (Hartog, Audy and Cohen, p. 96). We will feel less vulnerable and lonely in the first place if we are frequently dating. Moreover, if we are inclined to rush toward matrimony because of loneliness, we’re more likely to make wiser decisions if we’ve come to know as many prospective marital partners as possible.

Make use of your time to prepare for marriage and family. If marriage is to be delayed for some reason, the time should be used as productively as possible. Of course, the main reason for such a delay is often preparation for the future itself, such as finishing a degree program that will qualify you to enter a career that provides the necessary finances to support a family. But are we using our time to its fullest potential? Are there other ways to improve ourselves in anticipation of marriage?

How about working on a bad habit or two? I’m sure each of us is thoroughly charming but, at last count, nobody had a perfect personality! Less-than-desirable personality traits are often difficult to unlearn, requiring effort and time. What better gift could you give your spouse-to-be than to enter your lifelong relationship a better person than you were a few months or a few years ago.

Developing recession-proof job skills can also go a long way toward ensuring future happiness and security. Studying a specialized field within your chosen career, learning how to moonlight in another profession or developing a paying hobby could help you escape or minimize financial problems to come.

Perhaps the most valuable way to prepare for marriage is to learn from experienced men and women who already have successful marriages. Paul’s epistle to Titus says that “older women likewise… [are to] admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed” (2:3-5).

If the preceding principles and goals are to be considered by singles hoping to one day be married, what about those who do not have marriage in their plans?

For such individuals, these principles are all the more important. If marriage will never be in the picture, for whatever reason, it is then more vital still to enlist God’s help in ordering your life. Maintaining strong friendships is even more critical. Perhaps you would want to “adopt” a married couple and involve yourself with their family. “God sets the solitary in families” (Ps. 68:6). They would get the benefit of your help with baby-sitting or perhaps other chores. You would be able to experience the love of children growing up and a family atmosphere. And you could all grow closer together in Christian friendship and love.

The book of Ecclesiastes speaks about the benefits of strong friendships: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion…. Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (4:9-10, 12). This scriptural advice can apply to a brother, or a friend as close as a brother (v. 8).

It’s also important not to get discouraged by well-meant, but perhaps thoughtless, remarks from others. If you have decided to remain single, you will probably encounter, on occasion, those who do not understand and who will give you unsolicited advice or encouragement about getting married. You may just have to overlook their comments and appreciate their concern for you that motivated them. But don’t become disheartened. Although marriage is the ideal situation for men and women in general, it may not be right for everyone.

Paul said, in his epistle to the Philippians, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (4:11). He also wrote, “But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am [unmarried] (1 Cor. 7:8). Understand that Paul was not advocating a general policy of remaining single. His remarks were addressing a time of turmoil and persecution for the Church, during which he believed it would be better not to enter into marriage. The point is, however, that at least under some circumstances, matrimony is not appropriate for everyone. If you have determined, with God’s guidance