Choices

By Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

"Choices" is an in depth look at the myriad idiosyncracies of human nature which have plagued the church since the times of the Apostles. There comes a time when we all must decide what we believe and why we believe it! It all comes down to a choice!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD
• Release date: Mar 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301831951

Dr. Martin G Tharp PhD

Dr. Martin Tharp has been an avid student of the Bible for many years and holds a Bachelor, Master and eight Doctorates, one honorary and seven earned, including a Doctor. of Literature and two PhDs. He has been in full time ministry for over fifty-seven years and has authored forty-nine books to date, many of which are being used as curriculum in Bible colleges around the United States and abroad. He has also penned a number of gospel songs and recorded thirty-three albums as well as being actively involved in a school ministry to Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom for the past thirty-eight years, and Dr. Tharp has been honored twice by members of parliament in Ireland for their work in the Protestant and Catholic schools. He and his wife, Sharon, along with Maranda Howells, travel extensively across the USA and the whole of the British Isles holding evangelistic crusades in the churches of both countries.

Book preview

Choices

By Martin G. Tharp, PhD.

Copyright 2013 Martin Tharp Ph.D.

Smashwords edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes; This ebook is licensed for your own personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.. Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, King James Version. Copyright 1984, 1991 by AMG International, INC and the Living Bible Copyright 1971, 1986 by Tyndale House Publishers INC

Acknowledgment

Without my wife’s willingness to drive the coach while I work, this manuscript would never have been completed! Thank you Sharon Jean!

Dedication

To the men and women of God who have not only held a standard of holiness, but have encouraged my efforts to convince others of the serious consequences of living life just past the edge of sanity in favor of satisfying our carnal flesh!

Table of Contents

Introduction

1.Choices

2.How About A Little Sanity In The Church

3.Seeker Friendly or Sinner Comfortable?

4.Music To My Ears?

5.Cutting Edge or Driving A Wedge?

6.Priorities; It’s a Matter of Choice

7.Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide

8.Wine and Daniel, Hanania, Mishael and Azariah

9 Does The Scripture Always Condemn Drunkenness?

10.Is The Use of Wine Destructive?

11.The Marriage Feast at Cana

12. Is Today’s Wine The Same As the Wine Used In the Bible?

13. Holy Eucharist; Fermented Wine or Fruit of the Vine?

Study Questions

Bibliography

About The Author

Introduction

The Church world in general sits at the crossroads of tremendous success or an appalling anonymity! It all depends on the Choices we make! Our travels take us into practically every denomination as well as a wide variety of doctrinal preferences and methods. While some are adamantly clinging to the high standards of Biblical principles, others are skirting just as close to the precipice as possible!

On both sides of the growing abyss which separates us are churches who are extremely successful, and while there is little doubt that both sides have merit, there is a vast difference in the standards which are acceptable. Thank God there are willing adherents on both sides of the divide, but they are sometimes faced with hard choices.

Casual or formal?

For some, casual is the catch phrase that is the primary motivating factor for which brand of Christianity they are willing to embrace. To be able to come to church wearing shorts, flip-flops and a tank top, turns some people on! But is it a viable choice? There are some of those who are ardent adherents to the concept, that would never think of sitting in on a business meeting, or booking a meal at an expensive restaurant then showing up in such casual attire! Why not? Simple, church simply doesn’t command their respect.

We have personal friends who are sold on the idea of casual attire for church, yet when we had an occasion to invite them out to dinner, they out-dressed us! I had to literally bite my tongue to prevent the atmosphere of the evening from becoming uneasy and uncomfortable. Looking back, I have always wished I had allowed the atmosphere to become whatever was necessary to hear them explain to me how I rated more respect than the God they supposedly served!

Does it all boil down to a matter of Choices?

As far as some decisions are concerned, YES! It does!

However, there are some Biblical principles which are not negotiable! At least until God in Heaven decides to write a new Bible! Unfortunately there are some who seem to be very successful, who are in fact, busy rewriting the Biblical principe to suit themselves. Not just in one category, but in several!

No doubt there are issues which we will agree to disagree on amiably, for they truly are a matter of Choice! I am sure there are areas where there can be no compromise otherwise we would all be sailing under the same banner.

It has been my pleasure for nearly fifty years to have the lions share of my friends and associates who are in the ministry, and I have found an unusual attitude which often prevails in those who have been raised in the church by fairly strict parents who were themselves Pastor’s. They often make odd decisions, which is a knee jerk reaction to things they resented while in their childhood. They seem to have a determination, right or wrong, to avoid some of what they consider pitfalls in their parent’s method of raising children. It is that eccentricity in the Choices they have made which I have chosen to address also in this book

Writing this book was a Choice which I made after an incident involving one of my best friends! A very successful business man whom I have known for well over twenty years has always had a cupboard full of alcoholic beverages. A fact which has never entered into our relationship, but I was convinced it was his Achilles heel. When an occasion arose where the way forward in the future plan of God was being hindered by their penchant for indulging from time to time, he asked for my advice. When I suggested that the rend in the fabric was due to that ample stock of alcohol, his response was instant! It doesn’t matter what I want or think, the Bible says if is an offense don’t do it, and my wife and I have no problem adhering to that directive!

It was that open and Godly response that served as the final catalyst which prompted me to write this book! I wondered how many other Godly men and women could be that easily moved if they were presented with the Biblical perspectives in this and other areas of their Christian experience?

Chapter One

Choices

The opening chapter of this book is appropriately titled, Choices. There is no one who has been alive for any length of time on this earth who has not discovered that life itself is full of choices! In every walk of life, no matter what your level of education or the position you hold, most likely you would not be reading this book unless you have already made the most important choice of all, to serve the Lord.

Some of the subject matter that this book addresses were a direct result of experiences from which we learned some valuable lessons as a ministry team, others are personal. From the moment I made the decision to serve the Lord I found myself making choices. Many of which were only a matter of common sense, others were made on the basis of a strong feeling of necessity which I have no doubt were urging’s from the Lord. I have discovered that life itself is full of choices, and we are a product of the choices we make!

Since I had practically no knowledge or understanding of Biblical principles, the only way I could have decided the direction of my spiritual walk, and the standards of integrity which would make up my Christian character were the deciding factors in the convictions I live by which have held me firm for all these years.

By the time you arrive at chapter seven, it will be obvious that I have some very strong convictions about the imbibing of alcoholic beverages. Although there are several other subjects which this book addresses, alcohol consumption will be the dominant issue.

Two years ago the subject material for a series of sermons I preached moved me personally probably more that it did my listeners. The title of that series was The Bread And The Cup. The discovery that even though I had preached about communion for my entire ministry, yet knew practically nothing about the heart of God on the matter was mind boggling! The Bible literally came alive to me as the revelation seemed to take on a life of its own, carrying me with it like a pebble caught in a landslide!

The more I preached on the subject the more it moved me! Then the physical miracles of healing began to happen night after night as the revelation also took hold of the congregations. I first published The Bread And The Cup with twelve chapters, but as the pastors who had heard the astounding results from others, encouraged me to preach on the subject at their churches also, I discovered I had been a little hasty in my excitement to get it into print. Three months later as the revelation continued to grow I reprinted the book with an added nine chapters!

From the moment I made the choice to serve God, I have been an avid student of the Bible. Having earned five doctorates after being the recipient of one honorary, I was shaken and appalled at the discovery of how little I knew about such an important subject like communion.

It has never been my desire to be recognized as a great theologian, but I have endeavored to take the advice which Paul gave to Timothy;

"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15).

The study of the great doctrines of the Bible, especially the Old Testament was always my cup of tea. I was sixty nine years old and had been in the ministry since I was twenty five, and a diligent student all those years. Yet right in front of my eyes God began to unravel mysteries about a simple subject which consumed my mind!

The revelation of The Bread And The Cup, set in motion an overwhelming desire to discover what other subjects I had overlooked or taken for granted?

Some years ago in the church at Windsor castle during the communion service, we were served an inebriating substance that supposedly was served by Jesus Himself to His disciples at the last supper. We watched in amazement as the Bishops and Priests served the congregation. There was only room to serve ten parishioners at a time who came forward and knelt at the altar.

Each congregant was served a sip of wine, then the Bishop also had a generous portion. It was the responsibility of one of the priests to keep the cup full as he moved from one participant to the other.

Fortunately there was only around a hundred people who attended the service that day, for by the conclusion of the communion service they had gone through some six large bottles of wine! The lions share of which had been consumed by the providers not the participants! We were all mesmerized by the fact that two of the bishops could hardly stand up by the close of the service!

It is amazing how that event had long since vacated my memory banks until the Holy Spirit literally consumed my mind with the revelation of The Bread And The Cup!

It was during that period of time that a peripheral subject began to surface which ultimately became the impetus behind the title to this book, and the underlying reason why a fair portion of it is dealing with the consumption of an alcoholic beverage which many of my friends and colleagues assure me was what Jesus turned the water into at the marriage feast at Cana!

Although I have never agreed with their point of view, their decision to imbibe had no effect on our friendship or me! I made the choice to live and let live, believing the old adage which says;

"Every man must decide on the beliefs he is willing to live by and not afraid to die by, and have the good sense to let everyone else do the same!"

It has been my passion to live in such a way that God is glorified while at the same time attempting to hold my judgmental attitude in check. The problem is really quite simple, the memories of where I come from is a compelling force to do everything in my power to warn against the dangers of floating downstream, going with the flow so to speak.

Joshua made a choice in the final chapter of the book of Joshua, where it chronicles his decision to stand out in a crowd instead of simply going along with his neighbors. There is one portion of a verse of Scripture which has the distinction of being quoted and used as the basis for more sermons than any other single text from the Old Testament!

"And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" (Joshua 24:15).

The testimony of Joshua was a concise statement declaring the choice that he made, not only for himself, but his family as well. Joshua reminded the Israelites of who they are and where they came from by giving them a concise but powrful history lesson, which chronicles their odyssey to that point in time. He reminded them that the food that they existed on was not grown by them and the houses they resided in were not built by them. It was a sovereign act of God which brought them to this point in their lives, and now the time had arrived for choices! Very little has changed since the days of Joshua. The twenty-first century Christian may be living in the blessing of God without realizing that every aspect of the life we live was derived at by a series of choices. The very sustenance which we take for granted may be sparse, just enough for us to exist on, or it may be plentiful! A virtual plethora of selections which was made possible by a series of choices! The choices we have made up to this point are responsible