Month: August 2025

               A few weeks ago in the Sunday Afternoon Forum class, a class member asked a question about 2 Thessalonians 2:7. This verse says, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” When I first heard the reference mentioned, I knew we were on our way to a controversial scripture. The Forum Class often works this way, and it is one of the reasons it can be difficult. People ask questions about verses where they can get no certain answers from the commentaries they read, or if they do not read commentaries, it is just a strange sounding configuration of words and phrases that are difficult to decipher.

               Reading this verse in the context of the subject matter in both the end of 1 Thessalonians 5 and the entire letter of 2 Thessalonians, it is obvious it is not talking about ordinary daily experiences of Christians. This looks forward to a future time and the way that God chooses to end the present economy and take us into the consummation of the ages and then to the eternity of heaven with Christ. For centuries, what this consummation will be and how it unfolds has been the subject of controversy. My purpose today is not to give an opinion of 2 Thessalonians 2:7, but to tell you the controversies live on and there are good, devoted Bible believing Christians on one or more sides of the explanations of the text.

               Going back to a few hundred years after Christ, confusion reigned. Admittedly, there was not as much discussion of eschatology as we have today as this part of Systematic Theology has exploded with Bible conferences on prophecy that produce much more heat than light. There was a time when theologians thought these passages and especially Revelation were impossible to explain, and that the Revelation may not even be a part of the biblical canon. In the ensuing centuries, God opened understanding of the scriptures. He did not give us new revelation since God completed the canon before the end of the first century. The original authors of scripture knew what they were writing but as is typical with many Christians, the following generations of Christians did not dedicate as much to the study of them as heresies were bouncing around like many balls in a children’s playhouse.

               What to do when these questions come, and the questioner already has a decided opinion borne out of many controversies? Often the solution is to stick to a favored system whether there are problems in other areas with that system. Quite frankly, I find this to be where we are. I do not find any of our systematic schemes to be perfect and without problems. This includes our precious premillennial pretribulational rapture. However, I am convinced of some aspects of this that I will not negotiate. The first is that Christ will return. This is the fuel for continued dedication to His work. Secondly, God is faithful to fulfill His promises to Old Testament Israel. These promises are not to the church. They are to the nation of ethnic Jews who will enter a kingdom headquartered in Jerusalem and governed by Jesus Christ the righteous king of all ages. Gentile believers in Christ will aid in the rule of this kingdom but it will be primarily Jewish in nature. Remember, Jehovah God of Israel is the same God of the Gentiles. He does not change.

               Thirdly, and I must stop here for space, this kingdom will exist for one thousand years before God purges the creation by fire. At this time, God creates a new heaven and new earth that are perfect and will remain forever. There are many details within these major points to argue. While I am convinced of some and not of others, rabid dogmatism for or against centuries old differences do not alter the salvation of those whose faith is in Christ and Him alone. I will continue to answer questions, but it is doubtful on this subject I will die on anything other than these three hills.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

            Three weeks ago, I was sitting in a hotel room in Flagstaff, AZ quite alone because I no longer have my life’s companion. Snow was falling and quickly ruining my chances of getting on the road early in the morning to make my way home. My Bible reading for the week had brought me to Ezekiel chapter 8 in which God speaks to the prophet to reveal the secret sins of Israel’s leadership. In these ominous words, the Lord says: “Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.” (Ezekiel 8:12). This scripture has been on my mind since my early childhood. I attended a Bible conference in Detroit, Michigan with my father where I heard a preacher use this verse to describe the secret sins of our hearts that no one sees or knows but us. The point God makes is that nothing is hidden from His eyes and we will not escape the punishment for these  secret sins.

            This is on my mind today as I write this article because I have been thinking about accountability. With my wife by my side, I always felt I had eyes watching me to see if I was the man I claimed to be. Of course, I know God sees me but too often we fool ourselves into thinking that what others think is more important than what God thinks. We know we must stand before God to give an account, but it is not immediate nor do others see or understand the consequences of any secret actions we take. I now feel more keenly aware that I must be especially vigilant not to be secretly someone else. To pretend we are righteous and holy and to put up a front of obedience is serious sin and betrayal against God and His saints.

            Ezekiel goes on in this chapter and in the next to speak of the idolatry of these wicked servants. They pretend to worship God in His temple as if they are obedient when God implores Ezekiel to inspect where he will find still greater abominations. There is lip service to God while secretly in the heart they are turned towards their idols and they substitute a pretended obedience to Jehovah God while worshipping in His place the sins that are truly their gods. No amount of obedience to an abomination adds up to righteousness.

            While I do not have unqualified faith in human character, I have learned enough about our behavior to know that we are not ignorantly deceptive. These are crimes that fall into the category of commission with malice and intent. If you must hide something, you know enough to know it is wrong. At this point you are past all hope that ignorance is the cause. You know it, we know it, and most certainly God knows it.

            We must read Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel with fear and trembling. The peculiar purposeful sins of idolatry that Israel refused to acknowledge and to turn away from caused the burning of the temple and the destruction of the walls of the Holy City. And beware, it caused Jeremiah, the man of God, to be blamed for the message he delivered and to be cast into the deep mire of a dungeon.

            One more scripture comes to mind. Hebrews 10:31: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Pastor V. Mark Smith

               Two weeks ago, I mentioned watching a movie about the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was born in Poland in 1906 and died in one of Nazi Germany’s concentration camps in 1945. Prior to World War II, he resisted the rise of Naziism both in their genocidal atrocities against the Jews and others and their efforts to control churches even to the point of proclaiming Hitler a Messiah and rewriting the word of God. In 1937, he wrote his most well-known book, The Cost of Discipleship. If I could reduce his book to one overarching theme, the cost of discipleship is obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

               Bonhoeffer argued that in Christ call of discipleship, He synonymously activates both faith and obedience so that one cannot obey Christ without faith, and one cannot have faith in Christ without obedience. He used Peter’s walking on water and Levi’s call from the receipt of custom to follow Him. In neither instance did Christ call for an act of faith and yet they could not obey Christ’s command without it. Peter walked and Levi followed—both acts of obedience but neither activated without faith. Bonhoeffer wrote: “…when once Christ has called him, Peter has no alternative—he must leave the ship and come to him. In the end, the first step of obedience proves to be an act of faith in the word of Christ.” The one who calls enables the faith to do.

               These were convincing examples, but the one that captivated my attention is the rich young ruler who came to Jesus asking what he must do to have eternal life. In my sojourn of grief these past weeks, I have not concentrated on writing sermons or preparing for the pulpit through sermons I have already written. Imagine my surprise when I returned to start preparing again that I had written a sermon from Mark 10 on the rich young ruler. This escaped me until it was necessary to get back into the gospel of Mark. Bonhoeffer titled the first part of his book, Grace and Discipleship. The second and third chapters in this section are The Call to Discipleship and Single-Minded Obedience. Both chapters lean heavily on Jesus’ answering the young ruler’s question.

               I found Bonhoeffer’s exposition of this passage exceptional. Today and next week, we will study this event. While I will not specifically deal with Bonhoeffer’s angle, I found it helpful and thought provoking. In my thoughts, I discovered the rich young ruler’s problem is not peculiar to rich people. It fits anyone who tries self-justification of sin especially when they say, “I have tried but I cannot obey.” The young man’s refusal to give up riches to obey is the same as anyone’s refusal to give up their vice, their supposed orientation, or whatever they hold onto that is against the word (the command) of Christ. Here is the crux of the matter. Faith and obedience are present together. Christ grants both. Bonhoeffer’s now famous line is, “Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.” The consequences of this doctrine are enormous. The rich young ruler did not obey because he did not believe. The scriptures are clear as crystal on this point. How do you call Christ “Lord” if you do not obey Him? In short, how do you claim salvation in protracted deliberate disobedience? Christianity has gone completely off the rails with oxymoronic terms like “homosexual Christian.” Explain how this is possible and what Jesus would say. By faith in the word of God, I know how He would react. Take heed, this is as impossible as a camel going through the eye of a needle.

               Stay tuned. The world hates obedience to Christ. Sadly, the world is full of pie-in-the sky pious Christians who neither care too much for it. Shakespeare’s Hamlet said, “To thine own self be true.” I found this definition of Shakespeare’s line: “It suggests that one should remain honest and loyal to their own values, beliefs, and identity above all else.” Here is a much better saying that fits Christianity: “Yet not I but Christ in me.”

Pastor V. Mark Smith

(written at Pastor’s return to the pulpit in March 2025)

            This morning, I am thankful to return to the pulpit of the Berean Baptist Church. Although I enjoy visiting with Christians in other parts of the country and I especially rejoice when I meet others closely aligned with us on the doctrines of the faith, there are still many other aspects of these churches that feel nothing like home. You have heard me say the most important part of worship in the church is the preaching from the pulpit. This will always be the most scrutinized part of worship in the churches I attend. If the preaching is not solid in the fundamentals of the faith and in those doctrines that correctly express the sovereignty of God, I would not recommend the church.

            Additionally, there are preferential issues that wound the spirit and make it hard to enjoy the preaching of the word. We all know that music has the potential of lifting us and helping us to adore our Lord while at other times the poor presentation and the worldly style of it can never make us feel as if we are anywhere near where angels tread. I experienced some of this in the services I attended but I always came away with something helpful because the preaching each week was solid. Do I need to ask the Lord to forgive me because I thought Satan composed the music program?

            Attending church is not always the panacea for our spiritual ills we hope it will be. I appreciate the good I received in these churches, but nothing could revive my spirit like being in my home church. The people in our regular worship circle are much more likely to be one with us in the Holy Spirit. I am excited to meet these other Christians, and we will be in heaven together, but they do not attract my attention as deeply and sincerely as those I have had the privilege of helping to grow in the faith. Part of what I am trying to say is sitting in the church is different from working in the church. Those who only sit in the church can sit disconnected in a variety of assemblies without feeling troubled or empty. Those who work and must work are not content to do anything other than just this. I walk into this church, and it is my church whereas my attendance elsewhere is only as an outsider looking in. I do not have as much ability to impact the lives of people I briefly meet.

            Christ designed His church as an active fellowship. It is people who work together, stay together, worship together; they build a community together. This is who we are at Berean. I love to serve here because our people show appreciation for the Word. You will not tolerate anything less than the whole counsel of truth. You have shown uncommon appreciation for the shepherd. Your Christ-like spirit is abundantly evident as revealed in the concern you have for my emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being. My strength still needs evaluation. I have no fears that if I should not be as fit as I hoped, you will help me as much as I need. We have flipped the pastoral/congregational dynamic these past few months. This should make us all more aware that in the final assessment of our lives at Christ’s judgment seat, we are none higher than the other. As the apostle wrote: “Let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.” (Philippians 3:16b)

            My sincere thanks for all the love and support I have received. There are too many experiences to enumerate here. Suffice to say, I am thrilled to be back in your tender embrace.

Pastor V. Mark Smith