On July 1, 2023

ANDIAMO! NOTES ON HERACLITUS OF EPHESUS AND THE CRITICAL IMPORTANCE OF CHARACTER

SCRIPTURE. “You are witnesses, [yes] and God [also], how unworldly and upright and blameless was our behavior toward you believers [who adhered to and trusted in and relied on our Lord Jesus Christ].” – 1 THESSALONIANS 2:10, AMPC

KEY TERMS. Witnesses; Unworldly; Upright; Blameless.

THE WORD: “ANDIAMO!” This common Italian phrase is the first-person plural of the verb ‘Andare,’which means, “To go.” However, when it is used as an imperative, its meaning switches to: “LET’S GO!” I do not speak Italian, but again, I heard this clear as a bell as I was preparing this study.

QUOTATION. “Our burdens sometimes seem unbearable. Rarely do we see that each burden, small or large, is an invitation to turn to the Savior. But each burden is precisely that: An invitation to seek Christ’s help. He will—if we will permit it—exchange burdens with us. ‘My burden,’ He promises, ‘is light.’ If we dare to make the exchange, we slowly discover that His burden isn’t heavy.” ― JEAN-MICHEL HANSEN, “Atonement, Transformation, Blessings,” An American Christmas (4 vols.), 2012; edited

I. FIRST THOUGHTS

Permit me once again to begin with a very personal anecdote from October 30th, 1979. I was sitting in the office Pastor Eugene Kraft around 10 in the morning at Lincoln Neighborhood Church in Stockton, California. Exhausted, I had just finished a 72-hour non-stop ordeal of pitched suicidal depression and sleeplessness following about 20 years as an alcoholic, and I had come to the end of myself.

Curiously, on the third night just before I had planned to climb into my garaged RX-7 sports car, key on the ignition, punch up some choice tunes on the car stereo while taking a fistful of 30 mg. Dalmane (Flurazepam) industrial strength tranquilizers with a few gulps of cheap Scotch whiskey, I had read a book.

Man in Black, by JOHNNY CASH (1975), his story of debauchery, drugs, and near-death episodes. I connected with Mr. Cash down to my roots. Which is why I was in a pastor’s office. Figured I had no other options except death.

As the pastor asked a few questions to get some background, realizing instantly what was going on since I looked like death that morning, he asked me if we could pray, and I reluctantly then desperately said, “Yes.” As I began to pray, uncoached and totally unused to this sort of thing, I felt a catch in my throat as the tears welled and then burst forth like a broken dam:

“Dear God, if you are there, I don’t want to be a bad man anymore! I want to be a good man.”

SECULAR STEPPING-STONES. Ten years before this during my early tenure as an erstwhile student of Human (Speech) Communication at Long Beach State College (CA), I was fascinated by the Ancient Origins of Rhetoric. That is the study of the Philosophy of Speech Communication. Several thinkers would help explain why I said that prayer at the age of 35.

HERACLITUS. “Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character … ‘Character is Destiny.’” – “The Weeping Philosopher,” Fragments, c. 500 BC; edited

SOCRATES. “‘You are wrong, sir, if you think that a man who is any good at all should take into account the risk of life or death; he should look to this only in his actions, whether what he does is right or wrong, ‘whether he is acting like a good or a bad man.’” – The Trial of Socrates, 399 BC; edited

QUINTILLIAN. “The Orator then, whom I am concerned to form, shall be the orator as defined by Marcus Cato, ‘A good man, skilled in speaking.’ But above all he must possess the quality which Cato places first and which is in the very nature of things the greatest and most important, that is, ‘he must be a good man.’” – Institutio Oratoria, 95 AD, Book 12; edited

I am grateful for the Lord’s wisdom to prepare me for my later life in Christ regarding the answer to that prayer about being a good man. We turn now to that crucial perspective.

II. THE BIBLICAL VIEW

I will ask the ladies out there to forgive me while I zero in on the Biblical Characteristics of a genuine Man of God. This since our Pastorate is filled with men vastly more than women, and because I have been addressing that population for several years running now.

I turn here to an excellent essay by VINCE MILLER, founder of the men’s discipleship and leadership ministry, Resolute, who had been fatherless nearly all his life. Here he is writing for John Piper’s online journal, Desiring God, in a piece entitled, “NINE ATTRIBUTES OF A REAL MAN” (Oct. 16, 2015; edited).

1. AUTHORITY. A man commits to following a greater authority. “[Jesus] said, ‘Follow Me.’ But [the man] said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.’ Yet another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God’” (LUKE 9:59-62).

2. SACRIFICE. He commits to sacrifice all else in the shadow of discipleship. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (LUKE 14:26).

3. OBEDIENCE. He commits to determined, joyful obedience. “After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God’” (JOHN 6:66-69).

4. DISCIPLINE. He commits to spiritual discipline. “Rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, [Jesus] departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed” (MARK 1:35).

5. TRUTH. He commits to abide in the Word of Truth. “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’” (JOHN 8:31-32).

6. FRUITFUL. He commits to growth and production, especially spiritual fruit. “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples” (JOHN 15:8).

COMMISSION. He commits to carry out God’s Mission. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (MATTHEW 28:19-20).

LOVE. He commits to love others faithfully. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (JOHN 13:34-35).

COMMUNITY ACTION. He commits to community and action. “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (HEBREWS 10:24-25).

Having reestablished a firmer Doctrinal Foundation for what Godly Christian Men look like, let’s next consider how PAUL THE APOSTLE exhibits all these important attributes.

III. THE TEACHING

KEY TERMS. Witnesses; Unworldly; Upright; Blameless. As has become my practice, we go to the Drill-Down on these central ideas that drive our understanding of this passage.

WITNESSES. ‘Martus’ [μάρτυς]: “One who is especially mindful of the Truth, even unto death [as a literal, ‘martyr’]; an individual who bears unswerving testimony to God’s Word; keeps a record of events that honor God; to see or know by one’s personal presence; the attestation of a fact or set of facts.”

UNWORLDLY. ‘Hosiós’ [ὁσίως]: “Religiously, piously, holily; from intrinsic, ‘Divine Character;’ hallowed, the opposite of defilement from human statutes and customs; that which is worthy of reverence; righteous, unpolluted with wickedness; conformed to God and His Law more than to human laws an duties.”

UPRIGHT. ‘Dikaiós’ [δικαίως]: “Just, righteous; judicially approved; that which is straight [and true]; pious; that which ‘ought to be;’ agreeable to the Law of Rectitude [found in the Scriptures]; honest; fair; with integrity according truth and facts; properly, accurately, exactly.”

BLAMELESS. ‘Amemptós’ [ἀμέμπτως]: “Irreproachable, faultless; [done in such a way that there can be no legitimate criticism]; innocent; guiltless; not meriting censure; guiltless; above suspicion; unsullied, unimpeachable; impeccable, righteous; pure, virtuous.”

COMMENTARY. “‘Ye are witnesses, and God also’ – Not so much to what goes before as to what follows after, ‘relating to their holy walk and conversation among them,’ the more open part of which they were witness of; and for the more secret part God is appealed to, who is ‘acquainted with the springs of actions, as well as with actions themselves’ …

‘And their conversation was also unblamable.’ Not that they were without sin, and so without blame in themselves, or without the commission of sin by them, or that they passed without censure in the world, for they went through honour and dishonour, through good report and bad report, and had all manner of evil spoken of them falsely for Christ’s name’s sake; but by the grace of God: ‘They had their conversation among them that believed so, that there was nothing [legitimately] material to be alleged against them, or any just cause of blame to be laid either on their persons or their ministry; and which is mentioned for imitation.” – JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

PERSONAL POINT. I see now why my life-long fascination with HUMAN TALK is so important to the Lord of the Church. Specifically, His central concern with ‘The Preaching’ [“the Rhetoric”] that is coming from our Pulpits and ‘The Integrity’ of the Preachers.

So, I return to our Guest of Honor, our notable Greek Herald of all that America and her Church desperately need to relearn. And soon!

HERACLITUS: “‘Character is Destiny.’ This quote implies that Destiny, or Fate, is not a predetermined outside force [Heraclitus would not have been a Calvinist!], but that one’s Future, or Destiny, ‘is determined by his own inner character.’– CHRISTINE BARTSCH, “Which Greek Philosopher Said, ‘Character is Destiny?’” Education Seattle, ret. June 12, 2023; edited

Sadly, tragically, as we continue to listen to the Deafening Silence of the American Church on such existential matters as Christian Nationalism, the Covid-19 vaccines, the bloody ‘Christian’ Insurrection of January 6, and the 66 million QAnon cultists that include millions of followers of Christ, I am stunned at our unprecedented Rebellion against both Christ and Canon.

The whole world is watching us, beloved, and they are rightly appalled!

IV. LAST THOUGHTS

MY OBJECTIVE for ending this Commentary was to find some research that proposed how to confront the Church’s Departure from Orthodoxy that I have spent many hours and words documenting for the past three years. But I could not find a single piece devoted to RESOLUTION of the current Crisis.

Lots of analyses of ‘What,’ but virtually nothing of ‘How to fix it.’

IT’S UP TO US.So was I forced to come up with my own set of recommendations for resolving the issue but to be honest, I kept coming up with bupkis. Until that priceless ‘Voice’ whispered to me around 4 am on Friday morning (June 30), a single sort of “orphan” Scripture I had never recalled reading before.

“Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted (leaned on, relied on You, and were confident) and You delivered them.” – PSALM 22:4, AMPC

When I first read it, I sort of sniffed it away mumbling something to the Lord like, “Well this isn’t much help, Sir.” (I know. I sometimes wonder how He restrains Himself from just smacking me into oblivion for such thoughtless comments). But on second reflection, a very bright light flashed on as I realized GOD’S ANSWER to the American Crisis was right here before me, stated in Occam-like precision.

KEY TERMS.There are only Two Hebrew Words that define this powerful instruction precisely for us.

TRUSTED. ‘Batach’ [בָּטח]: “Lit., ‘to hie [go quickly] for refuge;’ to be confident or sure [of God’s help]; to hope; expresses feelings of safety and security when one can rely on someone or something else; accompanied by the absence of fear; thereby are the righteous able to be bold as a lion (Prov. 28:1).”

DELIVERED. ‘Palat’ [פָלַט]: “To slip out, escape; to carry away to a safe place; also, to preserve or rescue; to free; to release, as from restraint; to set at liberty; as, to deliver one from captivity; to give, or transfer; to put into another’s hand or power; to commit; to pass from one to another; to surrender; to yield; to give up [all to God in faith].”

Okay, now stay with me as I develop this further by just doing a limited ‘Deep Dive.’

THE COMMENTARY. “‘Our fathers’ — That is, my fathers, according to the flesh, the Israelites; ‘trusted in Thee, and were delivered’ —Were not disappointed of that for which they prayed and hoped: But whenever they cried unto Thee in their distress, Thou didst send them deliverance, as by Gideon, Samson, Samuel, &c. ‘To trust in God is the way to obtain deliverance,’ and ‘the former instances of the Divine Favour are so many arguments why we should hope for the same; but it may not always be vouchsafed when we expect it.” ― JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

And what was then and is now the Divine Imperative for dealing with such cries for help from the lower chambers of their frequent Rebellions?

PURIFICATION! Presuming the Church in America is as corrupted by the scourge of Trump-fueled Christian Nationalism as I have argued for the past three years, our own urgently needed Divine Directive becomes crystal clear, beloved. But it will be very, very hard, if not impossible.

The following bold declaration from PAUL THE APOSTLE explains why, beloved.

“But actually, I have written to you not to associate with any so-called [Christian] brother if he is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater [devoted to anything that takes the place of God], or is a reviler [who insults or slanders or otherwise verbally abuses others], or is a drunkard or a swindler—you must not so much as eat with such a person. For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders (non-believers)? Do you not judge those who are within the church [to protect the church as the situation requires]?God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside [the faith]. Remove the wicked one from among you! [expel him from your church].” — 1 CORINTHIANS 5:11-13, AMP

1. Starting with Church Leaders across the entire spectrum of the Evangelical and Spirit Filled community, there must first and foremost be Public Repentance! Loud. Sustained. Sincere. Humble. If we cannot see this take place, there is no need to read further, because its absence shall signal our Death Warrant.

2. Repudiation of the toxic false doctrine of Christian Nationalism must next take place on a Church-wide scale. Not just ‘in passing,’ but a full-on assault, with thorough documentation, of this spiritual poison.

3. Removal of all the idolaters from the Church would clearly be the most difficult and painful step toward clearing out the massive Darkness from most churches today. That is precisely what both Christ and Canon call for, beloved. The Greek terms here leave no wiggle room.

NO COMPANY. ‘Sunanamignumi’ [συναναμίγνυμι]: “To mix up together, to associate with; mingle together with, keep company with; thereby to identify closely with [as a follower of Jesus Christ]; to associate intimately with ‘in order to influence;’ by imp., to combine two different compounds together [‘syncretize, as with leaven, that spoils the whole loaf;’ cf. Gal. 5:9].”

NO IDOLATER. To worship an image [or ideology contrary to the Gospel]; by implication, ‘the veneration of a false [or heathen] god;’ an icon or image or idea [to replace the One True God]; excessive attachment or veneration for any thing, or that which borders on ‘adoration;’[as with the worship of The Golden Calf in the desert of Sinai, the punishment for which was death by sword and gold-polluted water; cf. Exodus 32:19-20, 27-28].”

REMOVE! ‘Exairó’ [ἐξαίρω]: “To lift up, remove, eject; to take completely away out of a place; to put away in any manner; to cause to leave a person or thing; to banish or destroy; as, to remove a disease or complaint [or impurity]; to drive or force out from any inclosed place; to exclude, to throw out; to banish; to exile, reject; to refuse entry; old def., ‘excommunicate,’ or officially prohibit someone from participation in the sacraments and services of the Christian Church.”

Of such Breach, the eminent 18^th century British theologian MATTHEW HENRY fired point blank: “Christians are to avoid familiar converse with all who disgrace the Christian name. Such are only fit companions for their brethren in sin, and to such company they should be left, whenever it is possible to do so. ‘Alas, that there are many called Christians, whose conversation is more dangerous than that of heathens!’” – Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

CODA. Again, having been unable to find a single, serious, theologically sound article on ‘How to Remove’ the rancid Scourge of Christian Nationalism from our Church ranks, I had to pen this essay pretty much from scratch. So, please view this as a work in progress.

Nonetheless, I sincerely believe that these Biblical Requirements provide the only hope for a Nation and a Church gone nearly fully Renegade from the Original Vision of “Our Fathers.”

It’s the Church! We are no longer laboring to save a Nation, beloved. We must first Reform and Rescue the Church if we are to see America return to any measure of her former integrity. And if that does not take place because of Pastoral Negligence or Hubris, then we are left with the FINAL WARNINGS FROM JUDE in, not accidentally, the next to the last Book in the Bible sometimes referred to as “The Acts of the Apostates.”

“But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction;but others save with fear, pulling

them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.” – VV. 17-23, NKJV

These are the very Words of our King to the Remnant Church of the Last Times. May we heed them, while again, it is still day. Night is coming fast now, when no man can work.’

Ever your servant, DK

Cliff Kelly, Ph.D.

Digital Circuit Rider

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/PGm0ZuikPng