Secondly, I’ve been thinking about the importance of scripture in everyday life. There is no denying that we are living through difficult times. If we focus on what’s in the news, we would live in fear and even depression. Each day, I find solace in prayer and meditation on the Word of God.

African American Slave history inspires us to integrate scripture and spirituality in our everyday life. For them and for us scripture is not simply words on a page. The Word becomes flesh when we learn how the principles of scripture interweave the story of our lives.

For example, the Spiritual, “I Got a Home in that Rock:”

I got a home in that rock, well, don’t you see?

Way between the earth and sky

I thought I heard my Savior cry

Well-a poor Lazarus poor as I

When he died he had a home on high

He had a home in that rock don’t you see?

The rich man died and lived so well

When he died he had a home in Hell

He had no home in that rock, well, don’t you see?

God gave Noah the rainbow sign

No more water but the fire next time

He had a home in that rock, well, don’t you see?

You better get a home in that rock, don’t you see?

May this week be a prayerful week while we rediscover our home in that rock with Lazarus.

Consider the following passage from Psalm 27:11–14 as words for meditation.

Teach me your way, O LORD,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breathe out violence.

I believe that I shall look
upon the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!

Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!

Grace and peace,

Dr. Antipas
January 9, 2017

Prophets with no names, lions that do not clean their plates, altars that split without an axe and a king with an arm that looks like a raisin: all these elements contribute to an intriguing and sometimes baffling story found in First Kings 13. Evangelicals are attracted to it because the story contains powerful prophetic fulfillment. Charismatics love it because signs and wonders are displayed. The Emergent crowd likes it because the story values authenticity and relationship. What do we make of this prophecy for the ages?

Power Encounter

Image: Lemuel Butler

A fascinating story of prophetic courage and failure is found in First Kings 13. If the story were only verses one to ten, it would rank with Elijah’s confrontation with the Baal priests at Mt. Carmel as one of the great bold strokes in Old Testament history ( v. 1-3 ). The Judean “man of God” (a euphemism for prophet) confronts the Northern Kingdom’s ruler, Jeroboam. Jeroboam’s idolatry and false altar (he worships at Bethel instead of Jerusalem) calls forth Yahweh’s judgment. The man of God prophesies that King Josiah will be born from the house of David (Southern Judean ruler) who will judge the idolatry of the northern kingdom. This prophecy is truly remarkable. Not only does the man of God precisely describe the actions of Yahweh three hundred years before the event, but also he calls the future king by name. This is prophetic accuracy at its finest (see 2 Kings 23:15-20 ). The man of God truly must have been a man of God; intimately acquainted with the ways, heart, and character of Yahweh ( Isaiah 55:8-9 ). In addition, the man of God prophesies a split altar signifying Yahweh’s displeasure with Israel’s idolatrous worship ( v. 3 ). The word is fulfilled as God performs his own version of Demolition Day ( v. 5 ). The prophet walks in the intimacy with God and the power of the Spirit: the words and works of Jesus.

By Whose Authority?

High drama continues when Jeroboam points his finger at the man of God, demands his arrest, and the king’s hand withers ( 1 Kings 13:4-6 ). In our culture, finger pointing is simply an added gesture for emphasis. In some parts of Africa, pointing is considered rude beyond all measure. In Bible times, pointing the finger symbolized authority. In scripture, the right hand is a symbol of intense power and strength.¹  The king by his right hand was leading the Israelites in false worship, but God’s mighty power reduced the king’s hand into a dry shriveled appendage. “The withering of Jeroboam’s hand demonstrated the superiority of God’s authority.”²  The man of God displays Yahweh’s mercy and kindness when he heeds the king’s request to restore his hand. Then, Jeroboam tries a little manipulation by inviting the prophet to dinner ( 1 Kings 13:7 ).

Church historian William L. De Arteaga shows us that the supernatural aspects of missionary John Nevius’ ministry in China was suppressed and forgotten in the West.

When Protestant missionaries arrived in China early in the Nineteenth Century they had all been educated into cessationism. Part of this awful theology was the belief that exorcism and belief in the present reality of the demonic was archaic, as demons were supposed to have left the earth after the crucifixion. The practice of exorcism was linked to the “corrupt” and priest-centered theology of Roman Catholicism.

The missionaries noticed that the Chinese universally believed in the spirit realm, and that even their Christian coverts retained a belief in demonic spirits. For many missionaries this seemed only a passing stage of the newly converted Christians, as they moved to a more “mature” Christian theology. Several missionaries saw beyond this superficial analysis and understood that the Chinese converts were indeed touching on real spiritual matters.

Among those who came to understand that it was the Chinese who had a more accurate and biblical view of the demonic was the Rev. John L. Nevius,[1] one the most distinguished Christian missionaries of all time. Born in 1829 in Ovid, New York, he received his ministerial education at Princeton Theological Seminary. He arrived in China with his wife Helen in 1854, and from that date until his death in 1893 he spent his life preaching the Gospel and organizing Presbyterian missionary effort in China, and then briefly, Korea.

John Livingston Nevius

Nevius developed what was later dubbed the “Nevius method.” This was a missionary church organized with the intention of making it self-reliant in the shortest possible time. This included severance from outside funding and a structure of home churches led by volunteers. The method sought to remove undue cultural influences on the native church, and give local converts authority as quickly as possible. This attitude was a reflection of Nevius’ appreciation for the good points of Chinese culture, which he learned after his arrival in China and had time to study. Nevius especially esteemed Confucius philosophy and ethical norms as pointing to, and anticipating the Gospel. He often incorporated Confucius’ saying in his sermons – as Paul incorporated Greek poets into his address at the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17:22ff).[2] The Nevius method was controversial among Presbyterian missionaries in China, and never fully implemented there, but had a major impact on the formation of the vigorous Korean Protestant churches.[3]

John Nevius arrived in China as fully convinced of cessationism as any other Presbyterian minister of the 1850s. As was the custom, a local scholar was employed as his language teacher. For Nevius it was a Mr. Tu. During the moments of informal conversation between teacher and pupil, Mr. Tu. would relate to the folklore of Chinese demons and spirit world. Nevius’ reaction at this point was to consider these stories as a sign of the “mental weakness” of Chinese culture and to be little more than superstitions. However, being a gentleman, he allowed Mr. Tu to go on with his tales. Even at this early stage he felt a bothersome similarity between what he was hearing and the stories of possession and exorcism in the Gospels.

After his language training, the Rev. Nevius was assigned to Shantung province which became his life-long post. There the small missionary community became aware of the case of a haunted house which was cleansed by the mere presence of a newly arrived native Christian family. This was reported to the missionaries, and Nevius recorded that: “It was accounted for as due, like other cases of ‘haunted houses,’ to fear and hallucination, and the subject was dismissed from our thoughts… .”[4]