In a time when division runs rampant—even in the church—and believers shred each other publicly for differing opinions, one man bravely steps out to call Christians to unity in the One who binds them all together—Jesus Christ. Author Dr. James W. Walraven dares to suggest that Christians make wiser choices, forgive one another, and mature in their faith.
Walraven, author of Will God Save Everyone, doesn’t shy away from tough topics. He suggests that though doctrines diverge, rather than separate over differences, Christians rally around the truth of the gospel—believers should treat others better than themselves. In a me-first, turbulent culture, the biblical call to love one another is almost a radical concept, but Walraven is convinced unity can be achieved.
“Spiritual maturity is critical when it comes to recognizing and resisting the many false teachings that are being promoted,” Walraven says. “As the world becomes increasingly hostile toward the Christian faith, the need for unity will be increasingly important.”
Dr. Walraven’s new book, One in Christ is written with strength through supporting Scriptures and other resources, yet with personal vulnerability, each chapter concludes with thought-provoking personal challenges designed to move believers closer to oneness in Christ.
The fall college football season is once again upon us. If there is anything that has gone totally bonkers it is the world of college football, with the arrival of the NIL portal. Consider Texas Tech and a player’s recent betting scandal. Within their conference, the Big 12, they are the highest football athlete/recruiting spender at an estimated $40 million per year. While that total is far above many of the other Big 12 schools, that total is “new business as usual” for main schools in both the SEC and the Big 10.
Reflect for a moment what that says about our culture’s priorities. Here in Oregon, the state government recently dropped requirements—at least for now—for graduating high school students to be able to demonstrate even basic proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics. The tests were viewed as unhelpful, as well as being unfair, to students of color and those with disabilities. The suspension lasts at least until the end of the 2027–2028 school year.
Thus, high school students no longer need to be able to read, write, or do basic math to graduate from high school (consider that before 1910, high school students had to know either Latin or Greek to graduate). At the same time, what are universities spending money on? Recruiting 4 and 5-star athletes for their football programs. Be able to function competently in society? Not necessary. Play a game at its highest level? Massively important!
What a culture or country spends its money indicates what that culture or country worships. For our country, athletics, fantasy sports leagues, and sports betting rule the day (hence the betting scandal regarding one of Texas Tech’s former players; betting and conduct they sought to insist be legally ignore). Thinking a bit deeper, what we’re saying is that we worship the human body, its capabilities, its physical strength; we worship ourselves. Yet again, we are collectively guilty of idolatry, of denying God. Is it wrong to participate in sports? No. The problem comes in when we make those same sports, and athletics in general, into a god.
Ponder Psalm 147:10–11 (NAU): “He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.”
Human strength is fleeting. It doesn’t impress the eternal God. Wrestle with the harsh reality: other than the rare exception, eighty years from now every current “4 or 5-star” football recruit will be dead. Even fifty years from now, those still living will have significantly reduced physical capabilities. We are here on this earth only briefly. Is it wise for us to spend our days here worshiping ourselves, thumbing our nose at God, turning our backs towards Him, refusing His offer of salvation through Jesus Christ? As God favors those who fear Him and rely on His love and kindness as opposed to their human physical strength, wouldn’t it be wise for us to change our priorities?
Why do we spend time worshiping that which will perish? Even if the “thing” is fame, money, status, or some other object, what do we gain? All of that will be lost when we die. We might pretend otherwise, but every one of us will physically die. The real issue is: where will we spend eternity: in God’s presence or separated from Him?
Jesus put it this way in Mark 8:36 (NAU): “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”
What are our priorities?
What do the last three sections of 1 Enoch teach? In the previous post we saw that the first two sections of 1 Enoch taught things that fell far outside the bounds of Scripture, including outright error and legendary accounts. We will look at the last three sections of 1 Enoch in turn.
3. The Astronomical Book
The Astronomical Book supposedly deals with the movement of the sun and moon. Both have multiple portals from which they may emerge. Depending on the portal they come out of the resulting weather can be either a blessing or destruction.
Chapter 78 discloses that the circumference of the sun and the moon are the same. A few verses in this section speak of judgment against sinners. Most of the section is flowery speculative verbiage
The section consists of various musings, musings that would not be uncommon for time that 1 Enoch was written. As with the first two sections, the third section is not biblical, not even remotely so.
4. The Book of Dream Visions
The Book of Dream Visions is an allegorical dream about sheep, sheep that portrays the history of Israel from before the exodus to the coming of the victorious Messiah.
All the evil nations, portrayed as various animals, end up being restored. Given the section’s language, it is tough to see it as a prophecy from Enoch. For someone who knows Israel’s history, the vision makes sense, but if someone didn’t know their Old Testament history, it likely would not. It is also very different from the prophetic precision one finds in the book of Daniel.
Once again, the section fails in terms of qualifying as Scripture.
5. The Epistle of Enoch
The Epistle of Enoch is supposedly Enoch’s words to Methusaleh, exhortations given to Methusaleh to live righteously. It includes many woes against the wicked, contrasted with hope for the righteous
Chapter 105 includes prophecies regarding Noah that Enoch gave to Methusaleh to pass on to Lamech just after Noah was born. Biblically, was that conversation even possible?
Genesis 5:20–29 gives the chronology. Enoch lived 300 years after the birth of Methusaleh. Methusaleh was 187 years old when he fathered Lamech, and Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered Noah. Thus, Noah was born 369 years after Enoch fathered Methusaleh. There is only one problem: Enoch was not alive on earth to prophesy at the time Noah was born as Noah was born 69 years after God had taken Enoch.
That chronology doesn’t work, does it? As with the other sections of 1 Enoch, we once again see that this last section of 1 Enoch does not qualify as Scripture.
All told, given what 1 Enoch claims, it is not a biblical book in any sense. It contains too many errors, it has key ideas that go against what Scripture directly state, and chronological impossibilities. But it does say what people want to hear: we are not responsible for our sin; the Watchers are. What is perhaps disconcerting, prominent Bible teachers often use it to teach about the Nephilim and the origin of demons.
We want answers to things that the Bible doesn’t tell us. We either want our pastors to fill in those blanks or we look to hidden books, books that have supposedly been deliberately repressed by the church, for those answers. Those books provide answers, but the answers often directly contradict Scripture. Indeed, one of the reasons the books are marketed as “truth” is precisely to turn us away from God’s revealed truth, found in Scripture alone.
Sadly, we are often no different from the early Gnostics. We want secret truth that no one else has. We want to know, but especially to know “the truth” that contradict what God declares in Scripture, that apart from faith in Jesus Christ, of accepting His death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, we will be separated from God for all eternity in hell.
We can heap up to ourselves teachers who will tell us what we want to hear, but doing so ultimately leads us only to our demise. It is far better to stick with Scripture, what God declares in the Bible. Wisdom is to reject books like the Gnostic Gospels, Jasher, Giants, Jubilees, and the three Enochs, books that purport to tell us “truth,” but instead contain biblical lies.
Hopefully, by God’s grace, we can lead those who have been ensnared by the words of these books, to the truth and freedom found in Jesus Christ.
Foot washing. If there is one thing Jesus urged us to do, that almost no church does—there are a very few exceptions—it is the practice of foot washing.
Consider what happened in John 13:1–15. Washing other people’s feet in Roman times, was a task given to the lowest of the lowest slaves. Few things were considered as demeaning. Yet Jesus did it. It is, perhaps, the most striking example of Jesus’s selfless love prior to His actual crucifixion, His death on the cross for our sins. We see Peter’s shocked reaction in verse eight, his insisting that Jesus not do it. After Jesus tells him that he’d have no part in Him if he didn’t allow it, Peter then tells Jesus to wash all of him. Jesus lets him know that washing his feet is enough.
Jesus washed the feet of Judas. Knowing what we know now—the disciples at the time did not—that Judas would betray Jesus, one cannot but help wondering what Judas’s reaction was. Did he see Jesus’s actions as the Roman world would have, a demeaning task utterly beneath a real leader? Did it harden his heart against Jesus even more? We don’t know: Scripture doesn’t tell us. But think of it from the standpoint of Jesus’s actions. If Jesus did that to the one He knew would betray Him, how do we treat those who seek to betray us? How do we respond to those who hate us? Do we demonstrate the love of Christ, or do we respond in kind? These aren’t comforting questions, but they are worth considering.
Then there is Jesus’s comments after He finished washing their feet. John 13:12–15 (NAU): “So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.”
Jesus adds in verses 16–17 (NAU): “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
Jesus, as Teacher and Lord, washed their feet. As Jesus washed their feet, so they ought to wash each other’s feet. Jesus makes it quite clear that He has given them an example to follow. As He did to them, so should they also do. The same applies to us.
Jesus promises us a blessing if we do these things. We like God’s blessings, don’t we? Yet almost no church practices foot washing. Seventh Day Adventists do, and the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches (now renamed as Charis Fellowship), a church denomination I was part of for a time, does. On an anecdotal level, I did find participating in foot washing services to be a real blessing, as Jesus promised.
So, why don’t we, as Christians, do practice foot washing?