A tiny strip of land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean is probably the most disputed piece of territory on earth. For thousands of years it has been fought over; in the last 60 years or so, it has been the focus of international attention as rival peoples have claimed their rights to the area. From time to time there have been promising moves toward reconciliation, and bitter enemies have signed cease-fires and peace treaties — yet the state of tension and unrest has continued.

The parties which are directly at odds with each other in this dispute are the Israelis and the Palestinians. Each side provokes the other: Palestinians, often with the backing of other Arab states and political movements, have launched rockets into Israel, undertaken suicide bombings, and promoted unrest among Israeli Arabs. Israel, with the backing of the United States and international Jewish groups, has conducted heavy reprisals, and pushed ahead with its policy of building Jewish settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians. Serious-minded people are concerned about the worsening situation and its implications for Middle East stability.

In this booklet we shall first attempt to define the Palestinian Question and then look at what the Bible has to say …

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No doubt may people today would say: “Why are you bothering with baptism? It’s only a ceremony, isn’t it? Having a few drops of holy water sprinkled on the head of an infant by a clergy man in church, or just having a bath? What real difference can it make? You’re wasting your time.”

The short answer is that the New Testament has a great deal to say about baptism, from the lips of Jesus himself as well as through his apostles. Now the plain fact is that the Bible is all we have. If we want to know who Jesus was, what he taught and what he commanded his followers to do, we must go to the Bible for the answers. To look elsewhere is to rely on the opinions of men, whether of individuals or of bodies of men in Synods or Councils. What the Bible has to says about baptism must be vital for us. If Christ and his chosen apostles have declared certain things about baptism, then we ought to want to know what they are.

The really important question must therefore surely be: What did Jesus command and teach and what did his apostles do as a result?

“Born of Water”

To Nicodemus, the Jewish leader who came to him by night, Jesus …

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Suffering is a problem in life that comes home to everyone. A child is born blind, deformed or mentally afflicted; and the question comes: Why? The child has done no harm.

A man or woman of fine character and in the prime of life is racked with pain in a hopeless disease that can only end in death. Why him? Why her? These are the people who can least be spared. Millions in the world are suffering semi-starvation and disease in countries with vast populations and low agricultural productivity. Others perish or are made homeless in floods and earthquakes. Why should they suffer?

Pain, torture and death have been imposed on helpless millions by the tyranny of man and the destructiveness of modern war. Countless lives are lost in acts of terrorism, by brutality and hijacking. Accidents there have always been, but the scale of today’s disasters and natural calamities is often overwhelming: a passenger aircraft crashes; an oil rig blows up; fire traps hundreds in an underground train. People ask: Why does God allow it?

Does God care?

The questions readily arise …

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Prominent among the many changes in society that have taken place in the modern world has been the increasing number of women taking on jobs that were previously the sole domain of men. There are women in most of the major professions; women doctors, lawyers and engineers. Women can be found in important positions in industry and commerce, and running large companies. Women are involved in politics, and a number of countries have a woman as their head of government. With this emphasis on equality of opportunity in so many spheres of life have come calls for the greater involvement of women in the religious world, specifically to take up a place alongside men as priests. This suggestion, though warmly welcomed in some quarters, has roused strong and passionate feelings. The adherents of widely differing views staunchly defend them by stating that theirs is the only position that can be tolerated. But this only serves to provide greater confusion. Who is right? Those who say it is wrong for women to act as priests, or those who say it is only prejudice that is keeping them out of these positions? What makes the problem even worse is that churchmen themselves cannot agree. They all claim to speak authoritatively, yet they cannot come to a common view, or even accept a common basis from which a position can be determined. If there is such disagreement in the ranks of churchmen, no wonder so many people feel perplexed and bewildered by the subject and become disillusioned with religion all together. Where can the real answer be found? Is there a voice of authority we can listen to?

A Source of Authority

The Bible deals with religious matters, …

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We talk about hope in everyday conversation. We say “I hope you feel better soon”, or “We hope to go abroad this year” or “I hope the weather will be better in a day or so”. We mean there is something in the future we should very much like to happen, and we feel cautiously optimistic that it will. Life without hope would be very grim. Even in the worst of circumstances, people look on the bright side. A poet wrote: “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” Hope can give men extraordinary tenacity of spirit. Miners trapped by a roof fall, or sailors drifting on a raft, will often fight death for days, convinced that their friends will come to the rescue before it is too late.

Sadly, of course, they are sometimes disappointed. It can happen that the rock fall is too deep to tunnel through, or no one knows the ship has foundered. In this case the chance to which they cling does not exist, and their hope is an illusion.

Hope with a Foundation

Hope is a topic that crops up frequently in the Bible. …

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The Middle East is in turmoil — civil wars, brutal insurgency, millions of refugees fleeing to Turkey, Jordan and Europe, bombings on the streets of Paris and Brussels, Palestinian statehood unresolved, Gaza rockets, the Intifada continuing with stabbings on the streets of Jerusalem. Russia warns that the Middle East is bringing the world to the brink of World War Three.

Why the Middle East?

But the Middle East has not always been so important. The modern history of the area can be divided into three phases:

1. The first phase began in the nineteenth century when Britain, France and Russia developed their imperialist ambitions. Whoever controlled the Middle East controlled the trade routes to India. What became known as the ‘Eastern Question’ was the policy of Britain to prop up Turkey as a buffer against Russian ambitions to obtain a Mediterranean sea port. The First World War saw the end of this phase, with Britain and France replacing Turkey as protectors of Palestine, Arabia, Mesopotamia and Syria.
2. The second phase occupied the period between World War One and World War Two. To understand what happened then we need to recognise the new factor which emerged towards the end of the nineteenth century — Zionism, the movement to create a homeland for the Jews in Palestine. In 1917 the Balfour Declaration committed the British Government to support the creation of a national home for the Jews in Palestine. The declaration also said that nothing should be done to infringe the rights of the Palestinians. Yet ancient conflicts reawakened as Arab as well as Jewish nationalism grew. Today many Arab organisations still consider the Balfour Declaration to be “a crime against the Palestinian people”.
3. The League of Nations after the First World War gave Britain the mandate over Palestine which she held until 1948. On May 14, 1948 Israel declared itself an independent state, and was formally recognised by the United Nations. So began the third phase and the bitter conflicts which have continued ever since. What made the Middle East so important globally over this period is that the world’s economies have been heavily dependent upon Middle East oil and gas.

Looking back over this history …

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Most people would accept that prayer is part of a religious life. Often those who have little to do with a church, who rarely pick up a Bible, who give scant attention to God, will, when faced with a crisis, turn to Him in prayer. Many helpless individuals, faced with the stark reality of death, have gone down on their knees in prayer. It sometimes comes as a surprise to discover that some of the most powerful of people in history have been people of prayer,

What is Prayer?

What then is prayer all about? Is it just an exercise to bring comforting thoughts into our minds? Is it a way of miraculously solving impossible situations? Is it simply a religious ritual by priests on behalf of their congregations? Is it the public recital of noble thoughts and ideals or the repetition of certain words and phrases?

This booklet is concerned with Bible teaching on the subject. This is because …

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More than 100 years ago these lines were written (by an unknown author) to accompany a drawing of “His Satanic Majesty”:

"This is he, with horns and hoof,
The parsons call the devil;
They tell us he lives in a sultry place
Where ghosts and imps all revel.
They say that he wears a great long tail,
And carries a three pronged fork,
That he sometimes leaves his sultry home,
And through the earth doth walk.
They say he can assume with ease
The garb of an angel bright,
And then, for a change, he takes the form
Of a roaring lion at night:
That he's power to act and do as he likes,
Be in fifty places at once;
And that to fulfil his evil designs,
Can be wise as a sage, or a dunce."

Today most people no longer think of the devil like that. But there are still many people who believe the devil exists, that he wields immense power for evil (some say he is a fallen angel) and is constantly trying to destroy the work of God among men and women. They think it is the devil that secretly whispers in your ear and tempts you to evil.

Of course there are real difficulties about accepting such an idea. If the devil was a real angel to begin with, however did he come to revolt against God? And why does God allow a supernatural being to destroy His work in the earth? Where is the devil now, anyway? And how can he really work?

Where to Find Out?

One thing is clear: this is a religious question. So if we are to settle it, we must refer to the Bible, …

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The Bible

If we claim to follow Christ we should trust in the scriptures as confidently as Jesus and his apostles did;

Jesus:

“The scripture cannot be broken.” (John 10:35)

Paul:

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

Peter:

“For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21)

Peter:

“The things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.” (1 Peter 1:12)

True faith must be founded on a fully inspired Bible.

Human Nature

If we claim to follow Christ …

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There is no escaping the reality of Death. When it comes suddenly, unexpectedly, as the result of an accident or heart attack, we are shaken; similarly when someone still “in the prime of life” dies of cancer or kidney failure. Such events are so common that we all experience them. We are overcome by the sense of our own helplessness; we cannot reverse what has happened. All human resources are powerless to restore a dead person to life. The grieving relative is not easily comforted.

How do people react to the fact of death? The young frankly do not treat the matter seriously. When they have the occasional shock — a friend is killed in a road accident, for example — it is just “bad luck”. The tragedy is soon forgotten. The middle-aged do not care to contemplate death. It is too far off yet to seem a real danger: “Better face it when it comes”. Older people become more aware that here is a reality they will not escape. Their friends and relations pass of the scene. Failing eyesight and hearing, growing physical ailments remind them that the human frame eventually perishes.

Survival?

Many people find some comfort …

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