A couple of British church leaders have come under fire recently for preaching that wives are to submit to their husbands. They claimed that women who refuse to obey this command are at least partly to blame for the country’s high divorce rate.

Not surprisingly, there were many people, especially women, who took offense at their message. One woman was quoted as saying she was “disgusted” by this and said, “How can they talk that way in the 21st century?”

Of course, I did not hear their message. I can only comment on the report about their message. But if one teaches that wives are to submit to their husbands, they are exactly right. If one claims that women’s refusal to submit to their husbands is a contributing factor for many divorces, in a lot of cases, they will probably be right as well.

Let’s be reminded of a few things:

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Peter wrote his first epistle to Christians that were scattered throughout Asia Minor. He addressed them as ones who were “chosen” (1 Peter 1:1). For what were they chosen? Salvation. They were “born again to a living hope” in order to “obtain an inheritance [...] reserved in heaven” (1 Peter 1:3-4). They were waiting “for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5).

How had these individuals been chosen? Peter said it was “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood” (1 Peter 1:2). Here Peter mentions four contributors that make salvation possible for us.

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Those who defend the practice of homosexuality have used many tactics to try and justify it — it’s just an “alternative lifestyle,” it’s of no concern to anyone else, people are born that way. The biggest obstacle in our country for those who are pushing this homosexual message comes from those who cite the Bible as their reason for opposing it.

As a result, there has been a great effort to either discredit or reinterpret the passages that condemn homosexuality. Earlier this week in an interview, the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal church, “Reverend” V. Gene Robinson, tried to explain away Paul’s comments about homosexuality in Romans 1:26-27 by claiming that Paul was condemning heterosexuals from engaging in homosexuality, but that he was not condemning homosexual acts by those who were oriented that way from birth.

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Paul gave the young evangelist Timothy this charge: “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2). Why was it so important for Timothy to do this? Paul goes on: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Apostasy was coming. At some point, those who were once receptive to the pure, unadulterated gospel would want something different. How does such a change happen? It certainly does not happen overnight. There is a progression that takes place, leading Christians away from sound doctrine and into false teaching.

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Tim Haile of the Parkway church of Christ has done extensive study on Islam and the teachings of the Quran, particularly in regards to carnal warfare in the name of Islam. He has recently recorded two audio lessons about the development of teachings about fighting in the Muslim holy book.

In the lessons, he explains how a consideration of the Quran’s chapters in chronological order, rather than the order in which they have been arranged, shows how Mohammed’s teachings progressed. The progression occurred in four stages: advocating peace, allowing defensive fighting, requiring defensive fighting, and finally, requiring offensive fighting.

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Paul told the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20).

These statements Paul made about himself ought to apply to every Christian.

I Have Been Crucified with Christ — Jesus’ death on the cross is at the heart of the gospel message. Paul told the brethren in Corinth, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). He willingly laid down His life in this sacrifice for us (John 10:17-18).

Paul told the Romans that we must “become united with Him in the likeness of His death” (Romans 6:5). He explained how this is done. We are to become “dead to sin” (Romans 6:11) through repentance. We must also be baptized into Him. Paul wrote, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death…” (Romans 6:3-4). Many religious people minimize the importance of baptism, but Paul said this was necessary to have hope for the resurrection. “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 6:5).

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“Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.” “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:30,33).

These statements are rather incredible. When we look back at the number of evil kings over Israel up to this time, Ahab was the worst. Why was he so evil? And what can we learn from his bad example? The passage where these verses are found gives us a few reasons for the statements.

“Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.

“It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:29-33).

There were four factors that contributed to Ahab being classified as the most wicked king. Each one is something we must guard against in our own life.

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