Title: 13
Author: Joe G
Last saved by: Auth User
Company: GDC

Clanking Chains		06-12-07.CC02-691 /

Remembering Pearl Harbor; “Aselgeia” in New Testament; Defining the “Ungodly” in Jude 4 Compared with the “Wicked” in Prov 15:9; Wheel-tracks

Remembering Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941, 0800
Lord, Walter.  Day of Infamy.  (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1957).  Reprint.  (New York: Bantam Books, 1963), 213-17:
It was 12:20 p.m. in Washington, D.C., and ten highly polished black limousines were just entering the Capitol grounds.  These were filled with Secret Service men guarding President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was on his way to ask Congress to declare war on the Japanese Empire.
The cars stopped at the south entrance of the Capitol, and the President got out, assisted by his son Jimmy.  Roosevelt wore his familiar Navy cape, Jimmy the uniform of a Marine captain.  Applause rippled from a crowd that stood behind sawhorse barricades in the pale noonday sun.  The President paused, smiled, and waved back.  It was not his campaign wave—this was no time for that—but it wasn’t funereal either.  He seemed trying to strike a balance between gravity and optimism.  (p. 213)
The Presidential party moved into the Capitol, and the crowd lapsed back into silence.  Here and there little knots clustered about the portable radios which the more enterprising remembered to bring.  All were facing the Capitol, although they couldn’t possibly see what was going on inside.  They seemed to feel that by studying the building itself, a little history might somehow rub off onto them.
Like the President, the people were neither boisterous nor depressed.  A nation brought up on peace was going to war and didn’t know how.  (p. 214)
But rising above the awkwardness, the naiveté, and the overconfidence ran one surging emotion—fury.  The day might come when formal declarations of war would seem old-fashioned, when the surprise move would yet become a stock weapon in any country’s arsenal, but not yet.  In December, 1941, Americans expected an enemy to announce its intentions before it fought, and Japan’s move—coming while her envoys were still negotiating in Washington—outraged the people far beyond the concept of any worldly-wise policymaker in Tokyo.
Later, Americans would argue bitterly about Pearl Harbor—they would even hurl dark charges of incompetence and conspiracy at one another—but on this day there was no argument whatsoever.  (p. 215)
Young Senator Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts had been an ardent “neutralist” (just a month earlier he had voted against allowing U. S. merchant ships to enter Allied ports), but right after he learned of Pearl Harbor from a filling-station attendant, he was on the air … urging all Americans, no matter how isolationist they might have been, to unite against the attack.  (pp. 215-16)
Senator Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, leader of the isolationist bloc, had heard the news in his bedroom, where he was pasting up clippings about his long, hard fight against U. S. involvement in the war.  He immediately phoned the White House, assuring President Roosevelt that whatever their differences, he would support the President in his answer to Japan. 
It was the same with the press.  The isolationist, rabidly anti-Roosevelt Los Angeles Times bannered its lead editorial, “Death Sentence of a Mad Dog.”  Some papers tried to prod isolationist leaders into controversial statements, but none were coming.  Senator Burton Wheeler of Montana, for instance, snapped back, “The only thing now is to do our best to lick hell out of them.”
And the sooner the better.  There was an overwhelming urge to get going, even though no one knew where the road might lead.  At Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Brigadier General Dwight D. Eisenhower got the word as he tried to catch up on his sleep after weeks of long, tough field maneuvers.  He was dead tired, had left orders not to be disturbed, but the phone rang and his wife heard him say, “Yes? … When? … I’ll be right down.”  As he rushed off to duty, he told Mrs. Eisenhower the news, said he was going to headquarters, and added that he had not idea when he would be back.
The Capitol swelled with the same spirit of angry unity and urgency as the Senators filed into the House Chamber to hear the President’s war message.  Democratic leader Alben Barkley arrived arm in arm with GOP leader Charles McNary; Democrat Elmer Thomas of Oklahoma linked arms with the old isolationist Senator Hiram Johnson of California.
Next the Supreme Court marched in, wearing their black robes, and then the members of the Cabinet.  Down front sat the top military leaders, General (George C.) Marshall and Admiral (Harold R.) Stark.  (p. 216)
At 12:29 p.m. President Roosevelt entered.  There was applause … a brief introduction by Speaker Sam Rayburn … and the President, dressed in formal morning attire, stood alone at the rostrum.  He opened a black looseleaf notebook—the sort a child uses at school—and the Chamber gave him a resounding ovation.  For the first time in nine years Republicans joined in, and Roosevelt seemed to sense the electric anger that swept the country, as he grasped the rostrum and began:
Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked. …
The speech was over in six minutes and war voted in less than an hour, but the real job was done in the first ten seconds.  “Infamy” was the note that struck home, and the word that welded the country together until the war was won.  (p. 217)
6.	In 1 Peter 4:3 the apostle encourages believers in five Roman provinces of Anatolia, the central area of present-day Turkey, to avoid the lifestyle of the unbeliever, which they previously practiced including lasciviousness (sensuality).
7.	In 2 Peter 2 the apostle uses aselgeia three times.  In verse 2 he warns believes against false teachers who are so convincing in their presentation that many will be caused to follow their lascivious ways (sensuality).
8.	In verse 7, Peter gives the example of Lot who was anguished over the lascivious lifestyle of the homosexuals in the pentapolis cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
9.	In verse 18, Peter keeps up his assault on false teachers whom he says “entice with fleshly desires and with lasciviousness (sensuality), those who have just escaped from those who live in error.”  He continues in the next verse by noting the propaganda these men present to undiscerning believers, “Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality.”  This describes the teachings of the Progressives today, they teach freedom but in so doing their converts are enslaved to corruption and lasciviousness.
10.	Many false teachers present themselves as angels of light but instead are wolves in sheep’s clothing.  Jude exposes these heretics in verse 4.  They are unbelievers, described in the verse by the word ¢seb»j, asebēs which is best translated “wickedness.”  They abused grace contending that since we are saved by grace we are free to do what we please.
	This is antinomianism, literally: one who adheres to the concept that there is no law.  The prefix anti- negates the Greek root nÒmoj, nomos: law.  This is heresy!  Such behavior will eventuate in divine discipline due to its violations of divine mandates.  Jude points out that these types “turn the grace of God into licentiousness (lasciviousness) and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

10.	There is a word in Jude 4 that needs to be examined due to its use in previous studies, namely The Theology of Neurology & The Way to Santa Fé, our current study involving the behavior of Solomon, and current events regarding the false teachers of the twenty-first century.  Here is the verse:
Jude 4 -	[NASB]  Certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly [ ¢seb»j, asebēs ] persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness [ ¢sšlgeia, aselgeia ] and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
11.	In the Septuagint, asebēs, translated by the word “ungodly” in the NASB, is the translation of the Hebrew word uv*r* rasha‘, “wickedness.”
12.	Whereas ¢ntinom…a, antinomia, means to disobey the laws of God, ¢sšbeia, asebeia indicates one’s actions and conduct in opposition to God.
13.	The asebēis [¢sebe‹j: plural] in Jude 4 are unbelievers, but the problem is common among believers as well and even angels as is noted by Jude in verses 5-7.
14.	The believer who is current on rebound and moving forward in the plan of God through Bible study is considered to be righteous by developing and then facilitating wheel-tracks of righteousness.
15.	The believer who is in status quo carnality and retrogressing in the plan of God through neglect of Bible study is considered to be wicked by developing and then facilitating wheel-tracks of wickedness.
16.	This concept of antithetical wheel-tracks was developed in our study of the Theology of Neurology and illustrated by The Way to Santa Fé.  We find the contrast of righteousness with wickedness in many verses in Proverbs:
Proverbs 15:9 -	The way [ Er\D\ derek ] of the wicked [ uv*r* rasha‘ ] is an abomination [ hb*u@oT to‘evah ] to the Lord, but He loves [ bh^a* ’ahav ] one who pursues [ [d^r** rathaph ] righteousness [ hq*d*x= sethaqah ].
17.	As we examine our three applications: (1) previous studies, (2) the Song of Solomon, and (3) current events, it is imperative that we give some detailed time to a review of the definition of the Hebrew noun Er\D\ derek.  We can do this fairly quickly by drawing excerpts from:
Botterweck, G. Johannes and Helmer Ringgren (eds.).  Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament.  Translated by John T. Willis, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and David E. Green.  (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978), 3:271–87 passim:
Er\D\ derek. Literal and Figurative Usage.  In some words connected with the concept of “way” the figurative use is so prominent that the literal meaning is not attested at all.  The original meaning of derek was a “traveled and therefore well-established road,” but in time this changed imperceptibly to “movement on the road” and also “journey, venture, military campaign, or stretch of road.”  The figurative use of derek in the sense of “conduct, behavior,” and to denote “certain fundamental facts in the life of man and nature,” derived from this.
In the following discussion the concepts “literal” and “figurative” will be avoided, and instead a distinction will be made between the foreground sense of a spatial stretch of road, and the background sense of behavior or condition.  (p. 271)
Oneness of Life and Conduct.  With regard to the background use, all exegetes affirm that the Hebrew derek embraces both the course of life and also conduct.  The figurative usage means “conduct and destiny, the living of life and the course of life in the sense of prosperity or adversity.”  (pp. 271-72)
Survey of Pertinent Words.
Derek.  Hebrew has a proportionately extensive vocabulary for “road, way, street, etc.”  By far the most common word used to convey this idea is derek, which occurs 706 times in the Old Testament.  In the majority of cases, this word is used, not in the foreground sense of a stretch of road or a movement across country, but figuratively for human activity in general.  (p. 276)
The much more frequent background use of derek with man as the logical subject embraces in a single term that which breaks down into conduct and course of life.  (p. 277)
lG*u=m^ ma‘gal.  The lexicons usually render this word by “wheel- or wagon-track, track, path,” and connect it with hl*n*u& ‘agalah, “cart, wagon.”  On this basis, they claim that the word is “also used figuratively.”  To infer this use, the most appropriate translation would seem to be “(double-tracked) highway.”
The background sense of ma‘gal is a developed habit, good or bad, which will ultimately determine the fate of the person practicing it.  (p. 279)
In the Wisdom Literature.  The words for “way” play an important role in the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament, as may be seen in the oldest of these writings.  Derek occurs 75 times in the book of Proverbs, more than the book of Psalms.
The book of Proverbs says a great deal about the derek [or wheel-tracks] of individuals, and can be summed up under the following heads.
1.	A derek originates in the heart (bl@ lev) as the center of rational planning (16:9; 23:19) and it leads to an action which in turn reacts upon the lev [heart: stream of consciousness in the soul].
2.	Man is viewed as an active subject whose character manifests itself in the pursuit of a purposeful derek directed toward a happy life.  (p. 286)
3.	When thought develops into action, regard should be had to the course of one’s derek (8:32; 16:17), and one must make it firm and solid (21:29; cf. 4:26).
4.	The word hM*T% tummah, “complete, blameless,” is frequently connected with derek.  It denotes both an ethically perfect quality and also the resultant condition of unimpaired prosperity (10:9; 13:6; cf. 28:18).
5.	rv*y* yashar, “righteousness, righteous,” also occurs frequently with derek, again in the twofold sense of action and resultant condition (29:27; 21:29; 14:12).
6.	Two movements are presupposed which are above the individual: the derek of those who are faithful to the community (<yq!yD!x^ sediqim, “the righteous,” 2:20; 4:18), and the derek of evildoers (4:19; 15:9).  (p. 287)
10.	God also intervenes on human “ways” both when man’s way pleases him (16:7) and when it is an abomination to him (15:9).  The ways of all men are before the eyes of the Yahweh, and he makes them into the “highways” (ma‘gal) of the corresponding condition (cf. 5:21 with 4:26).  God’s reaction to man’s derek is expressed by the same verbs that denote man’s works on his own way (“make straight,” cf. 3:6 with 9:15; “prepare,” cf. 5:21 with 5:6 and 4:26; “direct, establish,” cf. 16:9 with 21:29; “guard, keep,” cf. 2:8 with 8:32).  Yahweh cooperates in that which man fashions as his fate; on and around the derek he sets in force the sphere of activity which brings the fate into effect.  (pp. 287-88)

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