I believe that God weaves His design into the Bible in many ways. One thing He uses is numbers and the number He uses most prominently is the number seven. I saw this again today as I worked on a study of the Third Epistle of John. Although by verse count, its 14 verses are one more than the 13 verses of 2 John, it actually has 4 words less than 2 John. Therefore, by word count it is the smallest book in the Bible. But in this tiny book, God leaves His footprint. The subject matter is fascinating and helpful, but there is much for the lover of numbers as well. Seven is used in the Bible as the number of God's perfect work. Let's see how this number shows God's work in 2John. An outstanding number of statistics are multiples of seven.
Most Christians know that our spiritual opposition comes from three sources: the world, the flesh, and the devil. However, as in most things, we have them in the opposite order from scripture. The world refers to the evil world system. But the world would not be evil except it be filled with fallen men. Men are fallen because their fleshly nature is perverted. Yet, the fall began with the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden and it was the work of the devil. So, the devil rebelled against God and brought about the fall of man which resulted in the sinful flesh that is in all men. Then, fallen men with the help of the evil spirits of the devil created the evil world system. The true order is the devil, the flesh, and the world.
Eastern Lightning is the name of a religious cult in China that is doing much harm. The group appeared in the early 1990's in China's Heilongjian province. They base their cult on Matthew 24:27 - "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." However, they deny the authority of scripture and fundamental doctrines like the trinity. They believe that Jesus has already returned as a 30-year-old Chinese female. Belief in this female messiah is required for salvation.
In 1990, 8% of American adults had no religious affiliation. In a survey just out, 14% of American adults now have no religious affiliation. For those under the age of 35, the numbers are much higher: 23% of men and 18% of women do not identify themselves as being in any organized religion. America is certainly headed the way of Europe. One surprise finding was that 43% of the unaffiliated were former Roman Catholics. An average of 19% of baptized Catholics leave Catholicism and a large percentage of these (28%) do not join any other religion. Other regious groups have lower but still significant losses. For those who are leaving dead religions, this is a great opportunity. But what will we do to reach these people?
One of the results of possession by evil spirits in the maniac of Gadara was self-mutilation. Mark 5:5 describes his actions: "And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones." A recent survey of college students has determined that 20% of women and 14% of men "have cut, burned, carved or harmed themselves in other ways." This refers to behavior which inflicts harm without the intent of suicide. "The most common methods reported by both young men and women were scratching to the point of bleeding, cutting or punching with the intent of causing injury." This is not to say that all of these young people are possessed. However, it does reflect on the satanic influence in our society. In the case of the maniac, when the devils were cast out, he was found "sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind" (Luke 8:35). We need to be taking our youth to the feet of Jesus instead of immersing them in the culture of the devil.
