BiblicalInsights.net

Hesed is the Hebrew word commonly translated by the English word lovingkindness in the King James Version.  In 1535, Miles Coverdale “invented” the word lovingkindness to translate the Hebrew word hesed.  The KJV borrowed the term.  The KJV uses fourteen different words to translate hesed.  However, lovingkindness is a favorite among scholars.
Twice Jesus used the word hesed in quotations from Hosea 6:6, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”  Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7.  Matthew 9 and 12 are separate occasions, but both involve conflict with the Pharisees.  Both occasions give Jesus an opportunity to show men  the heart of God.
Jesus’ First Use of Mercy
In Matt. 9:9-13, Jesus is in Matthew’s house after He called him to become a disciple.  Matthew readily answered the call.  He invited Jesus to his home along with some of his friends and associates.  The Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with publicans and sinners.  The Pharisees were separatists who would not associate with sinners and kept a safe distance from them.  However, Jesus was on mission.  He came to seek and to save that which was lost.  Jesus’ response to the Pharisees was to quote from Hosea 6:6.  They that are whole have no need of a physician.  Jesus is the physician of men’s souls seeking through compassion to extend mercy and advance spiritual healing.  Sin sickness has a cure and Jesus can provide it.  Jesus’ use of Hoses 6:6 is an attempt to transform the hearts of the Pharisees. The Physician is in the house and He is working on the hearts of men to change them.  Jesus said, “Go and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.”  One may know what the scriptures say and not understand what they mean.  Understanding transforms the heart which is shaped by the truth embraced by faith and volitionally implemented.  Mercy is compassion or lovingkindness.  The condition of one’s heart is more important than sacrifice.  The status of the heart of man determines the acceptability or unacceptability of the sacrifice (Matt. 5:23-24).
Jesus’ Second Use of Mercy
In Matthew 12:1-8, Jesus and His disciples are walking through a field of grain.  They pick the heads of grain and rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.  They did this on the Sabbath day, but they were well within the bounds of the Law of Moses (Deut. 23:25).  The Pharisees condemn Jesus and His disciples for violating the Sabbath.  Jesus’ response was to quote Hosea 6:6, “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.”  Jesus responded to transform the hardheartedness of the Pharisees aiming to improve their hearts with lovingkindness.  Their inability to see brokenness and hunger in people around them is a result of the fact that they did not understand the heart of God.  God revealed His heart to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7 after Moses requested to see God.  “And the LORD passed before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”  Behold, both the goodness and severity of God (Rom. 11:22).
Lovingkindness Reshapes the Human Heart
Lovingkindness:  mirrors the heart of God; opens up one’s life to others, is willing to bestow everything to those who are worthy of nothing; and combines two of the greatest virtues of the human heart:  love and mercy.  Go and learn what that meaneth, “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.”

Matthew records Jesus’ conversation with a woman of Canaan (Matt. 15:21-28).  Jesus enters the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and is met by a woman with a special request.  The woman is a Gentile.  This is the first time that Matthew reports a woman as addressing Jesus.  The woman’s daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.  She comes to Jesus because she knows and believes that He can heal her daughter.
Faith’s Request
She says, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”  She knows who Jesus is.  She addresses Him as Lord and as the Son of David (a reference that indicates knowledge that Jesus is the Messiah).  Faith is based upon knowledge.  Knowledge of the truth is a solid foundation for faith.  The request is not for herself, but in behalf of her daughter who is suffering and whom she loves.  Faith in the Lord and love for her daughter motivate her to make this plea for help.
Jesus’ First Response
Jesus answers her not a word.  Jesus’ silence tests the strength of her faith.  Jesus is not indifferent to her request.  Will she persist?  Delay tests the authenticity of her faith in Jesus and the love she has for her daughter.
Faith Rebuffed
Jesus’ disciples desire to have her dismissed.  They tell Jesus to “send her away.”  The disciples seem somewhat annoyed by her constant crying out after Jesus.  She was persistent and undaunted by the move to dismiss her request.  Her faith was resilient.
Jesus’ Second Response
Jesus states His mission:  “I am sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  The focus of Jesus’ ministry was among the Jews at this time.  The gospel went to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles.  However, there are times in Jesus’ public ministry where He opened the door of His mercy to the Gentiles indicating that God’s grace is available to all people.
Faith’s Resurgence
The woman worshipped Jesus and said, “Lord, help me.”  This is the second time she addresses Jesus as Lord.  Her faith is fixed on His position and power.  She manifests great pathos.  Her emotions support her faith.
Jesus’ Third Response
Jesus said to her, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.”  The response of Jesus points out the priority of His mission.  Children are superior to dogs.  The use of the term dogs is not meant to offend her, but to establish the distinction between God’s chosen people and the other nations under the Old Testament.  However, this distinction is about to change under a new dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ (the New Testament).
Faith Unrelenting
The woman replies to Jesus, “Truth Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fell from their master’s table.”  For the third time she refers to Him as Lord.  Her request comes from an acknowledged position of humility.  She does not possess the rights of the children.  She knows she deserves nothing, but still, she comes seeking a special blessing, indeed, a miracle.
Faith Rewarded
Jesus says to her, “O woman, great is thy faith…”  She knows who Jesus is and that He has the power to help her.  Her knowledge is the basis of her faith.  Her faith underlies her plea.  Her plea is relentless because her faith is great.  Her plea is answered/rewarded by mercy–the very mercy she came seeking.  Jesus said, “Be it unto thee even as thou wilt” (Matt. 15:28).  “And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”  Mercy was obtained and God’s heart was revealed.  Great faith can be found in unexpected hearts!

In Luke 7:1-10, Luke records a message received by Jesus from a Roman soldier–a centurion.  The man was a God-fearer.  He was known among the elders of the Jews in the city of Capernaum.  Capernaum is Jesus’ temporary home.  It is located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee and functioned primarily as a fishing village.
The Request
The centurion has a servant that is very sick. He believes that Jesus can heal his servant.  He sends his request to Jesus through the elders of the Jews.  The elders tell Jesus that the man is worthy of a miracle because he has helped support the Jewish religion and had built them a synagogue.  Jesus went with them.

The Request Enhanced.
As Jesus neared the centurion’s house, his friends met Jesus with a message.  They were instructed to tell Jesus, “Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee:  but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed (vv. 6-7).  The centurion said, “I am not worthy.”  The elders of the Jews said, “He is worthy.”  The plea of the centurion is from someone who is keenly aware of his own unworthiness and, yet, he asked for a special blessing from Jesus.  Say in a word and my servant shall be healed. The centurion trusts in the power of Jesus’ words to heal his servant.  He understands that Jesus possess special authority.  As a centurion, he has commanded both his servants and his soldiers to come or to go and they obeyed him.  He believes that Jesus has authority that can be communicated by His words to heal his servant.

Jesus Marvels
“When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, “I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (v. 9).  Luke uses seven different Greek words to capture the amazement of characters in his gospel.  The shepherds were amazed and so were Joseph and Mary.  The people of Nazareth and the residents of Capernaum were amazed.  But, this is the only time that Jesus marvels in Luke’s gospel. The Greek word translated marvel is ekthaumazō.  This is an intensive form of thaumazō.  It means to wonder or to marvel.  It refers to the astonishment of the mind.  Why did Jesus marvel?  The answer is given by Jesus.  The centurion’s faith was great.  Faith is dynamic.  Sometimes it is weak or little and sometimes it is strong or great.  The centurion’s faith involved trust in Jesus’ true identity, the authority with which Jesus could speak and the lovingkindness which characterized the heart of Jesus.  It is the faith of one who is unworthy seeking a special blessing and confident in the asking because of certain knowledge of the heart of God.  Jesus is surprised by great faith in an unexpected heart.

The Heart of God
God, by grace, is willing to give us everything when we are deserving of nothing.  God’s mercies are great and continually available to us.  The bigness that characterizes God’s heart must be met with a greatness in our faith.  Faith that works by love (Gal. 5:6).  Faith that obeys God’s will (Rom. 1:5).  Faith that knows God. Faith that trusts in the power of God’s Word.  Faith that trusts in the lovingkindness which characterizes the heart of God.   Such faith is not fearful of asking God for great and good things even though it is found in a heart that is unworthy.

Alex Berenson wrote, “Tell Your Children The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence” in which he exposes six myths about marijuana. In Part 1, the information about how marijuana became a medicine was related. The story reveals the first myth: marijuana is a medicine. Marijuana may have some benefit for cancer-related wasting. However, this has not been proven since THC (one active ingredient of marijuana) nor cannabis itself has ever been show to work in randomized clinical trials. These are the only trials that reliably prove a drug works. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never approved marijuana as a medicine (p. xix). Marijuana is still considered an illegal drug by the Federal government. An Australian study recently cast doubt on its effectiveness in chronic pain (p. xviii). In the mid-1970’s marijuana consumed in the U. S. was less than 2 percent THC. Today, it is 25 percent THC. The marijuana being used today is much more potent. Heavy use of cannabis in the U. S. has soared in the last decade–nearly tripling (p. xix). Two hundred million Americans have gained access to medical or recreational marijuana in the last twenty years. These facts mean that we really do not know how marijuana use will affect the general public.
Myth Number Two: marijuana is harmless. Marijuana causes schizophrenia and psychosis. Schizophrenia and psychosis cause violence. These facts are the main thesis of Berenson’s book. THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is one of the active chemicals in marijuana. THC induces euphoria, enhances sensation, distorts the perception of time, and increases hunger. Marijuana is an intoxicant (similar to alcohol) and a psychoactive drug (a mind altering drug). The dangerous effects of marijuana are one reason that it has been illegal in the U. S. (marijuana is still illegal on the Federal level, but some states have begun to legalize it medically and others both medically and recreationally).
Myth number three: there are no documented deaths due to marijuana. Gary Johnson, the libertarian candidate for president said this in August, 2016. He is wrong. Cannabis can be lethal in many ways. First, it increases the risk of heart attack. Second, marijuana impaired driving is killing people on our highways. Third, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) relates that more than 1,000 people died between 1999 and 2016 and cannabis or cannabinoids and no other drugs were listed on their death certificates as a secondary cause (p. xx).
Myth Number Four: marijuana can help stem the opiate epidemic by weaning people off of drugs like heroin. In fact, Berenson observes, marijuana is a gateway drug that often leads to use of other drugs (p. xxi). Opiate deaths are rising as fast or faster in states that have legalized cannabis (p. xxi).
Myth Number Five: marijuana does not cause mental illness. The first comprehensive guide to herbs and drugs ever created, A Chinese pharmacopeia called the Pen-ts’ao Ching, warned that excessive cannabis smoking caused “seeing devils” (p. xxiii). By about 100 A.D., Chinese physicians believed the drug “stimulated uncontrollable violence and criminal inclinations” (p. xxiii). Most will not have a psychotic episode while using marijuana, but a minority will and doctors have no way of predicting who they will be (p. xxiv). The link between marijuana and mental illness has been proven. The National Academy of Medicine issued a 468-page research report, titled, “The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids.” They state, “Cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk” (p. xxv). The number of people showing up in hospitals with psychosis has soared since 2006, alongside marijuana use. Emergency rooms saw a 50 percent increase in the number of cases where someone received a primary diagnosis of a psychotic disorder between 2006 and 2014. By 2014, more than 2,000 Americans eery day showed up or were brought to emergency rooms for schizophrenia and other psychoses–810,000 people in all (p. xxvi). By 2014, 11 percent of Americans who showed up in emergency rooms with a psychotic disorder also had a secondary diagnosis of marijuana misuse (p. xxvi). Mexico criminalized marijuana in 1920, 17 years before the U. S. after Mexican lawmakers became convinced the drug caused mental illness and violence (p. xxix).
Myth Number six: violence has fallen in states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use. In 2017, Cory Booker, a democratic senator from New Jersey, introduced a bill to legalize marijuana nationally. Booker said that states that have legalized marijuana “are seeing decreases in violent crime” (p. xxxi). Booker is wrong. Berenson provides much more information in his book and sites many studies that prove his thesis. Marijuana is a dangerous drug that should continue to be illegal in the U.S.

Alex Berenson has written an important book that reveals the truth about marijuana. The book is titled, Tell Your Children The Truth About Marijuana.
Berenson destroys six myths about marijuana. But, before we examine each myth, the story about how marijuana came to be used as medicine needs to be known. Ethan Nedelmann is perhaps the most influential person behind the movement to legalize medical marijuana. Nadelmann was born in 1957 and grew up in Westchester County, north of New York City. He went to college at McGill in Montreal before transferring to Harvard. He graduated in 1979 and entered a joint law-PhD program also at Harvard. The drug war grabbed his attention. He decided to write his PhD thesis about the effort to block supply of drugs from the source on an international level. Nadelmann opposed America’s war on drugs. In 1992, Nadelmann met George Soros for lunch. Soros was a billionaire at the time and was interested in liberalizing drug policy. In 1994, Nadelmann, with Soros’ backing, started the Lindesmith Center (Alfred Lindesmith was a sociologist who questioned whether drugs were as addictive as they seemed). In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States. In that same year, Proposition 215 took off from San Francisco and Nadelmann became involved. Prop 215 was the first medical marijuana initiative. It offered to give California’s voters the chance to change the state’s laws so that anyone 18 or older could use marijuana with a physician’s authorization. Initiatives allow voters to vote yes or no on issues directly. They don’t exist on the national level. California is one of the states where they are most frequently used. Lester Grinspoon in Marijuana Reconsidered, devoted a thirteen page chapter to the idea of medical marijuana, but otherwise the concept did not receive much attention. Not much thought was given to marijuana as medicine. However, AIDS activists in San Francisco began using marijuana to treat AIDS-related wasting. Clinical trials would show that marijuana was only marginally helpful in treating the syndrome. Activists insisted that dying patients should be able to use marijuana. Nadelmann paid for a private statewide poll to see if Prop 215 had a chance to win. To his surprise, it did. He brought the results to George Soros who liked the idea of medical marijuana and spent $550,000.00 to back the initiative. Two other rich men were supporters: Peter Lewis, the billionaire chairman of Progressive Insurance and George Zimmer, the founder of Men’s Warehouse who, together, added another $750,000.00. Lewis and Zimmer actively used marijuana. On Nov. 5, 1996, Prop. 215 won approval in California–clearing the way for medical marijuana use in the state and eventually across America. The long-term importance of Prop. 215 is hard to overstate. Also, in 1996, Bill Clinton won re-election as president of the U.S. The concept of medical marijuana is really a misnomer. The Food and Drug Administration has never approved of marijuana as a medicine! (Part 2 to follow).

Graham Bell, James McGill Professor at McGill University in Montreal, and author of the Masterpiece of Nature: The Evolution of Genetics and Sexuality, provides the headline, “The Queen of Evolutionary Problems.” Bell states, “Sex is the queen of problems in evolutionary biology. Perhaps no other natural phenomenon has aroused so much interest; certainly none has sowed as much confusion. The insights of Darwin and Mendel, which have illuminated so many mysteries have so far failed to shed more than a dim and wavering light on the central mystery of sexuality” (F. LaGard Smith, Darwin’s Secret Sex Problem, 160).

The Problem
“There is no viable evolutionary explanation for the existence of male/female meiotic sexual reproduction (Ibid. 88). Lacking any sexual DNA, mitosis could not have provided either the information or mechanisms required for the radically different process of meiosis (Ibid. 88).

What is Mitosis and Meiosis?
Mitosis is a process of cell reproduction that is observed in one-cell organisms and human cell growth.  No male and no female are involved in producing cell duplication. Mitosis is a process of cell duplication, or reproduction, during which one cell gives rise to two genetically identical daughter cells. Before a cell divides to make two cells, it copies all of its chromosomes.  These copies, called sister chromatids, are identical.  The result of this cell division is two identical cells each having 46 chromosomes.  
Meiosis is a type of cell division that results in reducing the number of chromosomes in half and creating genetic diversity.  “Meiosis begins like mitosis: the cell copies each chromosome.  But unlike in mitosis, homologous chromosome pairs line up and exchange pieces-a process called recombination. Remember, homologous chromosomes have the same genes but with slight differences. Recombination increases genetic diversity by putting pieces of slightly different chromosomes together” (https://learn. genetics.utah. edu/content/ basics/diagnose/). Then, the two newly combined homologous chromosomes are divided into two daughter cells which have 23 chromosomes having a unique combination of gene variations. This process of cell division produces egg and sperm cells.  Through the process of fertilization, the egg and sperm cells combine to make a cell with 46 chromosomes called a zygote.  The process of fertilization involves a male and a female of the same species.  
Mitosis and meiosis are both processes which describe the production of new cells. Mitosis produces two daughter cells which are genetically identical to the parent cell. Each daughter cell is diploid (contains the normal number of chromosomes). This is the result of DNA replication and 1 cell division. Mitosis is used in growth and asexual reproduction. Meiosis produces 4 daughter cells, each of which are unidentical to the parent cell and to one another. Each daughter cell is haploid (contains half the number of normal chromosomes). This is the result of DNA replication, followed by crossing over of homologous chromosomes and separation of chromosomes. There are two cell divisions: the parent cell divides once and then each cell produced by this first division divides once. Meiosis is used to produce gametes (sperm and egg cells), the cells of sexual reproduction. Two gametes fuse to form a zygote, a diploid cell with the full number of chromosomes.

Evolution Refuted
Evolution theory teaches that the first organisms simply copied themselves (mitosis). Consequently, normative gendered sex as seen throughout nature could not have begun without the appearance of the first-ever male and female organisms, mating in a never-before-seen way, and reproducing by a revolutionary method of reducing their chromosomes precisely by half then blending those halves together to produce one-of-a-kind offspring (Ibid. xxi). The queen of evolution’s problems is to explain how those first-ever sexually reproducing organisms possibly could have evolved before sexual reproduction existed. Evolutionists have failed to show how organisms could go from mitosis to meioses through gradation. The process of sexual reproduction is irreducibly complex. Consequently, there are no steps from mitosis to meiosis.

Darwins’ Admission
Darwin states, “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous successive slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down” (Ibid. xi). It is impossible for organisms to evolve through gradual steps from mitosis to meiosis.

Creation’s Affirmation
The creation account in Genesis 1 affirms that every creature is created by God and is capable of bearing after its kind. This is the law of kinds. Jesus affirms the truthfulness of this law in Matthew 7:16-ff. Microbe to man evolution is false.

Fear is an emotional reaction to a stimulus that scares or frightens us. Fear is an emotion that often helps protect and preserve life. However, fear can also be detrimental. Fear can paralyze us causing inaction where we ought to be serving God (Matthew 25, the one talent man). Fear can also betray mistrust or lack of trust in God. Fear is rebuked by Jesus when it manifests a lack of trust in God. The fear of God is the only thing that can deliver us from the fear of man (Matthew 10:28). Learning to face life situations with faith instead of fear is a challenge that every Christian faces.

In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus sends His disciples on the limited commission. They are commanded to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Jesus warns them about rejection and persecution (10:4, 16-20, 22:23, 25). He tells them repeatedly not to be afraid (10:26, 28, 31). How can Jesus’ disciples be fearless in the face of rejection, persecution and hatred of men?

Jesus gives them several spiritual factors that will help them be resilient.
1. They are empowered by Jesus to perform miracles (10:1, 8). The divine power given to them will help equip them for their mission and confirm that the Lord was with them.
2. They are asked to trust God. They are restricted by Jesus from taking gold, silver, brass, scrip, two coats, shoes or staves (10:9-10). They are to rely upon God’s providential care for the necessities of life.
3. They are told that God will judge all men and that included those that rejected them and persecuted them (10:15,23). God is the great avenger.
4. They are to be wise and full of meekness (10:16). Wise as serpents and harmless of doves is metaphorical language that indicates the importance of godly character when facing enemies.
5. They are to rely upon the Holy Spirit for the words making up a response to the kings and governors that inquired about their work (10:20).
6. They must possess endurance (10:22). They must be spiritual strong and courageously hold up under extreme duress.
7. They must look to the example of Jesus (10:24-25). The servant is not greater than his lord. Jesus was persecuted and rejected by the Jewish leaders. If they treated Him with disrespect, then, they will treat His disciples with the same disrespect.
8. They must fear God (10:28). They are told not to fear men because men can only take their physical life. But, God can destroy both body and soul in hell. They must remain pleasers of God rather than pleasers of men.
9. They must understand that God loves them and values them (10:31). They are of much more value than many sparrows.
10. They must love the Lord (10:37). Their love for the Lord must exceed love for father or mother or any other family member. Their spiritual relationship with God is of more value than their familial relationships.
11. They must be willing to suffer for Christ’s sake (10:38). They must be willing to bear their cross for Jesus’ sake. They must possess the courage of their convictions and uphold their commitment to Christ.
12. They must look to the reward (10:32). If they confess the Lord in word and in behavior, then the Lord will confess them before the Father which is in heaven.
13. They must heed the instruction as part of their preparation for the mission Jesus sends them to accomplish. Jesus gives them foreknowledge of the opposition that they will face taking away the fear of the unknown.

As we go forth in a New Year, we must be fearless. The Lord has equipped us with resources that inspire courage: truth, love, faith, hope, wisdom, meekness, endurance, fear of God, grace, God’s love, the intercessory work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God’s power, God’s providence, God’ justice and judgment, the example of Christ, and the reward of being in God’s presence in heavenly places. Fear Not!