BROMISM OR BROMINISM - SKIN ERUPTIONS CAUSED BY EXCESSIVE USE OF BROMIDES
What are bromides? The dictionary gives basically 3 definitions for ’bromide’, 1) a salt consisting of two elements one of which is bromine (a dark red, fuming, toxic liquid), 2) a platitude, and 3) a boring person. As you can see any of those could be problematic for the church.

1)When Jesus said we should be the salt of the world I don’t think he was referring to this kind of salt. Salt is very important and we need it in our physical bodies as well as our spiritual bodies, but we also know that many health problems are aggravated or even caused by an excess of salt. In our spiritual lives we need to strive for the proper proportions. If we lose our flavor as Jesus said we won’t be ‘worth our salt.’ We will need to be thrown out. On the other hand, if we have too much salt; as the sons of thunder did when they wanted to call down fire from Heaven to consume those who rejected Jesus, we will do damage to the cause of Christ. Some ‘Christians’ were blunt to the point that instead of showing an individual what the scriptures said in a loving way, and allowing that individual to realize his lost state, they would tell the person something to this effect, “You are going to hell.” Not only were the words harsh, but the impression left behind was, ”You are going to hell to suffer for eternity, and I am glad of it.” Anytime we leave that kind of an impression with someone we have done more harm than good.

I often think back to the homosexual man who was killed out in Wyoming. At his funeral there were people claiming to be Christians with signs and banners proclaiming the judgement of God against homosexuals, and explaining how they would spend eternity suffering. I did not see a single one that told the people attending that funeral of God’s love and desire for all of us to come to him, or of the fact that if they will repent He will freely forgive. It is no wonder many in the sin homosexuality don’t want to become Christians and change if they think we all act like those individuals.

2) On the other hand we don’t need to be spouting meaningless or overused platitudes. If you have just experienced some tragedy in your life, even if I went through a similar tragedy, I don’t know how you feel. Telling me that all things work for good, which I already know, doesn’t help much when I am in the depths of despair. There are so many things that we say that just don’t help. Sometimes it’s best to just be there and be quiet. Job was comforted by the presence of his friends until they started talking. (Job 2:13) “So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.”

3) Many in the world think that the Christian life is boring. Some of them think this way because we don’t get drunk, sleep around, do drugs, or any other of the things that sinful people seem to think is exciting. If that is the reason then let them keep thinking that way, I will take the boring path. There are some though that have gotten the impression from us that a Christian has to be miserable, or at least somber, all the time. We have given that impression at times. If we walk around looking like we were baptized in vinegar and weaned on a pickle what do we expect. It isn’t very pleasant to be around someone who never smiles or laughs, never plays a game, and never whistles or hums a tune or sings a cheery song.

There is an old story that you may have heard. Jesus was showing one of the angels around the earth. He pointed out all the places He had been when He was here; the temple, the garden, the cross, the tomb, etc. Then Jesus took the angel to an assembly of the church and explained to the angel that these were the people who had accepted his love and returned it in their obedience. Jesus told the angel how these people were on their way to Heaven and could spend an eternity there with the other angels, and with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The angel was excited about this even though he had known it for 2000 years, and he looked at the people gathered together singing and praying and studying the Bible. After seeing the looks of boredom, solemness, sadness, and seriousness on their faces the angel turned to Jesus and asked, “Do you want me to tell them or are you going to?” Let’s be sure to live our lives in such a way that others know that we know that Christianity is a better way to live in this world and in the next.

BOURBONISM - EXTREME CONSERVATISM IN POLITICS
I would hope that Christians who are to any extent involved in politics would be extremely conservative. Unfortunately, that is not the way it is. There are many Christians who are swayed by their wallets, or by the charisma of a certain candidate, and don’t use the principles and teaching of scripture. We must realize the necessity of having a government that is in subjection to God, or at least one that acknowledges that there is a supreme power above them. God raises up governments and brings them back down as He sees fit. That being the case we should realize that governments fall when they reject God. We are somewhat schizophrenic spiritually if we think we can believe in the Bible and be pleasing to God without having our Christianity controlling every aspect of our lives public and private.

There is a danger; however, that we may be conservative in politics and think that voting for officials who take a hard moral stance and will make laws accordingly will somehow change the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans. Don’t let Satan deceive you. There is a significant difference in legislating morality and converting the heart of the immoral. I am not saying that we should not have laws and punishment for immorality, what I am saying is that until something changes the hearts and minds of the sinners in this country they will continue to sin even if it is illegal. What government, no matter how moral and Godly it is, can never do with laws and punishment, the church can do with the gospel and only the church through use of the gospel can do it.

Many have said, and rightly so, that making guns illegal or making new laws to restrict who can own a gun will not solve the problems of gun violence that we have seen in the last few years. The reason is clear if we will think about it. In every case of these shootings, either the guns that were used were illegal, or they were illegally obtained, or both. You see the very nature of the terms ‘crime’ and ‘criminal’ imply something illegal. We can’t expect laws to change hearts, only the love of Christ shown through the gospel can truly accomplish that.

One last illustration. Do you ever speed? Be honest now. Would it make a difference if the government made a law making it illegal? Ooohhh! They already did. Well, would it make a difference if they passed a new law that made the speed limit 45 MPH? Be honest. Would it matter to you if they raised the fines to $100 for every MPH over the speed limit? Maybe after you got caught the first time and had to pay an outrageous $900 fine, but probably not before that. You see it is true with many of us in the small areas of breaking the law, and it is true of the hardened criminal in any area. It is good to have a government that can punish the evil doer as Romans 13 tells us they should, but don’t expect the government to do the church’s task here on earth. Don’t think you have done all you should when you have voted for some ‘righteous’ official.

BINOMIALISM - NAME CONSISTING OF A GENERIC AND SPECIFIC TERM
This is, of course, a scientific term for the type of naming that scientists do. “Homo sapiens”, for example, is the binomial name for humans. This in and of itself has caused some problems for Christians because of the fact that different species (that is the second part) can sometimes breed. The wolf and the domesticated dog have been mated to produce mixes. Scientists have tried to use these occurrences to prove evolution, and to throw doubt on the Biblical account of creation and the flood. The Bible, however, never says anything about “genus” and “species”; rather it speaks of kinds which is broader than the “species” that we know today. A wolf and a dog are two separate species, but they are the same kind. But, we want to look at a spiritual application.

From a spiritual point of view, Binomialism could refer to the way many who claim to be Christians aren’t satisfied with wearing the name of Christ and only the name of Christ. There are many that claim to be some ‘kind’ of Christian. Many use their denominations name along with Christ’s. Others try to describe some distinction between themselves and others. We have probably heard terms like: Evangelical Christian, Protestant Christian, or Pentecostal Christian. We often hear the question, “What kind of Christian are you?”. The reply may be: Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, etc. Paul condemned this type of thinking when he wrote to the church in Corinth. (1 Cor 1:10-13) “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. {11} For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. {12} Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. {13} Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?”

If ever unity is to exist we must, among other things, first stop using man made names and titles and stick to what God has given us in his word. We seem to want to insist on this use of man made distinctions, however. We have: non-institutional or anti- churches, one-cup churches, black churches, white churches, liberal churches, mainstream churches, conservative churches, ultra-conservative churches, etc. We must continually ask ourselves as Paul asked the Corinthians, “Is Christ divided”. I am not in any way advocating union without regard to doctrine, quite to the contrary I am emphasizing that we can never truly be the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ until we give up human names and doctrines and fully embrace his name and doctrine. 

BASAL METABOLISM - THE ENERGY TURNOVER OF THE BODY IN A BASAL STATE (BASAL INDICATES THE STANDARD AT A LOW LEVEL OF ACTIVITY)
If you live anywhere that has been suffering this miserable heat this summer, you have probably been trying to experience basal metabolism as much as possible. When it is 105 degrees with a heat index close to 120 we try to avoid any activity that isn’t absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, this attitude is present in our spiritual lives and the spiritual lives of other Christians far too often. Many of the ‘saints’ would more accurately be termed ‘ain’ts’. They just ‘ain’t gonna do nothing I don’t have to’.

There is an old cartoon that I have seen in church bulletins that illustrates this attitude. In the cartoon, there is a long line of people standing at the gates to heaven and one fellow is running toward the end of the line shouting, “He isn’t counting Wednesday night attendance.” Everyone in line shouts, “hooray”. This describes perfectly the attitude many have. They are doing only what they think they ‘must’ to get into heaven. Let’s test ourselves. Would you come to Wed. Night Bible study if you knew that you didn’t have to in order to be saved? What if you found out that instrumental music wouldn’t necessarily send you to Hell? What if it was discovered that you really only needed to be assembled with the saints once on Sunday, would you come back Sunday Night? What about singing, or praying, or giving? Would you continue to be active in these things if you found out that God would let you slide into Heaven without them?

Children will often ask the question, “Do I have to?” whenever there is something unpleasant like eating broccoli. It is disheartening to realize that many of those for whom Christ gave his life feel the same way about pleasing him. We are asking the wrong questions. There is nothing in life that we ‘have to’ do. We have free will and if we don’t want to there may be certain consequences, but we don’t have to do it. In Christianity, the question we should be asking is “can I?” not “must I”. The basal metabolism attitude and resulting behavior is more likely to keep most out of heaven than any other sin. If we have the proper attitude, God will freely forgive us when we fall and then get up to try again. Sadly, many are still thinking like the Pharisees did about completing a checklist instead of thinking in terms of giving their life to Christ. The Pharisees were condemned not because they didn’t believe the right things or even because of horrible sins in their lives, but Jesus condemned them because they had the detailed minutia figured out and had forgotten about the matters of greatest importance. Like many today they would be asking exactly how many Wednesday nights they could miss and still be okay and then miss them. (Luke 11:42) ”But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

In college there were two kinds of classes that I took. The first was the one that I “had to have to graduate”. The other was one that I wanted to take. You may remember similar experiences in school. The Gotta Have It class was missed as much as possible without failure, the work was done adequately, tardiness or last minute arrival was the norm, and interest was minimal. The Chosen class, quite to the contrary, was never missed, always arrived at early, extremely interesting, and aced in the grades department. I couldn’t understand why some people would skip these incredible classes. Of course, the reason was that to them it wasn’t a chosen class it was a have to class. The point, however, is that in actuality there was no difference in the classes. They were both necessary for graduation. The only difference was in my attitude toward them. The same is true in religion, one command of God is just as necessary as another, but we have different attitudes about different aspects of Christianity. I may have never had a desire to kill anyone, so not killing is easy. On the other hand, I may like to sleep in on Sunday morning, thus making Sunday school attendance undesirable. When we correct our attitude our eagerness and energy output will be increased and we won’t be suffering along at a basal metabolism rate. (Rev 3:15-16) “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. {16} So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”