We are also searching for ways in which this Biblical Judaic heritage can be used as a criterion or divining rod for examining and finding our equilibrium with regard to so many issues that confront the Christian church and society at large in these times. One might say that we are committed to finding the way back to "the faith once delivered to the saints."

It is a positive command of the Lord to rediscover and reconnect ourselves to our biblical roots and heritage. It is a positive command for the believing church to forsake our inherited Greco-Roman ideas of a bifurcated, dualistic world view and to embrace that of a Biblical Hebraic world view that is holistic in its view of our relationship to God and to each other.

This Biblical holism is patterned after Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit; just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Ephesians 4:3-6).

In light of the present divisions of the body of Christ, it is difficult for us to understand the holistic nature of these words that were so readily understood by the first century's believing community. The difference is that the western church replaced the first century church's Hebraic world view with Christianized Platonism and Gnosticism.

The sad legacy of the church's divorce from her first century roots was the parting of the ways between Jew and Gentile, the adoption of Judaeophobia and the birth of anti-Semitism within the church. It has subsequently led to the belief that Christianity is entirely different and separate from the Hebraic faith of the bible. This legacy has affected our Christian hermeneutics, often giving us dualistic belief systems about life, God, nature, and worship.

The Biblical model or world view that will lead the church to renewal in our times is the revelation of wholeness. Contrary to the Greco-Roman idea that life is divided into the spiritual and material worlds and that the spiritual is good and the material is evil, the Biblical Hebraic model teaches us that all of life is good, sacred, and theological when committed in honor to God.

When God finished the six days of creation in the Genesis account, he simply said, "It is good." To the Hebrew people everything was to be enjoyed in worship and honor to Yahweh God–everything from the biological to the supernatural. There was no dichotomy in life.

The words for work and worship in Hebrew are the same. In the broadest application or contexts of work is connoted the idea that all the issues and activities of life are worship when governed by the teachings of Holy Scripture. Our western Christian mind set often conditions us to think only of certain hours or days of the week when we step out of our secular existence to worship corporately or privately. Simply stated, in Biblical Judaism the commandments of God that regulate all of life are not viewed as much as doctrinal theory or impediments as they are a way of life.

The western church has often become mesmerized by doctrinal theory but has been woefully slack on emphasizing the practical living out of the faith of God in a holistic manner. There is simply no area of our lives that the Scriptures do not address or that should not be recognized through obedience and honor as worship to God. This is how we fulfill the commandment to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Following centuries of dualistic thought, the church and society in general have been increasingly severed from Biblical Judaeo-Christian ethics. They are now reaping the fruits of a post-World-War-II generation set adrift to explore the supposed new frontiers of awakening via the philosophies of secular and Christian liberalism. At no time in history has an entire generation witnessed such a swift change from the conservative right to the liberal left in religious, moral, and secular views. At no time in history has a generation moved so quickly from a God and Bible-centered society to one centered in human potential and self-worship.

Much has been accomplished in the western world to better the physical human condition; however, the downside of this quest for improvement is that the idea that educating the masses, sharing material wealth, and fully developing human potential will automatically eliminate all social ills has miserably failed. Today, white-collar crime is a prevalent as the crimes of the ghettos. The wealthiest nation in the world now holds the infamous records of being the divorce, violent crime, drug, suicide, and homicide capital of the free world, as the family unit spirals downward in confusion.

Presently many issues are in the courts and legislatures of the western world that will test the resolve of God-fearing people. The outcome of these debates will determine the decline or rebirth of the free world. This present time can be Judaeo-Christianity's finest hour and opportunity to make a mark on this world and on this generation. We must stand up and be seen and speak up and be heard in this generation, or the blood of masses will be laid at the feet of the Christian church in the day of judgment!

If we are to fulfill God's purposes for the church and rescue society from total destruction, we must reclaim the holistic life style that our Judaic heritage teaches. We must literally seek to find our way back home–home to the prophets, wise men, and apostles of our Judaeo-Christian faith. Faith must become a life style, not an isolated, infrequently-practiced "religious" exercise.

Job said it well: "For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to search their fathers . . . shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?" (Job 8:8, 10). Searching the fathers in the Scriptures will lead us back to "the old path wherein is the good way" so that this weary generation can find "rest for its soul."

Ultimately the search will lead us back to the first century foundations of the perfected and reformed faith of Jesus Christ under the new covenant, which will serve as a catalyst to settle the issues of moral behavior as well as to how we should serve, praise, and worship God together in unity through the revelation of his immutable counsel–his eternal Word, the Bible.

May we seek to rediscover the Biblical Hebraic model after which we can successfully pattern our lives. When we do, we will find ourselves back home!