October, 2005

It’s a command of the holy apostle Paul, not a little friendly take-it-or-leave-it advice. He says in Ephesians, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it” ( 5:25).

But then to our surprise, the apostle does not “command” wives to “love your husbands,” no; he commands them, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord” (5:22). Why the difference?

In both instances the command is not an onerous, painful burden for each to bear if they “walk in love [agape], as Christ also has loved us [with agape] and given Himself for us” (vs. 2). The pre-condition for both husband and wife is a heart-appreciation of what it cost the Son of God to save us—His love at His cross whereon He died our second death.

And the implication is clear: if that heart-appreciation of the love of Christ is not there in the heart, he or she will not, cannot, be happy in the kingdom of God. Conjugal love (or its absence) becomes serious if you have solemnly promised before God to cherish it.

Even though wife is not commanded to “love” her husband sexually, what First Corinthians 13 says about agape will control her heart: she will “suffer long” and be “kind,” will not “behave rudely,” will not be “provoked,” will “think no evil,” will “rejoice in the truth,” “bear all things,.... hope all things, endure all things,” will “never fail” (cf vss. 4-8). She will not wound her husband; she will make him happy. Paul, who himself “hopes all things,” seems to believe that if this Christlike compassionate kindness on her part is there in her heart, the miracle of conjugal love will be re-awakened. The submitting commanded will be her greatest joy so long as they both shall live.

October 29, 2005

It’s wrong when we go through life, even into old age, with no understanding of our own ugly sinfulness. If so, Robert Burns’ poem/prayer has never been answered for us that we might see ourselves as “ithers see us.”

Sometimes in courts of law a criminal has been found guilty and is brought in for sentencing. His victims (or if deceased, their relatives) are permitted to denounce him and vent their rage against him. Often, especially when he manifests no remorse, they consign him to an eternally burning hell. But there is no redemption in these bitter diatribes.

Much better for the Holy Spirit to tell us the bad truth about ourselves, for when He “convicts.... of sin” (John 16:8), no matter how deep and horrible it was, there is always Good News in what He says to us. It’s News to be welcomed wholeheartedly.

The greatest tragedy that can come upon one is to finish one’s life span in blissful ignorance of one’s true character before God and before the world. The reason is that we will inexorably come into final judgment when we “appear before the judgment seat of Christ” and look Him straight in the eyes. Even though we have participated in murdering Him “afresh” (Heb. 6:6), He may not say cruel diatribes to condemn us; He may keep still. But the lost will condemn themselves—bitterly (cf Rev. 20:12). There will be no salvation in the sad experience.

This precisely was the purpose in the Day of Atonement once a year in the sanctuary (Lev. 16; 23). It was to symbolize the grand, final Day of Atonement, wherein we live today. God’s final message of love to the world is that deep conviction of sin brought by the loving work of the Holy Spirit. Thank the Father for it! There’s salvation in it.

October 27, 2005

To this day, devout Jews observe the “day of atonement” as we read of it in Leviticus 16 and in 23:24-32. On that one day of the year, they thought of final judgment: “The tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement.... a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord..... Any person who is not afflicted of soul on that same day, he shall be cut off from his people.”

The “afflicting” was not wearing a hair shirt, or self-torture in any way; it was a 24 hour fast, a closing of their shops, a time for deep heart-searching and prayer and humbling of one’s soul before the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, a time to let the Holy Spirit bring the conviction of sin, a time for repentance.

And this happened every year, on the same day.

But it all meant nothing, just as the offering of a lamb for their sins meant nothing, unless the people saw through the ceremonial “works” involved, and discerned that the slain lamb was a type of the Lamb of God slain for our sins on His cross, and that there is a cosmic, antitypical Day of Atonement for the world itself.

We are living in that “Day” now. It’s the time when Jesus says, “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day [the final judgment] come upon you unexpectedly..... Watch therefore, and pray always” (Luke 21:34, 36).

Not motivated by craven, selfish fear, no; but motivated by heart concern for Jesus that He be glorified by his people before the world and before the universe of God, that He come from the great controversy with Satan triumphant.

October 25, 2005

There is an interesting word in the Bible description of the second coming of Jesus: “The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, and EVERY SLAVE and every free man, hid themselves in the caves.... and said.... ‘Hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne’” (Rev. 6:15, 16).

True, there is still slavery in some parts of the Third World, such as Niger; but is there slavery still in developed, democratic nations? The great Civil War should have put an end to slavery in America! And long before that, in British possessions.

Well, the Lord impressed James to write a scathing rebuke to “rich” people especially in “the last days” where in we live: “Come now, you rich weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you!.... You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out..... You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury..... You have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter..... The just.... does not resist you” (5:1-6). The gaps between the incomes of the rich and the poor in the world have widened alarmingly, especially in the developed nations. Electronics has given enterprising teens multi-million dollar wealth. In a post-Christian culture, materialist idolatry has run wild.

I remember hearing a godly minister declare one day long ago that we will have to give an account to God for every dollar that we have wasted on the love of self. (At that time, a dollar was the wage of a laboring man for a day). Each of us should ask God a straight question: in Heaven’s plan of economics, am I expending more than the just portion of this world’s wealth than I deserve? Do the angel economists write me down as someone who is unknowingly oppressing poor people? Am I strengthening what Heaven sees as slavery still continuing, as revealed there in Revelation 6?

October 24, 2005

October 22, 1844 is a date that will never die in the world’s memory. Scores of thousands of Christians in Europe and the United States had been studying the book of Daniel, thanking God that at last the book which had been sealed up for many centuries (12:4) had now at the end of the Dark Ages of papal persecution and oppression been “opened up” for understanding. It was now “a little book open” in the hands of a “mighty angel” (Rev. 10:1, 2) who was a “messenger,” attracting worldwide attention.

Its message had riveted on Daniel 8:14; serious readers of the Bible were drawn to Daniel’s prophecies. The year-day principle was established so clearly that they saw the 2300 years of that prophecy reaching fulfillment on that date in 1844. “Then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,” said the word. They borrowed from the commentaries the idea that “the sanctuary” was this earth, and the “cleansing” therefore would be the fire of the last day at the coming of Jesus. But the commentators were wrong; there is a sanctuary in heaven—the real one, and that’s where the world’s great High Priest, Jesus, ministers. The “cleansing” is His great Day of Atonement, His final work of preparing a people to be ready when Jesus comes the second time. They were woefully uninformed about what that preparation entailed! It was to be nothing short of “self” being “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), and “the world crucified” being to them (6:14). A tremendous work!

The fascinating story of the “Great Disappointment” and its aftermath is told in Revelation chapter 10. Verse 11 describes the worldwide work that must (that will!) be done before Jesus can be happy to come again—every person must have a chance to hear the good news and respond in heart. The angel said. “Thou must prophesy again before” the world! And that’s the work that is going on now all over the world. Listen!

October 23, 2005

For our happiness, our Creator and Savior has told us that “six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Ex. 20:9, 10).

Granted, we believe that. We gladly give Him that “seventh day.”

But is there another bit of what may be seen as “holy time”? The remaining “six days” of the week are not an escapade from God; seven days a week we are to “abide” in Christ and we are to invite, to welcome Him to “abide” in us (John 15:4). After the toil of each of “the six working days” the dear Lord “gives His beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2). Thus we awaken each new morning refreshed to “abide” another day in Christ, while we go about our lives. Jesus gave us an example for our encouragement about how to live those “six working days” of the week:

“In the morning, having risen a long time before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed” (Mark 1:35). This is not an example of deprivation of needed sleep which the Lord “gives His beloved,” no; it’s just a healthy way to live; it was His habit to go to bed early so He could do this (unless someone like Nicodemus would come and keep Him up late, see John 3:2).

In God’s plan, our each new day begins at sundown (Gen 1:5). It was Roman paganism that changed this so it begins at midnight. On this cosmc Day of Atonement, those who follow our great High Priest in His cleansing His sanctuary, choose to “abide” in Him; we jealously guard that morning time when He awakens us (see Isa. 50:4, 5). Guard that evening hour too.

October 22, 2005

It was one of those rare evenings when we could be home. No meetings to go to, no responsibilities, no speaking appointment anywhere. Just stay home, relax, get some entertainment.

We tried the History Channel. It was on the Holocaust, the horrible speech of Himmel proposing slaughtering the Jewish race, Hitler’s devil possession, the intrigues and cruelty of the Nazis. Painful! So we turned that all off.

Then it was current news, the ongoing curse of Katrina, New Orleans forced to sink deeper into the hell-hole of gambling in order to survive, Iraq, the mindboggling distress of the Pakistan/Kashmir earthquake, the constant political confusion and corruption that’s closer home—it was all wearisome.

Finally we thought, we don’t want to go to sleep with this “hell” on our minds! So we did something often thought impossible—we decided to read the Bible as entertainment, recreation, fun! Not just that little snippet that’s “family worship” duty, but absorbing its message for what it is in the Book—not a video or movie, no,—the Bible! Finding enjoyment reading Matthew in the Today’s English Version, chapter after chapter.

It was a week night, but it became like a holy evening. The ghosts of history, past and current, were excised. Late nights with movies, even “sanctified” ones, are deceptive to young or old. Morning always comes, when the Father would waken Jesus as a youth (or in manhood!) and He always got up when the Father called: “Every morning He makes me eager to hear what He is going to teach Me..... And I have not rebelled or turned away from Him” [like we do when we’ve been up late the night before] (Isa. 50:4, 5, TEV).

October 21, 2005

In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks extensively about the end of the world and of His second coming (see, for example, verses 12-15, 24, 29-31). Of all the books of the Bible, He selected one which He urged us to “read” and “understand”—Daniel  (vs. 15). Yet seldom do pastors or teachers study that book. People go to church for years and hear no sermon explaining it.

Daniel’s key prophecy says that “unto 2300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (8:14). In Bible prophecy, a day is a year. In the early 19th century Bible-loving Christians awakened as from a centuries-long sleep to realize that those 2300 years would come to their end in 1844, on October 22. The Holy Spirit impressed many with this stupendous conviction; to this day, millions around the world recognize how history and Bible prophecy converge to render that point of time significant in God’s plan for salvation.

We are living in the time for the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary; in simple language that means we are living in the time when Christ as our great High Priest is preparing a people to be ready for His second coming—a greater work than preparing His people to die and come up in the first resurrection, wonderful as that work has been. It means that His people must live on earth during the cataclysmic last days when they will meet head-on the last temptations of Satan, but will “overcome even as [Christ] overcame.” They will honor Him, and share with Him His throne. They will demonstrate His righteousness  (Rev. 3:21).

But Revelation also discloses that Christ’s last great struggle is with the blindness and lukewarmness of His own people who can’t seem to grasp the seriousness of the time in which they live (3:15-19). Urgent as never before, He says, “Watch therefore” (Matt. 24:42).

October 19, 2005

It’s a phenomenon that shows up sadly in almost every disaster: survivors who have no food or water fight like wild animals when a little becomes available. Let’s give them the benefit of every doubt—they are parents grabbing what they can for their hungry children. But still, whoever grabs deprives someone else.

Let’s pause a moment and pray that the Lord may prepare us for if or when our turn may come to be hungry “survivors.” In Psalm 19:12-14 we find the right prayer to pray:

(1) “Who can understand his errors?” [we don’t know what is buried in our sinful nature! It’s good to realize the truth about our potential apart from Christ].

(2) “Cleanse me from secret faults” [the most terrible sins are the unconscious ones. Jesus prayed for His murderers, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34)]. We don’t know what we’re capable of doing when temptation becomes strong enough. Now is the time to ask, “Cleanse me...!”

(3) “Keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me” [when I am finally tempted to let go of self-control, O Lord, save me in that hour! Let not self gain the victory! Let me practice today taking up my cross to follow Jesus and may self be “crucified with Him” (Gal. 2:20)].

(4) “Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression” [the stakes now are high; it’s time for “144,000” to “follow the Lamb wherever He goes,.... without fault before the throne of God” (Rev. 14:1-5). No, we’re not jockeying for the highest places; what we want is to honor Christ in the “great controversy” hour of final trial. It’s He who deserves a crown, not we].

(5) “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer” [today; amen and amen].

October 18, 2005

Many thoughtful Muslims are asking, “Why does Allah permit such terrible disasters as this horrendous earthquake in Pakistan/Kashmir?” The media tell of people pinned under concrete wreckage crying out piteously, “Allah, hear us!” until the cries cease.

At the same time many thoughtful Christians ask, “Why does God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the Bible says ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8), why does He permit these awful things like tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes?” To say nothing of our wars that we humans create ourselves.

All such questions inevitably revert to the great one: why did the loving Creator of the world permit the Flood of Noah? It upset the earth’s equilibrium! In that history we see the portrayal of the government of Heaven in relation to fallen, sinful humanity. God did not permit the Flood to come until for 120 years, through Noah He had proclaimed a message of “the righteousness which is according to faith” (1 Peter 3:18-20; Heb. 11:7). But unbelieving, rebellious humanity had become a curse to themselves. “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Gen. 6:11). Now only a small portion of the earth’s surface is inhabitable, for again “the earth also is defiled under its inhabitants, because they have.... broken the everlasting covenant” (Isa. 24:5). That’s a guilt we all share.

God purposes that that same message of “righteousness by faith” again be proclaimed worldwide (Rev. 14:6-12). “The prince of this world” who wreaks this havoc is not Christ—he is the Enemy of Christ, “the prince of the power of the air” (cf John 14:30; Eph. 2:2).

October 17, 2005

Fox News noted that many common people look upon the spate of terrible disasters since the Christmas tsunami in Indonesia, our own Katrina/Rita, and now this terrible earthquake in Pakistan/Kashmir, as “signs of the times.” “Experts” discussed “disaster theology.”

We who write and read this mini-message are among the survivors who through our TV and news media witness “the destruction that wasteth at noonday [when] a thousand.... fall at [our] side and ten thousand at [our] right hand; but it [has not] come nigh [us].” It’s “only with [our] eyes” that we “behold and see” these horrors (Psalm 91:6-8). No! we do not think that those who perished in that 9 a.m. cataclysm (as the 200 girls in school) were “wicked” more than we; all we know for sure is that we are alive and well and 20/30,000 people just as good or “worthy” as any of us have perished.

Something else we know for sure: As in the days of Jeremiah, “it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not..... He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. To crush under His feet all the prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High, to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not..... Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens” (Lam. 3:22-31, KJV). Our life and all we have is a gift of God’s much more abounding grace; now let us confess this and “henceforth live not unto [ourselves] but unto Him who died for [us] and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14, 15).

Yes, the end is near; but there’s a lot of ministry to be done first. Now, let us minister!

October 15, 2005

Abraham Lincoln was always opposed to slavery and wanted to set all slaves free. But as President he had to abide by the political system that constituted the government. He himself was not “free.” Therefore his Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 left much to be desired; it applied only to the slaves held within the Confederate States.

Still, the historical reality of that “proclamation” illustrated Leviticus 25:10, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”

Christ’s purpose in His sacrifice on His cross was to set free ALL the slaves of sin in the earth. Thus Lincoln’s “proclamation” illustrated what Christ had done: (a) The slaves of sin in the earth did not know they had been set free—they had to hear the good news of the gospel to inform them. (b) They had to believe the news, otherwise their slavery would be permanent. (c) They could continue in servitude only through unbelief. (d) They had to act on the news and walk out into liberty, demanding it as their right and assert it (Psalm 116:16).

Ephesians one is a statement of Christ’s “emancipation proclamation” to us ALL:

(a) The Father “has blessed us [all] with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (vs. 3). That includes liberty from the cruel bondage of Satan.

(b) The Father has “predestined” us [all] “unto the adoption of children” (vs. 5; cf 1 Tim. 2:4).

(c) He has “chosen us [all] in [Christ].... that we should be holy and without blame” (vs. 4). 

(d) He has “made us accepted in the Beloved” (vs. 6).

(e) When He acknowledged Jesus at His baptism in the Jordan (“This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” Matt. 3:17), He was throwing His arms around the entire human race “in Christ.”

(f) As He loved His only Son, so He has loved us.

(g) When He “gave” Him (John 3:16), the Father placed His Son’s value to Himself on a par with our value to Himself. !!!

October 13, 2005

If there is someone for whom you are especially praying, someone you want to lead to the Savior, the apostle John has given some particular counsel in 1 John 5:15, 17: “If we know that He [the Lord] hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not to death.” (We pause here: this must mean prayer for anyone who has not committed the unpardonable sin—but of course you may not know; you would have been sure that Saul of Tarsus was too far gone to be saved.)

Then John continues: “There is sin to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not to death” (literal rendering). In other words, there is hope for those who have not committed the unpardonable sin. They can still be reached with the gospel. Makes sense. Now, how can you pray for such an individual effectually?

The answer seems to be: God gives you spiritual “life” for that person! You become a “life”-saver; you are to give that person spiritual mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. (Don’t ask me exactly how; the Lord will show you! This is personal—you are abiding in Him!)

If you will pardon the crude illustration: it’s like a mother bird feeding its young. She has pre-digested the morsel she puts in its mouth. God gives YOU the “life” for this person you are praying for. In other words, it won’t suffice for you to send him a missionary magazine, or the missionary book of the year and pray, “Lord, help him to understand; and then flip on your TV and trust that some angel will give him “life.” No, the Lord gives YOU “life” for that person. You must pre-digest every truth you want him to come to understand! It must be YOU who communicates the saving truth. An offering in the plate on Sabbath is wonderful but it won’t suffice here. You must get deeply involved personally.

October 12, 2005

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on His cross was the most decisive event of all history—yes, let’s tell the truth, of all eternity. The fate of God’s throne was in the balance; Satan wanted to push God off His throne and take over.

The death that Jesus suffered on that cross was a different kind of death than anybody else had ever suffered. The truth is that only one Man has ever truly died since the world began—everybody else who has “died” has simply gone to sleep. Jesus’ death was the real thing—it was total, eternal darkness, enduring death forever. The Bible distinguishes between two different kinds of death—the “sleep” that Lazarus suffered when he died (and which everybody experiences), and what Revelation says is “the second death” (2:11; 20:12-14). The latter is what Jesus died.

Sorry, some will object by saying, “But He didn’t go through the Lake of Fire! And He was resurrected!” Do they mean to demean or belittle the sacrifice of Jesus? Read the entire passage—the horror that Jesus went through in order to save your soul and mine was worse than the physical pain that any fire could be. The commitment He made was infinitely total.

If Jesus was the only Man who ever suffered that kind of death, then the apostle Paul has to be the outstanding one who came to appreciate the dimensions of love (agape) which led the Son of God to die that death for us (Eph. 3:14-21). Therefore Paul, saved by grace, has proven forever that it’s possible for 144,000 also (figurative or literal number) to “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth” (Rev. 14:5, 6). If “the love of Christ constrained” Paul to live only for Jesus, the universe can witness you and me constrained in this Day of Atonement to live only for Him, as He lived and died for us.

October 11, 2005

The Day of Pentecost marked the glorious beginning of the proclamation of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, and the inauguration of His High Priestly ministry. Paul says the message went to all the world in that first generation of Christ’s followers (see Col. 1:6; 1 Thess. 1:8).

What will now mark the ending of that ministry? If the proclamation of the message marked its beginning, it is reasonable to conclude that again the proclamation of the message will mark its ending.

Since all the time prophecies of both Daniel and the Revelation have already been fulfilled, we are living in Daniel’s “time of the end” when we can see that the final proclamation of the saving message is due now. Jesus said that just before the “end,” “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a witness unto all nations” (Matt. 24:14). The word “witness” means that not everyone is going to believe the message, but God will see to it that everyone has had the completely fair opportunity to hear and respond to the life-or-death message.

The message says “the hour of His judgment is come” (Rev. 14:6), that is, the “hour” of the great Day of Atonement which was prefigured in the Hebrew annual “cleansing of the sanctuary” (Dan. 8:14, KJV; Lev. 16). Life today is more solemn than ever in the past.

Revelation says that the proclamation of “the hour of His judgment is come” will grow to “lighten the earth with glory” (18:1-4). It’s due now—to penetrate Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, all Christian faiths; taking part in that great movement will make life worth living!

October 10, 2005

Embattled Europe has suffered many tragic disasters, both natural and man-made—mostly the latter. Through the centuries it has suffered bloody, cruel, religious, yes “Christian,” persecutions. The papacy severely oppressed Bible-loving Christians (and there were Protestant persecutions, too). Europe also has suffered endless wars including two World Wars and the unspeakable horror of the Holocaust. Man’s inhumanity toward man has been terrible. The most enlightened continent suffered the greatest man-made cruelty.

But there was one outstanding natural disaster that came upon Europe—the Lisbon (Portugal) Earthquake of November 1, 1755. It was the Roman Catholic All Saints’ Day which followed Halloween. Extending 700 miles in radius (some reports said 1800—even to Norway), it shook Europe severely, even England. Followed by a tsunami of about 20 feet, some 30,000 perished, and Lisbon’s 12,000 homes were destroyed.

Bible believing Christians recognized it as the “great earthquake” that ushered in the “sixth seal” of Revelation 6:12. Multitudes were sobered; the wealthy and the royal saw there was something more to live for than “decadence” parties and Mardi Gras-like festivals. John Wesley was moved to devote his life to saving England from the horrors that became the French Revolution. The deeper thinking that became the great Advent Movement began to spread. Daniel’s “time of the end” was about to begin (in 1798).

Did God speak to the world in the Lisbon Earthquake? Yes! Has He spoken to us in the Katrina/Rita hurricanes? Reports say over 200,000 homes were destroyed; seems unbelievable but there was indeed great devastation. Yes, God is speaking. He is calling the world to Day of Atonement living. He deserves our attention. Let’s listen for His Voice.

October 9, 2005

When we become a bit more mature than our youthful years, we can agree with apostle Paul: “I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think” (Rom. 12:3). When we overcome our pride and arrogance, that counsel becomes easier for us; but the rest of the verse is now our problem: “but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”

It’s comparatively easy to denigrate ourselves, to say with John the Baptist of everyone else, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). We can easily consider ourselves “less than the least of all saints” (Eph. 3:8), “unprofitable servants” (Luke 17:10), “the chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). All that is healthful spiritual modesty.

What’s difficult is coming to where we “think soberly” about ourselves: we’re neither somebody great nor are we everybody’s doormat. Where are we? Who are we? Oh, God! give us common sense! Teach us how to avoid pride yet hold our head high—to be what You have ordained us to be, and to be happy there. Not to be more nor to be less.

Regarding that “measure of faith” that He has “dealt” to us: the Greek word is metron, a capacity for faith. It’s not impossible for anyone on earth to believe [have faith] in Christ and be saved eternally. God has given you the capacity; now open the closed door of the heart and receive as much of “the faith of Jesus” as you want to have. Then hold your head high in healthful humility as you “bloom” where the Lord has “planted” you.

October 8, 2005

Suppose it’s your duty to love someone (parent, child, spouse, or someone in the church) and the honest truth is you feel you can’t love that person. Too much negative water under the bridge. If the price of entering heaven is changing your heart toward that person, you’d have to stay outside—you feel that way.

Many are caught in this problem. Jesus said of our “time of the end,” “Because iniquiy shall abound, the love [agape] of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12). “But,” you say, “that’s love, period—love for everybody; and there are still some people I do love! The problem is just certain ones I cannot love.” But if love [agape] doesn’t love the unlovely, it doesn’t really love anybody (1 Cor. 13:1-3), does it?

Paul describes this particular problem: “This know also, that in the last days.... men [anthropoi, both men and women] will be lovers of their own selves [philautoi] ,.... without natural affection [a-storgoi, that’s the word!]” (2 Tim. 3:1, 3, KJV).

In one form or another, this is the problem of the human race. We all have it. We love our cronies—period. But it’s exactly why Christ came to our dark world—to teach us what love [agape] is, and to “pour” into our empty, cold hearts the gift of the real thing (Rom. 5:5). Asking for the gift is good, but not good enough; we receive the gift through “comprehending” its grand dimensions—old-fashioned “beholding” (Eph. 3:14-18). How? Not by watching videos but “eating” the “body” of Christ—His word, the Bible (John 6:33, 35, 48, 53). When you eat a piece of bread, it enters you blood stream; what is bread today becomes you tomorrow. That’s how in a certain sense, the believer also becomes “the word.... made flesh.” There’s an answer to your (our!) problem!

October 7, 2005

Young people generally think they’re immortal; they’ll never be like the old folks they see in nursing homes. A kind heavenly Father says: “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them,.... and desire fails’” (Eccl. 12:1, 5).

Beautiful poetry here, but also common sense! The leaders of the Sanhedrim let their intellectual faculties become hardened with age so that when the young Man from Nazareth came with His refreshing message, they had “no pleasure in” it. When God poured out the “former rain” gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they missed the blessing.

In His loving patience, our heavenly Father tries time and again to interest us in the most precious beginning message of “the latter rain.” But if we have loved our intellectual ease more than stretching the mind to grasp it, we will drift beyond the capacity to appreciate fresh revelations of truth. Our problem is worldliness, “conformity” to society in or out of the church. While we have left even a semblance of youth, let’s “be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds” (Rom. 12:1, 2). Old people can have young, renewed minds!

It was night when Samuel heard the voice of God calling; he immediately got up to listen (1 Sam. 3:3-9). The Lord gave him four calls and he responded each time. It’s quite possible that because “the Lord [our] God is a jealous God” (Ex. 20:4), we’ll have only one call to listen to “the latter rain” truth. “Buy the truth and do not sell it” (Prov. 23:23).

October 5, 2005

The first time that Jesus Christ was crucified, it was men who did it. Their cruelty to Him was horrific.

Is it possible that women will be the ones who do it the next time? Is it even possible that they could acquire such unspeakable guilt?

In many churches women outnumber men. Are they naturally more righteous? Or is it easier for them to be righteous? Men have always appeared to be abusers of women; their role as Christ-crucifiers has seemed appropriate in their treatment of those who the Bible says are “the weaker sex” (1 Peter 3:7, GNB). Will there naturally be a larger proportion of women saved at last in God’s kingdom, than men? They have suffered more; to be fair will they rejoice more? (But no one earns future happiness in heaven!)

The Bible seems clear in saying that “all have sinned [or, all sinned, aorist tense of the Greek verb], and they continue to come short of the glory of God [present continuous tense]” (Rom. 3:23). When women have gotten hold of power in history, some have been outstandingly cruel: Jezebel (1 Kings 19:2) for example, or Athaliah (2 Kings 11:1), or other famous ones in history. The capacity for sin seems to be universal as descendants of Adam.

Husbands are commanded, “Love your wives” (Eph. 5:25), but wives are not commanded to love their husbands! They “submit” to them (vs. 22; the same word means one’s attitude toward all believers—be respectful to everyone; see vs. 21). It’s husband who woos and wins—it’s wife who responds.

There is no question: we ALL must repent of crucifying the Lord of glory!

October 4, 2005

Did the apostle Paul preach the prophecies of Daniel? Did Jesus do so in His ministry? We know that the angel had told Daniel to “shut up the book, and seal the words, even to the time of the end” (12:4). Why then did Jesus tell His disciples to “read” the prophecies of Daniel and “understand” them (Matt. 24:15) if the book was “sealed”?

And why did Paul remind the believers in Thessalonica of Daniel’s prophecies about the great apostasy (“falling away”) and the coming of “the man of sin,.... the son of perdition,” the “little horn” power of Daniel 7, 8?

Although the full understanding of Daniel’s prophecies could not be known until these last days in which we live now, it is clear that the apostolic church understood that Christ’s second coming could not take place until Daniel’s prophecies of the great “falling away” came first (2 Thess. 2:1-5). Jesus knew, and Paul knew, that the church needed that information!

Although Jesus picked out of the Bible the prophecies of that one book of Daniel and emphasized them for Christians to “read” and “understand,” most priests, pastors, and teachers never preach about them. The promise that the Lord has made in Daniel 12 is that in the time of the end, “many” will heed the Lord’s command and will ponder those prophecies, and will “increase” the “knowledge” of them before the world (12:4).

And now to every one of us living in this tumultuous world comes Jesus’ solemn command: “Read, understand!” the prophecies of Daniel. That means, “Study! Read!” Let a hunger and thirst for righteousness crowd out your obsession with the amusements of this present evil world (cf Matt. 5:6).

October 2, 2005

Are you ever bewildered by the force of philosophies or theologies that are thrown at you? You are busy at daily practical tasks that you know are your duties; these teachings that are clamoring for your attention seem to be over your head. You are drowning in the unending flow of words.

If some genius is trying to overpower you, don’t let him/her entice you away from the simplicity of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Everything that God Himself wants you to understand is simple and clear, so much so that a child can get it. That’s what Jesus meant when He said of children, “Of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:14).

The Lord told His prophet, “Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance” (Hab. 2:2). You can’t get a lot of words on clay tablets. The correct understanding of justification by faith, of the atonement, of Daniel and the Revelation, must be caught “at a glance.”

So, stay close to your Bible. Think of the vast amount of information in Daniel and the Revelation, and in Solomon’s Proverbs—all brilliantly simple.

And when that last great angel comes down with the message that will “lighten the earth with glory,” it will be a message to go to “every nation, kindred, tongue and people” with the powerful impact that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount had on the world two millennia ago, because it will all be simple. (Rev. 14:6, 7; 18:1-4).

The Lord does not overburden you (Rev. 2:24). But DO study!