July 25, 2006

Does God hear the prayer of someone who is truly “down and out”? Who sees his entire life to be a failure? Who is crushed, humiliated, trampled on, disgraced, useless?

No prayer in the Bible is from anyone lower “down” or more disgracefully “out” than Jonah’s from inside the great fish’s stomach! No drug addict, alcoholic, or criminal is any lower down, more shamed and disgraced:

“Out of the belly of [Hell] I cried, and You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep [actually it was the distraught sailors who “cast” him in], into the heart of the seas [to sink naked into a dark, raging “ocean” is anybody’s “hell”]. ... All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight.’ ... The waters encompassed me, even to my soul, ... I went down to the moorings [foundations] of the mountains [can you think of a lower-down place?]” (Jonah 2:1-6).

Jeremiah often told the people of Judah that the Lord would punish them severely; yet in actuality He Himself never touched a hair of their heads—the Babylonians did it all. But God takes the blame for the evil that happens to us. We too feel that it’s the Lord who punishes us as we deserve.

David taught Jonah to pray: “Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord ... There is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared” (Psalm 130:1, 4). He too was a downer and outer after his double crime (Psalm 51).

Jonah said: “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord.” And the dear Lord remembered him! He hears you, too, even if you are on a cancer death bed. Join Jonah in his little down-low place. God hears you there.

July 24, 2006

“Israel has the right to defend herself,” is the mantra we hear continually. Hence the pulverization of a neighbor, including (inevitably) some innocent civilians.

The “right” rests on the time-honored universal “right” bestowed by military conquest. We Americans have often boasted that “we” didn’t conquer our land “from sea to shining sea” militarily; it dropped into our lap. But sober historians have concluded that “we” didn’t treat the Indians right. If Mexicans were to fire missiles into California, we would “have the right to defend ourselves” (says the mantra, but let’s hope, not by pulverizing Mexico), but do we have a divine right to the land on which we live?

In the little village where I live there are still seen the hollow places in the rock which the Indians carved out for grinding their corn when they lived here peacefully. There is a deed to my little plot stored in the county courthouse, but can I claim it as a “divine right”? No; the best I can claim is that it is “mine” only by the much more abounding grace of the Creator/Savior (and then only temporally).

There are honest, God-fearing individuals on both sides of the tragic conflict engulfing the Middle East. They can’t help but read the Gospel of John which quotes the official political (and religious) leadership of the nation of the Jews who solemnly, in the personal presence of the Son of God, their Messiah, deliberately declared, “We have no king but Caesar” (19:15), thus renouncing political statehood. Paul goes to great lengths to prove that God never “cast away His people” (Rom. 11:2, ff), and that His “gifts and calling are without repentance” (29); but the truth is, they cast themselves off. God didn’t do it.

Can He somehow acquaint these warring factions with the self-humbling truths that would make living-together-in-peace possible? (Both sides would be deeply humbled.) If so, it would be the most stupendous miracle God has done since Christ’s raising Lazarus (ch. 11). You say, “??”

Careful! God is still in the business of working miracles. He needs “Elijah.”

July 23, 2006

For hundreds of years thoughtful, reverent-minded readers of the Bible have seen the history of the United States of America in the prophecy of Revelation 13:11-18—the two-horned “beast” that arises out of apparently nowhere in contrast with prophetic “beasts” that arise out of thick populations. This new nation deliberately arose in history proclaiming the twin principles of civil and religious liberty. Once the champion of religious liberty, the same prophecy says it ends its career trampling on freedom of conscience.

But in the process, the divinely inspired prophecy watches the metamorphosis of this lamblike nation into a “dragon” whom the world comes to fear (vs. 12). In the eyes of the Muslim world its espousal of the State of Israel virtually constitutes Israel as its 51st state; in retaliation for the capture of Israelite soldiers and missiles fired by Hezbollah it has virtually pulverized Lebanon and at the same time crushed Gaza. Thoughtful pundits declare this the beginning of “World War III.”

Whether or not the violence grows to World War levels, the hatred in millions of hearts is intensified. And those who love the Bible must recognize that its ultimate origin is in the sad story of Abraham. If this is indeed the beginning of World War III, it is an Old Covenant war. Granted, the 25 years’ wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham and Sarah of a child were difficult to endure; but their unbelief and impatience led to the entrance of Hagar and Ishmael into the picture. And now this.

May the Holy Spirit grant us to understand clearly the truths of the New Covenant; they will become the only sane intelligence in a world gone mad.

July 21, 2006

Paul, God’s faithful servant, suffered a humiliating rebuke in his evangelism crusade in the great city of Athens. He made the mistake of trying to match philosophy with philosophy, trying to meet the Athenian scholars on their own ground. The result: near failure in soul-winning, although a few did respond.

When he came to the immoral city of Corinth, he says he “determined not to know anything among [them] except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).  The book of Revelation is also a presentation of the cross of Christ. In code language, “the Lamb as though it had been slain”(5:6) is the same message as Paul’s theme in Corinth. Some 28 times we find that word “Lamb” in Revelation—the book is the most cross-centered book in the Bible! It’s the same as Paul’s message of “Christ and Him crucified.” Without discerning this truth, the fanatics or enthusiasts find Revelation to be their playground.

As we near the end of time, their confusion will become more and more painful to endure. Each will proclaim that he knows the secret of “finishing God’s work,” “listen to me!” But he “multiplies words. ... The labor of fools wearies [everyone], for they do not even know how to go to the city!” (Eccl. 10:12-15). Are you bewildered by the multiplicity of voices crying “Lo here! Or, lo there!” (Luke 17:21)?

Psalm 46 was written for this time of cataclysmic confusion when “the waters [are] troubled” and “mountains [are carried] into the midst of the sea.” The counsel is, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.” The language is that of Revelation 18:1-4. Be wise and patient; spend time on your knees alone with God so that you are ready to discern that true last-days message of the cross.

July 19, 2006

How could one good man have created such havoc as is in the world today?

Abraham is claimed by Jews, Muslims, and devout Christians, as their “father” (and all are monotheists). The one true God called Abraham when the world was almost totally given to idolatry; even his father Terah was entangled in idolatry. Abraham was the one witness that God had on earth. God promised him that through his descendants the Messiah should come and be “the Savior of the world” (Gen. 12:2, 3; John 4:42).

And since God respects holy marriage (the love of one man for one woman), it was His plan that Sarah his wife should be the mother of Abraham’s “seed.” But she could not get pregnant. She was human, and she grew bitter, blaming God for her infertility (16:2). Her dis-belief of God’s promises became a lethal unbelief. She persuaded her husband to take a second wife, her slave-girl Hagar, who bore him a son, Ishmael (the name means “God hears”).

God wanted Abraham and Sarah to believe His glorious New Covenant promises (12:2, 3), and “in Isaac your seed shall be called” (21:12). He had nothing to do with this Old Covenant scheme of Sarah’s; but He had solemnly promised to bless Abraham’s “seed,” so this had to include blessing Ishmael: “I ... will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. ... I will make him a great nation” (17:20). “I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed” (21:13).

Hence: Islam today.

But God has never wanted the two progenies to fight. When Esau (who had despised and sold his “birthright” and resented Jacob) wanted to come and annihilate Jacob, God evidently told him to desist and to make friends. The reconciliation described in chapter 33 is what God today wants the Israelis and the Muslims to make, between them. As God lives, it is possible. But it requires the gospel to be understood!

July 18, 2006

Newt Gingrich on Meet the Press Sunday with Tim Russert insisted that we have now entered World War III. Oh Lord, may he be wrong—if World War III is to be anything like World War II or I! Some of us lived through the last one; boys and girls, it’s no picnic. It’s horror multiplied.

There is a clear-cut message in the Bible where the Lord reminds us that He is still over all the events of this world; and He says that if His people will do what He says and proclaim the Good News message that He wants them to proclaim, He will hold back world distress and war. The idea is that the devil can’t wait to unleash another world war, but God has promised that He will send “four angels” to “hold” the “four winds” from letting loose with their universal cyclone of human hatred and passion:

“I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying ‘Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the tress till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads’” (Rev. 7:1-3).

By using symbolic language in Revelation, God can say an immense lot in a few words. “Four winds” throughout the Bible are a symbol of universal distress and violence; an “angel” is a symbol of a message to be proclaimed; the “sea” is a symbol of world population; God’s “seal” is a symbol of a message that prepares a people to be ready for the second coming of Jesus (John 14:1-3). Only if that “another angel” can proclaim his message and the “four winds” can be calmed down, can people be able to listen to what God has to say. Lord, please strengthen the grip of those “four angels”! And wake your people up!

July 17, 2006

It’s impossible for a man and woman who are in love to break the seventh commandment of God’s holy law. And yet conventional wisdom says the opposite, that their being in love propels them, drives them, virtually forces them, into fornication or adultery. Their sexual passion can know of no restraint, is the common idea.

But such passion is not love; love is eternal. But passion is transitory, like the so-called love that Amnon said he had for the beautiful Tamar when he raped her (2 Sam. 13:2-14). Then, with all the turbulent passion wherewith he had “loved” her, he now “hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her.” He threw her out, literally (vs. 15).

Sexual love is included in the holy agape that is the love of Christ (see Eph. 5:25, 28). It will not, cannot, “touch” the object of its agape until God gives her/him (Prov. 6:29). Then the love binds the two forever, not in a legalistic union motivated by fear but in a love-oneness inspired by the nature of God Himself. Such true love is described: “Close your heart to every love but mine; hold no one in your arms but me. Love is as powerful as death; passion is as strong as death itself. It bursts into flame and burns like a raging fire. Water cannot put it out; no flood can drown it. But if anyone tried to buy love with his wealth, contempt is all he would get” (S. S. 8:6, 7, GNB).

Why is such love forever? Why is it so powerful?

Because it is the gift of Jesus Christ whom the Father “gave” to us because He “so loved the world” (John 3:16), and the Son loved us more than He loved His own life. His love is the powerful force that is transmitted by the “preaching of the gospel,” the pure one, the true one that is based on truth.

July 15, 2006

Both sides in the Middle East crisis claim that God gave them the land. Religion fuels this hatred.

The Israelis (and vast numbers of Protestant Americans who support them politically) believe that God’s promises for the restoration of “Israel” apply to them politically and militarily. For example, they trust in hope like this: “Great shall be the peace of your children ... You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you” (Isa. 54:13, 14). They attribute their brilliant military victories to God’s fulfillment of such Bible promises, His divine appointment (but if it were not for American support, what could happen to them?).

World sympathy for the Jews because of the horrors of the Holocaust led to the establishment of Israel as a state in 1948. But the Israelis have not succeeded in winning the sympathy and love of their geographical neighbors. They have never been “far from ... terror” for it has “come near” them in many forms—the constant threat of rockets for example now, as well as suicide bombings. You can’t go to a café without fear, or even stay home with rockets flying. How could the Israelis acquire confidence in the future “peace of [their] children”? Either (a) win the love of their Muslim neighbors, or (b) see their neighbors annihilated.

Statesmen on both sides are weary of the constant conflict.

And we who must watch dread opening the newspaper or turning on the news. We too are weary, ... of violence spread before our eyes.

Oh Jesus, please be crowned soon as “King of kings and Lord of lords”! (Rev. 19:16). But when we read the context, that crowning can come only after the “marriage of the Lamb, ... and His wife has made herself ready” (vss. 7, 8). What is our duty?

July 14, 2006

The big front-page news in our little community is the loss of a valuable Arabian horse that lost its footing on the canyon trail and went down over 200 feet into the canyon floor of the American River. An advancing rattlesnake on the path spooked the animal.

A great king in his mature years was “spooked” by some living pornography, and went over the cliff. It should have frightened him backwards as all pornography should frighten us into retreating hastily, but King David was curious, went for it instead, and over the cliff he went.

We can argue all day whether Bathsheba was a temptress; let’s spare our energies. One thing seems clear: when the king invited the lady whose husband was away on the front fighting his nation’s battles, she was ready to respond. She ended up being the winner, becoming queen; the king never got out of the canyon floor.

Oh yes, the dear Lord forgave him his sin; but although he had been invited to be one of the contributing writers of the Bible (he had already authored Psalms 23, 40, and a host of other masterpieces), David came within a millimeter of losing his soul for eternity. “Have mercy upon me,” he cries piteously; “do not cast me away, ... and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” (vss. 1, 11).

What we often call “forgiveness” is only pardon, but David was mature enough to sense how useless mere pardon can be. He was beyond being scared for his own soul’s salvation; whether or not he got to heaven was on the back burner of his concern; he had crucified the Lord Himself.

He was in the category of those people who were concerned for Christ in His earthly ministry, and now David could anticipate the motivation that will fuel the 144,000 who end up “following the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev. 14:4, 5). The Bible probes deeply into that shift of motivation.

Don’t think you can never grow up. Ephesians 4 must be fulfilled some time when people “grow up in all things” “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (13, 15); why not now? It’s not just saving our poor little selves; the issue is bigger than that.

July 13, 2006

Is it possible for us self-centered humans to feel a concern for Jesus?

He came from heaven, sent on a mission to save the world; He saved it legally, but not yet in actuality.

He has become the Second Adam—the new Head of the human race. He senses responsibility for all the suffering in the world.

He is forced to feel the agony of the people in Darfur, in Baghdad, in Bombay; of the cancer patients around the world, of the victims of crime, of the longings of multitudes for deliverance from sin and despair.

Time has gone way beyond what Heaven allotted for bringing to an end the agony of this lost world.

He is inviting alert people who have hearts that can feel to join Him on His throne in deciding to bring an end to the reign of sin (Rev. 3:20).

People once thought about Him instead of themselves—the disciples who “prayed Him, saying, Master eat!” when He was hungry (John 4:31), Martha of Bethany cooked for Him (Luke 10:38-40), the unbelieving women of Jerusalem wept for Him at His crucifixion (Luke 23:27, 28), an unselfish mother bore Him, the Samaritan woman probably realized she had forgotten to give Him a drink of water (John 4:7), someone must have done His laundry. These people ministered to the Son of God!

Now today, can we get our minds off ourselves, and think about Him?

He is burdened with the greatest cosmic problem of 6000 years: a “marriage of the Lamb” long overdue and an unwilling, un-ready Bride (Rev. 19:7, 8). When “she” makes herself ready, joy can come.

July 12, 2006

When Jesus speaks of the future, He says, “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1). Yes, there will be “a time of trouble,” but four glorious happenings will also coalesce:

(1) “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations” before “the end will [can] come” (Matt. 24:14; and that “gospel,” says Jesus, will have to include the story of Mary Magdalene and her washing Jesus’ feet with tears, Mark 14:9).

 

(2) The great “angel” of Revelation 18:1-4 will proclaim the message that will “lighten the earth with glory” (vss. 1-4). The message will at last be demonstrated as “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). Servants of God, endowed with power from on high with their faces lighted up, and shining with holy consecration, will go forth to proclaim the message from heaven. A compelling power will move the honest in heart. God will be in the work, and every saint will be fearless of consequences and follow the convictions of his own conscience and unite with those who keep all the commandments of God. Fear of relatives or of economic distress will be powerless. A large number will take their stand in preparation for the coming of Christ.

 

(3) The re-sent “Elijah the prophet” will arrive “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn ... hearts” (Mal. 4:5, 6). The work of the Lord will be finely tuned, precisely balanced, powerful, so that what God’s people have wanted to see for two millennia will come: Mary Magdalene’s demonstration of what “faith” is (Luke 7:50) will “turn [hard] hearts” (they’re everywhere now!).

 

(4) At long last, the words of Jesus will meet their fulfillment: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast down. And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all unto Me” (John 12:31, 32). There will be many “Pauls” coming to “Corinth” like him proclaiming nothing but “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-5). Lord, hasten the day!

July 11, 2006

The dear Lord has been so good to me that I feel like a multi-billionaire (which of course I am not). But it’s when I think of all the horrible pitfalls that I might have fallen into, I want to thank the Lord for preserving me.

His blessings have in no way been what I deserve; I could also thank an upright, loving father who of course is long gone whom I did not properly appreciate while he was still living; I could also thank an older brother who counseled me in my teen years to avoid falling into the pit of fornication. (Incidentally, that indeed is a “pit,” for we read, “The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein,” Prov. 22:14. The Hebrew word includes teenage aggressors who long to make a conquest; many end up miserable, and if you’ve been spared those dismal memories, praise the Lord—you’re wealthy!)

It’s a pretty awful thought to think of the Lord “abhorring” anyone when we read that He “so loved the world ...” But it’s possible for Him to “abhor” someone whom He still loves; someone who indulges in fornication, adultery, pornography, is indeed someone whom the Lord loves but He is forced to manifest His “abhorrence” by letting that person “fall” into the trap he/she has wanted. But even then our heavenly Father does not abandon His foolish child. When you’re deep down in despair then Psalm 130 clicks into gear: “Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O LORD. ... But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared [reverenced]. ... In His word do I hope” (vss. 1-5, KJV).

The “cry” from the “depths” the Father hears. Give Him an hour from your “depths” and thank Him that you have fallen so low that it’s not possible to go any lower; then cast yourself on His mercy. He won’t despise you! Then (says David in Psalm 51) you will win souls to Christ (vs. 13).

July 9, 2006

One of the strangest anomalies of history is the fate of Israel held in Egyptian slavery. That was something that was not supposed to be! How could it ever have happened?

The Lord told Abraham that his descendants “shall be a stranger in a land that is not their’s and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years, ... and afterward shall they come out with great substance” (Gen. 15:13). Yes, they were to be slaves all that time! But was it the Lord’s will for them?

The Lord had made those seven glorious New Covenant promises to Abraham (Gen. 12:2, 3) which applied not only to him, but to his descendants after him (“Now to Abraham, and his seed were the promises made. ... The covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect,” Gal. 4:16, 17). God’s promise is always firm and solid!

Why then should Israel be slaves in Egypt? Jeremiah was shown that it should never have been: “Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born slave? Why is he plundered?” (Jer. 2:14; the GNB renders it, “Israel is not a slave, he was not born into slavery”!).

There can be only one answer: Abraham’s descendants forgot the New Covenant promises that God had made to their father Abraham. Even the patriarch had had trouble believing how good the Good News is when he agreed to take that second wife, Hagar and thus to doubt and disbelieve the Lord’s promises that “in Isaac shall thy seed be called”!

Have you forgotten them? Then confess that you are in that distraught father’s place when he begged Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief” (Mark 9:24, KJV). That should have been Israel’s prayer all during those 430 years! Let it be yours and mine now.

July 8, 2006

Has Christ delayed His second coming, or have we?

(a) Bible testimony seems clear: (a) We entered “the time of the end” at the close of the 1260 years of Daniel 8:25; 11:33-35; 12:4.

 

(b) Jesus specified “signs” in the heavens and on earth that would coincide: Luke 21:25-28.

 

(c) It was the Lord’s intention that the “generation” that “saw” all these events as “signs” would also witness His return: Matthew 24:33-37.

 

(d) Christ’s second coming is likened to “the marriage of the Lamb”: Revelation 19:7, 8. The timing has to be contingent on the “bride” “making herself ready.” No bridegroom in history forces his bride to say “I do.” Christ’s sacrifice has given freedom of choice to “every one,” including the church which Christ has “purchased with His blood” (Acts 20:28). If “she” wishes to delay His coming by not “making herself ready” for “the marriage of the Lamb,” Christ is helpless. His first coming was established by time prophecies of Daniel 8, 9; His second is in “her” hands—“making herself ready.” He cannot, will not, force her.

 

(e) This is a love story; Jesus has quoted Song of Solomon chapters 4, 5 as “Scripture” (John 7:37, 38); He then quotes 5:2-8 as the story of the “bride’s” reticence to submit to Him as a bride (Rev. 3:20). She has clearly rebuffed Him.

But repentance is possible (vs. 19), and the honor and vindication of Christ depend on her welcoming it.

July 6, 2006

A correspondent writes, “WHEN, WHEN, WHEN will this [another] angel come whose message will lighten the earth with glory [Rev 18:1-4]? WHEN will ‘Elijah,’ long promised, come and ‘turn hearts’?” (Mal. 4:5, 6).

Our correspondent referred to a statement by a thoughtful writer, “When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own”[obviously, a reference to the “marriage of the Lamb” like a bridegroom “taking” his bride].

Our correspondent also asks, HOW can this be accomplished? We cannot save ourselves; only the Savior can save us!

Thus her question resolves itself to this, “Why doesn’t Jesus do this for His people? Why delay His return and end the suffering in the world?”

This again raises the big question: Whose fault is it that Christ hasn’t returned when the last page of the Bible says, “Behold I come quickly”? (Rev. 22:12). One church has been saying it’s “near” for over 162 years; this raises the question, Is this delay the will of Christ? Or have His people delayed His coming?

But there is an even more important question: the veracity of Jesus Himself: He said long ago that His coming was “near.” More tomorrow, the Lord willing.

July 5, 2006

The Bible story is magnificent:

The Son of God gave up His position in heaven as co-Ruler of the universe, became a human being as we are, born as a Baby in Bethlehem, suffered as we suffer, endured death—our death; gave up everything forever, entered the Dark Tunnel that had no light at the end, which is to say He died “the second death” which is “the wages of sin,” our sin, totally emptied Himself (Phil. 2:5-8).

All very wonderful.

But now coming down to the needs of my little life. How shall I live my new day? I know I should pray; I slept late, I don’t dare go out into the world unless I kneel first at least for a few moments (it’s like renewing a life insurance policy); so I begin the day with a few moments of prayer.

But I gotta go, let’s hope I’m “covered” for today.

My prayer is like hitting the right key on my keyboard. Now I can face the world; I’ve had my little tete-a-tete with the Master—in capsule form (He knows how busy I am! He’s so sweet, kind, lovable, forgiving, isn’t He?).

Or have I really visited with Him? He has heard what I have to say, but have I heard Him, what He has to say? This humble little ministry might pass on to you a crumb of “bread” or a drop of “living water,” but you don’t get your daily “more abundant life” that way.

To talk to God is great, but we must “listen” in order to have a conversation. GIVE HIM TIME to tell you something. Wait and wait (Psalm 40:1)—listen!

And if you overslept this morning, yes, He knows how busy you are; but if you “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (if you’re “alive,” you do!), first chance you get you’ll turn off your amusements and you’ll “wait upon the Lord” (cf. Psalm 27). You’ll hunger to listen and to learn from an open Bible.

July 4, 2006

While we in the West revel in our wealth, security, and fun purchased for us by the sacrifices of our forefathers, Middle Easteners suffer the bitterness of age-long hatreds.

These tensions go back beyond 2000 years, to Abraham himself. He had two sons, one born “of the flesh” the other born as “the child of promise.” The one of the flesh persecuted the one of the Spirit (Gal. 5:29). Abraham also had two wives, Sarah symbolizing the New Covenant, Hagar the Old.

To a great extent, modern Israelis do not embrace the truths of the New Covenant, and cannot claim, according to Galatians, to be Abraham’s spiritual descendants. Their political opponents, the Palestinians, are mostly Muslim; and they likewise do not embrace the same truths of Galatians.

Nevertheless, there is a God of heaven who loves them all as individuals; Jesus died the second death of them all (Heb. 2:9). He is pained to see them suffer. He must feel the misery of the Palestinians in Gaza in having their only power plant destroyed. Jesus said that He came to save us all: “I am come, that they [we all] night have life, and that [we] might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

He is not toying with the problem; little sporadic “evangelism” attempts here and there do not fulfill the Bible prophecy of “another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory” (Rev. 18:1). Christ’s love for all for whom He gave His blood will drive Him to send that “another angel.” He has also promised to send us “Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5, 6).

These two, “Elijah” and the “other angel,” will work in perfect harmony, “turning hearts.” Can Muslim and Israeli hearts be “turned”? Well, can our “Christian” hearts be “turned”? Like those of divorcing church couples?

July 3, 2006

Millions of Christians worldwide are beginning 14 weeks of special study about a Bible teaching that is not generally admitted by Christian churches: “The Pre-Advent Judgment.” It is a subject that sets these Christian people apart as unique. The teaching has acquired a title, “The Investigative Judgment.” Scholars of different churches have labeled it an “extra-biblical teaching.”

This derogatory label has of course been embarrassing for a people who really want to believe “the Bible and the Bible only.”

That is my personal ideal of faith; I have long been impressed by Isaiah 26:3, “Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. You [Lord] will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.”

However, it is impossible for anyone to believe in a “pre-Advent judgment” unless he also believes in the resurrection from the dead as the Bible presents it. When someone who believes in Jesus dies, he “sleeps in Jesus” until “the first resurrection” (1Thess. 4:16, 17; Rev. 20:5).

Then, as surely as 2 + 2 = 4, there must be some kind of judgment before that resurrection at the second coming of Jesus to determine who of those multitudes who are in the grave shall be the privileged ones to be called from their sleep by the awakening voice of Jesus, and who shall be left to sleep on for the 1000 years until the second resurrection [of damnation] pictured in Revelation 20:5, 7-10.

To this simple-minded reader of the Bible, the words of Jesus establish the truth of some kind of a judgment that must take place before the second coming of Jesus: “Those who are counted worthy to attain ... the resurrection from the dead, ... can [not] die anymore, ... being sons of the resurrection” (Luke 20:35, 36). To those who will be living when Jesus returns, He says they too will experience the pre-Advent judgment, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy ... to stand before the Son of Man” (21:36).

Does it make sense to you? If so, “pray always.”

July 2, 2006

Some friends wrote a little essay that they sent me about how Jesus Christ needs help in His gigantic struggle in His great controversy with Satan. It’s a different idea; their essay is breaking new ground for many.

We know that God is omniscient—that is, He knows everything;.... but wait a moment, in His incarnation Jesus was God but He was not omniscient, for sometimes we read the phrase, “When Jesus knew it....” (Matt. 12:15; Mark 8:17). And He tells us that He does not know the day nor the hour of His second coming, only the Father knows that (Mark 13:32).

We know also that God is omnipotent—, that is, He can do everything;.... but wait a moment, He cannot barge through anyone’s locked door (Rev. 3:20). He cannot (because He will not) interfere with anyone’s choice to believe or to disbelieve His gospel truth.

We know that the Holy Spirit is the most powerful force in the universe; He can convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8),  but He steps back and yields the sovereignty to every individual  human will.  (But thank God He can reveal a greater measure of the constraining love of Christ and can take away hindrances to faith; but there is a point beyond which He will not and cannot go.)

Christ cannot refuse to be crucified. We must have our way.

When there was “war in heaven” and one-third of the angels were “cast out into the earth,” my friends suggest that He needed the help of the two-thirds who remained loyal to Him (Rev. 12:7-9).

Yes! And now as that same “war” is nearing its end, He desperately needs you and me to help Him. Hold your head high! You have an important place to fill in “the great controversy” that no one else can fill as well as you.

July 1, 2006

It’s phenomenal—the plethora of books and media hype devoted to the virtual glorification  of Judas Iscariot, and the consequent denigration of Jesus of Nazareth, with also the vilification of His eleven disciples. Judas is being honored as the author of a “Gospel”—suggestively more authentic than the four Gospels in the New Testament.

Bombarded with alluring descriptions of this ancient writing as “the Lost Gospel,” “The Secrets of Judas,” the “eye-opening account [that] will astound you,” we must endure these attempts to entice us from faith in Christ, and yes, away from an appreciation of the “faith” of Mary Magdalene (cf. Luke 7:50). She was the woman of whom Jesus said, “Wherever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world” what she “did [washed His feet with tears] will also be spoken of as a memorial to her” (Mark 14:9). Now sex is injected into the story and the Savior of the world is portrayed as being as captive to its allurement as are “all men.” Whereas the Bible portrays Jesus as saying “I.... overcame” (Rev. 3:20), this “gospel” portrays Him as being as subservient to lust as “all men,” and therefore there cannot be a people who will “overcome even as He [apparently mistakenly claimed] overcame.” The thought of a people preparing in character for translation has to be relegated to a “chimera.” Here is an extremely subtle attack on the Bible truths of the Day of Atonement, the cleansing of the sanctuary, a heart preparation for the second coming of Christ.

This writer longs to tell the world the biblical truth in Mary Magdalene—[a disciplined  account of] the Bible Story, the Woman the World Can Never Forget. He has written the book, printed it; how to publish it is the problem. Please join the writer in prayer for the Holy Spirit to “guide” (John 16:13).