"God's Not Finished With You Yet"

“But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your  account. convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith.”  Phillipians 1:24-25

In my recent post, I gave an abbreviated account of my health crisis of last summer. Over the next few posts, I will give a greater account of all this,  and how God has worked, and is continuing to work through all of this.

I used to be fond of telling others in recent years as they told their stories about illness and hospitalization, that I “left the hospital shortly  after I was born, and haven’t  returned since.” Well, all of that came to a crashing halt on August 5th. 

I had not been feeling well for a couple of weeks prior to that day, and hadn’t been able to walk more than about twenty yards without having to stop and catch my breath. I had experienced some chest pain when this had first begun, but this had subsided after the initial occurrence. I had been to the Doctor on Friday. I think he had suspected something like what we used to call “walking pneumonia” or some other breathing difficulty. He gave me a prescription for some meds related to that and instructions to return if things didn’t clear up in a couple days.

It was Sunday morning, and I had rode my bicycle to chapel, just barely having enough breath to make it to the top of the hill. After chapel it was an easy trip downhill, and I was assigned to the parking booth for the first few hours; so it was an easy morning. So far so good! 

When  I was relieved  for lunch, I took a walk up to Sandi’s office to see if she was free to join me. She wasn’t in, nor was anyone else, so I turned  to go out the back door. The next thing I remember was laying on the floor against the door, and beside a shelf. I figured that I could have been unconscious for as much as twenty minutes. As I began to figure out how to get myself up from the floor, one of the guys that worked in that department came in. He helped me up, and then called the company paramedics, who in turn called an ambulance. The next thing I knew, I was on my way to Mercy hospital. 

I remember the specifics of the trip to Mercy quite clearly, right up to the moment we rolled into the driveway, and I passed out again. After that, things get a bit hazy.

I remember bits and pieces from the next few days. My last clear memory of this part of the ordeal was laying on my back in bed with a consent form (for bypass surgery) in my hand, and contemplating whether to sign.

Much of what I know  about the next few days is what I have been told by others, mostly by Sandi, but I do have a  few things that I actually remember myself, as well as some things that I don’t know that actually happened, or that I may have dreamed. 

My first such memory  was of being in a large room with several other occupied beds. I don’t remember this room in the daylight. It always seemed dark. I remember that there seemed to be a viewing window on one wall of this room with people looking in. I remember that on the wall behind this viewing area there appeared to be a mural of a church and a cross. I remember seeing Sandi, and my pastor, Jeff Sanderson in the viewing area. I also remember what appeared to be a chillingly diabolical figure standing far to the left, looking on. This was not your standard devil, but one with downturned curved horns, more like I envision the “beast from the sea” from the book of Revelation. I  felt very disturbed by the  presence of this figure.

I also remember at a different occasion, two hospital workers beside my bed, a young lady, and  young man who had a somewhat east coast sounding accent. I remember the young man telling the young lady, referring to me, the there just as well be “a couple of carrots” lying there. As I said, I don’t know  how much of these memories are real or part of a dream, but if this is real, I would like to meet this young man now, and let him know that I am doing just fine, and perhaps make a suggestion as to what he can do with his carrots! 

I also remember trying to communicate with a nurse, but I could not speak because of a tube in my throat. The nurse gave me a tablet to write on, but I could not write, so I was given a card  with the alphabet on it, and I pointed to letters to spell out what I wanted to communicate. I spelled out “”w-h-e-r” and the nurse properly surmised that I wanted to know where I was. She explained that I was in the CICU at Mercy Hospital.

I remember trying on another occasion trying to persuade the nurse to  remove the tube from my throat for a few minutes so I could communicate with her, which request she refused.

Not too long after this, I remember that it was daylight. Dr. V (i can’t say my surgeon’s name  correctly regardless of how hard I try)  removed my tube and I went for my first swallow test, which I must have flunked, because for the next few days I continued to be fed through a tube.

This was, however, a watershed moment. I began to feel better, and better. Instead of drifting in and out of consciousness I would simply nod off to sleep and later wake up again. I know that this sounds like the same thing, but it was of a distinctly different quality. It was more like a quality resulting from fatigue, rather than medical reasons.

Brother Jeff was the first to tell me. He, of course was a beneficiary of his own healing miracle, about which he wrote a very excellent book (Teach Us to Number our Days, Jeff Sanderson, I currently do not have my copy available and cannot provide further information.)*

He told me that I had died on the operating table, and was brought back (he didn’t say twice, I’m not sure he knew) and he concluded “God’s not finished with you yet. He still has something for you to do!”

 I felt at that moment that that this was a word from the Holy Spirit to me, and that belief has kept me going through all the turmoil and frustration that the last few months have been producing.

There was at least as much struggle as victory over the next five weeks that I remained hospitalized, but I felt the presence, and moreover the power of our Lord working through this very trying experience, which I will recount next time.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.

Pray for the peace of Israel!

* Bro Jeff has since lost his battle, (but won the war). since the above incident, Jeff's cancer returned with a vengeance. He was admitted to hospice care shortly after Christmas, and went home to be with the Lord just before Valentine's Day.

Attempting to Make a Comeback

After a recent major setback  (hospitalized for pneumonia) and an encouraging word from old friend, and fellow writer,  Bob Reusch, I m persuaded by our Lord to get serious about writing again.

I almost have a post ready about how God has been at work through my recovery ordeal from last summers heart surgery. in the interim, however, I want you to re-visit a post from the past.

A few weeks ago we had opportunity to attend a Blackwood concert (only one Blackwood left in the group, a grandson of one of the original Blackwood Brothers). Bro. Blackwood talked about his love for the "old songs".  This kind of sentiment usually strikes a negative chord with me, as many of you well know, not because I don't like the songs, but because I feel that it causes many believers to dwell on the past rather than allowing our Lord to lead them into the future that He would have for them.

This time, however, I found my heart touched, and deeply moved by remembering what He had done for me in my past, and how He has worked through the lives of  some of those who have gone before me in my life, and how, even to this day, the memories of three special people continues to help me along in my walk with Jesus.

I refer you to my post of June, 2012, "Remembering Those Who Have Gone Before." Please go to the column on the left side of this page that has the list of previous posts. scroll down to June 2012, click on it, and read the post by the aforementioned title. I hope that you like it as much as I do, and I hope that it brings to mind for you someone who has made a difference in your spiritual journey. Moreover, I hope that it inspires you to be a difference-maker in the life of someone close to you.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.

Pray for the peace of Israel.

Are You Still Alive?

 As a matter of fact, I am, but I've had a bit of a rough time of it for the last two months.

On the 5th of August I had a heart attack at work and was rushed to Mercy Hospital. On the 7th of August, I had open heart surgery, and here is where the  details get, as I did also at the time, a bit fuzzy, and I am a bit dependent on what I have been told by others.

I had a triple bypass and either a valve repair or an artificial valve, followed by nearly every complication imaginable.

I'm told that I "coded" twice in the process. I regained consciousness in the CICU. I spent the next weeks there, followed by a move to the step-down unit, where after about a month of being fed through a tube, I qualified for solid food; a major victory!

On the 13th of August, I was transferred to Mercy Rehab Hospital, and was  finally released to go home on the 27th.  I have been doing the home healthcare thing ever since.

I will write more about the detail of this "adventure" in the days ahead, but for now I want to thank all the workers in the Mercy healthcare system, and all my friend relatives, co-workers and others for their support at this very difficult time. I am particularly grateful to all my Christian friends and  all who prayed for me, as I feel your prayers made all the difference.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today, and many more moments to come.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Living in Peace

“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”        Acts 9:31

A pastor friend of mine insists that the Church thrives in times of persecution, hence persecution is, or at least can be, a good thing. While I think that there is some truth in this,  I believe that the above verse stands in opposition to that idea. Granted, the persecution of the first few chapters of Acts served to move the early Church out of their comfort zone (Jerusalem) and geographically move them where they were needed (Galilee Judea and Samaria), the above passage illustrates how that once they were disbursed, they were able to grow and become strong during this persecution free time of peace.

As I listen to the news these days, I have a tendency to become discouraged (nothing new about that). Even the not-so-fake news is bad news about the direction that the nation is taking these days. There is a whole lot of “ugly” going on out there against Christian beliefs and even within the Church itself regarding our ability and our willingness to practice our beliefs and our faith within a society that is increasing less tolerant of our presence in it.

I am beginning to fear that our time in the persecution-free zone may soon be coming to an end, and that God may be finished with us.

I believe that God raised up Donald Trump, if for no other reason, to recognize Jerusalem as the legitimate capitol of Israel, and to move our embassy to Jerusalem; something that his predecessors were not willing (or able?) to do. 

Granted, this whole capitol/recognition thing is a process that has a long way to go and could be reversible by his successors at any time. The thing that has me worried at this point however, is the nagging question: “is this the only reason that we have been given a reprieve from our headlong plunge into leftist socialism?”

I am particularly disturbed by the recent movement that I will choose to call “the uprising of the children” in which the anti-second amendment folks have exploited many young people for their cause, by convincing them that if they disarm me and folks like me, that they and their schools will somehow be safer (see my post, Why It Won’t Work, June 24, 2016). Please forgive me for saying so, but they remind me of an old pre-WWII documentary I saw once of the Hitler Youth.

As is currently the case, the First Amendment is also under attack in that if you voice any opposite opinion to these young folks you will be accused of being unconcerned about the murder of innocent school children.

Add to this the recent budget disgrace that gave the liberals all the “free candy” they wanted so that we could get badly needed funding for our military, and I fail, once again to be able to generate any optimism for the future of our country.

Granted, Donald Trump is not the only person who can continue us down the path that we seemed to have started in 2016 (though he seems to be the only one willing to do so), and that God can raise up leaders who could lead us as we need to be led. Once again however, it doesn’t look good for the home team right now. Particularly since the early special elections seem to be going largely to liberals. I find myself wondering if our 2016 triumph is but a flash in the pan, and if another Obama-style liberal dictator is in the works for 2020 and beyond. Is God finished with us? Will we allow the left to take over our country again, and once again pursue their godless secular-humanist agenda?

As always, I found consolation in scripture. In 2 Chronicles 7:17-22, the Lord tells Solomon:

And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’
“But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, “Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore, he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

This passage, of course, follows the famous and oft quoted passage of 2 Chronicles7:14:

“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

I know that it can be a bit touchy to make comparisons between our nation and Israel as represented in the Old Testament, but I am hopeful that there is a principle involved here that can be applied to us as well.

I firmly believe that if we remain true to our Lord that He will indeed keep us in the freedom and the period of peace that we are currently enjoying, and His Church will continue to have the freedom (at least in this country) to be the Church, and to continue to carry out our mission in  “ . . . peace and . . . be built up. And walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, [and be] multiplied.”

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Rev. Dr. Billy Graham; Nov. 7, 1918, Feb. 21, 2018

After more than a week since his home-going, much has already been said about this giant of  a man. I do not really have anything to add, yet I cannot let his passing go without paying my tribute to this man who was such a profound influence on my life.

The quotes below are mostly those that I got from my MSN newsfeed, hardly an objective and certainly a secular source, yet not surprisingly they had only positive things to say. I say not surprisingly, as there were very few sources from anywhere that spoke ill of Billy Graham. Unlike all too many evangelists   and televangelists who became notorious for other reasons, Billy Graham practiced and lived what he preached. To use a Biblical term, he was “blameless”.

The MSN article wrote:

“Mr. Graham spread his influence across the country and around the world through a combination of religious conviction, commanding stage presence and shrewd use of radio, television and advanced communication technologies.”

They went on to say”

A central achievement was his encouraging evangelical Protestants to regain the social influence they had once wielded, reversing a retreat from public life . . . “

A comment that struck closer to home for me:

“In his younger days, Mr. Graham became a role model for aspiring evangelists, prompting countless young men to copy his cadences, his gestures and even the way he combed his wavy blonde hair.”

Although I am guilty as charged on that count, in my defense, I combed my hair that way before I noticed that he did (and yes, I did once have enough hair to comb), and some of my friends were worse even to the point of copying almost all of his sermons. The point is, he served as a role model for us at a time when there were not too many of those available aside from social gospel liberals.

Billy Graham was probably one of the last, and certainly one of the best of what I would call “crusading evangelists”, conducting meetings in stadiums, auditoriums and the like. He drew crowds that were unbelievably large, and had many more who responded to his invitations at the end of the services than did his peers or predecessors. On a few occasions he even had a larger response that did Peter at Pentecost (5000, see Acts, chapter 2).  

On last night’s TV news (I don’t remember which network) Senator Mitch McConnell said, “The man we recognize today shared the Gospel with more people, face-to-face than anyone else in history.”

Although his organization goes on, and still holds the large crusades, it is on a much smaller scale. People of today do not turn out for such things these days, but in his time, they came, and by God’s Spirit they were drawn to his meetings. The time was right, and he was the right man for the times.

Mr. Graham is quoted in the article as saying, “This is not mass evangelism, but personal evangelism on a mass scale”, and I have to attest that his organization brought a whole new dimension to the personal aspect of those meetings. I served as a counselor at a greater St. Louis crusade in the late 1960’s led by one of his associate evangelists whose name I cannot remember. Before the crusade began, we attended sessions where we were trained by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, and when the invitation was given we went forward and paired up with individuals who responded. We led them in whatever their decision was (usually to ask the Lord to save them), prayed with them, and took steps to get them to link up with a Church in their neighborhood to follow up.

One other very interesting thing noted in the MSN article was that when Billy Graham was growing up in his parents’ home “his father insisted on daily readings of the Bible.” which probably accounted for his commitment to staying faithful to Biblical truth. There is a lesson in this for all of us parents and grandparents who would aspire to raising young men and women of God.

The MSN article further notes: “The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association continues to organize crusades. It also produced Mr. Graham’s “Hour of Decision” global radio program and prime-time television specials, trains thousands of evangelists and missionaries, and publishes Decision magazine. A rapid response team deploys chaplains to disaster areas.”

Finally, the article quoted Dr. Graham himself who mused the question:

“Why me Lord? Why did you choose A farm boy from North Carolina to preach to so many people, to have such a wonderful team of associates, and to have a part in what You were doing in the latter half of the 20^th century?”

I don’t know either brother Billy, but I am nearly certain that at least in part it was because you became a yielded vessel in His hands, and allowed Him to use you to carry His message.

We are indeed very blessed to have had him among us, and to have served the kingdom along with him.

On the morning that he died I read a scripture in which Malachai referred to God’s relationship with Levi in the Old Testament. I felt as though the same could be said of Billy Graham.

My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.                      Malachai 2:5-6 (ESV)

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Some Words and Wisdom from Ezra

I have been reading the last few days in in the book of Ezra, and what I read yesterday has seemed to me to be particularly pertinent to our own day.

The people of Israel had returned from their seventy-year exile in Babylon. I am not particularly up to speed on the timeline here but it seems that probably nearly eighty years had passed since their return by the time this had been written. They had rebuilt the Temple, and though they had been worshiping and offering sacrifices, the normal, pre-captivity worship routine had not yet been fully reestablished when Ezra returned to Jerusalem with the group he was leading.

Ezra, himself, is described in chapter 7:6 as follows:

“He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.”

In chapter nine and beginning with verse 1, we read these words of Ezra:

“After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations. . . “

The issue that had come up in this instance was that the Israelites had intermarried with “the peoples of the lands with their abominations that have filled it from end to end their uncleanness.” (Ch. 9, V. 11). This included, and was aggravated by the fact that “the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” The resulting action was a mass divorce from these foreign wives, and their foreign customs.

It is not my purpose to dwell here on divorce, but to suggest that perhaps we who call ourselves Christians are “married” to aspects of our culture that we have found to be pleasing to us, and that we need to “divorce” ourselves from. We too need to make a concerted effort to separate ourselves from the “abominations” of the people of our land.  

We have often presumed that since we have our roots in being a Christian nation, which indeed we do, that everything we practice, or have practiced is sanctioned by Christ We need to realize that this is not necessarily the case.

We cannot deny that our nation has been blessed and favored by God, particularly where our history is concerned. We often surmise from this that the blessing and favor of God is something for which we are being rewarded because our actions are righteous. To a certain degree this is true. God frequently blesses righteous behavior, and frequently punishes unrighteousness. But it is not a strict “quid pro quo”, and we need to realize that the blessings of God are not necessarily rewards for our goodness.

One obvious aspect that stands out to me is that of financial blessing. Sometimes, I believe, God blesses us financially in order to enable us to be a blessing to others. As I have written about many times in the past, we need to recognize that everything belongs to God, and that we need to seek His will as to how to use the financial blessings he has given us (ouch! That one hit close to home).

Another important area of God’s blessing is the unrivaled freedom we enjoy in this land. Concerning liberty and freedom, Paul reminds those of us who belong to our Lord Jesus:

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13)

And Peter further elaborates:

“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” (1 Peter 2:16)

For the Christian, there is a unique responsibility that comes with our American freedom. From a Biblical point of view, we live in a time of extreme unrighteousness. Many today use our American freedom to do all kinds of things that are unpleasing to God. For the Christian Church, this is not an option. I cannot help but notice however, that many are gravitating toward the actions practices in the world, and are continuing to look for ways to justify and excuse our behaviors.

The reminder of the prophet is:

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  (Micah 6:8)

You have seen me express many times in the past few months my belief that we are living on borrowed time as a free nation, and that God has granted us this opportunity to make the time count for Him. I feel as though Ezra may have felt like this too when he prayed these words:

“But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.” (Ezra 9:8-9)

This is our “brief moment”. Let us seek His will as to how He wishes for us to take advantage of it. Let us make a difference by being different at His direction. Let us read His word. Let us live by His word and His Spirit. 

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Natural Disasters

This has been a particularly bad day for me in what has been a particularly bad week, so please forgive me if I seem somewhat disorganized. I was going to comment on an article I read in an online Christian magazine whose name, and the title of which article I cannot remember. I cannot find my copy of the article, so I cannot quote it. I tried to sign on to aol to relocate the article (which I had probably deleted anyway since I had printed off the now missing hardcopy) but found that aol is temporarily offline.

I suppose that the name, and the actual content of the article is irrelevant anyway, but I will try to go on without it, as I say what I feel led to say.

The article was about natural disasters, and how there seem to be so many of these happening in recent days. It was written just after the recent mudslides in California that resulted in not only property damage, but some very tragic loss of life. This all coming on the heels of a particularly destructive hurricane season which also resulted in considerable property damage and loss of lives. I would add to this list the recent wildfire damage and loss of lives in California (that produced the loss of vegetation that led to the mudslides), which I think I heard was the greatest monetary loss by wildfire in history (I’ve got to start keeping that notebook closer to the chair when I watch TV).

The article went on no speculate as to whether these were true acts of God (in the Biblical sense, rather than the insurance sense) as a reckoning for our sins. I believe that it concluded that they probably were not, but that they did give opportunities for us to minister to those touched by disaster. That is a good, and very valid point.

I, however, in this post would like to touch on whether these and other natural disasters are indeed “acts of God.”

I am currently reading the book Unlocking the Prophetical Mysteries of Israel, by messianic Rabbi, Jonathan Bernis, who makes the following statement which pretty much echoes my belief on this matter:

 I do not think for a moment that God sent these calamities on the American people. Instead, I believe He lifted His hand of protection and we were battered by one disaster after another. Only God knows what would befall our nation if He completely lifted His protection from us. Only in the world to come will we know how often He has stretched out His hand to protect us individually and as a nation. (P. 34)

He was in that instance referring to several past natural disasters, specifying the Northridge California earthquake, the tornadoes that had then recently hit Kansas and Oklahoma, and hurricane Katrina, but I believe that this could be said of many other such events. I read some years ago, that in the last twenty-five years or so, natural disasters had increased nearly tenfold from the number of occurrences of the century previous to that. Again, I do not have the exact information on hand, but I believe this number to be nearly correct to what I read in the article in question. This would hardly seem to be coincidental.

Jesus told a story and I’m not sure what He had in mind, as I have found several levels of meaning in it:

“[the] eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:4-5

At the very least this passage suggests that disasters, natural or man-made are a part of life in this fallen world. I think that there is also at least an implication that repentance (turning to Christ) could avail us to His protection. He also said:

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:34

The takeaway from this passage is that in our right relationship with Him we will have peace and will overcome the world, including the natural disasters, with and through Him. I also observe that for those of us that are either untouched by these events, or are among those that were prepared when the disasters struck us, we are left with the privilege of being able to minister in His name, and on His behalf to those who are less fortunately affected by disaster.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Isaiah 59: Righteousness and Justice

As has happened so many times before, I am reading the prophet, Isaiah and am finding it remarkable how much the message of the prophet speaks to our situation today. Listen to what He has to say in chapter 59

Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear. (vv. 1-2)

In other words, it seems, He is taking them to task for their sin. It is their sin, He says, that has placed a barrier between them and Himself, their God.

His issue with them, however is not so much in terms of many of the things that we call commonly call “sin”, but with issues of justice and righteousness, and how they deal with others in their society. Let’s look at some examples:

“No one enters suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies. . .. “ (V. 4)

“Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
Their feet run to evil,
and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their highways.
The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths”     (vv. 6-8)

Therefore, justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;              (V.9a)

I note that the words justice and righteousness keep recurring throughout this chapter; in fact, too many times to mention.

We often think of justice in terms of what happens (or fails to happen) in a court of law. In an old (70’s) movie that I can no longer remember the name of, Paul Newman played the part of an older attorney who, though he had a good reputation, was past his prime. He managed, in the plot of this movie to land a high-profile case. In the course of the story, his character made a statement about justice that I, at that time being a regular participant in the court system, thought was extremely profound. He said that the American court system did not exist to provide justice, but to provide the opportunity for justice. In other words, justice is not a certainty in the flawed human court system.

 In God’s word, justice is something that is supposed to be a way of life for God’s people, and something that goes without saying as a matter of course for us. It should never be necessary for anyone to sue us for the proper and reasonable receipt of justice. With God, justice is a certainty. With God’s people it should be as certain as is humanly possible outside the court system, and before the fact.

Let me close this thought with yet another long quote and a short comment. See if you too do not think it is like a description of the society in which we live:

we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
We grope for the wall like the blind;
we grope like those who have no eyes;  (vv. 9-10)

we hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
transgressing, and denying the Lord,
and turning back from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
Judgment and Redemption
Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;          (vv. 12-16)

This chapter goes on to tell us that the Lord proceeded to step in and Himself bring about justice. Folks’ if that ever happens in our world today, watch out!

Please understand that I am not talking about the second coming! If that were the case, we who are believers in Jesus Christ would have nothing to worry about. The problem is that there are numerous instances in human history where it would seem that God simply got fed up with what we were doing and stepped in to set things right before we got completely and dangerously out of hand. When that happens, it has a tendency to fall down on the righteous and the unrighteous at the same time.

The point I am trying to make is that we, as Christ’s representatives, need to step up and stand for Him and His righteousness and His justice in the society that we live in which has largely turned its back on Him. Can we turn our world around? I hope so. With Christ all things are possible. We cannot repent for our society, but we can repent (turn and go the other way) within our society, and we can stand apart, and make a difference.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem  

Jerusalem

A few days ago, President Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol, and announced his plan to move the United States’ embassy there. I don’t think that this was a particular surprise to anyone. The swift and negative reaction from the remainder of the world did not come as any surprise either.

The only surprises for me, were, first, that I expected more violence from the opposition than has yet occurred. I thought that there would be much more violence than there has been to date, but it is early yet. The second surprise was the broad scope of the negative reaction. I expected much more indifference, but nearly everyone, friend and foe of Israel alike, have spoken in opposition against it. Only the evangelical Christians, Jews, and a few of Mr. Trump’s other loyal followers have expressed their support of this action.

A great many have expressed that they felt that this was a bad move because it was politically inexpedient and would disenfranchise “allies” in the region, and would derail peace efforts in that part of the world. This is probably true. The extent to which it will be true remains to be seen.  Sometimes doing the right thing can be risky, and even downright dangerous!

Jerusalem is in fact the legitimate capitol of Israel. It has been so since King David made it so in about 1000 BC. In fact, it could legitimately be considered the “capitol of the world,” as we believe it will be just that during the millennial reign of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and shortly after that will be replaced by the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10-22:5). This is why this move by our government is so important to Christians.

Shortly after the 2016 election, I wrote in this blog about a book by Dr. Lance Wellinau, entitled God’s Chaos Candidate, Donald J. Trump and the American Unraveling (see my post, December 5, 2016), which compared Donald Trump to Cyrus, the king of ancient  Persia, who helped the Jews return to their homeland at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, and to rebuild their capitol city, Jerusalem, and their Temple there. This comparison is literally being fulfilled before our eyes! I don’t know if this is the only purpose for Mr. Trump’s presidency, I hope not, but it is remarkable to see this prophecy coming true in our time.

I am reading an interesting book at present by messianic Rabbi Jonathan Bernis, of Jewish Voice Ministries International called A Rabbi Looks at the Last Days, in which he makes a comment that is pertinent to this matter:

“I have no doubt that America’s support of Israel over the past 65 years has invoked the blessings of God. The promise to “bless those that bless Israel and curse those that curse Israel” in Genesis 12:3 is a divine decree that is just as true today as when it was written. History has borne out this fact.”

 (p. 133)

He further goes on to state:

“A two-state solution on the land that God gave as an eternal inheritance to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is not in keeping with God’s will, and He is [speaking] and will continue to speak up on this matter.”      (pp. 133-4)

I fully agree with that statement as well as another statement in this same book that follows:      

I encourage you to continue to pray regularly for God’s peace plan for Israel and Jerusalem—a peace plan that is rooted in both Jew and Arab coming to know Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah and Lord. Only then can true peace between both peoples exist.”     (P. 134)

And to this I can only add:

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.

(P.S.       If you are looking for a worthy ministry through which you can “bless Israel” and contribute to Jewish evangelism, I recommend Jonathan Bernis’ Jewish Voice Ministries International, at www.jvmi.org.)

A World Without Christians

I don’t regularly watch very many TV shows, which is not to say that I don’t watch too much TV, but that there is only one prime time drama that I watch regularly. Otherwise, I watch news and very little fiction. However, I recently became intrigued with the title of the new drama, Salvation. I knew that it had nothing to do with Biblical salvation, of course, but I do like a good “end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it” story, so I started watching the first episode. I don’t think I completed it before I got bored with its standard-fare story about the imminent danger of an asteroid hurling toward earth while the paternalistic government tries to cover up the story by keeping this truth under wraps, thus preventing global panic and chaos and their losing of control, and giving them time to find (against all odds) a solution to the problem. Then there is the “hero” with the Avant Garde solution of removing the best and the brightest from the earth in a spacecraft in order to return them back again when the crisis is past.

There is accompanying all this the sub-plots of conspiracy, intrigue, murder, presidential assassination, and all by the “bad guys” who want to wrest control from the “good guys” (in this case, relative terms at best); as I said, your typical doomsday story. I lost interest in it early on, but Sandi has continued to watch it, so I have seen snippets of it since then. Having said all this, I give the disclaimer regarding what I am about to say, that perhaps I have not seen enough of this show to support the observation that I am about to make.

My observation is that in this, and in all the “doomsday” dramas that I have seen in the last few years, there are no characters who portray Christians! It is not particularly that surprising that non-Christian writers do not include any real evangelical believer-type Christians, and I am not trying to bring out any sort of idea that the Christians have already been raptured. I am simply observing that without any believers present, the whole “end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it” scenario is extremely different than it would be if they were present.

I think that perhaps the theory behind this omission is that in the case of “the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it”, the secular writers involved think that the Christians would act like everyone else. Or perhaps they feel that whatever the Christians do, it would be irrelevant. At any rate, the story is the same in that regard as it is in all the recent genre’ of doomsday stories.

So how would the story be different if Evangelical Christians were present in this pre-doomsday world? First, presuming that this is a “normal” run-of-the-mill natural disaster, and that there had been no rapture of Christians, and additionally presuming that the truth of the emergency was revealed to them, I think first of all, that there would be a world-wide outpouring of prayer that God would intervene and avert the crisis.

There would also be an outbreak of evangelistic activity as the believers would discern a greater imperative to win as many as possible to Christ. Regardless of who might perish from this earthly life, it would be important to them to establish the eternal destiny of as many as possible, as there are worse scenarios than an asteroid strike involved.

Another big item that the Christians might do is to come up with their own disaster plan, including “doomsday shelters” and supplies, and plans to transport other believers to safe locations as it may be determined what part of the earth is most out of the way of where the asteroid would strike, in this way, assuring that the mission of Christ’s Church would go on after the global crisis was past.

To be sure, the true Christians would be about the business of ministering to the world in any way possible in such a time as that depicted in this drama, as their hope is in the One who transcends the impending emergency circumstance.

Finally, a major component of the Christian response would be to become examples of the positive attitude that would become a person who believed in a great God who is in control, and who would bring good out of this disaster

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”     (Romans 8:28; ESV).    

Real, true believers in Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, would rise to this occasion and minister in their Lord’s name to a world that would be falling apart. Paul tells us:

“If . . .  we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”  

(1 Corinthians 15:19; ESV)

Indeed, all whose hope is only in this world would probably perform just as depicted in Salvation, but add in a few million (billion?) born-again believers and the whole scenario would play out differently.

Thanks for indulging my fantasy response to this fictitious story.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.