August 31, 2005

“Katrina” threatened herself to be one of the worst killer hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. mainland—“category  5.” But when she arrived she had dropped herself to”4,” and mysteriously veered off to the right, sparing New Orleans the terrible fate that had officially been predicted for the city. Now the gambling casinos and the French Quarter will make merry as always.

But at least one TV anchor in predicting the storm asked the question, “Is God angry?” The suggestion is very old-fashioned;  but it is very biblical. God does know the emotion of “wrath” (Rev 19:16; 16:19).  Seven terrible plagues will come in which is “filled up the wrath of God” (16:1).  He is not a “wimp.”

But His hottest wrath is or will be let loose on people who profess to be His servants but who deceive the world with falsehood purporting to be His gospel, when it’s not. The higher the profession and the greater the hypocrisy,  the hotter the wrath to come. Therefore Revelation 18 details how God will repay “Babylon” for “the wine of the wrath of her fornication” which, says the chapter, has been the secret source of all the spiritual confusion which has brought agony to multitudes of innocent people on earth—including its needless wars. In the final judgment of this earth, “in her [will be] found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth” (18:24).

But there is good news: before that final demonstration of His ultimate “wrath”, the same chapter tells us that God will send a fourth angel with a message that will “lighten the earth with glory,” and He will call every honest soul to “come out of [Babylon], My people,  lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues” (vss. 1-4).  It’s time now for that message!

August 30, 2005

If you are reading this mini message,  you are one who wants to be of service in the world, to build a “house” on the rock, not on the sand to be washed away by some “Katrina” storm. You want to live for a purpose, so when you have to be gone, there will be something left behind that will be like good seed to bear “fruit” for time and for eternity.

If you are asking the Lord to make you to be such a blessing, you can be sure He will answer.  It’s part of His New Covenant promises to Abraham’s faith-children: “You shall be a blessing” wherever you go (Gen 12:2).  Once Jesus and His disciples were with a large crowd in a lonely place far from grocery stores or restaurants. It was late in the afternoon of a very busy day; Jesus had been teaching and healing the people and they had had no lunch. Now it was supper time and no food was available except one little boy’s lunch his mother must have prepared for him—a mere five barley buns and two small fish. The boy loved to hear Jesus speak, obviously would rather come to this meeting than play with his friends. He innocently offered his little to the disciples. They sere smart enough to tell Jesus what He should do—dismiss the crowd so they could go the villages and buy food. He replied, “YOU feed them!” They remonstrated with Him: this trifling bit is all we have! “Bring it to Me,” He said (I am sure He thanked the little boy!), took the boy’s lunch in His hands, thanked the Father for what they had, and proceeded to feed 5000+ people.

We can agree on one thing: there are multitudes everywhere,  hungry for some living word from the Lord. The Master answers your prayer with this command: “Give ye them to eat!” (Mt 14:15-21, KJV).  Share what little you have received from Him. He will bring you in contact with somebody, and you can know the thrill of being a waiter (like the disciples were!) serving the bread of life to people, or to change the metaphor, know the thrill of being a pipe through which flows the water of life to thirsty people.

August 29, 2005

Do you ever have a gut feeling sweep over your soul that you are “the chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), that you are “carnal, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14), that “in [your] flesh dwells no good thing” (vs. 18)?

Don’t despair! The great Holy Spirit of God may at last be working deep in your heart. God Himself is noticing you like He notices when a little humming bird falls on the forest floor—that’s something! God in heaven is teaching you as if you were a student in His classroom. He honors you!

You become really sure that you are indeed “a child of God” when you sense that He Himself is chastising you: “ ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son when He receives’ ” (Heb. 12:5, 6).

We have generally thought that refers to our getting sick, or getting in an accident, or some such bad luck. But in fact, it’s the work of the Holy Spirit convicting us of sin itself (John 16:8). Paul experienced a healthy “Christian experience” which illustrates what it means to live in tune with God on this great Day of Atonement, this cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary (cf. Dan. 8:14). To sense that indeed you are genuinely, truly, not merely rhetorically, “less than the least of all saints” (Eph. 3:8) is not an unhealthy experience. It may be the beginning of your at-last deep conversion. You are at last actually experiencing what Zechariah 12:10-13:1 is talking about. Not until Moses was at last deeply humbled before God was it possible for his face to shine with the light of heaven, light that astonished the people (Ex. 34:35).

August 28, 2005

There is a world of difference between self-respect and self-esteem. One is a healthy, God-given, sanctified consciousness of common sense, and the other is a sinful sense of self-importance and pride. One is that blessed fruit of “grace” that teaches one “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3, KJV). Another version: “Be modest in your thinking, and judge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you” (TEV). Another: “it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves” (Peterson).

Evidently, God wants us to “interpret” ourselves, but to do it “soberly,” with reasonable common sense, anticipating the final judgment when each “must.... appear before the judgment seat of Christ.... [to] receive.... according to that he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). The self-esteem approach leaves one liable to a rude shock before that “judgment seat,” hearing the dear Lord say, “Depart from Me” when the self-esteemers will arrogantly remonstrate with Him (Matt. 25:41-45). Of their glittering careers when they were sure that they had “prophesied in [His] name.... and done many wonderful works” and heard “all men.... speak well” of them (Luke 6:26) the Lord will be forced to say, “I never knew you” (cf. Matt. 7:21-23). Sad, it was somebody else apparently blessing you!

It sounds corny, but it’s biblical: when you seek to “interpret” yourself rightly, look around and thank the Lord that “a living dog is better than a dead lion.” When you’re invited to a banquet, “do not sit down in the best place. Lest one more honorable than you be invited...... and you...... with shame.... take the lowest place” (Luke 14:9, 10).

Sanctified common sense! Better to practice it now than at last.

August 26, 2005

The last rays of light that will fall on this darkened earth just before the end comes, will be a revelation of God’s character of love. This is Bible teaching:

a). That last “revelation” will obviously be the same as the light of that “another angel” who comes down from heaven having great power. The “earth is lightened with his glory” (Rev. 18:1, 2). It’s not legalism gone wild, nor soft-soap emotionalism; it’s love (agape).

 

b). That “glory” in turn will obviously be the same as the message Jesus describes in John 12:32, 33: “‘I, if I am lifted up, will draw all to Myself.’ This He said, signifying by what death He should die.” That “love” which will “reveal the character of God” must be the same love that “constrains,” or “compels,” or motivates the ones who believe in Jesus. They are moved henceforth to live only for Him, “no longer for themselves” (2 Cor. 5:14, 15; KJV/NKJV). There is tremendous power locked away in that “love” known as agape.

 

c). Again, that revelation of love in the last days must be what Paul meant when he said that he “determined not to know anything among [the Corinthians] except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). That was not extremism; it was only a “reasonable service” that Paul saw as appropriate to the extravagant love Christ had shown for him (cf. Rom. 12:1). It was agape, not ordinary human love. Paul saw what we have not yet seen clearly.

In these last days when sin and selfishness will become so rampant, the Lord Jesus will be honored by “144,000” (figurative or literal) who “follow the Lamb [the crucified, risen Christ] wherever He goes..... They are without fault before the throne of God” (cf, Rev, 14:1-5). Whoever they are, there WILL be such a people who will glorify Christ! We might eventually be surprised who will end up in that group; let’s walk humbly before Him.

August 25, 2005

The latest National Geographic bombards one with vivid pictures showing how millions are squeezed into flimsy shanties in the enormous slum cities of Africa. I am a life-long missionary to Africa; I belong there somewhere. How can those multi-millions learn what makes “the gospel of Christ.... the power of God unto salvation”? (Rom. 1:16). Our infinite “Father which art in heaven” is great enough to know each one personally, to care for each one as the purchase of the sacrifice of His Son. But they must learn about Him who died so that those who believe “should not perish.” We have a task--to tell the world.

Likewise the millions crowded into the scarce lands of the Middle East, especially Palestine (claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians as descendants of Abraham). The God of Abraham gave His apostle Paul the understanding of the problem that afflicts both sides: “‘Abraham believed God and it [his faith] was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith [in Christ] are sons of Abraham” (Gal. 3:6, 7). Abraham had TWO sons--Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac was the child of faith, and God stipulated that “in Isaac shall your seed be called” (Gen. 21:7; Rom. 9:7). Ishmael was the child of unbelief. Says Paul, “These [two sons] are the two covenants” (Gal. 4:24). Ishmael was the child of self-will, of unbelief; but Isaac’s birth was a miracle of faith.

Physical descent from Isaac (or Ishmael) does not guarantee the inheritance of real estate; “those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.” And “inheritance” is not the sands of Palestine or of Iraq, it’s the earth made new with its capital city, New Jerusalem. The humblest inhabitant of the sprawling cities of the world is a child of Abraham if he believes the New Covenant promises (but he needs to learn what they are!). A life of faith now, even in poverty, is infinitely better than one spent in unbelief--which is what it means to perish.

August 24, 2005

TIME has written vividly and poignantly of the anguish the Israelis feel as they have been forced to leave Gaza. It’s as if a deep foreboding intrudes that they will eventually be forced to leave the land they call Israel. If the God of Abraham has abandoned them in their claim to Gaza, how can they be sure He will not do the same later. in the larger scale? If He has granted the will of their enemies in Gaza, what genuine security do they have elsewhere? Is their confidence in God or in American military support? (The security of the latter is being challenged by the current history of the war in Iraq.)

Says TIME of the Gaza Israelis: “Their bleak eyes, full of anger and pain, tell the real story,...... the very purpose of their lives [is] stripped away....... The abandonment of their settlements represents a shameful, even sinful betrayal of the ideological foundations of the Jewish state....... [They] claim the higher power of divine right is on their side: the land God gave to the Jews....... The issues raised for the country are cosmic.”

Whether we humans live in mansions “secure” in American gated communities or in shacks on the Gaza sand, we are like father Abraham to whom God gave no real estate security in the land Israelis now claim, “no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him” (Acts 7:5). Adam sold out our claim to inheriting land on earth and only “by faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tents,...... for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”—the New Jerusalem in the earth made new (Rev. 21:1). Yes, if you live in mansions in gated communities, don’t trust the gatekeepers. And if you live in Israel, don’t trust your army; trust the New Covenant promise of an inheritance of life eternal “in Christ.”

August 23, 2005

The Lord, our Father in heaven, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has a way of speaking to the world. He knows how to get the world’s attention. And He will when the time comes.

We read how in this special “time of the end” He sends three angels (“messengers-sent” is the meaning of the word) with three special messages for “every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Rev. 14:6-12). Their task is to prepare His people everywhere to be ready to meet the once-crucified Savior of the world when He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords. The message of the “third angel” is augmented by that of a fourth of 18:1-4, whose message “illuminates” the whole earth “with...... glory.” The Father still “so loves the world” (John 3:16)! It’s a message of His “much more abounding grace”(Rom. 5:20).

The story of the Two Covenants is interwoven with what happens in the Middle East. Abraham himself was entangled in the confusion between the two. He is claimed as “father” by Jews, Muslims, and Christians, but the Two Covenants are viewed differently by them all. Abraham’s own story of unbelief (before his subsequent experience of faith) has spawned the bloody conflicts of his descendants. God intends that the world itself shall have a lesson on the Two Covenants, and before the end He will see to it that His four “angels” whom He sends (Rev..14, 18) shall proclaim His message faithfully. There will be great humblings of hearts before God on the part of all who remain faithful to the end.

The message that will “illuminate” the earth with “glory” will be the revelation of the good news of the New Covenant. It will be a message of “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1-3), and He will be “lifted up” for all the world to see Him clearly (John 12:32). The world’s greatest days, ever, are just ahead. Don’t leave your refuge “in Him”(Psalm 91:1-16).

August 22, 2005

The conscientious, alert follower of Jesus is on a constant tension. Every wind of doctrine is blowing with force. Publications by Internet and by printing are flooding our mailboxes, both literal and electronic ones. Voices are clamoring to be heard with new interpretations of key Bible teaching. Some are seriously aberrant but are clothed in appealing language that is intended to deceive “if it were possible,...... even the very elect” (Matt. 24:24).

The tension is heightened by remembering that it is wrong and stupid to let oneself be deceived by clever falsehoods (we should by now have “eyesalve,” Rev. 3:18), but at the same time it is a revived rejection of Christ if we “despise...... prophesyings” that are of heavenly origin (cf. 1 Thess. 5:19). The Lord has a way of raising up “messengers” (often humble ones!) to whom He has revealed new truth that His people need to hear. They are new “Elijahs” facing the hide-bound old King Ahabs, or new “John the Baptists” facing the old “Sanhedrims” that still condemn truth.

In John 6 Jesus stood alone before the Jews, confronting them with a real problem: He split the congregation! The leaders and people were perplexed; how could they interpret the data about Jesus? Was He the Messiah? Were the evidences He gave them valid proofs? We say “yes!” but the problems weren’t always easy for the people. Not one of the leaders of the people accepted Him for what He said He was. That confused the common people.

Jesus sympathized with their perplexity, and He sympathizes with yours. He said, “If anyone wants to do [the Father’s] will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority” (John 7:17). That promise doesn’t excuse us from studying; evidence must be carefully weighed. But it is an assurance of the unerring guidance of the Holy Spirit. Now is the time when we need it as never before!

August 21, 2005

What do we know for sure about the Israeli/Palestinian problem?

“God so loved [both sides] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

We know that God loves the Jews. Paul tells us in Romans that even though as a nation they rejected their Savior when they crucified Him, “God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew..... At this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace” (11:1-5). (There were 7000 in Elijah’s day who did not bow to Baal.) The fact that the Jews as a corporate body rejected their Messiah does not mean that individual Jews cannot find salvation in Him if they repent. And the heavenly Father does not want to see Jews oppressed; the Holocaust was terrible. He wants Jews to live on earth happily and securely. Christ prayed for those who crucified Him, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). That prayer is still valid.

We know also that God loves Palestinians and Muslims. Christ is described in the Bible as “the Savior of the world” and “the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe” (John 4:42; 1 Tim 4:10). He is “the bread of God [who]...... gives life to the world” (John 6:33). The privilege for both sides is to repent. The love of Christ still works miracles in human hearts. Ariel Sharon’s determination for Israel to leave Gaza (he tells the Israelis, “Blame me!”) encourages the hope that even yet the Holy Spirit will work on Jewish and Palestinian hearts. When repentance is understood by Christians, Muslims, and Jews, when the meaning of Christ’s cross is perceived, then the world will be lightened with the glory of a message of great good news (Rev. 18:1-4). It’s on God’s agenda for the world!

August 19, 2005

Israelis are going through anguish. Their Prime Minister and Parliament have voted that it is necessary that Israelis leave the Gaza Strip. Conquered in 1967 from the Palestinians, they have regarded Gaza ever since as their God-given possession. Some have made their homes there, but it was necessary that the Israeli government keep soldiers there to protect them at enormous expense, for these few thousand Israelis have lived surrounded by more than a million Palestinians who believed they had no right to be there. How would you feel living in your house in a huge neighborhood of people who didn’t want you there? And you saw no hope of ever making friends with them.

How did God tell these Israelis that He was giving Gaza to them? Did He speak by the ultra-modern weapons supplied by America and other allies in the 1967 conquest? The Palestinians have not believed that. Did God speak through Abraham, giving Jews the entire land of Palestine, irrespective of their crucifying their Messiah when He came? It was only through that Messiah that they were to realize their eternal ownership of the land! (They actually repudiated their claim to the land when they cried out at Christ’s crucifixion, “We have no king but Caesar!” John 19:15). And the Palestinians also claim Abraham as their father!

A conflict in the interpretation of the Bible lies at the bottom of Middle East tension, and thus, of world tension.

August 18, 2005

Each new year the car factories put out new models and their advertising lures us into thinking that our old model must be replaced with the new. We are even embarrassed to be seen driving the old models.

There is a similar trend in books that “explain” Daniel and the Revelation. New “models” are produced with new methods of interpretation. And of course, anything “new” is intriguing; everybody admits that the church is “lukewarm,” “in a rut,” in need of new ideas. In the process of new interpretations, of course, the old “historicist” understandings of these prophetic books are cast off. Yet those are the understandings that God’s people have cherished for some two centuries. There is involved some precious history of God’s leading of His people that is being abandoned.

The apostle John in writing the book of Revelation cried tears: “No one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it. So I wept much......” (5:3, 4). It was then that John was introduced to the Hero of the book: “a Lamb [stood] as though it had been slain” (vs. 6). The book of Revelation was not written without tears, and neither will it be understood except with tears. The story of the crucifixion of Jesus is paramount in this last book of the Bible; that Lamb is mentioned some 25 times. The book is a profound exploration of the heavenly love that led Him to “empty Himself” (Phil. 2:5, 6), to “pour out His soul unto death” (Isa. 53:12), to “taste death [the real thing] for every man” (Heb. 2:9), to endure “the curse” of God (Gal. 3:10), to die when He felt the indescribable pain of His Father forsaking Him (Matt. 27:46).

The book of Revelation traces through history the footsteps of this Lamb.

August 16, 2005

Many sincere Christians have a terrible time wrestling with the temptation to love the world. It’s very alluring. We are commanded, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Quite straightforward! Further, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom.12:2). And Jesus prayed for us to be kept from the evil that is in the world (John 17:15).

But how do we overcome this allurement? By super-will power? Suppose a man tells his wife, “I’m really trying hard not to fall in love with some other woman...... pray for me!” how will she feel?

If the allurements of the world are tugging at your heart, quite likely you have never understood what Paul says is “the truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:4, 15). “I am crucified with Christ,” he says (2:20). Jesus wanted His disciples to “watch” with Him “one hour,” but they were too sleepy (Matt. 26:40). It will take you an hour to be “crucified” with Christ; you are on your knees, every other “voice” hushed, you are absorbing Psalm 22 or Psalm 69, or the story in the Gospels; you have turned away from Mel Gibson and all the other videos and movies that distort the cross; you let the Word speak to you.

You are now “seeing” things far more vividly than any movie. You see yourself crucified with Jesus. Paul says what you “see” on your knees has power to change you forever. “God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). It’s truth: once you’ve “seen” that cross as the story is in the Word, the world’s allurements lose their appeal for you.

August 14, 2005

In mid-August our earth’s rotation around the sun brings us near the tail of a comet with tiny grains of sand-like material that glow white hot as they strike our atmosphere. We call these shooting stars as they flash across our midnight sky. This August meeting is with the Perseid meteors. There is another similar encounter that occurs in late November.

In Matthew 24:29 Jesus spoke of “signs” in the heavens that would indicate that we are entering “the time of the end” that Daniel spoke of (11:35; 12:4). It’s in the Savior’s great sermon on the end of the world: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days” the signs were to appear. He has been describing the persecutions of the Dark Ages which Daniel and Revelation both pinpoint as 1260 years between 538 and 1798 A.D., when so many true followers of Jesus were martyred. But the actual martyrdoms in Europe ended soon after the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Mark reports the timing more precisely as “in those days, after that tribulation” (13:24, 25), “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light.” Thoughtful people who revered the Bible recognized this “sign” in the mysterious May 19, 1780 darkening of the sun. Then Jesus added: “the stars will fall from heaven.” On the night of November 13, 1833 the most spectacular burst of shooting stars ever seen was in populous New England. Again, people who revered the Bible were reassured that we have entered into Daniel’s great “time of the end.”

Some keep expecting that God must repeat these “signs in the heavens” in order for His people to be well warned. But when Thomas refused to believe the historical reports of his fellow-disciples of the resurrection, Jesus rebuked him (John 20:29). God expects us to respect the record of history!

August 13, 2005

How can we understand the world in which we live? Current history is bewildering, frightening, and confusing.

A tidbit of news flashes across the screen—Sweden has the highest number of pleasure boats per capita in the world, higher even than the United States. Darfur has what appears to be the greatest amount of suffering; Niger and neighboring Mali suffer catastrophic hunger from drought and the plague of locusts; the prime rate in the U.S. is up a quarter percent—what does that mean? Meanwhile those who live in the world’s great cities such as London and New York are gripped by a terror that no one seems to know how to conquer. Even our subways frighten us.

We come aside and do what Jesus said to do—“shut your door” and pray to our heavenly Father who “sees in secret” (Matt. 6:6): Lord, what does it all mean? Like King Zedekiah in distress, we inquire, “Is there any word from the Lord?” The Lord’s prophet replied immediately, “There is.” It was what the spirit of prophecy had been saying all along, “Repent” (cf. Jer. 37:17).

“The word of the Lord” today is that He is not sleeping, nor has He left us “in darkness.” His word is still “a light unto our path” (Psalm 119:105). In Daniel, Revelation, Matthew 24, 2 Timothy 3, etc., He has given us abundant instruction about “the latter times.” “Let not [our] hearts be troubled” (John 14:1-3). When Jesus told us to pray in “secret,” He was amplifying Psalm 91: “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” The context is precisely terrorism: “His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day,...... nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.” (This must be of special comfort to our boys and girls fighting in Iraq!) What is “the word of the Lord”? “Deny [ourselves] and take up [our] cross daily and follow [Jesus]” (Luke 9:23). Is that “fun”? “At [His] right hand there are pleasures,” peace, even now (Psalm 16:11). Yes! Stay close to Him!

August 12, 2005

When you are too tired to think, perplexed, you’re in darkness, tempted to discouragement, you don’t know what to say even if you try to pray, your Savior has a suggestion for you (this is a free rendition of Matthew 6:9-11):

“Pray a prayer like this:

“My Father in heaven, may Your name, Your reputation, be honored in and through, me! Give me by Your grace the ability to think of what YOU need more than what I need! Save me from bringing disgrace on You!

“May the hindrances to the coming of Your kingdom be overcome; in other words, let nothing further delay the second coming of Jesus! Teach me how I (unworthy as I am) can ‘hasten,’ not delay, that day (2 Peter 3:12).

“May the righteous purposes of God find fulfillment on this sin-cursed world, may His love become triumphant here, even as those purposes find fulfillment in heaven. Teach me how I can help, not hinder.

“Give me today a morsel of the bread of life that I can assimilate, some concept of ‘the truth of the gospel’ clearer today than I knew yesterday (Gal. 2:5, 14). Don’t let my soul starve any longer.

“Take away my sin of ‘enmity against [You]’ (Rom. 8:7), save me from holding any grudge against You or any other human being.

“Deliver me from the entanglements of Satan as the British Scorpio delivered that Russian sub from its entanglements 600 feet down. Amen.”

August 11, 2005

What is the fundamental difference between genuine Christianity and Islam? It has to be in the very idea of God—who He is. The first chapter of the Koran reveals the Muslim idea of God: Allah, “the Beneficent, the Merciful, Lord of the worlds. Owner of the Day of Judgment.” Very exalted idea, solemn. It’s the heart-moving concept of monotheism, deliverance from the confusion and darkness of pagan polytheism. Muslims are profoundly thankful that they are not pagans; they regard any idol worship or reverence for idols as blasphemy. And that stirs their loyal jihad-indignation.

The idea of God that Jesus tells the world is different. He is “our Father, which is in heaven,” whose name is “hallowed.” The idea is purest intimacy of family love that grips the human heart from babyhood and always cries “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:15). The fatherhood of God is the fundamental idea that Jesus preached over and over. To every human soul He proclaimed, God is YOUR Father!

And such a heavenly Father is far more than being “Owner of the Day of Judgment.” He “is love [agape],” an idea absent from the first chapter of the Koran. So great is His love for a sinful world that He gave Himself in the giving of His Son to die the second death. He “poured out His soul unto death,” that ultimate death of total denial of self (Isa. 53:12). There has to be a Father and Son that the Son may reveal the Father’s love in such a way. In genuine Christianity, every believing human soul also becomes “owner of the day of judgment,” for the agape (which God is) “casts out fear” of judgment (1 John 4:18). Human beings are not Allah—forever no; but believers in Christ become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). They too bear the cross. Many Muslim hearts yearn to understand. Let’s tell them.

August 10, 2005

The media, TV or newsprint, is reminding the world of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the 60th anniversary. As the story of the genocide of the Holocaust is something German youth must not be allowed to forget, so we must re-examine that horrible event. We invented a hell on earth. President Truman’s advisors urged him to drop the bomb and he, a good man, felt it was what he should do; but they did not realize that the war would have ended in days with Japan’s surrender without the need of the atom bombs. Today some sober, thoughtful historians say it was a terrible, inhumane mistake. But we felt driven to do it.

The book of Revelation promises a “blessing” for the one who will read or hear “the words of this prophecy” (1:1-3). Let’s pause in our busy lives today and read again chapter 13, not to win some theological argument or to make a new chart of pin-pointed “last days events.” Just to ponder what lesson the Holy Spirit may impress upon our hearts. It’s very sober reading.

The year 1945 was pivotal in our human history; so is 2005. In chapter 13 we read about the Lamb of God, the Christ who was “slain from the foundation of the earth,” and about His “Book of Life”; and we also read about the solemn events that common sense tells us are imminent.

Let us be thankful that the Holy Spirit has not yet been totally withdrawn from the earth, and may we show our thanks by proclaiming the most precious gospel to all who will listen. “Tomorrow” we can’t.

August 9, 2005

Is it possible that children can acquire the guilt of childish sin? Paul speaks to them directly: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord,...... Honor your father and mother” (Eph. 6:1). Disobedience is, of course, sin. But let’s face the honest truth: some parents are very difficult for any child to “honor.” And every child has the problem we all have--inheritance of a fallen, sinful nature from Adam. Even in childhood, in their young hearts the great controversy is raging between Christ and Satan. There is the divine commandment: “honor your parents.” It must be obeyed. But how?

Thank God, the commandment-Giver became a Child! As such He was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Here’s a shocking thought: was Jesus as a child tempted to dishonor His parents? Didn’t He have the best woman in the world as His mother, the virgin Mary?

Well, she herself confessed her need of a Savior (Luke 1:46, 47). She loved her child Jesus, yes; but a mother can love her child and at the same time be tempted to exasperation in dealing with him/her. We have a glimpse of Mary in the story of her encounter with Jesus in the Temple when He was 12. On the way home from the Passover, she had frankly forgotten about Him for a day of travel. He was staying behind to do His “Father’s business.” Her annoyance with Him is evident in her remarks when she found Him: she couldn’t hide her exasperation (Luke 2:43-50).

Yes, children, Jesus was tempted to give a disrespectful answer; His mother had shown her disbelief and impatience for a moment and He had to rebuke her. But He did so with loving respect and patience! The same Savior will give you grace to obey your parents “in the Lord,” and to “honor” them.

August 8, 2005

There are Christians who are content with the blessings of life that they believe the Lord has granted them. They appreciate their knowledge of God and of His truth. They love their fellowship in their church. They are thankful for their knowledge of the gospel, the hope they have in this dark world, the meaning that their faith has brought into their lives. They also appreciate the economic plentitude that they are privileged to enjoy. And they look forward to the second coming of Jesus and are content to leave the time of His coming to His inscrutable providences; they do not try to define the word “near” with reference to the second advent. They are not concerned whether “near” means in their lifetime or in some future generation. There is always the first resurrection they look forward to. Thanking God, they feel rich and increased with goods. Satisfied.

Then there are other Christians who are deeply concerned about that word “near.” Their hearts are burdened for the pain and sorrow that is so widespread, and ever more so, in our world. They are constantly burdened with the last prayer of the Bible, its very last words, “Even so, come Lord Jesus”! They cannot be truly happy until He does come. They want to “hasten” His coming in any way the Lord can permit them to help. They feel deeply concerned if somehow His people have delayed His coming and thus inadvertently have prolonged the suffering of many people worldwide. They know a deep consciousness that the suffering of unfortunate people is felt by Christ even today, and they sympathize with Him in the burden He must feel. These people sense in a particular way a “constraint” of the love of Christ, moving them to dedicate their entire lives to ministry of some kind through the leading of the Holy Spirit. If Disneyworld depended on them for economic sustenance, it would fold; they want to give of what money they have, to world missions. They want to follow the Lamb (the crucified Christ) wherever He goes. Where are you?

August 7, 2005

The divine Author of the Holy Bible evidently intended that Daniel and Revelation should be read in the context of the other 64 books that make up the written word of God. Thus the symbolism of those two books is not hard for any thoughtful reader to understand (Jesus told the woman of Samaria that “the Father is seeking such to worship Him,” John 4:23). “Beasts” = nations or kingdoms; “sea” = large populations; whirlwind storms (“four winds”) = war; “horns” on beasts = prominent leaders or kings; and time expressed in “days” = literal years, thus a “month” = 30 literal years, etc., etc. Abundant evidence discloses these and other correlations.

It’s obvious that our divine Author is not trying to hide truth from the world, but He wants to reveal it, hence the name “Revelation.” The book is for everyone to understand. That’s why it went through a special process of being “signified”--a literary task committed to a special “angel” whose job was to translate its message into inspired cartoons (see Rev. 1:1).

Reverent-minded Bible students accordingly concluded centuries ago that the time symbolism in the “sixth trumpet” of Revelation was intended to pinpoint the identity of Islam (9:13-15). They recognized that the “hour, and a day, and a month, and a year” led to August 11, 1840 when the Muslim political power of the Ottoman Empire collapsed. In God’s providence this event was widely published, resulting in the conversion of many atheists to biblical Christianity. To see Islam in Bible prophecy was pivotal in the rise and progress of the great second advent movement that shook the world in the 1840s. It laid the foundation for a world movement today that proclaims that the second coming of Jesus is near. The prophecy in God’s word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (cf. Psalm 119:105). Be thankful!

August 6, 2005

We just happened to turn the TV while CNN was covering the Air France Airbus plane crash in Toronto. As we watched the fireballs and the black smoke, I said to my wife Grace, “We are probably watching hundreds of people die.” And we imagined ourselves passengers. Then a bit later when the AOL computer news said there were “No fatalities!” I thought it must be a mistake--but thank God! there was not one fatality!

We had just been reading for our “family worship” the book of Acts, and Luke’s account of Paul’s shipwreck--probably the most famous transportation-disaster story in history, known worldwide (Acts 27). The number of passengers and crew was similar--276 (Acts 27:37) with 309 on the Airbus. Again, they all (but Paul!) expected to die, and again, there were “no fatalities!” Again, the vessel was a total loss with everything on board (vs. 22). Probably there will be books written about this Air France crash and we will hear stories of passengers who prayed for God’s protection.

What is amazing in the Acts story is how this one man on board who at Corinth “was weak and trembled all over with fear” (1 Cor. 2:3, TEV) and was one of the Roman prisoners whom “the soldiers made a plan to kill...... in order to keep them from...... escaping” (vs. 42), was nerved by the Holy Spirit to become the man in charge of everything, directing the “army officer,” all “the soldiers,” “the sailors,” the captain, and everybody else. Because Paul was an openly acknowledged servant of His, “God in His goodness to [him]...... spared the lives of all those who [were] sailing with [him]” (vs. 24). Perhaps the Lord again had a faithful praying “servant” on board that doomed Airbus. Often the Lord has spared the lives of many who do not recognize Him because of the faithfulness of a few who do.

August 5, 2005

The Lord has promised to “send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Who is the “you”? The entire human race corporately? The entire church corporately? The answer may be yes. But each of us as individuals can latch on to the promise and ask the Lord to send Elijah to us personally--if we will welcome him. Yes, the Lord is serious; He has promised. How would you like to have a personal visit with the man who confronted King Ahab and all Israel? He will tell the truth if you are prepared to hear it. But remember: there is no truth except in love (agape; Eph. 4:15). Elijah is a man of true love. He is not unkind, harsh.

What will Elijah’s work be? “He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:6). It will be “heart work”! Melting human hearts; reconciling alienated hearts; restoring the ministry of love; as hearts forgive one another in love, some tears will come; hearts that have been dead will be quickened (an old fashioned word that means made alive again); communication between estranged hearts will be opened again; forgivenesses will be given one to another; cold relationships will become warm; Elijah’s coming will be Ephesians 4:31, 32 redivivus: “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.”

Elijah will come, that’s for sure, because the Lord promised to send him. He will be sent to this generation “if [we] will receive it” (see Matt. 11:14); if not, then he must await a future generation. But for sure the Lord doesn’t want to send Elijah if he will have to take refuge again outside of “Israel” at some Brook Cherith or at some widow woman’s house in Zarephath (1 Kings 17:9).

August 4, 2005

In Bible imagery, rain is usually a blessing. There is “the latter rain” which comes at just the right time to ripen a thirsty crop for harvest. (Our hearts go out to India where phenomenal torrential rains have caused floods and 700 plus deaths.)

But think of a farmer worried about his crop in Israel long ago. Early rain was a blessing that made the seed sprout. The barley matured to a certain place in plant growth that seemed to promise a rich harvest this year; but now the growth is stunted. Drought came at just the wrong time. An enormous crop that never matures for harvest is an agricultural disaster. The farmer doesn’t have modern irrigation; he is dependent on rain from heaven.

You can imagine the distress in the family, the earnest prayers going up day by day for the Lord to send the long-awaited “latter rain.” It must come from Him!

In the Bible, this describes the condition of the Lord’s church in the last days. The enormity in the size of acreage that the farmer has planted in barley is not good news unless the crop gets that most precious latter rain at the right time. Diligent labor is effort wasted if it doesn’t result in a harvest of mature grain ripe for the sickle.

Jesus teaches that “the harvest is the end of the world” (Matt. 13:39). But there are two harvests--character develops in two kinds of people: those ready to meet the Lord at His return; and those whose rebellion against Him has also matured (Rev. 14:16-20). A “sickle” is used in both harvests, one by Jesus coming in glory, the other by some other “angel” whose “sharp sickle” reaps a harvest cast into the “great winepress of the wrath of God.” There must be two kinds of “latter rain.” Time to be alert. No time to sleep!

August 3, 2005

Does the book of Revelation tell us what its name means--that is, reveal the meaning of what’s going on in the world today? Yes! Let it speak. Its series of Seven Churches reveals the over-all history of Christ’s true church through the ages down to our time today (chs. 2, 3). Its series of Seven Seals reveals the history of apostasy in the Christian church down through the ages (chs. 4-7). Its series of Seven Trumpets reveals the meaning of world history in relation to God’s plan of salvation (chs. 8-11).

For centuries, humble Protestant scholars have seen in chapter 9 the story of Islam and its significance in the world. “The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth....... And the sun and the air were darkened......” (vss. 1, 2). The sixth trumpet pinpoints the identity (vss. 13-21). Islam was divinely permitted for a special task: to be a scourge to the fallenness of apostate Christianity. The apostasy (“the falling away,” 2 Thess. 2:3-7) in the popular church in the early Christian centuries fed a ferocious zeal for Islam’s propagation. Reverence for idols, for example, ignited in the Muslim breast an anger they saw as “righteous,” and in retrospect one understands it directed at blatant public contradictions of God’s holy law. Muslims had protested a fallen Judaism; now they protested a fallen church. They saw Islam as the world’s savior. Thus they still see it.

The culture of the West is widely viewed as “Christian.” We are in history redivivus. The “fallen star” had its origin in heaven; its monotheism impacts the thinking of the billion-odd Muslims, among whom die-hard zealots view Hollywood and dancing cheerleaders as the ultimate essence of “Christianity.” The book of Revelation clarifies the confusion of our post 9/11 world. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, for the time is at hand”(1:3). Its message to all is, “Repent”( 3:19).

Take a good look at the “seven trumpets.” The “seventh” is even now wounding (11:15-19). The News behind the news is Christ’s High Priestly ministry.

August 2, 2005

Christianity Today announces that Sunday October 9, 2005 is to be “National Porn Sunday, exploring america’s dirty little secret” (sic). This “one day event” is “to bring hope to those struggling with pornography.” It will attract crowds of all ages.

“Those struggling” include too many Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy, and there are the masses. Pornography is no longer a “dirty little secret.” It’s the open plague of the “Christian” West--one source of the violent energy of raw Muslim hatred (which is monotheistic). Illicit sex, sex outside the boundaries of love (agape), has an alluring appeal to fallen, sinful nature inherited from Adam. Our world is becoming Sodom and Gomorrah.

The apostle Paul confessed that he finally realized that the temptations to illicit sex that he knew in his sinful nature proved what sin is. He “hated” the pornography of his day, yet knew he actually loved it (Rom. 7:7-18). Paul both condemns the hypocrisy of pastors’ secret slavery to it yet feels a brotherly sympathy for them as they “struggle” with it. The world loves to watch Natalie Holloway smile and dance in her much abbreviated costume.

God created us “male and female” with the ability to pro-create, a thrill in partnership with God Himself. Hence we humans can know a depth of iniquity that even Satan and his evil angels cannot “know” so well, because pornography plumbs a unique human horror of mutiny and hatred against God. Satan incited humans to crucify Christ; THEY did it.

The October 9 “event” will be futile unless it is a true presentation of “Christ and Him crucified.” Nothing but the reality of what happened at the cross can heal. The Son of God died the world’s second death--“the breadth and length and depth and height” of His love.

August 1, 2005

“Is the book of Revelation difficult to understand?” No! The very name means it’s open, clear, something the heavenly Father wants you to understand.

“But there are so many conflicting interpretations of it!” Its divine Author tells us, “Blessed [happy] is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy” (1:3). Note: the happy person is not the one who gets bogged down in bewildering, conflicting commentaries about the book; he’s the one who actually reads the book as it is.

“But its symbols perplex me!” They are there on purpose, like a holy cartoon that conveys a message too deep and important for mere words. They will make sense; be patient. Read!

“I must work to make a living; I can’t spend years in universities. And conflicting preachers confuse me. Can common, ordinary readers understand it?” The honor of God is at stake--He has promised that either “reading” or “hearing the words of this prophecy” will be rewarded. John 3:16 says that those who believe will not “perish.” Those who don’t believe spend their lives “perishing.” Not understanding Revelation or having no hunger for it, is a bleak existence, even though you are absorbed in the propaganda of the media. Jesus came to give you life “more abundantly” (John 10:10). Don’t be too proud to enjoy that truly rich life. Read the book itself. Revel in it.

“Is there some key word in Revelation that I need to know, to start with?” The answer is “the Lamb,” the crucified One who is the Savior of the world, especially of those who believe (1 Tim. 4:10). “The Lamb” is there some 25 times. He is your Elder Brother! The book will bring you close to Him. Stay with it. You’ll understand what the cross means.