May 21st, 2011

This is the next date set for the return of Jesus for His church. (Harold Camping...from California) My first inclination was to smile...maybe even yuk a little...if it were not so serious a matter.

Evangelicals have been united on this issue ever since I have had knowledge as a youth of Christ's second coming. Jesus said in Matthew 24:46 and 42: "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only". And verse 42: "Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour our Lord doth come."

At the same time, Jesus repeated this to His disciples in Matthew 25:13: "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh".

What IS certain, though, is that He IS coming...and soon! God's Word IS clear on this! Way back in the Old Testament, in Daniel's day. (Daniel 2:44).

"In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed...it shall stand forever". This is something we CAN count on, for in this single chapter, God reveals to Daniel, His servant, the coming kingdoms, of the entire world system, from Daneil's day to the present time.

But who are "these kings", Pastor? They are symbolized by the feet and ten toes of the colossal image and composed of iron and clay. The Bible clearly states that the ten toes "shall not adhere to one another" (Daniel 2:43). Nearly ALL reliable, evangelical scholars identify the "iron" part of the feet and toes to be remnants of the preceding Roman Empire, or MONARCHIES. The clay clearly indicates the DEMOCRATIC form of governments which do not and cannot be unified.

This is a clear picture of our world for the last 250 years. While "no person knows the day or the hour" of the establishing of God's eternal kingdom on earth, we are certainly living in "these days".

The warning of our Lord should be sufficient for Bible-believing Christians: Watch and be ready!

It Happened Again...

For the unmpteenth time, I managed to run a sharp sliver into one of my fingers. Thus unpleasant experience cannot be avoided however careful a carpenter is.

The idea is to get all of it out during the initial probing, poking and digging. First you try to get ahold of it with the ever-present pocket knife, and then carefully pull that beggar out in the same direction it went in. Then you hope you got it all.

If you did not, three results occur: one, it will continue to be tender; two, it will form a callous-like covering over the skin's attempt to heal; and three, it will not heal. Two, additional attempts were made to dig that sliver out over the next, few weeks, but to no avail.

Yesterday, with the sharp point of my pocket knife, and sharp pointed tweezers specifically designed for sliver removal, a third attempt was made - all with appropriate, blow-by-blow, verbal comments to she-who-must-be-obeyed of the painful procedure...but again to no avail.

"It has to be in there", I observed, "for it will not heal". She casually observed that I should try soaking it "like that other deep one you had at camp meeting". (That one refused the unsuccessful efforts of two ER surgeons who both agreed "that there cannot be a sliver in there." I knew better. I could feel it, and it would not heal. It ultimately shot out of its "silo" like a rocket after I had finished a couple of hours washing dishes at camp meeting.)

As it is said, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." Since it was already opened and bleeding, I sat for fifteen minutes or so soaking that finger. Then, with some vigorous squeezing, there it was - about a quarter of an inch long offense sitting and exposed like a beached whale. In one day and night, it felt fine and had begun to heal.

Sin - either commited or inborn -is as foreign to the soul as slivers are to the body, and it will continue to give us pain and grief until it is removed by God's remedy - the shed blood of Jesus Christ. God knew that we needed a Savior from the soul's evil intruder, and provides salvation from sin through His forgiveness and cleansing. When the "sliver" is out, healing can start.

No Small Print

You know the kind...all of the exceptions and exemptions and restrictions few of us read...the kind that would require a magnifying glass or the vision of a five-year-old...the kind that covers little but the glaringly obvious.

The gospel has no fine print, with no rules cunningly shaded, with no surprise requirements, and no hidden clauses.

Jesus did not believe in surprise expectations when He clearly outlined what He required of His followers. No earthly leader in any area of human citizenery was more "up-front" than Jesus Christ.

He plainly stated that each Christian would bear a cross (SEE Matthew 16:24). He forthrighly declared to His listeners that unless they were willing to sacrifice their lives for His sake and the gospel's - so that they could eventually save them- could not be His disciple. He said if anyone would be a part of His kingdom, he would have to humble himself and become as a little child (SEE Matthew 18:4). He made clear that the way up was down.

He said His followers would suffer; would be mistreated and misunderstood; would be hated by the world; would live a life of "straight and narrow" behavior; and that his hours and days would be marked by prayer, fasting, godliness, integrity, purity and wholesomeness.

B-U-T!! He also made it clear that those who follow Him through their lives on earth would have constant peace; would be freed from the domination of sin; would walk in light, not darkness; would have peace of mind; would share in intimate fellowship with (1) the heavenly Father, (2) with Himself; (3) with the Holy Spirit, and (4) with brothers and sisters in Christ. He promised eternal life to each follower; constant, Divine help, power and grace; resurrection from the grave, and heaven with joys beyond human comprehension.

On top of that, amazingly!, He promised that each believer would share in His glory (SEE John 17:22-24), and ultimately would receive and crown of glory. And then! bogglingly!, He said that He would reward every follower for their investments in His kingdom, after supplying them with the grace and power to accomplish it all! It is too much for our poor minds to absorb. All we can do is praise and thank Him!

Sidled Through the Door at 74

Actually, the catchy title has only incidental reference to the matter to consider.

I am 74, and had some firewood in my arms, and a slowly closing door through which to walk. The thought flitted through my mind, "Yes, I can slip through it and do it quickly if I move somewhat sideways." It worked fine as thoughts of athleticism mentally applauded the smooth effort.

But it was the method of the move that alerted my senses, and not the actual act. It was not "my kind of a move" at all, but that of one of my dearest pastor friends. Many times, over the years of our working together, I had seen him make just such a "smooth, sideways move" through a narrowing space.

It was the thoughts that followed that quietly rocked my mind. Jim's three boys all made those same smooth, sideways moves, and they do so today though they are in their late forties and early fifties. Their body language, bearing, facial expressions, soft-spokenness and much of their conversations are "Jim all over again."

The truth is that we become like those persons with whom we spend large amounts of time - those with whom we talk a lot, and especially those whom we admire.

The conclusion here is as certain as heredity and environment: the more we spend time with Jesus and His teachings and His Word, the more we are like Him

I love the truth of two heavily-lined verses in my Bible, and long ago made them guiding stars in my own quest for my Lord.

Matthew 10:25a: "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master..."

and also,

John3:29: John the Baptist said, "...the friend of the Bridegroom, who stands by and listens to Him, rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled."