Rainbows

It happened again this morning.. .a little after 5:00 a.m. There was not another, single vehicle on Highway 12 in north central Idaho, and spread halfway across the western sky was a huge, breathtaking, gorgeous rainbow. Too bad there were so few to observe and enjoy it... but I did... and the wheels began to turn.

A rainbow has so many applications that can be drawn from it: beauty, glory, color, uniqueness, splendor and many, many other descriptions.

What impressed my mind, however, was not its extravagant beauty, but that it did not belong to any human being, but could be enjoyed by all who observed. My mind traveled to the four quadrants of earth and those
of my earthling brothers and sisters who lived in all of them. Rich or poor, known or unknown, educated or not, recognized or not, religious or not, of every and all ethnicities, every eye has the unspeakable benefit of seeing a rainbow.

The Bible declares that a rainbow has one, singular purpose (SEE Genesis 9:15 & 16), and this is that God, the Creator of all things heavenly and earthly, will never again destroy the earth by water (as occured during the great flood of Noah's time). It is God's promise, and it is indescriminately given to ALL of earth's human inhabitants whether they love and serve God or not.

B-U-T this is not the end of "the story of the rainbow". At first look, it would seem to suggest that the Creator of the rainbow is offering clemancy to all and any human inhabitant, however they live or whatever they do, and whether they submit to this gracious Creator or not. There is more "rainbow" in God's Word, and it is discovered in The Revelation 4:2b &3, which states:

"...behold a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.
"And He Who sat was to look upon like a jasper and sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald".

This is God's judgment time for earthlings, and when it occurs, the time of salvation will have been passed. It is interesting that... until this very moment!... rainbows are not again mentioned... but they appear prior to this time to us humans periodically... to remind us of God's promise.

Centuries and millennia pass...and now and again we see a rainbow..reminding us that what God promises, He will not forget. When it is judgment time - when mercy and offers and reminders are past... another rainbow will appear... over and around God's judgment throne..reminding us that...

...what God promises, He will keep! He will save the righteous, and doom the wicked.

If you read this, and are not prepared to stand before God, I urge you to "seek the Lord while He may be found, and turn to Him while you can...".

The Legacy of the Soul

Isaiah 64:4: "For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for them who waiteth for Him."

"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
was not spoken of the soul."
(Longfellow)

Somewhere... somewhere... somewhere... the human soul will ever exist. The soul of us is the real us... the person - though not visible to the human eye - is who we are. We are not primarily a physical body, for it is limited by time and physique.

And every cemetery declares it to be true.

The real person is (1) what he thinks, (2) what he decides, (3) what (or who) controls him, (4) what he is and does when no one else can see him, (5) what (or Who) determines his values, and (6) what (or Who) determines his actions.

The Bible declares the soul of humankind (SEE Genesis 2:7) to be a distinct, unprecedented, totally new entity. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground (physical body), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (the spirit of humankind); and man became a living soul." There never had been "a soul" before. None of the myriad heavenly creatures God had previously created "had a soul". It is an entity peculiar and specific to humankind.

When God said in Genesis 1:26, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness..." the inference is strong that He was saying, "Let Us do something different from any previous creature we have created. Before, none has been created in Our image, after Our likeness. This being will have a soul...none before has had a soul."

Any grade school student knows that there is something amazingly unique about earthlings. As far as we know, earth's human inhabitants are the only universal creatures like us.

This strongly infers that our Creator has a unique and specific plan for us. What is the legacy of the human soul? (The Bible being its own best commentary), it is that we should be in His image.

Before there were creatures of any kind, or matter of any kind, God planned for His human creation to be like Him, and this likeness can be explained in dozens of ways. What is critical is that this gracious, benevolent Creator carved out of Himself a place, a niche, a specific and personal place for each one of us. It is reserved of and within Himself just for each human soul. He planned for each human soul to experience a personal, different, specific, eternal relationship with Him that no other human soul would or could have.

He provides this very personal experience to each of us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world...to life life just as we do...and offer Himself a once for all sacrifice for our sins. By a simple act of totally trusting in that Calvary sacrifice by His Son, each of us can enter in to the legacy of our souls.

I invite anyone reading these lines to call, e-mail, or write me, and I would be happy to explain God's plan of salvation.

W. L. Boone
P.O. Box 2487
Orofino, ID 83544
lesboone @ juno.com
(208) 746-5327

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.

Mark's Testimony

Note: Mark Boone, an instantly delivered alcoholic, gives this testimony Easter Sunday 2009 at the Columbia View Wesleyan Church, Portland, Oregon.

Sometimes the hardest people to be convinced of the power of God are those who have been long familiar with a Christian environment. I was raised in the church, parents pastors for 50-plus years. I've been a Wesleyan as long as anyone here, since before the Pilgrims merged with the Wesleyan-Methodists in '68 or '72 or whenever. Did a concert in this very church 20-25 years ago, but at some point I decided God had dropped the ball and I was doing this life thing my way. Until recently, I hadn't felt the Spirit of God for a couple of decades.

Two years ago, around Easter, I experienced an aortic dissection, much more serious than a heart attack. It produced several heart attacks. It is nearly always fatal-- something like 95% fatality. I lay unconscious, dying, with my family and loved ones crying out to God to spare me. The surgeon at QHSU said pre-op that the damage to my heart had already cost me my left leg, my kidneys, and most likely significant brain damage. "We're just trying to save his life," he said.

During the 12 minutes I was clinically dead, I saw myself on the operating table, people in scrubs around me, an experience that haunted me for over a year after. The surgeon told my family after the 9-hour operation that there were several instances that he would return to a portion of my heart to repair damage he had seen minutes earlier and find it had healed on its own! The legs I walked up here on are mine, and they work just fine! My kidneys that were gone suddenly began functioning normally, and tests show they are fine! My brain is, well... the same! I'm a medical miracle.

Oh, so that's what happened, Mark! Anyone would turn to God after that kind of ordeal! No, not even close. After waking from a coma several days later, I was adamant that I would not be buffaloed into a commitment to God. Your dear pastor and some of you came to visit me in recovery, and I politely but firmly resisted any perceived pressure from anyone towards the Lord.

God had healed my physical heart -- I couldn't have stopped Him from that if I wanted to -- but he could not heal my deepest need, my hurting soul, without my invitation. After a year of painful recovery, last Easter I was, some might say, as far away from God as one could be.

Now you're thinking, what in the world happened, after all of that, that changed this guy?

I won't take the time now to explain the situation except to say that, drama-wise, it pales in comparison to what I just described. That's a story for another time, and I never get tired of telling it, but, basically, I was asked a simple question by a complete stranger, and in the split second I had to consider my response, I realized beyond any doubt that the real question posed to me was, "Mark-child, are you done?" and the One asking through this total stranger was God Almighty Himself... my Creator... my Heavenly Father, who gave His only Son for me.

I was so overwhelmed and outclassed in every way by the Presence of God that I could not mentally fall to the ground fast enough. That Presence has not left me for an instant since, because my answer to Him and to the stranger was, "Yes. I am done."

Lest there be any misunderstanding, I did not just ooze imperceptibly into some warm, fuzzy experience that made me smile from time to time! Brother, I was changed! That song we sang about power, I didn't write that from a story I read about someone else. That happened to me! I could look inside myself and see it!

The Bible says that after Jesus died He went to hell. I don't recommend this at all! Don't go to hell! Maybe that's irreverant -- I'm thinking of writing a son named that! Anyway, a couple thousand Easter Eves ago, Jesus went to hell. He went straight to hell, and He did not go quietly! He didn't knock and ask politely. He didn't ask at all. He walked in there past all the mighty demons in the depths of hell, walked straight into Satan's stronghold, the devil's Fort Knox, and with the power and authority of God He took the keys of death and hell. That's what Easter is about, baby!

Listen, you want to champion the sting of death, the victory of the grave? Come to the cross!

You want to avoid the spiritual eternal agony of hell? Come to the cross!

You want to experience the unspeakable joy and peace, even in turmoil, disappointment and heartache? I'm tellin' you, come to the cross!

He's the way.