Proud Parents and Grandparents

Yes, in my family there were proud parents and grandparents when our granddaughter was named high school softball player of the year for 2008 in a Metro East local newspaper. But the news articles and other accolades do not relate the essential ingredients of what makes this an accomplishment. Oh, they speak of talent, starting at an early age, good (even excellent?) coaching and so on. One makes mention of her dependence on, and "support" of her father. Still another quotes incredible statistics for the past year with respect to strikeouts and ERA (she is a pitcher). But those are not the real reason, which is:

      HARD WORK

…years of hard work. Hard, hard work does NOT come naturally to a youngster. It comes from parenting, or parental figures, in obedience to the Scriptures. It involves patience, endurance, continual reprimands for disobedience (Proverbs 22:15), and great quantities of encouragement and support in daily tasks, as well as planning for the future. She has been contacted by several colleges, although only a junior. Most are simultaneously pleased that she is an honor roll student, perhaps even becoming eligible for an academic scholarship. This is the source of meaning in all this:

And thou shalt teach them ..., and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
He also who is slack in his work
Is brother to him who destroys.

Do you see a man skilled in his work?
He will stand before kings;
He will not stand before obscure men.

The desire of the sluggard puts him to death,
For his hands refuse to work;

For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,

...so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

...and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,

Does this make sense?

Sad Trends in the Local Church

I have noticed a subtle, yet increasing shift in local attendance in church. In the 50s when I was first saved in what might be called a fundamental bible church, attendance was about the same on Sunday mornings and evenings, and in the Wednesday evening bible study and prayer meeting. Oh, there were other bible studies in homes for covenant groups, and organizational meetings, etc., but the major three assemblies were thought to be a time when “duty” to worship together was considered a priority. Today, in churches all over the world, other “priorities” have replaced the old, with many churches having neither Sunday evening or midweek services. Whatever happened to:

“Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”

Do these “other” priorities exist in your church, as they do in mine? Our attendance on Sunday and Wednesday evenings can only be described as poor. What response can or do they give to the following:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart.”

The reasons I have been given range from “family together time” to “too busy” and back again. Does or should faithfulness have a high priority in church attendance?

My Pastor says I am Terminal

My Pastor stands in the pulpit, looks down at me and says, “Yes, you are terminal”. Doesn’t sound very encouraging, does it? Then he continues and in a little while says, “All complaining is against the God of glory”. But I like to complain. Here are some of my complaints:

1. People who park their cars on the line, instead of between the lines
2. People who drive between the rows of parked cars with their dog in their lap
3. People who blow smoke in my direction
4. The woman in the next lane with the cell phone who crossed the line and almost hit me
5. The girl in the car ahead putting on her makeup
6. The scam emails about the lottery I won
7. That girl who walks her dog and lets him do his business on my lawn
8. The one who steals gasoline by driving away is raising the cost to me
9. After the LIE, she said she “misspoke”
10. After another LIE, he said it was just a little “gaffe”

Got any complaints you would like to share. After all, these aren’t big things, only little white complaints. One might say they hardly count.

THE SIX TRIALS OF CHRIST

THE SIX TRIALS OF CHRIST, by John W. Lawrence, Kregel Publications, 1996

1. The Trial Before Annas
2. The Trial Before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin
3. The Trial Before the Sanhedrin
4. The First Trial Before Pilate
5. The Trial Before Herod
6. The Second Trial Before Pilate
My autographed copy of this book is from Know Your Bible Hour publications, dated 1977, but is no longer available.

Preface
     You are about to take a journey that is entirely different from any you have ever taken before. Few have ever experienced what you are about to experience as you walk with Christ through a day of His life. Don’t stop your walk with the Lord until you are standing there beside Him this particular night of human history, and feel something of His heart. He had told His disciples. He had told His disciples, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt.11:28). They had done that. But He had also said to them, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (11:29). This, the disciples had failed to do-at least during the time when the Lord walked with them on earth. They never had learned His heart. During the coming hours He will say to three of them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here, and watch with me" (26:38), but they will fall fast asleep. Yet what they failed to learn, they came to understand later on, and so can we as we re-live this day in His life.
     There has never been another twenty-four-hour period like this before in all of time, and there shall never be another. Everything in Scripture moves either toward this one day in human history, or everything moves away from it. It stands as the ne plus ultra of time.
     Something of the importance of this day can be seen by taking a moment to examine the extent to which Scripture covers it at length. For instance, in the four Gospels we have four chapters devoted to the first thirty years of Christ's life, while we have 85 chapters devoted to the last three and a half years He was on this earth. The emphasis is clearly placed by God on the last three and a half years.
     Of the 85 chapters devoted to the three and a half year ministry of Christ, 56 chapters are given to the entire period up to the last week, while 29 chapters concern the last week alone. The emphasis is clearly on the last week.
     Now of the 29 chapters that speak on the events of the last week, 13 of these chapters are devoted to the events of the last day which began at sundown and ends at sundown. With 13 chapters devoted to one day's events, and 16 chapters for the other six days, the emphasis is clearly upon the last day.
    Matthew Last week-8 Last day-2
    Luke    -6, and 2
    Mark    -6, and 2
    John    -9, and 7
     But let us carry this one step further. The events of the last day are given in a total of 584 verses in the four Gospels. Of these, 219 are devoted to the betrayal, arrest and the six trials, with the remaining 265 verses given to all the other events of the day which include the passover supper and teaching ministry of Christ in the Upper Room, the Lord's supper, the high priestly prayer of John 17, the prayers in Gethsemane, the carrying of the cross, the crucifixion, together with all the events of the cross, and finally the tomb and burial. Something of the emphasis on the arrest and trial can be observed also by considering the time involved. The betrayal had to take place between 2:00 and 2:30 A.M., and we shall discover that the trials were concluded by approximately 6:30 in the morning. This makes less than a five hour period, leaving 19 hours for all the other events of the day. If the entire day was covered as extensively as this period, twice as much would have been written in Scripture about this day.
    Anyway one looks at it, these trials are the emphasis of the Holy Spirit's writing of Scripture in reference to the life of Christ. Yet even though this is true, very few have made an effort to write or speak upon them, and even less to thoroughly study them. Therefore let us make an effort to correct this. Take time with an open Bible to read all the Scriptures involved. It is not my comments about the Scripture that are important, but the Scriptures themselves. Take time to meditate upon these things. Re-live them in your life. Become familiar with everything that happened, and you will be richly rewarded.
     Having concluded the study of these trials, we will endeavor to discover why so much space is devoted to them. The message is vital, and, furthermore, it is practical.

THE ART OF POLITICAL LYING

Perhaps we should be amused by the current political speeches and errors therein. But I am not. Two of the presidential candidates have become more than famous for political "mispeak" and "gaffes". It is not amusing that there are MANY of these. One or more web sites such as snopes.com gives us "50 lies and still counting" of one of the candidates. God help us and remind us of what truth really means. In a series on the Foundations of Faith, entitled God is Moral, Part 16, the noted Christian author and pastor, Renald E. Showers reminds us of something about lying:

The Bible indicates that human speech can have powerful influence. Proverbs 18:21 states, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit." In other words, the tongue can speak evil things with destructive results or good things with beneficial results. And those who love to talk will experience the consequences of what their speech produces. James observed that with the tongue "we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing" (Jas. 3:9-10). These and other biblical statements prompt the conclusion that human speech has significant moral implications and, therefore, is of great concern to God. The Scriptures refer to many different kinds of speech, but they all fall into two categories: negative and positive. Consider the negative:

Negative Types of Speech

Lying. The Bible categorically declares, "No lie is of the truth" (1 Jn. 2:21). Lying is defined as "a false statement or piece of information deliberately given as being true; anything meant to deceive." God is concerned about and opposed to lying, and His Word refers to lying at least 153 times.

The Bible also declares the following concerning God: He "is not a man, that He should lie" (Num. 23:19); He "will not lie" (1 Sam. 15:29); and He "cannot lie" (Titus. 1:2). It also declares, "Every word of God is pure" (Prov. 30:5). Scripture reveals that God's ultimate enemy, Satan, has a unique relationship to lies. Jesus told His enemies why they were unable to listen to or understand His speech: "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it" (Jn. 8:44). Jesus' enemies were the spiritual off-spring of Satan. Thus they wanted to do evil things contrary to God that their spiritual father, the Devil, desires to do.

Satan does not belong to the realm of truth because there is no truth in him. All his lies originate exclusively with him. No one and nothing apart from him prompts his lies. He speaks from his own nature because he is a liar by nature and the father (instigator) of lying. Satan contradicted Cod and lied to Eve when he told her, "You will not surely die" (Gen. 3:4). That lie led to mankind's fall from God with its disastrous results for humanity and the world. Furthermore, Satan's ultimate world ruler, Antichrist, will be related to lying. Described literally as "the lawless one" and "the son of perdition," Antichrist will oppose and exalt himself "above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Th. 2:3A). Verses 9 through 12 say the following: The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the
truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they' all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

As a result of lying wonders, people will believe the lie that Antichrist is God. And Satan, who will possess Antichrist, will receive worship as God through this proxy: The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. . . . So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?". . . All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:2, 4, 8).

The following samples of the numerous biblical statements concerning lying reveal God's concern about and opposition to it:
"You shall not. . . lie to one another" (Lev. 19:11). "The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies" (Ps. 58:3). "And they lied to Him with their tongue; for their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant (78:36-37). "Remove from me the way of lying" (119:29). "I hate and abhor lying" (v.163). God hates "a lying tongue" (Prov. 6:17). "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight" (12:22). "A righteous man hates lying" (13:5). "An evildoer gives heed to false lips; a liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue" (17:4).

God described the people of Isaiah's time as "a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord; who say . . . to the prophets, 'Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits"' (Isa. 30:9-10). Later, He said to them, "Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies" (59:34).

Concerning the false prophets of Jeremiah's time, God said, "Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, . . . and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all" (Jer. 23:32).in the early days of the church God inflicted instantaneous physical death upon a husband and wife Ananias and Sapphira, because Satan prompted them to lie to the Holy Spirit (Ads 5:1-11). The New Testament presents a number of items that relate to lying. Romans 1:25 refers to people in ancient times "who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." The lie was that God, who reveals His existence and eternal power through the physical universe He created, does not exist.

New Testament epistles contain the following commandments, exhortations, and statements: "Therefore, putting away lying, 'Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, 'for we are members of one another" Eph. 4:25). "Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him" (Col. 3:9-10). "But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth" (Jas. 3:14). "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him" (1 Jn. 2:4). "I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son" (vv. 21-22). "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" (4:20).

The Bible groups liars (those who love and practice lying) with the lawless, insubordinate, ungodly, sinners, unholy, profane, murderers, perjurers, cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, sorcerers, and idolaters; and it indicates that they will not be allowed to enter the New Jerusalem of the future eternal state, but "shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (1 Tim. 1:9-10; Rev. 21:8).