When the lighthouse penetrates the darkness.

Some years ago I accompanied a friend and his family on a cruise to the new home port for a schooner that they had purchased. The journey was expected to take three days, and I had signed on as cook; I expected a relaxing trip…boy was I in for a surprise!

The  3 day journey turned into a 5 day trial, and my cooking skills were only called upon twice!

We experienced several storms, were becalmed for 24 hours, during which time a Sperm Whale happily swam past us. We were accompanied by a large pod of dolphins for several hours, an unforgettable break from sea-sickness and wild weather.

I was on watch at midnight during the third night at sea, when  another violent storm broke over us; we were far from the coast, and being blown further out to sea. Sitting at the helm, unable to see the sails or bow, trying to hold course, with towering waves roaring down from behind is unnerving, and not something that I would happily repeat!

The six hours from midnight until dawn were the longest in my life, particularly when the skipper came on deck and told me that he was unsure where we were, as we had been blown off the charts!  Wearing every piece of clothing that I had and warped in a blanket trying to keep warm, I remember thinking, at about 3:00 am when the body and spirit is at it lowest ebb, "So this is how it ends Lord, lost at sea"!

There was only one thing that kept me focused and able to carry out the task at hand. Every-now-and-again the light-beam from one of two distant lighthouses would penetrate the stygian darkness, silently informing me that we had not sailed off the edge of the world. Those little intermittent flashes of light were, to me, more impressive, and welcome than a $500,000 fireworks display.

God's word is like those lighthouse beacons, able to penetrate the darkest "night of the soul".

The psalmist, Heman the Ezrahite put it this way in Psalm 88...  O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: Psalm 88:1-4 KJV Read the entire psalm here


This Psalm is likely the "darkest" psalm,  the writer takes aim at God for not answering his cries for help, and what believer has not experienced that! God never abandons us, but we can genuinely feel that He has, during our dark hours. Such psalms as this, and other "negative" psalms e.g. 2 and 13 serve to remind us all that life is often stormy, and that as we grow in Christ and mature as believers God allows us to grapple with the hard issues, we have to "faith it out".

As believers we are called/expected to live by faith: But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. Galatians 3:11 KJV
    
The Greek word for faith is pists and it's meaning implies a conviction of the truth of a matter, particularly in relation to the existence of God.

During the dark hours that we all experience, when the soul/human spirit is storm-tossed, when all seems lost, we can "faith" God. Our life is in God, for outside of him, if we try to live by works or the law there is no life. Quoting Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible- The condition of life is faith: and he lives who believes. The meaning is not, I apprehend, that the man who is justified by faith shall live, but that life is promised and exists only in connection with faith, and that the just or righteous man obtains it only in this way.

It is during those dark/difficult times that faith is.... what it claims to be, FAITH

Faith is without doubt the single most important component of the Christian life. Some say that faith is the opposite of doubt; it's much more than that, doubt is NOT not believing, doubt is only questioning something, that may or may not exist.


Hebrews 11:6 states, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." NIV

  

Tall trees

The islands of New Zealand were isolated from any and all human occupation until about 1200 years ago. Eons before various waves of migration hit our shores, unique flora and fauna flourished in our temperate climate. Vast forests of a magnificent tree, the Kauri, covered almost our entire northern island, and occupied the warmer lowland parts of the main southern island, and many of our coastal islands. Kauri is second only in size to the world’s largest trees, the Redwoods of California.

Kauri has the highest volume of timber of any tree in the world. It was used by Maori to fashion waka (canoes), and by the British Navy and commercial sailing ships for masts and spars. It was pit-sawn for settler’s homes and provided valuable kauri gum. Many of the trees so wantonly milled in the 1800’s were saplings when David went looking for Goliath. By the early 1920’s the seemingly endless forests were almost gone.  

One of the more unusual properties of the Kauri tree is its ability to shed its branches as it matures, eventually leaving a trunk clean of any knots or other imperfections, sometimes to a height of more than 60 meters. Even the wound from the lost branches usually disappears, resulting in timber of unparalleled strength and beauty.

The timber is keenly sought after, and “swamp Kauri” that has lain, preserved in the ground for thousands of years, fetches a considerable price for use in fine furniture and tourist items. This ancient Kauri predates even the pyramids. One prehistoric forest, of a species now long extinct species, has been unearthed. It was buried in such a catastrophic manner that some think that Noah’s flood was responsible for its demise.

By contrast, our modern forests are gigantic “factories” of a species introduced from the Americas. Pinus radiata or Monterey pine, grows like a weed in this country, and matures in just 20 to 25 years, and rots even more quickly. The timber from this tree is very useful, but lacks most of the characteristics of the Kauri that it has almost completely replaced.

Pinus is a gangly tree and requires constant “maintenance” to be turned into productive lumber. Its tangle of branches must be removed regularly if a single trunk is to grow, and the knots and holes from this “surgery” never fully heal. The tree is so shallow rooted that in stony soils it’s often blown over in strong winds. We have millions of acres of this imported "cash-crop"  under cultivation in New Zealand.   

God likens us to trees… And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivulets of water that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, and its leaf shall not wither, and all which he does shall be blessed. Psalm 1:3

This tree is just not any tree that has sprung up spontaneously, nor is it one that had its genesis in a modern plantation… rather it is one that grows in a favored place. The Hebrew word used for rivulets implies a great deal more than our modern word. The word is peleg, and it is an illusion to the Oriental system of irrigation, whereby large areas of desert were watered by a series of constantly dividing irrigation canals from either a large river or lake. The tree that the psalmist is talking about here is one that been chosen, "a tree planted" for a reason; to bring forth its fruit in season.

 

In this consumer age that we all live in its possible to buy maturity…. people who don’t want to wait 4 decades for a  Norway maple to grow in their front yard can buy a 30-foot specimen from just about any nursery for a thousand dollars or so. A 50-foot European beech is a bargain for only $10,000.

However we can’t buy spiritual maturity…A growing Christian whether a baby believer or a seasoned saint is like a healthy tree – planted, nourished and fruitful, and the process takes time…all the time that we’ve got on this planet. 

A tree is not like a weathered, gnarled and tortured fence-post.  Trees are living things, especially trees that have been transplanted in the temple courts.  

We don't transplant dead stumps, we transplant trees that are alive.  And in the same way ,as a  righteous person, you are alive, and  not just physically alive.  We are spiritually alive.  God is the source of our life.  The New Testament often talks about this.  In Ephesians 2:5 Paul says that "because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions."

A Cedar in Lebanon

The righteous will flourish like palm trees; they will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Psalm 92:12 

And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” Ezekiel 47:12 ESV 
 



 From God's Word

  The righteous flourish like the palm tree
    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 
 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
    they flourish in the courts of our God.
 They still bear fruit in old age;
    they are ever full of sap and green,
 to declare that the Lord is upright;
    he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Psalm 92:12-15 ESV

 

Clouds without water. 

Storm clouds over the Mojave Desert.

If you live in a desert or a very dry area you probably appreciate clouds more than most of us. Clouds promise so much to the parched ground; life giving water, relief to thirsty animals, usually a drop in temperature as the falling rain takes some of the heat out of the atmosphere.

However, often the clouds that promise so much fail to deliver on that promise. They evaporate, without spilling so much as a drop of water. A prolonged drought has a devastating effect on everything. The years between 1950-1957 saw the western states of the USA seized by such a drought.

The following is an excerpt form a book written about that time. Baptist Pastor Bill R. Austin wrote, " The dry, lonesome wind howled across the prairies and whistled through cracks in the houses. What began as mild gusts of dust became sandstorms until dirt-laden skies packed the atmosphere to the danger point for both health and visibility. Crops were futilely attempted and quickly burned by the scorching sun. Livestock died gradually or instantly, but always as a shocking reminder of the cost and cruelty of the drought. The earth burned and buckled, forming huge cracks, resembling gaping thirsting throats.

Dry clouds over a barren land

Churches assembled prayer meetings to pray for rain. Professional rainmakers reaped a lucrative harvest in some areas. The slightest breeze and the smallest cloud turned every eye skyward. Huge, heavy clouds rolled in and hovered and slowly passed out of sight. The clouds never looked so thick and so promising as they did in those days. They seemed close enough to the ground to be punctured by a tree and turn loose the life-giving rain. But, week after week and month after month, no rain came. The clouds came again and again and again, but not until the fall of 1957 did the rains finally start" 

He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them. Job 26:8 ESV

There is a spiritual drought settling over much of the Western World. We are repeatedly told that we are living in a "Post Christian World"  Empirical evidence would certainly bear truth to that. African nations, once a magnet for Western Missionaries, have reversed that role, and begun sending missionaries to Europe (Read the 2001 story from the UK's Telegraph here) Church buildings in many cities (here) and rural areas (here) are up for sale, or are being re-purposed for many different uses, even Mosques.

Many of us in the West have settled for a Loadicean (Revelation 3:14-18) existence, pouring out the precious blood of our Lord and Saviour for baubles and trinkets, treating Christianity like a cargo cult. There is an ever increasing list of Pastors and Evangelists who feel the need to own a $20 million private jet, a $6 million mansion and fleets of luxury cars to better spread the gospel and minster to their flocks. These same charlatans promise their gullible flocks that if they give just a bit more (often much more than they can afford) God will bless and prosper them. One wonders just who is the Lord of the so-called "Prosperity Gospel".

Whoever falsely boasts of gifts [he does not give] is like clouds and wind without rain.
Proverbs 25:14 Amplified Bible

And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear the words you say, but they will not do them; for with their mouths they show much love, but their hearts go after and are set on their [idolatrous greed for] gain. Ezekiel 33:31 Amplified Bible

These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. Jude 12-13 ESV


Contrast this to our Lord, who as a grown man was a homeless wanderer, a controversial nomad who owned nothing and encouraged his disciples to also go out into the world with no bag or possessions. He chose to hang out with people on the edge of society, the people others shamed and rejected. He didn’t do anything to elevate or justify himself in the eyes of others, in fact quite the opposite. He was not a king who dominated people but who chose to serve and invited his followers to do the same. He didn’t demand obedience but invited people to walk with him.

 

One of the founding members of the early Pentecostal Movement that swept New Zealand (and much of the Western World) in the 1950's used to say this of leaders who fell from grace..."It's either the gals, the glory or the gold that gets them". I have seen this several times, as leaders have given into the temptations that seem stalk them. This is not new of course, Judas being the first among many who betrayed our Lord.    

For it is not an enemy who insults me— I could have handled that— nor is it someone who hates me and who now arises against me— I could have hidden myself from him— but it is you— a man whom I treated as my equal— my personal confidant, my close friend! We had good fellowship together; and we even walked together in the house of God! 
Psalm 55:12-14 ESV

Rather than being considered a cloud without rain, live life as a blessing to others.
Who covers the heavens with clouds,
Who provides rain for the earth,
Who makes grass to grow on the mountains. Psalm 147:8 MKJV

Quotation from "Clouds Without Water." Bill R. Austin, Copyright 1968 - Broadman Press, Nashville Tennessee. 

But, can you prove it?

Over the years I have been asked by many people if I can prove to them that God exists. I have tried to convince the enquirers using logic, persuasive argument, scientific reason, invitations to healing meetings (occasionally accepted) and indisputable visual evidence of proven healing.

I have used the argument that something can exist without our knowledge of its existence, and the principal that we can know some things without being able to lead others to that knowledge by reason alone. I have shared my experiences with many, hoping they might find that "something" they say that they saw in me, the "something" that made me different. 

I have, sadly, more often than not, failed to convince my listener. I have discovered that second hand evidence as to God's existence carries very little weight with most people, especially with those who are looking for an excuse not to believe.  

I spent many lunch time conversations over a period of five years discussing the evolution/creation controversy with a work colleague who was a "dyed in the wool" evolutionist. I countered every one of his arguments with careful research and proffered evidence of my own that eventually caused my colleague to concede, in his own words "OK, you've convinced me, we were created...so what?"

  

A shallow victory indeed, all I had achieved was to exchange his evolutionary mindset with a creationist paradigm. I had failed to lead him to a saving relationship in Christ, and regrettably, if he has not discovered Christ himself in the intervening years since we went our separate ways, left him without excuse when he eventually stands before the Judgment Seat on that great and terrible day.

I know that God exists, never doubted His existence; I have tried to hide from Him, tried to find a relationship with Him in unconventional ways, and even turned away from His grace in and upon my life, but I have never needed to prove to myself that He exists.   

One night in the winter of 1958 my parents took me to see that Hollywood epic, "The Ten Commandments" staring Charlton Heston as Moses. I had been attending Sunday School for a few years, but from that night onwards I knew that The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, was real. 

Does God exist? Does God exist for sure? There is no single sentence which can persuade the doubter or the sceptic. There is no single twenty-minute sermon which can nail down the case for God. There isn't a four hundred-page book which will prove, beyond any refutation that God is...God

There is however one word that is an absolute necessity, it's the crucial ingredient necessary to enable belief to flourish. That word is FAITH. 

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 NKJV 

For most people this is a real "catch 22" situation; to believe in God it's necessary first of all to have the faith to believe in Him!

From whence comes that faith? 

I have  friend who found that faith in the bowels of a Royal Navy nuclear submarine, deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean when God roused him into action, action the ultimately prevented a disaster. I have another friend who found faith when he, watching his mother die in the Oncology Ward at his local hospital, asked the chaplain to pray for her. Yet another friend found the faith to believe when he called out to God, as his marriage was heading to oblivion. Almost every "testimony" that I have heard from those who have found faith has a central theme. God responded to their cry of help in their hour of need and deposited "faith" within their hearts.   

Some might say that these people needed a crutch at a time of personal distress... well I have seen plenty of people turn to that other "crutch", alcohol, at a time of distress and all I can say is that I have not seen their lives, marriages, families restored in the same way as those who "found God"... quite the opposite. 

10 years ago I took the funeral of a life-long friend who turned to the bottle as his life spiraled out of control. We grew up together as teenage boys, came from very similar backgrounds, I married into his extended family, but somewhere along the way we walked dis-similar paths. He turned his back on the God he nebulously knew as a boy, and never found his way back. 

    

So does it take a crisis to find the faith to believe?  

No, not at all; evidence for God's existence is all around us. The unique beauty of the world we call home is evidence of our Creator. The calm and tranquility we feel when we're sitting next to a fresh water brook, watching a beautiful sunset, the joy in holding a new-born, is evidence to the beauty and love which the world was created with. The absolute intricacy with which the universe works also speaks to the existence of God. The intricate details by which protein is metabolized by DNA to form sequences and code which translate to who we are or even the balance of the universe in which nearly infinite planets and moons orbit nearly infinite stars speak of His presence.
 

In this digital age Google has made it even easier for us to find that evidence...search "evidence for God's existence" and you find 26,500,000 pages, Google finds more than 10,700,000 pages for the query "scientific evidence for God's existence" More than 150,000,000 pages exist for the search term "is God real proof". But little of this will convince someone who does not want to accept the evidence... hence the often necessity for a "crisis conversion".  

The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 MKJV

How to spot a clown outside the Big-Top

As a child I used to get really excited when the circus came to town every 2 or 3 years. From the moment I saw the posters announcing the arrival date I would endlessly pester my parents. On the day the circus actually arrived we would all duly go  the large park in the center of the city (along with just about everyone else living in town; this was the 1950's and there was little in the way of entertainment) and watch the big-top being erected. As the roustabouts, together with elephants, which seemed to do all the heavy work, slowly assembled the tents, animal cages and other circus paraphernalia my excitement only grew. 

The arrival of the lions and tigers, horses, donkeys and all the other animals that were associated with a traveling circus in those far less "politically correct" days heralded that the circus was open for business. However I always left for home with my parents a little disappointed, I never saw my absolute favorite part of the circus... the clowns. As I got a little older, I would sneak off, after school, on my bike and visit the the circus site, and I loved all the excitement, smells, and "glamorous life" associated with a circus; but I never saw any clowns outside the tent.  

We usually went to the Saturday Matinée session the following week (that week of waiting was the longest week in my life) and after buying the tickets, cotton candy, popcorn or whatever other delights were on sale my family and I would find our seats and wait in anticipation. While I really enjoyed the lion tamers, the trapeze artists, the preforming elephants and other animals (monkeys riding donkeys were a great crowd favorite) my joy was never more complete than when the clowns would entertain us between other acts. I simply never grew tired of watching their antics. Their sheer silliness enthralled me. To a little boy the out-sized shoes, baggy pants,
preposterously loud and absurdly colored shirts, ties and jackets, all conspired to leave me in hysterics.

After the show was over we would hang around outside the tent (usually at my insistence) hoping to see a clown, but I never saw any. It's easy to spot a clown inside the big-top, but as I discovered, almost impossible to spot one outside. My parents would eventually have to drag me away, always just a little disappointed, knowing that it might be 2 years before I had the chance to see one again.

What I never knew as a boy was that clowns outside the circus looked like you or I, the makeup, clothes and general silliness was all an act. I could be standing next to a clown on the street, or sit next to one the bus and never know it! Sadly, today clowns have taken on a much more sinister persona, and young children may nevermore know the joy that accompanies watching an adult descend to level of silliness that only children seem to enjoy. 

It's easy to spot a Christian in church, the place is full of them! How do you spot one outside of the building we call church?

There is only one way..."By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another". John 13:35 M.K.J.V

Download the best free Bible Software available, E-Sword, here.   

Optical Illusions 

I enjoy looking at optical illusions. You know the sort of thing, you stare at it for a while, and suddenly you see something completely different from what you thought you were seeing. Once seen, you can seldom "un-see" what you didn't think was there. Such optical trickery seldom serves any real purpose, other than to mess with you brain.

When the great English architect Sir Christopher Wren designed the interior of Windsor Town Hall, in London in 1689, he built a ceiling supported by pillars. After city fathers had inspected the finished building, they decided the ceiling would not stay up and ordered Wren to put in some more pillars. 

Wren didn't think the ceiling needed any more support, so he pulled a fast one. He added four pillars that did not do anything -- they don't even reach the ceiling. The optical illusion fooled the municipal authorities, and today the four sham pillars are a tourist attraction.

Often-times we believers suffer from a kind of spiritual optical illusion, we tend to see things as they appear to be, not as they actually are. This is not a new phenomena for God's people. Remember the Hebrew slaves fleeing Egypt. Even after seeing the mighty hand of their Redeemer humble the pharaoh, rendering him and his priests powerless, they still, as they stood before the Red Sea, simply could not believe that God could open a way for them to escape the approaching Egyptian Army, and annihilation.

It took, what was certainly one of the greatest miracles recorded in the Bible, to galvanize the now free slaves to finally accept that what they were seeing was in fact reality. Just a short time later after this miraculous delivery, while Moses was off doing a bit of mountain climbing, communing with Yahweh, the people again began to see things, not as they were, but rather falling for an epic optical illusion, which culminated in debauchery and idol worship. Read the story here. 


1400 years later, the disciples were little different. They saw Jesus, spent 3 years in very close, almost daily, contact with Him, but they did not see Jesus as He truly was. He stated His ministry clearly to His followers, yet when He surrendered to the authorities they were stunned, confused, frightened. For weeks afterward they hid as broken men and women, even refusing to believe Mary when she reported whom she had  met at the tomb. 

The men, that Jesus had chosen, simply continued to believe the optical illusion that they  had created. I wonder if any of us would have acted differently. 


We moderns still get confused by observed reality, and how things really are. We are so often fooled by appearances. We can so easily sit in our pews, looking out at the world, pointing fingers at all the sinners outside the doors of our churches and halls, praying that those sinners would come to us to be "saved". We can so often righteously thank God that we are not like them, quietly judging the sin around us, seeing what our "church" vision has trained us to see.  It's easy to be like the disciples on the road to Emmaus...When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. Luke 24:30-31 (NIV)

We can very easily fall into "self-made" illusions when we willfully lie to ourselves. What do I mean? In spite of all evidence to the contrary, we defend ourselves against reality, often doing so in the name of God. We deny truth in favor of our opinion, often saying "God told me" or "God showed me". I have known people who upon starting a new job happily say "God opened the door for me", and yet six months later they are starting another job, defending the rapid change by saying that their previous God given job wasn't really them.

What is real?

I have known other people who have made "life-changing" decisions to shift towns, countries even, when all the evidence and counsel from others was against the move. Again their defense is usually"God told me"

I don't mean to imply that every "God told me" is fallacious. God does speak hope into our spirits and we should believe what He says, but when the majority of our life is based upon "God told me" rather than a more Biblical approach of "It is written," something is wrong.


Dr. Jerome Frank was a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University Medical School. He wrote about our "assumptive world." What he meant is that all of us make assumptions about life, about God, about ourselves, about others, about the way things are. He went on to argue that when our assumptions are true to reality, we live relatively happy, well-adjusted lives. But when our assumptions are distant from reality, we become confused and angry and disillusioned.

I don't find many people in Scripture running to God trying to find His will for the minutiae of life. What I do find is this..... Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8 KJV

If we do that, then surely He will guide us.



From God's Word
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”  1 Peter 1:15-16 NIV

Vital Signs:

Many years ago, when my mother was seriously ill I spent a lot of time in and out of hospital, ministering to, and trying to comfort her. It was a difficult time, not made any easier by medical staff who insist on using baffling “medi-speak”. They seem to forget that most of us have not spent years in medical school, and that at such times we are usually very concerned, perhaps just a little frightened, and mybe for many of us, staring death in the face for the first time!

   

Two days after Mom’s emergency admission we were ushered into her room as she hovered between this world and the next. The charge nurse casually informed my wife and I that her “vitals were flat”, and they were “very worried about her”. After making further inquiries I discovered that her blood pressure was very low, and that her heart beat had slowed considerably. Her potassium and sodium levels were, according to the nurse, “dangerously low”.  

As I sat with my mother, anxiously watching her drift in and out of a hallucinating unconsciousness, I thought about how our spiritual “vital signs” graphically reflect our relationship with Jesus Christ. I also thought about how God reads those signs, and how He responds to them.

There have been times in life when I wandered away from Him, and I have allowed our relationship to cool. I have been conscious of God “stepping in” when my “spiritual heart beat” has slowed and my blood pressure has fallen dangerously low. As I reflect on those times I am aware that God has sent His “spiritual paramedics” to revive me… and like all paramedics, they don’t waste time with pleasantries!  

Jesus once took the pulse of a rich young man, and discovered that at least one of his vitals was flat!

Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus said, "Why do you question me about what's good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you." The man asked, “What in particular?” Jesus said, “Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself.” The young man said, “I've done all that. What's left?” Matthew 19:16-20 The Message

This young man’s spiritual health appeared to be superficially fine, but the Great Physician knew what was wrong with His patient’s heart! “If you want to give it all you've got,” Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.” That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crestfallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn't bear to let go. Matthew 19:21-22 The Message

It’s never enough to be possessed of negative spiritual health (you know, living the “thou shalt nots) we must be positively healthy… we must show love, and our intentions toward Christ and our fellows must be abundantly clear. We must be working toward perfection. Yet countless millions live like the rich young man, who had been taught by his Jewish teachers that people were to be saved by doing something - that is, by their works. Living an externally blameless life will never “cut the mustard”

Those who do attempt to live such a life are constantly anxious… they question themselves, “Have I done enough?” and they are seldom at peace. There is only one real life…living to the honor God, the other life ends in eternal failure, a prolonged separation from God, of which temporal death is but the feeble image.

How are you vital signs? If Dr. Jesus was to run a physical on you today what would be the diagnosis?   
 



 

What a blast!

In 1982 an unusual and potentially fatal artwork went on display in an American art gallery. The piece of “modern art” consisted of a chair affixed to a shotgun. The best view was gained sitting in the chair, looking directly into the gun barrel. The gun was loaded and set by timer to fire at a predetermined moment within the next hundred years. Amazingly people waited in line to sit and stare into the shotgun blast path! The viewers all knew the gun could fire at point-blank range at any moment, but they were gambling that the fatal blast wouldn’t happen during THEIR moment in the chair.**

There is no denying the foolhardiness of those who gambled that the “artist” had set the timer to some far distant date, thus allowing them to get away before a shotgun blast separated body from soul. Yet such gambling with eternity is exactly what countless millions do all the time. They hazard a chance that they can get away with sin. Foolishly they ignore the risk until the inevitable self-destruction.

Jesus spoke about (and to) such people often: So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell--and great and complete was the fall of it.  Matthew 7:24-27 Amplified Bible

This parable may have been based upon an actual event, and we certainly see plenty of examples of such poor planning today. However the ecclesiastical implication of a much loved Sunday School favourite goes deep into the spiritual realm.  The picture is not of two men deliberately selecting building sites, but it contrasts one who carefully chooses and prepares his foundation with one who builds in a hap-hazard manner. 

This is more strongly emphasized in Luke’s rendering of the story: “He is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood arose, the torrent broke against that house and could not shake or move it, because it had been securely built or founded on a rock.” Luke 6:48

It’s not enough to just hear the words of the Lord; we must be about obeying and doing them as well. Our reliance upon Christ, His promises, confidence in His protection, and a hope of heaven through His blood must be such that earthly calamities do not destroy all that we have built in and through faith. When the storms of life beat around us (and they will) our foundations need to be deep enough to weather them.

This foundation is the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, and is as a rock, firm and strong, which will bear the whole weight that is laid upon it; it is sure and certain, it will never give way; it is immoveable and everlasting; the house built upon it stands safe and sure.

The unwise build upon shallow foundations that simply melt when exposed to storms and trials, they take their chances, like the foolish viewers of the shotgun artwork, hoping that nothing will happen, even when they know that it must…eventually.  

An old Rabi said… “The man whose knowledge exceeds his works, to whom is he like? He is like a tree which had many branches, and only a few roots; and, when the stormy winds came, it was plucked up and broken. But he whose good works are greater than his knowledge, to what is he like? He is like a tree which had few branches, and many roots; so that all the winds of heaven could not move it from its place.” 

** As far as I know the gun has not fired yet!

     

I believe in God....BUT

 

According to Wikipedia one-third of the world's population is Christian. A report by Pew Research broadly agrees with this figure. 

Why then, if 1 in every 3 people believe in an all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing deity is the world in such a mess? Particularly if as the map indicates, Christians are well represented in many of those counties that are the "major players" on the Geo-political stage.

Could the answer to that conundrum rest with the fact the we modern Christians are not really sure what believe in, and have we have lost sight of the single most important thing about our faith that sets it apart form every other "religion"?  

There are more than 30,000 different Christian "denominations" in existence today, and while there are many reasons why people breakaway from a church and start a new movement or sect, the resultant division does little to build the Body of Christ.  

Something is broken in the "Body of Christ" today, and it's not just a fractured leg that needs to heal....

There is a vital ingredient missing today from many Churches and Assemblies. 

You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Jehovah. Leviticus 19:18 MKJV

Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-38 MKJV

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment. And the second is like this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love the neighbor as himself, is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices. Mark 12:30-31 & 33 MKJV

We are clearly warned that in the "last days" the love of many shall grow cold. "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will become cold". Matthew 24:12 MKJV

And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity. Matthew 24:12 Amplified Bible

The original Greek word used for "grow cold" is psugēsetai, which means to breathe cold by blowing a malign or poisonous wind. This breath is very different than one might blow on hot porridge to cool it. This is no passive "failing out of love"- rather the growing cold is the direct result of the sinfulness abounding within the Body of Christ, once known and admired for the agape love of the followers of Christ.

A perfect example of this is the Snow Queen (Jadis) or the White Witch of the Narnia stories by C. S. Lewis, who entrapped the Land of Narnia in perpetual winter, as the love of Aslan (a type of Christ) had vanished from the land.

We see this "love growing cold" in the in the actions of many governments in Christian countries increasingly being driven by economic factors alone, in individuals and churches that behave like the church of Laodicea...
"And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'; and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Revelation 3:14-17 NKJV   

Christians bereft of Holy Spirit's all encompassing presence will find their love, such as it is, grow colder and colder in the last days. The love that these people express is not a warm love of God, His truth and their fellows, Rather it is a love of money, and self.

The Apostle Paul describes those whose love for God, Christ, and the saints is only in pretense, not in reality. They do all they do in a religious way from self-love and to selfish ends. Their aim is to gain glory and applause from men or to use religion to gain something for themselves. They do nothing for the glory of God, the honor of Christ, or the good of others.(2 Timothy 3:1-4) 

 

How can we be sure that the love we have for Christ will never grow cold?

We must begin by examining ourselves to be sure we are truly in the faith....     (2 Corinthians 13:5). If we are sure that we belong to Christ, we can be confident that we possess the (agape) love from Holy Spirit that never grows cold. Philippians 1:9–11). Then we should make every effort to increase that love:, “This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God"

You're so vine!

I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. John 15:5 Amplified Bible

A portion of the Hampton Court grapevine

At Hampton Court, near London, England, there is a grapevine which is about 240 years old. This grapevine has one stem which is at least two feet thick, this single stem has grown more than 200 feet long…. in either direction away from the root. Despite its age the vine produces several tons of grapes each year, even at 200 feet from the stem, the grapes are still sweet and delicious, because they are connected to the vine. Life flows from that single stem and throughout the vine bringing nourishment and strength to the very tip of the plant. View a YouTube video of the vine here

The grapevine is unique in the plant world; it has only one stem, and all the leaves of that vine are connected directly to that one stem. In effect, the leaves are the branches. This is what differentiates a vine from almost every other type of flora. There are no intervening branches, connected to other branches, linked to others still which ultimately fuse to the trunk. All the leaves of a vine are connected directly into the one stem.

The accord that Christ gives us is an accord that flows out of a shared life… the life of Christ. It’s not something that is imposed from the outside, nor is it a system of rules, rather its something which comes as naturally as breathing.

A Jewish coin minted 1949

Down through Israel’s history the vine has been the emblem of the nation. During the time of the Macabees, (about 150 years before Christ) the symbol of the vine was on the coins of Israel. It was engraved over the main doors of the synagogues. Josephus, in describing Herod’s Temple in Jesus’ day says, “Under the crown–work was spread out a golden vine, with its branches hanging down form a great height, the largeness and the workmanship of which were an astonishing sight to the spectators” (Antiquities of the Jews, 5.5.4).

The single purpose of the vine is to bring forth fruit. The whole emphasis of Jesus’ allegory of the vine is fruit bearing. God expected Israel to produce luscious, beautiful, rich choice grapes of righteousness. Rather, she produced sour, rotten, stinking, useless grapes. God was looking for justice and righteousness; instead He found oppression, cruelty, exploitation of men. Jesus said the purpose of the vine was “that it may keep on bearing more and more fruit.”

The woody growth of the vine has no use as building material, there is little strength in the branches, and left to itself the vine becomes a mess. It is, as my sainted grand-mother used to say, "neither use nor ornament".  Usually once a vineyard owner has finished pruning his vines, the cuttings are burnt, releasing a little potash into the soil of the vineyard.

We need to ask ourselves, what fruit is God producing in my life? The fruit of the vine will be the natural outflow of the life of the vine. Jesus is the Vine. When we are united with Him we are identified with Him. We produce His wine. We reproduce Christ. He works into us what He wants us to produce.

There is however, a problem with grapevines…they would rather produce shoots and leaves than grapes. They end up looking lush and green, but ultimately they are only good for making wreaths and decorations. Grapevines must be pruned radically, and often. The gardener must be merciless, cutting them back each year as far as he possibly can. Branches with no fruit must be removed so they don’t draw nutrients away from the grapes. And fruitful branches must be pruned back to produce even more in the following year.

My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:8

 

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What on earth is going on?

One could be forgiven for thinking that the battle had been lost... what battle?

The battle for planet earth!

Almost everywhere one looks the hand of the the dark lord is seen at work. Across the globe there are ominous signs of deep and very unsettling issues bubbling to the surface.

The "Middle East", long a source of troubled news is imploding: the barbaric civil war in Syria is almost overshadowed by the latest news from Iraq, deep divisions, usually along religious lines are threatening several other nations, and Egypt continues to wage war on itself. Israel is, once again, at the center of world news, caught between a rock and a hard place. Trying to defend itself, it has become the focus of the millennial old hatred of the Jewish people. 

A plague of almost "Biblical proportions" is stalking the earth, destroying economies, forcing countries into "lock-down", showing up woefully prepared politicians and bureaucrats. Death tolls in many countries will likely equal to ohave surpassed civilian deaths in world War 2. Sabre rattling by belligerent nations is on the increase, and the "dogs of war" are frothing at the mouth.     

The African Continent is deeply divided, famine, internecine strife, rumors of and actual wars continue to leave wrack and ruin in their wake. In India,  caste violence against young girls and teenage women see rape being treated as "laddish, boyish behaviors". Sadly the rapists usually escape any form of human justice. "Honor killing" of wives and single women (and occasionally homosexual men) in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq defy any explanation and betray a deep-seated hatred of women. This savagely vicious practice is increasingly being carried out in so-called civilized nations (read here and here). The 21st Century, which began with so much hope and yearning for peace and prosperity, and only 20 years old, sees humanity on a seemingly endless downward spiral toward Armageddon .

 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. Matthew 24:7 NASB

The natural world is in disarray, weather disasters are becoming commonplace, earthquakes are increasing in frequency and magnitude and animal species are disappearing at an alarming rate. I don't know about you dear reader, but if I wasn't a follower of Jesus Christ I would be trying to get a place on the Mars One project.  

What is going on?
For all of my adult Christian life, I have lived expecting the imminent return of Jesus Christ to take His rightful place as King in God's Kingdom. I, like many many others, was taught that that event would unfold around the year 2000.  It didn't! 

I must admit that my faith  took a bit of a hit with that non-event. I fell into the trap that so many others have been caught in over the centuries. Date setting! One thing is certain: all predictions of our Lord's much anticipated return, based upon "signs of the times", up to today, have been 100% WRONG!

King Richard and The Knights Templar

Around 200 AD, the prophets of the Montanist movement predicted that Christ would return in their lifetime and set up the New Jerusalem in the city of Pepuza in Asia Minor.Today no one is really certain just where Pepuza was.

In 999 countless Europeans gave away their possessions to the Catholic Church, to prepare their souls for the expected end of the world on January 1, 1000. The Catholic priests carefully recorded all donations to the church and refused to give them back when Christ failed to show up on schedule.

In 1190, English King Richard the Lion-Heart conferred with mystic and theologian Joachim of Fiore. They calculated that the Antichrist was already alive and living  somewhere in the world, and that it would be the destiny of Richard to deal with and defeat him, and that the Millennium rule of Christ would begin by 1205. Richard missed his date with Antichrist, dying in 1199. 

Faithful Christians in Russia predicted the end of the world in 1669.  When it didn't happen, 20,000 of them burned themselves to death in the period up to 1690 to protect themselves from the coming of Antichrist, who was later identified as Peter the Great.

 
There are many other well known examples of date setting; denominations and cults have been founded upon the very thing that Christ warned His followers about: "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power," Acts 1:7 KJV

 
Christ is not going to advise us in advance of the time of His coming, any more than burglars announce in advance when they are going to strike. "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night," 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 KJV

That the "sands of time" are going to run out one day is a given.  Until they do, we need to remind ourselves, regularly, that we are to be about His work in this sin soaked world, help others where we can, spread the Good News when we can and wait. If our Lord returns tomorrow or in 100 or 1000 years from now; remember that the Battle for Planet Earth has already been won! 

Republished/updated from July 2014