Bonds Fall From Prisoners

[1]

Acts 12:9-11 Good News Translation

⁹ Peter followed him out of the prison, not knowing, however, if what the angel was doing was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ They passed by the first guard station and then the second, and came at last to the iron gate that opens into the city. The gate opened for them by itself, and they went out. They walked down a street, and suddenly the angel left Peter.

¹¹ Then Peter realized what had happened to him, and said, “Now I know that it is really true! The Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod's power and from everything the Jewish people expected to happen.”

 

You may not remember the first time you heard this story. I don’t. I encourage you to read it again in Acts 12.

Herod Agrippa, son of Herod the Great who slaughtered the babies in Bethlehem after Christ was born, was as conniving as his father. The Herods were descendants of Esau, not Jacob. So, they were not Jews. This made the extremely nationalistic Jews hate them. The Herods always felt insecure in their position as rulers over the Jews.

Agrippa sensed the hatred the Jews felt towards the followers of Christ, so he arrested James, the brother of John, and in a public execution he killed James. For once the Jews applauded his action. Being no dummy, he arrested Peter and planned a great festival to kill Peter. On the day of Peter’s execution, Agrippa sent his men to fetch Peter and bring him before the huge crowd gathered for the spectacle. They came back empty handed. The standard Roman penalty for losing a prisoner was death. Agrippa was disgraced, and for revenge he ended up killing four quaternions of guards—16 guards. This did not, of course, increase his favor in front of the Jews.

How did Peter escape? Was there magic involved? The Angel materialized in the inner dungeon where Peter was. Chains fell off of Peter, and he walked out of the prison. For an analogy consider a two-dimensional maze like the one above. The object is to draw a crooked line that enters the maze at the red arrow and exits the maze at the green arrow without crossing any of the black lines. However, if you were to cover the maze with a thin strip of transparent plastic, you could simply draw a straight line from the red arrow to the green arrow on the plastic and it would not touch any of the black lines. What just happened? Since you are three-dimensional, not two dimensional, you simply made a line above the paper. This line is out of the two dimensions of the paper—the black lines no longer existed. It was extremely close to the paper, but didn’t touch the paper except at the arrows.

If angels are in four-dimensional space, they could be as close to Peter—in the 4^th-dimension—as a thin sheet of transparent plastic, yet be totally undetectable by Peter and unrestricted by the prison walls and doors. The angel would simply slide Peter out of his three dimensions onto this miniscule thickness of the plastic sheet. He would not slide Peter’s bonds with him, so they would no longer be around his wrists, neck, and ankles, and they would fall to the floor. The bonds and walls and guards are now gone. The four guards in Peter’s cell with him might hear the chains fall and see Peter disappear, but they would be so shocked, they couldn’t respond immediately. Peter was simply there one instant and had totally disappeared the next. The other guards would be completely oblivious to Peter and the angel. Even Peter would be mystified: he “thought he was seeing a vision.” Peter follows the angel out onto the street, and suddenly he’s back in his own three-dimensions, and the angel has effectively disappeared.

I’ll let you fill in the details. How did you imagine this event happening? Again, this whole scenario as I have described it may be totally wrong. There may be no fourth dimension. We need to re-examine the whole concept of our existence. It may be that the angel drugged the guards into a deep sleep like we see in movies, but this would not explain how the bonds fell off or the locked doors opened. 

Thank You, Lord, that You have ways of providing for us that are totally beyond our ken.

 

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maze_simple.svg

Dimensions and Trust

[1]

Proverbs 29:25 King James Version

²⁵ The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.

 

While I was teaching at Ikizu in Tanzania, they held a camp meeting on campus. There were far too many people to use the large campus church for meetings. So, they stretched ropes between several trees and then covered an area with thatch grass to shield attenders from the equatorial sun. By this time, I understood Swahili well enough so that I could attend the meetings and understand what the presenters were saying. One was Bekele Haye, an Ethiopian who spoke in English because he didn’t speak Swahili, and his message was translated, so I heard it twice.

He told the people who wished they had been born white that that was a foolish wish. “I went out one day with a white missionary and worked in the fields all day. The next day, all of the white man’s skin peeled off, so he was in bed in great pain. I was out working in the fields again.” Then he went on and told the people that Africans had been Christians long before Europeans. They got the message of salvation from the Ethiopian whom Phillip baptized. “We should be missionaries in Europe and America, rather than they being missionaries to us. Christianity is really an African religion. We failed to carry it to the world, so the Europeans are doing our work.”

Another speaker was Mrs. Wangai. I have forgotten her first name and her maiden name. She was a Kikuyu from Kenya. She told the people about her experience as a teenager during the British control of Kenya. The Kikuyus are the largest tribe in Kenya. During the 1950s many people of the Kikuyu tribe started guerilla warfare against the English. They were called the Mau-Mau and were fighting for the freedom of their country. They also distrusted anyone who was a Christian because they saw them as being supporters of the colonial regime. To gain followers, a Mau-Mau group came into her village. They lined up all the people and then one-by-one demanded that they swear an oath, denouncing Christianity and pledging allegiance to the freedom fighters. This pledge often demanded sexual favors and drinking a strong native beer that had several opioids in it. Those few who refused were put into a hut with no windows and with guards at the door instructed to kill anyone who tried to escape.

She refused to take the oath and was sentenced to death. They bound her and put her into this prison hut to await her death in front of the whole village. She lay on the floor and prayed for deliverance. After a while her bonds dropped off of her, and she felt herself being lifted up and moved towards the wall away from the guards at the door. She told how a hole appeared in the wall and she was passed out through the hole. Looking back from the outside, she could see that there was no hole. A voice told her to flee into the bush and await the departure of the Mau-Mau from her village. She fled into the bush and hid for several days. When she returned about three weeks later, she found out that everyone in that hut had been executed. She went to the hut and examined it. There was no evidence that there had ever been a hole in the wall.

At the time, there was enough evidence of the truth of her story that I believe her. As I mentioned in a previous blog, if our three-dimensional universe is part of a higher dimensional space, then an angel—who lives in this space—could easily have picked her up in his space. The knots on her bonds would have disintegrated, as I mentioned in my blog. She could be moved slightly out of our universe and transferred past the wall. To her eyes, it would look like she was passing through a hole in the wall. After all, our eyes can only see in three dimensions. She later finished high school and married a Christian man who became a pastor.

Does my explanation change her story of the miracle of her survival? Does it lessen the miraculous nature of her experience? Not at all. We have absolutely no physical access to anything outside of our universe, of course. Does it support my spatial concepts? Maybe.

Needless to say, God fulfilled His promise that if she put her trust in the Lord, she would be safe.

Lord, help us to place our trust in You and keep it there.

 

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[1] https://civilianmilitaryintelligencegroup.com/5652/the-mau-mau-rebellion

Communal Living

 

[1]

Acts 2:44-45 Good News Translation

⁴⁴ All the believers continued together in close fellowship and shared their belongings with one another. ⁴⁵ They would sell their property and possessions, and distribute the money among all, according to what each one needed.

 

In the late 1960s, a number of young people revolted against their materialistic, capitalistic, Christian upbringing. A large number of them joined communes across the country. They pooled their resources so that everyone was equal financially—which resulted in no one becoming rich. Many rejected violence in all its forms, so they turned vegetarian rather than slaughtering animals for food. They rejected the concept of individuals owning anything. This often included even the concept of being married to one spouse. They often wore jeans and flannel shirts.

By the early 1970s some of these communes had matured to the point that some members had become professionals in universities. At the university I had a professor of topology who was a member of a nearby commune. He had an unkempt beard, long hair, and always wore a wrinkled flannel shirt and jeans.

I took a class from him in multidimensional geometry and topology. He carried a handful of multicolored chalk to his lectures. Questions came up about how ordinary things we use in our everyday lives, such as knots and clothes, would be in the four-dimensional space. He drew a series of colored pictures that showed in sequence how any knot would become untied in this space. To my very restricted view of the three-dimensional universe that we live in, it came as a shock. But his excellent multicolored pictures made what he taught appear totally obvious. I audited several of his other classes, with his permission, mainly to see his pictures of higher dimensional realities.

The “picture” of a Klein Bottle I have included is a simple object that requires a fourth dimensions to construct. It appears that part of the bottle physically pierces the right side of the figure. However, in a four-dimensional space it doesn’t actually pierce it. I’ll let you puzzle over that concept.

Try thinking of it this way: in our experience we have three dimensions that we move in: 1. Forward and backward; 2. Left and right, 3. Up and down—it helps to own a jet-pack here. If there is a fourth spatial dimension, we have no access to it. But if we could access this elusive dimension, we could construct the Klein Bottle by moving the tube on the right out into that dimension just enough to miss piercing any part of the bottle.

As you begin to grasp something of four dimensions, you realize that a four- or higher- dimensional being can see not only your skin but also all of your insides—not a pretty sight! If, for example, a 4-D being wanted to remove an infected appendix, 4-D could grasp it without cutting open the skin and remove it.

Does what I tried, unsuccessfully I’m sure, to explain to you have anything to do with my—or your salvation? Absolutely not! Well… Just maybe… I plan to explore some of my thoughts on this in future blogs and hope we gain a greater appreciation of the magnificence of our God! But, let me repeat and emphasize, understanding this in no wise changes the fact of our salvation by God’s amazing grace through our faith in Him.

Thank You, Lord, for saving us by the marvelous sacrifice of Your Son Jesus Christ!

  

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klein_bottle#/media/File:Klein_bottle.svg

Christian and Animist

 

[1]

John 13:15, 17 King James Version

¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

¹⁷ If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

 

In the highlands of Madagascar, we were attending a large church. We knew very few people there, the vast majority of whom were Malagasy. The service had been in Malagasy and I understood nothing. Then they separated the group by gender to experience the Ordinance of Humility. I sat on the right hand side near the front of the church and figured I would not participate because I couldn’t communicate meaningfully with the men in attendance.

The majority of people had left when I noticed a man sitting near the center of the church, whom I had never seen before. When no one stopped and chatted with him, I walked over and said, “May I serve you?” in English.

“Yes!” he responded with a smile and in English. English is a distant third in the languages of Madagascar.

We went outside the church through the far door, where the men were washing each other’s feet. We found a vacant seat and I asked him to sit there. I fetched a basin with fresh water in it and brought it back to the man. Kneeling in front of him I washed his feet. Since most people walk barefoot a lot, the water turned a red brown—the earth color of the Red Island. I found out that he had been called to be the new pastor for this church and was attending that day mainly to see how things were done there.

He had pastored a number of churches in various places on the island. Animism is the majority religion on the island. Forms of animism exist very widely especially in Asia, Africa, and South America, but certainly on all continents. A major tenet of Animism is ancestor worship. Ancestors are believed to communicate with their descendants and direct a lot of their behavior. Even Christians very often find it difficult to not follow what an ancestor directs them to do. Adventists believe the dead know not anything[2], nor can they communicate anything. These communications from the so-called ancestors come in reality from the evil spirits that are rife in the world. Their counsel often results in the persecutions of Christians. It also results in discouragement, despair, impoverishment, and suicide.

I gained a rich blessing from washing this new pastor’s feet, and him washing my feet. I will remember it for the rest of my life. He gave every evidence that he understood the part God’s free grace plays in the salvation of humanity. This is contrary to the strong legalism that permeates much of Adventism in Madagascar.

Thank You Lord for the hope we have because of Your free grace to us.

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[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=ordinance+of+humility&rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS880US880&sxsrf=AOaemvKTMk9PwgdMZgheaUbJzZu1fBTJ4w:1641226743226&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjf7JmI_pX1AhVEJzQIHcalDSIQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=958&bih=682&dpr=1.25#imgrc=LyU0rH7SAeVlvM

[2] Ecclesiastes 9:5

What is your New Year's Resolution?

[1]

2 Corinthians 5:17 Contemporary English Version

¹⁷ Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.

 

Happy New Year!

Long ago I found out that making new resolutions—New Year or any other time—can be a fruitless endeavor. However, it does happen that I make some, anyway.

In 2021 with Sylvia’s cooperation and encouragement, I made the resolution that I would eat twice daily rather than three times. Sylvia jumped at it—that would be three-hundred and sixty-five fewer meals she would have to make!

Years ago, I had found that if I didn’t have something for supper, I would wake up freezing from low blood sugar. It didn’t matter how many clothes and bedclothes I had on—I couldn’t get warm. Mom used to have the same problem. She would get up and eat a piece of chocolate, if she had any, and a few nuts. The chocolate elicited the quickest response from her shivering body; the nut provided a lasting warmth. I have found that the same emergency snack does wonders for my freezing frame—if I can manage to shed my covers and go into the kitchen and fetch the snack.

I suggested we eat at 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. That should be late enough to prevent the low blood sugar troubles. I envisioned us sitting down at table precisely at ten and four sharp. Sylvia agreed, imagining that she would start meal preparations around ten and four. The net result is often that I go into the kitchen at the stated times and offer to make potato salad or Spanish rice or mac-and-cheese. She used to groan at my suggestion. Now she encourages me—it’s something she doesn’t have to decide on.

We have managed to adhere to the 2-meals-per-day regimen very well. We don’t do it religiously, of course. Since spending some time this summer at Uchee Pines Lifestyle Center, we are eating a vegan menu, too. We have also maintained this successfully, but also not religiously. Net result is I am 21 pounds lighter now than I was on New Year’s last year!

What is your New Year's Resolution? With God's and my wife's help we made this one stick. Make one for yourself, pray about it, and get someone else to help you. You can make yours stick, too.

Lord, this year teach me to love as You do.

 

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[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=new+year%27s+resolution&rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS880US880&sxsrf=AOaemvLCxrQkG_zJGECrQE2MDGtUIrRyvQ:1641138270970&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIg6y9tJP1AhXTN30KHbiYAiEQ_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=956&bih=682&dpr=1.25#imgrc=z9F_5sTXuKPNQM

 

Mutiny and Peace

[1]

Luke 2:9 New English Bible

9 when suddenly there stood before them an angel of the Lord, and the splendour of the Lord shone round them. 10 They were terror-stricken

 

The great renaissance prophet, Martin Luther[2], commented on this verse. Firstly, Luther noted that this was the greatest news, and God didn’t leave it to a great preacher. He sent, instead, a mighty angel of the Lord.

Secondly, this all happened in the middle of the night when things were the absolute darkest, even as God’s people were shrouded in spiritual darkness.[3] Their high priest was appointed by Rome. Corruption reigned in the priesthood. No matter that the world was at a high point in its civilization.

Thirdly, the light that shone around the shepherds could not be discovered by reason, by physics, by psychology. It was supernatural and could only come from outside the earth, outside the solar system, outside the universe.

There had been an attempted coup d’état in Heaven. Lucifer, the mightiest angel in God’s creation, had revolted. He accused God of being selfish, self-seeking, arbitrary, dictatorial. He spread lies about Him though out the heavenly host. One-third of the angels swallowed his lies. They joined him in the greatest mutiny of the universe. Lucifer became Satan, the very embodiment of evil. Because of his cunning lies, the entire creation wondered whether Satan’s lies had some truth to them. War broke out in earnest, and the almighty God finally banished him from Heaven.

When Christ created this earth and placed humans on it, Satan came on the run. He tricked the humans into joining his rebellion. So, the dregs of the mutiny became life on the earth. Not only were humans fighting against good, but humans started fighting each other. All humans, good and bad, were subject to death—final irrevocable annihilation.

Christ Himself took on human form and demonstrated the real characteristics of God on earth. He demonstrated a God of love, incorruptible, unending, unfathomable love. He was not willing that any should die but that all might be saved. This was the Angel of the Lord’s announcement. He told the only humans ready for this great news—a band of shepherds minding their sheep.

He was joined by a mighty army of God’s angels who sang “Glory to God in highest heaven, and on earth his peace for men on whom his favor rests.” They offered everyone the choice of God’s favor. As we enter 2022, this offer is very real to you and me. All we have to do is accept it.

O Lord, I pray that all who read this blog will accept Your gracious offer!

 

Labels: #California, #IE, #Inland Empire, #Luther, #MartinLuther, #Angel, #Darkness, #Priest, #Love, #Evil, #Satan, #Lucifer, #Humans, #Rebellion, #Heaven, #Banished, #Christ, #Gracious, #Army, #Annihilation, #Mutiny

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[1] https://images.knowing-jesus.com/i/luke-2-14-glory-to-god-in-the-highest-and-peace-on-earth-yellow-7887

[2] Faith Alone, Martin Luther (ed. James C. Galvin, 1998 Word Publisher, Iowa Falls, Iowa, USA) on page Dec 21

[3] Desire of Ages, (Ellen G. White, 1898 Pacific Press Publishing, page 30)