Gird Up the Loins of Your Mind

[1]

1 Peter 1:13 (Margin) Holman Christian Standard Bible

¹³  Therefore, when you have the loins of your mind girded ready for action, be serious and set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

 

Our church has started a plan this year of reading the whole Old Testament in one year. I encourage you to adopt it. I encourage you to discover YouVersion.com for yourself. I first tried it several years ago, and it had so many features that I finally gave up in disgust. Judson Nelson, my brother-in-law, helped get back on it in a meaningful way a year ago. Thanks. Jud!

However, install it on your phone and sign into it. It has well over a hundred different versions of the Bible The second language I learned as a kid (English was my mother-tongue) was Afrikaans. At one point in my life, I learned the Lord’s prayer in Afrikaans. At the end of its Sabbath worship service, the church urges all its members to pray the prayer out loud together, “In any language that you wish.” So, I started praying it in Afrikaans. Well, after 60 plus years, I didn’t trust my memory. I checked out YouVersion.com, and after some experimentation, I found at least five different translation versions of the Afrikaans Bible! I have no clue how many English versions it has, but there are many.

As you open YouVersion, it gives you the verse of the day. At the bottom are several icons representing various popular features, one of which is “plans.” Click on that one. Click on the button “Find Plans”. One of the plans is “Bible Projects | Old Testament in a Year.” If you start today, you have only thirty-six sessions to catch up.

This morning, we read Genesis 12-14. It starts the story of Abraham. In chapter 14 Lot is captured by a Persian invading army and carted off with his wife and children towards Persia. In Abram’s entourage, he has 318 trained soldiers. Together with his allies they spring a night surprise attack, and he defeats the reveling invaders and recaptures all of their loot including the people they were taking back to sell as slaves in Persia.

What never ceases to amaze me is the size of Abram’s household. If he has 318 troops, he must have had well over a thousand people, including wives and children, etc. In other words, this was no lonely Bedouin camp with a dozen or so people camping out in the desert. He also had his troops ready for action so they could set out at a moment’s notice.

Our verse encourages us to have girded up the loins of our minds, ready for immediate action—in other words, be ready to fight to retain the grace we have been so graciously given. God has freely given us a vast store of His grace. Let us be ready to defend it at all costs until He comes.

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[1] https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2FGNQHGXeC4TKxHrX6_XoXvOTERRJdyNqx5rfu9x4-BHI.jpg%3Fwidth%3D900%26height%3D471.204188482%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D34adac866fccb5d199143cdfe0f3a2124974bf2b

 

Grace vs. False Accuser

 ,

[1]

Galatians 6:1 Good News Translation

6 My friends, if someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should set him right; but you must do it in a gentle way. And keep an eye on yourselves, so that you will not be tempted, too.

 

We arrived at Helderberg College near the end of January, 1976. I had been hired to teach math and computer science there. Folks there warmly welcomed us, and we moved into a house on campus. We appreciated coming from a Michigan winter into full blown summer with temperatures reaching over 100º (40º C).

We took our oldest child, Esther, down to Helderberg Primary School and registered her and got her a uniform to wear. She seemed to enjoy going to school and making friends there.

A week or so later we got a call from Children Services. They told us that they knew that we had a child of school age and that we were subject to a fine for keeping her out of school. I was stunned. Someone was after our blood. After informing them that Esther was indeed in school, they calmed down, and we never heard any more about it. I’m sure they checked in with her school and found out that what I told them was correct.

We could stand on our front porch and view the beautiful, blue False Bay forming a grand panorama in front of us; framed by Table Mountain and the Cape peninsula on our right and the Hottentots Holland Mountains reaching out into the Indian Ocean on our left. Behind us towered Helderberg Mountain on whose slopes our home was built.[2]

This was the beginning of our tenure at Helderberg. A string of little things made what should have been a wonderful time in what is truly one of the most beautiful sites in the world, the winter of our existence.

Many of the Christians there believed in a judgmental Christ. They drove themselves nearly to death trying to keep all the biblical law in order that they might somehow earn their way into heaven. It is a discouraging life and often makes the practitioners very critical of everyone else.

The book of Galatians in the Bible contains Paul’s scolding of those who try to live by the law. He emphasizes that we are saved by grace through believing in Jesus Christ. In chapter 3, Paul calls the Galatians foolish for trying to earn their way into heaven. Many of those trying to earn heaven become critical believers. They even refuse to accept Galatians as an inspired part of the Bible; therefore, they don’t read it. Some of them warned me about reading the book and told me I should be aware that it would land me in hell for sure.

I encourage you to take your Bible and read Galatians and form your own opinion of it. Try reading it in several different translations just to get the feel of it.

Lord, thank You for giving us salvation through Your Son Jesus Christ. Help us to love all of Your children and treat them gently.

 

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[1] https://travel.sygic.com/en/poi/false-bay-poi:20406237

[2]  The Hottentot Holland Mountains stretch from the left edge of the picture all the way across the center of the picture until they plunge into the ocean on the right. About a third of the way across the picture is a tiny spur with round rocks pointing upwards: this spur is Helderberg Mountain. Our home was on the right most slope of this mountain,

Christ and a Military Base

[1]

Romans 8:28 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

  ²⁸We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God—those whom he has called according to his plan.

 

When I was 12 I was sent off to boarding school. Up until that time I had led a very sheltered life. I attended a preparatory school connected with a college where Dad was a much respected teacher. Over the next six years I picked up my “street smarts.” Originally I found it expedient to stand up for the opinions of the authorities. I regarded their rules, their opinions, and their decisions as sacrosanct.

This submersion in boarding school was like taking large helpings of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Being a somewhat normal if nerdy teenager, I tried lots of forbidden things just for the kicks. I tried alcohol and tobacco, shoplifting, and other obvious sins. Worse, I learned subterfuge, deceit, and general distrust of the establishment.

The establishment had taught me the legal aspects of Christianity. They taught me to read inspiration their way. Their way supported church authority at all costs. Therefore I read the Bible with their interpretation. I read the Spirit of Prophecy with their interpretation. Everything I read showed me how evil I had become. Indeed I quickly recognized that I was damned. Furthermore, there was no way I could change that status.  This led me deeper and deeper into a sinful, lawless life. My fellow students were quick to urge me on in my descent towards hell.

But God had decided to defeat the seeming triumph of Satan and evil over my life. He led me to Germany. I went there to learn German−at another boarding school. This time my fellow students were all German. Knowing no German initially, I felt cut off from my fellow humans. Because of this, I attended a Sunday church on the American army base and joined its choir, merely for companionship. They spoke English, so we could understand each other.

These new friends came from all walks of life and all religious persuasions. Some came to church for exactly the same reason as I had, for companionship. They had as much Christianity as I did. Others came because they loved Jesus and wanted fellowship with other Christians. One of these made it his mission to introduce Jesus to me.

Yes, I knew Jesus. He carried around a big black book with all of my misdeeds in it underlined in red. He was seeking to punish me for all of my evil deeds. This new Jesus, according to this young Christian, was a savior. At first I didn’t really know what that word meant. But with long patience this missionary taught me. He had a very simplistic understanding of Jesus, even childlike. But that’s exactly what Jesus had declared as essential to being a Christian. Finally I accepted this new concept of Jesus. I then spent many years unlearning what my early training had so successfully drummed into every facet of my psyche.

Now I was learning from and about a Jesus who loves me unconditionally—all the time!

Thank you, Lord, for working out circumstances for my good. Help me to communicate Your love to those You bring to me.

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[1] U.S. Army Military Base at Darmstadt am Main Germany https://www.pinterest.com/pin/565061084476668082/

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

The Universal Conundrum

 

2 Corinthians 5:21

Holman Christian Standard Bible

²¹ He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

I was talking with someone recently about sin in the world and our individual sin. The conversation came around to the fact that God made a plan for sinners. That plan was that Christ would assume our sin. Since He had no sin of His own, He was not alienated from God. Since we have sinned, we have earned exactly one thing—death. There was no way around this. Sin is simply rebellion against God. Since God has given us life, our rebellion means we automatically reject the life God equipped us with. We must automatically die.

Christ—Who is God—decided before there was any sin and before man was created, that man was His responsibility and that He would actually bear our sin and take our just reward—death—if man were to sin. Since He took our death, we don’t have to die.

Because of this gift, Christ—God—considers us to be righteous in His eyes. Therefore, this gift has actually made us righteous. We have only to accept the decision God made in our case before we existed.

My friend responded that there was no way he could accept this. It defied logic. He had sinned; therefore, he must reap the result, namely death. The Apostle Paul faced this same logical conundrum. He exclaimed in Romans 11:33:

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches

both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!

How unsearchable His judgments

and untraceable His ways!

God, the cosmological supreme court, has made this decision. We cannot do anything else but accept it with gratitude and not die or suffer the consequences of refusing to accept His gift.

Thank You, Lord, for the infinite grace You extend to us!
 

 

If You're Not against Us--You're For Us

 

[1]

Mark 9:38-40
Good News Translation
³⁸ John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man who was driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop, because he doesn't belong to our group.”
³⁹ “Do not try to stop him,” Jesus told them, “because no one who performs a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to say evil things about me. ⁴⁰ For whoever is not against us is for us.

 

In 1979, we had just joined Atlantic Union College in Massachusetts. When we went to church on Sabbath, an elderly gentleman approached to me and asked, “Are you Wil Clarke?”

“Yes indeed,” I admitted, somewhat puzzled.

“I’m delighted to meet you in the flesh!” he said and threw his arms around me. “I’m Elder X and am retired here in South Lancaster. It’s wonderful to have another missionary from Africa here!”

It never ceases to amaze me how a person’s brain can process surprise information extremely rapidly. Within less than a second, my mind was flooded with memories.

Eight years earlier, we had been at Ikizu Training School in Tanzania for 5 years, and it was time for my salaried nine-month furlough. In June 1971, I had received a letter from Pastor X, treasurer of a division of the General Conference. It stated categorically that I had no furlough coming since I had only worked for the division for a year and a half. The Tanzania Union (TU) had been transferred from the another division to this division a year and a half before.

I showed this letter to Pastor Y, treasurer of the TU. Ikizu was a TU institution. He told me, “Don’t you worry. You have earned this furlough, and we’re not going to let him take it away from you!” Letters went back and forth between X and Y. I never saw those letters, but Pastor Y kept me informed as to progress. He sighed several times as he told me that the responses he got from X were not even Christian in spirit . Finally, a committee overruled him, and I got my furlough.

Here he stood with his arms around me. I felt like throwing up. I had the overwhelming urge to tell him what I thought of him.

By God’s grace, I returned the Christian embrace and said with all the enthusiasm I could muster, “Brother. It’s great to meet you!” We chatted for a few minutes, catching up on our African experiences.

Thank You, Lord, that friends are better to have than enemies; and we won’t have any enemies in heaven.

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[1] https://www.amazon.com/Avinu-Apparel-Love-Your-Enemies/dp/B093QYKGVN

Aging Physically--Growing Spiritually

2 Corinthians 4:16

Good News Translation

¹⁶ For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day.

 

Recently, Sylvia and I were walking along the crest of La Sierra Hills in front of our home. We met a woman coming towards us who stopped, and we exchanged pleasantries.

She told us she had started her hike down by La Sierra University. She had come up past the flag on Two Bit, the hill behind the university, and then down and back up along this ridge to Pumpkin Rock. Now she was headed home the same way, although she would probably bypass Two Bit. That is a distance of probably 10 miles with lots of altitude gain. I congratulated her on the accomplishment.

“I’m 56 and having to work to keep up my fitness. It’s good to see you still climbing up here.” She complimented us. She couldn’t help but see that we were older than she.

“We’ve been doing this for 35 years now. In four more months, I’ll be 80.” I commented.

“I hope I’ll be doing as well when I get there.” She said wistfully

Yes, I do believe that our continued activity is beneficial. However, our physical being is obviously decaying. We are supporting more and more doctors. It takes us longer to go where we want to go. I used to take the Poop Rock Trail up to the top of the ridge in 13 minutes. I did that for years. I timed myself on the trail recently, and it took me 29 minutes. That’s more than double the time, but at least I made it in good spirits.

By the grace of God, my spiritual being is being renewed day after day as I allow it to be.

Dear Lord, thank You for not giving up on me! Help me in my spiritual journey day by day.

(The picture shows Sylvia and me on a summit in La Sierra Hills last January.)

 

 

 

Rejoice!

 

[1]

Philippians 4:4

King James Version

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

 For months, well over a year, we have been watching our church services online—virtually. When we participated in our liturgical service, we would record the pieces we did, and Pastor Devo would splice all the pieces together to make a nearly seamless service. On occasion some of the pieces would get shuffled or omitted, which we always took in good humor. I missed hearing the organ. I really missed the interaction with other believers.

Things have changed. Hurray! Rejoice! For the last few weeks, we have attended in the actual sanctuary. At the church and the governor’s, request, we have been wearing masks. This does make recognizing each other a bit difficult at times. But we do get to exchange pleasantries, and more importantly, we do get to actually chat to each other. Almost everyone is full of happiness that they are back in church. They have good news to share about their own accomplishments, their families’ activities, successful medical treatments, and the like. Rejoice!

There are, of course, the usual few for whom nothing has gone well. Their car is acting up: it needs new bakes, maybe a new transmission even. Their shirt-tail cousin lost his lease on his house, or she had a bad time with Covid, or he wants a hand-out, or she won’t leave but wants to continue leaching. Their health is playing havoc with them: the back-ache just won’t go away, or their cancer is still growing after two interminable sessions of chemo.

I can’t tell these poor souls to rejoice! I can rejoice because it isn’t happening to me. But what if it is indeed happening to me? Even then I can rejoice in the Lord! I have the Lord and His promises. I rejoice that He has saved me by His grace! I rejoice that I am looking forward to better things. I can rejoice that He is working things out for me.

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!

  

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[1] https://stmichaellivermore.com/blog/rejoice-midst-darkness

What Angers Christ

[i]

Mark 10:14 Good News Translation

¹⁴ When Jesus noticed this, he was angry and said to his disciples, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

 

Jesus is seldom described as becoming angry. When He saw someone preventing seekers from seeing Him, as in this instance, His divine nature flashed forth through His human nature, and in pure love He stopped the preventing party.

On two other occasions, temple officials were desecrating the temple by profiting from peoples’ desire to worship the Lord as had been prescribed since the time of Moses. When Jesus walked in, He understood clearly that they diverted worshippers’ devotion to God by their cheating. These worshipers were no longer seen as seeking a spiritual blessing but were reduced to secular mercantile considerations. Not only were they robbed of their hard-earned possessions, they were also robbed of a love experience with the Almighty. Their much-anticipated joy was displaced by disgust and resentment.

Again, the divine nature of God in Christ flashed forth with irresistible force. The perpetrators fled in terror for their very lives. They felt a tiny hint of the forth coming judgement when they will no longer be able to flee.

In the first mentioned occasion, the disciples were trying to protect the Savior’s serious business of establishing the Kingdom of God from childish interruptions. In the second mentioned occasions, the clergy was attempting to maintain the sacred purity of temple sacrifices and thus prevent divine retribution as happened when someone brought an unacceptable offering—like Cain had (1 John 3:12), or like Nadab and Abihu who offered unholy fire in their censers (Leviticus 10:1). One is also led to think of Uzzah, who was struck dead when he tried to stabilize the Ark of the Covenant, that appeared about to fall (2 Samuel 6:6,7).

In our Liturgical Service at the La Sierra Church, we have been promoting the biblical principle of the equality of all people in the sight of God. In particular this refers to racial equality and gender equality. We have been discouraged at how slowly this principle of equality is accepted by our own generation. In a recent service where I was liturgist, the liturgy included the following song:

The cantor and people sing “Welcome Our Sister-Brother Creator[ii]” (to the tune of Hymn 44, “Morning Has Broken”)

 

Come, let us join our Sister Creator,
Birthing a new world more than we know.
With Her revealing all of our fullness
We create healing where’er we go.

 

Come, let us join or Brother Creator,
Bringing forth freedom for every race.
All of earth’s colors dancing together,
Celebrate beauty in every face.

 

Welcome our Sister-Brother Creator,
Into our spirits’ life-giving wombs.
Glad expectation grows from our labor
For new creation’s glorious blooms.

 

As I sang and listened to these words, my thoughts were deflected from the love and grace of Christ and his eternal sacrifice for my soul to the unfortunate conflict within the church over the ordination of women. Are we not as guilty as the priests who promoted the sanctity of offerings in Christ’s day or as Uzzah when he went to stabilize the Ark of God?

Lord, give us wisdom to know how to promote what is good without distracting ourselves from You.

 

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[i] https://zimfieldguide.com/matabeleland-south/cyrene-mission A mural from the Chapel at Cyrene Mission in Zimbabwe

[ii] Words by Jann Aldredge-Clanton (2009)

Give Without Compulsion

[i]

2 Corinthians 9:7 

New International Version (NIV)

⁷ Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

  Ever since I was a young child, I was trained to return a tenth of everything I received to the Lord as tithe. It became part of what I had to do to be a Christian. God would not bless me if I didn’t do it. Then in my twenty-first year, I began to see God and His service in a new way. As salvation strictly by Grace began its gentle but persistent work in all parts of my life, I re-evaluated this aspect of my life, too.

 Pastors have told me that when a church moves from a religion of works to a religion of grace, its offerings go way down. Those who discover that “Nothing we do can cause God to love us more, and nothing we do can cause God to love us less,” means we don’t have to give offerings any more. Since I was in the habit of giving tithes and offerings, I didn’t stop. I continued that habit. Apparently, many don’t—many didn’t have that habit in the first place.

During the years we were “missionaries” in Africa, the mission board removed the tithe from our pay check before they sent me my check. It came out of my pay as a tax. I was “under compulsion.” I didn’t give a tithe during those years, and I personally experienced the loss in my very psyche. It’s difficult to explain, but it made me feel less involved in God’s great mission on earth—to give every soul a chance to be saved—even though I was a missionary and sacrificing in many other ways.

Why give then? After all, God has more than enough? When He set up the Hebrew nation, He designed that 11/12^ths of the nation supported the 1/12^th that were set aside to do the Lord’s work directly. Thus 1/10^th tithe would generously support the 1/12^th workers with extra left over. It is a real privilege to fit into a plan God chose to use. Furthermore, He has promised to bless those who do so far better than they would have been otherwise. Indeed, He has kept that promise in my life.

 I rejoice, Lord, for providing me a chance to participate in Your kingdom in a very real way.

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[i] https://changingwinds.wordpress.com/2016/10/09/to-tithe-or-not-to-tithe-the-moral-question/

 

Wisdom to Discern Personal Intent

[i]

1 Kings 3:9

King James Version (KJV)

⁹ Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

In Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing about Grace? a story is told of a whore who sold her two-year-old child to be abused. She felt extreme remorse and came and saw the pastor. During the conversation he asked if she had come to church. With horror the woman said that at church they would just make her feel worse. This story was mentioned in our liturgy, and the cogent question asked what the implications are for our church.

Before the COVID-19 kept us locked up at home,a mentally disturbed woman showed up to church very early in the morning. Apparently she was argumentative and ready for a fight with anyone who approached her or wished to expel her. A pastor came and warned us about her. He specifically spoke to Sylvia because she takes a loving interest in the downtrodden of society. Someone had called the cops, and two cruisers were parked outside the church when we left.

Thinking back over stories of very troubled people in the Bible, I was drawn to the demon possessed man in the very first chapter of Mark. He came into the synagogue at Capernaum where Christ found him. Although the demoniac’s words were loud and offensive and indeed disturbed the worship service, Christ recognized that the man was actually seeking help. He commanded the demons to come out of him, and they did. ,[ii]

The way I saw it, and here is where I desperately need the understanding that Solomon prayed for, this poor woman may have been seeking help to rid her of her demons. If the woman was simply handed over to the cops, and I believe she was, we were simply returning her forcefully to the demons that possessed her. What, indeed, are the implications to our church in this situation? 

Lord, give me the understanding and wisdom to recognize evil and meet it in the power and love of Christ.

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[i] https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/nintchdbpict0002874504771.jpg?w=827&strip=all

[ii] Ellen White, DA 255f: The mind of this wretched sufferer had been darkened by Satan, but in the Saviour’s presence a ray of light had pierced the gloom. He was roused to long for freedom from Satan’s control; but the demon resisted the power of Christ. When the man tried to appeal to Jesus for help, the evil spirit put words into his mouth, and he cried out in an agony of fear. The demoniac partially comprehended that he was in the presence of One who could set him free; but when he tried to come within reach of that mighty hand, another’s will held him, another’s words found utterance through him. The conflict between the power of Satan and his own desire for freedom was terrible. {DA 255.4}

He who had conquered Satan in the wilderness of temptation was again brought face to face with His enemy. The demon exerted all his power to retain control of his victim. To lose ground here would be to give Jesus a victory. It seemed that the tortured man must lose his life in the struggle with the foe that had been the ruin of his manhood. But the Saviour spoke with authority, and set the captive free. The man who had been possessed stood before the wondering people happy in the freedom of self-possession. Even the demon had testified to the divine power of the Saviour.

Luther's 95 Theses

[i]

Romans 13:1

King James Version (KJV)

13 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Recently we experienced the 500^th anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing of the 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg. They protested the sale of indulgences that forgave sins for a sum of money. It was money from these indulgences that the most powerful authority on earth at the time used to finish the world renowned St. Peter’s Church in Rome.

Luther, a great scholar of Romans, finally decided that his was the time to react against an abuse of this highest power on earth, not to destroy the power, but rather to bring it to its senses; to get it to seriously consider that its actions were actually taking believers who trusted in it to damnation. His action about tore his own soul from his body. He felt that indeed he was treading very close to violating Paul’s instructions in in Romans 13:1. He obeyed the summons of the church officials to come to Worms, Germany for trial in front of some of  the highest secular and ecclesiastical rulers on earth.

He stood before them after answering their questions trembling because of his resistance to the authorities’ attempt to control his conscience, his being subject to the greatest authority in heaven and earth. Meekly he pled, “Here I stand. I can do no other.” They condemned him and would have burnt him alive except that the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had given him safe conduct. Luther had already been excommunicated as a heretic. The church demanded that no contract with a heretic was valid therefore he should be burned. But Charles V remarked, “I would not blush as did Sigismund;” the Holy Roman Emperor who had given John Huss a safe conduct and then revoked it.

Instead they issued the Edict of Worms which declared Luther a heretic  and anybody who should meet him could kill him without guilt. But he was granted safe conduct back to Wittenberg.  He was kidnapped on the way home and placed in secret hiding where he finished translating the New Testament into German thus giving the Protestant Reformation a chance to become permanent.

Thank You Lord for taking the future of Your church out of the hands of evil men. Please continue to actively guide Your church!

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[i] https://zeitzeichen.net/archiv/2016_Mai_freiheitsheld-luther

What if there were no Bible?

[i]

1 Corinthians 1:4-5

Good News Translation (GNT)

⁴ I always give thanks to my God for you because of the grace he has given you through Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in union with Christ you have become rich in all things, including all speech and all knowledge.

Looking back over the history of the human race as generally outlined in the Bible from Adam to me, I often ponder what it must have been like to be a follower of the LORD. Apparently Adam and Eve got to talk to God face to face. However this did not last very long.

When our earliest ancestors sinned, God met with them personally, perhaps for the last time. This time He[ii] showed them how to kill and skin an animal. Then He showed them how to sew clothes from the animal’s skin to cover their nakedness. I assume He also showed them how to offer a sacrifice on an altar using the same animal. Apparently it was only much later that people started eating animals with God’s blessing.

Thereafter God very seldom communicated directly with humans. We can list a few: Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses. People were expected to remember what they had learned about God’s will. Apparently when Moses came, he wrote down human history and God’s instructions. These were carefully stored inside the Ark of the Covenant. The average person never saw these words.

By the time Christ walked on the earth, it seems that most Jewish meeting houses had some or all of the earlier writings that later came to be parts of our Bible. These had been laboriously copied out by hand and so were extremely expensive. Still the average person on the street had probably never read or owned even a part of the Bible. They were still expected to order their lives by what they had heard read to them.

Is it any wonder that so many people never heard God’s word in their whole lives? Is it any wonder that so many religions sprang up all over the world? Finally, in the 15^th century, printing was invented, and the first book ever printed was indeed the Bible. Over the years printed versions of God’s word have become more and more available. In this millennium it has become very easy to get the Bible on your cell phone for free. So we have indeed become “rich” in God’s word. With this “wealth” has come the responsibility of learning what our Creator’s will is for us individually and experiencing the Grace of Christ directly.

Thank You, Lord, for giving us Your Word so abundantly. Grant us wisdom to read and profit from it.

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[i] https://teatimewithev.com/kaleidoscope/printed-bible-or-cell-phone-bible

[ii] I use the masculine pronoun for God advisedly because the vast majority of translations of Scripture that I own, as well as the Greek and Hebrew texts, use it. I do not believe God has reproductive organs like humans and animals do.

Weapons to Fight in the Light

[i]

Romans 13:12

Good News Translation (GNT)

¹² The night is nearly over, day is almost here. Let us stop doing the things that belong to the dark, and let us take up weapons for fighting in the light.

When I was probably about 8 years old we had a student at Helderberg College who taught our Sabbath School class. He was very persuasive and very knowledgeable. He also had an unshakeable faith in Jesus Christ and His soon return. He looked at current world events—around 1950—and assumed that all the prophecies about Christ’s return had already been fulfilled. He stated that he guaranteed categorically that Christ would return within 5 years at the very most. It made a huge impression on me, or I certainly wouldn’t remember it all these years later.

I got much of his expressed certainty, but I do remember wondering whether it would really happen. The thought of Christ’s coming struck fear into my life rather than wondrous hope. Christ’s coming meant He would judge me, and I knew that my life and thoughts would reveal that I wasn’t ready. What it did mean to be ready? In my young life it meant that I would no longer be sinning—something that still hasn’t happened. I did not understand what the grace of Christ means to every Christian. It is this grace that makes me ready in spite of my sinful nature.

Unfortunately my teacher hadn’t put this verse into either his or my thoughts about getting ready. “Let us take up the weapons for fighting in the light.” A weapon of great consequence is the “Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17 KJV). Now close to 70 years later, it appears that we have a new tool in this Sword. Devout men and women of God are demanding that we provide Scripture to each people group in their own heart language. Furthermore they are anxious, willing, and able to step in and provide the manpower to produce these translations. Truly this is a modern outpouring of the Holy Spirit to provide the most powerful weapons “for fighting in the light!” With these weapons against him, Satan is hard pressed like never before. He is redoubling his fiendish efforts to defeat Christ and us. But we have the infinite power on our side, and we can indeed overcome by Christ’s amazing grace.

Thank You, Lord, for giving us this new and most potent weapon against the enemy of all human kind in our day.

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[i] https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2016/march/wycliffe-associates-leaves-wga-bible-translation-son-of-god.html