Do Not Remember Past Events

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Isaiah 43:18-19 Holman Christian Standard Bible

¹⁸ “Do not remember the past events,

pay no attention to things of old.

¹⁹ Look, I am about to do something new;

even now it is coming. Do you not see it?

Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert.

 

Happy New Year!

We have started the new year off with what is predicted to be a week of rain. The week of Christmas was also a week of rain. This is the desert: if this keeps up, we will have flowing rivers, not just arroyos. But our verse this morning is not really speaking about rain and rivers.

Our God has watched the earth degenerate into dystopia. Everyone with a phone has lost all privacy; their every move and every word are being monitored. You can run, but you cannot hide. I have friends who are now living “off the grid.” They generate their own electricity, pump their own water, live in mountainous regions, grow their own food, and provide their own sanitation. They are independent, totally. But, are they? They rely on local peace keepers, fire protection, emergency services, medical providers, road maintainers. I envy them! They pay taxes for these services. They are in the United States of America, which celebrates its 250 years of independence this year. They all use cell phones, which monitors their every conversation and every trip they make.

America has offered freedom and opportunity to millions of people. Looking at its actions over the past year, one begins to wonder if all that has changed. It appears we have banished thousands of people from our country without due process of law. Today, we doubled or worse the healthcare bills of some 20 million Americans by brute force. We fired thousands of federal employees, purely to line wealthier peoples’ pockets.

In our text, God encourages us to forget the past. He senses that things are changing. He, too, is changing His plans. As a church project this year, I read the Old Testament. I couldn’t help but notice how the prophets kept urging God’s people to give up idolatry, quit abusing the poor, widows, and orphans, and keep the Sabbath holy. There was no positive response. Eventually, God decided that there would be no response. So, He literally destroyed His people. In fact, he had the heathen do the job for Him.

In the book of Revelation God spells out His final actions on those who continue to rebel against Him. He will pour out his wrath without mercy (Revelation 14), will cover the earth with the seven last plagues (Revelation 16), and eventually burn all sin and sinners, including the Devil in a great lake of fire (Revelation 20) Sin and sinners will be no more. Peace and love will reign forever.

What can we do? Yield to His promise of grace and mercy now while there is still a small amount of time left. If we delay, we will be swept along with the uncaring masses into oblivion and annihilation. If the promises of God are merely spam, all of us will end up there. If His promises are real, we have eternity to win. It is the only chance we have. Please join me.

Dear Lord, thank You for bearing our sins for us and granting us the possibility of eternal joy and bliss with You according to our choice.

 

 

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[1] https://www.legion.org/information-center/news/usa250/2025/december/america250-unveils-float-for-2026-rose-parade or https://www.legion.org/getmedia/011ea766-7a4e-4565-b318-7f1e26627f42/66473.jpeg

 

Woman Snake Enmity

 

 

 

Genesis 3:15

Good News Translation

[God said to the snake] ¹⁵ I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel.”

 

From across the street, Shirley came breathlessly into our house yesterday. I was in my office in the back of the house. All I could hear was impassioned conversation between Shirley and Sylvia. Finally, curious, I walked into the front room. Shirley described how her grown son, Ivan, who was on his way out the door, said: “Be careful when you walk out into the backyard. There’s a rattlesnake out there.”

“Well, aren’t you going to do something?” she asked in half panic.

“Nah,” He drawled, “Just be careful where you walk,” and he was out the door.

Shirley told me she placed a tub over the snake and came over to our house. Her breath was short, and her whole demeanor radiated distress!

Rattlesnakes live in the hills around our neighborhood. Katie and I find them occasionally. I have taught her to beware of them and give them wide berth. She can sense a bit of alarm and warning in my demeanor when I see the snake. I do fear that she will try and protect me by rushing in and attacking the snake—which would be a fatal move on her part. So far, she has yielded to my commands. I don’t kill the snakes in the hills—I feel that they serve a purpose in keeping the vermin down. And I sense that I am in their territory. But when they come into our area, they are out of line. I have been instrumental in getting those snakes killed. All my neighbors concur with this decision.

“Is it in the open?” I knew what I had to do.

“It’s under the tub! Oh. I’m scared!” she shivered, “What can we do?”

“Give me a minute!” and I walked towards the back door.

“What are you going to do?” she was desperate and figured I was doing like Ivan and leaving her to it.

“I’m going to fetch a spade,” I said matter-of-factly.

“He’s going to kill the snake!” Sylvia had no doubts. She has lived with me long enough to understand me.

Shirley led me around to the back of her house. There I saw a little red plastic tub lying upside down in the mowed grass. I looked at Shirley, “You’re brave to have done that! Good for you!”

I stuck the blade of the spade under the edge of the tub and flipped it. A large western red diamondback rattlesnake immediately began to take up attack mode. The first thing I noticed was that it had no rattles. The snake moved rapidly, and my first strike hit it about a foot down from its head, breaking its back. It’s wide-open mouth, fangs protruding, struck the spade. My second strike severed the head from the body, leaving it hanging by only a bit of skin.

“Wow! You’re so brave,” Shirley cooed, “Now what are we going to do?”

“Do you have a bag?”

She brought a plastic garbage bag stuck in a large paper bag and stuck it in a cardboard box. She placed this on the ground nearby and made sure the garbage bag was wide open. I picked up the snake by its rattle less tail and dropped it into the bag, tied it shut, and placed it in her garbage bin. I’ve heard that in some parts of the U.S., rattlesnakes are evolving into rattle less rattlesnakes. This has me concerned because rattlesnakes have always warned those who approach of their presence by their rattles. If that happens around here, it will make hiking in the desert more dangerous.

Satan, the old serpent, has been attempting to camouflage his presence, even getting the more gullible to deny his very existence. In this way they are not prepared for his attacks.

Preserve us, Lord, from the devil and save us from sin, so we will be ready for Your soon return.

 

 

Phone Calls and Turds

 

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Isaiah 1:18 Good News Translation

¹⁸ The Lord says, “Now, let's settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool.

 

Isn’t religion a bit mysterious? Isaiah states that our sins have stained us red. Then God says: “I will wash you clean like snow or wool.” If one reads the Bible further, one will find that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb[2]. So, our red stains are washed in red blood, and the net result is white as snow.

This reminds me of a phishing call I got this morning at 6;25 a.m. I was peeved. My phone was also peeved; it warned me that the caller was “scam likely.” I answered it anyway because some scammers have turned out to be friends, and I didn’t want it to awaken Sylvia any more than it already had. The conversation went something like this: [contents in brackets were not spoken.]

Me: “Good Morning!”

Scammer: “Hello?”

M. “Good morning?”

S: “Can I speak to Sylvia Clarke?” [May I]

M: “Who is this calling?”

S: “This is erfijdsk from her shipping pharmacy!”

M: “I’m sorry, who did you say you were?”

S: “This is erfijdsk from her shipping pharmacy!”

M: “What do you want?”

S: “Are you authorized to ask questions for her?”

M: “I’m her husband.”

S: “Her new Medicare card is being shipped from her shipping pharmacy.” [pharmacies don’t create new Medicare cards]

M: “What pharmacy?””

S: “From her CVS shipping pharmacy.” [She has no occasion to deal with CVS]

M: “What do you want?”

S: “Her new Medicare card is being shipped from her shipping pharmacy via UPS.”

M: “What is being shipped?”

S: “Her new Medicare card, by UPS.” [Medicare always ships by USPS. Medicare never notifies by telephone. What a terrible thing to awaken me at 6:25 in the morning for all this pure unadulterated bull manure.]

I gently returned the phone to its cradle and sat down and read the verse quoted above.

As you know, many things come to all of us at inconvenient times. They often sound contradictory. Although at times, like the call I got this morning, they are cow turds, they sometimes have vital meaning,. A call that sticks out in my memory was a call one Saturday night at midnight.

It started out, “Do you know Elvin Oblander?” This had every sign of spam. However, if I had hung up on them, Sylvia’s Uncle may have ended up in jail for who knows how long which may have caused his untimely death. Because I answered, we were able to rescue him.

All of our carefully worked out crap filters usually protect us from harm or inconvenience, but they may occasionally cause us to reject absolutely vital information. How can we know?

\Paul warns us[3] “Put all things to the test, hold fast what is good!”

Lord, You promised us wisdom in our choices, wisdom that is extremely vital these days. Please give it to us now. Thank You.

 

 

 

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[1] https://www.pashudhanpraharee.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FB_IMG_1603321744305.jpg

[2] Revelation 7: 14

[3] 1 Thessalonians 5 :21 GNV

You Also Ought to Wash One Another's Feet

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John 13:4-5, 13-14 New King James Version

⁴ [Jesus] rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. ⁵ After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded…

¹³ You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

 

The Adventist Church, celebrates communion quarterly and usually couples this with foot washing. Many members refrain from the foot washing ceremony. It is inconvenient, embarrassing, and demeaning. Our Lord knew that when He encouraged us to do it.

Before coming to a Maundy Thursday foot washing service, I prayed, “Lord, lead me to someone tonight whom You want me to serve.” After a good sermon about the Last Supper and the brutal seizure of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, we broke up, and people went forward to pick up a basin with a bit of water in it and a paper napkin for a towel. I let the worshipers walk forward and started down the aisle of the church with that prayer in my heart. Probably fully one-third of the people were obviously not planning to participate and remained sitting on the benches.

One man sat alone near the back of the church. Something seemed to indicate that I should speak with him, “Do you have someone to serve you?” I inquired.

He looked confused at my empty hands. Some people were walking up and down the aisles handing out the emblems for communion. I had none. So, I rephrased the question, “Do you have someone to wash your feet, or may I do it?”

He responded tentatively, “Sure.” and began to squirm a bit uncomfortably.

“Good! I’ll fetch the basin, and you take off your socks and shoes.”

I walked back up to the front and picked up a basin of water. When I got back to him, he was still sitting uncertainly on the bench. I sat down on the bench in front of him, and he removed his shoes and socks. I knelt down in front of him and prayed that I wouldn’t have a leg cramp. Of course, my left leg started to cramp, so I switched knees on the floor.

While I repositioned his feet in the basin, I asked him when he had been converted. A look of surprise spread across his face, and he wiped it off immediately. He had grown up an Adventist and then lost interest. About 8 years ago, he decided to go back to school and went to La Sierra University. Now he was attending church, and he decided to try Christianity again. I indicated that that had been my Christian experience, too. I told of how a soldier in Germany had taken me on as his missionary project.

When he started to wash my feet, he asked how old I was. I told him 81, “I’m 54.” He’s the same age as my eldest child, the thought flashed through my mind, But He wasn’t finished. “What do you do with the big problem of sin?” he mumbled, deeply in earnest.

“I have that problem, too,” I admitted. “We will always have that problem. We were born with several thousand years of sinful ancestors before us. It’s in our very blood. That is why we celebrate communion. Christ took our sins away and His sacrifice still takes our sins away. He has promised in the Bible that He will never let Satan steal us away from Him.”

“I thought that people always do foot washing in silence,” he said meditatively.

“Ï have gained rich blessings when I talk with those I have had the privilege of serving,” I responded. “And I have gained a rich blessing with you!”

“I have, too,” he said as we parted. I walked back to my seat with Sylvia. A warm glow permeated my body as I realized how God had answered my prayer that evening. Later that evening, my new friend introduced his wife to me. It turned out that she and my wife knew each other.

On Sabbath morning another church member told me of how, at Destination Sabbath School, my new friend witnessed to the blessing he had received that evening.

Thank You, Lord, for allowing me to share in Your ministry!

 

 

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[1] https://lisadelay.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Washing-Feet.jpg

Damocle's Sword

 

 

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Revelation 22:10-12 (King James Version)

 ¹⁰And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

 ¹¹He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

 ¹²And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

 

It started early in life. We were discussing the closing of probation in a class in my parochial primary school. I had already discovered the inevitability of sin in my life. Time and time again I had had to seek forgiveness for something I had done. I began to understand how basically evil I was, even though I was not yet ten years old. This doctrine that God would draw a line across time after which the solemn declaration would be pronounced, petrified me:

The threat of this proclamation hung over my head like Damocles’ sword. It struck fear into my young breast that haunted me. My teacher explained that if there was a sin in my life that was unforgiven, it could no longer be forgiven. The fires of hell were awaiting me.

Timidly I raised my hand and asked a question that haunted me. Since, my entire life had been a sequence of sins for which I had to ask forgiveness, not only of God but also some mortal soul I had wronged. “What if I’m on my way to ask forgiveness and the close of probation is declared? Will it be too late?”

My teacher, who loved us kids, realized the distress I found myself in. But I’m not sure that she had encountered that question. Her answer left a lot of uncertainty in my mind: “I’m sure that if God sees you’re actually going to confess a sin that He will understand.” But her answer lacked conviction.

To her the guardian angels God had assigned to each one of us carried a black book and continually wrote down every evil thought or action we might have. That picture of my guardian angel had been burned into my young mind, too. The angel might indeed be guarding me from harm, although he never stopped me from getting hurt, possibly because he was too busy writing down the continuous notes about my sins.

My life span had to double before I would begin to put Christ’s yielding His life for me together with His love for purity. Christ loved me and that is why His grace took care of my evil nature. Probation might indeed close, but God’s love and grace would never end.

Thank You, Jesus, for Your infinite and eternal love. Help me to show others this great love.

 

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[1] https://media.bizj.us/view/img/9823622/howtodamocles*1200xx2184-1230-0-103.jpg