Selective Blindness

[1]

Luke 4:16-17, 28-30 Good News Translation

¹⁶ Then Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath, he went as usual to the synagogue. He stood up to read the Scriptures ¹⁷ and was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written, …

²⁸ When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were filled with anger. ²⁹ They rose up, dragged Jesus out of town, and took him to the top of the hill on which their town was built. They meant to throw him over the cliff, ³⁰ but he walked through the middle of the crowd and went his way.

 

Ever since I was a kid, this story has intrigued me. Here Christ preaches to His home town crowd in the familiar old synagogue. What He says riles them up so much that they grab Him, and the whole mob drags Him over to the edge of a cliff intending to throw Him over. Standing momentarily immovable there on the edge of the cliff, He simply starts walking right through the midst of the mob and away from them.

Suddenly those who were clutching Him all lose their grip on Him. He disappears from their view, although He is still right there. A ripple occurs in the mob as they temporarily move aside to let Him pass—but they don’t see Him and cannot feel or sense Him. They see someone enough to make way for him, but they don’t perceive that it is He. He casually walks back though the village and doesn’t visit again until their anger is forgotten, maybe never.

That reminds me of Lot’s experience in Sodom, told in Genesis 19. All the depraved men in Sodom were trying to beat down Lot’s door to get at two strangers they had seen enter there. Suddenly the angels inside the house strike these perverts “blind.” But the blindness is more than a lack of sight. They can’t even find the door that they were trying to beat down immediately before. They apparently can’t even feel the door. The fact that they were still trying to get at these strangers indicates that they were seeing everything except their goal. If they had been truly blind—as in unable to see anything—they would have been crying out in terror.

Another occasion occurred in Acts chapter 12. Four quaternions, or 16 guards had been assigned to keep Peter in prison until he could be executed the following day. Their very lives depended on his not escaping. An angel marches Peter past all of them undetected. Evidently, they didn’t discover his absence earlier, or they would have fled, or tried to fall on their swords as the jailor in Philippi attempted to do—see Acts 16:27.

In my blog published on January 22, 2022,[2] I told the story of Mrs. Wangai who escaped death at the hands of the Mau Mau freedom-fighters/terrorists in the decade of the 1950s because her captors didn’t see her leave their clutches.

Apparently, God still employs this selective blindness in modern times to benefit his children. In Matthew 13:14 (GNT) it says the following: “They will look and look, but never perceive.”

You are still willing and able to strike Your children’s enemies with selective blindness, Lord, to protect Your children. Thank you!

 

 

---

[1] https://www.holyspiritcathparish.org/throwing-jesus-off-a-cliff/

[2] http://wils-thoughts.blogspot.com/ 

God and Omniscience

[1]

Matthew 28:20 Good News Translation

²⁰ and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

A colleague of mine, Richard Rice, wrote the book entitled The Openness of God: The Relationship of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will. It was published by the Seventh-day Adventist press Review and Herald in 1980. It generated a fair amount of controversy in the Adventist Church. He argued that if God knew the future perfectly, then humans do not possess free will. If humans do not possess free will, then they should not be held accountable for being sinners. And therefore, Christ’s death was not necessary. The fact that Christ died for our sins is a strong argument that God cannot know the future perfectly. Rice called his theory “open theism”.

The openness of God has been taught at the Adventist Universities such as Loma Linda University and La Sierra University ever since the 1950s. This was before Rice was out of high school, so he did not originate the idea, but he certainly gave it a logical status with his book.

Rice presented his openness theism very persuasively in a senior class for physics, math, and computer majors that I co-taught with Ed Karlow about 30 years ago. Adventism was founded on prophetic interpretation of the books of Daniel and Revelation. Adventism grew out of a movement that set a date for Christ’s return on October 22, 1844.  Christ did not return on that date, nor has He returned as I write this blog. How do I know He hasn’t returned—because when He returns, the Bible says in Revelation 1:7, every eye will see Him, even those “who pierced Him.” I specifically asked Dr. Rice what his openness theism did for God knowing the date when an event would happen in the future. He stated categorically that God cannot know specific dates for future events. That was undoubtedly the reason for the controversy Rice’s book raised within Adventism. 

Personally, I have trouble with the argument that foreknowledge is equivalent to predestination. However, I have not spent the time studying the logical reason carefully enough to convince myself of the validity or lack of validity of Rice’s basic premise. I accept at face value, as does Rice, that when God promised that He would be with His followers “always even to the end of the age,” He was definitely including me in this promise. If He is with me, then He will also save me. This promise is also made to you; therefore, God will save you if you let Him, no matter who you are or what you’ve done.

Thank You, Lord, that You have saved us, if only we allow You!

---

[1] https://www.dominicanajournal.org/predestination-grace-and-free-will/

Laughter and Sadness

 

[1]

Proverbs 14:13 Easy-to-Read Version

¹³ Laughter might hide your sadness. But when the laughter is gone, the sadness remains.

 

My wife and his wife were good friends. Sylvia had encouraged Edna to publish a picture book of Biblical women. She had edited the book for her. She had even chosen to write a moving novella on the tragic life of Rizpah, one of Saul’s concubines, because of this picture book.

When Edna’s husband Leroy was cruelly struck by Parkinson’s disease and finally succumbed to it, I attended his memorial service. I had really not known Leroy, so I listened to the tributes paid to him by his children, his friends, and several of his pastors with great interest. I realized that He loved a good joke. A former pastor spoke of how he relied on the chuckles that Leroy sent him to lighten up his sermons, week by week.

We laughed with the speakers, but in the back of my mind I realized that behind all of the humor, there was a pervasive sadness. His family went home that night. The merriment was gone at 3:00 in the morning, just the aching void left in their lives.

The majority of us in the church that Sabbath, were people who were there to support the family. A funeral is where family members come, not only to pay their last respects, but to see others in the family. Others whom they may have not seen in many years, but really wish they had kept up with over the years. Family ties and bonds are renewed. Many old personal injuries, real and perceived are laid aside, as petty or meaningless from this distance. On some rare occasions old animosities resurface—which I do not believe is happening in Leroy’s family.

Help us in honor and brotherly love to prefer one another above ourselves. 

 

---

[1] https://www.myfarewelling.com/article/how-to-plan-a-funeral

Upper-Room Hideout

[1]

 

Matthew 27:62-63 Contemporary English Version

⁶² On the next day, which was a Sabbath, the chief priests and the Pharisees went together to Pilate. ⁶³ They said, “Sir, we remember what this liar said while he was still alive. He claimed in three days he would come back from death.

 

John 20:8-9 Contemporary English Version

⁸ The disciple who got there first then went into the tomb, and when he saw it, he believed. ⁹ At that time Peter and the other disciple did not know that the Scriptures said Jesus would rise to life.

 

I feel stunned, with the disciples on that Sabbath day. Jesus, the Messiah, and their Lord, was dead. All hope was gone. They had great plans for the new kingdom. They had given everything to help these plans to materialize. And now, to make matters worse, they felt that they were next in line to be killed. Jesus had told them clearly that He would be killed and would rise on the third day. In their grief they didn’t remember that, at all! I can only imagine how traumatic this must have been.

Over 40 years ago we put out a fleece as to whether we should leave Africa or remain missionaries there. God answered the fleece unequivocally that we should leave Africa, then within five days He sent me a job offer in the U.S. But we had devoted our lives to Africa, especially Sylvia. We ignored the fleece and proceeded with our plans to remain missionaries. However, God removed His peace from our lives. I felt strong physical pressure on me. It only got worse as time went by.

In the disciples’ experience after Christ’s death, the women brought news of Christ’s resurrection. The disciples, John and Peter, immediately dashed to the tomb and confirmed the report. Still the disciples refused to accept the report. It was only after they saw Jesus for themselves, did they accept the fact that Christ was alive. Christ did not scold them harshly for forgetting his promise, however, he certainly chode Thomas for lack of faith and holding his doubt for a week.

At the end of four months of trying to change God’s plans for us, I finally quit my resistance and told the Lord I would do things His way. Instantly I felt the physical pressure lift completely. It took Sylvia a few hours longer to wrestle with her determination to continue as a missionary. However, Christ’s acceptance of us was as swift as it was with the disciples in the upper room.

Thank You Lord for accepting us even after we test Your patience while we delay.  

---

[1] http://www.magdalenepublishing.org/novena-pilgrimages/

We Plan--He Determines

 

[1]

Proverbs 16:9 Christian Standard Bible

⁹ A person’s heart plans his way,
but the Lord determines his steps.

 

Sylvia’s family holds a family reunion biannually. This year we had plans to leave home on July 1 and visit family and friends up in the northwest. Then we would drive across the northern states to Wisconsin and Michigan—hoping to avoid some of the summer heat. From there we planned to drive down to North Carolina for the reunion and then home.

Sylvia came down with a fever of over 102º F (39º C) June 28. Nothing we did would bring her fever down, and on July 2 she was admitted to hospital. They diagnosed her with pneumonia and kept her there three days. They tested her twice for COVID-19 and declared that she was not part of the pandemic. Dad told me several times that pneumonia is an old man’s friend because it usually takes him and removes him from all of his problems. Fortunately, this didn’t happen for Sylvia.

We debated about what we should do as far as the reunion trip was concerned. A week went by, and Sylvia continued to regain her strength. She indicated that we should give it a try. There was no way we could pursue our original plans on account of the time we had available. So, we decided to skip the Northwest part of our trip. We left home on the 12^th of July and had a great trip. We made it home on the 24^th of August—the day we had originally planned to get home.

At times I wonder if God stepped in and didn’t want us to leave when we had planned to. That is highly unlikely, of course. It was definitely providential that when Sylvia took ill, we were at home and not on the road in some strange place. This way we could get treatment at familiar places. It has taken her time to recover her strength, but she is fine now.

Thank You, Lord, for overruling our lives for our own best good!

 

                                                    

---

[1] Camping in Ottumwa, Iowa

Divorce for Religious Differences

 

[1]

1 Corinthians 7:13,16 New International Version

¹³ And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. ...  ¹⁶ How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? …

 

In the 1940s and 50s we spent many years at Helderberg College of Higher Education where Dad was teaching. I remember a Mrs. Bower attending the Helderberg SDA Church every Sabbath. My parents became good friends with her. She and her husband lived in the Strand, a seaside village about 6 miles (10 km) from the college. On the rare occasions when we would go to the beach, we often stopped in to see her. She served us tea while she and my parents had a good visit.

Mrs. Bower had a great desire to see an Adventist church in her town—the Strand. She conducted many bake sales and other money raising events to help raise the money to build that church. My parents admired her for her almost single-handed efforts towards her goal.

Mr. Bower was not a believer, but he tolerated his wife’s devotion to Adventism—to an extent. Of course, he also criticized her publicly for her Sabbath keeping and singleness of purpose to build the church.

Years went by, and in 1954 our family moved to Solusi in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) where Dad converted a 10-grade school into a 4-year university. We heard, through the “Adventist grapevine," that in 1955 Mrs. Bower finally achieved her goal, and a church was built in the Strand. A few years later she passed away.

[2]

 

In 1960 I returned to Helderberg as a college student. On one Sabbath at Helderberg Church, they held a baptismal service. To my surprise, Mr. Bower was one of the people who was baptized. After his baptism he gave a tearful testimony. He spoke of his devoted wife and how much he had laughed at and hindered her zeal for the Lord and a church in the Strand. He only wished he could do those years over again. He also wished he had taken his stand for Christ while she was still alive to rejoice with him. Every time I read First Corinthians, Chapter 7, I am reminded of the Bowers.

 

Lord, thank You for encouraging us to keep the salvation of our families in mind throughout our lives

 

---

[1] A picture of the Strand SDA Church from Google Maps

[2] A close-up of the church’s 50^th anniversary celebration, from the previous picture. This memoir comes strictly from my childhood memories and may have gotten some details wrong, for which I apologize.

---

A Merry Heart Doeth Good Like A Medicine

[1]

Proverbs 17:22 The Message Bible

²² A cheerful disposition is good for your health;
    gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.

 

It was 6:30 in the morning. Chantal walked down the hallway chanting “Devotions—De-vo-tions.

Last summer Sylvia and I spent 17 days in The Lifestyle Center at Uchee Pines Institute in Alabama. My purpose for being there was to explore an alternate method to bring my cancer under control. Every morning Chantal would walk up and down the hallway at 6:30 a.m. chanting “Devotions—Devotions” with strong emphasis on the last syllable while ringing a handbell. She taught us to sing a cappella the King James inspired version of this song:

 

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine

      Like a medicine is a merry heart

But a broken spirit drieth the bones

      A merry heart doeth good,

Doeth good like a medicine.[2]

 

 

A piano sat in the worship room, but there seemed to be no one to play it. So, Sylvia went up to the keyboard and was soon playing that chorus purely by ear. It added fullness to the song.

Every morning Chantal brought us a message of faith and hope in our pursuit of health. Then we would sing this chorus, to Sylvia’s accompaniment, and go out for the day’s activities and our treatments.

I was somewhat surprised and greatly gratified that when we left Uchee Pines, my PSA had been cut in half, and I had lost close to 30 pounds. PSA is an indication of how much prostate cancer I have in my body. Since that time, I have maintained both improvements to the date of this writing.

Much of life at U.P. is one of discipline: “vitals” at 5:50 a.m., “devotions” at 6:30, three meals that are strictly vegan with practically no sugar and very little fat, lectures on avoiding the excesses of modern American life, nauseating herbal teas, and decidedly uncomfortable hydrotherapy treatments. The “Merry Heart” catchy tune, the gentle walks amongst the pines and other trees after meals, and prayers for each other allowed the healing to become a reality. Our group formed a camaraderie that has continued since that time.

We are grateful to You, Lord, for using the simple things to improve our lives.

 

 

---

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPXhFQvEuso

[2]For the tune, see  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLfFQl6zKD0