Echoes of Grace: 2016
Table of Contents
An Act of Courage
It was late in 1944 and World War II was clearly nearing its fiery end. However, American soldiers were still being shipped overseas to fight in this terrible war. Roddie Edmonds, a young man from Knoxville, Tennessee, was one of them. He was just twenty-five years old at the time, but he had applied himself and quickly risen to the rank of master sergeant.
After arriving in Europe, he was immediately caught up in the Battle of the Bulge. This was to be Germany’s last major offensive, and it caught the Allies completely by surprise. Being new and inexperienced soldiers, Roddie Edmonds and his men were quickly captured and shipped to a prisoner-of-war camp in the heart of Germany. It was there that a memorable act of courage took place.
There were about 1,275 American prisoners-of-war in their part of the camp, and since Roddie Edmonds was the highest ranking non-commissioned officer among the men, he became responsible for answering to the commander of the camp for them. On the very first day at the camp, the American prisoners were instructed to have all of the Jewish soldiers remain standing after roll call the next morning. Adolph Hitler, the leader of Germany, had a plan called the Final Solution. Energized by Satan, he intended to kill as many Jews as he could. He oversaw the murder of about 6 million Jews — how tragic for God’s chosen people!
True Courage
When Roddie Edmonds heard the news, he determined that he was not going to allow the Jews to be singled out for death — instead, he instructed all of the men to remain standing after roll call. Sure enough, true to his word, after roll call the next morning he remained standing along with the 1,275 other American soldiers. The camp commander was very angry and demanded of Edmonds, “All of you cannot be Jewish!”
Edmonds responded, “We’re all Jews here.”
Again, the camp commander ordered, “I’m commanding you to have your Jewish men step forward.”
Edmonds refused, saying that the Geneva Convention only allowed him to give the prisoners’ names, ranks and serial numbers. By now, the camp commander was truly furious! He pulled out his gun and held it to Edmonds’ forehead, demanding: “You will have your Jewish men step forward or I will shoot you on the spot.”
With great courage Edmonds responded, “If you shoot, you will have to kill all of us, and you will have to stand trial for war crimes after we win this war.”
Though he was still furious, the commander put his gun in his holster and walked away. How relieved and happy those men were! How thankful the Jewish prisoners were that their lives had been spared because of the courage of one man! We can all admire the courage of Roddie Edmonds, and yet the Bible, God’s Word, tells us of One who did far more for us than risk His life for us. Because we are sinners and unfit for God’s presence, the Lord Jesus came down to this earth to die on Calvary’s cross. “When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Just as those Jewish soldiers were helpless and could not save themselves, so we were helpless and could not save ourselves or make ourselves fit for the presence of a holy God. God loved us so much that He devised a wonderful plan of salvation. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). When we repent of our sins, trusting in the work that was done on the cross, we can be sure of eternal salvation. “Being now justified [being made right with God] by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9).
True Motive
Roddie Edmonds never told anyone, not even his family, about this incident. Over twenty years after his father’s death, his son Chris decided to do a Google search on his father to see what he could find. To his surprise, he came across an interview with a Mr. Tanner, who mentioned that he had been saved from likely death in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp due to the efforts of Roddie Edmonds. When he was finally able to meet Mr. Tanner, he learned of his father’s heroic act of courage. Using his father’s war diary, he was able to contact two other fellow-soldiers who confirmed the story. One of them, Paul Stern, who was 19 years old at the time, was standing next to Roddie Edmonds and heard and saw the whole exchange. “Although 70 years have passed,” Stern said, “I can still hear the words he said to the German camp commander.”
It was estimated that there were about 200 Jewish-American soldiers whose lives were saved that day. The Holocaust Museum in Israel, Yad Vashem, honored Roddie Edmonds as a “Righteous Among the Nations,” an award given to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. When asked why his father would risk his life in this way, his son replied that his father had given his life to Jesus Christ before he joined the service and that “he thought it was part of his responsibility, his duty, not only as a soldier of the U.S. Army to protect his men, but also as a Christian, a man of faith, to do the right thing for his fellow man.”
If you are a Christian, you should never stop thanking and praising the Lord Jesus for giving His life for you. Christians can say, “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Our Lord said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). We have good news to share, so let us honor Him in whatever we do or say!
Find out more about a true Saviour in Saviours of the Jews at Riga.
Amnesty for All
Word is out that an amnesty has been proclaimed for all. This amnesty has been granted by lawful authority and is in complete accord with the highest ideals of truth, justice and mercy. It grants pardon to all classes of offenses and completely obliterates all guilt and record of wrongdoing. It will entitle all who take advantage of it to citizenship in the greatest country. This amnesty is definitely for you, for the good reason that you absolutely need it.
The One who proclaims it is the Supreme Ruler of the Universe — God. Heaven is the country that all who take advantage of the amnesty will be accepted into. And the reason that you need it is that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Without this amnesty, not one will ever enter into heaven.
It is in accord with the highest ideals of truth, justice and mercy:
Of truth, because “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). In His life, He fully revealed all that was in the heart of God, so that we never need to be in the dark about the truth again.
Of justice, because Jesus Christ is the just One. If you want to see what a thoroughly good man looks like, you may examine His life. As a man, He lived a life of perfect righteousness, even in the midst of a world that had gone astray and fallen into bitter opposition to God. He is also the just One, because through His death on the cross, He made the one sacrifice that can forever put away sins. By it, all who believe are completely justified and accounted righteous in God’s sight. “To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).
Of mercy, because the justification of a sinner is an act of tender mercy. It takes a lost sinner and makes him suitable to enter heaven. “The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:9).
When sinners believe in Christ, they are forgiven, pardoned and their former offenses are completely obliterated. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in them, helping them to begin to live a new life that is suited for the place they are headed.
“Amnesty proclaimed to all” is the most beautiful message ever declared. But will you take advantage of it? Will you bow your heart in repentance and believe in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ?
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39).
Bankruptcy
T
he word bankruptcy comes from the Italian words banca rotta, meaning “broken bench.” Back in Medieval times, merchants used to set up benches, or counters, for business in market places. If they went bankrupt through the mismanagement of funds, their bench would be broken, signifying that they had made bad deals and were out of business. Over time the word “bankrupt” has come to refer to those who are unable to pay their bills.
Bankruptcy — the condition of not being able to pay off debt — has been around for a long time.
In ancient Greece, if a person wasn’t able to meet their financial obligations, they were forced into debt slavery. All their assets would be confiscated, and then the unfortunate debtor along with his wife, children and servants would be made into slaves for a period of five years. The city of Athens had lost so many of its citizens to debt slavery that a ruler by the name of Solon passed a law forbidding the practice.
Genghis Khan, the Ruler, who conquered China and most of Asia, decreed that a person who went into bankruptcy for the third time in their lifetime should suffer the death penalty.
Many countries in Western Europe maintained debtors’ prisons. Back in the Age of Victoria, a man who owed as little as 40 shillings could be sent to prison until his family could afford to pay off his debt. Prison houses had deplorable living conditions. Charles Dickens, the famous English novelist, experienced seeing his own father spend time in a debtors’ prison.
Unable to Pay
Financial bankruptcy causes pain and hardship. But there is another type of bankruptcy in the spiritual realm even more devastating.
This other type of bankruptcy affects 100% of the human population and includes everyone, from the rich down to the poor. Sometimes the rich might think that this bankruptcy doesn’t apply to them. This is false, because all the silver and gold in the world can’t redeem a soul from death.
Each individual has been given one lifetime to resolve this bankruptcy.
This bankruptcy is due to the debt of sin. It is a debt we have all incurred. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). If the debt is not paid off in time, those who owe it will be forced to stand before a great Judge who has the power to send them away into everlasting punishment. “These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:46). The prison house of hell has completely deplorable conditions. Those sent to the place will know the depths of misery and sorrow for all eternity.
The only way to be delivered from this state of spiritual bankruptcy is to come to the right person who has limitless resources to help.
Full Payment
There is good news for bankrupt sinners. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, God has made a way that the debt of sin might be paid for all those who believe. “Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25). Will you come by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ who is willing to share the riches of His grace with all who trust Him? “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
The best advice you will ever receive is to get out of spiritual bankruptcy NOW by believing on the name of the Lord Jesus, and then use the rest of your life to love and serve Him. Be wise and take this advice while there is time. If you linger, you may end up forever too late.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Not only does God provide full payment for sins, but He also gives far beyond that. Read about that provision in The Safe Zone.
Banned
In 1919, eight members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team were banned for life from the major leagues because they allegedly took bribes to throw the final game of the World Series. The commissioner in charge wanted to do everything in his power to prevent such an incident from ever staining the reputation of the league again. Banning the players sent a strong message that such behavior would not be tolerated.
Many people feel the commissioner was right to place a ban on these players. After all, he was charged with protecting the integrity of the organization. Have you ever considered that God is the “Great Commissioner” of the universe who will deal out justice to every member of the human race?
At some future moment, each one of us will have to stand before Him and give an account of our lives. Romans 14:12 reads, “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” If our actions, thoughts and words agreed with His righteousness, He would welcome us into heaven. The problem is we have fallen short: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We have all committed acts that are full of malice, disorder and weakness — acts which are despicable in His sight. The stain of those sins on our record will effectively keep us out of heaven. Because of our sins, we have incurred the debt of eternal punishment.
The commissioner of the sports league banned certain players for life for their serious misconduct. However, God will ban all those who remain in their sins from His presence for all eternity! Therefore, the truth that you have sinned is the most serious problem you will face in this life.
What We All Need
It is because of the problem of sin that we all need the Saviour. It is only through faith in Christ that a lost sinner can be saved. To wash away the stain of sin from the men and women He created, He let Himself be nailed to Calvary’s cross where His blood was shed. Because He is the Son of God, His blood can wash away the stain of sin from every soul that trusts in Him so that he or she is whiter than snow. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
When Christ died on the cross, He paid sin’s penalty for all those who would afterwards believe. Isaiah 53:5 reads: “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” While one sin is able to sink a sinner to hell if he or she rejects the Saviour, a million sins will not keep a sinner out of heaven if he or she repents and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The time to turn to God is right now in this life! When this short life is over, it will be forever too late to set things right. “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Even if you have lived all your life at a distance from Him, you can still do an about-face on the road of life and come to the Saviour to receive the gift of eternal life. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23).
The God of grace invites lost sinners to come to Him and be saved. Banned from heaven doesn’t have to be anyone’s portion. In a certain sense, people ban themselves from heaven by refusing God’s grace and offer of salvation. Don’t be someone who does such irreparable, irreversible and everlasting damage to themselves. Instead, come to the Lord Jesus for salvation.
A Blind Dog Falls Into a Well
The medium-sized dog with a black coat and white grizzle around its muzzle had seen better days. Over the years cataracts had formed in his eyes, and he was now completely blind. His master had recently died and left him alone in his apartment. When no one came to claim the dog, the manager of the apartment building shoved the dog into the back seat of the car and drove into the Bosnian countryside. It was late fall and getting cold. They drove by several farmhouses until they came to a big field that had been plowed over and was now just empty furrows of mud. The driver checked to see if anyone was watching, then stopped the car and pushed the old dog out of the back seat. Quickly the man drove off without looking back.
The blind dog wandered through the cold field looking for food or a friend. As the dog meandered through the field, he came to the edge of an empty well and stumbled in. The well was a shaft, 3 feet wide and 25 feet deep. Alone and friendless, the dog was trapped in the bottom.
A Worse Trap
It’s sad when anyone loses their sense of sight and becomes blind, but the spiritual blindness that is afflicting many people is far worse. In their spiritual blindness, they are not able to see the truth of a God who loves them and would send His Son to save them.
The blind dog never saw the hole in front of him and fell into the well. The spiritually blind never see the dangerous pitfalls in front of them either. The worst pitfall in front of them is that those who continue in their sins will one day be cast headlong into the dark, deep pit of hell from which there will be no return. This fall will take them by surprise, because they didn’t see it coming. But God says, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). The Lord Jesus is the great physician of souls, and He can restore spiritual sight to those who have lost it.
Help
The following morning, children wrapped in winter coats and holding books under their arms were walking down the road on their way to school when they heard the whimpering of an animal coming from the empty field. They went to investigate and found the open well. Looking over its edge, they could barely make out the form of a black dog with white patches on its eyes. The hearts of the children went out to the poor animal. They knew they could never reach the dog to pull it out, but realizing the dog must be hungry, they dropped parts of their lunches into the well so it wouldn’t starve. Then every day for the next three months they would drop table scraps to the trapped dog: bones with a little bit of meat attached or crusts of bread. Trapped in a dark, damp well, with scraps to eat, the dog was barely surviving.
Do you know that souls who remain in their sins are missing out on a lot of good too? God reserves His best blessings for those who love and obey Him. To those who love God, it’s His delight to pour out a wonderful knowledge of Himself. Compared to this knowledge, fame, pleasures, and the riches of this world are nothing but meager scraps. If you want to know the fullness of life and joy, then you need to believe with all your heart on the Lord Jesus who said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Why go through life eating nothing but scraps when God promises a feast of good things to those who love Him? Our hearts were meant to live by continually feeding on God’s goodness and love. “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
Rescue
After three months, word finally reached an animal rescue organization, based in a distant city, about the dog’s trouble. They sent out two young men with extensive rock climbing experience to the site. One of the young men attached a strong rope to a climbing belt around his waist, and with the assistance of his partner and a few local farmers, he was slowly lowered into the shaft of the well. At last his feet made contact with the bottom of the well.
The rescue worker didn’t stand at the top of the well and yell down, “Climb out in your own strength,” or, “Use your legs and jump out of there.” No, he came right down to where the dog was trapped in order to help. Thank God, we have a Saviour who came down from heaven to this earth to help us right where we were. If God had only spoken from heaven and promised forgiveness to all who believe, that would have been a great favor. But God did so much more. He became a man and, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, came to earth. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). The one who spoke a word and the world leaped into existence walked as a man among men. And as a man, He went to the cross and died for sinners. His death has infinite value to cancel out our sins.
The message He wants delivered to every man, woman and child is not, “Keep My law and live,” or, “Save yourselves by your own strength,” but it is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). God can offer free salvation to every soul because of what the Lord Jesus did on the cross. Are you a sinner ... lost, blind, foul, starving, undone, and fallen into a pit of sin and misery? Don’t be afraid. Tidings of great joy are sent to you. Christ died in your place, and the moment you genuinely believe on Him, He will pardon your sin and give you a new life. Then He will be with you to help you all the way through this life, until you reach heaven.
Once the rescue worker reached the bottom of the well, he put a jacket on the dog. The jacket had a hook which the man attached to a rope. His partner then gently hoisted the dog to the top of the well. The dog seemed content to be in the company of people again. In the photographs taken at the time, he looked contented being held in the arms of one of the rescue workers. I wish I could tell you that the old blind dog found a family of humans to live with, but I can’t. I just don’t know. But I can tell you that God promises salvation and an everlasting home in heaven to all those who believe on the name of His Son. Will you bow your heart and mind to the Lord Jesus and receive Him as your Saviour?
The dog knew it was trapped, but many people don’t know that they are. Find out why in Modern Slavery.
A Call From Afar
“Tele” is a prefix which comes from the Greek language and means “from afar.” Telephones enable messages to be sent from far away. But to receive the call that comes from the greatest distance away, no device is necessary.
This call comes from heaven all the way down to earth and tells us of the need to change our ways — to repent and turn to God.
It comes from the infinite God down to our finite minds, and an immeasurable distance exists between the two.
The great God, who made us, wants each one of us to respond to His call in a positive way. Where we spend eternity depends on our answer to it. Those who ignore it will end up separated from God for all eternity, while those who hear it and turn to God with all their hearts will spend eternity with Him in heaven. “These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:46).
To make us understand how much God values us, He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). By His death on the cross, He procured the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life for all those who believe. “He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).
Although God is infinitely great, He personally loves us, and He wants us to come to Him and be saved. Be wise and answer God’s call to repent and believe on His Son! His call comes from afar, and those who answer it will be with Him forever.
Crazy Callen
D. R. Callen moved from Colorado to the Dungeness Valley in Washington State. In Colorado, he had worked on farms where water was diverted from mountain rivers into irrigation ditches. He had actually seen the irrigation water flowing uphill because it was pushed forward by the current of the mountain streams.
D. R. Callen figured the same type of irrigation ditch would work in the Dungeness Valley. The Dungeness Valley sits in the “rain shadow” of the Olympic Mountains. Rainfall was plentiful elsewhere on the Olympic Peninsula, but very scarce in the Dungeness Valley where only 14 inches fell on average per year. The low rainfall made the valley nearly a desert in the summer.
The Dungeness River flows down from the nearby mountains and through the Dungeness Valley. D. R. Callen had the idea to dig irrigation ditches from the river to the farms in the valley. In order for the ditches to work, water would have to flow uphill as it left the streambed.
When he shared his plan with farmers from the valley, some mocked him and nicknamed him Crazy Callen. They didn’t believe water could be made to flow uphill. However, about twenty of the farmers agreed to help him dig the ditches. All winter long they toiled with shovels and picks digging a ditch about two miles long, four feet wide, and two or three feet deep. After the ditch was dug, they packed a thin layer of clay into the sides of the ditch in order to keep the water from soaking into the ground.
At last, their back-breaking work was finished and they were ready to connect the ditch to the river. A big celebration was planned for the day. Tables laden with food were set out, games were planned, including a May Pole, and folks were invited from nearby communities to come and see the water flow into the irrigation ditch.
D. R. Callen and some other farmers waded out into the water to lift the sluice gate that blocked the water from flowing into the flume, a chute-like structure. The edge of the flume sat on the gravel bed of the stream where the current was strongest. They pulled the planks of the sluice gate up and set them aside. The water was free to flow into the flume leading to the ditch. But to the dismay of Callen and his helpers, the river didn’t flow up into the flume like he thought it would. For a few minutes it seemed like Crazy Callen’s irrigation ditch was a failure.
Then one of the farmers got an idea. He loaded a wagon with clay, drove it to the base of the flume and shoveled it in. He then called for volunteers among the boys and girls who had come to enjoy the festivities to stomp the clay down with their bare feet. They had fun splashing in the river and smashing the clay into the gravel. No sooner was the clay stomped down than a great deal of water began flowing uphill through the flume and into the ditch. The water ran rapidly though the ditch towards the farmers’ fields. The crowd cheered. The farmers, happy with their success, slapped each other on the back, and the community had a big celebration, all because of Crazy Callen’s idea.
Every farmer knows that water is wealth. Because of the new supply of water, the farmers would be able raise more crops and livestock. In celebration of this special event, folks in the Dungeness Valley have held an “Irrigation Festival” every May 1 for the past 120 years.
The Dungeness Valley was dry and arid before the irrigation ditch delivered the much-needed water. In a similar manner, most men and women are dry and arid because they are leaving God out of their lives. Living apart from God, people tend to shrivel up like a farmer’s field that is experiencing a relentless drought. The Christian truths of the trinity and the incarnation, where God became a man and walked this earth, seem pretty far-fetched to them. But the truth is that faith in Christ works perfectly well and has transformed countless lives. It works because it is God’s wonderful, life-giving truth.
When the Lord Jesus, who is both God and man in the same person, died on the cross, the sluice gate of heaven was opened so that God’s richest spiritual blessings could flow out to repentant sinners. Sinners who deserve death and hell may now receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life through faith in Christ. God’s amazing love to sinners was made known to men.
Believing in Jesus Christ, they are enabled to drink of “living water” that comes from God. The Lord Jesus said of this living water, “Whosoever drink[s] of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). Only by drinking of the living water can any of us ever quench the deep spiritual thirst that we have. Our hearts were made to live by faith in God.
Farmers in the Dungeness Valley had a lot to celebrate when water flowed through the irrigation ditch. Those who believe in Christ have a lot to celebrate too. The celebrating they do begins on earth when they first believe and receive the forgiveness of sins, and then it continues nonstop all the way into eternity. What joy it is for souls to live in the presence of Him who loved them and gave His life for them to make them His own forever! Truly, as it says in the Book of Acts, “Though [God] be not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:27).
In sad contrast, those who reject Christ will spend eternity longing for even a touch of water to moisten their lips. The Lord Jesus told the story of a rich man who dressed elegantly and ate sumptuously every day while he lived on earth but, being without God in his life, he was sent to hell when he died. In hell he cried out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame” (Luke 16:24). Those who have never quenched their spiritual thirst through the Lord Jesus in this life will find not the slightest relief for their raging thirst in the life to come.
Despite the naysayers, Crazy Callen’s irrigation ditch worked and transformed the Dungeness Valley. Don’t let the naysayers about the Lord Jesus Christ dissuade you from placing your faith in Him and drinking from the living water He offers.
“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water” (John 4:10). You may come by faith to Christ today and receive the same gift of “living water” that He once offered to the lady by the well in Samaria. Revelation 22:17 reads, “Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
It may seem crazy to believe on a Saviour who was crucified, but only faith in Christ has the power to transform people and prepare them for heaven! Won’t you believe in Christ and drink deeply of the water of life so that you may have eternal life? If you do, you will have a never-ending cause for celebration.
God doesn’t just promise refreshment; He also promises judgment. Find out why and for whom in Tornado Alley.
Dark Is the Night
Dark is the night, and cold the wind is blowing;
Nearer and nearer comes the breakers’ roar;
Where shall I go, or whither fly for refuge?
Hide me, my Father, till the storm is o’er.
Refrain
With His loving hand to guide, let the clouds above me roll,
And the billows in their fury dash around me;
I can brave the wildest storm, with His glory in my soul;
I can sing amidst the tempest: Praise the Lord!
Dark is the night, but cheering is the promise,
He will go with me o’er the troubled wave;
Safe He will lead me through the pathless waters,
Jesus, the mighty One, and strong to save.
Refrain
Dark is the night, but lo! the day is breaking:
Onward my bark, unfurl thy every sail;
Now at the helm I see my Father standing;
Soon will my anchor drop within the veil.
The Disappearance of the El Faro
Captain Michael Davidson watched the development of the tropical storm system named Joaquin for several days. The slow-moving storm center had developed off the coast of Africa, traveled across the Atlantic, and was about to make landfall somewhere on the Caribbean and the southeastern coast of North America. Captain Davidson had his 790-foot-long cargo ship, El Faro, fully loaded with hundreds of cargo containers, truck trailers and automobiles, in port at Jacksonville, Florida, and was ready to sail for Puerto Rico. He watched the storm so he could plot a course that would keep him and his ship a safe distance from the threatening weather. He finally saw his chance and set off from Jacksonville. The course he plotted would keep him 65 miles away from the center of the storm.
Not long after he set out, the storm took a turn for the worse, and weather forecasters upgraded Joaquin from a tropical storm to a category-3 hurricane. Instead of running into the 10-foot waves and 40-mile-per-hour winds that Captain Davidson expected, the El Faro ran into 40-foot waves and winds gusting at over a 150 miles per hour.
When the ship approached Crooked Island in the Bahamas, the engine abruptly quit working! Without power, El Faro swung broadside to the winds and waves and took a horrible beating. Soon the ship was listing, or leaning, 15 degrees. The El Faro reported its precarious condition to the Coast Guard by radio. In its last exchange, the Coast Guard asked how dangerous they felt their situation was. The radio operator on the ship responded, “It is manageable.” What a peculiar thing for anyone to say when they are caught on a broken-down ship in the middle of a hurricane!
All radio transmission from the ship suddenly ceased. Maybe the ship rolled on its side, and maybe the hull split open. Perhaps we will never know how it sank, but when search planes and ships hurried to the last reported site, they didn’t find any signs of the ship. It had disappeared in water that was nearly three miles deep. The search for survivors continued for several days afterwards, but no survivors of the El Faro were ever found.
Do you know that the Bible promises that a storm of judgment is in the not-too-distant future for everyone that fails to repent and believe in Christ? The magnitude of this storm is so great that it will sink those caught in it into a lost eternity. The El Faro sank in water that is three miles deep, and that is deep indeed, but it is nothing compared to the profound depths of a lost eternity. Souls that die apart from Christ will disappear forever into the depths of hell. “These shall go away into everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46).
The only way to avoid this judgment is to come as a lost sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive the forgiveness of sins. When a sinner believes in Christ, God forgives their sins and gives them the gift of eternal life. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
On Calvary’s hill, the Lord Jesus underwent untold suffering. Lifted up between heaven and earth, He gave His life for sinners. First Peter 3:18 reads, “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”
When asked by the Coast Guard to assess their condition, the radio operator responded, “It is manageable.” What a strange message to send when the ship was listing 15 degrees to the side, the engine was out of commission, and the ship was being battered by 40-foot waves and wind gusts of 150 miles per hour. The ship most likely sank shortly after this message was sent. A better answer would have been, “Desperate! We are on the verge of sinking! Send help at once!”
If you are going through life without the Saviour, you are in a desperate condition too, because you are in your sins, and they will sink you to hell! It is amazing that many people living in the state of sin, if asked to assess how they are getting on in their spiritual walk, would reply something along the same line of, “It is manageable. I have it under control.” It would be far better for them to answer, “I am in a desperate condition! I am a lost sinner — ruined and undone — on the verge of perishing. Lord Jesus, save my soul!”
All those who plot their life’s course and leave the Saviour out of it will come into judgment. Won’t you alter your course through life so that by repentance and faith you may come to Christ? Only through faith in Christ can a sinner receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
Unexpected trouble at sea can have a good side to it. See what I mean for yourself in Saved Through Measles.
Finding Home
“Bhaiya!” screamed five-year-old Saroo! He tore up and down the moving train car calling out the Hindi word for “brother.” Outside the window, central Indian grasslands flashed past and the clicking rails marked the miles being driven between the panic-stricken boy and the only home he’d ever known. Saroo’s pockets were empty, his stomach not far behind, and his mind didn’t carry a street address. His single mom, two sisters and a brother all lived in a tiny mud brick house in central India that was rapidly vanishing.
Saroo and his older brother Guddu had gone everywhere together. Their mother Fatima, abandoned by her husband, scraped together just enough money by cleaning homes to put some food in her four kids’ mouths and pay her rent. The older kids provided the rest by begging, scrounging and stealing. To support the family, Saroo and Guddu specialized in diving under the seats in the old Indian trains that traversed their neighborhood finding dropped coins and scraps of food. His brother had said he’d be “right back.” Saroo had fallen asleep on a bench in a train he’d been searching. Surely his brother would come back for him.
Empty Stomach,
Empty Heart
Twelve hours later Saroo’s train finally rolled into the massive central station in Calcutta. Somewhere out into the teaming millions of Bengali-speaking residents bobbed a little tear-streaked Hindi-speaking boy. He only remembered the name of a town near his own, Burhanpur, so he hopped train after train heading out of town hoping to find it. In a week he gave up. His stomach was filled with its familiar hungry ache, but his heart had a fresh wound — one that might never heal. Perhaps pain gnaws at your heart too.
Within a month, a man who spoke a little Hindi was able to take him to a local prison for protection. There the deformed faces of strangers — kids without legs or arms — stared back. Deep in his heart, unspoken in Hindi, unformed in words, sending its tentacles throughout his being, crept a question for his mother Fatima: Are you looking for me? If you are experiencing that same unspoken question, then I have a secret for you. God says, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). That means that Jesus Christ, who deeply loves you, is looking for you.
Officials from a local child-welfare group combed the prison regularly for adoptable children. Six months after his rolling prison had carried him away from Burhanpur, the officials brought him a little red photo album saying, “This is your new family. They will love you.” Inside smiled a red curly-haired woman and her husband standing in front of a brick home surrounded by a flower bed. Another photo showed the Qantas airplane that would carry him to Hobart in the Australian state of Tasmania.
Burning Questions
Soon Saroo found himself sitting in a comfortable air-conditioned bedroom. On the bed sat a stuffed koala, on the wall hung a map of India, in his head rattled a few words of English and the ever-present mystery of his past. “Even though I was with people I trusted, my new family, I still wanted to know how my family was: Will I ever see them again? Is my brother still alive?”
Jesus Christ said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). He went ahead of us to the cross of Calvary. There He paid the massive penalty for sin — punishment by a holy God — so that He could offer to take any who will believe on Him to the Father’s house. But like little Saroo — despite evidence of love — it’s pretty natural to have a ton of questions about God swirling in the brain and heart. Philip, who spent several years as a close associate of the Lord Jesus, said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father” (John 14:8), when he heard about the way to the Father’s house. You can read how Jesus firmly and gently answered him in John 14.
Years later in 2009, out of college, late at night, Saroo hunkered over his flickering laptop. For the first time he had a fast Internet connection and Google Earth spun up as he zoomed in on his Hobart house. The detail was fantastic, and then it hit him: Could he find the mud-brick, tin-roofed home a continent, a life, a culture away? If only he could get back to ... to ... Brahmapur? Badarpur? Bharatpur? B-something-pur? Then he could find his way back to the mud-brick house.
Give Up?
He picked up where he had left off so many years before — “riding” the rails out of Calcutta. And he got the same old result. After weeks of frustrating evenings, he dropped the search and returned to normal life. But Saroo couldn’t quit permanently. He thought, If you give up now, you’ll always be thinking later on, on your deathbed: Why didn’t I keep trying or at least put more effort into it?
Finally logic began to creep into his thoughts. He calculated the rough time he’d been on the train — about 12 hours. He added in the time from B-something-pur to the village where he’d lived. Soon he had some estimates on how fast Indian trains traveled in the 1980s. When he’d eliminated areas of the country that didn’t speak Hindi, he hunkered back for more late nights over the keyboard. He began to systematically hunt for a bridge he remembered near a big industrial tank beside the railway station in, in ... B-something-pur. Intensely he clicked back out across the miles and down the railroad heading away from Calcutta. Around 1 a.m. his heart rate surged as he registered the sight of a bridge he remembered. Tensely he checked the corner of the screen for the town name — Burhanpur stared back at him.
In February of 2012, tired from 20 hours of travel, he began the final mile of navigating by memory, left here, right there, past a café where he’d sold Chai tea. In his mind burned the question he’d wanted to ask his mother Fatima, Did you look for me? Soon he stood before the mud-brick house with the tin roof — a lock barred the door of the battered, abandoned house. Hearing the names Guddu and Fatima, a neighbor lady simply said, “They don’t live here anymore.”
God, by contrast, never moves. He can always be found by someone willing to acknowledge their sin and His remedy. God says, “Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).
Answers
But another neighbor studied a photo of little Saroo when he’d first come to Australia and listened to the names “Guddu” and “Fatima.” He vanished, and then he returned and led Saroo, not to the arms of the beautiful young woman he’d seen in his dreams for 24 years — but to an old woman. Fatima saw the scar on his forehead where she’d bandaged him when he fell while being chased by a wild dog and the family dimple on the chin. Soon they were in one another’s arms.
They would have talked, but Saroo only spoke Aussie English and Fatima only Hindi. They spoke in cuddles, hugs and through an interpreter. Fatima had searched for him for months, hopping trains and heading out to every surrounding town within a couple hours’ distance, asking questions, searching. And Guddu? Guddu was gone. One month after Saroo had vanished, the police had knocked at the door. Guddu had been found dead on the train tracks — killed by a train. Saroo texted back home to Hobart, The questions I wanted answered have been answered. There are no dead ends. ... I hope you know that you guys are first with me, which will never change. Love you.
And your search? your answers? your home? Searching God’s Word diligently will help you to find many answers. You’ll discover, with honesty, where you’ve refused to follow God and His divine direction in your life. You’ll also find two tremendous truths ...
1. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
2. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
If you’re honest, you’ll discover that you deeply need the Lord Jesus Christ, who has come from heaven to find you, wash you clean from your sin, and take you home with Himself. When you know you’ve been found by Him, then you’ll also know that you’re on your way home — to God the Father’s house — not to a place of peace on earth that can’t be found.
Is it hard to find God? Well, not really. Find out more in The Million-Dollar Message.
Graycie
Dr. Andy Mathis became a veterinarian many years ago because he loved animals. He worked at Granite Hills Animal Care Center near Athens, Georgia. Working around animals day after day, he had learned to understand what they thought or felt by the way they acted.
Graycie was a young dog who drooped her head, dropped her glance to the floor, and tried to hide in a corner whenever people approached. The doctor understood by these things that she had been abused and neglected by the people who once owned her.
A few days before, a lady driving down a country highway had found Graycie wandering all alone in pitiful shape and had brought her to the Animal Care Center. The doctor guessed she was a pit bull mixed breed and about a year old. She had short, gray hair and gray eyes, which is why someone at the center named her Graycie. She might have been a beautiful dog if she wasn’t in such bad shape. She looked nearly starved to death. Her rib cage stuck out like the ribs of a boat stripped of its planking. For her size, the doctor figured she should have weighed 35 pounds. Graycie had suffered from hunger so long that she tipped the scale at only 20 pounds. She also suffered from dehydration and hypothermia. Dehydration happens when an animal doesn’t get enough water to drink, and hypothermia is the condition of having a low body temperature. All these things made Graycie deathly ill.
After Graycie was dropped off at the center and had been checked over, Dr. Mathis called the staff together and said, “Y’all come here and help me decide what to do with this dog. She is so bad off I am not sure we should use our limited resources to help her. What do you think? Should we try to save her?”
His staff looked at the dog briefly and then unanimously responded, “Save her.”
That had been a few days before. During all that time, the dog had barely tasted any food. It was like she had given up wanting to live.
At the clinic she had been medicated, washed, and given a nice clean, comfortable place to rest up in a pen. She had fresh, clean water in a steel bowl and a food bowl filled with a name-brand dog food, which she refused to eat.
The Secret Ingredient
One morning, Dr. Mathis skipped breakfast and went directly to the clinic. After making the rounds and checking up on his animal patients, he got an idea for how he might help Graycie. He knew Graycie needed a friend. She needed to be able to think there was kindness somewhere in the world. So he took a steel bowl like the dogs eat out of (they were very clean and sanitized) and poured himself a bowl of granola cereal and milk. He stuck a spoon in his shirt pocket and filled his steel coffee cup with coffee. Then he walked to the pen where Graycie was cowering in the corner. Without even looking at her or calling her name, he casually opened the door to the pen and entered. The pen was very clean. He calmly and deliberately sat down on the concrete floor within reach of the dog and started eating his granola and sipping his coffee. He did this like the dog wasn’t even in the pen with him.
After a few minutes of eating, he reached a hand over to the dog’s food bowl and took some food out of it and held it up to her mouth in the flat of his hand. Graycie took it gently out of his hand and ate it, and then she lowered her head and started eating the food out of her food dish. The doctor then went on to eat the rest of his own breakfast as if it was the most normal thing in the world to eat breakfast sitting on the floor in a dog pen. During the whole time, he didn’t speak to the dog. A few times he just reached over and gently rubbed her behind her ears.
The doctor sat where Graycie sat, ate where she ate, and drank where she drank. After he finished eating, he got up and left.
Dr. Mathis felt hopeful afterwards. He felt like the dog had made a big step forward that morning towards recovery. She had allowed him to befriend her, and she had eaten a wholesome meal for the first time in a long time. The good food would help her get back on the path to health. The doctor knew she had a long road ahead of her for recovery, but it was a good beginning.
God’s Kindness
Abused and neglected, Graycie needed to know such a thing as kindness still existed in the world. Many people living today don’t know about God’s kindness either. Living without a relationship with God, they don’t know about the Saviour who loves them and gave His life for them.
Not knowing God and His kindness, they daily prove the sad truth of the verse, “The way of transgressors is hard” (Proverbs 13:15). Sins are actions, thoughts and desires that are contrary to God’s right ways. Sin always leads souls away from God, who is the source of all goodness. It separates them from the love of God and instead places them under the influence of the prince of the power of the air — the fallen spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. Satan is the great abuser of the human race.
God was not pleased about this state of affairs. Even before He made the world, He drew up a plan of salvation to draw souls back to Himself. In this plan, He would send His Son into the world. The Lord Jesus Christ would be born as a baby, grow up to manhood, and go about telling others many truths about God. The truth of His preaching would be confirmed by the miracles He performed on those who were sick and infirm.
He ate, sat, slept and walked among us. God became a man and visited the earth.
Why did the Lord Jesus come? He came so humankind that had fallen away from God might see how much He loved them. He came because He wanted the relationship that had been broken by sin to be restored, so that souls might be able to live a life of faith and love. He came so that men and women might see God was a far better friend to them than the devil. He wanted them to realize that they didn’t need to stay under Satan’s dark power, but that God intended far better things for them.
So that we might return to God, He even gave His life on Calvary’s cross.
No one ever loved you like God does! No one ever wanted to bring goodness and kindness into your life like He does. Will you return to His love?
The first step in returning to His love is to repent and believe on the name of Jesus Christ to receive the gift of eternal life. To repent of our sins means to come to see them for what they are, hateful and destructive in God’s sight, then turn away from them, and no longer do them. Then He wants us to put our trust and confidence in the God who made us. When sinners put their faith in the Lord Jesus, God forgives their sins and sets them on the road to heaven, a road they have never been on before.
Dr. Mathis did what he could to be friends with Graycie and to get her to eat again. The Lord Jesus has done all He could to bring fallen sinners back to God by becoming a man, coming to this world, and even going to the cross to suffer and die for them.
When the good news of His love and grace is presented to you, will you receive it? Although it might be a neighbor, a friend or a preacher who presents the gospel to you, know that it is ultimately the Lord Jesus Himself who is holding out the wonderful truth of His salvation to you and is waiting for you to take it. “O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). Take the salvation He freely offers. He truly is the sinner’s friend.
Discover more of the unearned favor of God in Work-Free Zone.
He That Believeth
Hear ye the glad Good News from heaven?
Life to a death-doomed race is given!
Christ on the cross for you and me
Purchased a pardon full and free.
When we were lost, the Son of God
Made an atonement by His blood:
When we the glad Good News believe,
Then the atonement we receive.
Why not believe the glad Good News?
Why still the voice of God refuse?
Why not believe, when God has said,
All, all our guilt “on Him” was laid.
He's Done All He Can
“I’ve done all I can; now it is up to you” (Dwight D. Eisenhower to Capt. Johnson of the 101St Airborne, June 5, 1944, 7 p.m., England).
In late May 1944, the naval vessels and transports were being loaded for the vast invasion of the Normandy coast. Winston Churchill, prime minister of England, wanted to go but Eisenhower backed by King George VI forced him to sit home. Eisenhower and all the other top staff had to stay home with him.
But 101St Airborne Lt. Richard Winters took off in his C-47 transport. Ten seconds later another C-47 lifted off, ten seconds later another and another until the air was black with them. When the last one lifted off, Eisenhower’s eyes were glistening with tears. “Well, it’s on,” he said softly as he turned away and headed for his cottage.
In a manger outside of Bethlehem, the Creator of the universe reached the front line. He wasn’t too valuable to risk losing, too old to go, too afraid to die. He had full authority to stay home, but love led Him to become a man and enter His creation. “Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
At 12:01 a.m. Lt. Richard Winters of the 101St Airborne was winging through the darkness toward Normandy. The whole flight over he had prayed he’d live and wouldn’t fail. Before his boots hit French soil, he’d be more than 5 miles from his objective and his commanding officer would be dead. It would be hours after dawn before he finally arrived at his objective with surprise and the cover of night stripped away. When he arrived with his 11 men, they found themselves facing a battery of 105 mm artillery guns guarded by 50 German soldiers. These men were dug in to a system of interconnected trenches and supported with plenty of mortars and machine guns. Winters had one light mortar, two light machine guns, two submachine guns and five rifles — he attacked immediately. Some of the courage came from the fact they had no idea what they were heading into. This was their first combat experience. As one man said, “I was sure I would not be killed. I felt that if a bullet was headed for me, it would be deflected or I would move.” He would never take those chances again.
But Jesus Christ knew exactly what He was headed into when He became a Man on the front line of combat with sin and Satan. Facing the Roman commander Pilate, who was about to unjustly condemn Him to death, Jesus said, “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice” (John 18:37). His wasn’t the courage of a mere man fighting for a great cause. Jesus Christ was about to carry out the unmatched masterstroke of love and sacrifice to honor God and put away sin.
At 8:30 a.m. Lt. Winters and his men launched a quick flanking attack led personally by Winters, while some of his men provided suppression fire with the machine guns and mortars. In the heavy fighting, Winters’ men suffered heavy casualties, including 4 men killed. By the end, the four huge 105 mm artillery pieces aimed at the American landing force lay in ruins and the surviving paratroopers withdrew. Hours later two Sherman tanks rolling up from the beach would finish the job of clearing out the position.
Just outside Jerusalem after darkness had covered the hill of Golgotha for three hours in the middle of the day, Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost” (John 19:30). The full job of suffering the penalty for sin from a holy God had been completed. No one was required to come and finish the job for Him. Instead He holds out an invitation to all who will believe on Him and His work. Now He offers a just forgiveness for sin to all who will believe on Him as their only escape from the horrible penalty for rebellion against God. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
At 12 midnight, June 6, Lt. Winters wrote in his diary that he “did not forget to get on my knees and thank God for helping me to live through this day and ask for His help on D plus one.” Will you bow your heart in submission to God? “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). You can simply thank the Lord Jesus for what He’s done for you. Or, like so many on June 6, 1944, you can assume there’s no great personal danger, no need for being prepared for eternity and let your conscience go back to sleep. The options are to receive God’s salvation through faith in Christ Jesus or neglect it and head into the blackness of eternity trusting in your own goodness. Which will it be?
A High-Risk Selfie
A 33-year-old man from Lake Elsinore, California, was walking down a gravel road behind his house with his young nephew. Strolling along, they came across a four-foot-long, live rattlesnake on the roadbed.
The man saw his chance to take a one-of-a-kind selfie. The selfie would be impressive and garner him a lot of attention on the Internet.
Maneuvering behind the snake, he deftly put the sole of his shoe on the back of its neck, pinching it to the ground so it couldn’t move. Then bending over, he picked up the snake, holding it with one hand behind its head and the other hand near the tail. Next, he draped the snake like a feathered boa around his neck and shoulders. He held the snake still for a few seconds until it felt like the reptile had calmed down. Then, he let go of the snake’s head to reach for his smartphone in his pocket in order to snap the selfie.
The instant he released it, the snake lashed out and sank its teeth into his hand, injecting poison through its hollow upper fangs!
As fast as he could, the man threw the snake off his shoulders to the ground. Within seconds, the quick-acting poison went to work, causing an intense pain and swelling. Trembling as he held his cell phone, he called 911, explaining he was bitten by a rattlesnake and gave his location. (Over 800 snakebites are reported every year in California.) A short time later paramedics rushed him to a hospital where he received emergency medical attention. Doctors were able to save the man’s life, but several days later they were still not certain they would be able to save the man’s hand, which had turned black from the poison. If the man loses his hand, it would be a very steep price to pay for his foolishness.
Deadlier Than a Rattlesnake
I think most people would shun ever draping a live rattlesnake around their necks, but there is something even deadlier that has become all too familiar to us and that we hold close to ourselves: That something is sin.
What is so deadly about sin? Sin brings about the death of the soul. God has said, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Death always carries with it the idea of separation. Physical death is separation of the soul from the body. Spiritual death is separation of the soul from God. Those who pass out of this world in a state of sin will pass into a lost eternity where they will be forever separated from God and His goodness and grace.
What brings them to that place of suffering and endless pain? Sin and the love of it. They draped it about their heart, firmly believing it would do them no harm, not knowing and not caring that “the sting of death is sin” (1 Corinthians 15:56).
A selfie is a visual record that is often posted on social media. Once posted, it becomes virtually impossible to erase. Sin is like that too. God knows all about us. Once we have committed sin, we might forget about it. After all, we do have faulty memories and faulty judgment, and we like to conveniently forget about things that trouble us. But God doesn’t forget our sins. “God requireth that which is past” (Ecclesiastes 3:15). In His patience He might bear long with our sins, but He will never just forget them. He knows the sins we have committed, with the perfect knowledge that He knows all things. Someday He will bring each person that has not received His gift of forgiveness into judgment for what they have done in this life.
God Forgives
God’s way isn’t to forget about sin; it is to forgive sin. To make a way that sinners might be forgiven, He sent His Son into the world. The Lord Jesus went all the way to Calvary’s cross where He died in the sinner’s place. The pure and sinless Lamb of God gave His life for others. On the cross, He paid the penalty for sin (death) for all those who believe. At the cross, His blood was shed so that sinners might have the ugly stain of sin washed away once and forever. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
The gifts of forgiveness and cleansing are now being offered to every man, woman and child in the whole world. It is a gift received the moment a person puts their wholehearted trust in the Saviour. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
Some people might rashly think they don’t need the Saviour because God will never call them into judgment for their sins. What a terrible mistake they are making! The man who attempted taking a selfie with the snake draped around his neck made a terrible mistake. He had no grounds for believing the snake would not bite. Those who reject Christ are making a terrible mistake too. They have absolutely no grounds for believing they will escape God’s judgment against sin.
The man bitten by the rattlesnake sought medical help at once. Won’t you realize the seriousness of your sins and come to the Saviour that you might be saved?
Discover the danger of following impulses and ignoring God in I Just Couldn’t Help Myself.
How Shall Fallen Man
Ah, how shall fallen man
Be just before his God?
If He contend in righteousness,
We fall beneath His rod.
If He our ways should mark
With strict, inquiring eyes,
Could we, for one of countless faults,
A just excuse devise?
All-seeing, powerful God,
Who can with Thee contend?
Or who that tries the unequal strife
Shall prosper in the end?
Ah, how shall guilty man
Contend with such a God?
None—none can meet Him and escape,
But through the Saviour’s blood
The Hurtful Lie
Recently a private investigator in his late 50s started a business that hired “professional liars.” Their job required them to tell any lie that a client requested. They would provide alibis for cheating spouses, excuses for a person skipping work, and more. When asked how he could live with himself because of this high level of deception, his response was, “When someone asks me how I can live with myself, I say, ‘May I ask you a question? Have you told a lie this week? Do you think you may tell a lie next week? Would you never tell a lie? Are your lies more sanctified than my lies?’ ” In other words, everybody does it, so I’m no worse than anybody else! There are two things that this poor man was ignoring — lying has consequences, and God takes lying very seriously.
But maybe you say, “My lies are harmless; they don’t hurt anybody!” Perhaps that’s what Scott Thompson, the former CEO of Yahoo, thought when he fabricated his resume, stating that he had a degree in computer science when he didn’t. This lie caused him to resign from his job only four months after taking the helm. David Edmondson, former CEO of Radio Shack, also resigned from his post after admitting that he had padded his resume. His claim was that he had a bachelor’s degree in theology and psychology, when he did not. Who got hurt by those lies? Behind each deception there’s usually a rationalization, such as, “Everybody does it” or “Who will ever know?” or “I deserve it.”
Even true statements can be designed to deceive. Take, for instance, the story of the sea captain who did not like one of his sailors. Frequently, he would enter into his log, “Jack was not drunk today.” This very effectively gave the impression that there were days when Jack was drunk, when, in fact, Jack never drank at all!
Lying is a sin that we don’t have to learn. Because of our fallen, sinful natures, it just comes naturally to us. Some of us are better at it than others — some people have honed this sin to such a point that it is nearly impossible to tell when they are lying. This is why it is so important to learn to always tell the truth from a very young age. Otherwise, we can become hardened and calloused to lying so that we think that it really doesn’t matter. If we are not careful, it can even become a way of life!
How God Views Dishonesty
This is exactly what happened to a whole group of people. It so permeated their culture that they became known for lying. Scripture records, “One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true” (Titus 1:12-13). I believe the same could be said about the culture that we live in today. It is a fact that people have been admired for how well they could lie. Don’t be deceived into thinking that it really doesn’t matter. There is no such thing as a “white lie.” Little lies often become bigger lies; a habit of lying can become a lifetime of lies.
Do you know what some of the consequences of lying are? It gives you a bad conscience, that God-given voice inside of you that tells you whether something is right or wrong. Lies can make you sick physically, by giving you headaches, sore throats, anxiety and depression. It destroys trust and can ruin relationships. Lies can destroy your character and reputation, as well. Most importantly, did you know that just “one little, tiny lie” will bar you from heaven forever? This is why God says, “The wages of sin [lying is sin] is death [followed by hell]; but the gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23). Because God loves us, He gives faithful warning about the end of those who love to make a lie. “Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (Revelation 22:15). “Without” means eternal separation from God’s presence, outside of heaven, cast into the lake of fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, forever and ever. “The fearful, and unbelieving ... and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). God sees lying as a serious sin and gives us faithful warning of its consequences if we do not come to Him in repentance. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
What would it mean to live a life without lying? We have the perfect example in the One who never told a single lie. He lived a perfect, sinless life while here on earth. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). If we put our trust in Him as our Lord and Saviour, we can ask Him for help to tell the truth on a daily, hourly basis. When the Lord Jesus first met Nathanael, he said, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile [dishonesty]!” (John 1:47). What a beautiful commendation! Because we think of the lie before we tell the lie, we need to ask the Lord to help us to guard our thoughts and the intentions of our hearts. Here is a good way to pray every morning: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14). He is willing and able to help us if we ask Him in dependence.
Find out how God shows His heart’s affection to people who have the ruin of sin in their lives in Rescued From the Rubble.
I Have a Saviour
I have a Saviour; He’s pleading in glory:
A dear, loving Saviour, though earth-friends be few;
And now He is watching in tenderness o’er me,
But oh, that my Saviour were your Saviour too!
Refrain: With you He is pleading;
With you He is pleading;
With you He is pleading;
He’s pleading with you.
I have a Father: To me He has given
A hope for eternity, blessed and true;
And soon will He call me to meet Him in heaven —
But oh, that my Father were your Father too!
I have a peace: It is calm as a river —
A peace that the friends of this world never knew;
My Saviour alone is its Author and Giver,
And oh, could I know it was given to you!
I Just Couldn't Help Myself
“I just couldn’t help myself; that bud smelled sooooo good,” said David Allen Thompson as he was booked in the small Pennsylvania town of Charleroi. The list of charges looks pretty nasty ...
theft by unlawful taking,
receiving stolen property,
tampering with/fabricating physical evidence,
possession of a small amount of marijuana, and
possession of drug paraphernalia.
So where did 27-year-old David get his marijuana stash? From the desk of Officer David Kimball at the Charleroi Regional Police station. David had dropped by of his own free will to do the good deed of telling the police where they could find some real criminals. In the process, he noticed an evidence bag of “weed” sitting on the officer’s desk for a case that he was writing up. While the officer was distracted, he slipped it into his pocket.
When Officer Kimball couldn’t find the bag, he headed outside the police station hunting for David. Within five minutes, Kimball spotted him walking by. Upon being asked, “What did you do with the weed?” David dropped the baggie back into Officer Kimball’s hands.
Inside the station while he was being booked, David said, “Man, I’m guilty. Can’t you just give me a fine or something?”
Before you stop shaking your head and wondering about David’s IQ, answer this little questionnaire for yourself:
Are there any big criminals out there that you’d be happy for God to take care of?
While you’re waiting for “the big ones” to get punished, have you done anything wrong yourself?
Do some sins smell soooo good that a little bit once in a while is irresistible for a mere human?
Would you tell God the size His fine should be?
Remember, “a just weight and balance are the Lord’s” (Proverbs 16:11). He’ll do a perfect job of examining your “rap sheet.” Will it be wiped clean by the blood of Christ, or will it require you to answer for yourself for what you yourself have to say “Man, I’m guilty” about?
A Leap in the Dark
Plans are everything before the battle; useless once it’s joined” (Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander Allied Forces in Europe, World War II, June 6, 1944, 1:45 a.m., Ste. Mère Église, Normandy, France).
Pvt. Ken Russell of the U.S. 101St Airborne Division tied firmly to a heavy parachute drifted helplessly downward toward the alerted German garrison. He looked right and, “I saw this guy, as instantaneously he was blown away. There was just an empty parachute coming down.” Pvt. Russell frantically looked left and found his friend, Pvt. Charles Blankenship, being sucked toward a blazing hay barn below them. “I heard him scream once, then again before he hit the fire, and he didn’t scream anymore.” Russell took a bullet to the hand. Tracer bullets filled the sky around him, illuminating three more friends getting caught on telephone poles where they were shot to death as they hung helplessly above the village streets.
Behind him, crossing the English Channel in every imaginable type of boat, were nearly 200,000 men coming to join the inferno. Russell grabbed his trench knife and cut the straps of his parachute and crashed to the ground. Leaping up he “dashed across the street, and the machine gun fire was knocking up pieces of earth all around me, and I ran over into a grove of trees on the edge of town and I was the loneliest man in the world. Strange country, and just a boy, I should have been graduating from high school.” Why didn’t those men know what they were getting into? Many had heard from their commanding officers but believed the message was for someone else.
There are a lot of people swinging down in the dark toward an endless night, unconcerned and unafraid. Warnings whistle past their ears; flashes sometimes ignite the darkness ahead. You’re not one of them. Are you?
But planners back in England weren’t careless, unconcerned or sloppy. They had poured their lives into every detail possible. Eisenhower led the way, living for months on only four hours of sleep a night. Every waking moment was poured into the undertaking of preparing the 2 million U.S. troops and millions more from Britain, Canada and other nations. Reconnaissance aircraft had threaded their way through an intricate maze of anti-aircraft fire for months snapping over one million photos of every foot of coast line. Special agents had been dropped behind the lines or crept ashore from mini subs. Risking Gestapo torture, they had smuggled out coded information on gun emplacements, troop strengths, enemy morale and communication hubs. Sometimes the information was incredibly detailed. Lt. Richard Winters of the 101St Airborne knew that the German commander of his objective took his dog for a walk every day at 5:00 p.m. A farmer, furious that he had lost his fields to a massive battery of four 155 mm guns, paced off the distance between each bunker, the surrounding cliffs and the entrenchments. He stored the message in the mind of his blind nine-year-old son and sent it off to the French underground for shipment to England. Planners did all they could to peer across the misty English Channel into the blackness and terror that lay ahead.
What have you done to prepare for the blackness and terror that might lie ahead of you? God’s Word, the Bible, describes an eternity spent far from the presence of God as “the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 13). Pvt. Russell and Lt. Winters didn’t complain that their commanders were using scare tactics when they unrolled vast rubber scale models of the terrain they were about to enter. The maps were filled with German pillboxes, machine gun emplacements, troop barracks and mine fields. Thousands of men spent countless hours memorizing them and double checking the maps they were putting in their packs to take with them. Have you studied God’s map of what’s ahead — the Bible? It lays out clearly the minefield of sin, rebellion against God, and the only way to cross it. Perhaps you’ve read, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Have you studied that map? Have you taken to heart what it says?
The horror that Russell and Winters jumped into wasn’t caused by their carelessness. Their training was intense but imperfect. Their pilots hit a heavy cloud cover they didn’t know was coming and strayed off course. Then they panicked when they faced anti-aircraft fire for the first time in their lives and began a futile attempt to bank, dive, roll and wildly strew their men into the air scattering them across vast swaths of Normandy. Human intelligence, knowledge and preparation are never quite enough. The men that night needed certainties — there were none to be had. Pvt. Russell and Lt. Winters were leaping in the dark.
But you don’t need to leap into an eternal darkness. God offers, not the best intelligence available, but rather certainty. You’d do well to study the complete map He’s laid out of what’s ahead in His Word, the Bible. Here’s one of God’s delightful certainties: “I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). It’s possible to take a leap in the light. Are you ready for that?
But some people don’t take warnings seriously. Right preparation when a warning comes in is essential. We Can’t Afford to Fail presents the risk Winters and others faced and how they prepared for it.
The Life on the Cross Matters
In the most wicked act of injustice in the history of the world, a Man who did no wrong was stripped of all His rights, treated like a horrible criminal, arrested by men who wanted to destroy Him, beaten horribly before His trial, falsely accused of crimes He didn’t commit, subjected to mob injustice, condemned by a judge who thought himself above justice, and sentenced to death by torture.
This sentence was carried out without delay. This alleged criminal was made to carry a cross made of heavy beams of wood to the place of execution. A man was taken from the crowds and forced to help carry the cross for Him. To the top of a hill, on the outskirts of the city, they went. The condemned Man then was made to lay down on the cross, and thick spikes of iron were nailed through the flesh of His hands and feet and into the wood. Then the cross was lifted up and dropped into a hole so it would stand upright. Lifted up between heaven and earth, His death was made a spectacle for the crowd to watch. For six hours He hung in agony on the cross. Then He cried out with a loud voice, “It is finished” (John 19:30), bowed His head, gave up His spirit, and died.
Why should this Man who died so unjustly matter to us today?
His death matters because everything in life that we cherish depends upon it. You see, He was far more than only a man. He was the Son of God, the Creator of the universe. From all eternity He was God, but in a moment of time, He became a man also, so that from that time forth, He would be both God and Man in the same person. The Creator of the universe came to earth, and the creatures He made crucified Him!
At any time He could have called thousands of angels to come and stop His crucifixion, but this He would not do. He knew He needed to die and shed His blood, so that sinners might have a way opened to them to find the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. Oh, the immense favor God conferred on mankind when Christ died for sins! “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Justice, Righteousness and Dignity
If everything in life were weighed in an even balance, we would find that justice, righteousness and dignity are some of the personal qualities that would matter most to us.
Justice is the idea that all persons are treated fairly. God is deeply concerned that we treat others decently and with respect. He does so Himself. He made men and women and endowed them with special gifts. If they never use these gifts for Him, He will let them have their way, even if it means that when they die, they pass into a lost eternity. The justice of this world sometimes miscarries, but God’s justice never miscarries. Sin is nothing to trifle with. God in His perfect justice will see that every person receives their proper due. To those who believe on Him, He will give the gift of eternal life. Those who reject Him and remain in their sins will receive eternal punishment. “These shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:46).
Righteousness: When a sinner believes in Christ, God declares him righteous in His sight. Their sins are fully removed: “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrew 10:17).
Dignity: It is only when we realize that “God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8) that we get a true sense of our value in the sight of God.
Desiring justice, judgment and righteousness in this life will surely lead to the Christ of Calvary.
What does the life on the cross matter to you? Everything, for it is only through faith in Jesus Christ that a sinner can be saved. All people matter deeply to God. You matter deeply to Him. He loves you and longs for you to return to Him. Will you believe on the name of Jesus and be saved?
The Million-Dollar Message
Questions and more questions. Are we the universe’s only child? Do we have cosmic siblings? In other words, Who are we?
These are some of the questions posed by the Breakthrough Initiative, a program funded by Yuri Milner, a Russian entrepreneur. The plan is to survey the one million closest stars to earth and listen in for intelligent communication. Stephen Hawking, at the University of Cambridge, strongly supports the project, the search for extraterrestrial life.
Also, a competition has been launched. The prizes total one million dollars for the design of a digital message which best represents humanity and the planet Earth. But if you win, they might not send your message anyway — until after some debate on the risks and rewards involved. The worry is that aliens may not be friendly.
While they begin spending the first 100 million dollars, could I remind you that there is Life out there, in another world? And it is friendly. The one listening to our transmissions is God. You won’t need the 64-meter-diameter Parkes telescope in New South Wales, Australia, to send your message. It’s busy, in any case, with the Breakthrough project.
You may well wonder, What kind of prayer does God hear? Does He insist on a long prayer? On prayer made in a church? On a repetitive prayer? Must it be made while kneeling or prostrate? Must it be sophisticated or dressed in ritual? Thankfully no, five times.
God hears prayer when it comes from an honest and humble heart. The Bible says, “If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
When Peter was sinking in the water (Matthew 14), he prayed three words. He didn’t have time to get to church or wax eloquent. He spoke what was in his humble heart. “Lord, save me.”
The Lord took his hand and helped him up. Of course, the Lord has done that many times since and maybe you know people whose lives God has changed in answer to this prayer.
For 35 years the space probe Voyager 1 travelled within our solar system. But in 2012 it broke the sun’s influence and entered interstellar space to collect more data. What will it all mean in the end? Very little! Nothing transmitted from space could ever come close in importance to a simple prayer from your heart.
But if you bowed your heart in prayer today to the God Who Is There, you would be transformed from the inside out, forever — a prize worth more than many millions.
Sometimes we put barriers between our hearts and the God who loves us. Learn about one of those barriers that really wasn’t in There’ll Be Hanging for This.
Modern Slavery
Experts have estimated the number of slaves in our present world at 27 million. This makes the current number of slaves in our world higher than at any previous time in history! One stronghold of slavery is the country of Mauritania, located in the Sahara desert of Africa. It’s estimated that nearly 20% of the population of this country, or nearly 600,000 men, women, and children, still live in slavery. Slavery has been the rule for many centuries in this country. Abject poverty and a frightening ignorance of the outside world are so rampant here that many who are slaves don’t even realize it. They simply accept the lack of freedom for themselves and their families, because it is the way it has always been and the way it must always be.
Does it surprise you that people can live their entire lives as slaves and not even know it? It shouldn’t. It goes on in the spiritual realm all the time. Many people in this world have sold themselves into slavery and don’t even know it. Slavery is defined as a person held in servitude as the physical property of another. By rejecting the knowledge of God, many people have unwittingly put themselves under the power of God’s enemy, Satan. Some he controls through desires and lusts; others he controls through the spiritual sin of pride. They don’t need to make any kind of conscious decision to be his slave. All they have to do is live at a distance from the God who loves them. Satan’s goal is to keep as many souls as possible under his deadly influence. If they die never having come to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will remain under his power forever.
A terrible poverty towards God and a frightful ignorance of God’s truth make it possible for many people to be enslaved by sin. However, God doesn’t want anyone to continue to live apart from Him until they perish. He wants them to come to Him by faith for salvation. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).
God doesn’t want you to go through life carrying the heavy load of sin, which is, and always will be, slave labor. Just because you have had a sinful past doesn’t mean you can’t escape the slavery of sin in the future. Come to Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners, and find the wonderful freedom God wants you to have!
“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).
Find out how to be free from the worst possible debt in Two Ways to Deal With a Debt.
My Heart Is Heavy
Oh, my heart is heavy laden,
Weary and oppressed!
“Come to Me,” says One,
“And coming, be at rest!”
Has He marks to lead me to Him,
If He be my Guide?
In His feet and hands are wound prints,
And His side;
If I ask Him to receive me,
Will He turn away?
Not if earth and not if heaven
Pass away!
No Excuses
Where will you spend eternity? Will it be with those who are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, or will it be with those who will spend eternity in the lake of fire because they rejected God’s way of salvation?
Folks, we must all enter eternity, some of us sooner rather than later. If you do not know and trust the Lord as your own personal Saviour, if you have not bowed your knees to Him in repentance for your sins now, you will certainly stand before Him to be judged for your sins at the great white throne. You will bow the knee then, as you come before the holy and righteous Judge of all the earth. You will stand alone before God, in your sins — without a clever defense lawyer to defend you. There will be no reprieve and no escaping the just wrath of God then.
The Bible tells us of a coming day of judgment in very graphic detail. This is the scene that will take place with absolute solemnity and certainty: “I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).
Speechless
But who are these people who stand before the great white throne in the presence of the One from whom the earth and heaven flee away? They are the rich and poor, the famous and the unknown, the fearful and the self-confident, the just and the unjust, the kind and the cruel, the moral and the immoral, the religious and the infidel, the tolerant and the scoffer, those in authority and those under authority, the intelligent and the simple. Multitudes upon multitudes will stand before the One whom they rejected or neglected to receive as their Lord and Saviour: What excuse could they give to satisfy a righteous and holy God? What excuse would be good enough to save them from the certain doom of the lake of fire?
If you could make your excuses to God, what would you say? Today you might give the excuses I hear rolling smoothly from people’s mouths. In that day we are told, “His voice [is] as the sound of many waters” (Revelation 1:15). No other voice will be heard over that. None will dare to talk back the way they do to their mother, spouse, boss or government. What follows is how we think we will be able to talk to God — and the answers He now gives in His Word. But we know that all will be speechless before the Judge of all the earth. In that day, only the perfect righteousness of what He has to say will be heard in heaven.
Excuse #1: Blame the Hypocrites
“But Lord! But Lord! ... Do you know how hypocritical those Christians, those church people, are? Why, why! Do you know what that pastor did and said, and did you see how those so-called Christians acted? Why ... they thought they were better than everybody else! There was no way I was going to be like them!” Sadly, gravely, I hear the Lord respond, I didn’t say, Believe on the hypocrites. I said, “Believe Me” (John 14:11). And then the awful pronouncement: “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).
Excuse #2: I’m a Good Person
Yet again I hear, “But Lord! I was a good person! I never hurt anyone — in fact, I was known for my many good works of charity — I gave to the poor, I was kind to everyone, I was honest and upright and I never committed any act of immorality! Why, I was known for being a good person— everyone said so!” Friend, I hear the Lord respond, My holy Word said, “There is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Romans 3:12). Again, I hear Him say, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).
Excuse #3: I Always Meant To
“But Lord!” I now hear someone say, “But Lord! I meant to. I meant to receive you as my Lord and Saviour, but I just didn’t have enough time! How was I to know, how was I to know! that that car was going to cross over into my lane and hit me head on and I would die in that crash! All I needed was more time!” I hear others join in: “I was in perfect health ... how could I have known that I was going to have a heart attack and suddenly die!” “How could I possibly have known that the pilot of our plane was going to commit suicide and take us all to our deaths with him!” “And I ... I was just minding my own business when I was attacked by a swarm of bees and stung to death ... I had no time to repent of my sins! But I meant to!” Soberly and firmly I hear the Lord reply, I said, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). You knew the way of salvation, yet you chose to put it off until it was too late. Without reprieve, He will say, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).
Excuse #4: I Knew in My Head
“Wait a minute now, Lord, wait a minute!” I hear someone else say, “I believed that I was a sinner. I never doubted it! I knew that you died on Calvary’s cross and shed your precious blood for my sins. I knew that you died and rose from the dead and that you are the Saviour of sinners. Why, I had the most reverent feelings towards you, and I never took your name in vain! Isn’t that enough? After all, I’m no worse than any of these others here — in fact, I’m better than most! What more could you have possibly wanted?” Ah, I hear the Lord say, my friend, you were so close, and yet so far from the kingdom of God! You knew the way of salvation in your head, but you never repented of your sins and accepted Me as your personal Saviour. To know a set of facts is not good enough; I wanted the belief of your heart. It is written in My Word, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). Again, those solemn words ring out: “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).
Excuse #5:
I Never Heard
“But Lord!” I hear yet another protest, “I never even heard the way of salvation! How can you send me to the lake of fire when I never even knew how to be saved in the first place? It’s just not fair!” Solemnly, I hear the Lord reply, You have two witnesses to My existence: creation, and your spirit, for it is written, “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly” (Proverbs 20:27). Had you truly wanted to know the way of salvation, I would have revealed Myself to you, for I had promised: “Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Not only that, you had a daily witness in creation, for “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard” (Psalm 19:1-3). With finality, I hear Him say, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).
Excuse #6:
But Aren’t There Other Ways to God?
In desperation, yet another voice is raised: “But Lord! All my life I’ve heard ‘God is love’ and ‘All paths lead to God’ — do you mean to say that this is false?” Yes, I hear the Lord respond, both statements were used by Satan to deceive a person as to the only way of salvation. It is true that God is love, for it is written, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God showed His love to mankind by giving His Son to die on Calvary’s cross for your sins. Though it is true that ‘God is love,’ it is also true that ‘God is light,’ for it is written, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Because I am holy, just and pure, I cannot tolerate even one sin in My presence. As to the statement, ‘All paths lead to God,’ what you really meant was, ‘All paths lead to heaven.’ This lie came directly from Satan and has sent countless millions to a lost eternity. It was not for man to choose the way or means by which to enter My heaven, for it is written, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). Again, I hear the awful verdict, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).
But now the protests become even more frantic — “Lord, Lord! Millions of us have been told that Allah was the way!” Other voices join in with — “We were told that Buddha was the way ... Confucius was the way ... Communism was the way ... Mormonism was the way ... Jehovah’s Witness was the way ... the Virgin Mary was the way ... Why, Lord! It was our culture, our lifestyle! We were sincere believers in what we were told, even devoting our lives to it! Some of us even died for our beliefs!” In horror, I hear them exclaim, “You mean to say that all of this is worthless?” With infinite sadness I hear Him respond, As sincere as you were in your beliefs, you were deceived. I never said to come unto Me by any of these ways, for it is written, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). I was not interested in your good works, for it is written, “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Furthermore, I told you clearly how to come unto Me, for it is written, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). I gave each and every one of you a mind to search out the truth and a heart and spirit to know the truth. With unalterable finality, I hear the words, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).
Excuse #7: But I’m a Tolerant
Person in a Tolerant Culture
I hear others attempt to justify themselves with the claim, “But Lord! I lived in a culture where it was not acceptable to speak of religion or of one’s beliefs. We were a tolerant people — we believed that this was the best and only way to live peaceably among ourselves concerning these matters. We accepted everyone, regardless of their religion, practices and behaviors. After all, we couldn’t favor one above another!” Sternly, the reply comes: I know it well. You were tolerant of every religion, belief and evil practice. You rejected the truth because you loved your sins and did not want even the remembrance of God in your thoughts. Truly, it was well written, “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not [suitable]” (Romans 1:28). Because you rejected Me, I cannot accept you into My holy presence. In truth, My holy Word declared, “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man” (Romans 2:1). Because their names were NOT written in the book of life, swift and sure sentence was passed: “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23).
No Excuses
Seriously folks, do these answers really satisfy you? Because God loves you, He offers you a free and full salvation. You now have the opportunity to choose one of two options: bow the knee now in repentance before God and receive eternal life, or bow the knee before God at the great white throne and pass into eternal darkness, without God and without hope. If you receive Him as your Lord and Saviour now, you will spend eternity with Him, where “Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
An Old Crime Exposed
How would you feel if you were fired from your job for something that you did many years ago? That is exactly what happened to Richard Eggers, who was 68 years old and had been working as a customer service representative for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage for seven years. When the company ran his fingerprints and did a background check, they discovered that he had a previous conviction for fraud. When he was 19 years old, he had tried to use a cardboard dime in a laundromat machine for a free load of wash. Not only did his cardboard dime fail to work, but the sheriff walked in the door and caught him red-handed. He was convicted and ended up serving two days in jail. “It was a stupid stunt. I’m not proud of it, but I don’t think that it warrants a termination almost a half a century later,” Mr. Eggers said.
Another employee who worked for the same bank, Yolanda Quesada, who was 58 years old at the time, was also fired. When a background check was run, it was discovered that she had a conviction for shoplifting clothes from a department store as a teenager. Even though she had paid the required $50.00 fine at the time, she was still fired over the incident. “I think there’s more important things in life than something that I did 40 years ago,” she told local ABC affiliate KLTV.
These two people were not alone. Thousands of others were fired at the same time. Because of the global financial crisis in 2007, new rules were implemented banning banks from employing anyone with a prior conviction having to do with breech of trust, dishonesty or money laundering. Failure to follow these new rules could result in a banking institution being fined up to $1 million a day. Instead of making exceptions in certain cases, the banks played it safe and fired anyone with a previous conviction of a crime.
Our Lives in Review
Neither Richard Eggers nor Yolanda Quesada ever imagined that these old crimes would ever be brought up again. Yet God’s Word tells us, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12). Those of us who do know the Lord Jesus as our Saviour will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ where our lives will be reviewed and what is done for Him will be rewarded. Those who do not know the Lord as their Saviour will stand before God at the Great White Throne where they will be judged according to the sins that they have committed. What a solemn, terrible scene that will be! Here is how God’s Word describes it: “I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. ... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15).
Richard Eggers did not feel that something he had done 49 years ago was a fair and just reason to fire him. After all, he had already paid for his crime, and so had Yolanda Quesada. With the help of a lawyer, he appealed through the FDIC waiver system and won his case. Because of sin, there is much injustice in this world, and many acts of cruelty, violence and unfairness are committed. But the Bible tells us of One who is always just and fair and cannot sin. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). Because God loved us, He sent His only Son to die and shed His blood on Calvary’s cross. This means that the Lord Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins. God, who cannot lie, makes this promise: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When we receive God’s free gift of salvation, we have this beautiful promise: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions [sins] from us” (Psalm 103:12). We can now enter into God’s holy presence without fear of condemnation — fear of being judged for our sins. Oh! please do not reject God’s free gift of salvation or you will have to stand before God at the Great White Throne in all of your sins and be judged for every one of them. It will not matter how small or harmless or trivial or unimportant they seemed to you — God is just, and you will have to suffer the eternal consequences of being in your sins when you meet Him. Why not receive His Son as your Lord and Saviour now while it is not too late?
Money troubles have been around for a long time, as you’ll be reminded in Banned.
On Closing the Deal of a Lifetime
Once in a lifetime, a deal comes along that is so sweet that it can make those who know how to close on it truly rich. It’s fair that such a deal is presented to everyone, but whether they can close on this deal depends on how they respond. Here are three tips to help you close on the deal of a lifetime.
Tip 1: Go through life with your eyes and ears open.
We need to go through life with our eyes and ears open, so that when the greatest of all deals is presented to us, we will recognize its value and worth. The greatest of all deals is the offer of eternal life from God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, which comes to undeserving sinners. No other transaction even comes close to it. He takes those who deserve death and hell for the things they have done, and in love and mercy He washes away their sins and makes them fit for heaven. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Through faith in Christ, sinners can receive the incredible gift of eternal life. What an offer! It is an offer you can’t afford to pass by!
It’s quite possible to go through life with eyes and ears closed, so that a person sees neither the frightful reality of sin nor God’s tremendous love. The Lord Jesus said, “This people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15). Don’t go through life with your eyes closed! Open them up wide so that you may see the wonders of God’s love and be converted to faith in Christ.
Tip 2: Be honest.
In our dealings with God, you can absolutely depend on His “honesty.” He says what He means and means what He says. Has He made a promise? Then He will surely keep it. “Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). Not once in the history of the universe has He failed to keep a promise He has made. Nor will He ever fail to keep one in the future. You can depend on it.
He wants us to be honest too. How quick we are to pretend to have qualities we don’t really possess. We do this to impress others. Don’t pretend to have a righteousness you don’t really have. He knows all about you. He says that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). We might deceive other men and women who are as gullible and dishonest as ourselves, but we will never deceive God.
Oh, have an honest heart! Leave those sins with Jesus. His blood can wash them away and make you whiter than snow. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
Tip 3: Have confidence that the other party will keep His word.
In order to close the greatest of deals, it is necessary to have faith and to put that faith in the right person. The Lord Jesus is the One you want to trust in, because He was both God and man in the same person. He lived a perfect life on earth, and then yielded up His life as an atonement for sinners. The Bible states clearly that all those who believe in Christ, no matter their past, will be saved. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).
Faith is a simple trust that what another person says is true. Those who believe in Christ have confidence that He will do all that He says, and that includes giving the gift of eternal life to those who believe.
People on earth may have all sorts of life: animal life, intellectual life, night life; they might be the life of a party, or by eating right and exercising they may strive to live a healthy life. But all these other types of life will vanish away and disappear in the darkness of a lost eternity if the person does not have eternal life through the Lord Jesus. When a person dies apart from Christ, they will be fully conscious and capable of suffering. The worst suffering of hell is that souls will fully know that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), but will be completely cut off from Him. What a dismal, bleak, empty future awaits those who never come to Christ. The sufferings of hell will be so intense that souls will continually grind and gnash their teeth in pain. “And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:50).
The time to get right with God is in this life before it is forever too late. Oh, that as a sinner you might place your faith in the risen Saviour who alone can save the lost and give you eternal life!
Following the above advice will help you successfully close on the deal of a lifetime which will make you rich with eternal life. Then, for all eternity, you may glory in the presence of Him who loved you and gave His life to save you. You will be able to glory in these riches while those who have never closed this deal will suffer in hell.
Don’t let the Saviour pass you by, but call out to Him who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). No one ever loved you like He does.
Find out more about the destruction caused by sin and how to escape from it in The Hurtful Lie.
Rescued From the Rubble
The rubble, dust and dirt were products of the renovation project in the bathroom. But staring out from underneath it all was a small glistening object. Turns out the plumber in Calgary, Alberta, had uncovered a heavy $50,000 gold bar the size of a cell phone. It had the jeweler’s stamp on it as well as its serial number. The owners were thrilled, of course.
The news brought to mind Jesus’ story about the woman who lost a coin and who swept and searched the house until she found it. It says she also rejoiced. See Luke 15.
Through neglect or carelessness, your life may be like the lost gold bar. Maybe life is mostly an environment of dusty rubble, of mislaid plans, broken promises and disappointing results. Maybe, as in the case in Calgary, there is a personal renovation job going on, an attempt to reform and restart, to turn a new page. But you’re finding it difficult to get out of the rubble.
Remember this: In our ruin we still show the stamp of our Creator’s work — and retain our value to Him. And you have your own serial number in your personal DNA. In your darkness and loneliness, you still have the same value that God put upon you. That has never changed, and that’s why God never stops looking for you.
In fact, it is God who has initiated the search in the debris of our sinful world. It is God who sent Jesus here to sweep, to search, to turn the light on, and to pursue the lost sinner. He came here and lived among sinners, among the filth and debris, yet He was without sin. In rich grace, He went as far as the death of the cross where God’s wrath fell on Him, because of my sin.
How could humans ever invent a God like this, a God who seeks and saves unworthy sinners, because they have an undiminished value in His heart of love? Where else is there a God like this who seeks out His enemies and makes them His friends?
It is God’s hand that can pick you up and restore you to the usefulness He intended for you when He made you. You are the object of His search. In the story Jesus told, the woman searched until she found her precious coin. God is not quitting either.
There is a verse in John 3 in the Bible that sums up these thoughts, that speaks of the worth you have to Him and the cost of His search. It says that God loved this evil world so much that He gave us Jesus, and everyone who believes in Him will not stay lost forever, but will have eternal life, right now.
The exact words are: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
The Safe Zone
Do you want a safe zone in your life? A place where hurt and harm can never come? A place of joy and happiness? A place where all heartbreak and tears are absent? A place of complete security and safety? A place full of people, and not one of them will ever accuse you, find fault with you or try to use you, but everyone will treat you with the purest love and greatest respect?
Does such a place exist? Such a place definitely exists! Heaven is the one and only “Safe Zone,” and according to the Bible, we all have the opportunity to get there through the Lord Jesus Christ who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Christ is the way, because it is only through faith in Him that our sins can be forgiven. “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 13:38). By His life, He also showed us the most excellent way to live. His life was perfect in every virtue, and He always pleased God. Twice during His earthly ministry, a voice came down from heaven saying, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). God wants us to turn away from sin and to strive to please Him in all we do, act, think and say. From the moment we are saved to the moment we enter the safe zone of heaven, God wants us to act more and more like His beloved Son. “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able” (Luke 13:24).
The Lord Jesus is the truth, because He fully revealed God the Father. He told one of His followers, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). The truth He proclaimed had no mixture of falsehood in it. Therefore everything He taught can be trusted. Coming to know Jesus Christ, who is the truth, is like coming out of darkness into a light where we can see things clearly, as they really are. One thing the Lord Jesus taught was that those who love and trust Him will be with Him in heaven. “In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). The place He went to prepare for those who love Him will exceed every expectation.
Jesus Christ is the life also. He is the life because He arose victorious over the grave, and He promises that all those who believe in Him will share in His resurrection life. Moreover, He is God and co-eternal with the Father. He is uncreated life and calls men to share in this life by faith and love. Down here we are called to live by faith, but in heaven faith will give way to wonderful sight. With our eyes, we will see Him who is the life, and the sight will fill our hearts with wonderful joy that will never grow old.
God wants you to come to repentance and faith in Christ so that you might have a home in heaven. This heaven will be the best of all places, a veritable safe zone. Don’t miss out on it, because if you miss out on heaven, you’ll not be allowed to miss out on hell. By choosing to reject the Lord Jesus Christ, people choose hell for themselves.
Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.” Won’t you come to know Him so that one day you can enter the safe zone of heaven?
Saved Through Measles
“May I help you?” the salesclerk asked a sailor who had just entered a Bible store in Singapore one afternoon.
“No,” he replied, “I only want to select some books, and I like to help myself.”
When he had chosen several books and brought them to the sales desk, he said, “These books are for our ship’s library. Until a few months ago I would not have been interested in such reading, but now good Christian literature is such a joy to me.
“I’m a seaman. Our ship is in port for several days. When I came ashore I saw your book display in the window.
“Some months ago,” he continued, “we were on a round trip from New York to South Pacific ports, north again through the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic Ocean. The trip takes about three months.
“As we left the last port, out of all the ship’s company, I was the one who contracted the measles. I was so sick that when we put into a port in India, the captain put me ashore in a hospital while the ship continued on its way.
“It was a sad day for me when I saw everybody embark for home while I had to stay — a complete stranger in a foreign port.
“Time passed very slowly. As I was in isolation, I had no contact with anyone but the hospital staff. It was then that I discovered an English Bible in my room. It was the only book of any description available, so I began to read it. There was nothing else to do.
“But as I continued to read, I felt the Spirit of God speaking to me. I read, ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23), and I realized I was a lost sinner in the presence of a holy God.
“Thank God the message did not stop there. I also read that ‘Christ died for our sins’ (1 Corinthians 15:3), and ‘the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin’ (1 John 1:7). This wonderful Word of God brought life and light and liberty to my hopeless, dark heart, and now through grace I am a new man in Christ Jesus. My sins are gone!
“In due course, our ship came around again and picked me up. We are on our way home now.”
Who would have guessed that a case of measles would result in eternal blessing to a soul?
Many people place more confidence in science than the Bible. Even when they hear true stories like the big change that came over the young seaman, they remain skeptical. But there’s a way to be free of that skepticism. Find out how in Who Knows What to Believe?
Saviours of the Jews at Riga
On the staircase wall as you enter into the Jewish Museum in Riga, Latvia, there is a large display entitled, “Saviours of the Jews at Riga.” It is dedicated to a number of ordinary citizens who hid Jewish people in their homes to save them from the Nazis during the years of World War II. If you looked closely at this display, you would see that these people came from various walks of life, both male and female, and that it cost many of them their lives.
These brave folks deserve the title of “saviour,” because they helped save others who almost certainly would have perished in the Occupation. They are examples of extreme courage and compassion and deserve to be honored.
Another Saviour
It is good to know such inspiring stories, but there is another Saviour who everyone in this world ought to know. This Saviour left His wonderful home above and came to save those who were held by an enemy’s hostile power. This hostile power has marked out men and women for eternal death.
This world is a place where sin and corruption cause tremendous turmoil. Because of sin, every person in this world needs the Saviour. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). A Saviour is needed, because men and women in their own strength cannot escape the hold that sin has on their lives.
To deliver sinners from the power of sin, the Lord Jesus let Himself be nailed to Calvary’s cross. He died in the place of sinners, so that sinners might have a way to be forgiven and receive the gift of eternal life.
Here are three, all-important reasons why you should believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation:
First, the salvation He offers is an everlasting salvation. It will outlast this life and never end for all eternity. This is the kind of Saviour we need, because these souls of ours will never go out of existence. Those who turn to God for salvation will live forever in heaven, while those who never turn from their sin will end up in the horrors of hell. From the Bible we learn that hell is a place of intense suffering that will never end. It is a place where death never dies — a place to be avoided at all cost. If you would avoid hell, then come believing to Christ and make Him your Saviour. “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Second, the Lord Jesus is able to save anyone who comes to Him. The heroes listed in the Latvian museum had limits as to what they could do. The Lord Jesus can do this because He is more than just a man. He is both man and God in the same person. As man He could suffer death. As God, His death has an infinite power to save. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
Third, the Lord Jesus is the only One who can deliver us from our great enemy. The hostile enemy power that tries to lead people to eternal death is Satan. He is an angel — a spirit with immense power. He rebelled against God and is filled with hatred for God and God’s interests. He does all he can to keep as many as possible in the dark about spiritual truths. His goal is to have them miss out on God’s greatest blessing. The Lord Jesus is the only One who can deliver sinners from Satan’s power.
The men and women listed as the saviours of the Jews in Riga on the museum display rightly deserve to be honored. The Lord Jesus deserves not only honor, but the worship and love of every heart, for what He has done on the cross. Don’t spend another day in the darkness of sin. Come to the Lord Jesus and receive the everlasting salvation He offers today!
The Life on the Cross Matters will tell you much more about the only true Saviour.
The Smashed Face
Its gorgeous smashed face carries a powerful message. Its French hands stretch out in mute and powerful testimony. Three hundred and thirty-four years ago its little twitching stopped.
On the morning of June 7, 1692, Port Royal, Jamaica, lay lethargically in the oppressive tropical heat without the slightest breeze to ruffle the English flags flying over its six forts. The water lay smooth as glass in the large harbor. Bigger than New York City, only Boston could rival its size and sophistication in the British Americas. Rum, pirated gold, sugar and a vicious slave trade fueled a booming economy. Wealthy traders strutted the streets in fashionable London finery while side-stepping drunken pirates and passing the hundreds of bars and bold prostitutes in the town no more than ¼ mile long and half that wide.
Once in a while little tremors made the pictures on the wall rattle but nothing stopped the glasses clinking together in a town with a bar for every 10 inhabitants. Another little earthquake was nothing to lose sleep over. A slave rebellion — now that would be a big deal. London’s tea was sweetened with Jamaican sugar cane harvested by tens of thousands of imported slaves.
On June 7, Dr. Emmanuel Heath, the rector of the local Anglican church, sat chatting amiably with John White, the head of the local council. A tremor shook their table. Heath turned to his companion: “Lord, Sir, what’s this?” White nonchalantly replied, “It is an earthquake; be not afraid; it will soon be over.” Looking out the window as the tremors intensified, they could see the steeple of the Anglican church crumble, bringing the great bell down with it. Both men bolted for safety.
The Race for Safety
Heath, bricks from crumbling houses on either side of the street rolling across his feet, raced for the three-story-tall stone fortress that lay on the edge of town. Glancing toward his place of safety, he felt a sudden chill — a massive wall of salt water was cresting over the whole place. There was no doubt in his mind — this was judgment day. Heath headed for home to meet death there.
Water surged up through the sandy soil of Port Royal, launching some inhabitants high into the air. Others were sucked downward into subterranean caverns and sluiced along the sewer-like streams to be violently shot upward somewhere else in town. One man sucked into the sandy soil of the dirty street was swept along in the underground river until he shot up through the floorboards and was deposited inside a distant house — bruised, battered and alive. Others were yanked down into the liquefied earth until only their heads showed aboveground. Then the water was vacuumed completely out of the soil, causing it to tighten its cement-like grip on their bodies, squeezing out every vestige of air.
The long dead resting in the cemeteries were summarily exhumed and deposited, together with the newly dead, in the harbor. For weeks the fish from beneath and the fowls from above feasted on the results.
Somehow Dr. Heath reached his front door and stepped inside. Not a single picture hung even half an inch out of place. Crowds began to gather outside in the street in front of his house. Dr. Heath ran to meet them and led them in prayer. A couple hundred yards away timbers cracked, bricks crashed to the ground as homes were smashed, people screamed, and waterspouts burst a hundred feet in the air from the middle of city streets. Unknown to him, Heath’s house wasn’t built on sand but on a huge coral mass. Millions of tiny sea creatures had died and joined together in a hardened mass that gave him a firm foundation on Port Royal’s judgment day. That reminds me of another death that creates the only place safe from the wrath of God: “And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:9).
The smashed face of the designer pocket watch, designed by the French maker Blondel, stopped with its hands pointing to 11:43 a.m. Six minutes after it began, the quake was over. Time had run out for 35% of the town population carried off by the waves or buried in the sand. In the ensuing three weeks, disease and injuries claimed another 35%.
It wasn’t as though there had been no warning. But the warnings were ignored. God warns us about sin too. It’s rather hard to miss the point of “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). But many dismiss such bold messages because God doesn’t tend to bring immediate judgment on sin. Too many abuse the fact that “the Lord ... is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Like the citizens of Port Royal who scoffed at the little tremors that shook the town, they ignore the warning signs of coming disaster. But on June 7, 1692, at 11:43 a.m., the smashed face of the pocket watch recorded the end of Port Royal. When will your clock stop ticking?
A Change of Heart
Like the scavengers in the harbor, scavengers on land broke down the remaining locked doors and looted every chest of gold and every valuable they could lay their hands on. Pirates who’d been lifted from their drunken stupor on the beach and been dumped inland by the tsunami drifted back down into the town to pick up where they had left off. The salt waters that swept through the town hadn’t swept their hearts clean. What they wanted on the morning of June 7, they still wanted in the evening. But the city of Port Royal was finished. It struggled to its knees but never managed to stand up. Within a few years, it sank back down and lay as a comatose backwater for the rest of history. Time had run out on its day of glory.
Every person that’s ever lived has a reckoning day. For some the change of heart comes while their life-clock is still ticking. It comes when they recognize their need of a whole new life that only God can give. Some quietly in their hearts and some more openly cry out, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Others scoff at the idea that life ends in anything more than a gray and misty nothingness. The twinges and tremors of doubt are something to be ignored and laughed off as superstition. They will have their reckoning day after the hands on their life-clock stop forever. “I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12).
When will your time run out?
Find out more about the consequences of trifling with sin in A High-Risk Selfie.
Sudden Disaster
I
t was a calm, clear and beautiful evening in Mexico City on November 4, 2008. In the heart of the city’s financial district, the streets were clogged with rush-hour traffic. Everything seemed normal as people made their way home from a busy day of work. No one could have foreseen the fiery disaster that was soon to overtake them.
At about 6:45 p.m., a Learjet 45 was coming in for a landing at the nearby airport when it suddenly flipped over and plummeted from the sky, crashing to the ground among cars, pedestrians and buildings in a blaze of fire. Witnesses stated that the flames rose above the tops of the skyscrapers in the inferno and carnage that followed. All eight people aboard the Learjet were killed, along with six people on the ground. Forty bystanders were seriously injured, 1,200 residents had to be evacuated, and 30 cars were destroyed. It was a dreadful disaster!
The nation and world were shocked to learn that the Learjet had been carrying the Secretary of the Interior (with similar duties to the Vice President of the U.S.) along with five other high-level officials, who had been involved in Mexico’s battle against powerful drug cartel lords. Was the plane sabotaged? Was there a bomb on board? The pressure was intense to quickly find the cause of this catastrophe.
Surprising Discovery
After a careful and thorough investigation, it was determined that the Learjet was following too close behind a Mexicana Boeing 767, which was a much heavier plane. Because the weather was so calm, there was no wind to dissipate the wake turbulence from the Mexicana plane, causing it to linger in the air much longer than usual, creating a “wall” for the smaller plane to fly into. The crew of the Learjet had neither the experience nor the altitude to recover their plane — they barely had time to realize that they were going to die! They ended up hitting the ground at over 300 miles per hour.
But why were the pilots not more cautious, especially considering the high-level officials they were responsible for? After further investigation, including listening to the cockpit voice recorder, several factors were revealed:
• The pilots didn’t successfully control their speed or their altitude.
• The pilots didn’t seem to know how to operate the plane’s controls.
• They flew faster than the speed given by the air-traffic controller, causing them to come too close to the Mexicana plane.
• Several times proper information was not entered into the cockpit instruments.
• They did not follow a proper flight plan, and they had navigational difficulties.
• Most shockingly of all, the real reason for the confusion in the cockpit was that neither pilot had the proper certification; therefore they were not qualified to fly the plane! Certification forms were missing or unsigned by their flight school. The commanding pilot claimed to have taken training flights he hadn’t taken; he claimed to be a Learjet instructor when he wasn’t and part of a Learjet training team when he wasn’t. He was a fraud!
It was the pilots’ own fraud and deception that led to a fatal outcome. The prospect of a special government charter job might have seemed like a good enough reason to fake their competence, but it led them into a situation which they couldn’t handle — with dire consequences. Not only did they lose their lives, but their deceitfulness also caused the deaths of other innocent people.
What About You?
What about you? Are you deceiving yourself about your eternal well-being? If you are, you will suffer the consequences in a lost eternity, forever. God has clearly told us the way of salvation; none of us will be able to deceive the Lord or fake our salvation when we stand before Him. “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). No doubt the crew of the Learjet convinced themselves that deception and fraud was the right thing to do considering the circumstances, but they found out that they were wrong ... too late, too late! “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
The Lord Jesus told a parable (a simple story to illustrate a moral or spiritual truth) about a man who was a fraud. But he was found out. Here is the story that Jesus told: “When the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless” (Matthew 22:11-12). You, like this man, will have no excuse for rejecting God’s offer of salvation. Jesus, who is faithful to warn us, tells us what happened to this man. “Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:13). What a horrible and terrifying end for this man to come to!
While you now have time and life, make the choice to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, for God “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). Because God does not want to see anyone perish, He “now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). “The wages of sin is death [hell]; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Like the man in the parable, we cannot enter into God’s presence with our sins unforgiven; we all need a garment of salvation. Here is a promise from God: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Your choice WILL have eternal consequences — accept God’s gracious offer of salvation today, while you are able!
Our time is limited, but God’s resources to pay our debt of sin are not. Find out the details in Bankruptcy.
There'll Hanging forThis
A gentleman was preaching the gospel in a large English town. He told the story of God’s love to lost sinners fully and clearly. Slowly some listeners drifted away and others filled their places. The newcomers showed too plainly that they had come only to cause trouble.
After a while they gave vent to their anger in loud, rough interruptions, and as the preacher continued speaking, their rage overcame them. One hurled a stone at him. This signal led to a general onslaught, and all of them rushed at the defenseless man and overpowered him.
It was a short struggle before one powerful man knocked the preacher to the ground, where he lay stunned and, to all appearances, dead. In the stunned silence that followed, the rough mob looked awestruck at the still figure. Turning to the one who had delivered the blow, one of the men remarked, “I say, there’ll be hanging for this.”
The criminal cast a terrified glance around and ran for his life. On, on, he rushed through unfrequented alleys and byways of the great town, and at last he ducked into the filthy place he called home. A little boy was the only occupant.
“What’s the matter, Father?” he asked timidly.
“What’s that to you?” the man replied harshly, but then he added nervously, “I must hide, Willie. Where can I go?”
The child looked around the room in a terrified way and pointed to the attic. The man, after some fierce threats as to what he would do if the child allowed him to be discovered, climbed up into the only place of concealment.
Night came and slipped slowly away. The words, “There’ll be hanging for this,” rang in his ears until he was almost frenzied with fear. Hanging meant death, and death was a terrible thing. It meant the end of life, the end of everything. But was it the end of everything? Something told him it wasn’t; something whispered back the nearly forgotten words: “After death the judgment.” And the preacher had just been telling them the way of escape from judgment. Why had he not listened?
Morning came and found him still hiding. He didn’t dare to venture out, so he sent his little boy to buy him a little tobacco for his pipe.
The child returned from his errand with the tobacco wrapped up in a page of an old Bible, which the shopkeeper was tearing apart to wrap up her products. Anything was welcome to break the monotony, and he turned gladly to read the page. It was Hebrews 9, and as he read slowly down, he stopped suddenly at verse 22: “Without shedding of blood is no remission.” What did it mean? Did God say that he must die? Was there no forgiveness for him, even from God? He knew he deserved the death penalty from man, but had his sins forfeited his life to God? Those were dreadful hours! At last he could bear it no longer, and he sent the boy once more to the shop for more tobacco, hoping to receive another leaf which might tell him more.
Meanwhile other customers had come and gone; the woman was tearing away at the Bible. This time the tobacco was folded up in the first chapter of John’s first epistle. The words of the seventh verse met the man’s eye: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” What a message from God to his sin-burdened soul! Blood had been shed for his sin — the blood of God’s own Son. But how much of his sin did the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanse away? Not — surely not — the sin of last night. Yes, the words were “all sin,” and in this fact the man who was hiding from human justice found refuge from divine justice in the blood shed for him.
Finally news reached him that the gentleman whom they had left for dead had not been killed, as they supposed, but he had recovered and was preaching again. He immediately went and confessed everything, and he was welcomed and forgiven.
A Ticket to Happiness?
In August 2013, Willie Seeley and his coworkers won the $450 million Powerball lottery. During the presentation ceremony, Willie said that they were “happy, happy, happy ... ” which caused a lot of good-natured laughter. But it was short lived. Just weeks later, he told NBC News that he was miserable, stating that his life was a non-stop drama. There were constant calls from long-lost relatives and TV executives, plus a change of lifestyle. His wife even called winning the lottery a curse! Another Powerball winner, a Florida man who won $13 million was murdered.
Are you searching for security and happiness? Many people feel that there is security in money and that if only they could win the lottery, their lives would become easy and carefree. “The perception is that you’re never going to worry about money again. In fact, you’re going to have to worry about it more than you ever, ever have before,” Paul Golden, a financial expert said. “Everyone believes that money is going to bring them happiness, but there’s no real evidence of that,” Ron Riggio, who has studied past lottery winners, said.
Most people are giddy with happiness after winning the lottery. However, they are unprepared to handle the responsibility of finances or the emotional challenges and strain on relationships that can come with it. Such was the case with Alex Toth and his wife. In 1990, he won $13 million and opted for 20 yearly payments of $666,666. At first, they intended to live quiet, normal lives, but after years of poverty, the pull of all of that money was too great. After years of living the high life, it was revealed that the couple had filed false income tax returns and had also filed for bankruptcy. Now in poor health, at 59 years of age, Mr. Toth checked himself into a mental facility. He died penniless at age 60 before the tax evasion case could go to trial. When asked about the money, his wife said, “It caused us to lose a lot of friends, some family members,” and “sometimes I wish we could give it back.”
William Post, another lottery winner of $16.2 million, made the statement: “Everybody dreams of winning money, but nobody realizes the nightmares that come out of the woodwork.” He too ended up losing it all after wild spending and lavish living. Along with the wild spending and lavish living came a brother who hired a hit man to kill him and his sixth wife, a former landlord who sued him for a third of the jackpot (and won), and a host of financial debt because of over-spending. “I was much happier when I was broke,” he concluded.
Hunting for Happiness
There is a story in the Bible of a young man who thought that money, wealth and possessions could give him happiness. One day he came to his father and asked him to give him his inheritance. A few days later, he went into “a far country” and “there wasted his substance with riotous living.” I am sure that he had many friends to help him spend his money and possessions. At first he was happy — very happy indeed! Life was good to him, as long as he had his wealth and money and could spend it in any way he wanted. But all was not well; we are told that he “spent all.” He also lost all of his friends. Now he was all alone, and things were about to get even worse, for we are told that a severe famine gripped the land. In order to survive, he took a job feeding pigs. All alone, with no one to help him and so desperate for food that he wanted to eat the husks given to the pigs, he finally “came to himself.” This means that he repented, for he said to himself, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.” And so it was that he made the long journey back to his father. After confession was made and communion was restored between father and son, a feast was prepared where “they began to be merry.” You can read this wonderful story for yourself in Luke 15.
These people thought that winning a lot of money would bring them happiness, but they were soon disappointed. They did not understand where true happiness comes from. The Bible, God’s Word, tells us with absolute certainty how we can be happy. The first thing that we must do is to accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Once we accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, He wants us to obey Him and to live in communion with Him. As we behave in a way that pleases Him, we have “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). When we trust Him as our Saviour, He also gives us the Holy Spirit, which energizes us to live for Him. Some of the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within us are joy, peace and love (Galatians 5:22). The true Christian who pleases the Lord in his life can experience “a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). True joy and happiness comes from within when we give our hearts and lives over to the Lord Jesus. Will you come to Him today?
It’s not just chasing the big bucks that causes problems. In An Old Crime Exposed you’ll find that even “little” money matters can come back to haunt us.
Tornado Alley
In 1952, two U.S. Air Force meteorologists used the term “Tornado Alley” as a title of a research project in which they investigated the severe weather patterns in the middle of the U.S.A.
The term stuck around and has come to refer to any place where tornados frequently occur. Are you living in an area that might be known as a tornado alley? If you are, you’d better have a plan for what to do if you run into one of these destructive storms.
Do you know that the whole world is a kind of tornado alley? This is so because men choose to live apart from God in a state of sin, and sooner or later, God will punish sin.
Like a whirlwind, or a tornado, God’s judgment will fall on those who never get right with their Creator. When it falls, it will bring desolation, destruction, distress and anguish. Proverbs 1:24-27 reads, “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at naught all My counsel, and would none of My reproof: I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as a desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish come upon you.”
Those who never repent and turn by faith to the Lord Jesus will come into judgment. God’s judgments will fall on them both in this life and in the life to come. In this life, the judgment may come suddenly, without warning, like a tornado. And in the life to come, the darkness and desolation of hell is real. It is what looms ahead for each one who dies without a saving faith in Christ. “The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). The distress and anguish of souls lost in hell will be forever! It will never cease!
God doesn’t want men and women to remain insensible to the dangers they are in until it is too late to do anything about it. He wants them to stop dead in their tracks, realize their lost condition, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
There is no forgiveness or salvation apart from Christ. On the cross He paid the terrible price for sin. From His pierced side, His blood poured forth, and His blood has the power to wash away sins. If your sins were ten thousand times worse than they actually are, His blood could still wash you clean the moment you genuinely believed. Ephesians 1:7 reads, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
If you are living apart from Christ, make no mistake about it. You are not safe. The world is a tornado alley. Where will you hide from His wrath if you reject the Saviour? How will you avoid the darkness and desolation of hell without faith in Jesus Christ?
There is nowhere to turn but to Him who died for sinners on the cross and then arose from the grave. He is the sinner’s only refuge.
Oh be wise, and come to Christ! “Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:15). Will you be one who believes in Him and finds salvation in His name?
God’s goodness and His justice aren’t incompatible. They actually fit together beautifully, as you’ll see in Amnesty for All.
Two Ways to Deal With a Debt
There is a large personal debt that every person has incurred which must be paid in full. This debt is of far greater significance than any mortgage, credit card debt or student loan. How we handle this debt will determine our future welfare, so the utmost care should be exercised when dealing with it.
This personal debt is the debt of sin before God. Each one of us has incurred this debt when we have sinned and done things which were displeasing in His sight. The Bible says, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). There are two ways of dealing with this debt.
The first way to have it paid is to repent of our sins and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ — the Saviour of sinners. On Calvary’s cross, the Lord Jesus suffered, died and paid the terrible debt of sin for all those who would believe on Him. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).
His death can put away sin because of who He is. He is both God and man in the same person. As man He could suffer death. His death has infinite value to cancel the debt of sin.
When the Lord Jesus was crucified, cruel men drove nails through His hands and feet into the beams of wood. Then the cross was pulled upright. Arms open wide, the Lord Jesus was lifted up between heaven and earth. But it wasn’t only the nails that held Him to the cross. It was also His love to lost sinners. He knew if He didn’t come and die in their place, there would be no way for them to escape the debt of everlasting punishment their sins deserve. God the Father’s love is deep and measureless in giving His Son to die for sinners. The same love that brought the Lord Jesus to the cross is in the world today, calling sinners to return to God and believe on Him for salvation. Do you know how much you are loved? This much — Christ Himself died in love for you.
Your Personal Decision
You have a personal decision to make. Will you believe on the One who loved you and gave His life to save you? I hope and pray your answer is “yes.” Christ Jesus is a personal Saviour who can put away the personal debt of sin each person owes. He is willing to do this the moment we put our faith in Him. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
The second way to deal with this debt is as dark and dismal as the first way is full of light and love. Those who die in their sins, who have never come to Christ for forgiveness, will pay for their sins in the darkness of hell. The intense sufferings of hell will never cease. “If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:47-48).
If you are reluctant to believe in hell, please consider the following three truths. First, the Lord Jesus spoke more about hell than any other person in the Bible. The One who taught men to love their enemies and to turn the other cheek spoke plainly and with great force about the suffering of the wicked in hell. Second, consider that sometimes people suffer intensely over long periods of time in this life. If people suffer in this life, why should anyone think it impossible to suffer in eternity? And third, in a very real sense, it is not God who chooses that people go to hell. People themselves make that choice when, in the hardness of their hearts, they refuse God’s offer of grace, love and salvation. Somebody once said, “Those hearts must be harder than iron and stone that will not be softened by Christ’s love.” Won’t you let your heart be softened by His love and come to the Saviour?
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
We Can't Afford to Fail
“If you’re wounded, I can take care of you. If you’re dead, I can’t” (medic on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, June 6, 1944, 4:00 a.m., Ste. Mère Église, Normandy, France).
Lt. Col. Ed Krause of the 101St Airborne managed to gather together 180 men and get on the road to their predawn objective of Ste. Mère Église. As his men approached the town in the predawn darkness, the blazing hay barn that had illuminated Pvt. Russell’s descent was extinguished. No sentries hidden in the hedgerows leading into town sounded the alarm. No sniper selected a target and silently pressed the trigger as paratroopers armed with artillery, machine guns, rifles, .45 service revolvers and knives crept slowly along toward the garrison. Krause reached the edge of town without knowing if he had crept into an ambush or not.
General Eisenhower had been preparing for this moment since he’d taken command in January. Upon taking command, he immediately moved his headquarters from a mansion in London, where interruptions were frequent and the nightlife tempting to the staff, to a small country home. He’d announced, “We are approaching a tremendous crisis with stakes incalculable” and his life showed he meant it. Every morning he was up at 6 a.m. and on the run. There was no time for tea with King George VI or an afternoon ramble with Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He ate field rations on the run while inspecting the training of his men and conferring with the commanders. It was well after midnight before he would normally allow himself to go to sleep. How could those night drops with men like Lt. Winters be made more secure? What intelligence rolling in could be trusted? On January 23 he told his bosses, “Every obstacle must be overcome, every inconvenience suffered and every risk run to ensure that our blow is decisive. We cannot afford to fail.”
You and I face a crisis with “stakes incalculable,” but there are lots of distractions from it. There are plenty of men and women who’d love to ignore what comes after death. Casual “preparations” with the occasional visit to some sort of religious event are sufficient to distract from the looming realities. Meanwhile, there’s a lot to distract from God’s statement, “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
There are three levels of thought for a soldier facing action in war. Some start out with the idea that “It can’t happen to me” because I’m too smart, fast, alert or well-trained. Sometimes as men get closer to the action, their attitude shifts to “It can happen to me” but I’ll avoid it by working harder, cleaning my gun, sharpening my knife or keeping my head down. Then the men arrive at “It’s going to happen to me.” Where are you in your thoughts? Is death some distant reality not worth worrying about? Something to be staved off by health food, doctor’s visits and regular exercise? Or an unavoidable reality to be seriously embraced? God says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Then what?
Lt. Col. Krause’s men reached the edge of town in total silence. He sent half of his men forward as quietly as possible to blockade the far side of town where he expected to face a strong German counterattack. After half an hour of silence to give the men the chance to reach their objectives, he moved in with the remainder of his troops. Guided by a drunken Frenchman to the homes where the Germans were stationed, they rooted the 40-man garrison out of their beds. With dead American paratroopers hanging from the light poles, they had gone to sleep in their cozy French homes. Ten who fought back were killed, and the rest were taken prisoner. They’d mistaken the invasion that day of nearly 200,000 men for a “little raid” that they had proudly conquered.
Will you listen to the Lord Jesus when He says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18)? Or will you drift back into a cozy spiritual sleep with the confidence that you’ve done all that’s needed to take care of your spiritual need by yourself?
So who’s able take care of the spiritual need? You’ll find the vital answer along with what happened to Lt. Winters in He’s Done All He Can.
Who Knows What to Believe?
The title of a recent article in the paper caught my eye. “We tried to reproduce 100 published psychological studies — the results were abysmal.”
Researchers, including Dr. Nina Strohminger at Yale University, tried to reproduce previous studies about “How We Think.” They realized that once any research is published in a journal, it often acquires an unassailable authority. It will then be quoted with unquestioning confidence by others.
But they found such unquestioning confidence is often undeserved. The article explains that only one-third of the re-run studies produced the same conclusions. And she reports that in other fields of study — for example, cancer biology — replication rates are as low as one-fifth or less.
I know that in my own field of study, eye care, we realize that about half of the things we are being taught today will be proven wrong in a few years. So what should we believe?
I think the point is to take new studies with some cautious doubt or, as they say, “with a grain of salt.” But I want to make a much more important point, a spiritual point.
What can we believe about spiritual things? It seems that everybody has their opinion, their point of view about God. So I encourage you to go to the Bible itself. It has been hammered and kicked around for centuries. And yet it remains, having been proven reliable, unaltered, factually correct and with a message that keeps changing lives in every part of the world.
The message of God in the Bible can be believed and counted on. It won’t disappoint us. The Bible’s diagnosis of our problem is simple and right on. Sin! We have broken God’s laws and in turn experienced broken lives, broken bodies, broken minds and more. Here is the simple explanation for the tangled mess we find ourselves in.
Thankfully God also presents the cure for our sorry state of affairs. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).
We know from history that Jesus came, and history also records His death. But it is the Bible that records the reason why He came. He came to save sinners. Just a brief reflection on your own life should bring you to the realization that you qualify. You are a sinner.
God hates your sin. But He tells us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). He died bearing God’s wrath against my sin. That’s why I call Him my Saviour. Is He your Saviour?
Here is something you can believe or, better still, Somebody you can trust and love.
Wishing, Hoping, Knowing
A long time I wandered in darkness and sin,
And wondered if ever the light would shine in;
I heard Christian friends tell of rapture divine,
And wished, how I wished, that their Saviour were mine.
I heard the glad gospel of “good will to men”;
I read “whosoever” again and again;
I said to my soul, “Can that promise be thine?”
And then began hoping that Jesus were mine.
Oh, mercy surprising, He saves even me!
“Thy portion forever,” He says, “will I be”;
On His word I’m resting — assurance divine —
I’m “hoping” no longer — I know He is mine!
Work-Free Zone
Let us imagine a society where machines and robots rule in the workplace, giving people the time for limitless leisure and the ability to fill their days with endless personal freedom. There would be no more stress, pressure and drudgery due to the work environment, no more having to meet deadlines or answer to a boss. Instead, America’s most common jobs — which are retail salesperson, cashier, food and beverage server and office clerk — which employ 15.4 million people, or 10% of the workforce, would be taken over by automation. In fact, Oxford researchers have forecasted that machines might be able to do half of all U. S. jobs within two decades! There are already robots in the operating room and in warehouses, so it’s easy to imagine them behind fast-food counters, at gas stations, supermarkets and retail stores. Self-driving cars would crowd the highways and Amazon drones would fill the skies, replacing millions of drivers, warehouse stockers and retail workers. A handful of skilled workers might subsidize a universal basic income for tens of millions of people, allowing them to live the utopian lifestyle of a prolonged and permanent vacation.
Peaceful or Problematic?
But would large-scale freedom from work promote man’s well-being, or would it be a social disaster? Would it bring the happiness and peace of mind that man is searching for, or would it bring frustration and misery?
History gives us a true-life example in Youngstown, Ohio. After World War II, the steel industry moved abroad, causing the collapse of the steel industry in the city. When the Campbell Works mill closed in September, 1977, it was the start of widespread unemployment. Over the next five years, the city lost 50,000 jobs and $1.3 billion in manufacturing income. Not only was there an economic breakdown, but there was also a cultural breakdown. Depression, spousal abuse and suicide became much more prevalent. The caseload of the area’s mental-health-care center tripled within a decade. The city built four prisons in the mid 1990s — a rare growth industry.
That same dissatisfaction even applies to people who make their own choice to lounge around and not to work. Some researchers have coined the term “guilty couch potato” to describe people who turn to media for relaxation all the while feeling worthless due to their time-wasting. One stunning stat says that retired seniors spend about 50 hours a week watching television. Many profess to be miserable that they aren’t doing some form of worthwhile work.
The Right Kind of Rest
Did you know that not only does God work, but He made man to work as well? After God created the world, we are told that “He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made” (Genesis 2:2). Later in the chapter we read, “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed” (Genesis 2:8). But God did not put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to live a life of idleness and slothfulness. We are told that He put “him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Work adds meaning and purpose to our lives; it also brings in income and produces goods for use and sale. Scripture speaks very strongly against idleness and laziness. Second Thessalonians 3:10 states “that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” God in His wisdom knew from the beginning that work was for man’s physical, psychological and social well-being.
Where can man find true rest, happiness and peace? The Lord’s loving invitation is, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). But how do we come unto Him? Romans 10:9 promises, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Those who repent of their sins, putting their trust in Jesus’ finished work on Calvary’s cross, can be confident that “in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
Discover God’s simple way to give us true rest in A Call From Afar.