First (and Last) Responder

Can you think of a more idyllic photo subject than a dad, a mom, their young daughter, and the family dog stopping by the roadside to pose for a group photo on a spring day against a lush backdrop of gorgeous south Texas wildflowers and other native flora?

But at the exact same instant that grandma snapped the family photo in 2016, there was something very wrong transpiring in the lower frame of this lovely tableau…

Sometimes, the most placid and seemingly innocuous environments can harbor things sinister and even deadly if we are not both aware and discerning of our surroundings. Imagine Eve in the garden of Eden! Could there have been a more beautiful setting within the protective confines of this harmonious, sinless paradise than beneath the shade, foliage, and luscious fruit of the tree of knowledge? Right now, the world is learning how something as unseen and even submicroscopic as the coronavirus can have deadly consequences for human life.

Today, we speak often of “safe places”; places of quiet refuge where one need not be afraid of physical threats or harm. We may even think of “the church” as always being one of those safe places, at least in a spiritual sense. We know in reality and from scripture that in some cases this can be far, far from the truth. Satan, after all, can manifest himself as a “minister of righteousness” (II Cor. 11).

In particular, the old satanic lie, “you shall not surely die” was with us in the beginning (Genesis 3). It was there when Ahab and Jehoshaphat consulted with the “prophets of the Lord” about their disastrously doomed plan to join forces together in battle (I Kings 22 *Note: these were not Jezebel’s Baal prophets; Elijah had already dispatched those with the sword). The lie, or more accurately, the Laodicean lies, are tragically still demonic traps and spiritual stumbling blocks for many persons who, at least outwardly, profess Christ today. “You say you are rich, and have need of nothing…” (Revelation 3).

It is possible to sit even in a “Bible-based” church for an entire lifetime when you might just as well be ensconced somewhere in a spiritual mausoleum because God’s Word has never penetrated your conscience to the point that sin has become “utterly sinful” (Romans 7), or you have become hardened over years of no real heart change. Paul warned in his epistles about spiritual leaders who have all the right “words” but no “power” (I Cor. 4). Be on the alert then, whether in ornate or unadorned religious settings, where there is no real, life-altering conviction of sin, no crying out for God’s mercy, no sign of anything supernatural outside of human understanding or interpretation. Why? Because we already have everything!

“You shall not surely die…because we have collected scriptures with which we are able to comfort you in the knowledge that Paul’s warnings of apostasy written to the churches do not literally apply to us “true” saints [see Romans 11]; that when you were saved you were also baptized “by default” by the Holy Spirit, even though there has been an absence of any real, tangible evidence (maybe even love itself) in your life; and that the “sign of Jonah” was irrelevant to the understanding of our salvation because Jesus’ human soul [not His spirit] never actually descended as a prisoner of death into the depths of Sheol, only to be released, empowered, and reunited with His glorified body and His spirit [the Holy Spirit] at the thunderous, resurrecting voice of God. [see Psalm 18].”

My brother-in-law was the attending ER physician when the man mentioned in the first paragraph was first admitted to the hospital; obviously he heard the snakebite story firsthand and would later receive an unedited digital copy of the photo (he is not at liberty to share the original version with faces for publication without permission, but on the internet the curious can find the exact same photo with the family faces blacked out).

There is nothing photographically “flawed” about the picture other than the man looking downward instead of at the camera, but if you zoom in to the bottom of the picture, there is a rattlesnake in the act of striking, fangs visible, in the apparent direction of the wife, whose hand is directly above the serpent. Amazingly, the family dog somehow distracted and deflected the strike, but the woman’s husband was envenomated in the leg by one fang, oddly, at the same instant that the dog was stricken in the face by the other fang. The man would be treated and later transferred to an urban hospital. He recovered fully. The faithful dog did not survive.

According to Paul, God has much better things in mind for us than being sidetracked by Satan or shipwrecked in our faith! (Hebrews 6). It is through a love of the truth and the consistent faith exercise of God’s Word that we gain spiritual discernment into things that could otherwise be harmful to us and our families (Hebrews 5). God’s great love is able to keep us and protect us in every circumstance, but He expects us not only to “deflect” satanic attacks, but to defeat the enemy of our souls with the spiritual weapons of warfare He has given us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 6).

The Alpha and the Omega. Jesus is our first, and last, responder!

Bryan

Must reading for any believer desiring to enter into a deeper faith relationship with God and to learn more about miracles and answered prayer: G.C. Bevington biography / Kingsley Press (compiled in part during the 1918 “Spanish Flu” epidemic).

Help Me to Be A Good Neighbor!

My next-door neighbor’s little Yorkie died today. Seems it escaped from the backyard and was likely killed by a larger dog, according to animal control. I helped in the search for the pet and tried my best to comfort my brokenhearted neighbor, who has a young daughter and just lost her husband a few months ago. She moved in only recently.

I feel blessed to live in a culturally diverse area of the U.S. and I know virtually all of the neighbors on my street, at least on a first-name basis. We live at the very top and center of a long, steep, wooded cul-de-sac with a big sky and an open view, so I have a visual reminder of all of my neighbors on the block each time I go out the front door. Most of my immediate neighbors are white or hispanic, but there are many different ethnic groups represented locally.

It has occurred to me recently how even just my little neighborhood is such a microcosm of a hurting world…

Three people on my block are caregivers for parents, spouses, or a mentally disabled child. One of them lost his disabled father just three weeks ago and continues to care for his aged mother. He also sends food support to impoverished family members in Venezuela, but only when they can obtain the gasoline to travel to the border to collect it. At least two of my neighbors suffer with depression. One of them was just laid off from his job and worries that his age is a disincentive to potential employers. Some of my neighbors subscribe to “alternative” lifestyles. ALL of my neighbors, like us, simply need Jesus. We would not have known that any of these things were going on around us if we had not taken the time to reach out to a perceived need, or at least, to introduce ourselves.

This post is just to ask for PRAYER that God will help me and my wife be TRUE neighbors and that our influence will go well beyond just delivering handmade chocolates at Christmas, giving out sweets and tracts to trick-or-treaters at Halloween, or taking food if someone dies. Please pray that our neighbors will see JESUS, and not us. It’s only when people see Jesus that miracles can happen, lives and hearts can be changed, and people can be introduced to the only true source of comfort, peace, and eternal life!

Matthew 22:37-40 NASB “And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’ ”

You may well be the only person reading my posts, but I would write them anyway in the hope that they might be of some encouragement, if only to YOU, my neighbor!

God, T-Rex, and Black Holes

As I write this post, cosmologists, astronomers, astrophysicists…and just regular folks like me who would be hard-pressed to distinguish between quantum entanglement and a bad hair day…are in giddy anticipation of the imminent release of the first ever photographic “images” of a black hole. Of particular interest: the “supermassive” black hole believed to anchor the center of the vast, spinning Messier 87 Galaxy, about 55 million light years from earth! Well, of course you can’t actually see black holes because they’re invisible, but what you might expect to see based upon computer simulations is a boundary, a shadow, evidence of an event horizon defined by the shape of super-heated plasma swirling at near light speed around the periphery of many of these unimaginably dense objects (but only until that matter, including light, gets devoured by the inexorable force of gravity, never to be seen again…except in Hollywood).

If seeing a black hole is on your bucket list, the soon to be released images are probably about as close as you would ever want to get to one!

In principal, there is a rather unremarkable, “Jewish-looking” fellow (if kosher labeling is still permissible) sitting at the very back of the cosmology classroom, who would love to contribute to the discussion, but the professors simply never call on him. (Would it be different if his surname was something else, like Einstein, perhaps? Hmm).

John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word [gr., logos; aka, Jesus Christ], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

Ecclesiastes 1:9 “That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.”

Every new scientific discovery; every new innovation; every new breakthrough in medicine, physics, engineering, technology, and cosmology…not to mention the elegant toolbox of mathematics for their description and the capacity for their observation…all these things have already existed in the mind of God since before time was even initiated. For us, these increasingly rapid developments are just incremental insights and progressive revelations into the eternal nature and consciousness of an infinitely wise and powerful Creator!

Job 38:31-33 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or fix their rule over the earth?”

Like the expanding universe itself, God is forever filling all things with the knowledge of the glory of Himself, which Jesus also shared before time began.

John 17:1-5 “Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

Isaiah 9:7 “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”

Imagine two equally passionate paleontologists in this present life who both – upon being interviewed for a documentary science program about theropods – unashamedly “gush” over the fossil remains of, let’s say, the formidible, terrifying…and thankfully, extinct…Tyrannosaurus Rex. One “digger” cares nothing about the claims – either upon his soul or upon his bone pile – of some obscure Creator-God. His peer, on the other hand, has “eternity in his heart” and is growing to know his Redeemer intimately. The one will never experience anything pertaining to his passion beyond dead, dry bones. But the other might well be in for some surprises in the New Heaven and the New Earth, where things won’t be eating other things in order to survive, i.e., (formerly) predator and prey will coexist peacefully along with the (glorified) children of God:

Isaiah 11:6-9 “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.”

“You have a T-Rex?”

“We have a T-Rex!” (famous movie quotes).

1 Corinthians 2:9 “But just as it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.’ ”

Of course, only eternity will reveal the still hidden mysteries of God and our passion and our focus in heaven will not be upon the creation, but upon our “betrothed,” our precious Savior and Redeemer who was willing to pay the ultimate price, forfeiting His own life and blood in exchange for our salvation, to deliver us forever from the power of sin and death!

God gave mankind an innate curiosity about our amazing cosmos. There is nothing ignoble per se about the search for intelligent life on other planets and in other solar systems. But if the “spark” of life as we know it does indeed emanate exclusively from a (largely disavowed and discredited) deity commanding an invisible spiritual dimension that parallels our own, then there may be a very, very long wait, depending on God’s timetable. Could it be that a diminutive, watery blue marble hung in space, literally bursting with life in every conceivable form, is the singular oasis of bio-diversity in an incomprehensibly vast physical universe? Again, only eternity will “tell.”

Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”

Even throughout eternity we, as glorified believers in heaven, will continue to grow and progress in our knowledge of the immeasurable depths of God in Christ Jesus. Why can we never completely “catch up” with God? Because He had a really, really big head start! How big?

As big as INFINITY!

In the gospel of Luke chapter 16:19-31, Jesus tells the parable of two deceased men who awaken to find their souls on opposite sides of eternity; one died rich and the other died poor; the one is forever receding from the glorious presence of God; the other is forever drawing closer to Him.

Which side of eternity will you be on?

-∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ (?) ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

(All scripture quotes NASB; some Bible verse punctuation and bold italics, mine).

Salvation and sexual reproduction? The new, revised 2019 paperback edition of my (ghost-written) book, Born of the Water Born of the Spirit, can be found at the following link. It is also available as a Kindle ebook download:

A Slippery Slope

A retired pastor, veterinarian, and good friend of mine was often quoted as saying (paraphrased):

~ “Some Christians treat Jesus like a man who marries a wife at the altar, kisses his new bride, and then leaves! But before he walks out of the church he turns around and says to her, ‘Oh, by the way, I’ll meet you back here next Sunday morning at 10:45!’”

~ “Put the blinders on after you get married, not before!”

~ [My friend quoting another medical professional friend; a prominent psychiatrist]: “If preachers would go back to preaching against sin, you could probably empty out half of the mental health institutions.”

~ “Your heart can become like a callous that gradually builds up on your hand after repeatedly using a shovel. Eventually it becomes so thick and hard you can stick a pin through it and feel nothing.”

Each time Israel tested God with their murmuring and complaining in the wilderness, their faith waned a little and their hearts – just like that of the Pharaoh who had enslaved them – became a little more hardened. It did not happen all at once. The same thing happened to King Saul. Over time, his initial humility and zeal for God turned to pride, self-will, and finally, outright rebellion…to the point that he could order the slaughter of scores of Levites and not even feel a pang of conscience!

The crossing of the Red Sea was an Old Covenant “type” of salvation and baptism for our generation under the New Covenant. But that first generation of Israelites (save two over the age of twenty) who came out of Egypt were destined (not predestined) to die in a parched, desolate wasteland. After their tenth documented rebellion and God’s declaration through Moses that the nation would not enter into Canaan for thirty-eighty more years, they finally “got it!” By then it was too late, and when a number of them presumptuously rose up the next morning and strapped on their swords to “take” the land of promise, they were soundly defeated and humiliated by their enemy. God had rejected that generation from crossing the Jordan river. Again, a type; this time of entering into a promised place of spiritual rest, blessing, and empowerment through Jesus Christ.

Oh, those poor, stubborn Jews! It’s a good thing I’m living under grace in my generation. That could never happen to me under the New Covenant. I could never possibly become God’s adversary, much less an enemy of the Cross!

1 Corinthians 10:12 NASB “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.”

Consider a newly-married Christian couple…”Until death do us part.” Their relationship starts out on a solid footing. Their respective walks with Christ are also, at first, characterized by a degree of intimacy. But over time, they become more concerned with their own needs and interests than those of their spouse, not to mention those of Jesus. That small, quiet voice of conviction repeatedly says: “I know I really shouldn’t say that to my spouse”, but the words “slip” out of their mouth anyway, and there is a subtle, but prideful sense of gratification and empowerment in it. Little by little, day after day, month after month, there is a gradual, reciprocal escalation of selfishness and anger until, inevitably, the word “divorce” pops up in the conversation. From that point, it may be only a matter of time until bitterness has resulted in another broken marriage and family, and the name of Christ is once again dishonored.

Like it our not, my marriage is probably the best barometer of my relationship with Christ…OUCH!

Hebrews 4: 1-3 NASB “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, ‘As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,’ although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.”

Remember, as the writer James took great pains to explain and clarify in his epistle, true faith, or believing, is inextricably and invariably linked to a conscious “action” response on our part whenever God’s Word is spoken or revealed to us. That response can only be ONE of two things; either (1) obedience OR, (2) disobedience.

A child can understand this basic principle, just like when Dad orders you to take out the trash (or when your boss tells you to stay late to meet a deadline).

The choice is OURS, just as it was with Israel!

That choice we make can, over time, become either a positive or a negative pattern of behavior, a good or a bad heart habit that can have not only temporal, but eternal consequences. Beware of teaching that tries to convince you that a Christian’s conscious, deliberate choice of obedience to a direct command from God (or from God’s Word) is equivalent to – or translates to – “works”, i.e., the same thing as charitable, or good “deeds” or “effort” (gr., ergon) and that therefore, as we all know, our “works” of obedience (by that out-of-context definition) “can have no bearing whatsoever on our salvation, as per Ephesians 2:8-9.” This is a very unscriptural leap of flawed logic and interpretation.

Hebrews 4:11-16 NASB “Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Romans 15:13 NASB “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

The following is a Youtube link to the sermon that finally broke through my thick, pharisaical skull and opened my blinded eyes back in 1993; it became the catalyst for my own personal “Gethsemane” and my salvation experience. WARNING: It is not an “easy” message to listen to, but it was exactly what I desperately needed to hear from God. It may be what someone else (a serious seeker perhaps or someone who is spiritually “stuck in the breach”) needs in order to get a “breakthrough”…

🙂 Bryan

Meltdown at Mount Sinai

When God appeared to Israel on Mt. Sinai, the people quickly concluded that hearing God’s audible commandments directly from the source – the great thundering voice, the raging fire, the billowing smoke, the cloud and gloom, the blasting trumpet, the boulder-splitting earthquake – was far too terrifying for them to deal with. Trembling, they petitioned Moses that God would speak instead through him and not to them directly.

What was behind God’s purpose in taking Israel through such a difficult experience all those years in the wilderness?

“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deut. 8:2 nasb).

God was testing His people to humble them and to reveal what was in their hearts! But what was their response when they literally encountered God “face to face” at Sinai prior to going into Canaan?

“…If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die” (Deut. 5:25 nasb).

In contrast, Moses was not only greatly blessed to be allowed into God’s intimate presence and to communicate directly with Him, but because of his favor and friendship with God, he was given the amazing privilege of seeing God’s glory with his physical eyes (although – as you will recall – God could not fully reveal His actual countenance even to Moses). Moses also trembled at Sinai (Hebrews 12:21), but he was not “afraid” to approach God, because he had received a revelation of God’s great redemptive LOVE that had been demonstrated and proven time and again through the trials in the wilderness.

For a combined total of eighty days and nights Moses was before the God of Israel on Sinai, receiving the law and instructions God had outlined for His chosen people that would enable Him to bless them once they entered the promised land of Canaan. Moses was so enraptured and enveloped in that holy, sustaining presence that he required neither water nor food during his extended stays on the mountaintop, and thereafter his face would shine whenever he had approached God.

“Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29 nasb).

Do I have a desire to be more like Moses, or more specifically, more like Jesus, whom Moses foretold as the future incarnation of “a prophet like me” (Deut. 18:5), or am I content to remain more like the fearful, doubtful, and stubborn multitude that the faithful servant Moses struggled to intercede for, to shepherd, and to lead?

Do I have an ever-increasing passion to know God for myself and a growing desire to enter daily into His presence directly through the sacrificial blood of my great high priest, Jesus Christ? Or do I prefer, like Israel, to have God’s Word “filtered” through another human being, or perhaps through some compromised or even worldly context in a way that I find more “palatable”; a way that does not really call me into account when the Holy Spirit reveals something in my heart that needs to change.

Concerning the recorded narrative of Israel’s experience in the wilderness, the apostle Paul wrote:

“Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11 nasb).

God admonished the people through Moses:

“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell” (Numbers 33:55 esv).

The Old Testament still speaks to us. For those of us living today, those “inhabitants” represent our enemies of sin and unbelief; those residual areas of pride and self in the promised land of our hearts that still remain to be subjected to the lordship of Jesus.

“If God speaks to us, we will die.”

How prophetic those words were, because that is exactly the point! The Cross of Jesus Christ calls us to complete and unconditional identification with both His death and His resurrection; an ongoing, daily surrender to His life and His leading through a constant “dying out” to ourselves and a growing appetite to feed our spirits with a steady diet of His Word. The prophet Amos spoke of a time when there would be a “famine” for the “hearing” of God’s Word (Amos 8:11). We are clearly living in such a time, but Jesus is still looking for followers who will simply trust Him, persevere, and be available to make a difference in a dark world.

It’s all about Jesus!

“And they overcame him [Satan] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death” (Revelation 12:11 nasb).

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*Recommended blogs:

https://123hallelujah.wordpress.com/ by Margaret

https://unshakablehope.com/ by Bill Sweeney

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Image attribution: By Mohammed Moussa – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28338950

Do You Think They Will Like Chocolate?

A cosmic, allegorical, Three-way conversation…

The Father (Chief Architect and Designer): “Well, it’s ready! By the way, they will eventually come up with an odd name for it, ‘The Big Bang.’ So…who wants to light it?”

The Son (Chief Engineer and Builder): “I enjoyed building it!”

The Holy Spirit (Chief Technician and Quantum Mechanic): “I WILL!”

Genesis 1:16-18 NASB God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; [BTW] He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

John 1:9-14 NASB There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

“We’re talking about a lot of people on that tiny blue planet, Father. How are We going to keep them all occupied?”

“We will put it in the hearts of some to invent the wheel, others to discover electricity, and still others to achieve powered flight. Some will serve their fellow humans with nursing care and by performing complex surgeries. Others will love to entertain with dance, or by writing poems and children’s books, while others will inspire with the gift of making music. Some will have a passion to grow plants and harvest crops for food. Many will have the gift of working with their hands and go on to build houses and huge skyscrapers (not to mention My Tabernacle!) Others will thrill to explore Our magnificent creation – the home especially prepared for them all – through mathematics and science; they will build great ships and computers and rockets. Photographers, fishermen, truck drivers, soldiers, artists, lawyers, salespersons, dishwashers, stay-at-home moms. (Of course, We will call out apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers from among them). It’s a very long list!”

“But what about your Law and the free will prerogative? What if they make bad choices?”

“My Son…You and I need to have a good talk about that.”

“Do you think they will like chocolate?”

“You have no idea!”

: ) Bryan

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The Ultimate Logic: GOD CREATED THE UNIVERSE > GOD IS LOVE > THEREFORE, LOVE CREATED THE UNIVERSE! : )

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Did Signs & Miracles Die Out With The Apostles?

“The Gift of the Mismatched Shoes” (A TRUE Story)

If I am convinced that all supernatural signs, wonders, healings, and miracles fizzled out when the last of the early church apostles departed this life for their heavenly rewards, then it is very unlikely that I will ever see those things in my lifetime. Or, if I do, I will find some “natural” explanation. What is often called “faith” in the modern church is actually just “wishful thinking”, or “claiming” something we want from God. For those rare Christ-followers who have learned to be still, to ascertain God’s will, and then wait to “hear” the faith from God, it is “as good as done” when He finally impresses, or “speaks” that “Word” into their spirits.

John 14:12 ESV “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

The following is just one excerpt from the biography of G.C. Bevington, a “holiness evangelist” in the areas of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee during the 1920’s, a time when – depending upon your age – your parents, grandparents, or perhaps great-grandparents were living. Reading Bevington’s life story is a good “antidote” for the unsettling influence of the many fake “healing evangelists” of our time. This account is only one of the “lesser” miracles that attended the life and ministry of this godly man:

“…I will give another incident in the [missions outreach] work in Cincinnati. There I received clothing for the poor, and distributed it. I was out at Mt. Lookout, a suburb of Cincinnati, and a sister there gave me some clothing. In a few weeks I noticed that one of our strong members was not out for a week or so, so I went out to see what was the matter. I found her washing, and reminded her that several services had passed without her presence, which was rather an unusual occurrence. She was a poor woman, with three children, and had to pay her rent, but never allowed us to help her, as we were accustomed to help many others in similar circumstances. As she seemed loathe to give a reason for being absent, I noticed that she had on quite poor shoes, and finally I said, ‘Sister, are those the best shoes you have?’ Blushing, she turned her back on me, making me feel that those were her best; but she finally said, ‘Now, Brother Bevington, I will have to admit that they are. I am expecting to get a pair next week, as I am to keep the children clothed and fed regardless of my need.’

So I returned to my room; and that being Thursday evening, I began to plead a new pair of shoes for her, as I had none that I felt were good enough for her, and therefore I prayed the more. I just held on. Finally, I looked at my watch, and it was two minutes of 4:00 a. m. I had been there ten or eleven hours. Then I dropped on my face again, and inside of thirty minutes I saw a pair of ladies’ shoes, and new ones, too. That was Friday, nearly 7:00 a. m. I went to my breakfast satisfied that all would be all right for a pair of shoes for the Friday night meeting; that was our regular evangelistic night service. When I came back, I was detained some, and did not get to the mission until about 10:00 a. m, and went into the prayer room. One of the kindergarten teachers came out, and said, ‘There is a lady wanting to see you.’ She came out into the main hall, and said, ‘Brother Bevington, I bought a pair of shoes this morning, but one is at least two sizes larger than the other. They look like mates, but they cannot be. The ones I tried on at the store fit me nicely. Then, as I was near here, I thought that I would run in and see the kindergarten children work; and while waiting to see you, I thought I would put on my new shoes and wear them home, but found one to be entirely too large.’ I said, ‘Praise the Lord. I prayed all night last night for a pair of shoes, and I guess these are the ones.’ ‘Yes, but, Brother Bevington it seems too bad to give such a pair of shoes as that to anyone, and I don’t want to take them back.’ (She was most too proud to do that so she concluded to see if I could work them off to a good advantage.) I said, ‘She is a poor woman, and needs the shoes, and she can easily put cotton batting in the larger one, and the smaller one, I think, will fit her all right.’

‘Here they are; you take them up.’

But I wanted her to see this woman, as I felt that she might be able to help her in various ways. So I insisted on her taking them, as she would have to walk near that home to get her street car. Finally she took up the shoes and started for the woman’s home, and found her busy with her ironing. She introduced herself, and said, ‘Brother Bevington sent me here, on a rather embarrassing errand.’ She set the shoes out, not telling the woman that one was larger than the other. All the time she was talking about the shoes and other things, the sister kept thinking, ‘What will I do, as I can’t wear those shoes, as my right foot is nearly two sizes smaller than my left, and I hate to tell her.’ But she concluded to take the shoes, and probably could exchange them. The woman started home, but she was impressed that she must tell the sister, so she returned and she told about the shoes. The sister just laughed heartily, and said, ‘Which is the larger?’ ‘The left one.’ Then she laughed more than ever, and said, ‘Well, well, well! God surely understands all things, as my left foot is nearly two sizes larger than my right. Here it is just as I want it. Oh, praise the Lord.’ Now, I knew nothing about the difference in the size of her feet, but God did, and see how He worked in order to answer my all-night prayer. Isn’t that enough to convince us that God fully understands His business? I say, ‘Yes.’ What do you say?”

(Excerpt: G.C. Bevington bio, c. 1920)

Bryan

Where Was Jesus for 3 Days and 3 Nights?

(What the Scripture Says)

In 2010, the eyes of millions of people around the world were fixated on their television sets as the rescue began of thirty-three Chilean miners who had been trapped in desperate, seemingly hopeless conditions a half-mile underground for sixty-nine days. Following the cave-in, during which an aircraft carrier-sized boulder had collapsed in the heart of the mine, the miners survived what appeared to be an impossible ordeal by rationing food and water, praying, reading scriptures, giving motivational talks, and simply holding on to the dim hope they would somehow be reunited with their loved ones. The men had endured high temperatures, unbearable stress, and some had even considered suicide. Through inspired effort and technological innovation, those on the surface were finally able to bring all thirty-three men up from their awful subterranean prison. One of the miners named Mario Sepulveda later said, remarkably, “I was with God and with the devil, and God took me.” His simple statement is incredibly significant for believers!

With this in mind, take the time to read Psalm 18 and ask yourself, and the Holy Spirit, of whom David is speaking prophetically. No scripture is of “private interpretation.” When you have read this blog and the Psalm, I encourage you to get a second “minority opinion” at the following link: https://www.moodymedia.org/articles/power-his-resurrection/. (This link was forwarded to me by an avowed skeptic after he took the time to investigate these conclusions for himself).

There are three different, distinct words in the New Testament Greek for body, soul, and spirit. Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully man, which means that in the days of His flesh He was also, like us, tripartite. When He had died on the Cross, His physical body was placed in the tomb. Just as surely as the Holy Spirit had descended and remained upon Him in power when He was baptized at the Jordan, this same Holy Spirit departed from Him to the Father when He breathed His last, and He “gave up the ghost.” But what about His soul, that part of us that makes us all “human”, that part we associate with consciousness, with our mind, will, and emotions? What transpired with that part of Him that was truly a Son of Man?

Remember that, at any point up until Jesus spoke the words, “It is finished!”, Jesus retained the power and authority to call down 10,000 angels to deliver Himself from the sentence of crucifixion on the Cross. As the Holy Spirit departed from Him, Jesus surrendered that power and authority, descending into death as a man with only the FAITH that His Heavenly Father would bring Him back up out of that terrible prison. Knowing that His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, would depart to be with His Father in heaven at the moment of His death, He could also say with certainty to the thief on the cross, “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”

Make no mistake, the Son of Man could add nothing else to His sacrificial and substitutionary atonement for the awful “wages of sin” (death) incurred by rebellious mankind. That debt was PAID IN FULL on the Cross and later confirmed at the resurrection. But in death, what awaited the Son of Man? Peaceful oblivion? How do we account for the “three days and three nights” that the lifeless corpse of the Messiah lay in the tomb? The answer is found in Psalm 18 and in the New Testament beginning with the “sign of Jonah.” (See Matthew 12:39-40).

Jesus had suffered terribly at the hands of the Romans and the Jews leading up to – and then being nailed to – the Cross, but as His Spirit departed from Him, this was the very catalyst of His soul descent into the nether world. His destination was Sheol, sometimes called hell, the “sorting ground” of the dead, where both those at peace (like Samuel) who had died in faith prior to Christ and those in torment (likely King Saul), were groups separated in death by an eternal, impassable gap. It was not merely His dread of the physical suffering to come that caused Jesus to sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane. The scripture says that Jesus “tasted” death for us. The wages of sin is death, but death is not limited to the physical dimension; there is also a “second” death. Did Jesus taste only the “first” (physical) death when He bore the penalty and paid the awful price for the sins of all mankind through His blood?

An infinitely Holy God could not look upon His Son on the Cross because of the unbearable weight of human sin and wickedness that had been placed on His shoulders. “He became SIN for us.” It was in this condition that Jesus’ soul descended into death as a son of man to “taste”, for a time, the terrible penalty of eternal hell that should have been ours. The soul of the man Jesus was not simply biding its time with His corpse awaiting resurrection from the tomb! By no means does this imply that Jesus endured the literal torture of the fires of hell (see Revelation 2:11), but from this agonizing vantage on the “dark side” of Sheol, He could see the awful, final judgment of all those who ultimately reject the great love of Christ and die unforgiven in their sins. For a time upon His descent into death, at the onset of those three days and nights, Jesus stood before His accuser Satan – temporarily, and vicariously of course – as the most unimaginably wicked of beings, a voluntary imputation ordained by the will of His Father and long preached by the prophets who preceded Him.

But Satan and the hordes of hell have one serious problem. Their celebration is way premature. The evidence shows that Jesus, the accused, is perfectly innocent! In Psalm 18 we read the prophecy where hell suddenly reverberates with the mighty voice of God, Jesus’ terrified enemies are routed, and He is powerfully rescued by an angry heavenly Father. He is reunited with His Spirit and a glorified body in a literally earth-shaking resurrection. The souls of those saints beyond the dividing gulf of Sheol, who had died in faith like Abraham prior to the Cross, hear the Good News and all are gathered and led by Jesus up to heaven to be forever with the Lord! Death has been defeated and “captivity is taken captive.” For forty days prior to his final ascension, this glorified Christ makes His glory and His resurrection known to His followers still on the earth.

[Note: I am not a Catholic, but I believe their Apostle’s Creed is correct and fully supported by scripture on this matter of Jesus’ soul descent into “hell”].

Let us consider the following scriptures:

“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” ~ Acts 2:24 (NAS) (Note: exactly when did the “agony of death” cease?)

“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” ~ Matthew 26:53 (KJV…)

“I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore, amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” ~ Revelation 1:18 (If you want to grab the keys to the jail, where do you have to go to get them?)

“For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” ~ I Peter 4:6

“For as [Jonah] was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” ~ Matthew 12:40

“And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as [Jonah] was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.” ~ Luke 11:29-30

“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.” ~Hebrews 5:7

“I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” ~Psalm 16:8-11 (italics mine)

“Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)” ~ Ephesians 4:8-10

“Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” ~ Romans 6:8-10

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” ~ Matthew 27:46

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of [by] the second death.” ~ Revelation 2:11

When the Holy Spirit gives you insight into scripture, that revelation will always be supported with other scripture and by some others in the faith (often a minority, as was often the case with Paul). Be certain, however, that you can absolutely expect to encounter resistance from what the 1920’s holiness evangelist G.C. Bevington referred to as “meeting house” believers (who may also happen to be the ones with the most impressive theological credentials). Always be open to an inspired reassessment of your doctrine, but, in love, do avoid “endless controversies.”

Must reads:

https://www.moodymedia.org/articles/power-his-resurrection/

Psalm 18

Zechariah Chapters 2-4

*NOTE: This is a new blog, “in progress”. Monday posts (weekly) in 2019. Reply or contact Bryan at: happy2bneuless (at) gmail.com