Jesus Christ

The Lesson of the ‘Kamikaze’ Mama Robin!

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As I walked out the front door there came a loud screeching as something airborne hit the top of my head, knocking my cap to the ground! Small bird sounds accompanied the airborne attack. What bird would actively engage against a human-height invader of her nest and babies?

It turns out it was a female robin defending her tiny home against all comers – and you can’t help but admire her put-your-life-on-the-line moxie!  Over and over, she screeched and dived at any-and-all comers, particularly us, as we entered and exited through the front door. The only time she sat quietly in their nest of twigs atop the joint of a downspout was when her mate took over the defense of their babies.

However, Mrs. Robin had well and truly earned her nickname: “Kamikaze Mama.”

The actual Kamikaze

The original kamikaze were Japanese fighter pilots in World War Two. After the tide had turned and America and her allies had fought the Japanese armed forces in many countries and islands, the allies were ready to attack the Japanese mainland to finish the war.

In their effort to thwart the inevitable invasion of their island nation the Japanese air forces trained a host of young pilots to sacrifice themselves and their aircraft as flying bombs. This last-ditch force was called “Kamikaze” which means “divine wind.” They flew into battle not to possibly die, but to specifically die—and kill as many of their enemies as possible by crashing their planes into the Allied naval ships beneath them.

One can’t help but admire the tragic bravery and determination to preserve their national “nest” on the Japanese islands—as well as note their fearlessness in the face of the Allied counterparts they would meet in battle. War is a sad contradiction; sometimes the highest human ideals are employed for the worst possible outcomes, the destruction of one’s enemy.

Time perfects all weapons

Since then, many generations of nuclear-based and other advanced weaponry have been built and “perfected” for this awful purpose. If we were to figure the cost of World War Two fought today with our modern “death to all” weaponry – the toll would be even more appalling and staggering!

But all aspects of human warfare are profoundly sad. And this chapter was especially so. The Pacific land, sea, and air battles of World War Two ended by the deployment of atomic bombs on Japan.

Jeremiah, another of God’s spiritual battle-hardened prophets was inspired to precisely summarize humanity’s core failure:  “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).

In the near future, Jesus Christ at his second coming will intervene to block mankind’s self-destruction. He will initiate a new government called the Kingdom of God. He is inviting us to help oversee the making of new and wonderful history in the world tomorrow!  

What lesson for us today?

What can our little, self-sacrificing Robin family teach us in relationship with the calamity of war?

God called us out of this present, evil world with its wars and tragedies, and into the knowledge of His great, soon-coming Kingdom and true way of life. We “signed up” through repentance and baptism into the true faith and service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We fight against the evil of war by faithfully following God’s Law and becoming a living example of God’s way that is the precise opposite of war, destruction, and hate.

Even as our faithful birdy friends, Mr. and Mrs. Robin, are dedicated to giving their avian lives to the future of their babies… so, too, have we committed our lives to our Savior—who is also now our Lord and Master, high priest in heaven and soon-coming King—and to our eternal, spiritual Father in heaven! Treat that calling with the same intensity and protective self-sacrifice exemplified by this small aspect of God’s creation!

–Randy Stiver-

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Beware of Just Doing – “The God Thing”

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The author, left, lecturing at Tel Dan in northern Israel, 2014. To the left of the speaker is a metal structure, a replica of the “high place” or “bama”, which was a profane altar used by the religious elites of the northern Kingdom of Israel in place of true worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. They were doing “the God thing” their way, but it didn’t end well. They fell into captivity to the Assyrian Empire in approx. 732 B.C.

The second law of thermodynamics: “Everything tends to run down,” should speak volumes to all who claim to be God’s faithful children. Doing “the God thing” on our own terms, the outward appearance of compliance to God’s way, is a non-starter! Mankind has been trying to do their version of “the God thing” by their definition since Adam and Eve.

Our world of the 2020s is culturally similar to the world of the 1920s. A century ago World War One had spawned or advanced numerous technologies which accelerated the pace of culture noticeably. Those many war-born advancements created an aura of technological utopia where man was master of all.

Also born of that era was the practice of teaching the theory of evolution as man’s origin in the classroom. Man was doing “the God thing”, with himself as god.

But man was still the master of nothing

When the economic tentacles of the Great Depression reached out and spread its poison the seeds of World War Two sprouted and blossomed—in a depressingly horrible and predictable way. Millions of lives were lost in the fanaticism, fighting and persecution. Menacing dictators across the globe were doing “the God thing” with themselves as the deity.

Again, the Scriptural assessment proved true: “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).

In short, man’s steps were not meant to be from war to war to war…!

Living God’s way today

Doing “the God thing” obviously wasn’t working. Was the problem with God—in no way! From the Garden of Eden onward, it was mankind who refused to fully obey and follow God.

Aside from Jesus Christ of Nazareth, no human ever perfectly followed God’s way. However, logged in Scripture are the examples of a fair number of the truly faithful who lived their lives in the genuine pursuit of their Savior. Their lives are memorialized in the eleventh chapter – which is the faith chapter of the book of Hebrews. These faithful ones God bolstered and supported as they sought to do His work and to live by His law and way of life.

If we aspire to do “the God thing”, that is to say, live a godly life in genuine conviction of God’s true way as delineated in His Word, the Bible, we must be sure that we do so in humility, sincerity, and in truth before our Creator. Any other way, no matter how appealing, is simply not God’s way!

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Passover in the Autumn South of the Equator: The Meaning of God’s Holydays Doesn’t Change!

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Never underestimate the power of God’s annual spring festival of Passover and the seven Days of Unleavened Bread!

However, have you thought about the fact that our spring holydays occur during the autumn south of the equator? And by “they,” I mean Jesus Christ’s true brethren who live “down under” in Australia, New Zealand, parts of southern Asia, southern Africa, and most of South America.

Stretch your mind a bit as we reflect on their experience of the “spring” holydays. It’s good to visualize how our southerly brethren live, work… and of course keep God’s holydays and the Sabbath. This helps us to pray for them more effectively when we read the news and events that are occurring in their part of the world.

Most importantly, they have developed the skill of transposing the spiritual lessons of the Days of Unleavened Bread from springtime in the northern hemisphere to their southerly locations during autumn.

Do we carry with us a clear understanding of the annual holydays and their personal and prophetic meaning? Let’s review all seven commanded assemblies as we are about to progress through the whole cycle again this year, starting with Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.

To each Holyday its meaning

God the Father and Jesus Christ established the annual, divine holydays. The meaning of each of God’s annual festivals is critical to our understanding and faithfulness as true Christians in a terribly unfaithful world. God’s annual holydays portray fascinating and vital lessons as we worship the true God of the Holy Scripture.

As mentioned above, the Biblical events took place and were recorded from the perspective of the land of Israel, which is in the northern hemisphere. And it is to that land, and specifically the city of Jerusalem that Christ will return, which is why our southern hemisphere brethren keep the holydays on the same schedule as we do, even though the seasons are reversed.

Passover – Our Savior Jesus Christ gave His life to pay the penalty of our sins (and the sins of all who will repent when God calls them to the knowledge of the truth). Thus we observe Passover each spring. It’s meaning is that we fully dedicate our lives to genuine repentance and to faithfully follow Christ, the Head of the true Church of God.

The Night to Be Much Remembered – The evening, at sunset, on which the first Day of Unleavened Bread begins is a special night (not to be confused with the Passover) in which we share a meal with God’s people and reflect on the solemn meaning of Israel being released by God from captivity in Egypt. Though not an annual Sabbath service, this night pictures the beginning of our own process of coming out of our personal ‘Egypt’ of slavery to sin.

Days of Unleavened Bread – Immediately following the Passover, this seven-day festival illustrates critical lessons about overcoming sin by putting it out of our lives. During this festival sin is symbolized by the leavening we typically use to leaven our bread during the rest of the year. Even as leavening puffs bread up—so vanity and all other kinds of sin puff up our egos—which fosters sinful arrogance in our minds. Even as Christ gave His life for our sins, so we must humbly dedicate our lives in Him to overcome sin and the sinful pulls of this present, evil world.

Day of Pentecost – This annual Sabbath anticipates the ultimate outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit on all who truly repent of their sins. Since it’s only possible to fully overcome sin through the power of God’s Spirit we must repent, and then be baptized by one of Christ’s true ministers in order to receive God’s Spirit via the “laying on of hands” ceremony. Through the power of God’s Holy Spirit we can then grow in grace and knowledge of God and His way. That overcoming process leads ultimately to our resurrection and eternal life in the Kingdom of God.

The annual holydays of autumn

Jesus Christ and God, the Father designed and established the annual Sabbaths to rehearse the divine plan of salvation for all mankind from Adam to the last baby born! In that sense, the physical creation anticipates God’s divine plan of salvation. These last four holydays that take place in the autumn foreshadow many things to come that are recorded in the prophetic portions of the Bible.

The Feast of Trumpets – This day comes in the early autumn and pictures the second coming of Jesus Christ. At His first coming Christ came to be our Savior – the sacrifice for our sins which He fulfilled by dying in our place. Remember, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

At His second coming the great Messiah returns to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. The true saints (those who are Christ’s at His coming) will then be resurrected to eternal life. Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords—the destiny of the fully repentant of humanity is to live forever serving faithfully under Christ and the Father. The dynamic presence of our great Savior in the world tomorrow will change every sinful aspect of human culture.

Day of Atonement – This annual holyday of fasting is kept in anticipation of God’s eternal judgment on Satan the Devil and his fallen demonic angels. This sobering day reminds us of the deadly seriousness of the Devil in his actions against us. A reflective day of fasting, but a glorious day of spiritual victory!

Feast of Tabernacles – With this holy festival we commemorate with great joy the literal era to come when all people living will be called to spiritual repentance—and when Christ will rule the nations directly. He will rule over all the nations on earth for the Millennium (1000 years). It will be the day of salvation for all who live then.

And finally,…

The Last Great Day – Picturing the time when all who have lived, but never knew or understood God’s truth are called to true spiritual salvation in Christ. They will come up in the “second resurrection” to live another lifetime in which to understand God’s way without the confusion of Satan’s deception. To be clear, this will be their first time, by God’s reckoning, to comprehend true salvation, and to choose life. Not a second chance.

Whether we and our brethren live in the north, south, east or west, through our great Savior Jesus Christ we thank God and savor His wonderful plan of salvation for all who will choose it and live it! Keep this in mind as we commemorate the Passover, the holyday that makes all the others possible!

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What’s Your Thorn in the Flesh?

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The young, South Dakota farm boy raced across the prairie to catch a long fly ball. But he tripped, as boys do, landing hands first in a prickly pear cactus. That time he ended up with more than a hundred tiny thorns shed by the cactus into his palms and forearms. Most were carefully tweezered out, but those remaining sharply reminded him of their presence every time he picked up the baseball or his bat for the next several days!

Have you ever had an actual, physical thorn in the flesh? How about a spiritual thorn?

Paul

One of God’s early church leaders had such a thorn. Listen to the apostle Paul tell his story.

“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure” (2 Cor. 12:7).

What was Paul’s thorn? Did he get it at birth, childhood or perhaps as an adult? The fact that it was “given” to him indicates that Jesus Christ personally gave or allowed Paul to receive this very, pointedly trying “gift.”

Early Paul

Remember, Paul started out as a Pharisee, a sect of the Jews that chose to be an enemy of God’s truth. Paul epitomized the sect as a “fire-breathing persecutor of the Christ’s brethren. He infamously presided over the trial and execution of Stephen, one of Christ’s original deacons in Jerusalem (see Acts 6:8-15, and chapter 7).

Paul further organized a sort of secret police among the Jews to seek out, arrest, try and then beat or imprison numbers of true Church brethren—men and women—in and around Jerusalem (see Acts 8:1-3).

The road to Damascus

Not satisfied with that, Paul obtained letters of extradition and pursued church members on the road to Damascus in Syria. There he planned to personally lead an arresting posse to capture and take them back to Jerusalem for harsh punishment. And for why? They were punished for their “heresy” of repenting and believing what the Bible taught about the true Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth and subsequently spreading the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue, Jesus Christ struck Paul blind on the road to Damascus and calling Paul by his Jewish name, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:3-8). This dramatic event motivated Paul’s repentance and conversion, leading ultimately to his service as an apostle in the ministry.

Time for the thorn in the flesh

Much later as one of God’s great apostles, Paul reflected on a thorn in the flesh gifted him by Christ. It was a thorn from which he sought relief… “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Cor. 12:8-9) 

Although we can’t precisely pin down Paul’s poor eyesight as his “thorn in the flesh,” but a true scholar like him needed to read books and people. Before the age of corrective lenses bad vision could be seriously humbling. At the merciful hands of Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul the Pharisee learned a massive lesson of true humility to help him become Paul the Apostle.

“Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).

As we approach the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, ask God to show you how to use your thorn in the flesh for growth and overcoming. Learn from Paul’s lesson and you, too, can become stronger! 

Originally written: January 2, 2021

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Planting the Seed: A Child’s-eye View of God’s True Church

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Missouri River, October 2022

As a youngster there was a scripture that echoed in my adolescent mind…

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).

This was a passage that was impressed upon me by my grandmother, Alice Bissell, a longtime true Church of God member. My earliest such memories, around age five, were of attending Sabbath services with “Grammy”, on Saturday, in Portland, Oregon. She even began to teach me how to take notes during church—which initially meant writing down the scripture references and listening carefully to whichever of God’s ministers was speaking that day.

Lessons learned

Among the many instructions I absorbed this way, I realized that it’s critically important for us to become experts in the function of the carnal mind. By “carnal” the Bible means… physically and selfishly oriented and unrepentant. Also note this definition: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:7).

I learned that a person who was “carnal” had not yet repented of his or her sins and thus had not yet receive God’s Holy Spirit. Therefore, such were still unconverted. That lesson was imparted to my young mind at about age eight, in the late 1950’s, when my grandmother took me to the combined, Day of Pentecost holyday service at a park just north of the Columbia River, which forms the state line between Oregon and Washington.

Baptism commitment

After we had eaten lunch with more than two hundred other brethren, my grandmother pointed to a bend in the stream, back under the shade of many trees where the ministers were baptizing (through brief, but full immersion in the water) some new brethren whom they had recently counseled and deemed ready to become members of God’s Church. Some were older and some younger, in their late teens or early 20s.

She sent me with one of the older men in the Church to where we could watch the baptisms along with the others who were also witnessing this important ceremony as each newly repentant member waited for his or her turn. Other children my age were also watching since, in some cases, their parents were being baptized. It was at that time I realized that one day when I was a fair bit older than eight, I too, must be baptized.

Individual commitment strengthens the whole Body of Christ

With lunch and the baptisms completed, I visited with several youngsters my age until the afternoon service was about to start. Another dawning: I now had friends in God’s Church—and would have many more to come!

The afternoon sermon was even clearer than the one in the morning. Later, on the way home “Grammy” reviewed what we had heard and learned. It would be another ten years before I was baptized during my first year at Ambassador College, at the Bricket Wood campus in England. However, the seeds of God’s truth and faithfulness were planted well and deeply at that county park in southern Washington state on that special Pentecost.

Historically speaking—when the majority of the ministry and brethren are faithful—God’s Church grows in the process of doing His work of preaching the true gospel and preparing for the soon coming of our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thus, it is vitally important that we each individually remain diligently faithful to the teachings that God has recorded for us in His Word, the Bible.

Keep the true faith—and spread it!

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Be a Wise Son or Daughter of God!

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Are you a wise son or daughter of God? And likewise, are the organizations of God’s true Church collectively wise sons and daughters of God the Father?

Sometimes, we claim the title of God’s children simply because we have the knowledge base of God’s Word. But is merely claiming that knowledge enough?

Remember, “…to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin,” (James 4:17). A truly, biblically wise person would recognize and embrace the responsibility to constantly reflect the goodness and kindness of God’s way of life by faithfully living it!  

Ultimate insight

The tenth chapter of Proverbs launches the third collection of God’s shorter statements of wisdom that form the Book of Proverbs. Commentators usually recognize nine of these proverbial collections.

Very often the Proverbs refer to God’s faithful followers as His sons and daughters. The historic, true Church of God is certainly the vital part of God’s true children in this age of history.

Blind to true wisdom

Yet traditional Christianity and Judaism also lay claim to the Proverbs and God’s Word generally. Although they are closer than the rank and file of pagan or secular mankind, they presently, and quite frankly, greatly misunderstand the eternal aspects of God’s wisdom.

Now this misunderstanding or “blindness” will be taken away by Christ at His second coming, but until that happens only the relative few of the spiritual Body of Christ actually have clear-minded access to the profound wisdom of God!

The veil of spiritual blindness refers to the Israelites of old who carnally rejected God’s way: “But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:14-15).

To the vast bulk of mankind, the true wisdom of God is simply not understood yet!

Of course, that’s obvious to us who have been (or are being) called by God to true repentance, baptism and spiritual conversion. We know that because we know God’s truth, we are divinely expected to obey and live by it!

Great expectation

It is a wonderful calling, a great calling and great expectation that God has given us!

We, by our actions, words and very thoughts represent the Kingdom of God on earth. God the Father expects us to be wise sons and daughters in the true faith of His Son. Seek the fathomless wisdom of God to truly be a spiritually wise son or daughter of the Most High God!

Originally written: March 6, 2021

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YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A LAODICEAN!

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If you haven’t recently read about “endtime” prophecy in the Bible, it’s high time and beyond to do so.

Why? Because the culturally and morally destructive end of this age of human history is set to soon receive its most powerful, proverbial bombing run!

Those prophetic “bombs” have already shattered and weakened the morale – and worse yet – the spiritual and moral fiber of mankind for nearly all 6,000 years of human history.

When Adam and Eve began to heed the slithering lies of Satan the Devil masquerading as a talking serpent in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis chapter 3), they cut the dye for carnal (physically oriented but not God-oriented) human nature ever since. 

God specifically defines human nature through the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:7 – “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” This is the physically oriented, carnal human nature we seek to overcome!

Seven historical eras of God’s Church

The final book in the Bible is Revelation. It’s about, then future, prophecies of the endtime and beyond. We are – today – actually living in the endtime just prior to the prophesied second coming of Jesus Christ!

Between 90 to 100 AD, Jesus Christ inspired the apostle John to name in Revelation, the mostly future, historical eras of His true Church, known as the Church of God – after seven cities in northwestern Asia Minor. Those cities, now in modern day Turkey, were then part of the Roman Empire.

In Revelation chapters two and three Christ inspired John to prophesy about each of these congregations, assessing their spiritual strengths and weaknesses. They were Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Linked together on a Roman mail route, the apostle John was, most likely, their overseeing pastor.

Jesus then prophetically addresses the future eras of God’s true Church – admonishing them to overcome their faults and remain actively faithful to His truth and to doing His work in their respective historical times.

The Ephesian era of the early apostles lasted until the death of the apostle John (the last of the original twelve). Each successive “church” of the seven then progresses down through the roughly 2,000 years of history since the time of Christ—right down to today!

Church eras six and seven

In our own historic memory, we have lived during the sixth era named after the 1st century city of Philadelphia, thus, the Philadelphian era. The church in ancient Philadelphia was one of the most productive when it came to preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God to that part of the world as a witness in that day.

And, so too, the Church of God in the twentieth century, starting in the early 1930’s, rapidly grew in size, but it’s reach in proclaiming the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God was even greater, through God’s blessing and the advent of the new technologies of radio and television.

Yet there is a seventh era when God’s work is concluded prior to Jesus’ second coming. Based on historical markers, we are living now in that ominous seventh historical era. The name of the city and the era is Laodicea!

Christ labelled this final era the “lukewarm church”…

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked…” (Revelation 3:14-17).

Laodicea was prophesied to be (as a congregation—and an era) self-satisfied, self-righteous, proud, wealthy, and arrogant. If you watch world trends and attitudes, you will see and hear that self-centered reasoning echoing through modern secular society. Not surprisingly, and sadly, it also echoes through much of the organized elements of the true Church of God.

Beware! A culture – especially an arrogant culture tends to rub off on young and old, male and female. It’s very tempting to give in to things that are “woke” or currently approved by the society we live in, but God determines what is acceptable, not us or the world around us.

There is only one true antidote to self-righteous, Laodicean arrogance and that is submissive humility before God. “Remember your Creator…” Ecclesiastes 12:6. We aren’t self-sufficient, our lives continue, day by day, through God’s mercy.

The seven congregations listed in Revelation 2 and 3 were prophetic of God’s true Church during each respective era. And each era would have some spiritual strengths to build on… and each would have spiritual weaknesses to overcome.

The last – Laodicea can be spiritually deadly. But remember, you don’t have to be Laodicean!

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BE A GOOD LOOKER-BACKER

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How good are you presently at looking backward so you can better see forward?

We’re talking history here – so be advised if you tend to underrate the study of the historic past in school or in life generally. Undervaluing the study of history – ancient or modern – is a plague in most human cultures and often in higher educational systems.

Notice how our great God stresses the understanding of history in the heavens and on earth through the writing of King David:

I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands. I spread out my hands to You; My soul longs for You like a thirsty land. Selah. 

Psalm 143:5-6

Note that God and His faithful servants—the prophets and later His true Church all existed in history. That history is, by the way, still being made by God’s true Church today. That includes you and me and all our scattered brethren!

However, some in or attached to the Body of Christ (another term for “God’s true Church”) have too long been gambling with inattentive blindness – or are functionally inattentive to the work that our Savior Jesus Christ has been and is doing through his specially chosen faithful few.

What’s the spiritual fix?

How can each of us correct whatever amount of inattentive, spiritual blindness exists in our lives so near the end of this age – putting us so close to the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

The good news is that positive, corrective action is already at our fingertips:

Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.”

Jeremiah 6:16

PS:  That last sentence of verse 16 is a sad story for those who choose the wrong path. Please carefully disregard the tragically unwise example of the stubborn and foolish.

Ask our great God in your prayers today for eyes to see the old paths that mark the good way. God has the ointment to cure our personal spiritual blindness, but we must ask for it!

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2024 – THE WORLD, MORE LIKE IT IS NOW THAN EVER BEFORE!

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Of course, the world is more like it is now than it’s ever been before! Wars and rumors of wars. But the question is why the world is in the miserable condition it’s in now?

Sunrise, sunset… a day, a week, a month, a year has always led to another ever since creation. Even the events of those weeks, months, years, decades, and centuries bear similarity – and that’s due in great part to the worldwide continuity of selfish human nature. History repeats itself!

The corrupting influence

God inspired the apostle Paul to pen this passage of Scripture: “…the carnal [that is, physical] mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:7).

Add to that the passage in Genesis 3 where evil thinking was taught to the first human family – Adam and Eve – through the slick enticement Satan’s lying lectures. Never underestimate the overweening, destructive influence of that evil, fallen angel and his demonic cohorts!

From the time God specially created that first human family humanity has lived an up-and-down, often chaotic, mostly selfishly motivated history. We see this today in the war in Europe, the horrific attacks on Israel this past October, and now the war in the Middle East. These aren’t the first, or even yet the worst wars, the world has ever seen, but they remind us that humanity hasn’t overcome anything that was instigated from that first deception.

Sin’s tragedy compounded

At the evil instigation of the serpent (Satan the Devil in masquerade) our first parents, Adam and Eve, ignored God’s loving command to eat specifically from the Tree of Life.

Instead, they chose to listen to the Devil’s evil prompting and ate fruit from the specifically forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That wrong choice bore continuous, negative fruit, in effect initiating what has become “this present, evil age” (see Galatians 1:4).

Every generation from Adam to now has essentially perpetuated the sins of disobeying the loving commands of our Creator. And our society continues to reject the 10 Commandments right into our day now. Perhaps saddest of all, is that most of the Christianity of our age, and several centuries past, has systematically rejected God’s law as well (particularly the Sabbath command), proclaiming it “done away with”. If “Christianity” cannot respect God’s way, how can the rest of the world have any hope to do so?

But what about you?

Do you have to perpetuate the sinful mistakes of Adam and Eve?

The answer is a resounding NO!

Forget the old, physical world and its evil ways! Systematically seek a closer relationship with God our Father and His Son – our Savior, Jesus Christ. Request a daily progress report of yourself: Am I keeping God’s law and upholding His way of life? As the Passover approaches in a few months, it’s a good time to start examining ourselves in light of our baptism covenant with God.

As every other human who has or will ever live, we owe everything, including life itself to Jesus Christ our Savior and to God our Father! Live your life dedicated to that dynamic destiny offered by our Savior in the soon-coming Kingdom of God!

*If you wish to reprint this commentary or learn more about how to do so, please contact me in the comments below. I reserve my rights to this content, it is not in the public domain for use or reprint without my permission.

INTO THE PIT: A FARMER’S WORST NIGHTMARE

/ rpstiver / Leave a comment

A fine, warm spring morning in northern Indiana – just right for remembering and sharing good stories about life on the farm in America back in the days of the Great Depression of the 1930’s—or even before—and at the same time mulling over these accounts in the light of life in God’s true Church.

Three senior sons of the soil (farmers, then retired) came to our house that Sunday morning for a buckwheat pancake brunch with all the tasty trimmings and good, strong, fresh-roasted and brewed black coffee. They were part of our northern Indiana congregation, at that time in Elkhart.

In his early 90’s Clyde was the oldest of our “crew.” He had a long career in breeding, training, and farming with massive draft horses in north-central Indiana.

He told us about training a very promising young colt back when he was a young fellow himself. It was a beautiful spring day and the “colt”, in harness with its mother, was plowing a corn field to prepare it for planting.

His first season in harness, the colt was now big and strong (already virtually the size of the mare), pulling his weight and more. Everything about him was promising. Clyde had a lot invested in this young horse.

Into the pit!

How often in life does this next kind of circumstance happen? Just as he held the reins and strode behind the plow, savoring all the planning and effort he had put into the colt – disaster struck!

The mare suddenly disappeared! It was as if the field had swallowed her! And the full-grown colt was standing in a sink hole up to his withers. The mare was lying on her side with her legs beside the colt’s massive shod hooves. One panicked stomping by the young horse would break the old mare’s legs – and the sink hole would become her grave! This was a critical moment for Clyde.

The family farm was a “muck farm.” Part of their fields had been a bog when the pioneer generation arrived. Typically, the bogs were drained to increase the acreage for farming vegetables and grain—like corn in Clyde’s case.

From time to time the dense amount of organic material in the bog would spontaneously combust beneath the soil. As the underground fire burned the combustible material, it left a hollow shell of soil on the surface. It was often the fate of the farm’s draft animals to “discover” these muck holes. Depending on the depth of the hole, sometimes the severely injured draft animal was simply shot and buried in the unwelcome grave.

That was a jolt for those of us listening to the story. Warming to his dramatic farming tale, he continued the unfolding events…

A still small voice

Clyde ran to the colt standing upright in the sinkhole. He grabbed the face harness and calmly spoke to the younger horse. His voice also calmed the mare who lay in peril below the field’s surface.

Clyde then systematically disconnected the colt from the plow harness. All the while gently urging the horse to remain still. Back in the day, draft horses were routinely trained to respond to specific, human voice commands. It was in an emergency such as this that an experienced professional horse handler’s calm, confident voice and encouraging touch became absolutely critical!

At last, the disconnect was done. Now, the rescue…

Leap to safety!

Holding the colt’s head harness, Clyde quietly prepared the younger horse for the jump up and out of the sinkhole.

This was a great test of Clyde’s draft horse skills and careful training techniques! Continuously speaking commands, the mighty muscles of the powerful young horse began to tense, little by little, until they were coiled like a spring. Only then did Clyde give the command for the colt to jump!

Up and out of the “muck hole” in one clean, fell swoop the grown-up colt launched and landed on solid ground! Finally, the old mare, still uninjured, was able to rise, gathering her feet beneath her for the climb out of the sink hole to safety.

The Master’s voice

The obvious spiritual lesson we draw from this true story is that the two horses had faith in and responded to their young master’s commands. We must learn to always be ready to have faith in our own loving Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The question is – how well do we listen?

All of us present gave a great sigh of relief as Clyde finished his horse rescue story! After appreciating the well-told lesson, Bill, a mule-man, and Hoover, an ox drover, each proceeded to tell their stories about farming in their youth. But that’s fodder for another story soon to come…

– Commentary by Randy Stiver

*If you wish to reprint this commentary or learn more about how to do so, please contact me in the comments below. I reserve my rights to this content, it is not in the public domain for use or reprint without my permission.