Jesus Christ

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

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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.

ARE YOU STOUT-HEARTED?

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It seems like everyone today wants things…money, high political or business office, community status, position, fame, and fortune (material goodies) …. Etcetera, ad infinitum!

And so, a lesson from the past…

However, there was a wonderful song from decades ago called “Stout-Hearted Men”, composed by Sigmund Romberg with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The words are all about the fact that the world needs… and people are looking for… a few stouthearted—brave and courageous—men.

The song, included in the 1940 musical film, New Moon, is set to a marching tune and carries a good and positive motivational message. It’s catchy and inspiring, gathering up the audience with its enthusiasm!

Here is a link to the lyrics, and on this page is also a video clip from New Moon of the performance by Nelson Eddy: Nelson Eddy – Stout Hearted Men Lyrics | Lyrics.com

The lyrics and music are still under copyright, so I can’t print them here, but I encourage you to go to the page and read and listen to them.The stirring music makes the poetry come alive!

How stout is your heart?

Listening to – or just imagining the lyrics like this automatically starts a person thinking about his or her own stout-heartedness—as well as that of others.

The big question is: whose heart in human history was the stoutest heart of all? Three guesses and the first two don’t count!

You know the answer!

But…how fervently do you believe what Jesus Christ inspired to be written in God’s Word? Does the gospel of the soon-coming Kingdom of God energize your prayers, your meditation, and your diligence in overcoming?

Thankfully, some people in the world’s public – even today – see at least the need for the essential, character qualities of actual, spiritual, stout-hearted men, women and children! Unfortunately, so much of that spiritual grit is motivated by “wars and rumors of wars” (see Matthew 24, especially verse 6).

Yet understand, God has not called the whole world’s population to repentance and faith in His truth… yet—at this time! In due course He will, but not yet.

Securing our own “stout hearts”

Nevertheless, that dynamic, courageous energy should be pulsating within the hearts of the brethren of the true Church of God today!

Every individual since Adam and Eve will have his or her unique opportunity of God’s personal, special, calling to true and faithful repentance. Though, for all of us in the true Body of Christ today—and you know who you are—this is our chance to understand God’s truth and spiritually overcome.

The opportunity, the path to resurrection in the Family of God, is being offered to us now – today! Make sure that you energetically respond to that calling to the true faith of Jesus Christ. To borrow the rhythm from the song, let us become spiritually stout-hearted brethren in God’s true Church!

– 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.

NEEDED: A NEW WORLD ORDER GIVEN BY JESUS CHRIST

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As if our so-called “world order” wasn’t dysfunctional enough—look at it now!

Wars and/or threats of war in the far east (Russia v. Ukraine, North Korea v. South Korea, China vs. nearly everyone they can think of (or so it seems) … and Japan rearming because of all the above. Europe, particularly Germany, remembering that it once had a massive army. America is presently trying to regain her footing in the scramble for position in an updated world order.

So far, with some exceptions, these primarily verbal threats dominate most of the tension points, but remember this…

Historically, words ultimately precede actions!

Jesus Christ said it: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). Note the underlined statement especially.

The threats are starting to turn into real theaters of armed conflict.

The land of Israel at war

The current crisis began when Hamas (the Palestinian militant terrorist organization) attacked Jewish communities near Gaza during the night—just at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles. Others have already commented on the venomous nature of the attack that maimed, tortured and murdered hundreds of Israelis. It was as if the demonic spirit of Nazism reappeared in all its hate-filled venom, against particularly, the Israelite tribes of Judah and of Levi.

Shades of the 1920’s to the 1940s’…

Those few decades marked the rise and reign of Nazism. In the aftermath of World War Two that mindset was largely repudiated, but somehow not eliminated. Thus, it’s seemingly haunting reappearance.

However, Nazism was not a singularity. There were violent schools of thought – and action throughout human history. Many were Devil-inspired, but some were manmade philosophies that poisoned various cultures over time.

Please know and understand this, that poisonous thinking actually began with Adam and Eve eating from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Part of God’s particular punishment for Eve, the mother-of-all-mankind, was: “To the woman He said: ‘I will multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children…’” (Genesis 3:16).

That punishment began when Eve’s firstborn son Cain murdered his younger brother, Abel. Thus was the start of human-to-human violence. Eve’s motherly pain has been repeatedly experienced no doubt billions of times since.

Every wrongful death of every mother’s son or daughter since cries out still for justice! All humanity has fostered a culture of Cain to one degree or other.

Time for a new world order

The time has come, the Bible says, for truth and mercy and peace. The time is also arriving for the return—the second coming—of Jesus Christ in all His power and glory as the conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:11-16).

Every day we’re drawn closer and closer to the time of Christ’s return!

Yet leading up to that great salvation of humanity there will be “wars and rumors of wars” as prophesied, but Jesus will also bring something else of incredibly vital importance. 

Time for world peace

With Christ’s return He will fully institute genuine, glorious world peace! With Him comes a culture of love for all humankind – the apex of God’s creation. This “present, evil world” will transform into the new and then present world of good!

May the tragedies of our time and the evil times behind us shrivel to insignificance in memory. And may God the Father and Jesus Christ heal the great sadness that humanity has generated over the millennia of human history since the Garden of Eden and turn it to joy and goodness in the Kingdom of God on earth!

– 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.

The MIDDLE OF THE MILLENNIUM – CULTURE WITHOUT CONFLICT

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The “Millennium,” (literally meaning 1000 years) has long been an intriguingly profound, prophetic term within the historic, Sabbath-keeping Church of God.

Jesus and His apostles identified the Millennium, through many clear prophecies, as a critical turning point in future history. Beginning with His second coming, it marks the epoch in which Christ will rule all the nations on earth for a thousand years.

While the following verse seems to be about a change in animal nature, Note how Isaiah’s inspiring prophecy highlights the dramatic change in human nature…

 “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the Lord” (Isaiah 65:25). Is this only about animals? What do verses 17 through 25 tell us about what God desires?

Are people tamed too?

God’s plan from the outset has not been to spiritually convert animals. Nor was it God’s plan to merely “tame” people!

Repentant humanity (those who choose to repent, believe and live God’s way of life as Jesus taught) are God’s children and will be offered eternal life in the soon-to-come Kingdom of God – just as Christ’s millennial age commences.

Our carnal (meaning: physically oriented) minds must be changed through our personal repentance and response to God’s calling.

True, spiritual conversion is based on a fundamental, spiritual core-change in our individual lives, choosing to surrender our will and values and fully embrace the mindset and values of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Now back to the future middle of the Millennium

As part of the true, historic Church of God we’ve invested most of our prophetic, “world tomorrow” thinking on the cataclysmic events at the end of this age leading to Christ’s second coming.

We’ve also spent time analyzing and contemplating the early events in the Millennium itself… the establishment of world peace, the overhaul of education to be truly Christ focused, etc. Our concentration focused in on the early months, years, and decades after Christ’s return.

That deep, biblical thinking yielded—and still yields—rich insight into the Kingdom of God on earth—as well as how we should be living God’s way right now – today!

But at, say, the year 500 mark of “the” Millennium what will human culture and society be like? Think about that—because there’s another 500 years to follow before the 1,000 years of Christ’s rule ends. And so on, after that…because life is eternal in the Kingdom of God!

What will a culture without Satan (who will no longer be allowed to influence humanity from just after the second coming of Christ) be like? What will a culture shaped by the leadership of God, the Father, Jesus Christ and the resurrected saints, rather than self-centered human nature, be like?

Think of it…no more deception…no more conflict…and no more culture of disobedience. No war, just peace. It’s hard to imagine in our world now, isn’t it?

Culture based on cooperation

Without conflict at its core, what will entertainment be like? Books? What will we do without murder mysteries? Music? Without angst, how will composers and writers compose?

What about government that serves God first and is based on outgoing concern for others? A concept hard to imagine in our present, conflict driven political culture.

What about religion (remember, there won’t be any “way”, but God’s way!)? How will industry function without competition? What about family life and marriages based on cooperation? Without conflict in these foundational building blocks, how will that change the whole society?

What about stewardship of the planet? How will the productivity of the earth change when humanity works with what God created instead of against it?

As we enter the last day of the Feast and the Last Great Day soon begins, spend some time pondering these intriguing questions! And most importantly, how can you begin to apply that “conflict-less” culture in your own life now?

God’s way is profoundly deep and richly meaningful! Let’s celebrate the conclusion of the Feast being ever grateful that we are invited to be a part of it!

– 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.

Don’t Let Yourself Be Spiritually De-Railed!

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A commentary by Randy Stiver (2-24-2023)

The echo of trains rumbling through the night carrying the nation’s freight was a peaceful, rhythmic sound when our family lived in the state of Ohio.

Beaver Creek – Beaver Creek State Park, Ohio, 2016 — Photo: Amanda Stiver

But it wasn’t so peaceful the night of this past February 3, 2023 when a heavily loaded freight train ignited into a rolling, roaring, toxic fire that derailed in a rural valley near the Ohio River just north of the town of East Palestine. The derailment and the resultant, toxic chemical spill and fire occurred just west of the nearby Pennsylvania state line.

Only a handful of miles south lays the beautiful and peaceful Beaver Creek State Park. Some years ago, with the help of a small team of volunteer outdoor experts, we conducted a church-sponsored young adult camp in that location, we called it the Challenger East program. In addition to the daily Bible class, one of the most popular activities was fly fishing in the clear waters of the Beaver Creek. A chemical spill so near this beautiful, bucolic area is jarring and troubling.

News of the train wreck has raised concerns about the status of rail safety across the nation. Five of the hazardous chemical cars derailed and broke open, causing toxic flowage into nearby streams. Their caustic contents spilled onto the soil and a great deal of it made its way into the mighty Ohio River flowing south and west through Wheeling, West Virginia and on toward Cincinnati.

Downstream concerns

The toxic toll of the hazardous chemical spill directly affected many thousands of families living along the mighty Ohio River. The city of Cincinnati, among others, had to temporarily halt their municipal water uptake from the river, others were concerned for the welfare of wildlife and domestic herds that drink from the river, to say nothing of fish and birdlife. What is the long-term effect of the spilled chemicals? How will it impact the human population down the road? How long will it take for the affected fish and animal populations, and plant life to recover—and how long for the water to be safe for swimming, fishing, and potability? Time will tell.

God created rivers to cleanse themselves. But people have historically tended to misuse God’s creation. How long will it be before mankind gets a clue?!

Another kind of river

The true, historic Church of God—the Church that Jesus Christ personally established—is like a mighty river, too. God’s way will prevail—and at Christ’s return “… it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes” (Exekiel 47:9).

There is a valuable analogy here. Human as we are, we must strive with spiritual vigor to stay true to Christ our Savior and God our Father. And we also need to take faithful, personal action as well. Avoid “like the plague” being overloaded with spiritual poisons that sometimes spill into the Body of Christ.

Remember, if we lose the vision of the true Church that Jesus built, we will soon devalue the understanding of God’s truth, potentially endangering our precious salvation and that of others.

Be on guard to identify and reject spiritual poisons, inaccurate teachings, and false gospels. Read or reread the Church’s “Fundamentals of Belief” booklet. Know the teachings of Your Savior—prove them and believe them. Become acquainted with and know the true doctrines and where to find them in the Bible.

Learn and keep the true faith that Jesus Christ taught. Don’t let yourself be derailed from God’s Kingdom!

*This originally appeared as a weekly note sent to my local congregation. 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.