Regarding the "crash" (collapse of peace and economic prosperity in the USA and beyond) which some people (including myself) see on the horizon...

underlying cause:
- millions of individual unsaved Americans, a collective nation turning gradually further from God (we were never God's chosen people, and we were only a "Christian nation" in the sense of being composed of a high percentage of people espousing Christianity or judeo-christian morality (e.g. one might just as well say that we used to be a "Caucasian nation" or some other such originally shared characteristic), and not in the sense of possessing a divine national charter)

proximal causes:
  ==>> abortion (twenty thousand precious unborn humans murdered per week in America)
-> recognition of homosexual 'marriages'
-> abandoning Israel
cultural factors leading to the decline
- divorce, homosexuality and the breakdown of the family
- removing the Bible from the public square (especially schools) and requiring secularistic science teaching
- affluence --> laziness (engineering school enrollment, etc)
- feminism (more girls now going to college than boys, divorce epidemic, etc, cf. Mohler articles such as http://www.albertmohler.com/2009/10/23/feminism-unfulfilled-why-are-so-many-women-unhappy/
http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/02/09/newsnote-where-are-the-young-men/
http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/02/05/newsnote-masculinity-in-a-can-fight-club-at-church-and-the-crisis-of-manhood/
http://www.albertmohler.com/2009/10/28/the-divorce-divide-a-national-embarrassment/)
- media evil: Hollywood movies, tv shows, pornography, etc

factors in the predicted coming economic collapse of the USA and subsequent one-world government
Global:
- sovereign debt (of many nations, e.g. Greece, Spain, Ireland, Britain, and the USA...)
- oil dependency - for transportation, food growing and transporting, manufacturing, energy, etc
- nuclear Iran (dilemma: if pre-emptive attack of Iran, risk losing 'world goodwill', if wait/sanctions, risk nuclear war and/or an EMP-bomb attack against Israel, Europe, USA, etc) http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-time-to-act-against-iran-is-fast-approaching/?singlepage=true
USA:
  - national sovereign debt - $14 trillion and growing - now equal to 100% of the 2010 GDP
- continued expansion of government entitlement programs like welfare, unemployment, disability, medicare, etc
- social security collapsing due to borrowing - e.g. paying out more than it takes in, starting 2010 http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/539411/201007061804/Are-Overdue-Reports-Concealing-ObamaCare-Impact-On-Medicare-.aspx
- the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - approximately $1 billion spent so far
- the subprime mortgage crisis due to Clinton-era FreddieMac/FannieMae intervention - http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2008/09/29/who-caused-the-biggest-financial-crisis-since-the-great-depression/
- 12 million illegal immigrants taking up millions of dollars in local services
- high personal credit card debt, $8000 average per household
- the Obama $700 billion 'stimulus' bill of 2009
- the national healthcare bill of 2010, taking effect gradually over the next 5 years
- Bush tax cuts expiring in 2011

Predictions
  - something will trigger a global economic meltdown
- runaway money-printing / inflation will occur in USA and the dollar will lose most or all of its value (cf. Argentina, Zimbabwe)
- some level of national turmoil will occur, especially acutely in the cities with riots when gas and food run out
- Christians will experience major persecution

At some point, the world will transition to a one-world Islamic government and everyone who accepts the new world leader will receive an implanted RFID microchip allowing them to buy and sell.  However, the timing of the transition is not known... the USA meltdown might occur many years before the world transition, or within a few weeks or months.   God might grant many more years to the earth before bringing the final end of the age.

Recommendations
- http://tim223.xanga.com/722854326/preparing-for-the-coming-distress/ (Rejoice in Jesus Christ all day long!    and prepare in a few prudent earthly ways)
- Pray for revival in the USA...
- More ideas: www.transitionus.org  ,  www.postpeakliving.com

 

 

 

Some 'reaction' on recent news:

- On the wikileaks video of US soldiers 'accidentally' shooting civilians (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/apr/07/wikileaks-collateral-murder-iraq-video) , it strikes me that as the Bible says in Numbers 32:23, "be sure your sin will find you out."  In other words, if the crew in the attack helicopter had known that their casual words would later be listened to by millions of people (and would jeopardize the lives of many of their fellow soldiers by making people think that they were all alike), they would have spoken (and maybe acted) differently.  As Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, "the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart."  It is the daily, hidden actions, thoughts, and words which few people or no people know about, which gradually shape our characters and consciences... and it is our character / heart which is revealed suddenly, without warning, when circumstances suddenly put us to the test.... and it is our character / heart by which we will ultimately be judged.  As Jesus continues in Matthew 12:37, "by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."  Because they show our heart.
How then to live?  Try to guard our words and hidden actions extremely closely?  Not quite... I'd say focus on the heart - learn specifics of how God wants you to live, repent and confess your sin to God when you see yourself breaking the specifics, rejoice that Jesus has paid for all of your sins, ask God for help in "by the Spirit... putting to death the deeds of the body" (Rom. 8:13), try to stop sinning and start obeying in that specific (with the motive of being an "obedient child" (1 Peter 1:14), and repeat the cycle in other specific areas!

- On sending people away to seminary (from my previous post's question) - one thing that occurred to me is that there are some items in some situations which a local church might not have the ability to teach certain helpful things to people who are involved in certain ministries.  For example, if an elder wanted to learn Greek or Hebrew to better guard his church people from doctrinal error and help them to deeper understanding of God's word, in some parts of the world (without access to local teachers or correspondance courses) the only way to acquire such learning is to travel to a seminary.  But I still think that such training is overvalued in America compared to study of God's word, life experience, proven character, training/mentorship by mature older Christians, etc.

- On D.C.Innes' editorial "Our Present Civil Cold War" (http://online.worldmag.com/2010/06/09/our-present-civil-cold-war/)... it is a short and excellent commentary on the 'choice' facing Americans today between limited government and unlimited government (socialism).  While I think he puts the issues well, I am surprised at his optimism and the optimism of many other conservatives ("taking back our country" rhetoric).  I think a better summary might be this succinct paragraph: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
That quote is attributed to Alexander Tytler, probably falsely, but regardless of whoever first wrote it I think it seems rather insightful.  Have not many historical nations foundered due to 'loose fiscal policy', been thrust into a time of societal turmoil, and then experienced a dictatorship?
The question then, for me, is how to live if we are in such a situation in our country right now.   My current thought is to (1) pray for revival, (2) reach out to help as many individual people as possible, firstly spiritually in coming to know Christ, secondly economically in getting out of debt and growing in education and maturity, (3) spend a small/moderate amount of effort in political causes to try to help enact good laws and elect good leaders, and (4) prepare in whatever little ways are possible for the tough times ahead.
What are your thoughts?  Do you think D.C.Innes is right?  Does it affect your life at all?

 

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:3-9

Our government seems to be relying more and more on Other People's Money these days... in the continued welfare programs for unemployed people, in moving toward a more socialized healthcare system, in borrowing money from China and other countries to sustain our deficit, etc.

At some point, there usually comes a time when it is generally realized that borrowing other people's money won't work any more.   "Why don't you spend the money from your own pocket to help the poor, rather than taking money from someone else's pocket?"... the sentiment is eventually inevitable.

However, this post is not primarily about fiscal policy, but about an analogy between the eventual breakdown of such "OPM" expectations and the salvation of our friends who do not believe in Jesus.  First a bit of background, then a thought at the end making the link.

As many of you readers know, the Bible indicates that all humans have an inborn bent toward sinning (inherited from Adam and Eve) which causes us to commit actual sins... thousands of them every day... acts of arrogant evil and corruption in blatant disobedience to God.   Even people who do not read the Bible still have some knowledge of what is right and wrong... and still often choose to do what's wrong anyway.

As the Bible explains, the One True God who created the world happens to be both Just and Loving.  His Justice does not allow him to turn a blind eye to our sins.  Instead, "the person who sins will die" (Ezekiel 18:20); "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).  But His Love caused Him to decide to essentially pay the debt Himself that we owed... God the Son in cooperation with God the Father volunteered to be "pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

It so happens that not everyone will receive this salvation, however... only those who "believe"; those whose hearts God "opens" (Acts 16:14) to accept God's free gift of salvation and put their allegiance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.   Moreover, according to Jesus this will be a minority of humanity:  "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).

It so happens that I have received this free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, and so I will some day be in heaven forever with God in indescribable joy and bliss, though I fully deserve instead to be forever in hell.  But it also so happens that a large percentage of my friends, neighbors, coworkers, and other acquaintances do not believe in Jesus and so are on their way toward eternal hell and what the Bible calls "the second death".   So I am often burdened to pray for my friends, that God would have mercy on them and open their eyes to see the truth.

And so, I often beg for "Other Person's Mercy", specifically, that God would have mercy on my friends, changing their minds to see the evil of their own souls and their need for Jesus Christ.  I so desire it.... I so want my friends to experience eternal life rather than eternal death.  I want this so badly that sometimes I almost get upset with God for His delay in answering these prayers, and my fear that maybe He will say "no" and my friends will end up in Hell.

Recently then, I was reminded how it is completely God's prerogative to show His own mercy to whomever He deems would be best to enter Life, since He is "paying the bill" of their ransom, so to speak.  I can ask, but that's all I can do.  It's not my place to dole out His mercy and His suffering and His 100%-commitment-'chesed'-covenant-love to various humans that I meet during my seventy-whatever year trek on earth with my 3-pound puny little brain.  If He decides not to select any of my unbelieving friends for salvation, I can trust the all-knowing, eternal, infinitely loving and infinitely wise God to choose what is best.

Jesus gave Christians the task of "making disciples":

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." -- Matthew 28:19-20

Sometimes it is said that before sharing the good news about Jesus Christ with their friends and neighbors and coworkers, Christians need to "earn the right to be heard".  This is also said of youth group leaders, foreign missionaries, etc.  The concept is that one needs to first earn respect from one's colleagues and peers, or endear themselves somehow, after which one can share about Christ.

To what extent is this true?

If it is true, how long does one need to wait?  What if the 'respect' and 'endearment' and close friendship never occurs?  What if no one ever asks you "the reason for the hope that is within you"?  Do you just keep quiet about Jesus Christ the rest of your life, waiting for that moment?

cf. 1 Peter 3:15, 2 Cor. 2:14-17, 5:18-21... what other Bible passages apply?

 

Two wrenching pieces of news today:

1. A man tries to help a woman being attacked in New York City; he ends up being fatally stabbed himself, slowly bleeding to death while several people walk by on the sidewalk over the next hour and a half.

2. "No matter how used you are to your chicken, it will not stop you slaughtering it." - a 'rationale' given for the continued regular killings of civilians (by their neighbors) in Jos, Nigeria and neighboring towns.

Below: some comments and practical applications.

(1) Dehumanization is always a component of genocide.  Notice above how the violent man compared the humans he was killing to chickens.  Violence always starts in the mind (Matthew 5:21-22).  Hitler's evolutionary rhetoric claimed that the Jews and others he hated were "less evolved" and so "less human" and thus able to be killed without qualm.
The Bible gives the antidote in Genesis 1 (among other places) - humans are created in the image of God, unlike all other animals.  Therefore killing another human is wrong (except capital punishment/military/police/government, Romans 13:4)
Genesis 9:6 makes the connection -
"Whoever sheds man's blood,
By man his blood shall be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man."
Some Christians claim that the literal historicity of Genesis 1 is not important.  Whether humans evolved from other animals or were literally directly created by God is irrelevant, they claim.  But it seems clear that this issue is extremely relevant.  It is only because Genesis 1 is literally & historically accurate that we are justified in believing that human life is intrinsically valuable.
(2) Where is the justice?  How could a good God let an innocent New Yorker get killed trying to help someone else?  How could a good God let innocent farmers and herdsmen in Nigeria get killed every day?  How could a good God allow a righteous man like Naboth be killed simply so someone else could take his vinyard?  How could a good God allow righteous people to be "killed all day long;...considered as sheep to be slaughtered"? (Ps 44:22)

The answer is that God is watching, and in due time, He will enact full justice.  God says: "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay" (Deut. 32:35, Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30).

I have struggled to understand Psalm 37, because it often seems to fail to apply, in daily news here on earth.  But if we expand our perspective a bit to include life after this short time on earth, it becomes perfectly clear.  I think Psalm 37 applies "in general" to some degree (in a "proverbs"-type sense) on earth, but it applies fully and completely and perfectly to the complete view of life which takes into account our life after we die.  In other words, as you read the various promises regarding the righteous and the wicked in this and other psalms, ask yourself the question "Does this text say WHEN this will occur? On this side of death, or unspecified?"  Most of the time it is unspecified.

If you have a moment, read through Psalm 37 and ponder it.

¹  Do not fret because of evil men
or be envious of those who do wrong;

² for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.

³ Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:

⁶ He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

⁸ Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.

⁹ For evil men will be cut off,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.

¹⁰ A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.

¹¹ But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy great peace.

¹² The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;

¹³ but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming.

¹⁴ The wicked draw the sword
and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose ways are upright.

¹⁵ But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.

¹⁶ Better the little that the righteous have
than the wealth of many wicked;

¹⁷ for the power of the wicked will be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.

¹⁸ The days of the blameless are known to the LORD,
and their inheritance will endure forever.

¹⁹ In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.

²⁰ But the wicked will perish:
The LORD's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields,
they will vanish—vanish like smoke.

²¹ The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;

²² those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be cut off.

²³ If the LORD delights in a man's way,
he makes his steps firm;

²⁴ though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.

²⁵ I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.

²⁶ They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be blessed.

²⁷ Turn from evil and do good;
then you will dwell in the land forever.

²⁸ For the LORD loves the just
and will not forsake his faithful ones.
They will be protected forever,
but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off;

²⁹ the righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever.

³⁰ The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks what is just.

³¹ The law of his God is in his heart;
his feet do not slip.

³² The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,
seeking their very lives;

³³ but the LORD will not leave them in their power
or let them be condemned when brought to trial.

³⁴ Wait for the LORD
and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;
when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

³⁵ I have seen a wicked and ruthless man
flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,

³⁶ but he soon passed away and was no more;
though I looked for him, he could not be found.

³⁷ Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
there is a future for the man of peace.

³⁸ But all sinners will be destroyed;
the future of the wicked will be cut off.

³⁹ The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

⁴⁰ The LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
(3) How should we respond to injustice?

• Pray for peace in Nigeria... and not just peace as the absence of violence, but 'gospel peace'... peace that comes when large numbers of unbelievers hear of what Christ has done for them, are convicted of their sins and their need for Christ to save them, and are radically transformed, causing forgiveness, peace, love, shalom to flow in their towns.
  "First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:1-4
• Continue to help those we see in trouble around us as we walk down the street, as did Mr. Tale-Yax in New York City last weekend and as did the "good Samaritan" in Jesus' story.  Is it risky?  Absolutely.  Might we get beat-up or even die?  Sure.  But in view of what we (as born-again Christians / adopted children of God) have to look forward to after death (1 Corinthians 15, Philippians 2-3, Revelation 21, Psalm 37, etc), "to die is gain."   Please keep challenging me to do this, and not be hypocritical in this area.
• Someone is going to have to go into the "no-go" regions of violence in the world, to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who need to hear it.  It's easy to say "Oh, I hope those people in such-and-such a land are able to solve their differences and that some brave soul shares the gospel with them and they repent and turn to Jesus and begin walking in love and forgiveness instead of violence and revenge."

But who will go?  "How will they hear without a preacher?" (Rom 11)  Who will love them enough to risk personal pain to bring them the gospel?

 

 

Here's a powerful and well-worth-reading excerpt!!

 

Taken from http://www.monergism.com/acidtest.html

The Acid Test of Being a Christian

"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." (1 John 3:1-3)

The mark of knowing God is that you see God's love for you as a miracle. Notice this [text]: it says "how great". In the old King James it says "behold, what manner of love." Here it says, "how great a love" [NAS]. There is a Greek word that is used here that they are translating as "great" and the problem with the word is that it is an idiom. Idiomatic expressions are very hard to translate literally. We have an idiomatic expression: "its raining cats and dogs." Ok so if you are trying to translate that into Cantonese, German or into Japanese -- if you just say literally in those languages "it's raining cats and dogs" they will look at you: "what are you talking about?" You will have to find an idiomatic expression that is parallel or coordinate to that. Literally it says "behold, what country this love comes from" What this statement is really saying is "from what planet... how unreal...off the scale".

Remember there was a movie called "The Fisher King"? You wouldn't since hardly anybody saw this. Amanda Plummer plays this really klutzy, mousy, wallflower who has no friends. Robin Williams takes her out. At the end of the day he takes her in and says "I want to talk to you". She says "no, no, if you got to know me you would not like me. I am tired of rejection ... it was nice to go out. But everyone who gets to know me doesn't like me, so thanks." And Robin Williams says, "I do know you. I know that you think you are awkward. I know that you think you are clumsy. I know that you are kind of clumsy but I want you to know that I know who you are and I love you, and I will never leave you and I will never or forsake you." And she looks at him and its as if she is looking into the heart of what she thought was an enemy and she sees there understanding and love and she says, "Are you real?". This is a miracle that you love me.

[like this movie] This is saying, here is the way you can tell whether you are a Christian or just a moral person ... a Christian or a religious person. A real Christian is a person who says, "it is an absolute miracle that God's loves me. "It's just a miracle that I am a Christian." This is actually an acid test; let me just lay it on you here at the end. There are two kinds of people that go to church: there's religious people and real Christians. And the way you can tell the difference is that a Real Christian is somebody who sees everything that comes as a gift. In other words a real Christian sees that you are totally in debt to God, but a religious person is someone who is working hard and making an effort and trying to be good, going to Bible studies and just saying "no" everywhere, and denying themselves a lot of pleasures, and so forth, and a religious person is someone who is trying to put God in their debt. That is the difference. A religious person is someone who is trying to save themselves through their good works. A religious person is somebody who thinks they are putting God in their debt since they have tried so hard. A Christian is somebody who sees themselves as in God's debt.

Here is the acid test: If you are a Christian you have a spirit of wonder that permeates your life. You are always saying "how miraculous", "how interplanetary", "how unreal". You are always looking at yourself and saying, "me a Christian ... incredible, miraculous, unbelievable, a joke!!! " but a person who is trying to put God in their debt - there is none of that spirit of wonder at all. For example, when you show up to get your paycheck. I am assuming that most of you work hard for your money. When you show up for your paycheck do you say "Ah, BEHOLD!!!, you've paid me, you've given me money!!! Oh!! Are you real?." No, you don't do that, you say "of course you paid me, I worked." If you ask a religious person who does not understand the grace of God. you say, "Are you a Christian?" They say "Of course I am a Christian, I have always been a Christian. Sure I am a Christian. " My friends, if you are a Christian there is no "sure" about it and there is no "of courseness" about it, not a bit.

The acid test is your spirit of wonder stays there even when things go bad. You see when things go bad, when problems happen, here you can tell the difference between a moralist and a Christian. A moralist says, "what good is all my religion, what good is going to God, I have tried hard to be a Christian, I am trying hard to be obedient to God, and what good is it? God owes me." And you see you get mad. You say, "I have been trying hard and look what's going on in my love life, look what's going on in my career", and you get bitter. Why? because God owes you. But A Christian keeps that spirit of wonder. A Christian may say "my career has not gone too well, my love life has not gone too well, it's astonishing... Its amazing that God is as good as He is to me. Its all grace. Its all grace. That spirit of wonder. That sense of being a miracle. That everything that comes to you being an absolute mercy. That is an acid test.

In fact, in some ways I have made a dichotomy that is unrealistic. Christians, to the degree that you behold the free grace of God, to the degree that you meditate on it and you let it become a holy fire in your heart, to the degree you experience and behold the love of God, to that degree you are going to find that to difficulties you will be able to say "oh well, my Father must have a purpose here because He loves me, and besides that, He does not owe me a good life. He owes me a far worse life than I've got." You can handle anything. And when good things come you will say "Behold! what a miracle" And the very fact you can get up in the morning and say, "I am a Christian. Who would have thought it?" There is a spirit of wonder about you, and if you have lost that you are slipping back into moralism, you are slipping back into thinking "well I guess what it means to be a Christian is just to do." Here is Christianity:

And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!
For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

The wonder is a mark that you know the Lord. The ability to handle anything with that sense of almost childlike wonder. That sense of being a miracle. That tells you that you know him.

Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior's Name!
He has hushed the law's loud thunder,
He has quenched Mount Sinai's flame.
He has wash'd us with His blood,
He has brought us nigh to God.

The world is poor because

her fortune is buried in the sky

and all her treasure maps

are of the earth.

-- Calvin Miller, The Finale

A story about...    (my answer is in the comment section below)

The keys clanked in the lock.  The door to the mausoleum embalming room creaked open and the motivational speaker sprang jauntily inside.  The undertaker flipped on the light switch and leaned back against the door frame.  His half closed eyelids bespoke his cynical amusement.

The motivational speaker strode into the center of the stuffy room, tapped on a few of the open coffins and clapped his hands.  "All right folks, listen up!" he said.  "The time has come for you to get a little more exercise.  No more lying around.  There's so much beauty and fun to be experienced outside!"

On and on he talked.  He walked energetically back and forth.  He wiped the sweat off his forehead.  Occasionally he would walk up to one of the pale corpses, look right into its closed eyes, and talk loudly and slowly.  "Hello there Sir," he shouted.  "Did you hear what I just said?  If you get up and go outside, we could go for a walk in the park, or play soccer, or watch a movie, or go to a great barbeque place I know downtown.  You really ought to get up!  Don't you know what a bad example you're setting to the rest of humanity, just lazing around all day?"

Hours later, the motivational speaker staggered out.  He hoarsely thanked the undertaker and stumbled out of the building.  The undertaker knew he'd be back next Sunday morning for his weekly ritual.  He took a final look inside the room.  The bodies remained motionless.

 

 

 

 

Several months ago, a group of Christian friends and I were asked by a mutual friend to compose in one or two sentances our own answers to the question: "What is the good news of Jesus Christ?"   Here are our answers, for you to ponder...   (and, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, to REJOICE in!)

 

"What is the good news of Jesus Christ?"
---
That you are loved beyond your imagination by God who created you and, though knowing every secret thing about you, desires intimacy with you for eternity.

God is actively rescuing us from the brokenness of this world through the life and work of Jesus Christ.

God's gracious and merciful response to human sin.  Jesus' work is the only cure for our chronic sin disease.

God, who created and loves man more than words can say, sent his only Son to die on the cross to reconcile our sins so that we can have eternal life if we confess our sins and believe.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died as a sinless sacrifice to bridge the gap of sin that separates humans from God forever, so that by believing this we can live in the presence of God forever.

Joyful news that Christ has reconciled finally God and man through his death on the cross and resurrection, and that through Him we may have life everlasting.

God, instead of sending us all to the eternal destruction that we deserve, has instead taken upon Himself the penalty for His people's sins (sending Christ to die in our place), and then raised Christ from the dead and has given us His Spirit to live in our bodies to cause us to act more and more like Christ, with the eventual future result of a completely renewed creation and eternal joyful fellowship between God and His people.

Reconciliation with God and with man.

God's solution to our brokenness.

God rescues mankind.

We were made by God in His image, yet we fell into sin.  Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we can be restored to our relationship with God in order to rejoin with God in heaven.

God loves His creation and desires that we would be reconciled to him so he sent His son, Jesus Christ, into the world as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, something that only one who lived a blameless life could have done.  We are redeemed by Christ's blood and await for when this world will be redeemed and a new world formed.

 

For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.  (Galatians 1:13-17)

 

Twenty years ago I was a young boy, lying in bed around 10pm, listening to a radio program called Open Forum as I often did at that time.  Each night the host of the program would answer questions about the Bible from people who called in.  At the end of many conversations, the host would often exhort the callers to make sure that they had received God's gift of salvation from their sins.

I had grown up in a big Baptist church.  I had been a missionary kid in Africa.  My parents had read the Bible to me every night for years.  I knew all the sunday school answers and could ace every Bible quiz.  I was proud of my Bible knowledge.  

I knew that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God".  I knew that "the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life" because of the sacrifice Jesus had made for sins.  I knew that it was important for every person in the world to ask Jesus to save them and "come in to their heart", taking up His residence as King.  I knew that if a person disbelieved or rejected Jesus, that person would end up in Hell forever.

I had raised my hand twice before in Vacation Bible Schools, when they told us a prayer to repeat and said "raise your hand if you want to accept Jesus as your Savior".  Afterward they talked to me and told me that if I really meant the prayer, then I was saved.  But I wasn't sure, or didn't fully understand.

But this night, suddenly, the choice was right in front of me and the way forward was clear and exciting.   Asking Jesus to save them was something that everyone needed to do;  I had never done it;  why not do it at that moment?

So I did.  Afterward I immediately got out of bed and wrote down on a piece of paper "I became a Christian at 10:00pm November 29th 1989."  I was happy!   I didn't need to be afraid of death or Hell any more, because I was now a Christian and I was on my way to heaven!  For the first time, it wasn't just "Jesus died for sinners", but "Jesus died for ME."

I now know more.  I know that I understood almost nothing about salvation twenty years ago.  I had no way of knowing how to "count the cost" of following Jesus.  I didn't realize that it was God who was drawing me to Himself.  I had no idea of all the skeptical questions about Christianity which would wrestle in my mind over the next decades.  I had no idea of the depths of sin and evil in my heart. 

But fortunately, God is the one who saved me (and all of us who believe in Him).  I didn't save myself.  He had "set me apart" from eternity before the world was even created, and then at just the right time He "called" me and "opened my heart to believe" in Him.  Since that time He has been preserving, growing, protecting, teaching, disciplining, and wooing me.

I am still happy...  so extremely happy about Jesus Christ!   Thank you Lord Jesus for everything You have done for me, everything You are doing for me, and everything You are currently preparing for our awesome eternal future together with all of your redeemed ones.

 

    How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered!
How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!
When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. 

    I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD";
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. 

    Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.
You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. 

    I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.
Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.