Last night I had a dream. I don't remember what I was doing. It was just some dream. Then, in the middle of whatever it was I was dreaming, I heard a voice. It was not a still, small voice -- it was loud, and it broke into my dream over the din so that was unmistakable, and unforgettable.
In the morning, I checked, and sure enough, it was still there in my head. The voice had proclaimed, "I AM the God of your fathers." I had waited to see if the rest of the verse was there. Did He proclaim that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? No. There was a definite stop, right after "fathers."
Yesterday, during our lunch break, Eric made a prediction. He thought we would see this or that happen next in the coronavirus situation we are watching unfold. I do not remember what he predicted. I do remember that he prefaced his remarks to me with something our pastor uses all the time, "I'm not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet." Then he said, "Actually, I'm the grandson of a drunk." To which I replied, "Yeah, and I'm the granddaughter of a child molester." Gotcha.
So what is this, "I am the God of your fathers"? Clearly the voice spoke to me, Margie L. Haley. It was not about someone else. Is there someone in my genealogy who trusted in God?
There are a couple thousand years between the viral spread of the Gospel after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Somewhere in there are my ancestors. Eric traced my genealogy once as a project, and found it intersects with mine at some point, making us 17th cousins. There are Revolutionary War soldiers, pioneers who settled the New World, and there are circuit riding ministers among those ancestors, I know. I'm also descended from Charles Martel, a.k.a. "Charles the Hammer."
So who are the fathers of mine who trusted in God? Well, if nothing else, there's Noah! And all of us living on earth today have that man of faith as our common ancestor. He's not someone to take lightly, as a cutesy Bible story. Noah was a man like one of us, in a world going down the tubes, who heard God's voice telling him there would be an escape from the wrath to come, and he had to build it. Noah believed God, prepared wood and constructed a huge floating home in the middle of an arid region, stocked up on supplies, and saw the miracle of all the kinds of animals on earth making a pilgrimage to his location.
Noah preached the Good News of the escape from the wrath to come for a hundred years while he fashioned the ark, and the ark itself was a witness to everybody who could see it -- and who could miss it? All the while, Noah was shamed and shunned and his family with him. I wonder if anybody tried to order him to cease and desist, or if anyone tried to burn down what he was building. But all the while, the door was open. It was a free ride for anyone who would come with them.
One day, the rain came, just as God had promised, and just as Noah had preached. There was a day of reckoning. God, in His mercy, had both warned the people on earth repeatedly, and given them the way of escape. But only eight survived the flood.
When God tells me He IS the God of my fathers, here's one I can be proud of. Noah is in Heaven, cheering me on. Noah sees the world and says, "Yeah, it was corrupt in my day, too. But hang in there, do the Word of God, proclaim the promise of salvation to the hurting, remind everybody that the time is short. And judgment WILL come."
Noah, my ancestor, just as the great "I AM" is your God, He is also mine. He has never changed, but the world has. And it will again. I am inspired by your faith, and I see you as part of that great cloud of witnesses that want to see me finish well. By God's enabling power and grace, I will.
By the way, if you'd like to know more about our common ancestor Noah, the Ark Encounter in Kentucky is scheduled to open again June 8.
Friday, May 22, 2020
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Don't Believe in the Bible?
"I don't believe in the Bible."
How often do you hear that statement?
I would like to ask someone who uses that regularly, to ward off Christians a few questions:
Which book do you not believe? There are 66 books in the Bible. Thanks to the cigarette industry (for creating that thin paper), we carry a small library to church every week. To quote Chuck Missler, there are "66 books, by 40 authors, and yet we now discover it's an integrated message system from outside our time domain."
So which book do you not believe? Do you have trouble believing the history books that chronicle the lives of Queen Esther of Persia or Ruth the Moabitess? Do you not believe the books that tell the history of the Jewish people, for instance the conquest of the land of Canaan, or the official chronicles of the Kings of Judah and Israel? Do you not believe the songbooks compiled by King David and other great song writers? Do you have a problem believing the collected proverbs of King Solomon? Do you not believe that there were books of law written for the Jewish people to live by?
Do you not believe that Jesus walked the earth right around 30 A.D. or that for instance, a physician named Luke chronicled his life story and then the sequel -- the lives of the early apostles who set up the earliest churches?
Do you not believe that men such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, or Obadiah wrote books of prophecy predicting destruction if nations failed to repent? Do you not believe that many of those predictions came true? Have you checked out the history of those nations?
Which of the 66 books do you not believe?
Perchance, is it that you don't want to believe the integrated message of God's grace to those who do repent? Is it because you would have to examine your life and because you're pretty sure you personally would be found lacking?
In most cases, the blanket statement about not believing the Bible really means that you know you're guilty but don't want anything to change. You also don't want to hear that there's a heaven and hell, and that those who don't receive God's gracious forgiveness for their sins by believing in Jesus will ultimately suffer in hell for eternity. These are hard truths, but they are found in the Bible, God's message to mankind woven seamlessly into all 66 books.
God desires more than anything, that all mankind should be saved from that eternal punishment and find grace through faith in the person of Jesus Christ, His only Son. Read the Book of John and find out for yourself. Maybe you don't believe the Bible because you've never read it.
How often do you hear that statement?
I would like to ask someone who uses that regularly, to ward off Christians a few questions:
Which book do you not believe? There are 66 books in the Bible. Thanks to the cigarette industry (for creating that thin paper), we carry a small library to church every week. To quote Chuck Missler, there are "66 books, by 40 authors, and yet we now discover it's an integrated message system from outside our time domain."
So which book do you not believe? Do you have trouble believing the history books that chronicle the lives of Queen Esther of Persia or Ruth the Moabitess? Do you not believe the books that tell the history of the Jewish people, for instance the conquest of the land of Canaan, or the official chronicles of the Kings of Judah and Israel? Do you not believe the songbooks compiled by King David and other great song writers? Do you have a problem believing the collected proverbs of King Solomon? Do you not believe that there were books of law written for the Jewish people to live by?
Do you not believe that Jesus walked the earth right around 30 A.D. or that for instance, a physician named Luke chronicled his life story and then the sequel -- the lives of the early apostles who set up the earliest churches?
Do you not believe that men such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, or Obadiah wrote books of prophecy predicting destruction if nations failed to repent? Do you not believe that many of those predictions came true? Have you checked out the history of those nations?
Which of the 66 books do you not believe?
Perchance, is it that you don't want to believe the integrated message of God's grace to those who do repent? Is it because you would have to examine your life and because you're pretty sure you personally would be found lacking?
In most cases, the blanket statement about not believing the Bible really means that you know you're guilty but don't want anything to change. You also don't want to hear that there's a heaven and hell, and that those who don't receive God's gracious forgiveness for their sins by believing in Jesus will ultimately suffer in hell for eternity. These are hard truths, but they are found in the Bible, God's message to mankind woven seamlessly into all 66 books.
God desires more than anything, that all mankind should be saved from that eternal punishment and find grace through faith in the person of Jesus Christ, His only Son. Read the Book of John and find out for yourself. Maybe you don't believe the Bible because you've never read it.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Does This Still Work?
Every now and then I find myself wanting to write something like a blog post, but I forgot where this one was. Since Google changed things, this may not always work, but I'm going to try to collect my thoughts again, now that I've found it. Not sure if anyone will follow me, but that's okay. I mean, don't we all post all our thinking processes online nowadays? (Hi, NSA!)
Sunday, December 26, 2010
The Lord's Prayer
" ... that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me." ~John 17:21
This is a line from the real Lord's Prayer. It was what was on the heart of Jesus, important enough for Jesus the Son to ask it of the Father.
Who is Jesus praying for?
"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; ~John 17:20 That's you and me! Christians in 2010, and soon 2011.
How close should we be? As close, as unified, as "together" as Jesus is with the Father!
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
Why? So that the world will believe. Is it impossible for the world to believe in Jesus when the Body of Christ is not in unity?Probably not because with God, nothing is impossible.
But Jesus said he wanted this "so that the world would believe ... " Disunity in the Body of Christ, fighting and feuds, schisms and splits, all serve to cast doubt on the truth of the Scriptures in the eyes of the unbeliever. If Jesus and the Father are one, it would only make sense that His body should be one, and that we should be one with Him, us in Him, and Him in us.
Oh God, as Jesus prayed, make us one -- one with each other, one in You, You in us. Anything short of that misses the mark. In Your name we ask it, Amen.
This is a line from the real Lord's Prayer. It was what was on the heart of Jesus, important enough for Jesus the Son to ask it of the Father.
Who is Jesus praying for?
"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; ~John 17:20 That's you and me! Christians in 2010, and soon 2011.
How close should we be? As close, as unified, as "together" as Jesus is with the Father!
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
Why? So that the world will believe. Is it impossible for the world to believe in Jesus when the Body of Christ is not in unity?Probably not because with God, nothing is impossible.
But Jesus said he wanted this "so that the world would believe ... " Disunity in the Body of Christ, fighting and feuds, schisms and splits, all serve to cast doubt on the truth of the Scriptures in the eyes of the unbeliever. If Jesus and the Father are one, it would only make sense that His body should be one, and that we should be one with Him, us in Him, and Him in us.
Oh God, as Jesus prayed, make us one -- one with each other, one in You, You in us. Anything short of that misses the mark. In Your name we ask it, Amen.
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