July 19, 2014

From Gary... Weather or whether

Today has been a difficult day. No matter what I tried to do, it took MANY ATTEMPTS to do just ordinary, mundane tasks. And then there is that HEAT!!! Then, I found myself thinking- "Oh, that it were winter-time and COLD!!!" But, reality came back with a vengeance when I went outside to check the mail (about 3:15 pm) and I was hit with a blast of hot, humid air that seemed to come from the deepest depths of HELL!!! So, I looked on Yahoo to see the temperature and then noticed the sunset picture above and immediately thought of something that applied from the OLD TESTAMENT. After a brief search I found the following...

Deuteronomy 28:58-68 NASB
(58) "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the LORD your God,
(59) then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.
(60) "He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you.
(61) "Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the LORD will bring on you until you are destroyed.
(62) "Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the LORD your God.
(63) "It shall come about that as the LORD delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the LORD will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it.
(64) "Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.
(65) "Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul.
(66) "So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life.
(67) "In the morning you shall say, 'Would that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Would that it were morning!' because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see.
(68) "The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, 'You will never see it again!' And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."

Today, I felt like verse 67 because I just couldn't wait for the day to be over, but then I realized that I made the choice to live in Florida and I have to live with the consequences of my decision. The Israelites had to deal with consequences of their actions, as do we all. Sooner, or perhaps later, we will all have to accept the results of how we have lived our lives. I only hope that those end results will find us in a pleasant place and not somewhere too warm!!! This depends today on how we understand and apply the following....

Matthew 28:18-20 NASB
(18) And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
(19) "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
(20) teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

In our quiet moments, in those times when the only things occupying our thoughts are moments of reflection- Do you really know that Jesus really does have all the authority in our r lives or not?

Or does verse 67 apply????

From Gary... Bible Reading July 19

Bible Reading

July 19

The World English Bible

July 19

1 Chronicles 19-21

1Ch 19:1 It happened after this, that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his place.

1Ch 19:2 David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me. So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him.

1Ch 19:3 But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Do you think that David honors your father, in that he has sent comforters to you? Haven't his servants come to you to search, to overthrow, and to spy out the land?

1Ch 19:4 So Hanun took David's servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away.

1Ch 19:5 Then there went certain persons, and told David how the men were served. He sent to meet them; for the men were greatly ashamed. The king said, Stay at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.

1Ch 19:6 When the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the children of Ammon sent one thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Arammaacah, and out of Zobah.

1Ch 19:7 So they hired them thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and encamped before Medeba. The children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle.

1Ch 19:8 When David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the army of the mighty men.

1Ch 19:9 The children of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the gate of the city: and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.

1Ch 19:10 Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians.

1Ch 19:11 The rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother; and they put themselves in array against the children of Ammon.

1Ch 19:12 He said, If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the children of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you.

1Ch 19:13 Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people, and for the cities of our God: and Yahweh do that which seems him good.

1Ch 19:14 So Joab and the people who were with him drew near before the Syrians to the battle; and they fled before him.

1Ch 19:15 When the children of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem.

1Ch 19:16 When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they sent messengers, and drew forth the Syrians who were beyond the River, with Shophach the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head.

1Ch 19:17 It was told David; and he gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came on them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him.

1Ch 19:18 The Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed of the Syrians the men of seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the army.

1Ch 19:19 When the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David, and served him: neither would the Syrians help the children of Ammon any more.

1Ch 20:1 It happened, at the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that Joab led forth the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. Joab struck Rabbah, and overthrew it.

1Ch 20:2 David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set on David's head: and he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceeding much.

1Ch 20:3 He brought forth the people who were therein, and cut them with saws, and with iron picks, and with axes. David did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon. David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

1Ch 20:4 It happened after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines: then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, of the sons of the giant; and they were subdued.

1Ch 20:5 There was again war with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.

1Ch 20:6 There was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were twenty-four, six on each hand, and six on each foot; and he also was born to the giant.

1Ch 20:7 When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother killed him.

1Ch 20:8 These were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

1Ch 21:1 Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

1Ch 21:2 David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them.

1Ch 21:3 Joab said, Yahweh make his people a hundred times as many as they are: but, my lord the king, aren't they all my lord's servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?

1Ch 21:4 Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.

1Ch 21:5 Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew sword: and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew sword.

1Ch 21:6 But he didn't count Levi and Benjamin among them; for the king's word was abominable to Joab.

1Ch 21:7 God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.

1Ch 21:8 David said to God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing: but now, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.

1Ch 21:9 Yahweh spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying,

1Ch 21:10 Go and speak to David, saying, Thus says Yahweh, I offer you three things: choose one of them, that I may do it to you.

1Ch 21:11 So Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, Take your choice:

1Ch 21:12 either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.

1Ch 21:13 David said to Gad, I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Yahweh; for very great are his mercies: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

1Ch 21:14 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

1Ch 21:15 God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, Yahweh saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay your hand. The angel of Yahweh was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:16 David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Yahweh standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

1Ch 21:17 David said to God, Isn't it I who commanded the people to be numbered? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Yahweh my God, be against me, and against my father's house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued.

1Ch 21:18 Then the angel of Yahweh commanded Gad to tell David, that David should go up, and raise an altar to Yahweh in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:19 David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of Yahweh.

1Ch 21:20 Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

1Ch 21:21 As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

1Ch 21:22 Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build thereon an altar to Yahweh: for the full price you shall give it to me, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.

1Ch 21:23 Ornan said to David, Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: behold, I give you the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering; I give it all.

1Ch 21:24 King David said to Ornan, No; but I will most certainly buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is yours for Yahweh, nor offer a burnt offering without cost.

1Ch 21:25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

1Ch 21:26 David built there an altar to Yahweh, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on Yahweh; and he answered him from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering.

1Ch 21:27 Yahweh commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into its sheath.

1Ch 21:28 At that time, when David saw that Yahweh had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

1Ch 21:29 For the tabernacle of Yahweh, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.

1Ch 21:30 But David couldn't go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Yahweh.

From Mark Copeland... The End Of Paul's Third Journey (Acts 21:1-17)

                          "THE BOOK OF ACTS"

               The End Of Paul's Third Journey (21:1-17)

INTRODUCTION

1. Following Paul's discourse with the Ephesian elders (Ac 20:17-38)...
   a. Paul and his companions departed by ship - Ac 21:1
   b. As indicated earlier, Paul wanted to go to Jerusalem - Ac 20:16

2. The last leg of Paul's third journey reads like a journal...
   a. Perhaps from a diary that Luke kept at the time
   b. Listing the itinerary from Miletus to Jerusalem
   c. With brief mention of contacts with brethren along the way

[Luke's description contains several things of interest.  So let's follow
along on...]

I. THE LAST LEG OF THE JOURNEY

   A. FROM ASIA TO SYRIA...
      1. Sailing from Miletus to Patara - Ac 21:1-2
         a. By way of Cos and Rhodes, likely on a small coastal vessel
         b. At Patara, transferring to a ship (a larger seafaring vessel)
            going to Phoenicia
      2. Sailing from Patara to Tyre - Ac 21:3
         a. Bypassing Cyprus on the left (west side)
         b. On to Syria, landing at Tyre
         c. Where the ship unloaded its cargo   
      3. Finding disciples at Tyre - Ac 21:4-6
         a. Staying there seven days
         b. The disciples told Paul through the Spirit not to go to
            Jerusalem (perhaps not at that moment, but to wait for a few
            days)
         c. At the end of the days, Paul and his companions were escorted
            by the disciples and their families down to the ship where 
            they knelt on the shore and prayed
         d. Paul and his companions boarded their ship, the disciples of
            Tyre returned home

   B. FROM SYRIA TO JERUSALEM...
      1. Sailing from Tyre to Ptolemais - Ac 21:7
         a. Greeting more brethren at Ptolemais
         b. Staying there one day
      2. From Ptolemais to Caesarea - Ac 21:8-14
         a. Where they stayed with Philip the evangelist - cf. Ac 8:40
         b. Philip had four virgin daughters who prophesied - cf. Ac 2:17; 1Co 11:5
         c. After many days, the prophet Agabus came down from Judea
            - cf. Ac 11:27-28
         d. Using Paul's belt to bind his own hands and feet, Agabus
            foretells what awaits Paul at Jerusalem (a symbolic act 
            commonly used by OT prophets) - cf. Isa 20:2-4; Eze 4:1-3
         e. The brethren plead with Paul not to go to Jerusalem, but Paul
            is ready to be bound and killed for the name of the Lord 
            Jesus
         f. The brethren relent, saying "The will of the Lord be done"
      3. From Caesarea to Jerusalem - Ac 21:15-17
         a. Accompanied by disciples from Caesarea
         b. Brought to Mnason of Cyprus ("an early disciple"), with whom
            they were to lodge
         c. Gladly received by the brethren in Jerusalem

[Thus ends Paul's third missionary journey.  Was it a successful journey?
Consider...]

II. THE IMPACT OF PAUL'S THIRD JOURNEY

   A. STRENGTHENING CHURCHES...
      1. In Galatia and Phrygia - Ac 18:23
      2. In Ephesus - Ac 19:1-40; 20:17-38
      3. In Macedonia, Achaia, Troas, Syria, Caesarea - Ac 20:1-12;
         21:1-17

   B. SPREADING THE GOSPEL...
      1. From Ephesus, whereby all Asia heard the Word - Ac 19:10
      2. Which may have led to churches in Colosse, Hierapolis, Laodicea 
         - Col 4:12-15
      3. Preaching as far as Illyricum - cf. Ro 15:19

   C. WRITING NT EPISTLES...
      1. During this journey Paul wrote 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Romans
      2. Dealing with current problems, and daily Christian living
      3. Motivating Gentile Christians to assist needy Jewish brethren in
         Jerusalem

CONCLUSION

1. The events of Paul's third journey also has an impact on issues such
   as...
   a. Baptism:  when there might be a need for re-baptism - Ac 19:1-5
   b. Church worship:  when and why Christians assemble - Ac 20:7
   c. Church organization:  the duty and limitations of elders - Ac 20:28
   d. Apostasy:  its origin and how to deal with it - Ac 20:29-32

2. Paul's arrival in Jerusalem must have been with mixed emotions...
   a. He was accompanying the contribution for needy Christians in
      Jerusalem - Ro 15:25-27
   b. He had intentions of going to Rome, and then Spain - Ro 15:28; cf.
      Ac 19:21
   c. Yet he knew that chains awaited him in Jerusalem - Ac 20:22,23;
      21:11-14

Indeed, within twelve days of his arrival to Jerusalem (cf. Ac 24:11),
Paul found himself dragged out of the temple, beaten by a mob, almost
scourged by Roman soldiers, barely escaped an assassination plot on his
life, and imprisoned in Caesarea.  

But the Lord Jesus had a plan for Paul:

   But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Be of good
   cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you
   must also bear witness at Rome."
                                                         - Ac 23:11

How Paul came to bear witness of Jesus at Rome; well, that is the rest
of the story...

Will You Be Silenced? by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=3541

Will You Be Silenced?

by	Eric Lyons, M.Min.

When individuals in the 21^st century teach what God’s Word says about the sin of homosexuality (Romans 1:22-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11), even when done in a spirit of “love,” “meekness and fear” (as the Bible teaches—Ephesians 4:15; 1 Peter 3:15), they are often labeled as unloving, unkind, hateful, and mean-spirited. Take, for example, the response that Kirk Cameron recently received after being interviewed on Piers Morgan’s CNN show Tonight. When asked about his thoughts regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriage, Cameron respectfully called it “unnatural” and “destructive,” and “detrimental and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization….” “Marriage,” he said, “was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve. One man, one woman for life till death do you part. So I would never attempt to redefine marriage. And I don’t think anyone else should either” (“Kirk Cameron…,” 2012). For these comments, individuals and media members all over the country ridiculed Cameron as being, among other things, “out of step with the modern world” (Dray, 2012), “extremist” (Badash, 2012), “self-righteous” (Burt, 2012), and a “homophobic bigot” (Silverthorne, 2012).
After a Christian posted a comment on his Facebook page recently about President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage, saying, “As Christians, this is another sad moment in our nation’s moral downfall,” a young lady responded by writing:

For once, I beg of you, as Christians, to look at someone who is gay or different from you and love them. Just love them. Don't tell them their [sic] immoral or disgusting or brainwashed or bad. LOVE them. As God loves them. As Jesus loves them. Stop spreading HATE and FEAR. You are hurting yourselves. Your children. You are making the world a bad place, the exact opposite of what I know you want. Why is it that the Christians are the ones who seem to be the most judgmental of them all? (2012, emp. added, capitalization in orig.).

Notice that there was no hate in the gentleman’s statement—only perceived hate by someone who would much rather Christians remain completely silent about what the Bible teaches regarding God’s pattern for the home.
In the Fall of 2011, a ninth-grade honors student in Fort Worth, Texas was given a disciplinary referral form, one day of in-school suspension, and two days of out-of-school suspension because he said to a friend in class that “he was a Christian and ‘being a homosexual is wrong’” (Stames, 2011; Khalil, 2011). This one statement, which was overheard by the teacher (who previously had posted a picture in the classroom of two men kissing), allegedly warranted a reprimand and three days of suspension from class. [Thankfully, administrators dropped the suspension completely, but only after Dakota’s mother solicited the help of a constitutional attorney (Khalil).]
A Catholic church in Acushnet, Massachusetts recently changed their marquee to read, “Two men are friends not spouses.” Their words were described by those who opposed the sign as “subtle bigotry,” “hateful,” and “disrespectful.” One woman called the church saying that the church “should be burned” for spreading such hate. One man said that he was “outraged” that a church would choose to speak out on the issue of gay marriage (see “Controversial Sign...,” 2012).
In April 2012, “outspoken gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocate” Dan Savage spoke at an anti-bullying conference in Seattle, Washington before thousands of students and teachers from along the west coast (“Dan Savage…,” 2012). In his speech he stated: “We can learn to ignore the bull**** in the Bible about gay people” (“Anti-bullying Speaker…,” 2012). After several students walked out, the anti-bullying speaker stated: “You can tell the Bible guys in the hall they can come back now because I’m done beating up the Bible. It’s funny, as someone who is on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible, how pansy***** people react when you push back” (“Anti-bullying Speaker…”).
No doubt, some people who claim to be Christians have spoken about the sin of homosexuality with unChristlike attitudes and in ungodly ways. Such hypocrisy certainly should be condemned, as should all ungodliness (Romans 12:9; 1 John 5:17; Galatians 5:19-12; Revelation 21:8), including homosexuality. However, what we increasingly witness today is, even when Christians teach what Almighty God has revealed about homosexuality in the most loving, kind, meek manner, they are still blasted by homosexual activists and many in the media as being guilty of “hate speech.” For teaching what the Creator has revealed (and expects Christians to teach without compromise; cf. Acts 4:17-20; 5:29), Bible believers have been expelled at school, ridiculed at work, and threatened in their churches. Even homosexual “anti-bullying experts” apparently enjoy “beating up the Bible” (and all the alleged “bull****” in it) and bullying the “pansy*****” Christians that they are supposedly teaching not to bully.
We should not be surprised at the reactions (even highly hypocritical reactions) of the world to the preaching of God’s Word. John the Baptizer, of whom Jesus said “among those born of women there has not risen one greater” (Matthew 11:11), was beheaded for courageously telling a King that it was wrong for him to be married to someone who was not his lawful wife (Mark 6:14-29). Jesus was crucified following three years of preaching a message of repentance (Mark 1:15; Luke 13:3,5). Paul, who knew very well what true, biblical love was (1 Corinthians 13), likewise preached a message of repentance (Acts 17:30-31; 26:20), including the encouragement of mankind to repent of the sin of homosexuality (Romans 1:22-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Timothy 1:9-10).
Will the Christ’s church continue to teach what God says on every subject and on every evil, including the sin of homosexuality? Or, will the Lord’s church cower at the threats made against her and remain quiet as homosexual activists, Hollywood actors, and influential media members attempt to silence the alleged unloving “hate speech” of Christians? “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20).

“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20, emp. added).
“[W]e should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ” (Ephesians 4:14-15, emp. added).
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15, emp. added).
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19, emp. added).

REFERENCES

“Anti-bullying Speaker a Bully?” (2012), Fox News, April 30, http://video.foxnews.com/v/1612875073001/anti-bullying-speaker-a-bully.
Badash, David (2012), “Kirk Cameron: I Should Be Able to Slander Gays Without Being ‘Slandered’ for Slandering Gays,” March 6, The New Civil Rights Movement, http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/kirk-cameron-i-should-be-able-to-slander-gays-without-being-slandered-for-slandering-gays/politics/2012/03/06/35819.
Burt, Jacqueline (2012), “Kirk Cameron is Even More Self-Righteous and Bigoted than We Thought,” Cafémom, http://thestir.cafemom.com/entertainment/133963/kirk_cameron_is_even_more.
“Controversial Sign at St. Francis Xavier Church, Acushnet, MA” (2012), May 16, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMFvrdb0vQ0.
“Dan Savage Addresses Journalist Conference Speech Controversy, Denies Attacking Christianity” (2012), Huffington Post, May 1, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/30/dan-savage-journalist-conference-controversy_n_1464486.html.
Dray, Kayleigh (2012), “Kirk Cameron: Homosexuality is ‘Unnatural’,” Entertainment, March 4, http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/70939/Kirk-Cameron-Homosexuality-Is-Unnatural.
Khalil, Cathryn (2011), “Student’s Homosexuality Comment Leads to Suspension,” September 22, http://www.cbs19.tv/story/15526115/students-homosexuality-comment-leads-to-suspension.
“Kirk Cameron Says ‘Homosexuality is Unnatural’” (2012), CNN, March 2, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhGQUKoH_TE.
Silverthorne, Sarah (2012), “Kirk Cameron is a Homophobic Bigot,” March 3, http://www.celebdirtylaundry.com/2012/kirk-cameron-is-a-homophobic-bigot-video-0303/.
Stames, Todd (2011), “Texas School Punishes Boy for Opposing Homosexuality,” Fox News, September 22, http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/09/22/texas-school-punishes-boy-for-opposing-homosexuality/.

From Jim McGuiggan... THE POWER OF ONE

THE POWER OF ONE

Frustrated and angry and fearful for their welfare, Paul in Galatians in 3:1 (NJB) hotly rebuked the apostatizing believers with this: “You stupid people in Galatia! After you have had a clear picture of Jesus Christ crucified, right in front of your eyes, who has put a spell on you?” He found it astonishing that having seen a clear, sharp, focused picture of Jesus that a counterfeit portrait of a nationalist Jesus who restricted salvation only to Jews and Jewish proselytes could fool them.

If the original picture of Jesus didn’t hold the Galatians it certainly held Paul, or rather, drove Paul, gave him no rest even while it filled him with peace. Some images do that to us. Pictures have such power, but they only have power over us if they have power resident in them.

Charles Simeon turned the eyes and heart of Henry Martyn not only toward God but toward a life spent in missionary endeavors. Martyn was a gifted linguist and on reaching the Middle-East he translated the NT scriptures into Indian, Persian and a number of dialects. He preached and taught and argued and placed himself in jeopardy in places far from home for Jesus’ sake and died in Turkey, a bit over thirty-one years old.

Simeon was anything but a slacker but over his fireplace he kept a picture of his young friend and he’d often remark, “There! See that blessed man. What an expression on his face! No one looks at me as he does. He never takes his eyes off me, and seems always to be saying: ‘Be serious! Be in earnest! Don’t trifle! Don’t trifle!’ Then with a smile he would gently bow and say, “And I won’t trifle; I won’t trifle!”

O. Henry, the famous short story writer of several generations ago, tells us about a swindler with a most marvellous name. Hasting Beauchamp Morley. Isn’t that a name to be proud of! I think I’ll say it again: Hastings…Beauchamp… Morley! He would steal a pittance from a child without remorse and in late evening he’d fleece a bewildered out-of-towner of all that he had, and leave him desperate and without shelter, standing in the street. Safely in the park on a bench, smoking an expensive cigar, with the air of a special one, he would give a dollar bill to a beggar along with a quietly passionate lecture about the world of greenhorns. The planet was there for him to manipulate, people were sheep to be fleeced and he was just the man to do it with his smooth way and pleasing appearance. “Front!” That’s what was needed and boy he had plenty of it, he said. It was a great life and “what a wonderful moon,” he told himself as he followed his cigar smoke toward the grand hotel he had booked into for the night with the money he stole from the luckless stranger.

He turned the corner and coming toward him, in a simple white dress with the radiance of purity and sincerity written all over her, was a girl he had been to school with some eight years earlier. There had been no romance between them—nothing but the warm friendship of innocent days but he knew instantly that he didn’t want her to see him so he ducked into an alley until she was past. Leaning his hot face against the cold metal of a lamp-post he muttered, “O God, I wish I could die.” The very sight of her wouldn’t allow him peace since he had so cheapened and trifled with his life.

And there was “Groggy” Douglas who had just come from the graveyard where he had laid clumps of pink carnations on a grave when Frank Boreham met him and later became acquainted with him. When Douglas was a younger man he had gained the nickname of “Groggy” because he had been a hard drinker, well known around town. In a conversation some time later Douglas told Boreham that he had put the flowers on the grave of a woman called Jessie Glencairn—a woman he had fallen in love with many years before. He said it was almost blasphemy for him to say he loved her because she was so far above him. He knew, he said, it wasn’t for the likes of him to love her and he had always wanted her to marry someone who would fill her life with joy though the thought of it made him so envious that at times he felt like biting his tongue off.

Though he knew she could never be his Douglas said the very sight of her turned him around and he cut out the booze. Jessie never knew how Douglas felt about her but one day they happened to be walking in the same direction and he told her that people were saying he would soon be back on the drink. “She gave me a look I’ll never forget to my dying day,” he said, “and told me she was certain I never would.”

Sometimes when the craving raged, he said, he seemed to see her with that look on her face and those words on her lips, and he felt he hated the stuff but however difficult it was, however great the pressures he said, “I knew I’d be safe as long as I felt the same toward her.” And he remained booze-free until Boreham buried him several years later.

The tragic truth is that unforgettable images and glorious visions don’t keep all of us from collapse but the uplifting truth is that down the years countless people have been kept from wreck and ruin by a face, an image, an event that has become part of their inner worlds.

Scots preacher, Arthur Gossip, said that the Scottish town of Forfar wasn’t much given to emotion but it held Alexander Cumming in reverence. He crowded his happy days with kindness and concern and “faces everywhere lit up at the sight of him; and people, their voices suddenly grown softer, grew kindlier when he hove into sight.” Gossip spoke of a man he knew, a self-reliant, strong type, not one you would have thought could have easily been touched. That man looked after the departing Cumming and said to Gossip, “Often I pull myself together with this thought, that if I threw away my life, I think I could bear my punishment without whining, but…but”—and the man’s voice sagged a little—“I couldn’t face the pain in Mr. Cumming’s eyes.”

To be such a one, to be such a face, such a vision or image to someone, just one—would that not be a life well lived?

Is this something of what the Hebrew writer had in mind—in addition to his specific agenda—is this something of what he had in mind when he said (12:2), “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus”? And isn’t this part of the reason we’ll want to live in the image of Jesus in whose face the glory of God is seen (2 Corinthians 4:6)?