The Trees Are Going to Clap Their Hands! -continued

“How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!  O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance.  In Your Name they rejoice all the day.  And by Your righteousness they are exulted” (Psa. 89:15-16).

Hey Gang:  Did you even stop for a moment in the midst of a very busy day and look up into the sky and wonder what they are doing up there, tight at that moment.  Did you know there are more than nine references in the Bible to the truth that God is going to roll up the sky one day:  Isaiah 34:4 reads, “And the host of heaven will wear away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll”.   Tell me that would not get some folks attention - including the author of this epistle.

Picking up where I left off in the last morning thought: A girl on the Oregon trail, after many hardships as they trucked to the West, wrote on the cabin wall, “I have known what it was to believe in God, but now He came so near that I no longer simply believed in Him but knew His presence there…that calm strength, that certainty of One near and all sufficient, hushed, and cheered”.

“He came so near” words that are etched deeply in the hearts and souls of all who threw their lives into the arms of the Lord when they found themselves deep in the wilderness.  

Her words are echoed by many of us who have walked the path of pain. We cry out Lord, why do you allow bad things to happen to good people”.  And he quietly speaks to the deep recesses of our heart, ”So that you can experience my nearness to you and help you understand how much I love you”.  

And now I talk from experience.  I get totally and completely angry with the prosperity advocates who are leading multitudes of people down a path that leads only to frustration, and pain.  Their message; ‘If you are sad or unhealthy or without the bangles and beads of the world, you are not walking with the Lord.’ That is a message directly from the pit!

In my studies of Psalms I find two very clear paths: those times when David was dealing with a ‘back-against-the-wall experience’, and the other when he was ‘praising the Lord for providing a way through those wilderness experiences.’  In Psalm 28 he cried out, ”Do not be deaf to me Lord” For If you are silent I will go down to the pit” (vs.1).   But in verse 7 he also cried out “The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trust in Him, and I am helped, Therefore, my soul exults and with my song I shall thank Him”.

But you say, David was a man after God’s own heart and had a very special relationship with Him.  The “very special relationship” is correct, but Jesus said, “I stand at the door of every heart and what to come in and have a very special relationship with you!” (Rev 3:20 Gramp’s version).  He also said It is the desire of my heart that no one, not one single person perish, but that one day ALL will be in attendance at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

Sooo, my friends, we all have choices on whether we will cry out to God, when the rubber-hits-the road, or retreat into our war closet and cry out as David did, “You are my strength and my shield, My heart trusts in you”.  Your choice.

Blessings,

 Gramps

The Trees Are Going to Clap Their Hands!

“For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, and the trees of the field will clap their hands”  (Isa. 55:12).  Lord I want to see the trees clap their hands!

Hey Gang:  In this day when everything that can be shaken is being shaken- so that only those things that cannot be shaken will remain, it is, Oh, so important to keep your powder dry and your encouragement in the up mode at all times.  One of the neat fringe benefits that I receive, personally, in my research for ‘gramps morning messages’ is that I frequently run into neat stories of people who have been overcomers or achieved success over the evilness of our world.

This morning I felt that God would have me share some of these neat ditties that I found in little pieces of paper, three by five cards and a note scribbled in the leaf of my Bible that have brought encouragement to me – even in those times when the alligators were nipping at my back side.

Sheila Walsh wrote the following when she was at the bottom trying frantically to get up:  “I did not understand that God’s most precious gifts come in boxes that make your hands bleed when you open them.  Inside is what you have been looking for all of your life. Only God can do that.  Only His love is as fierce and relentless as our deepest pain and unspoken fears….I longed for rescue, He gave me relationship.  I wanted deliverance, He gave me companionship in the ruins.”

Does that not sound reminiscent of the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10).

Oswald Chambers prayed, “O Father, pierce a hole in the darkness so that I can behold the face of God.” Wow, is that not neat?  Lord, I pray you will pierce a hole in the heavenlies so each one who reads this epistle can see your glory and your majesty and the absolute wonder of what awaits your children.  

We have been abundantly blessed with eleven great grandchildren.  They are each beautiful and fabulous in their own right and take after their great grandpa (Just joking of course). The Word tells us every human being is wonderfully made and unique in their own way, I love each with all my heart, but I confess, Colton is special to His great grandpa.  Why? Because we have been priviledged to care for him in his home have him in our home far more than all of the other ten combined.

There is much I would like to say about him, such as the day he went to his Mom and said, “It is time for me to give my Heart to Jesus”.   Now, I ask you, is that not awesome?  You see Colton was dealt the terrible blow in his young life when his daddy lost his battle with cancer and went home to help take care of God’s stallions with his uncle David in preparation for His coming to take His children home. 

This is one of those thoughts that could on and on and on, but let’s put it to bed for today and finish it the next time we get together.   Don’t forget to pray for Franklin Graham and his entourage as they visit every capital in America with their Decision America Crusade.

Blessings,  

Gramps

Is The Power of the Cross Alive In Your Life Today?

“For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Cor. 1:22-24).

Hey Gang:  There was a Board Meeting in the heavenlies long before time began.  It involved three Supreme Beings: Jehovah Father God, Son Yeshua Hamashiah, and The Holy Ghost, also known as the Holy Spirit.   In that meeting a plan established for the ages; we read the minutes from that meeting in the early chapters of Genesis.

It was a perfect plan, for the Godhead was incapable to developing anything but a perfect plan.  But, in their infinite wisdom and their foresight to see the total history of their creation, they knew that one day their perfect being who resided in their perfect creation, the Garden of Eden, would choose to accept the word of a slimy serpent and eat of the one tree on which God had placed a “no can have” restriction.

And at that Meeting they, who could not tolerate sin or any form in their presence, knew they must develop a plan where their creation could be freed from the bondage of sin, washed white as snow, for Eternal fellowship.

It was agreed that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, would come to earth as man, walk in our shoes, and one day be condemned to death on a hideous cross on our behalf to break us free from the bondage of sin and death. 

Ellis J. Crum In language that was so simple every living soul could understand it, wrote the following lyrics:

I owed a debt I could not pay, I needed someone to wash my sins away 
And now I sing a brand new song, Amazing Grace 
Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay

My debt He paid upon the cross, He cleansed my soul from all its dross 
I tho't that no one could all my sins erase, But now I sing a brand new song 
Amazing Grace, Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay

O such great pain my Lord endured, When He my sinful soul secured 
I should have died there but Jesus took my place, So now I sing a brand new song 
Amazing Grace, Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay

He didn't give to me a loan, He gave Himself now He's my own 
He's gone to Heaven to make for me a place, And now I sing a brand new song 
Amazing Grace, Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.

Billy Graham said the following in one of his sermons “I can preach anything else and it’s called popular.  It pleases the ear.  But when I come to the heart of Christianity; when I come to the cross and the blood and the resurrection, that is the stumbling block.  That’s the thing people do not want to hear”.

Billy Graham also challenged each believer in Jesus Christ as Lord: “It was the resurrection of Christ that cause the disciples to go out as burning young revolutionaries to change the world of their day. They preached that Christ was alive. This should be our message, not only at Easter but every day of the year”.

Can you imagine how the disciples must have felt when Jesus arrived in their midst and they realized He was alive!  Wow! Do you think they pinched themselves to make sure they were awake?  But is there not that same awesome feeling when you realize that Jesus stands at the door of every heart and says “I am alive”.  What a day it will be when our Jesus we will see – face to face!

Have a blessed Resurrection Sunday!

Blessings,

Gramps

Father, In the Name of Jesus!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)  “Surely  he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4).

Hey gang; The bride of my youth, who is a compulsive and avid reader, slipped yet another pearl-of- great price under my nose.   Since retiring from the world of children and families that are at war with each other, I have refrained from reading stories of such children and families but this one was in a Daily Guidepost from several years ago and it caught her attention & mine. 

Why, because we cannot untuck the stories that have impacted our lives from our yesterdays.  They seem to raise their heads periodically, just to let us know the world has not totally forgotten the times when we wonder if the world is completely crazy and we will get swept up in its craziness.  But there are the wonderful pearls of those time when God’s firmness in our soul gave us the strength and stamina to do battle with His adversary until the battle was won.

Last week a Boeing 737 crashed when trying to land in Russia.  Let me tell you as a past Air Traffic Controller there was the constant fear that the bell would sound and the computers would lock down when an aircraft you had worked with went down and the investigations begin.  To return to the boards or radar scoops after such tragedy required a very special type of iron in you blood. 

My old salt instructor said to me, one of these days you will see airplanes flying around in your head.  And then added, “But…when you see people in those airplanes, you are finished as a controller.  He was right, two aircraft that I had worked through my sector an hour before got together over New York with total loss of life.  Today, more than fifty years since that fateful day, when I hear there has been an aircraft accident the anxiety levels in my heart and soul sky rocket.

So, how does this connect with the story above?  As I read the story of the totally out-of-control six-year old and how it impacted the total life of the family, it was important that the mother had the power of God to give her strength, and not give up.  With each episode of total rebellion, on the part of her child, she placed her faith and dependence in her Heavenly Daddy to take her through yet another valley.

And as I read of her account of the battles that she fought with Satan for the life of this little fire ball of out-of-control emotions, I asked the question, Lord, what about all the families out there that are fighting the same battles but do not know you as Lord and do not have the strength to endure all that the world can hand out?   

As I read the account written by this mother I thought of a family that we had the privilege of coming along side who went through a similar war but with a teen-age daughter.  The daughter had made a decision that she was going to do as she pleased, and the mother had made a decision that she would stand toe-to-toe with her daughter and do what had to be done to show her daughter the depth of her love. 

For each rebellious act there was a consequence until her room had been stripped of everything but a pad on the floor for sleeping.  But, she was blessed to have parents and grandparents and a praying church behind her; and, one day, the light began to penetrate the darkness.  The wondrous part of this story is mother and daughter now mentor and teach classes on how to prevent your child from destroying their lives.

Look at the title of this epistle once again, “Father, in the name of Jesus, I……Finish it!  Is there someone in your life that is dealing with a child or family issue that is tearing the guts out of the family?  There is a solution.  Our Lord said, I am the way, the truth and the life” (john 14:6).  There is no greater statement in the Bible than “He is risen!” He stands ready to walk through the valley and shadows of death with you. 

Blessings to you this Easter Season,

Gramps

P.S.  I had written another morning message to be sent on this date  but it just grew and grew and grew and when I tried to cut pieces out and shorten it, I could not find places to cut.  So I decided that perhaps there may be some out there that would like some extra reading this Easter Season.   The address: Grampswhatshappeningman.blogspot.com

In All of History There Was No Greater Price Paid

“This is My Commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends; you are my friends, if you do what I command you”.   (John 15:12-14).

Hey Gang:  Years ago I made a tragic mistake.  I prayed a prayer that I was not prepared to accept the consequences of that prayer.  It was about this time of the year and, during my devotion time, I was preparing what I prayed that God would give me a very special message for the coming Easter Chapel Service. Simply, (I learned very rapidly that it was not so simply), I prayed God would teach me about the agony of the cross.  And that He did!  I am not one to measure and weigh one week’s woes against another, but as I recall, I do believe it was the toughest week of my life and the pain still lingers.

Part of my devotions, the other morning, centered on the Palm Sunday entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; a  Scripture that I have read several times every year for the past fifty years - but there was something different that dug deep into my heart and mind.  I did not ask the Lord to teach me about the agony that followed his triumphal entry – I had learned that lesson well.

As a reread the account of that day in the life of the Lord, I wondered what was going through Jesus’ mind when he rose from sleep that morning.  He had told his disciples that He would soon be glorified, which I sense they did not have a clue what He meant.  He was man and He was God.  We sometimes forget that He was man- and felt the same pain, the same anxieties and I suspect even some of the same fears that I experience.

Did He not come to walk in our sandals and learn the trials that we, His creation, go through?  I once made a comment, in one of my speaking excursions, that Jesus probably had acne as a teen and perhaps was even constipated one or more times.  That was not well received by some of those salt-colored heads in the back pew.  But Isaiah did say, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore and our sorrows He carried” (Isa.53:4).

It was Passover time and the streets were packed with more than two million people jamming the narrow streets of Jerusalem.  The city was a buzz- the man who raised Lazarus from the dead was on His way to the city.  I believe there was great anticipation as word began to circulate that Jesus, the one who had the power to heal the sick and raise the dead, was nearing the city.

Within the masses there were three very distinct groups of people: those who knew Him intimately and believed that He was truly the Son of God, the ever present curiosity seekers who were always in the market for something unusual, and the religious leaders who feared Him and sought a way to remove this thorn from their side.     

We remember the stinging words of Caiaphas when he said, “It was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people”. (John 1:14). The die had been cast, Jesus must die to protect their way of life.

We are told that those who knew Him intimately “…spread their coats in the road, and other spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields” and those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David: Hosanna in the Highest” (Mark 11: 8-10).

 I wondered how He felt as He approached the city and saw the great multitudes of people lining the streets to get a better look at this “raiser of the dead”.  I have heard many renditions of this, which is called the Triumphal Entry, but how did the ‘man’ in this God-man feel? Was He filled with anxiety?

He knew what awaited Him.  He knew soon He would not leave this city again on foot. He knew the Roman soldiers knew their craft well and could strip the skin off the backs of the convicted clear down to the bone.  He knew that the soldiers knew how to drive the spikes into the hands and leg with such precision as to cause the greatest pain, but also do it such a way that death came slowly and pain that is indescribable to man lingered.

As I tried to put myself in His place, sitting here in the plushness of my home where I have been so abundantly blessed, I just could not go deep enough into my soul to truly understand.  How could the God, who created the perfect universe and all that it contains- including me, agree in that meeting- before-time began to be my sacrifice and free me from the bondage of sin.  I could think of nothing- because there was nothing.  He reached out and said, “Here is gift from the Father, don’t walk or jog but run as fast as you can to His arms and His forgiveness and His salvation.”

I thought of that night when Jesus and His disciples had finished the ‘last supper’ together and gone to the place where Jesus loved to pray.  I remember the first day that I stood in the midst of the huge olive trees that now make up the garden.  And I thought of the story when the King of Aram sent a great army of horses and chariots to capture Elisha.   Elisha’s servant was in great fear when he saw that the city was surrounded and “…cried out to Elisha, what shall we do?”  

“Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.  Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.”  And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha”.  (2 Kings 6:16-17).

I believe that is a perfect picture of what transpired that night at the Garden of Gethsemane.  I recalled the times I stood on the Mount of Olives and looked across that vast expanse surrounded by the Kidron and Gehenna Valleys, the Gate Beautiful in the Old City Wall, and The Garden of Gethsemane. I visualized it filled with those same horses and chariots, all in battle dress with swords in hand waiting for their orders to rescue the Lord of Glory from the hands of the evil ones.

There was a precedent for that way back in the life of Abraham and Isaac.   God tested Abraham, “He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.  So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood and for the brunt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him…

Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?  God will provide!  Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” Do nothing to him for now I know that you fear God” (Gen 22:1-22).

Just as Abraham was about to thrust the knife in His only son’s heart, the Lord said Abraham, put down your knife, I see the sincerity of your heart.  The angels knew that story. They were probably there and prepared on this fateful night to stop Caiaphas and his cohorts from fulfilling their prophecy that it was more expedient for Jesus to die than to have their world turned upside down.

It was here that Jesus, the man, cried out to “Abba Father, All things are possible for You, remove this cup from Me”.    And it was there that the battle of the of cross was won- when God’s Begotten Son cried out, “Yet, not what I will, but what You will” (Mark 14:35-36).  And our salvation was secured for all eternity.  The Garden of Gethsemane that night was filled with God’s angel warriors in full battle gear with swords in hand ready to rescue God’s Son but - without the shedding of blood there is no atonement!

My heart is filled with sadness this day because of the part that I paid to place my Lord Jesus, God’s Son, who came into the world as God-man to prepare a way for me to be freed from the bondage of sin.   When He entered the city that day, some, a small contingent, cried out Hosanna, Hosanna to the King of Kings -but soon the mob, who choose to go their own way and reject God’s love, cried out, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him.”

If the news were to report that Jesus, the Christ, the Son of Jehovah, was coming to your street today, would you be in the Hosanna shouters crowd or would you be with the mob shouting “Crucify Him”?

Or perhaps you would be standing in the middle of the street not sure what direction you need to go. 

Jesus said, “I am the way, I am the truth. I am the life, there is no other way to the Father except my Me” (John 14:6).  The price for redemption was paid in full on that hill called Calvary, ““For God so loved you and me, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“Greater love his no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends, you are my friends if you do what I command you”.  I died for you, will you die for Me? Signed Jesus! (John 15:13). 

Blessing,

Gramps

Potter's House -part 2

IN THE POTTER'S HOUSE Isaiah 62 Prayer Campaign... continued

By:   Rev. Juha Ketola, ICEJ International Director - Fri, 30 Jan 2015 (All day) +0100

Hey Gang:  I pray you did as I suggested and prepared for the rest of the story by running down all of the recommended Scriptures.  And Now for the rest of the story.

Israel, God’s people

Because of His loyal covenantal love, the God of Israel has promised a glorious salvation for His chosen Jewish people. After regathering them home from four corners of the earth, He has promised to cleanse them from all filthiness, give them a new heart and cause them to walk in obedience towards Him! (Ezekiel 36:24-28) Israel as a nation shall be restored spiritually and will be saved within their ancient homeland! (Rom. 11:26-27)

But for this to actually happen, the modern day Israeli people need to repent from their unbelief and sinful lifestyles. This is inevitable, since God Himself has already promised to pour out His Spirit to move them and to give them the gift of repentance (Zech. 12:10, Acts 5:31). So we know what to pray on behalf of Israel.

Middle East: Syria and Iran

We also want to pray for other nations in the Middle East, since they are foretold a terrible judgment and even more tragic disasters unless they repent. Syria is among those nations.

The catastrophe in Syria has caused extreme and indescribable suffering for its people and it is still continuing. With the USA, Russia and Iran’s involvement, the death toll in the area shows no decline. Only a change of heart and mind, repentance and returning back to the ways of the Creator will stop the current insanity and shame of human behavior in its sinful and unrepentant state in Syria. Let’s pray fervently on behalf of the suffering Syrian people, their leadership, the rebel groups and the world leaders involved.

Iran is emerging from isolation after signing a nuclear agreement with the West. Now attention is focused on business relations, especially in the oil and airline industries, but world leaders are not publicly addressing the need for the Iranian leadership to cease threats to Israel. According to the New York Times (from Dec 19, 2015), Iran is also in the grip of a seven-year drought that shows no sign of breaking and many experts believe this may be the new normal. Even a return of past rainfall levels might not be enough to avert the water crisis. Without repentance, a very difficult and sad route is ahead for Iran.

But there is a God in Heaven who has all power on earth. In the midst of all this chaos, grassroots revival among the Iranians is strong! Millions have come to faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and are also blessing Israel as a result. Intercede with us for Iran, as the revival continues and spreads to other nations in the Middle East!

 As prayer warriors, we do have a say in the future fate of our nations. The response from the heart of the people to their God determines their path. Let’s pray together for Israel and her neighbors!  And let’s not forget to include the United States of America in those prayers.

Blessings,

Gramps  

In The Potter's House

IN THE POTTER'S HOUSE Isaiah 62 Prayer Campaign

By:   Rev. Juha Ketola, ICEJ International Director - Fri, 30 Jan 2015 (All day) +0100

Hey Good Buddies:  On several of our trips to Israel we were blessed to visit the Christian Embassy in Jerusalem and rub elbows with some folks that are blessed to have a handle on what is really happening in the Middle East and, especially in their own country.  Since those visits we have stayed in close touch with the Embassy by receiving frequent messages pertaining to pertinent things that are happening.

This morning this message came through and, as I read it, I felt you should also have the opportunity to read it.  I believe it is a very clear overview, in a few words, of what is truly coming down in their back yards.  Due to the length of the article I have cut it in half and will send part today and the rest tomorrow.  I would strongly recommend that you take the time to run down all the Scriptures and get a handle on what the writer is truly saying to us.

For many years I confess I very seldom ran down the Scriptures that were highlighted in articles which I read and then one day I did and was saddened by what I have been missing all these years.  Hey good buddies, be advised that the airways are filled with rhetoric that is the opinion of religious gurus who think that know what God is saying through His word.  There is only One true source – The Word.  I feel this article is important, because Ketola bases all of his remarks on the Word, the literal Word.

Now, he has done the leg work, the research and the writing for you and invested hours of his time to put it together.  All you have to do is take advantage of his work, (I read the article, followed every Scripture and even did some cross referencing and it took less than an hour).

With that preliminary challenge, shut off the electronics and get your mind in gear and dig in:   

The ICEJ Prayer Initiative

Throughout time and history, nations and individuals influence God’s hand as He forms their lives and destinies in His created world. Their choices determine their experience while journeying through this life, as well as where they will end up after their last breath has been breathed on earth. The response from the heart towards the Lord our God determines the future – both in time and eternity.

We are now in the year 2016 and, in the light of God’s Word, we want to evaluate, discuss and see what lies ahead for us as nations. This will equip us to pray according to the will of God and He will hear us (1 John 5:14-15). 

Molding a vessel

The word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah to go down to the Potter’s House, since there He would open Jeremiah’s ears and cause him to hear a timely word from God’s throne (Jeremiah 18). So the prophet entered the house and began watching the potter making vessels out of clay. If a vessel became marred while the potter was working at the wheel, he began again and turned it into another shape, however the potter saw good and fit.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” God was reminding Jeremiah of His sovereignty: As Creator, He alone has absolute power over human beings who are His creation. He shapes us as He wishes and He is not accountable to us. This overwhelming sovereignty of God to be able to form and shape individuals and nations is our hope here on earth!

“It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy” (Rom.9:16). We don’t rely on our own works, but can rest securely at the center of His good will. In other words, even when we are weak and sinful, we simply turn to Him who is sovereign and respond to Him in faith – it is fully within His grasp to take an impossible situation and make life well again.

The gracious and awesome God

Even the nations, their corporate life and destiny can change and be renewed. As the Lord continued speaking with Jeremiah in the Potter’s house, He reveals His principles and ways of dealing with the nations. The heart’s response towards God plays a major role in how, or for what purpose, the vessel in the hand of the divine Potter finally and eventually will end up. (Jer. 18:7-10). We are told how obedience to God’s truth will produce blessing and how disobedience to His voice will bring judgment and destruction.

Through the prophet’s word, God was warning the people that without repentance and turning from their evil ways as a nation, judgment would soon befall them. He also said, however, that with one turn of the hand and the wheel He could alter the shape of the clay, make it anew to completely transform their impending judgment into a wonderful blessing (Jer. 18:7-8).

Unfortunately, the people did not repent and disaster came in 586 BC when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed the Jerusalem Temple and took the people into exile. When we see any nation with an unrepentant heart and rampant evil, this example should remind us to warn the people, offer the message of repentance and point to hope.

Thanks to Prophet Jeremiah we know how to pray for a nation in danger of impending judgment.  The question, will the people of America who are called by His name do so? 

Blessings,

Gramps

Are You Peculiar?

 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellences of Him who has call you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9).

Hey Gang:  In my travels through the Word of God I have found that no verse stands alone.  I have great concern when a pastor or teacher takes a verse out of context and does not surround it with the hidden ‘pearls of great price’ that support that verse.  One of my very favorite verses is Peter’s words found in I Peter 2:9.  Is it not neat to know as King’s kids we are chosen and claim the excellences of Him who is our refuge and strength?

 As I study Peter’s life and words, I sense a kinship with him for I, too, have been known to step out of the boat and be a wee bit brash in some of my actions and words.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, I, too, have been reprimanded when my brashness has become too bold.

But I also believe Abba Father likes a wee-bit of brashness, a boldness in his children to step out in faith rather than wait for a God-O-Gram to arrive.  It is much easier to steer a moving vehicle than one that is at rest.

When my grandkids were in their younger years it was my privilege to baptize them.  On the day we were to complete this blessed event, one of the grandmas, being raised in the Catholic persuasion, had a concern that I was not a priest, in the Catholic sense of the world.  When I read Peter’s words to her that as believers we are “royal priest” she was satisfied that I was, indeed, qualified to baptize her grand-children.

Does it not make you feel all warm inside when you realize that as a child of God you are a “royal priest”?  One commentary suggested that as people became believers they "at once bore the dignity of kings, and the sanctity of priests".  Jesus, through John in Revelation wrote, “And He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father – to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever, Amen” (Rev. 1:6).

In the King James Version the word ‘peculiar’ used to describe God’s children.  Most folks would get their dander up if referred to as peculiar, but a little research soon shows us its meaning is much deeper than we find used today.  The Greek word means “A people for a possession that is pertaining to God”.  They are people who are secured as a possession, or His own; a people that belong to Him and no other.

Sooo, gang, have you praised Him this morning for calling you “out of the darkness into His marvelous light?”    We live in a time when the dark clouds are gathering and all that can be shaken is being shaken, but it is not fan-tab-u-lus to know you are a royal priest, and a member of a holy nation, and a person for God’s own possession and “you have been called out of darkness into His glorious light”?  “Rejoice ye in it!”  

Blessings,

Gramps

How Big Is Your God?

I don’t understand why so many, so called intelligent folks, want to tamper with the Word of God.  My brother was a keeper of little saying that made a heap of sense.   One pertained to a thermos bottle.  Simply stated, ‘You put hot in and it stays hot, and you put cold in it and it stays cold. How do it know?’ 

We always began our parenting classes by telling the troops, “We take our material from the Word of God.”  Invariably, there was one who would announce to the class, “I don’t believe in that stuff!”  To which I would ask, “What stuff don’t you believe in?”  Never could they tell me what they did not believe in.   Point:  The Bible is filled with proven facts.  Every believer should be equipped with these facts.  It is a great way to get a non-believers attention. 

 Power Scripture for Today:  “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool, Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is the place that I may rest” (Isa. 66:1).

How big is Your God?    Today’s key verse says the earth is His footstool.  I like that.  God did not just create all that we perceive, and then go fishing.  I wonder, has there ever been a greater arrogance of man than the global warming- climate control issue?  The Psalmist wrote that God sits in the heavens and laughs (2:4).    It also says that “He scoffs at them” (Psalm 2).  I believe He is scoffing at the Obama’s, Gore’s, the Pope and others for their continued deceptiveness on this issue.  I wonder if all the adverse weather we are having might be God’s way of saying, “Hey, wake up, I control the weather.”

Bill Koenig, a White House Correspondent, did research and then wrote the book Eye to Eye. It list more than fifty tragic events that have occurred when our Presidents made overtures to push Israel into a deeper hole than they are today.  It seems to me that, if they believe that man can control the thermostat, perhaps he can also prevent hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, and earthquakes.  Do I believe that man can control the weather? In no way! So, there must be another motive for spending billions of dollars to try.  Gee, I wonder if there might be an ulterior motive –like money?

I would suggest that maybe a better course of action would be for the occupant of the oval office to spend time learning what God meant when He said to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses you I will curse.  And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3).  Perhaps, if he became like Jonah and led our nation out of its wilderness, we would not be concerned about the weather.

We had the opportunity to visit Mount St Helens shortly after the volcano blew its top.  The head geologist said it totally blew away their time tables of development of the earth.  What they had believed took millions and even billon of years to develop were completed in a matter of minutes, even seconds.  Trees were petrified, rock formations totally changed, lakes formed. 

A quote from a Mount St. Helens brochure: “A sudden burst of energy reshaped this land on May 18, 1980, like an artist making a bold change on an unfinished work of art.  Today we observe slower changes as these “finishing touches” of color, sound, and fragrance find their places in this new masterpiece”.  Man is so arrogant as to believe he can move the thermostat one degree.    It helps one to understand the Psalmist words, “God sits in the heaven and laughs”.

So my friend, you need to be equipped with the Word, filed in the recesses of your heart and brain, as to who God is!  He is a spirit.  He is the Creator who created us with a living soul.  He has no beginning and no end.  He is unsearchable.  His creation is beyond human grasp.   He is the “I Am” eternally existing in the present.  He is Omniscient (knows everything), Omnipresent (is present everywhere), and Omnipotent (has unlimited power).  He reveals Himself as the Trinity-  Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.  Not only is He Creator God, but He also has the power to recreate the world, as well as the power to forgive all the sins of the whole world.

Is it not fan-tab-u-ous!!! The God we serve, though so very huge, yet He is small enough to dwell in our hearts!!!  Wow, is that not awesome? Can you shout alleluia to that?

Blessings,

Gramps

Have you Answered This Question in Your Heart and Mind?

“Behold I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the people around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.  It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples” (Zech. 12:2-3a).

Hey Gang:  Perhaps it is time for a quick review! Zechariah makes it pretty clear in the final chapter of the Age of the Gentiles: There will be great controversy across the earth as to who really owns the land of Israel.  The sons of Ishmael would have the world believe that the Hebrew people have never had the rights to the land of “milk and honey” and have done all in their power to erase any memory of those days of the patriarchs and kings of Israel. (They must not read printed history books).

They claim there has never been a temple on the temple mount.  An interesting article recently appeared in a newsletter from a national ministry pertaining to the Barbary Coast pirates of Thomas Jefferson’s time who were harassing all shipping that came near to their countries- kind of the like the Somalia pirates of today.

To find out why they were doing this a contingent of world leaders went to the Barbary Coast and met with one of the guru’s and asks the question, “Why are you doing this when we have not harmed you in any way”.  The official remarked, “Because we are told in our holy book, as sons of Islam, we are to harass and kill all infidels who do not believe as we do.” 

In the Bible, God spoke to Abraham, father of the Jews and directs him to take up his bed and leave the country of his birth and go to the land of Canaan. God says, "I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing.  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse, And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed" (Genesis 12:2-3).

Later in Genesis God promises Abraham, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates"  (Gen. 15:18).  Notice “I have given this land”.   You must decide in your own mind and heart if God changes His mind.

Two chapters later, God tells Abraham, “I will establish my covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for in everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you" (Gen. 17:7).

The Bible also says Israel must be mindful of God's covenant with Abraham, "O seed of Israel His servant, Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!  He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth.  Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham,  And His oath to Isaac.  He also confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant,            Saying, 'To you I will give the land of Canaan, As the portion of your inheritance."   (I  Chron. 16:13-18).

Soooo, my friends, what say ye?  Several years back, William Koenig wrote a book which he titled Eye to Eye. He subtitled the book ‘Facing he Consequences of Dividing Israel’.  In the book he chronicles 57 catastrophic events that occurred in our land that occurred as talks were proceeding on the dividing of the land.  The most notable- Katrina devastated our country during that time when the world mandate that Gaza would be ethnically cleansed of all Jews and given to the Palestinians. 

 

I remind you of this event at this time, because we are half way through the Jubilee Year.  Our President indicated last fall that he would support the France resolution that Judah and Samaria and East Jerusalem must be evacuated by all Jews and turned over to the Palestinians in eighteen months. In March 2016 VP Biden visited Israel to push for this to happen for the legacy of Obama.   Will God remain silent if the world dictates the covenant land, half of the Eternal City is given to Israel’s enemies?  I think not yet!

Psalm 122:6 tells us to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem”.  Yeshua Messiah is their only Peace. 

Blessings,

Gramps

Learning From A Child's Heart

Why is God so great and the thought of heaven so ecstatic?  Because…. “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not comprehend it.”  “Then Jesus again spoke to them saying, “I am the Light of the world, he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”  (John 1:5; 8:12). Why?  Because we live in such a dark world!  The contrast is beyond human understanding.

Hey Gang:  Have you ever been in a cave?  On one of our trips west we visited and toured Carlsbad Caverns, a mammoth, gigantic underground cave that is seven levels high.  When we reached the bottom most level the guide said, ”There is a rope suspended in front of you, take hold of it for I am going to shut the lights off, for a few minutes, to help you truly understand what blackness is”.    Although the lights were out for only two minutes, it seemed like a much longer time. 

As I mentioned in a recent morning message, we have gone through a very difficult time in the Hainley household recently.  I have had the distinct feeling that there are a flock of buzzards resting in the trees around our home.  In the past several months our family has dwindled by four.  We have received phone calls, cards and yesterday as I walked through the super market, several friends and neighbors came up to share their feelings sympathy.   

Now, I want to share something with you that I have learned when the buzzards are zinging around your head that I would call a universal law of God.  Jesus made a point that we need to tuck away, not so deep that you cannot pull it up in a moment’s notice: He said, “No greater love can one have that to be willing to lay down your life for someone who is hurting” (Hainley rendition). 

This I have learned from the many people who have surrounded us with their love and compassion is that we need to be alert for everyone we meet is fighting a battle”.  When we lost our son David thirty years ago in a car accident. We were amazed with the number of people that we met who had also lost a child.  I also learned that words do not come easy when you trying to sooth the hurt in a loved one or friend. 

I found this neat little story tucked away in my archives. I believe is a perfect example of a heart that truly felt the hurt that an old man had when he lost his wife.  The boy, six-years old, saw the man sitting on his front porch rocking in his chair. Even though he had not been a nice neighbor and often swore at the kids for getting to close to his property, the young lad climbed the stairs to the porch, went over and sat down in the old man’s lap.

After returning home, his mom asked, “What did you say to the old man?”  The boy replied, “Oh, I didn’t say anything, I just cried with him.”  There are times when that is enough.  There are times when that is really all we can do.

Folks there are times when someone needs you to take the time to put your arms around them.  No words necessary, just to know someone cares is enough. 

Blessings, 

Gramps

Really?

“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.” (Psalm 139:14) “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb. ‘I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone” (Isaiah 44:24).

Hey gang:  While sitting in the dentist office awaiting my turn in the agony and pain chair, I happened to turn to an article in a magazine titled Immortality Engineered By Man with the following humanistic view of what is to come.  How about a ghastly thought for today. 

The article carried the sub title ‘2045: The Year Man Becomes Immortal”.  It does not refer to man becoming spirit and certainly did not refer to believers in Christ having the joy of knowing we will be eternally with the Lord. but rather a transformation they refer to as “singularity”. Their premise is a time when computers will become hyper-intelligent and either solve aging, or actually merge with man to transform man into a cyborg or android being. 

What say you think? Has man’s creative and technical know-how advanced to the point where it is just a matter of time and computing power before we have robots that acts and appears to be human?  And will it just take the right circuitry with the high capacity electronics and the most sophisticated software with billions of lines of code to achieve immortality?  In other words, will the human heart be replaced by a series of batteries?

Note:  The Chinese, who have perfected cloning, announced to the world they will clone more than one hundred thousand cows in this year of 2016 and sell the meat across the world.  I would suggest you read the source of the meat you buy in all of super markets. 

As I read this article my thoughts turned to Genesis 11:6-7 where God said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language.  And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let Us go down and the confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”  

And now to the world of reality:  Genesis tells us God made us in His own image but He made us/man out of the dust of the ground.  He said that we are dust and to dust we shall return.  So we were born with a physical life that had planned from the day we are landed on this earth that one day we would die.  We also know from our studies in the Word that only God is Spirit and He alone has immortality (1 Tim. 6:16).

A neat little ditty that helps clarify this point that has kicked around the circuit fits nicely here.  A couple intellectual humanist approached God and said, “We no longer need You; we can now create life.”  God said, “Show me.”  The humanist reached down and picked up a hand full of dirt. to which God replied, “Get your own dirt”.

We learn in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  And we also learn that this gift of eternal life, or real immortality, will happen, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”.

Soooo, God’s created folks of flesh and blood and a soul, keep in mind that Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Today you shall be with me in paradise”.  What joy there is in knowing that one day soon we shall all stand and worship our Lord together with all the saints who have preceded us.  And O, by the way, I do not expect there will be any android’s, robots, or such there.

Blessings

Gramps

Amazing Facts About Israel

“I will multiply men on you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities will be inhabited and the waste places will be rebuilt.  I will supply you man and beast; and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were formerly and will treat you better than at the first.  Thus, you will know that I am the Lord” (Ezek. 36:10-11).

Hey Gang:  notice the last line of the above Scripture, “Thus you will know that I am the Lord”.  And what is Ezekiel referring when he used the term “thus”.  If you read the entire 36^th chapter you will see it refers to the restoration of Israel.  The first 22 verses refer to The Mountains of Israel to be blessed and the remaining verses, (i.e. 22 through 38) refer to Israel to be renewed for His Name’s Sake. 

In other prophecy blogs we have examined the question, ‘Why Lord?’  Why are Israel and the Jews treated so differently?  Israel has many enemies around the world, not only in Gaza and Teheran but also in the Western world, legal forums around the world, the European Parliaments and United Nations and even in the Administration and some US Congress and think tanks.  Tragically this attitude also persist in some liberal elements of Israel society. 

The more I try to understand this attitude, among a growing majority of earth’s inhabitants, the proof in the pudding does not justify the growing feeling that, if there was no Israel there would be no war, no turmoil and everybody would love each other with a lay down your life attitude.  Nothing could be further from the facts that appear in our news media daily; the enemies of Israel are killing far more of their own people than Israel.

There is a rapidly growing movement across the globe that has been named the BDS movement or boycott, divest and sanction.   I will deal with that in a later prophecy message.  It has been discovered in recent months that this movement has resulted in Israel having to revamp and shift some of their market places, but in reality the movement is it is doing far greater damage to the Arab populations in the West Bank than the Israeli’s. BDS is losing strength today.

 Keep in mind people may choose not to buy an Israeli product as long as they have a supply on the pantry shelf but, when the spot for the product is suddenly empty, boycotting can lose its appeal until the shelves are full again.

For the remainder of this epistle I would like to share a message that the world press has chosen to ignore.  When Nehemiah was called to return to Israel from Babylon to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the Temple with a vagabond troop of past prisoners of war, he faced the same problems that are present in Israel today – survival!  It reached the point where the workers held a weapon in one hand and tool in the other. 

But in spite of the survival mode that persists as part of everyday life, it has not stopped God from blessing Israel with wisdom, energy, and a will to develop new technologies, new food growing procedures, new ways to protect the environment including vast improvement in the discovery of new ways to protect and tremendous gains in the areas of medicine, prevention and cures for diseases that have long since plagued mankind and share them with the World! 

Here are a  few of the constructive battles that the Jewish State is fighting today:

The war against cancer is one that Israel is determined to win and each week brings a new break- throughs in Israeli treatments.  Israeli Technion scientists, with their US allies at MIT and Harvard, have discovered  that chemotherapeutics delivered in tiny silicon contains with  nano-sized holes are able to destroy malignant tumors. while avoiding adverse effects on healthy tissue.  Then chemotherapy developed by Professor Dan Peer of Tel Aviv University, that previously fought ovarian cancer has now been engineered to target Glioblastoma multiforme – the most aggressive form of brain cancer.

Fighting heart disease will become much easier now that researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have revealed that heart disease causes individual heart filaments to lose synchronization.  Replacing diseased cells in a structure manner can re-establish a regular rhythm.

The battle against brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s will benefit from the results of the Tel Aviv University research study into how brain neuron networks preserve memories. 

Meanwhile Israelis biotech Kadimastern is winning a war on two fronts with the recent success in pre-clinical tests of its stem cell treatment to the brain disease ALS.  Kadimastern has also formed an alliance with Tel Aviv University’s technology transfer company, to use the same technology to induce pancreatic cells into producing insulin and attack diabetes.

To disregard all Jewish products and inventions you would throw away your cell phone and all related products, just for starters.  God has given them some special gifts and this is only an mini bite of the sciences.  Think of the Arts….Music…. Drama…… Nobel Prize winners…. etc

Blessings,

Gramps