Clueless Emma

The Old Faith Restated

"It will be admitted that if God were in any proper sense the author of the Bible, it would bear these marks of its own truthfulness. Indeed, if he inspired its authors, he must have desired that his creatures should believe its statements and observe its precepts; and he would certainly impart this very quality to it. The fact, then, that the Bible has the identical effect on a vast multitude of its readers which its author must have designed if that author is God, is no mean proof that God is its author. This evidence can have but little effect on those who are as yet unbelievers, and who consequently do not receive the impression we refer to; but it is solid and satisfactory evidence to all those who have for this and other reasons combined received the book as true, and studied it for the good that is in it."

--J.M. McGarvey, The Old Faith Restated, ed. J. H. Garrison (St. Louis, MO: Christian Publishing Company, 1891), pp. 11-48.

As The Berean Call states: "While recent apologetics focus on the archaeological proof confirming Scripture, this entry from 1891 points out a more obvious and faithful witness to the truth of Scripture."

WHEN THE FULLNESS OF TIME WAS COME

"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law" (Galatians 4:4).

[From The Berean Call: Jesus came in the fullness of time. He came when Rome dominated the known world with its Pax Romana (peace) making travel safer and a common language (Greek) made sharing information easier. He came when the practice of crucifixion, hitherto unknown in Israel, but prophesied in Psalm 22, was the Roman capital punishment. He came when the Law had been shown to be "our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24). He came when everything was ready.]

Q & A Berean Call Style: Why protestants do not recognize "church" authority

Question: Why do you Protestants fail to see that without the tradition and pronouncements of an authoritative Church, you wouldn't know what was Scripture? The New Testament was certainly not available for many years. Without the oral teachings of the Apostles, how could people know what was truth?

Response: Catholicism would dearly love to claim the mantle of being the "authoritative" church, but all she has been able to produce through threat of force is a surface conformity riddled by internal dissension and corruption. In contrast, believers are truly given an unfailing authority.

Second Timothy 3:16 is rightly cited as evidence for sola scriptura [by Scripture alone]. Verse 15 says: "From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures...." The "scriptures" here must refer to the Old Testament because Timothy did not have the New Testament in its entirety. Nevertheless, he had at least the two epistles written to him. Furthermore, this verse tells us that "from a child" he had known the Holy Scriptures, undoubtedly taught to him by a godly mother and grandmother. The Apostle Paul is declaring that the Scriptures available were sufficient to lead one to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The book of Acts is filled with examples of the apostles expounding the Scriptures, but we will consider just a few. 

In Acts 8, Philip was led of the Lord to where a certain Ethiopian eunuch was passing by. As Philip approached, he heard him reading from the book of Isaiah. Apparently, the Scriptures weren't so scarce that a courtier in Ethiopia couldn't obtain a copy. Philip and the man had an exchange, and the Ethiopian invited him to ride along in the chariot. Then "Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus" (Acts 8:35). The book of Isaiah, used at the direction and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, was sufficient to lead this man to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament Scriptures were also sufficient for the Lord Jesus Christ when He confronted the two disciples who were on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-27). Imagine what a Bible study that must have been! Consider the case of Apollos (who was "mighty in the scriptures") in Acts 18. He was preaching the "things of the Lord," but he knew only the baptism of John (v. 25). He did not know that the Messiah had come, lived, bled and died on the Cross, been buried, and then raised again, in power. Two disciples, Aquila and Priscilla, took him aside and "...expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly" (v. 26). At that point, he did not begin teaching a tradition solely on the basis of something orally communicated to him; rather, he continued to preach and exhort, "showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ" (Acts 18:28).

From The Berean Call newsletter

"Christian Patriots," Are You Ready to Die?

Mark Dinsmore
 

Many readers are undoubtedly familiar with the fun "sword drill" practice that many Sunday Schools and youth programs employ to encourage familiarity with God's Word (which is "sharper than any two-edged sword"). It's even fun for adults--would you like to give it a try? But instead of giving you chapter and verse to look up, let's make it a bit more challenging. I'll quote a commonly cited proverb, and then you find the location in Scripture. Are you ready?

Quick! Give me chapter and verse for "Cleanliness is next to godliness!" While some of you look for that passage, the rest of you locate the verse, "God helps those who help themselves!" Oh, wait. I forgot we're dealing with Bereans here (and probably a few homeschoolers) who are already on to my game. Well, let's try one more. Ready? Grab your Bibles and find, "Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God." Go!

What? It's not there? Please check again.... After all, it's the battle cry of the American Revolution--symbolized by the bright yellow banner, emblazoned with a coiled rattlesnake declaring, "Don't Tread On Me!" The clear implication, of course, is that government oppression will be met with force. Today, this rallying cry is being heard again among many conservatives--including Christian leaders and even pastors--who strongly identify with National Patriotism. In a recent column, one such writer sounded off:

I'm not sure how many of the American people realize that it was the attempted confiscation of the colonialists' cache of arms in Concord, Massachusetts, that started America's War for Independence. Yes, my friends, it was attempted gun confiscation that triggered (pun intended) the "shot heard 'round the world.... And now it would appear that, once again, a central government is on the verge of trying to deny the American people their right to keep and bear arms.... This leads to a very serious question: how many of America's gun owners would allow their government to deny them gun ownership? Further, how many would passively sit back and allow their guns to be confiscated?

From all that I've seen and read, this writer is a commendable, admirable, God-fearing man, and I imagine we would share a majority of non-negotiable Bible doctrines. However, his column proves the point stated in the April 2009 TBC Extra: "Christian Patriot. These two words are inextricably linked in the minds of most [Christians]." This inability to separate Americanism from God's will and His prophetic word is made abundantly clear with this declaration by the same author: "As humbly and meekly as I know how to say it: as for me and my house, gun confiscation is the one act of tyranny that crosses the line; debate, discourse, discussion, and peaceful dissent cease and desist at that point. I say again, it is getting very serious now (emphasis added)." So, the line in the sand has been drawn. Undoubtedly, thousands of Christian Patriots and Second Amendment supporters would agree, on Constitutional grounds. My question remains, however: Is forceful rebellion--to the point of resistance with weapons--against one's government (however tyrannical) biblically defensible?

Now, before anyone else accuses me of being "traitorous," I will restate that my heart is not anti-Patriot. It is not anti-Constitution. It is not anti-Second Amendment. It is not anti-defense. My sole purpose is to encourage believers in Christ, who claim to revere and adhere to the Bible as God's Word (by which our Creator "hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2 Pt 1:3), to distinguish between what is politically or legally motivated and what is biblically or spiritually mandated.

Interestingly enough, it was an earlier column by the same writer that sparked my five-page response (whittled down to a single page for space), which became a bit of a firestarter itself--the April TBC Extra, "Would the Apostle Paul Answer the Call to Christian Patriotism?" The statement to which I initially replied was this: "A real Christian patriot would never allow his country to be taken over by a gaggle of elitist goons bent on stealing his liberties." Although reader response was, overall, humblingly positive, I did receive a few calls and letters by some who were angered, confused, or who even felt betrayed. Let me make this abundantly clear: If someone holds a personal conviction to "resist tyranny" with force based on their Constitutional right to do so, then by all legal means, get ready to "lock and load." However, if anyone uses God's name and His Word to support the cause, he's got an entirely different fight on his hands.

Israel had godly kings and wicked kings. In like manner, America has had good presidents and bad--including some whose public personae have undoubtedly obscured traitorous backroom dealings and personal depravity of which it is genuinely best that we not know (Eph 5:12). But anti-American usurper or not, our current president is God's "chosen instrument" --whom we are not to curse, but pray for (Mt 5:44, 1 Tm 2:1-2).

The Scriptures command us to "earnestly contend for the faith...once delivered to the saints." However, the saints did not rise up with armaments to "contend," because Christ's kingdom "is not of this world," and we "wrestle not against flesh and blood." In fact, to our shame and to their credit, many of these saints died without any malice toward those who martyred them. Contrast their praiseworthy humility and meekness with the prevailing tone of anger and hatred that many believers are now exhibiting (understandably so, in the flesh) toward what is unquestionably an anti-Christian, anti-Israel, pro-Muslim, pro-Marxist Novus Ordo Seclorum.

Such a prevailing attitude illustrates my point: many Christian Patriots are tragically misusing Scripture to support their cause. In the case of the columnist I've mentioned, this is evident in his unbiblical melding of Scripture with his personal conviction: "As for me and my house, gun confiscation is the one act of tyranny that crosses the line...." By quoting Joshua 24:15, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," the writer makes a grave mistake by equating "gun ownership" with "serving God."

Tragically, such a statement elevates Second Amendment rights above the right to pray, the right to worship, the right to preach, teach, or even to read God's Word. He considers "gun confiscation the one act of tyranny that crosses the line." Surely, the other "rights" I've just mentioned are far more precious to a minister of the gospel! But does that writer (and all those who have similarly pledged to "kill or be killed" over what they believe is their "sacred" right to keep and bear arms) wish to stand before Christ and explain how they "pulled the trigger" to protect the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution? Perhaps some believers would rather wind up in prison instead--and, perhaps God would use this opportunity, as He did through the Apostle Paul, for the furtherance of the gospel. As I stated in my original "Extra:"

We are in a spiritual battle, but we must choose on which hill we are willing to die. Dying for Nationalistic Pride or even for our "Rights" is not the same as dying for the cause of Christ. Far better for godly men to survive in a pagan nation and submit to rule of law (which God ordains) and to subsist by His Word--unless (or until) we are asked to bow down and worship a false god. [But] such an affront would still not be cause to take up arms...Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah did not go into the flames as "National Patriots," willing to die for their "Bill of Rights," nor did they offer any physical resistance to their captors.

Nor did they organize the Hebrew captives to rebel against the Babylonian government (that had just destroyed Jerusalem!) and appoint Daniel as their "Spartacus" to lead this insurrection. Some rightly point out that the Second Amendment protects the First. However, while the encroaching world government can (and at some point, will) take whatever material goods and property it wants from its "global citizens," and while it can (and will) censor free speech in the press and in the public square, it cannot silence our hearts and minds and conscience before God, nor can it silence our lips in whatever "diverse trials" we may face.

I fully and gratefully acknowledge our "Christian Heritage." I daily lament the sale of our freedoms, which spiral like punched-out ticker tape to the floor. I am angered that our way of life and quality of life is literally being "changed" forever before our very eyes. But then I remember: time is short, the earth is not my home, and our eternal hope is not in the flag of the United States. There is only one Banner to which I pledge allegiance--not to "Stars and Stripes Forever," nor to a coiled serpent on a field of gold, but to the Cross of Jesus Christ.

There are those who've asked me sarcastically, "Well, what then, do we just roll over and die?" After much prayer and reflection, my answer is "Yes." The Bride of Christ does need to die--to its dreams of "kingdom now" restoration. American Christians, in particular, need to die to their idolatry of nationalism, materialism, and the "pursuit of happiness."

"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Mt 16:24). We read these words; we hear these words, but how many of us actually do these words? (Mt 1:23-25). Truly, the church in America seems accurately depicted in Christ's rebuke to the Laodicean church: "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Rv 3:17).

Yes, Christian Patriots, we need to die.... Not for this nation, but to it. (See Mk 10:21). As the faithful hymn exhorts, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace" (Helen H. Lemmel, 1922).

Israel and Prophetic Proof Part II

Dave Hunt

Israel is the major topic of Bible prophecy, mentioned more than 2,900 times, nearly twice as many times as her Messiah. Without Israel there would be no Messiah and no salvation for anyone, Jew or Gentile. The first mention of His coming is in God's rebuke of the guilty parties involved in man's fall in Eden: the serpent (an identity that Satan retains from Genesis to Revelation) and Adam and Eve. The Bible account is not myth but history. In many places around the world, archaeologists continue to find ancient representations of three figures appearing together: a woman, a serpent, and a tree.

God foretells a long conflict between the serpent and the Messiah and the latter's ultimate triumph that would occur in a way Satan could never have imagined. An old hymn tells it beautifully:

In weakness like defeat,
He won the victor's crown;
Trod all our foes beneath His feet
By being trodden down.
He Satan's power laid low;
Made sin, He sin o'er threw;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And death, by dying, slew.      

God's declaration to the three guilty parties is simple and to the point. To the serpent He said, "I will put enmity between thee [serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed [the Messiah]; it [the woman's seed] shall bruise thy head [a death blow], and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gn 3:15).

The fact that God does not say "thy seed and Adam's" must indicate that no man would be involved. From that moment, Satan was eagerly awaiting this virgin birth in order to kill the babe. Watching closely as events unfold, Satan learns that the Messiah will be of the seed of Abraham. Ishmael (father of the Arabs) is Abraham's firstborn, but by Hagar, Sarah's maid 7. Finally, Abraham is given a second son by his wife. He is Isaac, "the son of promise." It seems a miraculous birth because for 90 years Sarah had been barren though not a virgin. Satan watches and waits.

Both Ishmael and Isaac were born "in the land of Canaan" among Canaanites who had lived there for centuries (Gn 11:31; 12:5-6; 13:7, etc.). There was no such place as "Palestine" nor any people called "Palestinians." No Arabs would live in so-called Palestine until the savage Islamic conquest of the world began in the seventh century, and they would not claim descent from "the original Palestinians" until the 1950s. Anyone making such a claim via descent from Ishmael is deluded by tradition. Ishmael's father (Abraham) was a Chaldean (Gn 11:31; 15:7) and his mother (Hagar) was an Egyptian (16:1).

President Obama continues to apply pressure upon Israel to deal justly with the "Palestinians." He asks these misnamed people to cease their violence against Israel. He must know that this is like pleading with a hurricane for mercy. Since long before the days of Arafat and his partner, Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO Charter's call for Israel's annihilation has been the sworn purpose of every Islamic government in obedience to Muhammad and has been reiterated hundreds of times throughout the Muslim world.

As Mortimer Zuckerman, in his U.S. News and World Report editorial of June 9, 2009, recently reminded world leaders demanding that Israel make "peace" with the Palestinians, the latter's violence is fueled by "the incessant spewing of hatred against Israel in schools, mosques, and the media, especially TV. This poisoning of the mind of the next generation is not just the stock in trade of Hamas and Hezbollah but also of the schools and media controlled by Fatah and reporting directly to Abbas."

In spite of the facts, political and church leaders persist in avoiding any mention of Islam or Muslims when referring to their violence. That is always blamed on "extremists." In fact, Muhammad himself began this trail of death, and his followers have obeyed, as supported by the Qur'an. The simple truth of history is brushed aside by the UN and almost the entire world, including the church and, sadly, our own president.

Being repeatedly condemned by the world for trying to defend itself against suicide bomber attacks that were costing the lives of hundreds of Israelis, including women and children, Israel's only alternative was to build a barrier that would cut off the attackers from entering her homeland. World opinion expressed outrage. The World Court ruled 14-1 that construction must cease immediately and everything be dismantled, with compensation to the Palestinians. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on July 20, 2004, 150-6, calling on Israel to respect the World Court ruling. Only the United States, Israel, Australia, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau voted against the resolution. Israel rejected world opinion and, from necessity, has proceeded with construction. Though the barrier has not been completed as of this date, it has already almost totally cut off the infiltration of terrorists.

Israel subsequently "gave back" Gaza, which historically belonged to her. She generously left operative the huge greenhouses that had fed Israel and much of Europe with fresh vegetables and could have done the same for the new "owners." Instead, these new owners tore the structures apart, and the mob carried off the materials for their individual use, thereby losing the potential income from exports that Israel had derived as well as the ability to feed themselves.

Going back to history, in 135 A.D., the Romans destroyed 1,000 Jewish villages, killed 500,000 Jews, and enslaved thousands. Furious that they'd been forced to bring in more legions to quell the rebellion, the Romans angrily renamed what had for more than 1,500 years been known as Israel. They called it Provincia Palestina after the Philistines, Israel's ancient enemies. Those living there became known as Palestinians. Who lived there? Jews! So Jews, ironically were the first "Palestinians." This is what they were called (along with many derisive names that have followed them as they've been hunted from country to country). Only in the 1950s did the Arabs begin to call themselves "Palestinians" in order to gain worldwide sympathy for their acts of terrorism even as UN pressure squeezed Israel into an ever-smaller corner in order to facilitate her destruction. (We document all of this and much more in Judgment Day.)

Since 1948, Israel has been arming herself and fighting back. Her vow of "never again" will be fulfilled but not before Jewry worldwide suffers the worst horror of her history. Under attack by all of the world's armies (Zec 12:3; 14:2; Jl 3:2, Ezk 38:8,9 etc.), Israel will call upon the Messiah, and He will rescue her. It is all declared plainly by the ancient prophets of Israel in the Old Testament (the Tenach).

It has taken the Lord many years and many circumstances to open my eyes to these prophecies. It was all there in His Word, but I didn't understand. How blind I was!

In 1966-67, my wife and I, with our four young children, were living on the third floor of a small seventeenth-century castle in Switzerland. That year was to have been an intensive time of ministry to university students, but God had something far different in mind. Suddenly, an overwhelming urgency to pray for Israel came upon me toward the end of 1966. Even when giving thanks to God at mealtime, I was compelled to include this prayer, "O Lord, I pray that you will defeat, confound, confuse, and frustrate all those who plot the destruction of Israel; turn their counsel into foolishness and protect your ancient people from their evil designs. In Jesus' name, Amen!"

I didn't understand that prayer at the time, but my naiveté was soon dispelled. In Cairo, Egypt, I went into a travel agency and asked, "How can I get to Israel?" The man waiting on me took me aside and whispered, "If you mention that [expletive] word again in this country they'll kill you!" I was shocked. I knew the Bible well but had never realized the significance of Psalm 83: "...thine enemies...that hate thee...have taken crafty counsel against thy people, [saying] let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." This destruction has been the determined goal of Islam since it was founded by Muhammad.

Muslims are fighting against the God who calls Himself the "God of Israel" 203 times in the Bible. What an embarrassment it would be if Israel could be destroyed! It could never happen, for that act would destroy "the God of Israel" as well. He will not allow it.

Interacting with the very friendly people our family met as we drove the length and breadth of Egypt in our VW minibus in late May 1967, we repeatedly heard the words, "The 19-year war." What war was this? It took a while for that cryptic phrase to sink into our dull understanding.  From the so-called 1948 cessation of hostilities until 1967 was 19 years. Even as they professed peace, but inspired by Egypt's dictator, Gamal Abdul Nasser, the 40 million Muslims surrounding Israel had been arming nonstop to achieve her destruction. Nasser had sworn to lead the Arab world to a glorious victory. The humiliating defeat of the Arab armies in "The Six Day War" of 1967 ended Nasser's bombastic boast that he would destroy Israel. He subsequently had a nervous breakdown from which he never recovered.

In May 1948, Israel had declared its independence and was instantly attacked by the combined might of 40 million Arab/Muslims surrounding her. This tiny nation of 600,000, with its hastily assembled, hurriedly trained, and poorly equipped army of 60,000, with weapons smuggled in from Czechoslovakia (France, Britain, America, et al., would sell them nothing) fought for its survival against an enemy that had sworn its utter annihilation. They "crushed 600,000 soldiers of four Arab armies, well trained and heavily armed [with tanks and planes, of which Israel had none], reinforced by units from seven additional Arab countries, not to mention the active help of the British." This quote is part of the lengthy endorsement of Judgment Day by a retired Israeli General.

Three times God calls Israel the "apple of his eye" and warns: "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye" (Zec 2:8; Dt 32:10; Lam 2:18). The statements that Barack Obama continually makes in favor of Islam are not only alarming for his own sake and the sake of the United States but are a slap in the face of the God of Israel. I can only warn him with what God himself told Abraham regarding the subsequent mistreatment of his descendants: "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gn 12:3).

In a hotel room in Tyre, Lebanon, the evening of June 3, 1967, our family prayed for direction from God. We had visas to drive through Syria into Jordan and then return by the same route. The newspapers the next morning gave the answer clearly. We immediately headed north through Syria and had, by God's grace, barely gotten across the border into Turkey when the war broke out. 

In spite of hundreds of very clear declarations by Jewish prophets and the promises that God has given to His people, about 30 percent of today's Israelis claim to be atheists. He wants to bless them and protect them, but how can He, when they continue to reject Him? The following is just a sample of what God has repeatedly said to His people: "I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries...fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.... But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would [have] none of me"
(Ps 81:11-16).

Israel is both under God's judgment because of its continual rejection of the God of Israel, but at the same time, He has not abandoned her, and woe to those who take God's judgment into their own hands!

In the meantime, the nations of the world continue to become a party to Islam's deception by attempting to force Israel into what can only be a false "peace." What Islam has in mind is not what the peacemakers naively intend. It's called a hudna, the "peace" that Muhammad made with the Meccans for ten years. Long before then, under a pretense, Muslims attacked and took over that "holy" city, which had so long been the goal of the hajj (long practiced before Muhammad's birth by most Arab tribes). Of course, this ancient custom, along with others, such as the feast of Ramadan, have been taken over by Muslims. Thus, history is perverted to make it seem that these had always been Islamic practices.

Ramadan had for centuries been agreed upon by warring Arab tribes to be 30 days of peace. At just the right time to allow him to attack a passing caravan, Muhammad received a "new revelation" that Muslims could fight during this time. Ramadan has become a time of the deadliest attacks of Shiites against Sunnis (does this demonstrate to the world that "Islam is peace?")

These prophecies are so important for the strengthening of our own faith, but what about those whom we want to bring into the faith of the God of Israel? We need to provide to everyone with whom we speak (as I often do for those with whom the Lord puts me in contact everywhere, but especially on airplanes) first of all, proof of God's existence. How better to do this than to take the approach of Zinzendorf with the King of Sweden, as we mentioned in Part I of this article, using biblical prophecies about Israel?

We can talk to others about God and Jesus Christ, but when we say "God," what do we mean? A "higher power" of some kind?  We have to be sure that those whom we want to introduce to the God of Israel understand who He is, why we believe in Him, and why we think the most intelligent decision they could make is to believe in Him as well.  TBC
 

Q & A Berean Style May 31, 2009

Question: On the last night of the Tulsa Prophecy Conference, during the Q&A session, a question was directed to Dave Hunt that related to Calvinism. He stated that election and predestination were never unto salvation but unto service. Mike Gendron responded by reading 2 Thessalonians 2:13: "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." Doesn't that sound like God has chosen certain ones to be saved, which of course would mean that the rest are chosen to damnation by default?

Response: I had already stated that I did not want to prolong a discussion about Calvinism. Looking back, I do not want to leave the impression that I had no answer to the verse Mike read. One thing you will notice when this subject comes up: there are a few favorite verses that Calvinists quote. This is one of about four or five, and Mike didn't mention any of the others.

Had I wanted to continue the discussion, I could have noted that whereas Calvinists have a handful of favorite verses, there are literally hundreds proving that God has not chosen certain ones for heaven and others for hell. For example, Christ introduces and explains John 3:16 ("For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.") with a reference to the incident in the wilderness involving the brazen serpent: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This reference is to Numbers 21. Let's notice the wording there: "Every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live....If a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (Nu 21:8,9). This was the way Christ explained John 3:16. The Calvinists say that Christ was not talking about the whole world but only the world of the elect. Christ's example shows that this is not the case.

Christ does not allow this misinterpretation. Here is one of the reasons Calvinists generally avoid references to the Old Testament. Calvinism, far from being supported there, is refuted. It was not the homes of a few elect over which the destroying angel passed but every home where the blood had been applied. Who went through the Red Sea on dry land? An elect few? No, everyone who had been delivered from Egypt by the blood. Who ate of the manna in the wilderness? For whom did the water flow out of the rock? Who was led by the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night? Was it an elect few among the Israelites? No, it was all of them, even though all did not believe.

Such examples could be multiplied by the dozens. In comparison, the few verses of doubtful interpretation that Calvinists hold out to prove their case are far from conclusive on their side. Even 2 Thessalonians 2:13, which Mike read, includes the proof that there is more involved than God simply choosing some to heaven. Something more is required of man: "through...belief of the truth."

Question: I have been aggravated for some time with the controversy surrounding the security of the believer. In other words, the "Once Saved, Always Saved" issue is very controversial in many Christian circles, and there seem to be few resources on this issue. Could you please address this in a future issue of the Berean Call newsletter?

Response: We first addressed the security of the believer in the June 1989 issue of the newsletter. This article has since been reformatted and is now available as the tract "Once Saved, Always Saved?" (www.thebereancall.org).

Regardless of our own perceptions or convictions, we must begin with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and compare all other scriptures (such as James 5, Ezekiel 18, or the "difficult" passages in Hebrews) to His words. The clearest statement of the Savior's intent can be found in John 10:26-29. He makes six declarative statements with absolutely no qualifications:

1) My sheep hear My voice. 2) I know them. 3) They follow Me. 4) I give unto them eternal life. 5) They shall never perish. 6) Neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand, nor out of My Father's hand.

The language used in the original is very adamant, as the phrase translated "any man" is all inclusive--which includes "us" in the "any man" category. Hebrews 12:5-12 is an excellent (albeit painful) example of how God works in the lives of His children as He disciplines them. There are no qualifiers re how closely they follow, how far they stray in their waywardness, or how dim the voice of the Shepherd may become to them. Furthermore, "If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire"  (1 Cor 3:14-15).

Why Doesn't God Reveal Himself to Me?

(An excerpt from Dave Hunt's timeless classic, In Defense of the Faith.)

Question: I would like to know God, and I have asked Him to reveal Himself to me, but nothing happens. No lights have gone on, no messages in the sky, no sudden revelation. It seems to me that if God really existed He would want us to believe in Him and He would therefore do something tangible to let us know He exists. Is it wrong to ask for some unmistakable evidence of God's existence?

Response: No, and the evidence is all around you--more than you need. The kind of evidence you seem to be hoping for, however, wouldn't help at all. Suppose some message with your name in it suddenly appeared in the sky. How would you know that God put it there? Suppose right now you heard an audible voice saying loudly, "I am God! Worship me!" What would that tell you about God--and how would you know that He had actually spoken?

In fact, God has spoken to you. The design of the universe is a message from God, telling you of His existence as Creator and of His infinite wisdom and power. Those things that you value most highly and that you know in your heart make life worthwhile--love, joy, peace, moral purity, goodness, truthfulness, justice, kindness-tell you of God's character. Your conscience tells you that you are morally accountable to God, that you have violated His laws and have fallen short of His perfect standard. Your conscience also tells you that there is no way you can make up for having broken God's laws. You can't buy Him off with sacrifice, prayers, good deeds, or ritual.

Suppose you got a speeding ticket. Would you waste your time telling the judge that you've driven that stretch of highway within the speed limit more often than above it? Would he let you off under the theory that your "good deeds outweigh the bad"? You know that won't work with an earthly judge, and it certainly won't work with God.

Would you tell him that if he lets you off this time you will never break the law again? You know what the judge would say: "If you never break the law again, you're only doing what the law requires. You get no extra credit for that. It doesn't make up for having broken the law in the past. The penalty will have to be paid as the law prescribes it." You know it's the same way with God.

Your conscience tells you that the only way you could possibly escape the severe penalty that God's infinite justice must demand for having broken His laws would be if He forgives you. And you know He can't just wipe the slate clean for no reason. For one thing, that would hardly encourage you to improve your behavior. Furthermore, it would violate His own law. He must have some way of paying the penalty Himself--a penalty you can't pay--so that you can be forgiven by His grace.

You don't know what that method may be, but you know that a God of perfect love and perfect justice would somehow provide it. If there is an explanation of this good news, it would surely be in the Bible. In fact, God has explained it all in those pages. Have you seriously studied the Bible and checked out the evidence that shows it is God's infallible Word?

There is more than sufficient historic, archaeological, and scientific evidence to prove that the Bible is God's infallible Word. In fact, in this volume alone we provide overwhelming evidence of that fact. But you don't really need it. That kind of proof is like icing on the cake. If you just read the Bible with an open heart and mind, you will know that God is speaking to your heart as only He can speak.

I recommend that you begin with the Gospel of John and continue through Acts and Romans, then read those three books again. God has promised in His Word: "Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). That is a promise you can count on! Seek God with all your heart and put Him to the test by looking in the Bible for the revelation of Himself!

Israel and Prophetic Proof Part I

Dave Hunt

"And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them....And they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God." Amos 9:14-15

         

About 150 years ago, the King of Sweden had troubling doubts about whether the Bible was really true in every word. He asked Count von Zinzendorf, bishop of the MoravianChurch, to give him proof that the Bible was truly inspired of God. The King had set aside 10 hours to hear what might be said. To his majesty's surprise, Zinzendorf informed him that the time allotted was far too much. He only needed to say one word. Astonished, the King asked what that could be. The Count replied, "Jews."

Today we would add one more word, "Israel." In Zinzendorf's day, that tiny and beleaguered nation, born on May 14, 1948, did not exist except in the hearts of Zionists who had never given up awaiting the fulfillment of the "God of Israel's" solemn promises. The continued existence of Israel today, surrounded by more than a billion Muslims who have sworn to exterminate her and who continually plot and repeatedly attack her in the attempt to do so, is one of the most astonishing miracles of modern times.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has blessed the Jewish people with a brilliance that generally far exceeds their cousins the Arabs and the rest of the Gentile world.

The Arabs have the oil, but the Jews have the brains. Lest I be accused of racism, one need only compare the numbers of Nobel prize winners among them. In the Arab/Muslim world of 1.4 billion there are 6 Nobelists: 3 for Peace, and 1 each for Chemistry, Physics, and Literature.

In the Jewish population of 14 million (one hundredth of the Arab world) there are 165 Nobelists: 51 for Medicine, 45 for Physics, 27 for chemistry, 22 for Economics, 11 for Literature, and 9 for Peace. This is astonishing!

True Love Part II: Morals and Meaning

Dave Hunt

The atheistic understanding of love, the highest human virtue, is badly skewed. Sam Harris, in his book Letter to a Christian Nation, says that the fact that "love is more conducive to happiness than hate" is the key to "the moral order of our world."1 So morality depends upon what makes one happy? Any child whose parents have disciplined him at all knows that isn't true. The saddest thing is that not only Harris but the multitudes who have read and turned this book into a bestseller really imagine they have escaped from God with nonsense that would be laughed out of any elementary ethics class.

In another burst of absolutely dazzling profundity, Harris adds, "While feeling love for others is surely one of the greatest sources of our own happiness, it entails a very deep concern for the happiness and suffering of those we love."2 "Feeling love"? What does that mean? With deep feelings of love, a young man says to the young woman beside him in his car, "I love you with all my heart!" What he really means, although neither of them understands it, is "I love me, and I want you!"

If this is what his "selfish genes"3 (as Richard Dawkins would say) and the molecules in his brain are causing him to think, who can blame him? Clearly, the logic of atheism, evolution, and natural selection will inevitably bring us to the day when no one can be blamed for anything. Blame will have lost all meaning. The physical construction of our bodies will have to bear the responsibility. The universal excuse (and it will have to be accepted by every court of law) will no longer be "The devil made me do it" but "My selfish genes made me do it!" Who believes in the devil anyway? But surely we all believe that genes are selfish, don't we? No, we do not. We still have enough common sense to reject this amorality that now governs our ethics and morals.

JUDGMENT DAY: ISLAM, ISRAEL, AND THE NATIONS

JUDGMENT DAY: ISLAM, ISRAEL, AND THE NATIONS
Dave Hunt   

The following excerpts are from chapter 4: Palestine?
 
Under the assertion that they are descended from the "original Palestinians" who lived in the land of "Palestine" before the Israelites...invaded and conquered it, the Arab refugees claim the entire land as theirs. The Jews, they insist, are unlawfully occupying their hereditary land and must leave....

On October 11, 1949, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Muhammad Saleh el-Din, declared that "the Arabs intend that they [refugees] shall return as masters....The Arab people will not be embarrassed to declare: 'We shall not be satisfied except by the final obliteration of Israel.'" ...And the world blames Israel for not making peace with such enemies!...

[T]he land into which God brought Abraham some 4,000 years ago, which He promised by everlasting covenant to him and to his heirs, and in which he and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob lived for centuries, was not a nonexistent place called "Palestine." It was the historic land of Canaan (1 Chr 9:15-18)....

Around A.D. 132, the Romans, who had decimated Jerusalem in A.D. 70, began to rebuild it for Roman Emperor Hadrian.... They started construction of a temple to Jupiter on Temple Mount at the site of the ancient Jewish temples. Understandably, there was an uprising of the Jews to prevent such desecration. It was led by Simon Bar Kochba, whom many at that time considered to be the Messiah.

At first the revolt was remarkably successful, but...the Romans eventually destroyed nearly 1,000 villages, killed about 500,000 Jews, and sold thousands into slavery. When the revolt was finally crushed in A.D. 135, the Roman conquerors angrily renamed the land of Israel, Provincia Syria-Palestina, after Israel's ancient enemies, the Philistines. From that time forward, all those living there were known as "Palestinians."

Who lived in the newly designated Palestine and were thus known as "Palestinians"? Jews, of course! Chase them out and they return to the land God gave to their forebears. At that time, Arabs hadn't even dreamed that "Palestine" was their land. That ambition would not take hold for another 500 years until the advent of Islam--and even then Arabs would not call themselves Palestinians.

In World War II, Britain had a volunteer brigade known as "The Palestinian Brigade." It was made up entirely of Jews. The Arabs were fighting on Hitler's side. ...There was the Palestinian Symphony Orchestra (a Jewish orchestra) and the Palestinian Post (a Jewish newspaper). As late as the 1950s, Arabs refused to be called Palestinians and declared that if there were such a people, they were Jews.

To the British Peel Commission in 1937, a local Arab leader testified, "There is no such country as Palestine. 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented...." Professor Philip Hitti, Arab historian, testified to an Anglo-American Committee of inquiry in 1946, "There is no such thing as Palestine in history--absolutely not!" To the UN Security Council on May 31, 1956, Ahmed Shukairy declared, "It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria." Eight years later, in 1964, Shukairy became the founding chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and coined the infamous slogan, "[W]e'll drive the Jews into the sea." And he wasn't even a "Palestinian"! Like Arafat, he was born in Cairo. The Palestine Liberation Organization was not founded by Palestinians but has been used to exploit these abused people in Islam's war against Israel.

Today's Arab "Palestinians" are close relatives of the Arabs living in neighboring countries, from which most of them--or their immediate ancestors--came.... Arabs claim that they are descended from Ishmael, Abraham's first son, and that they are therefore the legitimate heirs to the land that God gave to Abraham. They do have much Ishmaelite blood in them, but there is no direct genealogy tracing today's Arabs back to Ishmael. They are a mixed race.

We've already seen that Isaac was the son of promise. Even if the Arabs were 100 percent Ishmaelites, they would still not be descended from the land's original inhabitants. God promised the land to Abraham before Ishmael was born. It already had many inhabitants. So how could Arab descendants of Ishmael (born to immigrants centuries after Canaan had been settled) be at the same time descendants of the "original inhabitants" of the Promised Land? Impossible!...

It would not be until the seventh century A.D., through the Islamic jihad invasions, that Arabs would come in any significant numbers into the land of Israel, which by that time was erroneously called Palestine....

Yet the world accepts these fantasies as the basis of a settlement they intend to impose upon Israel, whose legitimate ancestral claims to the land go back 4,000 years!

If "Palestine" is so important to the Arabs, why is it not mentioned once in their holy book, the Qur'an? The word is used four times in the Bible but never refers either to the land of Canaan or to Israel. The Hebrew word from which it is translated is pelensheth. It referred to a small region also known as Philistia, the land of the Pelishtee, or Philistines. Philistia was in the same location but a bit larger than the Gaza Strip of today, named after the Philistine city of Gaza....This is the true history, of which the Qur'an knows nothing.

The Philistines were not a Semitic people like the Arabs but had invaded Canaan by sea from across the Mediterranean and occupied that particular area before the Israelites arrived. They were not the "original inhabitants of the land" (as today's "Palestinians" claim their ancestors were) but displaced certain Canaanites just as they were themselves eventually displaced by Israel. Arab "Palestinians" (who are Semites living there today) can claim neither ethnic, linguistic, nor historical relationship to the Philistines, nor can they justify...calling themselves Palestinians....

Jerusalem was established as the capital of Israel by King David 3,000 years ago. It is not mentioned once in the Qur'an. Even when Muslim empires controlled all of the Middle East, Jerusalem...was largely neglected. In the late 1800s, out of a population in Jerusalem of about 40,000, most were Jews, the rest Christians of various shades, and only a few were Arabs.

Nor is there any reference to Jerusalem in the Palestine National Covenant of 1964. It was a...complete turnabout when the Muslim world began to insist that the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem itself had always belonged to "Palestinians."

The Islamic terrorist organization Hizballah (Party of Allah), headquartered in Syria, displays the Dome of the Rock on its promotional materials to inflame its followers against Israel. Arafat declared that "Al-Quds [Jerusalem] is in the innermost of our feeling, the feeling of our people and the feeling of all Arabs, Muslims, and Christians in the world." Not surprisingly, he left out the Jews, to whom Jerusalem means more than to anyone!...

The current Muslim attempt to claim Jerusalem as an Islamic holy city would shock Muslims from centuries past. It is simply one more lie and one more ploy in the propaganda campaign to oust Israel. Its remarkable success will continue until Israelis are desperate enough to cry out as one voice for the Messiah to rescue them--and He will do so.

Turning the other cheek

Question: Didn't Jesus' teaching that we are to turn the other cheek when physically assaulted instruct Christians to not defend themselves? That's my view as a pacifist.

Response: My understanding of Matthew 5:39 and Luke 6:29 is that they have to do with retaliation regarding an insult or litigation pertaining to one's personal goods. To apply the verse to a life-threatening assault is to dismiss the context, as well as contradict the many other verses and examples throughout the Bible that would deny pacifism.

The Berean Call

Divine Opportunity: T.A. McMahon

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

I consider any opportunity to be willingly used of the Lord to be a foretaste of heaven. But that didn't come to mind as I stared at the hospital room ceiling, taking stock of my situation following surgery. I was thinking more about all the plastic tubes and bags attached to different points of my body, as well as the twenty-or-so staples holding part of me together. I was also wondering why the Lord allowed this to happen to me. Surely He knew that in my present condition I couldn't fulfill the ministry to which He had called me. Furthermore, my friend Dave Hunt had just been diagnosed with prostate cancer while he was struggling to recover from a replacement of an artificial hip that deteriorated after a decade of use. Why would God allow us both to be afflicted? Truthfully, compared to what I knew others were suffering, I'm embarrassed to use the term "afflicted," but thinking of others occupied little, if any, of my thoughts at the time. My primary focus was my own condition.

Great news from my surgeon was soon disturbed by an incidental complication. The technique used in the successful removal of a portion of my colon along with a large tumor (that against all odds proved to be cancer free!) had resulted in nerve damage to my bladder. It had stopped functioning. My thankfulness for God's mercy in my not having to deal with cancer quickly got lost in a host of unsuccessful catheter trials, which led to months of self-catheterizations. The only Scripture verse I could think of when informed that I would have to undergo the latter procedures three to four times a day, perhaps indefinitely, was Job 3:25: "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me...." True, but not exactly comforting.

Another Bible verse came to mind many times during my ordeal--one that I had previously preached, taught, encouraged others by, wrestled over, and ministered with, over the years: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). That familiar verse came home to roost as I lay on my hospital bed. What possible "good" could come of this experience? Not much, I thought--given I couldn't see beyond my discomfort, occasional pain, fear, worry, anxiety, and my worst-case-scenario-stimulated imagination.

Before I completely buried myself in the pit of self-preoccupation, however, the Lord got my attention. It must have been a thought from Him because I certainly wasn't on that page: "Why don't you shift your focus from yourself so you can see some of what I'm doing in all of this?" Conviction pierced my heart immediately. There was no follow-up "why?" or "yes, but"--it was simply "yes, Lord," from a guilty party blinded by himself. Nothing has impacted my life like that in recent years.

What followed from that point had a transforming effect on me. I began to see and learn things that I knew of from Scripture but that were rarely a part of my practical experience. I believe I grew more in the Lord in the last nine months than I had in many years prior. I had a taste of the Lord's superintending of my life when I was helpless (I'm sure He does a great deal more of the same even when I think I'm able!). Let me share some of what He taught me, especially with those of you who, like me, are among the first wave of baby boomers dealing with the destructive consequences of our aging bodies.

A friend gave me a Scripture verse (in jest, I thought) that captured what the Lord was doing (I believe) through my physical and spiritual trials: "He maketh me to lie down..." (Psalm 23:2). That described my condition perfectly, and I wasn't thrilled about it, but here is one of the first things I learned. One of my daily prayers is that the Lord will provide opportunities for me to be used of Him. I couldn't see that happening in my condition, flat on my back, with bags and tubes sticking out of my body.

To me, "opportunities" meant being able to minister to someone. What I learned is that the Lord has another way to use us. He allowed me to become the opportunity for someone else to minister. That disturbed my attitude of self-sufficiency. I was also humbled by the fact that this revelation wasn't exactly new to me. Some years ago, I ran that possibility by a very elderly man who couldn't understand why the Lord saw fit to sustain his wife, who couldn't even feed herself--a task that had fallen on him in the weeks prior to our conversation. Would this man consider that the Lord was using his believing wife, who loved him dearly, to help him to grow in things like compassion, helps, service, and love, and to draw him closer to Himself? He tearfully realized that this was indeed taking place, and we wept together as we were overwhelmed by God's gracious hand upon both of them.

I knew that their experience was true to the Word and to the character of God, but it was not my experience--until last year, that is. After the first of my four surgeries, I began to see the doctors and nurses as those whom the Lord had provided to minister to me. I was their opportunity. Those who were believers (a number were) were fulfilling their ministries. Seeing myself as their God-appointed opportunity, my thinking shifted to "How can I contribute to helping them fulfill their ministry?" Those who were not Christians were no less appreciative of my attitude of cooperation. Still, I wondered what someone in my condition could do that might be helpful. My agenda began with a "thank you," a smile, a kind word, remembering their names,  and showing real interest in them.

Opportunities, I soon discovered, beget opportunities. After a few days, I could see the Lord creating occasions for me to minister to them. My favorite decree for every doctor and nurse ministering to me was boldly declaring "my two rules": 1) Trust in the Lord, and 2) Do what the doctors and nurses tell me. That always received either a hearty "amen" or a thankful smile.

Living up to my own rules, however, wasn't as easy as I thought. When I was given instructions to get up a certain number of times for walks, or to continually use the lung-strengthening apparatus (neither of my favorite things), it initially took God's grace and enablement to meet the minimum goals. Soon, however, I was breaking my own records. The nurses quickly got the idea that I was there to help them help me, and my room became a place for some of them to hang out on their breaks and just chat. The conversations usually picked up where something briefly discussed during their rounds left off. Much of it was about the Lord and the Bible.

I was always looking for ways to talk about Jesus and His Word without "preaching" to my ministers. One day I noticed that the sign on the mirror over the sink was a directive for the nurses to wash their hands. As mundane as that was, it provided a wonderful opportunity for me to talk about the Bible. As each nurse stood at the sink I would ask her if she ever heard of a doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis. Some said the name sounded familiar. I would then explain that he introduced the practice of hand washing at his Viennese hospital in the mid-1800s as a method of preventing disease, particularly that which caused the deaths of newborn babies.

He observed that doctors and medical students often went directly from working on cadavers to assisting with childbirths, sometimes using the same medical instruments. The death rate of newborns in his hospital was close to 30 percent. After directing his staff members to wash their hands and instruments in a solution of water and chlorine, the death rate dropped below 2 percent.

Such a hygienic procedure preceded the discovery of germs as transmitters of diseases by a few decades, yet it was indicated in the Scriptures 3,000 years before this Jewish doctor instituted the hand-washing practice. Semmelweis believed what Moses had to say on the subject although, tragically, the medical profession did not believe Semmelweis. He was driven from his hospital, the high death rate among newborns returned, and Semmelweis was committed to an insane asylum where he died. He could not fathom his profession's rejection of his simple plan for saving babies. Sad as that story is, it provided a few opportunities to bring up the Good News of the Bible, the simple truth of God's plan for saving souls.

I love what I do at The Berean Call, and my calling in that ministry has primarily been to help Dave do what God has put on his heart to do. I've been privileged to work with him in different ways over the past 30 years. Last year, however, I was fearful at times that I couldn't fulfill that calling, especially in light of the fact that Dave was suffering from a number of quite debilitating ailments. Again I questioned the Lord: "How can I contribute to TBC when I'm here in the hospital?" I'm not in the habit of questioning the Lord, but sometimes circumstances have driven me to it. Or, I should say, my flesh drove me to it. The answer that nearly always floods my heart is, "Trust and obey Me, Tom." I did, and what followed was both amazing to me, and a true adventure.

First of all, I learned that every waking moment is an opportunity to be used of the Lord in ministry, inside or outside of TBC--whether talking to Him in prayer, meditating upon His Word, or doing whatever He wants wherever He wants. I've learned that He allows conditions to take place and then uses them for His glory and for beneficial results. We need only to follow His lead as He prayed to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane: "...not what I will, but what thou wilt"(Mark 14:36).

What brings me great joy as I look back is seeing that each hospital experience following my surgeries was wonderfully fruitful as a time of ministering and being ministered to. No dramatic healing took place. In fact, there were complications and setbacks. Nevertheless, I was released earlier than expected following each surgery and back to work within a couple of days (or sooner) after each hospital stay.

What about the adventure? That came, in part, from learning to function (at work and traveling to speaking engagements across the country) with catheter and ileostomy bags! They became temporary parts of my body for a number of months, followed by additional months of self-catheterization. When fear overcame me in anticipation of not being able to function ministry-wise because of my new devices and procedures, the Lord arranged an unexpected divine appointment with a brother-in-Christ whose condition involved the same apparatus--yet on a permanent basis.

He was incredibly encouraging as a "been there, done that" resource of what I could be facing. That's when my mind shifted from dread to "I know the Lord can help me through this." Moreover, I knew He could give me a new attitude about it all that would be a blessing to those ministering to me. That began with the restoration of my sense of humor, which had dried up for a while and which I would need for some of the adventures (or mis-adventures!) ahead. Did you know that an ileostomy bag will explode right off one's body after dining on spicy chili? I didn't, but I do now. Or that same bag will inflate like a life-preserver as one drives over a very high-altitude mountain pass? Self-catheterization (the anticipation of which was my worst nightmare) was, to my surprise, a practice that I got used to after about a week. Never fun, but then again I'm still laughing about attempting the procedure during some of the worst turbulence I've ever experienced on an airplane!

The hundreds of letters and emails I've received from saints all over the world telling me they were continually praying for Dave and me were a comfort beyond description, and that became especially meaningful when the Lord opened my eyes to what He was accomplishing. His ways and means were not mine; they were exceedingly beyond what I could have imagined or even hoped for. Best of all was how He made His Word absolutely real to me as it spoke to my heart more during that time than ever before in my life in Christ.

Here are two of the many verses that greatly encouraged me:

For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many rebound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:15-18)

For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. (Psalm 22:24)

Because of His Son, He not only hears us, but He allows us to experience that which "worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

All of my surgeries were completely successful (no more bags of any kind!), but the experience for which I will be eternally thankful is the Lord's graciousness in enabling me to see the things to which I was previously blinded, and for His unseen renewing of my inward man.

Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. Psalm 25:4-5   

The Berean Call