Pastoral Resources

Kant’s argument is that, while the soul may not be a collection of parts extended in space (therefore, not an extended quantity), it still has intensive quantity and, like a sound, it can gradually lose more and more existence until it fades out of existence altogether.

Is Kant’s objection sound? We don’t think so. As Roderick Chisholm points out:

(Kant) thought that some things could have more existence than others. It is as though he thought that there is a path between being and nonbeing, so that one day you may set out from nonbeing and head in the direction toward being with the result that the farther you go in that direction the more being you will have. But surely there is no mean between being and nonbeing. If something is on a certain path, then that something is. Or if is isn’t yet, then it can’t be on the path between being and nonbeing. Of course things can be more or less endowed. But a thing cannot be more or less endowed with respect to being. What is poorly endowed is poorly endowed and, therefore, is.

In cases like a sound gradually fading away or a mind gradually losing consciousness or some other faculties, what is really going on is the alteration of something that exists, not its gradually ceasing to be. Something can gradually be altered in the properties it possesses -- you can gradually lose your hearing -- but something cannot be gradually altered with respect to existence. That is all or nothing.

Even back then I was searching for hard evidence of God as an alternative to faith. And one day I found it—on television, of all places. While randomly flipping a dial, I came across a mass healing service being conducted by Kathryn Kuhlman. I watched for a few minutes as she brought various people up on the stage and interviewed them. Each one told an amazing story of supernatural healing. Cancer, heart conditions, paralysis—it was like a medical encyclopedia up there. As I watched Kuhlman’s program, my doubts gradually melted away. At last I had found something real and tangible. Kuhlman asked a musician to sing her favorite song, “He Touched Me.” That’s what I needed, I thought; a touch, a personal touch from God. She held out that promise, and I lunged for it.

Three weeks later when Kathryn Kuhlman came to a neighboring state, I skipped classes and traveled half a day to attend one of her meetings. The atmosphere was unbelievably charged—soft organ music in the background; the murmuring sound of people praying aloud, some in strange tongues; and every few minutes a happy interruption when someone would stand and claim, “I’m healed!” One person especially make an impression, a man from Milwaukee who had been carried into the meeting on a stretcher. When he walked—yes, walked—onstage, we all cheered wildly. He told us he was a physician, and I was even more impressed. He had incurable lung cancer, he said, and was told he had six months to live. But now, tonight, he believed God had healed him. He was walking for the first time in months. He felt great. Praise God! I wrote down the man’s name and practically floated out of that meeting.

I had never known such certainty of faith before. My search was over; I had seen proof of a living God in those people on the stage. If he could work tangible miracles in them, then surely he had something wonderful in store for me. I wanted contact with the man of faith I had seen at the meeting, so much so that exactly one week later I phoned Directory Assistance in Milwaukee and got the physician’s number. When I dialed it, a woman answered the phone. “May I please speak to Dr. S_____,” I said. Long silence. “Who are you?” she said at last. I figured she was just screening calls from patients or something. I gave my name and told her I admired Dr. S_____ and had wanted to talk to him ever since the Kathryn Kuhlman meeting. I had been very moved by his story, I said. Another long silence. Then she spoke in a flat voice, pronouncing each word slowly. “My…husband…is…dead.”

Just that one sentence, nothing more, and she hung up. I can’t tell you how that devastated me. I was wasted. I half-staggered into the next room, where my sister was sitting. “Richard, what’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you all right?” No, I was not all right. But I couldn’t talk about it. I was crying. My mother and sister tried to pry some explanation out of me. But what could I tell them? For me, the certainty I had staked my life on had died with that phone call. A flame had flared bright for one fine, shining week and then gone dark, like a dying star.

D.L. Moody had a keen memory for names and faces. If one of his children was missing from Sunday school, he knew it, and he would do everything possible to find out why. One day he saw an absentee coming down the street, so he took off after her. She ran down the sidewalk, across the street, and through an alley into a saloon, up the stairs to a back apartment, into the bedroom, and then dived under the bed. Moody went after her, and just as he was claiming his prize, the mother showed up.

Panting from the exertion, Moody simply explained, “I’m Moody,” He said that he had missed the girl and would be happy if all the family could come to the services. Within a few weeks he had every child in the family in his school.

It is a principle of art that in the composition of a picture, all the parts shall be so arranged as to lead the eye inevitably to the central figure or feature. Whatever prevents this is a capital defect. Accessories are only important as they help this end.

When Varelst, the Dutch painter, made his tulips so glorious that they drew attention away from the face of James II, in whose portrait he had placed them, he violated this canon. So did Haydon when, in his picture of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, he made the figure of the beast on which the Master rode more attractive than the person of Christ.

So does the theologian or the metaphysician or the logician, who fascinates by his argument and rhetoric, or the preacher and liturgist, who stresses his forms of worship and symbols of religion.

It is not the swaddling-clothes of ceremonialism, but the Christ of the simple gospel story consistently lived, that shall span the continents with love and make Christmas perpetual in the heart of man.

Vincent Ferrier, an eloquent preacher of the fifteenth century, was called to preach before a high dignitary of state. He took care to prepare his sermon according to the rules of oratory, but it was a notable failure. Next day he preached in his usual style, without pretentiousness, and electrified his hearers. The dignitary, who had heard him on both occasions, asked him how he could account for so great a difference in his sermons. He answered, "Yesterday Vincent Ferrier preached; today Jesus Christ."

Keep us, Lord, so awake in the duties of our calling that we may sleep in thy peace and wake in thy glory. - John Donne

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will (Mat 10:29 RSV).

We worry too much. We follow the example of our earthly father Adam when he confessed to God, "I was afraid...and hid" (Gen 3:10). We have become a fearful people, even though most of our fears are often unfounded or just plain silly, because we do not have our eyes on the sparrow.

One of the renderings for the term sparrow in Hebrew referred to small birds, and in Matthew the word probably refers to a small house sparrow. The birds were well known in Syria; they were small, tame and found everywhere. Because of their great number they were sold cheaply; five would go for one and one-half cents. The idea is that if God cares for something so inexpensive and small, then certainly He will care for and protect us!

Jesus always gives us the assurance, "I am with you always" (Mat 28:20). Yet we continue to be afraid: Nuclear war, loss of health, serious accident, job loss, and a thousand other things.

The lesson of 1Jo 4:18, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear," should teach us something: that either we do not love God as we should, or we do not believe Him when He says that He loves us. Think about the following:

On March 6, 1987, Eamon Coughlan, the Irish world record holder at 1500 meters, was running in a qualifying heat at the World Indoor Track Championships in Indianapolis. With two and a half laps left, he was tripped. He fell, but he got up and with great effort managed to catch the leaders. With only 20 yards left in the race, he was in third place—good enough to qualify for the finals. He looked over his shoulder to the inside, and, seeing no one, he let up. But another runner, charging hard on the outside, passed Coughlan a yard before the finish, thus eliminating him from the finals.

Coughlan’s great comeback effort was rendered worthless by taking his eyes off the finish line. It’s tempting to let up when the sights around us look favorable. But we finish well in the Christian race only when we fix our eyes on the goal: Jesus Christ

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It got so cold it froze up and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some manure on it. As it lay there in the pile of manure, it began to realize how warm it was. The manure was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the little bird singing, and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of manure, and promptly dug him out—and then ate him.

The morals of the story are:

1. Not everyone who drops manure on you is your enemy.

2. Not everyone who digs you out of a pile of manure is your friend.

3. When you’re in the manure, keep your mouth shut!

The late Sam Shoemaker, an Episcopalian bishop, summed up the situation this way: “In the Great Commission the Lord has called us to be—like Peter—fishers of men. We’ve turned the commission around so that we have become merely keepers of the aquarium. Occasionally I take some fish out of your fishbowl and put them into mine, and you do the same with my bowl. But we’re all tending the same fish.”

The man in the supermarket was pushing a cart which contained, among other things, a screaming baby. As the man proceeded along the aisles, he kept repeating softly, “Keep calm, George. Don’t get excited, George. Don’t get excited, George. Don’t yell, George.”

A lady watching with admiration said to the man, “You are certainly to be commended for your patience in trying to quiet little George.”

“Lady,” he declared, “I’m George.”

One cold winter’s day a crowd of people stood in front of a pet shop window and watched a litter of puppies snuggling up to each other. One woman laughed and said, “What a delightful picture of brotherhood! Look at how those puppies are keeping each other warm!” A man next to her replied, “No, ma’am, they’re not keeping each other warm—they’re keeping themselves warm.”

It’s something like what Coach John McKay of USC said to his team after they had been humiliated 51-0 by Notre Dame.

McKay came into the locker room and saw a group of beaten worn-out and thoroughly depressed young football players who were not accustomed to losing. He stood up on a bench and said, “Men, let’s keep this in perspective. There are 800 million Chinese who don’t even know this game was played.” That’s what you call perspective.

Arthur Brisbane, the newspaper editor, was heard telling his best cartoonist, Windsor McKay, that he was the second greatest cartoonist in the world.

A reporter standing nearby, his curiosity aroused, asked Brisbane who was first.

“I don’t know,” said Brisbane. “But it keeps McKay on his toes.”

Any of us more than twenty-five years old can probably remember where we were when we first heard of President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.British novelist David Lodge, in the introduction to one of his books, tells where he was—in a theater watching the performance of a satirical revue he had helped write. In one sketch, a character demonstrated his nonchalance in an interview by holding a transistor radio to his ear. The actor playing the part always tuned in to a real broadcast. Suddenly came the announcement that President Kennedy had been shot. The actor quickly switched it off, but it was too late. Reality had interrupted stage comedy.

For many believers, worship, prayer, and Scripture are a nonchalant charade. They don’t expect anything significant to happen, but suddenly God’s reality breaks through, and they’re shocked.

A woman from Berne, Switzerland, tells us this story of her country's flower, the edelweiss. The very name of this plant is a story in itself. Edelweiss is a compound word which in the German means "noble and white." It is a small perennial herb of the aster family whose pure white blossom must be sought after, since it nestles in the highest snowy crags of the Alps. It is so absolutely white that it blends perfectly with its environment, losing its identifying characteristics completely in its surroundings. Even when picked and pressed in paper for preservation, it remains free from discoloration for many years. If we would be like the edelweiss, we must keep ourselves pure and noble, striving to attain the heights with God. Then, as He keeps us pure in heart and motive, He will enable us to accept with humility the loss of our own status in the scope of His larger landscape.

You may have heard the story of two friends who met for dinner in a restaurant. Each requested filet of sole, and after a few minutes the waiter came back with their order. Two pieces of fish, a large and a small, were on the same platter. One of the men proceeded to serve his friend. Placing the small piece on a plate, he handed it across the table.

“Well, you certainly do have nerve!” exclaimed his friend.

“What’s troubling you?” asked the other. “Look what you’ve done,” he answered. “You’ve given me the little piece and kept the big one for yourself.”

“How would you have done it?” the man asked. His friend replied, “If I were serving, I would have given you the big piece.”

“Well,” replied the man, “I’ve got it, haven’t I?” At this, they both laughed.

Long before the advent of television, long before Johnny Carson and David Letterman, philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote: “Suppose someone invented an instrument, a convenient little talking tube which, say, could be heard over the whole land...I wonder if the police would not forbid it, fearing that the whole country would become mentally deranged if it were used.”

“And I Looked Around And Nobody Was Laughing,” says this, “I went into church and sat on the velvet pew. I watched as the sun came shining through the stained glass windows. The minister dressed in a velvet robe opened the golden gilded Bible, marked it with a silk bookmark and said, “If any man will be my disciple, said Jesus, let him deny himself, take up his cross, sell what he has, give it to the poor, and follow me.”

A Christian who attended prayer meeting faithfully always confessed the same things during testimony time. His prayer was seldom varied: "O Lord, since we last gathered together, the cobwebs have come between us and Thee. Clear away the cobwebs, that we may again see Thy face." One day a brother called out, "O Lord God, kill the spider!"

D. L. Moody told of two merchants between whom there was great rivalry and bitter feeling. One of them was converted. He went to his minister and said, "I'm still jealous of that man, and I don't know how to overcome it." "Well," said the minister, "if a man comes into your store to buy goods, and you cannot supply him, just send him over to your neighbor." He said he wouldn't like to do that. "Well," said the minister, "you do it and you will kill jealousy." Sure enough, when he began sending customers over to his rival for goods he himself could not supply, the rival began to send customers over to this man's store, and the breach was healed.

How does it feel to be struck by lightning? William Schwandt of Grand Rapids, Mich., knows. He was working on his car when a lightning bolt got him. “It felt like my whole arm was on fire. I was putting some bolts on the drive shaft, and I looked up at the wrench. It lit right up. My arm got hot, and that’s all I remember.”

Normally lightning victims, like Schwandt, are knocked out when the shock hits. They wake up (if they wake up) complaining of numbness and paralysis in their arms and legs, which gradually disappears. Their recovery is usually complete. But not everyone wakes up.

More people are killed by lightning than by any other natural disaster—an average of 300 a year in the U.S. Some of these people need not die. Lightning packs such a punch, and stops life so instantaneously, that evidently the victim’s body cells may not begin to die for some time— doctors are not sure just how long. Prompt and prolonged treatment of the “dead” can bring them back to life. The best way to stay alive, though, is to steer clear of dangerous situations.

One good way to tell if lightning is likely to strike is to turn on your AM radio and turn the volume up. Heavy static means potential trouble. The safest place when you’re caught out in the open is a car (never a convertible) with the windows up. The lightning will run down the steel frame into the ground. Low ground is the best place if you don’t have a car handy. Avoid wire fences—they can carry a jolt quite a distance. Don’t carry a golf club, fishing rod, metal tennis racket or even an umbrella over your head. That’s like carrying a lightning rod. Water is a good conductor, and a lightning bolt can electrocute swimmers up to 500 yards away. If you’re swimming or out in a small boat when a storm brews, head for shore. Surprisingly, 25% of lightning deaths occur indoors. During a lightning storm, you should avoid the telephone, metal objects, appliances, TVs. Don’t take a bath or do the dishes.

The London firemen’s strike of 1978 made possible one of the great animal rescue attempts of all time. Valiantly, the British Army had taken over emergency fire fighting and on January 14 they were called out by an elderly lady in South London to retrieve her cat which had become trapped up a tree. They arrived with impressive haste and soon discharged their duty. So grateful was the lady that she invited them all in for tea. Driving off later, with fond farewells completed, they ran over the cat and killed it.

Of nineteenth-century preacher Robert Murray McCheyne: After graduating from Edinburgh University at age fourteen in 1827 and leading a Presbyterian congregation of over a thousand at age twenty-three, he worked so hard that his health finally broke. Before dying at age twenty-nine he wrote, “God gave me a message to deliver and a horse to ride. Alas, I have killed the horse and now I cannot deliver the message.”

Of Peter Marshall, former chaplain of the U. S. Senate, “In Peter’s case, I am certain that it was not God’s ideal will that he die of coronary occlusion at forty-six” (Catherine Marshall, in Something More). After his first heart attack a friend asked, “I’m curious to know something. What did you learn during your illness?” “Do you really want to know?” Peter answered promptly. “I learned that the Kingdom of God goes on without Peter Marshall.”

And from secular history comes the example of Constantine, whom historian Will Durant rates as generally an efficient and good ruler. Yet after he secured the position of Roman Emperor, Constantine became envious and cruel. In A.D. 326 he was so troubled by the success of his son Crispus, so disturbed by the popularity of his wife Fausta, and so suspicious of his talented nephew Licenianus, that he had all three of them executed.

If we think it all through, we shall agree that it is better that futurity be hidden from our view. What little child would have the heart to begin the alphabet if, before he did so, his teacher put clearly before him all the school and college work of which the alphabet is the beginning? The poor little thing would give up at once. And so it is that Providence, kindly and gradually bringing things into our lives day by day, wiles us onward, still keeping hope and heart through the trials and cares of life. Knowledge of the future would certainly be the death-knell of hope, for why hope if we could know? Hope is a wonderful element of human happiness which is based on our ignorance of the future here on earth.

Alexander Maclaren says, "Kindness does not require us to be blind to facts or to live in fancies, but it does require us to cherish a habit of goodwill, ready to show pity if sorrow appears, and slow to turn away even if hostility appears."

In Illustrations from Literature, Amy L. Person pointed out that in our eagerness to get people to do what we want, we sometimes forget the admonitions of Scripture to be controlled by love. When that happens, we quickly resort to nagging and scolding. This does more harm than good. To drive home her point, the author related an Aesop’s fable that tells of the wind and the sun arguing about which one was the stronger.

At last the sun said, “Look at that traveler down there. Let’s see which of us can get him to take off his coat. I’ll let you begin.” While the sun hid his face behind a cloud, the wind began to blow; but the harder he blew, the more firmly the poor fellow held his garment about him. Finally the wind gave up. Then the sun came out and shone so warmly that the man soon removed his coat.

Amy Person commented, “Many times kindness and gentleness will get results when fussing and scolding can do nothing but fail.”

Two boys who were working their way through Leland Stanford University found themselves almost without funds. One of them conceived the idea of engaging the great Polish pianist, Paderewski, for a piano recital, and devoting the profits to their board and tuition. The pianist's manager asked for a guarantee of ,000. The boys proceeded to stage the concert, but the proceeds totaled only ,600. The boys sought the great artist and told him of their efforts. They gave him the entire ,600 and a promissory note for the , explaining that they would earn the balance and pay it off at the earliest possible moment.

"No, boys, that won't do," said Paderewski. Then, tearing up the note, he returned the money to them, saying, "Now take out of the ,600 all of your expenses, and keep ten percent of the balance for each of you for your work, and let me have the rest."

The years rolled by. The war came, and Paderewski was striving with might and main to feed the starving thousands in his beloved Poland. There was only one man in the world who could help Paderewski. Thousands of tons of food began to come into Poland for distribution. After the starving people were fed, Paderewski journeyed to Paris to thank Herbert Hoover for the relief sent them.

"That's quite all right, Mr. Paderewski," was Mr. Hoover's reply. "Besides, you don't remember how you helped me once when I was a student working my way through Leland Stanford, and I was in a hole." Remember the words of the Master, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Mat_7:2).

People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered.

Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.

Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.

Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest men with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men with the smallest minds.

Think big anyway.

People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs.

Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.

Build anyway.

People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them.

Help them anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you have anyway.

John R. W. Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait, Some New Testament Word Studies, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., 1961), pp. 100ff

While serving with Operation Mobilization in India in 1967, I spent several months in a TB sanitarium with tuberculosis. After finally being admitted into the sanitarium, I tried to give tracts to the patients, doctors, and nurses, but no one would take them. You could tell that they weren’t really happy with me, a rich American (to them all Americans were rich), being in a government sanitarium. They didn’t know that serving with O.M., I was just as broke as they were!

I was quite discouraged with being sick, having everyone angry at me, not being able to witness because of the language barrier, and no one even bothering to take a tract or Gospel of John. The first few nights, I would wake around 2:00 a.m. coughing. One morning as I was going through my coughing spell, I noticed one of the older (and certainly sicker) patients across the aisle trying to get out of bed. He would sit up on the edge of the bed and try to stand, but because of weakness would fall back into bed. I really didn’t understand what was happening or what he was trying to do. He finally fell back into bed exhausted. I then heard him begin to cry softly.

The next morning I realized what the man was trying to do. He was simply trying to get up and walk to the bathroom! Because of his sickness and extreme weakness he was not able to do this, and being so ill he simply went to the toilet in the bed.

The next morning the stench in our ward was awful. Most of the other patients yelled insults at the man because of the smell. The nurses were extremely agitated and angry because they had to clean up the mess, and moved him roughly from side to side to take care of the problem. One of the nurses in her anger even slapped him. The man, terribly embarrassed, just curled up into a ball and wept.

The next night, also around 2:00 a.m., I again awoke coughing. I noticed the man across the aisle sit up to again try to make his way to the washroom. However, still being so weak, he fell back whimpering as the night before. I’m just like most of you. I don’t like bad smells. I didn’t want to become involved. I was sick myself but before I realized what had happened, not knowing why I did it, I got out of my bed and went over to the old man. He was still crying and did not hear me approach. As I reached down and touched his shoulder, his eyes opened with a fearful questioning look. I simply smiled, put my arm under his head and neck, and my other arm under his legs, and picked him up.

Even though I was sick and weak, I was certainly stronger than he was. He was extremely light because of his old age and advanced TB. I walked down the hall to the washroom, which was really just a smelly, filthy small room with a hole in the floor. I stood behind him with my arms under his arms, holding him so he could take care of himself. After he finished, I picked him up and carried him back to his bed. As I began to lay him down, with my head next to his, he kissed me on the cheek, smiled, and said something which I suppose was “thank you.”

It was amazing what happened the next morning. One of the other patients whom I didn’t know woke me around 4:00 with a steaming cup of delicious Indian tea. He then made motions with his hands (he knew no English) indicating he wanted a tract. As the sun came up, some of the other patients began to approach, motioning that they would also like one of the booklets I had tried to distribute before. Throughout the day people came to me, asking for the Gospel booklets. This included the nurses, the hospital interns, the doctors, until everybody in the hospital had a tract, booklet, or Gospel of John. Over the next few days, several indicated they trusted Christ as Savior as a result of reading the Good News!

What did it take to reach these people with the Good News of salvation in Christ? It certainly wasn’t health. It definitely wasn’t the ability to speak or to give an intellectually moving discourse. Health, and the ability to communicate sensitively to other cultures and peoples are all very important, but what did God use to open their hearts to the Gospel? I simply took an old man to the bathroom. Anyone could have done that! -

Hard core (usually irrational, unreasonable).

Major antagonist (possible to reason with them, but they will not be reasoned with).

1. Self-deceived. Sincere, but wrong. They have deceived themselves into believing their messages are true. Jeremiah 23

2. Liars. “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. 1 John 2:22

3. Heretics. Those who preach heresy (false doctrine) and divide the church. 1 John 2:19, 2 Peter 2:1, 12

4. Scoffers. Do not necessarily promote false teachings so much as they outright reject the truth of God. 2 Peter 3:3, 2 Timothy 3:2,3, Jude 16

5. Blasphemers Those who speak evil of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the people of God, the kingdom of God, and the attributes of God. Jude 4, 10, 12, 13, 1 Tim. 1:13

6. Seducers. Mark 13:22 The Lord’s implication is that spiritual seduction is a very real threat, even to believers This would account for the fact that a few genuine, but deceived believers may be found among the cults.

7. Reprobates. This term means “disapproved,” “depraved,” or “rejected.” Paul refers to those who have rejected the truth of God and turned to spiritual darkness. Consequently, God has given them over to a “reprobate mind” (Rom. 1:28). They have so deliberately rejected God that they have become “filled with every kind of wickedness” (29). As a result, they are “god haters” (30), whose behavior is “senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless” (31). These people are so far gone spiritually that they know it and don’t care. cf. Matt. 24.

The Prussian king Frederick the Great was widely known as an agnostic. By contrast, General Von Zealand, one of his most trusted officers, was a devout Christian. Thus it was that during a festive gathering the king began making crude jokes about Christ until everyone was rocking with laughter—all but Von Zealand, that is. Finally, he arose and addressed the king:

“Sire, you know I have not feared death. I have fought and won 38 battles for you. I am an old man; I shall soon have to go into the presence of One greater than you, the mighty God who saved me from my sin, the Lord Jesus Christ whom you are blaspheming. I salute you, sire, as an old man who loves his Savior, on the edge of eternity.”

The place went silent, and with a trembling voice the king replied, “General Von Zealand—I beg your pardon! I beg your pardon!”

And with that the party quietly ended.

A devout believer in astrology, French King Louis XI was deeply impressed when an astrologer correctly foretold that a lady of the court would die in eight days’ time. Deciding, however, that the too-accurate prophet should be disposed of, Louis summoned the man to his apartments, having first told his servants to throw the visitor out of the window when he gave the signal. “You claim to understand astrology and to know the fate of others,” the king said to the man, “so tell me at once what your fate will be and how long you have to live.”

“I shall die just three days before Your Majesty,” answered the astrologer. The shaken king canceled his plans!

I’ve read that when Edward VI, the king of England in the 16th century, attended a worship service, he stood while the Word of God was read. He took notes during this time and later studied them with great care. Through the week he earnestly tried to apply them to his life.

That’s the kind of serious-minded response to truth the apostle James calls for in today’s Scripture reading. A single revealed fact cherished in the heart and acted upon is more vital to our growth than a head filled with lofty ideas about God.

Charles Jennins (likely a believer) wrote the text for Messiah–Handel (not a believer) was commissioned to write the music for Messiah.

Handel donated much of his time and money to the needy, talked about God’s guidance during a sword fight, maybe he was a deist or maybe a believer who lived for himself and not the Lord? He did not show a Christ-like attitude in his behavior with people, had many arguments with his singers, had a hot temper, was known to go into long bouts of depression, liked to consume lots of food and drink, swore like a sailor in three different languages, boastful.

Handel was the king of opera and had made most of his money from opera.

Handel was hesitant to give up Italian opera even when he began to lose money on it. His opera company suffered great financial loses but still he churned out new operas adding ballet and hoping the public would have a change of heart. When it didn’t, he gradually became depressed and reclusive, strolling the dark streets at night and remaining locked inside his house during the day.

Eventually his health began to suffer. After a minor stroke and a mental collapse, he took a short leave of absence and traveled to a French spa where he hoped to be revitalized by the waters. It seemed to work.

Handel returned with renewed energy but once again he applied that energy to opera. His last two operas had only three performances, finally he had to surrender to the truth—opera was out.

Now in his 50s, Handel began to think more and more about working in other forms—especially the English oratorio. He sometimes used English writers for his inspiration, including the poet John Milton.

When he was 56 Handel decided to concentrate fully on oratorios and give up opera all together. (at that time, oratorios were often biblically based.) Handel’s decision to write oratorios came in part from an invitation from the Duke of Devonshire who was the King’s representative in Ireland. The Duke asked Handel to compose something for Dublin for a benefit for the poor. The assignment was just what Handel needed to bring him out of his doldrums and help get over his attachment to the unpopular Italian opera form.

Handel responded to the Duke by promising an oratorio. The oratorio he said would be called Messiah. He already had the idea for Messiah because his friend Charles Jennins had given him the script (or labreto) for it. Now he would create the music. Although most of Handel’s oratorios were based on stories from the Bible, Messiah is an exception. It was based solely on quotations.

These quotes were gathered from the Bible by Handel’s friend Charles Jennins and then Handel chose the ones that worked best with the music. Messiah contains no story or dramatic action, but through the quotes, Handel illustrated the founding of Christianity in songs that tell of the prophecy of Christ’s coming, his birth, his life, death and resurrection. He said it was easy that Jennins had chosen quotes and put them in such an order that they were musical to begin with.

In all his future correspondence with Jennins, Handel always referred to his masterpiece as “Your Messiah.”

John III Sobieski, King of Poland in the late 17th century, is best remembered as the man who saved central Europe from invading armies of Turks in 1683. With the Turks at the walls of Vienna, Sobieski led a charge that broke the seige. His rescue of Vienna is considered one of the decisive battles in European history.

In announcing his great victory the king paraphrased the famous words of Caesar by saying simply, “I came; I saw; God conquered.”

Leonidas, King of Sparta, was preparing to make a stand with his Greek troops against the Persian army in 480 B.C. when a Persian envoy arrived. The man urged on Leonidas the futility of trying to resist the advance of the huge Persian army. “Our archers are so numerous,” said the envoy, “that the flight of their arrows darkens the sun.”

So much the better,” replied Leonidas, “for we shall fight them in the shade.”

Leonidas made his stand, and died with his 300 troops.

Visiting a village school one day, King Oscar II of Sweden asked the pupils to name the greatest kings of Sweden. The answers were unanimous: Gustavus Vasa, Gustavus Adolphus, Charles X. Then the teacher leaned over to one little boy and whispered something in his ear.

“And King Oscar,” volunteered the child.

“Really? And what has King Oscar done that’s so remarkable?” asked the king.

“I--I--I don’t know,” stammered the unhappy child.

“That’s all right,” said the king. “Neither do I.”

It is said that on his retreat from Greece after his great military expedition there, King Xerxes boarded a Phoenician ship along with a number of his Persian troops. But a fearful storm came up, and the captain told Xerxes there was no hope unless the ship’s load was substantially lightened. The king turned to his fellow Persians on deck and said, “It is on you that my safety depends. Now let some of you show your regard for your king.” A number of the men bowed to Xerxes and threw themselves overboard!

Lightened of its load, the ship made it safely to harbor. Xerxes immediately ordered that a golden crown be given to the pilot for preserving the king’s life -- then ordered the man beheaded for causing the loss of so many Persian lives!

The story is told about the baptism of King Aengus by St. Patrick in the middle of the fifth century. Sometime during the rite, St. Patrick leaned on his sharp-pointed staff and inadvertently stabbed the king’s foot. After the baptism was over, St. Patrick looked down at all the blood, realized what he had done, and begged the king’s forgiveness.

Why did you suffer this pain in silence, the Saint wanted to know.

The king replied, “I thought it was part of the ritual.”

Greek philosopher Anaximenes accompanied Alexander the Great on his expedition against the Persians, in the course of which Alexander’s forces captured Lampsacus, the birthplace of Anaximenes. Anxious to save his native city from destruction, Anaximenes sought an audience with the king.

Alexander anticipated his plea: “I swear by the Styx I will not grant your request,” he said.

“My Lord,” calmly replied Anaximenes, “I merely wanted to ask you to destroy Lampsacus.”

And so he saved his native city.

Lord Halifax, a former foreign secretary of Great Britain, once shared a railway compartment with two prim-looking spinsters. A few moments before reaching his destination the train passed through a tunnel. In the utter darkness Halifax kissed the back of his hand noisily several times. When the train drew into the station, he rose, lifted his hat, and in a gentlemanly way said:

“May I thank whichever one of you two ladies I am indebted to for the charming incident in the tunnel.” He then beat a hasty retreat, leaving the two ladies glaring at each other.

Some German insurance companies and psychologists have found a correlation between work attitudes and a morning goodbye kiss. Studies show that men who do not kiss their wives goodbye are apt to be moody, depressed and disinterested in their jobs. But kissing husbands start off the day on a positive note. This positive attitude results in more efficient and safer driving practices. Kissing husbands live five years longer than their less romantic counterparts. However, kissing may be more a consequence than a cause of a happy life situation. The subject warrants continued investigation by every husband and wife.

Once on a time a paper kite

Was mounted to a wondrous height,

Where, giddy with its elevation,

It thus express’d self-admiration:

“See how yon crowds of gazing people

Admire my flight above the steeple;

How would they wonder if they knew

All that a kite like me can do!

Were I but free, I’d take a flight,

And pierce the clouds beyond their sight,

But, ah! like a poor pris’ner bound,

My string confines me near the ground;

I’d brave the eagle’s towring wing,

Might I but fly without a string.”

It tugg’d and pull’d, while thus it spoke,

To break the string—at last it broke.

Depriv’d at once of all its stay,

In vain it try’d to soar away;

Unable its own weight to bear,

It flutter’d downward through the air;

Unable is own course to guide,

The winds soon plung’d it in the tide.

Ah! foolish kite, thou hadst no wing,

How could’st thou fly without a string!

My heart reply’d, “O Lord, I see

How much this kite resembles me!

Forgetful that by thee I stand,

Impatient of thy ruling hand;

How oft I’ve wish’d to break the lines

Thy wisdom for my lot assigns?

How oft indulg’d a vain desire

For something more, or something high’r?

And, but for grace and love divine,

A fall thus dreadful had been mine.”

- John Newton

A family of five was rushed to the hospital to have their stomachs washed out after the cat with whom they had shared a meal of mushrooms suddenly began to have stomach contractions.

While members of the family showed no signs of illness, the doctor still had them rushed to the hospital. When they returned home they found the cat feeling well, after having produced five kittens.

Neil Marten, a member of the British Parliament, was once giving a group of his constituents a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament. During the course of the visit, the group happened to meet Lord Hailsham, then lord chancellor, wearing all the regalia of his office. Hailsham recognized Marten among the group and cried, “Neil!” Not daring to question or disobey the “command,” the entire band of visitors promptly fell to their knees!

A young man enlisted, and was sent to his regiment. The first night he was in the barracks with about fifteen other young men, who passed the time playing cards and gambling. Before retiring, he fell on his knees and prayed, and they began to curse him and jeer at him and throw boots at him. So it went on the next night and the next, and finally the young man went and told the chaplain what had taken place, and asked what he should do.

“Well,” said the chaplain, “you are not at home now, and the other men have just as much right to the barracks as you have. It makes them mad to hear you pray, and the Lord will hear you just as well if you say your prayers in bed and don’t provoke them.”

For weeks after the chaplain did not see the young man again, but one day he met him, and asked —”By the way, did you take my advice?”

“I did, for two or three nights.”

“How did it work?”

“Well,” said the young man, “I felt like a whipped hound and the third night I got out of bed, knelt down and prayed.”

“Well,” asked the chaplain, “How did that work?”

The young soldier answered: “We have a prayer meeting there now every night, and three have been converted, and we are praying for the rest.”

Oh, friends, I am so tired of weak Christianity. Let us be out and out for Christ; let us give no uncertain sound. If the world wants to call us fools, let them to it. It is only a little while; the crowning day is coming. Thank God for the privilege we have of confessing Christ.

Back in the early 1930s, C.D. “Bigboy” Blalock of Louisiana State University—a six-foot-six-inch giant of a boxer—was taking on a stocky fellow from Mississippi State. In the second round, Bigboy let lose a roundhouse. The Mississippi man stepped in, and his head caught Bigboy’s arm inside the elbow. With the opponent’s head acting as a lever, Bigboy’s arm whipped around in almost full circle, connecting with haymaker force on Bigboy’s own chin. He staggered, grabbed the rope, walked almost all the way around the ring, and then fell flat for the count—the only prizefighter who ever knocked himself out with a right to his own jaw.

If you have ever seen a wrestling match, you know it is not pretty. It is sweaty, sticky, dirty, and painful. When you wrestle, you get down and get dirty. There is no half-hearted involvement. You give it everything you've got, or you lose.

Anthony T. Evans wrote: "I know a bit about wrestling because my brother, Arthur, was the Maryland state wrestling champion in his weight class. At his championship match my brother weighed in at about 230 pounds and was going up against the three-time Maryland state champion who out-weighed him by 35 pounds. Before the match, a reporter asked, 'Who is the toughest wrestler in this room?'

"My brother, humble fellow that he is, said, 'You are looking at him!'

"The reporter looked at him and asked, 'What makes you think you are so tough? You are about to fight the man who has won the state championship three times in a row.'

"My brother replied with a very insightful comment, 'I know. He is bigger and perhaps stronger than I am, but I know his methods.'

"We are in a similar fight against Satan. Just as my brother needed to learn his opponent's moves, we need to understand Satan's moves. We need to know how he operates, so that we can prepare ourselves 'to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm' (Eph_6:13). No place in Scripture reveals Satan's schemes better than Genesis 3, which records Satan's initial contact with man. As the story unfolds, we clearly see Satan's strategy to ruin the human race."

If you have ever seen a wrestling match, you know it is not pretty. It is sweaty, sticky, dirty, and painful. When you wrestle, you get down and get dirty. There is no half-hearted involvement. You give it everything you've got, or you lose.

Anthony T. Evans wrote: "I know a bit about wrestling because my brother, Arthur, was the Maryland state wrestling champion in his weight class. At his championship match my brother weighed in at about 230 pounds and was going up against the three-time Maryland state champion who out-weighed him by 35 pounds. Before the match, a reporter asked, 'Who is the toughest wrestler in this room?'

"My brother, humble fellow that he is, said, 'You are looking at him!'

"The reporter looked at him and asked, 'What makes you think you are so tough? You are about to fight the man who has won the state championship three times in a row.'

"My brother replied with a very insightful comment, 'I know. He is bigger and perhaps stronger than I am, but I know his methods.'

"We are in a similar fight against Satan. Just as my brother needed to learn his opponent's moves, we need to understand Satan's moves. We need to know how he operates, so that we can prepare ourselves 'to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm' (Eph 6:13). No place in Scripture reveals Satan's schemes better than Genesis 3, which records Satan's initial contact with man. As the story unfolds, we clearly see Satan's strategy to ruin the human race."

Not for one single day

Can I discern my way,

But this I surely know—

He who gives the day

Will show the way,

So I securely go.

- John Oxenham

Matthew Henry went to London, met a young lady of the nobility, who was also wealthy, and they fell in love. She went to ask her father if she could marry him and he said, “He’s got no background, you don’t know where he’s come from.” She said, “Yes, I know, but I know where he’s going and I want to go with him.”

In Everyday Discipleship For Ordinary People, Stuart Briscoe wrote:

“One of my young colleagues was officiating at the funeral of a war veteran. The dead man’s military friends wished to have a part in the service at the funeral home, so they requested the pastor to lead them down to the casket, stand with them for a solemn moment of remembrance, and then lead them out through the side door. This he proceeded to do, but unfortunately the effect was somewhat marred when he picked the wrong door. The result was that they marched with military precision into a broom closet, in full view of the mourners, and had to beat a hasty retreat covered with confusion.

This true story illustrates a cardinal rule or two. First, if you’re going to lead, make sure you know where you’re going. Second, if you’re going to follow, make sure that you are following someone who knows what he is doing!”

Eli Black was a brilliant businessman best known for two events in his life: He masterminded the multimillion dollar takeover of the United Fruit conglomerate, and he jumped to his death from the 42nd floor of the Pan Am building in New York City.

In the book An American Company, an executive described a business lunch he had with Eli Black. When the waitress brought a plate of cheese and crackers as an appetizer, Black reached out and took them, placed them on the table, blocked them with his arms, and continued talking. The executive hadn’t eaten for hours and hinted that he would like a cracker. But Black acted as though he hadn’t heard him and went on with the business meeting.

After a while, Black placed a cracker and cheese on the tips of his fingers and continued to talk. Several moments later, Black placed the cracker on the executive’s plate and then blocked the rest as before. It was clear that Black was in charge, manipulating others as he pleased.

When you play “follow the leader,” check to see who is at the head of the line. Eli Black, for all his power, ended up in suicide. Jesus Christ, in all His humility, ended up the Savior of the world.

The town of Pisa, Italy, is famous, of course, for its leaning tower. Not so well known, but far more significant, is a painting on the wall of a cemetery there. The artist has depicted the last judgment, with Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Twelve Disciples, and a number of angels. In this painting, groups of people are coming out of their graves, some going to the right and others to the left of the scene. But there appears to be some confusion. Some who thought they belonged on the right and destined for heaven, are being shifted back to the left, destined for hell-and vice versa. What was the basis for their judgment? Christ said, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Mat 7:21). The Italian artist was inspired by his vivid imagination and the prophetic words of the 5th chapter of Matthew.

Many people want to know their election before they look to Christ. But they cannot learn it thus; it is only to be discovered by ‘looking unto Jesus.’ Look to Jesus, believe on Him, and you shall make proof of your election directly, for as surely as you believe, you are elect. If you will give yourself wholly up to Christ and trust Him, then you are one of God’s chosen ones. Go to Jesus just as you are. Go straight to Christ, hide in His wounds, and you shall know your election.

Christ was at the everlasting council. He can tell you whether you were chosen or not, but you cannot find out in any other way. Go and put your trust in Him. There will be no doubt about His having chosen you, when you have chosen Him. - Charles Spurgeon

The ancient Chinese had a unique mechanism for presenting their plays. They would present a play on a two-level stage. On the upper stage, the resolution of the drama was acted out as the story unfolded below. So as tension and mystery were building on the first level, the audience watching the resolution of the plot would yell to the people on the first level, "Hang in there! Don't give up! If you only knew!" What inspired that hope? It was the knowledge of what was happening on the second level.

Joseph M. Stowell recalls this special event:

"I will never forget the 1980 Olympics hockey match between the U.S. team-composed of small, young, amateur players-and the Soviets. During the final period, I was literally on the edge of my seat. I felt all the agony and anxiety of the contest as I watched it on television-and then suddenly we scored to go ahead late in the game! Can we hang on? I was tense, nervous, and traumatized. Our team went on to win, and at last I was ecstatic.

"Later that night, the network broadcast a replay of the game, so I invited some friends over to watch it. I watched the same game again, but was I on the edge of my seat? Of course not. I sat back, propped up my feet, had a bowl of popcorn, and leisurely sipped a cola. I was watching the very same game-but what I knew about the outcome made a radical difference in my attitude and actions."

Auto maker Henry Ford asked electrical genius Charlie Steinmetz to build the generators for his factory. One day the generators ground to a halt, and the repairmen couldn’t find the problem. So Ford called Steinmetz, who tinkered with the machines for a few hours and then threw the switch. The generators whirred to life—but Ford got a bill for $10,000 from Steinmetz. Flabbergasted, the rather tightfisted car maker inquired why the bill was so high.

Steinmetz’s reply: For tinkering with the generators, $10. For knowing where to tinker, $9,990.

Ford paid the bill.

The Bible must always be at the heart of our preaching, teaching, and way of living. If the Scriptures do not guide our lives, we have no guide better than ourselves. No human document can compare in the least with the Word of God.

Woodrow Wilson is reported to have said, "We have deprived ourselves of the best there is in the world if we deprive ourselves of a knowledge of the Bible." There is no comparison: the Bible is the best guide, and the believer's life is the best guided. Don't be deprived of the Bible's rich blessings. Read it daily. Study it often.

A few years ago, the police in Phoenix, Arizona, found a three-year-old lad walking down the street. They figured he was big enough to at least partially identify himself. The desk sergeant kindly asked, “What is your name, sonny?” “Baloney!” declared the youngster. “Please,” the sergeant pleaded, “tell me your real name.” “Baloney” was the reply. They tried bribes, but nothing worked. The mystery lad ate a candy bar and refused to change his story.

In the process of time, a lady called, voice quivering and filled with anxiety; to ask the police to help her find her lost son. Assuring her that he had already been found, the inquisitive officer asked, “What is his name, madam?” “Baloney,” replied the woman. The police had knowledge, but they did not have mental assent. They did not accept the knowledge they had as true.

Knowledge is exploding at such a rate—more than 2000 pages a minute—that even Einstein couldn’t keep up. In fact, if you read 24 hours a day, from age 21 to 70, and retained all you read, you would be one and a half million years behind when you finished.

Shirley Pope Waite tells this moving story:

"'You must visit the American cemetery,'our bed and breakfast hosts told us. We hadn't known about this cemetery three miles from Cambridge, site of one of England's most famous universities.

"Upon our arrival, we were surprised to see the American and British flags at half mast. Special Memorial Day services were scheduled to honor the war's dead buried there.

"Established in 1943 on land donated by the University of Cambridge, it is the only permanent World War II military cemetery in the British Isles. The rolling grounds are framed by trees on two sides, and contain 3,811 headstones in seven curved grave plots.

"A large proportion of the servicemen and women buried there were crew members of British-based American aircraft. Others died in the invasion of North Africa and France, at sea, or in training areas within the United Kingdom.

"An impressive Wall of the Missing lies alongside a mall with a pool bordered by roses. The wall records names of 5,125 missing in action, lost, or buried at sea. Four huge statues represent a soldier, sailor, airman, and coast guardsman in uniform. A mosaic in the chapel of the memorial building stretches across the ceiling above the altar. It depicts the archangel trumpeting the resurrection and the last judgment.

"As we walked reverently around the beautiful grounds, we paused at the foot of a grave. It was one of 24 decorated with red and white carnations tied with a blue ribbon, and flanked by a tiny American and British flag. The words etched in the headstone read: "here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God."

"Tears came to my eyes as we stood in an attitude of worship. Unknown but to God, these service people were once known intimately by parents, siblings, friends, perhaps a spouse and children. Young men and women who fought for freedom and the dignity of humankind! Yet in death-known only to God!

"Relatives and friends may forsake us. We may feel alone in a world that offers many only poverty, cruelty, and apathy; but God knows each of us intimately. He is a husband to the widow: "for your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is His name" (Isa 54:5). He is a father to the orphan: "Father of the fatherless ...is God in His holy habitation" (Psa 68:5). He is Father to us all!

"Unknown except to God! Isn't that the most important relationship of any? Thank God, we are known to Him not just in life, not just in death, but for eternity!"

Clarence Jordan was a man of unusual abilities and commitment. He had two Ph.D.s, one in agriculture and one in Greek and Hebrew. So gifted was he, he could have chosen to do anything he wanted. He chose to serve the poor.

In the 1940s, he founded a farm in Americus, Georgia, and called it Koinonia Farm. It was a community for poor whites and poor blacks. As you might guess, such an idea did not go over well in the Deep South of the ’40s.Ironically, much of the resistance came from good church people who followed the laws of segregation as much as the other folk in town.

The town people tried everything to stop Clarence. They tried boycotting him, and slashing workers’ tires when they came to town. Over and over, for fourteen years, they tried to stop him. Finally, in 1954, the Ku Klux Klan had enough of Clarence Jordan, so they decided to get rid of him once and for all. They came one night with guns and torches and set fire to every building on Koinonia Farm but Clarence’s home, which they riddled with bullets. And they chased off all the families except one black family which refused to leave.

Clarence recognized the voices of many of the Klansmen, and, as you might guess, some of them were church people. Another was the local newspaper’s reporter. The next day, the reporter came out to see what remained of the farm. The rubble still smoldered and the land was scorched, but he found Clarence in the field, hoeing and planting.”

I heard the awful news,” he called to Clarence, “and I came out to do a story on the tragedy of your farm closing.” Clarence just kept on hoeing and planting. The reporter kept prodding, kept poking, trying to get a rise from this quietly determined man who seemed to be planting instead of packing his bags. So, finally, the reporter said in a haughty voice, “Well, Dr. Jordan, you got two of them Ph.D.s and you’ve but fourteen years into this farm, and there’s nothing left of it at all. Just how successful do you think you’ve been?”

Clarence stopped hoeing, turned toward the reporter with his penetrating blue eyes, and said quietly but firmly, “About as successful as the cross. Sir, I don’t think you understand us. What we are about is not success but faithfulness. We’re staying. Good day.”

Beginning that day, Clarence and his companions rebuilt Koinonia and the farm is going strong today.