Where is a Saladin?

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Mark McMillion

I have a number of links and/or experiences in and with the Islamic world including some near relatives. From this I’ve come to a generally different view, as compared to what is considered the normal North American Christian view of Islam and Muslims.

So even writing about this is kind of “skating on thin ice”. But I’ll share my heart, while realizing that this will upset people on both sides of the divide, so to speak.

This has been prompted by the murder this week of over 100 children in Pakistan. It was perpetrated by the Taliban, Muslim against Muslim. But the shear barbarity of the massacre, the utter heartless, meaningless slaughter of innocents is beyond anything that qualifies in any way whatsoever as justified, in any form or theory or even more so, in any religion.

I’ve entitled this post, “Where is a Saladin?” Very few will have any idea what that means. Perhaps those of the Muslim faith will. I’m not hugely informed on these things, only marginally so. But to those who don’t know who Saladin was, he was the leader of the Muslims forces at the time of the Crusades, when the Crusaders came down from Europe to try to retake “the Holy Land” for “the cause of Christ”.

Saladin, magnanimous in victory against the Crusaders

It was such a time of infamy that I won’t get into it here. But from almost all historical accounts, the nominally Christian crusaders encountered in the leader of their foes, Saladin, a man more humane, gentlemanly and civilized than they themselves were. No, I’m not siding with the Muslims against the Christians here; this is the verdict of historians and the people of those times. The “heathen, barbarian infidel” had more character, maturity and even Godliness than the marauding Crusaders.

The Frenchman René Grousset, who wrote a history of the Crusades, wrote of Saladin, “…his generosity, his piety, devoid of fanaticism, that flower of liberality and courtesy which had been the model of our old chroniclers, won him no less popularity in [European Christian] Syria than in the lands of Islam.”

My question is, and I pose this as a friend and in acknowledgment of the many good qualities I’ve experience in my interaction with Muslims and Muslim nations: where is a Saladin today? You could be quick to say that I should be taking to task my own people instead of those of the Muslim faith. I’ve done that on occasion, you can read about one example here in this article, Hawks and Doves.

But sincerely and with hope, I so much wish to see a strong … is “uprising” the word?… or something coming from the decent, concerned Muslims of the world to truly stand up with horror and outrage at some of the things that are being perpetrated in the name of your religion. And some of my Christian friends may wonder at this point:

“Mark, are you calling on the Muslims to follow their Mahdi? The one the Koran prophesied would come?”

No, actually I’m not. It’s a matter of empathy with a battered and almost defeated people, a people not my own, who are being defeated from within at this time, not really from without. In our times there have been Churchill, Gandhi and even Nelson Mandela who arose to, in a sense, save their peoples in times of great distress. These Islamic people, with devotion towards the God of Abraham, need leaders to help save them from their enemies within at this time

Maybe here in the insular bubble that’s imposed by the American media upon its people, we’re just not hearing about the outrage and the groundswell rising in the Islamic world against these unspeakable outrages that are committed daily by people calling themselves religious and Islamic. If this is already going on but I’m just unable to find out about it since the American media doesn’t tell us about it, please get in contact with me. I do want to know about it.

But if there is apathy, fear, fatalism or indifference in the Islamic world to what has virtually taken over the name of Islam and religion in our times, then my question rises again. Where is a Saladin? Where is some mature, compassionate yet angry and animated leader within the Islamic world who will lead his (or her) people to stand up against this horrible filth that is done in the name of the God of Abraham?

Someone has said one time, “All that’s necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Why do the evil men of our day have more faith and boldness than those who stand for love and brotherhood, compassion and the higher things of the God of three faiths?

It really saddens me. Satan must be laughing with glee that not only is innocent blood being spilled every day, but that he is able to have it perpetrated in the name of the God of Abraham. What a defeat and besmirchment of the name of God for those who say they stand for and hold high the standard of God.

I don’t have an answer to my question. It reminds me of what one of the ancient prophets said, Ezekiel. As the mouthpiece of the God of Abraham, he said, “I sought for a man among them to stand in the gap and make up the hedge, that I should not destroy the land. But I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30)

God looked for someone to “stand in the gap”, to lead God’s people to victory. But He couldn’t find anyone. People like this are not only needed in the Islamic world. They’re needed all over. To rally the people of faith out of their numbness, often their ignorance, out of their immaturity and up the mountain of faith, love and the light of God that could make them beacons to the nations.

To me, it’s particularly pitiful currently what is triumphing within the Islamic world which (and they will know this) is so far distant from the many great accomplishments and heights of civilization and benevolence that have been seen in their history. With sincerity and respect, I hope your people will rise above the heart-wrenching times that are upon so many parts of your society.

May God, the compassionate, the merciful, raise up warriors of faith, love and humility to fight against the darkness that’s engulfing their people now. Not with carnal weapons but with spiritual weapons of love and truth, drawing men away from evil. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good”.

Aliens and Astronauts

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Mark McMillion

I’m an astronaut but I am not an alien. Let me explain. In a sense the first Christians were called to be astronauts, other-worldly citizens of a world to come. Not aliens, but no longer really earthlings either.

But many Christians today just fly kites. Some fly little Cessna’s, a few fly airliners and can carry God’s people from one place to the other. Even fewer are in God’s army air corps, really fighters in the battles of the Lord. They fly military aircraft at 50,000 feet. And a very few actually get all the way into space; they escape the gravity of this planet and our world.

You can hear it in the way people talk. I know someone at church. I can tell she is a pilot. She has the demeanor of a millionaires’ wife. But she talks in the first personal and sincerely about persecution. How many American Christians can talk convincingly and passionately about suffering persecution? Usually it’s only a very few who somehow have the marks of Christ upon them; they have somehow stood up, stood out and suffered for His name personally.

This person I know is like that, that’s what made me first notice her. She has a good degree from a top university. But she struggles to find a job in a city where there is virtually no unemployment. She is personable and speaks several languages. What could be wrong? She is “over qualified”, they say.

But actually, it’s worse than that. She belongs to God. God is opening and closing doors. She is “in the world but not of it” (John 15:19). She is a child of the King, more than a child of this world. So God is somehow staying very involved in her life. At a time when she should be basking in all the glory of man, have a trophy husband, a SUV and a mansion by the lake, she struggles and has been struggling for a while now.

But she’s cheerful. She is keeping the faith and taking care of herself, expecting God to do a miracle when for a worldly woman, the doors of this present world would have already opened for her. But God is keeping them shut for her, it seems.

Like the verse says, “God having provided some better thing for us.” (Hebrews 11:40) Since she is not of the world, these normal things are more difficult, doubtless because God Himself is leading her by a way not known.

We are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth“. (Hebrews 11:13) It’s interesting to meet others who fly the friendly skies of God Himself, the heavenly realms, who rise above the mundane “course of this world” (Ephesians 2:2) and are willing to “suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season”. (Hebrews 11:25)

I hardly know this person. But I recognize in her a kindred spirit, a sister in the Lord and not only that, but a person who’s suffered for her commitment to Him and has suffered personal lose for her faith and discipleship. I was giving a talk in Sunday school recently about witnessing and I talked about passing out tracts. She was the only one in class who pulled a tract out of her purse. She keeps those there so she can pass them on to people she witnesses to.

It’s not a very big herd of folks like this, precious little and precious few. She and I are just passing acquaintances. But I recognize in her that she flies the skies of the Spirit and that a crown awaits her at the end of her flight and this life we live now.

Have you seen enough to know that “the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:2) is not for you? And you’re trying to get airborne? Trying to break out of the gravity of this old world? To get away from the pull of this planet and to rise into the heavenlies? You’ve got to start somewhere. “Go fly a kite”. “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” (Psalm 55:6)

It’s going to cost you. Maybe you already feel a little different from the norm. But if you aim for the heavens, many will really think you are strange. Maybe you won’t fit in, or even be able to find a job, like my friend. But you’ll know heights of knowledge, experience, otherworldliness and intimacy with the Lord that will be more than anything you’ve ever experienced before. There are not very many of us right now. But we can begin to recognize each other in a crowd after a while, just by the way we talk and how we talk about life. “The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” (Romans 8:16)

Ultimately, “the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”. (Revelation 11:15) A few of us are already getting ready for this. For people of this world, we can almost seem like aliens. But we’re not; we’re astronauts.

Acts 21 Live Class Audio

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Mark McMillion

If the Apostle Paul is one of the main characters of the book of Acts, then Acts 21 is one of the most pivotal chapters in his life. Up until Acts 21, Paul was a free man and had done an incredible amount of work to win souls and establish churches throughout the part of the world he was from. From Acts 21 on, he was a Roman prisoner. This focus on the life of Paul was the main subjects of our live class audio on Acts 21. The recording can be heard here.

Paul, protected by Romans from the Jerusalem mob

In our class we discussed how we found that the Holy Ghost was clearly speaking to Paul through prophets that “he should not go up to Jerusalem” (Acts 21:4). And unlike other times in the Bible where Paul was very yielded and sensitive to God’s voice and will, it seems here his steadfastness and zeal was at cross purposes with the revealed will of God in His life.

Reacting to the plea of the brethren not to go up to Jerusalem, after a prophet had again warned Paul of his plans, Paul said, “What do you mean to weep and break my heart? I am ready to die at Jerusalem.” (Acts 21:13) Very commendable indeed and Paul was such a light and testimony to his generation and to all generations after that. But it seems in this case his willingness to lay down his life as a martyr interfered with God’s specific instructions for him to not proceed in the direction he was going.

“What do you mean to weep and break my heart? I am ready to die at Jerusalem.”

We talked briefly before the class started on what it might have been that caused Paul to miss the Lord’s highest and best, what He was leading. For David it was Bathsheba, for Samson it was Delilah. But with Paul, it seemed to be something totally different.

Rather than being a “traditional” temptation like a woman, alcohol or something like that, it seems it had to do with Paul’s loyalty to his physical nation and Jewish heritage that caused him to miss what the Lord was calling him to do at that time, which was to remain true to the calling of God in his life to be a light to the Gentiles.

And on another subject we discussed in our class (when we got to the place in the chapter about Philip the evangelist and his 4 daughters that prophesied) about prophets and prophetesses of the early church and of the culture of those times, as well as the verse, “On my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of My Spirit and they shall prophesy.” (Acts 2:18)

That of course raises the question of where Paul wrote, “Let the women keep silent in the churches.” (I Corinthians 14:34) How can the women keep silence in the churches if God has poured out His Spirit on them and given them the gift of prophecy? Which then led on to a large discussion about women in the Bible and the different ones who’d been used of God in Bible times, Deborah, Ester, Rehab the harlot and others.

So in Jerusalem Paul ran into something that had been coming on all the time and growing, but he’d been far away from it. James and the elders of the church in Jerusalem told him, “Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law.” (Acts 21:20)

Zealous of the laws of Moses? Do think those Christians he’d just left in Ephesus or the ones in Corinth and Philippi were zealous of the law? In case you don’t know the answer to this, it’s “no”.

This small blog article won’t suffice for space to delve into the very deep implications of those Jews who’d been converting to faith in Jesus in Jerusalem but were still fully holding on to the Jewish laws of Moses. But we did get into this more in our live audio class. For those who don’t know about this, this subject of whether Christians are obligated to keep the Mosaic Law is one of the most continuous issues there is, certain among many Christians today and it’s been that way off and on for 2000 years.

This is one of the somewhat longer live classes we had and the reason may be that it contains some of the most significant, personal and far reaching lessons in the book of Acts that we can see and learn from concerning Paul’s life and even his mistakes.

There’s more. Actually there are passages in this chapter and the next that are some of the most heart breaking in the Bible and to me reveal the heart of God and of Jesus, more than almost anything anywhere else does. We talked about this towards the end of our study. I hope you’ll have the time and a chance to listen to the class, it can be heard here.

God bless you, thanks for your prayers and the comments some of you have sent.

Your friend in Him, Mark

“Shaken, Not Stirred”

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Mark McMillion

When I was 16, I read “James Bond” books. You may laugh but the books were pretty different from the later movies. Well, I won’t go off on James Bond here. But if you know much about the character, one of his most famous lines was always how he’d describe how he wanted his martini, “Shaken, not stirred”.

Hmm. That phrase came to me this morning in a deeper way. In the last 5 weeks, my life has twice been rather strongly “shaken”. And this has been to a degree that I’ve also been “stirred”. So for me, it’s recently been a case of “shaken and stirred”, rather than not stirred.

But for Christians, this is something than can happen somewhat often. And it can (and should be) good. First, shakings happen. Paul said to the Corinthians, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed” (II Corinthians 4: 8 & 9). Like the old song said, “a whole lot a’ shaking going on.”

Can we do anything about it? Should we? Well, admittedly, most of us don’t look forward to shakings. I don’t. These recent things haven’t looked like good news to me. But we certainly don’t have control over all aspects of our lives or the lives of our friends and loved ones. Things just happen that sometimes can really bring a shaking and a shakeup in our lives.

But, “All things work together for good to them who love the Lord, to them who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) And one of the good things in shakings is that, if we’re Christians and know the foundations of our faith, we get stirred. And we should. That may be one major reason the Lord brought the shaking: so we’d get stirred.

There have been some days in the last few weeks where virtually the only thing I could do was go out and pray. My life was being shaken up and some foundations seemed to have slipped like a tectonic plate.

In Isaiah it says, “No man stirs himself to call upon Me.”(Isiah 64:7) It’s just so easy for us to get lethargic and settled in our routines or the blessings He has given us. He has ” cast our lines in pleasant places.” (Psalms 16:6) So sometimes He “dries up the brook and stops the ravens”, like he did with Elijah. (I Kings 17) He shakes us up by withdrawing His blessings and sometimes even protection. One of the worst traffic accidents I was ever in was in southern Norway back in the 70’s when I was riding with some folks I didn’t know and our car went off an icy road at night, into the air and down a snowy embankment.

Miraculously we landed some 30 feet (ten meters) down the cliff, unhurt, and were able to climb back up to the road. This was one of the Lord’s major shakeups for me because my former wife and I were called to the mission field of central Europe and we’d been delayed and waylaid in our obedience to His call. That wreck really shook me up. I saw it as a form of the Lord withdrawing His protection as we weren’t really in the center of His will anymore. So we got very “stirred” and desperate. And less than 6 months later we were finally on our way towards our new mission field and base in Vienna, Austria.

For a Christian, when you get shaken, it’s time to be stirred. But some seem to never get stirred. They harden their hearts. Paul got stirred. It says that “his spirit was stirred within him” (Acts 17:16) when he saw the whole of Athens given over to idolatry.

Daniel, pouring out his heart to God. (Daniel chapter 9)

And what’s the good thing about being stirred? When we pour out our heart to the Lord, He always comes through. We have to do our part, to sometimes vehemently seek His face and “pour out our hearts before Him” (Psalm 62:8). He told Jeremiah, “And you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) That verse was probably one that stirred the prophet Daniel in his famous ninth chapter and the prayer he prayed which brought one of the most significant answers to prayer that was ever given, the prophecy of the 70 weeks.

So, shaken, not stirred. But in our case, shaken and stirred. Like Jesus said, “Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. But on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” (Matthew 21:44) If you “fall on the Rock” in the time of trouble, if the shaking of your life brings the stirring of your soul and the pouring out of your heart to Him, then all things will have worked together for good. On the other hand, if you are shaken but unstirred, the Lord there said that ultimately the Stone you should have fallen on in prayer will ultimately fall on you. If you’re being shaken, get stirred.

Putting Out To Sea

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Mark McMillion

Last month I had an interesting conversation with a young lady around 12 years old. She’s full of faith and, in some ways, wise beyond her years. And I felt inspired to tell her (thinking about how things can go between the ages of 13 and 21) that it’s a little like she’s in a harbor right now. But soon she’ll move out into the full ocean where the waves are stronger and the shore further away.

Then last night, after I was already down for the night and nearly asleep, a poem was coming to me about her and about how others like her are at that poignant point in their lives, on the cusp of… not adulthood but whatever that change is that is so marked as we enter into our teen years.

So I virtually woke up, turned on the lights and computer and wrote this little poem. I don’t have that kind of thing happen often. But I’ve learned from experience that it’s best to stop what I’m doing and just write it down if something like that or some train of thought comes to me which should be turned into a post or article.

Maybe you know some ones like my young friend; actually I know a good number who are at that point in life where they are at the edge of the harbor, putting out to sea.

Putting Out To Sea

There you are in the harbor,

Putting out to the sea in your skiff

Away from the calm of the haven

Towards the billows you saw from the cliff.

It won’t be long ere you feel them,

The surges and big waves ahead.

You’re looking ahead with excitement

But also perhaps with some dread.

Soon the waves and storms of adulthood

Will just start to rock your wee yacht.

And now, away from the shoreline,

You’ll be needing the Lord, quiet a lot.

Your mom and your friends are still with you

The home, the hearth and the love.

But as you get older it is clearer

That the best help does come from above.

So what can we who do love you

To help you be strong and survive?

Can we always be right there beside you

And stay there the rest of your life?

No, only the Lord in His mercy

Will guide you through the strong squall

Which come to all on life’s ocean

And tests the faith of us all.

Dear friend and young sister, we love you.

There’s love, joy and peace in your soul.

You’re off to a great start and beginning

Your eyes seem fixed on the goal.

To trust Him, to serve and believe Him

To ride the waves that roll on,

To follow His light from above us

To hold on through night till the dawn

When the time on the ocean has taught you

To be full and complete in His love.

When more years have passed and you find then

That you yourself have been taught from above

That He will always be with you

That no wave or storm will surpass

The power and wisdom He gives you

To be His disciple and lass.

The Tar Baby

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Mark McMillion

Some things are just a “tar baby”. Never heard that phrase before? I’m not surprised. There was a man named Joel Chandler Harris who was a famous writer from the southern states after the Civil War in the United States in the 1860’s. There was even a movie made years ago, called “Song of the South” which was about some of his stories. I guess you could compare them a little bit to Hans Christian Anderson and things like “The Ugly Duckling” But let me tell you the story of the Tar Baby, maybe you can relate to it.

So there was this fox and this rabbit. The fox was forever trying to catch the rabbit, it was all about that. The fox hit upon the idea of catching the rabbit by making a “tar baby”. You could think of it like a snow man, except that instead of using snow, the thing was made with black sticky tar, like they use in some places to make streets with.

The fox made the “tar baby” and set it beside the road. So the rabbit comes along. And as he passes by, he says ever so congenially, as people in the South will do, “Good morning to you.”

The tar baby was silent.

The rabbit said again, “I said, ‘Good morning to you’”. The tar baby is still silent.

The rabbit, irritated by the unfriendliness, said, “If you don’t say, ‘Good morning’ to me, I’m gonna hit you!”

Nothing came back from the tar baby.

“Take that!” the rabbit said and punched the tar baby. But the rabbit’s hand got stuck.

“You let go of my hand!” the rabbit screamed. “If you don’t let go of my hand, I’m gonna kick you!” And he did. But then his foot also got stuck on the tar baby.

And on it went till the rabbit was totally and utterly captured and stuck to the tar baby.

The moral of the story? Some things are really just best left alone, no matter how bad it seems or how much you feel you need to get further involved. They’re a “tar baby”.

There is no victory in getting involved. All your efforts will only yield a further unfruitful involvement where you will get further and further tied up in something that you can’t get untangled from and can get no satisfaction from.

So this extremely simple, childish story has a deeper meaning and lesson for actually everyone. There are things in which the best thing you can do, the wisest move you can make, is to just not get involved.

Jesus Himself even said of one situation, “Leave them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14). In another place He said, “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.” (Matthew 7:6) This can sound almost harsh from the Lord of Love. But He knew what He was talking about.

For some things and some situations, they’re just “tar babies”. Paul said to the disciples of his day, “Foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing they do gender strife.” (II Timothy 2:23) Or Solomon, 900 years before Paul, said, “Go from the presence of a foolish man, when you perceive not in him the lips of knowledge.” (Proverbs 14:7)

Certainly this is not the first reaction we would have to difficult situations or even difficult people. The vast majority of the time, we who are Christians should be the ones to get involved, go the extra mile and give to them that ask of us. This should be our default position, to be like the Good Samaritan and how Jesus Himself was.

But at times the Lord will confirm to you that it’s just not a place where the Holy Spirit is going to get a victory as the people there are intractable and rejecting of the things of the Lord. Or even a trap of some kind, set up by the enemy of God to sidetrack us, to get us bogged down in some fruitless endeavor that’s never going to go God’s way or ours. It could be a tar baby. Gotta watch out for those.

Sweet Potatoes with Butter

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Mark McMillion

I heard a story one time, I don’t know if it’s true. Seems it was after the Civil War in America, down in the South where the slaves were now free but still living tough, segregated lives.

So a white woman had an African American woman working for her as her “maid”. And somehow the African American women had her 2 kids there. There was something to do with sweet potatoes, very popular in the southern states. And as the story goes, the white woman was serving some sweet potatoes to the African American woman and her 2 kids. So the maid was all thankful and humbly respectful that she was being served sweet potatoes for herself and her kids.

Then the white woman passed on some butter that the maid and her two kids could put on their sweet potatoes. But the black maid respectfully declined that offer of butter for their sweet potatoes. The white woman was surprised and puzzled.

“Liza” she said, “why don’t you let those children have butter on their sweet potatoes?”

“No ma’am”, Liza said, “I don’t want my ‘chillens ever know what sweet potatoes with butter tastes like.”

End of story. What in the world could that mean? As I understand it, it’s like this. Liza and her children lived in grinding poverty. They were accustomed to doing without. But here was this rare, strange situation where they were eating sweet potatoes and maybe even getting butter on it!

But Liza knew that it was like so rare a situation, so special, that it wasn’t something that was likely to happen again. As it was already, her kids had never even known what the delicious taste of sweet potatoes with butter was like. But if they did, it would only be for that time. And afterwards they would always remember it and long to have it again. But Liza would never be able to supply something like that for her kids; it was just beyond her.

So that’s why Liza didn’t want her kids to even taste what it was like to have butter on their sweet potatoes. She felt it was better for them to never have even tasted such heavenly things than to have tasted and then to almost certainly never be able to have that again.

Kind of deep, when you think of it. There are times in life, or for some lives, when the Lord in His wisdom seems to withhold something that is prayed for and desired. We don’t know why and we long for an answer. But it doesn’t come.

And yet sometimes for one reason or the other, we have a brief taste of those “sweet potatoes with butter”, like Liza was offered to her kids. And then for reasons we usually don’t know, those heavenly tastes and experiences are not sustained and we go back to our lives we live.

Was Liza right to refuse to let her kids to even taste the sweet potatoes with butter? I personally don’t know. We are told, “With food and clothing let us be content” (I Timothy 6:8). Usually we aren’t content with only food and clothing. Most of us want more than that. And in our times, almost everyone has quite a lot more than food and clothing.

But for the Lord’s disciples, especially for those who’ve become His seasoned soldiers, He sometimes spoils us. But at other times He can keep us on a rather short leash and even lean rations, if He sees fit. We don’t always understand why. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Recently I had some “sweet potatoes with butter”. It was wonderful. But it was only for a short while. Was it good that it happened? Maybe I should have just looked at it like Liza did, just not even have let that happen since it seems it was something that could only be for a very short time. But it was really good while it lasted.

“I have learned in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content” (Philipians 4:11). “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:23 & 24). “And everyone that hath forsaken house or brethren or sister, or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My sake shall receive a hundred fold in this lifetime, and in the world to come, eternal life”. (Mark 10: 29 & 30)

Have you got sweet potatoes with butter in your life that you’ve tasted but then it’s gone? It’s tough. It’s like that for me right now. Thanks for your prayers about this. God bless you.

Bite Now, Chew Later

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Mark McMillion

Life is full of decisions. And it actually happens that those decisions, sometimes very major ones, can come down to a brief moment when some opportunity presents itself and you have to make that decision, right then, not later. It can be in a romance, it can be in your career, it can be in sports or business. You don’t always have time to weigh up every factor and slowly consider all the options. You just have that moment, that second, and you have to decide. And it may affect the rest of your life.

Jesus said one time, “What man, with an army of 10,000, going against an army of 20,000, doesn’t sit down first and count the cost whether he has sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14:31) Absolutely true, the Lord said it.

But also sometimes you’re already in battle, things are moving and fluid and it’s not a situation where you can really pause, draw back to think it all over and pull in your councilors. Sometimes the battle’s on, the chips are down, your whole life and all you’ve fought and lived for is at stake.

This type of thing almost certainly happens to every individual. Certainly not every day but there are moments when you have to go totally by your “gut”, your instincts, and if you’re a Christian, by the “still small voice” (I Kings 19:21) and the leading of the Lord.

Sometimes we bite off more than we can chew. I have a tendency to do that. The Good Samaritan, did he bite off more than he could chew?

Probably he was busy like the other guys. Maybe those other ones just felt they had so much on their plate, maybe that fellow on the side of the road wasn’t even hurt anyway. He was faking it. Or there were accomplices hiding in the rocks that would jump anyone who stopped to help. It just wasn’t really wise to stop. Why should they? It was probably his fault. He got himself into that mess in the first place, right?

But the Good Samaritan, he stopped. Did it take him 15 minutes to decide? Did he phone 9-1-1 or take some photos first? Nope; he just decided on the spot that someone needed help and he was going to do it. He was going to take whatever time and resources were needed to help that guy.

Was that rational? Was that really economical? Was it even foolhardy? But he made that split second decision. Probably in history somewhere there was actually someone who was the Good Samaritan. Jesus wasn’t just making up fairly tales.

For me, sometimes I just have to make a decision to go ahead and “bite”, and worry about “chewing” later. If I know it’s something the Lord wants me to do, I need to just do it. I shouldn’t spend much time wondering if I’ll be able to follow through on what I’m committing to, if I’ll be able to consolidate what I’m undertaking.

So sometimes I do things that are approaching irrationality. But I’ve found that the Lord has most of the time made it so that I’ve been able to follow through with what I’ve taken on as a commitment, sometimes on the spur of the moment.

The other side of that is that I’ve had times where I was just over committed. Many years ago I was staring at an apple tree in a yard in Kolbotn, Norway. The tree was very fruitful. In fact it had maybe 5,000 apples on it, just loaded. The only probably was, all the apples were really small. If it was a farmer’s tree, it would nearly be worthless. It would have been better to have 500 big apples than 5,000 small ones.

And the Lord was just practically yelling that in my ear as a parable right then. That’s how my life had been: way too many projects and commitments that ended up being a huge crop of “little apples”, rather than a smaller crop of fully grown ones. I’m still learning on that lesson.

But it’s tough. We’re just supposed to say “yes” to the Lord. We’re also supposed to say “yes” to people. “You’re not your own, you are bought with a price.” (I Corinthians 6:19 and 7:23) “We ought to lay down our lives for our brethren” (I John 3:16). Most of the time, I figure it’s better to bite first and chew later. Usually the Lord will help me to follow through on my commitments if I make myself available to Him and even to others. “He that has begun a good work in you will perform it” (Philippians 1:6). “Faithful is He that calls you, who also will do it.” (I Thessalonians 5:24)

God spoke to Isaiah, “Who shall go for us and whom shall I send?” (Isaiah 6:8) Did Isaiah say, “Um…, I’ll look around, Lord, and try to find someone”? Nope. He said, “Here am I Lord, send me!” (Isaiah 6:8) Jesus asked His disciples, “Are you able to drink of the cup I drink of and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” (Mark 10:38) They answered zealously, but perhaps unwisely, “Lord, we are able.” (Mark 10:39) So did the Lord rebuke them for presumption and pride? No, He said, “You shall indeed be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with” (Mark 10:39). He knew even then that they would eventually face martyrdom.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit will just prompt you to go for it, not pause, think and consider. But that means you really need to be in touch with Him and be getting your instructions and even impulses from Him, from heaven. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the son of God.” (Romans 8:14)

Dominoes

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Mark McMillion

Have you ever seen a picture of dominoes falling? One domino after the other hits the one next to it and hundreds or even thousands of dominoes fall simultaneously. It’s always had a meaning for me. Sadly, not always a good one.

The Bible says, “One sinner destroys much good” ( Ecclesiastes 9:18). We all have influence. “No man lives to himself and no man dies to himself” (Romans 14:7). That’s just the way things are for the vast majority of humanity. That’s why our influence on others is so important. “He that walks with wise men shall be wise. But the companion of fools shall be destroyed” (Proverbs 13:20).

Maybe I should look at it more positively. I came to the Lord during the Jesus Movement of the early 70’s. So many were affecting others and it was a wave and movement towards the Lord, like dominoes falling forward, nudging each other towards Him by the thousands and even millions.

But, sadly, I’ve seen it go the other way. Friends and loved ones who’ve been pushed in a time of weakness, confusion or temptation to abandon the ways of the Lord and to give themselves over to the dark side, the ways of the world and the ways of unbelief. It’s heart-breaking, truly.

“The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle” (Psalm 78:9). If you’re a Christian, perhaps you know how it’s heartbreaking to see your friends forsake the paths of light to follow the worldly in the ways of spiritual darkness. Maybe that’s why Solomon said, “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not” (Proverbs 1:10). Or Moses wrote in the Law, “You shall not follow a multitude to do evil.” (Exodus 23:2)

That’s how it is. We all have influence. And there are seldom any neutrals. We’re either pulling others up to our level or dragging them down to ours. That’s why Jesus said, “He that is not with Me is against Me and he that gathers not with Me scatters” (Matthew 12:30). It’s just that simple and that real, even though many would say it’s not.

We all have influence. We are all looking at each other. We are all making decisions. Will I buck the tide and stand up for what I know to be true, even if I have to do it alone and without my friends? That’s very, very tough for almost everyone.

Of course that’s what Jesus Himself did. “All forsook Him and fled.” (Mark 14:50) Even His 12 disciples, even the ones He taught and loved the most turned away from Him at His darkest hours. It seems it was the same for Paul. “All they that be in Asia have turned away from me”, he wrote in his final epistle. (II Timothy 1:15)

So, dominoes. Influence. Being dragged down by folks you want to be friends with. Or standing against the flow and the tide when it’s going the wrong way.

I’m thankful I was brought up by parents who taught me that even if we were in a minority in those days because we didn’t hate African Americans, it was still the right thing to do and that hatred and prejudice were very wrong. I was taught to stand up for my beliefs, even if I was alone, even before I became a Christian.

One person, walking in love, walking in truth, walking in the light of God can have an incredible impact. Like I wrote in the article “Is There Not a Cause?”, that’s how the future king of Israel was when he was still virtually a child. David’s dauntless answer to his brothers’ taunts has always ringed so loud to me, “Is there not a cause?” (I Samuel 17:29)

Would to God that today there would be more who would stand their ground, look the darkened mob in the face and cheerfully stand up for the Lord and His ways.

The council of Ahithophel

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Mark McMillion

There are things in the Bible that even dedicated Christians have possibly never read. One thing like that is the somewhat strange story of the time in King David’s life when his son, Absalom, led a rebellion against his father which was very nearly successful. And actually this rebellion was allowed or brought on by God Himself as a chastening judgment on David for his sins.

David & Ahitolphel

To me, one of the most amazing parts of this story is when David is with the few friends who stuck with him as they prepare to quickly flee Jerusalem. The forces who turned against David and allied themselves with Absalom were out to destroy the king.

We find that David had a councilor or adviser named Ahithophel who was perhaps David’s top consultant to his reign and kingdom. And the Bible says of Ahithophel, “The counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, was as if a man had inquired at the oracle of God.” (II Samuel 16:23) That’s a very unusual Bible verse but basically it means that the counsel of Ahithophel was virtually flawless and perfect, almost supernatural so.

And yet…, something was wrong. This man’s incredible gift somehow didn’t prevent him from taking the side of King David’s mortal enemy, his own conniving, ambitious son Absalom. Nevertheless, of all that was going on, it seems David feared the council of Ahithophel as he worked together with Absalom more than anything else. When David heard that Ahithophel was advising Absalom, David prayed, “O Lord, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” (II Samuel 15:31)

Fleeing Jerusalem, David sends Hushai back

As they fled east from Jerusalem, David sent back one of his most loyal subjects and advisers, Hushai, to feign obedience to the usurper, Absalom. Absalom gathered his councilors and sages, including Ahitolphel and Hushai, and Absalom asked Ahitolphel what he counseled.

Basically Ahitolphel said they should go after David and his bands immediately. And probably if they’d done that, it would have been successful. Absalom then turned to Hushai, knowing that he’d been in the inner circle of David’s friends and asked what he thought they should do.

Absalom

What a moment that must have been. What an incredible movie this would make. Did Hushai blurt out that Ahitolphel’s council was totally wrong, as he tried to save King David? No; no one would have believed that. So Hushai said, “The council of Ahithophel is not good at this time,” (II Samuel 17:7) and went on to try to explain how the best would be for them to wait till they had gathered a really big army and to take on David’s smaller forces in open field combat. Of course this was because Hushai knew that David and his men were very weak and on the run at the moment and if Absalom followed Ahithophel’s council, they would actually defeat and kill King David and his men.

Another incredible moment. Absalom’s response? “The council of Hushai is better than the council of Ahithophel.” (II Samuel 17:14) Actually it wasn’t. But the Lord had answered David’s prayer to defeat the council of Ahitophel. This delay gave time for David and his men to regroup and strengthen themselves.

To me, one of the most amazing parts of this story is what it says happened next. II Samuel 17:23 says, “And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father.”

Was he defeated in battle? Did he wait to see what would happen next? Nope. Ahithophel evidently had enough presence of mind that he knew in advance that the cause of Absalom was now lost and that the rebel’s side, that he had joined with, was doomed. So he just went home and committed suicide.

Absalom rides to his death in battle against King David

And as it turned out, Ahithophel was right again: the rebels’ cause was already lost. Absalom and his troops were defeated in open battle with David’s fewer but more seasoned warriors.

There’s just so much to all this that my normal length of these posts doesn’t suffice to cover it all. Ahithophel’s virtual godlike gifts didn’t prevent him from making a fatal mistake of disloyalty to God’s anointed king. Was it ambition? Familiarity? Spiritual pride? Evidently something was seriously wrong with the condition of his heart, despite his incredible gifts and evident intelligence.

I can’t know for sure but I’ve always felt this passage in the Psalms is where David talked about his relationship with Ahitophel. “For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.” (Psalm 55:12-14) Later in the same Psalm David says, “”The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.” (Psalm 55:21)

It’s all a massive story with layers of meaning and lessons for us all. One of the clearest for me is what Solomon, David’s son and eventual heir, wrote years later, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

It’s all about your heart, not your gifts, not your intelligence, not your looks or anything other than your personal relationship with the Lord and how you conduct your life before Him. Ahitophel must have been one of the wisest men that ever lived. But his wisdom didn’t prevent his heart from making the biggest mistake of his life, which ultimately cost him his life. May God help us all to keep our heart right with Him.