“Cast your bread upon the waters…”

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Thank God for something new. We all need to get fresh things from the Lord, to hear from Him “new every morning”. Otherwise it can end up that we feel like we’re following afar off and we can begin to wonder if He still is near to us in our lives, as we know He should be.

This morning I was out for my morning prayer walk on what’s been a rather bleak, gray and cold early winter day. And while I was pouring out my heart to the Lord about the day before me, I ended up praying a prayer I’d never prayed before. It kind of surprised me but then I checked my heart and did feel that it was something bubbling up from the Holy Spirit within me, rather than some vain thought.

It surprised me when I was praying and I prayed to the Lord, “Cast your bread upon the waters for you shall find it after many days.” (Ecclesiastes 11:1). I never in my life thought of that verse as a prayer. I’ve always thought of it as an injunction to us, an admonition from God to His people to give and share liberally and that one day that liberality will come back to us.

But this morning the Holy Spirit turned it into a prayer from me to God, “Cast your bread upon the waters…”. And I guess that can fit too. We can ask the Lord to cast His bread upon the waters. The waters are us, the peoples of this world who all desperately need the bread of God in all the many forms, fashions and ways that God in heaven sends it. Jesus said “He sends the rain on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45) He feeds the birds, Jesus said, and of course the point was that He will feed us as well.

But then also He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” .(Matthew 4:4) For those of us who know the Lord, we really should be hearing from Him, even every day. We need to be those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” because, Jesus said, “they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:45) Yes, first of all that should be in our times spent in His written Word, the Bible. That’s our first and foremost place to connect with the Lord, through what He’s already said and which has been written down for us.

But to keep our contact and relationship alive with the Lord, to have a fresh experience with Him, we really do need to have times where He’s expressing Himself to us through the Spirit, moving in our lives, doing miracles, even little ones, and in whatever way manifesting Himself to us.

He wants that. He wants that kind of close, thrilling, life-changing relationship with each of us every day. It doesn’t have to be in church, it certainly doesn’t have to be in some ritual or ceremony, and it most likely will not be in some political activity. But God wants us to, right now and every day, have a vibrant and alive relationship with Him. No, it won’t be some constant near ecstatic sensation where you’re just on the edge of your seat throughout every day. But there should be times where there’s that something that can only be explained by the fact that the Lord sprinkled a little heaven on you right then.

In fact, we’re already in heaven, the Bible says, as strange as that may seem. Ephesians 2:7 says “We are set down in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” We already have a foretaste of heaven to come; He’s already feeding us with the spiritual manna from heaven if we keep coming to Him for it.

So that ended up looking like a new prayer the Lord gave me today, that He would cast His bread upon the waters. It reminds me of another little thing I got from the Lord some months back on another morning prayer walk when the Lord brought to my attention a bright red cardinal in our back yard and I wrote, “Cardinals in the Winter” about that.

Well, praise God. Thank God for prayer. Sometimes we don’t know what to pray and then, the Bible says, “We know not what we should pray for as we should but the Holy Spirit makes intercession through us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26) It’s just good for us to really pour out our hearts before the Lord. And then it’s maybe even better when the Lord punches through our often dull spirits to speak to us and give us something fresh from Him. We all need this. I sure needed to hear fresh from Him this morning. God bless you and God help us all to have and keep a living daily relationship in prayer with the Lord.

German Video: “Einführung in Prophezeiungen der Geschichte”

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I’ve been able to complete in German the beginning video in the Prophecies of Daniel series, which in English is called “An Introduction to Prophecy in History”.

For many people, Biblical prophecy is something they’ve never heard of and have no knowledge of. In the video I try to introduce this phenomenon as it frequently was seen in the history of ancient Isreal. This class also sets the stage and background with the history of ancient Israel, against which chapters in Daniel repeatedly foretell the future to come. The video can be seen at this link:

Follow God and miracles will follow you

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There are so many promises in the Bible for those who follow God, who not only believe in but also actually obey the Lord, that He will manifest Himself unto them. Jesus said in John 14:21, “He that has my commandments and keeps them, he is it that loves me. And he that loves me will be loved of my father, and I will love him and will manifest myself unto him.”

[This is the text to a talk I gave last week at a Christian retreat in India  to about 85 people.]

That was the kind of Christianity that was presented to me by some young “Jesus people” when I was 21 years old. A few months before this I’d had a series of miraculous experiences, including a very traumatic one where I nearly died and was about to leave my body, unfortunately heading in the wrong direction from what most of us hope will be our final destiny. But this was what it took to wake me up and shake me up enough to fathom that there is a spiritual world and that it is more real and important than the physical world we’re so often enmeshed in.

But I didn’t know who Jesus was. I’d come to know that God was real, I now knew the spiritual world was real and I’d even come to know that the devil was real. But I didn’t know who Jesus was or is. And those teenage, Bible-sharing “Jesus people” showed me through the Bible who Jesus was. So I received Him in prayer as they led me to do.

And as I continued to hang around these new friends, they eventually challenged me to do as the early followers of Jesus had done. Jesus said to some, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) To others He said, “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 will lose his life for my sake, the same will save it.” (Luke 9:23)

Having already experienced so much of the froth, frivolity and poison of this world, I had an easy time in making that decision. I decided to take them up on their challenge and to commit my life to Christian service, following the Lord and His Word as best as I could.

“So how’s that working for you?” you might ask. My answer would be, “Really, really well.” And that’s what I want to talk to you about this morning. I know that, for most of you here, we’re on the same page when it comes to Christian discipleship. That’s why you’re here at this retreat. Yesterday we talked about Bible prophecy and that can in some ways be a rather long and sometimes steep learning curve. But Christian discipleship can and should be something you are born into when you receive the Lord, like what happened to me.

We could start off talking about salvation in the Lord, like we did yesterday. That’s where it all starts. I assume and believe that all of you here are saved. You’ve received the Lord as your personal savior, you understand the basics of Salvation and you have a personal relationship with the Lord.

And I assume that you’ve all received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I know that’s your shared belief and you understand the importance of the Holy Spirit. Not all churches and Christians do. Some churches teach that receiving Jesus and being filled with the Holy Spirit is the same thing. But in Acts 19:2 the disciples said to ones they met , “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” Those ones answered, “We haven’t even heard of the Holy Spirit.” So the Apostle Paul went on and led those folks in Ephesus to be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

These are all basics. It won’t help to talk about following God if you aren’t yet saved and then have received the power that Jesus promised us in the Holy Spirit. But if you have come that far, what’s next? Just go now to heaven? “We’re ok now, we’re saved and filled. What else is there but to go to be with the Lord, right?”

Well, as I’m sure you know, that’s not right. Jesus gave what’s called “the great commission” in Mark 16:15 when He said to the disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” And, as the phrase goes, this is often what separates the men from the boys. Or, much more accurately, this is what has come to differentiate between what has been called “churchianity” and the original Christianity of the book of Acts and the early church.

We’re called and commissioned to “preach the gospel”. Those words sound  slightly funny in our times because we can envision that we are suppose to ascend some pulpit somewhere and “preach”, which nowadays is a word almost only used in a religious sense. Even the word “witness” is pretty much only thought of in a religious sense. But if those words are maybe uncomfortable to you or sound out of style with the times we live in, you could think of it in the way of sharing. Most folks understand and even approve of sharing.

Here’s something in Isaiah that maybe puts the great commission in another framework that is perhaps easier to see yourself in. “If you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall rise in obscurity and your darkness shall be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought and you shall be like a watered garden and like springs of waters whose waters fail not.”  (Isaiah 58:10 & 11)

Or as Jesus taught when He was on earth, “Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. For with the same measure that you give, it shall be given unto you.” (Luke 6:38) That’s an integral ingredient of what our present life should be as disciples of Christ while we are still here on earth.

“But, Mark! I thought you were going to talk about miracles! When are you going to talk about miracles?”

The good answer to that is found just a few short verses after Jesus’ famous ringing words of Mark 16:15. He told them to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Then, five verses later, at the end of the book of Mark, it says, “And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming His word with signs following.” (Mark 16:20)

“Signs following”. As they began to obey and get out and do what the Lord told them to do, witness and win souls and share all they had, the Lord was right there with them (since He’s always way out in front anyway), and He “confirmed His word with signs following.” Miracles. The book of Acts is just almost one continual testimony of this, with the disciples, in fits and starts, obeying the Lord and following the leading of the Holy Spirit. If you want to read about miracles happening to disciples, you should read the book of Acts. That’s the blueprint and plan for Christianity yet so few churches really take it seriously for our times.

One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Acts chapter 10. Talk about following God. Talk about “going” and pioneering. Peter was already “going”. He was up in Joppa, up the coast from the home church in Jerusalem. So he was already obeying and the Lord “gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey Him.” (Acts 5.32) And Peter was even taking things to the Lord in prayer, alone with God on a housetop.

And then the action starts, when the Lord seems to just go completely contrary to what Peter was expecting. God shows him a sheet full of unclean animals and the Lord says to him, “Arise Peter, kill and eat.” What does Peter respond? “Yes sir, Lord! Anything you say, Lord!”? Nope, that’s not what Peter said. In fact Peter directly disagrees with and says no to the Lord, as he had been prone to do from time to time in the past.

The gentle, loving son of God was patient and kind, telling Peter that there were three men downstairs, “unclean” and that Peter should immediately go with them, “doubting nothing”. As you know, sometimes just the “follow God” part of our contract with Him can get to be a little challenging, as it was for Peter here.

But Peter knew the Lord enough, loved the Lord enough and had gone through so many breakings and remakings that he somehow here obeyed, probably with some trepidation since good Jews were not supposed to hang out with Romans, which evidently those folks at the door were.

The result? Cornelius the Roman centurion, leader of 100 Roman troops, got gloriously saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, as did his family and friends who’d come to hear Peter.

“So what?”, you could say. But this was the monumental moment in the history of God’s relationship with man when His Spirit and you could even say His focus turned towards “the gentiles” rather than the Jewish nation within which the Lord had been almost exclusively working till then. (Here’s the link to a blog article I wrote on Acts chapter 10, as well as a recording of a live class on Acts 10 which the article was based on.)

But God had to find a man. God had to have someone yielded enough to obey Him, to physically get up and go, “doubting nothing”. The miracles didn’t precede the obedience. But in this case, it wasn’t just a showy miracle for those folks right there but it involved a major change of direction in the history of mankind, the beginnings of the early church as the Lord got Peter, the leader of the early church at that time to truly go even further into all the world than their Jewish heritage would allow them to go, except by the almost forceful leading of the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to us in our times? The conditions of discipleship are pretty much still the same today. We still have to do the going. “As they went, they were healed.” (Luke 17:14) But we have to do the “wenting”. The Lord raised the dead. But they had to roll away the stone.

Many of you here understand the fundamental link between obedience and blessings. We are not our own, we are bought with a price. We may not understand but all we have to do is obey. If you can accept those conditions, like the Lord laid out for His first disciples, then there’s still that cup of discipleship to be drunk in our times. There’s a poor sin-sick world that needs his love and truth. The harvest is still plenteous but the true laborers are still few.

But the good news is, the Lord has already spoken in prophecy of these very times we live in. And somebody, maybe you, is going to fulfill those prophecies. It says of the very last days “the people who do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)  It says, “They that understand amoung the people shall instruct many.” (Daniel 11:33) It says in Revelation, talking about the ones who are here at the time of the worst of the Antichrist and his forces, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

It is written. It is ordained. It’s already happened in the eyes of God. There are going to be victors in these final days, a called-out, separated-from-the-world discipleship church of the endtime who will be shining brightly, “doing exploits” and “instructing many” in the last days before the return of Jesus. They’ll be truly following God and the Lord will be working mightily with them, performing miracles on their behalf. I believe that’s the calling and heritage that is there for every person in this room. May the mighty God of Abraham and His Son Jesus help us to be what He has called us to be.

Our lives are hid with Christ in God

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Why did that happen! Why didn’t God answer prayer? Ever get hit with those thoughts? I’ll admit that I do sometimes and I think most people do. Things didn’t work out. It doesn’t seem right or fair. But this is where, for the people of faith, we just have to make a real decision to turn away from this line of reasoning or it can really turn for the worse.

I’ve had a wonderful life. I’m just now completing the third extended trip outside my home country in the last two years. There have been real miracles on these trips, not the least of which is just the Lord’s protection through so many flights, so many countries, so much that is out of the ordinary for me. You’d think I’d be satisfied, no? Well, I am in a sense. It’s been incredible and I still have a couple of dozen video recordings in 10 languages to mix down for placing on YouTube that have been done on these trips.

However, as Solomon said, “the eyes of man are never satisfied” (Prov 27:20). And I’ll be honest with you; sometimes I don’t feel I really know the full mind of the Lord on some things. I’ll try to give you an example here. On this present trip, I’ve at least twice seen the absolute miracle working power of God to provide just the perfect person to do recordings for me in these foreign languages. Once in China and again in the Middle East, I couldn’t have asked for anything better than the two young men that the Lord raised up on this trip. Even they knew it was a miracle of God that they were working on these recordings.

But, you know what sprang up in my heart? “Well, Lord, if you could do such miracles as that, why can’t or don’t you do this with some of the things I’ve been praying about and holding on about for years?” OK, I didn’t say that but I did think it and I’ll admit it here. But this is where a life soaked in the will and Word of God doesn’t let us allow that thought to take root in our hearts. There are so many examples of things happening in the lives of the people of God which just didn’t seem right at the time and over and over the Lord had to admonish His people to hold on to Him, rather than “lean to their own understanding”. (Proverbs 3:5)

A verse that’s helped me when things like this come up is “our lives are hid with Christ in God”. (Colosians 3:3) The Lord is the Author and Finisher of our faith. We’re the book that’s being written, He’s the Author. Just like in good book, you don’t know what will happen next. You may not understand the plot or many of the whys and wherefores of it all as you turn the pages.

It reminds me of another verse that the Lord had me memorize at the beginning of my Christian experience, what Jesus said to Peter, “What I do you know not now, but you shall know hereafter.” (John 13:7) Peter didn’t understand why the Lord was washing his feet and he virtually protested. But the Lord told Peter that he would understand it all later.

And in some things, we just have to take that as our best option, our best thought when some things happen. Our lives are hid with Christ in God. Even if things don’t look right, even if it doesn’t seem fair, even if it looks like God is not keeping His word, you just can’t go down that line of thought. Because it is so often a first step toward outright doubting God’s will and plan in your life. And in no time at all, Satan will be agreeing with you and suggesting many more things that seem to supplement that direction your mind is going.

King David said, “Lord, my heart is not haughty or my eyes lofty, neither do I exercise myself in great things or in maters too high for me.” (Psalm 131:1) Moses said in Deuteronomy, “The secret things belong unto the Lord your God.” (Deut. 29:29)

I don’t know why some things have happened. Or haven’t happened. But often I just have to come to the conclusion that it’s something I have to wrap up in a bundle of faith and leave on the shelf until such time as the Lord sees fit to either answer my prayers or to further enlighten me as to why that was not His highest and best, or even my highest and best.

This I think is the life of the sheep of God. Unlike the wolves, foxes, snakes and pigs, sheep need a shepherd. And the sheep, if they’re smart, will trust their shepherd that he’s smarter than them and is leading them to the best. This kind of thought doesn’t go over well with the highly educated and greatly intellectual. But it’s actually the deep wisdom of God to trust Him, even when we really don’t understand some things. Because our lives really are hid with Christ in God. Some things we just won’t really understand until we see the Lord on the other side and He’s able to clarify what wasn’t clear for us here.

Elections in Sweden

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There will be elections here in Sweden in a few days. Much of the nation is caught up with it as seemingly fundamental changes are in motion here, as they are across Europe and in the USA as well. Answers and explanations that were taken as givens for generations in Sweden, and in other countries in Europe, are now being seen to no longer be sufficient for these times. Political parties that dominated the landscape for decades are crumbling or in disarray and new movements and forces seem to have better answers and explanations for the challenges that have arisen in recent times.

And of course, if you’re reading this in the States, this can all sound familiar. For the last 100 years in America, the only two political choices have been “Democrats” and “Republicans”. But what do those words mean now? And the same kinds of questions without answers are on the minds of people here in Sweden and in Europe. “Left”? “Right”? “Neo-Nazi”? “Feminist”? “Social Democrat”? “Conservative”? “Liberal”? For very many, those words are much more fudged and hazy than they’ve almost ever been before.

Bob Dylan once sang, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” But I think that, in these times, many folks would be more than glad to find a competent and prescient “weatherman”, someone to make sense of these times, to rise above the petty and false in order to bring order out of chaos and wise explanations that ring true and break things down to simple clarity.

I’m personally trying to find clarity, through prayer and God’s Word, but also from competent, objective commentators in media sources worldwide. But it does look strongly like a storm is upon many nations , “the sea and the waves roaring and men’s hearts failing them for fear of those things which shall come to pass.” (Luke 21:25 & 26)

Confusion mixed with fear is a horrible thing. Of course those here in Sweden, as well as those in most of the rest of Europe and in North America, know virtually nothing of fear and confusion compared to the ones I met on the Turkish-Syrian border now almost 4 years ago, in Reyhanli. Friends I spoke to there had had barrel bombs dropped on their house and so had fled their country, as have millions of Syrians in these last years. We, the blessed in the West, have known no war in our lands since before I was born after World War II.

But still, there is much confusion in these times, and fear. The United States is now said to be more divided politically than at any time since the Civil War that took place between 1860 and 1865. I’ve sat in adult Sunday school classes in Texas where the discussion was on ways to openly, militarily defy and oppose in armed combat the United States government. There’s an underlying tension that has become the order of the day in America now. No one really knows where things will go and how things will develop between the increasingly strident extremes of Left and Right, Progressive and Conservative.

For me, the greatest call of allegiance in my heart is to Jesus Christ and His coming Kingdom on earth. That’s my sheet anchor of truth, morals, ethics and priorities. And some would say then that of course that means that you must fully put yourself down on the side of Right wing American political forces. You must be at the forefront of the cultural battle that rages and even be willing to “take up arms to take back our nation.”

But I’m not. Right wing American politics is just as laden with sin as is the Left. Different sins, certainly; but the quantity is about equal. So I don’t believe political activity is what Jesus Christ is leading me to do. Sometimes the very best any of us can do is just to “be still and know that I am God”, as the Lord told David in Psalm 46:10. If we do enter into unprecedented times, if some kind of social upheaval takes place in American or even other countries in the next months or years, my personal opinion is that the best thing I can do is to “dwell in the secret place of the most high” and “abide under the shadow of the almighty”. (Psalm 91:1) If a state of siege or martial law sweeps these lands, more than ever people will need friends to show them that there’s a greater stability and verifiable truth in the eternal God of Abraham and in His risen Son, Jesus of Nazareth. “Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.” (Romans 5:20)  “God is not the author of confusion but of peace.” (I Corinthians 14:33)

These are confusing, troubling, changing times and so much that seemed to be foundational is now found to be shaking or already destroyed. All the more then should each person cling to the greater truths of the Bible that says, “When my spirit is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is greater than I.” (Psalm 61:2) “God is our refugee and strength, a very present help in the time of trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” (Psalm 46:1 & 2)

Kicking against the pricks

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Some people’s heads are bloody but unbowed. They resist to the bitter end and even think they’re doing the right thing. But they may find out they’ve resisted the loving pleading and entreaties of God Himself. Yes, that can happen and does happen; sadly all too often.

God doesn’t usually override human will. He waits for us to be humbled and to recognize His hand in our lives. But there are oodles of folks who will just have none of it. For me, it took the experience of near death and hell to get me desperate enough and shook up enough to choose God. But that’s not even totally accurate because the Lord made it easy in some ways, allowing Satan himself to come and claim my soul, which was rightfully his at that time.

But once I realized that there was a Satan, it was almost like a clue that there must then be “the other one”, God Himself and I called out to Him to keep me from being carried off by Satan to my eternal damnation. And it may be like that for many people, perhaps not as dramatic and drastic as it was necessary for me but still, nevertheless, the Lord often has to draw the line and bring people to a decision, often even a final decision, before they will turn to Him.

As He said all the way back in Genesis 6:3, “My Spirit will not always strive with man.” Or again it’s like in Proverbs 29:1, “He that, being often reproved and hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed.” God never does anything quickly, except judgment. And “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31) Whew, it’s a shake-up just even remembering those verses and writing them down.

But it’s the almost universal nature of every person to be stubborn, cock-sure, obstinate and defiant. Maybe some are less so than others. And maybe you even think that kind of attitude can actually be an asset and an advantage in some situations. But it’s not that way in our relationship with God.

God told Isaiah, “If you be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.” (Isaiah 1:19 & 20) Willing and obedient. That should be our nature in our relationship with God. But, oh, how often He has to put up with us for so long and sadly rather work us over oftentimes before we learn to humble ourselves before Him.

Actually, when you think about it, it may not be that He “works us over” more than that He just lets us stew in our on juice. He lets us partake of the fruit of our own ways until we come to our senses and realize that we are deeply wrong to insist on our own will, while rejecting and ignoring His. Like the Prodigal Son, he “came to himself” in a far country, while feeding pigs. (Luke 15:17) That’s kind of a funny way of expressing it. Nowadays people say “the lights came on” or, if not, “he just didn’t get it.”

They say, “It takes an impossible situation for God to do a miracle.” And the reality is, each of us is an impossible situation. The Bible says to the believers, “Sin shall not have dominion over you…” (Romans 6:14) But for the unbelievers, the unsaved, the defiant and the vast multitude who continue to “kick against the pricks”, sin does have dominion over them.

Actually, if you don’t watch out (and if I don’t watch out) this can all end up rather depressing. You can get exasperated at how much some people defy the will and love of God. Or you can get exasperated at yourself for how many times you fall into some “besetting sin” (Hebrews 12:1). Like Paul so famously said, “The good that I would, I do not. But the evil that I would not, that I do. Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?!” (Romans 7:15 & 24)

But it was the grace of God that Paul could even see his condition and pray that prayer since he himself was the one the Lord originally said those words to, “It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.” It shows God can bring us out of our defiance and unbelief, our obstinacy, rebellion and darkness. But Paul had made progress, he had “seen the light” and turned, repented and started down the path of life that was God’s plan for him.

It’s sometimes hard to hold out in prayer and faith for loved ones who remain defiant towards the Love of God. It’s also hard to struggle with some elements of our own personality and areas of our lives which somehow remain unconquered by the power and love of God. The solution? Hold on, for others and for ourselves. Keep on believing , keep on looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Only He can do it, He’s our only hope.

 

 

“Kiss the crucifix!”

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My Bulgarian friends know a high school student who told them he always wears a crucifix because he’s not ashamed of his faith. But also he sometimes holds out his crucifix to Muslim high school students and tells them, “Kiss the crucifix!” And he told my friends, if those people don’t kiss the crucifix, he pulls his knife on them!

I had such a mixed set of emotions when I heard of this. And it all has really stuck with me. For one, I sort of admire any young man who’s not ashamed of his faith in these so bedarkened days in Europe. In some places it’s even illegal to wear a crucifix anymore in this part of the world. But this young man is evidently bold and unashamed of being a Christian. God bless him for that.

However, many of us would draw back at some of the steps he’s taking to spread the faith. Religious coercion has a long sad history, both the Christian and the Muslim kind, and it’s certainly not the way Jesus taught His followers to win people to God’s ways. In fact, when you sort of take it apart, what this dear young man has been doing reminds me of the verse that says, “They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” (Romans 10:2)

My impression, when knowing a little of the background, is that this young man is trying to do what he feels is right. And there probably is some sincerity in his efforts to win his Muslim classmates to faith in Christ. But also, most of us know that kissing a crucifix isn’t going to save your soul. And pulling a knife on those who won’t kiss the crucifix isn’t going to compel them to receive the truth and love that Jesus shared.

But all this really did get me thinking. It’s like the verse I’ve shared a few times, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6) Did this young man really think that getting his Muslim classmates to kiss his crucifix was going to save their souls? My sad guess is that the young man himself probably has only a faint concept of salvation in Christ and even less an idea of how to win the lost to Him.

Last Sunday I was speaking to the church here that I’ve spoken in a few times before when I’ve visited Bulgaria. The story of this young man caused me to wonder how much folks actually understand what it means to be saved and to become a “new creature in Christ” (II Corinthians 5:17). So I spoke to the ones on Sunday about this local young man’s attempts to compel his non-Christian classmates to become Christians by this outward act of kissing a crucifix. And we went over such basic verses about salvation as Acts 16:31 “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, and your house.”

I mentioned to the ones here that it was the wise witnessing of some teenagers nearly 50 years ago who showed me from the Bible the plan of salvation. I just can’t get it off my mind that this Bulgarian teenager here was, in his quirky way, trying to stand up for Jesus and even win others to the Lord. And yet he was so uninformed about how to go about it that probably little if any good was done. And perhaps it even offended and stumbled those who he evidently compelled to kiss the cross around his neck.

My, oh my, how much sound and basic teaching is needed about such crucial, fundamental subjects as salvation itself and how to share the truths of God with others. Jesus even said, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be full.” (Luke 14:23)  But we can be certain that Jesus never meant us to use the threat of violence to compel souls to receive the Lord. And the Lord didn’t push outward rituals like kissing a cross to be a substitute for opening our hearts to Him and His truth in order to receive the saving power of His grace.

It all reminds me of a haunting series of verses that often came to my mind back when I was a young Christian, from Amos 8:11-13. “Behold the days come says the Lord that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water but of hearing the word of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.”

How heartbreaking that is and it’s not just something that happened in the time of Amos. So many today die without a knowledge of God or instruction in His ways. Do you know the basics of salvation and how to share it with others? Are you feeding His sheep and pouring out the spiritual riches you have with ones who have so little and are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? May God help and have mercy on us all.

“He gave good heed”

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I heard someone say, “You have to see God!” Equally, you’ve got to hear God. That’s what that verse means, “He gave good heed” (Ecc. 12:9), he was conscientious at hearing God’s voice. Sometimes it’s not even a voice; it’s a nudge or almost a breeze. But your life, your future and your destiny can totally depend on whether you “give good heed”.

Often things are really simple. This world may seem complicated but the most important stuff is simple. Solomon knew this when he advised, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) Such a vital, important nugget from God’s Word, I wrote a blog article about keeping your heart which can be found here.

But it may not seem simple. You can wonder how you can get on board with all this. Where do I start? How can you “hear from God”? How can you “see God”? It does come back to your heart, your desires, your values. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Mat. 5:6) Do you have a heart that hungers for truth, for righteousness, for love, for the things of God? Well, God Himself is not unaware of your desires.

A verse that’s always encouraged me in this is, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect…” (II Chronicles 16:9) God sees your heart and innermost thoughts, even when you don’t even believe in God or know He’s there. And, like what certainly happened in my life, He is doing what He can to bring you to Him and to give you the desires of your heart, even while you may be inadvertently resisting the drawing of His Spirit working to win and help you.

The whole amazing subject of Salvation is so enormous in itself, how God’s brings us to call out to Him and His Son for the first time, often when we’ve been dwelling in such extreme spiritual darkness and rebellion for so long. That’s what happened to me, like the verse says, He “delivers from the lowest hell.” (Psalm 86:13)

But that’s not at all the end. It’s a magnificent beginning and perhaps the greatest beginning but it’s not supposed to be the end. Like Jesus said to one crippled man, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” (John 5:8). Sadly for some, if not many, they never really get to that “walk” part. They never really get going with following God. They don’t “take heed” first and then obey after that. So they miss so very much, even in this present life, of all that God could do for them and with them and through them.

But like I said, it all boils down to really simple stuff. This morning I was reviewing some of the Bible verses I’ve memorized over the years and I came to the ones where this verse about “giving good heed” comes from. They are very meaningful to me and I wrote a blog article on these which was very personal, called “Still”.

It’s personal to me because I think it was personal to Solomon when he wrote it. I feel it may be a personal word from Solomon himself about his life and how it had gone. Solomon says, speaking of himself that the Preacher “still taught the people wisdom. He set in order many proverbs.” (Ecc. 12:9) Solomon, in his great wisdom, probably knew that things had really taken a turn for the worse in the kingdom of Israel. But he says that “he still taught the people wisdom”, even though times were not as they had been before.

But Solomon also says in these same passages, “Yea, he gave good heed” which is a way of saying that he himself still made a real effort to hear from God and then to write it down and pass it on. He heard from God. He tried to keep his heart, even in spite of some grievous sins in his life. And God was still speaking to Him. Solomon hadn’t given up on God and God hadn’t given up on him.

And that right there may be some of the most basic, fundamental lessons of life that we can find. We have to hear from God. We have to, in a sense, see God. Jesus even said, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8) And of course it follows, we have to obey God. Peter the apostle famously stood up to the Pharisees of his day and said that God “gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey Him.” (Acts 5:32)

So, actually, it is all pretty simple. Life isn’t based on your technology, your university degree, your bank account or your nationality. It’s based on your heart. May God in His infinite mercy help each of us to “give good heed” to Him.

 

Impressions of Uganda

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I’m in my last couple of days in Uganda before moving on to the next place on my current trip. I’m leaving with a lot to think about and a lot to “digest”. I didn’t know the Ugandans were as spiritually hungry as they are. Actually, a number of my preconceived ideas turned out to be inaccurate.

Maybe it’s like the story of the poor man on the road to Jericho that Jesus talked about and how the Good Samaritan stopped to help him. For those of us who’ve dedicated our lives to the Lord, we of all people are compelled to help those in need. But in this case, rather surprisingly, the biggest need I’ve seen is for those who can labor to fill the immense spiritual vacuum that exists here.

My first week in Uganda I spoke to a Sunday fellowship held by my friends, to show one of the videos I’ve done on chapters in the book of Daniel and then to answer questions afterwards. It was the questions afterwards from ones here that surprised me the most. They were deep, knowledgeable, sincere and with a tinge of desperation and searching in the way they were asked. I really don’t find that so very often in my travels.

Here is a picture of me and Hassan. He was at the fellowship in Kampala where I shared my video on the book of Daniel, chapter 7 and then answered questions about the future according to the Bible’s view.

Hassan comes from an Islamic background but received Jesus about 2 years ago. He came up to me after the class with some very deep questions about salvation, is it eternal, can we lose it and what about people who’ve never heard about the Lord. His dad is Ugandan, his mother from the Congo and he came here, fleeing violent civil unrest in the Congo, a very large country to the west of Uganda. We had quite a talk which is not unusual here as so many have deep and sincere questions concerning Bible truths.

And from what I have heard from friends, this really is how it is in this country: a pervading hunger for spiritual training, particularly in the ways of the Lord and in the Word of the Lord. But you might wonder, “Yes, Mark, but how was the country? Did you see a lot of starvation, people dying of AIDS, child soldiers and overall depravation? Did you see lions, elephants and gorillas?” The answer would be no to all of those.

Well I did see monkeys when my friends and I one day visited the source of the Nile River near Jinja, to the east of Kampala. I’ll share a picture from that, right at the point where Lake Victoria pours in to the beginning of the Nile which then flows 4,250 miles to the Mediterranean Sea. I’m standing on a tiny island where that sign is. To the right is Lake Victoria and to the left is the beginning of the Nile River.

Uganda may have a reputation left over from over 30 years ago of a nation racked by AIDS. That’s now the distant past. It’s actually doing pretty good within the context of central and east Africa and I did notice the stability and economic growth that is going on. But also I noticed the tranquility of the people. In being here two weeks, I can’t remember one moment when I saw anyone anywhere fighting or even arguing with each other. I certainly cannot say that of a number of countries I’ve been in in the past but I won’t mention names here.

A little like how it was when I was in Northern Ireland last year, there is a very strong element of Christianity in Uganda that has soaked into the fiber of the country and knowing and loving the Lord is close to the norm. I don’t know if it would be right to say it’s a missionary’s paradise. But I’ve been thinking how, if there is anyone reading this post who’s looking to the Lord about a place of Christian service on the mission field, I can certainly “send back a good report” from Uganda. If you’re into really getting deep and real with people through the Spirit of God, this may be what you’re looking for.

And I met an exceptionally inspired group of young people here who not only come from my hometown, Austin, Texas, but one of them goes to the church I go to. And her mom is in the Sunday school class I go to. Funny things do happen when you are serving the Lord, no? The group of 6, all in their late teens to early 20’s, have been going all over Uganda, speaking to rallys and large groups of Christian youth, calling out their generation to take up the call of discipleship and greater Christian commitment.

I‘m leaving Uganda with a couple of major projects started in the way of books and DVDs and I look forward to keeping in contact with my friends here and the work they are doing.

 

When He saw the multitude, He was moved with compassion

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It’s 6 AM at the Dubai airport and I’m among several thousand people, waiting to board their flights to the Middle East and Africa. Almost no one “looks like me”. That can be disturbing if I let it but I pretty much got over those kinds of emotions long ago. Instead, I’m struck by the vast range of humanity before me, Yemenis, Tajiks, Somalis and so much more. I wish I could get into a deep conversation with every one of them, get to know them, their lives, their hopes, their fears, their needs and their faith.

And the thought came to me of how it may have been for Jesus when He was before a vast multitude. Such a moving, significant verse from Matthew says this. “When He saw the multitude, He was moved with compassion upon them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36) Jesus didn’t feel intimidated by, or alien to, the multitude, even those of distant nations and cultures. So true to His nature, He loved them; He was moved with compassion.

I’m so thankful that somehow the Lord has put in my heart a love for people, even people who are “different” from me. The heart of man is the same the world over and what everbody needs is love. On this present trip I’ve been two weeks in China and now two weeks in Lebanon and it’s been a wonderful time. It’s been taxing physically, especially with some of these overnight flights. But it’s been tremendously rewarding and encouraging to see how much the Lord has been answering prayer and doing basically miracles to bless my activities in these times.

Twice on this trip I’ve seen the Lord raise up out of nowhere exactly the right person to work with me on these recordings I’m doing in foreign languages of the Prophecies of Daniel videos. First in China and then in Lebanon the Lord brought me in contact with men I never met before who were so perfectly what was needed to be the Chinese and Arabic voices for the videos. Men who not only spoke their native language but also were equally proficient in English and who had a real heart to go the extra mile and do all they could to work with me on the recordings. I don’t take this kind of thing for granted at all. It was the hand of God bringing me in contact with these ones. And again it goes back to the love of God, His love and desire to have us “feed His sheep”.

So often it’s true what the Word says, “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge”. (Hosea 4:6) They just don’t know. “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not heard and how they shall hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14) I’ve had times where I have been in a crowd like this and I had a stack of gospel tracts. So I’d go about passing out those, at times by the thousand. I wrote about one experience like that that happened a few years ago on the Macedonian/Serbian border. Or when I was in a refugee camp in Berlin not so long ago.

In more recent times, the Lord has made a way for me to reach multitudes by posting my videos on YouTube and Facebook and I’ve had some extremely encouraging responses from some obscure places from people who’ve been able to view the classes on the book of Daniel.

But it’s easy to think, “What can any of us possibly do when the world is so big, there are billions of people and we’re just tiny little insignificant individuals?” It is a daunting thought and it can be discouraging if we let it get a hold of us. But it’s just not a thought from the Lord. We are called to do what we can. And actually we can do a lot if we let the Lord lead us and guide us.

Like the verse says, “the love of Christ constrains us” (II Corinthians 5:14) , that’s how it should be. We should be moved with compassion like Jesus was and is. Sadly, when confronted by the peoples of the world, many Christians are not moved with compassion. They are moved with nationalism or racism which results in various forms of hatred. It so greaves me when I hear words of hatred from fellow Christians when foreign nations and peoples are mentioned. It’s so contrary to the love of God that Jesus showed and that lived so strongly in the early Church.

Well, my flight is leaving soon. I’m off to a country I’ve never been to before, with people who don’t look like me. But there’s a tremendous spiritual vacuum there, a spiritual hunger for the things of the Lord and the Lord wants me to go there and to be an instrument of His peace.

It’s a wonderful life. It’s a little tough on the flesh at times but it’s extremely rewarding in the things of the heart.