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Who Said Israel Should Be Wiped Off the Earth?

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missile“Israel should be wiped off the Earth.” These were the stark words etched on two ballistic missiles launched by the country of Iran on March 9, 2016. In fact, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, declared, “Israel is surrounded by Islamic countries and it will not last long in a war. It will collapse even before being hit by these missiles.” (1)

The hatred of Israel by many people and nations is evident. And though it is distressing to Christians, the very existence of such extreme animosity only serves to lend credence to the truth of God’s Word. In fact, when I read the headlines marked so boldly with this anti-Semitic message, my heart leaps to think of how the enemies behind this provocation are only proving the Bible’s veracity. Let me explain.

God gave the land of Israel (which is bigger than its current political borders) to His chosen people, the Israelites. The promise began with Abraham (then “Abram”), the father of our faith. Genesis 12:7 (ESV) declares, “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.'” God reiterated this promise over and over. We find it emphasized again when the Israelites were in the worst of circumstances – as slaves to the Egyptians. In the midst of seeming hopelessness, God firmly reminded them, “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD” (Exodus 6:7-8, ESV).

God’s chosen people have struggled throughout history with the promise of their inheritance. They battled with the Canaanites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Romans during Bible times. They have been assaulted throughout modern history in obvious ways, including that of the Nazis. The hellish attacks notwithstanding, God’s promise remains. The fiendish attacks serve only to demonstrate that there exists something most peculiar and supernatural about this people and this land. Such pointed hatred can only come from an established reality, for no such loathing is the result of fairy tales or light-hearted belief. Our archenemy, Satan, stands behind every plot to abolish God’s people and God’s Promised Land.

The Scripture that jumped out to me when I first heard of the missiles marked with the threat, “Israel should be wiped off the Earth,” is Zechariah 14:2-3 (ESV): “For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.” Unbelievably, the Lord predicted 2,500 years ago that “all the nations” will eventually go to war against Jerusalem. The attack will culminate just before the visible second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus will return to the very same mountain from which He left (as recorded in Acts 1:9-12), the Mount of Olives. His toes will hit the mountain, and the mountain will split, and the Lord will conquer His enemies! Hear Zechariah 14:4-5b (ESV): “On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that on half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward … Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.”

The culmination of Christ’s victory over the enemies of Israel is explained in Zechariah 14:11b (ESV), “Jerusalem shall dwell in security.” No more will she be subject to war and degradation. Apparently, Amir Ali Hajizadeh is right in predicting a violent war with Israel, but he is certainly wrong about the ultimate result! God wins, and God keeps His vows.

After all end times events have taken place and the devil and all His worshippers have been deposited in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:7-15), we hear the amazing words of the Apostle John in Revelation 21:1-2a (ESV), “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, …” Not only a portion of land in the Middle East, but all lands and all the universe will be inhabited by God and His people, with the New Jerusalem as our capital. Amen!

As we are barraged with world news, we are encouraged to see than in trying to destroy God’s plan, His enemies are actually proving the Bible. Iran’s declaration to attempt to wipe Israel off the Earth only demonstrates that everything God has said is unequivocally accurate. Is not God incredible, that He uses even His adversaries to fulfill His plan and show His Word to be firm and timeless?

It reminds me of wicked King Herod the Great of the first century. In order to try to destroy Jesus, He used the words of the Old Testament prophet Micah to determine the location of Jesus’ birth (see Micah 5:2 and Matthew 2:1-6). Herod must have actually believed that the Old Testament prophecy had something to it. And when He killed all the male children in the Bethlehem region who were two years old and younger, He fulfilled yet another prophecy of God! (See Jeremiah 31:15 and Matthew 2:18)

Even unbelievers and enemies bring glory to God’s Word by demonstrating in real time and space its accuracy. So, go ahead leaders of Iran. Go ahead all enemies of God. You seek to annihilate His sovereignty, but only end up proving it!

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2, ESV)

(1) Gambrell, Jon. Iran Fires Two Missiles Marked with “Israel Must Be Wiped Out.” abcnews.go.com. 9 March 2016.

– Shelli S. Prindle

Curing the Grasshopper Complex

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Grasshopper
The promise of God was clear. The faith to claim it was weak. Sound familiar?

God has made many precious promises to His people, but we rarely walk in the strength of sheer belief. We get stuck in the natural – what we can experience with our five senses – rather than clinging to the greater reality of the supernatural. After all, “what is seen was not made out of things that are visible” (Hebrews 11:3, ESV). The obvious implication is that the invisible – the Word of God that created the universe – is infinitely more trustworthy than what was created. I can bank on God’s Word more than anything else in this vast collection of galaxies.

Enter grasshoppers. Yes, of all the unique illustrations to keep our faith on track, grasshoppers are easy to remember. Let’s explore what these little insects have to do with trusting in our mighty God.

The glorious promise God made to His people was repeated over and over to them. And it is an oath that we still wait to see unreservedly fulfilled at the return of Christ. Hear it succinctly in Exodus 6:7-8 (ESV, emphasis mine) in the response God gives to the Israelites regarding their desperate cry for deliverance from Egypt: “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.”

There you have it. Straightforward. Unequivocal. God’s people were to be not only brought into the Canaan land, but they were surely to take possession of it. In fact, when the Lord tells Moses to send spies into that enemy territory to observe the land of Canaan they are soon to inherit, He calls it the land “which I am giving to the people of Israel” (Numbers 13:2, ESV). We see unquestionably that the Creator, the Ruler of the universe, has given Canaan to His people. It’s a guarantee. Why then, the disbelief? The majority of the spies sent by Moses come back with this report: “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there” (Numbers 13:27-28, ESV, emphasis mine). Pretty negative assessment in light of the plain vow of God, right? They basically said, “The land is good like God said, but the enemies are strong and very tall like giants, and the cities are huge and well-protected. We don’t stand a chance.”

When Caleb, one of the spies and a man of faith, intervened by proclaiming, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30, ESV), the other spies quickly responded, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are … and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” (Numbers 13:31, 33 ESV, emphasis mine). May we focus for a moment on that particular statement, because it summarizes much of my problem and yours in a memorable way? The bottom line was that God made a promise, and His people refused to see things from His true viewpoint instead of their own, skewed perspective. They felt so small and weak compared to the enemy (like grasshoppers to giants), and they, therefore, assumed that is how insignificant they also appeared to the enemy.

I often feel like a grasshopper – skittish and tiny – ready to jump at the step of a larger creature. And, sadly, I frequently assume that I really do seem like a grasshopper compared to the enemy of my soul. I know the promises of God, but I feel miniscule compared to the enormity of the problem in front of me. Do you?

Here is the answer for our “grasshopper complex.” When we ourselves feel like grasshoppers compared to the enemy – despite the clear promise of God – we need to be firmly reminded of who the grasshoppers really are – EVERYONE BUT GOD! Yep! Wrong perspective is feeling like a grasshopper compared to the difficulty standing in your way. Right perspective is understanding that everyone and everything shrinks to grasshopper status before God!

The Bible declares, “Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundation of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings prices to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.” (Isaiah 40:21-23, ESV, emphasis mine)

And there it is spelled out for us. It is wrong for me to feel like a grasshopper compared to my challenge or my enemy, because they are as grasshoppers too; it is right for me to feel like a grasshopper before God, because He is infinitely more strong than me. BUT, He is also infinitely more powerful than the problem and the enemy! The difference between me as a grasshopper and the enemy as a grasshopper is that THIS grasshopper has the promise of God on my side. I belong to Him, and He cares for me, and He cannot go against His own Word.

The unbelieving spies in the days of Moses never set foot in the Canaan Land. But the two who believed in the seeming impossible promise of God – the two who had the proper grasshopper perspective – they entered the land. No wonder it was called the “Promised Land.” It was reserved for those who would take God at His powerful, unseen – but real – Word. It belonged to the people who believed that they were only grasshoppers when compared to God, and not when compared to the enemy. It was given to people who believed that they were protected and empowered by a God at whose feet every enemy power and problem will jump away like jittery grasshoppers.

Will you claim the Promised Land with me? Can we please enter in?

Can We Be Sure About the Election?

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Election-Day-artThe current election cycle is enough to give a person the heebie-jeebies. The ludicrous nature of what is happening concerning the highest office of this country makes me think of the Bible’s truth that as the time of Christ’s return draws nearer, times will grow increasingly difficult or dangerous. “People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:2-5, ESV, emphasis mine). Do any of the aforementioned terms make you think of any of the candidates – or us – the people casting the votes? History has always demonstrated the reality of sin and selfishness in humanity at every turn, but the Word of God does hold forth that this actuality will become more and more rampant and increasingly obvious as time flows on. Jesus likened the proliferation of sin and deception in the last days to birth pains – growing in both intensity and frequency (Matthew 24:8). Jesus Christ also pointed out that deception will intensify (Matthew 24:11, 24). It is no real surprise, then, that each election brings new, shocking disappointments. Placing all events, including this coming election, against the backdrop of God’s grand revelation of truth provides a comfort in tumultuous times.

We cannot be sure about the coming presidential election. We cannot know the result yet, and we certainly do not have much confidence in what will happen after a specific man or woman is put in office. But there is an election that we can be sure about, and that is the choice that really matters. In fact, the solidifying of this particular election can allow a soul to rest in the midst of political chaos and pain. God is always calling us to act obediently with respect to each detailed circumstance of the day and to trust implicitly with regard to the big picture of life and eternity. Our responsibility as citizens of earth is clear, but our responsibility as citizens of heaven is even more explicit. As the Apostle Paul joyfully proclaimed, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:20-21, ESV). My first allegiance is to heaven and all things heavenly. Accordingly, I obey the Word of God in caring for my citizenship on this earth as God commands; and if ever my allegiance to heaven is challenged by earthly government, heaven must prevail every time. In the meantime, God calls me to care for my soul’s position before Him as my foremost priority. He, then, takes care of all else – including, incredibly, my life and the government under which I reside.

Let’s look at the election to which God draws our attention. He speaks the mandate through Peter, an apostle of Jesus who at this specific time of his writing is about to die and enter the Lord’s presence. Peter said, “For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life, so I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things after I am gone” (2 Peter 2:14-15, NLT). So we see that whatever Peter is relaying to us in this passage is of utmost importance, because he wants us to remember it long after he is gone. 2 Peter 1:10 spells it out for us: “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” Do you see it here? We are to confirm – or make sure of – our calling and election. The election spoken of here is the election of you by God for His salvation through Jesus Christ. God cast His vote for you when He sent His only Son to die for your sin. In believing in Jesus Christ, you responded to God’s call. The Holy Spirit now admonishes us through Peter that our momentous responsibility is to confirm that election through a life meticulously examined under the lens of the holiness of God and powerfully submitted to righteousness by the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Charles Spurgeon, the “Prince of Preachers” (1834-1892) said it this way, “It requires a great deal of diligence and labor to make sure our calling and election; there must be a very close examination of ourselves, a very narrow search and strict enquiry, whether we are thoroughly converted, our minds enlightened, our wills renewed, and our whole souls changed as to the bent and inclination thereof; and to come to a fixed certainty in this requires the utmost diligence, and cannot be attained and kept without divine assistance, as we may learn from Psalm 139:23 and Romans 8:16.”

Have we recently spent time scrutinizing our election? Are we continually assessing our position with God? It is what we must do to ensure that we “never fall” (2 Peter 1:10, ESV). I am to be responsible as a citizen to vote for a presidential candidate whom I believe has good character traits, but I cannot ensure that fact. My greatest duty is to be sure of my own standing before God. A growing display of the fruit of God’s Spirit in my life, an increased devotion to Jesus Christ, and a growing sensitivity and repulsion to sin are evidence of my election – my having been chosen by God to be His child. This duty is so great that 2 Peter 1:11 (ESV) promises the following, grand result: “For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Did you hear that? Ensuring my election causes me to gain a rich entrance into the eternal kingdom of the Lord! No matter how great a president we have ever had or ever will have, none comes even slightly close to the glory of the King of kings and Lord of lords! No earthly government or kingdom provides the infinite peace and growth of the coming government of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 9:6-7). Though I cannot be confident of what will happen in the next election in the United States of America, I am guaranteed a truly miraculous result when I yield my life to God with earnestness and self-examination.

There is an election of which you can be certain. It is the election of your soul by God through the blood of Jesus Christ. If God commands us to confirm this election, then it, indeed, can be confirmed! God does not cruelly demand the impossible. He means for you to work it out, to keep growing, and to make your relationship with Him the thing about which you invest most of your affection, time, and care. With this priority in place, all other issues fall into their proper place. God will care for His own no matter who wins the presidency. You simply cannot be positive about earthly, government elections; but you can be confident of your heavenly election. And you can count on the One who is sovereign over all (Psalm 47:2, Ephesians 1:11). His kingdom is coming without regard to the presidency. His kingdom is coming for those who make their own election sure.

Lottery Odds Or Eternal Assets

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What kind of dreams are you pursuing? How sure are you of your chances of finding the joy for which you are looking?

Some people strive desperately to “get rich quick.” They will spend valuable income on a lottery that has incredible mathematical odds against a win. The miniscule chance of monetary gain is slim beyond understanding. But in an attempt to grasp at a fantasy, people do what is imprudent.

Perhaps lottery players feel that the small amount of money they put into the game of chance is negligible. They decide it is “no big deal” to pay small amounts for such a gamble. But isn’t every penny we have a blessing from God? And does not a whole bunch of little amounts spent regularly add up to a large amount? This principle of caring for each asset provided to us applies not only to gambling, but to all the ways we spend our money – and our time.

What if we moved from slim chances to eternal surety? What if we quit being obsessed with the temporal and truly sought to see the everlasting, as far-fetched as it might at first seem to a mind pulled from God? What if we actually believed what Jesus Christ stood and on a mountain one day and said to real human beings one day, “…Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20, ESV)? Could it be true that we can accumulate (lay up) assets in another world (heaven)?

Many people focus on Matthew 6:19 to the neglect of the verse I just mentioned. We tend to focus on the “don’t” instead of the “do.” We somehow get turned off by the “Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth…” (Matthew 6:19, ESV) – forgetting that the next words out of our Savior’s mouth assure us that we can currently be building a mass of heavenly wealth that cannot be lost!

I like, too, how Jesus connects the building of heavenly possessions with scientific truth. My treasure in the next world cannot be destroyed by living creatures, corroded by chemical reactions, or stolen by evil intentions. The assets accumulating in Heaven are one hundred percent safe. There is no gamble, because Jesus is protecting that wealth. You talk about a secure bank and secure investment! My treasure does not need to be kept under lock and key or safeguarded by high level passwords; your true wealth is “kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4, ESV).

In other words, the treasure I am building by investing in God’s work is not stored in this world. It is somewhere else – where God abides. It is safe! And better yet, I am safe, too, until I get there! The Bible says we have been born again “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed…” (1 Peter 1:4-5). No one can steal my true wealth, and no one can prevent me from getting go the place where God and it resides! Amen!

I have been traveling for a number of weeks, each Monday afternoon, to a Christian school in the area. I pack up my laptop, projector, my Bible, and head to the gymnasium/cafeteria to speak to nearly one hundred students in grades six through twelve about Christian apologetics (a reasonable, intelligent defense of biblical Christianity).

Each week, I speak my heart out, using every ounce of God-given passion to help these teens recognize the validity of the Bible and Jesus Christ. Counting on the Holy Spirit, I press forward, despite a few disgruntled and uninterested faces. Nonetheless, I watch many students suck in truth that they have never before heard. I sense God’s Spirit working, and I give it all I’ve got.

Yet there are times when I wonder what I am doing. The enemy tries to discourage me, saying, “What are you doing in a little gymnasium/cafeteria each week speaking to a group of teens in a small Western Pennsylvania school?” And I begin to ponder in my selfishness, “What prestige is there in this?” and “Who else would do this?”

Then God gets hold of me. He whispers that someone does this who is willing to be obedient in the smallest of things and invest in eternal treasure. Those who play the lottery gamble away little bits of money here and there, but I invest eternally little bits of time and effort every Monday afternoon. It may not seem like much. It is not glamorous. It does not bring me fame. But it is eternal investing, and I got to see a glimpse of that treasure just a few days ago.

A sixth grade girl in a pink hoodie approached me after one of my lessons about the reliability of the Old and New Testaments. I was packing up my projector when she stopped me with tears in her eyes and said, ‘Hi.” I responded, and she proceeded to say, “I gave my life to God on December 14 (a Monday afternoon!) because of your talks here, Mrs. Prindle.” My exclamation as my eyes lit up was, “That’s wonderful!” and “That makes everything I’ve done here worthwhile!” Then I gave this young girl a big hug.

The truly amazing part is that this sixth grade student had been a professed atheist. Her fellow students and teachers were aware of her lost condition. And yet, Jesus got hold of her one Monday afternoon! Now she is telling those same people about her new relationship with God.

There will be another person in the eternal New Heavens and New Earth because of a regular Monday afternoon investment. I refuse to gamble away my time and resources in this fading world. I will invest in eternal assets. I will hug precious people in Heaven who are somehow connected to me by the true investments Jesus has enabled me to make.

Let’s live like Moses did: “He thought is was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.” (Hebrews 11:26, NLT)

The Reason for Every Regular Day Jesus Lived

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– The God who designed a woman’s womb was birthed from one with much travail.

– The One whose joy is everlasting had to burst into tears as He took His first breath.

– Jesus who spins the planets around the sun now stands beneath the moon and stars.

– Christ who powers that bright orb now grows weary under its heat at the peak of day.

– The God of perfect, triune love feels the sting of hatred and desertion.

– The One who supplies all creatures with daily food experiences hunger pangs.

– Jesus who created the universe in six days without exertion now grows tired at each day’s end.

– Christ who is eternal now knows the gloom of impending death all His earthly days.

– The God who formed each person’s body with intricacy and wonder now walks about in flesh that feels pain.

– The One who is Lord of the universe becomes just one Person among many, unknown and unpopular.

– Jesus who owns the whole world now faces the sting of poverty.

– Christ who never sinned becomes the sacrifice for all sin.

– God who sustains the life of all creation must raise Himself from the reality of death.

– The Christ of Heaven must ascend back to Heaven.

– The God of all glory who willingly chose to do all this will come again to restore us to the glory He originally intended.

We celebrate at Christmastime the day of the birth of Jesus Christ. While this is important, we cannot forget the days after His birth and the totality of the life He lived preceding His death and resurrection. For these days, we are most thankful. These days enabled Him to be made “perfect through suffering” on our behalf. (Hebrews 2:10, ESV).

Jesus suffered long before His crucifixion. The highest of all beings descended to the lowest of human experiences. Isaiah 53:2-3 (ESV) assures us that Jesus was not a glamorous or popular person and that, in fact, He was “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”

When we hear in Hebrews 2:10 that Jesus was made “perfect through suffering,” God does not mean to say that Jesus had ever been imperfect or sinful. The word rendered “perfect” here means “to be brought to completion” or “to have the end goal accomplished.” How amazing that God chose to complete the job of participating in our suffering by enduring the regular, human struggle – including Monday mornings! – from the day of His birth to the day of His death.

Hebrews 2:10 heartens us, because we realize that the founder of our salvation knows exactly how we feel in the human experience. Jesus began the journey of identifying with us from the moment He descended to the womb of Mary. And every minute after that added to the process of Christ fully identifying with our frustration, pain, loneliness, and heartache.

The culmination of all His days was the moment He cried out on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30, ESV). The work was then complete. All our sin had been paid for, as Jesus had walked all His days as we walk in order to be the perfect substitute for us.

Thank you, Jesus, for your humble birth in to the world – and for EVERY DAY thereafter.

“Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17, NLT)

Thy Word Have I Hid on My Smartphone

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Many Christians are familiar with Psalm 119:11 in the King James Version, even if they do not know its reference, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” And if we have ever heard of these words from God, the question is, do we take them seriously? I mean to say that Psalm 119:11 is no less the Word of God than John 3:16. The command and promise of this verse written three thousand years ago are not archaic, but rather timeless and accurate. This precept is not inferior to any others; it stands as God’s eternal edict, and I believe we will see its main truth reverberate into the future – leading up to the last days of history.

With the advent of the laptop computer, the iPad, the tablet, the smartphone, etc., a phenomenon has arrived that is much like a two-edged sword – it cuts both ways – for good and bad. We use our electronic devices very often to reference needed information. At our fingertips – just one click away – lies a world of data. Access to worthy material can be a very profitable thing. Of course, much knowledge without wisdom can be dangerous, but that is a story for another day. In terms of our nearly instant access to Bibles through apps of various types, many Christians have grown accustomed to using their smartphones, tablets, or computers for regular study and irregular or casual interfacing with the Bible’s contents. This can be beneficial, and it can also prove detrimental if we lean too heavily on the constant and immediate availability of the information on which we are relying.

There is a reason that God said through his prophet, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11, KJV). Notice the Lord’s emphasis on the fact that the Word is hidden or stored up in the human heart. While the scrolls and parchment on which the original Scripture was written were materials outside of the human heart, the people of God understood that the text had to be taken from the material on which it was written and processed diligently by their minds in order to ultimately reach a place of rest in the heart. Without the printing press – let alone computers – God’s people relied heavily on oral transmission. They spoke about God’s Word and repeated it over and over in an attempt to pass it on to the generations to follow. But this oral practice was also a way to get the Word of God settled in the very neuronal pathways of their own brains. The Word was second nature to many of them. It flowed freely when needed, for God has rigged our brains in such a way that the more we rehearse and interact with information in varying ways, the deeper the pathway that is engraved in our brains becomes – like a well-worn trail. This makes it easier to pull that information out again when needed or prompted. All of this scientific data can be explored with an article I wrote during my study of educational leadership and brain function. The article can be found at our website: Dendrites and Deuteronomy: The Alignment of Brain Research and the Timeless Word of God, or in my book, “Living in Awe.”

One potential problem with ongoing, momentary access to the Bible is that we begin to rely too heavily on its availability outside our own hearts and minds. We may be lulled into a false sense of security that since we can get any verse of the Bible at any time we want, there is no need to memorize it or understand its context. This is a false assumption. If the Bible is only outside of you, then your mind is not able to make critical connections on the spot. All the processing happens on your computer or your phone. Since you don’t have God’s Word hidden in your own heart, your brain on its own cannot associate God’s promise to a need that arises, or God’s command to a situation that occurs. You will rely on a Google search to do the connecting. While it’s true that we have always had concordances to do the same type of thing, our dependence has grown by leaps and bounds due to immediate access and the convenience of carrying the small smartphone. However, if we make our brain the main computer and the smartphone only a tool, we will be able to connect God’s promises to everyday living in a way the Lord intended – as coming from our own heart’s storehouse of the Word!

The second potential dilemma we have with the Bible and other valuable literary works being primarily online is what may happen in the future. At the outset, I must mention that I enjoy and benefit greatly from technology. One of my published devotional books is also available in a Kindle version. God gives us creativity and innovation that we might honor Him. But in this broken world, what is intended for good may also be used for evil. Technology can be employed for building the kingdom of God, and technology can also be used to damage the kingdom of God. In the future, as the “last days” of which Jesus spoke progress, we may see technology manipulated for purposes against God. Nonetheless, the ultimate victory of Jesus is sure. Consider, though, what may happen according to how the Bible describes the nature of the Antichrist and the end times.

First, we know from Jesus that the order of the day for the end times will be deception. He proclaimed in Matthew 24:24 (ESV), “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” The apostle Paul corroborates this concept in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, 9-10 (ESV, emphasis mine), “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God … The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” In writing warnings to us about the coming of many with the spirit of antichrist, the Apostle John declares in 1 John 2:26 (ESV), “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.”

It is crystal clear that a hallmark characteristic of the Antichrist is trickery. No wonder, for Jesus is the Truth, and the spirit of the antichrist is exactly that – against Christ – against the Truth embodied! Accordingly, Satan is known as “a liar and the father of lies,” a title applied to him by the Lord in John 8:44 (ESV). Another attribute of the Antichrist will be his temporary power. As we observed in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, he will “exalt himself against every so-called god or object of worship,” and he will set himself up in the very temple of the true God! He will have a wicked and fading power to deceive many people. The dying world will look to him for hope and peace in their great fear. As Unger’s Bible Dictionary notes, “This sinister demon-inspired leader will rise to dominate the world in the end-time, persecute the saints, seek to destroy the Jew and banish the name of God and His Christ from the earth, and thus take over.”

All that being understood, it seems logical that the Antichrist will deceptively dominate all forms of communication possible. In order to beguile the nations, it makes sense that the Antichrist – operating at the fullest capacity that God will sovereignly allow before the return of Christ – will harness every viable option for his treachery. Is not the internet as it now stands a great thing for Satan to attempt to control in order to deceive the world if possible? Jesus told us in Matthew 24:14 (ESV), “And the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The internet and satellites provide an easy way for everyone to hear, even simultaneously. Will not the master deceiver, the devil, use the same venue for his last attempt to destroy the coming of God’s kingdom?

As far back as 2008, Scholastic.com published an article titled, “The End of Textbooks?” The work informs us of all the reasons traditional textbooks in the classrooms of 8-12 grade students need to be replaced with electronic books, just as many of the college classrooms have done. What if the world community continues on in its “phasing out” of hard print? What if everything is moved to electronic version and most of our hard print books begin to disappear as they age? The history books and text books and hard print Bibles vanish. Then what? How easy would it be for the Antichrist, the great deceiver, to take over the internet and wipe away all information he then wants hidden? Or worse yet – and more in line with his nature – change the information to suit his purposes? A twisting of the truth is worse than its disappearance, for it is difficult to discern. Even now Satan tries to distort God’s Word among the Christian community. Can you image the grand distortion of that day of which God so carefully warned us?

What if we depended on all electronic Bibles and electronic forms of historical and scientific information? What if the Antichrist took control of that, and we had not enough hard copies with which to compare? And what if we had not truly “hidden His Word in our hearts” so that even we cannot discern the fraud?

What if the Holy Spirit really meant what He said – that the Word must be hidden in our hearts if we are counting on not sinning against God?

Take heart, and take God at His Word. Use every possible tool to grow in knowledge of Him. Also grow in wisdom. Know that it is not just a suggestion, but a command, that we hide God’s Word in our hearts so that we do not sin against Him. Read the Word. Ponder it. Talk about it in conversation. Write it. Apply it. Memorize it. Go to it over and over.

Oh, and hold onto your hard copy of the Bible!

References:

Merrill F. Unger, Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Chicago, IL: Moody Bible Institute, 1966), 68.

David Rapp, “The End of Textbooks?” Scholastic.com. Nov/Dec 2008. Web. Aug 31, 2015.

Animals in the Scheme of Things

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A student recently asked me if animal experimentation is wrong from a biblical perspective. This is an important question that actually gives opportunity to highlight the invaluable nature of humanity, the preciousness of animals, and the incomprehensible love of God.

I will say at the outset that my heart is particularly grateful for animals used in the field of medicine, as the insulin I had to inject for survival during my first years as an insulin-dependent diabetic was pork insulin. Pork insulin was made from pig pancreases. As Erika Gebel, Ph.D., notes, “We’ve come a long way since more than two tons of pig parts were required to produce eight ounces of purified insulin. Today, the insulin that comes in vials, pens, and pumps is not from pigs and cows but from designer microorganisms. These critters provide more of the hormones (and in forms more similar to the body’s own) to the millions of people across the globe who depend on a steady stream of high-quality insulin.” (1)

All of us are touched personally by disease and deformity. Everyone loves or knows someone who survives and/or benefits because of animal use in medicine. Each of us has also been touched by the lives of animals in other ways. God has made them good and beneficial for a number of reasons. We enjoy the companionship of domesticated animals as pets and the beauty and mystery of other creatures.

But as our culture continues to deemphasize the value of human life while simultaneously emphasizing the significance of the environment and animals, we begin to see questions surface. As Christians, we rightfully need to think through the issues using biblical principles; for the biblical perspective is the only perspective that is always correct and never changing. Despite our culture’s changing standards, God’s Word is timeless, and its principles stand true through all of history. As we will explore in the Scriptures in a moment, human value is above that of both the environment and animals (though the other parts of creation are vital and blessed!). William A. Dembski (mathematician, philosopher, and theologian) asserts, “Genesis clearly teaches that humans are the end of creation. For instance, Genesis describes the creation as merely ‘good’ before humans are created but describes it as ‘very good’ only after they are created. God’s activity in creation is therefore principally concerned with forming a universe that will provide a home for humans. Although this anthropocentrism sits uneasily in the current mental environment, it is not utterly foreign to it. Indeed, the intelligibility of the physical world through our intellects and, in particular, through such intellectual achievements as mathematics suggests that we live in a meaningful world whose meaning was placed there for our benefit.” (2)

I appeal to two passages of Scripture at the outset. First, Genesis 1:20-28 (ESV):

    And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
    And God said, “Let the earth bring for the living creatures according to their kinds – livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
    Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
    So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
    And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Notice that the living creatures were created and deemed “good” by their Creator. Notice also that when God created man and woman, He jumped into a new paradigm, making them “in his own image” – unlike anything else He had made. Humans were designed to have a unique relationship with God that no plant or animal or galaxy can ever have, no matter how beautiful or enjoyable. Additionally, humans were instructed to “have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Part of the human task of filling and subduing the world God created was to dominate the other creatures. Certainly this dominion is not for evil purposes, as evil goes against the very nature of God. The subduing of creation is for the purpose of building society.

The second passage to which I appeal at the start is Psalm 8:3-8 (ESV):

    When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
    Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

We see here reiterated the emphasis of Genesis. Added though, is the truth that people are made just a bit lower than heavenly beings and are crowned with glory and honor. All things are put under our feet in order that our true destiny of godly glory and honor is fulfilled. Again, I add that it is dishonorable to mistreat any part of God’s creation out of a malicious heart. Moving toward honor and glory in a broken and sinful world must happen as we seek to do so within the parameters of God’s plan, for honor and glory can only come from Him.

Our Lord clearly tells us that unneeded cruelty is wrong. Proverbs 12:10 (ESV) proclaims, “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” Jesus Himself often uses the metaphor of being a Shepherd, and He even speaks of “laying down his life for the sheep” (John 10:15, ESV). When we look at righteous King David of the Old Testament, we see a man who valued the keeping of His sheep enough to risk his own life in protecting them from lions and bears (1 Samuel 17:34-35). In fact, when necessary, he would kill the beasts if both the life of the sheep and his life were threatened by them. So we see – that in a fallen world – the best option to protect what is valuable can involve death.

Research seems to demonstrate that domesticated animals can be a benefit to their owners in terms of emotional and physical health. This seems right, as God made animals to live on the same earth as humans, yet under our ultimate dominion and as part of the plan for us. In the same way, animals can benefit humans by providing health research for the treatment and cure of illness and disease.

Here is the ultimate biblical point that brings home the case for both the precious nature of animals and the allowance for their use in saving human health and life. Think about our redemption from sin. Our salvation from our own sinful nature is necessary to preserve our eternal life with God. Without salvation from sin, we die one day physically and we die spiritually for an eternity. Our Creator thought our redemption so vital that He provided His own Son as the sacrifice to stand in our place. His death on the Cross and His blood that was shed appease the wrath of a holy God against our sin (Ephesians 1:7).

God sacrificed Himself in real flesh – and in real space and time – to save us. (No other religion’s god claims to have done this utterly unique and historically evidential act.) Our value is inestimable. Not only do we read of our worth in His Word, but we know of our value because the infinite Son of God gave His own life for ours. Two thousand years ago, Jesus began the restoration project of giving back to us our intended glory under the sovereignty of God. Made in His image to reign under Him, we will see that reality in the future. The cost was the very life of the Son of God.

Now think about this. Before Jesus came to earth to die and do the most pivotal thing God could do to demonstrate our human value and His love for us, how did He instruct humans to look forward by faith to that coming promise? The answer is critical: He told humans to make animal sacrifices. Innumerable animals were continuously slain so that their precious blood could point to the perfect blood of Jesus. As Scott Langston and E. Ray Clendenen note, “Leviticus 1-7 gives the most detailed description of Israel’s sacrificial system, including five types of sacrifices.” (3) As a matter of fact, when Adam and Eve attempted to cover themselves with fig leaves after the shame of their sin, God quickly demonstrated the inadequacy of such an attempt, and made them garments of skin (Genesis 3:7, 21). Skin clothing requires the death of an animal. And from then on, humans were instructed to deal with their sins by shedding animal blood to look forward to the final answer in the blood of Jesus (Genesis 4:3-5).

Sacrificial animals were precious enough (having been made by God) to foreshadow the work of Jesus. But they were not as valuable as the people for whom their blood would temporarily point to redemption by Jesus. God Himself makes clear both animal value and the limits of that value when compared to humanity. To God, our spiritual hope is worth animal sacrifice. Most assuredly, then, our physical health is worth it, too.

God cares for the animals. “He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry” (Psalm 147:9, ESV). Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them” (Matthew 6:26a, ESV). But then He directly adds, “Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26b) This rhetorical question Jesus asks, which follows an affirmation of His care for little birds, drives home the point. Animals are important. God sees all that happens with them. But people are more important, and one of the ways God has certainly provided for humans is by animal life.

We rejoice in the New Heavens and New Earth God that God is creating, because the sin curse will be erased and all disease eradicated (Revelation 22:3). People and animals will live without the hindrance of sin’s nasty effects. For now, we thank God for His calling on us to take dominion of this world under His sovereignty. Above all, we thank Him for the unimaginable price He paid for our entrance to the new world – foreshadowed at great cost by precious animals – and fulfilled in His Son. As I Peter 1:18-21 (ESV) tells us:

    Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

All of us who value animals and what they provide by way of medical help and emotional help rejoice in this promise about the millennial reign of Christ in the beginning of that new world (Isaiah 11:6-9, ESV):

    The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

References:

(1) Erika Gebel. “Making Insulin: A behind-the-scenes look at producing a lifesaving medication.” Diabetes Forecast. July 2013. Web. Jan. 27 2015.

(2) William A. Dembski, The End of Christianity (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2009), 143-44.

(3) Scott Langston & E. Ray Clendenen, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 1429.