Christmas Vacation

I have been writing this blog for almost one year. I get up early each morning and I enjoy simplifying the word of God so that even a bone head like me could understand it.

The problem that I have is that I do not see any fruit coming from this effort. I am now praying and asking God if this is something that He wants me to do or does He have something else for me to do?

I am going to take some time off and reflect and pray and I may resume after the first of the year.

May God bless and keep you.

Merry Christmas,

Ed

Make New Friends

In verse 12 of chapter 14, contains one of those messages that really makes following Jesus so challenging. He tells us that we should invite the poor, crippled, lame and the blind over for dinner instead of our friends and relatives. My human nature cries out! Can’t I just donate some money? Or pray for them? C’mon God, my house full of cripples? Along with forgiveness, this is the other edict that helps to create that narrow door to heaven.

To meet Jesus at this juncture of His word, I started reaching out and tried striking up a friendship with the less fortunate, invited them over for dinner and introduced them to friends. My wife and I help to support a young lady who is challenged and it has been very rewarding. In fact we were all set to provide her with a car until we found out that she didn’t have a license and was unlikely to ever get one in the future. We still laugh over that one.

We had a special offering for a missionary the other night at our Sunday service and as Susan and I were going up to leave our money in the basket, we recognized our challenged friend ahead of us with her offering in hand. It felt great to see God work in her and our life.

God finishes up with verse 14 saying that God will rewards us for giving to those who cannot repay us. I wonder if I should send this verse to my mortgage company? I don’t think they would get it or care.

"Where does it say that?"

In Luke 14:7, Jesus teaches a lesson in humility. I opened up my search engine and typed in, “lessons in humility”. I thought that maybe I would find a modern example of humility so that I could compare it to this chapter of the bible. To my surprise, there is no example, using those key words, that does not involve the name of Jesus or the bible as a whole, at least on the first several pages of links and web pages.

I don’t know about you, but that is scary and inspiring at the same time. We live in a world that has gone from humble to “hell, no!” in my lifetime. Conventional wisdom is, if you are humble in this world, you are a sucker that will be walked on. Parents used to teach their child to be humble and unselfish and now kids are taught to get theirs before someone else gets theirs. When I played organized sports as a child, it was always understood that the home run hitter ran humbly around the bases, the running back scored the winning touchdown with the attitude that he had done so before and would do it again in the future and the player who made the basket would have been run off the court if he made a throat slash sign or pumped his fist to signify his own greatness.

In this chapter, Jesus tells His followers (you and me) that we are to be humble and He uses the example of going to a wedding and choosing to sit at the head of the table without being assigned to sit there. He tells us that it would be embarrassing to be asked to move so that a more important person could have that seat of honor while you are relegated to a position further down the table. In this example, Christ tells us that it would be better to take the lower position at the table when we arrive and be invited by the host to sit in a more honored seat closer to the head of the table. Humility and self depreciation are not tools that this world admires but Jesus tells us in this example that the proud will be humbled and the humbled will be honored in the end.

With this in mind, there are going to be some surprised people on judgement day.

The Insincere Invitation

The other night I was at a street fair that takes place in the town that I live in. I overheard a conversation between a fellow who was part of a Christian ministry and another person who claimed to have no faith in God at all. The man, a self described atheist, insisted that the Christian read a best seller from a renown secular writer that claimed that God did not exist. The Christian insisted that the man needed to read the bible instead.

When the man who lives his life without God in it insisted that the Christian read the secular book first, he responded by saying, “why should I read a book about how life is just a black abys ending in an unconscious dirt nap?” He went on to explain that if he lives his life according to God’s word, statistically he will be happier, have a better relationship with his family and friends and lead a life of less stress in the face of constant duress and will open his eyes in heaven and live with God for eternity. If he is wrong and his fate is just the darkness of the grave with endless sleep, he will have lived a happier life on this earth and if the man of no faith is wrong, he will face an eternity separated from God.

We, as men, seem to always have a preference to want to hang our hat on the word or interpretation of another man. It is almost like we think that the word of God is too simple and needs to be more rigid or more slack. The man in the above story wants to shed the word of God completely and follow the writings of another man as if they were God’s words. To have faith that nothing exists requires a great deal of faith indeed and to believe another person’s creed requires more faith than I have.

In Luke 14:1, we run smack dab into another kind of faith, the modified word of God. This word is always used to put one person in judge of another. The modified law always has a Godly root source, in this case it is the commandment involving doing work on the Sabbath day.

Jesus was in the home of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath and just by coincidence, there was a man there in obvious need of healing. The reason that we know this is because Luke tells us that the man was swollen in the arms and legs. Luke also tells us that the people in the home were watching Jesus closely.

Let’s step back a bit and review this situation. Here are some points to think about:

1. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, He has been hounded by the religious leaders of the day and now He is invited into the home of one of the religious leaders.

2. There just happens to be a person in obvious need of healing, positioned in such a way that he and his condition can’t be missed, when Jesus walks in. This person was probably recruited because of his afflictions and it can be safely assumed that he knew that Jesus was capable of healing him.

3. Everyone in the house was to be a witness to the fact that Jesus was going to do something wrong.

This sounds like a set up to me and it took great courage on the part of Jesus to walk into what He surely knew was a trap.

He gets right to the point by asking the experts in religious law, “Is it lawful to heal this man on the Sabbath?” Luke tells us that they refused to answer Him and Jesus touched the man and he was healed. Jesus turned to his hosts and asked them, “If your son or one of your livestock were to fall into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you want to get them out?” Again the religious experts would not answer.

These religious men thought that they would trap Jesus with the word as they understood it. The fact is that they convicted themselves by their non action.

Ugly Bookends

Just after speaking these words to the crowd before Him, the Pharisees in the crowd jumped up and tried to get Jesus to leave by telling Him that Herod Antipas wanted to kill Him. Now, I’m confused. If the Pharisees were His enemy, why were they warning Him that people wanted to kill Him? Could it be that when Jesus was talking about the narrow door and how religious phonies were not going to heaven that the religious spies in the crowd panicked? If they openly attacked His words the crowd might have turned on them and recognized that they were being referenced by Jesus in His teachings.

Jesus responded by telling the Pharisees that they and Herod Antipas could pound salt in a rat hole! Imagine a fired up Jesus telling His adversaries that He wasn’t frightened by their threats. He went on to say that He wasn’t going to stop doing His job because of fear of the enemy. He was going to continue casting out demons and healing people and instead of running away, He was planning to go to the enemy in the city of Jerusalem.

False prophets acquire money, armies and subjects as long as they can. When the heat comes down, they run away and try to form a little kingdom somewhere all of the while hoping that their oppressors will forget about them. Jesus didn’t do any of that. He went to face the enemy and to establish His kingdom in Jerusalem. I live in a world that thirsts for a super hero and seems to be able to miss the intention and exploits of the greatest Hero that has ever lived.

Staying in the 14th chapter of Luke, verse 34 records the sorrow that Jesus felt towards His beloved city of Jerusalem and it’s people. This indifferent city and it’s inhabitants have a history of killing God’s prophets and messengers. Christ talks of how he wants to gather his children together but is rejected by them and He comments on how their house is empty and that they will never see Him again until they ask for His blessing.

We, in this country could very well qualify for the same fate as Jerusalem. We have steadily moved away from our founding Godly roots and foundations and have developed a society that murders its unborn citizens with the excuse that personal freedom trumps spiritual responsibility. A society that is systematically culling out the offspring of the poor and the uneducated using abortion as birth control and actually have the groups and races of people who are affected the deepest by these heinous acts, march and support their very existence.

On the other end of the spectrum we are allowing the old and infirmed to die “humane” deaths of starvation and dehydration because they, like the unborn, have no value in our society. With this type of bookend plan to eliminate those of us who are inconvenient aren’t you glad that your parents didn’t believe in abortion? And aren’t you a little afraid what is going to happen as society helps you “exit” when you are old and feeble?

I always say, be nice to everyone because you never know who will be the one that cares for you in the retirement home.

The Narrow Door

As we continue in Luke 14:22, the author tells us that Jesus was on a journey to meet His destiny in Jerusalem. If this took place in a modern movie, we would hear the ominous and stirring tone of the background music as the Lord traversed the countryside through the small towns and villages. We would see montages with only the sound of that music as Jesus interacts with everyday folks on His way to Calvary.

Those common people seem to understand that Jesus had great purpose in His mission and that is reflected in the question that everyone asks everyday in our daily lives. That question is, who and how many will be saved and going to heaven?

In the presidential election that just passed and in almost every other election that we have ever had, the candidates pander to their constituency. The answer that Jesus gave was anything but what would come out of a candidates mouth. He answered the question that came from one of the villagers who asked, “Lord will there only be a very few of us going to heaven? Jesus told this person that the door to heaven is narrow.

If Jesus was a false prophet He would have said that the door is wide and all you have to do is give me some money and I will give you my rules to follow so that you can go there. He went on to say that the door to heaven will be closed at some time in the future by the Father.

He further paints a picture of people standing outside of the locked door requesting that it be reopened and the people gathered will say things like, “you know us, we ate and drank with you and we watched you teach in our streets”. The bible says that the Father will tell these people to go away because they are people who do evil.

At that time, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth as those on the outside watch the children of God enter into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus goes on to tell us that we may be surprised by who actually makes it into heaven as those who are despised now will be honored then.

That reminds me of a joke. A woman dies and goes to heaven and is issued an old beat up VW to drive and a clean, modest apartment to live in. She sees her gardener go by one day, being driven in a Rolls Royce to a mansion on the hill. The woman went to complain and was told that her gardener spent his whole life serving God and based on that fact, greater things were given to them. As she drove her little car home her spirits were lifted when she saw her pastor pull up to his pup tent on a skate board.

There are many people who go through the motions of serving God and only serve themselves. We read of the Pharisees and the religious leaders in the time of Christ and judge them when all of the time our actions are worse.

If God chose to call all of His believers home on a Sunday during church services, would there be enough people gone to notice? Would those who were left behind know why?

Bread of Life

Another simple example explaining a complicated subject resides in Luke 13:20. Jesus tells us that the kingdom of God is like a woman baking bread. She uses a great deal of flour in her baking but a small amount of yeast permeates every part of the dough. In Matthew 16:6, the author helps to shed light on the intentions of the passage in Luke. According to the King James version, Luke reports that, Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

When Jesus spoke in these plain terms, the religious spies that followed Him and reported every word must of had a difficult time getting up fast enough so that they could go and tell their benefactors. Like all people of faith who cling to rules and regulations designed and imposed by men, the Pharisees and the Sadducees saw their beliefs as the flour and this interloper, Jesus, as the yeast.

Man has been introducing variations of God’s word since it’s inception and while I love what yeast does to my sourdough bread, I will follow my Lord’s example and delete it from the flour of my faith.

Grey Poupon, Anyone?

Luke continues with an accounting of what is known as the “Illustration of the Mustard Seed” presented by Jesus in Luke 13 18-19. This innocuous but important plant that Jesus used to express what faith really is was chosen for good reason. A mustard seed, in Greek it is known as sinapi and the Hebrew equivalent is chardal, is typically 2 mm in diameter or 5/64 of an inch in size. From this tiny seed, grows a huge plant that belies it’s humble origin.

Jewish tradition states that mustard is not a garden vegetable but instead was grown in fields without real cultivation or restriction. As I mentioned before, the seeds are tiny and are characterized by rapid germination. There are few plants that grow as large as the mustard plant may grow in one season. Because of the germination process, mustard (like faith) planted one day, could be growing by the following day. It is not unusual for a wild mustard plant to grow to be over ten feet tall even in milder climates that have a great deal of sun exposure. I have seen very humble people who have very little outward and worldly talents, advance and help others grow in faith even though they are truly uncultivated or uneducated in the formal word of God. Those around them were unimpressed by the size of their seed and equally unimpressed by the wild and large plant that they became.

To summarize this parable and to determine why Jesus used this plant as an example, He emphasized that the small seed grows into a very large plant in a rapid fashion. All of these qualities are found in our faith in Him as our Lord and Savior. I appreciate that God uses good examples like this to teach us.

"I have come to bring fire..."

Moving on in Luke13:10, the author gives a narrative of Jesus teaching in the synagogue and upon seeing a woman who was sick, He went over to her and healed her. A leader in charge of the synagogue blew up and said that there were six days out of the week that a person could be healed and criticized Jesus for healing on the Sabbath.

For those of you who prefer the sweet, patient, non confrontational, pliant and sweet Jesus of books and movies, I am sorry to disappoint you. The Jesus of the bible confronted His critic (and Satan) and called him a hypocrite. After that, He went on to lay out for the man the many ways that religious men failed to live up to the very law that He was accused of breaking. This confrontation, shamed the critics of Jesus and caused the crowd to rejoice.

We are always trying to make Jesus to be something that He is not. People use a false image of Jesus when they tell us that Jesus was just a peaceful guy who avoided confrontation when in fact He tells that He has come to bring fire to the earth. We have religious leaders as well as secular leaders always telling us of their version of Jesus with the intention of getting us to follow them lockstep. The Jesus that I know is the Jesus in this verse, one who heals those of us who are or have been in the grips of Satan and He is not afraid of confronting His enemies in the past, today or tomorrow.

Leafy and Fruity?

In Luke 13:9 Jesus shares the parable of the fig tree. It goes something like this. A man planted a fig tree in his garden and was disappointed that the tree refused to produce fruit, year after year. Finally, after three years, the man decided to have his gardener remove the tree. The gardener protested and asked that the tree be left alone and he promised to give it special care and fertilizer, telling his boss that if the tree doesn’t produce next year after the special effort, he will not stand in the way of cutting it down.

God uses farming references all through the bible. I like that because it is simple enough for even I, to understand. I have read several commentaries regarding this parable and how it is supposed to be a reference to Israel and how God gave Israel an extension of time before God gave up on them.

I look at this parable from the standpoint of my life. For years, God looked at my life and observed that I was going about my human business, working hard, not robbing any liquor stores or beating anyone up, I paid my taxes and was kind to some old ladies and all that good stuff. But I had existed for forty seven years, had a good and leafy appearance that would make any fig tree proud but to that point I failed to produce any thing of value for the kingdom of God.

Twelve years later, my life does produce Godly fruit as I follow His word. In my forty seventh year I responded to the extra care and spiritual food that God allowed me and I am grateful that He didn’t give up on me. The world that we live in only requires that we have a “leafy” persona, the fruit is not really required and is quite rare.

Hating Sin and Loving the Sinner

In Luke 13:4, Jesus compares the deaths of the aforementioned worshipers in the Temple to another group of eighteen men who died when the Tower of Siloam fell on them. He asked the crowd to determine if there was a difference from the standpoint of sinfulness between the two groups that died?

A modern example of this might be as follows:

This is an article that appeared in the Baltimore Sun newspaper:

Mayor Sheila Dixon and Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III today implored residents of a Northeast Baltimore neighborhood to help authorities solve the fatal slaying of a former city councilman who was gunned down early this morning during a robbery of a jazz club.

About 1:45 a.m., Kenneth N. Harris Sr., 45, was shot once in the upper body outside the New Haven Lounge, in the Northwood Plaza shopping center after he ran from three men who accosted him and the club's owner at the front door, police said.

One of the men shot Harris, a married father with two children, who was able to get into his car and drive a short distance away before stopping. The three suspects robbed the club owner and other employees inside the store, and then fled out a back door into the Hillen neighborhood.

"We really need the community, if they have any information, to speak up on this," said Dixon during a news conference at police headquarters, where she was flanked by the police commissioner and other city council members. "It's just extremely hard, right at this moment, to speak about how traumatic this is for our city and our community."

Harris, who lost a bid for City Council President last year, had stopped by the New Haven Lounge, which regularly features musical acts, to greet the owner, Keith Covington, and borrow a corkscrew, a police spokesman said.

Paramedics transported Harris to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 2 a.m., police said. Harris's family, through a spokesman, issued a brief written statement.

The murder victim in this article appears to be an innocent man who happened to stop by a friends place to pick up a cork screw and was randomly killed during a robbery. In Mr. Harris’s obituary it is noted that he was a member of the Baptist church, was married and was the father of two children.

Christ asks us in Luke 13:2 - 5, if there is any difference between the man (in regards to salvation) who was murdered and those who murdered him? The answer is that God tells us that we must repent in order to achieve salvation, period. If the man who was murdered was unable to repent prior to dying and the man who murdered him had plenty of time on death row to repent before being executed, that would strike us as being unfair.

The truth is that we don’t know how long we have to repent and accept Jesus as our personal Savior. The bible says that tomorrow is promised to no man and that God hates sin but loves the sinner.

Secular and Bible History Meet

As we start at the beginning of Luke 13:1, we see that Jesus was informed of the murder of worshipers as they were sacrificing at the Temple in Jerusalem. The person who was responsible for the murders was none other than, Pontius Pilate.

It is interesting how I have known the name of this man, all through my life. As a child, I was introduced to his name as I heard and read of the Passion of Christ in elementary school. During those very years of my childhood, a discovery was made that proved, from a historical standpoint, Pilate existed. I have included a link to an interesting website that highlights bible history located at http://www.bible-history.com/empires/pilate.html . On that site you will see a picture of a block of limestone with the following information on it.

It wasn't long ago when many scholars were questioning the actual existence of a Roman Governor with the name Pontius Pilate, the procurator who ordered Jesus' crucifixion. In June 1961 Italian archaeologists led by Dr. Frova were excavating an ancient Roman amphitheatre near Caesarea-on-the-Sea (Maritima) and uncovered this interesting limestone block. On the face is a monumental inscription which is part of a larger dedication to Tiberius Caesar which clearly says that it was from "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea."

The literal reading of the three lines inscribed are:

Line One: TIBERIEUM,,

Line Two: (PON) TIUS

Line Three: (PRAEF) ECTUS IUDA (EAE)

This is the only known occurrence of the name Pontius Pilate in any ancient inscription. Visitors to Caesarea's theater today see a replica, the original is in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It is interesting as well that there have been a few bronze coins found that were struck form 29-32 AD by Pontius Pilate.

From that same website, I found some other information regarding Pilate. It is, as follows:

Pontius Pilate's family name, Pontius, indicates that he was of the tribe of Pontii. It was one of the most famous of the ancient Samnite names. The surname or cognomen Pilatus indicates the familia, or branch of the gens Pontius. The name is uncertain, though some think it may have meant "armed with the pilum" (a spear or javelin). One interesting note is about another man in Roman history bearing the name. Lucius Pontius Aquila was a friend of Cicero and one of the assassins of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March (44 BC) when the would-be king was murdered.

The only information regarding Pontius Pilate is the New Testament and two Jewish writers: Josephus and Philo of Alexandria. By far our greatest amount of information comes from the Jewish writer Flavius Josephus who composed his two great works, the Antiquities of the Jews and the Jewish War, towards the end of the first century. There are also several "less reliable" traditions and legends. One early German legend says that Pilate was an illegitimate son of Tyrus, king of Mayence, who had Pilate taken to Rome as a prisoner. After he had apparently committed a murder he was sent to Pontus, where he enlisted in the Roman Army and proved himself by winning many victories against the barbarous tribes in the north.

Tacitus, when speaking of the cruel punishments inflicted by Nero upon the Christians, tells us that Christ, from whom the name "Christian" was derived, was put to death when Tiberius was emperor by the procurator Pontius Pilate (Annals xv.44). Apart from this reference and what is told us in the New Testament, all our knowledge of him is derived from two Jewish writers, Josephus the historian and Philo of Alexandria.

The Roman Procurator

Tiberius Caesar, who succeeded Augustus in AD 14, appointed Pontius Pilate as governor of Judea in 26 AD. Pilate arrived and made his official residence in Caesarea Maritima, the Roman capital of Judea. Pilate was the 5th procurator of Judea. The province of Judea, formerly the kingdom of Archelaus, was formed in 6 AD when Archelaus was exiled and his territory transformed into a Roman province. Although it included Samaria and Idumaea, the new province was known simply as Judea or Judaea. It generally covered the S. half of Palestine, including Samaria. Judea was an imperial province (i.e. under the direct control of the emperor), and was governed by a procurator.

The procurator was devoted to the emperor and directly responsible to him. His primary responsibility was financial. The authority of the Roman procurators varied according to the appointment of the emperor. Pilate was a procurator cum porestate, (possessed civil, military, and criminal jurisdiction). The procurator of Judea was somehow under the authority of the legate of Syria. Usually a procurator had to be of equestrian rank and experienced in military affairs.

Under the rule of a procurator cum porestate like Pontius Pilate, the Jews were allowed as much self-government as possible under imperial authority. The Jewish judicial system was run by the Sanhedrin and court met in the "hall of hewn stone", but if they desired to inflict the death penalty, the sentence had to be given and executed by the Roman procurator.

Pontius Pilate and the Jews

According to history Pilate made an immediate impression upon the Jews when he moved his army headquarters from Caesarea to Jerusalem. They marched into the city with their Roman standards, bearing the image of the "divine emperor" and set up their headquarters right in the corner of the Temple in a palace-fortress called "Antonia," which outraged the Jews. Pilate quickly learned their zealous nature and political power within the province and, according to Josephus, ordered the standards to be returned to Caesarea (Josephus Ant. 18.3.1-2; Wars 2.9.2-4).

Pilate made some other mistakes according to history before the time when he ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. One time he placed on the walls of his palace on Mt. Zion golden shields bearing inscriptions of the names of various gods. Tiberius had to personally order the removal of the shields. Another time Pilate used Temple revenue to build his aqueduct. There is another incident only recorded in the Bible where Pilate ordered the slaughter of certain Galileans (Luke 13:1) who had supposedly been offering sacrifices in the Temple. Here are some details:

"On one occasion, when the soldiers under his command came to Jerusalem, he caused them to bring with them their ensigns, upon which were the usual images of the emperor. The ensigns were brought in privily by night, but their presence was soon discovered. Immediately multitudes of excited Jews hastened to Caesarea to petition him for the removal of the obnoxious ensigns. For five days he refused to hear them, but on the sixth he took his place on the judgment seat, and when the Jews were admitted he had them surrounded with soldiers and threatened them with instant death unless they ceased to trouble him with the matter. The Jews thereupon flung themselves on the ground and bared their necks, declaring that they preferred death to the violation of their laws. Pilate, unwilling to slay so many, yielded the point and removed the ensigns."

(The Standards- Josephus, War 2.169-174, Antiq 18.55-59)

"At another time he used the sacred treasure of the temple, called corban (qorban), to pay for bringing water into Jerusalem by an aqueduct. A crowd came together and clamored against him; but he had caused soldiers dressed as civilians to mingle with the multitude, and at a given signal they fell upon the rioters and beat them so severely with staves that the riot was quelled."

(The Aqueduct- Josephus, War 2.175-177, Antiq 18.60-62)).

"Philo tells us (Legatio ad Caium, xxxviii) that on other occasion he dedicated some gilt shields in the palace of Herod in honor of the emperor. On these shields there was no representation of any forbidden thing, but simply an inscription of the name of the donor and of him in whose honor they were set up. The Jews petitioned him to have them removed; when he refused, they appealed to Tiberius, who sent an order that they should be removed to Caesarea."

(from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)

I will include more information from this website and others regarding Pilate’s involvement in the trial and death of Jesus when we arrive at that point in Luke. When the secular scientific community denies the existence of someone like Pilate and does everything that they can do to put doubt in our mind that he even existed, it is amazing, because that same group will accept as fact that other historical figures (that are not mentioned in the bible) existed without question. Scientists who devote their whole life to the pursuit of such historic verification, really do us and God a great service.

As we move on, Jesus asks us in Luke 13:2, if those people that were murdered in Jerusalem were worse sinners than their neighbors? Asking, Is that why they suffered?

His answer is, no. When it comes to sin, we are equal with our neighbors. He went on to explain that physical death was one thing but the real tragedy upon dying is if we have not turned from our sinful ways and turned to God, then we will truly be dead.

The Advocacy of Jesus

Jesus continues in Luke 12:57-59, saying, “ And why also do you not judge for yourselves what is right? For as you go with your opponent to the ruler, on the way make an effort to be reconciled with him, lest he drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the magistrate, and the magistrate throw you into prison. I say to you, you will certainly not get out of there until you repay even the last cent.”

Several things that were pertinent in that time period need to be recognized so that these words can be understood. During that period, if you owed a debt, you could be hauled before the courts and face a judge if you didn’t satisfy the obligation. As sinners, we are in debt to God and the majority of mankind ignores this fact. We are blinded by that sinfulness and unable to judge for ourselves what is right.

When we die, we will stand before the Father, who will judge us and the devil will continue to be our accuser. As each of our offenses are brought before that heavenly court, Jesus will act as our advocate saying that while the offense is true, we are forgiven for it through Him.

Jesus is telling those people in the crowd that they are failing to see Him in the role of Redeemer and Advocate and until they reconcile, they are doomed. These verses seem to be encouraging us to settle affairs in this world before God settles them in the next.

To finish the commentary relating to these verses, I found this summary on the internet. The author escapes me at this time but the content is worth documenting never the less:

A related theme, God's impending judgment of Israel, is also found in the central section. It appears repeatedly in the material leading up to Luke 12:57-59, though it is not confined to the central section. For example, John the Baptist warns that judgment is coming soon and that natural descent from Abraham will not ensure against it (Luke 3:8-9, 17). Elsewhere Jesus warns of the Son of Man coming in judgment (9:26), then speaks harshly to the Jewish towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum for their rejection of him and his envoys (10:13-16). Later Jesus speaks in a parable about the need for servants to be obedient in the light of their master's absence and sure, but unscheduled, return (12:41-48). The parable is a picture of the need for disciples and others to serve God diligently; it further indicates that disobedient servants (disciples and others) will be judged harshly.1 In Luke 12:49-53 Jesus comments that his mission brings judgment to the earth . . . . ., and division to families.

Bob Dylan said...

When I read Luke 12:54-56, I was struck by an example of this verse that applies to us, today. Jesus tells us in these verses that we are able to tell the weather by looking at the clouds or the feel of the wind but we fail to see the spiritual mess that our world is in.

In our society, we give credence to those who claim to predict future climate changes that are sometimes decades away (when they can’t predict a rain storm a day away) or others who claim to eradicate poverty through government programs (remember the “War on Poverty” that President Johnson declared in the 1960's?) or feed the poor through welfare systems that breaks families apart and encourages women to have children out of wedlock and to keep those offspring fatherless. The prognosticators of weather and climate change have told us over the last four decades that we were going to freeze to death, starve from over population and now the current theory is that we are all going to burn up some time in the future.

We, as men, are constantly telling ourselves that we are in charge of our world and environment. We some how think that if we speak it, it will happen. The fact is that God’s word tells us to pay attention to our world through His eyes and His word.

I have taken the liberty of posting some results to a poll that was put in place by a magazine based in Britain. You may link to the following website to see the polling results yourself, that website address is http://www.philosophers.co.uk/poll_results.htm .

The highlights of the poll are as follows:

Poll Results 1999

Read a full analysis of these results here

And you can complete our new survey here

A training in philosophy will make you more likely to believe in Darwinian evolution, but less likely to believe that morality is culturally relative. These are two of the findings of a striking new survey conducted by The Philosphers' Magazine over the last few months.

TPM has asked nearly 1000 visitors to its internet site about their background in philosophy and their beliefs on matters ranging from God to moon-landings. The aim has been to determine what impact, if any, a training in philosophy has on the way that people view the world and their place in it. The survey has thrown up all manner of interesting patterns of belief, but the most significant in terms of the impact of a philosophical background are those to do with Darwinism and cultural relativity.

Asked whether they believe that Darwinian evolution accounts for the emergence of complex organisms (including humans), more than four-fifths of professional philosophers replied that they do. In contrast, only about 60% of philosophy students and three-quarters of interested lay-people people replied the same way. This kind of result was repeated for the question on morality, only in reverse. Nearly 50% of philosophy students claimed to believe that moral judgements can only be made in terms of the standards of specific cultures, compared with one third of philosophy graduates and less than 20% of professional lecturers who professed the same belief.

Of the other interesting patterns to emerge, perhaps the most significant is that there is a systematic difference in the beliefs reported by men and women. For example, about 15% of men profess a belief in "Karma", compared to about a third of all women. And similarly, women polled in this survey are significantly more likely to believe in a personal God and "creationism" than men. Interestingly, they are less impressed with the claims of Darwinism than are men.

Finally, students of philosophy might be interested to hear that there are patterns of belief that they broadly share with their teachers. About a third of both groups believe that there is a personal God and hardly any of either group believe that humans have not landed on the moon!

As this poll suggests, we are influenced in our beliefs by teachers, news media icons, influential people in our personal lives and of course the incidental and indoctrinated web sites and magazines.

Just because a so called “woman’s” magazine screams at you from the check out stand in the grocery store, promising to dish the dirt on a celebrity that you have never heard of or makes promises to tell you secrets on “how to please your partner” or if you are constantly lectured by Ed Begley Jr. and others regarding your impending peril as the earth heats up an amazing 1/10th of one degree in the next century and last but not least being lectured on your moral deportment by Jesse Jackson a fellow sinner and an unlikely sage to provide anyone with an example of how to live one’s life. These are the people and things that influence our beliefs. We need to stop turning to man for the answers, ‘cause he ain’t got any. God does.

In the words of Bob Dylan; “You don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.” Or do you?

Who Needs Enemies...

Luke 12:49 tells us, in Jesus’s own words, talked about how He is destined to bring fire to the earth and how He knows what lies ahead for Him in the way of sacrifice on the cross and how He was burdened by the responsibility of His future physical suffering. Without a doubt, most of us miss the true human condition of Christ. If He remained God disguised as a human being, He would have had no fear or anticipation because, as God, He could not be hurt. Instead, we must realize that God, fully became a man and left Himself exposed to the ugliness of this physical world.

He did such a good job at being human that the devil never picked up on the truth (Luke chapter 4: 1-14) and most likely discounted Jesus as one more false prophet and ignored Him. I come to this conclusion based on the fact that if the devil knew that Jesus was God incarnate, He would have done everything in his power to stop Jesus from fulfilling His rescue mission on the cross.

While He allowed Himself to be exposed to the ugly side of life, He participated in the good part of life from the standpoint of enjoying friendship with those around Him. Proof of this is the many accounts in the new testament of Jesus attending dinners, weddings and other social events. Jesus laughed with others, cooked for His friends, engaged friend and foe alike in serious debate and conversation and ate food and drank wine with His friends and family.

As we move on to verse 53, Jesus tells us that families will be split apart because of Him. This happens when one family member is filled by the Holy Spirit, accepts Christ as their personal Savior and goes forward to share the word of God with the world. It can cause a tear in the relationships with those closest to us because your walk in faith may require that your friends and family take a hard look at their positions regarding faith. This situation is magnified when the family member who accepts Jesus is the same family member who has the lowest stature because of past mistakes and failures.

I helped a man to be in a position to accept Jesus as his personal savior. This man went forward during an altar call at my church and I watched years of failure to be removed from his face and his life. He went to work, contacted the authorities who were seeking him for back child support, made financial arrangements to make payments and made moves to allow him to be back in the lives of his children. He apologized to the mother of his children and in turn forgave her for the wrongs done to him. The Department of Motor Vehicles was in the process of giving him his license back and my wife and I were set to give him one of our vehicles. We would pick him up for church and go to breakfast afterwards and as a result of faith, this man was going through a positive life changing experience.

One day, his uncle was standing around with other family members, having a beer in the garage. My friend was there with his family, drinking a soda because he had given up drinking alcohol he was taking a ribbing from other family members about his new found walk in faith when the uncle blurted out the fact that family members had a betting pool, designed around the fact that this young man would fail in his walk with God and he offered to split the pot with him if he could give his uncle the date of his failure ahead of time.

The really sad part of this whole story is that this family is a mess. Ravaged by alcohol, drugs, infidelity and abuse. You would think that the family would be happy to see one of their own move forward to an improved life. The truth is that they didn’t want this man to be better off and cruelly did everything they could to deter him and in the end they succeeded. I haven’t heard from him again and the entire family situation has only gotten worse.

God and Giving

Starting in Luke 12:37 Jesus tells us that there is a special reward for being faithful and paying attention to when He returns. He tells us that He will seat us at a banquet table, put on an apron and serve us a feast. What a generous God! I’m sorry, I take this literally and I am looking forward to that meal. Christ uses the example of a homeowner who knows when a thief is going to break into his house and the owner is ready at that appointed time but we, as believers, must remain ready for His arrival at any moment. He also tells us that His arrival will come when we least expect it.

Peter then asked Jesus if what He was saying was for the apostle’s ears only and Christ answered by telling him that this message was for all of the people who believed and were faithful.

In verse 42, Jesus goes on to give the example of the faithful servant that has been given the responsibility to care for the family in the absence of the master. If the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward and more responsibility. If they have failed in their duties and party like there is no tomorrow, thinking that the master won’t be back for a while and failing to remain vigilant, they will be torn apart and banished from their master. The servant will be punished because they knew what their duty was and failed to do it.

If there ever was a part of scripture that summed up our modern day society, this is it. In verse 48 Jesus goes on to say that people who didn’t know any better would receive a light punishment but that those who were well informed and had plenty of opportunity to know and live His word, would be held to a higher level of responsibility. He finishes this thought by telling us that if we are given much in this life, much is expected from us in return.

I believe that people who are wealthy and are charitable in their giving, are great examples to the rest of us who are not so wealthy. An example of charitable giving and celebrity was shown in the life of the famous movie actor, Paul Newman. A quote attributed to him, helps explain how he viewed being charitable, the quote is, as follows:

“The concept that a person who has a lot holds his hand out to someone who has less, or someone who isn't hurting holds his hand out to someone who is, is simply a human trait that has nothing to do with celebrity.”

It is well documented that, Mr. Newman had a charitable heart and was a great example of what a secular philanthropist is. The reason I say that he was secular and not faith based in his giving is determined by his own words. Another quote attributed to him (regarding one of his charities) is as follows:

“I wish I could recall with clarity the impulse that compelled me to help bring this camp into being. I’d be pleased if I could announce a motive of lofty purpose. I’ve been accused of compassion, of altruism, of devotion to Christian, Hebrew, and Muslim ethic, but however desperate I am to claim ownership of a high ideal, I cannot. I wanted, I think, to acknowledge Luck; the chance of it, the benevolence of it in my life, and the brutality of it in the lives of others, made especially savage for children because they may not be allowed the good fortune of a lifetime to correct it.”

Paul Newman, his real name, was born on , January 26, 1925. Newman was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, the younger son of a sports store owner. His father was of Jewish-German descent and his mother was a Catholic whose family came from Hungary. She became a Christian Scientist when Paul was just five but her new beliefs did not impinge on the family and later in life Newman chose to follow none of their beliefs but, when asked, opted "for Jewishness because I considered it more challenging".

His acting debut, aged seven, was as the court jester in Robin Hood at school. He left Shaker Heights high school in 1943 and went on briefly to Ohio University, in Athens, where he was expelled, supposedly after an incident involving a keg of beer and the rector's car.

From 1943 to 1946 Newman served as a US navy torpedo bomber radio operator. He graduated from the liberal arts Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, in 1949 and that year married for the first time — to Jacqueline Witte — and returned to Cleveland to manage the family store. His father died in 1950. But his destiny was to be an actor and he and his wife and son moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where Newman attended Yale Drama School. He had ambitions to be a drama teacher, but he was spotted at Yale by New York agents, moved to New York and had a period at the Actors' Studio. He did a lot of television in that decade, debuting in an episode of the science fiction series Tales of Tomorrow in 1952. More importantly, chance led to a highly successful Broadway debut, originally as an understudy, in William Inge's play Picnic (1953-54). He divorced his first wife during this period of time and married actress Joanne Woodword. He is survived by her and their three daughters as well as two daughters from his first marriage. His only son, Scott, died of a drug overdose in 1978. Paul Newman died on September 26, 2008.

The most amazing thing about this man’s life was not his acting career. Newman founded a company called, Newman's Own, Inc. Founded on a whim with his friend A.E. Hotchner in 1982. . Based in Westport, CT, the charitable mission of Newman's Own is expressed in its Company motto: "Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the Common Good." Paul Newman and the Newman's Own Foundation donate all profits and royalties after taxes for educational and charitable purposes. Paul Newman and the Newman's Own Foundation have given more than $250 million to thousands of charities.

Paul Newman founded another important charity called, The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in 1988. This wondrous place became the starting point for what is now a global family of camps. Today, Hole in the Wall Camps restore childhood to children living with cancer, hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, HIV and other serious medical conditions.

Supporters grew passionate about Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Camps mission, and by 1997 there were four additional camps including Double H Ranch in New York, Camp Boggy Creek in Florida, Barretstown in Ireland and L’Envol in France.

As was the case for many of Newman’s endeavors, the beginning of the Hole in the Wall Camps Global Partnership Initiative was fairly accidental, and began with a visit to Africa. It was that very visit that compelled Newman to expand Hole in the Wall Camps. Today, a Global Partnership Initiative in Africa and Asia extend the camp experience to children living with HIV / AIDS. In collaboration with local organizations and medical clinics, the program incorporates the traditional camp model with therapeutic recreation, HIV education, wilderness awareness and conservation. Since opening in 2001, these initiatives have educated and empowered more than 2,700 children and trained over 350 local staff members in Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Lesotho and Vietnam. When you look at what this man did with his money and his fame, anyone would be impressed that he was a truly good man.

Going back to Luke 12:48, when Jesus tells us that more is expected from those who are given more. On the surface, a man who gave so much for good causes and helped humanity so much, would be a shoo in for the reward of heaven, right? After all, it is very likely that I will never be able to produce that much money for charity in my life time.

In Isaiah 64:6, God tells us that we are all infected and impure with sin and when we proudly display our righteous deeds, they are worth nothing more than filthy rags. Whatever we do for others must be done to glorify God first. Without God being involved, the charitable acts lose their spiritual value.

The fact is, I don’t have a clue if Paul Newman’s soul is in heaven. As a person who admired his acting and his generosity, I hope so. In fact, I hope that our Father in heaven is so, over the top, merciful and allows all of us sinners into heaven. The problem is that, His word tells me that all of my good deeds will be wasted if I did them outside of faith in Him.

Christ, The Groom

To some degree, we have floods that are both literal and metaphysical. When we watch our investments dwindle, a spouse walk out the door, fail to be able to relate to our children, get fired from a job or experience one of the many other injustices that our world has to offer, it is hard to remember to be generous to others.

The closer I get to understanding who Jesus was and is makes me wonder why He was so generous to us when our world has been, is and will continue to be rude to Him. Dying on that cross, suffering physical pain and mental anguish as a man, did He ever wonder if we were worth the trouble? Thank God (literally) for loving us and seeing beyond our human failures. I have heard it said that if you want to know what is important to a person, look at their check book and or bank statement. Luke 12:34 says that, wherever your treasure is, you will find your heart.

In Luke 12:35, Jesus tells us to be dressed and ready to go with Him at any time. He uses the wedding scenario here as He points out that there is special favor bestowed on those who are prepared for His return. When I share thoughts like this with a non believer it is interesting to watch their response. On the surface, the wedding analogy is lost on them and it takes quite a bit of revelation to get them to be comfortable again. God’s words are simple and designed to put us at ease. Understanding a surreal and complicated concept like Jesus coming back and the necessity of being prepared, as an example of a social event like a wedding, which everyone is familiar, makes sense. The only problem that we have is that our culture and society has changed the perception of what a wedding is. It can be a union between two people of the same sex, it can take place in Las Vegas, in a hot air balloon, under water or on top of a mountain. A wedding in our culture is commonly entered into by people who are insincere in their vows, have ulterior motives besides love and devotion and have little or no hope that the union will last even as they take the sacred vows. The way that our definition of marriage is going, civil law will recognize the legal union of brother and sister, child and adult, dog and owner and in all likely hood a person will be able to marry their car or some other prized possession in the future.

The wedding scenario that Jesus talks about is one of tradition and social value. A time and place where people follow the traditions of their ancestors and through time and responsibilities relating to each member of the wedding party are followed. The wedding process in the time of Jesus was a more complicated and formal process where everyone was in position to fulfill their responsible part in the wedding event.

I have attached a link to a web site that covers a variety of bible topics. You may read the entire piece at http://www.biblestudymanuals.net/jewish_marriage_customs.htm . I have highlighted part of the content here as it touches upon Jewish law and customs related to the above subject matter.

Jewish Marriage Customs

Those who live in the modern western world do not catch the full significance of Jesus' promise. This is due to the fact that in His promise Jesus was drawing an analogy from Jewish marriage customs in biblical times. Since this is so, those marriage customs must be examined if one is to grasp the significance of the promise.

The first major step in a Jewish marriage was betrothal.

1 Betrothal involved the establishment of a marriage covenant. By Jesus' time it was usual for such a covenant to be established as the result of the prospective bridegroom taking the initiative.

2 The prospective bridegroom would travel from his father's house to the home of the prospective bride. There he would negotiate with the father of the young woman to determine the price (mohar) that he must pay to purchase his bride.

3 Once the bridegroom paid the purchase price, the marriage covenant was thereby established, and the young man and woman were regarded to be husband and wife.

4 From that moment on the bride was declared to be consecrated or sanctified, set apart exclusively for her bridegroom.

5 As a symbol of the covenant relationship that had been established, the groom and bride would drink from a cup of wine over which a betrothal benediction had been pronounced.

6After the marriage covenant had been established, the groom would leave the home of the bride and return to his father's house. There he would remain separate from his bride for a period of twelve months.

7 This period of separation afforded the bride time to gather her trousseau and to prepare for married life.

8 The groom occupied himself with the preparation of living accommodations in his father's house to which he could bring his bride.

At the end of the period of separation the groom would come to take his bride to live with him. The taking of the bride usually took place at night. The groom, best man and other male escorts would leave the groom's father's house and conduct a torch light procession to the home of the bride.

9 Although the bride was expecting her groom to come for her, she did not know the exact time of his coming.

10 As a result the groom's arrival would be preceded by a shout.

11 This shout would forewarn the bride to be prepared for the coming of the groom.

After the groom received his bride together with her female attendants, the enlarged wedding party would return from the bride's home to the groom's father's house.

12 Upon arrival there the wedding party would find that the wedding guests had assembled already.

Shortly after arrival the bride and groom would be escorted by the other members of the wedding party to the bridal chamber (huppah). Prior to entering the chamber the bride remained veiled so that no one could see her face.

13 While the groomsmen and bridesmaids would wait outside, the bride and groom would enter the bridal chamber alone. There in the privacy of that place they would enter into physical union for the first time, thereby consummating the marriage that had been covenanted earlier.

14 After the marriage was consummated, the groom would announce the consummation to the other members of the wedding party waiting outside the chamber (John 3:29). These people would pass on the news of the marital union to the wedding guests.

15 Upon receiving this good news the wedding guests would feast and make merry for the next seven days.

16During the seven days of the wedding festivities, which were sometimes called "the seven days of the huppah," the bride remained hidden in the bridal chamber.

17 At the conclusion of these seven days the groom would bring his bride out of the bridal chamber, now with her veil removed, so that all could see who his bride was.

Mine, Yours... Mine Again

Moving on in Luke 12:32, God tells us not to be afraid (He refers to us as “little flock”) because it gives Him great happiness to give us the kingdom. In verse 33 He tells us to sell what we have and give to the poor because I can’t really store any treasures here on earth.

Like most of you, I have accumulated a great deal of things that have a fleeting value and an ever changing variable in regards to price. A signed baseball from a modern day Babe Ruth who broke all of the modern day home run records has a value of hundreds of dollars just a few years ago and is worth nothing today because we found out that he cheated in his home run quest. In fact, most of the sports memorabilia that I own would find its true value as kindling for our next camp fire.

I have a unique ability to buy high and sell low. I have several classic cars and trucks that just several years ago were at their peak (when I bought them) and today, the classic car market is “soft”, a euphemism for “nobody is buying”.

If you read the book of Acts, you will see that those early Christians did sell everything that they owned and turned it over to God and if it was possible to experience that fulfillment of scripture before my eyes, that would be so great.

The reality of the world that I live in is, “it is my stuff and you can’t have it”. Less than 6% of all Christians believe in tithing, believing like I believed most of my life, “it’s my money and no money grubbing preacher is going to get it”. In the old testament book of Malachi 3:10, bring your tithes to my storehouse so that there will be food in my temple and I will open the doors and windows of heaven and pour out a blessing so huge that you won’t be able to contain it. Then He says to test Him on this.

I have included a portion of an article that you can read for yourself on the internet at the following web address: Http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IBX/is_6_10/ai_n6152883.


The article details the loss of worldly possessions through the eyes of a young girl who along with her family live through the devastation caused by a flood in their home town in Texas.

I've lived my whole life in Venus, a tiny town in Texas. Growing up, I always thought of my house as the safest, warmest place. My family had a large four-bedroom mobile home. It was big enough but cozy. My sister and I had our own bedrooms, and we had four dogs.

But the thing I loved most about my house was my room. It was just me. My walls were covered with a porcelain doll collection, sunflowers, a yellow VW beetle poster and tons of family photos.

Then last April 23, my world fell apart. My family's nightmare began when my parents and my 2-year-old nephew came to see me play French horn at a school concert honoring troops in Iraq. Midway through the show, an announcement was made: "It's reported that there will be hail and high winds. If you'd like, you're welcome to go." But everybody stayed to watch the show.

LONG RIDE HOME

After the concert, the storm was so intense my dad had to pull over halfway home. It felt like the winds would blow our van over. After we hit four detours, we were very worried. My mom said, "My house is gone--I know it!"

I said, "Mom, you're scaring me! You're blowing this way out of proportion." Just down the road from our house, a police car appeared. Then, we saw something huge in the road ... and realized it was our neighbor's house! I felt sick. Their entire house was a block away from where it had been! As we got out of the car, a neighbor drove by and said, "There's nothing there!" My mom fell to her knees, bawling. My dad tried to comfort her, but she was devastated.

We called my sister, who was out with her boyfriend. Luckily, she was safe. But we had left the dogs on the porch. My mom told me to stay in the car while she and my dad looked for the dogs. All I could see were downed power lines and my dad's 18-wheeler. I thought, "This must be someone else's truck," because my dad parks his truck next to our house. Then it hit me--everything was gone, even our house!

I wished I were dreaming and started to cry. But then I thought, "This isn't the time to fall apart." So I pulled myself together and tried to be strong. I sat in the van in disbelief, my nephew asleep in my arms. My dad returned and handed me a porcelain doll he'd found in a field. I cried like crazy. I was happy to get my doll back but, at the same time, I realized how much we'd lost.

It took over an hour for my mom to find the dogs, all in different fields. I was so happy when Beanie, my favorite, greeted me. That night, we slept in my dad's truck. We were just grateful to have somewhere to stay.

A STARK REALITY

I woke up praying it had all been a nightmare. But then I looked out the window and knew it was real. Red Cross and Salvation Army workers were handing out food and water. I learned that, thankfully, no one had died in the storm. And of all my friends, I was the only one who lost her house.

My uncle searched for our belongings, and found one salvageable item--our American flag. He and my mom believe our lives were spared because we had honored our troops that night. We flew the flag from our clothesline pole, the only thing left standing.

After three days, I went back to school. Everyone was so nice; one friend even gave me a shirt. That shirt will always be special to me. We only had the clothes we'd worn the night of the storm, so we got $400 from the Red Cross. We felt guilty taking it, but it was helpful. People constantly offered to give us things, but my mom hates handouts. We replaced just the essentials, like kitchen supplies, linens and a TV.

"HOME" AGAIN

We took up temporary residence in a one-room trailer. That was so hard, especially because all our dogs had to sleep inside since there was no fence.

We were totally appreciative to have a roof over our heads, but everyone was stressed. After three long months, our insurance money finally came through. We bought another house that we put in the same spot. The new house was great; it just wasn't home. Our old house was full of irreplaceable memories.

One thing I missed most was the feather pillow my grandmother gave me before she died. I couldn't sleep on any other pillow, and I was so upset. But my mom found it in a faraway field, and I swear it was a miracle. I truly believe I got the pillow back because my grandmother is watching over me.

WEATHERING THE STORM

The hardest part wasn't the loss of my things or even the house; it was watching my mom fall apart. That scared me, because it felt like my world had ended. She's always been so strong, and I thought she could survive anything. My sister moved to Arizona after the storm, so I decided to take over for my mom--cooking, cleaning, taking care of my nephew--to give her time to heal.

Even though it's been over a year, my mom hasn't fully recovered. So I guess my biggest loss has been the loss of my childhood. But the "best" thing that has come from losing everything is that I'm more independent and know I can survive anything. I have to admit that, for a while, I was really angry that I had to take on so many adult responsibilities. But as every day passes, my family is getting back to normal and I'm learning to be "the kid" once again.

Money, Money, Money... OOPS!

As we read Luke 12:27, Jesus gives us the example of the lilies of the field and when they are in bloom, they are beautiful and if God cares so much about the flowers of this world think how much he cares about us who are made in His image. God’s word is so contrary to the world that we live in as every newspaper, television broadcast, radio show or internet headline tell us to worry, worry, worry and worry some more. There is only one reason that the mass media does this, it sells their advertising sponsors soap, insurance, beer, diet pills etc... Because we are like sheep and easily scared into living a fearful life, these people have figured out the perfect formula for getting and keeping our attention. As we move forward to verse 31, we are told by God, that if we make the kingdom of God our first priority in this life, we will be given all that we need from day to day.

The only problem that we have with this fact is, our definition of what we need and what God says that we need is usually different. I think that I need a house, job, a certain amount of money per month, three square meals per day, the NFL on Sunday and someone to mow my lawn and maintain my pool. God, on the other hand, may want me to go and work with an orphanage in a foreign country and have none of the above. His promise is that He gives me what I need to make the kingdom of God my first priority in life and to live my life for Him.

I once heard a sermon that used the example of the eagle to illustrate how God works to free us and do His work. The momma eagle will start to dismantle the nest a little bit each day when she realizes that her young are ready to go out into the world. Faced with the destruction of the only cozy home that they have ever known, the young bird makes the leap for independence as the last of the nest is torn apart by the mother.

There is another example that I heard one time, regarding the relationship between a shepherd and his flock. It seems that if a lamb keeps wandering off and away from the flock, the shepherd will sometimes break the leg of that lamb, causing it to be more dependent on the shepherd for it’s safety. I have always been interested in this kind of Shepherd reference because God calls us His flock and tells us He is our shepherd.

There will be those of you who will read this and scoff at that sentiment, thinking to yourself, “no one takes care of me, but me”. There is nothing wrong with self reliance, but in the world that we live in now, too many people have worked their whole life accumulating in an earthly retirement plan or investment program and wake up in the morning to find that it’s value has declined drastically.

What you can count on is the advertiser’s spokesperson to be right there telling you how bad everything is and that you have no hope. God tells us to read His word, work for His kingdom and have hope, because He is in charge.

I found this newspaper article and it kind of sums up this part of Luke regarding the subject matter that we are talking about.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – As financial workers suffer through tumultuous times on Wall Street, some are turning to an old source of solace: religion.

Religious leaders said attendance was up at lunchtime meetings in New York's financial district last week, with many more people in business attire than usual.

That is hardly surprising, said Reverend Mark Bozzuti-Jones of Trinity Church Wall Street, given that people don't know if their employers will survive from one day to the next.

"The economic financial crisis is a reminder that we cannot put our faith in riches, that we cannot put our faith in money," Bozzuti-Jones said in his sermon at lunchtime on Friday, which he devoted to coping with the financial crisis.

A handful of men in suits and ties and women in business attire were among dozens of people at the Episcopal church, which was hit by debris from the World Trade Center collapse on September 11, 2001.

The church, which normally attracts tourists and a few financial workers, experienced an upturn in visitors this week, Bozzuti-Jones said. In the past few days he had requests for help to pay rent from those who had lost their jobs.

"People are just sitting there, praying or crying and definitely exhausted. There has definitely been an increase in the number of people who have come in," he said in his office after the service.

The church was putting on special workshops and seminars over the next few weeks including "Coping with stress in an uncertain time" and "Navigating career transitions."

Just a few blocks away, St. Peter's Church has seen "a slight uptick in attendance among people in suits," said Father Peter Madigan. St. Peter's, a Catholic church, displays a cross found in the rubble of September 11.

"In the past couple of days there was high anxiety and trepidation," Madigan said. "The situation we are faced with today by economic standards is very much unknown, uncharted territory and faith helps us deal with those situations."

The Wall Street Synagogue is opening its doors nightly starting this week to accommodate Wall Street people. But rather than a rush of people last week, Rabbi Meyer Hager said he has noticed a change in his regular worshippers.

"I can see it on the faces of certain people who come here who are regular people -- some work for AIG and other large banking houses -- I can see the expression of strained concern," he said.

He noted that the synagogue was founded in 1929, the year of the Wall Street crash.

A mosque located in the financial district about a mile from Wall Street did not return a call seeking comment.

Lou Janicek, who works as a financial adviser on Wall Street, said he had not considered attending a religious service, but said Wall Street would benefit if people applied the same morals they learned in church to the workplace.

"What you do at work matters as much as whether you regularly attend church or the synagogue or whatever," said Janicek, who was brought up as a Christian. "If you are an accountant or you find yourself in an unethical situation, you can't just stand by and let it happen -- then you have another Enron.

Money, Peaks and Valleys

Moving on to Luke12:22, Jesus turned to the apostles and again spoke of worldly possessions. He told them, and us, not to worry about what to wear each and what to eat, for life consists of far more than food and clothing. He then pointed out that if we used the birds of the air as an example, none of them are wanting for food or water, as their Creator cares for them without their asking for anything. Jesus tells us further that He is certain that the Father loves us more than the birds, so why not let Him take care of us? In verses 25 and 26 of this same chapter, Jesus asks the question, “does all of your worrying add a single moment to your life?” and then “if it does no good to worry over the little things, then why worry about the big things?

Wow, could it be that simple? This is where non believers and enemies of God attack our faith by pointing out that Christians are mindless dunderheads that are told to sit around and do nothing, living on faith and not being practical in regards to life. I am sure that many religious organizations and groups have built their faction of religious faith quite literally on these words of Jesus Christ.

Whenever I bridge this part of Luke in conversation with someone, I use the example of my dogs. We have three dogs, Sam, Handsome and Cinderella. The great thing about these dogs is that they do not worry if their will be food in their bowl at night, they expect it to be there. None of them worry about whether the mortgage is going to be paid on time, they expect that their favorite sleeping spot will be there, no matter what. When any of the family comes home at the end of the day, they are greeted with respect, humbleness (except Cinderella) and submission. They are always happy to see us, giving us total affection and are never in a bad mood. It is for this reason that I believe that God created my dogs so that He could give me a living example on how I could live up to this part of scripture. When I really think about it, why didn’t God just create dogs instead of putting up with my groaning and complaining? If I approached God like my dogs approach me, God would certainly be pleased with me.

In 1st Timothy 5:8, God tells us that if we do not work and provide for our family that we are worse than a person who does not believe in God at all. So, how do we balance between trusting God and not worrying and incurring God’s wrath for being lazy? The simple answer is to do, whatever you do to make a living, for God and His kingdom and ask Him to show you how to do what needs to be done.

Life is made up of peaks and valleys. When you are at the peak, enjoy the view, remember it and praise God for it. When you are in the valley, go through it, don’t camp there. And above all, work on being more like your dog.

"For Richer or For Poorer"

In Luke 12:13, a man calls out to Jesus, asking Him to force his brother to share their family inheritance with him. Jesus responds by telling the man to not be greedy for what he doesn’t have.

In this case, the person shouting, must be the younger son in a family where his brother is the oldest son who inherited their father’s estate. Tradition, at that time, would probably have dictated that the oldest son would inherit the majority of the assets of the estate and much of the responsibility of paying outstanding debts and the future management of the estate assets.

The point of recording this exchange was obviously not to rehash inheritance customs in biblical times but instead an opportunity to record (one more time) the personal view of Jesus regarding money and possessions.

Of all the messages that we have received from Jesus in the new testament, this simple message of how we should not want for things that we do not have, is universally ignored.

In Luke 12:16 Jesus gives an example of where we are now in regards to greed and accumulation. He speaks of a rich man who had barns that were full of his crops to the point of overflowing. When the man sat back and looked at his good fortune he surmised that the thing to do at that point was to build bigger barns and to sit back, reflect on his good fortune and eat, drink and be merry.

At this point, God asked the man if he were to die that very night, who would get his riches? Jesus then went on to say that a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth and not have a rich relationship with God.

I have heard people use these words to tell me that Jesus has a problem with His followers accumulating money in their life. In fact, what He does say is, it’s fine to have those possessions, just don’t let them be the focus of your life. How happy we are is gauged by our family relationships between us and our spouse, children etc... A person who has a lot of material wealth and is generous in helping others with that wealth, stands a pretty good chance at being a happy person.

If we study the lives of people like JC Penney, Henry Heinz and other extremely wealthy people who loved God and their fellow man, you will find that they were very prosperous and happy people who left legacies that have promoted the word of God to this day.

Penney named his first business as “The Golden Rule”, meaning that all he did in business was going to be done according to God’s rules. He was an excellent employer who inspired multiple business owners in the art of Godly employee management. Heinz left a legacy of dedicated missionary work in Japan and other parts of Asia as he founded bible based Sunday schools for children in the early 1900's.

If God works through us (and He does) then He needs to put assets in the hands of believers so that we can act as the body of Christ and help bring God’s word to a lost and dying world. God tells us in His word, that before He can trust us with a lot, He will trust us with a little.

When my clock radio went off this morning, I was greeted with the news that maybe 1,000 banks were going to fail soon. In addition to that news, the announcer went on to say that the stock market was set to lose 5% of it’s value in one day and that 10,000 people were set to lose their jobs in the city of New York alone.

The fact of the matter is that He was God yesterday, when things were good and He is God today when things are bad. God does not love poor people more than rich people or the other way around. On this subject, I would like to share two sayings that I heard long ago and each of them apply to this situation. They are:

“ It is the same sun that melts wax and hardens clay” and “If the sun shined everyday, we would all live in a desert”

Storm Clouds On The Horizon

Moving on in Luke 12:11, Jesus tells us that when we as Christians are brought before the courts and the powers that be, that we are to allow the Holy Spirit to do the talking. I guess that means that we should remain silent and let the Holy Spirit speak to us and to tell us what to say.

During a lunch yesterday with a business associate that I had just met. We discussed many things regarding the business we are going to do and after lunch we engaged in general conversation that covered politics and culture. In that conversation, remarks about evangelical Christians and how they had a negative effect on the political scene and current election process.

I never felt threatened by her comments and I could tell that this nice lady wouldn’t do anything to harm me or my family, if she knew I was one of those very people that he was speaking about. I sensed that she was frustrated by a group of people who she considered divisive and judgmental. I ascertained those impressions because of her comments made throughout the conversation.

Just conversation, right? I believe that she was and is empowered to say these things publicly because of the political vitriol that is rampant in American politics today. Like no other time in history are Christians being set up for social and legal backlash.

I went a website of an organization known as the National Alliance Against Christian Discrimination, located at http://naacd.com/index.htm on the web. This website listed sixteen different organizations that they consider to be anti Christian. I think that if you go to their web sites and read what they are about, you may agree with them, at least on some of them. I encourage people of faith to investigate for themselves and instead of writing a synopsis on each group, I encourage you to see for yourselves as I have included the group’s official website address.

They are as follows:

American Atheists
Home: http://www.atheists.org/

American Civil Liberties Union
Home: http://aclu.org

American Humanist Association
Home: http://www.americanhumanist.org/

American Library Association
Home: http://www.ala.org

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State
Home: http://au.org

Anti-Defamation League
Home: http://www.adl.org

Freedom From Religion Foundation (Freethinkers)
Home: http://www.infidels.org/index.shtml

Gays and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
Home :http://www.glaad.org

Human Rights Campaign
Home: http://www.hrc.org/

The Interfaith Alliance
Home: http://www.tialliance.org

National Abortion and Reproductive Rights League (NARAL)
Home: http://www.naral.org/index2.asp

National Education Association
Home: http://www.nea.org

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Home: http://www.ngltf.org

National Organization for Women (NOW)
Home: http://www.now.org

People for the American Way
Home: http://pfaw.org

Planned Parenthood
Home : http://www.plannedparenthood.org

In Luke 12:11-12, Jesus doesn’t tell us to listen to the Holy Spirit if we get hauled in, He tells us that this is inevitable and to be prepared for it. When it happens we have to pay attention, and listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit.

To outsiders, this may look like a negative view of the future. Many Christian churches teach that this has already happened in church history and that Christ was speaking to early believers. To the evangelical, bible believing Christian like me, we believe that this act of oppression will be necessary before Jesus comes back to claim His church.

In John 12:24, Jesus tells us, that in order for a seed to bring forth much fruit, it is a law of nature that the seed must fall to the ground and die. There are two things in this world that get better by stepping on them, a Persian rug and Christ’s church.

Bring it world.

Are You In, Or Are You Out?

While researching for Luke 12:11, I came across an article on the internet regarding Christians in Egypt. You can go to the original article located at the New York Times website and read it in its entirety at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/world/africa/11egypt.html .

The article highlights are as follows:

CAIRO — Cairo’s highest civil court on Saturday ruled that 12 Christians who had converted to Islam could return to their original church, ending a bitter yearlong battle over identity and minority rights.

It was the second time in recent months that a court has upheld the rights of religious minorities, in a country that is 90 percent Muslim and where the distinction between civil law and religious principles is increasingly blurred.

The case involved Coptic Christians who had converted to Islam to obtain a divorce. The Coptic Orthodox Church does not allow dissolving a marriage. Islamic law, however, allows men to end a marriage easily.

For a time, Christians who converted in order to divorce were allowed by the courts to formally return to their original faith. But in recent years, as a more conservative sentiment has spread throughout the country and the government, the courts have not allowed converts to return to Christianity.

Hooray for religious freedoms in Egypt!!! Now you can legally be in two farcical religious situations at once.

The New York Times reported these facts to celebrate the growth of religious freedoms in the middle east. The sad part is that what they reported to believers like myself, that the religious hypocrisy that Jesus engaged is still alive and some of the players have done so, in His name.

I think of the aforementioned Luke 12:9 where Jesus tells us that we pay a price for denying Him on this earth and that price is His denial of us in heaven on judgement day.

Secrets, Secrets, Secrets...

If you will allow me, I would like to revisit a previous post that I made regarding what Jesus tells us in Luke 12:2. If you will recall, He tells us that a time is coming where everything that is secret in our life will be revealed.

I had coffee the other morning with a friend of mine and he had some startling news in this regard. He told me that in the next couple of years, all of the encrypted information that is on the internet, will be revealed for all to see. The fact is that technology is moving very fast and what is safe and secure today will be viewable tomorrow. What this means is, that all of our monetary transactions, purchases, interests and contacts could be made available to be reviewed by anyone. With the amount of information that is available about our past histories, it could really be surprising how much information would be made available.

We watch famous people who are exposed every day and the consequences are devastating. The mayor of Detroit has all of his personal text messages revealed and he is convicted of perjury and is going to jail for it. A wealthy man, running for president one day and the next is forced to explain his actions when it is revealed that he impregnated a mistress while his wife is dying of cancer. No one wants their deepest secrets revealed and I can only imagine the panic that will take place if it is announced that all you have to do is type a name into your computer and learn every secret thing about the famous and the ordinary. Husbands, wives, children, friends, enemies and casual observers will dissect the lives of anyone they wish as others will do the same to them. The “Jerry Springer” show (on steroids) will come to life, as humanities deepest secrets are revealed.

If the indication of how many gossip magazines and papers are sold (millions I’m sure), then without a doubt the rush for salacious news will shut down the internet and Luke 12:2 will become a reality. All this time, we might have thought, how this passage could come true? We may have thought that it would be impossible for every secret to be revealed but it looks not only possible, leaving only the question, when?

God... Me or We?

Chapter 12:8 of the book of Luke is the verse that stopped me in my tracks. I was rolling with my vaporous and changing reality about who God was when I heard my pastor quote this verse during an alter call. It was like I was called out and exposed. Here is Jesus telling me that if I acknowledge Him, here on earth, He will acknowledge me in heaven. After hearing this good news, I listened to the next warning that He gives, saying if I don’t acknowledge Him on this earth, he won’t acknowledge me in heaven. That shook me up!

The subsequent warning of how we can speak against the son of God and be forgiven while the same action (blasphemy) against the Holy Spirit, was unforgivable points out the importance of this member of the Holy Trinity.

Many people have no problem with the concept of God as the Father and Creator. Monotheistic theology dominates most of the world’s religions. Believing in the Trinity is a foundational belief that is limited to the faith in Christianity and an interesting passage in Genesis speaks of the plurality of who God is. In Genesis 2:26, the bible says, “And God said, let us make man in our image and after our likeness ...”

Now, there are many ways to determine if the bible is the true word of God or a book that was modified by many authors. People who deny the veracity of the bible (in the past, even myself) will tell you that it can’t be true because there were so many different authors and that the religious establishment changed the words to meet their beliefs. This passage in Genesis is proof that is not the case.

If the bible was not the correct word of God and was modified by man, this passage in Genesis would have been the first to go and it would have been rewritten to match the “one God” belief of the religious majority. The reason that it wasn’t changed is because God told man not to change what He said and the folks given the responsibility to maintain that holy word, took that order seriously. If we believe that the bible is the true word of God, then it is safe to say that God told us himself that he had more than one entity or personality in this passage.

In response to the question that we may have in regards to who the Holy Spirit is, I refer you to a website that has some pretty good answers to questions like this. The link to this site is offered here at http://www.everystudent.com/forum/hspirit.html . From this page you can go to the main page and explore the entire site as well as read this article in its entirety. You will also find some passages in the bible that point to who the Holy Spirit truly is.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Q: "Who or what is the Holy Spirit? I've seen this name/phrase on your site in a few places."

our A: The Holy Spirit is a real person who came to reside within Jesus Christ's true followers after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven (Acts 2). Jesus told His apostles...

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:16-18)

The Holy Spirit is not a vague, ethereal shadow, nor an impersonal force. He is a person equal in every way with God the Father and God the Son. He is considered to be the third member of the Godhead. Jesus said to His apostles...

"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:18-20)

God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And all the divine attributes ascribed to the Father and the Son are equally ascribed to the Holy Spirit. When a person becomes born again by believing and receiving Jesus Christ (John 1:12-13; John 3:3-21), God resides in that person through the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 3:16). The Holy Spirit has intellect (1Cor. 2:11), emotion (Rom. 15:30), and will (1Cor. 12:11).

A primary role of the Holy Spirit is that He bears "witness" of Jesus Christ (John 15:26, 16:14). He tells people's hearts about the truth of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit also acts as a Christian's teacher (1Cor. 2:9-14). He reveals God's will and God's truth to a Christian. Jesus told His disciples...

"The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." (John 14:26)

"When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come." (John 16:13)

The Holy Spirit was given to live inside those who believe in Jesus, in order to produce God's character in the life of a believer. In a way that we cannot do on our own, the Holy Spirit will build into our lives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). Rather than trying to be loving, patient, kind, God asks us to rely on Him to produce these qualities in our lives. Thus Christians are told to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:25) and be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). And the Holy Spirit empowers Christians to perform ministerial duties that promote spiritual growth among Christians (Rom. 12; 1Cor. 12; Eph. 4).

The Holy Spirit also performs a function for non-Christians as well. He convicts people's hearts of God's truth concerning how sinful we are -- needing God's forgiveness; how righteous Jesus is -- He died in our place, for our sins; and God's eventual judgment of the world and those who do not know Him (John 16:8-11). The Holy Spirit tugs on our hearts and minds, asking us to repent and turn to God for forgiveness and a new life.

What Am I Worth?

As we continue in Luke 12:6, we are asked by the author to determine our standing and worth before God. I remember being in the front yard with a daughter of my neighbor and we both ran over to where a bird had fallen out of a tree and was lying on its back and breathing hard. I looked at the face of the child as she watched the bird die and how she looked up at me with a startled look, giggled and walked away. In her young mind, she saw little value in the life of that bird. I was shocked because I expected to see her to be sad and to ask me many questions related to the death of this fine feathered friend and how those questions would overlap into her young life. In my imagination I thought maybe that I would help her bury the body and somehow know in my heart that I helped a young person deal with the circle of life and the questions that come with it. But, none of that happened because the bird had no value to her.

I tell this story because this young girl is closer to the norm as Jesus talks about how common birds of the air that have little or no value to us, have great value to their creator. Jesus tells us that God does not forget one of them and finds value in them because He created them.

Jesus then tells us that God knows us so well that He even knows how many hairs that we have on our heads. When I think about that fact I realize the passage is less about the minutia of hair follicles and more about out the intimacy of our Creator.

When God tells us that He knows us intimately, it can make us uncomfortable. Having God in our hip pocket means that He must be with us all of the time and He must be paying attention to everything we do. That is not always convenient for us.

Lastly, Jesus tells us that even though God sees value in His smallest creations, we are the most important thing to Him. We know this to be true because God chose to live life on this earth as a man, not a bird.

Our Life... No Deposit, No Return

In regards to the last post that points out how all of our misdeeds will be shouted from the roof tops, I was watching a television show that captures sexual predators as they are in the act of seducing a decoy who they think is a minor. In every case, the person is shocked when the television host appears instead of the thirteen year old girl they thought they came to meet and have sex with. They all say the same thing, how they were not going to do anything wrong or how they actually came to the house to give the young lady some fatherly advice.

I can’t imagine how embarrassing it would be to be in their shoes as their wives, children, parents, friends, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors or employers watch them squirm under the television lights and how we all judge them as bad people caught in something that we would never do. The best part of the show is the self righteous part that we, the viewer, get to participate in, thinking to ourselves that we are bad but at least we are not that bad. The embarrassment and pain suffered by those men and their friends and family is indicative what we will face on the day of judgement without Jesus as our intercessor.

As we continue on in Luke 12:4, Jesus tells us that we should not live in fear of those who wish to kill us. He points out that they can only kill the body, nothing else. That would have been a galvanizing point for me if I was there and the looks on the faces of the followers probably nodded along with everything Jesus said and all of a sudden wanted clarification on that last part and with a snap of the head, asked the person next to them, “Did He say what I thought He said?”

I found the following information on a website at http://www.bpnews.org/bpnews.asp?ID=13546, and you can go there to read the complete article.

In A.D. 165, the Roman Prefect Rusticus encouraged Justin Martyr and his six companions to be sensible. They only needed to swear to the divinity of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and they would go free, unmolested. Threats of a swift beheading at the hands of a centurion did not shake their faith in Christ.

"Do with us what you will," Justin replied. "We are Christians and do not worship idols."

Justin and his six companions, including one woman, were slain by order of the prefect. Today their blood and their confession of faith in Christ cry out to those of us who now believe in persevering no matter the costs.

A more modern day accounting of taking Luke 12:4 literally is found in the example of the captivity of Martin and Gracia Burnham. I found a very good accounting of their ordeal at the hands of a group known as Abu Sayyaf. You can read the complete article that shows the kindness shown to Gracia at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-12-24-burnham-cover_x.htm .

...the couple never had much. But on May 28, 2001, Martin got a surprise. Gracia had arranged a night at a resort on the island of Palawan for their 18th wedding anniversary. Their three children would stay with friends in the village where the family lived north of Manila.

Kidnapped

That night, Muslim rebels from a group called Abu Sayyaf sneaked into the resort and abducted the Burnhams and 18 other people. In February of 2002, after Abu Sayyaf had been accused of links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, U.S. soldiers arrived in the Philippines to help find the rebels and their hostages.

The Burnhams were marched at gunpoint through almost impenetrable jungle. Martin, 42, was handcuffed and tied to a leash. They suffered from various intestinal viruses and developed sores all over their bodies. Both were malnourished. Martin lost about 40 of his 155 pounds.

Eventually all the hostages were released except the Burnhams and a Filipina nurse. (She would also die in the final shootout.) Frightened by gunbattles between their captors and their would-be rescuers, the Burnhams wondered if they would see home again.

Gracia, 43, would start when she heard a twig snap. She often burst into tears. When a Philippine television crew linked up with the rebels and interviewed the couple, Gracia cried: "We've been forgotten. ... We need someone to show some mercy."

If they felt deserted, the Burnhams did not desert God. Martin accepted Jesus' greatest challenge: Love your enemy. "Martin built a relationship with those guys," Gracia recalled recently in a videotaped message to supporters. "Martin said to me, 'Scripture says that if you hope to be great in God's kingdom, you must be the servant of all. It doesn't say the servant of everyone but terrorists.' And Martin was always willing to serve those guys. If they asked him to carry something, he had such a good attitude. ... He'd even volunteer sometimes if he didn't have things to carry."

Martin taught his guards English and shared food with them. They would apologize for chaining him to a tree each night, and he would thank them. The guerrillas' leader was Abu Sabaya. He regarded himself as a devout Muslim, though he was capable of great cruelty, including the beheading of Guillermo Sobero, an American who was seized with the Burnhams.

Most captives would have told Sabaya what he wanted to hear. Martin told him what he thought God wanted him to hear. As Gracia stood in the background and cautioned her husband with a slitting motion across her throat, Martin told Sabaya that although he would one day be judged for his sins, Christ died so everyone's sins might be forgiven.

Martin Burnham was a pilot — not a preacher or pastor. It was as if the sexton stepped to the pulpit and gave the Easter sermon.

Two weeks after the June shootout in which Martin Burnham was killed, Sabaya was ambushed at sea by Philippine marines. His body was riddled with bullets and fell overboard into shark-infested waters. It has never been found.

During their captivity, there were several accounts of how Martin was threatened with execution and his response was always the same, (I paraphrase) “ you can threaten me, but I will die when God tells me to die, not you.” Our faith is easily lived until we are given a choice on giving up on something as valuable as our own lives or the lives of our family, to follow God.

My faith in Jesus Christ was galvanized when I realized that the apostles willingly gave up their lives rather than deny who Jesus was and is. These men who hid in a room together, without a plan and knowing that the authorities were coming for them next, went out boldly after seeing the risen Christ. On our behalf, they spoke to Him, broke bread with Him and even put a hand inside His open wound and with the knowledge that He was and is who He says He is, went into the world and preached the gospel without fear for their own lives.
As I said in an earlier posting, if just one of the apostles had denied Jesus during their torture and execution, they would have been pulled from peril, cleaned up and we would have read to this day how they denied Christ and that they were part of a phony religious scheme. Instead, these frightened followers became emboldened by the resurrection of Jesus and willingly went to their deaths, and their example still inspires believers today.