A Maze is Grace Sometimes.....

I asked the Lord that I might grow

In faith, and love, and every grace;

Might more of His salvation know,

And seek, more earnestly, His face.

"Twas He who taught me thus to pray,

And He, I know, has answered prayer!

But it has been in such a way,

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,

At once He'd answer my request;

And by His love's constraining pow'r,

Subdue my soul, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart;

Let all the angry pow'rs of hell

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, by His own hand He seemed

Intent to aggravate my woe;

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,

Blasted my hopes, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this, I trembling cried,

Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?

"'Tis in this way, the Lord replied,

I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,

From self, and sin, to set thee free;

Blast all thy schemes of earthly joy,

That thou may'st find thy all in Me."

Arab/Israeli Conflict

I am beginning a study of the Arab/Israeli conflict, which I know next to nothing about. I was never much of a student of history and found the subject boring in school. I do remember June 1967 in the news, however. I was just graduating high school at the time. The news that Jerusalem was in Jewish hands wafted in between strains of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. I especially associate the event with the song, A Day in the Life. 

I wonder why the news about Israel impacted me that day. There was something electrifying in the air. I hardly ever paid attention to the news at that stage of my life. But there are two events I distinctly remember from my youth....the day President Kennedy was assassinated (9th grade) and June 7, 1967. I can still visualize being in Mom’s kitchen in Quincy, MA. Why do I remember this? Am I Jewish? Why do I remember Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan and King Hussein of Jordan? I can not tell you who was President of France or Prime Minister of England at the time, or any other political facts. I remember Israel. And Jordan. That is all I remember on the world scene in the late 1960's as I degenerated into hippiedom after high school. Besides Vietnam of course. 

Somehow, in today’s volatile world, especially in the Middle East, the historical roots of the current conflict suddenly interest me....particularly when there is so much radical, left-wing propaganda being disseminated on college campuses. Universities have become hotbeds of subversive and dangerous politics. This needs to be countered with the facts. May the LORD lead to accurate and compelling information. I begin with an excerpt from Big Lies: Demolishing the Myths of the Propaganda War Against Israel, by David Meir-Levi. This is available for free download or purchase at http://www.frontpagemag.com/

THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS TEXT

Introduction by David Horowitz:

The War in the Middle East is nearly sixty years old. Most
people alive today are unfamiliar with its history and origins and lack
knowledge of its facts. This state of ignorance provides a fertile ground
for the unscrupulous to create myths that will justify their destructive
agendas. The political propaganda machine has created many such
myths to fuel their war against the Jewish state.

Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East that elects its lead-
ers in free elections and guarantees rights to its citizens, and honors
those rights. Yet Israel is the target of those who claim to be fighting
for “human rights.” There are about a million and a half Arabs living
as citizens in Israel who elect representatives to Israel’s parliament
and who have more rights than the Arab citizens of any Arab state.
Yet Israel is the target of those who claim to be fighting for “social
justice.”

Israel’s very creation is referred to by its Arab enemies as "the
Nakba", or the “catastrophe,” the clear implication of which is that
Israel should not exist. Yet Israel is the target of those who claim to
support self-determination and oppose genocide. Israel was the victim
– at its very birth -- of an unprovoked aggression by five Arab mon-
archies and dictatorships. It has been the target of an Arab war that
has continued uninterruptedly for nearly sixty years because the Arab
states have refused to make peace. Yet Israel is the target of those who
say they want “peace.” Israel is the victim of terrorist attacks – sui-
cide bombings – which along with the Jews they mark for extinction,
kill Palestinian women and children as well. Yet Israel is the target of
those who claim to speak for humanity and a future that is “free.”
How is this possible? How can evil be dressed in the garments of
justice? How can a genocidal war to destroy a democratic people be
justified as a struggle for “national liberation?” They can through the 

creation of political myths that rationalize aggression and justify war 

against civilian populations.

In George Orwell’s futuristic novel, 1984, the Ministry of Truth
for the totalitarian state proclaims: Knowledge Is Ignorance; Freedom
Is Slavery. The nature of political doublespeak never changes and
its agenda is always the same: Obliteration of historical memory in
the service of power. “The struggle of man against power,” wrote
the Czech writer, Milan Kundera, “is the struggle of memory against
forgetting.” Only a restored memory can demolish totalitarian myths
and make men free.

David Meir-Levi has written a text that restores the memory of
the facts that lie at the heart of the conflict in the Middle East. These
facts are crucial not only to the restoration of the history that politics
has obscured, but to the survival of a people who live in the shadow
of their own destruction. Everyone interested in justice will want to
read this little book.

A Healing Captive

O God Who frees the captive
Do not liberate this carnal slave for freedom’s sake
For I will surely wing my flight to another thorny land
Break instead each evil bond
And rub my swollen wrists
Then take me prisoner to Your will
Enslaved in Your safekeeping.

O God Who ushers light into the darkness
Do not release me to the light to only see myself
Cast the light of my liberation upon Your face
And be Thou my vision
Do not hand me over
To the quest of greater knowledge
Make Your Word a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
And lead me to Your dwelling.

O God Who lifts the grieving head
Blow away the ashes
But let Your gentle hand upon my brow
Be my only crown of beauty
Comfort me so deeply
My Healer
That I seek no other comfort.

O God Who loves the human soul
Too much to let it go
So thoroughly impose Yourself
Into the heaps and depths of my life
That nothing remains undisturbed
Plow this life, Lord
Until everything You overturn
Becomes a fertile soil
Then plant me, O God
In the vast plain of Your love
Grow me, strengthen me
And do not lift Your pressing hand
Until it can boastfully unveil
A display of Your splendor.

-- Breaking Free

Justification Uncensored

Thanks to blogging, views unwelcome on one or more blogs, forums, and websites can be published on numerous other blogs, forums, and websites. The Internet is the Wittenberg Door of our generation. The views of Daniel Gregg deserve a hearing, for they are solidly based on Scripture, not the traditions and doctrines of men. Discussion welcome at Dan’s blog/forum.   -- Tandi

Re: John Piper, The Future of Justification.......

The whole Christian concept of "justification" must be torn down because both Catholics and Protestants are in gross error on this concept. This is because in both camps one gets to be righteous without actually obeying the Torah. That's what Luther taught justification meant -- legally declared righteous.

If one needs to be legally declared righteous, then the Gospel is meaningless. For the Gospel is not about acquittal. It is a pardon of those who have legal guilt. God does not care about "legally imputed righteousness" where there is no righteousness. He only cares about actual righteousness that comes from proving that His Torah is in the heart by actually living by the Torah.

The concept of "justified by faith" is a total and utter corruption of the original Greek. The original revealed word is "justice is done by faithfulness" and here it means the faithfulness of Yeshua has satisfied the Father's justice against our sin. Our faithfulness is required to appropriate the satisfaction of the Father's justice. But it is Yeshua's faithfulness that actually pays the penalty, or in classical Greek, "does justice to us" by vicarious sacrifice. That's what it means to be "justified" -- not "declared righteous.” For the ungodly cannot be declared righteous by fiat (Exodus 23:7; Deut. 25:1).

... A few comments... N.T. Wright is a lot closer to the truth than Luther or Calvin, and John Piper is just trying to defend Calvin. The Reformation was not due to Luther or Calvin, but because they let people read their Bibles. The next reformation will be because Christians come to understand what the original language means after they are unchained from all the false translations.

Let me prove this briefly. KJV: "faith of Jesus Christ" (Rom. 3:22): NIV: "faith in Jesus Christ": Now which is it that justifies us? The faith OF Jesus or faith IN Jesus? It is the faith OF Yeshua by which justice is done. The NET bible (www.bible.org) has "faithfulness of Jesus Christ." This is a rare correct translation.

If such disagreement is evident in the translations on the MOST basic doctrine, then it is high time that the sheep need to dump theology, read their Bible, and learn a little basic Greek to read their Bible the right way. Then we will have a new reformation.

Dan Gregg

Deer in My Snowy Woods

Today I woke up to find a beautiful blanket of deep, fluffy snow.....and five deer frolicking in my woods. I enjoyed watching them from my window. My melancholy mood brightened briefly.

Bible Pathway

Read Numbers 12 -- 13

Highlights In Today's Reading:

A valuable lesson is in today's reading making known the frightening dangers of disbelief so that the Lord is prevented from providing our needs.

The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel. . . . So they went up, and searched the land. . . . and came unto Hebron (13:1-2,21-22). The spies stood on the very site where Abraham had built an altar unto God (Genesis 13:18), but neither of these thrilling events entered into their report. It was at Hebron that Abraham had pleaded with God not to destroy Sodom (18:23) and later bought the cave of Machpelah and buried Sarah (23:17). And they returned (and reported). . . . the people be strong . . . and the cities are walled, and very great (Numbers 13:25,28). Because of their unbelief, they could only see the high walls and the giants. If they had recognized that God is Almighty, as Joshua and Caleb did, they could have conquered and possessed this promised land.

Dependence upon human reasoning and physical strength instead of committing oneself to the Lord's work reveals a lack of faith in God's ability to fulfill His promises. Caleb . . . said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it (13:30).

A two-fold principle for believers to recognize is that Satan is always present to discourage and seeks to defeat every desire of the believer to trust in the Lord. Spiritual victories are never obtained without the faith of Caleb who said: Let us go up at once. The high walls and the giants were excuses that revealed their lack of faith. Those who trust God have no need to fear the giants and high walls of mixed motives, selfish ambition, or worldliness confronting us. They have learned by faith to rely on Him for the outcome. We can inherit the promised land of divine privileges. These enemies within the heart can fall, as did the walls of Jericho, when we have faith to believe the promises of God.

The believer dare not presume to possess the promises of God by worldly means or schemes, as did Israel when they decided they would enter the promised land (14:44-45), and later they unsuccessfully attempted to take Ai without God's direction (Joshua 7:4).

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds (II Corinthians 10:4).

Pat's Testimony

Coming Alive to Jesus
Reprinted from “The Fishin’ Pole” (March 1984)
A publication of English Lake Church

Before I found the Lord, I was an alcoholic, though I denied it even to myself. I squandered my paycheck on booze and spent much time in bars. Barely a day went by in the past several years that I wasn’t drunk. I also smoked marijuana and used amphetamines. I was verbally abusive to my family and my mouth was a sewer containing the foulest language you could imagine. I could not utter a single sentence without it being loaded with vulgar words. Most of the time I didn’t even realize I was doing it.

My wife, having had an experience with God about a year and a half prior to mine, tried to tell me about Jesus, but I wouldn’t listen. A couple of born-again Christians at work witnessed to me, not so much in word but by their lives. They had “something” that appealed to me, yet I continued blaspheming God and living a hell-bound lifestyle. Still, my wife and friends continued to pray for me and attempted to witness to me.

I drove home from work drunk one night and smashed into something at an intersection. I looked up and, behold, the sign said, “STOP!” When I got home my wife pointed out the significance of the incident. The Lord was trying to tell me to stop what I was doing and turn around and follow Him. I thought she was crazy. Many other times I drove home drunk; only by the grace of God could I have made it home without killing myself or someone else. I had been arrested once for drunk driving. A year later I had that accident. Still I was not willing to change. I got worse instead of better. My wife continued to pray.

Somewhere along the line my conscience started bothering me. I tried to clean up my act and thought I could do it on my own. I had survived a very abusive childhood, juvenile homes and jails, etc., and had become very self-reliant as a result. I didn’t need my wife telling me how to live; I didn’t need this Jesus she talked about either. I had always solved my own problems and didn’t need anyone’s help. But rather than admit that I couldn’t solve these problems, it was easier to tell myself I didn’t have any. Yet it was getting harder and harder for me to say I was okay the way I was.

One Friday night last November [1983], I was again arrested for drunk driving. Under the new Indiana law, license suspension was mandatory. I knew this. As a truck driver, I also knew that if I lost my license, I’d lose my job. If I lost my job, I’d lose my house and everything else. Realizing all this, I STILL went out and bought beer as soon as I got out of jail. The following Monday I went to see a lawyer, came home, and again with good intentions to quit drinking I ended up sending my wife out to buy more beer. I tried to justify it, saying I would just drink at home and never again drink and drive. But after I finished six beers, the phone rang and I had a photography assignment to do for the local newspaper. I grabbed my keys and then it hit me. Here I was about to drink and drive again. Reluctantly, I let my wife drive.

That night I did not sleep a wink. I tossed and turned wondering what I was going to do. By the end of the night I had finally resigned myself to the fact that I had a problem that I couldn’t handle. I was in despair.

Tuesday morning, the 22nd, I left for work and was driving to Wisconsin. As I got on Interstate 94, I noticed a billboard that says “Jesus is Lord” and advertises a Christian radio station. I’d passed this sign every day but never really paid any attention to it before. I found myself tuning in the station and actually listening to those “nuts.” I began to question my own sanity since I didn’t change the channel. As I reached Elgin, Illinois, the station was too faint to hear, so I shut the radio off altogether. I began to think a prayer asking God to help me. “I can’t fix me. You fix me,” was how I put it. Not wanting to rule out any options, I even asked God that if it was necessary for me to believe in Jesus, then please help me do that too, because I couldn’t even do that on my own.

I got to Belvedere, Illinois where I met one of our drivers who was a born-again Christian. Coincidence? I knew something was happening to me but didn’t know what, so I was asking him questions over the CB radio. I asked him how a person knew if they were being born again. He said it was different with each person, but one could have a feeling in their stomach, one might experience great joy, or peace, or it might be just a tear rolling out. When he said “tear,” my eyes became filled with tears and I began bawling. He heard me crying on the CB and began bawling with me. Imagine two grown men driving tractor trailers down the road, crying like babies. I still didn’t know that I was being born of the Spirit and told him that it seemed like I was heading in that direction and I’d let him know if it ever happened. He told me to go home and ask my wife about the sinner’s prayer. We reached Wisconsin and parted company, and when I was alone I found myself tossing my speed pills out the window.

The first thing I did when I got home was burn all my pornographic magazines. I told my wife, “I think I’m heading in the direction you’ve been talking about. What is the sinner’s prayer?” She was so stunned she didn’t know what to say. She handed me a “Power for Living” book she had just got in the mail that day and just walked around praising the Lord. I opened the book at random and God spoke to me through it—“Do not worry...seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things (food, clothing, shelter) shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:25-34). My first promise from the Lord! I couldn’t honestly pray the sinner’s prayer described in the book; it just wasn’t “me.” I thought, “Well, I’ve got a ways to go before I’m ‘born again.’ Or was I already born again?” My wife wasn’t sure either. She got out her Bible and flipped it open and these words just jumped out at her so she read them to me: “Fear not, [Pat] for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words” (Daniel 10:12). My spirit immediately witnessed with His Spirit in the pit of my stomach and the tears started rolling again. I was convinced I was “born again” regardless that it wasn’t according to a prescribed formula.

The next day I became aware that my vulgar language had vanished with no effort on my part. I was also completely delivered from alcoholism and have not even had a desire to drink since. The one thing I did crave was the Bible. I just couldn’t get enough of it. On Thanksgiving Day I spent five solid hours reading it. With court cases ahead of me, the prospect of losing my job, and not knowing how I was going to make ends meet, I had a peace that passes all understanding. What followed in the days and weeks ahead were nothing short of miracles as I gave the burden of my problems to the Lord and He solved them. The promises that He gave me in Matthew 6 came to pass in truly amazing ways.

Coming alive to Jesus has been a life-changing experience!

Patrick LaFaive
March 1984