Something About That Name

Greetings All!

     This week's "thought" comes to you from a devotional book entitled, "The Gift of Jesus."  It contains devotional contributions from numerous pastors across the U.S., including Pastor Jeff Crook, who penned this entry, entitled, "Something About That Name."  Since there is much truth in what he says, I thought I would like to share it with you. Enjoy.

     
"God also highly exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above every other name..." Philippians 2:9

     "Every year a celebrity becomes wildly popular in the media, but before we know it, that name fades into obscurity. [Remember Spencer Tracy, Rita Hayworth, Gary Cooper, Gene Kelly, Farrah Fawcett, David Cassidy, Lynda Carter, Robert Redford, Brittany Spears,...]

     Often we see the caption, "Where Are They Now?" Apparently, all names have a shelf life.  All but one. There is a name that will never fade -- the name Jesus is timeless and without rival.  God has exalted Jesus and lifted His name above every other name.

     Does it seem as though the name of Jesus is being downplayed today? Are the name and fame of Jesus Christ fading? Absolutely not!  We shouldn't think we need to "hashtag" or "favorite" the name of Jesus to keep His name relevant. The matter has been settled by God Himself.  It is impossible to ignore the exalted name of Jesus.  One day all people will bow at the name of Jesus Christ, confessing Him as Lord (Philippians 2:11). 

     Celebrities are forgotten. [We often strain to remember who some of them were, what they looked like, or why they were so outrageously popular!]  World leaders fade away. Once-famous names inscribed on graveyard headstones become unfamiliar to the living. Yet the eternal Lord Jesus has an eternal name. When all others have been long forgotten, His name will still be spoken, honored and adored."

     As I read this post I thought back to people I had so admired growing up.  People I would have done anything to meet in person, speak with, or get their autograph.  Yet as time marches on, it has a way of burying their importance in the dust. Their names may ring a bell, or sound faintly familiar, or written on a wall or book, but often times we cannot say why.  And even if we can, we must sometimes confess, "I think they may have been an actor, singer, or writer, but I'm not really sure."

     Yes, the names of people come and go.  For instance, I loved my grandfather Clarence Evans a lot.  As a young boy, he was one of the most important people in my world!  Now he's been gone for 36 years, and though he was equally admired by other grandchildren, two of them have already passed away, and within decades most of the others whose lives he touched will also be gone -- myself included. Then, his name will be an unknown name to all the people who might possibly pass by his headstone as they walk through the cemetery in Norfolk, Massachusetts, looking at old gravestones. And the same will eventually be true of me, and all of you who are reading this post today.

     So I ask: Who is all-important to you right now?  Whose name do you praise, if any?  What name is constantly on your lips, or in your regular conversations?  Who or what are you investing your life, and precious time, and energy in?  What legacy are you building to leave behind after you're gone?  And even if you do happen to be admired by someone now, what will be said of you 25, 50, or 100 years from now?

     You see, no matter who you are, or how important you may be to others now, in time your name will be forgotten (Ecclesiastes 1:11) -- unless it was recorded as part of the unfolding, timeless, and eternal plan of the eternal God. Only if your name is "inscribed in the palm of His hand" (Isaiah 49:16), and has been penned in the book of life written before time began (Psalm 139:16 / Revelation 13:8, 17:8, 20:12), will it ever be remembered years from now, or throughout the ages to come.

     In fact, it will not only be remembered, you will be alive and kneeling in adoring worship before the One whose name is above every name!  Because as God has promised, "Every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11). Throughout endless eternity those who lived for Jesus on this earth, shall live before Him in heaven, joining the uncountable multitude in praising Him whose name is above all other names.

     May His name (and not any other) be exalted and adored by you now, Pastor Jeff

How Do You Kill 11 Million People? Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think.

Greetings All,

     Yesterday I spent a good part of my day off reading a book on WWII and then watching a documentary about the same. That war still fascinates me. Not just the breadth of it, but the deception that fueled it, and how many intelligent people actually believed the lies. One of the things that scares me today is that the younger generation is no longer being taught much about it. So much so, that as I quoted a few weeks back, when asked: "70 million Americans (obviously the younger generation) did not know that Germany was our enemy in WWII."  And we can be sure that if they do not even know that Germany was our enemy, they surely do not know the tactics the Nazi party (not just Hitler) used to persuade so many to do so much evil.
     






That's why I share today's thought. It comes from the best-selling author Andy Andrews, and is titled: "How Do You Kill 11 Million People?  Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think."  It is rated "PG-13" and is not for the faint-hearted.  Yet I encourage you to read it -- and share it -- since I believe the old adage is true: "He who Does Not Know History Is Condemned to Repeat It."  It's a well-researched and insightful little book that would take less than an hour to read.  It has its sad parts, but would be well worth your time.  In our era of media spin, when truth seems to matter so little to so many, and its hard to know what to believe when you see numerous quotes of reports online -- it is a sobering wake-up call.  Read with caution.

     "How do you kill 11 million people? Obviously, most of us have never even considered such a thing. Yet when I began to closely research our world's recent history -- the last one hundred years -- that particular question made its unsettling way into my mind. How do you kill 11 million people? 11 million. The number is so large when the word people is attached to it that it becomes almost impossible to take seriously.  "Why 11 million?" you might ask.  What is the significance of that number? Actually the number is 11,283,000 -- the number of people killed by Adolf Hitler between the years 1933 and 1945.

     Incidentally, that particular figure only represents institutionalized killing. It does not include the 5,200,000 German civilians and military dead. Neither does it include the 28,736,000 Europeans killed during World War II as a result of Hitler's aggressive governmental policies.

     Within the same parameters, we could have used the number of Cambodians put to death by their own government: slightly more than three million between 1975 and 1979. Three million -- from a population of eight million.  We could have used the exact figure of 61,911,000. That is the number of people who were murdered by the government of the Soviet Union, shown by their own records, between the years 1917 and 1987.  But only 54,767,000 of the men, women and children put to death by the Communist Party were officially Soviet citizens. (That's almost 2500 per day for 70 years.)

     During World War I, the highest leadership council of Turkey's Young Turk government decided to exterminate every Armenian in the country, whether a soldier fighting for the government or a pregnant woman... all two million of them.  We could have used that number instead. Or, three million in North Korea, more than a million in Mexico, Pakistan, and the Baltic States. The choices available, and numbers of dead killed at the hands of their own government, are staggering. And in other places around the world, they are just getting started.

     But for our purpose, let's focus on the number that is the most well known to us -- the eleven million human beings exterminated by the Nazi regime... To be absolutely clear, the method a government employs in order to do the actual killing is not in question. We already know the variety of tools used to accomplish mass murder. Neither do we need to consider the mind-set of those deranged enough to conceive and carry out a slaughter of innocents. History has provided ample documentation of the damage done to societies by megalomaniacal psychopaths or sociopaths.

     What we need to understand is how eleven million people allow themselves to be killed?  Why, for month after month and year after year, did millions of intelligent human beings -- guarded by a relatively few Nazi soldiers -- willingly load their families into tens of thousands of cattle cars to be transported by rail to one of the many death camps scattered across Europe?...

The Answer is breathtakingly simple. And it is a method still being used by some elected leaders to achieve various goals today... You lie to them.

     According to testimony provided under oath at the Nuremberg Trials (including specific declarations made in court on January 3, 1946, by former SS officers), the act of transporting the Jews to death camps posed a particular challenge for the man who had been named operational manager of the Nazi genocide -- Adolf Eichmann.  "The Master" as he was known, was directed by written order in December of 1941 to implement The Final Solution. Eichmann went about the task as if he were the president of a multinational corporation. He set ambitious goals, recruited enthusiastic staff, and monitored the progress. He charted what worked, and what didn't, and changed policy accordingly. Eichmann measured achievement in quotas filled. Success was rewarded. Failure was punished.

     An intricate web of lies, to be delivered in stages, was designed to ensure the cooperation of the condemned (but unknowing) Jews. First, as barbed wire fences were erected, encircling entire neighborhoods, Eichmann or his representatives met with Jewish leaders to assure them that the physical restrictions being placed upon their community (in what later became known as ghettos) were temporary necessities of war. As long as they cooperated, he told them, no hard would come to those inside the fence. Second, bribes were taken from the Jews in the promise of better living conditions The bribes convinced the Jews that the situation was only temporary... After all, they reasoned, why would the Nazi's accept bribes if they only intend to kill us and take everything anyway?  These first two stages of deception were conducted to prevent uprisings or even escape.

     Finally, Eichmann would appear before a gathering of the entire ghetto. Accompanied by an entourage of no more than thirty local men and officers of his own -- many unarmed -- he addressed the crowd in a strong, clear voice.  According to sworn statements, these were very likely his exact words:

     "Jews: At last it can be reported to you that the Russians are advancing on our eastern front. I apologize for the hasty way we brought you into our protection. Unfortunately, there was little time to explain. You have nothing to worry about. We want only the best for you. You will leave here shortly and be sent to very fine places indeed.  You will work there, your wives will stay at home, and your children will go to school. You will have wonderful lives. We will all be terribly crowded on the trains, but the journey is short. Men? Please keep your families together and board the rail-cars in an orderly manner. Quickly now, my friends, we must hurry!"

     The Jewish husbands and fathers were relieved by the explanation and comforted by the fact that there weren't more armed soldiers. They helped their families onto the rail-cars... each was packed with no less than one hundred human beings and quickly padlocked. At that moment they were lost. The trains rarely stopped until well inside the gates of Auschwitz."

     Though all the blame often gets laid on Hitler, he did not act alone. He had a very intelligent and capable crew of master planners with him -- planners who were very gifted at the art of controlling the media, deceiving a nation, playing on people's national pride, and silencing all opposition. In a day when we have less and less ability to control what we see, or the agenda and message behind it, a little glance back at recent history can be helpful.

     As Andrews stated regarding his whether or not he had a "political agenda" for writing the book: "Of course. Here's mine. I want America's present and future to live up to America's core values as written by our Founding Fathers and set forth in the constitution.  In addition, I want the public to vigilantly hold them accountable for doing so." 

     I would encourage one more thing we need to hold people in positions of power accountable to.  It's found in the Bible: "You Shall Not Bear False Witness."  For when truth doesn't matter, as history shows, people's lives are at risk.

In the Service of Jesus, Pastor Jeff

On Death

Greetings All, 

 

     We just had a funeral service here at my church. Therefore, these two thoughts from Spurgeon have been rolling over in my mind since I came across them yesterday in a devotional called "Beside Still Waters  -  Words of Comfort for the Soul."

 

     They were spoken in the mid-1850's and thus they reflect a slightly different view of death than we tend to have today.  Yet they align perfectly with Scripture -- especially verses like Isaiah 57:1-2: "The righteous perish, and no one ponders in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to spare them from evil."   

 

     Or Psalm 139:16: "All the days ordained for me were written in Your Book before any one of them came to be." If you keep those thoughts in mind as you read these selections, it will help you understand death as Spurgeon does -- as one who is ever-conscious of looking at it through the lens of a God who is sovereign over all, knows all, and deals with His children as a loving Father.  Enjoy.

 

     "The Lord Gives and the Lord takes away..." (Job 1:21)

 

     "Some of us have suffered great physical pain that bites into our spirits and causes depression. Others have suffered heavy financial losses and been deprived even to the point of extreme hardship. Are you complaining against the Lord for this?  I pray not.  The Lord has been pruning you, cutting off your best branches; you seem to be continually tormented with the knife.  

 

      Just suppose that your loving Lord has caused this; suppose that from His own hand all your grief has come -- every cut and gash. If this is true, put your finger to your lips and be quiet until from your heart you are able to say, 'The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

 

      Recently I sat in the garden with my friend. We were in perfect health, rejoicing in the Lord's goodness.  We were happy as we sat there reading the Word of God and meditating.  Dare we think of being so happy? Within five days I was stricken with disabling pain (a crippling case of gout), and worse, far worse, he was called upon to lose his wife.  

 

      Yet here is our comfort: The Lord has done it. The best rose in the garden is gone. Who has taken it? The Gardener. He planted it, and watched over it, and now He has taken it. Does anyone weep because of that? Everyone knows it is the best that He should come and gather from His gardens finest.

 

     Are you troubled by the loss of your loved one?  Remember, the next time the Lord comes to your part of the garden, He will only gather His flowers.  Would your prevent Him from doing this, even if you could?"

 

 

    "A time to live and a time to die."  (Ecclesiastes 3:2) 

 

     "God has fixed the time of our death (Job 7:1).  It is useless to dream of living here forever.  A time of departure must come unless the Lord returns... Here diseases wait in ambush, eager to slay.  But, 'He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge... You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.  A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near to you' (Psalm 91:4-7). 

 

      We are immortal until our work is done.  Once that has been completed, we shall receive our summons home.  Thus, if duty calls you into danger, if you have to nurse the contagious sick, do not hold back.  You will not die by a stray arrow from death's quiver.  Only God can take your breath.  Your death is not left to chance.  It is determined by a heavenly Father's gracious will. Therefore, do not be afraid.  Now, do not be reckless and rush into danger without reason, for that is madness.  Yet never fear to face death when God's voice calls you into danger.

 

       Here is comfort: If the Father of our Lord Jesus arranges all, then our friends do not die untimely deaths.  Believers are not cut off before their time.  God has appointed a time to harvest His fruit. Some are sweet even in early spring, and He gathers them.  Others, like baskets of summer fruit, are taken while the year is young. Yet some remain until autumn mellows them. But be sure of this, each will be gathered in its season.  God has appointed the commencement, the continuation, and the conclusion of your mortal life." 

 

      

       I personally enjoyed these thoughts. They give a refreshing perspective on the death of God's saints. The Church is God's garden (I Cor. 3:9), and by the grace of the Holy Spirit each believer has been planted in it (and watered and fertilized and weeded by that same Spirit), and at a certain day in the history of our lives (which has already been determined by God) He will come to glean us as flowers, picked from His garden, and to be displayed in heaven as the purchase of redemption, and the "riches of HIS glorious inheritance in the saints"  (Eph. 1:18).  

 

     "Here is our comfort: The Lord has done it.  The best rose in the garden is gone. Who has taken it? The Gardener. He planted it and watched over it, and now He has taken it. Does anyone weep because of that? Everyone knows it is the best that He should come and gather from His gardens finest."

       

       In the Bonds of Confident Gospel Hope, 

 

Pastor Jeff

Urgent vs Important

Greetings All,

This week's 'thought' comes to you from a little booklet called "The Tyranny of the Urgent," by Charles E. Hummel. It should speak to most in North America and Europe, though the spread of the - "must keep busy, must produce, and must always achieve more to have true meaning in my life" - mentality, has moved far beyond the borders of those two areas to infect places that used to be more relational and laid back in their approach to life.

This nearly universal persuasion in the West--that being busy, or always being in a hurry adds meaning to our lives--actually robs us of the more important things of life, such as depth, intimacy, satisfaction, and fulfillment in our relationships with God and others. After all, how can we relate to God or others on anything more than a superficial level if we never slow down long enough to put aside the tyranny of the next pressing task or appointment, focus of the person in front of us, listen attentively to what they are really trying to say, and then share with them (from an engaged heart) in return?

Merely sending off a rushed text or a tweet as we hurry to our next appointment may make us feel superficially connected, but it won't bring about the degree of intimacy the heart craves. Superficial interactions lead to superficial relationships and superficial relationships lead to a superficial life -- which is not God's intention for anyone.

Yet avoiding the trap of non-stop busyness, and breaking free from the addictive adrenalin rush that keeps us locked into that hurried pace, requires an earnest re-evaluation of what's important (in light of eternity), and a counter-cultural reorientation of both our priorities and schedules! In this sense Mr. Hummel offers some very sound advice. Enjoy.

"Have you ever wished for a thrity hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate what we have accomplished. We desperately need relief. But would a longer day really solve our problem?...

When we stop long enough to think about it, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time. It is basically a problem of priorities... As an experienced factory manager once said to me, 'Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.' He didn't realize how hard his advice hit. It has often returned to haunt and rebuke me by raising the critical problem of priorities...

Freedom from the tyranny of the urgent is found not only in the example of our Lord, but also in his promise. In a vigorous debate with the Pharisees in Jerusalem, Jesus said to those who believed in him, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free...I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin... If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.' Many of us have experienced Christ's deliverance from the penalty and power of sin in our lives. Are we also letting him free us from the tyranny of the urgent? In this message he points the way: 'If you hold to my teaching.' This is the path to freedom, continuing day by day to meditate on the Scriptures and gain our Lord's perspective.

P. T. Forsyth once said: 'The worst sin is prayerlessness.' Does this statement surprise us? We usually think of murder and adultery as among the worst offenses against God and humanity. But the root of all sin is self-sufficiency, or independence from the rule of God. When we fail to wait prayerfully for God's guidance and strength, we are saying with our actions, if not with our words, that we do not need him. How much of our service is actually a 'going it alone'?

The opposite of such independence is prayer in which we acknowledge our need of God's guidance and empowerment. In this respect we have seen the example set by Jesus in the Gospels. He lived and served in complete dependence on his Father. Contrary to popular views, such dependence does not limit or repress human personality. We are never so fully personal -- free to become our true selves -- as when we are living in complete dependence on God."

Have you stopped to distinguish between the urgent and the important and made the important the priority? Do you do what is pressing when you really need to be doing is what is primary and crucial. I will never forget Martin Luther's famous words when he was swamped one day with a huge load of tasks: "I have so much to do today," he said, "that I need to spend the first three hours in prayer." What a word to the wise! So often we tend to use some pressing task or an overloaded schedule as a reason to skip our time of prayer, whereas Luther used it as a reminder of his need to pray all the more, and even pray longer than he normally did. That's probably because we tend to forget where our strength comes from. Many I've spoken with have confused the adrenalin rush of busyness and the accompanying sense of 'accomplishment pleasure' with the power of God and the strength He gives -- that is until they crash.

We would do well to remember that ongoing strength and focus and a right perspective on life come from time spent in His presence. That communion with God sustains the soul and uplifts the wearied spirit. That godliness is far more important than productivity. That God is far more interested in who we become than what we accomplish. That being still and knowing He is God is far more beneficial to the soul than simply being busy.

After all, as the Scripture declares, "The joy of the Lord is our strength" -- a joy conveyed to us (to renew and sustain us) as we spend time in the presence of the One who loves and delights in us -- even when we aren't doing, rushing, achieving or accomplishing anything!

Are you busy? Maybe its time to spend the next three hours in prayer.

Pastor Jeff