LIVING BY BIBLE WORDS

How do Christians prosper?

Psalm 1 and Psalm 119:9 both say we prosper (are blessed) when we live according to Bible words.

But opposition holds Bible words in their crosshairs.

As the war on Christians gains ground, prayer has almost disappeared from schools.  Displays of the Ten Commandments, crosses, or even a Christmas creche in a public place are a scarcity.

Now the next step in this fight has arrived.  People who take God at His word are declared haters.  Wedding cake bakers and wedding photographers have found no space for their convictions as that one particular group (the homosexual lobby) would like to de-legitimize Bible teaching.

Choosing to be deliberately provocative, the lobby forgets a warning by our first president.  As George Washington left office, he reminded Americans that religion and morality are "indispensable to political prosperity"... and..."morality cannot be maintained without religion".  That's a long way from barring religion from the public square.  Without that sure foundation, the house of cards blows over.  And we feel the winds blowing.

As Christianity is excluded, more unthinkable things happen.  Just yesterday in a little town about thirty miles from Fayetteville, a man and his wife were arrested for raping and killing their six-year-old son.  Dinosaurs like moi can remember a different society.  We have mocked "Leave It To Beaver" at our own peril.

Jeremiah 5:30,31 says in the last days there will be religion without revelation.  That means there will be posers with no regard for truth.  Still, the Author of the institution of marriage gets to define it and declare its purpose.  He also gets to declare the things that go against His law and His character as sin.

The really good question is "Why is same-sex marriage harmful to the institution of marriage?".

God helps us learn His principles by giving us pictures, and marriage is a picture of the union between Christ and His church.  Marriage connects our thoughts to the time when we will "eat the marriage supper with the Lamb".  Marriage on earth does not continue in the coming kingdom because in heaven we will love on a higher plane.

Did you know the Old Testament speaks into the future just like the New Testament?  Isaiah's Chapter 25 sounds a lot like John's Revelation as they describe the marriage supper of the Lamb.

*from Isaiah 25:6...."The LORD who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain.  At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine - tender meat and choicest wine."

*from Revelation 19:6-9... "Hallelujah!  For the LORD our God the Almighty reigns.  Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure...for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.  Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.  These are the true words of God."

*from Isaiah 25:8..."On this mountain He will swallow up the shroud that is over all the peoples."  What shroud?  It's the shroud of death.  The verse goes on to say "He will swallow up death permanently.  The sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove His people's disgrace from all the earth."

*from Revelation 21:4..."And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away."

*from Isaiah 25:9..."At that time they will say, 'Look!  Here is our God!  We waited for Him and He delivered us.  Let's rejoice and celebrate His deliverance!"

*from Revelation 12:10..."Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens "it has come at last - salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ."

Those verses speak of a time when the kingdom of this world becomes the kingdom of heaven and the people who have waited for the LORD are rewarded.

The marriage supper is attended by people who wear white because their sins have been washed away.  Their admission was bought by the blood of the Lamb, while their increased submission to His word illustrates their allegiance.

Men divide into many subsets, but the LORD only sees two groups of people.  There are people who want to be with our Bridegroom at the marriage supper...and people who want to do life their way.

God's word is always loving, even when it is a warning.  He disciplines those He loves and behavior that will not carry someone to the marriage supper needs to be addressed.  God wants everyone there.

Are you looking for Him and living by His words?

SENOR CITIZEN

Mike had a good week last week.  My favorite "Senor Citizen" had a birthday and now he's five dozen plus a baker's dozen.

What was his celebration pick?  He wanted to go to the cabin for a couple of nights.

One day it rained and he read ("When A Jew Rules The World") while I wrote.  We watched that movie about Stephen Hawking.  I got a four-wheeler ride behind him through the woods and Mike showed me a real live hog wallow...and showed me an elephant ear tree, which I'd never seen.  One morning he went out hiking at dawn to listen for turkeys.  There were two new calves born.

It's a slower pace at the cabin.

This is a picture of Mike before we married.  He hasn't changed a bit.

Sometimes our age surprises us.  We've never been "old" before and as the joke goes, we thought it would take longer.  These days we cozy up to Nexium and Advil and have been known to repeat ourselves.

Still, Mike is fit and just now...is out spreading the third trailer-load of bark in the flowerbeds.

As Raymond ("Rain Man") would say, "my main man!".

Mike's life hero is his Mother's father, Granddad Robinson, who was a Southern gentleman.

When this picture was made, cars didn't park themselves.  You certainly didn't carry your wall phone in your pocket.  Some of these modern developments are "Flash Gordon" unbelievable.

But the truly unbelievable thing happened when Mike was thirty-six and Jesus made a bridge between his life and the next.

We agree that as we reflect over the years Mike has been given, gratitude just wells up and pours over.

"Ya can't buy satisfaction" and we are very thankful for one another and for our piece of time on Planet Earth.  We look forward to heaven, and are convinced of the nearness of Jesus' return.

Speaking of heaven, Mother used to say she wasn't gettin' up a busload.  She might change her mind if she could see this day.  But in the meantime, we give thanks.

Happy Birthday, dear Mike.