life

A Time for Every Purpose

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The wisdom of King Solomon is given in the Bible:

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1

The seasons of my life have varied tremendously, but I never really questioned the purpose. From an early age, I pursued a variety of activities, and my husband Jän and I have shared many interests. We have enjoyed music, camping, backpacking, riding our motorcycles and bicycles, relaxing on our boat, traveling, and have welcomed every opportunity to learn about and experience new things. But challenges have occurred throughout time that have altered these interests.

In late 1985, I began to occasionally stumble, and once in a while I would fall. I tried to ignore the situations, until the day I lost sight in my right eye. Visits to an optometrist and an ophthalmologist identified optic neuritis, inflammation of the optic nerve. Experiencing vision loss and learning the cause led to appointments with my general practice physician and a neurologist specialist. A spinal tap and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) test confirmed that I had Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

MS affects each person differently. The symptoms of multiple sclerosis vary from person to person depending on which parts of the brain or spinal cord (central nervous system) are damaged. Demyelination, the loss of the myelin sheathes or covering of the nerves, and the scarring caused by MS can affect any part of the central nervous system.

MS symptoms may come and go or become more or less severe from day to day or, in rare cases, from hour to hour. Consequently, the doctors could not predict what I might expect, but within 12 months my sight had returned and the physical issues had dissipated. Regular activities again filled each day until the MS symptoms struck back with a vengeance in 1996.

Strength and agility weakened until I could no longer handle my work requirements. I had been manager of travel and meeting planning for a Fortune 500 mining company. (The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 United States corporations as ranked by their gross revenue.) I had written numerous manuals, introduced cost-saving travel practices, and had traveled to all of the company’s mines and offices throughout the United States and in other countries, giving training seminars and maintaining budgets. But after 20 years of service, in 1999 I was granted permanent disability because of the physical challenges of MS.

Purpose #1: One month after leaving work on permanent disability, the company suffered a hostile takeover by another mining company. I would have been unemployed without compensation. Without work, time was given to me to participate in church activities. Having been raised in Seventh-day Adventist families, Jän and I had built upon the foundation of our early training and, in 1991, had opened the Renaissance Church near Sedalia, Colorado. More time could now be given to its activities and to assist Jän with his work, at that time, as managing editor for LandMarks.

At this time, the neurologist explained that I was experiencing Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (SPMS). SPMS is characterized by a steady progression of clinical neurological damage with or without superimposed relapses and minor remissions and plateaus. People who develop SPMS will have previously experienced a period of Relapsing/Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS) which occurred for me in 1985–1986. Over the months, I began to depend on a wheelchair as walking and standing became more difficult.

Everything changed June 27, 2008.

It was a very hot summer afternoon. Completing errands in Castle Rock, Colorado, before the Sabbath hours, we had stopped for Jän to make copies needed for the church. As he parked in front of the UPS store, saying he would be only five minutes, I asked him to open one of the side doors of our van for fresh air, rather than leaving the van’s engine running to provide cooling from the air conditioner. I was sitting in my wheelchair that was secured to the lift, facing the two side doors. He opened one of the doors, exposing my left arm and about one-fourth of the left side of the wheelchair and my body. That is all I remember.

Jän returned to the van within five minutes wondering why people were standing around it, but when he made his way through the crowd, he saw me lying on the ground in a pool of blood with more blood gushing from my eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Only the one door of the van was open; the wheelchair was securely in place; our black Labrador was still lying peacefully beside it.

A lady who had seen me fall from the van had stopped her car immediately and called 911. Within moments an ambulance arrived and rushed me to Sky Ridge Medical Center Emergency Room in Lone Tree, a suburb of Denver, Colorado.

When Jän arrived at the ER, CAT scans (computerized axial tomography frequently used to evaluate the brain, neck, and spine) and x-rays had already been taken, revealing that the right side of my skull had been crushed and the artery just above the right ear was severed, hence the continual bleeding. Several bones on the right side of my face were also fractured. A doctor approached Jän and told him that I had only two hours to live. He explained that three options were available: (1) do nothing, (2) insert tubes into the skull to drain the fluid and relieve the building pressure, (3) surgery. Jän asked him to do what he could to save my life. The doctor was the head neurological surgeon for the hospital. Only God could have placed him at the hospital, late in the afternoon (4:00 p.m.), before a holiday weekend.

Following Jän’s request, the doctor, using his cell phone, began calling the doctors and nurses needed for the procedure. Jän heard the doctor’s words, stating such things as, “I know you are leaving on vacation … ,” “I know you are not on call … ,” “I know it is a holiday weekend … ,” to “I need you here immediately.” Soon he had a seven-doctor neurological surgical team and needed assistants in place.

Surgery began in less than the predicted two hours of life I had remaining. Seven bone fragments, embedded in the right side of my brain, had to be carefully removed. The severed artery was a challenge. It was so torn that the doctor had difficulty piecing it together. During the six-hour craniotomy, my heart stopped twice, and six units of blood and four units of plasma were given to help retain life.

When I was taken to recovery, the doctor told Jän that I had a fifty-fifty chance to survive the procedure but would either be a vegetable or need to live in a nursing home the rest of my life. When Jän next saw me, my head was secured in a Styrofoam base and strapped down so it could not move; my body, legs and arms were also strapped to the bed so nothing could move, and I was in an induced coma. He has told me that in addition to my immobility, 25 different tubes were in my body for different purposes, controlling every function of my body.

In the Intensive Care Unit, I remained in the coma. A nurse sat outside my room continually, monitoring me. The medical staff routinely reduced the medication that induced the coma, but my autonomic nervous system would not begin to function. My Living Will states that I am to receive no extra medical assistance after seven days. I know now that many prayers were ascending for me during these days. The afternoon of the sixth day, when the medication was reduced, my autonomic nervous system responded; I began breathing on my own.

Purpose #2: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest … be in health.” III John 1:2.

Twenty days later it was necessary to transfer me from the hospital to a rehabilitation center. Jän was able to have me admitted to the Castle Rock Care Center (CRCC) in Castle Rock, Colorado, just 13 miles from our home.

I remember nothing of the hospital days, and the first days at CRCC are a blur. My vision was not clear; I could not focus to read. I could not speak, and as the words eventually formed, they were jumbled and made no sense. My thoughts were scrambled. My body was very weak—especially my legs—after no movement during those hospital days.

Physical and occupational therapy began immediately. Slowly, physical strength improved, my brain began to heal and memory gradually returned. In addition to the physical therapy and occupational therapy, I regularly met with a speech therapist who focused on my speech and language skills.

Each day at CRCC brought improvement and opportunities in many ways. By mid October 2008, I was dismissed to return home! During my last session in therapy, the physical and occupational therapists read to me what they had written in their notes the first time I met them. They each had written that I would never leave the facility!

Purpose #3: “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 30:17. God performed a miracle. He had work for me.

During the months of my recovery, Jän faithfully was by my side. While I was in the hospital, friends from our church and from the community would sit by me while he took some time to eat or rest. He also spent time with me each day at the Care Center, usually sharing a meal during his visit and becoming acquainted with other residents. I enjoyed visits from many friends while I was at CRCC—they came from many parts of the United States and from Ghana.

As my thoughts became clearer and I learned about my accident and the miracle of life, I began to pray, “Father, I don’t know why I’m here, but thank-you. Show me what to do.” He has provided numerous opportunities.

Purpose #4: I conduct knitting circles twice a month at CRCC. It provides time to chat with the group and share the joys God has given each of us. Jän and I also spend many Sabbath afternoons visiting residents at CRCC. The director of activities recently asked Jän to present a Bible study twice a month! He is using the Steps to Life studies prepared by Marshall Grosboll. I assist the attending residents and help read the Bible texts. We have provided large print Bibles for each attendee to use if they are able. The residents attending frequently express their appreciation of the studies.

Purpose #5: We have also accepted volunteer positions to assist the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra. Several of its members have played at the Renaissance Church, and others are asking when they may play their instruments there. We are continually given the opportunity to answer questions about the church and to share from the Bible what we believe.

Physical challenges have turned the activities I enjoyed previously into memories. The backpacks and camping gear are stored in the closet. The motorcycles and bicycles are dusty in the garage. Travel is difficult. But God has directed me to activities with Jän where we may share Him and experience His purpose for us.

“Every action of ours in befriending God’s people will be rewarded as done unto Himself.” Maranatha, 317.

Anna Schultz is again an integral part of the Landmarks team. She may be contacted by email at: ams80135@aol.com.

Where the Waters Run

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In the immense universe stretching through the vastness of space is our nearest neighbor the moon. Man has actually walked on its dry dusty face. We now know for certainty it is barren, desolate and devoid of even the simplest forms of life. What a contrast to colorful planet earth, our home—a sphere of striking beauty, green, fresh, fertile and teeming with life in great profusion. A dazzling diversity of life!

What makes the difference between the lifeless moon and the living earth? There is nothing else quite like water in the entire universe. In a surprising variety of ways the peculiar properties of water seem to have been designed expressly to make the world hospitable to life, and the earth has a great abundance of water. It covers about 70 percent of the earth’s surface. That is an estimated 326 million cubic miles of water. If the surface of the earth were perfectly smooth, the waters of the oceans would cover the earth uniformly to a depth of between 8,000 and 9,000 feet. However, only a fraction of one percent of all the water of earth can be called fresh water or water suitable for our personal use.

Most of us tend to regard this remarkable substance as ordinary, but we must not take it for granted, for in reality it is the most extraordinary substance in the universe and one upon which we are totally dependent for life.

The symbol for water, H2O—two atoms of hydrogen, and one atom of oxygen, is rather short as chemical formulas go, but that is water!

Hydrogen itself is a gas, the lightest of all elements and very flammable. Oxygen is also a gas and readily supports combustion.

Think of it—two gases—hydrogen, which is highly combustible, and oxygen which supports combustion. When combined in precisely the right proportion they form water, man’s chief agent for putting out fires.

When you heat water to 212 F it ceases to be a liquid and becomes a gas. When you cool water to 32 F it freezes. Why water reacts precisely as it does can be understood only by examining the structure of the water molecule itself, which looks something like the head of a mouse. The parts that look like the ears of a mouse represent two hydrogen atoms, the larger part represents an oxygen atom.

The two elements are quick to join each other and once together are difficult to separate because of the strong electrical attraction between them much like a magnet.

Given enough time, water will dissolve almost any other substance, for it comes closer to any other liquid to being a universal solvent and plays an important part in erosion. As water erodes, it picks up chemicals and minerals and were it not for the ability of water to dissolve or break down the molecular structure of other substances, plants would not get the nutrients they need.

Water’s force in motion is another factor dramatically evident in its power to erode. Its relentless motion through continuing centuries has helped to shape earth’s surface in rugged artistry. Cutting and chiseling through solid rock, water has sculptured deep canyons of spectacular grandeur.

Have you ever wondered why water forms into a drop or bead, how it holds itself together? Again, the explanation is found in the molecule. Once formed, water molecules join to each other in a sort of liquid latticework. In the liquid state, the negative side of one molecule is attracted or joined to the positive side of another. These attractions or bonds are formed and broken at random. At the surface where the liquid stops, the surface molecules cling to the ones below and to the sides. This cohesion creates a sort of skin that holds the water together, providing what is called surface tension. A drop of water takes the shape of a sphere. The skin of the molecule holds the sphere together. A water strider can walk on water, for the skin provides a surface.

Water skin is also illustrated in the old saying “like water off a duck’s back.” It is surface tension, which causes water to bead and roll off the bird’s back. Actually, due to surface tension these coots (swimming or diving birds) are sealed in an envelope of air as they dive, but perhaps the greatest work of surface tension in supporting life is cohesion or capillarity. Capillarity is the force that causes water to rise in a constricted space; the greater the constriction, the greater the rise. To further illustrate this principle, split the stem of a white carnation and place the parted stems in containers of colored water and you will find the different colors rise through the stem changing the color of the flower.

As water goes up the trunks of trees, capillary action is again at work. Without the ability of water to creep upward against the pull of gravity, the chemicals and minerals needed by plants to manufacture food would remain in the ground. Cohesion or capillarity is a phenomenon of water necessary to sustain life on earth.

In its solid state, water exhibits another phenomenon essential to life. In the days when the milkman delivered his product in a glass bottle, and it was left outside with the temperature below freezing, the milk would expand popping the bottle cap. Milk is 87 percent water. It was the water in the milk that froze and expanded. Almost any other substance, whether liquid, solid or gas will shrink in volume as its temperature goes down and as it shrinks it becomes more dense.

Water also shrinks during most of the temperature drop toward the freezing point, but below 40 degrees something amazingly different happens; it expands and gets less dense. As it freezes into a solid, it becomes still less dense until it has finally gained about nine percent in volume.

Why does ice float? This is because ice occupies more space than liquid water without weighing more. Since ice floats on the surface it acts as a layer of insulation, which protects the water beneath from further freezing. If water, like other liquids, were to become more dense when frozen, ice would sink and more ice would be formed at the surface. In the wintertime the rivers and streams would freeze and stop flowing, lakes would freeze solid and even the oceans might become a solid mass of ice. In the summer the sun’s heat would only melt a thin layer on the surface forming a shallow slush and life would have little chance for survival.

But God created the earth so it would sustain life, therefore the molecule of water had to be different than the molecule of all other substances. With the warmer temperatures of spring, ice readily melts. The melting liquid flows from higher elevations to lower elevations forming bodies of water. The heat of the sun and the water lifts water vapor up. The sun, air and the force of gravity all work together, as they have for centuries, to keep the hydrologic or water cycle going. Warm wet air is lighter than cold dry air, which causes it to rise. The clouds began as rising currents of warm air laden with moisture. Borne by prevailing winds the moist air cools as it rises higher and higher up steep mountain slopes and contracts as it cools literally squeezing out most of the moisture as refreshing rain. Raindrops wash the air absorbing carbon dioxide as they fall, returning to the soil as carbonic acid vital to plants and providing pure fresh water for animal and human life.

Three thousand years before the principles involved were discovered by modern science, the Bible described the water cycle with amazing accuracy. “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.” Ecclesiastes 1:7.

More energy is expended in the water cycle in one day than man has been able to generate throughout the course of history. This alone should make us stand in awe at the power of our God.

God’s power can also be seen in the conversion of salt water to fresh. Man has long sought for a simple inexpensive way to remove salt from seawater. Survival kits employ solar stills. They operate through a process of evaporation and condensation, a process that God has been utilizing for thousands of years. The process is referred to as desalination or desalting. These solar stills successfully make the conversion providing fresh drinking water from the undrinkable ocean.

Huge plants have been developed for converting larger amounts, but so far the cost of converting enough fresh water for even one city is comparatively expensive. However, desalination could well become our prime source of fresh water. Yet from the very beginning God has converted billions of tons of salt water to fresh every day.

We’ve considered many different things about water and its unique properties. All the evidence indicates that water possesses precise properties that make life possible. These properties were not acquired through a process of random change, but were designed into water from the very beginning by the master Designer, God Himself.

What does all this mean to you personally? Think again about how much we use water. Every day we use it in hundreds of ways. In a very personal way water means a great deal. Really it is a matter of life and death. Seventy percent of the average human body is water. You constantly lose this precious body liquid and if it is not replaced, and fairly soon, you will die. It is the water in your blood that carries it through 60,000 miles of arteries, veins and branching capillaries. Water plays a major role in the digestion of food and lubrication of joints. Mucous membranes would dry up without it and without water your eyes would cease to function. Water also regulates body heat. From the beginning of time to the present, water is supporting life on earth, your life! Water with its precise properties is God’s loving provision for our physical lives.

The formula of water is simple but it is also very special and very exact. Man did not create water and cannot change its formula, but he is absolutely dependent on it. Water has no man-made substitute. Where waters run there is life; where they do not, there is desolation and death. The Bible speaks of another kind of life, spiritual life, and reveals another kind of water—Living water. The living water is the Lord Jesus Christ. To a lonely and misunderstood sinful woman long ago Christ said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” John 4:10 NKJV.

However, just as God’s provision for man’s physical life is precise, so is His provision for man’s spiritual life precise. Just as man did not create physical water, so he cannot create spiritual water. Just as he cannot change the formula for the one, so he cannot change the formula for the other. Just as man will die physically without the one, so he will die spiritually without the other. But just as physical water is abundantly available to man, so the spiritual or living water is also and the formula is simple but the formula is special, exact and precise. Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father but through Me.”

Man is confronted with an awesome alternative; he can receive the spiritual water and live or he can reject it and die. Remember, just as physical water can be yours for the drinking so the spiritual water can be yours for the asking and receiving—free, without cost. Christ’s invitation given centuries ago still stands: “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. … Out of His belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37, 38.

Receive Christ now and you can experience eternal life and your spiritual life will be fully and finally satisfied. “Come … you who are thirsty; accept the water of life, a free gift to all who desire it.” Revelation 22:17 NEB.

A Moody Institute of Science Presentation, Moody Publishers, Chicago, Illinois.

The Uncertainty of Life

By Marshall Grosboll

The Uncertainty of LifeIntroductory note:

On July 22, 1991, Pastor Marshall Grosboll with his wife Lillian, their son Matthew and daughter Christine were killed in the private plane (pictured on the front) they were flying. Although not foreseeing the death of his entire family, Marshall was acutely aware that at any time his own life could instantly be cut short. Especially was he aware of this since he was traveling so much all around the world. He had been in Europe with his family earlier that same month and was scheduled to go to New Zealand a couple of days after the accident. Because he was so aware of the possibility, at any moment, of sudden death by accident, he preached a great deal about it. The last article which he himself, as director of Steps to Life, wrote in the ministry’s News Notes was about the shortness of human life. He preached about this subject to the churches he pastored and to non- Christians in evangelistic sermons. This booklet is adapted from two sermons he preached in late winter of 1986 to the Wichita South Seventh-day Adventist Church when he was pastor there.

A month before going to Europe he left a note with a few brief directions about what to do if something should happen to him. The morning of July 22, before leaving his parent’s home with his family for the last time, he indicated that he did not think he was going to live long. But life in this world was not uppermost in his mind. He knew the really important thing was to be ready to inherit eternal life, so he had spent a large part of the last night of his life praying. Friend, any of us could suddenly die in an accident– the important thing is that we are ready to die. Would you be among the saved in the end if you were to die today? Until you are ready to die, you are not really ready to live, even in this world, because this life is only to be a preparation for eternity. May this booklet help you to be ready for your last day on this earth, whenever that might be.

Part I The Challenger

This week we mourned with the rest of America. I have to admit that I have an interest in the space shuttle program. My favorite picture in my office is one of Christ, but I also have two pictures of the shuffle hanging on the other wall.

My wife’s aunt in Washington, DC., is a veteran worker for NASA and she keeps us supplied with pictures, data, books and shuffle decals. My son has models and toys of the shuffle. Upon investigation, we found that only one of them was of the Challenger.

I first heard about this week’s tragedy K while walking down the corridor of the San Diego Airport. I overheard someone say that the shuffle had blown up. I asked, “What did you say?” He said, “The shuttle just blew up.” I immediately checked into my motel room and turned on the television to catch the news. There I saw the replay over and over again. I wanted to say it wasn’t so, but it was. I hoped against hope at first that maybe, somehow, the spaceship had remained in tact and had glided into the Atlantic somewhere, and that soon someone would find them. But the blast, they said, was equal to a small atomic bomb.

One of my ministerial friends at the meeting in San Diego is an aerospace engineer and worked for NASA for seven years before entering the ministry. He was involved in the development of the shuffle and knew every detail of the plane. It was his opiKon that it had to be the external fuel tank. The boosters, he said, cannot explode; they just burn. The fuel tank contains half a million gallons of liquid oxygen and hydrogen, which, when ignited, creates a tremendous reaction, as we all witnessed.

I was interested in the crew. Most of us, I think, have become attached to the school teacher, Christa. And there was Michael Smith, who as a boy had one dream– to fly. One time, while quarterbacking his high school football team, they were trailing in the second half by seven points. He called a time out– his coach expecting him to come over and get a new play– but he did not come. Then his coach saw him staring up at ajet passing over the field. He had called a time out just to look at an airplane. Football, even quarterbacking his high school football team in an important game, did not hold the interest that airplanes did. “Come on, Mike,” his coach called, we’re in a football game!” But he had a dream. And then there was Judy Resnik, whom my family and I had the privilege of meeting once at a special reception for NASA personnel that my wife’s aunt invited us to. Her father called her “Little Judy” when she was growing up in Akron, Ohio, and she liked it. Whenever she called home, she said, “Hi, Daddy, this is Little.” She always called him Daddy, and she was still his “Little Judy.”

Like Michael, the pilot of the craft who once called a time- out while playing high school football to look at an airplane go overhead, she also had some priorities in life. She was the only astronaut on board who did not leave behind a spouse and at least two children. In fact, Judy had never married. She had given herself to getting a doctorate degree at the University of Maryland and to becoming an astronaut. She had succeeded, but she was still Daddy’s girl and Mother’s darling. As they watched their beloved daughter lift off on her second shuttle flight, they were full of joy and pride for her.

They knew about the dangers. They knew that the lift-off was the most dangerous part of the flight, and the higher the shuffle went the safer it was. As they watched the craft lift and roll, and reach a speed of 2,000 mph and an altitude of over 10 miles within 75 seconds, they knew that the most dangerous phase was just about over. Then they saw the fireball. The sound would take another full minute to reach the earth, but they could see it. Judy’s parents were standing next to Michael Smith’s children, who began to cry. One of them said, “Daddy! I want you, Daddy! You always promised nothing would happen.” Then the lights went out as the wife of Onizuka, who was leaning against the wall where the light switches were located, fainted and pulled down the switches as she sank to the floor.

Fifty-five times we have sent men and women into space. We have sent them clear to the moon and back– not once but many times– and never an accident from lift- off until return. Not a single mishap. Our record was near perfect. Surely, we had perfected our arts. But as of this week, times have changed.

Life is not Certain on this Earth but God is

There is nothing in this life that is foolproof, at least nothing mechanical. Nothing in the weather. Nothing in your body. There are no supermen and no super agents. It takes but one projectile through the heart, or the bursting of one vessel in the brain, or one drunk driver swerving into our lane at the wrong time, and all is wiped out. Nothing in this life is foolproof.

Our pioneers recognized that fact. That is why George Washington prayed before going into baffle or leading out in Congress. He did not pray because it was expected of him— he prayed because he knew he needed God’s help. Yes, he must have Him. He was totally dependent upon Him, thus, he declared a national day of fasting and prayer.

Our forefather’s recognized that there are too many things that can and will go wrong, and that without God’s special intervention, all our plans and accomplishments will one day perish. That is why in the constitution they stated that we are one nation under God. Not under the President or Congress, but under God. They knew that we would only remain a nation as long as God was in control, and that when He ceased to bless, the nation would begin to suffer reverses until it would cease to exist.

We were a nation with religious freedom— our citizens were allowed to worship unmolested according to their conscience. We were not a non-religious country. We were not atheistic. We were established through faith in God. Our courts were based upon the justice as found in the Bible, and upon that Book every witness had to swear. They realized that there is nothing sure without the surety of God.

That is why the minters of our first coins inscribed the words: “In God we trust.” They knew that the value of those coins would only remain stable as long as God maintained the health of the economy— as long as He gave us the will to sacrifice, the integrity to work hard, and the honesty to preserve what was not ours– and then to bless the output and to multiply. Thus we became the “bread basket” of the world. But today we no longer pray when about to embark on a mission, even a dangerous mission. No longer do we give God the credit when things succeed. No longer do we fast and pray when things do not.

I was amazed when a hurricane of 160 mph winds was headed for the costs of North Carolina and Virginia, and it mysteriously tumed up shore. I praised God for sparing our land another day, but how disappointed I was a few hours later to hear a news commentator say: “We were lucky that time.” Lucky! How can God continue to protect us over and over again when we totally deny Him.

As I was riding in a 727 from Kansas City to Washington National Airport last November, a young female executive came and sat next to me in the seat she had been assigned to. She was raised a Jew but had become an atheist. Her question to me was, “If there really is a God, why does He allow such calamities as AIDS, for example.” My response to her was, “Why should God protect you from disaster. You do not even believe in Him, nor are you following what He says.”

“But when you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.” Then He said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven” Luke 21: 9- 11.

Before Jesus comes there will yet be more wars, earthquakes, famines (and don’t think it can’t happen in America), pestilences, disasters by land, sea, air, and space.

“The restraining power of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, fire and flood, disasters by sea and land (and could we say by air and space), follow each other in quick succession. Science seeks to explain all these. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. Men cannot discern the sentinel angels restraining the four winds that they shall not blow until the servants of God are sealed; but when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture” Testimonies, vol. 6 408.

I ask you candidly and plainly, as you review the news over the past couple of years, has there been a continuing increase in disasters? From the Korean air crash, the Indian air crash and the carnage of the 101st Airborne, to the shuffle explosion; from starvation in Ethiopia and volcanoes in South America, to leaking toxic gases in India; from skyjacking, to cruise jacking, to the assassination of Indira Gandhi; from bankrupt banks to foreclosed farms.. .when will we learn that we need God to survive?

“At the end of the twelve months he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, ‘Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty? ‘While the word was still in the king’s mouth, a voice fell from heaven: ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you!” ‘ Daniel 4: 29- 31.

There is nothing sure or stable in this life without God’s direct protection and care– not your marriage, your money, your children, your health, your church, your nation, and certainly not yourself. Nothing! We need to humble ourselves before God and invite Him into our lives. We need to realize our total dependence upon Him. Everything may be going right in your life.

Everything may have gone right for a long time, but it only takes a moment to turn everything around, and if God is not in control of your life, that moment is coming. It will come at a most unexpected time! It will come suddenly!

On television we saw seven people perish unexpectedly last Thursday in a heart- rending space disaster. We cried for them and their families, but did you know that since you awoke this morning 90,000 people on planet earth have died? Oh, they have not been publicized and we do not know them, but every one of them was special. Most of them had families– mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, spouses, who are even now mourning them. Ninety thousand people so far this morning, and every 60 seconds 250 more tragically die? This earth is a disaster. It is time to get right with God. It is time to do the work He has given us to do. It is time for Jesus to come.

“There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices” Luke 13: 1

They had their disasters in Jesus’ day. The Bible records them. Once the Galileans were peaceably worshipping in Jerusalem, offering their sacrifices, and Pilot sent his soldiers in to cut them up and throw them on top of their sacrifices so that all their blood mixed together. What a catastrophe, and right within the church! Would public worship ever seem the same again? Why were they slaughtered? Had they committed some aggravated sin so that God was punishing them? No! Jesus said. They had not sinned any more than the rest of the people. “And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” ‘ Luke 13: 2- 3. These Galileans had not sinned any more than any of the other people– maybe less– but God was beginning to withdraw His protection from Jerusalem and disasters were beginning to happen. “Why did you hear,” Jesus said, “about what happened to some people from Jerusalem? It is not just Galileans who are suffering disasters, but Jerusalemites also.”

“Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” Luke 13: 4- 5.

What did Jesus mean when He said unless you repent you will all likewise perish? Jesus could see down the stream of time when God’s protection would be completely withdrawn from Jerusalem and when all within, except those who had accepted Christ and had fled from the city when Jesus told them to, would be barbarously murdered, as those Galileans were, by the Romans soldiers. God’s protecting hand was being withdrawn from the city. They had rejected the only true God and followed a God of their own choosing.

Repent

“Repent,” Jesus said. “Repent.” That is a word that isn’t too often heard anymore. Oh, a few people make cartoons about people holding up signs that say to repent, but today we are living in a day and age when it is more popular to praise people. Calls to repentance are seldom heard, but that is what is needed today. At least that is what the Bible says is needed today– not just in the world but in the church. Why? Because as a people we have apostatized. We have carried on a form of religion without the power thereof. We may have, some of us anyway, kept the Sabbath and paid our tithe, but we have not all found Jesus. These outward things, Jesus said, we should have done, but not to have left the other undone.

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” ‘ Revelation 3: 14- 15. Dear friend, it is time to be on fire for the Lord. That is not something that is nice to be, that is what God requires. We must, we must, we must, dear friend, spend that time with Jesus every day. And we must, we must, we must overcome the sins that Jesus points out in our lives. To remain lukewarm is fatal; it is absolutely fatal! The Bible says that God is going to destroy every professing Christian that remains lukewarm. The lukewarm Christian is not going to barely get into heaven; he or she is not going to get in at all.

It is time that Jesus becomes our all in all. It is time that He is our absorbing theme– not football, not television programs, not secular music, not making money.

Those seven who were on the ill- fated shuttle flight this Thursday all had one thing in common. They were a few who were chosen out of thousands– they were a remnant. And what made them that remnant? They made being on that shuttle their first and only interest. Even in a high school football game, Michael Smith wasn’t interested in the game any more when an airplane flew overhead. Dear friend, when we love the Lord that much, we will be saved! When we would rather read the Bible than watch the Super Bowl, that is conversion. When we would rather starve to death than work on the Sabbath or use the Lord’s tithe for our own use, that is conversion.

I have some simple questions to ask you: Do you spend more time reading the Bible, or watching television? Do you spend more time tuned in to the radio, or in prayer? What is molding your life? Where do your thoughts run in your leisure moments?

“There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” ‘ Luke 13: 1- 5.

Someday, while people are eating and drinking, marrying and giving~ in marriage, and while life is progressing, another explosion is going to take place. The sky is suddenly going to rip apart and whole islands are going be moved out of their place. The streams are going to cease to flow and the homes we have lived in are going to be ripped asunder. like lightening from the East our Lord will come with 10,000 of His holy angels. life on planet earth is going to suddenly come to a halt. Our academies are all going to be closed and our churches are going to be destroyed.

“These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firsifruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God” Revelation 14: 4- 5.

Jesus says to repent, or we are all going to be destroyed. I am so glad that the destruction that overtook the seven astronauts this week was not a final destruction. Everyone of them will be raised again. I hope that some or all of them are saved. It is a shame that of all the personal belongings taken on board, from pennants to pet frogs, there is not a mention of any of them taking a Bible on board— though maybe the Gideons had one on board already. I hope they were living up to the light they knew. I hope that Mr. Resnik gets to hear his daughter say to him again, “Hello, Daddy, this is Little.” I hope someone witnessed to them about Jesus in time– not just the One who lived 2,000 years ago, but about the One living in their heart. I hope so.

But I know this, that soon there is going to be another blast that is going to rip the whole earth apart. In that day, who is going to be able to stand? As Psalms 24: 4 says, it will be “he who has clean hands and a pure heart.”

Today the football game of life is in progress, but overhead are flying the three angels of Revelation 14 with the everlasting gospel to give to the world. Isn’t it time to call a time out, to look and to listen and to follow. Another shuffle is about to leave this stricken world, and this one will succeed. Upon that shuffle only a remnant will be found– a small number from so many who would like to go, but who did not put their whole heart and mind and soul into being there. I want to be on board when Jesus comes, don’t you? I do not want my children crying because I am not there, do you? Rather, I want to hear them saying: “Hello, Daddy, it’s me.” It’s time for the Lord to come, I hear the people say; the stars of heaven are growing dim, it must be the breaking of the day. The signs foretold in the sun and moon, in earth and sea and space, aloud proclaim to all mankind, the coming of the Master draweth on.

Let us repent and be ready. “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” ‘ Revelation 3: 14- 16.

Part II From Death to Life

The tragedy of life is that it ends. When you go on a vacation, the vacation soon comes to an end, but you feel refreshed, and you have the pictures; at least you have the pictures in your mind. You have the memories. Memories are one of the most important things in life.

But suppose you went on a vacation, and after it was through you had total amnesia. Even the subconscious memory of the vacation was wiped out. You had no pictures. No memory of it. You had no recollection of having been on a vacation at all. How many would like to go on a vacation like that?

Suppose with me that someone should offer you a two week vacation anywhere in the world via private jet, or private cruise— you choose— with the best accommodations, the finest food, the nicest friends, a private servant, chef and butler. The price tag on this two week vacation was $2,000. How many would go? Maybe a little out of our reach, but a bargain at twice the cost. However, just for today, this vacation offer is on sale for just $195. $195! Anywhere in the world— Austria, the Congo, Brazil, Spain, Shanghai, Paris, Alaska, Rome, the South Seas or any combination. $195! How many would go?

But, as is often the case, there is one little catch with the bargain price. First, no one could know that you had gone. And second, after you got back you would be put through some kind of machine that would totally wipe out that memory so that not even you would have any idea you had ever been on a vacation at all. Who knows, maybe you have already been on a vacation like that; you just can’t remember. Anyway, now that you know the fine print at the bottom of the vacation offer, how many would still be interested in going at the bargain price?

Think of all the fun you would have during those two weeks? Maybe if I had enough time and just concentrated on the positive, I could sell quite a few tickets. But the thinking person would say— for what? However good the vacation might be, it would soon be over, and then for what? It would be as though it had never happened.

Lease on Life

Yet, an awful lot of supposedly thinking people are taking vacations just like that. They are going through the vacation of life, existing for the pleasures that they can receive while here. But for what? When it is over, and the memory is wiped out, and as time goes on and no one even remembers that they ever existed, what is the purpose of life? What is the purpose of riches that perish? What is the purpose of knowledge that vanishes? What is the purpose of hard work for things that suddenly cease to exist? What is the purpose of improving yourself just to vanish into thin air as though you never existed? That is the question Jesus asked.

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry. ‘ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided? ‘ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” Luke 12: 16- 21.

Then whose shall they be after you cease to exist? You can have all the insurance policies in the world, you can write up your will any way you want to, you can have all the alarm systems and security devices on your home that money can buy or genius invent. Nevertheless, when you die, you lose it all. None of us own a thing in this life– we only lease. You might think you have a deed to your house, but it is only a lease, and that lease runs out when you die!

Jesus said, “Fool! . . . Then whose will those things be which you have provided?” That is the question of the age. Think about it. Daydream about it. There is no such thing as being permanently rich in this life. It is only loaned, and the loan runs out when you die. “Then whose will those things be which you have provided?”

That is why Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourself treasures on earth, where tornadoes and lawsuits destroy and where death breaks in and steals; but lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where you can enjoy them forever.” Good advice isn’t it? Dear friend, if you are lost, your life has been a total waste. It does not matter what accomplishments you may have made or how rich or well thought of you were. You may have been the President of the United States, the dictator of Russia or even the much sought after president of the Philippines. You may have owned the oil wells of the world, but if you are eventually lost; for what? When your life ceases to exist, whatever the excuse for being lost, you might as well have never lived.

You know, it is amazing the excuses that people can give for being lost. “My parents were too strict.” “The school was not fair.” “The preacher was boring.” “I would have lost my job for keeping the Sabbath.” “The Bible was boring.” I have wondered if when standing before the bar of justice, if those who have “good” excuses, whatever that means, are going to feel better about being lost than those who have poor excuses. Have you ever wondered that?

The Real Purpose of Life

There is but one real purpose in life, dear friend, and that is to be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. Let all other considerations vanish in comparison to that.

But how is this accomplished? Jesus plainly said in Matthew 7 that there were going to be but very few people saved, even though a whole lot of people where going to think they were saved. How can we make sure?

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” John 5: 24.

Most assuredly, Jesus said. This is what it takes. If anyone gives you any other way to eternal life than this, believe it not. According to Jesus, this is most assuredly the way. Unless we are hearing the voice of Jesus leading us day by day, we are lost. We need to realize the seriousness of television. Too many voices are trying to grab our attention. We may even be watching “good” programs— and we wouldn’t watch any other, wouldwe?– but if it is drowning out the voice of Jesus, it is accomplishing its purpose. Our time is sacred. We must take time to hear the voice of Jesus if we want to be saved. We must spend time with Jesus every day, morning by mom ing, and retain Him in our thoughts throughout the day.

Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” Matthew 16: 24. For, as Peter said, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be save,” Acts 4: 12, than the name Christ Jesus.

We must hear the voice of Jesus. If we are not taking the time to hear the voice of Jesus through Bible study and prayer, we are going to be lost. We are lost. But I would like you to notice that there are two things Jesus said we must do in order to have eternal life. Now Jesus paid the price. He died to atone for our sins. But Jesus said that we also have something to do in order to receive that gift. Jesus said it, not me. And these are the two things we must do.

  1. We must hear the words of Jesus.
  2. We must believe in God.

We must not only hear. We must believe. That is the secret, Jesus said, to eternal life and the reason most people will not be saved.

Ninety- five percent are too busy to hear the voice of Jesus. But even of the small percent who do hear, ninety- five percent of those do not believe what they read or hear. They do not believe God. Oh, they may believe that He exists– even the devils believe that, James said. But they do not believe Him– they do not believe His truthfulness or His authority. They do not believe what He says. They do not accept His words, His authority, His wisdom or His messengers.

Thus it was with the Jews. They did read the Bible, but they did not believe. “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” John 5: 37- 40.

Oh, they read the Bible, but they were too wise to believe it, or to believe in Him whom the Bible said should come. He was too humble. He did not fulfill their pride or their ambitions.

What two things are necessary for salvation?

There are two things necessary for salvation. You must:

  1. hear, and
  2. believe.

But the Jews could not. It did not agree with their pride nor their human logic. The leaders taught men to reverence them, but Jesus claimed no human titles. They thought they were pretty good, but Jesus called for repentance. God had sent His Son into the world, but God’s Son did not meet with their approval. Oh, they had read and memorized the Scriptures. They could quote whole sections of it, but they twisted it to their own destruction, and they would not believe in Him to Whom Scripture pointed.

“How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” John 5: 44.

Dear friend, what we are needing today is to spend more time with the Scriptures and with the testimony of Jesus Christ, which the Bible says is the spirit of prophecy. We are needing to spend more time with the Scriptures, but more than that, we are needing to spend more time with it on our knees– in sincere repentance, clinging to the foot of the cross.

“Oh Lord, as we read Your Word, may we be converted, put away our pride and put away our preconceived opinions. May we accept Your simple, humble truths.”

If Jesus should come to earth today, would He be accepted? He had no degrees, you know. Where would He go? Could He be a minister in our churches, or a teacher in our schools or a physician in our institutions? Would we accept His words of truth? Would He find a place in our church or in our hearts, or would He be left outside knocking to get in as is pictured in the Laodicean message? I tell you this, as soon as we decree that an individual must have a certain degree or come from a particular institution to be a minister or worker in any line, we have barred Christ from the ministry of our church, because His qualifications were other than what mankind can give. He was anointed from above. Oh that we had that same prerequisite, and that prerequisite alone, today. We need training, but more important, we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

If Jesus should come to earth today, would you receive Him? Would you? Of course you would. But so thought the Jews! How do we know? You can know, because He is still here today.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen” Matthew 28: 19- 20.

He is still here. You may not see Him, but then, the Jews in Jerusalem 1,900 years ago never thought they had met the Messiah either. But He was there. And He is here, but He is still unrecognized and unaccepted.

“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” John 14: 19- 21.

Who is it who will see Jesus? He who hears the words of Jesus and believes. “He who has My commandments.” How do you have the commandments of Jesus? By reading them. By putting them in your mind. “He who has My commandments.” But He who has and does what? “And keeps them.” He who believes what Jesus said. In him, Jesus said, I will come and abide.

Again, what does it require to be saved? Two things.

  1. We must hear the words of Jesus.
  2. We must believe.

If you were living in Jerusalem and God should choose to send His Son in the form of a humble Galilean peasant, and you were expecting Judean royalty, would you believe? If you were living in the last days and God should choose a humble New England woman to be His messenger, and you were expecting a German theologian, would you believe?

If God should say that the seventh-day of the week is holy, whereas you had been taught by parents and theologians that the first day of the week was sacred, would you believe God or the theologians? Who would you believe? Would you believe God?

If God should choose to close Platte Valley Academy but your job was at stake or your alma matter in jeopardy, would you believe?

If God should choose you to be a messenger of His as He did Isaiah to preach the word or to witness to your neighbor, would you believe, or would you find excuses.

Dear friend, it is time we have more confidence in the power of prayer and more willing acceptance of God’s answers. It is time we are willing to be lead by His Spirit. It is time we have more simple, apostolic faith in His Word. It is time we quit reasoning away what we are told about how to treat the sick, how to eucate the young, how to raise our children and how to choose our spouses. It is time we study, rightly dividing the word of truth so that we are not putting our own interpretation on it, but having honestly ascertained what God has said, it is time we simply believed and obeyed. Is that right or wrong? And why shouldn’t we believe? Why shouldn’t we follow more fully? “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” John 15: 11.

It is He who brings happiness in life. God loves you, dear friend. He only wants the best for you, but His way may not be your way, so you are going to have to have faith in Him. Sickness may devour a loved one. Are you still going to believe? God may call you out of some comfortable circumstance into the path of hardship. Are you still going to believe? God may strike your pride to the ground. Are you still going to believe? God may even say something that you don’t agree with at all. Are you still going to believe?

“If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father” John 5: 24.

Jesus is calling you today, dear friend, to cease your business in life– to put down the telephone and turn off the television, to close the newspaper and come home from the party, and to go into your closet and hear His voice speaking to you. Have you heard His voice? But having heard, you must believe. Oh, dear friend, if you will but take the time to hear, and then if you will believe, you have eternal life. Praise the Lord! You will find rest unto your soul. You will find a peace within that not all the troubles of the world can disturb.

“For God so loved the world. That He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him, might not perish, but have everlasting life” John 3: 16. You can have that gift, today. You can have a peace and a joy that will never end, but will last throughout eternity.

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