Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The grand truths of the Bible are becoming more sharply defined worldwide as we come closer to the second coming of Christ. A great Enemy of Christ fights against truth, but “the truth of the gospel” prevails against all opposition:

(a) Christ’s love for His church (and for the world) will motivate His personal, literal, and visible second coming to take to Himself His people (John 14:1-3).

(b) A people will respond to “the truth of the gospel” and will “overcome” sin in preparation for translation at His coming (Gal. 2:5, 9; Rev. 3:21).

(c) The motivation that will accomplish this grand demonstration of the gospel will not be egocentric fear (the basic idea of “Babylon”), but a clearer concept of love that “constrains” to unselfish devotion to Christ (agape; 2 Cor. 5:14, 15).

(d) Thus will be fulfilled the prophetic picture of a people that truthfully “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”(Rev. 12:17; 14:12; Rom. 13:10).

(e) This takes place in the biblical “time of the end,” when “knowledge will be increased”(Dan. 12:4). That time is now.

(f) It is the same as “the hour of God’s judgment” when He as well as the world is to be “judged”(Rev. 14:6, 7). It is the final victory of the ages-long “controversy between Christ and Satan.”

(g) It is also described as “the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary,” a successful completion of Christ’s ministry as the world’s great High Priest (Dan. 8:14).

(h) He is not to battle vainly against sin for endless eons yet to come, always doomed to remain “despised and rejected of men.” He is to demonstrate a huge success in His plan of salvation, before His second advent (Rev. 14:15; 18:1-4). The world will see it.

(i) Every honest heart around the world will respond to this “revelation of Jesus Christ,” even some in the Roman Catholic Curia (15:2; maybe a pope?).

(j) A significant chapter in this development of “the truth of the gospel” will be the distinction between the counterfeit “holy spirit” of “Babylon” and the genuine “latter rain” to be received by the “remnant church” (Rev. 18:1, 2). Every honest heart world-wide will be undeceived.

(k) Young people: this is something to dedicate your life for!

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

When you see the pictures of the huge crowds gathered at the Virginia Tech Memorial services, the 33 who had to die suddenly seem a small number; but the truth is that when they died we all died with them. Each of us has pondered, What would we have done if we had been in any one’s place? Each of us is no better, more worthy than they. Each of us lives each moment as in the vestibule of eternity. Each of us is gifted with life that has infinite ramifications, yet is painfully mortal.

In Biblical terms, the murderous wretch was possessed of a devil. At least, he did what the devil wants anyone to do. This is not a simplistic, out of date characterization; it’s present truth reality. Cho was a modern Gadarene like the maniac who met Jesus in Luke 8 who was possessed of many devils, “Legion.” But Jesus did not run from him but confronted him head on and commanded the devils to leave him—which they did. The disciples and people in general fled in terror from the various devil-possessed people whom Jesus delivered; but He never ran. He always stood His ground and confronted the personal terror face to face.

“But He was Jesus, the divine Son of God!” someone may object; “who are we?” Well, we read that Jesus said that one who “believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12). Jesus never had a moment to prepare for these encounters He had with devil-crazed people; He simply had to step up momentarily to every dire emergency and assume divine authority and command the situation.

“What would I do if I met a Cho?” It’s not an idle question for any of us to ponder.

One must be and must remain a coward unless he has formed the habit of “dwell [ing] in the secret place of the Most High” (Psalm 91:1). It’s not a fear trip; that’s what we want out of, forever. It’s a personal, intimate acquaintance with “the Most High,” a sharing of the Savior’s cross with Him on which self is crucified with Him, “daily” (Luke 9:23).

Never worry in advance; the Lord has promised that the wisdom and the strength will be realized in the moment of need (Mark 13:11).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

A columnist in the most recent TIME writes about Cho Seung Hui, of Virginia Tech. He says that the murderer’s problem was not guns but his narcissism, his extreme, radical self-centeredness.

Granted, yes; man’s problem is always narcissism.

But what can we do about it?

Every baby is a born narcissist, but normally it learns that there are other people on this planet and it learns to adjust, or at least to some reasonable extent, with fellow-humans. Except the like of Cho.

God has given the world one great Healer of narcisissim; as Great Mental Physician, He is able to heal even a Cho and save us from those 32 murders of the flower of our university youth. (There have been several would-be copycat Cho’s already.) But how can Jesus Christ, the most non-Narcissist of all time and eternity, make contact with the Cho’s that are out there waiting for their flare-ups?

There must be some living entity of humans who understand Him and can disclose to the world in meaningful terms what His precious anti-narcisissm is; it is reasonable to understand that the Father so loves the world that He will publish the message if that living entity of humanity can comprehend and grasp it clearly enough to communicate it.

That of course must be His church, His “body” of believers; there’s no need to berate ourselves as that “body,” but we can inquire what could any church in the area whence Cho emerged have done to reach him? He wouldn’t even say hello to his roommate, who doubtless gave up in despair trying to communicate.

But right there may be a clue to prevent the next massacre: there’s a form of love that never loses patience (1 Cor. 13:8). It can penetrate the murky depths of labyrinthine subterranean channels deep in an alienated human heart, because it has grown to appreciate that the world’s Savior has been right where Cho was, but condemned the sin in human nature (Rom. 8:3, 4). Christ cried on a cross, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” This twisted wreck of humanity at Virginia Tech was in hell; let’s not berate ourselves for our inevitable failures; but let’s seek to understand agape. By God’s grace we may someday somehow help some “Cho” somewhere.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

We have a swimming pool inherited from the former owners of this house. Two Mallard ducks, a male and a female, come at the equinox, apparently on their way north or south. They stay a few days; and we know them because of their personality. They remember us from year to year—no other Mallard ducks in the world would know us like that. This has now been for some years.

What impresses me is their fidelity to each other. They have mated for life! The male has the brightest colored feathers and he is a bit larger. And he acts the part of a gentleman: when I throw them scraps of whole wheat bread (which they seem to like immensely), he will step aside and let her have first chance to get it. (Maybe she is producing some eggs and needs extra nourishment, which he seems to discern.)

The Lord created us to love each other in holy matrimony and in fidelity. Peter says we are “heirs together of the grace of life,” a beautiful little phrase (1 Peter 3:7). Our Mallard duck “husband” seems to appreciate the spirit of that kind of fidelity or deference to his mate.

I am not embarrassed to say that I believe it was the infinite creation of God that made these two Mallards to be like they are; now He has created us like we are, also. But we are free moral agents, and we can make our home a heaven on earth or a hell on earth; we need a “Savior of Our Homes,” a divine Repairer of the cracks in the lute of our marriages.

The problem that’s at the bottom of every marriage failure is what Jesus describes as “present truth” in Matthew 24:12—“the love of many shall wax cold.” It has! The word for “love” is agape, but we are not to think it’s an idea hopelessly out of reach in the stratosphere of theology: Paul uses the word agape to describe physical sexual love of husband and wife (Eph. 5:25). Husband the seeking lover, wife the responding lover.

Face the truth: the Creator, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, created us male and female, created sexual love. There have been love songs that are pure and holy; but many youth today have never heard one pure and holy love song.

My little duck friends make some kind of pleasant sounds that must be their love songs to each other. Love is never pure, holy, happy, or forever, until it is returned to the world’s Savior, from whom it was first given. Our first father Adam wouldn’t do that—he idolized his love for Eve. Love is a most precious gift; you don’t originate it. You’ll never have it forever until you consecrate it back to its Giver, the Man of the cross, in gratitude.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

There are many things we don’t know, but there is one thing we do know: it is not God’s will that such horrors happen as the Virginia Tech massacre. God does not send
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Google has searched out for us all enormous amounts of information; everybody’s computer has become a university at your fingertips.

It’s a moot question among Bible students what Daniel means in 12:4: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (KJV is simple, direct translation).

It’s obvious that the “increase of knowledge” comes in “the time of the end” when the book is unsealed; so the question is, is it knowledge of what the book of Daniel means, or is it secular Google-indexed knowledge in general?

It’s obvious that it was the Lord’s intention that people who witnessed the ushering in of “the time of the end” should also witness the “all things” of Matthew 24:33 that mean seriously that the second coming of Jesus “is near, even at the doors.”

We also believe that the Lord is faithful: “God is love” (1 John 4:8), which means He does not deceive or abuse His people who reverence His word. He won’t tease and torment them with constant exhortations “it’s near, even at the door” when He Himself has no intention that it should be. It would be cruel for Him to keep His own private dictionary that defines “near” in an opposite way that all human language means.

In other words, the language of Daniel 12:4 (and 11:33-35) and Matthew 24 is straightforward and honest: “near” does not mean century after century after century, that there should be no “end of the world” that the disciples asked Jesus about. His second “coming” and “the end of the world” are synonymous (Matt. 24:3), and He devotes whole chapters in the Gospels to telling about it.

Daniel in his “unsealed” “open” state is not hard to understand; God never intended it to be a crosswords trap of futility. Jesus plainly said that anyone who “reads” it can “understand” it (Matt. 24:15). The constant explosion of “knowledge” includes much supposedly “new light” in understanding Daniel and Revelation; but beware. Much of it may be clever ideas that appear plausible but in the end deny basic truth. Hang on to the “more sure word of prophecy,” the only “light that shines in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The “gospel of self-esteem” is different than “the gospel of self-respect.” The latter is from the Lord; the former can be a snare.

Both are mentioned in Romans 12:3 where the inspired apostle pleads with us: “I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” In other words, be careful: don’t give yourself an overdose of “self-esteem” thinking! Thank God for “the grace” that was given to “our beloved brother Paul” (2 Tim. 316). He will discourage no one; all he knows how to do is to encourage people like you and me.

So, on the other hand, he says don’t dig a hole and crawl into it: you’re worth an infinite price. Paul goes on to preach to us now the gospel of self-respect: but “through the grace given to me, [I say] to everyone that is among you, ... think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure [metron, Greek] of faith.” One humble servant has spent over ninety years “in school” seeking to learn how to “think soberly” about himself. Still seeking to learn but thankful for whatever “measure” of sobriety the Lord grants.

A good place to start learning is Psalm 139:

(a) Your heavenly Father knows you in and out (but still loves you, amazing! (vss. 1-6).

(b) He “formed [your] inward parts ... in [your] mother’s womb” (vss. 13-15). That means He engineered the intricate mechanisms of your conscious and unconscious mental functions, the interplay of your emotions and senses of heart-appreciation.

(c) He put you together from a divinely-invented Blueprint (vs. 16). No one else on earth was to be or has been exactly like you. You are something special; that’s good.

(d) Run away from Him today and you’re back in His school tomorrow (vss. 7-10).

(e) Your moments of deepest depression (I wish Abraham Lincoln could have listened to this Good News!) are not dark with despair; your heavenly Father’s “hand” is on you in your darkness where faith is still working (vss. 9-12).

(f) It does you worlds of good to know that a friend is just thinking of you, remembering you, in your hour of deep personal trial. Think of your heavenly Father—thinking a thousand thoughts about you, all of them full of grace (vss. 17, 18).

(g) Now, be happy: stop being afraid to let Him search your heart (vss. 23, 24).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

We, modern man, desperately need to live under the grace of the Lord; prayer must be the breath of our soul.

There are dangers around us that people in the psalmist David's days did not have to meet—like cancers of various kinds, dangers from automobile and plane crashes, stock market crashes, and our ever present fears from terrorism. But David knew something we seldom know (unless we go hiking alone in certain remote areas)—danger from wild lions.

He says, "My soul is among lions," and he used them as representing cruel people "whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword" (Psalm 57:4). People hated him simply because he was "the anointed of the Lord." However high the honor may have been that he was to take Saul's place as king of Israel, David had to meet opposition constantly. People "prepare[d] a net for [his] steps; [his] soul [was] bowed down; they have dug a pit before me," he says (vs. 6). Treacherous people, yet professed Israelites!

David's dwelling "among lions" was a type of Jesus living among cruel enemies; all around Him were those who "hated [Him] without a cause"(Psalm 69:4) simply because He was "the Anointed of the Lord." And you and I who "follow the Lamb wherever He goes"(Rev. 14:4) must be prepared to "rejoice to the extent that [we] partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13). We can't be glad when we shall meet Him personally unless we have tasted His "sufferings"!

Anyone who follows Christ truly today will also meet the wrath of Christ's enemy: the reason why our modern "lions" have teeth like "sharp swords" is because "the love of many [has become] cold" (Matt. 24:12). It's been a mysterious ferment like that in the days of Elijah when Israel for a century had unconsciously drifted into Baal worship; in Elijah's day the love of Christ had well nigh disappeared among God's chosen people.

David in Psalm 57 rebuilds his faith in the Lord while he is hiding in "in the cave Adullam" and "in the wilderness of Engedi" (1 Sam. 22:1; 24:1). "My heart is fixed, O God. ... I will sing and give thanks," he says (Psalm 57:7). He believes in the goodness of the Lord when everything seems impossible (cf. Psalm 27:13, 14). Now let's do the same.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

What is the basic, bedrock difference between the Quran and the Bible? To the superficial reader, both “holy books” in their common versions use Elizabethan English, “thee” and “thou,” etc. But of course that’s a trivial detail; that’s as unimportant as the color of one’s dress.

Both books say some good things; so do the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad-Gita, the Hindu “scriptures.” Most of the world’s non-Christian “holy books” say good things, and claim inspiration.

But is there a fundamental difference with the Bible?

Yes, but it’s often overlooked by those who say they love the Bible, and maybe it’s not their fault; it’s possible it has been kept from them:

Both the Old and New Testaments teach an idea totally absent anywhere else: a love that has dimensions undreamed of by humanity—it’s agape in the Greek New Testament. It’s the story of the Son of God who descended from heaven to become a true human being, forever (yes, given to us forever!) taking upon Himself all the liabilities of fallen humanity yet living therein a sinless life of self-emptying love; self-emptying to the point of “the death of the cross” which entailed pouring out the last drop of His life (Phil. 2:5-8). For Him, the “death of the cross” meant enduring the Father’s eternal wrath against sin which meant the end of existence. He gave Himself to hell in His love for fallen humanity (cf. Acts 2:26, 27).

This very idea shocked those who heard the apostles proclaim it. The idea of agape turned the world upside down (cf. Acts 17:6). It catalyzed humanity; no pagan religion had dreamed of it. It still catalyzes us today! Some question its reality: how could Christ have died our second death if He was resurrected? His being devoid of any self-centered hope whatever is a “big idea” too big to fathom. Laodicea seems unable to grasp it. Every lamb that was sacrificed at the Passover died forever; none was resurrected. Jesus gave Himself to become the Lamb of God; that too was goodbye forever so far as His commitment meant.

Such agape is the central and unique idea of the book we call the “Holy Bible,” regardless of the diction its translators may use. Angels wonder at it; do we, as yet?

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Adam was a great man but he plunged the world into rebellion against God through sin. Sin brought death, not only the death that we call “sleep,” but the real thing—the total eternal end of life, what the Bible describes as “the second death.”

The Good News of the gospel declares that a “last Adam” or second Adam has entered our dark, doomed world, and has taken over the headship of the human race (1 Cor. 15:45). As we are all by nature “in Adam” with a verdict of condemnation hanging over our heads, so now “in Christ” we have a verdict of acquittal pronounced over us. Instead of a sentence of death, we have a sentence of life!

But all through the ages during these two millennia there have been some dear souls who thought that this Good News means that everybody will be saved eternally at last; this is known as “Universalism.” But the Bible does not teach Universalism.

God would like for “all men” to be saved eternally (1 Tim. 2:3-6).

(a) He takes no pleasure “in the death of the wicked” (Ezek. 18:23). In fact, their final ruin is terribly painful for Him to have to endure (cf. Rev. 8:1). Even today He is in agony when human beings, the creation of His love, endure it (Isa. 63:9). He repented in behalf of humans who repent because He became “the Lamb of God” and was baptized in John the Baptist’s baptism of repentance (Matt. 3:11).

(b) When humans choose irrevocably to reject the message of His much more abounding grace, they bring upon themselves the final ruin of the death that is the inevitable result of sin.

(c) To His great pain of heart, those who choose at last to be lost are in number “as the sand of the sea” (Rev. 20:8). The Bible does not teach the popular doctrine that God Himself has predestined them to be lost while He predestines other fortunate ones to be saved; the Bible is clear as sunlight—He predestines ALL to be saved; and Christ gave His blood for “ALL.” He will save all who do not frustrate or reject Him.

(d) But those in number “as the sand of the sea:” have at last chosen to “frustrate the grace of God” (cf. Gal. 2:21), down to the last bitter end. Along with life and liberty and salvation the dear Lord has given us all the freedom of choice; all the angels in heaven cannot interfere with that or force us either way.

Oh, let us today choose life!

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Out of the mist that had permeated Romans for me, something clear and positive began to emerge: the Lord Jesus Christ has reversed what Adam did to the human race; He is the Savior of the world (John 4:42).

The death that the first Adam brought on the human race has been superseded by the life that Christ has given to the world: “The bread of God is He who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world” (John 6:33). The only life there is in the universe is the gift of Christ; and it is a gift, not a mere offer of something which He withholds until we take the first step in the initiative. He gives it, and has given it by His sacrifice on the cross.

We do not save ourselves in any way; we are not co-saviors. We can choose to believe and receive the gift that He has given, but we can take no credit for this salvation.

But the gift is a judicial verdict of acquittal in the same way that the condemnation that came through Adam is a judicial verdict: not one human soul since creation has as yet received the actual condemnation—except Christ; He alone has suffered the condemnation of the second death when He cried out on His cross, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” No one else has ever suffered that death. The death that all, even the wicked , have suffered is the first death—a sleep. They will suffer the second d death at the end of the 1000 years of Revelation 20.

Every baby has been born into the world under the blanket of that judicial condemnation “in Adam”; but at the same time every baby has been born into the world under the blanket of Christ’s verdict of acquittal, and the latter is stronger than the former. The Father has given all this gift of acquittal “in Christ,” and that’s why He can treat every person as though he/she had not sinned (see Matt. 5:45, He sends rain and sunshine on good and bad alike). He has enclosed the world in an atmosphere of grace as real as the air we breathe.

Every joy or pleasure you have ever known has been the purchase of Christ’s sacrifice, although you have not realized it. The only possible honest response is a fervent cry of thanks and a glad choice to yield our all to the constraint of His love. No price is too great to pay in our New Covenant gratitude. To decline that kind of whole-hearted response frustrates the grace of God, undoes what Christ accomplished, and is the sin of the ages.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Paul’s book of Romans, for many years of my life, was as intelligible as Albert Einstein’s nuclear mathematics. I respected it highly; Romans was simply way over my head. I knew it was part of the Bible and therefore it must be part of the word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. But Romans was for scholars, and I belonged in the kindergarten. Couldn’t I get to heaven by staying in the gospel of Mark? For example, my pastor had clearly told me not to try to read the book of Revelation—“It’s sealed,” he said, “read Mark!” For me, Revelation and Romans shared a common unintelligible status.

Then I learned that Martin Luther had declared Romans “the clearest gospel of all.” I respected him, too; think again.

Then Romans 5 began to take a little shape for me in the mist, as a bit of sunlight pierces a foggy morning. Paul was getting one of his points across to me at last, at least beginning to: all the evil that Adam, our first father, had brought upon the human race was undone, reversed, corrected, by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Man the Bible says is the “last” or second Adam. All that the human race had lost in Adam was now restored “in Christ.”

Could that soul-shaking idea really be true? Or was I being naïve in my reading Romans?

What Paul said is clear: “The gift of God is not to be compared with that one man’s sin [Adam’s], for the judicial action, following on the one offence [of Adam] resulted in a verdict of condemnation [on all men], but the act of grace following on so many misdeeds, resulted in a verdict of acquittal. ... As the result of one misdeed was condemnation for all people, so the result of one righteous act is acquittal and life for all” (16, 18, REB).

I read it and re-read it; the “all” meant “all people,” not just the ones that Calvin said God had predestined to be saved (and others lost)—no, as surely as “all people” had sinned so surely had Christ the second Adam given to the same “all people” a verdict of acquittal by virtue of His death for the world. He had died the death of the world!

Now therefore the life the world enjoys is the gift of His sacrifice. If that’s true, then it’s time we start saying “Thank You” and that implies a lot. Fear is gone; now we have a wholly new motivation.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to:

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Does God’s Word contradict itself? Jesus devotes an entire chapter (Luke 15) to say that He is seeking lost sinners, not vice versa. But there are passages in the Old Testament that seem to contradict Him, implying He hides, awaiting the sinner’s choice to seek and find Him. Is He like a doctor in his office waiting for you to seek him?

Jesus actually sought out people to heal and resurrect. For example, there was the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:13ff); the paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda (5:2-9—He asked him could He heal him!). Note His fervent appeals seeking the hearts of the leaders of the Jews (5:17ff); and there’s the bereaved widow of Nain whose funeral for her son He interrupts and raises him (Luke 7:11). None of these came to Him seeking Him; He came to them seeking them. Jesus said His Father even is seeking our fellowship as though He is lonely without us (He is! It hurts Him when we leave Him; John 4:23).

But the Old Testament has commandments to seek and find Him, as though He hides from us. For example: “Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice; seek righteousness, seek humility: it may be you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger” (Zeph. 2:3). And, “Thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: ‘Seek the Lord and live, lest He break out like fire ...” to burn you up or send a tsunami to wash you away (see the threats in Amos 5:4, 8).

And there is Jeremiah 29: “You will seek Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (vs. 13). If we read the context we will see that the Lord is not contradicting what Jesus said: the people have come home after 70 years of captivity-exile; at last they are tired of idolatry and Baal worship and are now eager to come to the Lord. It is not a command; it’s simple future tense. It’s not a threat. In close context, the prophet tells them that the joy of New Covenant living will come instead of Old Covenant fear (31:31-34).

Amos has to speak to Old Covenant-minded people with the only appeal he knows at the time: fear. The Northern Kingdom of Israel has deeply apostatized and are soon to be exiled permanently, lost to history (722 B.C.).

But now at last here comes Jesus of Nazareth “to give light to them that sit in darkness” (Luke 1:79). He is the New Covenant. He seeks the lost sheep “until He find it.” And then comes Paul: the entire Old Testament is a “schoolmaster” (disciplinarian) that leads us back to where Abraham was, to be “justified by faith” (Gal. 3:22-25).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

It was Jesus who taught us to call His Father “our Father.” It was Jesus who taught us to pray this prayer every morning: “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:9). It’s our daily “breakfast.” It’s a prayer that we are invited to pray and which we should pray. We should be hungry for it every day.

We are like pets at feeding time lined up for what we hunger for. Yes, we are dependent on hand-outs from heaven. If we have learned a little so far in our lifetime, we know that the words of Jesus are true, “Without Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The weaker you are of yourself, the stronger you are “in Christ.”

It’s comforting and assuring to realize that even Jesus Himself had to confess that without the Father’s constant moment by moment sustenance, He too was helpless: “I can of Myself do nothing” (John 5:30). The word “do” does not mean only performing works, physical doings; it includes perception, judgment, wisdom: “As I hear, I judge” (John 5:30). It’s a marvelous spectacle: the divine Son of God, the Commander of the heavenly hosts, has taken upon Himself our nature and has become one of us, helpless of Himself. He frankly told His enemies, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do” (vs. 19). Whatever evil you want to do to Me, it’s to the Father that you are doing it.

Christ’s helplessness was the most vividly illustrated when He was in the hands of the scribes and Pharisees and Roman soldiers when they arrested Him. He let them treat Him roughly. They beat Him, mocked Him, took His clothes off, humiliated Him, drove spikes in His wristbones and anklebones, and then killed Him in the most humiliating execution the wicked mind of man could invent. He could not deliver Himself because He would not; He had to prove to the world and to the universe that He “could do nothing.”

You can’t get your own “breakfast” in the Father’s “house” where you are a guest; you have to tell your “Host” that you’re hungry and thirsty for righteousness (Matt. 5:6).

But suppose you’re not; what you’re hungry for is the world; the Father’s “daily bread” He wants to give you is unappetizing. You’re at square one; if you’re not hungry and thirsty for His word, you’re virtually a pagan still at heart. But don’t give up; tell Him in honest straightforward prayer the truth; the Savior has promised that “the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). Oh, deeply pagan soul, come.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to:

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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The apostle John was an old man when he wrote the Fourth Gospel. From his perspective of many years he discerned the outworking of a mysterious principle of enmity against God which had embedded itself in the leadership of the one true church. Up until the rejection and crucifixion of Christ, yes, up until three and one half years later, the stoning of Stephen, it was the one true church in the world. Jesus had said, “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).

But in John’s gospel he details the development of that deep and bitter enmity that progressively possessed the hearts of those “men of God” until they screamed “Crucify Him!” in Pilate’s judgment court that fateful Friday morning.

The aged John is also the author of the Book of Revelation in which he speaks of a true church in the last days of earth’s history which is distinguished before the world as the “remnant church” which keeps the commandments of God and has the faith of Jesus (12:17; 14:12).

John also reports the Lord Jesus as deeply disturbed about the leadership of that same church because they arrogantly claim to be “rich and increased with goods” when in reality they lead the “seven churches” of history in pitiable ignorance of their true spiritual state: “You ... do not know that you are [the one, Greek] wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (3:14-21).

The true church leadership two millennia ago led their people to reject the Messiah whom God had sent to them; that Laodicean leadership in the last days can lead the true church again to repeat the sin of the ancient Jews by rejecting the Loud Cry message that God sends them to “lighten the earth with glory.” It’s Revelation 18:1-4 thrown into reverse gear. Instead of “lighten the earth” they can hold the message back for generation after generation while the world degenerates.

There is a blessed solution: “Be zealous, therefore, and repent,” an invitation from the “faithful and true witness” (3:19, 14).

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/

To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" phone message is available via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
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