Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

There are about a billion Muslims who are turned off by what many of
them regard as two obstacles against their becoming Christians: (1) the

Crusades of the 11th to 13th centuries demonstrate openly for all time
that “Christianity” is a cruel and unjust religion (they say); and
(2)the doctrine that one man’s righteousness can substitute morally for
another man’s unrighteousness. In fact, their theologians connect the

Crusades to that doctrine of vicarious moral substitution. It’s
unjust, and unfair, they say.

We know first: the Crusades were not true, biblical Christianity.
Second, could the doctrine of a vicarious substitution be explained to
Muslims more clearly? Does the Bible also teach the truth of a shared
substitution?

In His first lesson on the cross Jesus told us, “If anyone desires to

come after Me, let him . . . take up his cross, and follow Me. . . .
Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:24, 25).
Paul understood this idea of shared substitution: “I am crucified
with Christ” (Gal. 2:20). “As many of us as were baptized into Christ
were baptized into His death. . . . We were buried with Him through baptism
into death. . . . We have been united together in the likeness of His
death. . . . Our old man [the love of self] was crucified with Him. . .

. If we died with Christ we believe we shall also live with Him”
(Rom. 6:3-8--but not otherwise!). If “our” Crusaders had understood this,
world history would have been different! Praying for the Muslims is
good, but not good enough: we must tell them the gospel clearly,
truthfully.

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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":

One of the tabloids in our supermarket has lurid pictures of a monstrous meteor that
it says is fated to strike the world soon. The article contains a pre-written prayer
by a Roman Catholic priest or if you prefer, one written by the Rev. for God to
protect you when it strikes. The expensive price of the tabloid becomes cheap if
either prayer turns out to be effective.

If our “soul-winning” ministry is likewise based on a fear motivation, Jesus asks a
pointed question: “What do ye more than others?” The other side of that motivation
coin is hope for a reward we get for making sacrifices to follow Jesus. He asks,
“Do not even the publicans the same?” (Matt. 5:47, 46). If a thinly disguised love of
self is the reason for our Christianity, how is it practically better than Buddhism
or Hinduism? If skillfully manipulated, preaching an egocentric motivation may result
in large accessions in church membership, but is this appropriate for the great Day
of Atonement in which we live--this “time of the end” that Daniel emphasizes
(8:14; 11:35, 12:4)?

In His work as our great High Priest, the Son of God is seeking to separate our
character from an Old to a New Covenant motivation. The appropriate one is not so
much our love for Christ as a growing heart appreciation of His love for us. It
alone “casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). When we “survey the wondrous cross on which the
Prince of glory died,” His love (agape) expels from the heart our native
self-centeredness (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). 

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 thoughtful person writes: please explain the contrast between
Calvinism and Arminianism. What practical effect does it have on our
daily happiness?

Both were great blessings on the pathway of God’s people through the
centuries, successive steps out of the 1260 years of papal darkness.
Both have been taught up until our present time by dedicated pastors
who did the best they could with the ministry of preparing souls for
the resurrection.

But in God’s agenda for His church, there is growth in grace and in
understanding. We “follow” Jesus--never stand still. He is leading
His
people to get ready for His second coming. “The path of the just is
as
the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”
(Prov. 4:18). “The everlasting gospel” of Revelation 14:6-15
prepares a
people for that time when John saw “a white cloud, and upon the cloud

one sat like unto the Son of man, . . . the harvest of the earth is
ripe.” The second coming of Christ!

Arminianism tried to correct a misapprehension that grew out of
Calvinism. Christ died for everybody and He wants everybody to be
saved. Very true! Calvinism had drifted into the idea that some are
predestinated to be lost. But Arminianism also said that the sacrifice
of Christ does no one any good unless he believes. Sounds good, but
“the everlasting gospel” is better news than that. When understood
by
the church, it delivers from the most perplexing spiritual disease of
all time--lukewarmness (Rev. 3:14-21). On His cross Christ actually
redeemed the world, died “every man’s” second death, gave him
every
blessing he has ever had including sunshine and rain and the gift of
salvation. None will be lost who does not resist or disbelieve the
truth.

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 great theologians may wrangle over what the prophet Daniel meant, but an ordinary person is impressed with the literal fulfillment of one of his prophecies: “O Daniel, . . . [in] the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (12:4). Merge into the traffic on any urban freeway, or visit any electronics mart; consider these intense explosions of travel and scientific “knowledge.” Or visit any bookstore.

All the angels in heaven couldn’t drum it into your consciousness more vividly: we are living in the closing hours of “the time of the end.”

With all this “increase of knowledge, is it reasonable that we should understand more clearly what happened on the cross when the Son of God died for the world? Should the Holy Spirit impart a greater appreciation of what it means to say, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world”? Would we be less inclined to think someone a fanatic if he is “determined to know nothing among [his congregation] save Jesus Christ and Him crucified”? (Gal. 6:14; 1 Cor.
2:2)? Luther, Calvin, Arminius, the Wesleys, did great for their day; God was with them. But this “time of the end” is the “hour of God’s judgment . . . come,” the world’s grand cosmic Day of Atonement. What is due now is not a proud triumphalism to “glory in the cross,” but a self-humbling appreciation for the agape love seen there. Now is the time to “comprehend” what Christ accomplished on His cross (Rev. 14:6, 7; Eph. 3:14-21). Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to
subscribe.
The "Dial Daily Bread" web page resides at:
http://1888message.org/daily bread/

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 powerful “Good News” text is 1 Timothy 4:10:

“We trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe.”

There are two ways that Christ is the “Saviour of all men”:

(1) He is literally and effectively “the Saviour” of those who “believe.”

(a) Their faith in Him is the kind that Galatians 5:6 describes as “faith which worketh by love.”

(b) That faith itself produces obedience to the holy law of God, because faith is a heart-appreciation of that love (agape) of God.

(c) Such faith melts a hard heart and reconciles the soul to God.

(d) We humans can’t duplicate what Christ did; but we can let our small, shriveled up hearts “enlarge” so we can appreciate what He has done for us (see Psalm 119:32).

(e) Then the love (agape) of Christ will “constrain” us “henceforth” to live only for Him.

(2) The second way that Christ is already “the Saviour of all men” is seen when we look at Romans 5:15-18:

(a) The “offence” our father Adam passed on down to us is the heritage of sin we all inherit from him.

(b) But the grace of Christ is much greater than all the sin the devil has tempted us to do.

(c) Christ has therefore reversed that curse that Adam brought upon us; he is the new Adam, our new father of the human race.

(d) What He did was to pay the penalty of our sin so that the Father could pronounce on the whole human race a “judicial verdict of acquittal” (Rom. 5:16-18, NEB).

(e) Therefore the Father has no chip on His shoulder against you or anyone; He makes “His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45).

(f) Note: this is a judicial verdict of acquittal; now we must take action: be reconciled to God and to His holy law and let Him save us from sin.

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

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

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: <dailybread@1888message.org>

To un-subscribe click on this link: Unsubscribe me from this mailing list

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

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":

Ask any group of Christians, “Why did Jesus die on His cross?” and they will tell you, “He died as our Substitute.” And that’s 100% true.
But what does it mean? How does that truth make any difference in the way we live?

We say, “He died instead of us,” and that’s true; He did. If you had been drafted in the American Civil War of 1861-65, you could hire a
substitute to take your place and die instead of you; now you can enjoy life while he suffers and his loved ones mourn. “My substitute has
taken my place!” It’s a vicarious substitution. And you can think of the sacrifice of Christ in that same way. He died instead of you.

But is it a childish way of thinking of His cross? Is it basically egocentric?

The Bible goes far deeper: Christ’s sacrifice is also a shared substitution. “I am crucified with Christ,” says Galatians 2:20.
“We were baptized into Jesus Christ, . . . baptized into His death, . . .buried with Him by baptism into death, . . . planted together with Him
in the likeness of His death, . . . our old man [the love of self] crucified with Him, . . . dead with Christ.” If all this is true,
then “we shall also live with Him” (Rom. 6:3-8). But only IF.

One is the kindergarten, flower-girl-at-the-wedding idea of substitution--very, very true; but the other is the bride “growing up
unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13), prepared to stand with Him side by side in the “marriage of the
Lamb.” It’s a time for divine-human intimacy never before realized by the body of His church.

Apparently the Bridegroom believes the time has come for His people to “grow up.” The long delay must weary Him. Does it weary you?

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

For centuries two great systems of thought have contended for the soul of the Christian Church--Calvinism and Arminianism. Each has viewed what Paul calls “the truth of the gospel” from a different perspective, and for sure, each has been blessed by the Lord for each sees truth
that is important to understand when the earth is to be at last lightened with the glory of the final message (Rev. 18:1-4). There are sincere people who are seeking to build a bridge between the two communions of understanding.

If devotees of either regard themselves as “rich and increased with goods, in need of nothing,” they will be like the ancient scribes and Pharisees of whom Jesus said that the kingdom of God had swept over them unawares (Matt. 12:28; Luke 11:20; Rev. 3:17). Only the humble in
heart who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” can be “filled.” The history of the ancient people of God has lessons that we must learn.

Paul’s “truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:5, 14) transcends both Calvinism and Arminianism as commonly understood. God has not predestined any to be lost; He has elected “all men” to be saved in that Christ died for “all men,” but any man can reject the gift already given to him.
And the idea that although He died for “all,” none reap any benefits from His sacrifice, unless they believe is likewise far short of that “truth of the gospel.” Jesus says that because of the cross of Christ, the Father sends His rain and sunshine on the just and the unjust (Matt.
5:45), and He has “given,” not merely offered, the “birthright” to “every man.” But one can “despise” it and “sell” it. Don’t!

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

Imagine the joy you would feel if you were saved from death either from

drowning, or illness, or an accident; you are ever after elated. Can
you even begin to imagine the infinitely greater joy you would feel if
you could realize you have been saved from what the Bible calls “the
second death”?

When old Simeon “blessed” Mary the mother of Baby Jesus in the
Temple,
he told her that “a sword shall pierce through thy own soul” (Luke
1:34, 35). The word he used was the Greek one for Goliath’s enormous
sword, thus describing the pain that she would know at the crucifixion
of her Son. Probably no other human has felt quite the extent of that
pain: she knew that His conception and birth were that of a virgin; she

knew the angel had announced it all to her; she knew His righteous,
loving character as no one else could know; and yet now He is stripped
naked, crucified like a common criminal before her eyes. Greater than
her concern for her own salvation was the anxiety she felt for the
world and the very universe of God--is the plan of salvation a failure?

Is the great controversy lost? How she agonized! Has any other human
been so stricken with any “sword” that pierces the “soul”?

She must have been in such pain through the long weekend Jesus lay in
His tomb. Now imagine her soul-bursting joy when He is risen! That is
the same joy God wants us to know. But we must not remain infants
spiritually: we must “grow up unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13), so our heart can be stretched
outsize
enough to savor what has happened, to appreciate what He has done for
us.

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.