Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
We have a choice: we can live under the old covenant (the still popular way as it has been for millennia), or under the new. And if we choose to live under the new covenant, all will go well with us; right?
If we are driving, all the lights will turn green for us; the boss will give us a raise; our spouse will smile sweetly at us; our investments will prosper. Right?
Jesus surely lived under the new covenant, but He also died under it; from His boyhood He met constant opposition and turmoil that led Him eventually to the cross. No, new covenant living is not a picnic.
As a student in the "school of Christ" you are under serious, loving discipline (Heb. 12:5-10). Some setbacks and disappointments may be good for you in the long run. But the Lord tempers our trials, giving each of us the benefit of infinite wisdom. To each of us is given the "measure of faith" that makes life where His providence has placed us a thing of quiet, steady joy.
Even Jesus in His incarnation endured discipline. We read that "He [learned] obedience by the things which He suffered" (5:8). You will someday thank the Lord Jesus for permitting certain disappointments to come to you; your present happiness can be greatly enhanced by anticipating this through your confidence in His faithfulness. The joy of the future can become yours in the present through faith.
The first message Jesus gave to the assembled disciples after His resurrection was, "Peace be unto you" (John 20:19). This is no vain compliment; peace of heart is what you long for and He gives it to you today. "My peace I give to you," and that is in the midst of tribulation (see 14:27). The peace comes with your believing the new covenant promises, all seven of them in Genesis 12:2, 3.
You may have to pray the prayer of Mark 9:24: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." A wise writer assures us that we can never perish while we pray that prayer. Every little prayer you pray, making that choice, makes you stronger in the Lord.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 15, 2006.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
In the faith healing movements there are people who claim to have been given the so-called "gift of healing," so they can lay their hands on the sick and they recover. Undeniable miracles are claimed. Is faith an important element in healing?
The Bible says absolutely, YES. But we need to understand what faith is, because the Bible says that "the devils believe also, and tremble" (James 2:19). The story of the Roman centurion in Luke 7:2-10 may help us understand. This Gentile military officer believed that Jesus could just say the word and his mortally sick servant would be healed. Jesus "marvelled, ... and said ... I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Now what was that faith? The belief that Jesus had the power to heal by simply saying a word? If you say yes, then you get yourself into trouble, for the devils also believe that Jesus can heal by just saying a word. Such confidence comes short of a true definition of faith, if the devils also have it!
But as we read the story in its context, we begin to see that the Roman soldier's faith was more than that. (1) He had begun to understand his sinfulness in the light of Christ's righteousness, for he said two things--"I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof" and "neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee." Now, the devils have no such feelings of humility and grace! The centurion's faith was not a mere mental trust, but a heart-appreciation. (2) An unusual love had filled this Roman soldier's heart for he was concerned for his servant, and not for himself. The faith he had already had transformed him and delivered him from selfishness. And that is not the experience of the devils!
And so this story does help us understand the essential ingredient of all true miracle healing: faith is a heart-appreciation for the sacrifice of Christ. And as soon as I say that, I realize anew how weak and childish my little faith is, how much I need to grow. Do you realize it too?
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 3, 1997.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Does it bother you to hear Thanksgiving Day referred to as “Turkey Day”? And to watch what was once a serious week of national thanksgiving to Heaven metamorphose into an extended sales pitch for Christmas profits?
Heaven is not far away; God is a personal heavenly Father who is concerned. He gave an infinite Gift to humanity, in His Son. He loves us as individuals but He also keeps an account with nations and with empires (we have now become an empire). Empires have always been held responsible in judgment according to the light and advantages that Heaven has given them. The godlessness that now pervades this nation could not be judged so seriously were it not a post-Christian phenomenon. Although our Thanksgiving Day was not officially set aside until by President Lincoln, there were calls to national prayer and thanksgiving even in the time of President Washington. The nation was conceived and nurtured in a culture that was significantly permeated with the godly fear that dominates the King James Bible. That’s where our Constitutional principles of liberty originated.
What is the future for such a nation that has lowered itself to become post-Christian, post-godly fear? Militarily the world’s most sophisticated and powerful, could it see itself mirrored in Revelation 18, “the fall of Babylon” chapter? It’s a healthy experience to re-read that solemn chapter and to note that it is actually the poetry of Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51 virtually re-written in its modern application.
Let’s not overlook history. Upon us “the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor. 10:11). Jefferson’s separation of church and state is right, but the state still desperately needs a church that is spiritually sensitive to, and repentant before, God. Parallel with the Gotterdammerung of Revelation 18 is Christ’s earnest call to “the angel of the church of the Laodiceans” of chapter 3. It’s time to be alert.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 28, 2003.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Why is God alone among "many gods" the holy One? Why does He demand exclusive worship? Is He divinely selfish? Why not share His worship with "lesser gods"? Why is Hinduism inherently wrong? Two minutes isn't long enough for this! But look at Philippians 2:5-8 at an X-ray of agape, the character of God. There are seven steps that the Son of God (who alone can reveal the Father) took in stepping down, lower and lower:
(1) He gave up His "equality with God," (2) "emptied Himself," (3) "took upon Himself the form of a slave," (4) "was made in the likeness of [fallen] man," (5) "humbled Himself," (6) "became obedient unto death" (the only being in the wide universe of God who has ever become "obedient unto death"; no suicide is "obedient unto death," for death is Reality, and suicides flee Reality), and lastly, (7) "even the death of the cross." That's the death that involves "the curse" of God," the awful condemnation of final conscious ruin, a death infinitely worse than the physical pain involved (which itself was terrible!). See Galatians 3:13 to learn what is "the death of the cross." It was the concentrated death of humanity, for He "tasted death for every man" (Heb. 2:9), the total, final, giving of Himself, the "pouring out of His soul unto death" until there wasn't a drop left, "numbered with the transgressors, bore the sin of" everybody (Isa. 53:12).
If a picture is worth a thousand words, there we have it: this is agape, and "God is agape" (1 John 4:8). No other being in the wide universe of the heavenly or earthly cosmos has ever made such a Sacrifice! Any "other god" is therefore an anti-agape "god." That means, to worship any "lesser god" is to worship Satan himself. No, God, our heavenly Father, our Savior and Redeemer, is not divinely selfish--refusing to share His throne with "lesser gods." He knows that to worship any "other god" means death to us; and He loves us too much to allow that.
The final crisis of earth's history will be a challenge to "worship the Lamb" alone, or to worship Baal. All worship of self which is disguised as the worship of "christ" is Baal-worship. Time to think!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 4, 1998.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
For our happiness, our Creator and Savior has told us that "six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God" (Ex. 20:9, 10).
Granted, we believe that. We gladly give Him that "seventh day."
But is there another bit of what may be seen as "holy time"? The remaining "six days" of the week are not an escapade from God; seven days a week we are to "abide" in Christ and we are to invite, to welcome Him to "abide" in us (John 15:4). After the toil of each of "the six working days" the dear Lord "gives His beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:2). Thus we awaken each new morning refreshed to "abide" another day in Christ, while we go about our lives. Jesus gave us an example for our encouragement about how to live those "six working days" of the week:
"In the morning, having risen a long time before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed" (Mark 1:35). This is not an example of deprivation of needed sleep which the Lord "gives His beloved," no; it's just a healthy way to live; it was His habit to go to bed early so He could do this (unless someone like Nicodemus would come and keep Him up late, see John 3:2).
In God's plan, each new day begins at sundown (Gen. 1:5). It was Roman paganism that changed this so it begins at midnight. On this cosmc Day of Atonement, those who follow our great High Priest in His cleansing His sanctuary, choose to "abide" in Him; we jealously guard that morning time when He awakens us (see Isa. 50:4, 5). Guard that evening hour too.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 19, 2005.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Addiction is a form of demon control, whether it be slavery to alcohol, to drugs, to pornography, to gambling, even to chocolate (!), or yes, it could be shopping till you drop. Slavery to appetite is extremely common. It doesn't matter what form the addiction takes--it's a loss of self-control which will eventually drive to death. It's the process of "perishing" that John 3:16 says God so loved us that He gave His Son to save us from.
Often the addict sheds tears in secret, longing for release. "Counseling" is what the gurus usually prescribe, which of course is good if the counselor turns out to be wise. But he/she may not be wise. One of the names of Jesus Christ is "Counselor" (Isa. 9:6). You won't have a problem making an appointment, for His "office" is always open. He says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). His word contains the secret of conquering any evil obsession. But we must understand how He "counsels"--He refuses to by-pass the method He has chosen: speaking to us through His word, the Bible. And, of course, to read and study it takes time and effort on our part. We humans naturally want a quick solution--give us a special bypass visit from an angel that will save us the mental bother of reading what God has said in the Bible.
But God holds His ground; He honors the Bible as His word. One of its priceless gems of wisdom is Daniel 1:8, the secret of conquering any addiction: "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself." He formed that "purpose" BEFORE he prayed for deliverance from the compulsion in which he found himself. Prayer is wonderful; but it's getting the cart before the horse if it bypasses that "purpose in the heart." God wants you to be free indeed; but in the process He wants to honor you for determining that "purpose" in your heart. You "purpose," THEN you pray. Thus He builds your self-respect.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 4, 2000.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There is one prayer that will always be answered with a resounding "Yes!" from the throne of God. It's in Luke 11 where Jesus tells about the man who had an unexpected hungry guest show up at midnight and he had no bread to feed him. He goes to his neighbor, bangs on the door, wakes him, asks, "Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him."
The point is, he is NOT saying, "Neighbor, I am hungry this midnight hour; feed me!" Rather, "Give me something I can pass on to someone else who is hungry."
And the dear Lord assures us, "He [God] will rise and give him as many as he needeth" And then to underline the assurance, He adds, "Ask, and it shall be given you," that is, to pass on to others (vss. 5-9).
You end up as a pipe through which some drops of the water of life flow to someone else. That's heaven on earth! And of course you may never SEE the answer to your prayer this side of the new earth, but that's okay. Just praying that prayer is joy enough, and thanking Him in advance. Now you have something to look forward to in heaven beyond your previous selfish desires--looking in the eyes of some now unknown recipient of the blessing you passed on. And you don't have to "preach." Just express love to someone.
You find yourself in a verse in the Bible: "As the scripture says, 'Whoever believes in Me, streams of life-giving water will pour out from his heart'" (John 7:38, Good News Bible). That's pretty good for developing a healthy sense of self-respect (you never forget where the "water" came from!). You discover that you are indeed a true "child of Abraham." One of those seven promises God gave him was, "And thou shalt BE a blessing," not just receive one.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 31, 2002.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Have you ever wondered why Joab (the general of King David's army) never hesitated a moment to kill the rebel Absalom when he saw him caught in an oak tree? (2 Sam. 18:9). Joab did not call a council of the other generals, nor ask advice of anyone. The moment he saw Absalom there in that tree, he made a split-second decision that his man doesn't deserve life in prison or exile; he deserves death. Hence the three arrows through Absalom's heart (vs. 14). King David had begged him not to harm his son, but no matter. Joab knew his duty.
I asked a group of children if they could tell me why Joab did that. "He hated him." "He didn't want Absalom to become king." "He acted hastily." On and on, but not one had the real answer.
It's found in Deuteronomy 21:22, 23--a law of Moses. "He who is hanged is accursed of God." Paul understood it clearly: "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" (Gal. 3:13). Everybody believed it.
So when Joab saw Absalom swinging in that oak helplessly, he knew that he was witnessing a judgment of God, not only on Absalom's political rebellion against the crown, but on himself. He had continually and persistently resisted every conviction of the Holy Spirit. He had done what Jesus called the "sin against the Holy Spirit."
I asked the children if they knew of anyone else who was "cursed of God." One little boy said, "Yes, Jesus!" That's what made His death so terrible. It was more than the physical pain of the wounds. It was the descent into the never-ending horror of eternal separation from God. It was the second death, which you and I would otherwise have had to experience.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 29, 2002.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The teens were shocked a bit, or at least interested, when I suggested that God has at His heavenly headquarters a special angel whose career is that of "Chief Cartoonist." Of course, to them cartoons are "funny papers"; they haven't come to the age that they appreciate political cartoons. But the idea is not outlandish. We read in Revelation 1:1 of how the Father, the supreme Ruler of the universe, takes five steps in communicating to us the book of Revelation: [1] its source was He, who [2] "God gave [it] unto [His Son] Jesus Christ," who [3] "sent and signified it by His angel," who [4] revealed it to the prophet John in holy vision, with [5] the ultimate goal of giving it to us in a form we could assimilate, "to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass."
The huge mass of information would be greater than the Encyclopedia Britannica, beyond our comprehension; so in one of the five steps, it must pass through this special angel, the "Cartoonist" whose is this special task: "and He sent and signified it by His angel," who then communicated it "unto His servant John" in a form that the lonely apostle on Patmos could transcribe: a slender little volume of 22 chapters. "Signified" is put in sign form.
The "cartoon" method of communication is illustrated in the book of Daniel. The pagan king Nebuchadnezzar is given a dream (obviously crafted by this same "angel") that depicts world history in the form of an "image" with a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet and toes of iron and clay mixed. And there we have the truth of world history that Charlemagne, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, even Hitler, battled against vainly. Europe simply will not "cleave." The United States of America can "cleave" but not the states of Europe.
The same "angel" gave Daniel the visions of the four beasts coming out of the sea (chapter 7), etc. All it takes to understand these two books of Daniel and Revelation is some humble common sense and the patient willingness to let the holy book, the Bible, explain itself. "Humble" because the Holy Spirit has enlightened reverent-minded scholars in past centuries to dig for truth and have found it, and the common sense enables us to appreciate their contributions; but their mines, unlike the "49ers" gold mines, have not been exhausted; there is still precious truth yet to be discovered and understood--though it will never contradict previous truth.
The fifth step is you and I understanding and appreciating this "revelation" in the book that bears the name. Read it, as if for your life, as it may well be in the tumultuous times "which must shortly come to pass." The "blessing" is promised; reading it brings happiness.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 3, 2007.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
We don't know who it was but somebody once asked Jesus the really hard question: "Lord, are there few who are saved?" He gave an honest answer: "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able." He will at last be forced to inform the "many," "I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. ... There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." In the last judgment they will argue with Him vociferously, "We ate and drank in your presence, and You taught in our streets" (Luke 13:23, 24, 27, 28). Sorry, He says; "I do not know you." "Few are chosen," "the laborers are few," etc. (Matt. 9:37; 22:14).
But wait a moment; get the full picture. The "144,000" of Revelation 7:1-4 seems like a tiny number from earth's billions, yet when John views them through a zoom lens they turn out to be "a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, ... clothed with white robes" (vs. 9). "In their mouth was found no guile [falsehood]" (14:5). The Good News Bible (Today's English Version) says "they have never been known to tell lies," but their being "without fault" in the judgment does not mean they never have sinned; they are a pretty sorry lot down at the end of the sinful human race where "the love [agape] of many [has grown] cold" (Matt. 24:12), but they have been "justified by faith." That means, like Abraham, sinful as he was, when he "believed" his faith was "counted to him for righteousness" (Rom. 4:3) and he stood before the throne as though he had never sinned! The sins of those who believe are cast into the ocean deeper than the Titanic and can never be retrieved (see last night's "Dial Daily Bread").
Don't worry whether you are one of the "few" or "many." Thank the Father that His Son whom He "gave" died your second death, and rejoice every moment of your life from now on. You will then obey from the heart!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 21, 2006.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
If a ship sinks into the depths of the sea, is it gone forever? Many like to quote Micah 7:19 that says that when we confess our sins, the Lord promises to cast them into the depths of the sea. They ask, "Then why have an investigative judgment?"
But we have a problem here. Back in Micah's day, if a ship sank into the ocean, it was goodbye forever. But now, no longer. It's great business, diving into wrecks on the ocean floor. Even the Titanic has been disturbed in its resting place in the North Atlantic where it has lain since that April night in 1912.
No, casting our sins in the depths of the ocean might not be the end of them. That's not good enough, now. The depths of the ocean are not an eternal resting place, even now. And when God recreates the earth anew, He will also clean up the oceans. Heaven won't be what we want if the eternal ocean floor is forever littered with wrecks that remind us of this earth's sinful, cruel past, any more than if ugly wrecked cars and burned out buildings will still cover the surface of the earth made new. Some day the hidden secrets of every "shipwreck" will be revealed. So, sins that are hidden, even from our knowledge, must be revealed. And for those who are ready for Jesus to return, that means that it must all come out in the open beforehand in a judgment before He returns.
But that's not Bad News; it's Good News ... because the deeper the knowledge of your sins, the deeper your heart appreciation of His grace. And no one can be happy when Jesus returns unless he/she has learned that lesson!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 27, 1997.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Will the time ever come when the majority of the world's inhabitants choose to honor and glorify Christ by believing "the everlasting gospel"?
The parable He told of the unjust judge and the importunate widow suggests the answer is No: Jesus asks, "When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
Abundant testimony in the Bible tells of Satan leading the world's population into bitter rebellion against Christ with the enforcement of "the mark of the beast" (cf. Revelation 13, for example).
How then can the faithful followers of Christ honor Him and glorify Him in the close of the great Day of Atonement?
The great controversy between Christ and Satan will finally be victory for the Lamb of God, but it will not be settled by a majority vote of earth's inhabitants, except as they vote to judge and condemn themselves. What will happen in the final events as we know them will presage the Judgment before the Great White Throne when the books at last are "opened" and all mankind are "judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Rev. 20:12). Those who will have come up in the second resurrection at the end of the 1000 years will be "in number as the sand of the sea" (vs. 8).
But the total number of those who in the closing of the world's history will be totally loyal to the Lamb will be only "144,000," says Revelation 14:1-5, although 7:9, 10 gives encouragement for those who believe that it is a symbolic number, and the zoom lens reveals an actual count of "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues." This sounds more like the fruitage that the sacrificed Lamb of God deserves to have!
All we know for sure is that the group who "follow the Lamb wherever He goes," in whose mouth "is found no guile," who are "without fault before the throne of God," grants to Him to "see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied" (Isa. 53:11). He deserves that vindication! And those who finally choose to rebel will judge and condemn themselves; the final vote that will vindicate Christ in the great controversy will be totally unanimous--even Satan will be bowing and confessing that truth.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 28, 2007.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Do you like to row your boat upstream against the current? Why waste your energy, your very life, in going against the majority?
Probably this very day you will be confronted with some kind of controversy that tests your loyalty to Christ. In politics or in the marketplace, it is often comparatively easy to stand alone for the right; but the most difficult place to stand for Jesus can be in His church. That's where the conflict of the ages has been fought.
Would you have entered Noah's ark when everyone was ridiculing him? When almost all of Israel made a golden calf and indulged in sexual orgies, would you have responded alone to Moses' challenge: "Who is on the Lord's side?" (Ex. 32:24-26). When later the same crisis erupted and they "committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab," would you have joined Phinehas who alone "stayed" the plague that would have wiped out Israel (Num. 25:1-8)? Would you have joined Elijah on Mt. Carmel when he was outnumbered (within the church, remember) 450 to one by the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:21, 22)? You may say, "That issue was so clear-cut, yes I would have stood with Elijah!" But remember, Baal-worship was an exceedingly clever counterfeit, and the leadership of Israel were on Baal's side, thinking Baal was their true "Lord." Would you have joined with Jeremiah when he was dumped in that deep mud-hole by the government leaders of the true church of that day--the kingdom of Judah (Jer. 38:5, 6)? Would you have dared to stand alone with the Prisoner that Friday morning when the entire Sanhedrim voted, "crucify Him"? Would you have bravely told Caiaphas, "If you crucify Him, you crucify me too!"?
Only the indwelling Christ can save us from fanaticism on the one hand and cowardice on the other.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 25, 2002.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Should you and I be afraid of the judgment? Is it like a final exam that students face, the kind where they cram the night before and come to it trembling with fear? There is a judgment that comes before Christ returns--otherwise He could not bring His reward with Him to give every man according as his work has been (Rev. 22:12). And before there can be a resurrection, there must be an "accounting," which is a judgment to determine who is "accounted worthy" to come up in that most glorious of blessings--the first resurrection (Luke 20:35). But can we know anything about when that pre-Advent judgment is to take place? Does the 2300-day prophecy of Daniel 8:14 make any sense?
The Day of Atonement in the Hebrew sanctuary service was an object lesson of that final pre-Advent judgment.
The Lord did not intend that its purpose should be to condemn Israel or the people, but "on that day shall the [high] priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord" (Lev. 16:30).
That precisely is the purpose of the investigative judgment--not to condemn God's people, but to cleanse them so they can meet Jesus in person when He returns.
There is sin, conscious and unconscious, that must be discovered, repented of, "overcome" (Rev. 3:21), so that those who follow the great High Priest in His closing work of Atonement may not be consumed by the brightness of Jesus' coming. That's going to be a serious moment!
The High Priest doesn't want to condemn you; He wants to vindicate you--that's the only judgment He wants to make in your case.
Don't stop Him, don't hinder His on-going work!
The Septuagint translators of Daniel 8:14, 150 years B.C., clearly saw in the 2300-day prophecy a reference to the Day of Atonement; and long before 1844, Christian scholars saw that date as the terminus of that prophecy.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 17, 2003.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
If there is someone for whom you are especially praying, someone you want to lead to the Savior, the apostle John has given some particular counsel in 1 John 5:15, 17: "If we know that He [the Lord] hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him. If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not to death." (We pause here: this must mean prayer for anyone who has not committed the unpardonable sin--but of course you may not know; you would have been sure that Saul of Tarsus was too far gone to be saved.)
Then John continues: "There is sin to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not to death" (literal rendering). In other words, there is hope for those who have not committed the unpardonable sin. They can still be reached with the gospel. Makes sense. Now, how can you pray for such an individual effectually?
The answer seems to be: God gives you spiritual "life" for that person! You become a "life"-saver; you are to give that person spiritual mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. (Don't ask me exactly how; the Lord will show you! This is personal--you are abiding in Him!)
If you will pardon the crude illustration: it's like a mother bird feeding its young. She has pre-digested the morsel she puts in its mouth. God gives YOU the "life" for this person you are praying for. In other words, it won't suffice for you to send him a missionary magazine, or the missionary book of the year and pray, "Lord, help him to understand; and then flip on your TV and trust that some angel will give him "life." No, the Lord gives YOU "life" for that person. You must pre-digest every truth you want him to come to understand! It must be YOU who communicates the saving truth. An offering in the plate on Sabbath is wonderful but it won't suffice here. You must get deeply involved personally.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 11, 2005.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The man had been a bachelor until late in life; then he met the woman of his dreams. She responded and the two seemed as happy as twenty-year-olds. They were married in a civil ceremony.
Then she came down with cancer. C. S. Lewis was devastated; but then some good news--the cancer went into remission and once again they felt they had discovered Paradise. Now they were married by a Church of England priest. It seemed that God smiled on them; but again the cancer returned and Joy died.
Says one author: "Lewis experienced a devastating sense of distance from God, ... 'the dark night of the soul.' Lewis wrote: 'But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double-bolting on the inside. After that, silence.' ... The danger was not that Lewis would become an atheist. Instead, he wrote: 'The real danger is coming to believe such dreadful things about Him'" (Art Lindsley, Case for Christ, pp. 60, 61).
Before you condemn Lewis, take a good honest look at our own Judeo-Christian Bible: numerous of our Psalms express the same desperate feelings (88, 22, 69, for example; and of course Job). The greatest Psalmist of all eternity once cried out, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). What Lewis could not understand was that Christ endured that soul agony so that we might never have to endure it; but his soul was darkened by the belief he had inherited of the immortality of the soul. That doctrine derived from ancient paganism but taught in the Christian church had darkened his view of the cross of Christ. Hundreds of millions now suffer likewise.
God has called a people to tell the truth about the cross, what happened there. It's what Malachi says "Elijah" will proclaim to our darkened world--reconciliation of soul with God and with one another (4:5, 6).
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 28, 2006.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
In the Book of Acts the early Christians did what the modern term calls "evangelize," that is, they told everybody they met about Jesus. That word is often misunderstood today--assumed to mean "get people to join your church, increase the numbers of its membership." No; the word actually means "tell Good News." And the people already in church often need to hear and understand what the Good News means, just as much as people outside (especially youth and teens). And people outside most of the time won't be interested in joining the church unless you can tell them what the Good News is and why the Lord Jesus ever established a "church."
Is it possible to tell "in a nutshell" what the Good News is? (That's all the space we have here!)
(1) As "our Father which art in heaven," God so loved this lost world that He "gave" His only Son to save the human race from the horror of eternal death.
(2) He came, and He did exactly that!
(3) People who woke up began to realize who He is--"the Savior of the world" (John 4:42), "the Savior of all men" (1 Tim. 4:10), the One who "abolished death [the second] and brought life and immortality to light through the Good News" (2 Tim. 1:10).
(4) For every human being He "brought life," that is, the life he/she now has--whether or not that person believes or disbelieves. This present life is the purchase of the sacrifice of that beloved Son of God.
(5) For every one who "believes in Him" He has also "brought ... immortality to light through the Good News."
(6) That Son of God is still ministering those "gifts" to all mankind as a present-tense Savior; by the Holy Spirit (His true Vicar!) He is taking every one of us by the hand, saying, "Come, let's enjoy eternal life" (see Isa. 41:10, 13). He "draws" you with "cords … of love" (Jer. 31:3; Hosea 11:4).
(7) Finally, that "drawing" is so persistent (up to the moment of your last breath) that it is "hard" to resist it (Acts 26:14).
You don't really WANT to "crucify Him afresh," do you? Then "yield" to that drawing!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 10, 2000.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There's an interesting but important question in connection with the subject of "overcoming sin." Did God forgive sin BEFORE the sacrifice of His cross? Or could He forgive sin only as the RESULT of the cross? Which came first: His forgiveness, or His cross?
On the surface it appears to be a trivial chicken-egg question. God forgives, period; be happy. Why even bother with why or how or when He does it. But the principle here is so important that the stability of God's universe is involved in the answer.
The general idea is that God is omnipotent, that is, He can do anything He wants to. You and I sin; we ask Him to forgive us, and He does. Someone has rightly written, "alienation from God is the natural habitat of humanity," therefore we sin again. And again. And then, again. On and on. And God always forgives, like a kind old grandfather, because, since He is omnipotent, it's easy for Him to do so.
Finally, after our endless cycle of sinning and repenting, we die; and for the sin itself that is so deeply rooted in us to be overcome (Augustine's theology), there must come an experience after death called Purgatory. There at last the job gets done. Millions upon millions of Christians believe this.
But the Bible says differently. "The sting of death is sin," for sin carries death within itself (1 Cor. 15:56; Rom. 6:23). God cannot pardon it without His cross; to do so would fill the universe with death. Adam and Eve would have "instantly" perished in the Garden had not "the Lamb [been] slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8).
Which must "come first"? That slain Lamb! Yes, God can do anything He wants to, but He doesn't want to fill His universe with death. Therefore He cannot forgive sin apart from a tremendous "giving for." Why? Because without a deep heart-melting appreciation of that giving-for, sin remains in the human heart, not "overcome." Forgiveness apart from first the sacrifice of the cross would be antinomianism, a cheapening of sin itself and thus a cheapening of the sacrifice required to overcome it.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 18, 2001.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Want a good, fascinating book to curl up with on a cold, dark night? Take Second Chronicles, and follow the narrative all the way through from King Solomon's humble prayer for wisdom in chapter 1 to the cataclysmic extinction of the kingdom which he inherited from David in chapter 36--the most humiliating divine punishment any nation has ever suffered.
Solomon's glory is almost unbelievable; but his abuses of power contributed to the revolt of ten tribes into the Northern Kingdom (Israel; they never at any time were blessed with even one king who was loyal to the LORD!).
Then the story of the southern kingdom (Judah) is one constant see-saw between royal efforts to be loyal to God's calling (like Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, or Josiah) and the other kings who promptly would lead the spineless people back into the gross idolatry and immorality of the pagan nations. They never learned until Solomon's glorious Temple was burned and their 70 year captivity in Babylon.
You hold your breath as you wonder what can possibly come next. The unknown author provides a running commentary straight from the Lord, praising one king, damning another. It's divine Judgment Day constantly.
You keep wondering, "What could possibly have gone wrong that the one nation that the Lord had chosen to be His soul-winning agency to enlighten the world, Abraham's descendants, could have failed so miserably?"
There are tell-tale signs that pop up continually: even in their best glory days their motive for serving the Lord is revealed as always egocentric. Do what's right, and you reap a great reward! It pays to serve Him! (You start feeling uncomfortable, wondering what your motive is!)
Nothing but the Old Covenant which their fathers had chosen to bring upon themselves at Mt. Sinai can explain this constant confusion. That mindset governed their relationship to the Lord. Jeremiah said that the coming of the New Covenant was still future in his day (31:31, 32).
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 29, 2006.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
There is a mystery all of us go through that we need to unravel: why is it that so often when we've been on cloud nine and we have enjoyed unusual happiness that we suddenly find ourselves, like the hero in Pilgrim's Progress, suddenly plunged into the castle dungeon of Giant Despair? Things suddenly seem to all go wrong. Why? Well, the Bible unravels the mystery.
(1) As a teen, Joseph is riding high in the joy of his earthly father's favor and in the sunshine of His heavenly Father's too, and suddenly is sold into Egyptian slavery (Genesis 37). And he had had youthful dreams of a grand career. From the top of the world to the bottom!
(2) Then, after that calamity, when in loyalty to God he refuses to commit adultery in an alluring temptation, as his reward for purity God lets him be thrust into an Egyptian prison (chapter 39). Looks like God is playing games, maybe torturing him. Why did God give him those dreams of fantastic success, then apparently thrust him into the darkest failure when he'd done nothing wrong to deserve it?
(3) Then there was Elijah. After three and a half years of crushing heartache and wrestling with doubts in the long famine, finally he gets to see God's blessing on Mt. Carmel and his prayers are answered. Oh, glory! The great revival and reformation in the nation is off to a good start; the influence of the prophets of Baal is ended; now there is smooth sailing for God to work (1 Kings 18). Then bang! When he is most tired and needs sleep, Elijah is thrust into the very depths of miserable despair, runs for dear life, exhausted, and is so depressed that he actually wishes he could die (chapter 19).
(4) Then there is Jeremiah: as a sincere but youthful prophet he watches the great revival and reformation begun by his Majesty King Josiah; at last God's sun is shining and the kingdom is on the way to glorious spiritual success. Then suddenly the good king gets himself killed in a foolish misadventure, and from then on it's endless heartache and sorrow for Jeremiah, and the ruin of everything.
(5) Then finally there is Jesus: after the heavenly anointing by the Holy Spirit at the Jordan River and the Father Himself embraces Jesus at His baptism, He suddenly finds Himself "driven" by the same Spirit into a "wilderness" of dark, agonizing temptations (Mark 1:11-13).
What's going on? God is training each of these persons for eventual success. He's training you, too!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 3, 2001.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
It's the question many ask, and yes, angels too, as do the entire universe: how does the "objective gospel" ("righteousness by faith") get translated into the "subjective gospel" of righteousness in the life?
Until the answer is demonstrated, "the bride, the Lamb's wife" won't "make herself ready," and the great controversy between Christ and Satan won't be finished. The unfallen universe have a right to ask, What will enable people who have a fallen, sinful nature to "overcome even as [Christ] overcame"?
To say that "Jesus did it all so I have nothing to do" is a lie. Jesus did it all, yes, so that you and I can "do it all" in lives of total obedience to all His commandments. There's a war going on and we must jump into the fray with both feet.
That doesn't mean an added program of righteousness by works. It means choosing, putting our will on the side of the Savior--a thousand times a day, and on and on until the Lord comes. No end to the warfare with self. Here it is in easy terms:
"The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men [Greek]. It teaches us to say 'No!' to ungodliness and worldly passions ..." (Titus 2:11, NIV). Don't kid yourself; "ungodliness" and "worldly passions" will tempt you again; the closer you come to Christ and the more you are "converted," the more alluring will all those temptations become. Yes, "all," including sex. But temptation is not sin unless you say "Yes!" to it, and "the grace of God" teaches you HOW TO SAY "NO" to it.
But that's not a cheap Babylonian grace, which frankly can't "teach" us. It's a Day of Atonement understanding of what it cost the Son of God to save us--a New Covenant vision of the cross, and of what He has already done and is doing for us. The world waits to see it.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 31, 2001.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Did God's people in Old Testament times have to live under the Old Covenant? Was all that horrible apostasy in ancient Israel something necessary because the people were living at the wrong time? Did God withhold something from them that He later on relented about, and then gave them the New Covenant? Poor people! Was He being fair to them?
These are questions stirring Christian denominations. Never can the Christian Church lighten the earth with the glory of a final message of Good News (like Revelation 18:1-4 speaks of) unless this problem of the Old Covenant vis-Ã -vis the New Covenant gets cleared up. Confusion paralyzes the finest church on earth.
Lukewarmness, apostasy, backsliding, are impossible for a church that is living in the knowledge and experience of the New Covenant. Too strong to say? Unless this is true, the gospel is forced logically to become a contradiction in terms--confusion, a failure.
The reason is that the New Covenant gospel is "the power of God unto salvation" (Rom. 1:16), not a program to failure or backsliding. Backsliding is due to the Old Covenant imported into the heart: 9/10ths New Covenant and 1/10th Old Covenant = failure.
No, ancient Israel were not programmed to failure. Their beginning was "the father of us all," Abraham (Rom. 4:16). God gave him the New Covenant in those seven promises in Genesis 12:1-3. All his descendants should be "children of faith" as Isaac was. They would become the greatest nation on earth, always the head, never the tail (Deut. 28:13), always "a kingdom of priests," meaning, a nation of spiritual geniuses (Ex. 19:6). They were to be God's missionary nation through whom "all families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen. 12:3).
They would evangelize the world! But they fastened themselves under the Old Covenant in Exodus 19:3-8. That thinking kept popping up forever afterwards in their up-and-down history.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 6, 2002.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The shape of things to come is becoming more sharply focused day by day. Two world movements are aligning themselves for the last great conflict: the "beast" of Revelation 13 (same as the little horn of the fourth beast of Daniel 7), versus the third angel's message of Revelation 14:6-12.
Those who accept the latter will worship the Lamb, the Christ of the cross who by His sacrifice "tasted death for every man." And those who worship the beast and his image will worship self. The self-righteousness of the old covenant will be the worship of the beast, and the imputed and imparted righteousness of Christ will be the worship of the Lamb. One will be faith in the promises of God, the other will be the "righteousness" of human promises. One will appreciate the breadth, depth, length and height of "the agape of Christ which passeth knowledge" (Eph. 3:14-21), and the other will become a false view of the cross, a counterfeit misrepresentation of the gospel which will be the worship of a false "christ." And so clever will the deceptions be that "if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matt. 24:24).
We are told by an inspired prediction that in that final hour "a great proportion" of those who "are supposed to be genuine" will "betray sacred trusts," and take their side with the avowed enemies of the truth. If this present generation, as many have affirmed, is the last before the second coming of the true Christ, the Holy Spirit must be calling us to sober thinking. Is it really possible that old covenant thinking can lead at last to final apostasy? Well, the answer is that it certainly did so for ancient Israel. It led them to crucify their true Messiah.
Could anything be more important than for us to learn now what it means to "worship the Lamb"? To "glory" in nothing "save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14)? How to "survey that wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died ..."? To appreciate what it cost Him to save us? Humble, contrite hearts will worship the Lamb; proud, self-satisfied ones ("rich and increased with goods") will worship the beast and his image.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 3, 1998.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe 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.
Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Embattled Europe has suffered many tragic disasters, both natural and man-made--mostly the latter. Through the centuries it has suffered bloody, cruel, religious, yes "Christian," persecutions. The papacy severely oppressed Bible-loving Christians (and there were Protestant persecutions, too). Europe also has suffered endless wars including two World Wars and the unspeakable horror of the Holocaust. Man's inhumanity toward man has been terrible. The most enlightened continent suffered the greatest man-made cruelty.
But there was one outstanding natural disaster that came upon Europe--the Lisbon (Portugal) Earthquake of November 1, 1755. It was the Roman Catholic All Saints' Day, which followed Halloween. Extending 700 miles in radius (some reports said 1800--even to Norway), it shook Europe severely, even England. Followed by a tsunami of about 20 feet, some 30,000 perished, and Lisbon's 12,000 homes were destroyed.
Bible believing Christians recognized it as the "great earthquake" that ushered in the "sixth seal" of Revelation 6:12. Multitudes were sobered; the wealthy and the royal saw there was something more to live for than "decadence" parties and Mardi Gras-like festivals. John Wesley was moved to devote his life to saving England from the horrors that became the French Revolution. The deeper thinking that became the great Advent Movement began to spread. Daniel's "time of the end" was about to begin (in 1798).
Did God speak to the world in the Lisbon Earthquake? Yes! Has He spoken to us in the great hurricanes in recent time (Rita and Katrina)? Reports say over 200,000 homes were destroyed; seems unbelievable but there was indeed great devastation. Yes, God is speaking. He is calling the world to Day of Atonement living. He deserves our attention. Let's listen for His Voice.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 7, 2005.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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