Daily Bread: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

What Are You Choosing?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible clearly says something that some theologians haven't wanted to believe: "Jesus Christ the righteous ... is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:1, 2). Our dear brother John Calvin couldn't see what it says; he maintained that it meant only that it's just "the elect" in "all the world" who are meant; not everybody (Calvin's Commentaries, 16th century).

This seems still to be the greatest hurdle that many Christians have--to understand who Jesus is. But He is "the Saviour of the world" (John 4:42); He was sent to "give eternal life" to "all flesh" (17:2), to "give life unto the world" (6:33, 51), He died the death which is the punishment for sin for "every man" (Heb. 2:9), He became the second Adam of the human race, reversing all the "condemnation" that the first Adam brought upon the race (Rom. 5:15-18).

Why couldn't John Calvin see the Good News? What blinded his eyes? He was living still in the "wilderness" of the Dark Ages, before the full light of the gospel was to be seen clearly after the 1260 years (Rev. 12:6). He was bound by the unbiblical idea that God's grace is "irresistible," that if God "wills" that a person be saved, that person's perverse "will" cannot "frustrate the grace of God." It means logically that one's going to be saved even if he disbelieves to the bitter end.

But two great truths are being clearly seen in these last days: (a) the extent of the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of the love (agape) of Christ that "constrains" an honest-hearted person to serve Christ forever; (b) the terrible unbelief of people who want to "crucify Christ afresh, and put Him to an open shame" and reject the "gift" that He has already given them "in Himself." They are lost not because of any arbitrary decree on the part of God, but because of their own perverse will, their unfitness for the companionship of heaven. Nobody who "loves darkness rather than light" could be happy in heaven even if he was admitted (see John 3:18-20). So, in the end, God simply gives everybody what he or she has wanted, and has persistently chosen.

What are you choosing day by day, moment by moment? Self? Or Christ? Think deeply; the judgment is now on; today could register your final choice.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 18, 1999.

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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Don't Ever Forget "the Day" When You "Died'

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There was a day when the whole world died, and we need to understand how and why it happened. We usually don't see it that way: we think only One man died on that Friday. Here's the story: "We judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died" (2 Cor. 5:14). How could this be?

(1) The Son of God became man, "Immanuel, ... God with us" (Matt. 1:23).

(2) He took upon Himself our humanity, became one with us, even to the point of being "not ashamed to call [us] brethren, ... My brethren" (Heb. 2:11, 12).

(3) Back up a bit: the former head of the human race was Adam; his name is our name; we were all "in him" for he is the common ancestor of every human being in the world (1 Cor. 15:22); no one of us was born on the planet Mars, or of a non-human race. Because Adam sinned, "all have sinned [past tense of the Greek verb] and fall short [present tense] of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). "There is none righteous, no, not one" (vs. 10).

(4) When the Son of God became incarnate, He fired Adam from his job of being head of the human race, and took over as the new Head of the human race. Paul describes the transaction as "the first man Adam" being in contrast with "the last Adam, ... the first man was of the earth, made of dust: the second man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Cor. 15:45-47).

(5) Thus when Christ died on His cross, He died as the "last Adam," the second Adam. He died the same death that God had warned Adam he would die, "In the day that you eat of it [the wrong tree] you shall surely die" (Gen. 2:17). That was not merely the sleep we all know--it was the real death, "the second death" (see Rev. 2:11). Christ didn't go to sleep for our sins, He "died for our sins" (1 Cor. 15:3).

(6) As by nature we are all "in Adam," so now because our second Adam became one of us and died our death, we are "in Him" by virtue of His identity with us. This is why Paul could say that when "One died," then "all died."

(7) You and I don't even begin to "live" in the truest joyous sense until we realize, appreciate, sense the gratitude, of how "I [am] crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith [of] the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

Don't ever forget "the day" when you "died," for it is also the day when you began to live "in Him."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 12, 2000.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Expressing Genuine Thanksgiving

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The very idea of saying "Thank you!" is not pagan. Animals don't know how to say "Thank you!" Give them some food, and they proceed immediately to gobble it up. Some of us who have traveled in undeveloped lands (that's what we call them!) which are heathen or pagan have observed that pagan children also grab food you give them and rush off to gobble it up without so much as a glance, let alone a word, not even a smile, indicating thanks.

How do you and I appear before the throne of God? Do we grab all the blessings the Lord has already given us, gobble up our food, enjoy the pleasure of life, without expressing genuine thanksgiving?

The truth is that it's impossible for anyone, Christian or heathen, to feel genuine thanksgiving unless he has at least some appreciation of what it cost the giver to give. For example, I have observed pagan children gather around us while we were having a picnic; they saw us as being virtually multimillionaires in contrast to their poverty, so whatever we gave them cost us nothing, they felt. So, why say thanks for something that didn't cost the giver anything to give you?

And that precisely is our spiritual problem. We don't realize what it cost the Giver to give us the gift of eternal life. So, why FEEL very deep thanksgiving? If a billionaire gives you a dime, do you get ecstatic in expressing thanks?

Actually, we are very much like those pagan children watching us eat our picnic lunch; we have only a childish concept of what it cost the Son of God to rescue us from hell itself. To understand what it cost Him, to appreciate the dimensions of His sacrifice--this is what the New Testament means by the word "believe." And not to believe in that sense is what the Bible calls "unbelief." And that ... turns out to be the sin of sins. The remedy? Contemplate that cross where the Son of God died for you.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 27, 1997.

dailybread@1888message.org

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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.

Monday, August 27, 2012

One of the Greatest Treasures of All Time

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

One of the greatest treasures of all time is more valuable than the gold in King Tut's pyramid tomb, and for most Christian people it remains unexcavated: the Book of Hebrews. The reason its message is almost unknown is that sincere translators have unwittingly twisted one of its central truths that in effect covers up its message to modern readers.

Chapter 1 proves Christ is divine, eternally pre-existent; His name is "God" (vs. 8). Chapter 2 proves Christ is fully human, "in all things ... made like unto his brethren," "partakers of flesh and blood" as are all the fallen children of Adam, so that by means of this education He might be fitted to be "a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God" (2:14, 17, 18; 4:15; 5:8, 9). So far, good; all is clear. Chapters 7-10 emphasize how the Levitical priesthood and sanctuary ministry failed miserably in that they could not "year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect." But the useless ritual went on continually for centuries! (10:1, 2).

Therefore there must be an entirely new priesthood, that of Christ Himself, and the old must cease for its failure. But the old was a type, a pattern, a kindergarten lesson to illustrate the nature of the new priesthood that resembled the new as a shadow represents the object that created it. And here is where the translation difficulties begin. Chapter 9:1-10 details a significant feature of the "shadow" Levitical ministry: there were two phases to the high priest's ancient ministry: every day in the year he would go into the first apartment where the seven golden candlesticks were and the table where twelve freshly baked loaves of bread were displayed every Sabbath morning, there to minister forgiveness to repentant sinners (but they kept on sinning!).

But once a year he would enter into the second apartment where the golden ark was with the two tables of stone with the ten commandments written thereon by the finger of God. That second-apartment ministry was to "cleanse" the sanctuary and put an end to on-going sinning. But it never worked!

So, says Hebrews, there must be a second apartment ministry of the great High Priest in the true heavenly sanctuary, to solve forever this on-going sin in the lives of His people. The problem: most translations confuse the two apartments, which in Greek are ta hagia and hagia hagion. At His ascension, Christ entered ta hagia; at a period before His second coming, He leaves ta hagia and enters hagia hagion, there to complete His work of preparing a people for His second coming. Read Hebrews with this in mind: it will come alive for you.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 14, 2000.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

"Just As I Am"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Book of Hebrews is the only place in the New Testament where Christ is identified as our great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. We are thankful it was included in our Bibles! "But what does Christ do there as High Priest?" is a question many are asking. As our Intercessor, is He trying to persuade the Father to be nice to us? That idea (which many hold) just won't fly; it was the Father who "so loved the world that He gave His only Son" for us.

Is there any difference of attitude or opinion between the Father and the Son? No, they are totally one. Then is Christ trying to intercede with Satan to back off and leave us alone? That idea won't fly either, because the devil is totally, irrevocably hostile. The devil's mind CAN'T be changed, and the Father's mind DOESN'T NEED to be changed. Where then is there somebody whose mind NEEDS to be changed? Could it be that our great High Priest is pleading with us, to change OUR minds? Hebrews seems to say so: "Consider the ... High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; ... [and] harden not your hearts" (3:1, 15). "He ever lives to make intercession FOR [US]" (7:25).

"The blood of Christ ... will cleanse our conscience from the deadness of our former ways and fit us for the service of the living God" (9:14, NEB). This is why a very apt name for Him as our High Priest is "Divine Psychiatrist," "the Great Physician" of our souls. Nobody can benefit from His high priestly ministry unless he realizes his need of such a "Psychiatrist." "They that are whole need not a physician," said Jesus, "but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:31, 32).

Charlotte Elliott sensed this need when she wrote "Just As I Am" in 1835. A helpless invalid, she felt depressed at her inability to "do anything" to help in the cause of God. She felt bitter, alienated, unhappy. Left alone one day at home in her misery, she remembered the counsel a sympathetic pastor had given her years before: "Come to Jesus just as you are; He will not cast you out!" So, on that day of lonely discouragement she wrote the words: "Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind [Rev. 3:17?]; Sight, riches, healing of the mind; Yes, all I need, in Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!" She found her Divine Psychiatrist! And the "healing of her mind" was permanent--the start of a lifetime of joyous service for Jesus. Let her faith inspire you to receive that healing from Him! (Incidentally, Charlotte did more to bless the world with that little poem than if she had been in perfect health all her life and kept on writing funny verses, as she had been doing).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 6, 2000.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Read! Understand!" the Prophecies of Daniel

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Did the apostle Paul preach the prophecies of Daniel? Did Jesus do so in His ministry? We know that the angel had told Daniel to "shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end" (12:4). Why then did Jesus tell His disciples to "read" the prophecies of Daniel and "understand" them (Matt. 24:15) if the book was "sealed"?

And why did Paul remind the believers in Thessalonica of Daniel's prophecies about the great apostasy ("falling away") and the coming of "the man of sin, ... the son of perdition," the "little horn" power of Daniel 7, 8?

Although the full understanding of Daniel's prophecies could not be known until these last days in which we live now, it is clear that the apostolic church understood that Christ's second coming could not take place until Daniel's prophecies of the great "falling away" came first (2 Thess. 2:1-5). Jesus knew, and Paul knew, that the church needed that information!

Although Jesus picked out of the Bible the prophecies of that one book of Daniel and emphasized them for Christians to "read" and "understand," most priests, pastors, and teachers never preach about them. The promise that the Lord has made in Daniel 12 is that in the time of the end, "many" will heed the Lord's command and will ponder those prophecies, and will "increase" the "knowledge" of them before the world (12:4).

And now to every one living in this tumultuous world comes Jesus' solemn command: "Read, understand!" the prophecies of Daniel. That means, "Study! Read!" Let a hunger and thirst for righteousness crowd out your obsession with the amusements of this present evil world (cf. Matt. 5:6).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 2, 2005.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

What Is "Baal Worship" Today?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When the Lord "sent Elijah" to the "scribes and Pharisees," they "knew him not." John the Baptist's message was "Elijah"! (Matt. 17:10-13). Could the dear Lord in His great mercy send "Elijah" to us and we "know him not"? Could the Lord send us a message designed to prepare us for the coming of Christ and we treat it as the Jews treated John the Baptist? God has promised to "send" him (Mal. 4:5, 6); could anything be more important than learning what that "message" is and how "we" have treated it? Maybe we need to repent!

When "Elijah" comes, will he overthrow Baal worship as he did long ago? Ancient Baal worship was the worship of self disguised as the worship of God. The 450 "prophets of Baal" made Elijah sick at heart. What is "Baal worship" today? As of old:

It is professing to serve the Lord when in fact your agenda is to promote self. A pastor glorifies himself, attracts the people to himself, turns their attention to himself, panders the worldly-minded people in the church, climbs the ladder of his career. He professes to worship Christ but in fact he is serving self. Is he not a "prophet of Baal"? His career is to build for himself a comfortable living; unconsciously he directs the youth to any or all careers except to prepare a people to stand in the day of God. He is not preparing a people to be translated as Elijah was, to "follow the Lamb [the crucified Christ] wherever He goes." Instead, he is preparing a people to accept the "mark of the beast" when it comes.

When "Elijah" is "sent" by the Lord, he will not be easy on modern Baal worship. But his will not be a ministry of denunciation; he will build up, not tear down. The "word" will do the job. Proclaiming Christ and Him crucified will melt hardened, worldly hearts, and Baal worship will be renounced. "When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 9, 2002.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Enjoy a Nourishing Square Meal!

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Is your soul famished for spiritual nourishment? If you are a modern person, the answer is very likely Yes, for you are extremely busy (aren't the credit card payments due next week??). Sometimes even when we go to church we leave as hungry as we entered.

One evening when we had our family worship, it was late and we were tired. Instead of going to the trouble to fetch the inspired Book, we read from a good Christian book nearby that sincere as the author was, is not inspired. We tried to sleep, couldn't; fears began to oppress. We had eaten some "straw." What a contrast when later we did fetch the inspired Book and read from it; encouragement, hope, confidence, were strengthened.

The naked Bible, free of commentators' insertions, is still the greatest Source of food for your soul. Its literary form is a masterpiece of terse language--not a wasted word. Read it reverently, unhurriedly; as surely as day follows night, you will sense an ingestion of spiritual nourishment. It will be the Holy Spirit speaking to you in a language you will recognize. A wise writer has said that in thus reading the Bible, we "hold converse with the noblest and best of the human race."

You may try to pray to myriads of "saints" who will supposedly "intercede" with God and persuade Him to be nice to you, but there is a better way. In reading the Bible itself you may "converse" with Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jeremiah, and David, through their messages recorded there. Thus your heart will be strengthened and encouraged to pray to the great High Priest Himself directly, because you will be reassured that "this man receiveth sinners" (Luke 15:2).

Choose the version of the Bible that for you is most readable. Enjoy a nourishing square meal!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 7, 1999.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Let Us Choose Life!

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!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 13, 2007.

Monday, August 20, 2012

The Two Men Who Never Had a Funeral

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Have you heard about the two men who never had a funeral? Their friends never received a death notice. No one ever said goodbye to Enoch and Elijah.

The Old Testament says simply that “Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). The New Testament says that Enoch was “translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Heb. 11:5). One man reconciled to God!

The New Testament also says that there will be other people who “please God,” who in the last day “are alive and remain [who] shall be caught up ... in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall ... ever be with the Lord.” In other words, they will be translated at the second coming of Jesus, as Enoch was (1 Thess. 4:14-17). Paul calls this “the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).

Elijah also was “not,” for God “took” him with a whirlwind of a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11). We never get a sight of Enoch again, but we do meet Elijah on the mount of transfiguration when he appeared with Jesus in glory (Matt. 17:3). Moses also was there, but he had died and experienced a special resurrection (Jude 9). So, Moses represents the vast hope of sleeping saints who will be raised in the first resurrection when Jesus comes again; and Elijah and Enoch represent the living people who will never experience the “sleep” that the Bible says is the first death. Amazing!

Now we come to our question: is it really possible that a “body” of people, many in fact, could be “translated” without “seeing death”? That’s when “this mortal” shall “put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:51-54). Yes, Revelation 14 describes such a corporate “body” of people who will be “redeemed from the earth,” who “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth,” in whose “mouth [is] found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God” (vss. 1-5).

It makes sense to see them as the fulfillment of Paul’s prayer in Hebrews 13:20, 21 that “the God of peace ... make you perfect in every good work to do his will.” Apparently He will do just that! Hopefully the number “144,000” is symbolic for if literal that would be a tiny representation from the billions of present world population.

It also makes sense to see this group as the “bride” of Christ who finally “makes herself ready” for “the marriage of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:1-9). Something’s happening today! Tune in.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the “Dial Daily Bread” Archive: July 14, 2003.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

An Important Place in "The Great Controversy"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Someone wrote an essay about how Jesus Christ needs help in His gigantic struggle in His great controversy with Satan. It's a different idea; their essay is breaking new ground for many.

We know that God is omniscient--that is, He knows everything; ... but wait a moment, in His incarnation Jesus was God but He was not omniscient, for sometimes we read the phrase, "When Jesus knew it …" (Matt. 12:15; Mark 8:17). And He tells us that He does not know the day nor the hour of His second coming, only the Father knows that (Mark 13:32).

We know also that God is omnipotent--that is, He can do everything; ... but wait another moment, He cannot barge through anyone's locked door (Rev. 3:20). He cannot (because He will not) interfere with anyone's choice to believe or to disbelieve His gospel truth.

We know that the Holy Spirit is the most powerful force in the universe; He can convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8), but He steps back and yields the sovereignty to every individual human will. (But thank God He can reveal a greater measure of the constraining love of Christ and can take away hindrances to faith; but there is a point beyond which He will not and cannot go.)

Christ cannot refuse to be crucified. We must have our way.

When there was "war in heaven" and one-third of the angels were "cast out into the earth," the essay's author suggested that He needed the help of the two-thirds who remained loyal to Him (Rev. 12:7-9).

Yes! And now as that same "war" is nearing its end, He desperately needs you and me to help Him. Hold your head high! You have an important place to fill in "the great controversy" that no one else can fill as well as you.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 1, 2006.

Friday, August 17, 2012

A Promise to the Birds and Beasts--And to Us

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

While parts of North America bake in the sizzling dry heat of drought, other parts suffer torrential rain and dangerous flooding. Oh that the Lord would equalize our climates! (We'll probably have to wait for the new earth to see this.)

But we can see something encouraging even today: the rainbow. It's a pledge on the part of our Creator-Savior God that He will never again permit a flood to wipe out life on earth. It's a simplistic promise that appeals to a child's sense of wonder, but even our most sophisticated university scientists can wonder like a child and sense the rainbow tugging at their heart.

As we read the story in Genesis 9 we find a most curious detail: God says, "Behold, I establish My covenant ... with every living creature, ... of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth" (vss 8-13). Can that be true? It seems fantastic--God "making a covenant" with all the birds and animals!? Doesn't He have more important things to do than make bargains with elephants and mice and sparrows?

But wait a moment: He didn't make a "bargain" or a "contract" or a "transaction" with these dumb creatures! Yes, He did humble Himself to make a PROMISE to them, but He did not exact from the birds and beasts any promise in return. If you'll look at the fauna of the earth, they simply receive the favor at the hand of God, and go on living--enjoying the gift of life at His hand, even eating out of His hand (see Psalm 145:15, 16).

But wait a moment more: that PROMISE of God was made to you and me just as it was to the birds and beasts (Gen. 9:9). You can't be a Christian unless you humble your heart and line up with them, awaiting your turn, and eat out of His hand, too (see John 6:51-53).

That PROMISE of God to us and the creatures alike is His blessed New Covenant. Don't kid yourself into thinking that now you must reciprocate by making promises to God. You must reciprocate, yes--a million times over: but not in promising Him obedience and good works. Your job is to BELIEVE His PROMISES to you. And then, wonder of wonders, all the obedience flows from a heart where He has written His law of agape love, His ten commandments.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 12, 2003.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Reconciling the World to God

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The great Crusades of the 11th to 13th centuries grossly misrepresented to the Arab world the character of the God whom Christians profess to worship. A significant portion of present Muslim hatred of Christianity can be traced to that time. The very word "Crusade" inflames them with what they consider is moral outrage.

Jesus commands Christians, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel ..." (Mark 16:15), which must be GOOD news--or it's not truth. Its essential element is a message of reconciliation with God: "We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God," pleads His messengers (2 Cor. 5:30), but many portrayals of God's character does anything but reconcile alienated people to Him.

If an enemy sticks a pistol in your face and demands, "Love me or I'll pull the trigger!" could you be reconciled to him that way? This is not an oversimplification of the issue; human beings who have never understood the gospel (due to its being distorted to them) are not by nature reconciled to God. "The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7). That "enmity" has been created by the lies and distortion of Satan ever since Eve was deceived in Eden. God pities these confused people who have been lied to. The Father sent His Son into the world to correct these misapprehensions, and those of us who believe in Him are to represent Him aright to the world.

Thus there are two basic approaches to the task of reconciling the world to God: (1) the method that employs fear as the principal motivation (there is anecdotal evidence that it is hugely successful, but can you trust the supposed evidence?), and (2) "the everlasting gospel" outlined in Revelation 14--the message of three special angels in the last days (vss. 1-14). This can be identified as "the third angel's message in verity," a presentation of the reconciling message of God's grace and His agape that is yet to come into its own worldwide.

God has promised that when the message is revealed to the world in its clarity, it will cut through all the confusion that "Babylon" has amassed; all the hindrances that block people's pathway to the Father through Christ will be exposed in the final message, "Babylon the great is fallen, ... Come out of her, My people"! (Rev. 18:1-4). We need to understand the message more clearly!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 28, 2004.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Make Psalm 139 Your Own

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Lord Jesus says to each one of us personally, "I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you" (Jer. 31:3).

That is personal, individual, intimate love; not a cold electronic thing. It's the love of a Father--our heavenly Father. As intimate, close, personal as any earthly father's love can be. Only far more so.

Some dear people feel that they have never known an earthly father's love; what can the dear Lord do for them? But truthfully, none of us have ever had a human father who could perfectly portray the love of our heavenly Father, for us. So, let no one be the least discouraged if you have never known an earthly father's love: kneel on your knees and make a choice to BELIEVE what you cannot SEE. He will respond to that prayer!

The dear heavenly Father will not forsake you or neglect your prayer; He has already loved you with "an everlasting love," now ask Him to grant you the spiritual eyesight, the discernment, to recognize the gift He has already given you. If His love is "everlasting," that means that He loved you while you were still in your mother's womb. He was working on you even then, with that love.

Please read Psalm 139: it is devoted to the pre-natal influence that the Holy Spirit exerted on your behalf. The "everlasting love" of the Lord Jesus is very real; now let your own choice be to respond to that love, to thank Him for it, to ask forgiveness where you have doubted it. Such a prayer comes "out of the depths" of your soul; "Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord" (Psalm 130:1). And immediately comes His assurance: "There is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be reverenced" (vs. 4).

Now make Psalm 139 your own. May millions of prayers rise tonight based on that blessed psalm.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 14, 2009.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Please Do Not Wound Your Lord

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

You may have dreamed of doing some great work for the Lord. He has put that vision in your heart. If you have had success, thank Him in humility. It was all His blessing.

But if you feel that you have accomplished little of what you had hoped to do, please do not wound your Lord by doubting His love and faithfulness for you. He has heard your prayers; if you can receive this brief message, that proves that there is still opportunity for Him to bless the meager offering you have to give Him. The little boy in the big crowd of 5000 plus women and children had only his two fish and five barley buns his mother had baked for his lunch--but in love and boyish faith he gave them all to the disciples to give to Jesus (Matt. 14:15-19; John 6:9-11; did you know that John is the only one of the four Gospels to give the “lad” credit for his loving offering!).

You know how the Lord Jesus blessed that humble gift!

Now ask the dear Lord to show you what little thing you can do to bring some truth or some blessing in another way, to someone. The angels keep the record books; don’t even think about a reward for yourself. Forget that. But do pray that the Lord will bless your tiny little offering and trust Him that He will for the good of someone, somewhere. Someday someone will walk up to you and thank you for what you gave or what you did TODAY.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 10, 2005.