Dial Daily Bread: Can Anything Good Be Said for Halloween?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Can anything good be said for Halloween?

Not really, except to confess the honest truth that it is purest paganism that has wormed its way into the supposedly Christian faith of many millions.

So the question resolves itself into a simpler one: can anything good be said for paganism itself? The Bible offers the repeated comment that paganism imported into the supposedly Christian church is "Babylon" from which the sincere follower of Jesus Christ is sternly commanded forthwith to "come out!" (Rev. 14:8; 18:1-4).

But let's use sanctified common sense in the process: just to come down hard on Halloween alone and neglect the real significance of paganism entrenched in professed Christian thought is to repeat the whole sad apostasy from its beginning.

The story takes us to Daniel, the one book of the Old Testament that Jesus earnestly urges us to "read" and "understand" (Matt. 24:15). In chapters 8:11-13; 11:31, and 12:11, 12, paganism figures as impacting itself on the captive people of God taken to a 70-year exile in ancient Babylon. There is evidence in Daniel that the Israelites in captivity in literal Babylon had an idiom for what endlessly surrounded them: "the continual in transgression."

The literal Hebrew is: ha tamid be pesha, the word tamid being translated as "daily," and ha as the article, "the." It occurs those five times in Daniel, and nowhere else in Scripture in that way.

The Hebrew verb in 8:11-13 is rum, which does not mean primarily "take away" but "lift up," "exalt." The Catholic and Protestant Christians who lived through the end of the 1260 years of papal oppression in 1798 A.D. recognized "the daily" as paganism which became exalted in the early apostasy of much professed Christianity. The result has been described as "baptized paganism." The classic volume, The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan, describes the process as "paganism incorporated" into Christianity (p. 50).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 31, 2007.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

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Note: For interested readers, "Dial Daily Bread" has a paper on the subject, "Have We Followed Cunningly Devised Fables?" The 20-page PDF file can be obtained by replying to this e-mail. Ask for "Fables.

Thanks for your patience while “Dial Daily Bread” has been off the air. Our power was restored a few hours ago, so hopefully, there will be no more power “shutoffs” for a while.

Dial Daily Bread: It About Takes Your Breath Away!

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

We are smothered with advertising for sales--grocery, department, hardware stores, whatever. But we can't have any of the precious goods the merchant offers unless we take the initiative to go to his store and pay the price. We must take the first step; otherwise, all he offers is in vain for us.

Many youth have acquired a similar idea of God's salvation. What Christ accomplished by His sacrifice on His cross makes an "offer" which does us no good unless we take the initiative to come and get it. Many just don't want to get "involved." They back off. Don't take the offer.

I sense no gratitude to the merchant who "offers" me his merchandise; and if I pay his price and take it, I feel I owe him nothing more. We're on equal terms now. Is this like Christ's salvation bargain? He has done nothing for me if I decline His "offer." And if I accept His "offer," I have done my part in the salvation transaction. The best kind of devotion possible for me to feel is lukewarmness.

For hundreds of years this has been the idea most Catholics and Protestants have had. But the books of Romans and Galatians give a different idea: Christ's sacrifice has already impacted every human being, whether or not he or she believes. It is not a mere offer; He has given the gift to "all," yes, say some thoughtful believers, He has placed the gift in your hands.

Ephesians says He has already "blessed" us all, "chosen us in Him," "predestinated us to the adoption as Sons by Jesus Christ to Himself," "made us accepted in the Beloved," in Him we already "have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace [unmerited favor]" (1:3-7). It about takes your breath away--but there it is, it's true. Read it.

According to the Bible, we are all "Esau" who didn't need to do anything to "get" the birthright. It was given, not just "offered" to him--from his birth. According to the Bible, every baby born into the world comes with the giftof the "birthright" to heaven. Our "last" or "second Adam," Christ, has already redeemed him. But too many do like Esau--"despise," "sell" what He gave them. We don't need to do that: "whosoever will" can cherish, treasure, appreciate the Gift--what the Bible means by the word "believe." Tell Him, "Thank You!"

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 3, 2002.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: How Can a Person Be Truly Converted When He Is “Old”?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Nicodemus asked a pointed question that troubles every one of us, young or old: "How can a man be born when he is old?" (John 3:4). The word is geronin the Greek, from which we get gerontology, the science of growing old. (We get our word "grey" from that word too! In other words, Nicodemus asked, "How can a grey-haired person get converted!?")

Child psychologists usually agree that one forms his patterns of thinking and emotional response by the age of seven. Even a teenager has a decade of habit patterns of neurotransmitters developing a momentum hard to change, so he or she too is "old." If you haven't learned to play the violin well by 12, you'll probably never make it to Lincoln Center.

Now, how can a person be truly converted when he is "old"? The world says, "It's impossible." But Jesus took on Nicodemus, and said a decided "Yes!" to his question, "Most assuredly, ... do not marvel!" (vss. 5-7). Then He said that this miracle new birth comes about entirely by the work of the Holy Spirit (vs. 8).

Nicodemus was right in one respect--you can't re-birth yourself. Jesus hands out no do-it-yourself "be-born-again" kits. Paul got His point when he said, "From first to last this has been the work of God" (2 Cor. 5:18, The New English Bible). God plants the seed of the new birth in your soul like a wind carrying tree seeds far and wide and you "can't tell" how that gospel seed of hope got blown into your soul (see John 3:8), but it will germinate if you don't step on it and stamp it out. A seed germinating can break rocks and concrete! No human heart is too hard for what the Holy Spirit does therein.

Yes, Nicodemus! When a person is old, he or she can be born again! Jesus said, "Listen!" It happens by looking at Moses' "serpent" lifted up on a pole like the Israelites bitten by the poisonous snakes (vs. 14). The "serpent" represents Christ on His cross. You look and the poison of sin (self-love) is drawn out of your heart. You are born again by believing that love (vs. 16). "By grace you have been saved through faith" (Eph. 2:8). Perk up, Nicodemus! There's hope.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 19, 1998.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: God Did the Unthinkable!

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When God the Father, our Creator, found Himself confronted with a world (this fallen planet) that had rebelled against Him, He did the unthinkable: He frankly forgave us all!

This astonished the unfallen universe.

He sent His only Son, gaveHim, to die our second death.

The death of Jesus was infinitely more than a weekend of sleep (which any crucified person would appreciate; crucifixion did not kill people, it tortured them); the kind of death that Jesus died was what He described when He screamed on His cross, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). The death that Jesus died is God-forsakenness. That's what hell is.

He knew He was dying our second death; He knew He was entering hell for us--the hell that has no ending, no light at the end of its dark tunnel.

Someone may object, "but He was resurrected the third day!" This understanding that many have diminishes the sacrifice of Christ and deprives us of the ability to appreciate its grand dimensions.

Crucifixion is a terribly painful experience but it is not lethal. Victims could live on for days, even weeks. It's torture. But Jesus knew that the death He was dying is the unending hell--the "curse" of God.

Moses had said it truly, "He who is hanged [on a tree] is accursed of God" (Deut. 21:23). Everybody believed Moses, including Jesus, which is why He screamed in His agony, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" The cross was the proof of God's forsakenness of Him.

Hell is the infinite curse of God, the Father; there are no measurable dimensions to the extent of its horror; yet Jesus chose to enter into it; and the Father chose to giveHim to it!

When we sinners even begin to see its "width and length and depth and height" (Eph. 3:18), there is no end to the devotion that this divine love motivates us to give to Him forever!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 28, 2009.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

 

NOTE:"Dial Daily Bread" may be "off the air" again for a few days. Our power company (Pacific Gas and Electric) will be shutting off the power perhaps tomorrow or Wednesday nights. It's being shut off because of weather conditions that could start fires with their equipment. Hopefully, this won't last long and we'll be back soon.

Dial Daily Bread: You Are Never Crucified Alone--Always it's "With Christ"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When does temptation become sin? Can you hope (in this life) to get to the place where you can be relieved of the burden of being tempted?

You have a grand piano; you enjoy its glorious tone. When it's time to go to bed you think, "Oh, that poor piano! All night long while I rest it must continue to endure those tons of pressure put upon its frame by all those strings stretched taut--I'll loosen them all." The result? The music is gone!

If you have thought of Jesus Christ as a person exempt from enduring the pressure of our temptations, you have missed the point of the New Testament. Its very first page describes Him as "Immanuel, ... God with us" (Matt. 1:23). God with youin your most alluring, nearly overmastering temptations. He was a Man with a capacity for enormous human temptation, because we read that He "was in all points tempted like as we are" (Heb. 4:15, King James Version). There is no human on the face of this planet who is "tempted in all points" as the human race is tempted; each of us is tempted only in our own little microcosm of temptability.

But this Human was also Divine, the second "Adam," the Head of the human race embracing within Himself all the temptability that all human beings collectively endure. No human being who prostrates himself before the throne of God in anguished prayer for deliverance from sin can battle against a temptation for which Christ has not already battled. And the Good News is loud and clear: He endured them all "yet without sin." The tension of temptation was there in His soul every moment of His life until that final hour on His cross when He felt to the full the awfulness of man's sin and its diabolical pressure that wrenches the spiritual nerves and sinews of humanity.

You say the tension you must endure is unbearable? Don't despise the music that only your soul can produce! Sing or play a duet with Christ--He never asks you to do a solo. (If you're a musician you know the joy of doing duets!) You are never crucified alone--always it's "with Christ" (Gal. 2:20).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 15, 1998.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Ezra and Nehemiah--Often Neglected, but Have an Honored Place in the Bible

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When a Laodicean reads the two books of Ezra and Nehemiah as a narrative story, strange comparisons pop up. The Laodicean is already conscious of the Lord's rebuke in his life today, for He says, "Be zealous and repent" (Rev. 3:19). Now in reading these books, he relives the painful struggle of these Israelites to return from the 70-year captivity in Babylon.

As they try in spite of their enemies ridiculing them, the people of God under Nehemiah's direction manfully work to rebuild the walls of old Jerusalem, walls broken down by the Babylonians some 70 years before. Everything seems to go against them. It's not that the Lord Himself works against them, but He does permit their enemies to harass them.

Sanballat and Tobiah, for example, rise against the Jews continually. Their principal weapon is ridicule; they despise their efforts to rebuild the walls, saying that if a fox were to walk over their rebuilt wall it would fall down (Neh. 4:3).

So difficult is their work that with one hand the workers hold a sword or a spear and work with the other hand on the wall (4:17). It was a labor of repentance; the people of God were humiliated, yet they pressed on until the heavy task was completed.

It was the Lord's intention over a century ago that His people go forth with "the most precious message" that with His blessing should lighten the whole earth with glory; but modern "Sanballats" and "Tobiahs" rose up to oppose the work.

Now the consecration and devotion of the Lord's servants will be tried; we have come to the time when we must "gather warmth from the coldness of others." Faith in the Lord begets courage in the Lord; our task is not laying stones on stones to build a wall; our task is proclaiming truths on truths, demonstrating to the world that "the third angel's message in verity" is the truth that will lighten the earth; it will bring to a glorious triumph "the great controversy between Christ and Satan."

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are often neglected, but they have an honored place in the Bible: to encourage the hard-pressed workers of the Lord in these last days.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 25, 2008.
Copyright © 2010 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Strange Group of People

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

They are a strange group of people who keep popping up before our consciousness. Some of us would like to forget them and stash them away in a theological attic, out of sight and mind. But then they get back on the stage again--these mysterious 144,000.

What makes us uncomfortable to even think about them is that "in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before the throne of God" (Rev. 14:1-5). No church can hang up a banner, "The 144,000 "R" Us" like "Toys "R" Us." Instead, we realize how faulty we are by nature. And even when we get old, the Holy Spirit helps us remember, "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10). Even to read aloud what the Bible says about these mysterious 144,000 is suspected as teaching the heresy of "perfectionism."

To go on letting ourselves be faulty, indulging in selfishness, being worldly, is as comfortable as wearing an old shoe. Rowing upstream is just too difficult, well, it's downright impossible, is the idea. "Allah" knows we can't be "without fault," so let's just trust His "compassion" and settle down to stay sinful in character. It's comforting to notice that's how everybody else is.

But here those people are back on stage--the fruition of God's goal for humanity. In spite of countless evil angels, they will "follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (Rev. 14:4). It means Christ as the crucified One has captured their hearts; they "glory in the cross of Christ" (Gal. 6:14). They discover a blessed "hunger and thirst for righteousness" that transcends their natural love for selfish worldly pleasure. These people see something in Jesus.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 17, 2002.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: One of the Most Neglected Passages in the Bible

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

One of the most neglected passages in the Bible explains simply how righteousness by faith works.Yet it's profound.

The topic talks about when you and I will meet Jesus Christ face to face in final judgment, a very real moment of life, the most real ever (2 Cor. 5:10: "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ").

What will ensure our happiness, then? Not what we have done in achievement, but what we have permitted Him to motivate us to be and to do: "The love of Christ constrains us" (vs. 14). The opposite of restrain, that love impels us, pushes us outside of ourselves, makes us do things we never thought we could do. When you've been "constrained" by love to do something, any whiff of merit is denied.

This "constraint" is not mysterious emotion but sober, rational thinking: "because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then [that's equivalent to saying that] all died; and He died for all" (vss. 14, 15). In other words it's a 2 + 2 = 4 phenomenon: what happened on the cross means that when He died, actually youdied. And the simple fact is that if He had not died then you would not have survived! "We judge thus," the most profound reality of all human life. You and I owe everything to Him.

From now on, living is simply recognizing the honest obligation that we are in debt eternally and infinitely. It's the most joyous debt you can imagine.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 13, 2007.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: "The Lord Upholds All Who Fall ..."

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Can you think a moment and envision God in the way that Psalm 145 does? The Book of Psalms is where our intimate closeness to the King of the Universe is emphasized; you and I may be the most lowly inhabitants of this globe, yet we remember that "the Lord thinks upon me" (Psalm 40:17).

You are delighted when a friend tells you he or she has been thinking about you--with good will.

Well, it is solid truth that the Lord, infinite though He is, busy as He is keeping the Milky Way running smoothly, takes time to devote His thought processes to you and me individually, with good will (cf. Luke 2:14). "In Christ" the infinite Father is as close to you and me, unworthy as we are, as if we were the only inhabitants of this "desert island" of earth.

Yes, we must as the most rudimentary lesson of heaven's kindergarten, believe two magnificent things: (1) "he that comes to God must believe that He is, and (2) that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Heb. 11:6). He has reconciled us who are in heart at "enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7), but at the same time we must let go this enmity we have: now "be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:20).

Here is how Psalm 145 pictures God (it's like He puts pictures in His Bible like we put pictures in our books): here is the mighty God kneeling down like you kneel down with some food in your hand to entice a fawn or chipmunk to come and eat out of your hand. "The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season." The Lord opens "[His] hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing" (vss. 15, 16). This includes the squirrels and the birds, and the bears--all.

But that's not everything in this "picture." Read more: "The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down" (vs. 14). "All," yes; if we will let Him do it.

Don't be ashamed to kneel before Him so the entire universe sees you; let everybody on earth and in heaven see that you are "bowed down." When He does that, He puts "a new song" in your soul, even "praise to our God: many will see it, and ... trust in the Lord" (Psalm 40:3).

That's His substitute for an anti-depressant drug, or the psychiatrist's couch.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 27, 2007.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Yom Kippur and the Cosmic Day of Atonement

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What does it mean to live while that great "seventh angel" of Revelation 11 blows his "trumpet" (vss. 15-19)? What is "Day of Atonement" living? And what's so different about it than living on any ordinary "day"?

The Day of Atonement for Israel of old was what Jews today regard as "Yom Kippur," a day being observed by Jews around the world. This is a solemn "day," different than any other of the year (Lev. 23:27-32). It was a kindergarten lesson of the cosmic Day of Atonement in which we live today, a time of being completely reconciled to God (the word "atonement" means "at-one-with"). It's the opposite of being afraid of God; it's living totally, fearlessly, in harmony with Him.

It'snot wearing hairshirts or walking on hot coals or starving yourself (Hinduism has been specially designed as a gross counterfeit of it). It's not being ascetic, going off in the desert to be a nun or a monk (the Dark Ages idea was a total distortion of it). It's not the karma idea of piling up "good works" to make up for all the bad things you've done. It's not fear-motivated living; it is love-motivated living. It's totally being at-one with Jesus, of living in heart-union with Him. It's not fanaticism or dour self-torture. It's not singing sad hymns all the time.

So, what is Day of Atonement living? It's "growing up" out of spiritual infancy "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13), and loving every moment of it! It's a mature "comprehension" of His thinking, His feelings, His aspirations (3:14-21). It's identifying with Him to the point of being "in Him," of looking at the world as He looks at the world and being supremely happy in that identity.

Yes, since time began there have always been "some few in every generation" who have "grown up" out of the kindergarten idea of worshiping God and have been at-one with Him, like Enoch who "walked with God," and Moses, whose heart was so in tune with Him that he was willing to have his name blotted out of the Book of Life rather than see Israel go down the drain (cf. Heb. 11:5; Ex. 32:31, 32).

But now on this cosmic Day of Atonement, this "antitypical" one, God has a worldwide corporate "body" of people so "at-one" with Him that they become a Bride to Christ who "has made herself ready" for "the marriage of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:7). Every moment of every day becomes an exciting adventure "with Him."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 7, 2001.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

NOTE:"Dial Daily Bread" may be "off the air" for a few days. Our power company (Pacific Gas and Electric) will be shutting off the power tonight; they don't know when they will turn it on again--it could be a "few days." It's being shut off because of weather conditions that could start fires with their equipment (like the terrible fire last year in Northern California that destroyed a town, and several residents perished). Hopefully, we'll be back soon.

Dial Daily Bread: Talking With God Face to Face as Moses Did

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When Moses chose "to suffer affliction with the people of God" (Heb. 11:25), he turned his back on "the treasures in Egypt." His life thereafter was one of almost unending toil and sacrifice and tears, until finally he died utterly alone on Mount Nebo and was buried there by angels.

But as compensation, he was permitted to go up into "the mount" and there fast, and commune with the Infinite One. Moses was the man, unique among all fallen descendants of Adam, "whom the Lord knew face to face" (Deut. 34:10), for "the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Ex. 33:11). What do you think--would that be worth more than Egypt's wealth and luxury?

Who is "Moses" today? The wealth of the Vatican is enormous, probably far greater than all the wealth that the ancient Pharaohs ever dreamed of. Does the Vatican turn its back on the glory of this world, in order to "suffer affliction with the people of God"?

Or is "Moses" a symbol of the leadership of Protestant churches today? God enjoyed "friendly" communion with Moses "face to face." It was a pleasure for Him. One wonders if today He is lonely, neglected, like an elderly man in a nursing home who yearns for someone to talk with "face to face."

Where is the pastor, the church administrator, the leader, who climbs "the mount" and fasts and communes with God, and thinks God's thoughts with Him, then goes down into the Valley, his face shining with glory, to communicate the knowledge of God to the people? What a pity if such a leader, appointed by God to shepherd His flock, never takes time to go up in the "mount"! Or have we come to a time of electronic marvels and jet planes and satellite glory, so that talking with God face to face as Moses did is old-fashioned?

Well, we want some Good News--so here it is: Your"mount" is waiting for you, and there on top is the Infinite One waiting patiently to commune with you. The air there is pure; youcan breathe it.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 2, 1999.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Learning to Talk With God

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

People learn to do all kinds of wonderful things. Some learn to play baseball, some soccer, some to play the piano or the violin, some to be surgeons, etc. But there is one thing everybody must learn to do--talk with God. And yet most people are afraid to try to pray. They think they don't know what to say. And they wonder if God will even listen to them, and if He will answer in any way at all. Well, I'd like to encourage you to learn to talk with God.

(1) Jesus tells us how to begin in Matthew 6:6: "When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

(2) Notice what he says about God being your Father in heaven. If you have had a kind, loving earthly father it may help you to see God that way, but even if your earthly father has not been a good example to you, you can easily learn to believe that your heavenly Father loves you, listens to you, and answers you. Make a choice to believe in God whom you cannot see with your eyes, but you have plenty of evidence that proves His love for you.

So, (3) begin by saying Thank You to Him for all that you do have--before you begin asking Him for things that you don't have.

(4) There's something else very important before you begin asking things for yourself--be sure to ask for something for somebody else first! Think of someone somewhere who needs help of some kind, and pray for that person beforeyou begin praying for yourself.

(5) Be honest with God and tell Him all that is in your heart, including your mistakes, yes, what you know is your sin. And remember, when you know you have sinned, don't stay away from God--that's the very best time to come to Him. He already knows you have sinned and still He loves you. He doesn't love the sin, but He loves you and wants to separate the sin from you. That's what forgiveness really is--it takes the sin away from your heart.

Then the last point: (6) Give your heavenly Father a chance to answer you, to respond to your questions. He will speak to you in the Bible. Yes, I am serious; Jesus promised that if you go to your room, close the door, and pray to your heavenly Father in secret, "your Father will reward you." You can lean to talk to Him and you can learn to listen to Him.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: 1994 Phone Message.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Jesus' Good News Promise, "I Will Come Again"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Is Jesus Christ doing anything special now? Or is He doing the same as He has always done since He ascended to heaven nearly two millennia ago?

His work throughout the ages has been preparing people to die--a wonderful work. By His Holy Spirit untold millions are being prepared to come up in the first resurrection so they can inherit a place in His eternal kingdom. Thus they have prayed in their last hour, "Abide with me, ... the darkness deepens, Lord, with me abide." For those who die, nothing can be more important than to be "counted worthy to attain ... the resurrection from the dead," says Jesus (Luke 20:35).

But must sin continue to plague human life on this planet forever? Must the agony of the Middle East continue generation after generation, on and on? Remember that Jesus Himself feels all this misery (Isa. 63:9).

The Good News is that He promises, "I will come again" (John 14:3). For His sake, as well as ours! But He can't come the second time until He prepares a people, not to die as have billions, but to be translated without seeing death (see 1 Thess. 4:15-18; 1 Cor. 15:51-55; Rev. 14:14-16, etc.). What's the difference, if any? This is it: the final tests!

Who are those people? It's not our job to judge anyone. But silently, steadily, the Lord Jesus as our great High Priest in His closing work in the heavenly sanctuary is doing just that--preparing a people to endure the final tests of the mark of the beast by faith to stand unmoved when the Holy Spirit is withdrawn from the earth, to be loyal. They "overcome even as [He] overcame" (Rev. 3:21). Listen!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 23, 2002.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: In the Devil's Present-day "Plagues," There Is Mixed the "Mercy" of God

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible speaks clearly about "seven lastplagues" in which "the wrath of God is complete" (Rev. 15:1). They are "poured out" by "seven angels" who declare that "true and righteous are Your judgments," "Lord God Almighty" (16:7). They are "the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation," because each recipient will "worship the beast and his image, and ... receive the mark of his name" (14:10, 11).

Why this terrible outburst of God's wrath?  All through the millennia of history, the "wrath of God" has been tempered, diluted, softened, "mixed" with His mercy. But when those final plagues are poured out, it is full strength.  Why the abrupt change?

Has God at that time changed His character? Up until now He has made "His sun [to] rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45). By virtue of Christ's sacrifice on His cross He has treated every man as though he had not sinned. That is "mercy," the "justification of life" that Paul says is Christ's "gift" to "all men" from His cross (Rom. 5:15-18). Does He then no longer "love the world" for whom He "gave His only Son"?

Yes, He still loves the wicked, but they have now corporately, finally, totally rejected that love. When "the world" crucified Christ (not just the Jews and Romans, 3:19), He forgave them. That's why He can send "His sun" and "rain" on all of us alike.

When a terrible tornado totally destroys a city, does that mean that those people "were worse sinners than all other[s] ... because they suffered such things"? Jesus answered that question in Luke 13:1-5 with a negative answer. All the world is corporately guilty of crucifying Him and must repent. The whole world will suffer in the end, but only when it repeats the crucifixion of Christ in wanting to murder God's people, enforcing the universal decree that all who "would not worship the image of the beast to be killed" (Rev. 13:15). For that final universal sin there will at last be no forgiveness, only the "full strength" wrath of God.

Thank God that in all the devil's present-day "plagues," there is mixed the "mercy" of God. Rejoice in it; but let's not dare presume upon it.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 6, 2003.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: How Lowly Should We Think of Ourselves?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The apostle John nails down some good news logically: "If we ask anything [in prayer] according to [God's] will, [1] He hears us. And [2] if we know that He hears us, [3] whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions we have asked of Him" (1 John 5:14, 15). We "have" them--that is, on deposit credited to our personal account in God's Bank in heaven; when we need them most, we'll realize them. (John's context is ministering salvation to your needy "brother." That's always "according to His will"!)

We can pray a thousand times for something that isaccording to God's will--Paul's prayer in Romans 12:3: "I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." Lord, save us from arrogance, from pride, from making fools of ourselves! King Nebuchadnezzar strutted about saying, "Is not this great Babylon that I have built ... for the honor of my majesty?" "That very hour" he was brought down to the level of a cow (Dan. 4:30, 33). Apparently that was the level that he ought to think. After 7 years of insanity he realized that every breath was given him by the grace of God, and he thought of himself correctly (vss. 34-37).

But how lowly should I "think of myself"? Am I "nothing"? A "worm"? (Psalm 22:6). Paul says: "think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." As Christ my Savior hung on His cross in the darkness, forsaken by everybody including God (Matt. 27:46), He thought of Himself as "a worm, and no man." That hurt! But He went through that experience so I might never have to think of myself as a "worm." God does not want me to think of myself as nothing but as someone redeemed by that costly sacrifice of the Savior. Now, "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). By His grace, this miserable arrogance of the love of self is crucified with Him.

Said John Bunyan in The Pilgrim's Progress: "He that is down need fear no fall, / He that is low, no pride./ He that is humble ever shall / Have God to be his guide." He breathed the atmosphere of heaven, says one wise writer.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 9, 2004.
Copyright © 2019 by "Dial Daily Bread."