Daily Bread

Monday, October 09, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The Wise Man, King Solomon (who also lost much of his God-given wisdom through apostasy) declared that there is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:7). Knowing when to do either, and the courage to do it, is our day by day task. When the Son of God became one of us in the flesh, He would rise early in the morning and seek His Father’s tuition for the day (Isa. 50:4, 5). Thirteen year old Marian Fisher must have prayed that morning before she went to the little school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, where she begged the wicked and murderous intruder to “shoot me first instead of the little girls,” or words to that effect. She knew when the time had come for her to “speak.”

When Jesus was arrested, bound and dragged to the house of Caiaphas, He asked the murderous police to “let these [His disciples] go their way” while He would suffer alone for them (John 18:8). Perhaps Marian had read that story at some time and remembered.

But Jesus also was ready to “speak” up before the high priest in courageous fearlessness. When the cruel “officer ... struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, ... Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou Me?” (vss. 20-23). That was love on the part of Jesus; He tried to save that man’s soul by appealing to his awareness of justice. For ought we know, the man may later have repented, for Jesus prayed for His murderers, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), and the Father answered that prayer.

The courage Jesus showed in rebuking the man straightforwardly when He knew he could retaliate with greater evil, is an inspiration to us. Jesus could have spoken up as He did only if in Him, self was already crucified. Solomon was right—“there is ... a time to speak,” and Jesus knew when His had come.

O Father! Please prepare us for when our “time to speak” may “come”!

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

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

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Is Jesus Christ embarrassed by the apparent success of evolution? Vast numbers who in former generations were reverent, who stood in awe of the God of the Bible, whose hearts were moved by the story of Jesus, who reverenced the message of the Bible, today despise it because they have embraced the message of the scientists who say that their evidence proves that a six-days creation of the world has been rendered impossible.

Jesus Christ spoke of Genesis as a true book which He accepted as valid. Multitudes in “Christendom” used to gather in great church buildings to worship and listen to reverent sermons. Now—has “science” embarrassed Jesus? Was He naive? Did He deprive Himself of the confidence of thinking people? If you and I are thoughtful people, what shall we believe?

Although there is a vast amount of literature upholding evolution, remember that there is also a considerable literature which maintains that the teaching of a divine creation in six days (as Genesis says) is more reasonable scientifically than is evolution. But arguments back and forth do little good.

The scene of conflict has shifted: the new battleground is love—not the superficial, egocentric love-emotion that humanity knows naturally; the issue is agape. It’s the towering truth of “Christ and Him crucified” as the coming focal point of world attention. The God of creation and redemption has implanted in human hearts a longing for truth and right (cf. Gen. 3:15); He knows well how to capture the attention of the humanity He has created (and redeemed). Psalm 67, for example, declares the world witness that God intended ancient Israel to bear: “God ... cause His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known, ... Your salvation among all nations. ... All the ends of the earth shall fear [reverence] Him” (vss. 1, 2, 7).

The truth of agape is a great field of “science” in itself; the world awaits the revelation of the career of the “little horn” of Daniel, how this world power has counterfeited the cross of the Son of God, tried to nullify agape, made the world into a vast, fallen “Babylon.” But truth is coming out boldly.

Those whose hearts are moved, “constrained,” by the agape of Christ will never be embarrassed.

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

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Saturday, October 07, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Someone has asked the question, “Since God knew before what man would do—that is, rebel and sin, why did He create us? Why didn’t He make us so we could not sin, and thus save all this trouble that sin has brought?” To answer this question adequately would take wisdom far beyond this unworthy servant’s, and also thousands of years; but we can begin to understand:

(1) For the same reason that parents take the risk of having a baby: they know their child could rebel against them and make their life a hell on earth, yet they have the baby anyway. Parents don’t want a mechanical doll that can only repeat, “I love you, I love you.”

(2) God’s very character is the love (agape) that gives liberty (Lev. 25:10). Without the freedom of choice, “love” cannot be genuine.

(3) Granting freedom to man means God must endure hell Himself, for He “so loved the world that He gave [not lent] His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish” (John 3:16). In so loving us, He must Himself taste what it means to “perish.”

(4) That reveals how unbelief (or dis-belief) brings “death.” “The wages of sin is death,” says Romans 6:23. Death is not an arbitrary act of revenge and “get even” on the part of God; the Today’s English Version says, “Sin pays its wages—death.” Sin has death wrapped up within it: “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself,” pleads God in Hosea 13:9. But because God is love, He is forced to let man go through this hell, which He must share with us. There is no other way that the universe can see the full revelation of the character of God, just as there is no other way for parents to let their offspring learn to know truth other than to beget them.

(5) Parents’ hearts are broken when their child rebels; so God’s heart has been broken by the horror of man’s sin.

(6) The Son of God must humble Himself, “empty” Himself (Phil. 2:5-8), “pour out His soul unto death” (Isa. 53:12), “taste death [the second] for every man” (Heb. 2:9), know the full horror of hell—“My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?” is the deep-hearted cry of dereliction He wails in Matthew 27:46; Psalm 22:1. Such love is terribly expensive for God!

(7) We don’t understand the cross unless we see that Christ went to “hell” for us (Acts 2:27, KJV; Gal. 3:13). This revelation of the “breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of love (agape, Eph. 3:17, 18) brings conversion to an honest heart that chooses to be “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20).

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Friday, October 06, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Did the early apostles expect the second coming of Christ in their lifetime, as we expect it today? If the answer is “Yes,” then how can we be sure that our “blessed hope” in His soon return is not another 2000 years too early, as was theirs?

Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians gives the impression that he expected Christ’s return in his lifetime. And that’s what the people got from it. But Paul immediately writes back to straighten them out. No, he says, he didn’t mean that; they misunderstood him (Paul did not apologize for misleading them!). He made himself clear in his Second Letter: “We beseech you, ... that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” (2 Thess. 2:1). Thank God we have his reply to them, so it can straighten us out, too.

Paul goes on to tell them that Christ cannot return until the prophecies of Daniel have been fulfilled in history when “that man of sin” (Daniel’s little horn) has done his evil work. He reminds them that when he was with them he had taught them about that “man of sin.” This does not mean that Paul had a clear understanding of all of Daniel’s prophecies; but he knew enough to know that the great controversy between Christ and Satan must run its course, or the end could not come. A far-off mountain on a very clear day looks close.

The second coming of Christ is the only hope the world has ever had. Only then can the dead be resurrected to eternal life. Naturally, God’s people through the ages have always cherished this “blessed hope.” But now we know that the prophecies about the 1260, and the 2300, years, and many details, have been fulfilled. The signs of Christ’s soon return have almost been fulfilled. Thus we know that His return is “even at the doors” (Matt. 24:33, 34). “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Yes, but not for our sakes alone—many are suffering.

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Thursday, October 05, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

What does it mean “to think soberly”? The Holy Spirit, “through the grace” of God, moved the apostle of the Lord to urge all of us (“everyone who is among you”) to think that way (Rom. 12:3).

Thinking that way is the essence of life on this great Day of Atonement in world history—just before the final judgment and the second coming of Jesus. Selfish fun and comedy are inappropriate now in this special “time of the end” (Dan. 12:4). That means that “everyone” whose heart is moved by that “grace” will find that worldly pleasures and comedy do not satisfy the deep yearnings that the Holy Spirit has placed in our hearts just now.

“Atonement” means in very simple words, “at-one-with,” or reconciliation of heart with God; and we can know God only through knowing Christ, for He alone can reveal God to us so we can understand the Father.

That means that one interest is henceforth paramount with us: the “Christ and Him crucified” idea that possessed Paul when he came from Athens to Corinth (1 Cor. 2:1, 2). We find ourselves in sympathy with Christ; on Friday morning in Pilate’s judgment court, we are not warming ourselves around the fire with Peter and the youth who are cracking jokes about that unworldly Man on trial, Peter aching within his heart but outwardly smiling at their fun in order to appear to be with the “crowd.” It’s painful to be “sober” when everyone around you is full of mirth. Watching TV comedy is considered fun recreation and the raucous laughter that prevails is considered innocent; but “the everyone who is among you” that Paul speaks of is very uncomfortable there, for he cannot get out of his mind the reality of that “Christ and Him crucified.”

The “great controversy between Christ and Satan” is raging right here; it’s being fought in the heart of that same “everyone who is among you.”

But Jesus hasn’t forgotten his Peter warming himself by the fun-loving-people’s fire; the Savior watches His tempted disciple with tears in His eyes of divine love. And “God has dealt to each one [of us] a measure of [genuine] faith,” adds Paul, so we can think seriously, “soberly,” in a world of pleasure seeking. It’s a gift of that much more abounding grace of God. We repent in behalf of those who do not know about this Day of Atonement. Let’s not be ashamed to “think soberly” in their presence.

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

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Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Psalm 103 is our beloved “Day of Atonement” song of reconciliation with the Lord. It begins and ends with “Bless the Lord, ... O my soul.” And the word “bless” obviously means “to make happy.” So the psalm tells us how to make the Lord Himself to be happy. Does He need any help?

That’s a nice life-work for any of us!

The way to make Him happy is to be happy ourselves “in Christ” in these last days of the Savior’s ministry as our great High Priest. The psalm’s high point is: (1) He “forgives all your iniquities,” and parallel to that, (2) He “heals all your diseases” (vs. 3). We must walk softly here, for there are diseased people whose sins have all been forgiven, and sometimes they even die; but wait a moment: are we really sure that all of our unknown sins have been forgiven in the true sense of the word, that is, taken away—not just pardoned?

That “blotting out of sins” is distinct from the pardoning of sins. This is the special work of Daniel’s “cleansing of the sanctuary” (8:14). This work cannot be accomplished in heaven until first of all the sins have been forgiven, blotted out, in and from the hearts of those who “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Rev. 14:4, 5). They are that special group known as the 144,000. (Don’t be scared that there won’t be “room” for you; the “room” depends on the breadth and length and depth and height of your faith, which is a heart appreciation of the love [agape] of Christ, Eph. 3:17-19.)

Part of the happiness the Lord wants us to know is that our “mouth [be] satisfied with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:5). Is such dietary pleasure health-inducing? It says so. It’s e-educating our taste to be “reconciled” (there’s “atonement” again!) to enjoy the foods that God has created to be “received with thanksgiving” (1 Tim. 4:4). Day of atonement living includes that re-educating our diet. To list all those delicious foods is impossible. How can you doubt there is a loving Creator who created them all in six days when you consider alone the annual progression of fruits through the year, from the earliest strawberries in spring, through summer peaches, then pears, to those delicious persimmons in late autumn! Just a tiny example of the Lord’s goodness. Yes, “bless the Lord, O my soul”! He heals diseases, and enjoying foods He has created is one way.

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

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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Conservative Christians for hundreds of years have discussed (even argued) the relationship between faith and works. Their favorite word used to describe it is “balance.” The popular idea is that one must hold faith and works in “balance.” If you talk about faith for ten minutes then you must also talk about works for ten minutes. However, a check of the concordance reveals that nowhere in the Bible is the word “balance” used to describe this relationship. In inspired writings, there is practically nothing to suggest the use of that word as being appropriate. Scripture and inspired writings are clear “beyond question” that salvation is totally by grace through faith, and Paul even goes out of his way to add, “Not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9). The “balance” idea strongly suggests that salvation is by faith and by works, a 50/50 deal. Which if true, would certainly give the saved ones something to boast about: “yes, Jesus saved me, but look, I did my part too!”

One popular little book is entitled Faith And Works, the title having been added by editors long after the author’s death. Yet inside the covers, the original author repeatedly speaks of the correct formula as being “faith which works.”

Yes, the Bible is true; there is only one Savior, Jesus; none of us is a co-savior. It’s not a 50/50 salvation trip; it’s 100% salvation by Christ, received by faith. But the faith is not the “dead faith” that the apostle James decries (James 2:20). A “dead faith” can produce nothing except self-righteousness (which doesn’t have a very nice fragrance!). A living faith works; it has to work; it will work; it always works. The “works” is a verb and not a noun.

What is faith? How does the Bible define it? It is not a synonym for works! The devil hates the idea of salvation by faith alone, by faith which works. If in any way he can inject into our thinking the idea that faith is itself works, then he has us deceived. John 3:16 has it: “God loved,” “God gave,” and we “believe” (the same in Greek as have faith). Faith is a human heart response to God’s loving and giving. “With the heart one believes to righteousness” (Rom. 10:10). “Beware,.... lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief” (Heb. 3:12).

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

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Friday, September 29, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The widespread or popular view is, “Christ could not have died the world’s second death, because He was resurrected! He lived again! Anyone who dies the second death is experiencing ‘Goodbye, life, forever!’” But this is a tragic misconception.

This popular view is in what Paul referred to when he said, “I do not frustrate the grace of God!” (Gal. 2:21). It’s a frustration of the truth of the cross of Christ, leaving it to be a meaningless icon on a church roof or worn as jewelry around the neck.

The “love of Christ” which “constraineth us” to selfless living for His glory is deprived of its power, for if He did not die our second death, then His death was only the sweet oblivion that our universal death is—a “sleep” (cf. John 11:11-13). Both of the thieves crucified with Him died that sweet death; they couldn’t wait to bite down hard on that sponge of narcotic given to all crucified victims (by the mercies of the Jerusalem Ladies Aid Society), so they could just pass out. No, that was not the “death” that the Son of God died. He refused to take that narcotic! He must “be made to be sin for us,” and feel our guilt to the uttermost.

It’s true that Christ’s Enemy in the great controversy has changed the holy Sabbath day, but his supreme achievement has been to rob the sacrifice of Christ of its significance, and thus cast contempt upon His love revealed at the cross. Covering up this truth reduces it to the dimension of our egocentric human affection which we call “love.” The result: his magnificent accomplishment after all the millennia of human history—the paralyzing lukewarmness of spirit that pervades Christ’s last days’ church (Rev. 3:14-16; 12:17). A true appreciation of what Christ accomplished at His cross would cure this last and greatest problem.

We can’t understand the cross unless we grasp what Paul says in Galatians 3:13: “Christ was made a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’),” referring to what Moses said, “He who is hanged [on a tree] is accursed of God” (Deut. 21:22, 23). That’s the horror in the darkest hell that Jesus gave Himself to (Acts 2:27). Christ is the only man ever who died that death—what yours and mine would have to be, but for Him dying it. Let the truth sink in; then you’ll be “constrained,” too (2 Cor. 5:14, 15).

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

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Pure down-to-earth happiness, what everybody wants but few find, is the theme of the psalms. Number 103 can be read as the secret not only of personal happiness, but of health and healing too:

“Bless the Lord, O my soul.” There’s only this one word in Hebrew for “bless,” transliterated as barak (in Kiswahili we still have “baraka,” the common word for happy blessings from the Lord; it came to us through the Arabic, thence the Hebrew).

“Don’t forget all His benefits,” is next. Our old hymn tries to say it, “Count your many blessings!” When everything has seemed to go wrong, and even death stares you in the face, can’t you “count” as one blessing the truth that the Son of God has died your second death? It can’t be wrong to revel in that, even if you’re drawing your last mortal breath! There’s life and healing in that reveling.

“Who forgives all your iniquities.” You can spend all day thinking of that “baraka.” (No day is long enough.)

“Who heals all your diseases.” Maybe we should recognize that there is a deeper truth therein—“who [continually tries to] heal” them, but is hindered by our continual state of unbelief. “To bless Him” instead of continually wailing, “Bless me, O Lord!” is a health-giving exercise “of my soul.” It’s a grand paradigm shift in thinking, a new departure in faith that is consistent with the new and deeper truths inherent in the “cleansing of the sanctuary.” They pervade living in this grand Day of Atonement. It’s a distinctly fresh thought in the popular “relationship” idea: a bride stands in a different “relationship” to the Bridegroom than does the flower girl at the wedding; such feeling for Christ (as He is suffering today) is healing to a soul sick with egocentricity.

“Who redeems your life from destruction.” You don’t pray your thanks to the angel who saved you from that car crash, but you thank the Lord for sending him.

“Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies ...” No more words can help your healing if you simply believe that!

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

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Thursday, September 28, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Someone asks a pivotal question: what does the Bible mean when it says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” in Philippians 2:12?

It sounds like the direct opposite of John 3:16, “ ... that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish ...” Is it the old “works salvation” again?

But a closer look shows that it doesn’t contradict what Jesus said.

The exact Greek word used is KATERGAZESTHE which means literally “carry out to the goal.” In his context, it is clear that Paul is not denying that our salvation is by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8, 9); he doesn’t shoot himself in the foot by teaching opposites. The idea he’s getting across is not to “work FOR your own salvation” but let your salvation that God has already given you in Christ WORK ITSELF OUT through you. Don’t dam up the flowing stream (remember, Jesus says that if we truly believe in Him there will be a well of living water in us flowing all the time to refresh others, John 7:37-39, which He had quoted from Song of Solomon 4:15); now let it flow is the simple idea.

The “fear” Paul mentions is not Taliban terror; the idea is loving reverence, and serious living. What motivates us is not terror, but “the love (agape) of Christ constraineth us” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). The true gospel motivates us to be in dead earnest, and it melts proud, brittle human hearts.

The “trembling” is not what you would do if you were facing a firing squad; it’s trembling with happy excitement, like chills running up and down your back when you are thrilled about something superlatively delightful.

Then read on to verse 13 and it becomes crystal clear: all this is God working in you “both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (the fun He knows in saving us)—not you doing it! It’s simply love (agape) busy at work (2 Cor. 5:14, 15; Gal. 5:6).

And this apparently severe “works righteousness” text in Philippians is like a nut you thought was hard to crack but which has a sweet kernel inside.

And while your attention is focused on Philippians, read again the context of those seven steps that Jesus took in stepping down ever lower to save you from the second death He died in your place (vss. 5-13). And then sing for joy.

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

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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

There’s a “we,” “us,” and “our” in Ephesians 1 that has been “blessed ... with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” who are “predestinated ... to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, ... to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made [them] accepted in the Beloved” (vss. 3-6). Who are those people in these first person plural pronouns?

Only one possible answer: the entire human race. We can’t inject Calvinist double predestination into God’s word! Christ is “the Savior of the world” (John 4:42; 1 Tim. 4:10).

But how can you know you personally are “adopted”? You individually have a first-class personal validation of this “adoption” in the longing sigh of your lonely heart that cries out, “Abba, Father!” (see Rom. 8:15).

But you also have another personal validation of this “adoption”: the same text hints at it—“we suffer with Him” means that “we may also be glorified together.”

But Hebrews spells out more vividly this other personal assurance of your adoption into the family of God: “The exhortation ... speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.’ If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?” (vss. 5, 6).

Do you know disappointments, setbacks, disasters, crushing and humiliating heart-rejection? Your first thought is, “God has forsaken me!” But stay a little longer on your knees and you will sense the tie of personal kinship now being forged with Christ. He will never let Himself be “glorified” unless and until He shares the glory “together” with you, as Romans 8 said!

There’s every reason for you to be assured that you’ve been “adopted.” Now live like the son adopted, that you are; honor your Father.

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

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Our server has been down for a few days due to a “hacker uploading malicious software to the server.” The technicians worked 24 hours/day to correct the problem, and we hope you will enjoy daily morsels of fresh “bread” again. Thank you for your patience.—The “Dial Daily Bread” Staff

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In a special sense Ephesians and Romans teach that Christ the Son of God became the world’s second Adam and reversed the judicial condemnation that the fallen Adam brought upon us all.

Christ has given to “all men” a judicial verdict of acquittal, and in Himself adopted us. He is “the Savior of the world”(John 4:41), “the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe” (1 Tim. 4:10). “The free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life” (Rom. 5:18; of course, we are free to refuse the “gift” if we choose to).

Says Ephesians: “Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has ... predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:3-6).

But how can one know this personally? If you had some tangible, intimate evidence you could see, wouldn’t that make you happy?

Romans says yes, you have it: if your heart cries out “Father,” that is the evidence that you have been personally “adopted.” No human could cry “Father!” unless in a real sense he has been “born again,” or at least has begun to be born again: “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear [as is natural for all humans], but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’” (8:15, 16; remember, a baby is a live son!).

Think it through: walk softly before the Lord, look to Him for guidance, cry out in your distresses, “Father!” and confess that like a child crossing busy traffic hangs on to father’s hand, so do you to Him—you have the evidence that God has adopted you as His child. Now demonstrate your adoption by how you live!

Hold your head high!

And there’s a second way by which you can know this personally; but time’s up. Tomorrow, the Lord willing.

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

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Thursday, September 21, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The pope struggles to find words to apologize to world Muslims for remarks that actually were true. Al Qaida Muslims openly boast of modern Islamic intent to “convert” the world at the edge of the “sword.”

Horror rages anew in Darfur.

Politicians and statesmen of whatever political or national party fulfill what Jesus said, “Men’s hearts [will be] failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken” (Luke 21:26). Look at the pictures of the world’s leaders.

There is one Christian thinking that stands unique: the doctrine of “the Day of Atonement.” It calls for voluntary humbling of hearts in fasting and sympathetic prayer during this prophetic time of “distress” of nations. The “time” is the cosmic Day of heart-searching and reconciliation with God that began with the end of the 2300 year prophecy of Daniel 8. It was 1844.

“Sympathetic prayer”? Yes, in heart-union with multitudes living in terror in Darfur, or wherever fear stalks; in sympathy with the poor who want even for what we say are “the necessities”; in sympathy with the sick and in prison whom Jesus tells us not to forget; but above all, in sympathy with Jesus Himself who is forced to bear all this near-universal human pain and can neither slumber nor sleep as we can (see Psalm 121:3, 4; Isa. 63:9).

This universal Day of Atonement is the grand original of ancient Israel’s annual “tenth day of the seventh month,” their little day of atonement, the only one day of the year on which they were commanded to fast and sabbath-like cease their endless search for wealth and pleasure.

Today we are invited into close fellowship with the Savior of the world, to “sit with [Him] on [His] throne,” to share with Him executive authority in bringing to a triumphant close the great controversy between Christ and Satan (Rev. 3:21). At-oneness with Christ, reconciliation with His heart, is a privilege; it’s for all who want to be close to Him.

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

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

A young man writes: “I am a youth leader at my church. How do you suggest I present to them the ‘most precious’ truths of ‘the everlasting gospel’ (‘the third angel’s message in verity’)? Their attention spans are ever shorter. They are being attacked from every angle. Has somebody prepared Bible studies that grip their attention and hold them so they can learn the message and be truly converted?”

Some probably think they have done so, and doubtless the Lord has blessed their efforts. But very likely what they have done will be to you like King Saul’s armor was to young David when he was preparing to face the giant Goliath.

The Lord Jesus is still the Good Shepherd who is seeking those lost “sheep” of teens in your class (Luke 19:10). There are labyrinthine ways that “sheep” get lost; the Chief Shepherd is infinite in knowledge and knows how to reach those apparently unresponsive youth. But He needs someone to be His agent, and that is yourself. Thank God you have that responsibility.

You need personal tutelage from Him and He is ready to give it—not endless hours perusing biblical and commentary study; rather, hours in humble prayer. There is a way that those youth can be reached; probably nobody has printed a book or done a website that will solve your particular problem; but the Lord has a solution.

As a young man Jesus had the same specific, identical problem: how could He resurrect these “dry bones” of the people, the youth, of His day? The Father would wake Him in the morning to teach Him, that He “should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned” (Isa. 50:4). Only thus could Jesus have known each day what to say!

We are not saved by works; but listening to the Lord does require time and what is even more important—close attention. You are the man of Luke 11 who bangs on his neighbor’s door at midnight begging for bread—not for yourself, but for your guests, for you “have nothing to set before” them (vss. 5-9). But there’s good news in the story: he gets an answer! And so do you.

There is no pill one can take to excuse us from the exertion.

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

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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

How much does God love you, personally? Your happiness (here and forever) depends on how you believe it. None of us was born already believing; we have all had to learn how to believe; and for that we need the Good News in the Bible. Winning the lottery is not the way to learn that God loves you; everything of human happiness you’ve been given can take wings and fly away.

You may say that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” sounds too far away—2000 years ago. But the Bible reveals His on-going love for you. For example:

(1) Your Savior takes you by the arm to lead you “in the paths of righteousness.” He actually takes you by your hand and says, Come, let’s go to happiness! He loves you like a father loves a little son who is just learning to walk. Read it in Hosea 11:1, 3: “I taught Ephraim [My people] also to go, taking them by their arms. ... I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love.” No, He doesn’t force you; but He does everything possible short of it. If you don’t refuse, He will be to you the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23.

(2) Isaiah says that He actually takes you by the hand to lead you to heaven: “I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee” (41:13, 10).

(3) If you make a mistake and take a wrong path in your blindness or foolishness, He does not forsake you. He will do for you what He did for Saul of Tarsus who was hell-bent on taking the wrong path. The Lord put obstacles in his path to make the wrong way seem like kicking against the goads (see Acts 26:14). Yes, the Lord made it “hard” for Saul to be lost! Isn’t that personal love?

(4) And the Savior continually reminds you that He has made His “yoke ... easy, and [His] burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).

You believe it, or you dis-believe it; but if you are having trouble believing it, He “helps [your] unbelief” if you will let Him (Mark 9:24). In fact, ask Him to; you can never perish if you pray that prayer.

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

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Sunday, September 17, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Have you ever been crushed, broken in heart, humiliated? Felt that Heaven was closed against you, your prayers were unanswered? You’ve been stoned (like Stephen in Acts 7, that is!)? You were persona non grata at the throne of God? (Maybe only a few will care about this DDB). The most difficult place to endure ostracism is in the church that you love, because church fellowship sensitizes the most delicate and painful of human emotions.

There are several Bible characters who can serve as Encouragers of such who suffer:

(1) Joseph, sold as a slave by his own brethren, opposed ten to one, discarded like a piece of junk, wept broken-hearted at his prospects. But behold his magnanimity toward his “brethren” and his forgiveness of them (Gen. 45:1-8).

(2) David, hunted like a wild beast by the “anointed” king of Israel, Saul. When “the anointed of the Lord” wants to finish you off, you have reason to feel tempted to think God has forsaken you. How could God be with you when His chosen, “anointed king” is against you? Some when they have this sad experience give up in despair and commit a kind of spiritual suicide, which they must not do. They should give serious study to the psalms of David written when he was so bitterly persecuted by king Saul (there are many!). God saw fit to preserve these psalms, knowing that some people throughout history would have a similar experience to David. For example, read Psalm 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, etc. On and on! And then we have the psalms of David written when he was plagued with the results of his own sin (suffering even more difficult to endure!), such as 3 (when he fled from his own son Absalom), 7 (when Cush the Benjamite cursed him as he fled), 32 and 51, his penitential psalms, etc. With only one exception (Psalm 88), in his psalms of discouragement, David always ends up with his choice to “come boldly unto the throne of grace” and trust the Lord to care for him. All the psalms that begin in the minor key end up in the major key; only #88 is in the minor key throughout.

(3) Then there is Number Three: Jesus. Never was anyone more humiliated, heart-broken, insulted, condemned, as He was—by His own people. Taking our place, suffering all that we are called upon to endure, He cried out (as we often do!), “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” If your soul is tempted and you feel driven to discouragement, “consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind” (see Heb. 12:3). And don’t forget, do as He did: pray for your tormentors!

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

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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

God’s love for a lost, despairing world is seen in the message of three mighty angels who “fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach ... to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people,” telling [1] that “the hour of His judgment has come,” [2] that “‘Babylon’ is fallen,” that is, apostate, fallen Christianity that should lighten the earth with truth but instead has embraced self-worshipping paganism in its heart, and [3] don’t “worship the beast and his image, [or] receive his mark” (Rev. 14:6-12).

The first message arose on time just after the end of the 1260 years that came in 1798, was given a first public presentation in 1831; a tragic rejection by the entrenched Protestant hierarchies made the “fall of Babylon” message relevant by 1844, and the identification of “the mark of the beast” has been proclaimed ever since.

But note: these three great angels can fly only “in the midst of heaven,” like a helicopter flying over the treetops; better than travel by oxcart, yes, but severely limited in their effectiveness. They use all the marvelous “increase of knowledge” provided by modern technology, satellite preaching, for example; but straining their resources to the limit, they could preach on for hundreds of years more, frustrated in their best efforts unless “another angel,” a fourth, comes “down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth [is] lightened with his glory, and he [cries] mightily with a loud voice ...” (18:1-4).

The most poignant drama of 6000 years is seen in modern “Israel’s” disdaining that “most precious message” when its “beginning” came in the closing decades of the 19th century. Consequent on that tragic unbelief has been the loosening of the grip of those “four angels” of chapter 7 who had been commissioned to “hold the four winds of the earth” until the sealing angels “have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads” (vss. 1-3). In simple language, the Savior of the world has thereby been frustrated in His purpose to bring to a triumphant close His “great controversy” with Satan.

The next item on the agenda: repentance for God’s own people.

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

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