Dial Daily Bread: An Opportunity "Neglected"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

If you neglect to renew your magazine subscription, does anyone bother to remind you? Yes, you are plagued by reminders! It gets to where you simply resolve your "neglect" into what is a final choice NOT to re-subscribe. Then months later finally the publishers leave you alone.

Does the Savior love us less than those publishers who want us to re-subscribe? Hebrews asks a sober question: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him" (2:3). In other words, if we "neglect" to respond to all that the Savior has done for us, we will be lost.

You can be sure that He sends you Reminders, even more than TIME magazine reminds you to re-subscribe. They don't want to lose you; a million times more, your personal, infinitely divine Savior who endured your personal hell, doesn't want to lose you! He paid that infinite price to redeem your soul in eternal life. Will He let you be lost simply because you have been so busy doing your Christian duty to support your family working from dawn to dark that you have "neglected" the Bible study and prayer you need?

This may seem like too simple an illustration, but it's thoroughly biblical: the Savior keeps knocking at your door (Rev. 3:20), more often than TIME sends you renewal notices. When you indulge in mindless TV entertainment, the Holy Spirit pricks your conscience, reminding you of an opportunity "neglected." He will tell you over and over again that you DO have time for Heaven. If you're not very careful, it will become what that original word translated "neglect" really means: "to despise, make light of." You can see this if you compare that same word as Jesus used in Matthew 22:5 (maleo): He describes "them that were bidden" to His banquet as those who "made light of it." That's the original word for "neglect."

In God's language, the problem is more than an honest, understandable, excusable oversight; it's a day by day constant despising of that insistent "knocking." He is pleading with you to "re-subscribe." You DO hear it; you DO have time; you choose over and over to push the Holy Spirit aside. O may the Lord open our eyes to Reality as it is in these last days!

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dial Daily Bread: The Stupor of Unbelief

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Seven times that haunting phrase is repeated in the awe-inspiring Book of Revelation: "He that overcometh ... " The idea is one of combat, hand-to-hand wrestling like Jacob's struggle with the Angel (Gen. 32:24, 25), like swimming upstream against a strong current, climbing a mountain, defeating a tenacious foe.

Does that idea of "overcoming" frighten you? You don't have the stick-to-it-iveness, perseverance, basic "strength," to win the battle? Like weary refugees on foot who can't summon the energy to take another step, who drop down and die, the temptation to give up the struggle to "overcome" causes some to drop out of the Christian "race." They give in to their long-established habits of alcoholism, or drug use, or pornography, or ... whatever. Apathy is the last of the vices that we are invited to "overcome" in the famous "seven" struggles of Revelation: "Because thou art lukewarm, ... I counsel thee, ... Be zealous, ... repent. ... To him that overcometh ... " (3:14-21).

Lukewarm apathy is spiritual weariness, loss of hope, boredom. It is the fundamental characteristic of Christ's true church in the last segment of time. The will seems paralyzed; it's the almost irresistible drowsiness that induces sleep at the very Gethsemane-time when the Master says, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation" (Matt. 26:41). Have you ever fought to stay awake when every cell of your being cries out for sleep? We have come to that time in world history, right now! Spiritual sleep was "Christian's" problem when he was trying to traverse "the enchanted land." He saw "pilgrims" snoring away by the side of the path that leads to eternal life, overcome by a stupor like nerve gas; it took every ounce of his spiritual energy to stay awake until he got out of the devil's enchantment. But he did get out, and you and I can "overcome."

A wise writer said, "Those who decline the struggle lose the strength and joy of victory" (Ministry of Healing, p. 487). Here is the "how" of overcoming: look again at that last of the seven promises to the "overcomer." "To him that overcometh ... EVEN AS I OVERCAME," says Jesus. Immerse yourself in the story of Jesus' overcoming, His battle, His victory. Ponder His struggle in the wilderness of temptation (Matt. 4:1-11), His Gethsemane blood-sweating ordeal (Matt. 26:39), the unspeakable battle with self as He hung on His cross (Psalm 22). Let His experience be your icon to look at, rather than the endless photos of politicians and entertainers on TV.

Yes, the battle is intense, but the means of victory is simple--"look." You can overcome the stupor of unbelief.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dial Daily Bread: Why Do Good People Have to Suffer?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Why do some people have an easy time through life, and others have sorrow and pain? Or, to ask the question in a more pointed way, Why do good people have to suffer?

Probably someone who is reading this knows what suffering is, and asks, "Why me, Lord?" One saint, who died in her 90's, told me several times as I visited her in her helpless condition, "I wish the Lord would just let me die! I am tired of suffering!" I prayed with her, told her several times, "You are important! Your task is to believe in the Lord's goodness, to appreciate His love in saving your soul, to nurture your faith in Him, yes, to believe!"

But her "task" was more difficult for her in her old age and weakness than your various burdens may be to you, today. I told her that every day she lives is a privilege to be a student in the school of Christ, to learn of Him. Every day the Lord gives us is important. Christ suffered! Are we to disdain fellowship with Him in His sufferings? Our sister was faithful in her life, the last charter member in her local church. But she knew disappointments and unanswered prayers for children as well as physical pain.

Solomon says something that doesn't sound fair: "All the days of the afflicted are evil; but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast" (Prov. 15:15). Yes, we see some people who never know what it is to shed a tear--all they ever know is joy and gladness. Others are men and women of sorrows who are acquainted with grief. But before you say a word to condemn them, remember that Jesus Himself was "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Isa. 53:3). Someone wisely said, "Of all the gifts that Heaven can bestow upon men, fellowship with Christ in His sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor."

Enjoy your "feast" today; but if you know some tears, some loneliness, some perplexities, remember Jesus. Remember John the Baptist alone in his dungeon cell; remember Paul in his Mamertine prison in Rome, and others; Heaven's TV cameras are focused on you--let them record your continued faith in the One who died your second death.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dial Daily Bread: Let's Understand the New Covenant

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Too busy to pray and study the Bible? Driven by work, by duty, family to support, classes to attend and study for, fall into bed exhausted each night--then you suddenly remember, "I've neglected God! Haven't prayed for ... (you fill in the blanks--days, weeks, whatever); in fact, I haven't seen my Bible for ... (you fill in the blanks); I can't even find it, where did I leave it? I just don't have time to keep up my devotional life."

And then some preacher comes along and puts another burden on you, "If you want to be saved, you must (1) pray, (2) study, (3) witness ... You MUST!" And so you try. But prayer seems empty, Bible study a bore, and witnessing--forget it; what can YOU witness to anyone! Like Joseph and Mary who forgot Jesus and left the little Boy in Jerusalem while busy--like they started home (Luke 2:43-45), it'll take you now "many days to find Him again," says even your favorite author. Maybe it's too late now to find Him. God and His people have moved on and you are way behind. Can you ever catch up?

Right now is a critical time for you. You've come to a crisis: are you going to re-establish an Old Covenant way of thinking and resolve to work harder at your devotional life? If so, it'll be successful--yes, for a few days or weeks at least. Camp meeting, seminars, woke you up. "Never again will I neglect (1) prayer, (2) Bible study, (3) witnessing ... until well, I hope I don't get 'busy' again."

Let's understand the New Covenant: overwhelmed by your frustration and sense of failure, BELIEVE: (1) The Savior has not forgotten you; (2) He is seeking you, not waiting for you to seek Him; (3) believe His promise He made to your "father," Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3; Rom. 4:16; he got busy, too!); (4) the Father is doing the same thing to you that He did to Jesus--knocking on your door "morning by morning, wakening [your] ear to hear as the learned" (Isa. 50:4). He actually loves you; now don't be "rebellious" (see vs. 5).

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dial Daily Bread: Two Kinds of "Latter Rain"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

In Bible imagery, rain is usually a blessing. There is "the latter rain" which comes at just the right time to ripen a thirsty crop for harvest. But think of a farmer worried about his crop in Israel long ago. Early rain was a blessing that made the seed sprout. The barley matured to a certain place in plant growth that seemed to promise a rich harvest this year; but now the growth is stunted. Drought came at just the wrong time. An enormous crop that never matures for harvest is an agricultural disaster. The farmer doesn't have modern irrigation; he is dependent on rain from heaven.

You can imagine the distress in the family, the earnest prayers going up day by day for the Lord to send the long-awaited "latter rain." It must come from Him!

In the Bible, this describes the condition of the Lord's church in the last days. The enormity in the size of acreage that the farmer has planted in barley is not good news unless the crop gets that most precious latter rain at the right time. Diligent labor is effort wasted if it doesn't result in a harvest of mature grain ripe for the sickle.

Jesus teaches that "the harvest is the end of the world" (Matt. 13:39). But there are two harvests--character develops in two kinds of people: those ready to meet the Lord at His return; and those whose rebellion against Him has also matured (Rev. 14:16-20). A "sickle" is used in both harvests, one by Jesus coming in glory, the other by some other "angel" whose "sharp sickle" reaps a harvest cast into the "great winepress of the wrath of God." There must be two kinds of "latter rain." Time to be alert. No time to sleep!

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dial Daily Bread: A Serious Question--Why Didn't Jesus Sin?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Why didn't Jesus sin? The usual answer is that He couldn't--impossible. But that's not true. We read that He "was in all points tempted like as we are" (Heb. 4:15), and temptation is not temptation unless there is the possibility of falling. Another answer is often given, Jesus didn't sin because He simply chose not to sin. And that's true; but why did He choose not to sin? Everybody else born into this world has chosen to sin.

The question is a serious one. We need to know the answer. And that takes us to 1 Corinthians 13, about "love." But it's not about what we flippantly speak of as "love." The word is agape. We read in 1 John 4:8 that "God is agape." And what is agape? Verse 9 tells us it is the motivation that led the Father to give His only begotten Son to die for us "that we might live through Him." It is a special kind of love that is willing to die the second death so that we might live eternal life. It is a love that is willing to go to hell so that we might go to heaven. It is a love that chooses to die on a cross rather than indulge self.

If "God is agape," and if Jesus is the Son of God, then in His incarnation Jesus is agape in human flesh. Charles Wesley's hymn is true--Jesus "emptied Himself of all but love" when He came to earth. All the prerogatives of divinity He laid aside, but He could not empty Himself of agape. And that's why He chose not to sin--He chose a cross instead.

There is some Good News here for us today: unless we choose to resist the grace of God, the Holy Spirit will "shed abroad in our hearts" that same agape (Rom. 5:5). No one is ever born with agape, except Jesus; our human hearts are empty of it. But it can be installed! And thus by faith we can become partakers of the nature of God. Faith is what appreciates the length, breadth, depth, and height of agape (Eph. 3:18, 19). Do you want it? OK, receive it!

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
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Dial Daily Bread: A Tension in Salvation

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The strings of a grand piano are always strung tight with tension; they have to be, or there is no music. There is a tension in salvation: on the one hand there are Bible assurances of salvation, and on the other hand there are dire warnings about the tragedy of ultimately being lost. That tragedy would be ultimate; to lose eternal life--it's unimaginable. But Jesus plainly tells us that "many" who have thought they were His followers will say to Him in the final day as they stand before the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11, 12), "Lord! Lord! Haven't we done everything just right, cast out devils in Your name, done many wonderful works, etc. etc." and He will be forced to say to them, sadly, "I never knew you" (Matt. 7:21-23).

One thoughtful writer has said that the "many" will include "the great proportion" of those who now appear to be genuine. It's scary. And yet the tension is there: God wants us to stop worrying about our eternal salvation. Jesus says, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give YOU the kingdom!" (Luke 12:32). Paul says that He "wants all men to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:3, 4). Why will anyone, then, be lost if it is not His will that they should be? Calvinism says nobody CAN be lost if it is God's will that he/she be saved; but the Bible makes clear that by unbelief man/woman can "frustrate the grace of God."

A good answer to the tension is found in the story of Esau, the elder brother of Jacob. As the elder (if only by a few minutes!) the birthright was his; it could not be taken from him. But stupid-like, he "sold" it in a moment of sensual gratification, and never got it back "though he sought it carefully with tears." (Paul likens his gratification of appetite to committing fornication, and many do willingly "sell" their birthright to heaven for such a momentary thrill (see Heb. 12:15-17). When Esau was hungry he smelled the stew that Jacob was cooking and made the solemn, oath-bound choice to "despise" his birthright for it. And now Esau is the grand prototype of all the lost who will stand before the Great White Throne.

What will hurt them the worst will not be the extent of the Fahrenheit temperature of the "fire," but the painful, burning conviction in every cell of their being that the birthright to eternal life in the kingdom of God was GIVEN to them, they had it, but they threw it away for "the pleasures of sin for a season" (11:25). It's not God's arbitrary choice to shut them out; it's by their own unfitness for Heaven's companionship.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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Dial Daily Bread: Spiritually Lost

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Just as one can get lost at sea and not know where he is or where to get help, so one can get lost spiritually. You can even forget the Bible verses you learned in Sunday or Sabbath School; you can forget how to pray; you can't even read the Bible. You are l-o-s-t.

You begin to think of your friends and you envy them because they can still pray. You are bobbing alone in a wide spiritual ocean; despair begins to set in.

Sometimes an evil spirit can take possession of someone in despair, causing him/her to do or say things that are horrible; can't help himself/herself, has lost control.

Jesus came face to face with a man who had been through the process and was "possessed with devils, ... exceeding fierce." He couldn't say anything intelligent or meaningful, but deep in his heart he longed to be saved. He said the stupidest thing: "What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of most high God?" Just the opposite of what he had wanted to say! But he had said the word--"Jesus," with a sincere desire for help. But he couldn't even bring himself to ask; the possessor-devils controlled his words (Christ's disciples assumed that he was totally hopeless, just as many today think anyone "lost" is beyond help). But Jesus quickly realized the man, though desperate, wanted to be saved. Mark records that He cast out the demons, and set the man free.

The truth is that Jesus put Himself in this man's way--which means, He took the initiative. He made His appearance so the lost man could make a response. So, He always takes the initiative somehow to help the person who is lost as at sea and has wasted all his/her opportunities. In some way Jesus crosses his/her path; make the choice to cry out even if you can't frame the words. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found," says Isaiah. (The word "seek" in the Hebrew means "inquire after." The Lord doesn't play hide and seek with you.) "Call upon Him while He is near." He will respond and give you grace to "forsake" your evil "way," and you can "return unto the Lord" (55:6, 7).

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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Dial Daily Bread: Did Jesus Ever Get Angry?

ear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Did Jesus have a temper? Ever get angry? Can we honestly say that He ever was violent, even a little bit--righteously so, without sin? (We know the Bible is clear, He never sinned; He was always in control.) The answer may be surprising:

Early in His ministry (He was still only 30), one day He seemed to the people around Him as One possessed, so unlike Himself. It was so strange, someone could have asked Him, "What's eating You?" While they watched Him in this uncharacteristic mode, His disciples remembered that it was written (in Psalm 69:9), "The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up."

What "ate Him up"? His holy concern for the Jews' Temple, which was then the house of His Father "for all people." They were desecrating it with profane, hard hearts. It was His first Passover since beginning His ministry. As He watched the worldly, selfish, commercial bargaining in the holy House itself, the selling of the cattle and doves, He was overcome by the horror of this massive hypocrisy at the very headquarters--heart of the true church of God in all the world for that day. All the righteous indignation that will flare forth in the final Day of Judgment blazed in His human eyes (He was "Emmanuel, ... God with us"!). He "made a scourge of small cords" with which He never touched a soul physically, but brandishing it He "drove them all out of the temple" and in the process grabbed their tables, turned them upside down, scattered all their money helter-skelter all over the floor. Get out of here! "Take these things hence." Strangely, no one could argue or linger; all ran for their lives (John 2:13-21).

A display of temper? You better believe it! Divine temper, yes. You and I don't want ever to face it--either now or in the last Day. Let's walk softly.

Such holy fear is not sinfully selfish. It's common sense. How can we say we believe in Jesus unless the "zeal of [His] house hath eaten [us] up" too? His agape "constraineth us ... henceforth" to live not for self but for Him (see 2 Cor. 5:14, 15). Total oneness with Him. Anything short of that is sin to be deeply ashamed of at last.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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Dial Daily Bread: "What Must I Do to Be Saved?"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Billions cry out, "What must I do to be saved?" The Bible answer is, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ..." (Acts 16:30, 31).

You cannot tell someone who is "without strength" (Rom 5:6) to "DO something." Salvation by works is useless. What you can do is to tell someone something to "believe." Believe what? That "Christ died for the ungodly." On His cross He identifies fully with the sinner. Darkness enveloped His soul. He was terrified of the second death that He faced. He was within a millimeter of coming "unglued" (see Psalm 22:14, 15). The cable that bound Him to sanity was only a hair's breadth. But through that cable there flowed a millivolt of faith: "Why have You forsaken Me?" was His despairing cry, but He did ask the question. And He waited in the darkness for the answer. He did not curse God, which Job's wife told him to do. And don't you ever do it!

Jesus doesn't ask us to DO what He DID; He asks us to BELIEVE what HE did, that is, to appreciate it. In that total darkness of human despair, He built a bridge over our dark chasm--"the atonement." The Father did not reconcile the Son to Himself; the Son reconciled Himself to the Father. "You can forsake Me," cries Christ, "but I will not forsake You!" In the total darkness of being "made sin," suffering the ultimate hell of God-forsakenness (2 Cor. 5:21), being "made" us, bearing the total weight of our guilt, selfishness, despair, our hell, He is "poured out like water, ... [His] heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of [His] soul. [His] strength is dried up" [He is "without strength"], --in all this horror He chooses to believe a morsel of Good News: "Thou hast heard Me from the last utter extremity of being tossed on the horns of the vicious wild buffalo" (see Psalm 22:21).

That millivolt of faith triumphed: "He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; ... but when he cried unto Him, He heard" (vs. 24). He chose to believe without an iota of outward evidence. Thus "agape never faileth" (1 Cor. 13:8). Tell someone!

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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Dial Daily Bread: Jesus' Public Confession of Repentance

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Shortly before Jesus met the woman at the well at Sychar (John 4), John the Baptist had baptized Him. But that meant a prerequisite of repentance, for the only people that John could baptize were those who had repented. But Jesus never had sinned! Then how could He let Himself be baptized? To be baptized without repenting would be hypocrisy, for John's mission was only "the baptism of repentance" (Acts 19:4). John knew this. That's why He refused Him the rite.

But here's the wonder: the sinless Son of God lets Himself be lowered into the water the same as any common sinner, making a public confession of repentance. (It's childish to think the reason was He merely wanted to show us the physical method--John could do that; or make a "bank deposit" of "merit" to be transferred to some disadvantaged people like the thief on the cross.)

Jesus actually did experience repentance. He had to, or John could not have baptized Him; but it was not for His own sins, but for ours. Therefore it had to be corporate repentance. Totally sinless, He was "made to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). He identified with the human race so closely that He felt that our sins were His own. Don't you want understanding and compassion? Sure. So Jesus learned how to feel that burden for others, including the five-times divorcee at the well.

The earth must someday soon be lightened with the glory of "the third angel's message in verity," when a multitude of all nations and tongues will join Him in winning every one in the world who is willing to believe the gospel.

Rather than a few celebrities on a wide screen or through electronics, that fourth angel's ministry must be performed "largely" by humble people working on a personal heart-to-heart level. Their "training"? Seldom that of "literary institutions," but knowing Good News better than for a century and a half we have thought it is.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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Dial Daily Bread: Another Look at the Cross of Christ

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

People around the world are taking another look at the cross of Christ. The old hymn says that His cross "towers o'er the wrecks of time," but seldom has it been clearly understood. The terrible events of the Dark Ages that were done in the name of Christianity (such as the awful Crusades) could never have been done in the name of Jesus if those people had understood the cross, besides wear it around their necks. The shameful persecutions of Protestants by Catholics and those that were vice versa, could not have happened if Catholics and Protestants had understood what happened on the cross. The shameful religious strife that has brought sorrow to so many people even in the 20th century--all the result of a famine for understanding the truth.

When Jesus said that just before His second coming "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations" (Matt. 24:14), He was talking about a revelation of the truth of the sacrifice of the cross. We read in Revelation 18 that "another angel" is to "descend from heaven, having great power, and the earth [is to be] lightened with his glory" (vss. 1-4). And Revelation emphasizes 25 times that the final light that lightens the earth with glory will be the revelation of Christ as "the Lamb."

One brief but clear example of how pagan error has crept into the Christian church to becloud the glory of Christ's cross is the doctrine of natural immortality--a teaching that is extra-biblical. It hides the reality that on His cross Christ suffered the horror of the second death (but His glorious agape-love triumphed over that experience of hell). There is a "length, and breadth, and depth, and height" of that love that has a far more powerful effect on human hearts than has been seen in our pathetic history for 2000 years. For Christ to win the final "election" in His great controversy with the enemy, there must come a clear and powerful demonstration of that same love in human hearts worldwide.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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Dial Daily Bread: The Expert in Brokenness of Heart

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible specializes in ministering to some people who otherwise get little help: the broken-hearted. Jesus said of them, "Blessed [meaning, happy] are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4). Not just those mourning a bereavement, but those whose hearts are heavily burdened so they can't do what everybody tells them to do--"just smile!" Jesus wants to give them some hope--"you shall be comforted, you will be happy again!"

David's experiences transcended royal politics where constant smiling was mandatory. He spoke out of experience: "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit" (Psalm 34:18). God does not delight in our brokenness of heart, but He does pay attention to it: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (51:17). Speaking of Christ, David predicted how He would feel as "the son of David": "Reproach hath broken My heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none: and for comforters, but I found none" (69:20). Handel immortalized these words and rightly put them to be sung in the lips of Jesus in "Messiah."

Speaking prophetically of Judas Iscariot, David says that his evil purpose was to "persecute the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart" (109:16). Anyone who doesn't "have a heart" will do that, as Judas did, in one way or the other. And lastly, we have inspired Good News for all who are broken in heart, the verse that probably inspired Jesus to preach His "Blessed are they that mourn": "Praise ye the Lord ... He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds" (147:1, 3).

Let HIM do it; give Him some personal time. Don't expect drugs or medicine, or vacations, or new clothes, or TV comedies, or "fun," or even psychology to do it. Any superficial remedy only drives the wound down deeper, to poison the soul in time to come. If you don't feel like smiling, be like Nehemiah before King Artaxerxes (Neh. 1:4-2:3; if you didn't smile in the king's presence, off came your head). Be honest, as Nehemiah was. You "shall be comforted," says Jesus, the Expert in brokenness of heart.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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Dial Daily Bread: Is Job Only a Novel?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Probably the first of the 66 books of the Bible to have been written, Job is very profound. It tells the astonishing fact that the God of heaven entrusted the honor and integrity of His throne into the hands of this weak, tortured man. If in his bitter sufferings Job had followed his wife's counsel and "cursed God and died" (2:9), he would indeed and in fact have pronounced an effective "curse" on God. He would have proved to the universe that God told a lie when in that great press conference in heaven God had claimed to Satan that Job was "a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil" (vs. 3). If Job had failed the severest test, Satan would have trumpeted all over the universe that "God is a liar, He is wrong, He has been defeated. Job cursed Him, I am right and God is wrong!" And how could God have remained on His throne if He had suffered this humiliation and been proved to be a liar?

The issue was extremely serious; it was no minor squabble between God and Satan. Read the Book of Job and see what it says. Astonishing as it may seem, the success of the great plan of salvation rested in the hands of Job--this sinner being saved by grace!

Some say that Job is only a novel, that God never really so trusted any sinner being saved by grace, that the real Sufferer is not Job at all, but Christ, His own Son. But that doesn't solve the problem: the fact still remains that God entrusted the honor and integrity of His throne and of the universe to this Man being tortured in Gethsemane and on His cross. And that Man's name is Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us (Matt. 1:21-23). And Christ had taken our weak, fallen, sinful nature. The ultimate issue was whether in His weakness Christ would pray in Gethsemane, "Not My will, but Thine be done" or whether He would pray, "I choose My own way, I refuse Your will, I refuse to go to that cross, I will let the world be lost, I will save Myself at any cost!"

No, Job is not a novel; it's real. He had the power to "curse God," or to "bless the Lord" and honor and vindicate Him. It's a solemn thought that you and I face the same alternative today--our will or God's. There is something far more important than saving our own poor little skin.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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Dial Daily Bread: How Do We Get That "New Mind"?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

What we need is not new flesh, but a new mind in our old flesh. God doesn't zap the flesh and make it sinless; He does give us a new mind that triumphs over the sinful flesh. (The Bible word for "sinful nature" is "flesh.")

But someone asks, "Well, the bottom line must be: how do we get that 'new mind'"?

Not by working; not by DOING. The answer is in Philippians 2:5-8: "LET this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." The grace of God GIVES that "mind" to you; don't resist. As great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary (don't think of it as millions of light years away!) Christ works to impart that "mind" to us. The process is ministered by "grace," an appreciation of His gift to us.

The story is in those seven steps of condescension the Son of God took in coming to where we are, to save us--here's His "mind": (1) He gave up His "equality" with God; (2) "emptied Himself" like you turn a bottle upside down to drain it; (3) gave up His "reputation"; (4) was "made in the likeness of men," lower than the angels; (5) "humbled Himself," became a slave washing people's dirty feet (John 13); (6) "became obedient unto death," the only one in 6000 years to do so (a suicide is running away from reality, but this "death" that Christ was "obedient" to is the real thing--the "second death," the "curse of the law" (Gal. 3:13; Rev. 20:15); (7) He died "the death of the cross," the curse being "forsaken" by God forever. Where did Jesus have to go to find us lost sheep? There, to hell; to dying the death that sin "pays" as "wages," eternal separation from the Father, from life and light and love. You ponder, you begin to appreciate the dimensions of the agape that drove Him there. And His "mind" begins to be imparted to you. And you "overcome even as [He] overcame."

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Dial Daily Bread: Does God Have a Problem With His Church?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Does God have problems He has to solve? Are any of them difficult for Him, as problems are for us? He has one huge one--the rebellion of sin in His universe. You may say, "He is infinite, omnipotent; He can just zap His enemies and His problems are solved!"

But wait a moment: He can't do that unless He rules as a divine Autocrat, and in the process becomes "Satan" redivivus. For example, His people Israel were being cruelly enslaved in Egypt. How can He deliver them? Zap the Egyptians? No; He must go through a long, wearying process of sending ten plagues on Pharaoh; He must carry world opinion with Him. Most of all, God must make it clear to His own people Israel that He alone is their Savior, their Deliverer, or their hearts can never be truly reconciled to Him.

If they retain any sense of self-salvation, sin will still rule in their hearts. Even one percent of salvation by their own works will nullify the power of His Gospel as surely as one percent of arsenic mixed into a good dinner will spoil it.

But that lethal "one percent" (or more!) got mixed in at Mount Sinai when the people themselves wanted to invent the Old Covenant: "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (Ex. 19:8). We helped You deliver us from Egyptian slavery! Even if we didn't, we WILL do our part in this "bargain," this "deal," this transaction of Your Covenant. We'll sign on the dotted line! You can count on us, Lord!

All through Israel's long history this Old Covenant mentality predominated. After each revival and reformation it finally drove them to reject and crucify their Savior.

Now, does God have a problem with His church? The prophecies of Daniel, of Revelation, of Jesus in Matthew 24, of Paul in Acts 20 and 2 Thessalonians 2, all tell us "Yes!" The great Enemy who misled ancient Israel is still active. "Take heed that no man deceive you," says Jesus. "After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock," "there [shall] come a falling away, ... and that man of sin be revealed, ... who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God," says Paul.

And again, the issue is self-righteousness. Theologians feel they must worm in that principle of salvation by works, in some way. They just can't have a Savior doing ALL the saving! Can you?

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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

Is There Some Good News for Loneliness?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

How can you be happy when no one's with you? You can be lonely in a crowd of people in the mall; in church; in school; in the office; even in your own family; and of course when you're the only person within your four walls. Is there some Good News for loneliness? Yes:

(1) That's one of the problems that Jesus is well acquainted with. He says, "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with Me" (Isa. 63:3). "I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none" (Psalm 69:20).

(2) Not one disciple even was there to say a word of encouragement to Him in His dying hour, for "they all forsook Him and fled" (Mark 14:50).

(3) You can be sure that such a One is near to you when you are lonely, for "yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me" (Psalm 23:4). Note: that's not talking only about your death bed: it says "the shadow of death," that is, the dark lonely experiences we have even as teenagers that are the "shadow" of what will come much, much later.

(4) In your loneliness, you hunger for human companionship; that's OK, and natural. But that will ALWAYS disappoint you. Even the best husband or wife in the world cannot take the place of the "Friend that sticketh closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24). That 23rd Psalm assures you of companionship that alone is totally satisfying.

(5) Mystics talk about "practicing the presence of God," so they set a chair out for "Him" to sit in. You don't need even a whiff of idolatry! Even if Jesus were to come and sit down in your guest chair, He wouldn't be as close to you as He is in fact through your faith. A Friend closer even than someone who has his/her arms around you, for the promise is that "He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14:17).

Check it out; get on your knees and talk to Him; you'll know how close He is, because He will for certain respond to you, and always with some kind of message of hope. But don't hoard Him to yourself; somehow, share Him with someone else who is lonely.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Someone raises a question: "If 'the marriage of the Lamb' has been delayed because 'His wife has [not] made herself ready' (Rev. 19:7), what can we do about that? If 'the Lamb's wife' is the New Jerusalem, the Holy City in heaven [21:9, 10ff.], how can we make it 'ready'"? It's beyond us; forget it, go back to sleep.

When the angel told John, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife," he gave him a panoramic view of the city. It had "a great and high wall with twelve gates, ... twelve foundations, ... the city was pure gold, ... the twelve gates were twelve pearls, ... the street of the city was pure gold" (21:9-21). Even for angel architects and heavenly construction workers, "making" such a "city" "ready" could be a big job. Paving Main Street with gold, for example, must take time. Is that what has delayed the coming of Christ? If so, go back to sleep.

The "city" is real, very real; and its material construction has probably been completed long, long ago. But what is the real "city"? Why is it called the "NEW Jerusalem"? The "Jerusalem" that crucified Jesus was the old one. When He addressed the old "city," sobbing like His heart would break, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! ... Your house is left to you desolate" (Matt. 23:37, 38), was He speaking to the cobblestones in the pavement, the timber in the gates, or was He addressing the people, inhabitants of the city?

The inhabitants of the New Jerusalem are described in Revelation 14:1-5 as "the ones who follow [not rebel against] the Lamb wherever He goes. ... They are without fault before the throne of God." These same "ones" have "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (7:14). This is character-cleansing--accomplished by grace through the faith of Jesus.

When He died on His cross and cried out, "It is finished!" Satan was forever defeated, the great controversy won. But after 2000 years Jesus must also say that His seventh of the seven churches is "THE one" of all history that doesn't know it is "wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" (3:17). Yes, she has something to do to "make herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb." We must wake up.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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

Dial Daily Bread: A New Motivation

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Samson (the strong man!) was called by God to be a witness for Christ in the "great controversy between Christ and Satan." Question: Was his life a success or a failure? To be honest you must answer, "both." As to saving his own little soul, it was a success at the end, for he got himself into Hebrews 11 as someone who triumphed "by faith" (vs. 32; he "died with the Philistines," having had time to repent of his folly; Judges 16). Yes, his own little soul was saved. But as a witness for Christ, his shameful playboy life was a failure.

How about King David? As a witness for Christ in the great controversy with Satan, was he positive or negative? His affair with the lady Bathsheba put him squarely on Satan's side in that he gave testimony to the world that faith in Christ does not save FROM sin, only IN sin. God had to tell him frankly, "By this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme" (2 Sam. 12:14). Yes, David repented, and his own poor little soul was saved after his repentance described in Psalms 32 and 51; but multitudes have "blasphemed Christ" through the ages because of the false witness he bore as "a man after God's own heart." He virtually proclaimed that Christ is not a Savior capable of saving one FROM the sin of lust (think of the multitudes today dying of AIDS who are professed Christians). Many have the idea that the best you can do is to give in to this powerful and alluring temptation and then later weep and grovel and repent. You can have both, the sin and salvation too, is the idea.

How about Joseph in Egypt in Potiphar's house? Thank God for ONE story in the Bible of victory over alluring sexual temptation! What held Joseph in that awful trial of his faith? The answer: he saw himself as a witness FOR Christ in the "great controversy with Satan." "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" (Gen. 39:9). He was not concerned about saving his own soul! He was thinking of the honor and glory of Christ.

How about us today? On this Day of Atonement the Holy Spirit is preparing a people worldwide who will "follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth," and honor HIM. A new motivation has taken over their service for Christ. Read 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15 to find it.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Just when your weary, fearful heart is longing for some refreshing good news, then you bump into the most terrifying, blood-curdling news in the entire Bible: the third angel's message (Rev 14:9-11). Or so it seems on the surface. Utterly new in world history, it's "the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation," that is, not a shred of mercy mixed in with it. (Always, the wrath of God has been mixed with mercy--a little hope or kindness included.) Why this unprecedented horror?

Seriously, what human sin will be so bad that it merits such an apparent temper tantrum on the part of God?

And why do "the holy angels" and even "the Lamb" seem apparently to enjoy watching these unfortunate mark-of-the-beast people sizzle and roast in human agony? The third angel's message says these lost souls "shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in [their] presence." Understand it as figuratively as you like, it still seems to come through as unalloyed Bad News. The worst part: our meek and lowly, precious Jesus seems to enjoy watching this horror "in [His] presence," like the principals in the Spanish Inquisition dressing up their finest to watch the heretics burn alive in "their presence" at the auto-da-fé in the city square.

And yet a favorite author tells us that "the third angel's message in verity" is the "most precious" Good News ever sounded--a clearer understanding of justification by faith--just what your fearful, weary heart hungers for. And just what the world is dying to hear!

May the Lord give us a look into the Good News that is buried in this strange message. It's there, for sure. We just need New Covenant eyes to see it.

Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.

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