Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

King Hezekiah was one of the best men who ever lived. He did everything just right. The Bible says nothing evil about him.

In his days, he led the nation to celebrate the finest Passover they had observed in centuries.

There is not the slightest whiff of evidence that he will not find a place in the Lord’s eternal kingdom, when the resurrection occurs at the second coming of Christ (“the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first,” 1 Thess. 4:16).

But when he is resurrected, he will have to learn about the history that followed him. Revelation 21:4 does not say that there will be no tears on the resurrection morning—there won’t be any tears in the earth made new.

When Hezekiah was only 49, the Lord sent him a message by the prophet Isaiah that he should “set [his] his house in order,” for the time had come in the Lord’s infinite wisdom that he should die (2 Kings 20:1).

But this time the good king rebelled against the Lord’s will, set his face against the wall to cry; he told the Lord that it’s not fair—he’s been a good king, etc. So the Lord added 15 years for him to live.

During that added space of grace, he sired a son, Manasseh, who became the worst king the nation had ever had. Hezekiah would have been wise when the Lord said, “The time has come for you to die,” if he had said, “Amen, Lord! I trust You. Thy will be done”(see the story in Isaiah 38:1-3).

The word of the Lord, even if it comes with disappointment, is always the word of love that the Lord has for us. May He give us of His much more abounding grace to believe it.

If, for that grace, He extends our life, may we use it for His glory. Then we will be happy in the resurrection morning.

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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.

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

There is absolutely nothing easier that a human being can do than to look at something. Eternal salvation requires that one thing—to LOOK. There it is, plainly taught in the Bible—”LOOK unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” (Isa. 45:22). The Hebrew word means to turn the face toward. Perhaps you have noticed how often the word BEHOLD occurs in the Bible—hundreds of times. When the poisonous snake would bite the Israelite, all he had to do was to BEHOLD the snake Moses lifted up on a pole. John says, “BEHOLD, what manner of love (agape) the Father hath bestowed upon us” (1 John 3:1). It’s as though God keeps saying to us, “See, look, watch what I’ve done!”

Christianity is a religion of look and live, behold and be saved. But is it possible that people won’t look, see, watch, or consider? Is God doing something wonderful that won’t get the world’s attention? Wouldn’t it be terrible if the Son of God is sacrificed on a cross and most people never even bother to LOOK? But let’s remember—God knows how to get the world’s attention!

(1) Paul says, “Have they [the world’s population] not heard? Yes, verily ... “ (Rom. 10:18). And John says that Christ is “the Light that lighteth every person who comes into the world” (1:9).

(2) In these last days a special message, never previously so clear, is to lighten the earth with glory, not just a candle flickering in an obscure way (Rev. 18:1-4). Revelation shows how that message will be an unveiling of Christ as the Lamb of God—the crucified Son of God, whose cross is the revelation of the agape of the Father that we are to BEHOLD. That message will arrest the attention of the world.

(3) What about those who refuse now to LOOK and live? In the final judgment all will see that cross and each individual will see the part he had in crucifying the Lord of glory. And that final looking will be torture to the lost—more awful than any physical pain of fire could be. Why not LOOK now?

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

There are times when everything has seemed to go wrong, and deep, dark disappointment overwhelms us.

The temptation is fierce—for us to think that the Lord has forsaken us.

But He has promised solemnly, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5).

The Father was forced to withdraw His beams of light from His only Son while He hung on His cross. Jesus screamed in agony, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). The Father never truly forsook His only Son dying on His cross; but He was forced to permit Jesus to feel totally forsaken, so that we should never have to feel that way!

To feel totally forsaken by the Lord is a terrible experience; and for one to believe it, would be a sin, for He has promised never to “leave us nor forsake us.” Yes, to disbelieve what the Lord has promised would be a sin which we would want to repent of immediately.

To be tempted is not itself sin; thus, it is not a sin to feel forsaken by the Lord. The sin comes when we believe Satan’s lie to disbelieve what God has promised.

What Satan wants is to break our hold on the Lord and thus to separate our souls from Him. Satan wants to drag us out into the cold dark emptiness of hell—which is eternal forsakenness by the Lord.

Jesus has saved us from that—forever. Now make your heart choice to believe that truth; pray with the distraught father in Mark 9, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief” (vs. 24). You can never perish while you cling to that desperate prayer.

Why does the Lord permit you to go through this desperate experience?

So you can from now on work side by side with Him to help other people who are so tempted. There are many! And He needs you to work with Him! The only “voice” He has is your voice; the only “hands” He has are yours.

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":

As we come nearer to the end, a change comes in the “Christian experience” of God’s people. Their deepest heart concern ceases to be that of saving their own souls, to a concern for the glory of Christ in the closing hours of the “great controversy between Christ and Satan.” (When I was a boy, some silver-haired elders in the church told me that the greatest question is that of my own soul’s salvation.)

These people of God in the last days turn away from their previous concern for their own salvation to a concern for Another—that He emerge victorious from the “battle” He is in.

This change in “Christian experience” can be described in the terms the Lord Jesus uses in John 15: “Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you” (vs. 15).

As we come closer to the end, these “friends” concern is for that “battle” that Christ is in, and not for self.

This change in “Christian experience” orientation can also be described as graduating out of the Old Covenant “Christian experience” into the New. It’s coming out of the shadows into the bright sunlight of “present truth” (a term in 2 Peter 1:12).

The “present truth” is New Covenant living, not Old.

This change is also passing from Revelation 18 into Revelation 19 where we find those four grand Hallelujah Choruses, each greater than Handel’s (vss. 1-17). It can at last be said that “the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour unto Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready” (19:6, 7). At last!

Although the Lord is “omnipotent,” He cannot force the nuptials. It cannot be said that He “reigneth” until her nuptial devotion to Him as to a divine Husband is real. Thus there is a “woman” whose marital devotion He can only wait, and wait, to see. The good news that rejoices one’s heart is that this change in spiritual growth is actually taking place. Don’t be left behind!

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

There are many who are bewildered. They do not know where they are going, and they are afraid.

The message of the Bible is just what they need. There are two things that the Lord says they must do—not some difficult to-do thing, but something to believe:

(1) “He that cometh to God must believe that He is ...” (Heb. 11:6, first part).

That’s the “work” you must do! Not something to “do” that is beyond you to accomplish, but a simple step in choosing to believe that God is, He exists. You may be an atheist, but you can take this step by choosing to believe. You must! And you can, for it’s only simple truth.

The atheist may say, “That’s too difficult!” No, it’s the easiest thing any human can “do”—to believe God exists. Just look at the world around you, from the tiniest leaf (that no human can ever “make”) to the unnumbered worlds in the Milky Way.

(2) Step number two, what you MUST believe: “that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (second part).

Step number one is that of the “deist,” the person who believes that some mysterious power made the universe and then walked off and left it to care for itself. That kind of “faith” is not good enough.

No one can truly believe in “God” without recognizing that “God IS love [agape]” (1 John 4:8). And right there we go to the cross on which the Son of God died the second death of every human.

The truth is all one package, complete; you can’t select and choose.

Difficult? No; listen to John the Baptist: he says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world “ (John 1:29). “Behold” means to take a l-o-n-g look; stay on your knees with your “closet” door closed as Jesus says to do in Matthew 6:6: “When thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” He is the same “Father” who notices when a little sparrow falls in the forest floor (Matt. 10:29). Believe, appreciate, revel, in the truth that that same heavenly Father notices you personally.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

When the Lord Jesus saves a man, He doesn’t expect the man to help save himself, because he can’t. Jesus Christ is a Savior 100 percent.

But He does expect the sinner to cooperate with Him.

Psalm 130 expresses the cry of any who knows he is lost: “Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. ... If Thou Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” (vss. 1, 3).

The answer of course is ... no one.

But then comes the comforting word: “But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared [reverenced]” (vs. 4).

The Psalmist experienced the down-and-out despair of feeling lost, but only a taste of what Jesus experienced on the cross when He cried out in despair, “My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). The Father did not answer His Son, because Christ must be left to experience to the full this lethal despair; if He had not experienced it for us, we would have to experience it, and therein is eternal death. Jesus felt as if the Father had truly forsaken Him forever!

If sinful man were left to experience to the full this lethal despair, he would not be able to “cry” unto the Lord; no human soul has ever in the 6000+ years of earth’s history had to experience that total despair except the Lord Jesus. It kills ... forever.

Some may object, “Suicides experience it!” Not so, really; they always had the option left them to “cry unto the Lord.” And the Lord was ready to hear for Jesus promised, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). Any time, no matter how sinful.

If the Lord has permitted you to experience Psalm 130, be happy. In knowing Him, you will know that “with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (vss. 7, 8).

There are the 144,000 of Revelation 14:1-6; they who “follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth” (Rev. 14:1-5)!

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

A wise writer wrote a stupendous statement: “The books of heaven record the sins that we would commit if we had the opportunity.”

This at first sounds like bad news; the Lord must have a tremendous lot against us: but no, that’s not the meaning of the statement. It is really very good news.

Proverbs 28:13 says that “whoso confesseth and foraketh [his sins] shall have mercy.” Wonderful! That “mercy” is what we all need so much.

But how can you “confess” and “forsake” your sins if you don’t know what they are? That’s why the Holy Spirit is so full of mercy when He convicts us of our sins; Jesus says that is His first work:

“When He [the Comforter, the Holy Spirit] is come, He will convict the world of sin” (John 16:8). Thank God!

The Holy Spirit is a Person; He loves us just as much as the Father loves us, just as much as the Son who gave Himself for us, loves us.

Tell Him, “Thank You!” What to do is simple:

(1) The moment He convicts you of sin, that moment “confess” it; don’t wait. Tell the Lord, “It’s true! I dare not try to deny it!”

(2) And then, that moment, forsake that sin. If it is something that is dear to your heart, forsake it; do exactly what Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He cried out to His Father, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39).

(3) The Lord never asks you to do anything difficult on your own, by yourself: always you are invited to do it with Jesus; you are never left on your own, alone! You are joined to the Son of God by a “yoke” that binds the two of you together.

(4) And He says, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). The greatest, the most joyous adventure, any human can have!

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":

The fact that we mentioned “the second death” has stirred up some interest on the Internet.

The Bible is clear that man is by nature mortal; the doctrine of the immortality of the soul has been adopted from Roman paganism; the Bible teaches a more comforting truth: death is a sleep in which we rest until the resurrection morning. When Lazarus died, the Lord Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth” (John 11:11), “but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead” (vss. 12-14).

This comforting truth is taught throughout the Bible. The “sleep” of death is awakened by the coming of Jesus in the resurrection: “We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:15-18).

Those who have trained themselves to be unhappy in the Lord’s holy kingdom will sleep on until at the end of the 1000 years of Revelation 20. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power” (vs. 6). The fact that “God IS love [agape]” is taught throughout Scripture; He will never force people who have spent their lifetime seeking the sinful pleasures of the fallen, evil world, would be miserable to live in the New Jerusalem: the Lord will simply give them what they want—to be eternally separated from the “face” of the One who is their Savior who loved them so much that He died the second death so that they might share eternity with Him. The doctrine of the “second death” is a part of the doctrine that God IS love [agape]. Everywhere we look, that is the theme of the Bible.

When our eyes are opened and we finally comprehend this truth, His love [agape] “constrains us” to live “henceforth” unto Him who so “loved us and gave Himself for us” (2 Cor. 5:14, 15).

Maybe more tomorrow, the Lord willing.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Our Savior “condemned sin in the flesh,” the fallen, sinful flesh that all of us have inherited from our fallen father, Adam. In so doing, Christ has saved the human race!

He forever outlawed sin in the vast universe of God by defeating it in its last lair. Sin has no “home,” no refuge now, in the vast universe of God!

Sin does not reside in things; it resides in human hearts. Satan as the fallen Lucifer had tempted the other worlds to join him in rebellion, but they refused. (Temptation is not sin; what’s sin, is giving in.) Only our first parents, Adam and Eve, believed the fallen Lucifer’s lies against God.

No way could Christ have defeated sin if the dogma of the “Immaculate Conception” were true: if in His incarnation Christ had taken upon Himself the unfallen, sinless nature of Adam in the Garden, sin would have been forever enshrined and crowned in our human flesh and then Satan would have forever won the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

Doubtless there are many sincere people who have never thought this through; they don’t realize that their dogma proclaimed in 1854, and required of all to believe. is a stroke of victory in favor of the enemy in the great controversy.

In mercy to the remnant church (and the world), “the Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people” 120 years ago that told the saving truth in a clear way so simple that a child could understand. Christ took on His sinless nature our fallen, sinful nature, so that He might save the human race from sin. “Tempted in all points like as we are [tempted], yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15), He has delivered the whole human race from captivity to sin.

Most do not understand it, or believe it; but nonetheless it is true.

And the Lord has promised in Revelation 18:1-4 that the full beautiful truth will yet “lighten the earth with glory.” He wanted the Seventh-day Adventist Church to enjoy that glorious experience 120 years ago, but the grey-haired elders said No! (not 100% of them, but the vast majority so that the blessing was indeed “kept away” from our people and “from the world”; cf. Selected Messages, book 1, pp. 234, 235).

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Has the Lord in His great mercy saved you from falling into the deep pit of adultery?

If you can say yes, you can sing and praise the Lord for now and forever.

Adultery brings a great burden of sorrow on the Lord Himself, to say nothing of the pain it brings on us and all whom we are connected with. The Lord in no uncertain language says He “hates” it:

“The Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou has dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. ... Let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away... Take heed ... , that ye deal not treacherously” (Mal. 2:14-16).

“But doesn’t the Lord forgive?”

Ah yes, but the New Testament word for “forgive” means to “take away the sin,” so that now the sin is forever hated.

It’s impossible for anyone to break the seventh of the ten commandments until he has first broken the first six; therefore, it’s impossible to repent of breaking the seventh commandment until one goes back to the beginning and genuinely, maybe painfully, repents of breaking those six. This genuine, blessed work that is a precious gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 5:31) means a complete overhaul of one’s character, like you overhaul the broken engine of a diesel truck.

But the Lord is merciful; He is also thorough; He cleanses the heart. Titus 2:11-14 is full of good news: (a) “the grace of God” has brought salvation to “all men.” (b) That “grace” “teaches” us to say “No!” to “worldly lusts”; it’s not that we help save ourselves, but our firm choice to say “No!” to them is cooperation with the Holy Spirit.

(c) The motivating power of this repentance is believing, appreciating the truth that Christ “gave Himself for us” (vs. 14); the “gift” of Himself was total—He “poured out His soul unto death,” even the second death, for us (Isa. 53:12).

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

An old English verb in the King James Version is “quicken,” which means “make alive.” “The Son quickeneth whom He will” (John 5:21). The Holy Spirit “quickens” (6:63).

God “quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17).

That is the mind and the thinking of the Lord; to Him all things that will someday be, He considers as already being.

This writer is in bereavement for the loss of a beloved wife, Grace, of 66 years of happy marriage; but the good news in that Romans verse is that the Lord will “quicken” her and He sees her as already resurrected and glorified.

We can have the mind of Christ by faith; and thus enjoy peace and confidence in a bright and happy future ... “in Christ.”

She used to ask, “Can’t we take a vacation and go somewhere, like other people do?”

Well, I wanted to do so, as her husband; but there seemed always to be some problem, some meetings coming up that we had to go to, some writing deadline to be met.

Now comes that word “quicken”: the Lord has promised to “quicken” us both and He says, “Trust in the Lord and do good; ... Depend upon the Lord, and He will grant you your heart’s desire” (Psalm 37:3, 4).

A little later the Psalmist testifies, “I waited, waited for the Lord, and He bent down to me and heard my cry; He brought me up out of the muddy pit, out of the mire and the clay; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm footing; and on my lips He put a new song, a song of praise to our God” (40:1-3).

You want happiness? There’s your path to it.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The New Covenant truths were the central issues in the 1888 message story. Young Waggoner had been gifted by the Lord with an understanding that far surpassed that of his silver-haired elder brethren. Ellen White declared that the Lord had done this for him. She said, “Since I made the statement last Sabbath that the view of the covenants as it had been taught by Brother [E. J.] Waggoner was truth, it seems that great relief has come to many minds” (Letter to Uriah Smith 59, 1890).

Old Covenant thinking on the part of sincere Christians who want to follow Jesus “genders to bondage” (Gal. 4:24). It’s tragic that they do not realize that the Old Covenant ideas that have enslaved their thinking are a counterfeit of the pure, true gospel. They wonder why their “Christian experience” is so disappointing; they do not know the truth of the New Covenant. They assume therefore that the gospel is impotent, when they have inherited only a distorted view of it.

The Old Covenant was formally endorsed by the leaders of Israel at Mt. Sinai when they got together and voted to respond to the Lord’s Good News Gospel declaration of what He would do for them, “All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do” (Ex. 19:8; in a matter of days they were worshipping a golden calf!).

The Lord never asked them to make that promise! When the Lord in Genesis 15:6 called Abraham out of his tent to count the stars of the Milky Way and declared to him as a divine promise, “So shall thy seed be,” He did not ask the patriarch to make any promise in return! Abraham’s job was to believe His divine promise.

God’s promise was one-sided. And when Abraham did believe, the Lord graciously “counted it to him for righteousness” (15:6). That’s what He does for all of us; our promises to Him are vain.

Worse, because the Lord does not call for such vain promises, the whole system is lethal, producing “bondage.”

Now, let us walk in the bright sunshine of the New Covenant promises of God.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

There is no end of people in the world today who want to be converted; but they feel that it is beyond them to be as happy in the Lord as they want to be. They would give anything if they could be at peace with God, and possess in their hearts the love for other people that they feel it is their duty to have.

The burden of d-u-t-y lies heavy on their hearts; they go to sleep at night with deep fear just beneath the surface, and wake up next morning with the same burden there.

The church should come to their aid immediately; but too often the church does not understand what they need—a knowledge of the New Covenant.

One hundred twenty years ago the dear Lord “in His great mercy” sent a “most precious message” that contained the liberating New Covenant truths.

If you b-e-l-i-e-v-e in Jesus, ... that is, if your heart has understood the truth about Him—that the death He died on His cross was not just a week-end of sleep, ... but that He died your second death, you can begin to comprehend the breadth, and depth, and length, and height of His love (agape) as you never saw it before (cf. Eph. 3:18, 19).

Jesus was probably very tired when they nailed Him to His cross; the Ladies Aid Society of Jerusalem would usually offer crucified victims a sponge soaked with narcotics; and they offered it to Jesus.

But He turned His head and refused to drink it (Luke 23:36; Matt. 27:34); He must keep His mind clear to endure the pain of His Father’s rejection of Him; He must endure the curse that sin brings in the end. Isaiah says, “He hath poured out His soul unto death” (53:12).

Read that whole chapter, on your knees, slowly, alone; then thank Him, that He took your second death and died it for you.

Then thank Him again, ... and again. You will never be the same.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Number Three of the “Ten Truths That Make the 1888 Message Unique”:

There are two things that we MUST believe when we come to Christ:

“Without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe [1] that He is, and [2] that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).

To believe that God IS, in a mechanical way as the Creator (instead of godless evolution), is a good beginning for any human soul coming to conversion. But it is just the beginning; the next step is to believe that He hears and answers your prayer, that He rewards those who open their hearts to Him, that He is a God of love.

And this is what you learn from the cross of Christ: the Father permitted Christ to be treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves! Here the love [agape] is demonstrated.

When we put this together, we see the next great truth: It is easy to be saved and it is hard to be lost IF we understand how good the Gospel good news is!

And this is shocking to us.

Satan has conditioned us all to accept the idea that following Jesus is a hard way to live; we have to give up so many pleasurable things in order to follow Jesus, is the idea.

But it is backwards from the truth. We don’t give up anything valuable when we come to Him; all we give up is JUNK.

But Satan has taught us to believe that junk is what makes us happy.

When Saul of Tarsus was on his way to Damascus in his hate-filled odyssey against the Christians, the Lord met him and gave him a grain of truth: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14). Saul was ruining himself in his enmity against Christ: he would have come down with some terrible disease if he had gone on.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Number Two of the “Ten Truths That Make the 1888 Message Unique” is the revelation of the High Priestly ministry of Christ in His heavenly sanctuary:

He is working 24 hours a day seven days a week in a special work that impinges on every person in the world: He is drawing “all men” to repentance.

This is evident in Romans 2:4: “Despises thou the riches of [Christ’s] goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

There was the lady who went to church every Sabbath and prayer meeting, asking the church to pray for her husband who was not a Sabbath-keeper nor was he converted.

Then one Sabbath morning he came down the steps before breakfast dressed in his good suit, instead of to go to work. She was shocked.

“What does this mean, darling?” she asked. “I am going to church with you and the children!”

“But darling, if you lose your job because of the Sabbath, how will we make the car payments, and the house payments, and pay for our vacation?”

Husband stopped halfway down the steps; never said a word; went back up and put on his work clothes, and that was the end. All this while the Holy Spirit had been leading him to repentance; but now she blew it by unbelief.

Jesus promised us, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matt. 21:22). The un-believing heart is “at enmity” with God even before we pray.

The Lord willing, more tomorrow.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Dial Daily Bread has been on safari this weekend! We were invited to a church in Los Angeles where we were not to preach our own sermon (which the people would soon forget, anyway), but to present the actual “most precious message” which “the Lord in His great mercy sent to His people” 120 years ago.

It was the message that the Lord intended should “lighten the earth with glory” as Revelation 18:1-4 says it must come.

Scholars have distilled the message into ten basic “good news” capsules which we will present for the next few days:

Number One: Christ has already accomplished something for every human being. He died the “second death” of everyone and thus actually elected “all men” to be saved. But this is not Universalism, for men have the power to resist and reject what Christ has given them. Esau is the example: he was born a few minutes before his twin, Jacob, and thus inherited the precious “birthright;” but when he grew up, he abandoned it, sold it “for a mess of pottage” (a gourmet meal that he was hungry for!), and never stopped crying in despair ever afterwards for he could never get it back.

The Lord wants everyone to be saved (1 Tim. 2:3, 4), but not everyone will let Him save them. They repeat Esau’s deadly sin—they throw away what Christ has given them, yes, given them, not merely offered them.

In the final judgment at the end of the 1000 years millennium, the lost will be resurrected in the “second resurrection” to face their final judgment; then it will be seen clearly that He gave them salvation but they threw it away.

Cherish the gift that the Lord has given you!

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

There is a strange expression in Psalm 90:7: “We have been consumed by Your anger, and by Your wrath we are terrified.” If God is “angry” with us, and His “wrath” hangs over us, we are indeed terrified and can’t help being so. (It can be a deep, slow anxiety based on terror).

We long for love, for good will, for someone important to us to be pleased with us. You long for some person you love to smile upon you, to know he/she truly loves you. Such love is the “sweet mystery of life.” Disappointment in love is painful, sometimes lifelong, an entire life shadowed; deep dark secrets of pain are cherished.

David knew that the most wonderful woman in the world could never bring him the happiness that a glimpse of the smiling face of God could give him: “There are many who say, ‘Who will show us any good?’ Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us. You have put gladness in my heart” (Psalm 4:6, 7).

A false or distorted gospel clouds that otherwise smiling face of God. For example, a successful evangelist wrote to me that he believes a cloud of condemnation hangs over the head of every person in the world who has not chosen to “accept Christ.” Yes, millions believe this; and no wonder they live sad lives. But the Bible teaches that the “condemnation” that came upon “all men” “in Adam” was reversed by the second Adam for the same “all men” (Rom. 5:15-18).

Galatians 3:13 tells us that the “curse” (same as the “condemnation”!) that was due to come upon us came upon Christ instead, for He “was made to be a curse for us.” That “curse” or “condemnation” was the sentence of death, not mere “sleep,” but the real thing. If you feel that God is holding that over your head, you can’t help but feel miserable! But Hebrews 2:9 says that Christ died that “death” for “every man.” 2 Corinthians 5:19 says quite clearly that “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them.”

Your job is to believe the simple word of God; He is not imputing your trespasses to you! He imputed them to Christ instead; He bore them, He has already set you free from them. That’s why He can send His rain on both the just and the unjust! Yes, the truth is that you and I are by nature sinners; BUT because of the sacrifice of Christ He treats us as though we were innocent! This is not effervescent emotion; it is solid truth.

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

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

What can one do when he/she has discovered the enormity of the sin which is in the heart? When you feel deeply guilty, polluted, alienated from the sunshine of God’s favor? When finally the blinders have been torn off your eyes and you discern your nakedness of soul? The pain is intense!

(1) First, be thankful that at last you have come to see it, for this is possible only if you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. His first work is to “convict of sin” (John 16:8). If He left you happy and content to go on in your sin, then you would have a reason to be worried (but that’s when we humans are not concerned!). “Blessed are they that mourn” because of the realization of deep sin (Matt. 5:4). If you have a lethal, undetected cancer and are blissfully unconcerned, you are not “blessed.” You can be happy when you realize the truth and can seek healing before it’s too late.

(2) The question “What shall I DO about my sin” comes short of the truth. The proper question is, “What shall I BELIEVE?” Yes, you can find examples in the Bible of people who have asked, “What must I DO to be saved?” (Acts 16:30), but superficial reading has encouraged many dear people to lean upon a program of salvation by works, DOING something. Please note that this jailer in Philippi was not an inspired man; but Paul was inspired when he answered him, “BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ” (vs. 31). Salvation lies not in DOING this or that good thing but in BELIEVING truth. And then the believing “works” (Gal. 5:6).

(3) Now, what do you believe? (a) That the Son of God has become your Savior, (b) that He has died the death that your sin deserves, (c) that it is He who in love has convicted you of the deep sinfulness of sin, (d) that He has experienced the hell that you would experience were it not for His sacrifice, (e) that He is now working as High Priest night and day, 24 hours a day, to save you from sin, (f) that the Father has “accepted” you “in Him” (Matt. 3:17; Eph. 1:6)?

(4) And then? Your heart is melted; the hardness is melted; the tears flow, not because of fear but because of everlasting gratitude.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

If you have made a mistake (which, God forbid!) ... King David made one, in fact two—adultery and the sin of murder to cover it up; he feared that he had committed the unpardonable sin and heaven was closed to him forever, because he cried out in near despair, “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11).

But if you have indeed made a mistake, your heavenly Father does not cast you off as worthless or hopeless.

He is deeply wounded and sorry, but He redeems and re-builds broken, ruined souls.

How does He do it?

He gives the most precious gift of repentance.

No one can repent on his own; you have to open your guilty heart to receive it from Him: “Him [Jesus of Nazareth] hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31).

The realization of God’s forgiveness: it’s the most exhilarating experience we humans can know. It’s the nearest to the overwhelming joy that Jesus must have known when after His resurrection He declared in triumph, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore!” And then that earth-and-heaven-shaking, “AMEN!” (Rev. 1:18).

You just want to shout for all the universe to hear you, “Behold! I am forgiven!” You’ve been carrying a burden that weighed a ton; now at last you are free.

Such forgiveness is God’s gift. It’s not the empty, supercilious “pardon” that means nothing; it’s a freeing from the burden of sin, the gift of a new hatred of sin, and the gift of a new love for righteousness.

You are born again. No more arrogance; you are like King Ahab, the murder-guilty king, when he was finally converted, we read that forever after he “walked softly” (1 Kings 21:27); he took a humble place from then on, and so will you. There will be no arrogant people strutting around in God’s New Jerusalem.

No one can honor the Lord Jesus Christ and at the same time be proud of himself/herself.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Was it the Lord’s intention that His people should embrace the Old Covenant?

Paul says that the old covenant “genders to bondage” (Gal. 4:24). Question: does the Lord ever bring His trusting people into bondage to evil?

The answer of course is “No!” The Old Covenant was the invention of the people at Mt. Sinai: when they declared, “all that the Lord hath spoken, we will do” (Ex. 19:8). That promise of the people was vain for in only a few days they were bowing down to worship a golden calf (32:2-8).

The Old Covenant has always been the promise of the people; the New Covenant has always been the promise of God.

We have a really beautiful hymn that we often sing in worship services, that is thoroughly Old Covenant in its meaning. Written by a Church of England pastor celebrating his teenage daughters being confirmed in the church, it breathes the Old Covenant idea:

“O Jesus, I have promised, to serve Thee to the end; be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend ...”

In total innocence, he led his teenage daughters to make a vain promise to the Lord; some may say, that’s good—maybe their making the promise helped them to remember to keep it. The hymn goes on, “I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear ... ”

But human strength is helpless in the face of worldly temptation. The clergyman meant well; but persuading his daughters to make vain promises to God is not good enough.

Fortunately, we can “convert” this Old Covenant hymn into a beautiful and powerful New Covenant hymn by changing only one word throughout: “O Jesus, I have chosen ... ” “The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise ... ” says a wise writer in the book Steps to Christ, p. 47.

Oh, how the Holy Spirit will bless as you lead your children into the New Covenant!

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

At any given moment, 24/7, if you should ask the Lord, "What is the news?" His reply would be that He has only GOOD news for you.

Even if you had just had a doctor tell you that you have terminal cancer, and you were on a death-bed, the Lord would have only GOOD news for you. Even in such an extremity, He would assure you that "He will be [your] guide, even unto death" (Psalm 48:15).

Looking forward to the "first resurrection" is immense GOOD news, for Revelation 20:6 says, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power."

There is a special blessing (the word means ultra-happiness) on those who today die "in the Lord." We read it in Revelation 14:13, John says, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the [Holy] Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them."

There might be someone reading these words today who has nothing to look forward to from this moment on, except that "resurrection." If so, be immensely thankful to the Lord for everything! He has only GOOD news for you—those "who die in the Lord from henceforth" are in a special class.

Jesus describes them in Luke 20:35: "They ... shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, ... neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection."

All the heavenly host of unfallen angels and beings who kneel before the throne of the Lord rejoice together with them in this "blessed hope" (cf. Titus 2:13). From this moment on, there is nothing but GOOD news for you, if you will believe these promises of the Lord Jesus whop died for you on His cross—who died your "second death."

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

It stuns one to think of the consequences of this question: Does the Lord need us to do things for Him which He cannot do for Himself?

We think of Him as omnipotent—the word means ability to do anything and everything.

But even though that is the meaning of the word “omnipotent,” it’s obvious that there are some things the Lord cannot do, much as He may try: He cannot change the heart of a sinner who refuses His much more abounding grace.

In the beginning when “there was war in heaven [when] Michael and His angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; nether was their place found any more in heaven” (Rev. 12:7, 8), the “omnipotent” Lord could not change the rebellious hearts of Lucifer and his angels. Neither can He do so today.

It follows that people who choose to obey the fallen Lucifer and his fallen angels also have rebellious hearts that God cannot force; no angel can preach to those people as effectively as can a fallen sinner who has repented and is “reconciled to God by the death of His Son” (Rom. 5:10).

Such a reconciled sinner can do things for the Lord that He cannot do for Himself. For example:

A prominent Ethiopian was riding in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah but couldn’t understand it. The Lord loved him and wanted to help him; so what did the Lord do? He impressed His servant Philip, “Go near and join thyself to this chariot” (in other words, hitchhike; Acts 8:27-30). Philip obeyed.

It stuns one to realize the truth: the Holy Spirit needed Philip! What does He need you and me to do today?

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The Bible specializes in Good News which is “the power of God unto
salvation” (Rom. 1:16). There is power in the word itself, as there
is in the seed that sprouts. Those who wait for the second coming of
Christ will demonstrate that power so fully that their message will
“lighten the earth with glory.” The message itself, not their
personalities nor any goodness in themselves, will call believers to
“come out of Babylon, My people,” and honest-hearted people will
respond to the “voice” from heaven (see Rev. 18:1-4). Nothing will
be able to hold them back from stepping out boldly to honor Christ in the
closing work of the gospel.

The message will be proclaimed not just by one or two super-gurus, but
by a multitude of voices all over the earth. God can use people trained
in literary institutions provided self is humbled and crucified with
Christ so their ministry draws listeners to Jesus and not to
themselves, but often self has gotten in the way and marred the
picture. Baal worship has delayed the finishing of God’s work in the
earth--the worship of self disguised as the worship of Christ. In the
last great work as the truth is proclaimed powerfully, God will use
humble people who are called from “the plow” as Elisha was called
(1 Kings 19:19).

What will bring about this great development? The Bible is clear: the
experience of justification by faith, which is the same as the
experience of righteousness by faith. The faith itself will “work by
love,” the love of Christ (Gal. 5:6), not our own love. There will be
no self-righteousness in this wonderful work that lightens the earth
with glory. When self is laid aside, gets out of the way, the cross of
Christ can be uplifted clearly, because self will be “crucified with
Him.” Then He will “draw all unto [Himself]” (John 12:32).

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

God has inspired His holy word, the Bible, for “all Scripture is
given
by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16). But He has not made the Bible
difficult to understand! He has promised, “Turn you at My reproof, .
.
. I will make known My words unto you” (Prov. 1:23).

One of those “words” that He “will make known” unto us is
“justification.” Ask Him to! The root idea is to make something
that
was crooked become straight. On the sixth day of creation week God
ended that work; when sin entered planet earth, He turned His infinite
power into re-creating sinful human hearts. Justification by faith is
the sinner receiving this mighty power of re-creation, that is, the new

birth. The sinner’s faith is awakened by his “beholding” the love
of
Christ revealed in His cross, just as the stricken Israelite bitten by
poisonous snakes was healed by beholding, looking at, the brass serpent

lifted on the pole.

You watch a hero or heroine in a movie; now spend your time more wisely

by “watching” Jesus Christ. “Eat” the Bible story of the cross;
turn
off your radio, TV, everything; just kneel and patiently, in prayer,
read about Jesus straight from Scripture. Wait before Him. God wants to

hear a sincere, honest, unhurried prayer. I know; I am as unworthy as
anyone, but I know He responds. He loves you as much as He loves me! I
have never heard the literal voice of God, but I want to encourage
those people who also must confess they haven’t either; the Holy
Spirit
imparts spiritual life through the word, the Bible. He wants your faith

to be established on the solid rock of Bible truth, not on dreams or
impressions or “voices.”

Will the one who is “justified by faith” live in obedience to
God’s
word? Yes, obedience is the direct fruit of the experience of
justification by faith. It has now become your joy.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Does the Lord need humans to do things that He wants done “in earth as it is in heaven”?

When we pray the Lord’s prayer, we are confessing that His will should be done
in earth as it is in heaven”; but who is to accomplish that?

Angels are His “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ...” (Heb. 1:14). But their ministry is not to do things that those “heirs of salvation” should do themselves.

The Father’s will never “be done in earth as it is in heaven” until His own people get busy and do it.

A prayer that will always be answered is this, “Father in heaven, what do You want me to do?”

It may be a phone call that you have shied away from; to make the call will require laying self aside!

It may be a letter that you have been impressed that it is your duty to write; that too will require a denial of self. It may be a personal visit likewise that you need to make.

Welcome to the joyous thrill that is yours when you know you have done what the heavenly Father wants you to do. That means you have become a fellow-laborer with Him!

Can you think of a higher honor you could have but that—as the holy angels all step aside in deep respect to you as you DO what the Father has appointed you to do?

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The News media are telling alarming tales of the depravity of teenagers today, exposing themselves shamelessly before each other, using their cell phones. Their immodest abandon was undreamed of even one generation ago. They are throwing themselves away; it’s not only foolish; it is a form of social suicide.

The Lord Jesus long ago spoke of this dive into depravity when He describes our time today, when He said, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love [agape] of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12).

It is a surprise to many to realize that the word “agape” in the Bible means not only a high spiritual love theologically; it also means sexual love. This becomes evident when we read Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives,” where the verb is the verb for agape.

Agape includes conjugal, married love!

Love between the sexes is a delightful gift of the Lord. The poet who said it is “the sweet mystery of life” knew better than he wrote. When the Lord told Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply,” what that command meant was that through attraction of the sexes for each other and their built-in desire to be one, the earth would be filled with people.

But it’s not a mere mechanism for producing births; it is the holy exercise of God-given love.

Now today that holy love is being trampled in the mud.

What can anybody do to help?

The sober, truthful answer is: proclaim “Christ and Him crucified.”

This current dive into depravity could never have happened if the teens involved had heard the cross of Christ proclaimed as living truth in their churches. When Paul came to ancient Corinth, he knew he was facing the demanding test of his ministry: how could he capture the heart attention of those depraved pagan people in that great Mediterranean city with its pagan religious prostitution in the great temple of Diana?

He tells us: “When I came to you ... I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1, 2). Did the people get tired hearing sermons all the time about the cross? No; they found life and true conversion; they couldn’t get enough.

That is equally true today! This writer was privileged to serve as pastor/evangelist in one of California’s biggest cities; the message of the cross brings people in from off the streets!

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