Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

How can you pray, if you don’t know how, and you feel like you’re too unworthy to try?

The disciples of Jesus were far from being perfect, yet they came to Jesus and asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

What followed was “Prayer 101,” and we would like to join the class.

The four Gospels teach us several prayers that we can pray, unworthy as we are, which are guaranteed to be answered with a “Yes!”

(a) The poor sinful publican in Luke 18:13, “standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner” (the original Greek has it, “the sinner,” contrasting himself with the Pharisee supposedly praying next to him). You know that the Lord received that prayer and answered it!

(b) The poor distraught father in Mark 9:24 prayed, “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” You know, that prayer is always answered, no matter how unworthy you may be!

(c) The prayer that Jesus prayed for us all in Luke 23:34, you know has been answered for you and me. When the wicked men were driving the spikes through His hands and ankle bones, He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!” A heart that is thankful for that forgiveness is the heart with which you and I come to Jesus in prayer, unworthy though we surely know we are.

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

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Book of Hebrews is excellent bedtime reading because it is brimful of GOOD News that rejoices hearts. We want to read in the Bible the truth that stretches our minds and hearts to “comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love (agape) of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:16-19). The mental exertion is well worthwhile!

For example, look at this from Hebrews: “The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God” (7:19).

That “better hope” makes us “perfect”! Ready for the second coming of Jesus. That’s the “better hope” of the New Covenant—the promises of God rather than our own weak, faulty promises (cf. Steps to Christ, p. 47).

Hebrews is a comment on the story of the 144,000 who stand before God “without fault” (Rev. 14:1-5; a literal number, or it could be a symbolic number; there is room in that wonderful group for you and me because Jesus promised us, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37; that promise is still good today!).

But the Book of Hebrews also has a stern warning for us: ”How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ... ?” (2:3). “Neglect” means to forget, to disregard, to pass over thoughtlessly.

TV off, radio off, do what Jesus says: “Shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret” (Matt. 6:6). “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living [while I am still alive!]. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord” (Psalm 27:13, 14). All this is within that “shut door,” where you get to know “your Father which is in heaven” intimately.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Around the world today (the holy Sabbath) millions are studying in the Bible about the “atonement.”

That is not a Latin word; it’s a plain old Anglo-Saxon word that means simply two estranged, alienated people become “one” again. A happy experience.

But think of the heavenly joy that comes to us as we realize that this gulf of alienation from God has been bridged by an “at-onement” with Him again.

In our case, our natural state is estrangement from the Lord, for “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7). It’s a condition of never-ending ill-at-ease; it puts you out of synch with the universe itself, which means you are an alien from the blessed kingdom of God.

Atonement 101 is the realization that the bridging of the gulf of alienation is 100 per cent the work of the Lord Jesus; it required His coming close to us. We sinners had nothing to do with the atonement; it was all done outside of us.

That meant that the divine Son of God must step down from His high and holy place to where we are, that He might bring us into one-ness with Himself. As Philippians 2 says He “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant [slave], and was made in the likeness of men” (vs. 7).

Contemplating this, we see the nuts and bolts of the “atonement” taking shape; “made in the likeness of men” means that He took upon Himself the poor fallen nature of humanity, coming as close to us in our fallen state as it was possible for Him to do. If anyone lets himself doubt that Reality, He is frustrating the atonement at its very beginning.

Step number two: “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself” (vs. 8). It simply means that as the Baby Jesus grew up, He continued to renounce His original exaltation as the Vicegerent of God, and accepted in Himself the subjective judicial verdict of condemnation that the fallen Adam has given to all of us; and in so doing, Christ as the “second” or “last Adam” has transformed that judicial verdict of condemnation into a judicial verdict of acquittal for “every man.”

It was done for you and me before we came along; it is left for us to be thankful for it eternally.

And then the most marvelous something happens in our alienated human hearts: we are reconciled to God and to His law of righteousness; the ill-at-ease alienation is healed and bridged: we are “at-one” with Him and therefore with His great unfallen universe.

Oh sinner, do not “frustrate” this “grace of God.” Paul said he would not do it (Gal. 2:21), and thank God, neither can we if we have begun to appreciate the “breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the agape of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Eph. 3:17-19).

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It’s a strange but delightful promise the Son of God makes to us—that He will dwell with us, live with us, share our abode with us: He “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3). Imagine living in such “places”!

You and I may live in shacks in Shanty Town—but the Lord Jesus says He will live with us there, share our humble abode, partake of our lowly hospitality as our permanent Guest. His holy presence with us makes our shack become a Palace. It is transformed into a “heavenly place,” the loftiest abode in the universe.

Never again are we to be lonely; life each new day becomes a fresh, glorious adventure, for we never can anticipate the new and unimagined joy that becomes ours, dwelling with Jesus in a divine intimacy.

Even Jesus Himself shares with us the unimaginable joy of living in “heavenly places,” for in verse 20 we read that the Father “raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the [same] heavenly places.”

In the case of Jesus there is a super magnificent heavenly joy involved, for Jesus was “dead,” and no one can ever appreciate life like someone who was “dead”—the only such Man so far is Jesus, and now it’s we also through living faith in Him.

Our brother and fellow-believer in Christ, the beloved apostle Paul, has a glimpse of what it all means. He has a unique insight: he sees us as having been “dead,” but he also sees our present life therefore as being a “resurrection” from death. Interesting insight!

This transforms life for us: it makes our present “boring,” ordinary existence to be transformed into magnificent resurrection life.

If this is a new idea to you—thinking of your present life as a resurrection life already having exited from death—don’t thank me for it; I am nobody, I could never have thought of it—thank the Lord. Your eternal life “in Christ” has already begun; you may yet go to sleep a bit; but if your name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life, nothing can ever take it out (aside from your own choice, which, God forbid!).

“I am come,” says Jesus, “that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

That’s your life today; it transforms your what-you-thought-was-your -mere-existence into the most glorious life in all of the universe—life with Christ, its Creator, its Sustainer, and the Savior of it all.

And there’s no end to it, ever!

Get on your knees, thank Him that it’s true. And then rise, to serve Him gladly forever.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The year-day prophecies of Daniel and Revelation are fantastic in the accuracy of their fulfillment. They coincide perfectly with the great end-time prophecy of Jesus in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. The Bible recognizes that the God of heaven has foretold events before they happened, and that He wants us to know when “the time of the end” has come and what are the “signs” of Jesus’ second coming and of the “end of the world” (cf. Matt. 24:3).

Paul says it is not God’s will for His people to be “in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. ... Let us watch and be sober” (1 Thess. 5:4-6). How could Jesus warn us, “As a snare shall [that day] come upon all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” without His word giving us guidance as to when that day is near (Luke 21:35)?

If it is true that “God is love,” then it must follow that He would not want to catch us “unaware.” Hence we conclude that the time prophecies of Daniel and Revelation are very serious reading and deserve our close attention just now. It is also true, if God indeed is “love,” then He does not want to perpetuate pain and suffering on this planet due to the ravages of sin. Jesus wants to come a second time, not primarily to punish wrong-doing or take vengeance on His enemies, but to rescue people who suffer, and to establish His kingdom of peace and happiness for all.

“The Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom, ... an everlasting kingdom” (Dan. 7:22, 27). However, we can be sure that His enemy, Satan, wants to try to prove His prophecies wrong. “Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?” (Eze. 12:22). A good answer is in Hab. 2:3: “At the end [the vision] shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

There may appear to be a “tarrying time,” and those who have faith in the prophecies may think the vision “fails,” and suffer disappointment, yet in immediate context comes the assurance of righteousness by faith: “The just shall live by his faith” (vs. 4). In the Great Disappointment experience in the 1840s, what held the faithful remnant was not so much mathematical calculations of time prophecies (they were true!) but their confidence that the Holy Spirit had worked in the Midnight Cry movement. God’s true love was evident.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The gospel truth is embedded in these few words (2 Cor. 5:18-20):

“All things are of God.” In other words, from beginning to end it is the work of the Lord to reconcile us alienated humans to Himself. He takes the initiative in this work of healing wounded souls.

He “hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, ... and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (vss. 18, 19).

But you object, “I have not yet been reconciled! I still have the ‘carnal mind [which] is enmity against God’ (Rom. 8:7). I still love the things of this world. I still would rather watch TV than read the Bible; if the Lord were to take me to heaven today, I am not sure I would be happy there!”

The beginning of our positive response to the Lord’s plan of salvation is honesty of heart; we can sing “I have been redeemed” when in fact we haven’t yet realized it by personal faith.

Scholars would like to describe that as “objective” salvation, although that word is not in the Bible.

They use that word to try to describe the reality of the Lord’s plan of salvation: He is “the Savior of the world,” He has saved us; the Samaritans were right when they declared of Him that He is “the Savior of the world,” even though most people in the world didn’t recognize Him yet as such, still they told the truth.

There are two things that are yet to happen:

(a) The Lord would never dare to descend down the skies in glory at His second coming unless first the people of the world had had the chance to hear the gospel proclaimed in all its powerful beauty. The Lord is fair to all; He must be sure that everyone has an equal chance to hear. His people will one day have to apologize to the world for thus hindering and delaying this message, and thus delaying Christ’s second coming.

(b) Revelation 18:1-4 tells us that before the second coming of Christ the entire world will be “lightened” with the glory of the fourth angel’s message: “And ... I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with His glory.”

That mighty angel came down 120 years ago to begin His final work of lighting the earth with glory; but the Lord is such a Gentleman that He will never force entry into anyone’s home unless He is first invited.

He wasn’t. And that’s why we’re still here, and the earth is still in darkness.

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Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

We think it’s a grand achievement when we can learn to have faith in Jesus; we “have passed from death unto life,” etc.

But what about Jesus Himself having faith in human beings? That’s backward thinking! We trust Him, ah yes! But does He trust us? What is there trustworthy about us? And why would He need to trust us, even if we were trustworthy? He has everything, billions of angels at His beck and call, infinite resources.

In answer, the Bible does say that He believes in us and trusts us, in fact, He has to if He is ever to win the great controversy with Satan. Paul asks, “What if some [Israelites] did not believe? Shall their unbelief [non-faith] make the faith of God without effect?” (Rom. 3:3). When the heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son into the world as a baby, did He not trust human beings to care for Him, especially while He was an infant? Did He not trust the virgin Mary to be a faithful mother to Jesus? Did God not trust friends to care for Jesus during the years that He lived with us on this planet? (Yes, people did crucify Him, but we read of women who prepared food for Him, took care of His laundry, and friends who invited Him to be a Guest in their homes, like Lazarus and Zaccheus of Jericho).

And we read of how “the faith of Jesus” comes into focus in the last days: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12). In fact, it is the “faith of Jesus” that saves us, for He is “the author ... of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). When He died on the cross and He felt forsaken by His Father, His faith triumphed. For at the last just before He cried out, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit,” He chose to believe and to trust that there would be a multitude of human beings around the world who would respond to the truth of His sacrifice, and who would believe and be loyal to Him: “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord’s. ... A seed shall serve Him” (Psalm 22:25-30).

He forgot about His own reward; what made Him happy in those last moments was the confidence that He had won the battle, the contest was decided, and WE will live forever in God’s kingdom now made forever sure. Here was His total emptying of self! When He “tasted death for every man” (Heb. 2:9), it was the real thing; He died our second death. But He was happy in the confidence that He had saved us from it.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The prophet Isaiah speaks of “eunuchs.”

They were unfortunates in the culture of ancient Israel, for they had been castrated. The idea that was prevalent there long ago was that the only “future” you had was through your children and descendants. You lived on through them.

So, if you were castrated and therefore had no descendants, poor you; you were done for.

It’s not hard for us to imagine what life was like at that time when you were castrated; we today may not be physically castrated, but we can feel useless as though we have no future; we are not leaving anything behind of eternal value. No one is living spiritually as our contribution.

But Isaiah has good news for us! The Lord has good news and special regard for us who feel useless:

“Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant; even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters [can you imagine that!]: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” (56:4, 5).

Then the Lord details His blessings for those who embrace His holy Sabbaths: “Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make themjoyful in My house of prayer” (vss. 6, 7).

Well, that’s me; I stumbled on the seventh day Sabbath in my Presbyterian Sunday School, and the dear Lord gave me the grace to embrace it, the grace “not to pollute it” any further.

Am I ever thankful to Him!

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

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

It’s the only book in the Bible that pronounces a special blessing on you when you read it; and if you don’t know how to read, don’t be discouraged! The blessing is still promised you if you simply listen to someone else read the book to you.

It’s the last book in the Holy Bible—“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John, who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein ... ” (1:1-3).

So, step number one is to read those first three verses thoughtfully.

Then I would suggest as step number two, believe that promise!

Then I would suggest, read the last chapter of the book. (I usually read the last page of any new book I start to read—I want to know where the author wants to take me before I start this “journey” with him.)

That very last page of the Book of Revelation is glorious—“The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that is heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst (that’s you and I) come. And whosever will let him take the water of life freely” (vs. 17). The love of the Lord God is poured out in this Book!

As a beginning, let me suggest: just simply read the Book, the naked Book. The Lord of heaven and earth has promised that He will bless!

That promise does not mean that all of a sudden in a second’s moment you will understand every detail in the Book; of course not: but you will be blessed! The beginning will occur, and that is all that you can endure for a start.

You are praying for an understanding of this precious Book; now demonstrate your sincerity because all the holy angels are watching you to see if you are serious. If there were only one honest-hearted soul in the world and that was you, God would empty heaven in sending angels to be your teacher-guides.

Can I speak a bit from experience?

When I was about 11 or 12, one Sunday afternoon, sitting on our front steps, I tried to read Revelation . At that moment, our wonderful pastor, Dr. Campbell, drove up in his brand new 1926 Buick (the pastor of the big church with its huge Gothic windows and pipe organ). I asked him “Oh, Dr. Campbell, what does this book mean?” He smiled, put his hands on my head, and said, “Robert, don’t read that book; it’s sealed; you read something like the Gospel of Mark.” But I had read too far already, and I knew he was wrong. The Gospel of Mark is great; but Revelation is what Peter says is “present truth” (2 Peter 1:12). I still love the book of Revelation.

I pray that you will, too.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Around the world, millions of sincere Christians this week are studying Psalm 139, verse by verse.

It’s one of the most “Good News” chapters in the Bible! It tells you that the infinite Lord and Creator took a direct, personal interest in your formation when you were an embryo in your mother’s womb. The Septuagint (that is, the Greek translation of the Old Testament that Christ and the apostles used) renders the message of Psalm 139, “all men shall be written in Thy Book.”

That Book contains your page! The Infinite Father took a personal interest in your formation as though you were earth’s only inhabitant.

Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit, in His infinitude, notices when a little sparrow falls in the forest (Matt. 10:29: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father [noticing it]” and caring. “Fear not, therefore.” He assures us, “ye are of more value than many sparrows” (vs. 31).

The Father respects you highly; there are things that in particular you can do that no one else can do as well. The Father actually needs you!

Satan doesn’t want us to understand this; he wants us to think of ourselves as mere digits in God’s creation; but in fact we are divinely called to be co-workers with the Lord Himself. There is someone on earth who cannot be reached with a living witness of the Gospel except through you; the Lord needs you; He Himself alone cannot function in this case without you.

Oh yes, the Lord can turn the mountains upside down and drain the ocean without needing you to help Him; but those are “easy” things for Him to do! What He can’t do is to reach an alienated human heart without your help.

When you tell what the Lord Jesus has done for you personally (if you can tell it in a humble way!), this reaches the alienated heart. This makes the Bible come alive; you can touch that secret, buried spot in someone’s heart—and possibly you won’t realize at the moment what you have done. But angels will rejoice at the accomplishment.

Hold your head high—unworthy as you are, you are important in God’s plan of salvation for the world. Kneel, and wait before Him; “wait on the Lord, ... and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord,” says David (Psalm 27:14).

You kneel and you say not a word, maybe in the dark; you have “shut thy door” (Matt. 6:6), and you are shut in with the Lord of heaven and earth, your Creator and Savior. His Son has programmed this intimate appointment just for the two—the Father and you.

You may object—“but there’s selfishness and sin in my heart!” Okay, but let Him cleanse it out. He will!

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

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Friday evening, as we watched the sun go down in glory, we were deeply thankful that we knew the holy Sabbath day was being ushered in.

It was 80 years ago that I was a pre-teen in Sunday School, listening to our teacher ask us to memorize the ten commandments so we could repeat them next Sunday. I was an obedient child and I did what she told us to do.

But I was struck by the term “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.” Looking at the calendar on the wall, I was perplexed; Sunday was obviously the first day of the week!

I asked the teacher next Sunday “Why?” She said she didn’t know; but Dr. Campbell, our pastor who drove that beautiful new 1926 Buick, seemed to think it was all right and all the other churches were coming to church on Sunday—it had to be all right.

That satisfied me for a time.

Then someone told me that the reason why we observe the first day instead of the seventh was that the Roman Catholic Church had changed the day.

That did it for me—when I checked out the evidence, I found it was true.

To this day I thank the dear Lord for giving me the grace to say “Yes!” to the call of the Holy Spirit, to receive the Sabbath truth in my teenage years.

I became the only Sabbath-keeping boy in my public high school; I endured the snickering of my fellow classmates when they saw me walking through town on my way to the dinky little Seventh-day Adventist Church on Saturday morning dressed in my Sunday clothes; and the girl whom I secretly liked who played the piano so beautifully for me when I played Massenet’s Thais on the violin—of course she had no sympathy for “Saturday keeping.”

My trials in teenage Sabbath-keeping were not as severe as some teens have had to endure; but I thank the Lord today for His grace in leading me in my teenage years. My Presbyterian pastor offered to help me financially in college if I would forget this crazy “Saturday business.” In my senior year in high school I was offered two scholarships to universities (having won an academic contest); I turned them down, and went instead to a little tiny Seventh-day Adventist junior college where I began the process of working at 24 jobs to work my way through six years of college, training to be a missionary.

All I can say today is, “Thank the dear Lord for His much more abounding grace” (Rom. 5:20, 21). If any teen reads this, let me encourage you: give your heart and your life to that dear Lord who died for you!

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

We can never forget that the Lord Jesus is one of us; He is the divine Son of God, with all the attributes of divinity; but at the same time He is the Son of man, one with us for eternity. He “took” on His unfallen, divine nature our fallen, sinful nature. He loves us dearly, as His own.

Now, does the Lord Jesus, being divine, have a sense of time as we humans have? Is one of our days like a thousand years to Him, and vice versa? So, could it be that He doesn’t care how much longer time goes on?

Well, He says clearly that there will be an “end of the world”! When His disciples asked Him, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matt. 24:3), He answered their question directly, thereby making the statement that time will NOT go on and on ad infinitum.

And being one of us, forever human with us as well as divine forever, Jesus shares with us our weariness with the on-and-on passage of sinful, painful time with all the suffering there is in the world. Isaiah 63 describes His feelings, “In all their affliction, He was [is] afflicted.” There is no pain that any of us on earth feel that He does not have to share with us.

YES! A thousand times over, Jesus wants this reign of sin and suffering to end in the glad establishment of His everlasting kingdom on the earth made new.

And there is another reason why He wants the end to come soon: the end of sin and suffering will usher in the glorious “marriage of the Lamb.” As a Bridegroom, He longs for His wedding to come.

The reason? He is in love with the church as a man loves a woman; no one person could be the Bride of the infinite Son of God; but when He left His throne and His status as the infinite Son of God to come down here to save this fallen race of humans, His love for us was more than your love for your pets; when you love your dog, you have not become a dog. But He became one of us whom He loved; He joined our family.

And the reason why we want Him to come soon is not because we are hungry for our “reward” and we have these acquisitive feelings for the joys of heaven; we want the divine Son of God to receive His reward!

Why this special love for Him?

Why does this desire for Him to receive His reward transcend our desire for our own reward? There has to be a special reason why we, so naturally egocentric as we are, to be able to realize this unusually non-egocentric desire for Him:

We have come to realize that when He “poured out His soul unto death” for us (Isa. 53:12), it was the second, not the first that He experienced. It was saying “Goodbye!” to life forever—the embracing of the darkness of hell in His love for us.

There are not enough words to tell it.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The economic meltdown is frightening to many people. I know some who desperately need just a little money in order to survive what may come.

What I think of is a passage in Isaiah: “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

“He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure ...” (33:14-16).

I don’t know how Isaiah could any more clearly speak of TV.

Any fiction in TV or movies is to be eschewed, and especially that which consists of violence.

Beware of the “love” of violence! The Lord has said something very severe about it: “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth” (Psalm 11:5).

A violent movie on TV may be exciting for youth to watch; but what the Lord virtually says is, “You love violence? I will have to let you have what you love; I won’t deliver you from it in fact when it comes.”

To watch a violent movie involves a hardening of the heart; it is always inevitable. And a hardened heart will not find entrance into the Lord’s New Jerusalem, the City of peace.

I once gave Bible studies in a family where there was some welcome for them; but the papa in the family was not interested. I tried to interest him, but he was cold. His pastime? Pulling the wings off flies!

A tiny little bit of violence? I believe it had its dire effect on his soul.

Outside of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, are those who “love and make a lie” (Rev. 22:15). In simple language, that means “fiction.”

Let us plead with the dear Lord to give us a love for truth!

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

As the sun rises for another day, it looks down upon billions of people, each created in the image of God, each redeemed by the blood of the Son of God, but so few who understand His great sacrifice. The world is dark with misapprehension of God. And the statistics tell us that the percentage of Christians to world population is steadily shrinking. People who are wiser and more thoughtful than I am wonder how the gospel can ever be effectively proclaimed to these billions.

But as surely as the run rises upon the earth this morning, so surely does “the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings,” says Malachi (4:2). That is, to “those who fear [His] name,” and they are many. Christ is “the light that shineth in darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it” (John 1:5). He is “the true Light, which lighteth every person that cometh into the world” (vs. 9).

If I feel a burden for these billions who misapprehend God, how much more did the apostle Paul feel the same burden: “How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent ... that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!?” (Rom. 10:14,15).

Great questions! But Paul says there is a soul-winning ministry going on that we don’t know about: “Have they not heard? Yes verily.” Then Paul quotes Psalm 19:4 where David directly compares the sunrise with the light of the gospel that shines—no, that’s not the word— reflected (that’s better). Everyone who will look, who “fears His name,” can find today some evidence of the love of God for lost souls.

You and I are not headlights; but we can be like the reflectors on bicycles that glow in the dark when even a little light shines on them. And you, one of earth’s billions, can light someone’s path today with that reflected light from the Sun of righteousness. Then when evening comes you can be happy!

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Our “father” Abraham was an unusual person. His neighbors and relatives and friends were mystified by him.

They all knew that he was immensely wealthy, that he could well afford to build himself a magnificent palace to live in; but instead, he chose to spend the rest of his life living in a tent!

The Bible story is this: “By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles [tents] with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise” (Heb. 11:9).

That’s a surprising thing for any fabulously wealthy man to do—choose to live in a tent all his life! What was the “promise”?

“He looked for a City which hath foundations, whose builder and Maker is God” (vs. 10).

Abraham wanted to bear witness to the world of his day, and yes to the world of all ages since, of two truths:

(a) There is not a city in the world today that has “foundations” like the New Jerusalem. No city but that one will be left standing after the seven last plagues.

(b) Abraham anticipated what the Lord Jesus later said, “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life” (John 6:27).

(c) So, why waste your life energies investing in what at the last will prove to be worthless?

(d) Does this mean that the Lord wants all of us to live in tents today, because our “father Abraham” chose to live that way?

No, for Abraham’s choice was symbolic; he was “the father of the faithful.” But the dear Lord wants us to use sanctified common sense: knowing that we are living in the last days of Christ’s ministry in the Most Holy, it’s good common sense that we live simply and economically. We don’t want anyone to accuse us in the final judgment day of being selfish and arrogant; Jesus loves the wealthy believers, but He also dwells in the modest, humble home where His name is revered.

We want Him to feel at home as a Guest of honor in our homes today. “Having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into many foolish and hurtful lusts. ...” (1 Tim. 6:8, 9).

Let’s keep our eyes open, looking for the New Jerusalem “which hath foundations.”

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Do you like to fight battles? Or do you like to run away from them? Many wonderful Christian people, members of the church, want peace so much that they refuse to get down in the arena where battles for the Lord must be fought. To tell the truth, they’d rather watch TV than study for themselves to know the truth about the issues in the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

But Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith,” and Jude says that we “should contend [earnestly] for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” for there are “certain men crept in unawares” who seek to corrupt that faith (vss. 3. 4). And Jesus tells us quite clearly, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matt. 10:34-36).

Wow! Is this what it means to follow Christ?

“But,” says someone, “surely this doesn’t apply to conflicts WITHIN the church!?? The world is full of controversy; I go to church so I can find a place of rest and peace!”

Well, I must tell the truth. Revelation 12:17 says that the dragon, the devil, in these last days, is “wroth” with the true church, and has gone to make war with the remnant church, where his most fearful strategy is to make war within the church against the pure, true gospel of Jesus. If Satan can corrupt THAT, he hopes yet to win the war against Christ. So Peter’s advice is exactly what we need today: “Be sober, be vigilant.” “Resist” him “steadfast in the faith” (1 Peter 5:8, 9).

But please be sure that you have your wits about you; that word “sober” means to think carefully lest you end up “resisting” the true work of the Holy Spirit! If you do THAT, you’ve crossed that line beyond which repentance is impossible. The stakes in the great controversy are high; the only place where you can avoid the battle is the grave. And please don’t choose to go there! Get on your knees; study; learn; stay awake; “watch”; and stand “for the right though the heavens fall,” says one wise writer.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Abraham has won his undying fame not because of any “work” which he did, but because he believed that something that was obviously “dead” would live immediately (pre-day-of-resurrection) because of the promise of the Lord. And that was his “dead” sexual powers to sire offspring.

“Abraham believed God, and it [his faith] was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3).

But what was it that he believed?

“Against hope [he] believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be” (vs. 18).

The normal unbelief of all mankind (in the face of God’s promise) ridiculed the idea that anyone as old as he was could function sexually and sire offspring; he was “dead.”

But God had said “I have made thee a father of many nations,” past-present tense. It’s already been done! (vs. 17). Nothing physical “told” Abraham that it was true; he had nothing to depend on except the naked promise of God which unbelief said was foolhardy. But chose to believe!

It was an effort of choice that Abraham made to believe what God had said when everything looked impossible.

And not only was Abraham called to believe that his own “dead” body could sire offspring; there was “the deadness of Sarah’s womb”(vs. 19) to be confronted. Abraham had to believe for himself and then he also had to believe for her! “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (vs. 20).

The entire unfallen universe marveled at his faith and glorified God because of it. They rejoiced that now it was proven for all to see, that fallen, sinful, naturally unbelieving man, can overcome and can think and believe in harmony with the mind of God.

The salvation of the fallen human race was assured now!

I’d like to be there when the resurrected Adam meets the Life-giver, and I would like to hear the Lord Jesus tell him, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

You too, want to learn to believe the promises the Lord makes to you!

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Dial Daily Bread

What did Jesus Christ accomplish for the world?

Did He DO something for us?

Or did He merely make an OFFER to do something for us, provided ... , or if ... ??

The Samaritans were right when they declared Him to be “the Savior of the world” (John 4:42). He already is—not might be, or maybe, or perhaps, or if ...

And yet it’s the honest truth that the great majority of earth’s inhabitants do not receive Him as their Savior—at least not yet.

Romans 5 has the answer: the Lord Jesus accomplished for “all men” a “judicial verdict of acquittal” which makes it possible for the heavenly Father to treat every man as though he had not sinned (vss. 15-21; cf. NEB). This is because Christ died for the world; anything that happened on the cross is universal; the thief who was crucified with Jesus was promised “today” a place in the Lord’s eternal kingdom (Luke 23:43). So will everyone be promised “today,” who comes to Jesus and repents and makes of Him the same request.

That involves humbling your heart, to put yourself in the thief’s place! But it’s worth it. —Robert J. Wieland

Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Another question that perplexes people is how to understand Galatians
5:17 which says: “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit
against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other, so that
ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Everybody knows about this
unending conflict. The “flesh” is our fallen, sinful nature that all
humans inherit from the fallen Adam which is in constant war against
the Holy Spirit. Everything that the Holy Spirit inspires us to believe
or to do, the flesh resists, 24 hours a day. The “flesh” per se never
gets converted; the heart is converted, and we can receive “the mind of
Christ,” but the “flesh” stays fallen until Jesus comes.

There are two ways that this verse is understood: (a) the flesh is
stronger than the Spirit, so that means you cannot do the good things
that you want to do. Those who take this dismal view see Romans 7:15-17
as a comment on it, where Paul says “What I would, that do I not; but
what I hate, that do I.” If Paul teaches us that the Holy Spirit is not
as strong as our sinful flesh, can you think of any worse News than
that? Surely that shouldn’t be called “Good News”!

But there is (b) which understands Paul as saying that the Holy Spirit
is 24 hours a day “striving” against the flesh; and if we “walk with
the Holy Spirit” (Gal. 6:16), then we CANNOT do the evil things our
sinful flesh constantly prompts us to do! The Holy Spirit wins the
battle 24/7.

The context of Paul’s sad comment in Romans 7 is 8:1-4; don’t skip it!

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The question haunts Christians everywhere: “Is it easy or is it hard to
be saved? Are we correctly representing the Lord Jesus if we tell
people that following Jesus is the difficult way to choose?” Many
people, especially youth, have somehow gained the impression that to be
a genuine, true Christian is the hardest thing anybody can do, and for
sure Jesus tells us we must “strive to enter through the narrow gate”
(Luke 13:22), and we must “compete” as “in athletics” (2 Tim. 2:5), and
according to the NIV in Matt. 7:14 Jesus said His way is “difficult ”
(the KJV says “narrow,” and that is the correct meaning of the Greek
word there; it is not “difficult”).

On the other hand, Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30 that His “yoke is
easy,” and His “burden is light.”

Who are we to believe--those who represent Jesus as telling us His way
is “difficult,” or those who tell us He says His yoke is easy and His
burden light? The two positions are as far apart as the east is from
the west.

There is a mountain in the West that had a steep road going up. Model
T’s had trouble climbing it, they found it “difficult.” No one could
honestly deny that the road up Pike’s Peak was “difficult.”

But if someone installed a V-8 engine in the Ford, it could zip up the
mountain road with “ease.” Is the missing factor our lack of
understanding what Paul calls “the truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:5, 14)?


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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

All who have awakened spiritually to comprehend something of the great
controversy that rages between Christ and Satan, are disturbed. They
are concerned as they see that same great controversy raging in the
hearts of loved ones. Maybe it’s their children who are caught up in
the rebellion against Christ that permeates the teenage world. The
battles night and day are as intense as the struggle Christ had to
endure in Gethsemane when He threw Himself on the ground sweating drops
of blood. In His agony He sobbed as He prayed, “O My Father, if it is
possible, let this cup [My coming cross] pass from Me.” Then as the
hours dragged by, in agony of soul He cried, “Nevertheless, not as I
will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39).

That was the destiny hour of the world, yes of the universe itself:
should He let Satan win? It wasn’t the physical torture that He
dreaded, no; it was the horror of hell. Not the Fahrenheit temperature
of the lake of fire, no; eternal separation from life and light,
eternal exile from the smile of His Father. (I read in yesterday’s
paper of a criminal facing 40 years in solitary confinement; “it’s
hell,” he wailed in court.) The human soul of Jesus, yes, His divine
soul, recoiled from the anguish that is the essence of
hell--self-condemnation to the uttermost (He was in process of being
“made to be sin for us who knew no sin,” 2 Cor. 5:21).

If your teens are going wild beyond your control, question: have they
seen those same tears in your eyes? Have you done what those wonderful
disciples of Christ did not do--“watch with [Him] one hour” in
Gethsemane (Matt. 26:40)?

We teach our little children to sing “Jesus loves me, this I know,” and
they are so sweet; but all they can do is sleep through Gethsemane.

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

The question came up in a Bible class: “Why does the Bible say that
‘God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself,’ when the world
has not been reconciled to Him? It’s still in rebellion against Him?”
(2 Cor. 5:19).

That’s profound! If we say that the world was legally “reconciled” by
Christ’s sacrifice on His cross (that’s when “God was in Christ,
reconciling the world”), then the question comes up: “What does it mean
to be ‘legally reconciled’ when experientially the world is not
reconciled?”

(1) If the alienated world were honest and understood what Christ
accomplished, it would be reconciled because that revelation of the
justice and love of God “in Christ” was complete. No lingering question
was left: Christ’s self-emptying love was so total that He “poured out
His soul unto death” (Isa. 53:12), “emptied Himself” like you drain an
empty bottle dry (Phil. 2:7), “tasted death for every man” (cf. Heb.
2:9), and in that way He died the “second death” for the entire world
(cf. Rev. 2:11; 20:14). Therefore He is not “imputing [our] trespasses
unto [us]” (2 Cor. 5:19 again).

(2) That’s enough to “reconcile” any alienated person who is honest!
Therefore, it was an “objective” reconciliation accomplished; the truth
is there waiting for any honest person to see it and believe, and in
that way “BE reconciled.”

(3) The “subjective” reconciliation takes place in the next verse when
you and I “beseech” people, “ministering THE WORD of reconciliation,”
pleading, “Be YE reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). The “legal” or
“objective” reconciliation then becomes “subjective,” or
“experiential.”

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

It’s an enormous cataclysm of humanity that has taken place over the
past 26 years. It amounts to the greatest spiritual earthquake since
the sixteenth century, when the Protestant Reformation swept through
Europe and dominated the beginnings of the American Revolution. The
Founding Forefathers of this nation vowed to establish here a
government without a king, and to have a church without a pope. George
Washington strongly opposed any infiltration of the papacy in the
affairs of the new nation. The only Roman Catholic president ever
elected bent over backwards in his insistence not to mix his religion
with his political leadership of the nation; he was heart-dedicated to
the American Constitutional principle of religious liberty and
separation of church and state. He vowed not to let his church
influence his political leadership.

The current outpouring of national adoration for John Paul II has been
phenomenal. The once Protestant nation has become overwhelmingly Roman
Catholic in public sentiment. It can be safely said that never has any
nation in history so reversed itself within one generation. A world
wonders.

Meanwhile, beyond all excitement and glitter of pomp and wealth, the
words of the Bible quietly speak to those who reverence its message.
Never has the book of Revelation spoken more eloquently than now. Now
note the next cataclysmic event to absorb world attention: the message
of that “other angel” of 18:1-4 that must and will “lighten the earth
with glory.”

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

Have you ever been tempted to doubt you belong in God’s house? Does He
consider you a homeless outsider? When you feel sinful and unworthy and
have fallen short, you wonder. One day a Bible writer (who, we don’t
know!), came to the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem feeling guilty and
unworthy to enter in. Then he saw a sight that encouraged him: a little
sparrow had made its home in some little nook or cranny in the most
holy section of the Temple, right near the sacred altar. There it was,
twittering in joy, laying its eggs and rearing its young in that part
of Solomon’s glorious temple where even the ordinary priests had no
permission to enter! In fact, only the great high priest of Israel was
permitted to enter that twice-sacred spot, and that on only one day in
the entire year. And there was the little sparrow, totally unconcerned
about the stay-away rules of Leviticus, confident of a welcome in the
house of the Lord!

Then the poet wrote Psalm 84: “How lovely is Your dwelling place, O
Lord, Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord.
. . . Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for
herself, where she may have her young, a place near your altar, O Lord
Almighty, my King and my God” (vss. 1, 3, 4).

It is possible that Jesus had that poem in mind when He told the
disciples, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them
will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even
the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you
are worth more than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:29, 30). If you own a home
and if your soul is generous, you will enjoy making visitors feel
welcome. It will be fun for you. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid, little
flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke
12:32). That word translated “pleased” means that it’s fun for the
Father to do that! He enjoys welcoming sinners to His house. It’s
constantly “open house” night and day. “The Spirit and the Bride say,
Come!” (Rev. 22:17). Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and
burdened” (Matt. 11:28). “Burdened” with what? More than carrying sacks
of cement or office work! “Burdened” with sin, convictions of
selfishness, vain regrets.

“Blessed [happy] are those who dwell in Your house” (Psalm 84:4). You
are invited; come as you are, don’t try to dress up first. For once the
Pharisees were right, “This Man welcomes sinners!” (Luke 15:2).

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

What Paul Tells Us in Galatians
(A Bible Study)

1. He warns against a false gospel opposed to “the truth of the gospel”
(1:6-12; 2:5, 14).

2. Paul’s understanding of that “truth” forced him to contend with the
leadership of the church of his day. His understanding was more clear
than that of the apostle Peter, or James (1:16-20; 2:12-14).

3. The “all men” who are sinners are not put right with God by any good
thing they can do, but “by the faith of Jesus” (2:15-19).

4. Honest human hearts identify with Christ on His cross. As with Him,
the natural result is: self is crucified. The slightest taint of
legalism “frustrates the grace of God” and denies the cross (2:20, 21).

5. The alternative to “the truth of the gospel” has to become a form of
Spiritualism. “The hearing of faith” is a heart-appreciation of the
Good News in the gospel; it works miracles (2:1-5).

6. All believing humans repeat the experience of Abraham’s unbelief
followed by his learning to believe (2:6-14).

7. “The curse” of the law is not obedience to it but disobedience.
Christ’s experience on His cross was that “curse,” the horror of our
second death (3:10-14).

8. The law was written in stone because of Israel’s old covenant
unbelief; but that does not invalidate God’s promise in the new
covenant to write it in the heart (3:16-21).

9. The law written in old covenant stone served as a policeman driving
Israel under legalism until they should come back to Abraham’s
experience of justification by faith (3:22-29).

10. All who live under a sense of condemnation and fear are like the
barefoot boy bossed about by slaves on the ranch, while born to be the
heir of the estate (4:1-3).

11. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception denies the truth of Christ’s
full genetic identity with our fallen human race, which is necessary
for true redemption from sin (4:4-7).

12. “The third angel’s message in verity” is the full liberating truth
of the new covenant (4:16-31).

13. Salvation by faith cannot be understood unless faith is understood
as that which “works by love [agape]” (5:1-6).

14. Proclaiming “the truth of the gospel” always brings persecution on
its proclaimer (5:11, 12).

15. The genuine liberty inherent in true faith never produces license
(5:13, 14).

16. The Holy Spirit is stronger than the “flesh” with all its sinful
addictions. Therefore, if one understands and believes Paul’s “truth of
the gospel,” he finds it easy to be saved and hard to be lost (5:16-18;
compare Matt. 11:28-30; Acts 26:14).

17. To “walk in the Spirit” is to believe He is holding on to your
hand, not vice versa (5:18-25; compare Isa. 41:10, 13).

18. We cannot truly help someone else unless we can sincerely put
ourselves in his place (“there but for the grace of God go I”) (6:1-6).

19. The final mark of the beast will be “persecution for the cross of
Christ.” “The truth of the gospel” as it is in Galatians will
therefore be part of the final “loud cry” that will lighten the earth
with glory (6:12, 13).

20. To understand and believe this gospel of the cross delivers one
from captivity to worldliness in all its forms (6:14).

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

“Israel has the right to defend herself,” is the mantra we hear continually. Hence the pulverization of a neighbor, including (inevitably) some innocent civilians.

The “right” rests on the time-honored universal “right” bestowed by military conquest. We Americans have often boasted that “we” didn’t conquer our land “from sea to shining sea” militarily; it dropped into our lap. But sober historians have concluded that “we” didn’t treat the Indians right. If Mexicans were to fire missiles into California, we would “have the right to defend ourselves” (says the mantra, but let’s hope, not by pulverizing Mexico), but do we have a divine right to the land on which we live?

In the little village where I live there are still seen the hollow places in the rock which the Indians carved out for grinding their corn when they lived here peacefully. There is a deed to my little plot stored in the county courthouse, but can I claim it as a “divine right”? No; the best I can claim is that it is “mine” only by the much more abounding grace of the Creator/Savior (and then only temporally).

There are honest, God-fearing individuals on both sides of the tragic conflict engulfing the Middle East. They can’t help but read the Gospel of John which quotes the official political (and religious) leadership of the nation of the Jews who solemnly, in the personal presence of the Son of God, their Messiah, deliberately declared, “We have no king but Caesar” (19:15), thus renouncing political statehood. Paul goes to great lengths to prove that God never “cast away His people” (Rom. 11:2, ff), and that His “gifts and calling are without repentance” (29); but the truth is, they cast themselves off. God didn’t do it.

Can He somehow acquaint these warring factions with the self-humbling truths that would make living-together-in-peace possible? (Both sides would be deeply humbled.) If so, it would be the most stupendous miracle God has done since Christ’s raising Lazarus (ch. 11). You say, “??”

Careful! God is still in the business of working miracles. He needs “Elijah.”

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Dial Daily Bread

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":

When we talk about “child evangelism,” what do we mean? Merely
persuading children to profess to be Christians? Nominal church
members? Go through the rite of baptism? Have their names on a record
book? The temptations to life-hypocrisy today are enormous.

Jesus was a child of 12 when He witnessed His first Passover. Like all
children, He wondered what the killing of the Passover lamb meant. No
one could help Him, not even His mother. But His sinless mind was
gradually able to grasp the truth--the blood of billions of Passover
lambs could not wash away even one human sin. He sensed the meaning of
Psalm 40:6-8, “Lo, I come . . . to do Thy will, O God.” Someone holy,
undefiled, must give Himself to be “the Lamb of God.”

Through His young human soul there surged a great desire: “O Father,
let Me be the world’s ‘Passover Lamb’!” From that moment, the
divine/human Messiah in His childhood grew to be absorbed “in [His]
Father’s business” (Luke 2:49). John the Baptist caught Christ’s total
consecration at the age of 30 when he cried out, “Behold the Lamb of
God!” (John 1:29).

The age of 12 is still very significant. The Holy Spirit today is often
forced to by-pass older people because they quickly become full of
themselves and stay that way; children are sensitive to the call of
heaven to give themselves to the One who gave Himself for them--if only
someone can be humble enough to step aside and let Christ be revealed
to them.

May God give you and me the grace to reveal Him as He is in His agape
love, to children.

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