Dial Daily Bread: How Much Does God Love You, Personally?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

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

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

(1) Your Savior takes you by the arm to lead you “in the paths of righteousness” (Psalm 23:3). He actually takes you by your hand and says, Come, let’s go to happiness! He loves you like a father loves a little son who is just learning to walk. Read it in Hosea 11:3, 4: “I taught Ephraim [My people] to walk, taking them by their arms; … I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love.” No, He doesn’t force you; but He does everything possible short of it. If you don’t refuse, He will be to you the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23.

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

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

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

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

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 20, 2003.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Best Good News You Will Ever Hear From the Lips of Jesus

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The best Good News you will ever hear comes from the lips of Jesus when He says, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). In the Greek Old Testament used in the days of Christ (LXX), that word "rest" is used continually to describe what one gets in keeping the Sabbath. Why is this true? Because His presence is in the Sabbath. At a time when Moses was afraid to face each new day with its problems, the Lord promised him, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" (Ex. 33:14).

When we keep the Sabbath holy, when we cherish that precious gift He gave us from the Garden of Eden, as each Sabbath steals upon us with the setting of the sun Friday evening, we enter anew into the presence of Jesus. On that day He meets with us in a special way. Yes, He is with us every day, but He is with us in the program of work. He says, "Six days you shall labor and do all your work" (Ex. 20:9). So, in the market place, the factory, the school, the office, wherever we go about our labor on "the six working days" (Ezek. 46:1), the Lord is with us in a working capacity. He Himself was a carpenter.

So we work with Him side by side these six working days. But on the Sabbath, Jesus lays down His tools, closes His carpenter shop, and goes to the house of God with other people who also "come" in response to His invitation, and we rest "with Him." He teaches us; He comforts us; He encourages us; each new Sabbath day we "learn from Him," for He says, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me" (Matt. 11:29). We learn more and more about who He is, what it cost Him to save us, why He had to die on a cross. And our souls are knit with His soul, we become one with Him, His joy fills our hearts. And then comes verse 30: "My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

The joy of keeping holy the Sabbath day of rest is not merely physical rest (good as that is!), but the rest of soul; a day of heaven on earth. That wonderful word "rest" means rest from self, rest from anxiety. It's what the Bible speaks of as "justification by faith." You won't want to miss this precious gift!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 31, 1998.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Only Way the Holy Spirit Can Reach the Heart of the One You Are Praying For

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

When you think of Elijah the prophet, you think of a towering personality bossing King Ahab around like he was a child. The prophet stood alone before a huge crowd on Mount Carmel, and his prayer brought heaven's endorsement in fire flashing from heaven.

But wait a moment. Think also of Elijah's humiliation, his years of apparently unanswered prayers up in the mountains of Tish as he pleaded for Israel's repentance, all apparently in vain. The Lord had given him an understanding of truth, but it brought him pain as he was forced to watch his beloved Israel sink ever deeper in the horrible morass of Baal-worship. It seems that a precious knowledge of God's truth always brings pain to God's servant who must watch his people turn from it.

No one knows how many years Elijah spent in such apparently fruitless prayer, denying himself also in fasting. Finally the Lord invited Elijah to share the "Revelation 3:21" experience: "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne ..." Come Elijah, you have the good of My Israel on your heart. What do yousay we do for them, to save them from utter ruin?

As we study the story, it seems that the 3-1/2 years of drought was Elijah's idea (James 5:17, 18). This drastic step was the only way the nation could be awakened to reality. (Yes, Elijah agreed with what James says when he told King Ahab there would no rain until he himself, unworthy as he may have been, gave the order for heaven to send it, "except at myword"; 1 Kings 17:1.)

As the weary 42 months dragged by and all vegetation gradually dried up, the lone but sorrowful prophet was forced to watch the people suffer and some children die; he survived only by a little water trickling through the Brook Cherith, and food the ravens brought him. And when even that brook dried up, the Lord sent him to the widow of Zarephath in pagan Sidon (giving Jesus a magnificent story to tell the people of Nazareth, Luke 4:25, 26).

You too may have sincere prayers lifted heavenward daily for the good of someone else. Elijah never stopped praying, but he also let the Lord show him what to doto bring about an answer to his prayers.

Yes, pray; but such prayer may not be enough. Ask the Lord to deepen your knowledge of His gospel, especially that "everlasting" one of Revelation 14:6, 7, which is the only way the Holy Spirit can reach the heart of your beloved one you are praying for. Come, sit with the Lord on His throne. It takes more than fasting and prayer--it takes study and understanding to be at-one with Him.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 7, 2008.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Moses’ Tragic Mistake—And an Update on Fred Bischoff

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

First, the update: We have received word that Fred is doing very well. A friend talked to him on the phone, and she said he spoke to her like “his old self.” Fred told her that the surgery went well, and an MRI showed that the surgeons removed all the cancer. Fred is now on the road to recovery, and is working with his doctors on a plan of treatment.

Thank you for all your prayers. We believe that this is a blessed example of God’s agape in answering prayer. We will now be able to send your messages to Fred. Thank you again.

___________________________

Moses’ Tragic Mistake

Have you ever lost your temper in a momentary trial of your patience? Well, poor Moses did. And it wasn't when he was a young man. The tragic mistake came in his old age. Now Moses may not have felt "old" like people do today, for we read that at the time of his death at the age of 120 "his eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor abated" (Deut. 34:7).

But it was at the end, not the beginning, of Israel's 40 years of wandering for their unbelief that Moses' patience gave way. Maybe his physical and mental stamina was a bit weakened by then. The "straw that broke the camel's back" in his case was the cynical cry of the rebellious people, blaming him for lack of water. "Hear now, you rebels!" he cried out. "Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” (Num. 20:10). Then in his fit of temper, he struck the rock twice with his rod instead of once, thus destroying the accuracy of the ceremony which symbolized the death of Christ.

What Moses had done was to teach that Christ must die twice for the sins of the world, and he took to himself (Moses did) the glory for producing water out of a dry rock. God loved Moses; the man was very special. But his public sin of losing his temper made it impossible for Moses to lead Israel at last into their Promised Land. "Because you did not believe me, ... you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them" (vs. 12).

It's not only old people, but young people too have this same test of impatience. It seems severe for the Lord to sentence Moses to die for such an apparently "innocent" sin of momentary impatience. But Moses must be a teacher for succeeding generations as well; no matter how high we have been in the favor of God, a sin of impatience is serious. But the root of their sin was not merely being angry (even God sometimes is angry, and several times Moses experienced "righteous indignation"). The problem, said the Lord, was Moses' unbelief. "Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, ..." the Lord said to both Moses and Aaron.

It is impossible for you and me to lose our temper so long as we believe the word of the Lord! Whatever the trial that tempts you to impatience, a choice to believe the promises of God will every time deliver you from sin.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: July 17, 2000.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Devil Made Me Do It?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Bible prophecy is clear: we have come to Daniel's "time of the end" (11:35; 12:4), to the "last days" Paul describes (2 Tim. 3:1), to when "the end will come" that Jesus speaks of (Matt. 24:14).

Yes, "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was" (Dan. 12:1). But it will also be a time of lighting "the earth with ... glory" such as has never been because God will prepare a people all over the world to stand at Christ's second coming. It will be the time when God's people shall be delivered from fear. The righteousness of Christ will clothe them, and so clothed, they cannot be afraid any more than Christ was afraid when He was among us and faced the raging tempest (Matt. 8:26), or the wild men of the Gadarenes (vs. 28).

Deliverance from fear "in Christ" will be a glorious blessing; but even now we can learn to receive such deliverance from fear.

This is accomplished through understanding how close Christ is to us, says Hebrews 2:9-15: "We see Jesus, ... that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. ... Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy [paralyze, Greek] ... the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

Note: eventually, Christ will destroy Satan; but for now, He paralyzes [Greek, makes ineffective] the one who has "the power of death." We are "the children" who "have partaken of flesh and blood" now; and we do have a mortal enemy; but Christ has "shot" our enemy with a tranquilizer that paralyzes him, so we do not need to be afraid of him.

The common excuse that we give for falling into sin is a false one, "the devil made me do it." The devil cannot force us to do one wrong thing! Temptation to sin may be fierce but the much more abounding grace of Christ is far stronger. The key truth involved here in learning to overcome fear is that in His incarnation Christ " likewise shared in the same ... flesh and blood" that we have received from our fallen "head," Adam. Thus we realize that we are united with Christ; His faith becomes ours; His fearlessness also becomes ours. There is no need to fear a paralyzed enemy!

Over and over the Lord tells us, "Don't be afraid!" In fact (and I speak softly and reverently) it's a sin to be afraid; it implies that there is unbelief buried or woven into our so-called "faith." And unbelief is the sin of the ages, the last sin to be overcome on planet earth.

But we can overcome it! And we must overcome it, and for all those who "follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (cf. Rev. 14:1-6--God will have such a people!) there is that blessed gift of freedom from fear.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 27, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daiy Bread: The Prophetic Drama Is Starkly Simple

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

During the greater part of two centuries there has been a group of Christians who see in the Bible a vast cosmic "controversy" between Christ and Satan--Christ in Daniel is spotlighted as "the Son of man," and in Revelation as "the Lamb." World history is symbolized by seven angels sounding "seven trumpets." Under the sixth, Islam is pictured as a torment and torture to apostate Western Christianity, but not as gaining a final ascendancy over it.

Under the seventh trumpet God's love is highlighted in a final message of mercy and warning for "every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" just before the second coming of "the Son of man." Revelation 14 introduces the final scene as a conflict between the pure, true "everlasting gospel" and a massive counterfeit known as "Babylon." The prophetic drama is starkly simple; even a child can grasp its overall significance. The special enlightenment of the Holy Spirit is what God solemnly promises to anyone who will seek to understand (see Dan. 12:4, 10; Rev. 1:1-3).

The mysterious machinations of Islamic terrorism are seen in Revelation as simple compared with the subtle religious deceptions foisted on the world by "Babylon." It will all end with a final confrontation between "the mark of the beast" and "the seal of God."

But there is great Good News: (a) a "remnant" "follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (Rev. 14:4); (b) their "names [are] ... written in the Book of Life of the Lamb" (13:8); and (c) "those who are with Him [the Lamb, on His side] are called, chosen, and faithful" (17:14).

What does it take to be in that blessed group? You "survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died"; your heart is moved by His agape (He died your second death). As His love motivates you, self is crucified with Him. You can't help but live to His glory.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 6, 2001.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Greatest Election Ever--God Is Voting for You

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

All along the road that leads to death there are pains and penalties, sorrows and disappointments, and warnings not to go on, but God's agapehas made it hard for the heedless and headstrong to destroy themselves. More than this, by the Holy Spirit the Savior is sitting beside each of us as we travel down that Freeway in the wrong direction, constantly nudging us to get into the right lane and take that blessed exit ramp to life eternal. His job is to be a parakletos, "one called to the side of" us and to constantly "convict" us of "sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8, New International Version). He will never tire of His job or leave us to our perverse ways unless we beat Him off.

An old song says something true:

And once again the scene was changed, 
new earth there seemed to be; 
I saw the Holy City beside the tideless sea.

The light of God was on its streets, 
its gates were opened wide, 
And all who would might enter, 
and no one was denied.
--The Holy City, by Fredrick Weatherly, 1892

In other words, God is voting for you.He has elected us all to be saved. Our job is to say, Yes, to believe, to let our hearts be softened by the sweet influence of the Holy Spirit, to show appreciation for the love by which we were redeemed.

Remember, the Lord is a Divine Gentleman. He will not force Himself on anyone who doesn't like Him and doesn't want Him around. He cannot use coercion. If He forced all to be saved, many would be miserable in an environment where the prevailing spirit is heartfelt gratitude to the Lamb for His sacrifice. If by accident one rebel found himself in the City, he would head for the nearest exit.

When you see what happened at the cross, the kind of love that pushed Christ to do what He did, all this talk about it being hard to obey, hard to give all to Him, hard to surrender, hard to persevere, becomes silly. It's only our pathetic blindness in the face of the greatest Light that ever shown in all eternity that makes us imagine for a moment that we are sacrificing anything when we give all for Christ. For one who accepts God's Good News, obedience that once may have seemed impossible becomes now a joyous principle.

Something will be accomplished that has never been done since time began: a people from all over the world will be prepared to be ready for Christ's glorious appearing. There will be no faces downcast with shame in that vast throng. To have let the Lord do something for them,and in them,will be looked upon as their greatest joy.

--Robert J. Wieland

From:The Good News Is Better Than You Think, 2018.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Does the World Know What Christ Accomplished?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The towering and "wondrous cross" of Christ is the great truth around which all truths mankind can know are clustered. It validates the prophecies of Daniel, which in turn validates the prophecies of Revelation. All that makes any sense in world history finds its focal point in that cross. Its truth is proclaimed in every seed which is cast into the earth and grows: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. ... This He said, signifying by what death He would die" (John 12:24-33).

By His sacrifice in which "He poured out His soul unto death" (Isa. 53:12) Jesus has won the hearts of honest people everywhere. He has ascended His throne not by military conquest but by the power of love (agape). He did the unthinkable: He died the second death, which "every man" has earned for himself (Heb. 2:9; Phil. 2:5-8; Gal. 3:13).

But does the world know what He accomplished? Two millennia after He demonstrated His love in His life and death, does mankind know and understand? Since "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," shouldn't people everywhere know the reality of that truth?

Take for example the Muslim world of a billion souls: the faith of Jesus has been distorted and misrepresented to them. The history of the Crusades still rankles in their hearts, and the Crusades were a distortion of that genuine love of Christ. The Hindu world sees the cross of Christ as just another icon to be reverenced and knelt before. And more than a billion professing Christians have yet to "survey that wondrous cross and pour contempt on all their pride," discerning its "width and length and depth and height," an agapethat re-motivates selfish, world-loving human hearts as nothing else can. They all must have a chance!

The human souls distressed by our innate selfishness, longing for deliverance, for freedom to escape the tyranny of self-love and the allurements that plague this world, cannot despair when they "behold the Lamb of God" enduring the "curse of God" so that we might live. "Pour contempt on [our] pride," yes; but let's not pour contempt on that cross and its divine Sufferer. That would be a sin with the dimensions of eternity--unpardonable.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 28, 2005.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Rock-Solid Understanding of the Prophecies of Daniel and Revelation (Part 2)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Some of the best good news the Bible has for us is found where we read that the Lord wants us to understand that last book of the Bible, and yet many think it's impossible. Here's the promise of God: "Happy is the one who reads this book, and happy are those who listen to the words of this prophetic message and obey [that is, cherish] what is written in this book!" (Rev. 1:3, Good News Bible).

The book of Revelation has never been sealed as was Daniel; and even Daniel was un-sealed as we entered "the time of the end" as defined in 11:35, 12:4, and 7:25. Interest in both Daniel and Revelation was widely aroused in the first half of the 1800s.

But who can we trust as capable and reliable teachers of those key prophecies? Today there is a multitude of voices saying they have the right knowledge, but they disagree with one another. That tells us to look again at what Peter says, "No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation" (2 Peter 1:19-21). In other words, don't follow any "solo" interpreter; "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established" (2 Cor. 13:1; Deut. 19:15). Truth will attract more than one supporter! A reliable student of Bible prophecy must be a person in whom self is crucified with Christ, someone who is courageous to stand for Him against the crowd, yet who recognizes that God leads others, too.

At the first church council in Acts 15, the elders spoke of those faithful servants of God "who have risked their lives in the service of our Lord Jesus Christ" (vs. 26, GNB).

Such were those pioneers of the early 1800s who not only championed the fresh message of Daniel and Revelation, but also the dangerous public defense of the slaves in the South. Many listened to these godly men, among whom were J. N. Loughborough, Joseph Bates, J. N. Andrews, and Uriah Smith with his monumental Daniel and the Revelation, a 700+ page book that has become a treasure to many worldwide, and has stood the test of time. It may be written in Victorian English but it is solid truth. This is not to say it's perfection--no book is, aside from the Bible; we need common sense and God gives it.

The dear Lord is leading His peoplein these last days, not just a stray soul here and there. Everything in Daniel and the Revelation points to a corporate body of believers preparing for the second coming of Jesus, a world "church" in unity and harmony in Christ.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 4, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

 

Note to Readers:If you would like a PDF file of Elder Wieland's "50 Ellen G. White Endorsements of Uriah Smith's Daniel and the Revelation and Counsels Regarding Adventist Futurism," reply to this e-mail with "Send Endorsements." We would be pleased to send it to you.

Update on Fred Bischoff

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

This information was received yesterday from the 1888 Message Study Committee:

“Fred Bischoff was transferred from the ICU and spent the Sabbath in a Neuro step-down unit. He was transferred to the Oncology floor yesterday [Sunday].

“He was scheduled for a follow-up visit with the team at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute today [Monday].

“His courage is strong.”

Many of you know that Fred was instrumental in publishing information on the Seventh-day Adventist “pioneers.” You may find much of his work at: https://www.aplib.org

Please continue to keep him in prayer.

Dial Daily Bread: A Rock-Solid Understanding of the Prophecies of Daniel and Revelation (Part 1)

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The books of Daniel and the Revelation are an integral part of the Holy Bible: Jesus expressly charged us with the duty of "reading" and "understanding" Daniel (Matt. 24:15), and Revelation is obviously the fulfillment of His promise to the disciples that "the [Holy] Spirit of truth ... will tell you things to come" (John 16:13; Rev. 1:1-3).

We need a rock-solid understanding of those prophecies as valid as the original inspiration that gave them to us. Daniel was "sealed" until it was opened when "the time of the end" came at the end of the 1260 years of the Dark Ages (Dan. 7:25; 11:35; 12:4; Rev. 12:6, 14, etc.). That unsealing was a dramatic miracle of awakening that occurred simultaneously in many lands among many Christian churches in the early decades of the 19th century.

Foremost among the early pioneers of prophetic study was a little group who were united in a common hatred of slavery in the United States of America. They risked their lives in publishing their abhorrence of that devilish traffic in the souls of men and women and children; these students of the prophecies were in "at-one-ment" with Jesus Himself, for He too has always hated the slavery cruelty of man to man. They actively opposed the terrible injustice of the Fugitive Slave Law and helped runaway slaves to freedom at the risk of their own lives (would you do that today?).

Several of these noble men were led by the Holy Spirit to pursue a study of all the prophecies of those two inspired books. They may not have had every tiny detail perfectly understood, but they were united in the same basic convictions; people far and wide became convinced that the Spirit of God was leading; it wasn't emotional miracles based on shallow understanding--these were solid, reasonable dissertations on Daniel and Revelation that appealed to and convinced highly intelligent, honorable, reasonable men and women.

The little group developed until they became a leading movement of 19th century Christian reformation that also led the world in health reform, building the finest health institution of the day in Battle Creek, Michigan, to which came kings across the Atlantic.

The point of this little soliloquy: the understanding those pioneers gained from Bible prophecy was taught by God; none was of the "private interpretation" that the apostle decries in 2 Peter 1:19-21. These pioneers were led by a loving fellowship in Christ to lay aside their private views and recognize together the leading of the Lord. The Holy Spirit led the community, and His leading has stood the test of these centuries of time.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 3, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Will Christ Really Find Faith on the Earth?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Seven Seals of Revelation (chapters 5-8) are an overview of world history so clear that even a young person can understand. They take us from the apostles through the bloody massacres of Christians under the pagan Roman Empire, the breakdown of the Empire, the great "falling away" from the truth that nearly killed true Christianity inside the church, and the horrible persecutions of Daniel's 1260 years of the Dark Ages. Then they carry us into the final "time of the end" when a people is to be prepared for the second coming of Christ. The great Seventh Seal is the triumph of the Son of God in His great controversy with Satan. Breathtaking!

When the great Sixth Seal was broken, magnificent events were to follow, telling the world that Daniel's "time of the end" was near. The first: "behold, there was a great earthquake." Other celestial "signs" were to follow: "The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind" (6:12, 13).

All through the horrors of the Dark Ages faithful Christians loved the truth of the Bible. They recognized the terrible Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755, as the first of those "signs." Not only did it shake Europe physically, it did so in every other way. John Wesley saw it as a divine judgment on the immorality of Europe.

The same devout Bible readers saw the mysterious Dark Day of May 19, 1780, as the next "sign." And when the greatest celestial display of falling stars ever recorded came on November 13, 1833, thousands were convinced: God was at work preparing a people for the coming of Christ.

Now, more than 185 years have gone by since the time of which Jesus said, "This generation will by no means pass away till all these things are fulfilled" (Matt. 24:34). Faith in the nearness of Christ's return seems what He talked about when He asked, "When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).

The answer is Yes! The same spirit that recognized those "signs in the heavens" lives today in the hearts of those who understand there is a reason for the mysterious "delay." They will "keep the faith."

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 17, 2003.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Update on Fred Bischoff

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

So many of you have written that you and others you’ve reached out to have been praying for Fred Bischoff. We thank you and know that Fred would be very appreciative. (Later we will let him know.)

His surgery was yesterday (Thursday) in Southern California, and his outlook is good. As his recovery progresses follow-up treatment will be determined.

Please continue to lift up Fred in prayer. We will try to keep you informed of his progress.

Dial Daily Bread: Abide in Christ Seven Days a Week

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

For our happiness, our Creator and Savior has told us that "six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God" (Ex. 20:9, 10). Granted, we believe that. We gladly give Him that "seventh day."

But is there another bit of what may be seen as "holy time"? The remaining "six days" of the week are not an escape from God; seven days a week we are to "abide" in Christ and we are to invite, to welcome Him to "abide" in us (John 15:4). After the toil of each of "the six working days" the dear Lord "gives His beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:2). Thus we awaken each new morning refreshed to "abide" another day in Christ, while we go about our lives. Jesus gave us an example for our encouragement about how to live those "six working days" of the week:

"In the morning, having risen a long time before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed" (Mark 1:35). This is not an example of deprivation of needed sleep which the Lord "gives His beloved," no; it's just a healthy way to live; it was His habit to go to bed early so He could do this(unless someone like Nicodemus would come and keep Him up late, see John 3:2).

In God's plan, each new day begins at sundown (Gen. 1:5). It was Roman paganism that changed this so it begins at midnight. On this cosmic Day of Atonement, those who follow our great High Priest in His cleansing His sanctuary, choose to "abide" in Him; we jealously guard that morning timewhen He awakens us (see Isa. 50:4, 5).Guard that evening hour too.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 19, 2005.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Can You Overcome a Handicap That Has Been Yours Since Childhood?

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Suppose when you were little, your parent(s) did not know how to teach you, train and nurture you in love. So, now you have problems inherited ever since childhood. (Sometimes you even hate yourself for the way you feel or act!) Can you overcome the handicap that has been yours since childhood?

Your Father in heaven knows all about it. He does not blame you for what you had nothing to do with before you were accountable. He loves and respects you as an individual for whom Christ gave the sacrifice of His life.

Still, God cannot excuse defects of character that ruin your own and others’ happiness even though you acquired them through DNA or in less-than-perfect childhood upbringing. He has given us a Savior whose special job is to save us fromour inherited and cultivated tendencies to evil. He is the Great Physician who heals wounded hearts. We don’t need to carry around the defects that our parent(s) saddled upon us.

This promise is in Psalm 27:10: “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.” Not that they willfully abandoned you on someone’s doorstep. Your parent(s) “left” you in the sense that they didn’t know how to help you. There was a point beyond which emotionally they couldn’t give you what you needed, and it was no fault of theirs. (Perhaps they inherited weaknesses from their own childhood! The problem goes back to Adam, really.)

Therefore, you will find healing in letting the Savior write the fifth commandment in your heart which says, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you” (Ex. 20:12). “In Christ” you can “honor” them as the parents that they wouldhave been if only they had known Christ better as their Savior.

That fifth commandment is a promise more than a stern command when you see it as the New Covenant. Even if you feel like a youthful friend of mine who said he could never “honor” his alcoholic father, the principle of corporate guilt and corporate forgiveness enables you to “honor” them “in Christ”.

At the very point where your parents failed, that’s precisely where “the Lord will take care of [you].”

—Robert J. Wieland

From the “Dial Daily Bread” Archive: January 19, 2002.
Copyright © 2018 by “Dial Daily Bread.”

Dial Daily Bread: "Your Truth"--The Only Way to Unity

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

How people in a church can truly believe the same thing (unity) is important, because Jesus said that the only way the world can be brought to believe in Him is when His followers "all may be one, ... that the world may believe that You sent Me" (John 17:21). Something He calls "Your truth" is the only thing that will unite them (vs. 17).

Paul calls it "the truth of the gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14). The success or failure of Christ's mission for the world therefore depends on that "truth" bringing His people who profess to "keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" into one (Rev. 14:12).

For example, how could a group of mathematicians come into unity unless they all believe that 2 + 2 = 4? Suppose some said it equals 5? Is that "truth of the gospel" so simple and clear that it appeals to honest hearts with a similarly powerful logic?

Take the problem of Genesis 1. Christ and His apostles accepted that "the truth of the gospel" required sincere, honest hearts to believe that God created the earth in six literal days. People who insist they are equally sincere understand the idea of six literal days to be ancient mythology; science makes such belief naive, they say.

Then there's the problem of Jesus Himself. When He became incarnate, did He "take" the sinless nature of the unfallen Adam, thus breaking the genetic line of His descent from the real Adam? Or did He accept the working of the great law of heredity and enter the stream of humanity by taking our fallen, sinful nature yet living a sinless life? Here again is disunity; the assumption is that unity is impossible. Or is it?

The kind of faith that "believes in Jesus" is not anti-intellectual, but it is enriched with something called "wisdom that is from above." Such faith can see beyond the limits of science, for it "works." It is "alive" (Gal. 5:6; James 2:17, 18; 3:17).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 10, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Can We Make the Good News of the Gospel Too Good?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Throughout the world there are deep stirrings in people's souls about what Paul's term "the truth of the gospel" means (Gal. 2:5, 14). Is it maybe, perhaps good news? Or is it glorious Good News? Does God's real gospel have fine print hidden in it that ultimately means your salvation depends upon your own strength? What has Christ actually accomplished for the human race? Has He made us an offer that if we exert ourselves sufficiently we might make it?

Does He tell us that if we hold on tight to His hand like a child crossing a busy street holding on to Daddy's hand we'll be safe, or does God tell us that He loves us so much that He is holding on tight to our hand? (See Isa. 41:10, 13.) The answers mean that our walk with the Lord will be happy and triumphant, or it will be discouraging and defeatist? Can we make the Good News of the gospel too good? Is salvation really by faith, or by faith plus works?

A friend sent me a precious thought that impresses me as being genuine, solid Good News:

"Through Christ's birth, life, death, and resurrection, the [human] race was encircled by God's arm and redeemed. The gulf between God and man was fully bridged, the penalty/consequence of sin was demonstrated and exhausted, humanity was restored to God's image and to His right hand, and sin and death were overcome. God could look at His Son sitting beside Him and say, 'Humanity has been restored to righteousness and life.' This corporate statement is the justification to life [of Rom 5:18]. ... The price to keep an unrepentant sinner alive for this life is identical to the price paid for the repentant sinner to spend eternity with God, the life of God Himself poured out in Jesus Christ. ... Faith is reckoned by God to be righteousness. Because of what Christ has done as the Head of the human race, God can plant the seed of this reality in each heart. ... It is not the end of the process, but it is the beginning. And it is real, not fiction."

To my friend Fred Bischoff I say a hearty "Amen!"

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 13, 2000.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

A note to readers: Please pray for our brotherFred Bischoff who was just diagnosed with a brain tumor. He will be having surgery tomorrow (Tuesday, Nov. 27). Your prayers will be very much appreciated.

Dial Daily Bread: Thanks Be to God for His "Unspeakable Gift"

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Too many of our celebrated holidays are of pagan origin and bear those marks even today; but one is free of it--Thanksgiving. But even this one last touch of national gratitude to God is marred now by the designation "Turkey Day," so the Day is marked by indulgence of appetite.

A popular Bible text for Thanksgiving Day sermons is, "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!" (2 Cor. 9:15). The one gift above all gifts He has given us is this: "God so loved the world that He gave ..." It was all that He had in the gift (not the loan, not the mere offer) of His Son (John 3:16). The Son of God is now the Son of man; He is eternally a member of our human race, but that wasn't far enough for the Father to "give." He went further in pouring out the "gift."

The Father gave Him to take seven steps in stepping down lower, itemized in Philippians 2:5-8: (1) He gave up His "equality" with God; (2) "emptied Himself" (New American Standard Bible) like you turn a bottle upside down to drain it; (3) gave up His "reputation"; (4) was "made in the likeness of men," lower than the angels; (5) "humbled Himself," became a slave washing people's feet (John 13); (6) "became obedient unto death," the only one in 6000 years to do so (this "death" that Christ was "obedient" to is the real thing--the "second death," the "curse of the law" (Gal. 3:13; Rev. 20:14); (7) He died "the death of the cross," the curse being "forsaken" by God forever; the most horrible death one could know.

"Thanks" for that, says Paul!

The death which Christ died was far more than the physical, social agony of His cross. "The second death" is the death in which there is no hope of a resurrection (the death that Christ saved us from!). He carried with Him all His life that hope of a resurrection, until the time when "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21), when He cried out in most bitter agony, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). That point was where the "giving" was the greatest; it was a gift for eternity, an infinite gift.

Contemplating that gift of His love has a subduing effect upon the human soul; no one canbe the same after his heart grasps that! If the idea can be translated and the consciousness of its "width and length and depth and height" (Eph. 3:18) can be understood, there is salvation in the very thanksgiving, as there is salvation in faith. Such thanksgiving is close to what faith is! The human heart is moved forever.

Those heavenly beings who are still humans (the "twenty-four elders," see Rev. 4:4; 5:9) never cease to give their thanks. Neither will you, once you comprehend what that "unspeakable gift" entails.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 19, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

New Edition of “The Good News Is Better Than You Think” Now Available

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

We want to let you know about a new edition of Elder Robert J. Wieland’s classic book, The Good News Is Better Than You Think. It has been re-published with a new cover reflecting what Elder Wieland often talked about as “gospel sunlight,” and is appropriate to give to anyone. It also includes pages for personal notes, and a new appendix on “Acres of Diamonds,” an interesting essay referenced in the book.

For ordering information, go to: 
http://www.cfibookdivision.com/good-news/good-news-sales.html

Dial Daily Bread: Letting Pure Gospel Sunlight Get Through

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

For hundreds of years reverent-minded Bible scholars have recognized that Revelation 9 presents the story of Islam. It is the "smoke [that] arose out of the bottomless pit" (vss. 2, 3). It has darkened the bright sunshine of the pure gospel of Christ. But professed Christianity has also not let much more of the pure gospel sunlight get through. The Crusades were not a proud chapter in our history.

The coming of the Messiah to Israel and to the world was to be the best good news; the truth of the gospel of Christ was to lighten the earth with glory. The coming of Christianity was to go forth "conquering and to conquer," symbolized by the rider on the white horse of chapter 6, verse 2. The pure gospel of Christ was so clear, so powerful, that it would sweep through the world and demonstrate its character as what Paul says, "the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16). The Messiah was to save the world, and devout Jews for many years had looked forward to this glorious climax of all human history.

But then the prophet Daniel was given a vision in which he saw an evil power arise that would pervert that pure gospel of Christ, and to his amazement and horror it would become a greater curse to the world than paganism had been. The story is in chapter 8. The great cosmic controversy between Christ and Satan was won by Christ on His cross, assuring us of its final triumph; Satan knows that he is already a conquered foe. But he is fighting with mad desperation in his hatred of Christ, trying to keep people in deception, and thus keep them from being reconciled to God.

The enemy's masterpiece has been to introduce into Christianity the key doctrines of paganism, which Muslims have from their beginning seized upon as their cause célèbre to justify them in rejecting the gospel truths of the cross of Christ and of His atonement.

Still, it's not too late to seek, like a Good Shepherd seeking His lost sheep, for honest souls among Muslims who will respond to the pure gospel (what Paul says is "the truth of the gospel," Gal. 2:5, 14). Foremost among anti-evangelism obstacles are the mistruths of double predestination, idolatry and image veneration, justification by works, and all confusion regarding what Christ accomplished for the world. The cross of Christ is the focal point of Satan's subtle enmity.

God's promise is that in these last days the pure "truth of the gospel" will emerge from the darkness of misapprehension of God--and accomplish what the apostles did after Pentecost.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 7, 2007.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: It's a Winning Message

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Proverbs tells us that "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (4:18, King James Version). The "just" means the corporate body of God's people, which is the church that Jesus founded. In other words, the church is to grow in their grasp of the truth until the last day of world history--the second coming of Jesus.

The Books of Daniel and the Revelation come on stage here; that's where this "path" is detailed. Both describe the monstrous apostasy and deception of "the other [little] horn" of Daniel, which was to prevail against the saints for 1260 years (Dan. 7:19-26; Rev. 12:6, etc.).

But before the 1260 years should end, the light begins to grow brighter for those who are watching: the Protestant Reformation beginning in the 16th century brings what Daniel calls "a little help" (11:34). Finally, the long period of papal darkness and persecution ends in 1798 (538 A.D. to 1798 A.D. = 1260 years), and the Book of Daniel is unsealed (12:9) worldwide; "the time of the end" has begun (12:4). Then comes the beginning of the great Day of Atonement for the world--the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary (Dan. 8:14; the 2300 years end in 1844), and the complementary message in Revelation of three angels comes (14:6-12).

The result of the three angels proclaiming their message to "every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" is the raising up of a new corporate "remnant" church who believe. It is specified as those who "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (12:17). They are raised up for the purpose of preparing a people to be ready for the close of human probation, to endure the "time of trouble," and to witness the personal, literal, visible return of Jesus Christ (cf. John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17). It's the great "blessed hope" cherished by all who "love His appearing" (Titus 2:11-14; 2 Tim. 4:6-8).

Jesus wants to come; He is in love with a "woman," the corporate body of the church that loves His appearing. But He cannot come because there is an angel who is telling Him, No, You can't come yet. John describes that angel: "Another angel came out of the temple [in heaven], crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, 'Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe'" (Rev. 14:15). Not until that "harvest" is "ripe" can the Lord come the second time!

The message that must now go to all the world is that "Loud Cry" message of Revelation 18. It's not only a warning message; it's a winning message--it's of Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 21, 2008.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: New Covenant Good News That Melts the Angry Heart

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

The Bible is clear--God's New Covenant is His promise. Jeremiah says that the New Covenant is the same as writing His holy law in the human heart (31:31-34). Now the question of questions: When God makes a promise, is there power in the promise itself? Or is the power in your doing what's right? Is there power in the gospel itself (the gospel understood as Good News, Rom. 1:16)? Or is the power in your own obedience to the gospel?

Here's the old controversy between righteousness by faith and righteousness by faith plus works. Don't dismiss the issue; it's serious.

Sarai was the name of the lady who was Abram's wife. The best one can find is that her name meant "contentious," quarrelsome. This is borne out by what we read of her. When God says He is not accepting Hagar's child, Ishmael, as the promised "heir," she feels bad because she is the problem; she is unable to conceive a child. She blames God. Then in Old Covenant thinking she comes up with a bright idea to solve Abram's problem: she practices Old Covenant self-denial and gives her maid (Hagar) into Abram's embrace--not an easy thing for any wife to do (Gen. 16:5).

Then the affair goes sour, Hagar despises Sarai, and lords it over her--the new queen of the household, and Sarai? Cast down. So she acts out her name and berates poor Abram: "My wrong be upon you! ... The Lord judge between you and me," and she storms off in a huff (Gen. 16:5). All Abram did was exactly what she told him to do, yet now she blames him! This lady is angry with God and everybody else. Now what can God do?

He gives her some New Covenant Good News. While she is the same contentious woman, He changes her name to Sarah, which means "Princess"; and He tells her He believes in her! All the promises to Abraham are to her, too. And now, just that simple word, that New Covenant Good News, melts her proud, angry heart, and "by faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age." How? "Because she judged Him faithful who had promised" (Heb. 11:11).

Sounds like there is power in the word of God. All it needs is for someone to believe it.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 25, 2003.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: You Can Tell the Story of the Cross--Only If You've Had Your Isaiah 6 Experience

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Isaiah 6 describes the young prophet's vision in the Temple of seeing "the Lord ... high and lifted up." It seems obvious that his vision was not of materialistic "glory"; it was a vision of the character of the Lord, a heart-humbling appreciation of His glorious self-sacrificing love. The cry of "holy, holy, holy" was a revelation of the cross. The young Isaiah was overwhelmed with a humbling sense of his own sinful selfishness in contrast. It became the foundation of his entire lifetime of service.

"Woe is me!" he cries. "I am undone!" A steamroller has flattened me in the dust. I thought I could devote my life to the Lord's ministry, he says; now I see that "I am a man of unclean lips." I have wandered into the "temple" of the Lord and I see I don't belong here; my heart is polluted in contrast with the righteousness of Christ. So prayed Isaiah.

There was another man who had a similar experience. The apostle Peter had spent some three years in the Lord's special theological seminary and had felt quite qualified for apostolic "ministry." Then when he had publicly blurted out three times his abject denial of Christ, he felt so crushed, so self-humiliated, so polluted in soul, that he threw himself on the ground and wished he could die. Lord, I'm finished! I can never be an apostle; I'm totally unworthy to be one of the Twelve; do let me die! So prayed Peter.

Sometimes the dear Lord lets us have cause to say, "All day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning" (Psalm 73:14). Then when we feel done in, another word from the Lord comes to mind, "Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives" (Heb. 12:6).

Isaiah could never have written his 53rd chapter about the cross of Christ unless he had experienced that self-abasement early on, in chapter 6. Someone somewhere is hungry to hear what happened on the cross of Christ. You talk about winning souls; well, if you can tell the story of the cross you'll win souls. But you'll never be able to tell it unless you have had your Isaiah 6 experience, and knelt down beside him there, and knelt down beside Peter, too.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 11, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Glimpse Into the Heart of Jesus

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

We get a most precious little glimpse into the heart of Jesus during the moments that He was arrested in the Garden. His "loyal" disciple Peter has drawn his sword and slashed away wildly (like we do sometimes when we try to "defend" the truth thoughtlessly), and he chopped off the ear of the high priest's slave. Ludicrous accomplishment, Peter! You thought you were protecting the King of the new kingdom, didn't you; you said so proudly that you will never deny Him. This is a sorry performance to begin with.

Well, Peter meant to do the right thing. Jesus patiently endured him, this time once again; he had often done foolish things. But Jesus now told him to stop fighting and let things happen. The Father, after all, was leading.

Then our Lord uttered a brief soliloquy that tells us something profound: "How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?" In other words, Jesus didn't know what was going to happen except for what He had read in the Old Testament! Moments later He told His enemies, "I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me. But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled" (Matt. 26:52-56). Jesus held in His hands the same Book you hold in your hands, and the same Holy Spirit who taught Him the word is teaching you. Study!

Jesus was the divine Son of God, but He had laid aside the prerogatives of divinity (not the divinity itself!), that He might take upon Himself our humanity and live life as we must live it, "in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). He learned what He learned as we must learn--from His study of the written word. He risked everything on what that written word said. We are daily tested: will we also trust our all to it?

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 21, 2005.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: A Lesson From the History of David

Dear Friends of “Dial Daily Bread,”

Young David, in relation to King Saul (who hated him and wanted to kill him), was loyal to the government of Israel, but that does not mean that the government of Israel needed a "king" other than the Lord Himself. The prophet Samuel anointed Saul to be the king not because that was God's will for Israel, but because the people wanted to be like the surrounding nations, and He let them have what they wanted.

The lesson we need to learn from this history is the importance of loyalty to the organized church that the Lord in His infinite wisdom has raised up.

The prophecy of Revelation 12:17 is clear: the Lord has a "remnant" church which He sustains in a world of apostasy and "Babylon" devotion. And 18:1-4 tells of a message that will swell to a loud cry that will "lighten the earth with glory." The call to "come out of Babylon" will sound so clearly and powerfully that multitudes who have been held back by family, friends, or even jobs, will respond. A wise writer says it well:

"The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the [Holy] Spirit of God. … Many whose minds were impressed have been prevented from fully comprehending the truth or from yielding obedience. Now the rays of light penetrate everywhere, the truth is seen in its clearness, and the honest children of God sever the bands which have held them. Family connections, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. Truth is more precious than all besides. Notwithstanding the agencies combined against the truth, a large number take their stand upon the Lord's side."

That time has not yet come; we are still living this side of it. The second coming of Jesus is the next great event for planet earth; but just before His return, this message must go to all the world for it would not be fair for Jesus to come in glory and power unless every soul on earth has been given the full opportunity to see the truth and to choose to be loyal to it.

Let's not wait until then to take our stand! Let's do so today!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 14, 2008.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Is There Ever a Time When a Church Member Should Confront a Leader?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

There are many Christians around the world who are loyal to and support their church leaders. Rebellion against Moses was a sin; and the New Testament teaches loyalty to elders and pastors, and church administrators. But is there ever a time when a lowly church member should confront a leader? Is it ever possible that loyalty to Christ should supersede supporting a bishop? The Bible records many instances:

Young Joseph, by conscience, had to oppose his ten older brothers and even his elderly father, Jacob, and angered them. They were equivalent to leaders of the true church of his day! They misunderstood him.

David, only a youth, innocently found himself opposed by the anointed king of Israel, Saul. But his example of deference and loyalty to Saul is beautiful.

Elijah was forced by his conscience and by his love for Israel to pray that God would withhold rain from them for three and a half years.  He withstood King Ahab to his face. He is a type of those who will be saved out of the world in the very last days, for he was translated to heaven. The Baal worship that Elijah faced is rampant in the world and in the church today. (Baal worship is the worship of self disguised as the worship of Christ.)

Jeremiah suffered persecution from the leaders of the one true church of Christ of his day. Yes, Kings Jehoikim and Zedekiah sat on David’s throne; when Zedekiah asked him, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah was forced by his conscience to tell him the truth, which he didn’t like.

Jesus was forced by His conscience to tell the leaders of the one true church of His day the truth they didn’t like to hear. Yes, but there were tears in His voice! And He was loyal.

Paul was forced by his conscience to rebuke Peter to his face, at Antioch. But he did it in love, and in absolute loyalty to the organized church.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 18, 2004.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Does Jesus Limit His Healing Grace Only to Good People?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Don't we wish we had a million days, not just 365 every year, to proclaim the gospel as Good News! There's no end to the crumbs of the bread of life that can nourish our famishing souls each new day. Take for example these verses from Psalm 103: "Bless the Lord, O my soul; ... Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases" (vss. 1, 3). The Good News says that the "you" is you, even if you are unworthy, even if you are a sinner.

The Bad News says No; that promise is only if you are a church member or at least a good person who has repented and done everything just right, and your conscience is clear. Only then can you expect the Lord to hear and answer your prayers and heal you. But which is true?

We can find the answer in the story in Mark 2 when Jesus healed the paralytic who was carried to Him by four men who broke up the tiles on the roof and let him down. Jesus knew very well that this man had brought sickness upon himself by sinful living. But He didn't ask the poor man any questions, or to make any promises. He didn't even ask him if he had repented; He said straight out, "Son, your sins are forgiven!"

Does Jesus limit His healing grace only to good people? Don't bad people get healed, too? If a bad person cuts his finger, doesn't the blood clot also? Read all those wonderful promises in Psalm 103 about your mouth satisfied with good food, and your youth renewed like the eagle's, and your life redeemed from destruction, etc. Doesn't the dear Lord do this for all His children--even the wandering, prodigal sons who haven't yet gone home?? And if that's so, then doesn't it follow that He also "forgives all your iniquities"? If not, how could anybody live, even for a moment?

If the Lamb of God hadn't paid the price for our sins on His cross, how could we take even another breath? Well, the Good News is good; believe it, and sing the Hallelujah Chorus today!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 26, 1997.
Copyright © 2011 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: The Voice That Embraced Humanity

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Did Jesus preach His Sermon on the Mount to His disciples or to the multitude?

Some say that God is not the Father of "all humanity" but only of those who are converted. All the rest are children of the devil. But Matthew 5:1 says that when Jesus saw "the multitudes, He went up on a mountain" and preached about "Our Father in heaven," etc. (chapter 6).

The Muslim is told that he must make himself pure before he can come to Allah. But Jesus says, Come, and I will make you pure. He became one of us so that He might invite us to regard His Father as our Father. True, there are many who are unconverted; but why ... ? Is it because they have finally, irrevocably rejected Christ, or for many is it because they have never understood the gospel? Are they wolves, or could they be lost sheep who haven't yet been "found"?

We know that Jesus said, "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd" (John 10:16). In those words He describes the soul-winning work of that fourth angel who "comes down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth [is] illuminated with his glory" (Rev. 18:1-4). That "voice" will call to those "lost sheep," "Come out of [Babylon], My people, ... lest you receive of her plagues."

A wise writer says that when Jesus was baptized and a Voice was heard from heaven declaring, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," that Voice embraced humanity (Matt. 3:17). If you have felt like you are an orphan outside the "family," please accept the Good News: The Father has "adopted" you "in Christ" (Eph. 1:5, 6), and He invites you to pray, "Our Father ... "

You are as precious as that discouraged woman at Jacob's well when Jesus told her, "True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: for the Father is seeking such to worship Him" (John 4:23). Yes, He is seeking you! Come!

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: December 6, 1998.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Nehemiah--We Are Inspired by His Devotion

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Nehemiah was a wonderful man, if for no other reason than that he has a book in the Bible named for him. That's an honor for anyone!

The Lord blessed him wonderfully; everything he did was a success. It was his job to direct the rebuilding of the broken down walls of Jerusalem, walls that the Babylonians had broken many years before when the Lord's people had been punished for their idolatry and exiled to Babylon.

Tobiah and Sanballat were Nehemiah's enemies who opposed him relentlessly. Nehemiah stood firmly for the law of the Lord, no compromise. He led the people in the straight path of obedience to the law of the Lord. He was successful in leading them to re-build the walls of Jerusalem; he re-instituted the Feast of Tabernacles that had not been kept by Israel for hundreds of years since the days of Joshua the son of Nun.

And Nehemiah clearly perceived the deceit of those enemies of Israel. Wonderful work!

Nehemiah begged the Lord repeatedly not to forget how wonderfully he had worked. For example, "God, remember this to my credit, and do not wipe out of Your memory the devotion which I have shown in the house of my God and in His service!" (13:14). He ends his book with this plea to the Lord, "God, remember me favourably!" (vs. 31, The Revised English Bible).

Dear Nehemiah! He worked so hard for the Lord. And the Lord was "not unjust to forget [his] work and labor of love which [he had] shown toward His name" (cf. Heb. 6:10). The Lord gave him a book in His Bible! We are inspired by his devotion.

But we are blessed by the knowledge of the New Covenant. We are not even thinking of any reward the Lord will give us. We don't beg Him like Nehemiah to remember all our "good" works. We are constrained by the love (agape) of Christ "henceforth" to realize that if Jesus died for us "all," then we all died "in Him," so that we can claim nothing for ourselves but to share that grave with Jesus, and then in sheer joyous gratitude devote all our lives to Him. If some angel someday should try to give us a crown of glory, we will cast it at Jesus' feet.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: April 29, 2008.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: "Abide in Me," Stay Where I Have Put You

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Personal assurance of salvation: It's serious, because you can waste a lot of psychic energy worrying about your eternal future. All kinds of personality disorders can develop because of this deep anxiety, making not only yourself miserable, but others closest to you.

The apostle John says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). Is that like knowing you have a certain amount of money in the bank? You feel better if you know it's there in your name. Obviously, God does not want us to fret and worry.

On the other hand, He wants us to exercise common sense. The Bible does not teach the heresy of Universalism. Clearly, some people, "the number is as the sand of the sea" (Rev. 20:8), will not enter into eternal life. Christ will be forced to tell many, Sorry, "I never knew you" (Matt. 7:23).

So, how do we walk this fine line? Several Bible principles may help us:

(1) The only Person in the Bible who has ever been guaranteed eternal life is Christ Himself. God says of Him, "Behold! My servant ... My Elect One in whom My soul delights!" (Isa. 42:1). "I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame" (1 Peter 2:6).

(2) All the rest of us are chosen "in Him" (Eph. 1:4), because His new role is that of "last Adam," or second Adam. He is the new Head of the human race; and just as the human race is naturally "in Adam" by birth, so now by faith we can individually ratify His election of us "in Him."

(3) He wills that "all men" should be saved (1 Tim. 2:3, 4); you waste your time if you worry about whether He wants you to be saved.

(4) His love is so strong, His persistence is so great as "Good Shepherd" that He will continue to assure you of His search for you as His lost sheep.

(5) He claims you as His purchased possession, purchased with His blood (Acts 20:28).

(6) He says that He has you in His hand. "My sheep hear My voice ... and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:27, 28). "Assurance"? Yes!

(7) But let common sense kick in right here: If you cling stubbornly to unbelief, if you deliberately choose to rebel, you can jump out of His hand. So He says, "Abide in Me," stay where I have put you by means of My great sacrifice for you (John 15:4).

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 22, 2000.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Ask the Father to Lead You to His Son's Cross

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Someday we will be in God's eternal kingdom of glory, thanks to our Savior. We'll look back on our earthly pilgrimage, wondering why it took us so long to overcome our worldliness, our selfishness, our sinful addictions, yes, our Laodicean lukewarmness. We will see that pure "river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev. 22:1).

"The Lamb"? Yes, the crucified Christ. We will at last understand why Paul said long ago that he would "glory" in nothing else "save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14), why he "determined not to know anything among [us], save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).

We will then begin to understand, "clear as crystal," how Christ as the Lamb of God "tasted" our second death; endured the horror of hell in our behalf; endured being made the "curse of God"; "made to be sin for us, who knew no sin"; experienced in Himself all the agony of the total of all our human terror multiplied by the unspeakable agony also of divine terror; and endured to the fullest the reality of every man's worst nightmares. Then at last we will sing with new understanding the anthem, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" (Heb. 2:9, Gal. 3:13, 2 Cor. 5:21, Rev. 5:12).

But what a pity if we can't begin to understand all that today! Or can we? If we could, we would find the victory over our worldliness, our sinful addictions, yes, our deep-seated selfishness, not sometime far off in eternity but now, today. True, a little child can't appreciate what happened on the cross; he or she can only laugh and coo and enjoy his superficial level of life (thank God he or she can!). But who of us is content to remain a little child forever? Is it not time to begin to grow up into Him, to "come" into "the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13)?

Ask the Father to lead you to His Son's cross so you can begin to see what happened there. You'll never be the same person again.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 12, 2009.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."

Dial Daily Bread: Building a House? Think of Psalm 127

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Have you ever built a house? Working day after day until near midnight? It leaves you exhausted!

If so, think of Psalm 127:1 (Good News Bible), which says: "If the Lord does not build the house, the work of the builders is useless." That sounds a little discouraging at first reading; as though the Lord doesn't care about all your hard work. But on second reading, there is Good News: it actually says that the Lord is building your "house" if you don't stop Him! The word "house" means "home," for everybody knows that the most beautiful palace in the world is a lonely prison without the light and warmth of family love.

What this beautiful psalm is telling us is that the Lord is working to give us that light and warmth. Verse 3 says: "The Lord provides for those He loves, while they are asleep." Now, that is not teaching laziness--only a fanatic would read it that way.

But it says we cooperate with the Lord; a happy marriage and happy home relationship is something that the Lord builds--that's what the text says. He wants us to enjoy that happiest gift on earth, a happy, stable home. We let Him "build" it. His Holy Spirit day by day, night by night, is laying a brick, a stone, a timber, in this "house," because He is constantly convicting us of our sin of love of selfishness that gets in the way.

Such blessed healing depends on self being laid aside. Or, stated more clearly, self dying with Christ. If we are rigid in our self-vindication, if self is proud flesh (so to speak) that can't be touched without a howl of protest, the Savior simply can't "build the house" for us. Someone says it's "hard" for self to be crucified, to die; sure, but identify with Christ on His cross, and it becomes easy.

As He builds your "house," don't get in His way. Don't stop Him.

--Robert J. Wieland

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 17, 1997.
Copyright © 2018 by "Dial Daily Bread."