The Nativity

September 30

“Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn,” Luke 2:4-7.

This passage of scripture is more identified with the Christmas season than with Autumn, but if internal Biblical evidence is as experts construe it to be, the reality is that Jesus’ conception occurred in December and His birth was sometime late in September or early October. None of this is actually significant to our salvation, but it is a matter of interest to every believer who desires to know as much as he can about our Savior.

One of the significant pieces of evidence gleaned from this passage concerns the tax Mary and Joseph were traveling to Bethlehem to pay. Luke informs us that their trip to Bethlehem was required so they could be registered for the tax that had been decreed by Caesar Augustus in 8 BC.

The tax was not, however, levied on the Jews until 4 BC due to a Jewish revolt. Normally, registrations like this were done after the people were finished harvesting their fields so that they would neither be required to be working their fields nor be without the money to pay the tax.

This was very significant to the Romans who kept their Empire running on the labors of their conquered peoples. The necessity for everyone in Palestine to pay the Roman tax would also explain the fact that when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, “there was no room for them in the inn,” Luke 2:7.

A second factor that is usually overlooked in the Nativity Story is that the time when travel was required to pay the tax which had been levied by Caesar Augustus fell when the Jewish people would have been traveling anyway to celebrate the Feast of Trumpets. This is not, of course, irrefutable proof of the time of Christ’s birth but it does afford viable evidence to establish when His nativity occurred.

Although we may never know the actual date of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we can be certain that it is imperative that we worship Him continually in our hearts. May our lives be the living epistles He desires them to be (see II Corinthians 3:2) that can be clearly read by all men.

May they tell the story of the sacrifice the Holy One, made in the behalf of all people so that all people who hear the good news may have the opportunity to receive Him as Savior and Lord and to know Him as our soon-coming King.

Isaiah 54

September 29

Isaiah 54

“Sing, barren woman,
you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
than of her who has a husband,”
says the LORD.
2 “Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes.
3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
your descendants will dispossess nations
and settle in their desolate cities.
4 “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
5 For your Maker is your husband—
the LORD Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
6 The LORD will call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected,” says your God.
7 “For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
8 In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,”
says the LORD your Redeemer.
9 “To me this is like the days of Noah,
when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
never to rebuke you again.
10 Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
11 “Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,[a]
your foundations with lapis lazuli.
12 I will make your battlements of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children will be taught by the LORD,
and great will be their peace.
14 In righteousness you will be established:
Tyranny will be far from you;
you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed;
it will not come near you.
15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;
whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith
who fans the coals into flame
and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
17 no weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the LORD.

How Far We've Fallen

September 28

California was founded as Christian mission by Bill Federer

In 1769, the first Spanish missions were founded in California by Franciscan missionary Junipero Serra, whose statue is in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.

Many of California’s cities were originally founded as Spanish Christian missions. Here are some examples:

1769 San Diego de Alcalá (grew into San Diego, CA, cultivated the first olives in California)

1770 San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (grew into Carmel, CA)

1771 San Antonio de Padua (grew into Monterey County, CA)

1771 San Gabriel (grew into San Gabriel, CA, began California's citrus industry)

1772 San Luis Obispo de Tolosa (grew into San Luis Obispo, CA)

1776 San Francisco de Asís (oldest surviving structure in San Francisco, CA)

1776 San Juan Capistrano (grew into San Juan Capistrano, CA, produced California's first wine)

1777 Santa Clara de Asís (grew into Santa Clara, CA)

1782 San Buenaventura (grew into Ventura, CA)

1786 Santa Barbara (grew into Santa Barbara, CA)

1787 La Purísima Concepción (grew into Lompoc, CA)

1791 Santa Cruz (grew into Santa Cruz, CA)

1791 Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (grew into Soledad, CA)

1797 San José (grew into Fremont, CA)

1797 San Juan Bautista (grew into San Juan Bautista, CA, restored with help from the Hearst Foundation)

1797 San Miguel Arcángel (grew into San Miguel, CA)

1797 San Fernando Rey de España (grew into Mission Hills district of Los Angeles)

1798 San Luis Rey de Francia (grew into Oceanside, CA, first California Pepper Tree planted)

1804 Santa Inés (Danish town of Solvang built around mission)

1817 San Rafael Arcángel (grew into San Francisco Bay area, had the first hospital in California)

1823 San Francisco Solano (grew into Sonoma, CA)

Prior to the Spanish Christian Missions, the Indian culture had regarded manual labor as degrading to the masculine sex. Spanish Christian Missionaries taught industry and introduced into California irrigation and oranges, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, figs, cattle, sheep, horses, mules, burros, goats and swine.

Spanish Christian Missions built foundries, introducing the Indians to the Iron Age, with blacksmith furnaces which smelted and fashioned iron into nails, crosses, gates, hinges, and cannons for mission defense.

Spain lost California to Mexico in 1821, but after its war of independence, Mexico set up a monarchy with Augustin Iturbide as Emperor. Iturbide was executed, and Mexico adopted a Federal Constitution in 1824.

In 1833, General Santa Ana became President and, together with his Vice-President Gomez Farias, instituted anti-clerical Mexican Secularization Acts which took all Christian Mission property away from the Catholic Church and sold it to insider political supporters of his government.

In 1834, General Santa Anna suspended Mexico's Constitution and declared himself dictator, stating to U.S. minister to Mexico, Joel R. Poinsett: "A hundred years to come my people will not be fit for liberty...a despotism is the proper government for them."

When several Mexican States opposed Santa Ana, he sent his army and crushed the resistance. Santa Ana's ruthless actions precipitated the Texas War of Independence, 1836, and the Mexican-American War, 1846. After the wars, California was purchased by the United States with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.

In 1849, workers in California building a sawmill for John Sutter on the south fork of the American River, discovered gold. Soon prospectors, called "Forty-Niners," arrived. California became the 31st State on SEPTEMBER 9, 1850.

Its Constitution, which prohibited slavery, stated: "We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom...do establish this Constitution."

Regarding California's Catholic Missions, the U.S. Board of Land Commissioners wrote, as recorded in W.W. Robinson's book, Land in California (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1948, p. 28): "The Missions were intended...to be temporary... It was supposed that within that period of time the Indians would be sufficiently instructed in Christianity and the arts of civilized life."

On May 23, 1862, President Lincoln restored all 21 California Missions taken by anti-clerical Mexican Secularization Acts back to the Catholic Church: "I grant unto the...Bishop of Monterrey...in trust for the religious purposes...the tracts of land described in the foregoing survey."

Though Spanish Missions were an integral part of California's history, in 2004 Los Angeles County succumbed to pressure from the ACLU and removed from its county seal a tiny cross.

Unleashed and Released

September 27

“(1) Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, "Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."

(2) And Aaron said to them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me."

(3) So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. (4) And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.

Then they said, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"

(5) So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD."

(6) Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, then rose up to play,” Exodus 32:1-6.


People tend to want God to be ‘Johnny-on-the-Spot.’ They say their prayers, and if they aren’t answered immediately, they abandon the request they have sought with the assumption that God is either unwilling or unable to help them attain their desired end. Perhaps even worse is the fact that man performs godless actions and because his punishment does not come immediately, he presumes God is either impotent or disinterested in doling out the vengeance His has claimed for Himself.

Going ‘off to play’ when God doesn’t move immediately is not unique to the Israelites. Modern man has perfected this rebellious mindset. Our world today is steeped in behaviors and attitudes and words that discredit the Holy Creator and extol the fallen creation. We will go to any length to attain our will. We will breach any law of God to establish our own lawlessness—and we will demand that it be called right.

As the Israelites of old created an idol that allowed them to worship the basest of their lustfulness, so we have created movies, television programs, novels, magazines that feed our most prurient interests.

We are so steeped in the salacious machinations of the enemy of our soul and his demonic minions and their human hosts that we cannot even blush when propriety is trampled by those who ‘entertain’ us or when the name of Jesus Christ our Holy God and Savior is taken in vain.

Like the Israelites, we sacrifice our earthly wealth to create the hedonistic idol that we worship and we blithely sacrifice our eternal treasure as we indulge it. Like them, we wonder in a self-indulgent desert, void of the Bread of Life and the Living Water that we consider impediments to our temporal delight.

And our world is fast deteriorating into a godless wasteland where every man “does what is right in his own eyes,” Judges 21:25.

“These are the very reasons why Chronicles 7:14 must be proclaimed over the entire USA where every State, every city, every community, every home, every church and every individual receive a revelation of the love of GOD—a revelation that results in conviction and repentance, a heart-cry and recognition of a Savior's sacrifice, confession and renunciation of sin, turning every soul to JESUS CHRIST!!!


“May the LORD BE HONORED, PRAISED AND GLORIFIED as HIS SPIRIT IS UNLEASHED and the GOSPEL RELEASED throughout the land!

“May HE SEND THE RAINS AND SHOWERS OF SALVATION and may the earth REJOICE at the soon coming of KING JESUS!!!!

“LET GOD ARISE AND HIS ENEMIES BE SCATTERED!!!! JESUS CHRIST IS KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!” Pastor Wally Magdangal.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness Ensures Freedom
From: Today God Is First by Os Hillman

"But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matthew 6:15).

Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983) was born in Amsterdam and raised in the Dutch Reformed Church.

When the Nazis came to power in the late 1930s, Corrie and her family hid Jews behind a false wall in Corrie's bedroom. In 1944, Corrie's family was arrested and sent to Ravensbrück, one of the worst concentration camps in Nazi Germany. There, Corrie's entire family died. Corrie herself was scheduled for execution but she was released shortly before the end of World War II because of a clerical error.

Corrie concluded that God had saved her for a purpose. She committed her life to preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, speaking in churches, tent meetings, and open-air rallies. At one meeting in Germany in 1947, she taught on God's forgiveness. Afterwards, a man came up to her and introduced himself as a former Ravensbrück guard but Corrie needed no introduction. She remembered him well. He was notorious for his cruelty.

"I've become a Christian since the war," he said, "I know God has forgiven me for the horrible things I did, but I would like to hear it from you. Could you tell me that you've forgiven me, too?" He put out his hand.

Corrie stood there for what seemed an eternity, unable to think of anything but the horrors this man had committed. Then she remembered the words of Jesus that required her to forgive ANY sin. She silently prayed, "Jesus, help me!" ...then she took the man's hand and cried out, "I forgive you, brother!" She later recalled, "I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then."

That was the defining moment in Corrie's ministry. Over the years that followed, she took the Christian gospel to more than sixty countries around the world and changed hundreds of thousands of lives through her speaking, writing, and the motion picture The Hiding Place, based on her autobiography.

If we want to be used in a great way by God, we must be willing to forgive those who may be a great source a pain in our lives.

Is there someone who needs your forgiveness today?

Perhaps

September 25

Many of us wonder as to the reason our nation has endured so many setbacks. We once seemed invincible but today we seem vulnerable to every sort of crisis. The pronouncements of our leaders seem weak and void of resolve. Our industries are relocating abroad. Our weather is unpredictable. On every hand, we seem to be taken unaware, without a plan or a purpose.

Perhaps we will find some insight into our dilemma by perusing the Holy Scripture:

Jeremiah 14:1-16

(1) The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts. (2) "Judah mourns, and her gates languish; they mourn for the land, and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. (3) Their nobles have sent their lads for water; they went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads. (4) because the ground is parched, for there was no rain in the land, the plowmen were ashamed; they covered their heads.


(5) Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field, but left because there was no grass.

(6) And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights; they sniffed at the wind like jackals; their eyes failed because there was no grass."


(7) O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against You. (8) O the Hope of Israel, Savior in time of trouble, why should You be like a stranger in the land, and like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? (9) Why should You be like a man astonished, like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O LORD, are in our midst, and we are called by Your name; do not leave us!

(10) Thus says the LORD to this people: " Thus they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, and punish their sins."

(11) Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good. (12) When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence."

(13) Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’"

(14) And the LORD said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. (15) Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, "Sword and famine shall not be in this land—'By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed!'

(16) And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; they will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them."


The land is suffering but the people did not associate the trauma of their nation to the wickedness of their lives or with the deception that was being perpetrated upon them by their leaders. The people received the lies because they did not put their leaders to the scrutiny of God’s Word.

God blames the plight of a nation on the false leaders to whom the people listened; leaders who lulled the people into complacency, causing them to believe that all was well when it was not.

Do we see our own land in this situation today? We have leaders who are proponents of abortion and immorality; they fund terrorism and turn their backs on allies whose values parallel those of most Americans. The Bible states very clearly, “Woe unto them who call good evil and evil good,” Isaiah 5:20.

Can we long retain the blessings the Lord lavished upon us when we were a Christian nation from whose shores the gospel was taken to the far-flung corners of the earth? Can we hope to have the favor of Heaven when the law of the land, our Constitution, is abrogated and godless laws replace the godly law of our founding fathers?

Does this sound like foolishness? Have we come so far away from our godly Christian roots that we cannot ‘connect-the-dots’ to see the relationship between our fall from greatness and the poisoned ‘cool-aid’ of deception and lawlessness that we’ve been drinking!

All that is wrong with our nation lies in the realm of the SPIRIT! When our hearts are turned toward Jesus again, when we have repented of our sinfulness and sought the cleansing flood of Calvary to wash us clean, perhaps we will be like Sampson, who was given great power one last time to defeat a godless foe (see Judges 13-16).

Perhaps we can be useful to the Holy One on that great and terrible day when He comes to defeat the forces of evil and set the captives free.

Perhaps.

Jude, Chapter 1

Jude 1

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, to those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People

3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered His people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.

11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

A Call to Persevere

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

Doxology

24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

The Commandments

September 23

I am the Lord thy God, who has brought thee out of the land of Egypt (Mizrahim), out of the house of bondage.

Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.

Thou shalt not make for thyself any graven image (carved idol) or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, punishing the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those that hate Me; but showing mercy to thousands of generations of those that love Me, and keep My commandments.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.

Remember to keep holy the sabbath day; six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not do any work therein, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of thy beasts, nor the stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest, even as thyself. Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm. Therefore hath he commanded thee that thou should observe the sabbath day.

Honour thy father and mother that thy days be long in the land which the Lord gives thee.

Thou shalt not kill.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's (goods), his house or fields, nor his male or female slaves, nor his ox or ass, or anything that belongs to him.

Deuteronomy 5:6-21

If you were asked, “Which commandment is most flagrantly disregarded on a regular basis,” how would you answer?

Most of us would never ponder the possibility of stealing or of committing murder. But certainly there are many on the Lord’s list of ‘thou shalt nots’ that are under constant fire by those who are in the army of opposition to all that He stands for.

We certainly covet our neighbors’ goods. We live in a society that competes with itself continually for such things as rank and power and possession and recognition. When our neighbor attains a new rung on the ladder of success, we are driven to do him one better. When our neighbor buys a new car, it isn’t long until a shiny new vehicle graces our driveway. We want to be seen as achievers, not as also-rans.

We don’t always honor our parents as we should. In fact, as they become older and more burdensome, we are disinclined to ‘be there’ for them. We pack them off to a nursing home to salve our conscience regarding them, but we don’t want to be fully responsible for them.

Lying? A little untruth now and then may trill off our tongue, but we mean no malice by it. We’re just trying to get ahead by whatever means are necessary. If we have to enhance our standing by a bit of duplicity, it really doesn’t hurt anyone and it’s too tiny a matter for God to take notice.

Remembering the Sabbath Day on the golf course isn’t a problem. The fresh air, the sunshine, the relaxation attained help to lay aside the burdens of the work-a-day week and reorient our focus on the glory of the God who gave us all things to enjoy.

And, no, we don’t mean it when we allow the “name that is above all names,” Philippians 9:2 to cross our lips in an irreverent manner. No, we’re merely succumbing to the unfortunate influence of the society around us that treats the name of Jesus with total irreverence.

Do we engrave images that we worship? Do we have other ‘gods’ before Him? Perhaps our television sets are not graven images, but we do spend a lot of our time before them, basking in the entertainment (sometimes unwholesome) that they supply to us. We may not have the time for church, but there’s always time for a good move or sit-com or football game on TV.

So, who do we worship? It seems the only viable answer to that question is that we worship our self. We do and say whatever we prefer at any given moment in time. We hope we’re acceptable before God—if He exists—but we’re not concerned enough to read and study His word or to seek out people of faith with whom to associate.

Woe to us, for we do as we please to please ourselves, and our number one commandment is, “Take good care of Number One.”

Lord, forgive us! Lord, forgive me! Help me to lay my life at Your feet, to worship only You, and to surrender the entirety of my being to Your holy commandments that are yea and amen forever.

Let the Blessing Come

September 22

“With the precious things of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush, let the blessing come on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers." Deuteronomy 33:16.

Why did God choose to honor Joseph above his brothers? Essentially, it was because he was separate from his brothers in that he alone remained faithful to God. Hebrews 11, the ‘faith chapter,’ does not mention Reuben, Judah, Dan, Gad, or any other of Jacob's sons while verse 22 emphasizes Joseph's faithfulness:

Here it says, "By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones" (see Genesis 50:22-26).

When his brothers discovered the true identity of their Egyptian host, great fear of retribution and revenge came upon them, but Joseph explained his understanding that God had placed him in power in Egypt "to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by His great deliverance" (see Genesis 45:7).

To his dying day, Joseph never broke faith with his brothers: As recorded in Genesis 50:20-21, he reassures them of their safety and well-being after their father's death: “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.”

Nor did he ever break faith with his God. Dying, he reminded his brothers that God would bring their posterity out of Egypt, restoring them "to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob" (see Genesis 50:24).

In this day of anxiety on every hand—fear of terrorist attack, fear of world-wide pandemics of colossal proportions, increasing lawlessness on every hand, abdication of moral commitments by unbelievers and believers alike—can we rise to the level to which Joseph arose when the unthinkable was perpetrated against him?

Can we love and forgive and pray for those by whom evil is perpetrated and by whom injustice comes as Joseph did or will we succumb to the human invective for retribution? To the degree we can be as Joseph was, to that measure we may anticipate the help of God upon our lives and within our circumstances.

To the degree that we love and forgive, to that measure, we are evidencing the Christ who sacrificed Himself that we might be free to strive for the glorious attributes of Heaven to govern our being rather than the failed characteristics of the world.

Your Redemption

September 21

Rev. Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association stated, ‘As I Read the News, I Can’t Help But Wonder if We Are in The Last Hours.’

Rev. Franklin Graham, head of the international Christian aid group Samaritan’s Purse and son of world-renowned preacher Billy Graham, said that given all the “bad news” about the killing of Christians by Muslims in some countries, and attacks on Christians by the media and the government even in America, he cannot “help but wonder if we are in the last hours before our Lord Jesus Christ returns.”

“As I read the news, I can’t help but wonder if we are in the last hours before our Lord Jesus Christ returns to rescue His church and God pours out His wrath on the world for the rejection of His Son,” said Rev. Graham in a post on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) website.

“I don’t know if we have hours, days, months, or years—but as Christians, God calls us to take the truth of the Gospel to the ends of the earth,” said Graham. “Our job is to warn sinners of the consequences of sin and show them that God is loving and gracious, willing to forgive if we come to Him in repentance and faith.”

In his remarks, Rev. Graham talked about the spread of Ebola in Africa, noting that just in 2014 “the virus has already claimed the lives of over 1,000, making it the deadliest outbreak in history.” One of the American doctors, Kent Brantly, infected with Ebola in Liberia and flown back to the United States for treatment last month was working with Samaritan’s Purse.

As for the religious persecution in the Middle East and elsewhere, Rev. Graham questioned whether “the world is coming apart at the seams,” adding, “There appears to be no end to the bad news. The killing of Christians by Muslims from Indonesia to Bangladesh to Pakistan. China tearing down church buildings. Christians tortured, beheaded, and crucified in Iraq, with villages burned and churches destroyed, and much the same in Syria.”

“American pastor Saeed Abedini is still imprisoned in Iran for his faith,” said Rev. Graham. “Throughout Northern Africa, the Middle East, and many parts of the world, the church of Jesus Christ—and anyone or any group who bears His Name—is under attack.”

“In our own country as well, there is great opposition to the church of Jesus Christ,” he said. “We see this throughout the media, the entertainment industry, government, and politics.”

Rev. Graham continued, “Jesus warned His disciples in Matthew 24 when they asked Him about the signs of the end of the age. He said there would be wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, and pestilence. He told them, ‘Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.’”

Many ordinary citizens of the United States as well as of many other countries of the world, ponder the same concerns that Franklin Graham states here.

The intensity of persecution of Christians, the advances made by terrorists, the incursions into free societies of ideologies that have traditionally enslaved the people under them and robbed them of prosperity and freedom cause thinking people to assess the circumstances engulfing our world and to take heed of the Lord’s words, “When these things come to pass, look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near,” Luke 21:28.

An Admonition from the Lord

September 20

Proverbs 2:1-22 is an admonition from the Lord that the way of righteousness is the way of blessing and life while the way of turning aside is the way of destruction to the entire life of a man. Physical and spiritual life are the victims of turning aside from the law, the truth, the light, the salvation of the Lord. May we take heed to His word and hold fast to Jesus who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” John 14:6.

Proverbs 2

My son, if you accept My words
and store up My commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the upright,
He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for He guards the course of the just
and protects the way of His faithful ones.

9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.

12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,
13 who have left the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,
14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.

16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God
18 Surely her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life.

20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

Help Us To Love Only You

September 19

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever,” I John 2:15-17.

Mankind cannot have two loves. Man cannot love the things of time and still embrace the things of God with a full heart. The temptations that draw men are alluring or they would be no temptation at all. It is difficult for anyone to turn his back of the worldly advantages that come with wealth and power and prestige. It takes godly perception and a Heavenly outlook to keep ones focus on the eternal when the trappings of the world beckon with such temerity.

Yet man knows that anything he attains of the good life that the world flaunts before him is fleeting. All the things that seem to make this sojourn most attractive are in reality burdens that a man bears; they are encumbrances that hold him back from walking in the light and power of Christ.

Revelation 16:15 says, “"Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches…” As a thief does not announce beforehand that he will break in and steal, neither will the Lord give prior warning to us of His soon return. Oh, we may see evidence that suggests His arrival is near, but unless we’re looking for Him, even those signs will be ignored as we pursue the allurements of time.

Our focus will be on what preoccupies us. If we care about the things that are eternal, we will “watch and pray so you don’t fall into temptation,” even as the Lord Himself admonishes in Matthew 26:41; however, if we are preoccupied with our pursuit of the tantalizing possessions of time we will succumb to the temptation of them; they will ensnare us and we will be focused on them rather than on the things of the heavenly realm.

We will be among the lost when Jesus returns because, like Lot’s wife (see Genesis 19:15-26) we will look to the things of time rather than to the things of Heaven. Like Lot’s wife, we will care nothing for our opportunity to escape the wrath of God but care only for the lost pleasures the world of sin affords to us.

Lord Jesus, help us to love only You. Help us to hold the things of time with a loose grip so we can be ever-willing to let them go. Help us to hold fast to You forever, for only You can keep us through this life and assure to us life eternal.

She Went Joyfully With Jesus

September 18

“Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you," Matthew 9:29.

Jesus has been called “the dear and glorious Physician.” Part of the attraction many people have to Him, in addition to the fact that He is Savior, is the reality that when He walked among us on the dusty streets of Galilee, He also extended His loving and mighty hand to heal and to deliver all who were oppressed by disease and every manner of affliction.

The question often becomes, ‘Why doesn’t Jesus always heal in response to the prayers of the faithful?’ The answer to that for most who profess faith in Him is simply, ‘I don’t know.’ But perhaps the following true story will shed a bit of light upon the quandary in which believers find themselves when this question is posed to them.

A beautiful young woman endured a difficult pregnancy at the mid-point of the Twentieth Century. When the time came for her child to be delivered, a cesarean surgery was required. Whether due to the ineptitude of the doctors or to some other undefined reason, the woman was in dire condition after her child was born.

One of the complications after the delivery was that she was left in a coma for several weeks. Later, she told of a visitation she had from the Lord Jesus during that time. When the doctors had given up hope of her restoration to normal life, toward the end of the duration of her comatose state, our Savior and Healer appeared to her.

She said His words to her were, “Would you like to come with Me?”

Her response was, “I would like to go with You, but will You let me stay to raise my baby?” He agreed.

Nine years later, the woman bore a second child and ten years after that she was diagnosed with a fatal disease. Many people prayed for her. They knew of her miraculous earlier recovery, but it was not to be.

After her death, her older child pondered the loss of this beloved and godly woman and concluded that this precious woman had entered a contractual agreement with God. She asked to be allowed to live until her baby grew up. She had not requested to be allowed to live to raise any subsequent children, consequently, her death occurred when her older child was 19 years old, but her younger child was only ten years old.

How many believers have made such bargains with the Lord that their families and acquaintances may or may not reflect upon at the times of their demise? Perhaps each of us has at some time posed a similar deal to the Holy One which He has honored.

One thing we can know with certainty is that everything He speaks is true. His promise is: “My word, which goes forth out of My mouth, shall not return to Me void but shall accomplish that which I please and prosper in the thing to which I send it,” Isaiah 55:11.

In the example given in this passage, Jesus promised the woman that she could raise her child, and she did. When she was dying, she reflected upon His words to her as she had done many times through her life. She did not fear death.

She did not complain about being taken at an early age. She said simply, “He gave me what He promised I would have; He allowed me nineteen years of life beyond His original plan because I asked Him for them." She trusted His goodness, she accepted His faithfulness, and she went joyfully with Jesus.

Every Need Supplied

September 17

“When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean, " Matthew 8:1, 2.

We can assume that if there were great multitudes following Jesus it was because great miracles had been done in their midst, for the Lord, as we are told in Matthew 9:35, “…went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.”

Our introductory verse makes it clear that the leper approached Christ with the right spirit—it says he worshiped Him. There was a boldness involved in his drawing near to the Lord, for anyone who had leprosy had to declare himself unclean and avoid contact with other people.

With the masses thronging Jesus, the leper defied protocol and went directly to the One who he affirmed had the power to deliver him from the horror of his affliction. Because of his presumption—based upon his observation that none were turned away, based upon the consistency of healing and deliverance that was granted to others, and based upon his own desperate need, the leper approached the Lord and humbly beseeched His mercy.

All he had seen confirmed to him that Jesus was willing to meet every need with which He was approached, but the leper did not presume upon His willingness to heal him! Instead, he approached the Holy One with the words, “If You will…”

We should be mindful of the leper’s strategy when we approach the Christ with our own needs. We have the evidence of the Word itself that affirms the truth of Matthew 15:30, “Great crowds came to Him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at His feet; and He healed them.”

If He healed all who were brought to Him when He walked among us, it is not presumptuous for us to believe He will heal us today, for the Bible tells us that “Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” Hebrews 13:8.

Mark 16:18 tells us further that those who believe shall, “….lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” If we pray for healing, for ourselves or for others, we are not claiming a contrivance of our own imagination but we are standing on the word of promise. Romans 4:21 states emphatically, “…what He has promised, He is able to perform.”

Yet, in our confidence based upon His own word in the matter, we should not presume to approach Him with our need based upon our right to do so; rather, we must be worshipful in our supplication, knowing that He is our Holy God and we are mere men.

If we come to Him in humble surrender to His will, we can confidently claim the help we seek as we are encouraged to do in Hebrews 4:16 which says, “Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

As the leper approached boldly, so may we, for we know that Heaven’s door is always open to His people and His ear is ever attuned to the voice of their supplication. With the confidence born of knowing we are loved, let us then resolve that we shall not be denied, for in His time, in His way, our every need shall be supplied.

Conqueror in Love!

September 16

I have not been given the gift of prophesy. I do not profess to see God’s plan for the future of our nation or our world, but I do have common sense and I do see the upheaval throughout the globe that is indicative of momentous changes that are taking place and perhaps will yet occur in the not-too-far-distant-future.

Do these changes augur the soon return of Jesus? Perhaps they do; or perhaps He will tarry His coming another two thousand years, but whatever happens globally, we must all be ready individually. For whether He comes to battle the enemy for the final time at Armageddon or whether He comes to take me home, I / you / we must be prepared for either eventuality, for the Word says, “At an hour when you think not, the Son of Man will come,” Matthew 24:44, Luke 12:40.


Excerpt from WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE WORLD? By Loren Sandford:

Some weeks ago, as I was praying about the heaviness I see so many believers carrying, the Lord downloaded the following into my spirit. This is war, not a time for slumber or malaise. Eternal destinies are at stake. Time to stare down fatigue and deny it a place.

Time to seize upon our hope and move in it. Time to find a sense of holy wrath deep in the heart and rise up, sword of the Spirit in hand, to deny the powers of darkness any form of power over self or over those we've been called to walk with. Time to awaken the sleeping giant in the hearts of those who love the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. Let walls fall down and obstacles be overcome to the glory of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We're often too gentle, caught up in an incomplete understanding of who the Father and Jesus really are, focused on the warm fuzzies to the exclusion of a tougher side of our Father's heart. God is love, but love is more than hugs and tears. It's more than a gentle squeeze. It's more than comfort. It's more than the laid back restful romance with the God we know and love and it's more than God falling on us with affirmations of how deeply He feels for us.

There's another side to that love—an aggressive side, a warfare side, a tough side, even an angry side. That side of His love is just as much an expression of love as all the gentle warm fuzzies we love to experience. We are at war and we will need this tougher side of the Father's heart flowing through us and incorporated into our own character if we expect to win. It has many facets and manifests differently according to the different parts of the world in which it is waged.

The war in Ukraine, for instance, is an attempt of the enemy to silence the voices of powerful Christian leaders arising there. Having ministered in Ukraine every year for seven consecutive years, I've watched some of the finest men and women of God I have ever known grow in anointing, maturity and authority. Now their churches are under pressure and some have closed due to the violence perpetrated by the separatists.

In the Arab and Muslim worlds Christians are being slaughtered in record numbers and whole regions have been emptied of believers as they are driven from their villages, told to convert or die. Pakistani Christians live in danger every day, often forced to live in ghettos where open sewers flow. Entire Christian neighborhoods have been burned. In the western nations, as opposed to living under threat of death, we are being labeled bigots—dangerous hate--filled enemies of tolerance. Laws are being passed and battles being in fought nearly every nation of the world, as opposition rises to silence the voice of believers and stop the end time revival the Lord has decreed.

For you and me, living in nations that once were Christian, the attack generally takes more subtle forms than physical threats and legal challenges. If it were open and blatant, you'd stand up in defiance and refuse to be silent, but it's more subtle than that. It manifests when life crises, hurts and disappointments begin to pile up. The enemy wants to silence your voice by taking your heart and sucking the hope out of you. This brings a sense of malaise and the feeling that God isn't doing anything, that He's way off somewhere in the distance and not truly with you.

You don't see what you want to see happening in your faith or in your ministry. Health problems—your own and those of your friends—wear you down. Problems at work create stress and exhaustion. Your children suffer setbacks until you begin to cry out, "What are You doing, God?!" and you surrender your fire and fall silent and ineffective.

If I've described you, know that this is all part of a coordinated strategy of the enemy of your soul to silence your voice, whether by physical threats or by more subtle pressures. By immobilizing you, the devil thinks to shut up the end time outpouring of the Holy Spirit that would bring in a harvest of the lost even in the midst of darkness and trouble.

In Ephesians 6:11 Paul identified it as, "the schemes of the devil," and in verse 12 he wrote, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." He spoke of carefully laid plans devised and carried out by highly placed and well organized demonic powers.

There comes a time when we must rise up in the warrior spirit that expresses a neglected side of the loving nature of our Father and our Savior and, in holy wrath, shout, "I will not be silenced! I will not surrender to this malaise and oppression! I will walk in power. I will do all, and having done all, I will stand!"

We get to win!


May these prophetic words steel our hearts for the battle before us and may we know that Jesus has made us “more than conquerors through Christ who loves us,” Romans 8:37. Walk in power! Live in hope! Believe in faith! Conquer in love!

If You Receive Jesus

September 15

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,” Galatians 5:22.

How can we distinguish ‘true religion’? How can we identify the belief system that conveys the heart of the Almighty to man? There are so many divergent philosophies that represent lofty thought but are no better than the wind blowing through the trees as regards our temporal well-being and our eternal security. How can we avoid being duped by high sounding words that are as vacuous as the air?

And it’s obvious that many of our species are under the spell of voluminous words whose meanings are not the same as those we embrace to our hearts. Some of us believe that life is a series of attempts at attaining nirvana, that our inability to achieve enlightenment in one lifetime will be followed by another chance to discover the bliss that comes with perfect knowledge in another.

Others of our race are convinced that it is our duty to impose our belief system upon everyone on earth. We are further convinced that we are obligated to utilize any means necessary to achieve this end. We will lie, we will steal, we will murder, all that the eternal purposes of god as--we perceive them-- will become universal in their scope.

Some of us believe that mere adherence to the belief system we espouse will assure our attainment of heaven. In this view, it is not as much what we believe as individuals but what we adhere ourselves to that brings salvation to us. When we fall short of the prescribed dogma of our tenets of faith, we simply acknowledge our failure and rely upon our membership in the group to absolve us from our failures and foibles.

If we subscribe to the born again philosophy of religious expression we base our eternal well-being on the words of Jesus in John 3:3—“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven.” This is followed by the explanation in John 3:16 which says, “God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

At once this assertion includes everyone yet excludes many who will not subscribe to it. But to we who embrace it, it is anchored in God’s love, which brings us back to Galatians 5:22 which tells us that included among the fruits of the Spirit given as the evidence in Exhibit A of our lives as to whether we are true sons and daughters of the Living God will be the unmistakable proof—we will love.

In fact, in I John 4:8 the beloved Apostle tells us, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” If we are correct in believing this one truth, we have the essence of salvation. Because God loves, He allowed Jesus to die a cruel death. Because God loves, Jesus forsook His lofty estate in Heaven in order that we may partake of Heaven eternally (see Philippians 2:6-8).

When we receive God’s love as manifested through Christ’s life, death and resurrection, we become partakers eternally of the salvation that is His free gift to us and we become conduits in time of the fruits of the Spirit, including love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.

To which belief system do you subscribe? Examine your heart to know who you will serve and whose law you will uphold. If you receive the words of Jesus, the Holy Spirit will come to you in your confusion, in your doubt, in your sin, and “teach you all things,” John 14:26.

Count Your Blessings

September 14

The continually worsening events of daily news can undermine our peace and devastate our hope of a better day.

But, the reality is that Jesus Christ is triumphant and He is glorious—and nothing that happens in our world can rob us of our peace if our peace is rooted in our Savior and if we allow His joy to be our strength as Nehemiah 8:10 assures us that it is.

Toward the end of holding fast to our hope and abiding in our joy, may we consider the following blessings that are new to us each morning:

1. Jesus is alive, Revelation 1:18.
2. Jesus is alive in my heart and life, John 6:56, John 15:4.
3. Jesus invites me to share His life with all who will partake, Mark 16:15.
4. Because He lives, no one who believes in Him will ever die, John 11:25, 26.
5. Because He overcame death, hell, and the grave, we can overcome all our trials, Philippians 4:13. 6. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, Hebrews 13:8.
7. Jesus healed all who came to Him, Matthew 8:16, Matthew 12:22.
8. Jesus promised that when He went to the Father He would send the Holy Spirit to us, John 14:16.
9. Jesus said that through the Holy Spirit we would do greater things than He had done, John 14:12-14.
10. We can claim His promises and see His power at work in our lives, Romans 4:21.

These promises are from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:
11.God has ordained that there be a season for everything and all things will be good if we allow them to happen in His time.
12. There is a time to be born and there is a time to die.
13. There is a time to weep and a time to laugh.
14. There is a time to gain and a time to lose.
15. There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak.

These blessings are from Isaiah 53:1-5. The entire chapter is a prophesy of Christ's sacrifice for us:
16. Who has believed our report? I BELIEVE!
17. To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? I HAVE SEEN THE WORK OF HIS ARM REVEALED!
18. Though the world has not seen HIS beauty, HE HAS REVEALED HIS BEAUTY TO ME!
19. HE HAS BORNE MY GRIEFS AND CARRIED MY SORROWS!
20. HE WAS BRUISED FOR ME AND BY HIS STRIPES I AM HEALED!

These blessings are found in Isaiah 54:
21. I will break forth on the right and on the left and my children shall inherit greatness and be taught of the Lord and dwell in peace.
22. I shall never be ashamed or confounded for my reproach is behind me.
23. The Lord has called me as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and He has gathered me in with great mercy.
24. He will lay the foundations of my life and build my house with precious stones.
25. I shall not fear, for terror shall never come near me; any who gather against me shall fall; no weapon formed against me shall prosper; every tongue that speaks against me shall be condemned ...for I am the Lord's.

These blessings are found in Psalm 23:
26. The Lord is my Shepherd. I will follow where He leads me, for He knows the path I should take.
27. The Lord is my Provider. I shall know no lack of any good thing He desires me to have. 28. The Lord understands my frustrations, my foibles, my failures, and when I fall, HE RESTORES ME TO HIMSELF.
29. The Lord is my Comforter; He wraps me in His arms and holds me securely to Himself, so I need fear nothing--not even death.
30. The Lords' goodness and mercy shall abide with me in time and He will allow me to dwell with Him for eternity.

These blessings are taken from Philippians 3:6-11:
31. Jesus made Himself nothing for me so I may have everything He has provided in the salvation package.

32. Jesus was obedient unto death so that I may have the opportunity to be obedient unto life.

33, Jesus has been given the name that is above every other name—and I may call upon that name in times of need, in times of worship, in times of praise.

34. At the name of Jesus, EVERY knee shall bow—in heaven, in earth, and under the earth—and I have the privilege to bow before Him now so I may have the joy of looking forward to bowing before Him in Heaven.

35. Every tongue shall acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, and I have the privilege of proclaiming His “unspeakable gift” (II Corinthians 9:15) and His matchless glory to all the earth, according to His great commission, in Matthew 28:16-20, “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Sacrifice and Transformation

September 13

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God,” Romans 12:1, 2.

Paul makes some very clear points in these verses—first, Christians are to be living sacrifices; second, it is reasonable that Christians be living sacrifices; third, to be a living sacrifice, the Christian cannot be conformed to the world; fourth, if the Christian is not to be conformed to the world, his mind must be transformed.

The implication of these points goes far beyond a mere perfunctory assent to them. Rather, performing them is our “reasonable service.” Too many of us today, as apparently in Paul’s day, consider that all that is required of us is lip service to the tenets of the Gospel. The great Apostle declared otherwise, as he proved by the way he lived his life.

Paul willingly gave up his position and the prestige it accrued to him as he stated in Philippians 3:3-10: “We who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, I am of the people of Israel—of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, I am a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, I was persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, I was faultless.

"7 But whatever things were gain to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them as dung, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death…”

This is no mere perfunctory reiteration of the Gospel message but a totality of surrender of the entirety of his life and work to the transformation the word of the Living Christ makes in a life that is revolutionized by an encounter with the Savior. And this is what Paul says each of us must have.

If we have accepted Jesus but our lives go on as usual, if we name the name that is above all names but have required no alteration to our lifestyle, if we have joined the ranks of Sunday morning saints but live worldly lives Monday through Saturday, Paul is saying we have fallen short of the mark of a true believer, for being a true believer requires sacrifice and transformation.

Are we willing to sacrifice life’s temporal pleasures and accolades at the altar? Are we willing to be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that not only what we say and what we do will be a reflection of the Lord but our very thoughts will be His? If we believe Paul, we will agree that this is our reasonable service.

Open Our Eyes And Hearts

September 12

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death,” Revelation 21:8.

It is difficult to reconcile the fact that all men have an opportunity to be forgiven and made righteous by the blood of the Lamb. There is something in the heart of peaceable, ordinary people who disdain the thought of some of the vilest individuals coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

And yet we know in the depth of our being that in God’s eyes we are no better than they are. While men see degrees of sin and while men adjust temporal punishments to suit the crime, in the eyes of God, all sin is abhorrent. When Jesus, battered and bleeding, hung on the cross, it was for the sin of the little white lie you told when you took a penny from your mother’s purse as well as for the sin of the vilest murderer.

The evil murderer makes the headlines, but the little thief who stole the penny also breaks God’s heart. We all stand in need of a Savior. “There is none righteous, no not one,” Romans 3:10, and, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23, apply equally to all our race.

Romans 2:1-3 makes God’s position very clear in the matter: “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?”

How do we escape the trap we’ve set for ourselves? The trap that ensnares others in the depravity of their sin but makes excuse for our own sins and foibles? Our only route of escape is to see with God’s eyes. Our only hope to attain full forgiveness and not mere perfunctory assent to our culpability is to bow before our Holy God and ask Him to bathe us afresh in the cleansing blood of our Savior.

We must ask Him to give us a glimpse of Him—“high and lifted up and His train fills the Temple,” Isaiah 6:1; we must ask Him to let us see our Lord Jesus on the cross, brutalized for MY sins (see Isaiah 53:5); we must ask Him to reveal to us the Christ of Revelation 19:12, 13 “His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.…”

If we see ourselves as we are, “conceived in sin,” Psalm 51:5, and see Him as He is, we will fall on our face in humble thanksgiving and praise for the deliverance Jesus has supplied to us, and we will be eternally turned away from the great calamity that awaits the unrepentant sinner for eternity.

Oh, Lord Jesus, open our eyes to see, and open our hearts to receive You, so that none may perish but that all might come to repentance according to II Peter 3:9.

"I Will Never Fail You Nor Forsake You"

September 11

Today is the thirteenth anniversary of the attack of Islamic militants upon the United States. The event sent shock waves through the nation and into many parts of the world. Since that time, the intensity of hatred leveled against the western world by muslim extremists remains unabated. Even as their aggression has taken on barbaric proportions, so has the retaliation against it wreaked havoc.

The Bible prophesies that in the Last Days, “things shall wax worse and worse and then the end shall come,” II Timothy 3:13, and certainly the events of our day are horrific in nature and world-wide in their scope. But is it the end? In Matthew 24:44 Jesus said, “…at an hour when you think not, the Son of Man shall come.”

Much of the world is in denial regarding the claims of Christ upon their lives. Europe, which was once a source of fervent missionary exploration has become quite lax in its exercise of Christianity. Beautiful old churches and cathedrals have slumped into disuse and disrepair or been converted to other purposes while the people languish in religious indifference. Indeed, many think nothing about Jesus at all, let alone concern themselves that He might return at any moment.

Others have a false concept of Jesus, who they believe will come as a cohort of the Madhi who will establish Islamic rule everywhere on earth. According to their eschatology, his role will be to slaughter everyone who does not acquiesce to demands of submission to muslim rule.

Some who see the unfolding events of time as a warning of dire things to come are on their knees before the Holy One according to II Chronicles 7:14 which says, “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.”

These Christians see a need for a “Third Great Awakening” to hold back the tsunami of economic and social and political and religious upheaval that is creating world-wide turmoil, even as they utter the words of Revelation 22:20, “…even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

May we add our supplication to theirs that the nation and the world will see a resurgence of faith in the Living Savior Jesus Christ before He comes with His legions of angels to take believers to Himself. But, however the time before us may unfold—whether to go on another thousand years in the depravity and disparity of man or whether to be swallowed into the glorious light of God’s eternal Day—may we who call upon the name of the true Jesus who is our Savior and Lord know that in good times or bad, He is with us.

May we know that we will not be forsaken, no matter whether another onslaught of 9/11 proportions —or greater—may come, for He is faithful who has promised (see Deuteronomy 31:8 and Hebrews 13:5) which say, “I will never fail you nor forsake you.”

In Praise of Who You Are

September 10

“We want each of you to go on with the same hard work all your lives so you will surely get what you hope for. We do not want you to become lazy. Be like those who through faith and patience will receive what God has promised.

“These two things cannot change: God cannot lie when He makes a promise and He cannot lie when He makes an oath. These things encourage us who came to God for safety. They give us strength to hold on to the hope we have been given.

“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and strong. It enters behind the curtain in the Most Holy Place in Heaven where Jesus has gone ahead of us and for us. He has become the High Priest forever, a priest like Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:11, 12, 18, 20.

The first matter Paul addresses to the Hebrew believers is diligence. Like them, we must be resolute in our determination that our service to the Kingdom of Christ will result in what we hope for—the salvation of souls for eternity. If we are patient and if we are steadfast in faith, we will see the promise, for we know it is the Lord’s will that all men be saved (see I Timothy 2:4).

We know that God’s word is “yea and amen,” II Corinthians 1:20, and His precious promises have all been fulfilled in Jesus. All that remains is for each man to accept the redemption that Jesus purchased for him and has given to him through His “unspeakable gift,” II Corinthians 9:15.

Of course, any gift can be refused and the unfortunate thing is that many who abide in this Vale of Tears have rejected the promise that is above all promises. Many are among those who deny the veracity of the promise of Christ who extends salvation to everyone who’s ever lived.

Many turn their backs on the Lord and His mercy because they deny who He is. They do not accept that Jesus is the ONLY Savior and Lord, that His is “the only name given under Heaven whereby men might be saved,” Acts 4:12. In their denial, they relegate themselves to the lot of the damned who must eternally bear the punishment for their own sins.

But for us who believe, “we have a hope that is an anchor for our soul; an anchor that is sure and strong.” This hope allows us to enter into the Holy Place in Heaven where Jesus is, where we may bow before our High Priest in worship and adoration of the One who set us free from the chains of sin with which the evil one had us bound and where we may “receive grace and mercy that will help us in time of need,” Hebrews 4:16.

Lord Jesus, remove the scales from our eyes so that we might behold You in Your glory and bow before You in praise of who You are. The Word tells us that one day, “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; every knee on earth and in heaven and in hell shall bow before Him and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God,” Philippians 2:10.

Lord, let us be among those who bow before You in life so we may bow before You eternally in heaven.

What Makes Christians Different? from Focus on the Family

Sooner or later, most of us will hear this question: "What makes Christians different?"

We know the answer to that question is not just a matter of behavior, following a certain set of rules, or belonging to a particular group. Becoming a Christian involves something far deeper that changes a person on the inside. We should emphasize the key that distinguishes believers from non-believers—the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

While fallen people have a sin nature, that doesn't mean they are completely devoid of the knowledge of God, of good and evil, and of right and wrong. In fact, the Apostle Paul tells us that the unsaved are responsible for their actions (Romans 1:18-20) and have a conscience (Romans 2:14-15)—though some have seared or hardened it to the point where it's gone dormant (1 Timothy 2:4). As human beings made in the Creator's image, we all possess a basic natural understanding of God's truth and moral standards.

However, it's important to help seekers of all ages understand the New Testament's clear teaching that no one has the Holy Spirit until he or she turns to God and asks to receive His transforming, indwelling presence (Luke 11:13) through faith in Jesus Christ. That decision is the most important choice anyone can ever make—and it makes all the difference in the world.

The Holy Word of Our Holy God

September 9

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire,” Matthew 5:21, 22.

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’ And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord,” Ephesians 6:1-4.

People can agree on virtually nothing. Some people thoroughly enjoy hot, sunny summer days while others prefer the beauty of a winter snowfall. Some people like plain vanilla ice cream while others laden their frosty treats with chocolate sauce and pineapple topping and crushed nuts. And it is fine that we each enjoy life’s summers and winters and ice cream delights in our own way.

But if all men could subscribe to the above passages of scripture, if all inhabitants of our frail planet could agree to this one thing, we would diminish greatly, if not eradicate entirely, all that ails our troubled world.

If we could refrain from anger against our brothers for various degrees of perceived flaws—such as: 1. He receives a promotion that I feel I was due, 2. His skin is a different color than mine, 3. He worships God differently than I do, 4. He has more of life’s treasure than I possess—we would greatly reduce the incidence of all manner of crimes perpetrated by our species.

Jesus goes on to say that to hurl the term ‘raca’ at anyone is cause for grievance. The Hebrew term has an interesting etymology. ‘Raca’ is an Aramaic transliteration for ‘reka,’ a term expressing contempt, scorn, or disdain. The Greek word ‘rhaka’ means empty, vain or worthless one, signifying a lack of intellect.

Directing the term ‘raca’ at anyone is like calling them an imbecile or a blockhead. The Jews of Jesus’ day used it as a word of contempt. It is derived from a root meaning, ‘to spit.’ We are not to be contemptuous of those whose opinions differ from ours. Neither are we to call others ‘a fool.’

The second scriptural admonition deals with interaction within families. Children are to be respectful of their parents, to honor them. Even adult children are expected to maintain a high regard for their parents. The parents are to earn this respect and honor by being fair to their offspring. Part of that responsibility is to establish their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—to build their lives upon His truth.

If we, each of us, within our sphere of influence will employ these Biblical principles, we will go far toward anchoring ourselves to the truths that set all men free if they will but adhere to the Holy Word of our Holy God.

Have Your Way In Every Heart

September 8

“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” Genesis 6:5.

The degree of wickedness described in Genesis 6:5 is quite pervasive. We who function within our little church conclaves and live in our pleasant neighborhoods and work in well-regulated offices and study in orderly schools and shop in air-conditioned department stores have little concept of the depth of depravity to which many among our race have sunk.

If we can tolerate the news on any given night, we are scarcely touched by the level of violence some of our brothers in Christ are enduring because we are so steeped in mayhem in our ordinary entertainment viewing, that we can scarcely connect the dots from which emerge a picture of unadulterated evil being perpetrated in some parts of the world against followers of our Lord.

But God hears and God sees. Our Holy and Heavenly Father knows the wickedness that is being unleashed upon His people by hordes of demonic barbarians whose blood lust knows no limit. Perhaps the ruthless extermination of His people, as described in Revelation 20:4, has already begun.

And though we can grasp on a superficial level the great sacrifice that our brothers in Christ are making for their faith in the One who has come to “set the captives free,” Luke 4:18, our overriding complacency is palpable. Because it is thousands of miles away from us, because we are not personally touched by the atrocities our fellow believers are enduring, we avert our eyes and stop our ears to their suffering. But God hears, and God sees.

Not only does He see the horrors to which Christians are being subjected in some parts of the world but He also sees the thoughts and intents of our hearts—hearts that do not allow themselves to be touched by the atrocities being perpetrated against the people of God. And in our indifference, we are found to be as guilty as the ruthless barbarians.

Should we not rise up as one voice and cry out against this inhumanity that is being unleashed upon our brethren! Should we not demand that the greatest military power in the world should rain down retribution upon the perpetrators of such unadulterated evil so the guiltless would be rescued from their barbarity!

Or are our consciences “seared by a hot iron,” I Timothy 4:2 and we cannot accept that our silence gives assent to the cruelty!

Lord Jesus, forgive us! Lord Jesus keep us on our knees before You as we supplicate Your mercy for our brethren that you will deliver them out of the hand of the evil one. Help us to pray even for the demonic hordes that are cruelly butchering them—that they would see that their actions do not please the Almighty but that they reflect only the intent of “the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy,” John 10:10.

Let them fall on their faces in repentance before You that they who are enemies of the Gospel and destroyers of the Saints and despisers of the Savior will be turned around from the evil of their ways; that the darkness in them will be overcome by He who is Light; that the death in them will be swallowed up by He who is Life; that the hell to which they’re bound will be exchanged for the narrow path to Heaven (see Matthew 7:14) as they embrace the Savior with full and transformed hearts.

Bound Together In Him

September 7

“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures,” James 4:1-3.

If we seek our desires, life will be filled with conflict because everybody who is not surrendered to the will of God for his life is doing the same thing. James seems to be indicating here that the desires of other individuals will conflict with ours, thereby producing arguments, struggle, strife, and war. Because few are willing to compromise, let alone relinquish their desires, conflict will arise as a natural course.

If the parties involved are also unwilling to submit to the central authority, conflicting desires will collide. When there is a central authority that establishes principles within which people can interact agreeably, whether that central authority is the family, the culture, or God’s law, there will be unity. When these unifying entities are rejected in favor of the goals of the individual, conflict. will inevitably arise.

Each of us who professes faith in Christ has an obligation to strive for unity—not just binding together with people whose interests are complimentary to our own but with people of like precious faith who love the Lord we love.

We may find our views on politics, on education, on world events to be 180 degrees apart from theirs, but if we mutually love Jesus, we should be able to interact amicably on mutually-agreeable Kingdom goals.

John 8:32 declares, “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free,” and the only truth that has the power to achieve for us the freedom to unite with our brethren who may differ from us is the truth that is eternal—the Truth who says of Himself, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,” John 14:6.

The reality is that the truth cannot set us free if we don’t submit to it. Christ who is ultimate Truth cannot set us free unless we give our will over to His. We must love Truth, we must embrace Truth, we must walk in Truth or we will deny Truth and the only truth we will know will be a counterfeit truth that springs from our own will.

Only Jesus can cause unity to prevail in divergent individuals and He can achieve unity only as each believer surrenders his will to Christ’s. When believers have done that, nothing can cause them to battle among themselves or with those outside the realm of faith—unless the perfect law of the Holy One is the issue that separates them.

What Will History Say?

September 6

“Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall,” I Corinthians 10:12.

Many people in America and in the West think our civilization will last forever. We think our military might and technological prowess assure the continuation of life as we know and enjoy it. We seem oblivious to the havoc that barbarians from the outside and our own indolence can wreak.

Perhaps the sobering experience of the Roman Empire may shake us from our slumber.

THE FALL OF ROME by Bill Federer

THE FALL OF ROME was a culmination of several external and internal factors:

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA

By 220AD, the Later Eastern Han Dynasty had extended sections of the Great Wall of China along its Mongolian border. This resulted in the Northern Huns attacking west instead of east.This caused a domino effect of tribes migrating west across Central Asia, and overrunning the Western Roman Empire.

OPEN BORDERS
Illegal immigrants poured across the Roman borders: Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Alemanni, Thuringians, Rugians, Jutes, Picts, Burgundians, Lombards, Alans, Vandals, as well as African Berbers and Arab raiders. Will and Ariel Durant wrote in The Story of Civilization (Vol. 3 - Caesar and Christ, Simon & Schuster, 1944, p. 366): "If Rome had not engulfed so many men of alien blood in so brief a time, if she had passed all these newcomers through her schools instead of her slums, if she had treated them as men with a hundred potential excellences, if she had occasionally closed her gates to let assimilation catch up with infiltration, she might have gained new racial and literary vitality from the infusion, and might have remained a Roman Rome, the voice and citadel of the West."

LOSS OF COMMON LANGUAGE

At first immigrants assimilated and learned the Latin language. They worked as servants with many rising to leadership. But then they came so fast they did not learn Latin, but instead created a mix of Latin with their own Germanic, Frankish and Anglo tribal tongues. The unity of the Roman Empire began to dissolve.

THE WELFARE STATE

"Bread and the Circus!" Starting in 123 BC, the immensely powerful Roman politician, Gaius Gracchus began appeasing citizens with welfare, a monthly hand-out of a free dole (handout) of grain. Roman poet Juvenal (circa 100 AD) described how Roman emperors controlled the masses by keeping them ignorant and obsessed with self-indulgence, so that they would be distracted and not throw them out of office, which they might do if they realized the true condition of the Empire: "Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who ONCE UPON A TIME handed out military command, high civil office, legions - everything, NOW restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses." The Durants wrote in The Lessons of History (p. 92): "The concentration of population and poverty in great cities may compel a government to choose between ENFEEBLING THE ECONOMY WITH A DOLE or running the risk of riot and revolution." Welfare and government jobs exploded, as recorded in Great Ages of Man-Barbarian Europe (NY: Time-Life Books, 1968, p. 39), one Roman commented: "Those who live at the expense of the public funds are more numerous than those who provide them."

CLASS WARFARE

City centers were abandoned by the upper class, who bought up farms from rural landowners and transformed them into palatial estates. The Durants wrote in The Story of Civilization (Vol. 3-Caesar and Christ, Simon & Schuster, 1944, p.90): "The Roman landowner disappeared now that ownership was concentrated in a few families, and a proletariat without stake in the country filled the slums of Rome." Inner cities were destabilized, being also plagued with lead poisoning, as water was brought in through lead pipes. ("plumb" or "plumbing" is the Latin word for "lead.") The value of human life was low. Slavery and sex-trafficking abounded, especially of captured peoples from Eastern Europe. "Slavs," which meant "glorious" came to have the inglorious meaning of a permanent servant or "slave." (Great Ages, p. 18).

TAXES

Taxes became unbearable, as "collectors became greedy functionaries in a bureaucracy so huge and corrupt." Tax collectors were described by the historian Salvian as "more terrible than the enemy." (Great Ages, p.20). Arther Ferrill wrote in The Fall of the Roman Empire: The Military Explanation (New York: Thames and Hudson Ltd., 1986): "The chief cause of the agricultural decline was high taxation on the marginal land, driving it out of cultivation." There was a loss of patriotism, wealth began to flee the Empire, and with it, the spirit of liberty. President William Henry Harrison warned in his Inaugural Address, 1841: "It was the beautiful remark of a distinguished English writer that 'in the Roman senate Octavius had a party and Antony a party, but the Commonwealth had none'...The spirit of liberty had fled, and, avoiding the abodes of civilized man, had sought protection in the wilds of Scythia or Scandinavia; and so under the operation of the same causes and influences it will fly from our Capitol and our forums." More recently, John F. Kennedy observed, January 6, 1961: "Present tax laws may be stimulating in undue amounts the flow of American capital to industrial countries abroad."

OUTSOURCING

Rome's economy stagnated from a large trade deficit, as grain production was outsourced to North Africa. Gerald Simons wrote in Great Ages of Man-Barbarian Europe (NY: Time-Life Books, 1968, p. 39): "As conquerors of North Africa, the Vandals cut off the Empire's grain supply at will. This created critical food shortages, which in turn curtailed Roman counterattacks."

DEBT PRECEDED FALL

Rome was crippled by huge government bureaucracies and enormous public debt. The Durants wrote in The Lessons of History (p. 92): "Huge bureaucratic machinery was unable to govern the empire effectively with the enormous, out-of-control debt." In Great Ages of Man-Barbarian Europe (NY: Time-Life Books, 1968, p. 20), Gerald Simons wrote: "The Western Roman economy, already undermined by falling production of the great Roman estates and an unfavorable balance of trade that siphoned off gold to the East, had now run out of money."

SELF-PROMOTING & CORRUPT POLITICIANS

The Durants wrote in The Lessons of History (p. 92): "The educated and skilled pursued business and financial success to the neglect of their involvement in politics." Richard A. Todd wrote in "The Fall of the Roman Empire" (Eerdmans' Handbook to the History of Christianity, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Co., 1977, p. 184): "The church, while preaching against abuses, contributed to the decline by discouraging good Christians from holding public office."

VIOLENT ENTERTAINMENT

The Circus Maximus and Coliseum were packed with crowds of Romans engrossed with violent entertainment, games, chariot races, and until 404 AD, gladiators fighting to the death. Gerald Simons wrote in Great Ages of Man-Barbarian Europe (NY: Time-Life Books, 1968, p. 20): "In the causal brutality of its public spectacles, in a rampant immorality that even Christianity could not check."

EXPOSURE OF UNWANTED INFANTS

Roman demographics changed as families had fewer children. Some would sell unwanted children into slavery or leave them outside exposed to the weather to die, as was the practice till 374AD. The Durants wrote in The Story of Civilization, Vol. 3-Caesar and Christ (Simon & Schuster, 1944, p. 134): "Children were now luxuries which only the poor could afford."

IMMORALITY

Rome was corrupted with court favoritism, the patronage system, injustice in the legal system, infidelity, perverted bathhouses, sexual immorality, gluttony, and gymnasiums ("gym" being the Greek word for naked). 5th-Century historian Salvian wrote: "For all the lurid Roman tales of their atrocities...the barbarians displayed...a good deal more fidelity to their wives." (Great Ages, p. 13.) Salvian continued: "O Roman people be ashamed; be ashamed of your lives. Almost no cities are free of evil dens, are altogether free of impurities, except the cities in which the barbarians have begun to live...Let nobody think otherwise, the vices of our bad lives have alone conquered us...The Goths lie, but are chaste, the Franks lie, but are generous, the Saxons are savage in cruelty...but are admirable in chastity...What hope can there be for the Romans when the barbarians are more pure than they? Samuel Adams wrote to John Scollay of Boston, April 30, 1776: "The diminution of public virtue is usually attended with that of public happiness, and the public liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals. 'The Roman Empire,' says the historian, 'must have sunk, though the Goths had not invaded it. Why? Because the Roman virtue was sunk.'"

MILITARY CUTS

Though militarily superior and marching on advanced road systems, the highly trained Roman Legions were strained fighting conflicts from the Rhine River to the Sassanid Persian Empire. Roman borders were over-extended and the military defending them was cut back to dangerously low ranks. The Durants wrote in The Story of Civilization (Vol. 3-Caesar and Christ, Simon & Schuster, 1944, p.90): "The new generation, having inherited world mastery, had no time or inclination to defend it; that readiness for war which had characterized the Roman landowner disappeared."

TERRORIST ATTACKS

Called the "Scourge of God," Attila the Hun was thought to be the anti-christ as he devastated Europe with his half-million warriors. Aquileia, one of the largest cities in the world at the time, was so completely destroyed that inhabitants ran into the ocean, hammered down logs and lived on platforms which grew into the city of Venice. Saint Genevieve called Paris to pray in 451 AD and for some reason Attila turned aside sparing the city. Pope Leo rode out to meet Attila in 452AD, and persuaded him not to sack Rome, delaying the the city's fall 24 more years. Finally the barbarian Chieftain Odoacer attacked. Rome is considered to have officially fallen on SEPTEMBER 4, 476 AD.

All of this has happened, is happening, or threatens to happen here soon. Will we awake to the imminent danger before us or will we sleep our way into oblivion? Had the Romans not destroyed themselves from within, they would have been invincible to an outside enemy. Will history say the same thing about the United States?