Category: General

It is Christmas! The best diagnosis of the true meaning of Christmas was given by a doctor over 2000 years ago, and it cannot be improved upon. The doctor is Luke, and the diagnosis is found in the second chapter of his inspired “prescription,” which is known to us as the Gospel according to St. Luke. In the eleventh verse, we have the very core of the message, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2: II).

Note how clear and sharp is the doctor’s diagnosis! ” … unto you … ” that is personal. ” … this day … “-that is present. ” … a Saviour … ” -that is precious.

There is all the difference in the world between Christmas and Christ. Millions make a holiday over the former and forget the latter. Christ is frequently crowded out of this special day, which is meant to remember Him the most. Holiness is hidden beneath the holly. The wreath is hung higher than the cross. Often the Saviour is replaced by Santa Claus.

Yet without Christ, there is really no Christmas. Without Him, there is nothing to sing about or rejoice over. Outward merriment all too quickly becomes inward mockery to the starved soul. It is time for us to turn back to that perfect prescription of the old doctor and spend a quiet moment with his words.

” … unto you … ” This is a personal message, and there can he no evasion nor denial. What have you done with the Lord Jesus Christ for this occasion? You have remembered family and friends with gifts, but have you remembered Him?

” … this day … ” Yes, this day, this very moment! Thoughts of Christmas fill the air, and there is at least the passing acknowledgment of His person. But do you know that the thoughts of Christ concerning you are those of grace and eternal life? He offers you the most wonderful Christmas gift available-the gift of your soul’s salvation. What will you do with Christ this Christmas?

” … a Saviour … ” Yes, that is the power source of the prescription. The road from Christmas to Calvary is really a short one, for this Babe of Bethlehem came to die as the Sin-Bearer upon Calvary’s cross. Not “Santa” but the Saviour; not “Claus” but Christ. It is only the man or woman, the boy or girl, who has truly been to Calvary, whose sinful heart has been broken at the foot of the cross, whose life has been cleansed and transformed, who can really and truly know the blessed joy of a “heavenly Christmas” within the heart.

How precious are those words, ” … unto you … this day … a Saviour … “, when the heart is open to receive Him.

How is it with you? Do you belong to the Lord? Or are you still passing by the manger, forgetting that the Holy Babe long ago climbed from His cradle and died on the cross for your redemption. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, but we are ” … justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24).

Make this redemption your own by accepting into your heart God’s gift, the Christ of Christmas, as your personal Saviour.

The devil’s hatred of Scripture is revealed the first time his name is mentioned in the Bible. Moreover, those who associate with him manifest the same hatred. Let us notice Genesis 3: 1-3:

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat ofthe fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat ofit, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

” … Yea, hath God said … ” This is Satan’s first utterance in Scripture. It is a challenge to the authority of the Word of God. Eve, in listening to the devil, altered God’s Word:

l. She omitted the words every and freely (Genesis 2: 16).

2. She added the words neither shall ye touch it (Genesis 3:3), to God’s command in Genesis 2:17.

3. She altered the certainty of ” … thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2: 17), to the uncertainty of” … lest ye die” (Genesis 3:3).

Satan’s temptation succeeded because the Word of God was omitted, added to, and altered. It was undermined to the extent that the devil was believed when he denied the Word of God, saying, ” … Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).

In sharp contrast, Satan’s temptation of the last Adam failed because the Lord Jesus Christ three times repeated, honoured, and established what God had said. He refuted the devil’s suggestions with the affirmation, ” … It is written … ” (Matthew4:4,7,10).

In Christ’s great high priestly prayer (John 17), the Word of God is referred to three times (verses 8,14,17). The disciples received the Word, and they conformed to it. That fellowship with the Father sanctified them and determined their relationship to the world. God’s commandments are only kept when they are obeyed.

Three times God has warned us of the seriousness of altering His Word:

1. “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2).

2. “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:5-6).

3. “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen” (Revelation 22:18-21).

God has entrusted us with His Word; therefore, it is time for believers to uphold His Word.

A Christian is commanded to give thanks always, and surely it is of special importance to set apart a day when we make public our thanksgiving to God for His abundant blessings.

In Ephesians 5: 18-20, we are given the following exhortation to holy living,” … be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In Philippians 4:6, we are commanded, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

In Colossians 3: 16-17, we are told, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

Colossians 4:2 says, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.”

1 Timothy 2:1-2, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

Psalm 100:4, “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

So I would encourage every Christian to get ready in heart for Thanksgiving Day. The thankful Christian will be a happy Christian, for as he counts his blessings, he will see how blessed of God he is. The thankful Christian will honour God who “giveth and giveth and giveth again”-even to ungrateful hearts.

HEZEKIAH’S GREAT REVIVAL AND THANKSGIVING

In 2 Chronicles 29, we read how King Hezekiah came to the throne of Judah. The temple was abandoned and dirty. Levites had gone about other business instead of keeping the temple and offering the sacrifices. Hezekiah called the Levites back to the service of God, had the temple cleaned up, and the sacrifices restored; and God sent a spiritual revival. The elders of the city brought seven bullocks, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven he goats for a sin offering for the kingdom. They killed the sacrifices and, the people confessing their sinfulness, were reconciled to God.

What a time of rejoicing followed! Hezekiah ” … set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by His prophets” (2 Chronicles 29:25). The priests joined with the trumpets, “And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt-offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel” (2 Chronicles 29 :27).

So the singers sang and the trumpet was sounded and the great burnt offering continued, ” … And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank-offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt-offerings. And the number of the burnt-offerings, which the congregation brought, was threescore and ten bullocks, an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all these were for a burnt offering to the LORD. And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep” (2 Chronicles 29:31-33).

There were not enough priests to slay and dress these animals for the sacrifices, so the Levites helped them. What a revival!

Here the Bible reminds us, as it so often does, that a thankful heart is a giving heart. Thank offerings go with thanksgiving.

God makes the connection of the thank offering and thanksgiving very clear in Psalm 50:14, “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High.” Then follows the blessed promise to the person who is thankful and pays his vows, ” … call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me” (Psalm 50: 15).

Someone has defined Thanksgiving as “our annual time for saying grace at the table of eternal goodness.” Just as some people neglect to say grace before their meals, so some have forgotten the meaning of Thanksgiving.

It is good to remember that “think” and “thank” come from the same root. We need only to think in order to be thankful. Yet ingratitude is one of the most common sins of our time. The inability to feel and express gratitude shuts off blessings God would otherwise freely give. Dwight H. Small writes, “How can God lavish His blessing and power upon the heart that is so dominated by self as to be incapable of reciprocating with proper gratitude? Grave indeed is the sin of ingratitude which withholds the blessing of God from oneself and from others.”

When George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving Proclamation, he said, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection.” This is a good summary of the duty of all nations today.

We can all be thankful for what we acquire, and what we avoid. We can be thankful for what we experience, and for what we escape. We can be thankful for what we have, and for the blows which do not come. But let us not make the mistake of tying our thanksgiving to material blessings alone.

The basis of a true spirit of thanksgiving is not material at all, but spiritual. It is based on the love and mercy of God, on the joy of the Lord, on the forgiveness of sins, and the cleanness of heart. It grows out of freedom from corroding care, and the peace of God which” … shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

No portion of our Bible is more full of expressions of praise and thanksgiving than the Psalms. Yet these sparkling anthems of praise were written by men who suffered bitter persecution, who risked and, at times, lost all they had, who lived in a little kingdom constantly skirting the edge of disaster, and whose standard of living

would make the poorest of our day seem almost like millionaires in comparison. Still they offered ” … the sacrifice of thanksgiving … ” (Psalm 116: 17) from full hearts.

What a shame it is then to us if we do less! To us has been given God’s unspeakable gift, and He who has not withheld His own Son,” … but delivered him up for us all … “, will certainly with” … him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32). Let us then be thankful, and make sure that in appropriate ways we say “grace at the table of eternal goodness.”

Choose your weapons! How shall we live? Each one of us has already made a choice. Perhaps we do not even realize we have made the choice, but we have. We are either living by force or by faith.

The Bible says in 1 Samuel17:45, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of lsrael, whom thou has defied.”

David summarized the battle that was about to take place. It was not really a battle between a shepherd by and a giant. It was not even a battle between the army of lsrael and the army of the Philistines, though it may have appeared at first glance to be a national conflict represented by two champions, one representing each nation. David declared, ” … Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts … ”

Notice how carefully God states this for us. Again we read, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me … ” This is the way the giant was coming, ” … with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield … ” Then David said, ” … but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts … ”

” … Thou comest to me … ” and ” … I come to thee … “; it is always one way or the other, but it is never both. We must decide whether we are going to face our problems with a spear, and with a sword, and with a shield; or if we are going to face them in the name of the Lord. We are all going to live either by force for by faith.

It goes without saying that the world’s way is the force way. “I can overpower you. I can out-run you. I can out-scheme you. I can outtalk you. I can out-anger you. I can out-scream you. I can out-fight you. I can out-spend you. I can out-force you.” That is the world’s way. That is the only way those who do not know Christ operate, whether it is in business, at home, or in personal conflict. It may manifest itself in many different forms, but it is always the same. lt is not the Lord’s way.

The Lord’s way is to trust in Him. That is the faith way. There is one open secret that reveals whether we are living by force or by faith -our secret, private prayer life. No matter what we say about how we are living, we are not living the faith way if we do not have a prayer life.

Do you know that once you come to the place where you trust God, everything else is settled? The fact that Goliath was a soldier, a giant, and a Philistine champion did not have anything to do with whether David would go down into the valley or not. It was all dependent on whether or not David would trust God. Once David placed his faith in God, everything else was settled. I think we fight many battles we do not need to fight, and get involved in many skirmishes we do not need to be involved in. The truth is that we have one great thing to decide; it is whether or not we are going to trust God.

How are you going to live? In your personal life, family life, and business life, are you going to live by faith or by force?

There is only one way to know Jesus Christ. Do you know Him? You may have grown up in a Christian home and have a Christian mom and dad, but this does not make you a Christian. There is only one way to God. That is to know Him by personally trusting Him by faith as your Saviour. Have you trusted Him?

This decision to live by faith cannot be made by anyone else. By faith, take every need in your life to the Lord. Many people are crushed under a weight God never intended for them to carry. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Cast all your care upon the Lord Jesus.

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God … ” (Psalm 14:1).

There are some people who say they are atheists but hardly know what the word means! We have in mind the person who has reached that position as a result of careful thought and deliberation. In our view, he is a person to be greatly pitied.

Think of the tremendous leap of faith he must have taken when he concluded that all that goes to make up this incredible universe just happened by blind chance. Design everywhere, but no Designer. Inflexible laws, but no Law-maker!

Or think of the agonizing mental struggle he must have had concerning the beginning of this universe. Have the elements which compose it always been, or did they have a beginning? If they had a beginning, where did they come from? If they have always been, we give to senseless matter the attribute which Christians give to God He is eternal and forever lasting.

And for the courage it must have taken to discredit the Bible. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1 ). If that statement is false, and there is no God, then the whole of the Bible becomes a tragic hoax. The Book which has been the inspiration and comfort of untold millions is just a collection of myths and pious superstitions. Why read at funerals the sweet 23rd Psalm if there is no Lord to be your Shepherd, and no heavenly home to which we can aspire?

And then the confidence in one’s own judgment that he is right, and that the millions of others who believe in God are hopelessly wrong. Some of the noblest and keenest minds have been humble believers, but if there be no God, then with the rest of us, they were poor deluded fools.

And then, finally, the atheist deliberately condemns himself to a life with no invisible means of support! He must face the trials and challenges of life alone, even the greatest of all challenges we call death.

Yes, the atheist takes a tremendous gamble. If he is right, and he will die like a dog, all will be well. But say he is wrong, and there is a God with whom he must reckon- what then? Pity the poor atheist, better still, pray for him!

Here is a question to think on: In the long run, is there much difference between the out and out atheist and the man who says he believes in God and yet spends his life ignoring Him? Atheist or not, we all need not only to believe in God, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.

There are many true believers who are not enjoying the fulness of the Spirit as they should. They need a crisis, a step of surrender and faith, yielding to the control of the Holy Spirit who dwells within.

There is one great crisis taught in Scripture – the crisis at regeneration, passing from death to life, from darkness to light. The normal life for a Christian is to go on in the power of the Spirit, abiding in Christ, and growing in grace. But what of the Christian who is not doing this? The Christian who is defeated and dissatisfied? The Christian who perhaps has not had a clear-cut experience of conversion? He needs a crisis. Not a second work of grace, but getting back to what he had, or entering into the realization of what salvation means.

Let us not limit God in his working, and let us not fail to be ready for new and great outpourings of the Holy Spirit in the closing days of this age. For the days are upon us when nothing will avail to break through the overwhelming power of the enemy except supernatural power beyond what most Christians have known anything about.

There is a great and mighty power awaiting any Christian who will truly believe any word of God. For no word of God is void of mighty power.

Here is a missionary who has had miracles of answered prayer and marvels of God’s grace at home and abroad. The great flood-tide of new power came into this missionary’s life through accepting our Lord’s prayer promise in John 14:12-13, ” … He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do … And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do … ”

Here is another missionary whose testimony for Christ is beginning to shake a whole continent; his transformation came, and his whole being was shaken with joy and power when he realized the meaning of the words that ” … Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates” (2 Corinthians 13:5). This young missionary’s hunger for God was stirred by Hudson Taylor’s testimony of the transformation of his own life through learning the meaning of faith; then it was that Hudson Taylor entered into the meaning of John 4:14, ” … whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. .. ”

And so we might go on and tell of the miracles that followed when some word of God was believed, ” … Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22); ” … My grace is sufficient for thee … ” (2 Corinthians 12:9); ” … yield yourselves unto God … ” (Romans 6: 13 ); “For to me to live is Christ … ” (Philippians 1 :21 ); ” … God is faithful … ” ( 1 Corinthians 10: 13). I am thinking of miracles wrought through Christians who believed one or another of these mighty “words.”

All the most mighty promises of supernatural power are conditional upon that which is simplest in the Christian life, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to those who believe that the rivers of living water are promised (John 7:37-38). It is those who believe on Him who shall do greater works than those Christ did in the days of His flesh (John 14: 12). Faith is the key that unlocks the reservoirs of power laid up for us in Christ, which the blessed Holy Spirit is eager to make available in our lives (Mark 11:22; John 16:14-15). Whatever the mystery of His working, ours is to yield and to believe. This is all we can do (Romans 6: 13).

A Man and His Soul “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir” (Isaiah 13: 12).

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

The Redeeming Blood of Christ “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1: 18-19).

The Inspired Word of God ” … the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:9-1 0).

Wisdom and Understanding “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold” (Proverbs 3:13-14).

The Knowledge of God “Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold” (Proverbs 8:1 0).

A Good Name “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold” (Proverbs 22:1).

The Trial of Your Faith ” … ye greatly rejoice … That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1 :6-7)

“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were scaled with that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians I: 12-13 ).

‘”Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” was written by a most remarkable woman, Louisa M. R. Stead, out or one or her darkest hours-the tragic drowning of her husband.

Louisa Stead was born about 1850, at Dover, England. As a youngster she felt the call of God upon her life for missionary service. She arrived in America in 1871, and she lived for a time in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1875, Louisa married a Mr. Stead, and to this union was born a daughter, Lily. When the child was four years of age, the family decided one day to enjoy the sunny beach at Long Island Sound, New York. While eating their picnic lunch, they suddenly heard cries of help and spotted a drowning boy in the sea. Mr. Stead charged into the water. As often happens, however, the struggling boy pulled his rescuer under the water with him, and both drowned before the terrified eyes of wife and daughter. Out of her “why?” struggle with God during the ensuing days flowed these meaningful words from the soul of Louisa Stead:

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His Word; Just to rest upon His promise; just to know, “Thus saith the Lord. ”

A short time later, Mrs. Stead and her daughter left for South Africa, where Louisa worked diligently as a missionary in the Cape Colony for the next fifteen years. Here she married Robert Wodehouse, a native of South Africa. In 1895, Louisa’s failing health made it necessary for the family to return to America for her recuperation, during which time Mr. Wodehouse pastored a local Methodist church. By 1900, Louisa’s health had improved sufficiently for the family to return once more to the missionary station at Umtali, in Southern Rhodesia. Something of her same life-long trust in God can be learned from a communique Louisa sent back shortly after her arrival:

“In connection with this whole mission there are glorious possibilities, but one cannot, in the face of the peculiar difficulties, help say, ‘Who is sufficient for these things!’ But with simple confidence and trust, we may and do say, ‘Our sufficiency is of God.'”

After ten years of further service, ill health again forced Louisa to retire. Her daughter, Lily, who had become Mrs. D. A. Carson, continued to serve for many additional years in the mission field of Southern Rhodesia. After several years of prolonged illness, Louisa Stead Wodehouse died on January 18, 1917, at her home in Penkridge, near the Mutambara Mission, about fifty miles from Umtali. After her death, a fellow missionary wrote concerning the continued use of “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”:

“We miss her very much, but her influence goes on as our five thousand native Christians continually sing this hymn in their native language.”

1. Its origin: Although Halloween has become a night of fun and superstition, it had a serious beginning with the ancient Druids. They held a celebration in honor of Samhain, Lord of the Dead on November 1st. It was their belief that on the eve of this festival, Saman (Samhain) called together the wicked souls that within the past 12 months had been condemned to inhabit the bodies of animals. They believed that on this night, ghosts, spirits, fairies, witches and elves came out to harm people. From them came the present day use of witches, ghosts and cats. Trick or Treat originated from Ireland when a group of farmers went from house to house begging food for the village Halloween festivities in the name of their ancient gods. The Celts added the custom of wearing costumes made from the skins of sacrificed animals. The Romans added a ceremony honoring their goddess of fruit and trees, from which we got bobbing for apples. The Jack-O-Lantern, symbol of a damned soul, was named for a man named Jack who could not enter Heaven or Hell and as a result had to wander in darkness with his lantern until Judgment Day. Finally, Halloween was “Christianized” by the Roman Catholic Church in the A.D. 800’s and incorporated into “Allhallowmas”, the evening before being “All Halloween”. The celebration of Halloween is a survival of ancient pagan beliefs! Orange, black and red, Satan’s colors are used.
2. It is obvious that the elements, symbols and traditions of the Halloween observance with its emphasis on goblins and demons, witches and skeletons, ghosts and apparitions constitute a dabbling with the very things which Scripture forbids, and places Christians in the realm of demonic activity. Anton Lavey, “Black Pope” of the First Church of Satan, in his book “Satan’s Bible” states Halloween is one of the three highest days of satanism and is not taken lightly by them.
3. Please read these Scriptures: Lev. 19:31 and Deut. 18:10-13. True Christians should separate themselves from these symbols and be identified with God’s people!