“We Aren’t Home Yet”

Dr. W.A. Criswell told about the faithful missionary couple who returned to the United States on the same ship that brought Teddy Roosevelt home from a safari in Africa. Many reporters and photographers were on the dock, waiting to see Roosevelt and interview him and take pictures; but nobody was on hand to welcome home the veteran missionaries who had spent their lives serving Christ in Africa.

That evening, in their modest hotel room, the couple reviewed their arrival in New York City; and the husband was somewhat bitter.

“It isn’t fair,” he said to his wife. “Mr. Roosevelt comes home from a hunting trip, and the whole country is out to meet him. We get home after years of service, and nobody was there to greet us.”

But his wife had the right answer: “Honey, we aren’t home yet.”

So my fellow believers, when you get discouraged because it seems to so hard to live in this world…so much heartache, anxiety over finances, so many problems to deal with—it can seem almost overwhelming. Be encouraged! We’re not home yet!

As an old Gospel song goes:

“This World is not my home; I’m just a passing through,
My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue;
The angels beckon me, from heaven’s open door;
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore”

“Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World”

This was the headline story in the New York Sun today, April 21, 2008, which was linked on the Drudge Report. Does any American think that we would have food rationing? Only a few years ago, the Federal Government had warehouses overflowing with surplus commodities that they had purchased from farmers who grew so much food, there were no buyers, except the Federal Government.

The article relates that many retail and warehouse stores around the country have been limiting the amount of rice, flour and other commodities in short supply, that consumers can purchase. If you shop for groceries, you are aware that fuel costs are driving the costs of everything up, up, up and away from the reach of many household budgets. The new political correctness of the “Green Earth” is swallowing up huge amounts of corn and other food-stuffs, used in the production of ethanol, adding to runaway inflation and shortages. Would who have conceived of this in America of 2008? People are beginning to learn to use public transit and parking their
SUV’s and automobiles because of the runaway inflation in fuel costs.

You are also reading about riots in various countries in the world because of food costs and in some cases—no food!

We are perhaps one recession/depression away from famines and food shortages of Biblical proportions that are prophesied to happen in the Book of Revelation in the Bible, in the end-time.

Revelation 6:5-8 (NIV) 5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine! 7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come! 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984

This passage in Revelation vividly describes an event during the Great Tribulation period when you will pay a day’s wages for a quart of wheat. It was followed closely by the Pale Horse Rider in v. 8 that delivered the sword, famine and plagues. A fourth of the earth’s population was slain.

How close are we to these events? I believe we are very close! My question to you—are you prepared to meet the Judge of all the earth—Jesus Christ?

Prosperity Doctrine

The recent Telethon on a major Christian television channel has prompted me to review the "Prosperity Doctrine". If you have followed many of these programs, speaker after speaker will tell you that you should give a "seed offering" expecting a financial return on your contribution. It almost sounds like Day--Trading in the stock market. A friend of mine sent me an editorial article by J. Lee Grady from a 2003 Charisma Magazine. I am submitting this article for you to think about what the father of "Word-Faith" doctrine thought before he died.

Fire In My Bones
By Lee Grady

Kenneth Hagin’s Forgotten Warning

Before he died in 2003, the revered father of the Word-Faith movement corrected his spiritual sons for going to extremes with their message of prosperity.

Charismatic Bible teacher Kenneth Hagin Sr. is considered the father of the so-called prosperity gospel. The folksy, self-trained “Dad Hagin” started a grass-roots movement in Oklahoma that produced a Bible college and a crop of famous preachers including Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Savelle, Charles Capps, Jesse DuPlantis, Creflo Dollar and dozens of others—all of whom teach that Christians who give generously should expect financial rewards on this side of heaven.

Hagin taught that God was not glorified by poverty and that preachers do not have to be poor. But before he died in 2003 and left his Rhema Bible Training Center in the hands of his son, Kenneth Hagin Jr., he summoned many of his colleagues to Tulsa to rebuke them for distorting his message. He was not happy that some of his followers were manipulating the Bible to support what he viewed as greed and selfish indulgence.
Those who were close to Hagin Sr. say he was passionate about correcting these abuses before he died. In fact, he wrote a brutally honest book to address his concerns. The Midas Touch was published in 2000, a year after the infamous Tulsa meeting.

Many Word-Faith ministers ignored the book. But in light of the recent controversy over prosperity doctrines, it might be a good idea to dust it off and read it again.

Here are a few of the points Hagin made in The Midas Touch:

1. Financial prosperity is not a sign of God’s blessing. Hagin wrote: “If wealth alone were a sign of spirituality, then drug traffickers and crime bosses would be spiritual giants. Material wealth can be connected to the blessings of God or it can be totally disconnected from the blessings of God.”

2. People should never give in order to get. Hagin was critical of those who “try to make the offering plate some kind of heavenly vending machine.” He denounced those who link giving to getting, especially those who give cars to get new cars or who give suits to get new suits. He wrote: “There is no spiritual formula to sow a Ford and reap a Mercedes.”

3. It is not biblical to “name your seed” in an offering. Hagin was horrified by this practice, which was popularized in faith conferences during the 1980s. Faith preachers sometimes tell donors that when they give in an offering they should claim a specific benefit to get a blessing in return. Hagin rejected this idea and said that focusing on what you are going to receive “corrupts the very attitude of our giving nature.”

4. The “hundredfold return” is not a biblical concept. Hagin did the math and figured out that if this bizarre notion were true, “we would have Christians walking around with not billions or trillions of dollars, but quadrillions of dollars!” He rejected the popular teaching that a believer should claim a specific monetary payback rate.

5. Preachers who claim to have a “debt-breaking” anointing should not be trusted. Hagin was perplexed by ministers who promise “supernatural debt cancellation” to those who give in certain offerings. He wrote in The Midas Touch: “There is not one bit of Scripture I know about that validates such a practice. I’m afraid it is simply a scheme to raise money for the preacher, and ultimately it can turn out to be dangerous and destructive for all involved.”

(Many evangelists who appear on Christian television today use this bogus claim. Usually they insist that the miraculous debt cancellation will occur only if a person “gives right now,” as if the anointing for this miracle suddenly evaporates after the prime time viewing hour. This manipulative claim is more akin to witchcraft than Christian belief.)

Hagin condemned other hair brained gimmicks designed to trick audiences into emptying their wallets. He was especially incensed when a preacher told his radio listeners that he would take their prayer requests to Jesus’ empty tomb in Jerusalem and pray over them there—if donors included a special love gift. “What that radio preacher really wanted was more people to send in offerings,” Hagin wrote.

Thanks to the recent resurgence in bizarre donation schemes promoted by American charismatics, the prosperity gospel is back under the nation’s microscope. It’s time to revisit Hagin’s concerns and find a biblical balance.

Hagin told his followers: “Overemphasizing or adding to what the Bible actually teaches invariably does more harm than good.” If the man who pioneered the modern concept of biblical prosperity blew the whistle on his own movement, wouldn’t it make sense for us to listen to his admonition?

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. The Midas Touch is available from Kenneth Hagin Ministries at rhema.org.

DOWN—BUT NOT OUT!

We have launched into our study of Second Corinthians for our Spring Quarter Bible Class. Our first lesson is from 2 Corinthians 1:1-11.

"You seem to imagine that I have no ups and downs, but just a level and lofty stretch of spiritual attainment with unbroken joy and equanimity. By no means! I am often perfectly wretched and everything appears most murky.”

So wrote the man who was called in his day “The Greatest Preacher in the English-speaking World”—Dr. John Henry Jowett. He pastored leading churches, preached to huge congregations, and wrote books that were bestsellers.

“I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go to.”

Those words were spoken in a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon whose marvelous ministry in London made him perhaps the greatest preacher England ever produced.

Discouragement is no respecter of persons. In fact, discouragement seems to attack the successful far more than the unsuccessful; for the higher we climb, the farther down we can fall. We are not surprised then when we read that the great Apostle Paul was “pressed out of measure” and “despaired even of life” (2 Cor. 1:8). Great as he was in character and ministry, Paul was human just like the rest of us.

What was Paul’s secret of victory when he was experiencing pressures and trials? His secret was God. When you find yourself discouraged and ready to quit, get your attention off of yourself and focus it on God. Out of his own difficult experience, Paul tells us how we can find encouragement in God.

God has to work in us before He can work through us. It is much easier for us to grow in knowledge than to grow in grace (2 Peter 3:18). Learning God’s truth and getting it into our heads is one thing, but living God’s truth and getting it into our character is quite something else.

God in His grace gives us what we do not deserve, and in His mercy He does not give us what we do deserve.

Daniel"s Prayer of Confession

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Our Bible lesson on Sunday, February 10th is taken from Daniel, chapter 9. This chapter is famously known for the epic prophecy of the "Seventy Weeks are Determined upon thy people, Israel". We are going to deal with that prophecy in detail next week, but I am interested in Daniel's prayer that preceded the vision.

Great things happen to Christians when they are in prayer with the Almighty. It was during his 21 day prayer that Daniel confessed the sins of his people, Israel and asked God for mercy. While he was praying, the angel Gabriel came to him with a message.

Lucifer was known as the Archangel of beauty but pride filled his heart and in his rebellion, he was cast out of heaven, along with 2/3rd's of the angelic host.

Sometimes, we have an answer to our prayers instantaneously, but other times we have to persist until we breakthrough all the clutter and discouragement that Satan throws at us. Persist, for God hears your prayer. Pray until you get a "breakthrough'! God is on our side.

The Book of Daniel

Our Sunday Bible class is engaged in an expository study of the Book of Daniel. A young man when he was taken to Babylon, Daniel lived for 80 years to serve his God in the midst of paganism and everything against his faith. God elevated him to the highest government positions and used him to speak God's truth to those who lead the nation. God spoke to him in dreams and visions and gave him an outline of Gentile world dominion and history.

This last Sunday, we studied chapter seven describing his vision of four major kingdoms that would rise to power. The fourth and final beast had ten horns, and out of those horns arose a little horn. Many commentators feels that the present age is the 10-horned era of the fourth beast. Sometimes after the rise of the 10 horns, this little horn arose. In his rise to power he subdues three of the ten nations in his initial rise to power. This world leader will speak against the Most High (God). He will oppress His saints. He will introduce an entirely new era in which he will abandon all previous laws and institute his own system. In Daniel 9:27, we are told he will first appear as Israel's friend but will become Israel's persecutor. He will occupy Jerusalem for three and one half years. At the end of that time (spoken of in the Book of Revelation) as the Great Tribulation, God will judge this leader (beast-Antichrist) and will destroy him with the brightness of His coming. The conclusion of this battle will usher in a Kingdom of God Almighty which Scripture teaches is a 1,000 year reign of peace on the earth.

That brings me to a meditation for us today. Does anyone doubt that we are living in the closing moments of the "times of the Gentiles"? At the conclusion of this age, God will once again turn to restore His earthly people, Israel. All the events, wars, and rumors of wars circulating about the Middle East tell us with clarity that Jesus will return as He promised and the signs of the times speak to us that it could be soon.

Are your prepared to meet Him as your Saviour or as your Judge?

Time's Up!

When I last posted on November 14, I never dreamed it would take this long to get going again. What's the old proverb?--"The best laid plans of mice and men..."

I truly am thankful for the time off around Thanksgiving to spend with our family. Milbre and I flew to Houston on November 15th, picked up our rental car and drove to our son's home in Alexandria, LA. We enjoyed several days with Kevin and Pam and Nov 22nd, we drove to Fort Worth, meeting up with our other son MSGT Russell Howard and wife, Josie, along with Christina, Donnie, and Aleesha our three wonderful grandkids. Kevin and Pam joined us and we had three great days over Thanksgiving, reminiscing, eating out, shopping (they shopped), etc. There are many great memories from the DFW area from our days in the Pastorate at Calvary Pentecostal Church in Fort Worth in the late 60's to the mid-70's.

On Saturday, the 24th, we visited my sister, Sue Norris, in a nursing home in Granbury, Texas. She was in the last stages of cancer and little did we know, this would be our last visit before she passed on to heaven. Amazingly, she awoke from a semi-coma when we walked into the room. She recognized us and smiled.It was a moment I will cherish when the nine of us gathered around her bed and sang hymns, she quoted the 23rd Psalm with us, and we all prayed. I hugged her and told her I would see her on "the other side". It was as if she had waited for us to get there before she was released for her "promotion". She passed away a few days later.

We returned to our ministry in Auburn on December 1, back into the rush of the Christmas season.

We are blessed to serve Northwest Family Church in Auburn, WA., as Pastoral Care and ministry to the Seniors of our church.

The New Year brought new hopes and new challenges. Early morning Sunday, January 13, Milbre was suffering severe abdominal pain. I called 911 and she was transported to Auburn Regional Medical Center and diagnosed with "partial small bowel obstruction". After three days in the hospital with many tests, and much prayer, she returned home. One more day and she would have had major abdominal surgery, but God answered prayer and the blockage began to dissolve. Aside from a special diet for the last week, first liquids, then full liquids and then soft foods, she is doing well.

January 11th, I celebrated my 69th birthday, with fresh reminders of the Grace of God and what a privilege it is to be His child. It also brought awareness of the aging process--I had my hearing tested for the first time, and yes, my wife was right, I did have a problem. So down the road, it looks like I will need a hearing aid. Oh the vanity of man, how we hate to admit what is obvious to others!

It's good to be back!