We have left the valley of rebellion (Shinar) only to find ourselves in the valley of strife. And as I mentioned last week, it is reasonable to assume that if we are not at peace with God, we will not be at peace with our fellowman, either.  So, is it any wonder that in the very next valley named in the Bible, the Valley of Siddim, the first recorded war in scripture takes place?  Many years have passed since the Tower of Babel and people have spread out in all directions. In this particular area there are now nine kings with the head honcho being King Chedorlaomer.  For twelve years the other kings have been serving Chedorlaomer (Genesis 14). Finally, in the thirteenth year five of the kings rebelled, including the King of Sodom and the King of Gomorrah, and within a year, Chedorlaomer marched against them with his army and the army of his three allies. So it was four kings against five. 

The four kings were able to vanquish the others and took them as spoils of war along with their goods, livestock, children, and wives. Among those taken was Lot, Abraham’s nephew, who had, some time before, left Abraham to live in Sodom.

And where was Abraham all this time?  Safely by the mountain of Mamre.  Abraham, called by God to separate himself from the world, is the fountainhead of the twelve tribes of Israel, but he’s also a wonderful picture of the believer.  We too are called by God to be separated; to refrain from the world’s sin and strife. 1 John 5:19 says “the whole world lieth in wickedness”. Romans 12:2a cautions us to “be not conformed to this world”.  And 1 John 2:15 admonishes us to “love not the world neither the things that are in the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” But James 4:4 goes even further and tells us that to be friends with the world is to be an enemy of God. But like Abraham, who, when he heard about Lot’s capture, was forced to take up arms and rescue him, sometimes we too are pulled into the war and conflict around us. There will always be someone who causes strife in our world, someone who wants to rule, to control, to subjugate. In the larger sense we can think of people like Hitler or Bin Laden, but on a smaller scale it could be that difficult boss or abusive spouse or impossible neighbor or co-worker.

So there will be times when we will leave our mountain of peace for the valley of strife, pulled there by war or discord not of our making. But in the end, Abraham and his men prevailed and rescued Lot and the other captives.  And in the end, if we faithfully follow God’s leading, we will prevail too.

Until next week,

Sylvia

The Bible is full of types and shadows that are like gems waiting to be excavated.  For the next few weeks I thought I’d look at one of them, namely “valleys” and see where it leads. I think it will prove interesting since our life’s journey seems to be a cycle of going from mountain tops to valleys in often seemingly random fashion.  Since I’ve never looked at Biblical “valleys” before I’ll be discovering these gems along with you.

The first valley mentioned in the Bible is the Valley of Shinar (Genesis 11:2) which in some translations is listed as a plain but whose original Hebrew, biqah, means a “wide level valley between mountains”.  We visit this valley right after the story of Noah and the flood.  It is where the existing inhabitants of the world have chosen to dwell, and not surprisingly, where they have chosen to rebel against God by building the Tower of Babel, to “reach unto heaven” and “make a name” for themselves.  Just what were they trying to do? On a corporate level they were setting up a one-world government to replace God.  On an individual level they were magnifying “self”. 

Rejecting God or rebelling against Him will always bring us to a valley, the kind of valley that will “rend, rip, or make a breach” (which is the root meaning of that word, biqah) in our relationship with God, and, as we will see later, in our relationship with each other. I can’t think of a sadder place to be.

And the immediate result? God confounded their language, then scattered them. On one level it was an act of mercy.  His concern was clear when He said, “now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do” (Genesis 11:6b). He is obviously referring to unrestrained actions that would necessitate judgment on His part.  But on another level it was deeply tragic since people were now confused, isolated, aimless, and limited in their ability to communicate; all mirroring the isolation, confusion and aimlessness of life without God. And what a hopeless life that is, when self occupies the position that belongs to God! Oh, may we never find ourselves in the Valley of Shinar!

The next valley mentioned is the Valley of Siddim, the scene of the very first war described in the Bible.  I suppose that’s to be expected. If we don’t have peace with God, can we have peace with our fellowman? But more on that . . . .

Until next week,

Sylvia

He had been breaking rules all his life.  In little ways, at first, ways that seemed inconsequential because his friends were doing them, too: snatching candy bars from grocery stores, plagiarizing school work, driving 50 in a 20 mile zone. It was inevitable that as he grew so did his crimes: cheating on his taxes, slandering the man whose position he coveted in hopes of getting ahead, engaging in dishonest business practices, driving drunk, and finally, the hit and run that cost a woman her life. Now, standing before the judge for sentencing, he knew it had all caught up to him—this accumulated debt to society—and payment was due.

Most people in the courtroom thought the judge would be lenient since he had a reputation for being a kindly soul.  But everyone gasped when they heard him pronounce the harshest penalty allowed by law.  And they gasped again when another man, prominent and well known in the community for his goodness, stepped forward and declare, “I will pay the penalty for him.  I will serve his sentence.” A final gasp was heard when the judge accepted the offer and declared the real criminal, “absolved”.

It’s hard to believe that something like this could ever happen.  But it did, almost two thousand years ago when Jesus, the sinless Son of God, stepped forward and willingly took upon Himself our just punishment. Without exception, we have all broken the rules. We have all violated God’s laws. And just like those people in that fictional courtroom, many believe our Heavenly Judge will be lenient and that somehow they will escape their due punishment.  But though our Heavenly Judge is loving, He is also just, and His sense of justice must be satisfied. Thus our violations carry a terrible punishment, eternal separation from God.

But oh, what a tremendous thing Jesus accomplished! And at such a great cost!  Hanging on a cross in unspeakable agony and torment, He took upon Himself every single one of our sins.  And just before he died, John 19:30 tells us Jesus cried out “It is finished.” That word “finished” in the Greek literally means to discharge a debt, to mark it “paid in full.”

If we accept Jesus’ sacrifice we are “absolved”, too, and our sin debt is marked “paid in full”.  If we don’t, then we will be required to pay this debt, ourselves. The choice is totally ours.

Until Next Week,

Sylvia 

Last week my daughter and I, along with other “helpers” all brought our sewing machines into my grandson’s school in order to sew dozens of quilts for his class.  Each child had been working for days on their fabric squares, painting pictures of their families, their favorite toys, their hobbies, and now these squares had to be sown into individual quilts. Oh, how proud the children were when their quilt was finally stitched and ready for viewing!  And their eager faces told you they could hardly wait to bring them home to show their parents.

After looking at all the quilts, I was amazed how different each was, and how the squares exposed so much about the young lives they represented so like the patchwork of our own lives.

We are all working on our quilts, and our squares reveal who we are and what is important to us by the pictures we are painting.  They also reveal disappointments, heartbreak, and failures, too. But at the end we will be left with an indelible tapestry which will be examined by our Heavenly Father.  What will it say about us? Will we be excited to show Him?

Something to think about.

Until next week,

Sylvia

My family means so much to me. I can’t imagine life without them. My happiest and most memorable moments are those shared with family. And while friends are important, too, friends can come and go, but family remains forever. And all this reminiscing got me thinking about that other family of mine, my spiritual family.  In reality, the entire world is divided into only two great families: the family of God and the family of Satan, and each group is vying to increase the number of their relatives.  

Jesus called his heavenly father, Abba, which literally means “daddy.” He was the Son of Abba. But there was someone else who called himself the Son of Abba, and that was Barabbas, bar meaning son and abba, already covered above.  It’s interesting to note that Abba was used only by family members to denote intimacy with their father as well as to address and acknowledged the head of their household.

We all know the story of how Pilate offered the people a choice between these two “sons of abba.” All four gospels talk about it.  And no two sons could be more opposite, nor their fathers, either. It’s amazing how children reflect their parents.  Qualities, prejudices, shortcomings, strengths, are all mirrored in the lives of offspring.  And so, we will eventually come to resemble our spiritual father.  The Bible tells us how Jesus, the very creator of the universe, was full of love and compassion, was gentle and kind.  Barabbas, on the other hand, is noted as a rebel, a thief and a murdered, just like his spiritual father, Satan, who is a rebel against God and who comes only to “steal, kill, and destroy.” What a contrast! And all the more amazing is how many in the crowd chose the wrong son of abba. And nothing’s changed.  People are still doing it. 

The Bible says we will know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16) then goes on to say that “every good tree will bring forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit” (Matthew 7:17). The meaning is obvious.  And in a similar manner, as the world becomes more confusing and malevolent, not only will we be able to distinguish the sons of God from the sons of Satan, but we will be pressured more and more to answer the question for ourselves, “whose son (or daughter) are you”?

Until next week,

Sylvia

I love this one.  In John 4:5-42 Jesus is resting at Jacob’s well when a woman of Samaria comes to draw water. He immediately begins a conversation by asking her for a drink; rather shocking with you consider that she was a Samaritan, a member of a mongrel race considered unclean by Jews, and that she was a woman, a second class citizen in a male dominated society.  Jewish men did not normally strike up conversations with women.

She acknowledges this prejudice by asking why He’s even talking to her.  His response is amazing on so many levels.  In essence He says, if you knew who you were talking to, you’d “ask of him and he would have given you living water.”  He goes on to explain this living water was “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”  He was declaring that He was the source of everlasting life, and here’s the kicker, He was declaring it to a fallen Samaritan women.

A few verses down we realize just how fallen.  She’s had five husbands and the man she’s currently living with wasn’t even her husband. That’s probably why she came to the well around the 6^th hour or noon, in the heat of the day, when no one else would be there, because she was probably even an outcast among her own people. But Jesus knew all this, and revealed His knowledge to her.  And she was amazed.  And so am I because even with this prior knowledge He doesn’t say, “boy, you really blew it.  You’ve really made a mess of your life.” Rather He said, “if you’d asked, I’d have given.”

And that’s just what he says to us.  No matter how much we’ve messed up our life, no matter how low on society’s totem poll we are, no matter how insignificant we feel, no matter how “unclean” our lives have become, God loves us, and says, “if you ask I will give you eternal life.” Wow! 

Sometimes I don’t understand why God bothers with us.  We are so flawed, so weak, so much like the “dog who returns to his own vomit” yet He’s there, saying to each of us, “ask me, and I’ll give you because I love you, no matter who you are or what you’ve done.”

The end of the story is also wonderful.  Jesus uses this woman, this fallen unclean Samaritan, to go and tell her community about Him and lead others to Him, thus showing there is a place for even the lowliest in God’s kingdom and in His plan. 

Oh what a God we serve! What a loving, tender, good God! And it’s His very goodness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4b).

Until next week,

Sylvia

Okay, before I crawl out on this limb let me just say I’m NOT a sci-fi enthusiast.  I don’t follow UFO sightings, don’t subscribe to weird science magazines, don’t believe in aliens. But when the Vatican publically says it’s fine to believe in UFOs then releases their UFO files; and when more than 20 countries, which include France, Great Britain, Japan, Russia, and Spain, begin releasing their previously classified UFO files; and when the UN installs in their “Office for Outer Space Affairs,” a certain professor Mazlan Othman to “conduct negotiations with the first extraterrestrials that might come to this planet”; and when I hear that reports of alien abductions, new crop circles, animal mutilations, and UFO sightings have risen sharply, then I feel the need to do some investigating.

And what did I find?  I found that the Bible is as relevant today as it was when first written.

One of the things Jesus said when talking about the signs of his second coming was that it would be “as in the days of Noah” (Matthew 24:37).  So what was going on in the “days of Noah”?  Well, not only were they “eating and drinking” and going about their life totally clueless that a catastrophic flood was soon to come, the land was also full of violence and every man’s thoughts were continuously evil (Genesis 6: 5-13). 

But if you look just a few verses up at Genesis 6:1-4 we see something else, too, something that most churches never talk about and that, quite frankly, isn’t considered very intellectual even in the Church, and that’s the subject of the Nephilim.  In these four verses of Genesis 6 we see that the sons of God or angels, did something they had no right to do.  They cohabitated with human women and produced giants (Nephilim).  These offspring, according to the Jewish historian, Josephus, were the basis of Greek mythology, and were, in fact, the reality behind the mythical Titans. The Book of Enoch, possibly the oldest book ever written and a well respected tome even up through the seventh century of the Church, goes into even greater detail and tells of these fallen angels taking human wives and having offspring, then, seeking forgiveness, they ask Enoch—the man the Bible says walked with God and who was Noah’s great grandfather—to plead with God on their behalf. In the Bible, Jude 6 also alludes to this when he talks about how the angels who did not keep their “first estate” are now chained in darkness.

So something unusual was going on in the days of Noah; fallen angels were interacting with men. And if they did it then, we can assume it will happen again in the last days.  And that’s what I think is happening now, and it’s just the beginning.  We are being programmed to accept the concept of UFOs and aliens.  And I have to ask, “why?”

I believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, and when that happens how is the world going to explain the disappearance of millions of Christians? Well, some in the New Age movement think that in the near future the masters of the universe will remove from the earth all those whose karmas prevent the world from living in peace.  From my point of view these masters are nothing more than fallen angels. So my question is this: Is this how the world will explain the rapture, when God’s people will be removed from the earth?  Will they say the Christians have been taken by UFOs so the world can evolve into what the so-called masters of the universe envision?  Will this be part of the “lying signs and wonders” the Bible talks about?  Could this be the “lie” God says everyone will believe?  Just something to think about the next time you hear of another UFO sighting.  And if you want to know more, few make this case better than L. A. Marzulli or Tom Horn in their numerous books on the Nephilim.

Some may think this is all foolishness, but I think we must consider the possibility that we are in the process of being invaded not by space aliens but by a demonic horde whose purpose is not only to prepare the world for the big “lie” but to turn the attention of believers from the things of God to “lying signs and wonders.”

Until next week,

Sylvia

No one talks about the “H” word anymore.  Hell.  What is it?  A curse word? A myth? Or . . . is it actually real? According to Jesus it is.  He spoke of hell many times.  Here are two examples: Mark 9:43-44 “”And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” And in Matthew 10:28 He says, “”And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Chilling isn’t it?

Then there are numerous people who, either through a near death or other experience have seen hell for themselves, and returned to tell about it, like Bill Wiese who in numerous interviews and in his book, 23 Minutes in Hell, talks about his journey there and describes the people in unbelievable torment, their horrible screams of anguish, the disgusting stench, the unbearable heat, the grotesque demonic creatures, and finally the broken heart of Jesus as He watched.

Why is it important for those of us who truly believe in Jesus to also believe in a literal hell?  After all, it’s not a place we need to bother with.  We’re not going there.  Well, it’s important because some of our family and friends and neighbors are if they leave this world as enemies of Christ. An evangelist once said if we really understood the nature of hell, really believed Jesus when He said NO man comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6) and that hell awaits those who try to go by any other way, we would crawl through broken glass to preach to our loved ones in order to spare them the horrors that await.

I don’t know why I feel such an urgency to get down on my knees and cry out to God for the salvation of those I love who have yet to come to the Lord.  Perhaps it’s because after watching the graphic TV footage of the Japanese disaster, it brings home just how tenuous life is. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Today is the day of salvation.

Until next week,

Sylvia 

Here’s a great story in Matthew 14: 24-32.  It was the fourth watch of the night, sometime between three and six in the morning. A boatload of apostles, under Jesus’ instruction to “go to the other side” many hours earlier, have made it only halfway because the wind kicked up and the waves have been tossing their boat around like a toy, impeding their progress. The Sea of Galilee was like that.  Calm one minute, treacherous the next. All of a sudden the apostles spot a man walking on the water.  “A ghost!” they cry in fear, for what else could it be?

But it’s Jesus’ familiar voice that rings back, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.”  And it’s Peter who responds by asking Jesus to tell him to come walk on the water, too. When Jesus does, Peter gets out of the boat, and what do you know!  He really does walk on water, that is until he takes his eyes off Jesus and once again notices the boisterous winds and tossing sea, and then he starts sinking. 

What a lesson!  In this tempest tossed-world, with storms all around us to impede our progress, we don’t have to drown in our circumstances.  We can actually walk on these troubled waters, but only if we keep our eyes on Jesus.  The minute we take our eyes off Him and put them on our troubles, we’ll start sinking. There’s no doubt in my mind that had Peter kept his focus on Jesus he would have walked all the way across the sea to the other side.   Instead, Jesus had to pull the drenched Peter out of the water and into the boat. And I’m sure Peter’s heart broke a little when Jesus admonished him with, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst though doubt?”

Most of us want to do what Jesus has instructed us to do.  But as the world becomes more unstable, and circumstances more trying, it’s easy to allow fear to enter. And when it does we have two choices: Do we keep our eyes on Jesus and allow Him to take us through? Or do we concentrate on our circumstances and allow them to overwhelm us?  I think we’re going to have many opportunities in the days and weeks and months ahead to answer that for ourselves.

Until next week,

Sylvia

Even after years of hearing the Gospel which tells us that salvation is a free gift from God, (Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” KJV) it’s still easy for Christians to fall into the temptation of co-mingling grace with works. Why is that?  I think because it’s difficult to completely weed out worldly thinking with regard to spiritual things.

The world system says we must prove our worth.  Thus we are judged by who we know, how well we perform, what we do, and how successful we are. But the trouble occurs when we transfer this same standard of measurement to our spiritual life by trying to prove our worth to God.

The truth is we are valuable to God not because of anything we’ve done, but because He has bought us with a great price—the very blood of Jesus.  And nothing we ever do, no matter how great, will make us more valuable to God, or more loved by Him. The world will never understand this truth, because it is alien, heavenly, and spiritually discerned.

So does that mean we just sit around and eat chocolate covered raisins all day? No, we do good works to please God, because we love Him, and they are the works He has ordained for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). And we love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). And His love for us can’t be earned and it’s certainly not deserved.  On the cross, Jesus said “it is finished”. He paid the price so that we could have peace with God. We don’t need to prove anything to Him. All we need do is rest in what Jesus has already done. It’s that simple.

Oh, how amazing His grace is!

Until next week,

Sylvia