Berkshire County, MA brief visit

Today i took a drive to Berkshire County, the westernmost one in the state of Massachusetts. Taking exit 2 from the Mass Turnpike, and noticing that the tools in the western third of the pike have been reinstated, went north up Rt. 20 through the town of Lee, established 1777, Lenox, the summer home of the Boston Pops orchestra ( Tanglewood) and into Pittsfield. Holmes Road led me past such landmarks as "Arrowhead," the home of the author Herman Melville ( Moby Dick) from 1850-1862, and Miss Hall's School, a private prep school for females since 1898. The serpentine coils of the Housatonic river, once named the 2nd worst polluted in the USA, are bridged in numerous places. The former South Junior High School is now the Herberg Middle School. The Berkshire Athenaeum Library still stands although it was too cold to look and see if it is in operation. Across from the former Dawes Elementary School, built circa 1907-8, the Flynn's Rexall Pharmacy still stands, operated by Flynn family descendants. As one heads north one finds a McDonalds and Friendly's restaurants. located across the street from their former locations. For many decades GE was the biggest employer in town; many of its remaining buildings seem unoccupied and dilapidated. In neighboring Dalton the Crane company used to make the special paper for US currency. Continuing north I came to the Savoy General store, owned by one gentleman for about fifty years, but owned by another for the past fifteen to twenty. Two of the three people there were employees. A little farther i came to Windsor Pond, a small lake with mostly seasonal cottages. A small stream issues from one end, eventually finding its way to Windsor Jambs, a small waterfall and former picnic ground. A man at the store told me the state had closed this area along with other state forests in the vicinity. Wending my way back to the turnpike i was struck by the aged nature of most buildings and a general sense of poverty. A number of people were ice fishing on lakes along Rt. 20.

The Eternal State

For those people who have surrendered to Jesus as their King, and entered into the Kingdom of God, there is a place of eternal bliss prepared for them in the presence of God. The Bible does not give extensive detail about what is commonly called heaven but there are some things which it attests. This kingdom has been prepared from the foundation of the world. ( Matthew 25:34, John 14:2) There will be a new heavens and a new earth. ( Isaiah 65.17, Isaiah 66:2, 2 Peter 3:10-13, Revelation 21:1, Psalm 102.25-26, Mark 13:31, Hebrews 12:26-27 et. al) We will live in God's presence. ( Psalm 16:11, Revelation 21.3) Heaven is a place. ( Acts 1:9-11, 7:55-56) The creation will be renewed. ( Romans 8:19-21) We will have physical bodies. ( Philippians 3:21, 1 Corinthians 15:52) They will eat and drink. (Revelation 19:9, Luke 22:18) There will be a river of life with fruit every month. ( Revelation 22:1-2) There will be no night there. ( Rev. 21:25) There will be treasure in heaven, which we can earn on earth. ( Matthew 6:19-21) There will be no more death or crying or mourning or pain. ( Rev. 21:4) There will be no evil. ( Rev. 21:7) And we will be in the presence of God. ( Jude 1:24, Colossians 3:4, Rev, 22:3, Psalm 73:25-26) While not an exhaustive list, this should give us an idea. Some people ask what will we do there? I have heard answers ranging from playing basketball to exploring other planets. While possible, the pictures that we see in the book of Revelation all point to worship. (Rev. 4:8-11, 5:8-14, 7:9-12, 11:15-18, 14:2-3,15:3-4, 19:1-8.) When we finally see Jesus face to face in all His glory, i do not believe that we will want to do anything other than worship Him.

The Real War Against ( Christian) Women

Recently I have heard and observed several Christian women who feel worthless or are under severe oppression, something that i believe is part of a more widespread phenomenon. Over the decades I have seen many times a painful insecurity in various women. I believe this has several symptoms and one major cause. One symptom is the major obsession that our society has with physical appearance where all women are made to feel that they should look like a tiny number of women who are actually genetically abnormal. Instead of believing this widely propagated lie we should look at the truth that, as with every snowflake being different from every other, God has made each of us unique as it pleased Him. In 1 Peter 3:4 God is very clear. "Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (NKJV) As with everything else in the Christian life we must make the choice of whether to trust and believe what God says or the lies of the devil. ( John 8:44) Proverbs 31:30 puts this in a slightly different way. "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but the woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." NKJV The true beauty of a woman shines from the inside. A second major source of oppression is abuse, whether physical, sexual or otherwise, sustained as a child. I see women still be tormented and tortured by this many decades later. Several things may help. This was not the fault of the child. Unforgiveness is the spiritual equivalent of cancer. Forgive for your own sake. Jesus paid for that sin. Those who do not repent will suffer the vengeance of the Lord. ( Romans 12:19) Ask for and receive the love of God. ( Romans 5:5, Psalm 31:7, 1 John 4:10) Husbands, fathers and church elders have a responsibility to protect the women that God gives to them whether daughters, wives or unmarried women in the church. We usually think of protection in the physical sense but currently this happens rarely in our society. The real protection needed is spiritual- praying at least daily for the women in your life, and ministering the truth of the Word of God to combat the lies. Godly men need to put on their spiritual armor ( Ephesians 6) and fight for their women. Finally men need to discover and walk in their own identity in Christ- who God the Father says that we are in Him- and minister this to the women in their lives. ( Ephesians 5:25-28) Women also need mature female disciplers to help them grow in Christ.

Reflections on Identity in Christ

Today i return to a subject on which i have commented previously. What is our true identity? Who are we? For those who have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, ( Romans 10:9, 14:9)and been adopted into the family of God, ( Ephesians 1:5, John 1:12)our identity is who God says that we are in Jesus Christ. "Just as He ( God the Father) chose us in Him ( Jesus Christ)before the foundation of the world..." ( Ephesians 1:4a). To receive this identity requires faith. Ultimately we are what we believe. In 2 Thessalonians Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit ( 2 Peter 1:20-21, 2 Timothy 3:16) writes about people who do not believe the truth of God. "The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they may be saved, and for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." ( 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12NKJV) This passage indicates that those who do not believe the truth will believe lies. Jesus makes clear in John 8:44 that the devil is the author of lies. "He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources (or character ESV), for he is a liar and the father of it. (NKJV) His lies are not only with regard to salvation as in 2 Thess 2 but about anything and everything. Recently i heard a person who has confessed Christ for decades speak about how worthless they felt. This is not God's perspective. He refers to us as "dear children," ( Ephesians5:1),"holy, royal priests, special people" (1 Peter 2:9 NKJV); "more than conquerors," (Romans 8:37); "vessels of mercy," (Romans 9:23), "sons and daughters of the Father," (2 Corinthians 6:18)"citizens of heaven," (Philippians 3:20) and many other things. But we must believe. Many have concern about their physical appearance. God has promised us bodies like the glorious body of Jesus. ( Phil 3:21) But what about this life? In Genesis 1 God says with regard to His creation six separate times that it was good. Only after the creation of man does He says that it was very good. (verse 31) I find it instructive that in the Old Testament we do have occasional physical descriptions of individual people. Elisha was bald, David had a ruddy complexion, Saul stood a head above all the people and half a dozen women, among them Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel are described as beautiful. The only thing similar in the New Testament is Zaccheus in Luke 19 of whom we learn that he was short. This striking differences, that we have no physical description of Jesus or Peter or Paul, shows clearly how unimportant this is to God. I believe that because God created us, He likes the way we look, and we would be much happier not to place so much emphasis on this. 1 Timothy 4:8 gives clarity on God's perspective. "For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." (NKJV) Who do we believe? God or the devil?

January 11 Reflections on Symptoms of a Dying Society

Under the theme of symptoms of a dying society, whatever issues that individual police officers may have, the reality is that they are the only thing keeping the lid on to a society of sinful people. Romans 13 makes this crystal clear. "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (Recall that this was written during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero, who burnt Christians alive to illuminate his midnight orgies.) "Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment." (Romans 13:1-2) The passage goes on to say "For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain..." (v.4) Recently there have been several high profile cases in the USA where unarmed black men died at the hands of armed white police officers. The reality is that the only people who saw and reviewed all the evidence in the cases were the grand juries, composed of people of various races, and they declined to bring charges. The case of a black police officer killing a unarmed white teenager in Alabama received no media attention. The disparagement of police by high government officials results in the reluctance of police to fulfill their responsibilities, which leads to further breakdown. When people have no confidence in the ability or desire of police to protect them, many will decide to protect themselves, leading to further anarchy. Another symptom of a dying society is the increasing need of biographers to thrust themselves into the books they write about their ostensible subjects. A few years ago a biographer was lauded for making up incidents in the life of an American president, as if this was praiseworthy. This authorial intrusion, where the biographer feels compelled to offer his usually worthless value judgments on the subject of his biography, rather than telling us the facts about the person's life, is ever more prevalent. Those who wish to learn about the life of someone are instead treated to condescending elitism on the part of the allegedly know-it-all biographer. Another symptom of a dying society is a dying church. True Christianity is not just our individual relationship with God, but is the sum of people with those relationships working together to show the unconverted world the truth of the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. As I experience and witness the death of local congregations with the inevitable spiritual casualties, oftentimes this is the result of people unwilling to receive any kind of authority, or, at the other extreme, those who domineer over the flock. cf. 1 Peter 5:3

Adjusting

Having returned to the US about eight days ago after a month in Brazil, I find myself adjusting. In Brazil there is no real schedule as everything is flexible. Here I am settling into my regular routine of the Daniel approach to prayer, ( 3x daily Daniel 6:10)reading 7 chapters of the Bible daily in Portuguese, another hour of language study, learning and reviewing memory verses, and hoping to return to daily exercise walks once i recover from a cold. Last year at this time i had one that lasted for three weeks. Temperatures have settled into a normal pattern of below freezing much of the time, in contrast to 90-100 degrees F in Brazil. There is much more alone time instead of always being with people in Brazil. It is almost like living two different lives. Looking ahead i am praying about potential trips to Europe and China, an almost certain return to Brazil, finding a Christian community close to where i live, and the men to whom i am ministering. Meanwhile i am waiting on the Lord. Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage, and wait for the Lord." May i glorify Him by doing the work that He has prepared in advance for me to do ( Ephesians 2:10) as Jesus glorified the Father by doing the same. ( John 17:4) In the New Year i want to continue to reduce my expectations of people and increase my expectations of God. Towards the beginning of blood curdling prophecies against Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, the prophet Nahum gives this little gem. "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him." ( 1:7 ESV)