"And the LORD also delivered it and its king into the hand of Israel; he struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword. He let none remain in it...." (Joshua 10:30)
Sorry, but I've been reading in Joshua. I'm just bringing you along with me. Now I know that good little devotional writers would bypass such passages and just pick the traditional "devotional stuff." But then, there is always that, "whole counsel of God."
Regardless, you must admit that every time you read of these mass killings, slayings of men, women, and children, cattle and oxen, deep inside there is a sort of, "WHY?" which shouts at you. Today, the arguments in most of the world, and even in the so called "church," are arguments with God on how He does things. How dare He say, "So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill"? etc. It is just not fair, not moral to take someone's land and give it to someone else. Really? What is that which Jesus said, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?"
I once said that the Koran is a war manual. It is. But, if you read the Bible without your "Sunday School" glasses, you discover that the Bible is also a "war manual." Jesus said that in the end time, at a time of judgment, He will say, "But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me." Apparently God is not finished with making war. Yet a big difference between the "war manuals" is that there is nothing in the Koran which deals with the redemption of the lost, no assurance of the forgiveness of sin, no offer that you can know God personally, no, "and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Yes, there have been, are, and will be wars. Yet in the midst of the judgment and war words of Scripture, there is good "devotional reading," promises for all those who are the obedient ones, the ones who have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ and His Reign in His Kingdom and their personal lives. We have promises in the "God- Breathed" Scriptures which no philosophy, no religion can ever match. In the midst of the judgment and the wars there are the multitude of promises which guarantee our provision, protection, and the King's invitation, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I desire to be kept in the fear of You, the obedience to You, and love of You. Amen.
********************
New Article on Jersalem @: www.apfjw.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Sorry, but I've been reading in Joshua. I'm just bringing you along with me. Now I know that good little devotional writers would bypass such passages and just pick the traditional "devotional stuff." But then, there is always that, "whole counsel of God."
Regardless, you must admit that every time you read of these mass killings, slayings of men, women, and children, cattle and oxen, deep inside there is a sort of, "WHY?" which shouts at you. Today, the arguments in most of the world, and even in the so called "church," are arguments with God on how He does things. How dare He say, "So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill"? etc. It is just not fair, not moral to take someone's land and give it to someone else. Really? What is that which Jesus said, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?"
I once said that the Koran is a war manual. It is. But, if you read the Bible without your "Sunday School" glasses, you discover that the Bible is also a "war manual." Jesus said that in the end time, at a time of judgment, He will say, "But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me." Apparently God is not finished with making war. Yet a big difference between the "war manuals" is that there is nothing in the Koran which deals with the redemption of the lost, no assurance of the forgiveness of sin, no offer that you can know God personally, no, "and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Yes, there have been, are, and will be wars. Yet in the midst of the judgment and war words of Scripture, there is good "devotional reading," promises for all those who are the obedient ones, the ones who have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ and His Reign in His Kingdom and their personal lives. We have promises in the "God- Breathed" Scriptures which no philosophy, no religion can ever match. In the midst of the judgment and the wars there are the multitude of promises which guarantee our provision, protection, and the King's invitation, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I desire to be kept in the fear of You, the obedience to You, and love of You. Amen.
********************
New Article on Jersalem @: www.apfjw.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
