“Never Again”?

"And when he sits on his royal throne, he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, out of what is before the Levitical priests.  And he shall keep it with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brethren and that he may not turn aside from the commandment....". (Dt. 19, Amplified Bible)

This little girl was probably unaware of what she was standing on, the site of that barbaric night in May of 1933 when students, after listening to a fiery speech by Joseph Goebbels, took over 20,000 books, mostly by Jewish authors, and put them to the flame.

Ever 

She was not alive when the German People elected the National Socialist Party Candidate for Chancellor.  She did not live through the horrible years of German reconstruction after the Second War.  She knows nothing of the Cold War, and wasn't alive when the "wall came down."  All is comfort and peace now for her generation——— but how long will it last?

I was reading today's text across from the seminary of Humboldt University in Berlin.  It is the university where Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Marx taught.  It has gone the way of 99 percent of seminaries today.  What if our text had been the theme of the German People in 1933?  What if Germany had not sought shelter under, "the refuge of lies"?  People say, "Never Again."  But how can anyone say this with certainty?  The only, "never again," is that you and I refuse to stand by while barbarism rules.  And the only way to be sure that we can fulfill that decree is to, again, be servants of our text.

What happened in Germany is happening all over the world.  Oh, there may not be the Nazis and the Hitlers, but every nation has rejected our text for their political leaders and the populace themselves.  Our text is for you and me, "though every man a liar."  It is not just for rulers and leaders.  It is a theme for all who have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ.  Our safety is only in Jesus and His Words, not in democratic governments, super power military, or apparent peace in our environment.  Jesus says, "Come to Me...."— to nothing and no one else for the security which humanity seeks.

Father, in Jesus' Name, keep me from the false security of everything apart from You.  Amen.

Dah

It has been a long tiring day; I forgot to put in the text.  "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus....". (Hebrews 3:1)

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

“Consider, Perceive, Observe, Understand

The first description of the word, "consider," in Strong's is, "to perceive, observe, understand."  Now several translations use the word, "consider," and the NIV says, "fix your thoughts on....". But I find the first description very interesting.  It is not just consider as we think of the word.  It is more intentional, more "serious."

Today as I was coming back from the Wannsee Conference House on the bus, I began to pray with an intensity which I have not for a while.  I had been thinking of what the German has forsaken, abandoned, forfeited, and the catastrophic result of such forsaking.  Germany is known in Church Hisotry as the "land of the Reformation," but now almost entirely a nation of apathy and rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Words, the Bible.  It was truly a "praying on site with insight" experience.  I might add here that actually doing what our text commands was what led to that moment on the bus.

The command in our text is for you and me to do more thinking of Jesus in the way our text commands us.  "Consider, perceive, observe, Understand Jesus."  You may say, "Well how can anyone even begin to do that?"  That is for us to "figure out."  But the command is still there, "Consider Jesus.  Perceive Jesus,  Observe Jesus," and, yes, "Understand Jesus."  You know where that process begins—� in His Words.  When you read the Bible, "consider, perceive, observe, understand."  Other places in the Bible call it, "....and in His Law does he meditate day and night."  The beginning place to walk in Hebrews 3:1 is that upon which Jesus says the wise build, His Words.

This is what people do with that and those they love and value highly.  Need i say more.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray for help in learning more how to do this passage.  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only s.emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'" "Looking unto Jesus" Hebrews 12:2

Greetings (Finally) From Germany

"But his delight is in the Law of the Lord; and in His does he meditate day and night."  (Psalm 1)

The storm which was hitting everywhere in Europe, even as we were landing in Amsterdam and then in Berlin, also knocked out power in much of Northern Germany.  There were no trains running on Sunday.  Then we took what was supposed to be an alternate train the next day and it stopped short of Wittenberg.  So, when all else fails, we rented a car for a day and finally made in to Wittenberg/Lutherstadt in the early morning of October 31.  The Church building was full, and we couldn't go in, but I told Sarah that I was not here for a "service."  I was in that small German town for the same reason Paul was hurrying to be in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost.  That date, as is October 31, 1517, a milestone in Church history.  Of course for most we don't have to elaborate on what happened on the Day of Pentecost, but perhaps we do on "Reformation Day."

The Roman Church had by in large replaced the Bible with their tradition and "add-on-theology."  And the one thing Wycliffe, Hus, Luther and the other reformers agreed upon and, I might say, fought for and some died for, was the Bible as the, "God-Breathed," Words of, "The Word of God," Himself, Jesus.  The departure from, "the Words of God," happened with alarming speed, as early as the Second Century AD.  Leaders in the church thought that more clarification on, "the Words of God," were necessary for keeping the Church "safe."  But safe from what, and from whom?  The ensuing result, which is going on right up to this very moment, has been not only in Catholicism, but in every "mainline" denomination, as well as the Charismatic "movement."  The Bible is mostly a reference book for "relevant preaching."  The driving force in all of this, and make no mistake about it, is that we know better than, "The Word of God."  A sort of, "Yes, but......." has taken over much of Christendom.  Some are calling for a "second reformation," but I sometimes wonder if they realize what they are "calling for."  If a "second reformation" actually occurs in modern Christendom, then it will look very, very similar to that which occurred on that simple door, on that remote Church building in that remote town in Germany.  Paraphrase, the 95 Theses read: Down with the words of man.  Up and Up with, "The Words of God."

Father, in Jesus' Name, that is the "second reformation" I want.  Amen.

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I sent a very short video at the site of the the Theses posting to Facebook, but could not get it to go through in our email.

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