by John Stallings
Let’s talk about something more earth shattering than melting ice-caps, more sobering than the thought of nuclear war, & more dramatic than anything the field of politics could possibly produce. Let’s talk about the end of time.
First I need to explain what I mean when I say “the end of time.” The end-time is a reference to the time remaining before the Lord Jesus returns to remove the Christians out of the world, before the 7 year tribulation.
From the time Jesus ascended to heaven 2,000 years ago, every time something big happened like an earthquake, war, famine or meteor shower, people immediately started talking about the end of time.
Certainly these good people weren’t thinking Bible because if they were they’d know the end of time could not be that close until at least the year 1948, because that’s when Israel officially became a nation. Israel is God’s time-piece. As concerns the last days, nothing happens until it happens to Israel.
Once I heard a NBA player being interviewed. The interviewer asked him how he could keep up with the big tall players he had to compete against. He answered, “I watch their belly-button. They ain’t going nowhere till that belly-button moves.” You might say Israel is the belly-button on God’s prophetic time-clock. Jesus used the fig tree as analogous of Israel to describe how we could discern the time of His return. He told us when the fig-tree blossoms the end is near. Before 1948 there was no independent state of Israel.
Of utmost important in all things Israeli is that at the end-time, Israel will no longer be “trodden down of the Gentiles” but totally controlled by Jews. Since 400 B.C Israel has always been controlled by one Gentile superpower or another but on June 6th 1967, after a 6 day war, the Jews captured Jerusalem. I was privileged to visit Israel in April of that year, just a few weeks before the war.
This Jewish control of Jerusalem is important because of Jesus’ statement on the matter in Luke 21:24
---Jerusalem shall fall by the edge of the sword & shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
A new flag flew in 1948, the flag of the nation Israel but, in 1967 Jerusalem was no longer trodden down of the Gentiles. This set God’s clock ticking. A Global warning is out. Jesus Christ will soon appear & millions will be missing globally. Here are a few responses to the warning I’ve just given;
• JESUS IS NOT COMING SOON, --HE’ll NEVER COME.
This view is expressed in 2 Peter 3:3-6
—Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts, and saying where is the promise of His is coming? For since our fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
Others say:
• OH YES HE’S COMING --BUT NOT FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
This view is expressed in the following text;
But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat & drink with the drunken; the Lord of that servant shall come on a day when he looketh not for him & in an hour that he is not aware of…..Matt 24:48-50.
• HIS COMING IS NEAR AND WE MUST BE READY.
This attitude agrees with the next verse;
Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh.—Matt.24:13
All three of the above reactions were forecast in the Bible & many other prophetic signs are out warning of an event coming soon to this planet.
I’m not going to be so foolish as to set a date for Jesus’ return. I can’t say He’ll come a week from Tuesday, but He’s coming. We’ve already seen the sign of Israel becoming a nation, now here are some other signs of the end-time. Here are some of Christ’s personal promises;
Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am ye may be also. John 14:2-3
For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father, & with His holy angels, & then He shall reward every man according to his works. Matt.16:27
JESUS HAS A DATE WITH THE DEAD.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout , with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive & remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 1 Thess.3:14-17
Following are more of the leading sings of Christ’s soon return;
1. FALSE TEACHING
A false doctrine or heresy isn’t something like Atheism or Darwinism. These are errors of a different kind & although dangerous, they don’t take church doctrine & adulterate it. As a matter of fact, though I doubt God ever gave man the power to be an atheist, at least these folk are honest & come right out & tell you what they are proposing. These ideological mistakes exist on their own & don’t try to fly in the same orbit as church doctrine does. They are false, but not false doctrines.
The word heresy means a major mistake of doctrine taught in the church. Not every mistake is a heresy, if it were everyone would be a heretic. Heresy is an error that overthrows the faith. Islam is a horrific set of beliefs but it’s not heresy because it’s not taught in the church.
The teachings that will & have already come that are dangerous are the ones taught in the name of Jesus Christ. Their teachers parallel the false prophets in Israel. When you’re hearing someone who’s finding something wrong with the authority of Scripture, the Divinity of Christ, the Fallen State of man, the Atonement, the Resurrection, the Judgment, Heaven & Hell, & in short rejecting all authority but their own, pick up your heels & run.
If a church Apostle called Paul couldn’t monkey with the message, no one else can either. Paul said, -That which I received of the Lord, I delivered to you.”
The gospel will make you feel good but most importantly the gospel is about the fact that 2,000 years ago in an upscale cemetery near Jerusalem a Dead Body got loose. This isn’t a feeling it’s a fact. Jesus who was dead,was raised after the third day.
Emotions are great & Christianity produces emotion but Christianity isn’t about feelings it’s about facts. Jesus is God & if anyone teaches God was with Him or we can best know God by observing Jesus but won’t come out & say Jesus co-existed from eternity with The father & Holy Ghost they’re false teachers. Rat poison is 95% wheat & 5% poison, if it were all poison the rats wouldn’t eat it.
2. WARS & RUMORS OF WAR.
And ye shall hear of wars & rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Matt. 24:6
The 20th century was known as the century of warfare. We had the big ones like WW1 & WW2 and the cold war. We also had the Korean War & the Gulf wars. At present we are hearing “rumors of wars” with Iran & N. Korea over their nuclear programs.
Ethnic unrest & tribal warfare has killed millions in this generation alone & it’s getting worse.
The Society of International Law says, “There have been only 268 years of peace in 4,000 years, in spite of 8,000 peace treaties. Since 3,600 B.C there have been over 14,531 wars with 3,640,000,000 killed.”
We are aware that our nation is presently at war with an enemy most of us never even considered until a few years ago. It’s obvious even to a casual observer that radical Islamic terrorism will be America’s sworn enemy until one is defeated or God Himself intervenes.
3. EARTHQUAKES
In the 13th century there were 84 worldwide earthquakes
In the 14th century there were 115
In the 15th century there were 137
In the 16th century there were 174
In the 17th century there were 258
In the 18th century there were 378
In the 19th century there were 640
In the 20th century there were 2119
In the year 2000 there were 22,256 total earthquakes detected. In 2004, there were 31,199. Of course many occurred in unpopulated areas & weren’t carried by news services, but the numbers are growing rapidly every year.
4. PESTILENCES:
Since the 1980’s the number of new diseases that have been discovered is incredible. We now have SARS-AIDS—Herpes---West Nile—new drug resistant TB—Mad Cow—new monkey pox virus with human to human transmission—and the H5N1—avian bird flu. Data shows that these pathogens have experienced a sharp upturn within the past 10 years. Increases are also reported for E.Coli 0157 food poisoning.
5. SIGNS IN THE SUN AND SPACE.
Our Sun has been on a rampage. Every 11 years or so we are told the Sun goes through cycles & produces numerous solar flares or storms. The past cycle has been the strangest & strongest ever recorded since solar activity has been studied. In fact the Sun has been getting brighter & hotter each year recently. This increased warmth is warming the entire planet & global warming is no longer speculation.
Al Gore notwithstanding, (And I didn’t see his “Inconvenient truth” movie) the hottest 14 years ever recorded occurred after 1980. The following news was just released; “Warmest September Globally since beginning of reliable Instruments: The United States experienced its fourth warmest September on record while global land surface temperatures were the warmest on record for the month, according to scientists at the NOAA national Climatic Center in Ashville, N.C. This trend is also reported globally.”
The big political issue is whether man is contributing to this warming by our release of industrial green house gases. I’m not an expert so I’ll leave that to those who are but in any event, the Sun is burning hotter.
6. SIGNS IN THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY.
Listen to 2 Timothy 3:1-4
As you read this, keep in mind that as Paul speaks of the end time he doesn’t mention bombs, pestilence, wars, or other signs outside the church. These 19 signs are signs within the ranks of believers.
This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof, from such turn away. -2 Timothy 3:1-4
7. MASSIVE HURRICANES & FREAK STORMS.
Does the Bible mention Hurricanes when it tells of signs of the Lord’s return? Jesus told the disciples, -And there shall be signs in the Sun, & in the Moon & in the Stars; & upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity: the sea & the waves roaring.” –Luke 21:25
Do you see the last 6 words: “the sea & the waves roaring?” That’s the exact effects of hurricanes. 2004 was said to have been the costliest hurricane season on record. That was true until the 2005 hurricane season. If you’ve visited New Orleans lately or maybe you read my recent blog, you know that Katrina hit that city with such devastating force that even the weather experts were shocked.
This doesn’t even take into account the severe tornado activity that has wreaked havoc recently on the unsuspecting, because of our inability to predict & pinpoint these monsters.
So what does all this mean? It means we are undoubtedly in the end-time & the countdown started in 1967. Jesus said the generation that sees these things won’t pass away before He returns.
How long is a generation in the Bible? Experts like Jack Van Impe say a Biblical generation is 52 years. If the end-time countdown started in 1967, when the Jews re-took Jerusalem, if you add 52 years to that date, that gives you the year 2019. Now if we subtract 7 years from 2019 (7 years being the length of the tribulation period) that gives us the date 2012.
Let me reiterate; nobody on earth knows exactly when Jesus will come. In Mark 13:32 Jesus said, --But of that day & that hour Knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the father.”
Question one:
What are we to do as we see the end-time approaching? If you’re not saved, the gift of eternal life is free if you will pray this simple prayer;
“God I know & confess that I’m a sinner needing your forgiveness, I believe that your Son Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. I now accept & receive His pardon for my sins & invite Jesus into my heart. Forgive me Lord & save me.” If you prayed that simple prayer by the authority of God’s Word I welcome you into the kingdom of God. Praise God!
Question two:
What are Christians to do as we see the end-time approaching?
1. We are to attend worship services regularly.
…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is: but exhorting one another: and so much more as ye see the day approaching. ---Hebrews 10:25
2. We should observe the Lords Supper with the rapture in mind.
For as oft as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show forth the Lords death till He come. ---1 Cor. 11:26
3. We are to love believers & all men.
And the lord make you to increase & abound in love one toward another, and toward all men… to the end He may stablish your hearts…at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.—1 Thess. 3:12, 13.
4. We are to be patient.
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.—James 5:8
5. We are to live a separated life.
…we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself. ---1 Jn. 3:2, 3
6. We are to refrain from judging others.
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness & will make manifest the councils of the hearts…. 1 Cor. 4:5
7. We are to get the gospel out.
I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick & the dead at His appearing & His kingdom, preach the Word.—2 Timothy 4:1, 2
8. We are to win souls.
And of some have compassion, making a difference; and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. –Jude 21-23
9. We are to comfort the bereaved.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven….wherefore comfort one another with these words.—1 Thess. 4:16
10. We are to be concerned with spiritual matters.
Set you affections on things above, not on things on earth. For ye are dead & your life is hid with Christ in God.—Col.3:2-3
To close this article, let me add one thing. Though stormy weather is just ahead both in the natural & spiritual realms, there are no greater words of hope than the ones our Lord spoke in Luke 21:28;
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.
John
Friday, September 28, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Kathy Griffin was wrong!
By John Stallings
Recently comedian Kathy Griffin received an Emmy & when she accepted it she made the following statement;
“A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Hell has frozen over. -------it Jesus! This award is my God now.”
I could be wrong but I would think most anyone with two brain cells to rub together would agree that what she said was at least asinine & at worst blasphemous. Poor Kathy, as she so often is was wrong. Her most recent claim to fame is a little television show properly called “Life on the D list” so we know from that she’s at least realistic about her talent. There were complaints about her comments so they were bleeped from the final cut of the show, but I’m sure Hollywood dismissed it as an innocuous joke.
In truth, Jesus has everything to do with Kathy’s winning that award. Here’s why Kathy was wrong.
Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago. His dying words were, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He died & was buried in a rock-cut tomb & after three days He rose from the dead.
After Jesus’ resurrection Christianity took off like wildfire. It spread eastward to Europe & westward to Africa. In about 300 B.C Constantine accepted Christianity & it became the religion of Europe. Rome soon became the seat of religion & after several years of human failings not the least of which were the Crusades & the Inquisition, to name two, the Reformation came.
When the foundation for the government of the new nation called America was formed, the Bible was used to lay that foundation. The Bible was mentioned in 94% of the foundation-era documents & 34% of them directly quote the Bible. The Bible is responsible for the freedoms we enjoy & among them is freedom of speech. Equality for all, especially women is & has been enjoyed everywhere the Bible has been preached & adhered to, & in those places devoid of Bible influence, i.e. Muslim countries, women are treated like possessions.
So Kathy, your freedom to win that Emmy & say what you said publicly is directly attributable to the man who died on that cross 2,000 years ago.
You owe Jesus an apology girl.
John
Recently comedian Kathy Griffin received an Emmy & when she accepted it she made the following statement;
“A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Hell has frozen over. -------it Jesus! This award is my God now.”
I could be wrong but I would think most anyone with two brain cells to rub together would agree that what she said was at least asinine & at worst blasphemous. Poor Kathy, as she so often is was wrong. Her most recent claim to fame is a little television show properly called “Life on the D list” so we know from that she’s at least realistic about her talent. There were complaints about her comments so they were bleeped from the final cut of the show, but I’m sure Hollywood dismissed it as an innocuous joke.
In truth, Jesus has everything to do with Kathy’s winning that award. Here’s why Kathy was wrong.
Jesus died on the cross 2,000 years ago. His dying words were, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He died & was buried in a rock-cut tomb & after three days He rose from the dead.
After Jesus’ resurrection Christianity took off like wildfire. It spread eastward to Europe & westward to Africa. In about 300 B.C Constantine accepted Christianity & it became the religion of Europe. Rome soon became the seat of religion & after several years of human failings not the least of which were the Crusades & the Inquisition, to name two, the Reformation came.
When the foundation for the government of the new nation called America was formed, the Bible was used to lay that foundation. The Bible was mentioned in 94% of the foundation-era documents & 34% of them directly quote the Bible. The Bible is responsible for the freedoms we enjoy & among them is freedom of speech. Equality for all, especially women is & has been enjoyed everywhere the Bible has been preached & adhered to, & in those places devoid of Bible influence, i.e. Muslim countries, women are treated like possessions.
So Kathy, your freedom to win that Emmy & say what you said publicly is directly attributable to the man who died on that cross 2,000 years ago.
You owe Jesus an apology girl.
John
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Bush should pull plug on Ahmadinejad visit.
By John Stallings
In my view, for Iran's terrorist leader to visit ground zero in New York while Iran's bombs are killing American soldiers is unthinkable. It's ridiculous for Ahmadinejab to be allowed to set foot on US soil when our 9/11 commission strongly suspects Iran of facilitating the actions of the 9/11 plotters. This is like spitting in the face of our soldiers who are fighting & dying in Iraq as well as all American citizens.
If this man who denies the Holocaust & vows to wipe Israel off the map as soon as he gets the bomb to do the job is even allowed to set foot on our soil, he should be driven around in a cab by one of his countrymen. I for one have emailed & will call the White House to strongly object & think if Mr. Bush will shut this thing down his popularity will skyrocket. If not, at least he's done the right thing because this visit is wrong in principle & in its symbolism.
It's my understanding that Columbia University in New York won't even allow a R.O.T.C program but they can have a militant "loose cannon" like Ahmadinejab to speak to impressionable young Americans.
Shame, shame on the leadership of that school.
John
PS. The email address for the White House is: comments @ whitehouse.gov.
Phone for comments is 202-456-1111
In my view, for Iran's terrorist leader to visit ground zero in New York while Iran's bombs are killing American soldiers is unthinkable. It's ridiculous for Ahmadinejab to be allowed to set foot on US soil when our 9/11 commission strongly suspects Iran of facilitating the actions of the 9/11 plotters. This is like spitting in the face of our soldiers who are fighting & dying in Iraq as well as all American citizens.
If this man who denies the Holocaust & vows to wipe Israel off the map as soon as he gets the bomb to do the job is even allowed to set foot on our soil, he should be driven around in a cab by one of his countrymen. I for one have emailed & will call the White House to strongly object & think if Mr. Bush will shut this thing down his popularity will skyrocket. If not, at least he's done the right thing because this visit is wrong in principle & in its symbolism.
It's my understanding that Columbia University in New York won't even allow a R.O.T.C program but they can have a militant "loose cannon" like Ahmadinejab to speak to impressionable young Americans.
Shame, shame on the leadership of that school.
John
PS. The email address for the White House is: comments @ whitehouse.gov.
Phone for comments is 202-456-1111
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Paralysis by analysis
By John Stallings
A dense fog that covers a seven-city- block area one-hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops. Not much is there but it can cripple an entire city.
This is emblematic of worry & how something so vague & foggy can become so confusing to the mind.
I heard about a very good man who experienced a nervous breakdown. This man would work all day, come home & walk straight to his bedroom, then sit for hours & cry. Obviously he wasn’t available spiritually, physically or in any way to his wife & family. When has wife would come in to try to talk to him he’d express to her his worry about whether their son who had been killed was saved, & shed tears over the prospects of his being in hell.
He’d agonize & wonder if his mother & father made it to heaven or were they burning in hell. I think you’d probably agree that this sort of thing is abnormal, but in truth this is what can happen to anyone if we allow anxiety, fear & worry to crawl into the saddle & dig their spurs into our side. Worry & fear can turn us into obsessive /compulsive thinkers suffering from paralysis by analysis.
We weren’t created with the capacity to worry all the time & be mentally & spiritually well. Fear isn’t native to us, faith is. We just live better with confidence & faith than we do with fear & worry. I heard an eminent doctor say recently, “We don’t know why people who worry & fret die earlier than those who maintain good cheer, but they do.”
Think about that. That isn’t a snake oil salesman trying to hype us up, but a medical man who lives in the trenches with the issues of life & death 24/7/365. This is why Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7,
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer & thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts & your mind through Christ Jesus.
A worry- wart will spend as much as 30% of their time just worrying. Contrary to what some people think, worry is actually a form of action. It’s endless- “Paralysis by Analysis.” Worry is incessant mental rehearsal convincing a person they’re moving toward a solution. Energy is spent uselessly & vitality is drained.
A good way of describing worry is its like shoveling smoke. Energy is used up but nothing of value is accomplished. It’s like spending time wishing skunks didn’t stink. But a person can’t just tell themselves to quit worrying. I’ve had the experiencing of trying to quit worrying on my own & it’s much like telling yourself not to think about elephants. Every time I’ve tried that a whole group of elephants showed up wearing pink sunglasses. We must exchange our thoughts for God’s thoughts & fill our minds with God’s Word.
Recently several of our greatest television preachers & pastors have gone to heaven. None of them were as my grandmother used to say, “Dead with old age.” They were getting a little older but I would have expected them to live far longer than they did. Now I know that I’m not God & it isn’t my business to second guess their deaths, but I can’t help but wonder if they passed too soon.
Psalm 116:15 says, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
I can’t tell you how many funerals I‘ve preached using this verse as a comfort to the families, that “God was standing at the portico of glory, beckoning for his child to finally be home with Him.” One day a minister friend of mine told me, “John, did you know that word precious actually means costly?” Well, that put it all in a different light. Now we see God presented with the high cost of losing great & effective people in His kingdom.
I’ve heard people talk about why God took their loved one, & they’ll say, “Well, you know heaven must be lonely & they needed another flower to bloom in God’s bouquet. I know God must have needed another tenor singer in heavens choir.” Dear friend, if there’s any place in the universe that’s not lonely its heaven.
Let’s go back to the ministers who’ve died lately & apply something my dad used to believe & speak of often. He studied the lives of all the famous preachers of the last one-hundred years. D.L Moody, the famous evangelist died at age 62. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great London pastor who was called “the prince of preachers” died at 58. The last year or two of Spurgeon’s life he was so sickly he spent most of his time in the South of France & mailed his sermons back to be read in his church.
My dad’s theory & I think he was right, was that stress brought on by too much popularity killed these men. They were in such world- wide demand that they abused their bodies traveling too much & working too hard. Also these men knew little about how diet & exercise affect the body so they spent most of their lives sitting & studying, hence many of them died with what doctors used to call, “Fatty heart deterioration.” One thing for sure, our bodies can’t tell the difference if we’re stressing out over some silly little things or if we’re being crushed by the weight of hurting humanity. Helping people is a noble cause but if we let people’s problems, even their spiritual problems get inside us; it can prove deadly.
There are certain natural laws of good mental & physical health we can’t break & do well, just as we couldn’t jump off a bridge, on our way to church & expect the law of gravity to be suspended for us.
A few years ago I lost one of my best preacher friends & we were about the same age. I knew him from a boy I always considered him to be in much better physical shape than I ever was. He was never a smidgen overweight through all the years I knew him. On a Sunday evening he was getting ready to go to church & had a heart attack & was dead before the paramedics could get him to the hospital. I can’t prove this is true but I’ve always believed that stress killed him. He was super-conscientious, a perfectionist, & very “military” in his thinking.
Let’s look at some things that cause anxiety & also a few ways to fight it.
1. A need to control can cause anxiety.
This quality can morph into a malignant motivation if not watched. Sometimes we can get over- inflated ideas of our own importance & forget the world will go on quite nicely when we’re gone. This thought helps us stay in touch with reality.
2. Deal with facts not hobgoblins.
A very sharp, intelligent person can think of more things to worry about before he/she put their feet in the floor in the morning that a “duller-knife” can conjure up in a week. But statistics say the person with the not-so-high IQ may well be more successful & will probably live longer.
Philippians 4:8-9 says,---Finally brethren, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things. The things which you learned & received & heard & saw in me, these do, & the God of peace will be with you.
3. Humble yourself and pray.
1 Peter 5:6-7 says,--Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him for he cares for you.
Pride turned angels into devils. We need to let God search us & see what is inside us. Pride will install itself in our hearts & cause us to be self-absorbed & unable to see our lives in proper perspective. When we become self-absorbed, we’ll see our problems in a warped light.
Cain told God when he was approached about killing Able that he feared “everyone was going to kill him.” Of course this sprang from his guilt, because how could everyone kill him? A person can only be killed once the last time I checked. This was paranoia in Cain, aggravated by his pride. The devil will try to make us think “everyone” is against us, when it just isn’t true.
A young man went to his dad & told him he felt everyone hated him. The father answered him by saying, “Son, don’t say that, everyone hasn’t met you yet.”
Other people have more to do than to go around thinking how to hurt & defeat us, don’t you think? As long as we think everyone’s against us, we’ll continue to experience Paralysis by Analysis.
4. Release all your worries to God & rest in Him.
1 Peter 5:10 says, “But may the God of all grace who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while establish, strengthen & settle you.”
When I was seven or eight I remember asking my mother one day, “Mom am I saved?” Her answer stills reverberates in my mind. She answered, “Son, nobody can answer that question but you.” I had said the sinners prayer & been baptized but I still had that haunting question. What struck home with me was that it was actually my decision & no one but me could make it. My eternal destiny was in my own hands. Because I was so young, I didn’t agonize over the dilemma, I just made a decision that day that I’d follow Christ until the day He comes or calls me home.
In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah asked the people on Mount Carmel to make a decision. He told them if they wanted to serve Baal to go on & serve him, or if they decided to go with God, they should make a decision & stop halting between two opinions. He was saying in essence, stop sitting on the fence.
James said…For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind & tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1: 6-8.
There are many landmines in the path of the believer not the least of which is procrastination. What decision do you need to make today? Will you make it & get on with your life or will you succumb to,
Paralysis by analysis?
John
A dense fog that covers a seven-city- block area one-hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops. Not much is there but it can cripple an entire city.
This is emblematic of worry & how something so vague & foggy can become so confusing to the mind.
I heard about a very good man who experienced a nervous breakdown. This man would work all day, come home & walk straight to his bedroom, then sit for hours & cry. Obviously he wasn’t available spiritually, physically or in any way to his wife & family. When has wife would come in to try to talk to him he’d express to her his worry about whether their son who had been killed was saved, & shed tears over the prospects of his being in hell.
He’d agonize & wonder if his mother & father made it to heaven or were they burning in hell. I think you’d probably agree that this sort of thing is abnormal, but in truth this is what can happen to anyone if we allow anxiety, fear & worry to crawl into the saddle & dig their spurs into our side. Worry & fear can turn us into obsessive /compulsive thinkers suffering from paralysis by analysis.
We weren’t created with the capacity to worry all the time & be mentally & spiritually well. Fear isn’t native to us, faith is. We just live better with confidence & faith than we do with fear & worry. I heard an eminent doctor say recently, “We don’t know why people who worry & fret die earlier than those who maintain good cheer, but they do.”
Think about that. That isn’t a snake oil salesman trying to hype us up, but a medical man who lives in the trenches with the issues of life & death 24/7/365. This is why Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7,
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer & thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts & your mind through Christ Jesus.
A worry- wart will spend as much as 30% of their time just worrying. Contrary to what some people think, worry is actually a form of action. It’s endless- “Paralysis by Analysis.” Worry is incessant mental rehearsal convincing a person they’re moving toward a solution. Energy is spent uselessly & vitality is drained.
A good way of describing worry is its like shoveling smoke. Energy is used up but nothing of value is accomplished. It’s like spending time wishing skunks didn’t stink. But a person can’t just tell themselves to quit worrying. I’ve had the experiencing of trying to quit worrying on my own & it’s much like telling yourself not to think about elephants. Every time I’ve tried that a whole group of elephants showed up wearing pink sunglasses. We must exchange our thoughts for God’s thoughts & fill our minds with God’s Word.
Recently several of our greatest television preachers & pastors have gone to heaven. None of them were as my grandmother used to say, “Dead with old age.” They were getting a little older but I would have expected them to live far longer than they did. Now I know that I’m not God & it isn’t my business to second guess their deaths, but I can’t help but wonder if they passed too soon.
Psalm 116:15 says, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
I can’t tell you how many funerals I‘ve preached using this verse as a comfort to the families, that “God was standing at the portico of glory, beckoning for his child to finally be home with Him.” One day a minister friend of mine told me, “John, did you know that word precious actually means costly?” Well, that put it all in a different light. Now we see God presented with the high cost of losing great & effective people in His kingdom.
I’ve heard people talk about why God took their loved one, & they’ll say, “Well, you know heaven must be lonely & they needed another flower to bloom in God’s bouquet. I know God must have needed another tenor singer in heavens choir.” Dear friend, if there’s any place in the universe that’s not lonely its heaven.
Let’s go back to the ministers who’ve died lately & apply something my dad used to believe & speak of often. He studied the lives of all the famous preachers of the last one-hundred years. D.L Moody, the famous evangelist died at age 62. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great London pastor who was called “the prince of preachers” died at 58. The last year or two of Spurgeon’s life he was so sickly he spent most of his time in the South of France & mailed his sermons back to be read in his church.
My dad’s theory & I think he was right, was that stress brought on by too much popularity killed these men. They were in such world- wide demand that they abused their bodies traveling too much & working too hard. Also these men knew little about how diet & exercise affect the body so they spent most of their lives sitting & studying, hence many of them died with what doctors used to call, “Fatty heart deterioration.” One thing for sure, our bodies can’t tell the difference if we’re stressing out over some silly little things or if we’re being crushed by the weight of hurting humanity. Helping people is a noble cause but if we let people’s problems, even their spiritual problems get inside us; it can prove deadly.
There are certain natural laws of good mental & physical health we can’t break & do well, just as we couldn’t jump off a bridge, on our way to church & expect the law of gravity to be suspended for us.
A few years ago I lost one of my best preacher friends & we were about the same age. I knew him from a boy I always considered him to be in much better physical shape than I ever was. He was never a smidgen overweight through all the years I knew him. On a Sunday evening he was getting ready to go to church & had a heart attack & was dead before the paramedics could get him to the hospital. I can’t prove this is true but I’ve always believed that stress killed him. He was super-conscientious, a perfectionist, & very “military” in his thinking.
Let’s look at some things that cause anxiety & also a few ways to fight it.
1. A need to control can cause anxiety.
This quality can morph into a malignant motivation if not watched. Sometimes we can get over- inflated ideas of our own importance & forget the world will go on quite nicely when we’re gone. This thought helps us stay in touch with reality.
2. Deal with facts not hobgoblins.
A very sharp, intelligent person can think of more things to worry about before he/she put their feet in the floor in the morning that a “duller-knife” can conjure up in a week. But statistics say the person with the not-so-high IQ may well be more successful & will probably live longer.
Philippians 4:8-9 says,---Finally brethren, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things. The things which you learned & received & heard & saw in me, these do, & the God of peace will be with you.
3. Humble yourself and pray.
1 Peter 5:6-7 says,--Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him for he cares for you.
Pride turned angels into devils. We need to let God search us & see what is inside us. Pride will install itself in our hearts & cause us to be self-absorbed & unable to see our lives in proper perspective. When we become self-absorbed, we’ll see our problems in a warped light.
Cain told God when he was approached about killing Able that he feared “everyone was going to kill him.” Of course this sprang from his guilt, because how could everyone kill him? A person can only be killed once the last time I checked. This was paranoia in Cain, aggravated by his pride. The devil will try to make us think “everyone” is against us, when it just isn’t true.
A young man went to his dad & told him he felt everyone hated him. The father answered him by saying, “Son, don’t say that, everyone hasn’t met you yet.”
Other people have more to do than to go around thinking how to hurt & defeat us, don’t you think? As long as we think everyone’s against us, we’ll continue to experience Paralysis by Analysis.
4. Release all your worries to God & rest in Him.
1 Peter 5:10 says, “But may the God of all grace who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while establish, strengthen & settle you.”
When I was seven or eight I remember asking my mother one day, “Mom am I saved?” Her answer stills reverberates in my mind. She answered, “Son, nobody can answer that question but you.” I had said the sinners prayer & been baptized but I still had that haunting question. What struck home with me was that it was actually my decision & no one but me could make it. My eternal destiny was in my own hands. Because I was so young, I didn’t agonize over the dilemma, I just made a decision that day that I’d follow Christ until the day He comes or calls me home.
In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah asked the people on Mount Carmel to make a decision. He told them if they wanted to serve Baal to go on & serve him, or if they decided to go with God, they should make a decision & stop halting between two opinions. He was saying in essence, stop sitting on the fence.
James said…For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind & tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1: 6-8.
There are many landmines in the path of the believer not the least of which is procrastination. What decision do you need to make today? Will you make it & get on with your life or will you succumb to,
Paralysis by analysis?
John
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
I hold these truths to be self evident.
By John Stallings
1. Two-thousand one hundred ninety one days ago our nation suffered the most horrendous tragedy ever witnessed on our shores.
2.Spurred by 9/11/01 our nation truly lived up to our name, the United States of America, the world’s greatest superpower.
3. On this day of remembrance, President George W. Bush is given scant credit or even mention. I believe he has had clear priorities & contrary to what his predecessor did, he rightly declared war on terrorism everywhere.
4. Our President has made mistakes like any other human being, the most glaring of which in my opinion is the giant door of invitation which stands mostly open on our nations southern flank. However he has been right in seeing the murderous mullahs as the largest danger for America & the Western world. Were it not for the programs instituted under Bush i.e. The Patriot Act etc, there would beyond doubt be terrorist’s bombs going off across our beloved land today.
I believe Bush has done everything he could to prevent nuclear proliferation & his policies are continuing to gain success. I’m grateful to him for not continually sticking his political finger in the wind & for not being led by the nose by The United Nations.
5. I believe sadly that on this day of remembrance, our beloved land is The Divided States of America.
6. I believe that the Bush Derangement Syndrome has so gripped a large segment of the nation that a voice speaking up for him sounds strange, somewhat like a voice crying in the wilderness.
7. Though its terrifically painful to say it, accept for the grace of God America will be hit again by terrorism & this time it will be so horribly unspeakable that it will dwarf 9/11/01 & I’m afraid it could involve America’s greatest treasure our children, & several grade schools across the country. I so deplore the thought (O God I pray I’m wrong) that I can’t bear to put it in words but only refer the reader to The Beslan School siege & hostage situation in Russia where 350 people lost their lives in 2004
7. After the next terrorist attack, America will come together for a second time & become The United States of America again. However the unanimity again will not last long & we’ll become The Divided States of America again.
8. I believe that too many of our leaders are drunk with power & care less about the welfare of America than they do personal ambition. A case in point is the treatment of General Petraeus, a man who risks his life in 120 degree heat in Iraq every day, who is testifying in Congress as I write this.
9. I believe that Bush has remained a reliable partner for Israel, the Apple of God’s eye, in its fight for survival. But Ala Israel, God chastens whom He loves & won’t hesitate to take America to the woodshed if we persist in pushing Him from our national public square.
10. I believe that in a few years, maybe after I’m gone to heaven, and the nation has been stricken enough times as to bring her to her knees, by God’s grace our progeny will wake up & declare war once & for all on radical Islamic Fundamentalism & wipe it from the face of the earth, or be destroyed by it.
John
1. Two-thousand one hundred ninety one days ago our nation suffered the most horrendous tragedy ever witnessed on our shores.
2.Spurred by 9/11/01 our nation truly lived up to our name, the United States of America, the world’s greatest superpower.
3. On this day of remembrance, President George W. Bush is given scant credit or even mention. I believe he has had clear priorities & contrary to what his predecessor did, he rightly declared war on terrorism everywhere.
4. Our President has made mistakes like any other human being, the most glaring of which in my opinion is the giant door of invitation which stands mostly open on our nations southern flank. However he has been right in seeing the murderous mullahs as the largest danger for America & the Western world. Were it not for the programs instituted under Bush i.e. The Patriot Act etc, there would beyond doubt be terrorist’s bombs going off across our beloved land today.
I believe Bush has done everything he could to prevent nuclear proliferation & his policies are continuing to gain success. I’m grateful to him for not continually sticking his political finger in the wind & for not being led by the nose by The United Nations.
5. I believe sadly that on this day of remembrance, our beloved land is The Divided States of America.
6. I believe that the Bush Derangement Syndrome has so gripped a large segment of the nation that a voice speaking up for him sounds strange, somewhat like a voice crying in the wilderness.
7. Though its terrifically painful to say it, accept for the grace of God America will be hit again by terrorism & this time it will be so horribly unspeakable that it will dwarf 9/11/01 & I’m afraid it could involve America’s greatest treasure our children, & several grade schools across the country. I so deplore the thought (O God I pray I’m wrong) that I can’t bear to put it in words but only refer the reader to The Beslan School siege & hostage situation in Russia where 350 people lost their lives in 2004
7. After the next terrorist attack, America will come together for a second time & become The United States of America again. However the unanimity again will not last long & we’ll become The Divided States of America again.
8. I believe that too many of our leaders are drunk with power & care less about the welfare of America than they do personal ambition. A case in point is the treatment of General Petraeus, a man who risks his life in 120 degree heat in Iraq every day, who is testifying in Congress as I write this.
9. I believe that Bush has remained a reliable partner for Israel, the Apple of God’s eye, in its fight for survival. But Ala Israel, God chastens whom He loves & won’t hesitate to take America to the woodshed if we persist in pushing Him from our national public square.
10. I believe that in a few years, maybe after I’m gone to heaven, and the nation has been stricken enough times as to bring her to her knees, by God’s grace our progeny will wake up & declare war once & for all on radical Islamic Fundamentalism & wipe it from the face of the earth, or be destroyed by it.
John
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Have we forgotten 9/11?
By John Stallings
I never write out of my fears but I write this blog with a deep concern about America because I have a feeling that as a nation we’ve gone back to sleep.
It’s been nearly six years since the catastrophic attack on our homeland & it seems to me a large segment of the country now think like Hollywood; that the War on Terror was a big over-adjustment, almost worse than the disease of Islamic terrorism.
Have we forgotten our best experts tell us that another strike will surely come, carried out by people already here or soon to arrive?
I hope I’m wrong but it seems that many people think the lull we’ve seen over the last six years is the same as a guarantee of peace & safety. For a moment think back at the foiled attacks in the last year or two; Foiled targets such as Fort Dix in New Jersey, the Sears Tower in Chicago, The Brooklyn Bridge, JFK Airport in New York and the New York Stock Exchange.
A recent poll of young Muslim-Americans tells us one in four of them would gladly strap on a bomb to defend the “honor of Islam.”
Two things seem certain; one: There are plenty of Islamic terrorists in the United States right now to do horrendous damage to our country. And two: We are dangerously shortsighted & apathetic about the ongoing threat they pose.
Have we forgotten?
All the while Islamic-American organizations & those sympathetic to them are busy filing civil liberty lawsuits against anyone who would even dare to report suspicious activities aboard an airliner filled with people, or anywhere for that matter. A vote in Congress recently squeaked by, protecting Americans from lawsuits if they report suspicious activity of any kind. In the Minneapolis incident last fall, “flying imams” called for boycotts of the airline involved in foiling their caper & wanted legislation to stop supposed “anti-Muslim profiling.”
When I look at some of our leaders these days I realize the truth of the saying, “Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.” I pray that the past six years of calm in our nation hasn’t fooled you into thinking the terrorists pose little threat to our homeland. A leading contender for the Democrat nomination for President recently said, “There isn’t a real war on terror.” It’s a wonder this man could hit the ground with his hat if he’s that deceived.
Has he forgotten?
Only last week a jihadist plot to destroy U.S facilities in Germany was thwarted. Before 9/11, we could plead ignorance about any terrorist threat but when we’re hit again what will be our excuse; more naiveté; or worse, politics?
Ladies & gentlemen, all of us, especially we who are Christians need to focus our prayers for our country & the coming storm. The new video which was just released by OBL may have been bogus but there are plenty of his minions who are as full of mindless hate as he is, or was.
What I’m going to say next I don’t say as a prophet or as an especially enlightened man. Common sense tells me that our nation could be hit again on next Tuesday, or some date close to it. If it happens, it will be more costly in terms of human lives than 9/11/01. As you know if New York City is hit again (God forbid) it will have ripple effects that will reach all over the country. Another way of saying it is, “if New York sneezes all of America gets a cold.” Are you prepared with at least 72 hours of food especially non-perishables, gasoline & water? Water is imperative.
A very good email was sent around recently suggesting that we all fly as many flags as possible next Tuesday, the anniversary of 9/11. We plan to do that & I hope you will too.
Do you remember six years ago right after 9/11 how so many flags were visible everywhere? Why don’t we see flags anymore?
Have we forgotten?
Let’s fly the flag for the ones who lost their lives in the worst tragedy that America has ever seen on her shores, & their friends & families. Let’s also fly those flags for the young men & women who are fighting at home & abroad to preserve our precious freedoms.
Together, & with God’s help, we can prevail over terrorism of all kinds.
A great man has said; "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
John
I never write out of my fears but I write this blog with a deep concern about America because I have a feeling that as a nation we’ve gone back to sleep.
It’s been nearly six years since the catastrophic attack on our homeland & it seems to me a large segment of the country now think like Hollywood; that the War on Terror was a big over-adjustment, almost worse than the disease of Islamic terrorism.
Have we forgotten our best experts tell us that another strike will surely come, carried out by people already here or soon to arrive?
I hope I’m wrong but it seems that many people think the lull we’ve seen over the last six years is the same as a guarantee of peace & safety. For a moment think back at the foiled attacks in the last year or two; Foiled targets such as Fort Dix in New Jersey, the Sears Tower in Chicago, The Brooklyn Bridge, JFK Airport in New York and the New York Stock Exchange.
A recent poll of young Muslim-Americans tells us one in four of them would gladly strap on a bomb to defend the “honor of Islam.”
Two things seem certain; one: There are plenty of Islamic terrorists in the United States right now to do horrendous damage to our country. And two: We are dangerously shortsighted & apathetic about the ongoing threat they pose.
Have we forgotten?
All the while Islamic-American organizations & those sympathetic to them are busy filing civil liberty lawsuits against anyone who would even dare to report suspicious activities aboard an airliner filled with people, or anywhere for that matter. A vote in Congress recently squeaked by, protecting Americans from lawsuits if they report suspicious activity of any kind. In the Minneapolis incident last fall, “flying imams” called for boycotts of the airline involved in foiling their caper & wanted legislation to stop supposed “anti-Muslim profiling.”
When I look at some of our leaders these days I realize the truth of the saying, “Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.” I pray that the past six years of calm in our nation hasn’t fooled you into thinking the terrorists pose little threat to our homeland. A leading contender for the Democrat nomination for President recently said, “There isn’t a real war on terror.” It’s a wonder this man could hit the ground with his hat if he’s that deceived.
Has he forgotten?
Only last week a jihadist plot to destroy U.S facilities in Germany was thwarted. Before 9/11, we could plead ignorance about any terrorist threat but when we’re hit again what will be our excuse; more naiveté; or worse, politics?
Ladies & gentlemen, all of us, especially we who are Christians need to focus our prayers for our country & the coming storm. The new video which was just released by OBL may have been bogus but there are plenty of his minions who are as full of mindless hate as he is, or was.
What I’m going to say next I don’t say as a prophet or as an especially enlightened man. Common sense tells me that our nation could be hit again on next Tuesday, or some date close to it. If it happens, it will be more costly in terms of human lives than 9/11/01. As you know if New York City is hit again (God forbid) it will have ripple effects that will reach all over the country. Another way of saying it is, “if New York sneezes all of America gets a cold.” Are you prepared with at least 72 hours of food especially non-perishables, gasoline & water? Water is imperative.
A very good email was sent around recently suggesting that we all fly as many flags as possible next Tuesday, the anniversary of 9/11. We plan to do that & I hope you will too.
Do you remember six years ago right after 9/11 how so many flags were visible everywhere? Why don’t we see flags anymore?
Have we forgotten?
Let’s fly the flag for the ones who lost their lives in the worst tragedy that America has ever seen on her shores, & their friends & families. Let’s also fly those flags for the young men & women who are fighting at home & abroad to preserve our precious freedoms.
Together, & with God’s help, we can prevail over terrorism of all kinds.
A great man has said; "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
John
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
New Orleans two years later
by John Stallings
While sitting in a restaurant in Mobile last Sunday night after church with Juda, my sister Barbara, my niece Beth & her husband Leno, plus several of their offspring, I threw one of my typical ideas on the table. I usually make a few preliminary remarks to “prepare ye the way” for my coming suggestions; especially when the suggestion is a little scary.
I said, “Why don’t we drive over to New Orleans tomorrow (Labor Day?”) Juda & I have been through New Orleans twice in the last year but we only saw the city from I-10. I was now proposing that we drive the 100 miles to N.O & take a “grunge tour,” looking at what’s left of the great city up-close.
To my shock & amazement the group went for the idea & everyone got almost as excited as I was. Monday morning at eleven which was supposed to be ten, all eight of us crawled into Beth & Leno’s new Dodge SUV & left for New Orleans. I drove. At least I drove into New Orleans & Leno drove us home at dark-thirty. The hours in-between were indeed, and this was agreed by all, awesome, breath-taking & unforgettable.
As we turned off the interstate in front of the Super-dome, on a street that immediately after Katrina was flooded as were most of the streets we drove that day, my mind went back to the second time I visited New Orleans in 1964. My first visit was as a kid of eight when we accompanied my dad who was treated for kidney stones at a New Orleans hospital.
My second thought was when I was in New Orleans in 1964 & 65 preaching for my good friend, the late Dan Ronsisvalle. Brother Dan took me on several trips around the city in those days; showing me the levees & explaining to me that one day they’d probability give way & allow water to engulf the city. He also shared with me that even the school text-books told the students that one day, barring a miracle, the levees would probably break & the city built below sea-level would be inundated.
During the trip last Monday, in a way I felt like Ezekiel when God sat him down in the middle of the valley of dry bones. Every where you look in New Orleans you see the hollowed-out shells of homes where life used to exist, but no more. You see sky-scrapers that were so devastated they are condemned. You see the homeless pushing their carts down the streets & government trailers parked beside the shells of what used to be proud dwelling places. As a faithful reporter I’d have to say that things looked better in the great city than they did even a year ago. Where we once saw the ruins of dilapidated shopping centers, we now saw vacant lots with what looked like the beginnings of new construction in the works. We reminded ourselves that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
For a little respite to shake off the horrible depressed feelings brought on by viewing the remnants of what once was a robust metropolis, we pulled into the parking lot of the downtown Hilton Hotel & walked the famed river-walk on the picturesque Mississippi river.
As we looked around, some life was still in evidence. We struggled for every breath of steamy Louisiana air, in the 95 plus temperature, & watched tug-boats pushing their burdens of what looked like steel & petroleum products along the river front as well as luxury liners transporting their passengers past all the carnage to destinations far southward; the windward isles of the lush Caribbean.
As a weary bunch of tourists returned to Mobile later that evening, the only way to describe our feelings would be to say we felt we’d witnessed a city hit by a nuclear bomb.
You will remember that when Ezekiel surveyed his valley of death, which represented symbolically the “Whole house of Israel”, God asked him, “Son of man can these bones live.” This was the question we all asked as we reluctantly left the wounded city on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi that evening.
Mine was the lone sleepy voice that spoke out of that little SUV that wound it’s way east to Mobile that evening & it was not unlike Ezekiel’s answer;
OH LORD, THOU KNOWEST.
John
While sitting in a restaurant in Mobile last Sunday night after church with Juda, my sister Barbara, my niece Beth & her husband Leno, plus several of their offspring, I threw one of my typical ideas on the table. I usually make a few preliminary remarks to “prepare ye the way” for my coming suggestions; especially when the suggestion is a little scary.
I said, “Why don’t we drive over to New Orleans tomorrow (Labor Day?”) Juda & I have been through New Orleans twice in the last year but we only saw the city from I-10. I was now proposing that we drive the 100 miles to N.O & take a “grunge tour,” looking at what’s left of the great city up-close.
To my shock & amazement the group went for the idea & everyone got almost as excited as I was. Monday morning at eleven which was supposed to be ten, all eight of us crawled into Beth & Leno’s new Dodge SUV & left for New Orleans. I drove. At least I drove into New Orleans & Leno drove us home at dark-thirty. The hours in-between were indeed, and this was agreed by all, awesome, breath-taking & unforgettable.
As we turned off the interstate in front of the Super-dome, on a street that immediately after Katrina was flooded as were most of the streets we drove that day, my mind went back to the second time I visited New Orleans in 1964. My first visit was as a kid of eight when we accompanied my dad who was treated for kidney stones at a New Orleans hospital.
My second thought was when I was in New Orleans in 1964 & 65 preaching for my good friend, the late Dan Ronsisvalle. Brother Dan took me on several trips around the city in those days; showing me the levees & explaining to me that one day they’d probability give way & allow water to engulf the city. He also shared with me that even the school text-books told the students that one day, barring a miracle, the levees would probably break & the city built below sea-level would be inundated.
During the trip last Monday, in a way I felt like Ezekiel when God sat him down in the middle of the valley of dry bones. Every where you look in New Orleans you see the hollowed-out shells of homes where life used to exist, but no more. You see sky-scrapers that were so devastated they are condemned. You see the homeless pushing their carts down the streets & government trailers parked beside the shells of what used to be proud dwelling places. As a faithful reporter I’d have to say that things looked better in the great city than they did even a year ago. Where we once saw the ruins of dilapidated shopping centers, we now saw vacant lots with what looked like the beginnings of new construction in the works. We reminded ourselves that Rome wasn’t built in a day.
For a little respite to shake off the horrible depressed feelings brought on by viewing the remnants of what once was a robust metropolis, we pulled into the parking lot of the downtown Hilton Hotel & walked the famed river-walk on the picturesque Mississippi river.
As we looked around, some life was still in evidence. We struggled for every breath of steamy Louisiana air, in the 95 plus temperature, & watched tug-boats pushing their burdens of what looked like steel & petroleum products along the river front as well as luxury liners transporting their passengers past all the carnage to destinations far southward; the windward isles of the lush Caribbean.
As a weary bunch of tourists returned to Mobile later that evening, the only way to describe our feelings would be to say we felt we’d witnessed a city hit by a nuclear bomb.
You will remember that when Ezekiel surveyed his valley of death, which represented symbolically the “Whole house of Israel”, God asked him, “Son of man can these bones live.” This was the question we all asked as we reluctantly left the wounded city on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi that evening.
Mine was the lone sleepy voice that spoke out of that little SUV that wound it’s way east to Mobile that evening & it was not unlike Ezekiel’s answer;
OH LORD, THOU KNOWEST.
John
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