Welcome To The Red Sea Resort of Eilat, Israel

It is February 23, 2011 and while I write this it is 3:18 in the afternoon in Orange. I am in Eilat, Israel at the Red Sea and it is 11:18 at night. We left Frankfurt this morning with temperatures in the low 20’s Fahrenheit. We arrived in Tel Aviv to temperatures in the 60’s. Eilat is a beach resort so tomorrow is supposed to be about 80 degrees. We will get up at 5:30 a.m. here (Thursday) or at 9:30 on your Wednesday evening. After breakfast at 7:30 a.m. we will go by bus to the ancient city of Petra in Jordanian territory about two hours away from our hotel. Jordan is visible to the eye from the city of Eilat, beginning only 10 minutes from the hotel. Not to be concerned, the protests in Jordan have been in Amman which is far north of us. The ancient city of Petra is not to be found in the Bible because that was not the name at the time. This area is within four miles of the rock that Moses struck to get water for the people of Israel on their way from Egypt to Canaan. More about that tomorrow. Most people who have read the Left Behind series think that Petra is in the Bible because the Jews are taken there during the Great Tribulation fictional account in that novel series. The Bible says that God protects His people in the wilderness, and the authors had to come up with a place so they chose Petra since it is in the mountains east of Jerusalem. Most of you have seen some of that city because you watched Indiana Jones in the movie The Last Crusade.protected by a Crusade. Also, strangely enough, the Gideons’ appeared again today as I was reading an article from an archeological journal.  The author of the article said he had met some Gideons’ at his hotel and somehow they had discussed the passage from Revelation that said unbelievers would be separated from the Lord in the Lake of Fire for all eternity. This Jewish archeologist was reacting to these nice people who unfortunately took the Bible far too literally. It is amazing to me that with all of the evidence around them that shows that the Bible is literally true in all of its archaeology and history, that they would take the Bible any other way than literal unless the Bible said it was speaking symbolically.

Getting To Frankfurt

Nelda, Gwen and Bobby, Liz and I left Houston on Monday about 4 p.m. for Frankfurt, Germany. As we flew west we were giving away the rest of the day by crossing time lines. When we arrived in Frankfurt it was 9 a.m. their time and yet it was 1 a.m. on my watch. The normal time that we would be asleep had simply disappeared. Can you say, “Jet Lag”? Frankfurt was a surprise. We all have preconceived ideas of what we will see. First, the area was surrounded by forest areas. Second, most of the housing seemed to be apartments that were at least three stories high and did not have elevators. The city is on a river and has a few skyscrapers but did not seem to be any larger than Baton Rouge. Many of the signs and ads on vans were in English. It is about 25 degrees Fahrenheit right now. In the morning (Wednesday) it is supposed to be 13 degrees. Strangely enough, some stores and train stations were heated but had no doors. The heat was just blowing away in the chilly wind. The electric trains go much faster than our trains, but nothing like the bullet trains of Asia. People are not friendly in public areas. No business is offering anything like “free Wi-Fi” to get customers. McDonalds were all around us and there were Levi Jeans stores. The cigarette boxed all had messages like, “This product will cause you to die early”, and yet there were many more people smoking than we see in our area. We ate at the Bull and Bear restaurant by a building we assumed was the stock exchange as you saw in the pictures. If you ask for water at dinner you have to specify that it be water without “bubbles” or what you get is seltzer which is basically, Alka-Seltzer. Now, for those of you that have travelled the world because on military or simply vacationing, you may think this is something everyone would know. These are just a few of our surprises (including how they rip you off to exchange dollars to Euros) but there are some things that are always the same. People here seem to be trying to get through life just like everyone else on the planet. These people need Christ, but the last evidences of Christianity are some old churches that are mostly small liberal congregations and tourists. Our world does not need church buildings. This world in its last years of history needs Christians who live the word of God daily and proudly. I know there has to be a few here because here in my hotel room is a Gideon Bible.

Biblical Counselling is Discipleship

While attending the second session of NANC, or the National Association of Nouthetic Counseling, I was convinced that the foundation of all we do in biblical counseling is discipleship. We are either trying to help people not make destructive sinful choices, or we are trying to help people dig out of the bad choices they have already made. It is easy to see the need for this since everyone in the room has sinned. We have all made destructive sinful choices. Christians should be seeking how to avoid making wrong choices by knowing and obeying the Word of God with the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I hope others from our church will take advantage of the amazing resource that biblical counseling training can be for yourself or those you love.

May 21, 2011, Is This The End? Part Two

Please keep in mind that Mr. Camping believes that the rapture of the church is seconds before Judgment Day begins on the earth. Forget that Revelation says the Great Tribulation is the wrath of God being poured out on a disbelieving world. Forget that we are called to believe so that we can escape the wrath of God. No, Mr Camping has changed that biblical time table, too. By the way, if you go to the website that he has posted you will discover a few other interesting beliefs of his:
1. No Christians should be attending any church since May 21, 1988.
2. If you are still attending a church on May 21, 2011, you will go to hell.
3. The church is the Harlot of Babylon discussed in the book of Revelation (all churches are included).
4. God has predetemined before the foundation of the earth who He would choose to save, so the others were doomed to Hell before their birth.
5. No man knows the hour or the day of the Lord's return does not apply to believers (even though Jesus said He did not even know).
This is just a short summary. I have not included the chapters and verses because of the limitations of time. I will give a full explanation of his interpretive mistakes and the passages you will need to read to see the errors for yourself. Know this, however, Jesus warned us about false teachers in the end times. The only way to avoid being deceived is to get into the Word of God, and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and help you avoid the false christs and false teachers of the day.

May 21, 2011, Is This The End? Part One

According to Harold Camping of Family Radio we are almost at the end of time as we know it. Harold Camping is the teacher on his own chain of radio stations Family Stations Inc. of California. Mr Camping was born July 19, 1921 in Boulder, Colorado. He is trained as a civil engineer. You can go to Wikipedia for this basic information. Our church family is exposed to his false teachings through a popular radio station for traditional church music out of Beaumont. The call numbers are 89.7 Let me summarize the basic teachings that are being presented through his radio teaching and website.

The Great Tribulation began on May 21, 1988. The problem with this is that the Great Tribulation is described by Jesus as beginning after the Temple is defiled by the abomination of desolation. The last time I checked there was no Temple to desecrate. The prophet Daniel identifies this period as being 42 months, or three and one half years. The book of Revelation identifies the same time period as being of the same duration. If you add three and one half years to May 21, 1988 you have a problem. Mr. Camping had another problem in his predicting abilities. He indicated that the rapture of the church was beginning by some sources in the fall of 1988 and by others in 1994 (which may have been his second guess). This time, he is basing his guess on it having been 7,000 years since Noah's flood. He calculates all of this by saying that a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day and then says that God would bring the last judgment 7,000 years after the flood which he says was May 21, 7,000 years ago. But wait... there's more!

What Makes The Holidays Great? Part Two

If you read Part One, you really need to read this second verse and story to follow. Sometimes we get the feeling that God likes us to be miserable. That really can't be true if He is planning on bringing us to Heaven. There's nothing miserable about Heaven. So let's get a right picture of our Father:
 Matthew 7:7-11 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹ “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? ¹⁰ Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! ¹¹ So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. (New Living Translation)

Years ago when my kids were still in school, we were serving in a church that was not able to pay us very much. We were there because we knew God wanted us there and made the appropriate sacrifices. Vacations were pretty much out of the question. Christmas was coming and during our family devotions, we discussed our plans for that year. The kids wanted to go to Colorado to snow ski like we had back in the youth ministry I had left to come to that church. Liz and I knew that it was out of the question, but agreed that we would pray like our devotions had told us and allow God to answer our prayer as He pleased. Like most parents, Liz and I wanted to "figure something out to make it happen". God made sure that we did not mess it up. The closer we got to Christmas, the more we knew that only God could answer that prayer. One day their was a knock on the door. When I got to the door, no one was there. The mailbox was right at the door, and there was an envelope sticking up from the box. Inside the envelope was a stack of one hundred dollar bills and a note. The note said that we were forbidden to catch up on bills or anything like that with this gift. We were instructed to go away and spend Christmas in a memorable way. About that same time, a travel agent told me about a ministry to ministers that provided free condo rentals in the mountains of Colorado. We called and had a three bedroom condo assigned to us for just the right dates. It was a wonderful vacation and a wonderful lesson. What was the lesson?

My wife and I could have gone into debt to "make" a wonderful holiday memory. We would have thwarted the teaching to our children (and to us) that God is sufficient and often goes far beyond just meeting our needs. Instead of the lust of the flesh being the source of our celebration of God, it became a gift from our Father in Heaven. Make it a point to allow God to be the source of your celebration. Tell Him your hearts desire that is in keeping with His character and revealed will in the Word. Allow Him to do what only He can do and accept that whatever He chooses to do is because He loves you. He is not trying to make us miserable, but He does want to make us like Jesus.

What Makes The Holidays Great? Part One

Whether it is Thanksgiving or Christmas, the truth is the same. We would be missing the point as children of God to sin while celebrating. Think about it. Gluttony while we express our Thanksgiving to God? Crass materialism that puts us in debt to celebrate the birth of Jesus? It really doesn't make sense does it? But it is not the sense of it that seems to control us, it is the feeling of it. We do not want to have the feeling that we are not able to give or do for our families what they want us to do. That is human nature. We can want everything our eyes can see. We can live for everything that our flesh desires instead of what God desires.

 I suppose the problem is that we feed our flesh to the point of disobedience to God while we celebrate what He has done for us. If you say it outloud, it is a striking reality to have come from your mouth. "I will celebrate what God has done for me by being materialistic and gluttenous." "I will create a financial crisis for our family that will make us all miserable for months so we can be happy for one day". No, it just doesn't sound right. So what to do?

Oh no, here it comes, we are supposed to do something frugal or noble instead of doing something really great. Yes, I know that is how it "feels". It is interesting to hear some of the testimonies of people who have made biblical plans for the holidays. It seems that their service for others and their personal sacrifices are remembered much longer than the presents they could not remember months later. It is kind of like sharing your faith. People dread the potential conflict until they see someone else respond to the Lord and be saved. You have to push through the anticipation of the negative to receive what the Father has in mind for us. Well, lets look at a couple of verses that apply. To see the second you will have to read Part Two!

 1 John 2:15-17 "Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. ¹⁶ For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. ¹⁷ And  this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. (New Living Translation)