Getting into the Word and Giving God the Praise - 503s - 10 - 7

Nancy recommends that we “Get into the Word” read a few favorite passages, so that “His soothing truth could go back into the hidden chambers where the lies have been.” Then Nancy would praise God “for being my God and for doing all these things for me.”

Nancy referred to several relevant Scriptures:

Luke 11:24-26 speaks to cleaning/ clearing out our hidden places and not filling the resulting vacuum with something else such as the Word. This leaves one vulnerable to replaying old scripts which can increase their negative impact.  

Paul offers great assurance both in Hebrews 10:22, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” and Philippians 3:14, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

The above cleaning/clearing out of the hidden places and filling them with the Word is easier said than done. I find it all too often these hidden places are filled with deep-seated hurts, some decades old, which resurface.

As a six-year-old I had to climb out of the deep valley of paralytic polio. I, like most polio survivors, felt a responsibility to act and look normal. I had excellent follow-up care and a number of corrective surgeries to my hand and arm, however, polio just was not a subject discussed. So I buried it in those secret chambers.

Polio is an interesting disease in that it causes damage to the brainstem which may or may not be the reason most polio survivors are Type A personalities. A cruel twist of fate is that after decades of recovery many polio survivors develop post-polio syndrome. Even muscles that did not seem to be effected during the initial onset actually were damaged. Joint pain, weakening muscles and sleeping difficulties often get worse with each year. The stress typical of a Type A personality exasperates these conditions. Family members don’t seem to have a clue as to what happening and no one seems to want to acknowledge it.

So decades later I’m cleaning out those hidden chambers and giving it to God. I rest in the sure knowledge that I am right with God. Immersing myself in the Bible helps to fill these hidden chambers.

Interestingly enough the more engrossed I am in my studies the more I’m aware that other than my church family most friends and family have little to no interest in a study of the Bible. So just as polio wasn’t discussed, biblical truth seldom is. As their argument goes, being a good person is all-important and all roads lead to God. Rather than burying this rejection of Truth in my hidden chambers, I have given my family and friends over to God. To God goes the glory.

What happens when the Word of God is lost to an individual? To a family? To a nation? 521 - 5 - 6

Man can live about 40 days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air but only about one second without hope” from “The Terminal Generation by Hal Lindsey. Hal Lindsey’s Report last Friday was very timely to answering  this question.

Suicide is a byproduct of losing hope and losing hope is, IMO, a byproduct  of losing faith in God. According to Mr. Lindsey, suicide is increasing in all age groups. Teenagers and the elderly used to be the groups with the greatest rate of increase. Now it's the baby boomers who are committing suicide in increasing numbers. Suicide in male baby boomers 50 years old and up have increased by about 50% and women in the 60 years and up range have increased about 60%. So what happened to the baby boomers? This was the generation born after World War II and pretty much grew up in the 60s. The 60s was went God started to be thrown out of school and free love and drugs were the order of the day.

From the Center for disease control quoting IIeana Arias, Deputy Director, CDC, “There may be something about that group and how they think about life issues and their life choices that may make a difference.

Today more deaths among the young are by suicide than traffic accidences. There are about 100 to 200 suicide attempts for every one that is reported. A cry for help? I think so! If a person rejects God and His Word abortion, pornography, drugs and generally immoral behavior can result. I’ve known people who have gotten so involved in mysticism and dietary rules that they became as emancipated looking and as lifeless as the statures they so admire.

Some people become absorbed in perversion and I suspect that the pornography junkies worship at the false altar of online pornography. Violent movies and video games are the norm. So do those addicted to the pornography and/ or violence become an out picturing of what absorbs their mind resulting in mass shootings and pedophilia?

The family unit is disintegrating and children are often born to single mothers. Father no longer knows best and the media airs commercials that make the children seem smarter than their parents.

Our nation allows the killing of babies in the womb and votes in same-sex marriage. Romans 1:28-29 sums it up, “Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.”

Added later:

Romans 1:18-20  The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Added Later:

Back to the subject of computers, I started out with a Commodore 64 and then transitioned to MS-DOS. So I never was an Apple fan.

After the recent death of Steve Jobs with all the attendant publicity, I started to study their logo, an Apple with a bite taken out of it. I thought I wonder if this was intended to be a reference to Genesis. I don't believe that the actual fruit that Adam and Eve took a bite of was identified, however, it is usually pictured as an Apple. So was Steve Jobs saying that computers are taking a bite of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Just an interesting passing thought I had the other day. The amount of information and the speed of acquiring it via computers/ Internet could become a near deity to an information junkie, ouch.

A little Bit More....

Another eBay post I wrote in reply to a member's question about the Bible.

I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God.

I recently enrolled in the Koinonia Institute.  Here is part of what I wrote in the KI Discussion Boards' Introduce Yourself:

I'm from a very small town in Michigan. I can't remember a time as a child that I wasn't in Sunday School. As a teenager I sang in both the junior and senior choir. I was in a rather conservative protestant church, however, for a few years in grade school my best friend was the local Baptist Pastor's daughter so I received a more through introduction to the Bible there. Her father was called to another city but I never forgot the peace I found in that church.

I was a young mother of two and divorced in college. The church I attended with my former husband made sure my children and I had a ride to church Sundays. After college I started to drift away from church membership and am thankful that God is so forgiving. I played at the edges of the so-called New Age and New Thought, you know, the all roads lead to God. Thankfully I belonged to the Lord from such an early age that He never really let me go. Now older and far more discerning I've been delving deeper and deeper into the Word for several years. The more I study and attend Bible studies the more I hunger.

I finally decided that I have an unusual mission field. I've been a member of eBay for years, both as a buyer and seller. I stumbled into a chat room and read incorrect doctrine and lots of Christian bashing. My concern is that far more people read these online threads than reply. I try to correct posts such as Allah is the same God as in the Old Testament.

I moved around a lot after graduating from college in the 60s and now am retired and live in Quartzsite, Arizona where I attend a local Baptist church. Summers I spend in Michigan in a park with it's own Chapel. I am truly blessed.