Wall Street could possibly be renamed "Gall Street." Billions of dollars have been lost as giant after giant reflected a financial vacuity of historic proportions. Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch sold itself, and AIG, the world’s largest insurance company, lost half its value. And all this only a week after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became expensive wards of the state, rescued by future liens against us all. No one knows how far, how long or how bad the hemorrhaging will spread.
When wealth, the stability of which is held in trust by greedy and sinning men, becomes mere electronic blips in computers, it can evaporate quickly in mistrust. Much of it has. I confess to not knowing just how all this works, but those who do know seem to have discarded financial good sense and moral restraint. The Bible has it right: "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Timothy 6:9-10).
The untempered lust for riches is an inscrutable savagery according to James 5:1-6. It’s a long passage, but read it carefully:
"Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth (Lord of Hosts). You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you."
Proverbs 23:5 warns, "Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven."
There is no prohibition against wealth, but putting trust in it displaces trust in God’s provision, and that’s idolatry. Psalm 62:10 says, "…if riches increase, do not set your heart on them." It’s not the money that’s the problem, but the madness over it.
The frustration of financial fixation was focused by fabled Solomon in Ecclesiastes. "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes?" (Ecclesiastes 5:10-11).
The ultimate wealth security is not in mortal dollars but in Heavenly investment according to Jesus Christ, who said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). Christ Himself is the totality of enduring riches, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). Christ also said that one’s soul is worth more than the world’s wealth. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36).
While the Wall Street collapse may not herald the ultimate collapse of the global economy that is predicted in the Tribulation to come, it certainly is a warning that it can fail. James did speak of amassing wealth for "the last days," which surely include our days. Revelation 18 describes the fall of Babylon. "The merchants of these things who became rich by her, will stand…wailing… ‘For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’ Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like this great city?’"
To see life’s greatest investment, you have to close your eyes. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says it all. "While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
God’s dividends surpass mortal investments, and Heaven’s bank interest accrues as Mark 10:29-31 outlines. "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first." A "hundredfold" is a 10,000% increase!
Human investments may fail, but obeying the will of God is a permanent investment. "And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:17).
Dave Virkler
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A 9/11 Tribute
On September 11, 2001, two planes slammed into the Trade Center Towers in New York City, and another hit the Pentagon. A fourth plane slammed into a Shanksville, Pennsylvania field.
Flight 93 left Newark Liberty International Airport and soon reversed its westward course, possibly aiming for the White House. Passengers contested the murderous terrorists, and they crashed into the soft ground at 600 miles per hour. When rescuers arrive at the scene, the plane had mostly disappeared. Only two identifiable objects met their curious eyes. One was a burning tire. The other was a Bible—fuel-soaked and flopping in the breeze, but intact—that belonged to Don Peterson.
Retired from his successful business, Don was a counselor of recovering alcoholics at the Keswick Colony of Mercy, a central New Jersey ministry on whose board he served. He often helped men by praying for them and assisting them to return to normal life through encouragement and monetary aid. Inside the Bible was a list of the men at Keswick Don was praying for.
On the Thursday following the attacks after many of the passengers’ names had made the news, my daughter asked me, "Dad, did you know Don Peterson?" Her voice had the hollow timbre of knowing I did and that I would take the news very hard.
I knew Don years before he went to Heaven from Shanksville. He had invited me to hold a living room dialog with friends in his Maplewood, NJ home. We served together on the board of a Christian college. He engaged me to speak at an annual banquet for a fine crisis pregnancy outreach. From time to time, he financially supported our ministry as he did for so many others.
Don and his wife, Jean, were booked on a later flight but had taken Flight 93 that awesome September morning hoping to arrive earlier for a family gathering in California. They went straight to Heaven instead.
Before 9/11, both Don and Jean made visionary statements as they looked into the unknown future. On Monday evening, September 10, Don attended his regular Bible study group in Manasquan, NJ. In his parting words to the class coordinator, Dave Withers, Don said, "I’ll see you at Christmas," a reference to the group’s next study of the Nativity story in Luke. Though Don planned to be with the group again, he was also prepared for whatever God had in store for the future. Withers also recalls Don saying to him, "Our Christian walk is supposed to be a journey, but I feel so ready." Jean, too, had expressed thoughts of eternity. At the study group in August, she told a friend, "I don’t know why, but I feel so ready to meet the Lord!"
Friends of the Petersons believe they were sharing God’s Good News probably until the moment of impact. Their lives reflect 1 John 2:17: "And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." Indeed, Christ’s coming for them would not be the Rapture with its exodus in "a moment and twinkling of an eye," (I Cor. 15:52), but their departure for Heaven was surely as fast.
On this seventh anniversary of 9/11, as we recall the Petersons’ swift Heavenly journey, an old hymn by G. A Young comes to mind:
Away from the mire, and away from the clay,
God leads His dear children along;
Away up in glory, eternity’s day,
God leads His dear children along.
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood;
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song;
In the night season and all the day long.
Dave Virkler
Flight 93 left Newark Liberty International Airport and soon reversed its westward course, possibly aiming for the White House. Passengers contested the murderous terrorists, and they crashed into the soft ground at 600 miles per hour. When rescuers arrive at the scene, the plane had mostly disappeared. Only two identifiable objects met their curious eyes. One was a burning tire. The other was a Bible—fuel-soaked and flopping in the breeze, but intact—that belonged to Don Peterson.
Retired from his successful business, Don was a counselor of recovering alcoholics at the Keswick Colony of Mercy, a central New Jersey ministry on whose board he served. He often helped men by praying for them and assisting them to return to normal life through encouragement and monetary aid. Inside the Bible was a list of the men at Keswick Don was praying for.
On the Thursday following the attacks after many of the passengers’ names had made the news, my daughter asked me, "Dad, did you know Don Peterson?" Her voice had the hollow timbre of knowing I did and that I would take the news very hard.
I knew Don years before he went to Heaven from Shanksville. He had invited me to hold a living room dialog with friends in his Maplewood, NJ home. We served together on the board of a Christian college. He engaged me to speak at an annual banquet for a fine crisis pregnancy outreach. From time to time, he financially supported our ministry as he did for so many others.
Don and his wife, Jean, were booked on a later flight but had taken Flight 93 that awesome September morning hoping to arrive earlier for a family gathering in California. They went straight to Heaven instead.
Before 9/11, both Don and Jean made visionary statements as they looked into the unknown future. On Monday evening, September 10, Don attended his regular Bible study group in Manasquan, NJ. In his parting words to the class coordinator, Dave Withers, Don said, "I’ll see you at Christmas," a reference to the group’s next study of the Nativity story in Luke. Though Don planned to be with the group again, he was also prepared for whatever God had in store for the future. Withers also recalls Don saying to him, "Our Christian walk is supposed to be a journey, but I feel so ready." Jean, too, had expressed thoughts of eternity. At the study group in August, she told a friend, "I don’t know why, but I feel so ready to meet the Lord!"
Friends of the Petersons believe they were sharing God’s Good News probably until the moment of impact. Their lives reflect 1 John 2:17: "And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." Indeed, Christ’s coming for them would not be the Rapture with its exodus in "a moment and twinkling of an eye," (I Cor. 15:52), but their departure for Heaven was surely as fast.
On this seventh anniversary of 9/11, as we recall the Petersons’ swift Heavenly journey, an old hymn by G. A Young comes to mind:
Away from the mire, and away from the clay,
God leads His dear children along;
Away up in glory, eternity’s day,
God leads His dear children along.
Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood;
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song;
In the night season and all the day long.
Dave Virkler
Citizens, not Spectators
President Bush challenged the nation Monday to rekindle the volunteer spirit it had after the terrorist attacks back in September of 2001. Bush related how the fading memory of the tragedy has meant that many people no longer sense the urgency to freely help others in need. On the 7th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in the nation’s history, the President told those on the White House South Lawn that volunteers end up as enriched as those they help and that Americans should be "citizens, not spectators."
Although America still tends to ‘out give’ most other nations when disaster strikes, there seems to be a growing attitude of overall self-centeredness. Perhaps this is due partly to an affluent lifestyle, but more so to the steady increase of a secular influence above Biblical teachings and principles.
At the outset of Christianity, its leader clearly stated His divine purpose in Matthew chapter 20. It seems that two of His disciples were arguing over which one should be closest to the Lord in His future kingdom. Even their interfering mother joined the fray and offered her insanely bold request on behalf of her two self-centered offspring. Their request to be front and center, in turn, caused friction and growing resentment with the rest of the group.
Upon seeing the brewing crisis, Jesus stepped in and stated in verse 23 how this sacred decision was His heavenly Father’s alone. He also quickly seized the opportunity to speak to the issue of sacrificial service. His concluding remarks, especially in verse 28, reemphasized His own eternal purpose and no doubt humbled those who heard Him. “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
The revelation of Christ as the supreme servant was meant to influence the attitudes and actions of all of those He would redeem since that day. This was the Apostle Paul’s mode of operation in his great missionary endeavors in the early church. He describes his thought process in 1 Corinthians 9:19. “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.” Paul also encouraged believers to follow his lead in Galatians 5:13-14. “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
It is widely known that after Hurricane Katrina decimated much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, it was primarily the people of faith and their churches who rose to the challenge. Many feel that the church did the lion’s share of the cleanup especially in that first long year. This outpouring of Christian love and volunteerism not only honored their Lord, but was instrumental in building a solid bridge of testimony upon which to share God’s great plan of salvation. Only eternity will reveal how many precious souls will reside in heaven forever as a result these kind and loving efforts.
The coupling of prayer with sacrificial service after Katrina revealed countless volunteers to be, as President Bush put it, "citizens, not spectators." But for many of those that citizenship was a dual one. (Philippians 3:20) They became present day examples of the amazingly effective New Testament model seen in 1 Thessalonians 1:9. “Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”
Bill Breckenridge
Although America still tends to ‘out give’ most other nations when disaster strikes, there seems to be a growing attitude of overall self-centeredness. Perhaps this is due partly to an affluent lifestyle, but more so to the steady increase of a secular influence above Biblical teachings and principles.
At the outset of Christianity, its leader clearly stated His divine purpose in Matthew chapter 20. It seems that two of His disciples were arguing over which one should be closest to the Lord in His future kingdom. Even their interfering mother joined the fray and offered her insanely bold request on behalf of her two self-centered offspring. Their request to be front and center, in turn, caused friction and growing resentment with the rest of the group.
Upon seeing the brewing crisis, Jesus stepped in and stated in verse 23 how this sacred decision was His heavenly Father’s alone. He also quickly seized the opportunity to speak to the issue of sacrificial service. His concluding remarks, especially in verse 28, reemphasized His own eternal purpose and no doubt humbled those who heard Him. “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
The revelation of Christ as the supreme servant was meant to influence the attitudes and actions of all of those He would redeem since that day. This was the Apostle Paul’s mode of operation in his great missionary endeavors in the early church. He describes his thought process in 1 Corinthians 9:19. “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.” Paul also encouraged believers to follow his lead in Galatians 5:13-14. “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
It is widely known that after Hurricane Katrina decimated much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, it was primarily the people of faith and their churches who rose to the challenge. Many feel that the church did the lion’s share of the cleanup especially in that first long year. This outpouring of Christian love and volunteerism not only honored their Lord, but was instrumental in building a solid bridge of testimony upon which to share God’s great plan of salvation. Only eternity will reveal how many precious souls will reside in heaven forever as a result these kind and loving efforts.
The coupling of prayer with sacrificial service after Katrina revealed countless volunteers to be, as President Bush put it, "citizens, not spectators." But for many of those that citizenship was a dual one. (Philippians 3:20) They became present day examples of the amazingly effective New Testament model seen in 1 Thessalonians 1:9. “Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”
Bill Breckenridge
Monday, September 8, 2008
DNA And The Hope Of Immortality
He is hoping to grasp a form of immortality, and he is comedian Stephen Colbert. And in October his digitalized DNA will be sent to the International Space Station as part of what video game designer Richard Garriott calls an “Immortality Drive”. Colbert, the host of "The Colbert Report", says that his preserved DNA will make it possible for aliens to clone him.
Garriott, one of the few private citizens to ever travel into space, is collecting material for a time capsule containing the history of humanity's greatest achievements and personal messages. He stated, "In the unlikely event that Earth and humanity are destroyed, mankind can be resurrected with Stephen Colbert's DNA."
According the Bible, living forever is not something attainable for a fortunate few or the result of some scientific venture. The Scriptures reveal that everyone ever born will live forever. The question is where?
If Richard Garriot was familiar with Biblical truth he would know that the eventual destruction of the earth is not at all unlikely, as Peter presents in 2 Peter 3:10. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” He would also know that mankind will not be ultimately destroyed but all who ever lived will be righteously judged and then assigned to a place of eternal torment or of unending joy and glory.
The Immortality Drive’s capsule may be meant to record humanity’s greatest moments and messages. But how much better would it be to use such great efforts and expense to share the best message ever, here and now on planet earth? How much more profitable would it be to share mankind’s single greatest event – the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as seen in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4? “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
How much more beneficial would it be to share and promote the greatest personal message in human history to those who are aliens from God’s family, as did Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-19? “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
And how much more crucial would it be to help others become clones of God’s Son and be linked forever to Christ’s DNA in the manner spoken of in 1 John 3:2? “But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Mankind has dreamed about and pursued immortality since the dawn of time. And those desires will one day be fulfilled for all, using no special manmade devices. The soul will go on when the physical DNA is erased along with everything else physical on that great “day of The Lord”. And on that day, all that will matter will be whether our spiritual DNA was ever rightfully aligned and matched up with the Savior’s through faith.
Bill Breckenridge
Garriott, one of the few private citizens to ever travel into space, is collecting material for a time capsule containing the history of humanity's greatest achievements and personal messages. He stated, "In the unlikely event that Earth and humanity are destroyed, mankind can be resurrected with Stephen Colbert's DNA."
According the Bible, living forever is not something attainable for a fortunate few or the result of some scientific venture. The Scriptures reveal that everyone ever born will live forever. The question is where?
If Richard Garriot was familiar with Biblical truth he would know that the eventual destruction of the earth is not at all unlikely, as Peter presents in 2 Peter 3:10. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” He would also know that mankind will not be ultimately destroyed but all who ever lived will be righteously judged and then assigned to a place of eternal torment or of unending joy and glory.
The Immortality Drive’s capsule may be meant to record humanity’s greatest moments and messages. But how much better would it be to use such great efforts and expense to share the best message ever, here and now on planet earth? How much more profitable would it be to share mankind’s single greatest event – the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as seen in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4? “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”
How much more beneficial would it be to share and promote the greatest personal message in human history to those who are aliens from God’s family, as did Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-19? “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
And how much more crucial would it be to help others become clones of God’s Son and be linked forever to Christ’s DNA in the manner spoken of in 1 John 3:2? “But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Mankind has dreamed about and pursued immortality since the dawn of time. And those desires will one day be fulfilled for all, using no special manmade devices. The soul will go on when the physical DNA is erased along with everything else physical on that great “day of The Lord”. And on that day, all that will matter will be whether our spiritual DNA was ever rightfully aligned and matched up with the Savior’s through faith.
Bill Breckenridge
Friday, September 5, 2008
The Amazing Sarah Palin
John McCain, the Republican nominee for President of the United States, has shaken up the political process by naming Alaska Governor Sarah Palin the first woman Republican vice presidential nominee in U.S. history. His last-minute revelation took everyone but himself and inside advisors off guard. McCain upstaged pundits and prognosticators in both parties to say nothing of creating a stunning contrast in VP candidates—Joe Biden being the older, male, conventional pick and Palin being the younger, female, novel choice. Conservatives, pro-lifers, traditional family folks, outdoorsmen and transformational maverick-oriented people find a unique and unexpected combination in Sarah Palin.
The liberal press, so committed to women’s advance, lead a negative charge citing lack of experience and pressing family obligations that demeaned McCain’s choice. For Republicans wary of McCain’s conservative credentials, Palin's nomination and recent convention performance infused a new enthusiasm across the Republican political landscape.
From the Christian perspective, does a gifted woman running for vice president present a positive biblical view or a negative one? Should biblically-oriented evangelical conservatives express joy or reservation? Sarah Palin is not running for a church pastorate, which would put the issue into a different context; she is running for public office. There is no legal impediment since women have full equal rights in America.
From a biblical standpoint, women are equals of men in salvation. Paul, a former Pharisee whose educational background would have reduced women to second class status, declared salvational equality in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
This was an astounding breakthrough for Paul who, in pre-conversion days, would have stated, “I thank God I am neither dog, Gentile or woman.” According to Genesis, both sexes are created in God’s image although the first female body came from Adam’s rib.
Old Testament history dignifies women enormously. Two Old Testament books are devoted to the stories of exceptional women and bear their names.
An unnamed wise woman delivered the entire city of Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel from destruction (II Samuel 20:16). Deborah, a prophetess, inspired a crushing military victory for the threatened nation (Judges 4), and her victory with Barak inspired a great two-part harmony song recorded in Judges 5. Judges 4 also records how another woman, Jael, “hit the nail right on the head” when she assassinated the fleeing enemy general by pounding a tent peg through his temples as he slept.
A captive Israeli girl in Syria suggested to Naaman the leper that God’s prophet over in Israel could heal him. “Then she said to her mistress, ‘If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.’” Naaman was healed and became a convert. Read the whole story in II Kings 5.
Huldah, the prophetess, was a conduit of God’s word to good King Josiah when she told him that his revival delayed judgement on Israel a generation (II Chronicles 43:22-28).
New Testament passages reveal godly women in positive light. Christ was financially supported by women. Luke 8:2-3 mentions “certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities – Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.”
Paul’s evangelism was begun in Philippi through Lydia, a merchant woman who organized a prayer meeting by the river and later housed the team (Acts 16:14 & 40). Some female church workers were Paul’s joy (Philippians 4:3). One incredible passage is Acts 21:9, which specifically mentions Philip the evangelist’s “four virgin daughters who prophesied.”
If gifted church women were married, however, it seems some male prominence was decreed. “And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church” (1 Corinthians 14:35).
Politically, Sarah Palin may be a new, refreshing and vital infusion of womanly insight. She is apparently a Christian, pro-life and pro-family, fearless, brilliant, articulate and gifted for office. It’s a new political day, and it looks like evangelicals win this one.
Dave Virkler
The liberal press, so committed to women’s advance, lead a negative charge citing lack of experience and pressing family obligations that demeaned McCain’s choice. For Republicans wary of McCain’s conservative credentials, Palin's nomination and recent convention performance infused a new enthusiasm across the Republican political landscape.
From the Christian perspective, does a gifted woman running for vice president present a positive biblical view or a negative one? Should biblically-oriented evangelical conservatives express joy or reservation? Sarah Palin is not running for a church pastorate, which would put the issue into a different context; she is running for public office. There is no legal impediment since women have full equal rights in America.
From a biblical standpoint, women are equals of men in salvation. Paul, a former Pharisee whose educational background would have reduced women to second class status, declared salvational equality in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
This was an astounding breakthrough for Paul who, in pre-conversion days, would have stated, “I thank God I am neither dog, Gentile or woman.” According to Genesis, both sexes are created in God’s image although the first female body came from Adam’s rib.
Old Testament history dignifies women enormously. Two Old Testament books are devoted to the stories of exceptional women and bear their names.
An unnamed wise woman delivered the entire city of Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel from destruction (II Samuel 20:16). Deborah, a prophetess, inspired a crushing military victory for the threatened nation (Judges 4), and her victory with Barak inspired a great two-part harmony song recorded in Judges 5. Judges 4 also records how another woman, Jael, “hit the nail right on the head” when she assassinated the fleeing enemy general by pounding a tent peg through his temples as he slept.
A captive Israeli girl in Syria suggested to Naaman the leper that God’s prophet over in Israel could heal him. “Then she said to her mistress, ‘If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.’” Naaman was healed and became a convert. Read the whole story in II Kings 5.
Huldah, the prophetess, was a conduit of God’s word to good King Josiah when she told him that his revival delayed judgement on Israel a generation (II Chronicles 43:22-28).
New Testament passages reveal godly women in positive light. Christ was financially supported by women. Luke 8:2-3 mentions “certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities – Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.”
Paul’s evangelism was begun in Philippi through Lydia, a merchant woman who organized a prayer meeting by the river and later housed the team (Acts 16:14 & 40). Some female church workers were Paul’s joy (Philippians 4:3). One incredible passage is Acts 21:9, which specifically mentions Philip the evangelist’s “four virgin daughters who prophesied.”
If gifted church women were married, however, it seems some male prominence was decreed. “And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church” (1 Corinthians 14:35).
Politically, Sarah Palin may be a new, refreshing and vital infusion of womanly insight. She is apparently a Christian, pro-life and pro-family, fearless, brilliant, articulate and gifted for office. It’s a new political day, and it looks like evangelicals win this one.
Dave Virkler
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
