The Miracle of Miracles?

Hockey is in the headlines again after the 2010 American Olympic team overcame the odds to beat a highly favored Canadian club in their own backyard in the first round of the Vancouver Winter Games. The talented Team Canada is reeling from the loss as is an entire nation where the sport reaches, and often exceeds, the status of religion. The U.S. team now holds in their hands their own destiny.

Speaking of destiny, it was 30 years ago today that a small young group of unknown mostly college hockey players did the unthinkable, if not the impossible. At the Lake Placid Olympics the amateur American team faced and eventually defeated the world’s most formidable pro hockey machine from the then Soviet Union. The victory was quickly dubbed “Miracle On Ice”, since the opposition had won the previous four Olympic titles and 14 of the previous 17 world championships.

But the unlikely defeat of Russia’s longtime dominant squad greatly exceeded the realm of sport. It was global. It became a miniature representation of two nations waging what was then called “The Cold War”. The Soviets were devastated at the upstart kids whose performance shed doubt around the world on what the Communist nation claimed to be a superior way of life. History would also prove them wrong not long after the U.S Hockey team proved them vulnerable.

The most memorable moment from the 1980 gold medal run was considered the single greatest moment in all of sports. Its stunning memory would be memorialized by the words from then commentator Al Michels who, with just seconds left, shouted to the world, “Do you believe in miracles?

”Wikipedia encyclopedia defines a miracle as “an unexpected event attributed to divine intervention. Sometimes an event is also attributed (in part) to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that God may work with the laws of nature to perform what people perceive as miracles. Theologians say that, with divine providence, God regularly works through created nature yet is free to work without, above, or against it as well."

For a miracle to truly be just that does require divine intervention even when God does make use of flawed people to achieve His ends. The Bible is littered with God-designed miracles in the Old and New Testament alike. Most would think of the miracles of Jesus when he turned water to wine, fed thousands with fragments, healed the sick, and even raised the dead on occasion.

But the greatest miracle of God, hands down, is often over looked even by those who experience it firsthand. The Bible describes miracle number one as being “born-again". To end any doubt concerning its importance, Jesus spoke of it clearly and powerfully in John’s Gospel, chapter three. In verses 5-7 He stated to an inquisitive Nicodemus, “I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.” The Savior left no room for other options – period!

In the spiritual realm, the famous line, “Do you believe in miracles?” is more than just a clever collection of memorable words describing a monstrous historical event. The reason is profound. Ultimately it is belief that matters in life, death, and eternity, but not the basic belief that there is a supernatural being somehow and somewhere as James 2:19 assures, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble.”

The belief that leads to redemption is all about a believing faith and sincere trust in a Savior who alone can forgive sin and cleanse the human heart - forever. It is the belief that brings about the condition Jesus spoke of to Nicodemus. And although numerous places substantiate this great theological truth, it is nowhere better seen than in 1 John 5:11-13.

“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”

When the members of the 1980 U.S. gold metal hockey team someday individually stand before their Creator, He will in no way be interested in their famed "Miracle On Ice". In that most sobering of all moments, He will instead be asking only this. Do you believe in the 'miracle of all miracles' - the forgiveness of your sins through personal faith in My Son's sacrifice on Calvary's cross?

Bill Breckenridge

The Hidden Is Now Known

Nine years ago, a CIA-supervised Peruvian Air Force fighter fired lethal bullets into an innocent missionary aircraft that was transporting Jim and Veronica “Roni” Bowers and their two young children on a flight to obtain necessary legal papers for their seven-month old daughter, Charity. For fully an hour and a half, American CIA spotters were in contact with the Peruvian pilots discussing the shoot-down of a suspected drug-running plane.

Having filed the necessary flight plans and on the only frequency he knew with the Peruvian control tower, pilot Kevin Donaldson screamed into the radio mic, “They’re killing us!” They did indeed kill Roni Bowers and her beloved baby girl. Although his legs were badly mangled by the same lethal bullet, Donaldson managed an incredible crash landing of the floatplane on the river as flames shot through the cabin and then danced ominously, as gasoline spilled on the water after landing. Jim, his son Cory and Kevin somehow got out of the doomed plane pulling Roni and Charity after them.

Although the CIA denied blame at the time, dogged efforts by Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra, the Bowers’ representative, obtained release of the voice recordings and videos made by the CIA spotter plane crew that tragic April day in 2001 in the Peruvian jungles. It reveals that no positive identification of the missionaries’ plane was made and that the CIA observers said they felt they were making a big mistake but proceeded with the shoot-down regardless. After the past two years of relentless pressure from Hoeskstra, the CIA now admits to numerous procedural errors and has disciplined 16 CIA operatives.

Jim Bowers’ faith shone through the debacle. At a service held in their sending church in Fruitport, Michigan, he a moving testimony to God’s miraculous goodness at the memorial service for his wife and daughter. Jim later sent a Bible to the pilot who shot them down and said that he bore no ill will. Jim remarried, this time to another missionary servant, and son Cory is doing well in his mid-teens. Pilot Kevin Donaldson recovered and flies for missionary causes on another foreign field.

A flood of missionary candidates presented themselves for service after learning about the Bowers’ former ministry to hundreds of villagers along the Amazon River from their 55-foot houseboat. The Bowers’ sending mission organization, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, reported astounding global interest in their outreach for Christ as a result of the shoot-down. Congressman Hoekstra of the Bowers’ Michigan district can rest in the fact that his efforts brought truth to light even after so many years.

The truth will always prevail whether in time or eternity. Christ explained this triumph of accurate exposure in Matthew 10:26. “Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” After nine years, some CIA agents are deeply shamed while faithful Christian servants are clearly exonerated.

These valiant through misused servants of Christ reflect the amazing virtue of Revelation 12:11. “And they overcame him (the Devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” Such is the hazard of Christian service, and Jim and Veronica Bowers knew it on departing for the field. Their deputation picture presentation from 1993 contained a song which they personally adopted:

And if God should choose,
And my life I might lose,
Though my foe may slay me
I will serve the Lord.

Dave Virkler

Casual Christianity

The title is “Casual Christianity and the Future of America”. The source is the Barna Group Ltd., an organization that tracks the religious side of the American culture.

This time Barna’s research centered around what he calls the ‘7 Tribes’ that represent the overall spiritual views, values and practices of the nation. The findings of the survey stemmed from more than 30,000 randomly selected adults.

The report found that the largest group in America was what they termed the ‘Casual Christian Tribe’. This segment actually comprises a full 2/3 of the population. That was followed by the ‘Captive Christian Tribe’ that numbered some 16%. Mormons, Jews, Pantheists, Muslims and finally Skeptics made up all the other groups.

When George Barna was asked what drove the largest ‘Casual Christian’ group he stated, “The comfort that this approach provides. It offers them life insights if they choose to accept them, gives them a community of relationships if they desire such, fulfills their inner need to have some type of connection with a deity, and provides the image of being a decent, faith-friendly person. Because Casuals do not view matters of faith as central to one’s purpose or success in life, this brand of Christianity supplies the multi-faceted levels of satisfaction and assurance that they desire.” He also said of this segment, “Casual Christians are defined by the desire to please God, family, and other people while extracting as much enjoyment and comfort from the world as possible."

Barna further defined Casuals as “Faith in moderation. It allows them to feel religious without having to prioritize their faith. Christianity is a low-risk, predictable proposition for this tribe, providing a faith perspective that is not demanding. A Casual Christian can be all the things that they esteem: a nice human being, a family person, religious, an exemplary citizen, a reliable employee – and never have to publicly defend or represent difficult moral or social positions or even lose much sleep over their private choices as long as they mean well and generally do their best. From their perspective, their brand of faith practice is genuine, realistic and practical. To them, Casual Christianity is the best of all worlds; it encourages them to be a better person than if they had been irreligious, yet it is not a faith into which they feel compelled to heavily invest themselves. This particular tribe is comprised of significant proportions of minimally active born again Christians and moderately active but theologically nominal Christians.”

In second place came the “Captive Christian Tribe”. These were defined as “Captives are focused on upholding the absolute moral and spiritual truths they glean from the Bible. The lives of Captive Christians are defined by their faith; their worldview is built around their core spiritual beliefs and resultant values.

Barna then described the major difference between the two groups that make up 80% of the adult population. He said that Casuals embrace the main tenets of the faith, but then added, “There are also difficulties raised when people do not stand for anything or cannot identify the truths that are worth championing.

From a spiritual vantage point, that is especially important if moral and spiritual truths are all considered to be relative. Casual Christianity, because of its moral receptivity and pliability, generally eliminates spiritual backbone from moral discussions. This particular tribe is comprised of significant proportions of minimally active born again Christians and moderately active but theologically nominal Christians.” The report added, “Captive Christians consider Casuals to not be genuine followers of Christ.”

It is difficult to know the true inner hearts and motives of anyone claiming to be a Christian believer although outer actions and activities might provide certain clues. The ability to know for sure is God’s alone. He knows each heart intimately and will judge each accordingly.

With that said, Scripture would seem to side more with those who take the faith more seriously and who put their own needs and wants as secondary. Jesus in Matthew 6:33 declared, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

The classic examples of doing this without compromise is revealed In Hebrew chapter eleven. This famous passage, sometimes called ‘God’s Hall of Faith’ describes early believers who took their faith so seriously as to suffer unthinkable abuse rather than cave in or live out their faith half-heartedly. Verses 35-37 show the amazing extent of their convictions. Some achieved great things for God and then there were the ‘others’. “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented.”

Persecution on this level does not occur unless one’s faith is an outward priority.

The verse 38 then says of these ‘Captive-like Christians’, “Of whom the world was not worthy”. And verse 30 states, “And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith.” And in verses13-16 of the chapter the writer adds, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” I wonder which kind of Christians today would represent God best and enjoy His approval as did these?

There may be certain things in life where being casual is adequate and sometimes preferable. But a casual attitude toward God is not among them! The Holy Spirit, through the writer’s pen, reveals what ‘must’ be done and to what level it ‘must’ be done to fully please God and be fully blessed by Him. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)

Only a truly diligent faith will be an effective and driving faith!

Bill Breckenridge

Valentine’s Day and the Meaning of Love

Judging by TV ads, Valentine’s Day is beginning to rank close to Christmas for pushing romantic items such as perfume and jewelry. I noticed that custom pajamas and snuggly teddy bears were touted as really desirable gifts, even “unforgettable” as one ad put it.

Valentine’s Day is obliquely both poignantly religious and grossly secular in its origins, a kind of eclectic amalgamation suited to personal tastes whatever one’s bent. Secular legend has it that a pagan day on February 14 honoring Juno, the king of gods and goddesses, was a time when young women put their names on slips of paper and placed them in a jar. In a kind of love lottery, young men would draw a name, and the signer became his special friend for the day or longer, sometimes a year. One strand of the story has this done in all youthful innocence while another has an immoral relationship woven in.

The religious aspect comes from the memory of a priest named St. Valentine. The Roman emperor of the third century, Claudius, desired to raise an army for military exploits but had few volunteers because men resisted leaving their families for extended periods of time. To solve this dissent, the emperor abolished all engagements and weddings, but St. Valentine continued to secretly marry couples. Valentine was discovered, imprisoned, and sentenced to death for his crime. The prison keeper’s daughter spent time with Valentine encouraging him. Shortly before his death on February 14, he sent her a last note. It was signed, “Love, from your Valentine.”

As time went by, the church substituted saints’ names for those of women in the jar and “christianized” the date that formerly honored Juno.

Valentine’s Day will always be an interweave of religious and secular, but Christian believers understand that every day is Valentine’s Day in the context of God’s loving redemption in Christ. John 3:16 is always God’s supreme gesture. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

St. Valentine’s devotion to Christian marriage and his self-sacrifice for his conviction is but a dim reflection of redemption’s love in Christ, “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father” (Galatians 1:4).

It is regrettable that Valentine’s Day is often degraded by lust and licentiousness with such generic terms as “lover” and “partner.” The terms “sweetheart” or even “spouse” would cast it toward a biblical perspective.

Speaking of love, the Greek language in which the New Testament was written had three words for love -- eros, phileo and agape. Eros is a term of raw lust or mere human appetite and is not found in the Bible. Phileo describes a fondness or friendship love and is often used in the Bible for human and even divine love.

Agape is usually defined as uniquely God’s love (as in John 3:16), the highest kind, but that is only partially true. Agape love is really love for its own sake, a bestowal of attention and affection apart from any feeling or romantic passion. It is love that is based on objective truth and not on subjective sentiment.

My favorite New Testament example of the use of the word agape is the Pharisees of Jesus’ day who “loved (agape) the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43). A close second is John 3:19. “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved (agape) darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

When put into the context of God’s love, agape is objective love sent in our direction just because of God’s valuation on our assigned inherent worth to Him not our self-generated goodness or devotion to God. Romans 5:8 declares, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Paul’s worst sins hadn’t been committed yet when Christ died but Jesus died for him regardless. 1 John 4:19 reaffirms this objective, unearned love: “We love Him because He first loved us.”

Agape love is love for its own sake, not because we are such nice people or worthy in any way but because God’s grace was directed toward us arising out of His sovereign will to do so. This unique selfless love is the theme of countless Scriptures and poetic rhymes across church history. Perhaps the most stirring words ever were written by Frederick Lehman in 1917:

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Refrain:
Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Dave Virkler

The Supersized Superbowl

The Superbowl is always a big deal – a very big deal indeed! It has literally risen to holiday status and really attracts more attention than do the smaller holidays. The money spent between tickets, parties, travel, advertising, merchandise, and the legal and illegal gambling is staggering and certainly not indicative of a struggling economy

!But this year’s super game was big in another way – the way that makes the NFL and those who use the game’s forum to push their products through it thrilled. Superbowl 44 was not only the most watched NFL championship ever, but it was also the single most watched TV event of all time. Some 106.5 million watched the contest and an estimated 150 million saw at least 6 minutes or more. The new television champion exceeded the numbers that watched the finale of M*A*S*H back in 1983 by ½ million.

These impressive numbers may remind some students of Scripture of a far more amazing moment described in the New Testament book of Revelation. An exiled Apostle John speaks of a future time – one that will make the numbers attributed to the Superbowl pale in comparison both in quantity and in eternal importance.

Chapter one begins by describing the love of God and the resulting forgiveness of sin through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. But the subject then shifts in verse 7 to a coming to a stunning moment with sobering results – something predicted to be watched fully by everyone alive at the time. John writes there. “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” There will be in that great day two opposing reactions to the coming of Christ. One will be of overwhelming joy by those who know Him and the other overpowering dread by those who don’t.

The reaction of all who ignored or rejected Christ at that time is painfully described in Revelation 6:15-16. “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!”

The opposite reaction will be the unimaginable joy and superb praise offered from those who trusted Christ as their Savior and were thereby properly prepared for this most awesome occurrence. Their spiritual response will include the kind of activity described in John’s vision beginning later in the fifth chapter of the prophecy. It will the beginning stage of a heavenly-based and eternal state of praise and worship.

Verse 11 declares, “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!"

A glorious future of reward and worship awaits every true believer in Jesus Christ. But until that blessed moment arrives , the attitude and lifestyle of God’s people should be reflected by that which is also described through John’s pen in the third chapter of his first letter.

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3)

Bill Breckenridge