by Maxie Boren

It was a pitch-black night, illuminated only by the headlights of passing automobiles. At the wheel of a fast-moving vehicle, a drunken driver crosses the median into oncoming traffic, and then suddenly, the screeching tires, the dreadful impact! The two cars plunge down the embankment into heavy brush, nearly out of sight from the highway. But fortunately, a few people in trailing traffic witness the collision, and motorists commence stopping. One man, rushing and sliding down the embankment with heart pounding, is the first to survey the tangled steel and to hear the moans of the injured. But in the darkness, it's impossible to see, so he frantically calls to others who have gathered at the side of the highway, "Quick, somebody bring a light!"

Though the above is an imagined scenario for the sake of this article, yet we know that such can, and most likely does, happen. But my primary interest is to make a spiritual application.

In sin, the world has plunged itself into foreboding darkness! Comes the urgent plea, "Quick, somebody bring the light!" True Christians just must respond! We can't stand by with callused hearts and fail to help. We must carry the glorious light of the Gospel to a world that Satan has led into the pitch-blackness of iniquity!

Through the Gospel of Christ, and by proper example, we must TRY to illuminate the way for others! "The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (Proverbs 4:18).

Thanks to The Voice of Truth International, Vol. 34, pg. 63.

by Mike Benson

Confession time (James 5:16). There have been periods during my forty-three-year sojourn that I have experienced a certain apprehension about the future (Mark 9:24). As much as I hate to admit it, I've not always taken the "Christian perspective" in regard to my days (Psalms 90:12). "Fearful" - yes; "faithful" - no.

I have occasionally fantasized about how much easier and nicer life would be if...dare I say it...if I wielded control over the future. If I, in some God-like fashion, could keep tomorrow and all its attendant circumstances under my tight supervision. I would be master of my environment. I would manage my surroundings - controlling where I live, how I live (i.e., my standard of living), what I buy, where I go, what happens to me, etc. (Did you notice all of those personal pronouns)? "And Mike said..." and it would be so (cf. Genesis 1). Life would be according to my script - with no anxiety, no uncertainty, no trepidation.

Well, experience has been something of a "tutor". Newspaper headlines and untimely events continue to remind me that physical security is fleeting at best and subject to fluctuation (Job 1:13-2:7; 2 Corinthians 11:23-27). I'm not in control of tomorrow, nor will I ever be. Mike is Mike; God is God - and each of us has different roles and functions - mine is to learn faith and trust (Matthew 14:31; Hebrews 11:6a); God's is to oversee and determine my days (Daniel 4:35). I like the way one author illustrates these truths:

"Imagine two fight-type aircraft three feet apart in tight formation through a wide range of maneuvers. Perhaps you have seen the Thunderbirds do this at five hundred miles an hour.

Now picture the return to base for landing. These aircraft can fly in tight formation all the way to touchdown. When the weather is poor, landing becomes a little 'hairy'. Let me explain.

These two aircraft in the clouds have about twenty feet of visibility. They fly very close, and the lead pilot just looks at his instruments. The number two pilot just looks at lead. When they approach the field, the two pilots will, on signal from the lead, lower the landing gear, and together the aircraft change pitch like a porpoise in the water. Because the number two pilot is looking out the side of the aircraft instead of straight ahead, his sensory perception gives him funny signals at he decelerates and the nose pitches up and down. Sometimes he feels as if he is in ninety degrees of bank when he is wings-level with the horizon. Now if he shifts his focus from lead to the cockpit, he could easily either slide into lead or away from lead in the clouds close to the ground. Either could be disastrous. What we as instructors had to burn into the memory of students learning to fly in bad weather is to trust lead no matter how scary it feels. 'Your job,' we would say, 'is to follow lead and stay in position; his job is to make a safe approach.' But this is tough when you feel as if the plane is in a steep bank and about to crash. It involves focus and trust." /1

1. Trusting God with my future is like formation flying in a fighter jet. It involves following His lead no matter how scary it feels at times. "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls - Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength..." (Habakkuk 3:17-19a).

2. My job is to focus on the here and now - today. "See then that you walk circumspectly (carefully), not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15,16; cf. Matthew 6:11).

3. God is responsible for my future. "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that'" (James 4:13-15). He wants me to relax about the days ahead and trust Him. "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'...For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:31-32,11; cf. Psalms 31:1, 9; Proverbs 3:5-6).

/1 Doug Sherman, "Holding Your Career with a Light Touch," Keeping Your Head Up When Your Job's Got You Down, p. 108).

by Barry Newton

I have heard about a tribe of Indians in the Amazon whose language only contains numbers for counting up to 15. Anything beyond 15 is simply "many". Of course this is not particularly helpful in a number of scenarios. "How many warriors did you say were attacking?" "Many." "How many children have gone down to the river?" "Many." Ouch!

Language is a powerful tool. We use the symbols of language to build our ideas, organize our thoughts and infuse precision into our communication. In fact, whereas societies create words to express ideas, those very words in turn shape the possibilities for how a society can think about ideas. The positive and negative connotations associated with words can become powerful bricks building a society's perspective about life. Accordingly, connotations might either contribute toward a biblical understanding of our world or they might be an attempt to deconstruct a godly worldview in order to support a humanistic view of life. Consider the following example.

There are many phobias (fears) such as claustrophobia (fear of confining spaces) or arachnid phobia (fear of spiders) Most people readily acknowledge that it is desirable to live free of phobias. Phobias carry a negative connotation.

When the homosexual community invented the word homophobia, they demonstrated they understood the power of language to shape a society. After all, who wants to suffer from a phobia? Accordingly, when they slap the label homophobic upon someone, immediately this implicitly involves the subtle claim that their "gay" viewpoint is superior and more healthy. Given time, that word if uncontested could contribute toward shaping a society's perception of morality.

Since I believe that our ways of thinking should mirror the way God wants us to think about life, I am proposing that the English language needs a new word: homoveritasphobia. This word simply means, fear of the truth about homosexual behavior.

Despite the convoluted and sophisticated attempts of the homosexual community to scrub out of the Scriptures any condemnation of homosexual activity, it remains plain for all to see. Equally clear, is that this or any other sinful lifestyle can be forgiven when people respond appropriately to Jesus.

"Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, ... nor homosexuals, neither thieves ... shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NASB).

With my proposed word, the playing field has been tipped back in favor of God's perspective. Either a person is homophobic or homoveritasphobic. I'm proud not to be homoveritasphobic. Which would you rather be: afraid of the truth about homosexuality or just afraid of supporting homosexual activity?

by Phil Sanders

The seven churches of Asia faced incredible persecution in the days of the power and wicked emperor of Rome, Domitian. Domitian followed the example of some of the former emperors and designated himself a god.

In order to solidify his power, Domitian sanctioned his deputies to enforce emperor worship. Every citizen throughout the empire must offer a pinch of incense in his honor or be regarded as disloyal to the State. They had to say, "Lord Caesar". Christians, of course, could not do that; their confession was "Lord Christ".

Support for emperor worship was quite strong in Asia Minor, and Christianity was quite strong in Asia Minor. The conflict between those who demanded emperor worship and those who refused it was inevitable.

To refuse worship to the emperor meant that one could be killed, could be cast into prison, could lose all his possessions, could be exiled, or a combination of the last three.

In military might, the passive Christians were no match for Rome. It might seem from a worldly point of view, that the Christians had no hope.

And that's the problem. We too often see things from a worldly point of view.

In a vision, Jesus opened John's eyes to the power, majesty, and glory of heaven. When one reads through chapters four and five of Revelation, not only do we see the beautiful throne with all God's power, but we see myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of angels. God rules, and His power is not asleep. God help us to open our eyes.

Tom Kelton

Our Lord is a high-test, high-performance God. We can trust Him to do as He says He will. Many times it seems that the Lord won't be able to fulfill His promises, but even when a situation looks hopeless, our best recourse is to be patient and wait; God will be faithful.

Often God does not show us the valley between the promise and the fulfillment. He doesn't tell us in advance about the testing, the humiliation, the trials which will come into our lives and prepare us to receive His later blessing. When Abram set out from Haran, he had no idea that he would encounter famine and enemies. His faith was tested before the blessing came. There was a long delay from the time God gave Abram the promises in Genesis 12 to the time He began to fulfill those promises — twenty-five years to be exact. Through those years, Abram's faith would be tested and tempered by the experiences the Lord allowed him to endure.

God told Joseph in a dream in Genesis 37 that his brothers would bow before him, that he would one day be in a place of great leadership. The next thing, Joseph found that he was in a pit, then in a prison. Only after thirteen years of slavery and captivity in Egypt would he be made prime minister of the land, second in command to Pharaoh. Nine more years passed before the brothers who betrayed him bowed before him. Joseph's trials were intense before he ever saw God fulfill what He had promised, but He was faithful.

God has given us a promise of eternal life. He does not reveal beforehand the discipline that will go on in our lives between the promise and its fulfillment. The difficulties, the trying situations are what He's allowing so that we will be strengthened. Through these experiences, we will be prepared to receive His blessings.

Even though we don't know how we will be tried before we are blessed, we should expect to be tested in the pursuit of God's will. The apostle Paul teaches that we can expect the test when he writes in 1 Thessalonians 3:4: "For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know." Like Paul, we can fully anticipate that our lives as Christians will contain some pitfalls and obstacles. Just because we are faithful to Christ doesn't mean that we are protected from problems.

Those who would leave the impression that becoming a Christian ensures that one's life will be filled with wealth, good times, and no problems are deceiving their audience. God has promised to be with His children (Matthew 28:20), and He has promised that all things will work together for good for those who love Him (Romans 8:28) — but those promises were not meant to shield us from the challenges that come from living in this world. Through our faithfulness in good times as well as bad, God uses the natural difficulties of life to mold and temper us into vessels of gold in His service (Romans 5:1-5; 2 Timothy 2:2).

Thanks to The Voice of Truth International, Vol. 35, pgs. 88,89.