Even So Come Quickly

Dear Family,

I have been so overwhelmed by the events in our country the past couple of weeks I've found it difficult to condense any of it into a message to you. As you know, I believe it is important to observe what is being reported by the news media and then try to bring it into a Biblical context. This is not always easy because the media reports are no longer the relaying of events as they happen, but they are filtered through a mostly left wing opinion mill, and we receive a "condensed," left-leaning, anti-Biblical, twisted opinion. Remember, too, they are the ones who pick and choose what they want you to hear.

Back in the 70's and 80's I had a weekly radio broadcast out of a local station. I'd watch the ticker tape news briefs and wonder why they chose what they did to put on their news broadcast and why they rejected what I thought were good news items. Then I realized that it was because someone at the station deemed what was good for us to hear. And that was after it had been filtered down to them from the first responders from the large media outlets.

My daily Bible reading consists of a portion in the Old Testament, plus Psalms and Proverbs where I am currently engaged in writing my verse by verse thoughts. I read a chapter in the Gospels and the book of Acts and am reading through from Romans to Revelation. I tell you that because I just happened to be in the last part of Revelation and the first part of Genesis when the events of the past two weeks unfolded. I did something I have never done before. I opened my Bible and read as I watched the presidential inauguration and listened to the news.

I have never preached much on prophecy and the events leading up to the Lord's return. One reason is that I have had a hard time accepting a lot of the ideas and views that have been advanced by expositors with their charts, etc., over the years. I am not nearly as dogmatic in my views on eschatology as I used to be. I know the Lord is coming back, but when, where, and the time that takes place between events, etc., pose some difficulties for me. However, the events of the past weeks in Washington along with my reading of Revelation and Genesis have given me some "goosebumps" concerning the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! I will not share how my reading produced "goosebumps" except to say that some of the bills our new president signed in his first two days in office and the approval of both political parties in trying to solve our financial mess have given me much to think about.

There may be very difficult days ahead for believers. We will need much grace to boldly take a stand for the Word of God. I exhort each of you to "examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" II Cor. 13:5. Remember, "There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit" Romans 8:1.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. Dad

III John 4 “Walking in Truth”

To my 5 sons and 4 daughters,

My greatest concern as I begin a new year is that the verse I sent you in my last devotional may not be a reality in each of your lives: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." My concern is not that you "made a decision for Christ,” or "accepted Christ as your Saviour,” or that you know the date when you did any of those things (none of those clichés are found in the Bible). Some of you can give a Biblical explanation of salvation better than I can, but if it does not include an ongoing walk, I find little assurance that you are "in Christ.”

There is no "great joy" in hearing anything that falls short of my children walking in truth. What you did in the past, good or bad, counts little if you are not walking in truth at present. Walking has to do with making progress. A justification without an accompanying sanctification will not stand well on judgment day. The Third Epistle of John has only 14 verses, and the word "truth" and "true" are used 7 times. Verse 11 says, "Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God." I have joy every time I see or hear of any of you walking in truth, but the "greater joy" can only come when I hear that all nine of you are walking in truth. Until then the joy is mingled with tears.

In Christ, Dad

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." III Jn. 4

Dear Children,

My Amish and Mennonite forefathers, from five or more generations back, handed down to me a paper called "INSTRUCTIONS TO MY CHILDREN" translated from the German. The earliest date we have for it is 1808 but it is probably older. These instructions are replete with counseling on salvation and Godly living. It was passed on to me by Sem Johns whose great, great grandfather, Amishman Joseph Johns, was the founder of Johnstown.

Sem writes in this paper: “On the 20th of August, 1933, I was permitted to hold the first child of the 5th living generation, great great grand-child Ronald Earl Blough. He was not quite four weeks old...I am now past 83 years, and as Joshua said (Josh. 23:2), ‘waxed old and stricken in years’...I admonish you to believe the whole Bible as the inspired word of God. II Tim. 3:16, Rev. 22:18,19…”

There is a wealth of material and Godly instruction in this paper--it is yellowed with age and fragile, but we were able to have it copied. If you are interested in having a copy, let me know. Dad

"Parents must see to it that their children know the fear of the Lord, and they must beg the Lord Himself to teach them this truth. We have no hereditary right to the divine favor: the Lord keeps up his friendship to families from generation to generation, for He is loth to leave the descendants of His servants, and never does so except under grievous and long-continued provocation. As believers we are all in a measure under some such covenant as that of David: certain of us can look backward for four generations of saintly ancestors, and we are now glad to look forward and to see our children, and our children's children, walking in truth. Yet we know that grace does not run in the blood, and we are filled with holy fear lest in any of our seed there should be an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." (C.H. Spurgeon commenting on Ps. 132:12)