Are You Ready?

 Building on last week’s post of learning to hear God’s voice.

A few years ago, God gave me a strange dream and a visitation.  I say that with all trepidation for how presumptuous it sounds.  But this is the only dream I’ve ever had where I learned something new.  And I have spent (not enough) time since that time praying for guidance on what it means and what to do with it. You might suggest I've been afraid to get out of my comfort zone and using the "tell me what you want Lord" as an excuse not to move, and there may be something to that.

God showed me how he made Israel into one nation when they were slaves in Egypt, how the previous generations, from Abraham back to Adam, all the children each became their own nations, and often became enemies of one another.  But in Egypt, surrounded by a great Empire, the twelve sons of Israel became one.  And then in my dream, God told me that in the United States, we have the “opposite” situation.  Instead of being many brothers and sisters among a foreign power, every nation on earth lives in this one Nation.  We have this opportunity to learn how to love one another.

Not long after that, I was awakened in the middle of the night to the sound of a great wind in my bedroom and a terrible voice said, “I AM COMING.”  Now, the voice did not identify himself, offer any details about when, where or how, nor suggest what I should do.  But it seems pretty clear who it was.  What should we do to prepare for His Coming?  To be clear, I was awake when that happened.  And to emphasize, in no way was there any indication of when He might come (which seems “on brand”).  But it was true 2000 years ago and is true today that we should live like he’s coming back tomorrow.  What does that look like?  Let’s go to the Source:

“The one who stands firm to the end will be saved (Matt 24:13).”

Matt 24:45-47 “the faithful and wise servant…give(s) them their food at the proper time”.

Matt 24:48-51 “(the) servant is wicked and … begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards….He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites”.

Matt 25:37-40 ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

There is a lot of noise in the media and social media about voting for this side, supporting that person or group, protesting here, standing up there.  I do struggle with this because I do see wrong behavior from basically all our leaders.  And I do see ordinary people struggling to get by, struggling to get justice, struggling to find their ways too (just like I am).  I know the example of people we revere in history - MLK, Gandhi, Bonhoeffer.  And in the Bible, Paul, Peter, Stephen, James.  Of course, Jesus, but I am looking at people who are “only” fully human right now.  I don’t believe Jesus would advocate rebelling or protesting.  But I do believe he wants us to stand up for people who cannot stand up for themselves.  Which brings those modern martyrs back into the discussion.  

Specifically, now with a second person in Minneapolis protesting on behalf of illegal immigrants being rounded up and deported having been shot by federal agents, I have to ask what the right thing to do is. Clearly these illegals cannot stand up for themselves. And from all appearances, the vast majority of those being rounded up and deported have committed no other crime but to come here without following the rules. I am reminded of another person who paid a great price for protesting the rounding up of a scapegoated people: Corrie Ten Boom. She and her family hid Jews away from the Nazis for years before they finally caught them and put Corrie, her father and her sister in a concentration camp. Corrie would be the only one to survive it.

What I feel God telling me is to look around at the mess we are in, explore how we got here and, hopefully, offer some hope on where we go from here.  But I also suspect that there may be more to be done. We have this opportunity to learn how to love one another.

So no, I do not know the day or the hour.  Jesus said “only the Father knows”.  But whether it is tomorrow, next week, a decade from now or centuries from now, He Is Coming. Will I be ready?

Oh We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray

 John 10:14 “I AM the Good Shepherd.  I know my sheep.  My sheep know my voice.”

Three brief statements.  The first is one of John’s seven “I AM” statements that show Jesus’ divinity.  It may lose something in translation to the English, but those listening knew exactly what he was saying.  That is why Caiaphas tore his robes at Jesus’ trial, and why the scribes and Pharisees reached for stones to execute Jesus in John 7 when he said “I AM”.  Jesus as Shepherd calls to mind Psalm 23.  The Good Shepherd gives His sheep everything they need.

The third statement is that Jesus’ sheep know His voice.  I understand sheep do know their shepherd’s voice.  I think I am learning His.  Often in the Bible, a word or phrase gets repeated several times in a short space.  “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people” for instance.  Or Psalm 136, where all 26 verses end with “for His mercy endureth for ever”.  About 148 times in the last two weeks, I have seen or been reminded of the verse “My strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).”  I’m not sure, but I think He may be trying to tell me something about humility.  As smart as I think I am, there are plenty of people smarter.  As much as I think I know the Bible, there are many people who know it better.  Which leads me back to Jesus’ second statement.

In one of my favorite movies, When Harry Met Sally, Harry tells Sally, “You know how a year to a person is like seven years to a dog?” Sally asks, “Who is the dog in this scenario?  I am.  I am the dog.”  

I am the sheep in John’s scenario.  I am the sheep.   

It is a marvel that sheep survived as a species.  They have no speed.  No strength.  No teeth or claws.  No hard outer shell.  They congregate in herds naturally enough, but are prone to wandering off for no discernable reason.  They can get stuck in ditches, unable to climb out.  

Perhaps sheep wander off because they see a greener pasture just over there.  Or they think they know a better way than the other sheep.  Or they think the shepherd doesn’t really know what he’s doing.  No, this is not a compliment.  But it is really true.  

As many of you know, I’ve written three books which, combined, assert to be a defense of Christianity as being True historically, theologically and experientially.  What I’ve been amazed to discover is that most believers don’t care about the first two, and don’t want to be told how they should do the third.  I’ve been even more amazed to realize that I don’t think the first two matter much, except in that they help in the third.  And if they do not help us experience and show God’s love and forgiveness, then all the history and theology in the world are useless.  

I tell you, having spent the better part of twenty years on those books, that was a hard lesson.  But I am certainly glad I did all that research and writing, if only for my own part.  It is good to learn about God and to draw closer to Him.  It is better still to learn how to share His love and forgiveness with those around me.  And there, I have a long way to go. 

The Sign of Jonah???

 Matthew 12:39-40 “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

There are few Old Testament prophecies that are explicit about the Messiah dying and rising from the dead.  Isaiah 53:10-11 though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin…After he has suffered, he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my  righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.”  The [d] footnote says Isaiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls does not read “will see the light of life” but “He will see the fruit of his suffering and will be satisfied.”  Quite a bit less clear.

Jesus specifically points to both Isaiah’s Suffering Servant and to “the sign of Jonah”. It is in Jonah we get three days and three nights.  Was Jesus crucified on “Good Thursday”, which would get the “required” three days and nights? That is, if Jesus was Crucified on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday, no matter how you count it, that is three days and two nights, making him a false prophet.  (If you count the days listed in Holy Week, we are short a day, so a Thursday crucifixion is possible, but I believe that is largely irrelevant.)

But why Jonah?  The Bible Project has an excellent summary of Jonah’s life.  Book of Jonah Summary: A Complete Animated Overview Briefly: Jonah appears in 2 Kings 14, telling Israelite king Jeroboam II to restore Israel’s original borders.  While this was successful, at least for a short time, Jeroboam’s reign is called “evil”.  And in the book of Jonah, he shows himself to be a terrible prophet, running in the other direction when God sends him to Nineveh; daring God to kill him rather than save people he hated.  And after “repenting”, he gives a minimal message to the Ninevites, but they repent anyway.  His response is to sulk and again beg God to kill him.  Like many of Jesus’ parables, Jonah’s book ends with a cliffhanger: does he repent?  

Someone suggested that Jonah is the OT equivalent of the older brother in the Prodigal Son.  I always want to believe the older brother will come in and celebrate the younger brother’s return, but Jesus does not tell.  In Jonah’s real-life story, the entire city of Nineveh, more than 120,000 souls, have repented, but Jonah is bitter about it.  

The one “problem” with the Prodigal Son is that there is no sacrifice, other than the fatted calf.  But interestingly, Jonah himself is reluctantly “sacrificed” for the people of Nineveh.  Perhaps Jesus is saying that, though Jonah was (apparently) a false prophet, and a reluctant, petulant one, Jesus knew he would spend three days and nights in the tomb, just like Jonah, to redeem both the Israelites (the older brothers, the “Jonahs”, the Pharisees) and the Ninevites (the younger brother, the sinners of the world).  I suggest the Older Brother is way too common in Church today - the judgmental, bigoted “Christian” who is glad to tell others where they’ve gone wrong.  And the Younger Brother is way too common everywhere else in this country - only turning to God when there is no other way.  Otherwise, happy enough in their lives, or at least pretending to be.  Would that I did not see myself in both of these misguided sons.  

But seriously - why “the sign of Jonah”?  It’s weird, isn’t it?

Green Fields of the Mind

 Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Since its inception, the NFL has played its games on Sundays, and we take that for granted now.  Sunday afternoons, for many millions in this country, are dedicated to watching football.  In the Super Bowl era, those numbers have continued to climb, as the NFL has grown in popularity.  Over the last two decades, the NFL has started to play more and more games in Europe, with five there in 2025.  The East Coast start time for these games is usually 9AM.  Sunday morning.  

The NFL has been hosting at least one game on Christmas every year since 2020.  This year it played three games on Christmas Day.  Last year it played two, with Christmas on a Wednesday.  In 2023, it played three on that Monday.  Interestingly, with Christmas 2022 on a Sunday, it also played three games, with 11 games played on Christmas Eve that year.  

Recently, the NFL made this growing practice in Buffalo of baptising your baby as a Bills’ fan into a commercial.  You can see it here on the NFL website:  Baby Mafia || You Better Believe It

Last night, I noticed the 49ers’ jerseys had a little word printed just over their numbers.  Can you read it there?

Faithful.  

Faithful to what?  To who?  

In Matthew 19, Jesus is asked how one obtains eternal life.  He says to keep the commandments, and a very short list out of the 613 from Jewish Scriptures:  “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”  

Nothing about loving God.  Nothing about the Sabbath.  

But of course, the man is not satisfied.  Jesus replies, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

I believe this second response describes the “narrow path” that “not many find”.  We tend to interpret passages like this as hyperbole, or that this was specific to this particular man, who “went away sad, because he had great wealth.”  And perhaps that is right - he was ruled by his possessions.  As to Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, where he says we should pluck out our eye rather than have it lead us to sin, certainly that is hyperbole.  

But one of the aspects of following Jesus that appeals to me is the notion that it is much more than getting through each day without committing murder or adultery.  I can do better today than I did yesterday.  With God’s help.  Through surrender to His Holy Spirit, I can, perhaps, be perfect.  

I can see how much time I have wasted in my life pursuing things of this world, temporary things with no value.  Fantasy sports jumps to mind.  I used to spend untold hours figuring out how my beloved Mets should retool for the next season after their latest failed bid at a World Series title.  The egotism that “I know better than they do”, the slothfulness of sitting idle, wasting the precious gift of time.  And the false hope of sports.  

Here is the beginning and ending of “The Green Fields of the Mind”, an epic essay by Bart Giamatti.  Giamatti: The Green Fields of the Mind

“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. 

I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.”

The Shiny Apple

Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

More thoughts on Artificial Intelligence.

It is a scientific fact that we remember things better when we write them with a pen and paper.  It is also a fact that people who lived centuries ago had much better memories than we do today.  In order even to qualify to study at the feet of Gamaliel, the Apostle Paul was required to memorize and recite the Torah, the first five books of the Bible.  That was the entrance exam.  

We may think artificial intelligence is desirable for gaining wisdom, taking shortcuts to faster results, but in the end, we are surrendering our souls, our very selves, to this machine.  I say this with all distaste of someone with a large investment in Nvidia, and one who is trying to start a new reinsurance company that will be built on AI technology.  

And that is how it starts.  The most insidious evils in this world are not the murderers and rapists.  Those are most obviously evil.  More insidious are the evils that appear good.  Take food.  The most delicious food, in my opinion, is laden with sugar, carbs or salt.  Cookies.  Ice cream.  French fries.  Heart attack.  Diabetes.  Eating healthy is not as obviously attractive.  It is more expensive.  But it leads to healthier bodies, longer lives. 

Sports.  Exercise and competition keep our bodies fit.  Force us to push ourselves to excel.  Focus mind and body.  At their best, they encourage kindness, sportsmanship.  We desire to WIN.  We cheer for Our Team and against Their Team.  And sports divide us, creating hatred instead of camaraderie.  I have been blessed to root for some pretty lousy teams over the last few decades, allowing me to turn away from the inanity of it all without regret.  And as the money these athletes are paid gets more and more obscene, the athletes seem more and more entitled.  Then we laud the athlete.  Then we desire for our children to be great athletes.  And then we frequent the sports field instead of the church. 

Work.  We wrap our self-worth up in our success, our promotions, our salary, our house, cars, clothes, vacations.  Of course, I am better than that, because I am happy with “enough”.  My four weeks’ vacation each year.  My trips to England are to see my daughter, to Guatemala to feel more blessed in my possessions.  I go to church (nearly) every week!  I am a good person!  

In order to attain and sustain, we work harder.  Both parents must, in most families.  And our children are raised by other people. Or by machines.  On machines.  For machines.  And we wonder at the skyrocketing mental health issues.  Suicide rates.  Mass shootings.  

Religion.  Is it a way to seem Good?  Have people think well of you?  To busy yourself with working for the Church?  Paul spent the first part of his life dedicated to Religion and missed entirely getting to know God.  I have more than a few similarities.  I went to church my whole life.  I was taught right from wrong and a bit about Jesus.  I am starting to suspect that most of what I was taught in Church was slightly off target, more about Religion than Love and Forgiveness.  One of the seminal moments in my life was when I was arrested for shoplifting and my parents made me apologize to the store owners I had stolen from.  Looking back now, I see how much I learned about Forgiveness that day.  

For Paul, all his wealth, all his knowledge studying at Gamaliel’s feet, all the prestige: a Pharisee, a Benjaminite a descendant of Jacob’s favorite son, circumcised on the eighth day, a Hebrew of Hebrews; he considered it all garbage, sewage, dung.  Paul did not give up making tents.  He continued that profession so that he could spread the Gospel without being a burden on others.  That is what I take from this.  Perspective.  Focus on the Important Stuff.  Focus on Him.  Everything else is...

That shiny Apple.  So good for food.  So pleasing to the eye.  For gaining wisdom.