by R. Herbert | Sep 28, 2014 | Great Commission
Gideons International photo from NYC Bible Blitz
Gideons International is a Christian organization, founded in the United States in 1899, which has grown into a powerful force for the worldwide distribution of free Bibles, New Testaments and other scriptures. If you have ever found yourself without a Bible in a hotel room far from home, you know what a help the Gideons have been to millions of travelers and others – many of whom first read a Bible provided by that organization.
The group takes its name from the Biblical figure Gideon, who is depicted in Judges 6 in the story in which flaming torches were placed inside clay jars – such a jar being the well-known logo of the Gideons, found on the cover of each scripture they distribute.
Today, Gideons International provides Bibles not only for hotels and motels, but also for schools, hospitals, medical offices, military bases, prisons, abuse safe houses and many more venues where they might be appreciated, as well as in sidewalk distribution in many cities. The “Bible Blitzes” they regularly organize are named after the Second World War “Blitz” of intensive bombing of certain areas – but referring now to intensive coverage of selected areas with Bibles!
Two recent Blitzes conducted by the Gideons show the scope and extent of their work. September 13-19 the organization conducted the “New York City Bible Blitz 2014” which distributed some 236,238 Bibles and Testaments in all five boroughs of the Metro New York City area in less than a week. Gideons also spoke in over 100 churches in the city, explaining their ministry and encouraging congregations to consider supporting their work through prayer, giving and involvement.
Further from home, a two-week International Scripture Blitz was also conducted this September in Nairobi, Eldoret, and Kisumu, Kenya. There, the Gideons had set a goal of distributing some 400,000 Scriptures in hospitals, schools, and other venues, but by the end of the Blitz the Gideons’ teams had exceeded their goal and had distributed over 600,000 free copies of God’s Word in Kenya.
One has to stop and think about the numbers involved to begin to understand the amazing accomplishment of these Blitzes. The Gideons work in almost 200 countries and have distributed scriptures in over 90 languages. More than 1.9 billion Bibles and New Testaments have been distributed by the organization since 1908. On average, numerous copies of the scriptures are distributed every second of every day through Gideons International, and it is anticipated that the organization will give away its two billionth Bible or testament in 2015.
This is clearly an organization doing wonderful work that is worthy of our support. You may find it inspiring to take a look at the Gideons International
website some time.
by R. Herbert | Sep 24, 2014 | Growth, Overcoming, Tactical Notes
You know the feeling. You are about to do or say something, or you pause in a chain of thought, when you suddenly tell yourself that something is not right, that it may not be good to continue with the thought, word or action.
There is nothing mystical about it, but this moment of hesitation, this quiet voice of self-restraint is something that everyone experiences at some point, just as the apostle Paul wrote that it was something that affected Christians and pagans alike (Romans 2:14-15).
We may call this our conscience or use some other term. Some say it is God speaking to them, others that it is just the result of learned social behavior. In the Middle Ages many people thought it was an angel whispering in their ear. Albert Einstein called it an “inner voice” and others have called it an “inner light.” But no matter what we call it, or where we feel it comes from, it is an established fact of human psychology. We are not talking about hearing voices in one’s head – just a feeling or awareness that some action or response isn’t good or right. It’s like an internal warning system that is suddenly sounding in our minds. The problem, of course, exists when we turn down the volume and stop listening to that alarm. Typically, before we act in error, our conscience warns us to stop. If we choose to ignore its warning, or begin to think up rationalizations why we need not heed this feeling, the alarm will turn off and the urging of our conscience subsides – only to return later to condemn us if we go ahead with behavior we knew was not right.
The apostle James wrote about this progression between the awareness of something wrong and the results of tuning out that awareness: “but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15). The beginning of this chain is the still small voice that, if rejected, temporarily disappears. The amazing thing is that this is something we all understand, yet something that we so often don’t act upon. Yet the battle for good habits and right living is almost always fought at this point – at the very beginning of the trajectory. If we ignore the restraining call and proceed regardless, we invariably end up, as James affirms, in sin.
As a result, it’s possible that one of the greatest things we can do in overcoming wrong and growing in doing what is right in our lives is to train ourselves to listen to that voice and immediately act on its guidance. To listen and stop immediately has been called, in theology, the obsta principiis – the determination to “resist the beginnings,” because, as we have seen, that’s where the real battle is always fought at the moment the alarm sounds. Again, there is nothing mystical about this, it’s simply a matter of acting immediately on what we know is right. But the key lies in understanding that every time we ignore the inner voice of restraint and go ahead with what we wish to do, say or think, we actually move further away from where we really want to go in life. Every time we stop at the first “sound” of that alarm we move further toward our real goals. We need to train ourselves to listen for that inner alarm, learn to recognize it and to stop in our tracks. Counter-intuitive as it might seem physically, if we want to move forward further and faster spiritually, we need to stop more often.
by Staff | Sep 23, 2014 | Updates
Our September recommended book selection is now uploaded to the
Books page. You will find a modern classic on understanding the Bible – from translation to interpretation, a new edition of a truly insightful book on the Lord’s Prayer, and a brand new book of interest to fathers and sons. Check them out, and if you haven’t visited the Books page before, you may find several other titles of interest there.
by R. Herbert | Sep 21, 2014 | Faith, History & the Bible
*Note: We began this occasional series “Lessons from the Kings” on our sister site – LivingWithFaith.org – but we realized that many of the themes and details of the series fit better here, so we have transferred the series and will now be carrying the monthly installments here.
King Asa of Judah was the great-grandson of Solomon and ruled only two generations after the split between the tribes of Judah and the rest of Israel. The son of king Abijah, who appears to have trusted in the true God (2 Chronicles 13:18), Asa ruled Judah for 41 years and seems to have been upright in his acts for most of that time.
He was clearly zealous in maintaining the worship of God and acted decisively to root out idolatry and its associated immorality, destroying the pagan altars and sacred places throughout the kingdom. The king even deposed his own grandmother for worship of pagan gods and turned the people back to the traditional worship of God. Asa, we are told, did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God (2 Chronicles 14:2).
Asa also fortified cities in Judah and successfully repelled an invasion by a hugely outnumbering Cushite-Egyptian force with a demonstration of clear faith. The biblical record tells us: “Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, ‘Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you’”(2 Chronicles 14:11). Chronicles continues to detail how Asa’s forces routed the much larger army and drove it from Judah. As a result, the kingdom had peace under Asa and for many years no one tried to make war against him.
But in his 36th year of rule Asa was confronted by Baasha, king of the northern tribes, who constructed a fortress at Ramah, less than ten miles from Jerusalem. While Asa had responded in faith to the Cushite threat, he appears to have crumbled under this one. Taking all the gold from the temple of God he offered it to Ben-Hadad, king of Damascus, as a bribe to convince that king to negate his treaty with Baasha and to invade the Northern Kingdom (2 Chronicles 16:2-6). Ben-Hadad took the gold and invaded his erstwhile ally, Israel, forcing Baasha to withdraw from Ramah.
Asa then tore down Baasha’s stronghold and used the stone to build two fortresses in his own territory. History shows these two fortified areas were not successful in protecting Judah from attacks that would occur in the future, so ultimately Asa traded the gold taken from the temple for a false security. In that sense, Asa’s two fortresses are clearly symbols of a failure of faith (2 Chronicles 16:7-9).
Considering his earlier faith under sudden, more intense pressure, we can only conclude that Asa fell under a more prolonged and unrelenting stress as Baasha began to build his forces on Judah’s border. It seems Asa discovered that wars of attrition can erode our confidence more than sudden danger. Doubtless there is a lesson for us in this. It is often easier to respond in faith to a sudden crisis, but more difficult when the problem drags on and wears us down. In those circumstances we must be careful not to allow the problem to become an excuse for taking from God what is rightfully His – perhaps not in gold, but in our time and energy as well as our trust and confidence in Him.
Perhaps as a result of the attrition of his faith, it is recorded that in his old age Asa was afflicted with a disease of his feet, and he “sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians” (2 Chronicles 16:12), meaning his trust was only toward the physical. Nevertheless, Asa was considered for the most part a good king and was honored by many of his people when he died. The story of Asa’s responses to different threats may also serve as a lasting lesson for us – especially in our response to protracted stresses and problems. Sometimes the greatest need for faith is not in sudden crises, but in the ongoing problems of everyday life.
by R. Herbert | Sep 21, 2014 | History & the Bible
*Note: We began this occasional series on our sister site – LivingWithFaith.org – but looking ahead we realized that many of the themes and details of the series will fit better on this site. As a result we have transferred the first posts and will now be running the monthly installments here. Enjoy!
The biblical books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles tell the remarkable story of the kings of ancient Israel – the united monarchy of Saul, David and Solomon, and the thirty-nine kings (and one queen) of Judah and Israel who followed them after the kingdom broke into two parts: the Southern Kingdom (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, usually called Judah) and the Northern Kingdom (most of the remaining tribes, called Israel).
Reading the story of these kings helps one realize what a checkered pattern of righteousness and evil the history of ancient Judah and Israel was. Actually, the checkered effect is mainly visible for Judah because the kings of the northern tribes of Israel were pretty much unfailingly corrupt according to their biblical obituaries. But when we look at ancient Judah, the mixed good/bad pattern is very clear. Even beginning with the kings of the briefly united monarchy, we see the problem: King Saul started out good and ended up bad, his successor, David, started out good and despite some unfortunate lapses into sin ended up good. Solomon started out good, but despite his wisdom ended up swayed by evil.
It’s when we then look at the successors of Solomon – the kings of Judah – that the situation gets almost bizarre. Of the 20 rulers of Judah, we are told that over half of them (10 kings and Queen Athaliah) started out evil and stayed that way. Only a quarter of all the kings (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah) started their reigns on the right track and apparently ended up as good. Three kings (Joash, Amaziah and Uzziah) actually started out well, but ended up evil. Only one king – Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah – started out evil and actually ended up well.
Looking at this checkered panorama of obedience and apostasy, we can only wonder at the patience of God in giving ancient Judah and Israel hundreds of years – over 40 rulers – to “get it right.” Eventually, however, the rulers of the kingdoms did only evil and God brought on them the judgment of which they were repeatedly warned. But the story of the kings of ancient Judah and Israel is a fascinating tapestry full of details which illuminate both human nature and the desire to obey God. Our new monthly series – starting this week – examines the ancient kings and focuses on the many and often important lessons we can learn from them!
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