May 2008 #3

THINKING ABOUT MY LIFE – Do you ever take pause to evaluate or think about your life and all the things you’ve done, places you’ve been and the “how many’s” of certain things you’ve done in your life? For example: “How many years have I lived?” I sometimes stop and wonder, “Am I going to be 78 or 79 this year? That one is real easy right now because I just having my 79th birthday, but sometimes I actually have trouble trying to remember which it is. Some other “how many’s:” “How many places have I lived and in how many different houses have I lived in?” “How many different jobs have I had?” “How many countries have I been in?” How many cars have I owned (or worked at buying)?” “How many real friends do I have?’ “How many friends would I have had if I hadn’t offended some along the way?” “How many different kinds of things have I sold or tried to sell by direct sales?” I was just thinking about this last one and I may actually try to figure that one out, an insight into a part of my life most today wouldn’t know. You’ll maybe laugh when you see that list. As ridiculous as these questions may seem to you, being the product of a broken home and having been passed back and forth from time to time or ended up as a Church Planting Missionary, the numbers get a little ridiculous compared to the average farmer who has always lived in the same state, county and maybe on the same farm all his life. I’ll probably get back to you on some of these after I’ve had time to think about it and tried to put some numbers together. I don’t have the best memory, so I may be off a little when I do, but it will be interesting (to me and a few family members and friends, maybe).

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH OUR SCHOOLS – This past week we had a school in Columbus that almost had a Columbine experience. A high school boy was planning to use grenade type bombs to kill dozens of fellow students. Thankfully his plan was discovered the day before he had intended to carry it out. It seems ever since the Columbine case in Colorado several years ago, there has been incidence after incidence of this type of thing happening, not only in high schools but in colleges and elementary schools. It use to be that schools were relatively safe places to send children. Little things like spit wads, hair in ink wells, carvings on desks, fist fights and hair pulling were the type of incidents children got sent to the principal’s offices for. The fallen human nature has always manifested itself over the centuries, but what is going on today is much, much worse and increasingly wide spread. Public education is suppose to improve society, according to the politicians, but it seems to be an increasingly fearful debilitating experience, that is requiring sane parents to become home-schoolers. Conditions suggest the need to establish more Christian schools. Sadly, Christian schools seem to be in decline. Wow, what to do, what to do. Remember, they got rid of prayer and the Bible and now they are reaping the consequences.

ARE PROPHETIC BELLS GOING OFF IN YOUR MIND – I am not a prophet not the son of a prophet, but just being aware of Biblical prophecy, in the light of current events that keep setting off bells in my head. I’ve lived in earthquake areas and been shaken in bed, on a ladder, seen merchandise falling off store counters as well as facades off of store buildings. It is a frightening experience. I’ve heard prophetic teachers tells us there would be an earthquake someplace during the week of meetings and there were. You could make the same statement every week and be correct. I’ve looked up on the inter-net to read the increasing prevalence of earthquakes around the world. In the past several weeks they have reported a number of earthquakes in this country and given new warnings of potential devastating quakes in California. Add to that the thousands killed in China this past week by earthquakes and my prophetic bells keep going off. Matthew 24:7 reads, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.” (Also Mark 13:8 and Luke 21:11) There are mountain-shaking verses of judgment in the Old Testament as well. Believers can take comfort from passages like Psalms 46. Please take time to read it. (God will also use similar quaking events in Revelation 11:13, 16:18 & 19, but these are for the Tribulation judgments.) I am not saying the day has arrived, but we are certainly seeing an increase of these events all the time. Let me give you another one to think about.

INFLATION & FAMINE – Famine was mentioned in the Matthew 24 passage and I want to also add Revelation 6:6 into my prophetic comments, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius;” Using corn to make ethanol to supposedly help the price of gasoline, is running up the price of grain to feed live stock (raising the cost of meat) and it is also raising the price of bread. This will surprise some, but I can remember a loaf of bread costing 10 cents. The change in the price of Wonder bread since 2003 has gone up 74%. In that same time the price of a boneless center-cut pork chop has gone up 124% and a rib-eye steak 64%. Have you noticed? The “denarius” of Revelation 6:6 was the equivalent of a day’s wages when Revelation was written. In the last couple of weeks Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club and other bulk stores have started limiting the amount of rice people can purchase. Though we aren’t presently expecting great shortages in this country, there are countries that are having serious problems finding or being able to afford basic grains. Are the prophetic bells I mentioned in the previous paragraph going off again with this as well? Famine is a reality in a number of African countries. The terrible hurricanes in Myanmar (Burma) are causing starvation and shortages of water there. Our hearts go out to all these suffering and dying peoples. Their own governments in Africa and now Myanmar are greatly responsible for the lack of aid, even stealing and hording supplies from the common people that other countries provide. Many things are contributing toward the famines presently on going but the reality of these conditions, it seems to me, are building toward these prophetic conditions. Adding these things into the equation of the Scriptures, along with the “nations rising against nations” (that would take more than another paragraph to discuss) and we are observing the development of matters that could very well drive the world toward what God has told us will take place leading up to and on into the Great Tribulation. I am not trying to create fear-mongering, I am only suggesting that Christians need to be looking up expectantly and suggesting that as you do so, seek opportunities to lead family and friends to Christ while there is still time.