God’s ‘Problem’ With Firstborns

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. – Rom 9:13

Have you noticed that firstborns in the Bible seem to have a disadvantage with God? Whenever a pair of characters comes before God, the younger usually was the one to obtain favour. Look at Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Reuben and Judah, Zarah and Pharez, Manasseh and Ephraim, Aaron and Moses ... the First Adam and the Last Adam (Christ). The younger always seem to be the one with whom God was well pleased.

Speaking of “well pleased”, the LORD told Samuel He’d found a man after His heart in David, (1Sa 13:14). So, when David was to be anointed, all Jesse’s seven sons would naturally be skipped before reaching him. However, notice that Eliab, the firstborn, was not just ‘not chosen’, he was specifically “Rejected”. In other words, even if God hadn’t chosen David, Eliab would still be the last person in Jesse’s house to be king!

Why such disfavour? 1Sam 16:6-7 gives us an insight. Eliab had the stamina, the physique and the charisma of a king; furthermore, he was the firstborn and thus first in line for any promotion to come to his family. In essence, he expected to be anointed king because he was ‘qualified’.

Could this be the common thread among all firstborns in the Bible? This sense of entitlement, this claim on the blessing, this feeling of possessing an inalienable right to the inheritance? Lk 7:47 says, “She that’s forgiven much, loves much”. Gratitude and Qualification don’t mix too well.

It’s difficult to imagine a ‘King Eliab’ dancing foolishly before the ark of the LORD (2Sa 6:16). It’s hard to imagine God being called “the fear of Ishmael” (Gen 31:42,53). And, yes, it’s difficult to imagine the outcome if the wealthy Boaz had fallen for a young, drop-dead-gorgeous Bethlehemite damsel as opposed to a widow from abominable Moab.

Beloved, God always chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and the weak things to confound the mighty (1Co 1:27); He always uses the least likely to do the most mighty.

Let’s be careful, therefore, lest we walk around life with a ‘firstborn’ mentality. For “God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble.” (Jas 4:6).

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Blessed Whether You Know It or Not

By this I know that you favour me... – Ps 41:11

The story of Ruth is one of spectacular favour. A down-and-out second-class citizen, a member of a cursed nation, becoming the chosen bride and partner of a wealthy, godly landowner. What an amazing grass-to-grace narrative.

And the “grace” didn’t stop there. It’s glorious enough that this unusual union resulted in the birth of a beautiful bouncing baby boy, but that boy’s grandson would eventually become the greatest king that Israel had ever known – David. And because the King of Kings – the expected Messiah – was prophesied to come from the loins of David, this Moabites became a bona fide member of Christ’s ancestry. Hallelujah!

But Ruth’s favour did not begin when Boaz set his eyes on her. Ruth had been favoured long before she even stepped foot in Bethlehem!

We generally tend to measure favour by physical, tangible tokens: a brand new car, a debt cancellation, a promotion at the work place...

However, we cannot only measure favour in material blessings. Sometimes favour is discerned when you recognise that you survived something that destroyed others. If God didn’t favour Ruth while she was in Moab, the thing that killed her husband, brother-in-law and father-in-law could as well have killed her. She survived and thrived even in an atmosphere of demonism and divine disapprobation.

She may not have been conscious of it, but the favour still kept her. Her destiny was not an afterthought or a chance happening. The favour of God was trained upon her head while she was plodding the dusty streets of Moab; keeping her preserving her, leading her to her eventual place of rest.

Beloved, each time you survive is proof that God is preserving you for a reason. You may not have a dramatic testimony to wow a church audience, and your circumstances right now may not look altogether spectacular, but know for a surety that God has you covered. His favour is resting on you, and will not lift until it sees you enter your place of rest and permanent provision. 

You shall prosper, you shall succeed, you shall fulfil destiny in Jesus’ name

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

The God of the Haps

What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. – Mat 10:29

Secularists often derogatorily accuse Christians of invoking The-God-of-the-Gaps in any physical phenomenon currently unexplained by science. That is, if there’s a gap in current scientific knowledge on how something works, then that proves only God could have done it.

Of course, they relish having this ‘God’ because, for every new scientific discovery that explains how certain things work, the “gap” keeps shrinking until someday (theoretically) there’ll be no room to claim God did anything.

But God is God, both of the mysterious and of the mundane, He’s in charge both of the creation of life and of the life of creation... He’s more a God-of-the-haps than of the gaps.

The KJV’s rendition of Ruth 2:3 says when Ruth decided to go look for grain, “her HAP was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz.”

This chance, seemingly unplanned act of Ruth in wandering into the field of a wealthy kinsman is what set the wheels of her destiny in motion.

Rom 8:28 makes us know that, for the Believer, “Nothing Just happens”; ALL things constantly work together for good. Your destiny’s not at the mercy of random, arbitrary happenstances, it’s in the hands of the “God of the Haps”.

>  the God that made the Shunammite woman approach the king of Israel just as Gehazi was talking favourably about her to him, (2Ki 8:5).

>  the God that made King Xerxes lose sleep and inquire to see the royal archives, which just happened to contain the acts of Mordecai, (Est 6:1-2).

>  the God that sent Joseph ahead of his family into Egypt to preserve them from extinction (Gen 50:20).

> the God that trained Moses in Pharaoh’s palace for 40 years in preparation for his calling (Act 7:22).

Beloved, God’s thoughts towards you are good and not evil. He has a glorious, exciting future outlined; all you need to do is have the faith to hand over the reins of control and trust Him every day to bring about His plan for your life.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

RUTHless Theology

ruth·less [adjective]: having or showing no pity or mercy; (cruel, callous, or brutal)  – Microsoft Encarta Dictionary

So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her – Rth 1:22

It may come across as odd that “Ruth” is one of the books some contend have no place in the Bible. Because of its close link to Judges (the events in Ruth happened during, not after, the seemingly senseless chaos there), some scholars see both books as “unworthy of God” and “of little or no value to 21^st century readers”.

We today, being mostly gentile by physical ancestry, may not be able to appreciate the disturbing nature of the Ruth narrative. It’s not without significance that her name is associated with “Moab” 6 out of the 12 times she’s mentioned in the book. It seems to be a deliberate underscoring that, chaste and virtuous as this woman may be, we need to note that she’s from MOAB.

Just as a quick reminder,

> The Moabites are the descendants of Moab, the son born from a horrible incestuous relationship between Lot and his first daughter (Gen 19:37).

> It was the king of Moab, Balak, that employed Balaam to curse the Israelites while they were in the wilderness (Num 22-24).

> It was Moabite women that seduced the Israelites into lewdness, which resulted in 24,000 deaths (Num 25:1-3);

> The Moabites, throughout the Old Testament, were notorious for their paganism and abominable practices...

> Ruth, the famed “faithful daughter-in-law”, was a Moabitess.

Hence the scandal, hence the outrage, hence the rejection of her story’s legitimacy. But a Bible without Ruth would be ruthless!

Witty puns aside, a theology that does not give room for the amazingly scandalous grace of God, a belief system that doesn’t factor that we’re all equally unworthy of mercy, a doctrine that prejudges people based on their antecedents and gives them no room for forgiveness... is cruel, callous, and, yes, ruthless.

Ruth’s story may be disturbing to the holier-than-thous in the church; but for the rest of us that can honestly concede that we aren’t the most qualified for God’s favour, and admit to having a history that we should be rightly ashamed of, the book of Ruth offers us hope, and peace and confidence.

 “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. “  – Rom 15:4

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

The Greatest Proof That God Exists

A British teacher once told of a time when a particular girl in his chemistry class said she didn’t believe in atoms. Regardless of all his lessons and explanations, she still remained unbelieving. Then he gave her a book on atoms. That did the trick. Some days later, she was back and said she now understood the concept.

He wasn’t particularly thrilled with her change of mind, though. Because he realised she had more respect for the book than for him. She believed what he – her science teacher – had said only after someone else confirmed it.

This incident perfectly illustrates the problem we create when we try to use logic, history or physical phenomena to prove the Bible’s inspiration.

Heb 11:1 says “FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, THE EVIDENCE of things not seen.” As a Believe-er, you do not need any other evidence that the Bible is God’s word; your faith IS the evidence!

We know the Bible is inspired because 2Ti 3:16 says “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” This may sound like circular reasoning, considering that we’re using the Bible to prove the Bible. But the only evidence we can use to prove the Bible to be true is the Bible itself. This is because there is no higher level of information. If there were, then that fact would undermine the authority of the Bible, which does indeed claim to be the highest authority.

Let’s say, for example, you have an atheist who does not share with you your belief in God. If, after a series of scientific and ontological arguments, you end up convincing him that there’s a God, you’ve unwittingly placed both philosophy and science above the word of God. You’re in essence saying, “You won’t believe what the Bible says? OK, maybe you’ll believe if I present a higher authority...”

In the secular world, we present “Evidences” (exhibits) to a Judge or magistrate. So, by presenting “evidence” of the existence of God to a sceptic, you’re essentially making him or her the judge. You’re taking God to their court of law and He’ll win or lose based on the strength of your case.

But the sceptic is not the judge, God is. Similarly, whatever proof we try to present on the inspiration and inerrancy of scripture, it mustn’t be at the detriment of the authority of the Bible itself. There’s a limit to proof. Therefore, “let God be true, but every man a liar;” (Rom 3:4)

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Platinum Incredulity

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. – Joh 1:3

It was billed, “The greatest fireworks show in the universe”. The major News Media outlets earlier this week were all agog about the announcement by scientists of the observation of the collision of two neutron stars far, far away.

Neutron stars are special stars that are unique because of their density – as dense as all the matter of Mount Everest packed into a teaspoon. And when neutron stars slam together, all kinds of things burst out: gamma rays, X-rays, radio waves – and apparently, GOLD and PLATINUM.

We covered the Personal Incredulity fallacy previously here on TWFT, but it bears some repetition in light of this news. Personal Incredulity is saying that because one finds something difficult to understand, it’s therefore untrue.

Gen. 1:1 states clearly and unequivocally that, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Bible critics and sceptics say they find such explanation for the origin of the Universe to be utterly incredible. But they’re only being duplicitous considering that it takes an equal (actually, more) amount of faith to believe their own explanation for the origin of things.

For example, the collision of the two neutron stars is said to have “created a cloud of GOLD DUST many times more massive than the Earth”! Here’s a pair of mindless, lifeless, absolutely chaotic mass of gas being credited with the ability to reorganise the intricate subatomic structure of hydrogen/helium atoms to create the even more complex orbitals of heavier elements like gold.

We cannot presume to say that we know how all the Gold and Platinum in the Earth was created; but neither can the atheistic evolutionist. And when all factors have been considered, it takes less incredulity to believe God’s word that they came from an Intelligent, Purposeful Being than to theorise that they were the product of mindless, insane amount of condensed energy.

Confronting just-so theories of origins does not make us intellectually challenged or needlessly controversial; on the contrary it shows a willingness to stick with the Truth – regardless of how non-politically correct it may be.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN 

The Composition/Division Fallacy

In that he says, A new covenant, he has made the first old. – Heb 8:13

A Fallacy of Composition arises when a person assumes that what’s true about one part of something has to be applied to all, or other, parts of it. For example, it’s a Composition Fallacy to state that because atoms are invisible, therefore all things made up of atoms are equally invisible.

It’s a classic logical fallacy outlined by Aristotle, the 4^th century B.C. philosopher much revered by secular sceptics. However, they seem to hold a double standard on this fallacy when it comes to the Bible.

A perennial attack on the Bible is the listing out of the peculiar Laws of Moses, the ‘Holy War’ narrative of the conquest of Canaan, the anarchic stories in the book of Judges, etc. And claim that the Bible therefore, is barbaric, cruel, and crude.

But the Bible itself clearly places a distinction between its Old and its New Testaments (Heb 8:13) and the author of the book of Judges repeatedly clarifies that “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Jdg 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25).

The sceptics, though, would have none of that. To them, whatever the Bible says in one place applies to all. This odd insistence of theirs is more out of unscrupulousness than of naivety and would not hold in a secular court of law.

Besides extracting words and narratives outside out of their original contexts, they also cherry-pick the portions of scripture that best suit their deprecatory agenda. They’d cite the curse of Eve’s subjection under Adam (after the Fall), but conveniently ignore the fact that both were declared “one flesh” in the previous chapter. They’d cite the 10^th commandment and say it places women on the same level as property; but ignore the unique protection it offers them among women in such an ancient patriarchal climate.

Nevertheless the Bible itself is its bests defence. It is brutal in its honest narratives, yet clear in the place each has in the grand overarching story of our creation, fall and redemption through the birth, death and resurrection of Christ.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

The Ad Hominem Attack

As long as the church keep wildin' out, I can justify all my foolish deeds. – Lecrae, “Church Clothes”

An Ad Hominem,  (Latin for “to the person”), is attacking an opponent’s character or personal traits in an attempt to undermine their argument. Ad hominem attacks can take the form of overtly attacking somebody, or casting doubt on their character. Ad hom attacks try to subtly undermine the person without actually engaging with the substance of their argument.

Examples of Ad hominem attacks against The Bible and Christianity are:

“The Bible has caused more deaths than the Koran”.

“Look at the Crusades, (military expeditions by European Christians to retake the Holy Land from Muslims), centuries ago.”

“What about the Inquisition, or the Salem Witch Trials?”

“Christians are just a bunch of Bigots and homophobes”

Etc.

Atheistic sceptics are not the only ones who try to sidestep the truth with ad hom tactics. Any time you hear people say the reason they’re not in church is because of the megarich pastors, backstabbing members, scandal-ridden ministries, fake men of God, etc. you’re facing an ad hom.

It’s not new. Even the Samaritan woman at the well tried the tactic on Jesus. When He told her that she’s had 5 husbands and that she was not married to the man with whom she was currently with, she immediately attacked Jesus’ Jewishness and the Jews’ bigotry in condemning the Samaritans’ style of worship! (Read John 4:1-30 again, she was totally trying to change the topic, but our Lord wisely kept the conversation in focus).

The aim of ad homs is sidestepping the issue in question. Knowing this will help us be more effective in our witnessing an also in understanding attacks on our faith.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Bible Under Attack

Several years ago, I read an article on the Web titled, “What The Bible Got Wrong”. It was about an infographic that purported to display the various contradictions in the Bible. The project was commissioned by a non-profit sceptic organisation called Project Reason, and the article concludes that the image “managed to make an ancient text – over which men have fought wars and women have sacrificed babies – look downright silly.” This derogatory and trivializing view of scripture is all too common in the media today.

While each Christian is not called to be an apologist, it does help to be knowledgeable about the sly, deceptive logic that sceptics use, (or more correctly, NEED), to cast aspersions at God’s word.

It’s quite interesting that the organisation that commissioned the project calls itself Project Reason; as though people who believe the Bible are a set of misled, irrational ignoramuses. Nevertheless, careful analysis of these perennial attacks on scripture reveal a staple of logical fallacies. Fallacies like Ad Hominem, ‘straw man’, composition/division, middle ground, etc. (in addition to the other ones previously discussed here on TWFT).

And why do they keep these attacks on? Because attacking the Bible is attacking the very foundation that your very faith stands on. And Ps. 11:3 says, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

So next time you hear another attack on the credibility of the Bible, rather than feel overwhelmed, confront that statement by sifting out all the illogicality and speciousness packed into it and strip it of its seemingly intellectual and academic garb.

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear – 1Pe 3:15.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

More Than Enough

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. – John 10:10

In John 10:10, our Lord emphatically declared that He came not just that we may have life, but that we may have it “more abundantly”. This does not mean to have a “full” life or have life “to the fullest” as several modern Bibles translate it; but to have life in a measure that is more than full; more than enough.

The Greek word, perissos, used here can also be found (probably unsurprisingly) in the famous Eph 3:20. But it’s appearance in two places during our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount is probably more illuminating.

Mat 5:37 says, “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than (perissos) these comes from evil.” And Mat 5:47 says, “If you greet your brethren only, what do you more than (perissos) others? Do not even the tax collectors so?”

In the first the Lord says, “Don’t say anything more than ‘yes’ or ‘no’” and in the second, He says “by greeting only your brothers, you haven’t done anything more than the tax collectors”.

So when He used that same word in John 10:10, He’s promising not just full life, but more than full life.

This is not some Prosperity Gospel sales pitch; these are the very words of the Lord Himself. That’s what He came to give you!

He’s given you enough hints and glimpses already. Through nature and through scripture, He’s painted a picture of the kind of life He created you to have. And as you change your mindset and hold on to His promises, I pray that these pictures become your everyday reality in Jesus’ name. 

AMEN.

GREG ELKAN

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Glimpses: Hooper Balloons

The message of Rom 8:32 is essentially that, to have an idea of what God can – and will – do for us, we need to look at what He already did for us at the Cross.

When God gave you Christ, He gave you His all – literally. At the Cross, the sinless Christ took our place and died our death. His resurrection was not going to be a normal resurrection, because His death was not a normal death. It was actually the death God warned Adam about in Eden (Gen 2:17); it was total separation and wrath from God. But, Hallelujah, on the third day, to show that He was satisfied, God raised Him up from death.

And how did He raise Him? Paul gives us a hint in Eph 1:18-20. He says he prays that we know what is the “EXCEEDING greatness” of God’s power toward us who believe, “according to the working of his mighty power, Which he performed in Christ, when he raised him from the dead...

The word, “exceeding” before greatness is the Greek HUPERBALLO. It’s  is a combination of two words, “huper” (which means “over, above, beyond, exceeding abundantly, etc.”) and “bal'-lo” (“to throw, cast, strike, throw (down), thrust, etc.”). Thus huperballo means to throw BEYOND the usual mark, to SURPASS, to excel.

Paul is saying that at the Resurrection, God displayed an excessive, overreaching show of power. We were united with Christ at the Cross: His death was our death, we were buried with Him, and on the third day – to show how pleased He was that the whole salvation process was successful – God inundated the grave with all His Huperballo, exceeding great power!

Huperballo is when a billionaire pays a million dollars for the damage his son did to a window.

Huperballo is buying the hotel because you want to sleep for the night.

Huperballo is getting a 200-acre club when you ask for a club to play golf with...

Huperballo is the famed “exceeding” from Eph 3:20 that Martin Nystrom had difficulty translating in his song.

The Cross doesn’t just show God’s love for you, it also shows the extent of His love. It shows the profligate, extravagant, all-in, all-out gesture God did just to redeem you. Let Huperballo be a reminder of just what you have available as a Believer. Because “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32).

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

HyperCorrecting Marty Nystrom

hy•per•cor•rect [adj]: too greatly concerned about correctness – Encarta Dictionary

The Christian music labels of the 80’s and 90’s: Hillsong, Integrity! Hosanna! and Maranatha! are undoubtedly responsible for shaping today’s worship experience and have influenced – probably more than any single ministry – the spiritual life of millions of Believers around the world. It was rare in the 90’s to find any ‘Pentecostal’ who didn’t have one of those “ Maranatha!” cassettes; or a church worship session where Hosanna!’s songs were not heard.

These classic songs were often composed and sung by notable greats like Don Moen, Darlene Zchech, Bob Fitts, Ron Kenoly, etc. But the composers of some quite memorable titles are not-so-recognisable, yet remain highly influential.

One of these is MARTY NYSTROM.

If you don’t recognize him, Mr. Nystrom is the guy who gave us timeless worship songs like “As the Deer”, “Rejoice”, “Shepherd of My Soul”, etc. One particular song of his that’s of concern to us here on TWFT, is the song “In Your Presence” from his 2003 Hosannah! album, “In Christ Alone”.

The chorus of this song has almost universally changed the way we quote Eph 3:20. The refrain goes:

Exceedingly, Abundantly// Far above all we, could ever ask or think.

Exceedingly, Abundantly// You gave us all things to enjoy...

Those first two words, subtly (but innocently, I must add) changes Paul’s wording.

While it’s definitely mind-blowing that God can do “exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ever ask or think”, Paul’s words were actually “Exceeding abundantly above...” (Did you spot the difference?).

“Exceedingly, abundantly” is a juxtaposition of two adverbs; it’s more or less two different ways of saying the SAME thing. But Paul’s words, “exceedingly, abundantly”, is an adjective describing an adverb.

It means, God’s able to do whatever we ask or think. No, scratch that.

It means, God’s able to do above whatever we ask or think. No, scratch that.

It means, God’s able to do abundantly above whatever we ask or think. No, scratch that.

It means, God’s able to do exceeding abundantly above whatever we ask or think.

Notice Paul’s progressive hypermetering with each line. It’s often said that when we get to heaven, we’ll realise with regret how much power we had available to us while we were alive that we never put to good use. Well, this shouldn’t be one of them. Take out your Bible now and read (not sing) Ephesians 3:20. Meditate on it, and then apply its awesome implication to your prayer today.

AMEN!

Greg Elkan

Glimpses From Scripture

The LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. – Ps 84:11 

How many times have you heard the phrase “God only gives you your needs, not your wants”?

Sometimes, we allow human experiences and wisdom limit the excess, superfluous gracious overreach of God from reaching us. But scripture shows us glimpses of abundance and pictures of grace to tell us that God is not just able, but willing to give us a life of abundance and plenty.

When the Lord fed the hungry multitude of 5,000 (and again 4,000), He didn’t just give them enough for strength. They had the opportunity to gorge themselves and even slip some into their bags and pockets; yet there was still excess leftover in large quantities. Does Jesus love those people more than He loves you?

Think about the implications of His first miracle ever at a wedding at Cana. We’re all familiar with the story; yea He turned of water into wine, and we often talk of the quality of the wine produced. But few look at the quantity. A rough estimate shows that Jesus produced about 648 litres of fresh wine that day! From a modern-day perspective, that’s like supplying 2,000 extra bottles of rich, sweet-tasting quality malt drinks just when the guests have started leaving. Two THOUSAND!

What about Peters’ request to walk on water? Surely, it was not because he was late for a crusade or wanted to pick up groceries for the homeless, was it? It was a walking-on-water-for-walking-on-water-sake miracle.

What is that miracle you need? Don’t allow folk wisdom or common experience weaken your faith. God wants the best for you. God will give the best to you; just as He did to them.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Glimpses of Abundance

Ask, and it shall be given you... For every one that asks receives; – Mt 7:7,8

God has abundance reserved for you. His plans and resources – vision and provision – for you are not sparse, tiny, barely-enough rations for your existence. They are more than enough.

For proof, look no further than nature itself. Every time a man tries to sire a child, 300 MILLION sperm cells on average are released! That’s about as many people as there are in the United States, just for one child. A female foetus has as much as 7 million eggs already resident in her. What would a girl need 7 million eggs for? (and as though to confound us further, new research shows she does continue to produce more during her lifetime).

Let’s take our observation outwards. The observable Universe contains around 400 billion stars! Well, actually, that incredible amount is the number of stars that we have in our galaxy, the Milky Way. I said “universe” because until just a 100 years ago that’s ALL that scientists ever saw. Now, you would have to multiply that number by an additional 100 billion to get a loose estimate.

And do you know where the Earth, in relation to the entire humongous Universe, is located? AT THE CENTRE. (To circumvent this embarrassing empirical reality, atheistic science now absurdly postulates that “everywhere, without exception, is the centre of the entire universe.”).

Look at the awe-inspiring variety of life on Earth; look at the Niagara Falls with its 200,000 cubic feet of water flowing every second; look at the Gulf Stream, just a small sliver of the Atlantic Ocean that contains more water than ALL the rivers of the world combined! Everywhere we look, from the subatomic to the supergalactic, we see abundance and plenty.

Rom 1:20 (CEV) says “God's eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has SHOWN what these are like by all He has made. That's why those people don't have any excuse.”

Yes, and that’s why You don’t have any excuse. Change your mindset toady. Stop asking for peanuts, stop believing for subsistence living. God doesn’t and has never worked that way. Whenever He supplies, He supplies abundantly, copiously and overwhelmingly.   

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Bad News, Jesus is Coming Soon!

When He shall come with trumpet sound,

Oh may I then in Him be found…

The Rapture (Greek harpazo, “caught up”) is a clearly outlined doctrine of scripture, (1Thes 4:17, 1Cor 15:51-52, etc.). It’s the “snatching away” of all Believers at the Second Coming of the Lord to meet Him in the air.

Nevertheless it’s interesting, (and sadly ironic), that whereas Paul cites the Rapture to reassure the Believers, the Rapture today is being used as a threatening tool against Believers.

Essentially every post we see on Social Media today evinces a warped understanding of the concept and purpose of the Rapture. The result of this is a church populated by members who’s hearts skip whenever the soon-coming return of their Lord is mentioned.

What can be said to be the root behind this dread of the prospect of the final uniting of a ransomed bride with her Groom? One word: QUALIFICATION.

How many times have we heard things like,

·“Those of you who feel you can skip church service because of bad weather should know that Jesus can come at any time”

· Don’t delay that tithe till next week, what if the Rapture meets it in your hand?”

·“Have you had communion this week? Always live ready”,

·“Are you prepared? Remember Jesus expects 100% perfection”

· etc.

Are those the things that qualify us for the Rapture? The qualification for the Rapture is perfect, absolute righteousness – the very righteousness that the Believer already has in Christ (2Cor 5:17). Indeed, if there should be any concern we should have about the Rapture, it should be the one Mr Mote worries about in the last stanza of his famous hymn: that we should be...

…Dressed in His righteousness ALONE,// FAULTLESS to stand before the throne.

Certainly, the spectre of an unannounced return of Christ should be a cause of dread and alarm for the hypocritical “church-goer”, but for those who have placed their faith in Christ and on His finished work on the Cross, it should be an object of hope and anticipation.

 “On Christ the solid Rock we stand,

All other ground is sinking sand…

All other ground is sinking sand.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

All Other Ground

Apologist Paul Copan once wrote, “Hands down, Mt 7:1 (Judge not, that you be not judged) is the most frequently quoted Bible verse today”. Edward Mote, apparently, does not share that sentiment. The refrain (chorus) of his hymn, “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”, not only affirms that his salvation is based on “Christ the solid Rock”, but it goes further to stress, twice, that “All other ground is sinking sand”.

It’s one thing to say that your hope of salvation is Christ; it’s another to declare that every other person’s hope is wrong! If you do that today, you’ll be accused of bigotry, and of ‘judging’.

Some Christians, in other not to be seen to offend, say that there may be other ways to God, (though Jesus’ way is “preferable”). But Acts 4:12 says “there is NO OTHER name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved.” The Bible doesn’t present a possibility that all religions can attain salvation through their respective paths. Even Jesus Himself declares that “NO MAN comes unto the Father, but by ME”, (Jn 14:6).

One characteristic of “sinking sand” is that, unlike a river, it does not engulf a person immediately. Its suction is ever so gradual and barely perceptible. That’s why the evangelist has more to worry over a pious religious man than over a brazenly sinful sinner.

A robber or prostitute is aware of their shortcomings. The religious person, on the other hand, is couched in so much ceremony, rituals and form, that he becomes deluded into feeling a righteousness that leads to nowhere.

Rather than worry about ‘offending’ members of other faiths, we should know that it’s a greater form of love to affirm the truth to them. And what is this truth? It’s that we’re all sinners before God, and only His solution to sin, the Blood of His Son Jesus Christ, is sufficient to atone for them.

On Christ the solid Rock we stand,

All other ground is sinking sand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

Assurance In The Darkness

When darkness seems to hide His face…

It seems to be an unwritten rule in the life of every young Believer that there comes a time when they begin to doubt the certainty of their salvation. Indeed, it is a testament to the universality of this dark phase of our spiritual walk that many hymnbooks have a section devoted to addressing it. (In the popular SS&S hymnal, the section is called “Assurance and Testimony”, others call it Assurance of Salvation, still others simply “Assurance”).

The key to surviving this season of spiritual darkness and holy anxiety is to look, not to yourself, but to the basis of your salvation in the first place.

Edward Mote, in the 2^nd stanza of his hymn, “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”, says

When darkness seems to hide His face,

I rest on His unchanging grace.

The assurance of our salvation comes from the constancy of God’s favorable countenance towards us. The reason why we’re not consumed, the LORD says in Mal 3:6 says, is because He does not change! God’s not a fickle benefactor; neither are His emotions capricious and unpredictable.

Are you going through a dark season this moment? Are you worried God’s gift of salvation still remains? James 1:17 says, Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father... He is always the same and never makes dark shadows by changing (CEV).

No ship anchors itself to itself. The anchor of your salvation must reside in the One who saved you. Like the Psalmist, when your heart is overwhelmed, you must go to the rock that is higher than you. (Ps 61:2).

That rock is His word and His promise to you. He says, “I will NEVER leave you, nor forsake you”, and says, “Lo, I am with you ALWAYS, even unto the end of the world”. (Hb 13:5; Mt 28:20).

…In every high and stormy gale,

My anchor holds within the veil.

‘On Christ the solid Rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand.’

AMEN.

GREG ELKAN