Dipping from the Cistern

"Dipping from the Cistern"

Choice gems from William Gurnall

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The gospel is God's heart in print!

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That book must be worth reading--that has God for the author!

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Do not say that  you love Christ, so long as you can lay those sins in your bosom--which plucked His heart out of His bosom! It were strange if a child should keep, and delight to use, no other knife but that with which his mother was stabbed to death!

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The pleasures of sin must needs be short, because life cannot be long--and they both end together. 

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Cease to pray--and you will begin to sin. 
Prayer is not only a means to prevail for mercy--but also to prevent sin.

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To forsake sin, is to leave it without any thought reserved of returning to it again. 

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The sheep may fall into a ditch--but it is the swine that wallows in it!
Take heed of deliberate sins! 

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"He who is his own teacher, is sure to have a fool for a master!"

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Of all men out of Hell, none more to be pitied than he who hangs over the mouth of it, and yet is fearless of his danger.

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A Christian should deny himself of the world's carnal joys and delights, lest the ungodly say, "These Christians draw their joy out of our cistern!"

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He who has God's heart--cannot lack His arm!

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It is impossible for an evil heart, to think well of an afflicting God.

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"Faithful are the wounds of a friend--but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Proverbs 27:6 God's wounds cure--sin's kisses kill.

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            Living among those who call themselves Christians for so many years, I am convinced that most have no foundation at all in Christianity.  I asked one deacon in a Baptist Church, "Do you really believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead?"  He claimed to believe in Jesus, the power of God, wanted to believe in life after death, but really did not believe that Jesus was raised from the dead... so his entire faith was in vain, his church life a fraud.   Even Jesus' disciples, those who knew Him best, were transformed after His resurrection.   You must believe in the rebirth of the Holy Spirit in your life (your old man of sin and rejection replaced by the Holy Spirit of Christ, Christ living in you, a new creation).

            I have asked college students if they had been convinced by their educated professors about evolution.  Again, they want to hum and haw about believing in God.  The devil believes in God and trembles (James 2:19).  I say to the same college student, "You have seen many machines, much technology, do you actually think these machines just "fell" together, evolved?  That today's technology was not designed by a superior mind?"  God has given us His manufacture's handbook, His answer to every question.  Two thousand years on this side of the cross, are we still too stupid to believe and study every word in His book?

The Message of Easter

Everywhere you look, you see the signs of spring, new beginnings, nature awakening from a long, cold winter. God's Will is always accomplished through the activity of human beings, and His Will will be done. In the council chambers of eternity, He designed everything, every life, every season. God is not shocked at anything, He is certainly not shocked at anything I might say, He planned it all. Mere mortals cannot believe the majesty of God, His sovereignty, His omnipotence, His omniscience, His love for you. The first prophecy of God's Word is Genesis 3:15: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

In a hotel in Athens, Greece, newly-arrived, I had studied the Acropolis in college, the great Parthenon, I could hardly wait to climb that Athenian hill. I must have felt like Paul as he made that steep climb and then said to his followers, “here is a statue to an unknown God” (Acts 17:23). Before the time of Bibles, few scriptures before 95 AD, before the time of churches, pulpits, preachers, Paul spoke with eloquence about that which he knew, that there were 400 hundred years between Abraham and Moses, and now we know that most of the world's population are descendents of Joesph's two son Ephraim and Manasseh, Caucasians and Anglo-Saxons. The real Jews are Hebrews from the other tribes just as Isaac and Ishmael were brothers, Abraham had children from other concubines, and as the sands of the sea, all of us are related.

One need not be a minister to be spiritual, one would have thought that Peter would have been quiet at Pentecost, but he had experienced something that few men could express and he preached from an experience, 3000 were saved. He knew what it was to deny, and he knew what it was to be forgiven. Most of his hearers, both Jews and Gentiles, knew little about prophecies and promises, but they recognized the real thing when they heard it from someone who was truly convinced, who like the other disciples and followers had had an cataclysmic experience.

At this Easter season, forget about giving and getting, rabbits laying eggs, even egg hunting. The golden thread of the resurrection runs totally through the scriptures, Genesis to Revelation. The message of Easter is our risen Lord, without that, all is lost.

Take the miraculous, take the supernatural out of Christianity and you have nothing left.

Jesus preached Himself, He told us that He is life, way, door, bread, light. He was either the greatest fraud the world has ever known, or He was who He said He was. He told us that we must make Him our master, that He is more important than father, mother, sister, brother. 15 times in the Sermon on the Mount, He proclaimed His authority. Even His disciples, who He chose, those who saw Him raise the dead, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, feed thousands with a small boy's lunch, did not really understand. Think of John, the youngest, self-centered, the only one who did not die as a martyr asking his mother to request from Jesus to let him sit next to Him in glory. John did not show much love, but wrote the epistle of love. Thomas, the hard-headed one, doubted everything and made incredulous statements. Peter warmed himself by the enemies' fire and denied Him at the most critical time in his life.

The pseudo-intellectuals, the Jesus seminar crowd, those who just play church have sought to discount the true power and deity of Jesus Christ. Any person who tells you that they do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, please do the following: ask several questions about the life of Christ, His resurrection, His ascension, you will find they have never spent 20 hours studying the resurrection of Christ, next to His birth, the greatest event in the history of the world. In order to deny Christ, in order to deny His sacrifice for them, knowing that they have no other alternative, except going to hell, had rather cling to their wisdom of unbelief than the miracle of redemption through Christ. The one fact of faith that separates Christianity from every other religion is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Those who knew Him best, His disciples were never the same after the resurrection, it was a cataclysmic event which changed their lives. If they had been weak before, they were strong afterwards. Those of us who have seen the Himalayas can appreciate the disciple Thomas walking across the Himalayas to India, carrying the Gospel, where he was martyred, I have stood by the monument there. Bartholomew was skinned alive in Armenia, Luke hanged from a olive tree in Greece, Mark martyred in Alexandria, Peter crucified upside down, Paul beheaded. There was no telephones, no newspapers, no telegraphs, the word is “alone”; alone, they were martyred knowing that they would never see one another. That even if they had denied in order to save their life, no one would ever know. The cataclysmic experience they had felt and experienced, is the same experience every Christian should feel at this Easter season.

Every one is a expert at religion, particularly at the university level. From the farmer to microbiologist, most can wax and wane about religion and what they think. It makes no difference what you think, the truth is the truth whether anyone believes it or not. The scripture tells us that the disciples, other followers even as many as 500 witnessed His life after clinical death. Some say that the Jews moved Him, some said His disciples stole the body, some said the women were mixed up in the graveyard, the most ridiculous of all, that He resuscitated after a Roman crucifixion, or equally ridiculous the entire matter of the crucifixion was a hallucination.

From that Easter to this Easter, His followers are either liars or tellers of the truth. We know the living Christ, we know the ascension, we expect and await His return. His disciples would not go through what they went through for a lie. Today's Christians will not go through what we go through for a lie.

Thou my everlasting Portion, more than friend or life to me,
All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.

--- Close To Thee – Hymn (Fanny Crosby)

Exegesis

#542

Exegesis

In the “roaring” 1920's and 1930's dance contests, trying to prove endurance were the activity of the young set. In the Audubon Ballroom in New York City, Alma Cummings, on March 31st 1923 outlasted all competition, dancing 27 hours. I was not there, I had not been born, all we have are the records of the event from those who were there and the recording of the event.

This is Holy week, recognizing the second greatest event in the history of the world, the crucifixion and resurrection of our blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, only begotten son of God, the creator, atonement sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Real Christians, all over the world, have the discernment of the “exegesis” of this great historical and spiritual event. At your on risk, you deprecate this greatest event in Christianity.

Every Jewish family celebrates the passover, as did our Jewish Lord and his disciples. The youngest male in the Jewish family asks four questions in celebrating passover. Each question begins with this phrase, “why is this night different from all other nights?”

“On all other nights, we eat either unleavened or leavened bread, but tonight we eat only unleavened bread?”
“On all other nights, we eat all kinds of vegetables, but tonight, we eat only bitter herbs?”
“On all other nights, we do not dip [our food] even once, but tonight we dip twice?”
“On all other nights, we eat either sitting or reclining, but tonight we only recline?”

In Egypt, on that passover night, a young spotless lamb had been brought into the family, they had shown their love for it. But the father, as did our Heavenly Father allowed the lamb to be killed, its blood poured on the door post of the house so the death angel passed over. In Pharaohs house, in all Egyptian's houses, even the animals of the Egyptians...even after all the plagues, the oldest son was killed but, the Jewish families escaped Egypt...over 2.5 million...passing through the Red Sea on dry land heading toward the promised land. As with another salvation, many years before, on the other side of the flood, eight human beings were saved. God has arranged for our salvation, through the sacrifice of his only son, the Word (John 1) with him from the very foundation of the universe. The Jews knew what it was to be saved.

Christianity started out stranger than science-fiction, a man being raised from the dead. Genesis 3:20 forever solves evolution...with the creation of Adam and Eve...from the dirt of the earth...the same elements in the human body that you find in dirt. It has never changed and, whether attempts at killing people in Russian subways (7 million Russians travel by subway each day), bullying of a young girl in the state of Massachusetts so that she commits suicide, technology has changed the world but the human heart is still evil and we have only one salvation.

Jesus Christ never offered salvation any way except through him. He presented himself as salvation, a person. He told us that he was the way, the truth, the life...the light, the door...the bread of life. Jesus Christ was either the biggest fraud in history, or the truth.

He was one with us in order to redeem us...putting on a “tent of human flesh” and dwelled among us. The essence of everything is his word. Opening the bible is looking into the mind of God. Don't cheapen God talking about other books, “the Book of Mormon”, “Science and Health” (Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science, not Christian or science). All authority in Heaven and Earth were given to Christ. You do not need further explanations from Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons or anyone else. The average defiler of God's word, academics, Atheists etc. has never spent 20 hours of study in God's word determining the truth of the resurrection. The skeptics of his day asked him for a sign. God has no intention of giving anyone a sign about anything except, Jonah, who spent three days in the belly of a large fish. We worship the sovereign God of the universe, HE IS BOSS.

The resurrection is the basis of Christianity and it is a fact. Some doubted then, grieved women wandering around in a cemetery missed the tomb, the Jews moved him, and of course the scientific explanation, he became resuscitated after the cross...the usual answers of gnosticism. Everyone is an expert in religion. Some of the simplest minded people I have ever known, people not interested in anything, knew all about religion. Most people who speak about Christ do not know him. Who would risk an empty, Christ-less grave...your own or that of Christ without thoroughly investigating? The disciples who witnessed the resurrection witnessed, held him, after his resurrection, knew the truth. They convinced the world, from then until now. These disciples were so convinced, so convinced that, alone, knowing they would never see one another again, became martyrs: Bartholomew skinned alive in Armenia, Luke hanged in Greece, Mark dragged trough the streets of Alexandria in Egypt, Thomas crossing the worst mountains in the world, the Himalayas, going all the way to India, Peter the weakest of the disciples, tempestuous, denying our Lord until the very end crucified upside down, John self centered, showing little love for anyone except himself, becoming the giant of scripture. His followers, His church, knew him in life, knew him in the resurrection, knew him in his ascended glory.

This one event, the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord, dramatized in Baptism, completely captivated in one cataclysmic event, the men and women of his day. We either become a new creation in him or it was all for nothing. Peter was a miserable failure but Christ specifically said, after his resurrection, “go tell Peter”, picking him out among all the others. Mark, dropping his white robe in the garden of Gethsemane, had deserted in fear. People do not go through what his disciples went through for a lie. Thousands, who have been martyred, on mission fields, do not go through what they have gone through for a lie. Today's Christians, do not subject themselves to the unbelief, disbelief, and recycled hypocrisy of the world, for a lie.

If your Easter is just a good time, new Spring clothes, chocolate rabbits and colored eggs, you have missed the true meaning of Easter. Even, if you observe Lent, prayer, fasting and repentance, without knowing the relationship of Christ, you have missed the true meaning of Easter. “To know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Phl 3:10)

Easter

In a few days, we will celebrate the second greatest event in the history of the world, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the day specified as Easter. Of course, the greatest event in the history of the world was the birth of Christ, a day specified as Christmas. Christmas was marked by a borrowed manger, Easter is marked by a borrowed tomb. He was rich yet for our sakes became poor, that we, through his poverty, might become rich. Most children know little about the meaning of Easter. The day has been castigated to rabbits laying eggs, bonnets and bouquets. Most church people, who claim the name of Christ, know little about the blessed meaning of the day.  Christians are good for captivating heathen holidays and festivals.  Easter originally came from the Pagan goddess Eostre. Like Christmas, which should be the holiest day of the year, it has become a holiday of browsing and brewing, shopping and selling, and Easter, gorging and gourmet. Church people see a table in the front of the church in which the words are carved, “In remembrance of me.” The only time we were instructed to celebrate his life, was the “blessed” event of his death. His death marked by mockery and mercilessness.

Seven hundred years before his birth, the Prophet Isaiah told us about his death.  (Isaiah 53) Early in the morning, every day of my life, I remember what our Blessed Lord did for me on Calvary by having my time of communion when I eat a small piece of bread representing his body, broken for me, and have a small sip of wine representing his shed blood given for me in forgiveness of my sins. You see, I believe there is healing in the broken body of Our Lord represented by the bread and I know there is forgiveness in the blood of Our Lord represented by the wine. It is tragic indeed, that even at this time of year, this day of the year, so few Christians do not have this time of remembrance.

Recently, a pastor told me that his church routinely observed the Lord’s Supper during the week at a prayer service two or three times a year. With government checks, most needy people are starving to death for God’s care. I am convinced, most do not believe in prayer any more as shown by the few who go to a prayer service. So, one Sunday morning, he announced that they would have a communion service. He said, “Many there had never participated in a communion service and some not since baptism.” He said, “I have never seen so many tears. All of a sudden they realized what their salvation was all about.” This is the true meaning of Easter.

Recently, listening to the 11 o’clock church service on a local radio station, the pastor said, “ We were supposed to celebrate our Lord’s Supper this morning but the great juice we were going to use has spoiled so we will have to put it off.”  The question occurred to me, are the deacons and others so lazy and unconcerned with this wonderful observance that they cannot check the elements ahead of time? And, since it is a symbol, water or soda, or some other type juice could be used. Unlike the Catholics, where the Eucharist is celebrated, non-Catholics use a symbol. Since we are all priest, if we have the Holy Spirit of God possessing our body, we can celebrate the Lord’s Supper anywhere, anytime. The most blessed time of renewal you can spend, I think it should be done daily, is remembering what he did for us on Calvary asking for healing through his broken body and forgiveness through his shed blood.  This time of communion, commitment and prayer can keep you going when you want to quit, I say this especially to the disabled and the despondent. 

Eight hundred miles off the West Coast of Chili, in the pacific, is Easter Island.  I spent one week there many years ago simply because a plane went to the island one time a week.  Now if I had not been able to leave on that plane the following week, I would have done some crying, also.  After all, how many of these Moai statues can you study.  (Moai statues are monolithic human figures carved from rock and stand on the perimeter of the island.  They date between 1250 CE and 1500 CE.)  Most weigh around 75 tons and are about 30 feet high.  Almost all moai have oversized heads and it is still a mystery of their carving and transportation.  The people of Easter Island are beautiful and healthy, probably due to their seafood diet.  They wanted me to see their hospital, there was not one patient in the hospital.

I live in a remarkably beautiful part of the world, coastal eastern NC.  God was particularly good to the people of this area because we have tree and plant beauty unsurpassed anywhere else in the world.  It has been about 50 years since I have been able to see anything, but I can remember the colors of the azaleas, cut flowers, dogwoods, and other floral of the artistry of God. Few people mention the beauty to me because honestly, I think they see very little. Helen Keller in her 1904 book said, “ I have friends who go out and see flowers and birds, and returning home I ask them what they saw. Most say, “I didn’t see anything.”” As my friend Dr. Helen Robinson of University of Chicago said, “ I would give anything to walk from one room to another with out running into something.”

Next to life, your most valuable possession is your eyesight. Put some adhesive tape over your eyes, try living each day as do the blind, preparing your food, getting dressed to go somewhere, etc, just the simple things of life and then think what you miss by not being able to see the floral and fauna around you.  There is a children’s museum a short distance from my house, when I go out to my car, the most beautiful sound in the world, more beautiful then any symphony, are the voices of the laughter of those children. There are trees and bushes in my backyard and other places I hear birds, more beautiful than an earthly choir. The grape had to die to make the wine which we use in the resurrection celebration. The kernel of wheat had to die in order to make the bread we use in the celebration of the resurrection. Easter is a time for renewal, the putting seed in the ground for garden vegetables and garden flowers.

Christ died to give us an abundant life, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)  More then words, Christianity is a way of life, “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Dr. Paul Tillich, Union Theological Seminary, one of the four most influential theologians of the 20th century said, “I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment.”

IOU

I worked for John McCain in his Presidential bid. I sent him money although, in the past, I had agreed with him on very few things, I knew he was a better choice than the one you people selected. We will never recover from the Obama Presidency. Yesterday, I heard McCain's daughter, Meghan, on a national talk show say she is a “progressive Republican”. By progressive Republican she means, pro-choice (pro-abortion), pro-gay rights (gay marriage), and pro-welfare and health care for everyone. Like George W. Bush, “the compassionate Conservative”, neither the McCains or the Bushes...both families rich beyond dreams, have ever known what it is to work or want for anything.

A few real Christians have been in political office. The late Senator Jesse Helms was one. He told me once that the Social Security trust fund was just one big IOU. We know now that Social Security is bankrupt. Starting this year, there are no increases for the next two years and then, with the bankruptcy of the nation, Social Security will slowly disappear.

In the American experiment, debt is a new transition. I remember when there was little indebtedness...you had the layaway plan for merchandise and on the front porch of many black homes was an envelope where you put a quarter for your burial insurance. A collector came around each week to collect it. The promissory note you signed at the bank for your mortgage or anything else was debt property of the bank. But, with the Barney Franks of this world the banks sold these mortgages and promissory notes as bales of derivatives and now, if you are in financial trouble you have no idea who you owe. Of course, most banks will have these instruments recorded at the court house.

I remember the first credit cards. I could not imagine anything so dangerous. We have lived to learn of their danger. Just as the federal reserve took over the banks and all currency, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) took over the reserve banks and they are all instruments of the United Nations. We are now in a cauldron of financial stew involving the entire global “one world government”. The banks learned early to suck everyone into the cavern of debt. What better method than a credit card, mailed to everyone who is still room temperature...children, elderly, poverty stricken. One year, I got 59 credit cards from various sources. Each time one came in I would put it in a box and towards the end of the year I had my assistant photograph all of these credit cards, and then at my expense, I sent all of these credit cards to the North Carolina Attorney General and explained to him, since evidently they were too stupid to know, why the general public has so much trouble with ID theft and debt. There is an average 8,500 dollar credit card debt for every family.

I get so sick hearing rich, liberal Democrats as well as Republicans (McCain-Bush) talk about conservation or conservatism. Older Americans were reared at a time when you paid for your services, your needs, everything, those who went through the trauma of the Great Depression, 1930s-1940, (when the banks closed or only had services for the elitest few) will know the importance of the words of Paul in his letters to the Romans when he said, “Owe no man nothing but to love one another” (Romans 13:8). Neither a borrower nor a lender be;

For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. (Shakespeare's Hamlet)

Look at your children, your grand children. Don't you realize the parasites have taken over? Lies, promises, decadence beyond words to describe. There has been an invasion of intelligence that the profits or poets could never have predicted. The church has not escaped. We are approaching the second most important event in the world, Easter. If Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead, our faith would be in vain, life as we know it would be a waste yet, the world has so invaded the church that the resurrection story is represented by a rabbit laying colored eggs in a basket...almost as ridiculous as Santa Claus representing the greatest event in the history of the world...the savior of the world...the only reason for life or living. Richard Bauckham, in his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, reiterates the value of the personal testimony of the early Christians in describing Jesus and the early church.

The third most important book in Christianity is CS Lewis's The Case For Christianity in which he places his entire argument on morality. Humans cannot know to yearn for something that does not exist. Water is the only substance that will satisfy thirst. Only God can give Joy.

Both Cane and Esau were probably “nice guys”. Even these first creations of the Creator wanted life “their way”. It was thousands of years later that Sinatra went to hell singing, “I did it my way”.

Whether individually or as a nation, we are destined to learn of the omnipotence of God. We think we human beings are so smart, that we can get out of a hole by digging, that we can spit in the face of the very One who flung the stars into space, that we can deny His existence, His “so great salvation”. God does not accept an IOU.