Rain In Due Season. Noah and Our Time. God's "Watchman". Rotten Apples. Ground Zero Jerusalem. Mariner 4.

For “Scripture Sunday”: 

Rain In Due Season. Submitted July 9, 2012

“Mankind can have a tremendous impact on the natural world around us – such as animal species that have become extinct through mankind’s behavior, changed weather patterns from destroying natural ecosystems, fertile areas teaming with life turned into deserts through deforestation or overuse.  Some say that our chaotic weather conditions are a result of manmade global warming, and are one more example of mankind having a negative impact on this planet.  Whether or not you believe in the Global Warming/Climate Change argument (I don’t), there is no doubt that world-wide weather patterns are not as stable as decades past.  But if Global Warming is not the reason for extreme weather what else could be?

The answer that most of the world refuses to look at is that God is removing His blessing of proper weather conditions.  Make that statement when the topic of strange or violent weather comes up and watch the eyes roll.  God tasked mankind with caring for His creation (Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. See All...) and to be good stewards.  In Leviticus 26:4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. See All...

God also told Israel that if they obeyed His instruction, He would bless them with “rain in its season,” (NKJV).  We are seeing the result of not having rain in its season here in the U.S.: we have forest fires out of control in Colorado; we have a heat wave parked from the mountain states deep into the eastern Midwest region; we saw a violent storm come from nowhere in the Washington D.C./Maryland area that has left millions without power going on a week since that storm; where my family lives here in Wisconsin we have not had measureable rain in two months (the crops in the fields are showing it).  I have not heard anyone say, “ Are we doing something wrong before God ?”  Meanwhile, in England, they are being flooded out with too much rain and there is growing concern this rain will negatively impact the upcoming Olympics.

We have digressed (especially in the western nations) to a point that we have forgotten what God said in Leviticus.  As maker and sustainer of all life, God can certainly change the weather to bless or to curse.  God made clear in Leviticus 26 and in Deuteronomy 28 that there would be blessing for obedience to His law and conversely cursing’s (punishment) for disobedience.  Modern humanistic thought rejects even the possibility of God’s involvement in the affairs of mankind, but God will not be mocked (Galatians 6:7Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. See All...) – and we are reaping what has been sown the last 4 decades in this nation.

What most miss in God’s mercy is that He still sends the rain for the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45) because He desires to show all of mankind His mercies (Psalm 145:9)  so that all will come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  We know this from verses such as 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 “When I shut up haven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land .”

Let us always make sure that we are humble before God, seeking His face and forsaking our wicked ways, so that God will hear us and forgive our sins.”  From: http://www.ucg.org/blog/rain-due-season/

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Noah and Our Time: A Sobering Parallel

“Like the people in Noah's time who laughed and mocked as he built the ark, the end of this age will come when the overwhelming majority are unprepared.

Jesus Christ used the example of Noah's day to reveal the attitudes that would predominate near the end: "But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:37-39 [37] But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. [38] For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, [39] And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. See All...).

Here we see history and prophecy working together. The meaning is clear: The attitude of people in Noah's day would prevail again just before Christ's second coming. As in the former case, God would be deemed as far away, unconcerned about human activities on earth, with life appearing to go on as always (2 Peter 3:3-6 [3] Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
[4] And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. [5] For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: [6] Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: See All...).     

Like before, people would be unconcerned as to their true spiritual condition and blind to God's impending judgment.

The key to the example Christ gave is to understand that people can be so concerned about the cares of this life that they ignore their Creator (Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
See All...; Luke 21:34-35 [34] And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
[35] For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. See All...). 

It happened before, and it is happening again.

The apostle Paul similarly foretold the overall self-seeking mind-set that would dominate people's thinking in the last days: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

This perfectly describes the overall attitude and outlook of our age. Such thinking will prevent the vast majority of humanity from believing God and the biblical warning signs indicating Christ's imminent return. Like the people in Noah's time who laughed and mocked as he built the ark, the end of this age will come when the overwhelming majority are unprepared.”   From: http://www.ucg.org/booklet/are-we-living-time-end/what-time-end/noah-and-our-time-sobering-parallel/

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God's "Watchman".

July 3, 2012 - “What is the critical role of one sent by God to warn the people?”

Transcript at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-daily/news-and-prophecy/gods-watchman

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What Does it Mean to Watch?

July 5, 2012 - “Christ told His disciples to "watch" as preparation for the second coming. What does this mean?”

“Did you miss one of the videos in the "Bible Prophecy and You" series? Watch all the videos at this location on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDD5D3E022BC540EB
Watch other archived BT Daily videos at http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/daily”

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Rotten Apples

It has long been known that one rotten apple in a barrel can spoil those near it.

“In almost any activity, such as an athletic club, office team, ship crew or almost anywhere that a group of people are to work together as a team, care must be taken to ensure good teamwork. Every so often a team member is present who infects others with a complaining and negative attitude. He is known as a rotten apple because of his impact on the morale of the whole team. Such a person needs to be removed.

Christians are admonished not to keep company with evil and wicked people, unless some of that rub off on them. Paul wrote that Christians were not to keep company with sexually immoral people (1 Corinthians 5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
See All...). He meant within the Church, but even in this world—although we cannot escape being with such people in the workplace or other areas—we ought to not spend a lot of time with them or try to befriend them.

King Solomon seemed to have the best of intentions in obedience to God, but little by little the company of his pagan wives perverted his thinking. One rotten apple can spoil a barrel, so the apple needs to be removed or all the good apples need to leave. It is easier to remove the rotten apple.” From: http://www.ucg.org/this-is-the-way/rotten-apples/

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On WGN this morning: Ground Zero Jerusalem

”A small area of land in this ancient city will be the focal point of Bible prophecy. Your life will be intensely affected.”

Transcript at: http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-program/news-and-prophecy/ground-zero-jerusalem

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On This Day:

Mariner 4 studies Martian surface, Jul 15, 1965:

“The unmanned spacecraft Mariner 4 passes over Mars at an altitude of 6,000 feet and sends back to Earth the first close-up images of the red planet.

Launched in November 1964, Mariner 4 carried a television camera and six other science instruments to study Mars and interplanetary space within the solar system. Reaching Mars on July 14, 1965, the spacecraft began sending back television images of the planet just after midnight on July 15. The pictures--nearly 22 in all--revealed a vast, barren wasteland of craters and rust-colored sand, dismissing 19th-century suspicions that an advanced civilization might exist on the planet. The canals that American astronomer Percival Lowell spied with his telescope in 1890 proved to be an optical illusion, but ancient natural waterways of some kind did seem to be evident in some regions of the planet.

Once past Mars, Mariner 4 journeyed on to the far side of the sun before returning to the vicinity of Earth in 1967. Nearly out of power by then, communication with the spacecraft was terminated in December 1967.”

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Yesterday:

After our long Saturday morning talk on the phone with my daughter, I got ready for church.  Jay had said that he wanted to go, and bring his son too. 

Ray and Jim the mechanic were towing Ray’s car down to Jim’s, and as Ray’s blood pressure was really up, I followed them to run interference with my flashers on, and to bring Ray back.  While they were maneuvering it into the right place at Jim’s, Misty I and went down to see if Jay was getting ready.   I banged on his window, and he hollered that he was sick, (again), and wasn’t going to church.  So I took Ray home.  Jay usually wants to go to the morning service in Conroe, whereas I like to go to the afternoon one the other side of Willis, so that’s where I went. 

Instead of Bible Study they were having their monthly game which is something like Jeopardy, but with subjects out of the Bible. The men on one side and the ladies on the other.  Everyone has a chance to participate, and fortunately I knew the answer when it was my turn, but the men won. 

Three little girls had made cardboard replicas of The Tower of Babel, and re-enacted that story.  The service was very interesting, and they showed part of the YouTube “In My Seat - A Pilot's Story from Sept 10th – 11th”  http://youtu.be/cLj4akmncsA and Steve Scheibner’s life altering experience, which makes him even more dedicated to spreading God’s Word.

It poured down during the service, but quit by the time we had the delicious pot luck in the Fellowship Hall.  Several people asked after Jay, so I hope he will go another day.