Monthly Archives: November 2008

Nov 26 2008

A look at history in black and white


Today I took a few hour journey back to the mountains of North Carolina, the place of my birth, and the place where generations of Ogle’s, Fox’s, Thomas’s, and Blevins’s were born, lived, and died. I could feel the cool wind coming across the hill scattering rust colored leaves, turning up the corners of collars, and being greeted with squinted eyes and rosy cheeks. I appreciated the warmth of the noonday sun which can only penetrate those deep hollers a few hours on clear days. I sat on rough cut wooden steps, looking down the road by the creek where you must look sharply up to see the sky in any direction. It is a time and a place where the richness of the black dirt is only surpassed by the lives of it’s citizens who carved out a meager living with calloused hands, strong wills, and faith in the Creator.

My people were common folks, few if any graduated from any school of any kind, but they raised children by the dozens who became “salt of the earth” kind of citizens who drove better cars, lived in houses with indoor plumbing, were better educated, but were cut from the same cloth as generations before them. They were carpenters, mechanics, home makers, and gospel preachers. But for a few sad exceptions they only saw the outside of a jail. As recently as two generations ago, one of my uncles, Bill Wheeler, never owned a car, never worked on a public job, had never lived in a house without an outhouse, but built a reputation as one of the best men in his county. Uncle Bill was a man of God, a fact no person who knew him questioned, but he never claimed to be anything but “saved by grace” and in love with his Lord. He had two brothers who were preachers like him, although Bill would never admit to being a preacher.

Grandpa “Papa” Fox, my maternal grandfather, married my grandma who had a house full of small children, was living in a wilderness area of Avery County, N.C., and had been deserted by a philandering hypocrite husband. Papa and Grandma Fox added three more children, my mom being the first from their union. Papa walked several miles to hitch a ride to work on the Blue Ridge Parkway, leaving at about 4:30 a.m. and returning after dark. He raised most of what was eaten including pigs and chickens and vegetables. There was no electricity, no water in the house, no insulation in the walls, but they joyfully survived, playing the cards dealt them without grumbling and complaining.

Grandpa and Grandma Ogle, my paternal grandparents, lived a few miles West in the same county, living off the land, scratching out a living and managing to raise twelve children, burying another boy when he was an infant. Digging May Apple roots and ginseng, gathering ferns for florists, working in saw mills, and killing wild game and catching fish, fed the Ogle clan except for the coldest part of winter when at least some of the kids would be sent to relatives for a while ‘til “Spring broke” and the garden started to produce food.

I come from good stock. I’m proud of my heritage, my mountain home, and my people. I like to think that in my physical and spiritual DNA there is some of the stuff that makes men strong and faithful to their families and their God.  From birth there was a Good Samaritan some place in me, a kind word, a hug, a helping hand, and a seed of faith that is still alive and well. My grandparents, my parents, and almost all of my many, many aunts and uncles, and countless cousins, claimed Jesus and live, or lived, in His grace.

This morning I went to an old roll top desk that I had as a child and took out a cookie box, and a Christmas card box, both full of pictures, obituaries from the news paper, report cards, high school play programs, and letters, and I revisited history in black and white. This time there was no sadness, no tears, only warm memories and renewed appreciation for my place in the world and for the land and the people who made it possible. I have more relatives in heaven now than on earth, and that is not a bad thing, it’s very good. At 63, I too will graduate soon and I sort of look forward to the home coming.

What wonderful people! What a wonderfully blessed life! What a wonderful God!

It is time to be thankful.

A son of the hills and the One who made them,

Royce

Nov 25 2008

With Thanksgiving to God


Psalm 107 :

O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good; his mercy endureth forever. 

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. 

Verse 8:

Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. 

Verse 15:

Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

For he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron asunder. 

He’s made us free! 

Verse 21:

Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing. 

Verse 31:

Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Let them exalt in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the assembly of the elders. 

Verse 41:

Yet sitteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. 

The righteous shall see it, and rejoice; and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. 

Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.

A beautiful paean of praise to God for his wonderful goodnesses to us. 

One of the most traumatic and moving of all the scenes in American history came to pass on the fifth day of April in 1621.  There stood a little band of 51 Pilgrims on the shore of Plymouth Bay in what is, today, Massachusetts. 

They had endured a terrible winter.  One hundred two of them had come to the new land, the New World, on the Mayflower.  And January and February of that year of 1621, one half, 51, of the band had died.  They were buried in unmarked graves, leveled with the ground, lest the Indians see how few and weak were those that remained.  They were buried on Cole’s Hill overlooking the Plymouth Bay. 

On that fifth day of April in 1621, the 51 survivors stood and watched the Mayflower leave the shores and waters of America.  Not one of the living Pilgrims—not one of these remaining men and women of God, boarded the ship to return back to their homes in England. 

They had come and to find and to build a place of worship in the New World.  And despite the hardships that faced them, and the burden of grief that overwhelmed them, they remained to build a new nation on the new continent called America. 

They were devout people, those pilgrims.  They brought with them their most precious possession: this King James Version of the Bible.  It had been published just nine years before.  And it was the center of their life and their hope and their purpose before God. 

After they built their shelters, where this Bible was the center of their family devotions, they first erected their church where this Bible was preached.  And after building the church house, their next structure was a schoolhouse.  And the textbook of the school was this Bible. 

They elected William Bradford as the governor of their little Pilgrim band.  And in the fall time of 1621, God having graciously blessed the seed they had sown and given them a bountiful harvest to reap, Governor William Bradford announced a time of thanksgivng, the first Thanksgiving in the New World of America. 

And in the fall time of 1621, for three days, they rejoiced in the goodness of God, the friendly Indians outnumbering the Pilgrims.  That was in keeping with what they read in this Bible.  For throughout the Book of Leviticus, the people brought peace offerings to the Lord. 

I think a better translation of the word would be “thanksgiving offerings” to the Lord.  The family, their friends and neighbors, with the officiating priest, they rejoiced as they ate together in the remembrance of heaven. 

Also in this Bible, throughout the Book of Deuteronomy, they read about the Feast of Tabernacles.  You could call it the feast of “in-gathering,” the feast of harvest time.  And in the fall time, the people met by families and thanked God for His wonderful goodnesses in giving them rain from heaven and food from the field. 

Such did the Apostle Paul admonish his people who love the Lord.  In the last chapter of 1 Thessalonians: “Be ye thankful—Be ye thankful, for this is the will of God concerning you.”  And in the last chapter of the Book of Philippians: “Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” 

So, our first pilgrim forefathers, that first year, proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and praise the Lord for His remembrance in the harvest.  That spirit of gratitude to God continued in the growth of the new nation.  After the terrible sacrifices of the Revolutionary War, and after the writing of the Constitution, in the first assembly of the Congress, both Houses passed a joint resolution asking the president—the new President, George Washington—to proclaim a national day of Thanksgiving. 

And this is what our first president wrote in 1789: “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public Thanksgiving and prayer: 

“Now, therefore, I do recommend an assigned Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of November, to be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the magnificent Author of the good that is and that will be, that we may all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and the protection of the people of this country. 

Given under my hand the third day of October, A.D., 1789.”  And signed, George Washington. 

In 1864, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the first national annual holiday to be the last Thursday of November of each succeeding year in which our people were to thank the Lord, as a people, as a nation, for His wonderful goodnesses to the children of men.  And thus, it has continued to this day: a Thanksgiving to our Lord for His remembrance of us. 

So, with pride and gratitude we thank God for the nation they built:

 

This country, our country.

Breathes there the man with soul so dead

Who never to himself hath said

This is my own, my native land.

Whose heart within him never burned

As homeward his weary footsteps turned

From wandering on a foreign strand.

 

God bless America, land that I love.

Stand beside her and guide her

With a light through the night from above.

From the prairies, to the mountains,

to the ocean white with foam.

God bless America, my home, sweet home.

 

And with thanksgiving to God for the faith they bequeathed to us, the Book and the gospel and the assembly of God’s people in the church, those pioneer preachers pressed across the Alleghenies, into the West and ever, ever westward and, finally, brought the message of Christ to us. 

My father, in the beginning days and years of his life, was a cowpoke on the vast ranches in West Texas.  He was converted when he was 27 years of age.  And I’m speaking now of over 72 years ago. 

I can still see in memory and hear those pioneer preachers: uncouth, uneducated, unacceptable in any elegant urban polished pulpit of the day.  But, their hearts were aflame with the love of God.  And their speech was full and moving and eloquent as they brought the message of salvation to the people who lived in the West. 

They established our churches.  They founded our Christian institutions. 

And we owe a debt to them that we could never, ever repay. 

We thank God for the pioneer preachers, and we thank God for the gospel they brought to our homes and our hearts and our people.  With thanksgiving to God, we call to mind and remember the courage and the noble faith by which they faced all of the hardships and trials and troubles of life.  They did it in the love and faith and persuasion of the presence and goodness of the Lord God of heaven. 

An older teenager came to his father one day, and said, “Dad, you know, God is supposed to be a helper for these who are helpless and He’s supposed to champion the poor, but I don’t see it.  This man here who has a place to stay in the station, and all of years of his life, he’s supposed to be one of the best men in the community.  He’s supposed to have honored God with his life, with his home, and his family and with his firstfruits.  But, I don’t see it.  He’s the poorest among us.  And how he lives, I don’t understand.

“And I don’t understand it, see it, Dad, I just don’t.  There are not any troubles that have not come unto him.   All of the vicissitudes and fortunes of life that devastate characterize him.  He has troubles and he lives in devastation. 

A godly man, Christian man, who loves the Lord, but there are no troubles that he doesn’t have.  The wind blows, tear his farmhouse down.  One of his horses was struck by the lightning.  There are no sorrows and no lack that he hasn’t experienced. 

“And I don’t understand it, Dad.  He’s supposed to be a Christian and God’s supposed to take care of him.  But, I don’t see God taking care of him any better than he does anybody else and, seemingly, to me, he’s worse off than anybody we know.” 

And the father replied to his boy, and said, “Son, you’re not old enough to remember.  But, when I knew the old man, he was a drunkard, and his family was in want.  They went hungry and cold in the wintertime.  They suffered. 

“But, son, the old man was converted.  He was saved.  And immediately, he became a new man in Christ Jesus.  They haven’t this world’s goods, as you see some possess.  But, Christ is in their home and the children have been reared in the love in nurture of the Lord and the blessings of heaven are upon them. 

“And by the way, Son, have you talked to the old man and does he complain?  Does he find fault?  Or, does he bless God for the remembrances of heaven that enrich his house and his home.”

And the boy thought and said, “Well, Dad, I just hadn’t thought of it like that.  No, I’ve never heard him complain.  And I’ve never heard him find fault with God.  All I’ve ever heard from him was the blessings that the Lord had bestowed upon him, and how thankful he was for heaven’s remembrance.” 

And the father said to the boy, “Son, that is the blessing and gift of heaven.  All of us are subject to the vicissitudes and fortunes of an ill wind—the disappointments and hurts of life, all of us.  All of us are subject to the passing vicissitudes of time and fortune.  We get old and older.  Inevitably, the day will come when we linger and die. 

“And there are disappointments that dot the day of our pilgrimage. 

We don’t escape them, no matter who we are.  And there’s no place in this earth in which we can hide and thus escape the vicissitudes and fortunes of life.  That is a common denominator and inheritance of all mankind. 

“But, the difference lies in your heart and in your life: to have God as your refuge and strength, and to have Jesus as your partner and to walk with Him through the valley of the shadow, and to have Him to be your friend and companion.  There’s nothing like the blessing of the presence of God known to the human heart.” 

And the boy replied, “Dad, I had never thought of it like that.  That old man is rich and God is blessing his family.  And Dad, we’ll not forget that the great and marvelous and precious blessings, for which we are thankful, are these that come from His bountiful hands.””

And let that be our spirit and our heart and our response, our attitude toward all the vicissitudes and fortunes of life.  Am I well?  Lord, thank you for the gift. 

Am I not well?  Then, Lord, thank you for the comforting presence of the Great and blessed Physician. 

Am I disappointed?  Do I halt?  Do I have problems that seemingly are insoluble?  Then Lord, thank you for being close by.  “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”  Strength is mine because of your love and grace. 

And dear God, how could I thank Thee for that better life that is yet to come, given to us freely in Christ Jesus—maybe poor toward men, but rich toward God: living in a hovel here, but having a mansion over there; sometimes, sadly, alone in a pilgrimage in this life, but someday to accompany angels in the throng that worship and sing the praises of God in heaven.  Oh, how good God is to those who love Him! 

And that is our invitation to your heart today.

 (A message given by Dr. W.A. Criswell to the First Baptist Church of Dallas on November 22, 1987)

Nov 22 2008

How to know you have eternal life from 1st John


Right from the start John makes clear that Jesus Christ himself is eternal life and life is only found in him. This was no theological theory with John. This fact was as real as anything could possibly be.

                                    “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us” (1 John 1:1,2)

John and the others were eye witnesses to the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Christianity is not knowing facts about Christ, or doing the right things, but rather Christianity is centered in the person, Jesus Christ. John starts the book with Jesus, and to put the icing on the cake, he says in the last chapter these words.

                                    “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life”. (1 John 5:11-13)

These are absolute, clear, and unmistakable statements of truth. They are not easily misunderstood if one only reads the text. Sandwiched between the first and fifth chapters is a series of markers, or characteristics that we may use to see if we indeed have Jesus Christ, who is himself eternal life. Many have mistakenly used much of this book to teach salvation by works, which is unfortunate because the clarity of the book is so obvious. Those who have Christ will look like him. A watching world will see one who has the aroma of Christ when they see one who has truly been born from above.

Now what does that person look like, how does he live in a world controlled by the evil one?

1.      He walks in the light. (1 John 1:7) Jesus said those who come to the light have nothing to hide but those who do not come to the light do not because their deeds are evil. A person who is in fact one of God’s own will live in the full light of day. That is he will not hide his sin but will rather confess it and receive God’s cleansing. If you either say you have no sin, or try to hide it by living away from God’s light you are not a child of God. (1 John 1:5-10 )

2.      He keeps His commandments. (1 John 2:3) Those who are genuine children of God have a built in desire to obey what Christ taught. Those who do not obey are not saved. This is easy stuff to understand. The person who says “I know Him”, or “I am a Christian” and shows by his life no desire to please God is a liar and there is no truth in him. (1 John 2:4)

3.      He loves his brother. (1 John 2:10) There is a song that says simply, “If you don’t love your brother you don’t love God”, how very true. Love is not an emotion, love is action, it is only love when it is demonstrated in loving acts. A person who does not act in loving ways toward his brother “still walks in darkness”, still lost. (1 John 2:11)

4.      He does not love the world. ( 1 John 2:15,16 ) A person whose life is marked by a pattern of satisfying the desires of his flesh (sexual immorality, drunkenness, gluttony, etc.) and polishing his ego (bigger houses, more expensive cars, more, more, more) by an unhealthy desire for what the world has to offer is not a child of God.

5.      His life will be marked by generosity. ( 1 John 3:16-18 ) One who has been born again by the Spirit of God will not withhold necessities from those in need. One who does so “closes his heart against him”. An uncaring, stingy person, and at the same time has the love of God in him? Hardly! Christ’s disciples are called to not only talk the talk but also to walk the walk. (1 John 3:18 )

6.      He listens to the word of God. (1 John 4:5,6 ) One way to know who is of “The Truth” and who is not is how they respond to biblical teaching. Those who refuse to hear it (and abide by it) are “not from God”. It is unthinkable that a person would love God and have the love of God in him and not love God’s word.

7.      He has overcome the world. (1 John 5:4,5 ) “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

In the final analysis it is the obedience of faith that distinguishes a child of God from an unbeliever. (Romans 1:17, 4:22, 5:1, 10:14-17) We can know for sure that Christ is in us and that we are in him if these markers in 1st John are evidences seen in our lives.

The truth sets men free.

Royce Ogle

 

 

 

Nov 12 2008

Is Truth absolute? And, can I present it effectively?


Every person who is serious about their personal faith in God, and sharing that faith with others will be blessed by seeing this video. It addresses many questions facing the church today in clear, logical, objective language that will help us have our feet on solid ground as we present truth to others.

I hope you are blessed as I have been by this excellent presentation. Follow this link: GodTube

Comments?

His Peace,
Royce