"Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation."  It has changed now and again from that day over two centuries ago, but the American flag still means to us what it did then—a symbol of a new nation, no longer a colony belonging to a mad king.
            The thirteen red and white stripes represent the original thirteen colonies.  The fifty stars represent the fifty states in the union.  Even the colors are symbolic.  Red symbolizes hardiness and valor.  White symbolizes purity and innocence.  Blue symbolizes vigilance, perseverance, and justice.
            The symbolism of flags and banners is nearly as old as man himself.  In Num 2:2 we see that every tribe of Israel had a banner, a flag, which flew over their encampment.  Like the American flag, the images on the flags were symbolic.  Unfortunately we do not have a Biblical record of those symbols.  The best we can do are various rabbinic lists, and some of them do make sense.  The image on Judah’s banner, for instance, was supposedly a lion, taken from Jacob’s description of Judah in Gen 49:9 as a “lion’s whelp.”  Benjamin’s flag pictured a wolf, we are told, based on his description as a “scavenging wolf” in 49:27.  The odd thing to me is that some of these symbols are anything but complimentary.  Dan’s symbol, for example, is a snake:  Dan shall be a serpent in the way, An adder in the path, That bites the horse's heels, So that his rider falls backward.  49:17.
            And so I found myself wondering what if God ordered a flag act, requiring us to fly a banner outside every meetinghouse?  What would be on them?  What would represent our “tribe” of God’s people?
            I wonder if we could somehow depict the city of Gibeah (Judg 19) on every flag outside an unwelcoming group of brethren, people who ignored the ones who weren’t dressed well or who showed up in leather and covered in tattoos?  Maybe we could put a whitewashed sepulcher on the flags of those who sit in the pews on Sunday but live like the Devil the rest of the week.  Perhaps phylacteries would be the picture on the flag of those congregations who could quote verse after verse, but who never served their neighbors or each other.  Maybe we could put a big puff adder on the flag of those who were “conceited and puffed up” with “an unhealthy craving for controversy,” 1 Tim 6:4.  And don’t forget one with a rendition of Judas kissing Jesus for those congregations who betray God by ignoring His authority in all they do.
            It would certainly be handy wouldn’t it, far better than those “directories.”   Then we could look for flags showing foot washing—truly a church of servants.  We could look for flags depicting an open Bible for those known for their love of the Truth and spreading it.  We could even look for embroidered hearts denoting love and sincerity. 
            I am sure you are sitting there right now trying to decide what should be on your congregation’s flag.  Here is something even more important for you to consider for the rest of the day:  what would God put on your own personal flag, the one flying right outside your home?
 
You have given a banner to them that fear you, That it may be displayed because of the truth. Psalms 60:4.
 
Dene Ward

If you grew up during the Cold War, you know about the Berlin Wall.  After World War II, the political ideologies between the USSR and most of the West became more and more at odds.  Finally, Communism overtook Eastern Europe and most of Asia.  Nikita Kruschev, the General Secretary of the Communist Party in the USSR, made it plain that their goal was to completely conquer the rest of the World.  We all grew up a little anxious.  During the Cuban Missile Crisis, which we explored in another post, we were a hair's breadth from World War III.  All of the school children in my Florida county wore dog tags, had a stash of canned goods with their names on it in the classrooms, and practiced diving under their desks whenever a plane flew over.  Many of our neighbors built bomb shelters in their backyards.
            One of the symbols of Communism and the terror it caused was the Berlin Wall.  After the war, Germany was divided into East (Communist) and West (free) sections.  And the capital city Berlin was divided into four zones, three controlled by western powers and 1 by the Communists.  After East Germany lost 1/6 of its population (4 million) to those who were escaping, the leaders decided to build the wall.  It went up in one night, August 12-13, 1961, first as strands of barbed wire.  As time went on, buildings were torn down to add two concrete walls, dog runs, bright lights, even mine fields, and "the order to shoot" was given to the guards.  The wall ran 155 km in length straight across the city center and around West Berlin.  At least 140 people died trying to cross the wall.  70 tunnels were dug, only 19 of which were successful, but over 300 people managed to escape that way.
            The Berlin Wall stood for almost 30 years.  Along came Mikhail Gorbachev, and a new policy called glastnost, a new openness in Soviet government.  A few people were no longer terrified to say a few things against the system.  Still, many were afraid to cause trouble.  Perhaps it was the leftover fear from the Cold War, but perhaps it was just the usual fear that leads to something called "diplomacy," which too often means compromise.  Finally an American president stood up to the system he dared to call an "Evil Empire."  In a speech in Berlin on June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan said: 
"Behind me stands a wall that circles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe…Standing before the Brandenburg Gate,every man is a German, separated from his fellow men.  Every man is a Berliner, forced to l ook upon a scar---As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind…
            "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate.
            "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate!
            "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
            The fall of the "Iron Curtain," as Communism had begun to be called, began 2 years later, and the wall was down by 1990.  Most historians say this speech helped to that end, even though many of his own advisors tried to stifle President Reagan, even on the very day he gave it.  To the East Germans it was liberation.
            Christians are aware of another Wall that has come down, a wall Jesus himself brought down.  Wherefore remember, that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances; that he might create in himself of the two one new man, [so] making peace Eph 2: 11-15.
            The wall between Jew and Gentile was a wall far larger than any other has ever been.  It began back in Genesis as God whittled down the population into the one group through whom the Messiah would be born.  Nation after nation was rejected and the Jews, rather than being the light to the Gentiles, did their best to alienate themselves from them, creating a hatred that lasted through the centuries.  Now Christ has torn down that hated wall and made freedom available to all--the greatest freedom we can imagine—freedom from sin and death.  I am one of the liberated, and perhaps you are too.
            People today may have forgotten the horror of the Berlin Wall, but the destruction of that other wall should never be forgotten, and no one, regardless his race, gender, or status in life should be denied the description "child of God."  Praise God for tearing down the Wall and making us all one new people.  Let no one separate us from each other again.
 
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many as were immersed into Christ put on Christ; there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither servant nor freeman, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus; and if you [are] of Christ then you are seed of Abraham, and heirs according to promise Gal3:26-29.
 
Dene Ward
 

I was a college girl, just a year older than Patricia Hearst, the heiress to the Hearst publishing empire, when a group calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped her from her off-campus apartment in San Francisco.  Two months later, on April 15, 1974, she appeared on grainy black and white security camera footage helping those same captors rob a bank.
            She was eventually captured and sent to prison for awhile because the jury could not accept the psychiatrist’s diagnosis of Stockholm Syndrome, a malady officially named after a bank robber kept hostages in a Stockholm bank vault for 131 hours.  Like Patty Hearst, they emerged from the ordeal exhibiting sympathy for their captors.  The mind does strange things when under stress. 
            Doctors say this happens when the abductors constantly tell the victim there is no hope, that no one knows where he is and no one will rescue him.  They spin lies about their own “mistreatment,” while abusing the victim at the same time.  They tell the victim he is going to die, repeating it not just once, but over and over.  Then for some unaccountable reason they do something nice for that same victim.  The victim grows not only to depend upon his captor, but to identify with him as well.  That is Stockholm syndrome, and anyone who has struggled with sin should recognize the symptoms.
            But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members, Romans 7:23.
            In meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will, 2 Timothy 2:25-26.
            Sin abducts a man and tells him lies like the one Satan told Eve—“God is just selfish, you won’t die--you’ll be just like him.”  It tells him he’s stupid to listen to anyone else.  It tells him that no one else cares, that no one can save him, and that he will die anyway, so why not die having fun?  Satan, the father of all lies, tells the captive that he is the only one who really cares and the only one who can do anything for him.  Satan is the one who started Stockholm syndrome, not that bank robber in Sweden.
            We tell people over and over that sin is deceptive, that once you are in you may never get out.  Sooner or later you reach a point where you won’t listen to anyone.  …being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, Ephesians 4:18-19.
            What scares me is this doesn’t have to be heinous sin to work.  People who spend their days gossiping will become impervious to any sermons on the subject.  Satan has told them, “You’re only trying to help,” and they believe him.  People who begin every sentence about a person with, “I’ll never forget when he did [this] to me,” will never heed the lesson about the unforgiving servant who was handed over to the torturers for his lack of mercy.  “That’s different,” Satan tells them, and they believe that too.  Any sin can deceive you.  Any sin can take you captive, even the smallest.
            What can we do?  Never excuse sin in yourself.  Look to Jehovah, the Psalmist says in 25:15, and he will pluck you out of the net—he’ll rescue you from those abductors.  Exhort one another, the Hebrew writer says in 3:13, so that you won’t be so easily deceived.  Prove the spirits, John tells us in 1 John 4:1, and look for the way of escape Paul adds in 1 Cor 10:13. 
            Don’t open the door when Satan knocks.  Don’t let yourself be taken captive.
 
But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord...There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 7:23-8:2
 
Dene Ward

            On April 6, 1896, the first modern day Olympics opened in Athens, Greece, after a break of 1500 years.  You will find varying accounts but there were 240-280 athletes from 13 or 14 countries who participated in 43 events.  The games were organized by the International Olympic Committee, created by Pierre de Coubertin.  First place received a silver medal and second a copper medal.  The IOC has now retroactively awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals as the custom came to be.  So with that in mind, at the first modern Olympiad, the United States won the most gold medals at 11, but the Greeks won the most overall at 47.  The games were so successful that they continued every four years with the exception of 1916 (World War I) and 1940 and 1944 (World War II).
            While I was doing the research for this post I came across a reference to an athlete from the original Olympics period, the 207th Olympiad in 47 AD.  Melankomas of Caria won the boxing event.  Legend has it that he won without dealing a single blow and without being hit.  He trained day and night and his endurance was such that it is said he could hold up his arms to defend himself and dodge blows for two days straight until the opponent simply wore himself out and could no longer fight.  Obviously there were no time limits or rounds in those days.  A good discussion of the man and the history of Greek boxing in general can be found on WordPress, "The Arms Man" and "The Greatest Boxer of All Time."  You will also find more varying information about exactly when he boxed, for even that information is a little unsettled.
            After reading this piece I found myself reciting Isaiah 53:  He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth, Isa 53:7.  Jesus won the battle with Satan not by striking him down but by taking our punishment upon himself; not by fighting back but by rising from the dead.  The "blow" Jesus dealt to Satan was a sinless life and the resurrection from the dead.
            Melankomas was not the first boxer by that name in the ancient Olympics.  The first was his father, and he simply took up his father's occupation and perfected it.  Jesus asks the same of his disciples.  "Follow me," he said again and again.  And "Turn the other cheek," "Love your enemies," "Reconcile with your brother," be willing to "take wrong" and "be defrauded" for the kingdom's sake.  Again and again we are taught not to strike a blow, but to take one without striking back, to give more than people ask of us and to share with the needy.  And if we do, we will find ourselves winning the race just like he did, never striking out, never taking revenge, but giving good to all. 
            Our Olympiad occurs every day.  Let's fight as he did, as Paul did, and win the gold.
 
Know ye not that they that run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain.  And every man that strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they [do it] to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.  I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air: but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected 1 Cor 9:24-27.
 
Dene Ward

Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president during the height of the Great Depression.  Eight days after his inauguration, he began a series of radio broadcasts called "Fireside Chats."  The country had faced a month long series of bank closings.  He closed the bank system on March 6, Congress passed the Emergency Banking Act on March 9, and he gave his first Fireside Chat on March 12, 1933, explaining his policies and actions.  He had a tone and demeanor over the radio that showed his own self-assurance and made people feel as if they had a closer relationship with him than one might think of a president.  And they grew to trust him.  More people listened to the fireside chats than to the popular radio programs of the day.
            Of course, he used these things to his political advantage as well.  Besides explaining his policies, he quelled rumors and countered the conservative media.  Yes, conservatives ran the media in those days.  His own press secretary Stephen Early said, "[Radio] cannot misrepresent or misquote."  FDR was a liberal in a conservative world at the time and faced the same things conservatives face today in reverse.
            Fireside chats also helped him as governor of New York against a conservative legislature.  One historian says that the first actual fireside chat was given by Roosevelt as governor on April 3, 1929.  His presidential fireside chats ran from March 12, 1933 till June 12, 1944, thirty in all, though different scholars count between 27 and 31, running 11 to 44 minutes in length.  From what I could find, the scripts for the Fireside Chats are stored in the National Archives, though I am sure the recordings themselves must be stored somewhere as well.
             Keith and I have our own version of Fireside Chats.  In Florida they are limited to winter, or our version of it—any time it is cool enough to enjoy a steaming cup of coffee after breakfast.  The smell of wood smoke and the crisp air that nips your nose and chaps your legs even through pants make them all that more enjoyable.  And despite that cold we seem to sit even longer while our cheeks turn red from the heat of the flames as, conversely, our toes slowly freeze into ice cubes inside our socks.  We talk far more then than any other time of day.
            And talk and talk and talk—sometimes as much as an hour.  Many a good teaching technique and blog post have come to mind as we bounce ideas off one another.  I ask for help with studies that are more in Keith's area and he asks for help for those I might possibly know more about—which is certainly not many.  Together we hope that our resulting classes are easier for others to listen to and absorb.  Isn't that what Christian couples are supposed to do? 
             In our earlier years, when sitting by the fire for a cup of coffee was only a Saturday event due to work and children, we also talked about child raising.  As a stay-at-home mom with a home-based music studio, I could watch firsthand our boys' progress, could see any problems that might be developing in their characters, and could then pass that on to Keith so we could brainstorm ideas for correcting those things.  I could correct immediate things and then report to their father what happened.  The father is the spiritual leader of the home and more often than not must delegate some of that authority to the mother because she is with the children more hours than he.  So our talks often centered around the spiritual atmosphere of our home then, but we did talk, even if it meant waiting until the little guys were in bed.  Isn't that what Christian couples are supposed to do?
             We share any problems we have with others and ask one another for advice.  We share experiences and look for support.  We share memories and build our love.  Isn't that what Christian couples are supposed to do?
            Sometimes I wonder how many out there actually do these things.  More than once I have mentioned something to one spouse, knowing the other already knew about it, only to have that spouse say, "What are you talking about?" because the information had not been shared.  If somehow these two do have time together, what do they talk about?  Do spiritual things matter at all, or is it just the mundane?  Do they ever work on building their faith, share a Biblical discovery, make a plan for how to serve others that week, or schedule some family time?  Do they ever sit and just have a good discussion about a Bible topic, with neither one allowed to get upset if he is disagreed with?  Aren't Christian couples supposed to do those kinds of things?
            If you are dating a young man and find that you cannot talk about spiritual things, maybe you should take a second look.  You should certainly talk about how your living will be made, where you will live, and how you will raise your children.  Those can have spiritual ramifications—but if you are only talking about the standard of living you expect, about the number of children you want and your worldly ambitions for them while your hopes for their spiritual destiny never enters the conversation, something is out of whack.  Marrying a man who has no interest in spiritual things at all, who, if he attends services at all, sits there bored with the sermon, never sings a hymn, and gets impatient if you want to attend a women's study, will be the worst mistake of your life.
             If you are both Christians and you have never had conversations like these, now is the time to start.  It may not be too late to make a difference in your marriage and in the lives of your children.  At this point, you will probably need to plan it—make it part of a date night if it takes that, and do it just like any other important appointment you keep no matter what.  It is important.  More than you ever imagined.
 
For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit (Rom 8:5).

Dene Ward        

On Saturday, February 24, 2024, 19 year old Trent Degulis, who calls himself a social media influencer, climbed a 1600 foot cell tower in Riverview, Florida, south of Tampa.  He said he "wanted to see the sunset."  Claiming it was the first time he had done it, when he reached the bottom he was arrested for misdemeanor trespassing.  He told police officers that yes, he did indeed reach the "top-top" of the tower, and then live-streamed to social media from that spot. 
            The first commercial cell tower was built in 1983, and was analog, what we would call a "1G," or first generation.  When my probation officer husband had to check out and use a department cell phone while making his rounds as a house arrest officer in the mid-90s, it looked like a brick and weighed two and a half pounds.  And those first cell phones cost right at $4,000.00!  My, my, have times changed.
           We went a long time before we finally gave in and bought a cell phone.  It was an expense we did not need, and an aggravation we did not want.  I am not the servant of my phone and will not allow it to have me running at its beck and call!  But finally the phone companies took down most of the phone booths I had used when there was an emergency or I just needed to make some unexpected last minute arrangements.  I had to have a phone for those things. 
           It still isn’t the cure for everything, especially where I lived then.  While I may be one of the only people in the state of Florida to actually use her cell phone for emergencies only, when I need to use it, I really need to use it.  Then it becomes more than a little aggravating to get only one or two bars or worse, the big red X—no service.  Wherever that tower was, it was to the southwest of us, and I have spent a lot of time wandering around in my southern field trying to turn that red X into at least three bars so I will hear more than static and be less likely dropped. 
            Once I was meandering with such rapt attention on that tiny little screen that when I finally got my three bars and stood stock still so I wouldn’t lose them, I found myself jumping around a moment later, covered in fire ants.  The only place I could get reception was in an ant bed!
            But cell towers do not matter when you need the Lord.  Whenever His children need Him, he is just a word or a thought away.  You don’t even have to dial, and you certainly don’t have to wander around outside in the heat or cold or rain trying to get a signal.  “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you,” James tells us (4:8).  Indeed when I looked up the word in a concordance, I discovered that the only reason God is ever “far” from us is because we have gone far from Him (Isa 29:13; 33:13;  46:12; etc.).
            The next time you pull out that little monstrosity, remind yourself how blessed you really are.  You have a Father in Heaven who will answer your call no matter how many bars your spirit has left within you.  He will hear you, even if you only have strength left to whisper.
 
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, Heb 4:16.
 
Dene Ward

On February 2, 1839, Edmond Berger is said to have invented the spark plug.  I say it that way because of the differing accounts I found.  In fact, the first mention of this I saw gave the date as February 3 and said he actually patented it that day.  Several other places said the date was the second of the month and he never patented it at all.  Perhaps the most reliable citation I found said that he invented it on the second, but since he was in France he did not patent it with a US patent, and that since the internal combustion engine was new at that time and extremely unreliable, the spark plug he invented would have been experimental at best.  So we will leave it at that.
            What I want to consider this morning are mental spark plugs.  When I sit down to write, especially after all these years of doing so over 300 times a year, I often need a spark of an idea to get going.  The ancient Greeks knew the problem and came up with the nine goddesses they called Muses.  These, they said, were the inspiration behind all the Sciences, Literature, Poetry, and the Arts.  No one could create any of these without their motivating spark.  Which also gave you someone to blame when nothing came to you when you needed it, I immediately thought.  Might come in handy—if only they were real.
            And so I looked to the Scriptures to find anything about "sparks" that the Word of God might mention.  As you might suspect, no spark plugs—or Muses—were mentioned.  But I did find this verse:  O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you (1Chr 29:18).  David was finishing a stirring prayer after calling the people to give of their means for the building of the new Temple after his death.  He worried that the emotion of the moment would fade and that Solomon himself, a young man, would falter in his determination to build what amounted to a Palace for God.  So he prayed that the spirit that was then moving the people to give willingly and to support this monumental task would continue.
            But notice:  the fact that David prayed for this to continue in itself shows that this attitude is a choice.  We are not talking about the Holy Spirit coming in and forcing His will upon us.  In fact, Satan can come in as a "muse" and lead our thought astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ (2 Cor 11:3) in the same way.  If one is a choice we make, so is the other.  Our devotion is likely to fluctuate.  That is perfectly normal, I think.  But we have the choice of which "muse" we choose to allow to ignite our thoughts and deeds.
            God promises He will help us out—without forcing us.  Jeremiah tells us that we cannot walk in our own ways and do well (10:23), so it makes sense that if we have anything like a Muse in the Christian walk, it is the Word of God.  Seek God's way, obey His commands, listen to His voice.  With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent. My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped (Ps 17:4-5).  Indeed, that is the only spark plug that amounts to anything at all.

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple (Ps 119:130).
 
Dene Ward
 

On February 1, 1960, four students from North Carolina A & T staged a sit-in at the whites-only lunch counter in a Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth's.  It was not the first sit-in, but it was the first time that students had been able to make a difference.  Before, Civil Rights had been considered something for "grown-ups."  By April that year, 70 southern cities had experienced sit-ins, a direct result of this one. 
            I wonder if the feelings of people then were similar to the time when word came to Jerusalem about Peter preaching to Cornelius, the first Gentile convert (Acts 10).  They certainly took him to task in chapter 11.  By the end of that explanation, Antioch was preaching to Gentiles and welcoming them to the fold right and left (Acts 11:19-23).  All of a sudden the "status quo" had changed, and the ones "in power" were not so happy about it.
            What we fail to understand is the great divide between Jew and Gentile.  Gentiles were considered unclean and called "dogs."  Jews believed they were the favored race and that salvation could only come from them.  They went out of their way to avoid doing business with Gentiles, eating with them, or socializing with them.  Gentiles thought Jews were strange because of their belief in monotheism, and knowing their utter disdain for them, hated them in return.  We think the racial divide in our country was bad, this was many times worse.  When a Jew married a Gentile, the family held a funeral for him.  He was dead as far as they were concerned.
            But God had stated from the beginning, even as He was forming His chosen people from whom the Messiah would come, that this would be a blessing "to all nations" (Gen 22:18).  ("Goy" by the way is the Yiddish word for Gentile, and it means "nation.")  That promise continues throughout Genesis and is picked up by the prophets, more times than I can even list.  Isaiah said all nations would flow into "the mountain of the Lord's house" (2:2).  Micah repeats part of this prophecy almost verbatim (4:1-3).  Isaiah also promises that all those who had formerly been considered unclean will be accepted into Jehovah's house, for my house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples (50:1-8).
            Jesus gave hints of this unification during his ministry, clear enough that the Pharisees once remarked, God forbid! (Luke 20:16).  And before he left this world his instructions clearly underlined God's original intent, Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, Mark 16:15.
            God expects all of us, whatever nation, whatever race, to meet together as one body.  I would hate to be one of those in the past who forbade a certain race to come into the assembly of the saints.  What do we think?  That God will have a "Jews only" or "whites only" section roped off in Heaven?  When we sing with our children, "Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight," we should have a congregation that shows them exactly that—all nations accepted into the house of God.  This acceptance goes both ways—not just one side to the other, each one of us acting with perfect love and humility.  None of us is any better than the other in the sight of our Creator—who made us all.
 
And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd (John 10:16).
 
Dene Ward
 

According to the story, on September 14, 1822, Jean Francois Champollion burst into his brother's room and declared, "Je tiens mon affaire!"  (I've got it!) and then passed out.  Supposedly, it took five days for him to recover.  So what was so important?  The man, a lifelong Egyptologist, had just cracked the code to the Rosetta Stone.  On September 27, he presented his discovery to a conference of his peers.  This was the discovery of a lifetime for an Egyptologist—how to interpret ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.  For twenty years since the Stone's discovery, scientists and historians had labored over three lines of texts. 
            The Rosetta Stone contained a decree to celebrate the anniversary of the coronation of Ptolemy V.  The decree was repeated in ancient Greek, Demotic, and hieroglyphics.  Perhaps because the Rosetta Stone was only a large piece of the original, what some thought should have taken a couple of weeks, actually took two decades to interpret.  Whatever the cause, once Champollion cracked the code, ancient Egyptian culture opened wide to the historians.
            Aren't we grateful that God did not leave us with such an unsolved mystery with His Word?  In fact, if anyone tells you that the Bible is too difficult to understand, you will know that they have not studied it as they ought to have.  I remember as a child hearing denominational preachers in snatches on the radio or television talk about the great mystery of the Gospel as if it still were an unknown. Paul says otherwise.  For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel (Eph 3:1-6).  So much for the great mystery.  Prophets of old had not understood it (1 Pet 3:10,11), but now, Paul has, through his writings, [brought] to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things (Eph 3:9).  All you have to do is read it.
            And think about it.  Even Jesus said that he spoke in parables so that those who were truly interested—the ones who cared enough to examine scriptures, listen to words, and think—could understand, and those who didn't care would not (Matt 13:13).
            God did not write pulp fiction.  And while the mystery has been revealed for anyone who wants it, it isn't written in primer language.  It isn't, "See Spot.  See Spot run."  God expects us to work at it.  When I was a child, the figures in Revelation were often interpreted as the USSR with army tanks.  Now you hear other interpretations that fit the present age.  How in the world could either of those have helped first century Christians who were about to undergo persecution?  No, what you have in those cases are people who haven't put the time into studying the Bible as a whole.  The Rosetta Stone for the book of Revelation is the Old Testament, particularly the prophets.  You will never understand it until you know the prophets and are familiar with prophetic language. 
            I once heard a young man ask why we had to study those obsolete books in the Old Testament.  They aren't really that important, are they?  Well, that Rosetta Stone was far less important.  It listed Ptolemy's accomplishments, affirmed him as divinity, and affirmed his royal cult.  The importance came from the decoding, and its opening up of all hieroglyphs.  Suddenly, we knew the ancient Egyptian culture like never before.
            The Old Testament is far more important as it begins the plan of God in Genesis 3 and follows it through the centuries until finally, in the New Testament it culminates in the coming of the Messianic kingdom and the salvation of all who will accept it on God's terms, not their own.  Surely it is worth studying, worth knowing, worth meditating on until you finally understand the depth of God's love and are grateful enough to serve Him in a committed life.  Then, finally, you can exclaim, "I've got it!"
 
Now to him that is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith. (Rom 16:25-26).
 
Dene Ward

I had never heard of it before.  It was certainly never mentioned in high school history classes, nor college either.  The irony is thick enough to slice for dinner.
            The American Civil War was in full deadly swing and the Union needed more able-bodied men.  Congress passed a federal conscription law—all males, married or not, between 20 and 35, and unmarried men 35 to 45 were subject to duty—except African-Americans.  The men were chosen by lottery, but $300 could buy you a stand-in.  The only problem?  $300 was the annual salary for the average worker.  Compare that to today's median wage and you see that only the wealthy could afford to buy their way out.
            The first draft took place July 11, 1863.  On July 13 the rioting began in New York City.  Men who supposedly opposed the slave trade now blamed it and, not just the slaves themselves, but anyone of the same race.  The rioters attacked, in this order, the recruiting stations, other government buildings, black citizens, their homes and businesses, white abolitionists, and white women married to black men.
            It took 4,000 Federal troops, just returned from the battle of Gettysburg, to restore order.  An estimated 1,200 were killed and 3,000 black residents left homeless.  The 1863 Draft Riots in New York City remain the deadliest in US history, worse than the 1992 Los Angeles riots, and the 1967 Detroit riots.
            Funny how your scruples and beliefs can change when your own welfare, like being sent into armed combat, is threatened.  And that remains one of the evidences for the truth of the gospel.  Why would every apostle still claim the truth of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection even under threat of painful death, and all but John suffer it instead of recanting?  Because it was true.  They believed because they saw.  Why would people become Christians knowing that the next week it could cost them their lives?  Because the testimony from those eyewitnesses was overwhelming.
            Why would Jesus' brothers, James and Jude who had not believed during his lifetime, suddenly believe that Jesus was the Son of God?  And why would the great persecutor, Saul, give up every valuable things in his life and a glorious future in Judaism to proclaim the gospel?  Because they saw the resurrected Jesus.  They knew it was all true.  And when you see the evidence firsthand, and truly believe, nothing else matters.
            Those rioters in 1863 were suddenly revealed to be not as pro-abolition as they had claimed to be when it cost them.  They gave it up and actually fought to harm the cause.
            What about us?  Already people are losing businesses because of their moral stand.  I truly believe that persecution of some kind is coming.  What will it reveal about us?
 
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; ​but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls (Heb 10:32-39).
 
Dene Ward