Have you fallen prey to it yet?  You post something on Facebook and then sit back and wait.  You check it every five minutes at first, then maybe stretch it out a bit, and before you know it, you have sat there for an hour or two and what have you been doing?  Waiting to see if someone “likes” you.  Yes, the quest for popularity affects the masses, and many make use of that pathetic craving of ours. 

 After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” Then Absalom would say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel, 2 Sam 15:1-6.

 Absalom made everyone feel “liked” and that “stole their hearts.”  But Absalom wasn’t even the first.  In Judges 9:3 the people of Israel had “hearts inclined to follow Abimelech.”  Both of these men were wrong for God’s people and were eventually killed, but that didn’t stop the people from falling prey to what was “popular.”

 Do you think that hasn’t happened to you?  Why do you wear what you wear?  Why do you watch the television shows you watch?  Why do you go to the restaurants you do?  Whatever is popular at the time steals our hearts because we think that by doing the popular thing we will become popular.  The problem comes when that affects us spiritually.  If I am wearing clothing I shouldn’t because everyone else is, I need a stronger character.  If I am watching inappropriate entertainment, I need to remember who I claim to follow. 

 The people of Israel were taken in by what was popular over and over again.  Ezekiel tells us “their hearts went after their idols” and “covetousness,” 20:16; 33:31.  Jeremiah talks about them “going after the imagination of their hearts,” 9:14; 13:10.  And why did they do those things?  Not only because they were the popular things to do, but because falling in with the crowd made them popular too.  Simply put, you can’t be different and popular in the world at the same time.

 What is your heart going after?  If it’s popularity and wanting to be “liked,” then you are prey to popular evils just like 99% of the rest of the world.  God calls us to be different.  A Christian doesn’t need to be “liked” on Facebook or anywhere else as long as God “likes” him.

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ,Gal 1:10.

Dene Ward

Remember Pete the cat?  When anything bad happens to Pete he says, “Oh no!”, and now that is one of Judah’s favorite phrases, with his special little two year old inflection.  The last time we visited, we must have heard it a hundred times.

 When he found one of his toys in the wrong place, “Oh no!”  When his Mr Happy figure fell over, “Oh no!”  When he dropped his cookie, “Oh no!”  When a bean fell off his spoon, when his shoelace came untied, when his wind-up toy train stopped chugging along—all of these merited a loud and pained, “Oh no!”  Everything was a catastrophe for little Mr. Drama King.  But at least he paid attention to his world and he cared what happened in it.  Can we say the same thing about our spiritual world any more? 

 I remember when every member of the church could quote scriptures.  I remember when we all knew the basic Bible stories.  I remember when we understood that Truth was absolute and that our acceptance of and obedience to it determined our eternal destiny.  I even remember when you converted other people by showing them that their denomination’s practices and beliefs were not Biblical.  They would do their best to prove you wrong.  Now no one cares.  They don’t have a clue what they are supposed to believe, and neither do we.

 Now anyone who has questions about a statement from the pulpit, about a teaching in a Bible class, about the words of a new song is judged as having his knickers in a knot, as if it were something of no importance. His upset is inappropriate and unwelcome. He needs to “just calm down.”  He finds himself the object of scorn and ridicule, his concerns swept aside as the foolish rantings of a crochety, usually older, narrow-minded alarmist.  Never mind that this older person has seen things like this before and their inevitable results.  Never mind that he has the wisdom of perspective that the younger not only do not have but cannot have.  He—or she--is not respected, and never listened to.  His “Oh no!” has become the expected song for him to sing and so goes in one ear and out the other.

 God told the prophet Ezekiel that he was to be a watchman for his people.  He was to sound the alarm when he saw the enemy approaching.  Those people thought Ezekiel was crazy too.  After all, who else but a lunatic would lie on his side and dig in the sand, depicting the siege of Jerusalem for day after day after day?  Who else would not speak a word unless it was given him from God for week after week after week?  Who else would pull out a handful of hair, throw some of it to the wind, tie some in his robe, and then stand hacking at the rest of it with a sword?  None of that wacky behavior made what he said false.  God told him that when the people wouldn’t listen—and He knew they wouldn’t--their blood was on their own heads. 

 Maybe it’s time we listened to a few alarmists.  Maybe the alarm is legitimate.  At least they are paying attention while we often go along accepting anything anyone says (or sings) just to avoid trouble.  Maybe someone needs to holler, “Oh no!” once in awhile.  And maybe we need to care as much as they do.

As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith…For there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers…whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not… 1 Tim 1:3,4; Titus 1:10,11.  

Today's post is by guest writer Joanne Beckley, ragarding one particular adventure while she lived in South Africa.

In deep dark Africa just south of the great green greasy Limpopo River, a sunny day

began with pure shock and ended in happiness with, yes, a lump in my throat. Living

in a foreign land requires unexpected adjustments of every kind in having to adapt to

a different culture that works just fine for this part of the world yet can take us

sojourners totally unaware. But these surprises actually mean adventures! And often,

joy.

Last night my husband received a phone call reminding two forgetful people that what

had been planned last month -- was tomorrow! So Dave rearranged his Saturday

schedule in order to be prepared when the teen boys arrived for an all-day Bible

class. I prudently made plans just in case any teen girls also came.

Morning arrived, with breakfast nearly over, when suddenly we heard a taxi (a large

van) hoot at our gate. The taxi doors opened and out poured 26 LITTLE people! As

the children poured through the front door, David had the audacity to whisper, "I

believe this is your day!" Somebody lost a minor tidbit in that phone call.

Fortunately the 26 children (ages 5 to 14) and their Bible class teacher passed

through the front door and right out the opposite door where they assembled on the

lawn under a large tree in our back garden. I went straight to my workroom to

regroup. Thankfully, African children are well trained to sit quietly and respond

respectfully even to teachers that are in shock, so I knew I would survive. What I

didn't realize though was how blessed the day would become.

The teaching day began at 7.30am (please note the time). Armed with five teaching

projects, I began, using their teacher Violet Tshikhudo to translate. I don't remember

much about the first hour. I think it was because I was still recovering from being told

they would be sharing my day until 5pm. That is when the taxi was scheduled to take

them all back home. The day was hot and muggy and sticky the WHOLE DAY LONG.

I noticed Dave was hovering, checking on me, smoothing my way in whatever

manner he could. He even served the morning tea and washed the dishes

afterwards. What a husband!

What did I teach? I began with a paper exercise using a very simple time line to

help me assess just how much Bible knowledge they had. We were able to scrounge

up 10 pencils/pens and five pairs of scissors so the exercise went swimmingly, with

everyone working on the tile floor. One hour later (that's one down!) the older children

helped the younger ones clean up, and we went on to revise the hand motions for

the Bible time periods. Violet had remembered what the Smith family had taught

during their visit to South Africa, and she enjoyed the revision. In fact, she stopped

me early on and coined the phrases in vhaVenda and we all dropped the English.

Because, the children had not had any breakfast, we had a short break for bread and

hot tea, their usual fare. Then it was back to the dining  room. I picked up my hand-drawn

picture cards to prompt them telling me of Bible stories that contained

whatever item was being portrayed. This worked beautifully. It was a nice way to

revise with a group that has been well taught. (With each new exercise, I would ask

the children why we were using visual aids -- especially to impress on Violet the

wisdom of using eye, hand, and ear to increase learning. I have learned that using

visual aids is a totally foreign concept to South African teachers, even in the public

schools. Therefore, I try to only use items that THEY can reproduce.)

THEN I had them each draw a fish, color it, attached a paper clip, and then write a

verse on other side. I took them all outside to the "pond" (picnic table) and we fished

with a magnet hanging from a stick/string affair to attract the paper-clipped fish,

reciting the verse each time a fish was caught. I do believe they would have been

willing to continue fishing the entire day, but I was ready to stop after the 15th fish

was caught and every verse was recited by each child.

THEN we returned to the dining room floor and I used a lesson from my old 52-lesson

booklets that I had made up for our boys back, waaay back, and then had

translated. By now the heat was telling on me and I was so thankful that Violet was

happy to keep on teaching, using these booklets on the Sermon on the Mount -- while

I escaped to the bedroom and Dave turned on the fan.

30 minutes later I was informed it is now time for lunch. Their tea hadn't stuck to

anyone’s ribs. Everyone retrieved their knapsacks, dug out their lunches, and retired

to the big backyard tree. (I LIKE that tree!)

After lunch I also took them to the kitchen and placed four mixing bowls on the counter and we all made play-dough (flour, salt,water). Choosing the items Jesus referred to in His sermon, we fashioned lamps,altars, eyeballs with a log in one and a speck in the other, wolves and then covered them with a “sheepskin”, and last of all, two houses each.Amidst the laughter and chatter I found it fascinating to see how they visualized

making each one of these items, although the lamp and altar had to be

demonstrated. Toward the end of this activity, Violet just couldn't stand being on the

sidelines any longer and she grabbed a chunk to make her own two houses. She

rolled a piece between her hands and curved it over to stand on the counter -- and

called it her house. Sure, why not, as they all were reared in round thatched houses.

Now, came the best part. That afternoon, the children told me they had rehearsed

two short plays to present as their gift to me and we all trouped out to the back yard.

(Are you still with me?) With running commentary from Violet, I had a delightful time

watching 26 children interpret two Bible stories: Samson and Delilah and the Prodigal

Son. I want to describe the Prodigal Son as interpreted within their cultural

understanding. For example, when the son went to demand his inheritance from the

father, he knelt down to speak to his father. When the son gathered his fair-weather

friends (8 of them) to spend his money, he took them to the shop (manned by four

girls) to buy food. The food was placed on the tin plates they had brought with them

and my drinking glasses. Then they went to the side to eat the food and afterwards

returned the dinnerware to the shop. What had me giggling was their repetition of the

phrase, "Keep the change." My laughter turned into understanding when Violet said

this is how they understand what wasting your money means. Then the boy and his

friends laid down to sleep and one of the friends dipped into the boy’s pocket and

shared out the stolen money with his friends. The following morning -- no money and

no friends. Seeing a pig farmer with all his pigs (15 little ones) lined up as if to a

trough, he went to ask for a job. Taking my old bucket he slopped those pigs well,

amidst such a racket of snorting! When the boy tried to also eat from the bucket, one

pig pushed him out of the way. Returning home he went to his father who ran to

welcome him. The father had his servant place the items on the son who then went to

get two of those famous "pigs" for the feast. All the children chimed in whenever

scripture was quoted which of course was an impressive amount. Truly a wonderful

effort.

By then it was 3pm (only??) and the children entertained themselves outside with a

nice variety of made-up group activities while I taught Violet how to make unleavened

bread using a thin aluminum pot on the stove. We used only the typical utensils that

she has on hand in her home, and simulated her outdoor cooking fire. I never did

convince her to handle the dough lightly, but we did get it rolled out very thin and

scored so that it cooked crisp enough to break easily. Sampling afterwards, she

pronounced the effort a success and very tasty to boot.

The last hour was spent with The Jungle Book video (they all liked the snake) and

then the taxi was hooting at the gate. But wait, they had planned to sing a good-bye

song to me before they left. So after each one ran to the taxi and then back to hug

me and then back to the taxi, they sat and sang all four verses of "God Be with You"

but to a different tune than you are familiar with. I thanked the driver for his patience

and waved them off until they were out of sight. (Dave told me later that the driver

had charged FULL fare for all those little bodies -- he had made a killing for sure! It

caused me to pause and reflect on the sacrifice each family had made just so their

children could come to me.)

I now have some wonderful new friends. Let's see, there was Tshinakaho, Rotondwa,

Rudzani, Mulamuleli, Shumani, Khathutshelo, Ofhani . . . no, I didn't manage to learn

them all. I asked Violet to write their names out for me and then later I read off their

names to see who these funny sounds belonged to. And like the rest of us they loved

hearing their names spoken.

When David returned (from his afternoon teaching at the prison), he very graciously

took me out to eat. Oh, yes, and it rained big time AFTER everyone left. Now that’s a

thanksgiving note!

I hope you survived the telling. It was a very special day for me.

Joanne Beckley

Our late winter/early spring gardening chores include pruning.  Pruning is serious business.  If you do it at the wrong time and in the wrong way, you can kill a plant.  But correct pruning encourages healthy growth, more flowering, heavier fruit yields, and in general, better looking plants.  Correct pruning can also scare you to death.

 If Keith had not had an experienced friend show him how to prune the grapes, he would never have done it correctly.  Light pruning does not promote fruiting on grape vines.  It takes a heavy-handed pruner, one who knows exactly how far down which vines to cut—and it is much farther than you would ever expect—to make vines that in the late summer provide both greater quantity and quality of grapes. 

 Roses also benefit from good pruning.  Every January or February (remember that we are talking here in Florida before you follow this to the letter) you should cut off 1/3 to ½ of the mature canes, plus all dead or dying branches, as well as those that cross or stray out of the general shape of the bush.  That is how you get more flowers and larger blooms, and healthier, prettier bushes altogether.

 God believes in pruning too.  John 15 is full of the imagery of pruning grape vines, cutting off those that no longer produce and throwing them into the fire, which just happens to be where we throw all our prunings as well.  God has done a lot of pruning throughout history.

 The wilderness wandering was nothing but one big pruning exercise.  All the faithless, those men of war responsible for the decision not to take the land, had to die, and a new generation be prepared.  Do you realize that if you only count those men, on average throughout those forty years, 40 men died every day?  That does not count the people who died of accident, disease and childbirth, and the women and priests who simply died of old age.  Every morning the first thing on one’s mind must have been, “Who died yesterday?”  Those people must have done nothing but bury the dead every single day for forty years.  No wonder they moved so often.

 Then there was the Babylonian captivity.  Ezekiel worked for seventy years preparing the next generation to return to the land as a righteous remnant while the older one died off.  Pruning made them better, stronger, and more able to endure those months of rebuilding, and the years that followed.

 And what else was it but pruning that made God cut off some branches (Jews) and graft in others (Gentiles)?  They were broken off because of their unbelief, Paul says in Rom 11:20, and then goes on to say that if God will prune the natural branches, he will certainly prune those that had been grafted in if their faith fails.

 God still prunes.  We tend to call it by other metaphors these days—refining our faith as gold, Peter says in one of those passages.  “Discipline” the Hebrew writer calls it, adding that the Lord only chastens those he loves.  But all these figures mean the same thing.  Pruning can be painful.  The best pruning shears are the sharp ones, for the wound will heal more quickly the cleaner the cut. 

 We carry a lot of deadwood on us that God has to whittle away through the trials and experiences of life, and with our own growth in the knowledge of the Word as we learn what is and is not acceptable to God.  It is up to us to use that pruning, shedding the dead wood and cultivating new growth, bearing more fruit, higher quality fruit, and more beautiful blooms.  If I am not growing, I can expect nothing more than my whole vine to be cut off and cast into the fire. 

 We want to be that productive grape vine with fruit so heavy and juicy we almost break from the sheer weight of it.  We want to be the rose that brings the oohs and aahs, whose perfume wafts on the breeze to all those around us.  We must submit to the pruning of the Master Gardener, glorying in His work in us, no matter how painful, so that we can “prove to be his disciples,” John 15:8, faithful to the end.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit, John 15:2.

Dene Ward

That no advantage may be gained over us by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices2Cor2:11

 The passage above seems highly optimistic.  I have seen far too many—and I have been one myself—who not only are ignorant of the Devil's ways, but do not even comprehend that he might be using them on us.  I thought we might spend some beneficial time exploring the ways Satan tries to snatch us away.  How long this series will go on, I am not sure.  It may even start and stop as experience shows me yet more of those sneaky devices.

 One of the first places I think of to see some of those things is Proverbs 7, the warning to young men about unscrupulous women.  That particular woman seems to know every way possible to tempt a young man.

 Vv 9,10—She seems to know where he will be and she catches him there "in the darkness." Now he doesn't have to worry about being seen.

 Vv 5,21—She flatters him.  What man doesn't love to be flattered, but the younger they are, the more likely they are to believe it and not see what she is doing.  V 15—He is the special one, the one she came to meet.  Wow, can't you just see the pride swelling in his chest.

 V 14—Don't you want to be with me?  After all, I'm a good person.  I have paid my vows according to the law ("I go to church").  It cannot be sin, can it, if she has a good heart?

 V 18—Notice how she doesn't say, "Let's go fornicate."  Instead, it's "Let's take our fill of love until morning."  Calling evil good and good evil is a hallmark of the depraved sinner (Isa 5:20).

 V 19,20—And now she takes away the fear:  no one will catch us.  My husband is gone.  The word husband should have stopped him in his tracks, but by this time nothing will phase him.  He is marching headlong to his destruction.

 If this list won't stop him, maybe his pride will.  The Proverb writer calls him simple, naïve, lacking sense, take your pick of the translations of verse 7.  He is [dumb] as an ox led to the slaughter, v 22.  There is nothing special about him at all; he is simply one of many "countless" young men caught in her trap, vv 23,26.

 Most of these are not limited to this particular sin.  We can easily fall prey to many others through the same "devices"—flattery, being special or accepted, being able to hide (we think) what we are doing.  We need to study this chapter of Proverbs far more often than we do, and apply it far more often as well.  I don't believe I have ever heard it preached, and that may well be why so many of us are ignorant of these few of Satan's devices.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the DevilEph6:11.

Dene Ward