Samuel Colt, the founder of the Colt Patent Fire-Arm Manufacturing Company was born in Hartford, Connecticut on July 19, 1814.  Perhaps his most famous gun is the Colt Single Action Army Peacemaker.
            Isn’t it ironic that “peacemaker” is the name of a gun?  The Peacemaker was designed in 1873 and the standard military service pistol until 1892.  I sometimes think we must have the same definition for “peacemaker”—a weapon of war. 
            More and more I see people starting fights over things not worth fighting about.  More and more I see people not only excusing their aggressive behavior, but justifying it as righteous.  Maybe it is because I am older now, but “zealous” no longer means “quick to fight” to me, and I think it never did to God.
            “Blessed are the peacemakers,” is not a concept foreign to the old law.  God’s people have always understood that righteousness is not about contention.  David is a prime example.
            He refused to harm Saul, whom he called “the Lord’s anointed,” even though Saul had sworn to kill him, 1 Sam 24:6.
            He bowed before Saul, even though he himself had been anointed king, 24:8.
            He promised not to harm Saul’s heirs, even though they might have tried to claim the throne God wanted him to have, 24:21,22.
            It’s easier when those around you have the same attitude, but David even managed to keep his peacemaking attitude when surrounded by warmongers, Psa 120:6,7.
            Yet this is a man who did fight for God, who lived in a time of a physical kingdom that fought physical wars against physical enemies.  He bravely went into battles and killed God’s adversaries, so much so that he was not allowed to build the Temple with his blood-stained hands, so we cannot call him a wimpy, namby-pamby by any means.  He simply knew when it was time to fight and when it wasn’t.  Like Paul in Acts 16:3 and Gal 2:3-5, he depended on the circumstances to help him decide what justified either action in exactly the same issue, and never let his passion for God push him further than he knew his Father would want.  It wasn’t about having his own way, about not allowing anyone to tell him what he could and couldn’t do.  In all things the ultimate mission, God’s mission, was his goal, not saving face.
            Jesus’ mission was the same—peace.  He brought peace between men (Eph. 2:12-14) and peace between man and God (Rom 5:1-2).  Then he told us that was our mission too—bringing peace to the world. 
            Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.  Whose children are you?
 
It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Prov 20:3; Psa 34:14; Heb 12:14; Rom 12:18; 2 Cor 13:11.
 
Dene Ward

A few years ago we lost our resident rodent killer, a three foot+ granddaddy of a garter snake that lived under the house.  For some reason, he decided to venture out one day while Keith was mowing and instead of turning the other direction, slithered right under the mower.  No more snake—well, actually a bazillion pieces of snake.  It was not long before we heard the noises begin beneath the floors—the scampering, the skittering, and the awful gnawing.  By the time the noises were noticeable and we could get into town for what we needed, we were infested.  At least they stayed under the house and never got inside. 
            So we brought home a couple of pails of rat poison and Keith crawled under the house and laid the small green blocks out on the bases of the pillars.  The next week, every block was gone.  He laid out more and the next week they were gone again.  Another trip to town and two more pails.  It took two months and $200 worth of poison for him to finally crawl under and find most of the poison still sitting there.  We had finally gotten them all.
            So why am I on about rat poison today?  Rat poison is 99% or more inactive ingredients.  In other words, the poison runs around half a percent of the product while the rest is good food for the rodents.  That's why they eat it.  It often has flavoring like peanut butter in it.  Again, that's why they eat it.  If it didn't look good, smell good, and taste good, it would not work!
            But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ (2Cor 11:3).
            False teaching looks good.  Much of it sounds right.  It's exciting and entertaining and just plain fun sometimes.  How could it possibly be wrong?  The same way rat poison can kill you.  The gospel is plain and simple and that's not enough for some people—they want more.  It has always been this way.  Look further on in that same passage above. 
            For if a person comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you had not received, or a different gospel, which you had not accepted, you accept it well enough  (2Cor 11:4).  They had the same problem then that so many today have.  Please don't fall for it.  If you do, that wonderful, exciting new (and different) teaching will kill your soul as easily as all that rat poison took care of my rodent problem.
 
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed (Gal 1:6-8).                                                                                                                    
Dene Ward

As a former piano teacher for many years, I cannot help but give advice occasionally.  So I was listening to a young student play one day, a beginner actually, and noticed that he had a problem with his finger numbers.  If you will notice on your own hands, if you hold them out in front of you, they run the opposite from each other, with both thumbs in the middle.  So in piano, where playing with the incorrect finger can keep one from increasing facility and smooth playing, knowing which finger is which is fundamental.  I have always taught my beginners the little saying, "Tommy Thumb is finger 1, finger 3 is tallest finger, finger 5 if smallest finger."  Then I have them hold their hands together so that the fingers of each hand match, and count 1-2-3-4-5, moving the correct finger of each hand with each number.  Then when they spread their hands apart, they can see that the hands are mirror images of each other and do not run in the same direction.  It worked for forty years with countless students.
            So when I saw this little guy playing fingers 1—1—2-3-4---, when he should have been playing 5—5—5-4-3---, I knew he had not gotten the memo, so to speak.  After he finished playing (the whole left hand backwards), I applauded and complimented his rhythm and his touch and then asked if I could show him something.  He was an amenable little guy, so we went through the Tommy Thumb rhyme a couple of times, along with the rest of the routine.  He looked at me long and hard, then started playing again and played exactly the same thing—wrong.  Then he got up from the piano and flounced off, stopping only to turn around and say, "My thumb is NOT Tommy!"
            I must say that I laughed.  It was funny.  And it was new for me, something that had never happened before.  But then, maybe it had.
            A long, long time ago, God sent the prophet Nathan to tell King David a story as if it were real.  After hearing the story, which I am sure you have all heard (2 Sam 12:1-6, just in case), David was incensed.  He pronounced an instant judgment on the evil man Nathan had spoken of.  You see, he didn't get it.  His thumb was NOT Tommy.  Finally, Nathan had to say, "Thou art the man" (2 Sam 12:7).  When it's YOUR thumb, when you are the one being talked about, the picture which had been so very clear, suddenly becomes muddy.  We are all prone to it.
            The most difficult part of studying the Bible is, and always has been, applying the message to oneself.  No one wants to admit wrong, especially when it becomes crystal clear exactly how wrong one has been.  James talks about looking in the mirror and then walking away without changing a thing (James 1:23-24).  If I see my hair is a mess but don't brush it, if I see mustard on my shirt but don't change it, if I see green in my teeth but don't brush them, exactly how much good did it do to even look in the first place?  That is exactly how much good Bible study does for us when we won't apply what we hear.
            The little guy I mentioned is playing quite well now.  He eventually got the message that his thumb was indeed Tommy.  What messages are we missing?
 
As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it (Ezek 33:30-32).
 
Dene Ward
 

If I asked any one of you if Bible study was essential to a godly life, I would be surprised to hear anyone say no.  We all understand that God expects us to learn His Word.  We devote a lot of time, energy, and funds to our class systems to make sure our children are well-taught, even expecting the church to do our duty as parents, but that is another post for another day.  Still, we do understand that Bible study is essential.  We put “edification” in those ubiquitous “acts of worship” lists and if questioned about it will happily list Bible classes along with sermons as the means for that particular “act.”
            But is knowing God’s Word the purpose of Bible study?  I would hope we all know better than that.  There may well be theological knowledge we must all have to appreciate our salvation and keep our faith strong, but the practical purpose for Bible study is to learn how God wants us to live our lives. If your Bible study does not affect your life, why do you bother?
            So how are you doing in the practical application of your study?  Here is a test for you.  When you hear a sermon, does something about you change?  When you learn something in a Bible class, do you think about it and perhaps alter your schedule, toss a few things out of your wardrobe, raise your contribution, pray more often, or put a few TV shows on your family’s verboten list?  Do you forgive a wrong, pray for an enemy, or stand up for the truth in a room full of atheists?  Does what you learn affect you in any way at all?  And does it go past a onetime thing to a life-changing habit?
            All right, so maybe you have been a Christian for a few decades instead of just a few weeks, and you have already made many changes.  Good for you.  But do you think there is nothing you can make better, that you already have all your ducks in a row, perfectly aligned so they waddle in step and quack in unison?  I’m not there yet.  Surely even you can make a few adjustments, tweaking your life just a bit.
            Sometimes the changes you make can be a little more philosophical and effect the genuineness of worship.  I passed my Psalms lesson book on to a Bible class teacher in another church many miles from here.  He told me that it has made a definite difference in his prayer life—the Psalms may be poems set to music for both individual and group worship, but they are also prayers.  And, since he also leads singing, he told me it has changed how he does that as well.
            The class had just finished Psalm 89, a long psalm that praises God by discussing His attributes—love, faithfulness, righteousness, justice, power, holiness.  So the next Sunday he chose his songs according to that pattern, God’s attributes.  They sang “Wonderful Grace,” “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” “Holy, Holy, Holy,” and “Because He Loved Me So.”  He told the good people there what he was doing and why.  They paid more attention to the words they were singing and their song service was, in spite of singing “boring old songs” as some these days might call them, more moving and admonishing, and sung with much more “understanding” than usual.
            Just a little Bible study caused a whole church to worship more sincerely than they had in a long, long time.  What has your Bible study done for you lately?  It’s up to you how much you get out of it and what you do with what you learn.
 
​Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. ​Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. ​Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! ​Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. ​Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Ps 119:34-38
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.
 
Exodus 25-31 contains the instructions for building the tabernacle.  A few comments:
 
When God lists the materials needed to build the tabernacle, He specifies that the collection of these things be voluntary.  Ex. 25:2 "Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me."  God wants willing, whole-hearted worship, not worship grudgingly given nor coerced worship.
 
Then there is the reason God wants the tabernacle:  Ex. 25:8  "And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst."  God wanted to be with His people and among them.  This isn't shocking.  From the beginning God has been among His people as much as possible.  In Genesis three, God "catches" Adam and Eve in their sin when He comes down for their regular evening stroll through the Garden together, and descriptions of Heaven always include a close relationship with God.  (Ezek. 43:5; Isa. 2:2; Ps. 23:6; Rev. 21:3)  In fact, the word tabernacle just means any form of dwelling and is usually used of tents, "but here it means the dwelling place of Jehovah who, as king in His camp, had His dwelling or pavilion among His people, His table always spread, His lamps always lighted, and the priests, His attendants, always in waiting." (Adam Clarke)  Thinking of the tabernacle as the king's pavilion in the midst of His people is something that I had never thought of, but is entirely apt and makes the tabernacle not just a place of worship, but the place one went to commune with God.
 
Finally, a perusal of the building instructions for the tabernacle shows an interesting mix of demands for the best and an understanding of limits.  The tabernacle would have been by far the biggest, most spectacular tent in the camp, but it was still a tent.  God didn't insist that His people (then nomads) build a stationary temple, but instead wanted a tent that could be moved with His people.  The curtains, hangings, and veils were made of the finest cloths, hides, and linens available, dyed with the best dyes.  The claps were solid silver and the furniture was overlaid with pure gold, but the furniture was constructed out of acacia wood.  The best wood available in the world was cedar from Lebanon, which Solomon used in constructing the temple nearly 500 years later.  Why didn't God demand this for His tabernacle?  Because His people were at that point a mob of escaped slaves wandering in the wilderness.  Workers dispatched to Lebanon would have taken 2-3 months for the round trip if they could even have figured a way to bring the wood back (unlikely). Acacia was a much inferior wood, but it was the best available in the wilderness.  
 
From these building instructions we learn that God always wants our best, but He doesn't expect more than we can possibly give.  This is comforting when we consider the history of kings who demanded payment of taxes even when the harvest failed or landlords who evicted lessees who lost their jobs due to forces they couldn't control (Great Depression?).   God wants our best but He doesn't demand things we simply cannot do.  God is reasonable and doesn't demand the ark be built out of cedar when only acacia is on hand, but He also will not accept a silver overlay when there is plenty of gold. 
 
The building instructions of the tabernacle teach us that God is a reasonable God who wants to be among people who want to be near to Him.  
 
Rev. 21:3  "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God."
 
Lucas Ward

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."
            The above sentence is not the official motto of the United States Postal Service.  Yes, it does appear on the James A. Farley Building—the New York City Post Office—in Manhattan.  But the line came from Book 8 of The Persian Wars by the Greek historian Herodotus.  The Persians had created something similar to our Pony Express and it was said that a message could go from one side of the empire to the other—roughly India to Greece and Egypt—in a week's time.  The architect for the New York Post Office Building was the son of a Greek scholar.  He read Greek just for fun, and he was the one who decided to have the line placed on that particular post office.
            Still, it was the line I thought of that December of 1989 when we had ice on the roads and an inch of sticking snow on the ground—here in north Florida!  That particular Saturday we tromped through the white stuff to the highway where our mailboxes were all lined up to save the letter carrier some time.  While we waited, my three guys got a kick out of running down the road then stopping and sliding as much as ten or fifteen feet on the icy patch in the middle of it.  It was a cold, gray day, never rising above 30 as I recall and the sun never peeking through for an instant.  Our lightweight jackets, by Northern standards, barely kept us warm.  Finally we gave up and went back home, freezing feet, runny red noses, chapped hands and all.  The mail never did run that day.  So much for "Neither snow…"
            As I was doing all this research on the "motto," I came across another interesting tidbit.  During the Cold War of the 80s, the public was understandably worried.  People believed that nuclear war would destroy the world as we know it, that it was not survivable at all.  They were probably correct, but the administration of the time did their best to dispel that idea. 
            Nuclear war is not nearly as devastating as Americans have been led to believe, said Thomas K Jones, Deputy-Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.  To that end, the Federal Civil Defense Administration began their campaign to show people how to survive the Bomb.  They created scenarios for ways they would care for "all the survivors," tacitly promising that there would be a great many of them.  Two of their more ridiculous promises were:

1) Nuclear war would not prevent checks from clearing banks—including those drawn on destroyed banks—or their credit cards from being accepted. 
And, the one we are most interested in,
2) Postal employees would be moved to remote areas in order to maintain service.  They would have in reserve millions of emergency change-of-address forms, including a line to complete if the recipient were dead.  Imagine that.

            Most people who are aware of this inanity know it like this:  On July 12, 1983, FEMA promised that survivors of a nuclear war would still get their mail!  (If you want to read more on this, look up "Thinking the Unthinkable" by Professor Jon Timothy Kelly, Ph. D., West Valley College.  The original paper should pop up.)
            Talk about outrageous promises.  But understand this, that is exactly what many of your friends and neighbors think about you and your faith in God's promises.  What they do not understand, and simply will not see, is all the evidence we have of God keeping His promises for millennia. 
            Abraham waited twenty-five years before he began to see even a shadow of the promises God had made come true in the birth of Isaac.  His descendants waited another 430 years before they received the land.  The Jewish nation waited another millennium and a half for the Messiah, and are waiting still, while we enjoy being in his kingdom and under his watchful care and leadership. 
           Then there are the many instances of fulfilled prophecy.  Nation after nation came and went as God said they would, again and again.  "The most High rules in the kingdoms of men," Daniel says four times, and then proves it.
But those are only the big promises.  God makes us promises every day—and keeps them.  If we don't see them, we simply do not want to.
            No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1Cor 10:13)
            Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name…Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. (1Pet 4:16-19)
            Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Heb 13:5-6)
            For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)
            But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2Cor 12:9-10)
            I could keep going, but do you know what the problem is?  We don't like the things these promises imply.  In order to receive these promises we have to suffer for His name's sake.  We must be tempted, we must endure hardships, we must be content with a life that may not be what we had imagined, especially in this wealthy country.  We must be willing to be persecuted.  We must face tragedies.  That is when we see His promises come true.
          I no longer have absolute faith in the postal system—I saw it fail that December of 89.  But I have never seen my God fail me in a lifetime of ups and downs, good and bad, happiness and sorrow.  My neighbors have sometimes failed me.  My government has failed me.  Even my brethren have failed me.  But never God. 
          Maturity has helped me see that.  A growth in spirituality has made it easier.  Knowledge of the Word has been the greatest help.  You will never understand His help, nor will you even recognize it, until you learn about Him and how He works, until you become more like Him and see things as He does—not in a carnal way, but in a spiritual way. 
           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.” (Heb 10:36-38)
          God has yet more promises waiting for you.  Nothing will stop Him from delivering them.
 
In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began (Titus 1:2)
 
Dene Ward

How was the text of the Bible passed through all these centuries?
            How do we know it is accurate?
            Who chose the books of the Bible?
            What about "the lost books?"
            Which version of the Bible is the best?
            These questions are commonly asked, not just by skeptics but also by believers who don't know how to respond to their unbelieving friends and neighbors, and all of them are answered in this book.
            Dr. Lightfoot skillfully answers highly technical questions in a way that even laymen can easily understand and remember.  When it becomes necessary to use technical terms, he defines them so anyone can comprehend their meaning.  He also includes interesting tidbits of history that make this book readable.  Each chapter, few more than 10 pages long, ends with questions making this useful for a class or simply an aid to memory for the individual.  Grabbing a notebook and answering them will make you better able to quickly find answers for anyone else who asks.
            It is beneficial to us all that the author is a believer himself.  You can trust not only his facts and explanations but also his motivations in writing this book.  He wants you to understand where the Bible comes from and have confidence that it is the Word of God indeed.  If you have not read any other book I have recommended, please get this one and do so.  You will not be sorry.
            How We Got the Bible is published by BakerBooks.
 
Dene Ward

I did a little research one day and discovered that the Liberty Bell, the bell that rang on July 4, 1776 when this country declared its independence from England, received its celebrated crack on July 8, 1835, while tolling the death of Chief Justice John Marshall.  Then I did a little more research and found nine more stories about what caused the crack, and even evidence that this was not the first one.  I do have a small model of that bell among my dinner bell collection and there is the crack for all to see.  It’s probably more famous for that crack than it is for celebrating freedom.
            I thought then of another “crack,” one far more important.  And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom…Matt 27:50-51.  The veil in the Temple that separated the holy place from the most holy place also separated men from God.  Only one man could go through that veil and that only once a year, the high priest, Lev 16.  God “dwelt” behind that veil and man was not allowed access under penalty of death.
            Rather than nine different stories about how the veil of the Temple tore, only one is recorded.  The fact that it tore “from top to bottom” means someone had to be in the anteroom to see it, perhaps several “someones,” and that would have been the regular priests going about their daily duties.  Imagine their feelings as the accompanying earthquake began, and they watched an unseen hand rip that sacred curtain.  Imagine their terror as they wondered if they would die now that it hung open and they could see inside.  I think it is likely they were the very ones who later accepted the new teaching.  And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. Act 6:7.  It would have taken something monumental for those men to give up their livelihoods, their heritage, and their sacred privilege as priests of Jehovah.
            We all know that the rip in that veil symbolized the new access we now have to God.  Since we then have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God… let us draw near with boldness to the throne of grace…Heb 4:12,14.  This access was not given only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles, as prophesied in Isa 25:6,7.  “The veil that is over all nations” is “swallowed up.” 
            The Liberty Bell bears this inscription:  “Proclaim liberty throughout the land,” Lev 25:10.  We have a far more important liberty, the right to approach God when we need him, the privilege to call him Father and enjoy his care and protection and company! Adam lost that privilege a long time ago, and man suffered for it for thousands of years.  Don’t take it for granted now.
 
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Heb 10:19-22

Dene Ward

Hindsight, rather than being 20/20 and helping us understand better, can often blind us when studying the Bible, particularly the life of Jesus.  Every time we see something Jesus did, we see it complete with the Son of God “halo” over his head and miss the effect it would have had on the people then.  What they saw was Josh, the son of Joe Carpenter, John 6:42.  (Joshua is Hebrew for Jesus.)
            Let’s try this:  Imagine five or six of the most stable, godly, faithful Christian women you know.  Go ahead, name them out loud—real people with faces you can see in your mind.  Now imagine they suddenly started following around some itinerant preacher who vilified the leading men of your congregation (Matt 23), taught things that seemed opposite of what you had heard all your life (Matt 5,6), and actually threw things and people out of the meetinghouse (John 2, Mark 11).  Not only that, but every time he needed something, these women whipped out their checkbooks and took care of it for him.  And he wasn’t even handsome (Isa 53:2).  What would you think?  Have they gone nuts?!!!    
            And it came to pass that he went about through cities and villages teaching…along with certain women who ministered to them of their substance.  Luke 8:1-3
            Susanna, Joanna, Mary Magdalene and others, probably Mary and Martha, and Aunt Salome, too, were those stable, godly, faithful women.  “They were following Jesus,” we think, “so it was perfectly normal,” and miss the sacrifices they made and the courage they had.  They were probably the topic of conversation in every home in their communities.  Can’t you just hear the women gossiping, and the men mocking their husbands?  “You mean he actually let’s her get away with that?  Just who wears the biggest robes in his family, anyway?”  They also risked being kicked out of the synagogue, which would have put an end to their social lives and maybe their economic lives as well. 
            Would I have been as brave?  Would you?  Are we that brave now, or do we find ourselves saying things like, “We need to be careful what the community thinks about us.  We don’t want to be controversial.  Why, they may think we’re fanatics!”  There are times when you just can’t worry about what other people think.
            The next time you study, remember, you are looking from only one perspective and sometimes that blinds you to things that should be obvious.  Clear your mind and appreciate what these people went through, and try to be as strong and brave as they were.
 
And who is he that will harm you if you are zealous of that which is good?  But even if you should suffer for righteousness’s sake, blessed are you and fear not their fear, neither be troubled, but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord, being ready always to give answer to every man who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that, wherein you are spoken against they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. 1 Pet 3:13-16
 
Dene Ward
 

Obedience is a precondition of understanding.  We need to repent of the haughty way in which we sometimes stand in judgment upon Scripture and must learn to sit humbly under its judgment instead.  If we come to Scripture with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it only an echo of our own thoughts and never the thunderclap of God's, then indeed he will not speak to us and we shall only be confirmed in our own prejudices. We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.
        
John Stott, Authentic Christianity