judvaughn

I see no indication that God has stopped doing miracles. Science has overcome our sense of the miraculous, but unexplainable things happen around us and we hardly notice. I sometimes doubt the healing stories of others, but I have personally been a part of a miraculous cancer healing in a friend's child. They activated a worldwide prayer network, placed the healing in God's hands, and the grapefruit-size tumor went away. We--including the doctors--were genuinely touched by this event. I like that slogan, "Expect a miracle" as a way of living. To God be the glory.

My 8-year-old daughter wants a computer in her room. She has asked repeatedly for it. She sees that some of her friends have one. But, as her father, I believe it would be irresponsible for me to give it to her at this time. Request denied. NO, request delayed. One day, perhaps when she is in high school, I can arrange for her to have one in her room because it will become important to her student work. But she must wait. As her father, I make decisions that I believe are in her best interest. Does she understand? Is she satisfied with my answer? No. But she learns to accept certain decisions that she knows I believe are good for her. And in her heart she knows, whatever my decision as a parent, that I am working for the best outcome for her life. Jud.

The blood of the Lamb is a metaphorical reference to God's provision for our reconnection with Him: Christ. Not by works, but by faith. We cannot fight spiritual principalities in our own power, but we can join Him in His fight. Jesus encouraged us to keep the faith by assuring us that "I have already overcome the world (Satan)." That's a claim that I can put my hope in despite my pitiful efforts to live an exemplary life in this realm.

The seal is the King's impremature that protects all those who display it. In a democratic society, that concept is hard to grasp, but a simple example is the Notary Public's seal which marks a document as official. It promises something. It authenticates. In my Bible study, we are studying faith and the Hebrews 11 definition "the assurance of things hoped for". Our teacher encouraged us to see the "assurance" as the title deed (the official document) of things that don't yet exist (in the natural). To me, that's a similar idea. The seal is the protection of the Sovereign and proclaims that something is real (title deed) that may or may not yet be delivered. But the "hope" is not meant to be "something we yearn to come true some day," but rather "the thing we put our absolute trust in." A vulgar example of the seal is the idea of tatooing slaves, like branding cattle, to show ownership. There is no doubt to whom they belong. The owner can claim the slave or the cow merely on the basis of the seal. The seal also protects in that no one else can claim ownership under penalty of law. Jud.

Doesn't the 144,000 represent the remnant, that is, a small group of the faithful who are left after the separation of wheat from chaff? I have always been taught that this remnant was Jewish, but, spiritually, it speaks of God's way of working in the world and can be extended to any race or group if they are the faithful ones who are left standing after trials. The faithful become the "chosen ones," or the small, leftover remnant. God always asked His people to winnow the troops down to a small number so that there is no doubt about who is responsible for the victory (Gideon, David and Goliath, Elijah and the altar, etc.) I want to be a part of the remnant, not the majority. It seems to me that the "remnant" is the same idea as Jesus' teaching to reject the wide road and choose the narrow path that leads to salvation (Matt. 7.13-14). Few will choose the narrow road. God help me to choose wisely at each fork of my daily walk. Jud.

Q3. Why do you think the religious compromise required by participating in heathen religious practices in the trade guilds was so spiritually destructive? What compromises do twenty-first century Christians struggle with? Let's not settle for trite legalisms about drinking and smoking. What are the real compromises that dilute vital Christianity? Time and again, the Hebrew children fell back to physical idols that they could touch and hold in their hands, despite God's commandments against idol worship. We are just like them. Why are there no relics from Jesus' life? Because he knew we would worship them and not the true God (think about the shroud of Turin and the recent coffin of James). God knows our hearts and knows that we will seek the easy way of idol worship and abandon the continual reliance on Him if we have these objects. It seems to me that Judge Roy Moore's Ten Commandments monument in Alabama easily drifts into idol worship, separate from true worship of the Living God. This sets up a confrontational us-them scenario where Satan can divide and push many into dispair (It is easy for me to see the "Golden Calf" so clearly in others yet I cannot see it in myself. That is why we need accountability for church people, pastors, and all who continually seek to do God's will.). Like Jesus said, God is looking for true worshippers, not in front of a particular holy mountain that the proud leadership has chosen as the best spot, but wherever God's spirit is present. This kind of spiritual relationship is not easily implemented in a life filled with stuff. Is God elusive at times? Yes. We are living in the natural. But that's not His fault. I believe He is always there, but I am the cheater, the adulterer, the abandoner -- easily drawn away by the temporal. But in having daily devotional time, prayer, and meeting together to encourage each other to seek a higher way, we draw close to God. May we develop a discerning spirit where we am able to separate truth from myth and follow the true God despite the distractions of idolatry.