The ancient nations all had their gods. They are the long forgotten gods, many known to us only because they are found in the Bible. There is Dagon, god of the Philistines; Chemosh, the god of Amon; Nisroch, the god Naaman’s master worshipped; Baal and Ashteroth of Caanan; and Diana, goddess of the Ephesians. Most of these are now found in dusty history books, as are the nations they ruled.
Then there were the gods of ancient Egypt. Among many others were Thoth, Usiris and Rah, the sun god, all resurrected for the benefit of the thousands of tourists and as quickly forgotten by them. The best known gods were those of Greece with it’s
multitude upon Olympia. Zeus was the father of all these. In Acts 14 we find Jupiter and Mercury.
The liberals and secular historians would place the god of the Israelites in the same category as the ancient, forgotten gods. They call Him Yahweh, one of the lesser gods. He does not measure up to the gods of Egypt and certainly not to the gods of Greece. He was the tribal god of a despised people. The learning and wisdom of Greece has always been held in high esteem. Israel has always been looked down on, from their days of slavery in Egypt. They were conquered by the Assyrians, taken captive by Babylon, held as a vassal state by Persia and later Greece. The Israelites were sold as slaves or scattered into almost every country on earth. Haman, Herod and Hitler tried to wipe them out, or kill their King. Today the Arabs are determined to destroy them, and every time the UN makes a pronouncement regarding Israel it is with the thinly veiled attempt to destroy them as a nation. The church has tried to destroy them and even today is doing it’s best to wipe out the nation of Israel.
With all that in mind, isn’t it strange that the despised tribal god of this enslaved people is now Universal Lord, recognized as God of Heaven in every nation on earth? Not the gods of esteemed Egypt or mighty Rome, but the God of Israel rules, unchallenged by the mighty gods of the past.
To whom did Jesus say, “Salvation is of the Jews”? To the Samaritans, who hated the Jews. God still says this to the UN, the Arabs, the anti-Semites and to most of the church which has long ago claimed that Israel was no longer God’s chosen people. That’s not very diplomatic ( today we would say, “not politically correct”), but He is Unbendable God. I once heard a woman preacher in Africa read from John 4. She came to verse 22 and openly and defiantly skipped that verse. (Jesus speaking, “Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews”.) The problem is that for her there was no salvation.

I Receive Christ Through Another’s Teaching
John 17:20
II Timothy 1:5; 3:15

I Must Come To Know Christ By Myself
Matthew 1:21
Romans 3;23
Romans 5:12
Romans 6:23

I Then Go On To A Life Of Holiness: Through The Word
Colossians 1:12-14
Matthew 7:21-23
II Peter1:3
John 6:63; 12:48

Baptism
Matthew 28:19
Mark 16:16
Acts 2:36-38
Acts 16:29-33
I Corinthians 10:1,2
Romans 6:1-5 Identification
Romans 6:6,7 The Doctrine
Galations 3:27

I’m thankful the Lord doesn’t say, ‘Be successful’, but he says, ‘Be faithful’.”
This gIves a new perspective on Luke 10:2 about praying that the Lord of the harvest would send laborers into His harvest. While trying to obey the command I tended to pray that God would send missionaries to the harvest fields of earth. I still think this is a good prayer. But after getting B___’s letter I saw something more. The ’something more’ is not the thousands of professional missionaries but the millions of little people scattered all over the world. These are the people God is using in many places.
The people I know of include B____ distributing tracts, the man who led a neighbor to Christ, the people with their little Bible studies, the parents bringing up their children in the fear of the Lord.
When you look at this command in Luke you see the relevance of John 15:1-8. The little people scattered all over the world need to do nothing other than abide in Christ. All who abide in Him will bring forth fruit. They are the ones open to His leading. And, also, how much of the time the person is not even aware of being used. How relaxing this is. All I have to do is abide in Him, sit at His feet and learn of Him. John 6:63: “The Word that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.”
Is this not very different from the frustration of wanting to be used by God in a great way? Most of us are too prone for pride for that, anyway. We want purpose in life. Paul said that his high calling was to know Christ: Phil 3:10-14. We are called to be obedient saints: That’s all.
This brings us to the second reason to abide in Christ. The first is, of course, so we can be used of God in His purpose. The second reason to know Christ is that we will be judged by His Word. In John 12:48 Jesus said, “The Words I speak will judge him at the last day.” But we can only obey what we know.

ETERNITY

About sixty years ago I read a book.  I have entirely forgotten what the book was about, but I do remember that the flyleaf had something that made a lasting impression on me.  Let me share that with you.  It said:

“In the far north there is a rock which is one thousand miles long, one thousand miles wide and one thousand miles high.  Every three hundred years a little bird sharpens it’s beak on that rock.  When that rock has thus been worn away one day of eternity will have passed”

In the early 1900s while in Ethiopia, the church leaders of the Wolayta tribe told me the story of Desala.  Desala was a businessman and also a witch doctor. He began to realize that his religion, especially that of being a witch doctor was false, based on lies. So he tried Islam.  When Desala saw the violence and evil in Islam, he concluded that this also must be false. It simply did not fit with what he knew to be truth and righteousness.

Some missionaries told Desala to try Christianity and gave him an Amharic Bible.   Although a Wolayta he could read Amharic. The Amharic is the biggest tribe in Ethiopia and they had a Bible.  Desala agreed rather half-heartedly. By this time he decided that all religions were equally good or bad.  Although not too interested at first, he soon saw that he had come onto something real.  Within a few months Desala was an ardent Christian.

About that time there was a meeting of witch doctors at the village of Gotcha Godu, the head witch.  Desala, belonging to the fraternity was also there.  While there Desala was talking to some of his acquaintances and sharing the gospel. Gotcha Godu heard him and ordered him to stop but Desala replied that the witch’s teachings and beliefs were built on lies and Desala had the truth.  He refused to stop.

Now, members of the S.I.M mission had given Desala his Bible.  Gotcha Godu knew this.  He pointed his finger at Desala and said, “Within six months, before the next meeting, a member of S.I.M will die.”  Desala replied, “That’s an easy guess, there are many of us.  Name one.  Name me.”  Gotcha was on the spot and knew he had no choice but to point at Desala and predict that, before the next six month’s meeting Desala would die.

Desala was somewhat frightened over what he had done.  He knew the witch doctors did have real powers: Satanic ones. He asked the missionaries if he had done the right thing.  They assured him that he had; that God would protect him from the power of Satan.  They also told him never to go out at night or even to be alone.  They were sure that Gotcha Godu would do his best to make his prophecy come true.

Six months later Desala was at the next witch convention.  Gotcha tried to ignore him, but Desala stood and reminded him of his prophecy telling him that he was a fake and liar.  Within a minute most had fled the village afraid that lightning would strike.  Nothing happened.  A look of confusion came across Gotcha’s face and he turned and ran into his hut.  He not only lost his power with the people but lost his satanic powers as well.

Desala, unlike the other witch doctors did not choose power, wealth and honor.  When he tried Islam he did not choose what Islam offers; every satisfaction to man’s natural desires.  He chose that which was right.  He had one question: what is true?  And found it in Christ and broke the power of witchcraft in his area.

“Them that honor Me, I will honor” 1 Samuel 2:30