Friday, September 1, 2017

GOD’S QUESTIONS?

Today’s Reading: Job 40

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

 

It was in this area of the Jordan River that Jesus was baptized. Looking from the Jordanian side, you can see the Greek Orthodox Church in the distance. Five kilometres beyond the church is Jericho. Today’s reading says of the Behemoth creature, “The Jordan gushes into his mouth” (Job 40:23b). This may have been a description 0f a brontosaurus dinosaur who, so it is estimated, could grow to a weight of 30 tons.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

 

Key Verse: Job 40:7-8

Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me: Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?

 

Some day at the final judgement, God will ask the questions. This may be one of those questions. It is often said, “If God is good and all powerful, why does He let people die in war, famine, and disease?” Our answer is found in the key verse. People try to justify themselves or our fellow humans by making God out to be the culprit. Take the current events in Syria and iraq for example. In order to make the killing stop, God would have to violate His own moral standards and rob Isis leaders of their free will. They pray unwittingly to Satan, and the result is that they become destroyers like Satan. Free choices, the very qualities that make us human, are ours to make, and thus we suffer the consequences. The 20th century saw the greatest number (millions) of people in human history murdered. Perhaps 10 million perished as a result of what was called National Socialism in Europe (Hitler), and as many as 100 million in Russia, the Ukraine, China, Cambodia and other countries through Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and others (Communism). The undergirding belief common to both was that lower forms of life should be wiped off the earth so that more highly evolved people could thrive in a socialist paradise.

Dress the holocausts up however we will, it was the belief that we will never stand before God in judgment (either He does not exist or as one of the fathers of such thinking taught, “God is dead”), along with the belief in “the survival of the fittest,” which was the genesis of such tremendous evil!!! People who claim to believe that they are answerable to the great Creator of the Universe could not commit such atrocities without trembling in fear.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I pray that increasingly I will fear You in great awe and respect, so that I’ll live my life honouring You, Your creation, and all the people on earth. Because You, Lord Jesus, took judgment for evil upon Yourself as You suffered on the Cross, I am justified in Your sight, O Holy God. Thank You for changing everything, Lord Jesus! In Your Name, Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

As a boy I was intrigued by dinosaur skeletons which we would visit in Canada’s national museum in Ottawa. When I made it clear that I believed God created these amazing creatures, I was ridiculed by my teacher. I felt like saying, “Pick on someone your own size,” but I did not believe I could defend my position at the time. I would have loved to have shown my science teacher our Crossroads Creation Series, which aired on television across the Soviet Union about 28 years ago. The set of 13 shows fell into the hands of the head of the Russian Academy of Science, and he in turn gave them to the head of Radio and Television Moscow. I received a fax asking me for permission to air them across all 15 republics. I faxed back to the effect that I could’nt believe that the USSR, the centre for the promotion of world atheism, would do such a thing. I asked for an affidavit and a formal contract before I would believe them and agree to their request. Within a week they complied and carried our series in prime time for 13 weeks from January through the end of March,1989. They were released as the first Christian-produced telecasts ever carried on USSR television. Forgive me if I’m repeating myself, but my mind is still boggled at the magnitude of this development. This resulted in my invitation to preach the very first ever conference of church leaders from all 15 Soviet republics in Moscow. A mobile TV production truck, which Crossroads donated to a newly created Russian ministry, covered the conference, but that is another story far too complicated for this blog (I think I covered it in my “This Far By Faith” book).

Yours for the greater glory of our great Creator God!

David

P.S. The descriptions of unusual creatures in today’s and tomorrow’s readings cannot be anything other than Dinosaurs. Today’s sounds like a brontosaurus (the Behemoth, Job 40:15-24). Dinosaurs are so exciting to children that my great-grandson, James Stowell, wore a dinosaur hat. I find it difficult to resist sharing such pictures with you. Here it is…

 

Apatosaurus, also known as the Brontosaurus, possibly fits the unusual description of the Behemoth in today’s reading.

 

15 thoughts on “Friday, September 1, 2017

  1. I am blown away by all the incredible ways that God has used you and the Crossroads ministry over the years. It is my heartfelt prayer that I and every Christian in Canada would be as dedicated to hearing and obeying the voice of the Lord as you have. Thank you for being such an inspiration to me.

  2. Love this blog, but the last while the font has been very small and difficult to read..
    Apparently this can be changed at your end.
    God bless this wonderful ministry..we support it monthly.
    Janie

  3. David,do you realize how big of an impression you must have made on the leaders of the USSR for this to happen?I suspect God may have hgad a hand in leading them to you and Crossroads?You always obey.Thanks for being you.God bless

  4. The Living Bible (TLB) translation is as thus:
    15 “Take a look at the hippopotamus![a] I made him, too, just as I made you!

    My first teachings were from Amazing Facts TV with Doug Bachelor (SDA) on Galaxy 19 satellite,FTA TV.(Pirates also use the term FTA.)The channel next to this one is Amazing Discoveries TV which has many good teaching videos.(I am a ‘Christian in a Baptist congregation’.) Now to my point:here are some videos you may like:

    https://www.google.ca/search?q=Amazing+Discoveries%2Cdinasaurs+in+the+bible&rlz=1C1NHXL_enCA728CA728&oq=Amazing+Discoveries%2Cdinasaurs+in+the+bible&aqs=chrome..69i57.52773j0j8
    If the link is not live simply copy and paste it in your search window.

  5. Your daily blog Pastor David always interesting and informative. God bless you and your family for faithfully presenting it to us daily!
    Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos of your Gr.Grandson…love the hat!!

    Have a wonderful day all bloggers…appreciate your input!

  6. I think dinosaurs have some connection to the reprobate angels that married human women before the flood. The fact that scientists believe they died out in a global event conforms to the book of Enoch that says the seed of the watchers were drowned in the flood. They are strange perversions of reptiles.

  7. I am in Israel and visited Masada the day u posted pics of it!Also ,I was visiting the Jordan River yesterday as well! A small portion is in the backyard practically where I am stayi g!Praise God ,your pics are soo timely!God is amazing!

  8. Dear Pastor David, Thank you so much for all the wonderful and amazing ways that you have shared the truth of God’s word over your many years of ministry. You and all of your family and the Crossroads staff are such a blessing to our world.
    Creation is one of my favourite Bible topics and it is thrilling to hear of your experience with the people of Russia! May God continue to bless you and your family. Thanks for sharing family photos and stories. They are greatly enjoyed!
    Sincerely,
    Marjie S

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