3 May 2015
Dear Phyllis,
Nothing is so revealing as time. Andrew Murray said that persevering to the end is the only certain proof of those who are saved. I think He is right. Unless you want to accept the Armenian position that salvation is like musical chairs where you can be saved and lost, saved and lost, and hope you are on a chair when the music stops. One time I was conducting a wedding. When it was over I said, “In 20 years we will see what has happened here today.” Tragically, 50% of the Christian wedding conducted in the states today will wind up in divorce.
The biggest events in this past week were in Nepal and Baltimore. Nepal got rocked with a 7.8 earthquake. Having been in that country and knowing how those buildings are put together it was no surprise to see the piles of rubble on the news. The last I heard no one had an accurate number of the dead but the speculation is somewhere around 10,000. I think that is amazingly low. It was not only Kathmandu that suffered but hundreds of villages where massive landslides came down and cut off roads. And those on Mt. Everest had no where to go when there were massive avalanches coming down that mountain. Man that would be a bad place to be when the earth starts to shake.
And Baltimore. Oh my goodness what a mess. If liberalism was ever on display, the world got a good look at the marvels of liberalism with Baltimore on fire. To say that was predictable would be like saying it is predictable that you will get wet if you jump overboard from a ship. But blind people are blind. Several years ago I was riding a bus in Laos. The man sitting next to me was a true communist from Turkey. I somewhat enjoyed his speal. I told him, “I thought everyone was dead but it is interesting to see that there are still a few holdovers in the world”. I found his arguments amusing. I countered by saying, “You have had 50 years of your showcase window trophies set before us in East Germany, North Korea, Cuba, Eastern Europe, Russia and any place where communism has been permitted to prosper. The comparison between East and West Germany, and North and South Korea are brilliant examples of which system works best. Liberalism certainly has had an honest opportunity to show us its merits in Baltimore, Detroit, and Chicago. Forty years of liberal administrations have reduced these cities to anarchy. At the same time Rudy Giuliani took a city that was a disaster zone and restored it to be a model. I told my communist seat-mate in Laos, where people are allowed to work unfettered you have prosperity, but where socialism and communism prevail you have a bloated government and starving people. Poor Baltimore, that tragic city has been saddled but a disgusting, incompetent, mayor and administration that produced anarchy that has set the city back decades – if it ever can recover. In like manner I fear Baltimore is only a microcosm of what America is heading for in the very near future. We are half way there right now. And people think they can avoid the judgment of God???
This past week little has happened here except I sat on my balcony writing my comments on the Song of Solomon. At last I have come to peace on that subject. What I am writing is not to share with others but I am simply doing this because I feel Jesus has told me to and what I write is only private between Jesus and myself. But oh my goodness the Word has burned in my heart.
This morning I was writing about S of S 4:8 which is an amazing invitation by Jesus to come with Him and look from the top of three mountains. That word COME sounds like a trumpet to me. I have told the Lord many times if He is inviting me to come with Him He can sign me up as a taker. I have told Him many times, “Lord, I will come. Let's go.” But my view of that has changed radically over the years. For many years I thought He was talking about a mountain top experience. But the Inverted Kingdom has taught me much. I have come to realize in God's Kingdom every thing is upside down. If that is true then that mountain top experience must be a very deep valley. It is true that spiritually you can see more from a valley experience than from those wonderful mountain top experiences.
Forty three years ago we were in the states staying at a Bible school for two years. At that school there were four outstanding young men. Over the years I have been interested in following the respective paths of these men. One went to France as a missionary. The head of that school took his top two and put them on the inside track to be promoted as deep men of God. He put them as the top teachers in the school and today one is the director. The fourth man got the shaft. At the time I thought the fourth man was easily the best man there but what happened to him was tragic. The way he got treated was almost criminal. Over the years this poor fellow has gone from one tragedy to another. The two who were given the five star rating have stayed at the school for forty years and been insulated from problems. My heart has gone out to them. I feel they have been greatly short-changed in life. I have always felt the best thing that could have been done for them would be to send them to the mission field and let them get the guts kicked out of them. Let them get hammered until they are glassy eyed. Let them get kicked from pillar to post and then bring them home to teach. But tragically they were deprived that experience.
Today the man who had the roof fall in on him and whose life has been a disaster is easily the most outstanding man of God. The other day he wrote me a letter saying, “I wouldn't wish my experience on anyone, but from my heart I thank God for everything that has happened to me. I wouldn't change a thing”. That brother has been with Jesus on the mountain top. He has seen life from a perspective that is unseen from those who haven't had his experience. Boot camp for special forces is not a place where you sit all day beside a pool drinking ice tea and watching TV. And the top men for Jesus are those that He has trained in His boot camp. If Jesus has invited us to go with Him to the mountain tops lets go, but best we keep in mind that this trip will be different than what we expect. But the view from up here is priceless.
How gracious of Jesus to invite us to go with Him. Let's go.
bill
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