May 31, 2020
Dear Phyllis,
Oh my goodness, God is good! Almost every morning the Father lets me climb up and peek in the window of heaven. Inasmuch as what I am seeing is indescribable I won;t try. All I can say is that Jesus is wonderful and all that our Father tells us about Himself is true. No I am not a mystic. I am not seeing visions, but I mean to tell you that the Word is good and has become extremely real to me.
Last Monday was Memorial Day in the states. Fox News was wall to wall coverage as to how we should remember the service men who have fallen. That strikes me as odd because that is only one side of the coin. I am all for being grateful for the fellows who sacrificed their lives so that we could live ours. That is a whole lot better than the fellow who said, “Let someone else do the fighting. I'm going to stay home”. And I believe in honoring the memory of those who have done well before us.
When Brother Yun visited Norway he said he wanted to see the grave of Marie Munsen, who was so mightily used of God to bring massive revival to his home province of Henan in China from 1927 to 1937. No one had ever heard of Marie Munsen. When Yun finally found her grave sight he was stunned to see it was overgrown with weeds. He demanded the Norwegian Christians, “Clean up this grave site or I will have stone cutters walk here from China to make her a better tomb stone.
When the biographer of Charles Finney went to Oberlin College to see the grave site of the founder, Charles Finney, he was stunned that no one had ever heard of Charles Finney. He grubbed around on campus and finally found a grave stone all grown over with brush saying Charles Finney. He went to the president of Oberlin and demand that they properly clean up the grave site of the founder.
I enjoy remember my mother. Her funeral was one of the pinnacle moments of my life, As I sat there looking around that church I couldn't believe my eyes.. My mind went back 40 years before when I first got saved and my mother was heart broken. She was a very active religious liberal Christian. When I said folks who don't believe in Jesus are going to hell, she cried, “But so many of our Catholic and Jewish friends are such good people”. I replied, “Yes, hell is full of good people”. And then when she was in her late 60s my mother met Jesus and became a howling Pentecostal. The last 18 years of her life she was a blow torch for Jesus. It didn't matter who it was, no one could talk to her five minutes without hearing how wonderful Jesus was. And now at her funeral as I looked around; my mother had been saved, my sister, all her children and everyone in that church were born-again Christians. Oh my goodness I couldn't believe it.
I like to remember my sister. I remember when she was deeply involved in the occult and taking her three children in with her. Then she got saved and all all her children had come to Christ and were going to good churches, I like to remember what the Lord did for my mother and sister, but most of all I like to remember where they are today and I am going to see then again, pretty soon.
One of my favorite momeries is my secretary Lavinia McCart. Lavinia was one of the saddest sisters I ever knew. Like all girls, she had dreams of getting married and having her own family. But it never happened. Lavinia lived a very lonely, sad life. She died a sullen, dejected soul in a nursing home, But oh, when she opened her eyes in the City; you talk about a happy camper, there wasn't a more joyful saint in heaven. Jesus gave her a stunning gown and she was a gorgeous woman. In life Lavinia was very plain - bordering on slightly ugly - but in heaven she was one of the most beautiful women there. All her class mates who married the sharp boys, had fine families and lived fulfilled lives as missionaries, all these gals had plain cotton clothes and sat in the back row in heaven. But Lavinia was up close to Jesus. Lavinia could only rave, “Oh thank You, Jesus, thank You Jesus, You chose the best part for me”. No I'm not Todd Bentley. I haven't made trips to heaven and come back to tell you all what I saw, but I am sure the image I have in my mind of Lavinia is accurate
I'm all for remembering the dead and honoring their sacrifice, but it seemed strange to me as I looked at Fox News on You Tube, that somehow by remembering them, that gave the dead more comfort. Offering flowers and burning incense to the dead isn't going to make them more comfortable where they are today. Rather than remembering the dead it might be more profitable to think about where they are today I thank God for for those brave men who .stormed ashore in Saipan. Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Omaha beach in Normandy. No doubt these were really good men, They certainly paid a dear sacrifice, and their mothers and wives paid an even higher price. Thank God for them. But in the light of eternity what is the difference between getting killed at 21 and going to hell; and living to 81 and going to hell. In eternity there isn't much difference.
The most bewildering phenomenon in the world today is that people have done such an amazing job of shutting reality out of their minds. The most established fact in the world toady is that there is an end of the road for everyone breathing air. The most unavoidable event in life is death, and yet multitudes – perhaps most people – block it out of their minds like it won't happen. Then when it does happen, the survivors say, “Oh well, let's get on with life”.
There is nothing wrong with remembering the sacrifice of those who have stood up and stepped forward to fight evil, But rather than thinking about where, how, and why they gave their lives it might be a little more profitable to think about where they are today, Some are in heaven and some are in hell, They might have got short-changed 50 years of living on this earth but where they are today is where they will be for eternity.
It might be alright to show a little patriotism. America has much to be proud of. She has a remarkable history; going from a few merchants and rugged backwoodsmen to being the number one super power in the world. She has grown from a tiny seed to being the dominant tree in the forest. But today America is deeply divided. It is no longer a matter of a difference of opinion, but deep deep settled hatred. I despise those vile, evil people in government. And they despise Trump. I can't stand to look at the faces of the cheerleaders for satan on CNN. MSNBC. the New York Times, etc. I have begged God to give that evil woman who wanted to be president a private room in government housing and a stunning orange suit. But her crimes still go on unrewarded. All I know is that God said. “Vengeance is Mine”, and obviously God is simply giving her more rope to dig deeper into hell to get a seat further up front where the fire is hotter, the worms more numerous, and the darkness a little thicker.
I was looking at a You Tube of Dave Rubin interviewing a black man who had been a football star and an ex-police officer, and now an activist for Trump. That black man certainly was colorful, being raise a pure product of his cultural environment in a bad black community, But midway through the interview the black man said. “Man, when I got SAVED everything turned around”. Whoa! What did he say? Rubin said. “Tell me more about this transformational experience.” What a testimony! He told about responding to an invitation to go forward and praying at the alter. Then he said, “When I accepted Jesus in my heart. Suddenly I quit swearing, all the deep hatred went out, and I had a love for everyone. Man that felt good!” That is the kind of political interview I like.
It might be alright to remember the heroes of the past and salute the flag, but if we could turn down the National Anthem a little bit and turn up “Jesus shall reign where er' the sun doth his successive journeys run...”; maybe we might move a little closer to sanity.
Gambarimasho (let's let it all hang out) for Jesus, bill
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