Closing The Loop
“For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and returns not hither, but waters the earth and makes it to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater: so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto to I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:10-11
“…the centurion sent friends to him saying, ‘Lord, don’t trouble yourself: for I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof…but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.’” –Luke 7:6-7
Last week, I had the privilege of cutting a TV broadcast with Pastor Daniel Moore of Iglesia Del Senor church in Dallas and Pastor Fran Quesava from Madrid, Spain. Pastor Fran, who is thirty-two years old, brought with him a book that he and his wife have written entitled GOAL! Pastor Fran said the idea for the title came to him from the Spanish custom of screaming out “GOAL!” whenever their soccer teams score. As we were discussing the book, Pastor Fran said he was inspired to write the book from ministering in Central and South American cities with Dr. Luis Palau. When Pastor Fran made that comment I said, “Let me tell you a story you probably don’t know.”
Back in the 20’s and 30’s, there was an on-fire, Holy Ghost movement in the United Kingdom that came out of the famous Welsh Revival. They believed in radical personal salvation through faith and confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and in the offices of the Ascended Christ. They were especially strong on the gift of prophecy and the office of the New Testament prophet. They believed in waiting on the Lord for direction.
On one occasion as they were in prayer, the Holy Spirit began to speak through the prophets about the needs of their nation and the world. As the prophet spoke of various places in need of ministry, one place was named that nobody attending the meeting had ever heard about. So they did the only thing they could – try to find out if such a place could be found on a world map. After much looking and searching, they found a city in South America that was a match to the prophetic word. Not knowing what else to do, they sent missionaries. My father was one of the missionaries sent out by that revival; and although he was sent to Australia rather than South America, a very close friend of his was sent to the Argentine.
Today there is a huge move of the Holy Spirit in South America, and particularly in Brazil and the Argentine. One of the families that came into the move of the Holy Spirit as a result of all this effort and activity was Dr. Luis Palau of Argentina. I met Dr. Palau in Wales in 1987 when he spoke at the annual convention of the organization that sent out the missionaries. Dr. Palau later came to set up a headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, before leaving to continue his work in Portland, Oregon.
Part of Dr. Palau’s vision was to raise up one hundred young evangelists. While cutting last week’s TV broadcast, I asked Fran Quesava if he was one of the one hundred evangelists. Pastor Fran said he wasn’t, but he had travelled with Dr. Palau and was inspired by him.
What if the man who gave the prophetic word so many years ago in the United Kingdom had hesitated and not spoken forth that word because he did not recognize the name of the place or understand what he was saying? If the word is truly God’s word, it is not spoken in vain but rather accomplishes and prospers according to God’s purposes.
Don’t be afraid to speak a word from God, whether in testimony or Sunday school or private conversation or wherever. If it is God’s word, He will clothe it with substance. God’s word always brings a return; He is the One that closes His loops. A very interesting loop of that sort just closed for me in an unexpected way while meeting with Daniel and Fran last week in Dallas.
By,
John G. Cathcart
OLD GLORY
“…What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
‘Tis the star spangled banner: O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”
— excerpt from “The Star Spangled Banner,” lyrics by Francis Scott Key
Interestingly, the common nickname for the flag of the United States of America did not come from that second verse of Francis Scott Key’s famous poem, even though you might assume that’s the source. Actually, “Old Glory” was a name given to the flag by William Driver, an early nineteenth century American sea captain. Specifically, the title refers to the flag he owned, which has become one the U.S.’s most treasured artifacts.
“Old Glory” was made and presented in the 1820’s to the young captain by his mother and some young ladies from his home-town of Salem, Massachusetts. The flag is big — measuring about ten feet by seventeen feet — and was intended to be flown from the mast of a ship. Originally, the flag had twenty-four stars with a small anchor sown into the blue corner as a symbol of its nautical purpose. William Driver first hailed the flag as “Old Glory” as he left harbor for a trip around the world in 1831-1832 — a trip which climaxed with the rescue of the mutineers of the famous H.M.S. Bounty.
The captain quit the sea in 1837 and moved on to Nashville, Tennessee. He flew the flag on all patriotic occasions using a rope strung across the street. “Old Glory” soon became known to all the local citizens. In 1861, it was modified to show 34 stars. Tennessee seceded in 1861 when the Civil War broke out; and fearing the local Confederate government might try to destroy the flag, Driver had it sewn inside a comforter by some neighbor girls. The flag survived, and Driver flew it again when Union forces retook Nashville the next year. The 6th Ohio Infantry was present to cheer and salute and be inspired to take “Old Glory” as their motto.
All these events were widely reported, and soon “Old Glory” became nationally famous. The flag remained for a time as a treasured keepsake in the Driver family. Eventually, the flag was given to the Smithsonian. Captain Driver’s grave is in the old Nashville City cemetery, which is one of three places authorized by act of Congress to allow the flag of the United States of America to be flown twenty-four hours per day.
As you celebrate this Fourth of July, take a few brief moments to appreciate the flags waving about your own neighborhood. And as you do, you might want to reflect on the words of Lee Greenwood’s beloved song:
“And I’m proud to be an American,
Where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died,
Who gave that right to me.
And I’d gladly stand up
Next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.”
By John G. Cathcart
Two Kinds of Light
| “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” -II Corinthians 4:6
“Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.” -I Corinthians 15:46 “…So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he doesn’t know how. For the earth brings forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come.” -Mark 4:26-29 |
Have you ever thought about how interesting that leading scripture from Mark is?
As I was thinking about writing this inspirational, my mind went to an unusual chart which the Holy Spirit inspired and revealed to my father in 1937. The chart displays the principles by which our Divine God has revealed Himself to man throughout historical times — by light revealed to men physically, light revealed to men legally, and light revealed to men spiritually.
To me it is strange that, in the purposes of God, the revelation and reality of physical light came before the revelation and experience of spiritual light.
Light is a strange phenomenon. It is the only entity that I know of that can appear in the form of rays as well as in physical (quanta) form. When light goes through a grating, it can switch from ray form to physical form and back again. It is as if it has a physical and a non-physical mode of expression, which it does.
On my recent trip to Kenya, I had cause to think about this same subject. Years ago when we first went to reach out to the Maasai, there was nothing but people, cattle and manure-and-stick-covered dwellings in the undeveloped bush. Now, in that same location there is a well, irrigation farming, school and church. Even further, our national director has informed me that she appealed to the regional Kenyan Power and Light Company, and they have agreed to take electricity to the Maasai community at Emuruadikir. Can you imagine what an impact this will have on this place and on these people?
Some years ago, a WME donor wanted to communicate with a Maasai student by email. We took an opportunity to videotape the area to provide some explanation to the donor. We showed a typical Maasai hut. We arranged to speak to the head school teacher in front of it. Did he know what the internet was? No! Did he know what a computer was? No! Did he have electrical power? No! Did he have a telephone link? No!
But that was then; and this is now. And what about the future? I see a proliferation of two kinds of light, but especially the light that is spiritual. I can see a computer lab at the school with power for computers. If power is there, can phone links be far behind? I can see Maasai children and adults trained to use programs like MS Word. I can see light available for the people to use at night for classes and for cooking. And physical light and its blessing will be followed by spiritual and academic light and their blessings.
I foresee the light of the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ to men, women and children in a mighty way.
| By John G. Cathcartwww.wme.org |
Two Things in Life Are Constant
| “The only constant is change.” – Heraclitus of Ephesus
“Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art…” from the poem “Bright Star” by John Keats “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw near, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them… Or ever the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.” – Ecclesiastes 12:1 & 6
I read an editorial in the newspaper recently that started out talking about Kodak filing for bankruptcy. I then thought about how Art Linkletter asked for the film concessions at Disneyland as payment for a favor he did Disney, and he said it was the most profitable little enterprise he had ever undertaken. I remembered when I heard a patent attorney discuss how the tradename “Kodak” was actually meaningless, but it had been pumped full of meaning by the filmmaker. Besides “Coke,” at one time Kodak was probably the most recognized name in the mind of the general public. George Eastman revolutionized picture taking by his invention of the Box Brownie – I used to have one, and I loved that camera. Eastman did away with glass plates, emulsions and that whole mess, reducing the complexity of taking photos, and Kodak became king of the photo game for one hundred years. Years before Kodak’s invention, my grandfather would bring out his big wooden box camera mounted on an ornate, impressive looking wooden tripod, and he would cover his head with a large fabric cloth to look at an image on a plate before taking a time-lapse picture of our family yelling, “Hold that pose!” This newspaper editorial on Kodak was strangely timely for me because I had been doing some spring-cleaning and had come upon a camera I had not used in years. Thinking back, I realized I bought it about thirty years ago. It came with a book called “The ABC’s of Picture Taking Ease.” They should have dropped the word “ease” and changed the title to “The Elements of Picture Taking” or better yet to “An Introduction to the Complexities of Photography.” The camera came in a beautiful but bulky carrying bag complete with flash attachment, telescopic lens and a miscellany of additional attachments, devices and batteries. The whole thing was remarkably heavy. What hurt me now was the fact it was a magnificent dinosaur that I did not want to part with. It used a 36-shot roll of Kodak film with little plastic containers to eliminate light. Armed with this magnificent device, I considered how I could take pictures in the field and bring them back to be developed, but how I could not monitor what picture I was taking or manipulate those pictures; and I realized, heartbreak of heartbreaks, the photos wouldn’t have the quality needed to use in our WME publications. Woe, woe, woe! My shiny, impressive looking camera was a mute sermon on display. First, it testified that nothing lasts very long, let alone forever. The world is changing around us, and our personal world is changing day by day. Second, it says that one day things that are personally important, precious, valuable and modern will be insignificant, nostalgic, antique and outdated. Time tends to do that. There are only two things in life that are constant. The first is change, and change makes our worlds irrelevant in due time. The second is Jesus who is the same yesterday, today and forever, and He makes us eternal treasures to God and others. As the saying goes, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.” By John G. Cathcart
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Real Mission Work
“And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding …” -Ezra 8:18
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” -Romans 8:14
I was six years of age and living in South Africa. My father was going to preach, and I was with my mother in a second vehicle. Suddenly, Brother DeBrien who was riding with us said, “Sister Cathcart, stop the car — I have left something behind!” He rushed back into the house and returned after a few minutes. My mother asked, “Brother DeBrien, did you forget your Bible?” He responded, “No, I forget my nickel-plated pistols. Where we’re going, they will kill you for a few pennies.”
Now, let’s fast forward a few years but keep to the same theme.
We just returned from a trip to visit the WME work in Kenya. This trip was unusual because things started going wrong from the very beginning when a meal truck banged into our aircraft as we were attempting to depart from DFW. When we finally arrived at the airport in Nairobi, there was no one to meet us. A Kenyan friend came to our rescue. We discovered our hotel reservations had been cancelled. We managed to work things out slowly, but strange happenings continued to plague our visit. The delays that resulted forced us to cancel a trip to the Maasai mission at Emuruadikir. We decided to instead visit the large slum at Kibera-Soweto, but we missed our scheduled time of departure due to more problems.
By this time, I was waking up spiritually to the significance of these unusual problems and the accompanying conviction in my spirit. I said to my WME associate, “The Lord is telling us not to go. This number of negatives is not natural; it’s the Lord talking to us through our circumstances.” My associate protested, “The people will be disappointed if we don’t go.” I responded, “They’ll just have to be disappointed. I’m going to listen to the Lord.” The Kenyans wanted us to leave for the slum at 2:30 pm. But a phone call came from a Kenyan detective friend. “Don’t come,” he said, “There’s been an incident.”
We found out a bit later that my WME associate and I had been targeted. Our detective friend felt he should go ahead of us and check the scene. He had gotten out of his car at the gate of our WME school and purchased some oranges for the kids from a roadside vendor. Four teenagers walked up and started talking to him. They knew of our coming visit, and this gang was tired of waiting for my associate and me to show up. Instead, they decided to jump the detective who came before us. Suddenly, our detective friend was looking down the muzzle of a gun. One teenager who recognized the detective and knew all about our school yelled to the gunman, “Shoot him! Shoot him!” The detective remained totally calm; and while the boys were distracted for a second or two, he retrieved his pistol and shot the gunman in the chest. The other gang members ran off into the slum. The gunman has since died while another of the young men in the attack was gunned down in later activities.
In Kenya, men without congregations or followers start claiming they are Pastors, Reverends, and eventually self-appointed Bishops. These men deceive well-meaning Americans in order to rip them off financially. One such “Bishop” in the Kibera slum is opposed to WME. He aligned himself with a minor government official and arranged to have part of our school security-wall torn down, neither of them having the proper authority to do so. Because the wall was missing, our school children witnessed the shooting described above.
So what are the lessons here?
First, as many as are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. God can and will speak to us, even in the midst of and through our circumstances. When He does, we need to listen carefully.
Second, WME is into real missions work in countries plagued by violence and spiritual darkness. There is a desperate cry of the Spirit to provide high school education to as many children in Kenya as we can. Kenyan government only educates children through the 8th grade. Children graduate from the 8th grade and have no hope for the future. The teenager who knew our school and planned the attack should have been attending a Christian school. That might have saved his life from the dark path of destruction he is now locked into.
Christians are called to change these realities and to bring in the Kingdom of God. We need to provide high school education for our children in Soweto. We need donors who are willing to step into the gap to save young people in desperate need. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, abandoned and hopeless. Let us follow in the footsteps of Christ, and let the mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus.
By John G. Cathcart
http://www.wme.org
Tongues of Men and Angels
“The Lord has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary…” – Isaiah 50:4
“…my tongue is the pen of a ready writer…” – Psalm 45:1
The “Freudian slip” is named after the psychologist Sigmund Freud. A Freudian slip is when you mean one thing and say another. Freud had noted and analyzed numerous seemingly trivial, bizarre, or nonsensical errors and slips of the tongue which he concluded were linked to the unconscious mind. As has been observed, a Freudian slip is when you think one thing and say your mother… ooops, I mean another; or Freudian slips reveal the intention of the peeper…er speaker, much better than he or she intended to say.
It is really interesting how psychologists recognize a very similar world to that of the born-again Christian. Christian writers such as Paul talked about the composition of a man as being spirit, soul and body – or the spiritual man, the soulical man and the carnal man. By contrast, psychologists talk about the superego, the ego and the id. It is the same thing from a different viewpoint. The first is the viewpoint of the “sacred,” and the second the viewpoint of the “secular.”
But, as far as Christians are concerned, the psychologist’s “superego” is the eternal spirit man who at death returns to God who gave it. While to the secular psychologist, the superego is the higher man of the intellect, but a man who is ultimately purely physical “brain” and dies with the rest of the material man. To the Communist, man is matter in motion; to the Christian, man is a work in progress.
Christians experience a similar thing to the so-called Freudian slip; however, in the case of the Christian, the “slip” is linked to the indwelling Holy Spirit and not to the material and mental subconscious. To the Christian, this is a question of “now, where did that come from?” It is a revelation of the Spirit, and oftentimes we are not aware of it when it happens. Across the years, I have been amazed and amused at people who came to me and said, “I was so blessed by what you said to me the last time we met – can you repeat it?” Usually I cannot. On one occasion, I replied to a person’s description that it sounded so good I wish I had heard it myself.
When you have such an experience, God is using you as a human vessel to speak His word and convey His encouragement into another’s life. Such an experience should be very affirming to you. Think of it! You are being used by and of God. You are a vehicle of the Spirit’s blessing. And please note from the introductory scripture above that God gives you the tongue of the learned and not the brain of the learned. The gift of the Holy Spirit is tongues, not brains.
I had such an experience recently in response to some words I had been quickened to write on a Christmas card to our national director in the Philippines, and this was his response:
Dear Pastor John:
The Lord be with you. I received the very nice and wonderful Christmas card you and Patricia had sent me. The words that you penned on it were so uplifting and encouraging, they put fire in my heart to continue and to do more for Jesus. Thank you John, and may Our Lord Jesus Christ continue to bless and to use you for the advancement of His kingdom. I am looking forward to seeing you in 2012.
René
Remember that God’s word through you gives seed to the sower, bread to the eater and prospers in the thing that God purposes – which means it should be as big a blessing to you as it is to the person to whom it is sent.
By John G. Cathcart
http://www.wme.org
The Free and The Brave
“Then the chief captain came and said to him, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman?’ He said, ‘Yes’. And the chief captain answered, ‘With a great sum I obtained this freedom.’ And Paul said, ‘But I was free born.'”
-Acts 22:27-28
“And herein is a true saying: One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor: other men labored and you are entered into their labors.” -John 4:37-38
Recently, I was watching one of WME’s TV programs when I was struck by something that Maurice Taitt (a member of our Board of Directors) said during the section entitled “Lesson for the Day.” Maurice mentioned that he recently had studied the words of our national anthem. “The Star Spangled Banner” was written by Francis Scott Key after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Maurice was impressed by the fact that all four verses ended with the words, “…O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave”.
The “Star Spangled Banner” was not the only song that was a candidate for the US national anthem. Before 1931, other songs served as official American hymns. “Hail, Columbia” served the purpose for most of the 19th century, and “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” was also a de facto anthem. But the “Star Spangled Banner” was recognized for official Navy use in 1889 and by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Finally, it was made the national anthem by a Resolution of Congress on March 3, 1931.
As I was looking at the words of “Hail Columbia,” I was struck by the fourth and fifth lines of the first verse. After hailing the revolutionary heroes who fought hard for freedom, it says: “And when the storm of war was gone, Enjoy’d the peace your valor won.” Those words are poetic nonsense; they are not true.
So what is the truth? What happened to those fifty-six men who concluded the Declaration of Independence by pledging to one another “our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor”?
All became the objects of vicious manhunts. Their homes were plundered; their estates destroyed. The wives of some were captured and treated with great brutality resulting in death. Some became penniless refugees living in caves and woods. Holdings were confiscated; families were driven from their homes. Timber, crops and livestock were taken; children were removed from their families, never to be seen again. Some were betrayed by British sympathizers; some were dragged from bed, brutally beaten, thrown in jail and starved. Some died broken men, while some endured in ruined health. Some bled their credit and fortunes dry; some died early and impoverished; others survived on charity. Of the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds, five were captured and imprisoned, twelve had their homes completely burned, and seventeen lost everything they owned. Some, like the heroes of Hebrews 11, refused deliverance.
But not one of these fifty-six patriots defected or went back on his pledged word.
In the TV program I mentioned, Maurice Taitt observed that bravery and freedom are companion characteristics of a people; but he wondered aloud how we the people of the United States compare in 2013 with those fifty-six men of 1775? Do we discern a tendency to sacrifice freedom on the altar of fear and bravery on the altar of safety?
Your citizenship may be free by right of birth, but it is not cheap. Others obtained this liberty at a great price. Fifty-six heroes sowed, and 300 million are reaping today. But be assured that neither in our natural or our spiritual life will freedom from slavery, terror and sin ever exist without the bravery to lay down our lives for country and for Christ.
By John G. Cathcart
http://www.wme.org
The Cleansing Pope
“Then I heard one saint speaking to another saint, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spoke, ‘How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?’ And he said to me, ‘Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.'” – Daniel 8:13-14
“Moreover, when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an oblation to the Lord, a holy portion of the land… and it shall be the sanctuary and the most holy place.” – Ezekiel 45: 1& 3
In recent months, I have been taking our radio audience through the Book of Zechariah. Most recently, I have been dealing with the second section of Zechariah which is the ninth, tenth and eleventh chapters that cover the period from Alexander the Great through to Jesus Christ. The parallel eighth chapter of the Book of Daniel is the vision of the Ram and the He-Goat, or the clash between ancient Persia (Iran) and Greece. Bible scholars agree that Zechariah chapter nine starts with the path of Alexander the Great after the famous Battle of Issus in 333 BC.
I was sitting at my desk with my mind on other things, when suddenly a scripture in Daniel came to mind that 2300 prophetic days or 2300 literal years would lapse before the Temple of the Lord would be cleansed. Now I have learned that often the Spirit will speak to you “out of the clear blue sky” rather than when you are searching scripture or seeking revelation. I think it is because what you receive “spontaneously” is pure and untainted by your personal thinking.
The name translated “certain saint” in Daniel eight is Palomi, which means “The Wonderful Numberer” and should at least make us realize that the math isn’t going to be simple. Biblical prophecy does not start or end on an exact, specific date. There are multiple starting and ending dates; there are overlapping fulfillments. But one date we can be sure about in this prophecy is 333 BC when Alexander defeated Persia and established the first international, multi-cultural empire. Twenty three hundred prophetic “days” later we arrived at the initial starting date for the cleansing in 1967 AD, or the date of the Six Days War of Israel with Egypt, Jordan and Syria. If this is coincidence, it’s beyond credulity.
Israel’s Yitshak Rabin named the war, not for Israel, but with reference to the six days of creation. At the end of the war, Israel had taken the Gaza Strip, Sinai, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Conquests to the south almost took Israel to the southern limits of the Land of Promise. Much is said about the political and military significance of the war, but virtually nothing has been said about the Biblical and prophetic significance of the war. Much of what Israel achieved was undone by United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was speaking from the viewpoint of international political accommodation when she said there must be a Palestinian State. Others speak from an aeonian and eschatological prophecy viewpoint if they affirm there must be an oblation and cleansed sanctuary. Obviously both “musts” are mutually exclusive. One is based on the will of man, while the other on what Christians believe to be the Word of God. Both have their opponents and supporters.
However, it is curious, as we approach a Jubilee of years from the first physical fulfillment of promise related to the land, that a simple man of faith named Francis is starting to cleanse part of the spiritual sanctuary beginning with the Curia. It will be interesting to see what 2016-2017 brings forth.
By John G. Cathcart
http://www.wme.org
The Epiphany Pope
“These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John sees Jesus coming to him, and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.'” – John 1:28 &29
“Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, and went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. And many resorted unto him and said, ‘John did no miracles: but all the things John spoke of this man were true.’ And many believed on him there.” – John 10:39-42
“Epiphany” means an appearance or a manifestation. Epiphany also refers to a sudden intuitive perception or insight into the reality or the essential meaning of something. In addition, Epiphany is the name for a Christian festival celebrated on January 6th that commemorates the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles in the persons of the Magi, or the Wise Men from the East. When pilgrims celebrate the Nativity or the birth of Christ in the Holy Land, they immediately rush from Bethlehem to the place of Christ’s water baptism by John without many really understanding why they are doing so, which makes it a tradition rather than an epiphany.
In Chapter 10 of John, we read about a confrontation Jesus had with the Jews over what they perceived as his blasphemy for “making thyself God.” Jesus referenced His miraculous works as evidence. The Jews tried to take Him, but He escaped. Then Jesus went back to where He had first encountered John and when the Holy Spirit had descended on Him: He returned to the place where He had experienced approval, witness and affirmation. There, in contrast to His critics, a different group of men saw the works of Jesus and believed.
Epiphanies are often, though not necessarily, associated with traumatic events; regardless, epiphanies are life altering. For the carefree, affluent, young Francis of Assisi, it happened while looking at a rather dilapidated church edifice. Suddenly, he heard the Lord say to him, “Build my church.” Francis realized the Lord was not talking to him about the physical edifice he was looking at, but rather the entire church, the Body of Christ. St. Francis of Assisi turned to a life of service and humble relationship. Statues of Francis usually depict him with animals, and particularly with birds, in his arms. (Based on that, it’s thought-provoking that a seagull sat on the diffuser of the smokestack on the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican until about the time the white smoke came out and the identity of the new Pope was announced.)
Francis Xavier was a great evangelist and one of four young men who founded the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits. The leading figure of the group was Ignatius Loyola, a man that had been seriously injured in battle by a French cannonball. It was during periods when he had to deal with excruciating operations and recuperation from that injury when he found his calling. Had there been no Ignatius Loyola, there probably would have been no Francis Xavier and no Jesuits.
The Franciscans founded by Francis of Assisi and the Jesuits founded by Ignatius Loyola represent the two distinct poles of Catholic holy orders. Jesuits are all fiery discipline, doctrine, and scholasticism. On the other side, a friend of mine who is a Franciscan priest in Rome says, “With Franciscans, anything goes.” In fact, Jesuits remind me of the other phenomenon that preceded the conclave – The lightning bolt that struck St. Peter’s at the time of Pope Benedict’s resignation.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio is a Jesuit with Franciscan humility and orientation towards service. He is the combination of extremes that is needed in and for the Vatican. Epiphanies happen to movements as well as to men. Pope Francis may well be the personification of an epiphany for the Catholic Church as well as the first Jesuit, the first South American, and the first Francis elected to the Pontificate.
The first Reformation came in a man of theology and a man of action – Erasmus and Luther. This time it appears that the Catholic church may have both kinds of men in one package. As Cardinal Dolan of New York recently said (as best I can quote him), “This time we got the Holy man and the gravy too.”
It is time for all Christians to pray for the whole Church, the entire body of Christ. As it so happens, St. Francis of Assisi has given us a great model:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
The Precipitous Pope
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove mankind of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…” -John 16:7-8
“Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?” -Job 38:36
Shortly after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Celtic evangelists brought Christianity to the West and established the Church in Ireland and Britain centuries before the priests of Rome arrived. Roman religious clerics to Britain, led by St. Augustine the Librarian, dismissed Abbess Hilda and dismantled the Celtic Church at the Council of Whitby in 664 AD. It was a case of plan over passion, intelligence over involvement, politics over principles, princes over people, males over females, organization over individualism, and cleverness over commitment.
But it was Celtic evangelists who established the Christian faith by leaving their native lands to live simply and humbly among the peoples they sought to convert. Above all they were examples of Christ in shoe leather. Celtic evangelists recognized two kinds of martyrs – red martyrs and white martyrs. Red martyrs were those who shed their life’s blood for the cause of Christ. White martyrs were those who exiled themselves for life to serve abroad where there was no Gospel light.
In the middle of the first millennium after Christ, the fire of Celtic commitment was put out and was not seen again until 2013 AD when German Pope Benedict XVI exiled himself in a sudden and unanticipated retirement precipitating both crisis and conclave. Who knows why it has taken two Germans to bring about Reformation in the Church; but Joseph Ratzinger, I see you as one who has sacrificed himself to precipitate action before the eyes of the whole world for the first time in history in order to give the Catholic Church the chance to right wrongs, make amends, redress grievances, face the future, and “get it right” as one of my Catholic friends has said.
When it comes to the election of a Pope, I see the Catholic Church as composed of three parts – the Curia, the Cardinals, and the Congregants. The “Curia” are a centuries old Italian bureaucracy of “kingmaker” professionals who run the Vatican and whose infighting, turf wars, and corruption were recently exposed by Benedict’s butler, who found and released private documents from Benedict’s nightstand. The butler was forgiven, but could there be a little collaboration here? Many of the Curia are lacking in meaningful qualifications for what they do but possess the overpowering recommendation of relationship. After all, the word “nepotism” was spawned by the Renaissance Vatican and came from the Italian word nepote meaning “nephew.”
The Cardinals are the Princes of the Church who lead the church around the world and are appointed by the Pope, while the congregants are all the faithful bishops, monsignors, priests, sisters, and obedient followers who try to serve, to do, and to ascribe to all that is expected of them.
The Curia would prefer to see a short elective session and get all these foreign cardinals back whence they came so the Curia can get back to business as usual. Meantime, the Cardinals are getting to know each other and review the Curia situation as well as the records of the sexual abuse of children that has scandalized the church worldwide. The longer they take, the more promising the result.
Success is defined as the moment when preparation meets opportunity. The scene is set for a second reformation of the Catholic Church without schism. May God give the Cardinals the grace to do their duty, to set aside lesser issues, and to lead one and a quarter billion followers into a new day and time of purity, honesty, spirituality, and openness. We all need it. We should all pray for it.
By John G. Cathcart
http://www.wme.org
A Kind of Pope
“The gods may throw the dice
Their minds as cold as ice,
And someone way down here
Loses someone dear.”
These lyrics are from an ABBA song entitled “The Winner Takes It All.” It’s a song of love lost featured in the musical and movie Mamma Mia. The song reflects the broken, bitter heart of the lead character. While women have said the words are hauntingly beautiful; men have said it makes them shudder. Regardless, it is effective – It strikes a chord in the human heart. Mamma Mia is set on a Greek Island in the Aegean Sea. Even though the songwriters were actually Swedish, the description and depiction of the “gods” in these lyrics is from classic Greek thought. These ancient Greek gods have been presented as existing in the skies somewhere above, laughing at the foolish mortals on earth.
The ‘God’ of the Hebrews and the godhead of the Christian New Testament is the diametric opposite of the Greek divinities. The Hebrew God is passionate and involved; He relates to Israel like a father to a son. Israel and Judah are the “wives” of YHVH (referred to as Yahweh); the church is the “bride” of Christ. Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it; and having loved His own, He loved them to the end.
When I was much younger and growing up in a Pentecostal world, the Popes of that day always came across from photos and in speeches as remote, austere, aristocratic, haughty and superior foreigners from a strangely, foreign world – And they were all Italians for the most part. One could almost feel the “mantle” of Tomás de Torquemada and sense the potential for another Spanish Inquisition.
But in more modern times, the world has seen Popes who are much more human and approachable. Pope John Paul II was Polish and charismatic; there was an atmosphere about him. He seemed liberated and approachable and “with it.” He was a spiritual leader who didn’t make people feel threatened.
Cardinal Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, was once nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler.” (Personally, I never felt comfortable around any Rottweilers that I met.) Before becoming the Pope, he acted as a kind of spiritual policemen making sure the faithful stayed on the straight and narrow of Catholic doctrine and culture. Interestingly enough, he became much more acceptable as Pope, seeming to be friendlier and less threatening. Now he has stepped away from a six or seven hundred year tradition and protocol by resigning from the position.
And while the world waits for the College of Cardinals to select his successor, there is much talk about what characteristics and attributes might be might be preferred in the next Pope. Many would like an American Pope. Others hope to see an African Pope. Younger American Catholics would like to see a progressive Pope, especially in the area of social mores. Needless to say, there is external, political pressure not to have another old, white European.
I watched a television interview with Archbishop Dolan of New York where these things were discussed and was struck by something that he said. Abp. Dolan pointed out that while administrative ability, diplomatic skills and organization expertise are admirable and desirable qualities, what is really needed is “someone like Jesus.” “In other words,” said the archbishop, “a holy man.” Abp. Dolan’s words are a sober warning: When we cease to want the pure and the holy and instead prefer the slick and the capable, we may facilitate the seating of someone Paul foresaw “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself to be God.”
More on the Last Pope
“…except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself to be God.” -II Thessalonians 2:3-4
In the previous devotional, we talked about a Catholic “saint” named St. Malachy of Armagh. This St. Malachy has recently caught the attention of many Catholics and Protestants because of his “prophecy” that the next Pope after Benedict will be Peter the Roman who will be the last pope before the destruction of Rome and the start of the Apocalypse. Curiously, two of the current potential candidates for the Papal Office are named “Peter”; and should one of them be elected, it could prove interesting.
Regardless, the official position of the Catholic Church is the Malachy prophecies are forgeries. It certainly will not take long to find out if there is any substance to all of this. However, it does serve to make us reflect on some basic teachings and instruction from Paul.
Firstly, Paul tells us there must be a great “falling away” before the great opponent of the Church and of Christ is revealed. There is no question that in recent decades, there has been a huge falling away from the Catholic faith, especially in South America. There has also been a large decrease in mainline Protestant denominations, many of which have turned from spiritual considerations towards emphasizing social and sexual matters. On the Catholic side, the decreases in numbers have led the Vatican to seek meetings with independent and Charismatic leaders in order to supplement their understanding of why their members are turning to Pentecostalism.
Secondly, Paul teaches that at some future date the antichrist will sit in the temple (naos) of God acting as if he were God. The possibility of this second concept seemed so impossible to Protestant students of prophecy from the last two centuries that, instead of accepting Paul’s statement that the antichrist would sit in the naos or “inner sanctum” or “throne” of the Christian faith, they segued into the position that the antichrist would sit in a physical temple in Jerusalem which he would need to build since there has been no Jewish temple in Jerusalem for centuries. Based on how things stand today, the chances of a Jewish temple being built on what is now a Moslem holy site could not occur without a bloody international religious war. However, an antichrist spirit dictating moral and religious standards for the Church is a very real possibility which we see getting more and more powerful right before our eyes and even in our own country.
The real issue that we should focus on is not St. Malachy and his “prophecies,” or some physical catastrophe in the capital city of Italy, or some future, far-fetched construction project in Jerusalem – The real issue is the erosion of morality and spirituality and the watering down of the Word of God that is rampant in our own country and in our time, and whose attitudes and dictums are ensconced in the highest seats in the land.
By John G. Cathcart
http://www.wme.org
The Last Pope
“…except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself to be God.” -II Thessalonians 2:3-4
When the Reformation took place, Protestants basically drew a line under fifteen hundred years of history and kissed it goodbye, and then they started from scratch with five founding principles: (1) Sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone); (2) Sola Fide (by faith alone); (3) Sola Gratia (by grace alone); (4) Solo Christo (through Christ alone); and (5) Soli Deo Gloria (glory to God alone). “Sola Scriptura” was a very significant principle, and with that, the Catholic fathers and their teachings and writings were trashed. It was not Martin Luther’s intention to destroy the Church, but rather to reform it. Nonetheless, the damage was done once the “genie was out of the bottle.”
So deeply did this position of rejecting everything that had gone before and smacked of the Papacy become entrenched and absolute, there are many sincere and devout Protestants today who flat-footedly believe that Roman Catholics are not Christians. No matter that the man who laid the theological ground-work for the Reformation was the Catholic priest and scholar Erasmus who never joined the Protestant cause. And no matter that we are indebted to Erasmus for the Textus Receptus on which the New Testament of the King James Bible is based, the text to which so many fundamentalists staunchly hold firm.
Of course, not all Catholics are Christians any more than all Protestants are true Christians. You do not become a Christian simply by attending the church of your choice on a regular basis; you become a true Christian by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord with the outward evidence of a life and soul changing experience accompanying that salvation. Many have accepted Him as Savior, but not as the Lord of their life. In fact, it has been said of the Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation that it did indeed have its saints, but none of them were in the Vatican.
Notwithstanding all of the above, there is a Catholic “saint” who has surfaced very recently in the general mind of believers because of events we are living though. A phenomenal thing has just taken place in the world of one billion Catholics around the world. A Pope has resigned from his office for the first time in six hundred years. Interestingly, in Bible numerology six is the number of man and one hundred is the number of witness squared, which could be coincidence or could be quite significant. And then there’s that brilliant bolt of lightning that came down almost vertically and struck the dome of St. Peter’s a few hours after that resignation, which was caught on camera and has caught the attention and somber consideration of many believers and non-believers around the world.
So who is the Catholic “saint” who has surfaced in the minds and thoughts of so many? It is the twelfth century St. Malachy of Armagh, Ireland, to whom are attributed prophecies about the Popes of the Catholic Church, including the prediction that the next Pope after Benedict will be the last Pope before the destruction of Rome and the start of the Apocalypse. Some think this prediction is true, some think it is trash; but all think it is interesting.
So, what are the relevant facts and information to be considered? For more on this issue, check this space again next week!
Blessing of Darkness
“You shall have a song, as in the night… and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come into the house of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.” – Isaiah 30:29
“For you will light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” – Psalm 18:28
“Till we all come into the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…” – Ephesians 4:13
Inserted within World Missionary Evangelism’s TV program named “The Father’s Bridge,” there is a middle segment which we call the “Thought for the Day.” This part of the program gives men and women of God with whom WME is associated the chance to minister to our listeners.
Recently, I was monitoring the program, and I was arrested by the title with which Maurice Taitt introduced one of his messages. Maurice called it, “The Blessing of Darkness.” After hearing that title, I sat up straighter and thought, “This ought to be interesting.”
Maurice talked about darkness not being a thing that most people think of properly and positively. Many people, he said, would prefer twenty-four hours of sunshine to half a day and half a night – half light and half darkness – half sunshine and half shade. But the reality is life cannot exist on a planet where half the area is bathed in continuous light while the other half of the planet’s area is bathed in eternal darkness.
If we think about the solar system, it is interesting to consider how God set it up. The earth moves in a big ellipse around the sun, positioned closer to the sun half the time and further from the sun the other half of the time. The earth has also been knocked about 23½ degrees out of kilter, which helps create our annual seasons of summer and winter. If the earth wasn’t out of kilter, we would have day and night but no seasons of summer, fall, winter or spring. Furthermore, plants need the darkness of night to engage in certain biological processes which are essential to life. So if all was perfectly equal and even, there would be no need to worry about ups and downs because there would be no life at all.
In this case, there is a spiritual analogy to the physical (and there often is). God is in the process of bringing us into the maturity and fullness of His Son, and that isn’t going to happen while we swing lazily in a hammock sipping on the sodas of life by a sunny beach in some spiritual Caribbean. Darkness and night are essential to spiritual growth and development. Like plants exhale life-killing carbon dioxide at night, we experience purification in the dark night of the soul. Consider the fact that it took betrayal, servitude and prison to bring out the manhood in Joseph. Scripture says of Joseph that “his feet were laid in iron,” but the real meaning of that is that his stance in God became solid and fixed.
So the next time you experience darkness, just remember the comforting verses of the old hymn “How Firm A Foundation”:
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
Embracing Change
“We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die.” -W.H. Auden
“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.” -John Kenneth Galbraith
“What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought,
Since Jesus came into my heart!” -from the hymn by Rufus H. McDaniel “I’ll go anywhere as long as it’s forward.” -David Livingstone
World Missionary Evangelism began years ago at a traumatic low point in the spiritual life of Dr. John E. Douglas, Sr. At that time, Dr. Douglas had been very disappointed and deeply affected by the failure of a prominent evangelist with whom he was associated. Observing all this, a missionary friend of his suggested that he get away to someplace unfamiliar. So Dr. Douglas went to India, where initially his ministry produced not a single soul. Finally, at the end of yet another unproductive sermon, an Indian asked him whether he actually practiced what he preached. Dr. Douglas said, “Yes!” In response, the Indian man responded, “Then here are seven orphans for you to take care of.” And then that man walked away, leaving the children behind with Dr. Douglas. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.
Quite often, God has to arrange for us to get “down” to a low place in our lives before we are in a state where we are really willing to listen. Likewise, God often has to get us away from familiar places and friendly voices, just like he did with Abraham. Maybe God needs to disrupt our well-laid plans to get us to raise our eyes to Him and accept His plan for us.
Recently, I was reviewing an interview with WME Director Dr. Walter Fletcher and his wife Deede that will air on our TV program The Father’s Bridge. As I was monitoring the DVD, something that Deede Fletcher said got my attention, so I went back and wrote it down. The Lord had spoken to Walter and indicated that they were to go visit Jerusalem at a certain time of year. Then out of the blue, someone called and invited them to go with a group to Israel at the identical time the Lord had indicated to them, and the person offered to pay their airfare. So all was set. Then the current Syrian Conflict significantly worsened, and the leaders of that team decided to delay the trip to some later time for safety’s sake.
So what were Walter and Deede to do? Listen to God or to man? They decided to go to Israel by themselves, even though all the arrangements for accommodations were gone as was the itinerary and planned appointments. However, when they went alone, the connections they made with Arab Christians and Jewish Rabbi’s and orphans were nothing short of remarkable and divinely appointed. These things wouldn’t and couldn’t have happened if they had stuck with the original plan.
Deede’s comment to our TV host was she felt what happened was a “precursor to a time that we’re entering into as the church… That we’re not going to be able to always know exactly how something looks… We may have made our plans, and they get changed. And we have to be flexible for what God is wanting to do so that we make the encounters and connections that He wants… If we’re stubborn in our ways, we can totally miss what God is trying to do with us as a people.”
If you’re going on in and with God, you’re going to experience change. It’s not a bad sign; it’s a good sign. Embrace it! Enjoy it! The last thing you want is to remain in a life-state that poet Robert Browning eloquently described as “…left in God’s contempt apart, with ghastly smooth life, dead at heart, tame in earth’s paddock as her prize.”
Tossing Bread Away
“Cast your bread upon the waters: for you shall find it after many days.” -Ecclesiastes 11:1
At first blush, this doesn’t seem like the brightest statement anyone ever made. It seems even stranger coming from Solomon, who was the wealthiest and wisest man of his day and time. Why would a king who had it all even think about tossing bread into water? Why would that even enter his mind? Most of us can relate a whole lot better to something Solomon said a couple of verses earlier: “Money answers to all things.” How can a man who made such a pragmatic, hard-nosed statement about money suddenly make some off-the-wall remark about the value and virtues of water-logged bread?
When I think of this statement, I have distinct memories arise of seeing thick slices of French bread after those slices have been in water for a while — not a pretty sight and certainly not good for human consumption. And even if you did find your bread several days later, would you really want to pick it up, wring it out and chomp on it? And while we’re on the subject, what’s the chance of bread flung into a stream or a pond actually staying in one piece, let alone coming back against the tide? So what exactly is Solomon saying here? (Because in the real world we know that nobody’s “going there.”)
What Solomon is doing is using a figure of speech to get our attention. George Orwell once showed the power of figurative language by taking a passage from Ecclesiastes 9:11 and draining it of its blood and substance. See which one of these versions speaks to you!
The original Bible version is:
“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.”
Orwell’s version is:
“Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must inevitably be taken into account.”
So now we recognize that Solomon is using figurative language to get our attention and to tell us something important. So what exactly is it that he’s trying to make us see? Solomon is encouraging us in Ecclesiastes 11:1-10 to stay true and to keep driving on faithfully and consistently because real achievement takes time and work.
I have done this for the last fourteen years at World Missionary Evangelism; and during this time, I have seen “wandering sons” start coming home. The very latest was a bishop of over fifty churches and a Bible college in a far-away country who contacted me and said, “I am writing you to establish a new connection between our work and the mother organization… we want to renew our relationship with World Missionary Evangelism under your good stewardship and leadership.”
Solomon was right —- God is faithful.
By John G. Cathcart
www.wme.org
The Golden Rule
King: “Remember the golden rule!”
One Peasant: “What’s that?”
Another Peasant: “Whoever has the gold, makes the rules.”
– from the cartoon Wizard of Id, by Brant Parker & Johnny Hart, 1971
“And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” Isaiah 59:14
“If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, don’t marvel at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest is looking, and there be higher than they.” Ecclesiastes 5:8
If you will, take a moment to consider these recent and significant events:
- A Catholic monsignor is sentenced for 3-6 years in prison for protecting pedophiles in priestly garb by concealing their names and moving them around. The judge was scathing in his assessment.
- Because of Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of young men and its concealment by athletic and academic leaders, Pennsylvania State University is fined $60 million dollars and the loss of fourteen years of victories; its bowl appearances are now restricted; the football squad is reduced; Sandusky is going to prison; the statue of once highly respected Joe Paterno is removed from the campus and his likeness from a famous mural; academic leaders resign and some are facing the prospect of prosecution; and, finally, the head of the university assumes liability.
- A university Ph.D. candidate goes on a shooting rampage in Aurora, Colorado, killing twelve people and wounding over seventy. Television coverage, led by such news outlets as ABC’s Good Morning America, goes national for hours on end. President Obama and Presidential Candidate Romney halt their political campaigns out of respect for the victims and express their sympathy and concern.
Now, by way of contrast, consider another incident. According to a Dallas Morning News editorial report from July 25, 2012 entitled “Prosecute Dirty Banks” which summarized a 340-page report by the Senate Homeland Security and the Governmental Affairs Committee, billions of dollars may have been used by HSBC (the international banking group based in London) to finance terrorist groups, to finance the Iranian government’s research into weapons grade uranium enrichment, to enable Mexican drug cartels to keep growing, and to enable drug lords to repatriate billions of dollars from US markets. The bank’s affiliates completed an estimated $15 billion in bulk cash transactions through accounts that should have been monitored as suspicious. HSBC affiliates systematically altered transaction information to avoid filters whose installation was instigated by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. For the sake of profits, bankers worked to circumvent US law and help America’s enemies. HSBC Mexico paid a money-laundering fine of $27.5 million – an amount that is not quite half of what Penn State paid or two tenths of one percent of the questionable $15 billion. Hundreds have been killed in Mexico’s drug war, countless lives have been destroyed by drugs, and Iran threatens us in the Persian Gulf. But no lead figures have gone to jail or had their reputation sullied, although one did “resign.” There is no national TV coverage on the matter, no outrage in Congress, and none of HSBC’s 7200 offices in 85 countries have been closed.
“The Beast” is a code name in John’s Apocalypse for a succession of nations starting with Babylon, whom Daniel identified as the head of gold, to the modern states of Europe. Similarly, “The Whore” is a code name for an international financial system that has ridden on the back of the Beast-nations. The Apocalypse tells us that eventually the Beast will rend the Whore. It looks like it may be starting with Greece, Spain and France.
Maranatha! Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
By John G. Cathcart
www.wme.org
Truth & Endurance
“Pilate said unto him, ‘What is truth?’ And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and said unto them, ‘I find in him no fault at all’… Then they all cried again, saying, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas.’ Now Barabbas was a robber.” -John 18:38, 40
“…I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and giventhem to me. Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” -Galatians 4:15-16
As I have watched televised events unfolding in the United Kingdom accompanied by the arrest of several militant extremists who appear to have been targeting the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games, my mind has turned to Enoch Powell.
John Enoch Powell (1912-1998) was a statesman, poet, classical scholar, linguist, writer and soldier who served as a Conservative Member of Parliament in Britain from 1950-1974 and was the Minister of Health from 1960-1963. Powell became famous as well as infamous for a speech he gave in 1968 which is sometimes titled “Rivers of Blood” and sometimes called “Blood in the Streets.” The speech was extremely effective and got him fired from public office the very next day. The Times newspaper called it “an evil speech” and said it was “racialist.”
After WWII, the world was changing; and efforts were under way in Britain and Europe to create multi-cultural societies. Like all dying empires, the peoples of the outposts were flocking to the United Kingdom like the barbarians to Rome. It was Rome and a Roman poet that Powell had in mind when he structured his speech. Powell had a foreboding that the economic burden of unfettered immigration would lead to violence and bloodshed. Years after his death, Powell’s fears were realized when Islamic terrorists exploded bombs in London’s subways. The politician who fired Powell later confessed that Powell was right. After she left office, Margaret Thatcher admitted Powell had made a valid argument. Current events now preceding the Olympic Games continue to prove Powell’s point. The lesson to be learned from Enoch Powell and the 2012 London Olympics is that truth may be costly, but it cannot be disposed of by rejecting it.
The scriptures above reveal two very different kinds of men, even though the historical legacy of both men is defined by the issue of Jesus Christ. Pontius Pilate was a politician. He knew what was right, but he catered to the Jewish mob and did wrong. By contrast, Paul the Apostle had called the Galatians into the grace of Jesus Christ, from which they were quickly removed and “bewitched” into observation of the Jewish Law. “Are you so foolish?” Paul asked, that “having begun in the Spirit, are you now (going to be) made perfect in the flesh?” Paul had birthed and nurtured the Galatian church, but that relationship was not going to move Paul from the truth. If something had to go, it was not going to be Paul’s spiritual integrity. Paul was willing to become their enemy for the truth.
I remember once taking classes in logic lead by a British barrister. We were presented with actual statements for analysis. One such statement proposed there were truths today that would not be true in future days. The barrister pointed out the illogic nature of the statement – Truth does not change; what is true today will be true tomorrow.
Truth stands, and men stand or fall by the truth. Paul in his lonely prison cell stood with the truth; history and eternity stand with Paul. May we all like Paul be able to say, “From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of Christ.” Paul died a martyr; Pilate died a suicide. Those like Paul who are truly marked by Christ stand with the truth and will endure. This is how we can know who they are, what we are and what our elected leaders are.
By John G. Cathcart
www.wme.org
Core Values
“Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” Proverbs 4:23
When I was one and twenty
I heard a wise man say,
Give pounds, and pence and guineas
But not your heart away.
-A.E. Houseman, “A Shropshire Lad”, 1896.
Barnabas was a big-hearted, open-minded, people-loving guy. One of the people he liked was young John Mark. Many bible scholars think that Mark’s gospel is really the voice of Peter and that Mark was his scribe which is not unreasonable. If Mark’s gospel gives us an insight into the personality of Peter, it reveals a man who was straight forward and to the point without any literary embellishment or unnecessary use of words. To use a modern expression, Peter called it like he saw it. We all rub off on each other and doubtless Mark picked up on the personality of Peter. Of course, being young, Mark was already impetuous and hanging around Peter only made him more so. Mark didn’t waste any time making decisions or checking things out. While others were thinking, Mark was moving and acting.
But back to Barnabus; it was Barnabus who gave Paul a break in the days following his conversion on the Road to Damascus. Paul had been the fanatical persecutor of the emerging church and his sudden change of heart was a little hard for believers to swallow. As ferocious as Paul was, his new posture might have been a ploy to infiltrate the little group of followers and strike a blow to the heart of the young movement. Many thought exactly that and since discretion is the better part of valor, Paul was given a wide berth by the early followers of Jesus. But not so with Barnabus; he gave Paul the benefit of the doubt and persuasively introduced him to the innermost circles of the faithful.
Time went on and Saul the militant Pharisee became Paul the Missionary Apostle to the Gentiles. Well, since it’s always helpful to have energetic young muscle around to carry bags and run get stuff, Paul took Mark with him on missionary trips. Now Paul wasn’t much for impetuous behavior and didn’t take it well when John Mark decided to skip from a trip; so, the next time Paul and Barnabus were sallying forth, Paul didn’t want to take a young fellow that couldn’t be counted on to stay the course. Barnabus took exception to Paul’s hard-nosed posture and contention between Paul and Barnabus was so pronounced that they split and changed ministry partners with each pursuing his own leading and leaning. Barnabus disappeared into the mists of history while Paul rose to the pinnacle of church history and scholarship.
Ironically, Mark who was the point of contention between two fine men went on to be the voice of Peter and give the world a beloved gospel that has confounded skeptics and higher critics in modern times. In his own time, Mark became the one person Paul wanted with him in his lonely prison cell while generous and outgoing Baranabus paid the price for the personality extremes of both Mark and Paul.
If there is an object lesson here, it is not to let temporal emotional attachments or a personal sense of fair-play cloud judgment and derail the callings and purposes of God. People and situations change. There is only one Savior and he will bring reconciliation to pass. The point is to be reconciled to Christ – then reconciliation to each other follows as easily as the day follows the night.
By John G. Cathcart
www.wme.org
Reality
Friends all around me are trying to find
What the heart yearns for, by sin undermined;
I have the secret, I know where ’tis found:
Only true pleasures in Jesus abound.
All that I want is in Jesus.
He satisfies, with joy he supplies;
Life would be worthless without Him;
All things in Jesus I find.
-Lyrics from hymn “All Things in Jesus” by Harry Dixon Loes
What is reality? And what is real? When I was a teenager, we were taught by physicists that the atom was the basic building block of the universe and that atom could never be split. As a matter of fact, while we were learning this, the atom had already been split, and the results were soon to be unleashed in devastating fashion on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So much for the truth, let alone reality.
In the time of Sir Isaac Newton and his principles of classical mechanics, we had all the answers to the physical world. Everything was governed by the various known laws of nature. So schoolboys learned with confidence the three Laws of Motion, and so forth. It was all cut, dried and clear. As Alexander Pope famously stated, “Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night; God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.”
Then came Einstein with his contributions to science, and things got a little more complicated. We leaned everything was made up of “nothing,” positively and negatively charged. We learned about sub-atomic particles. We learned light could change its form from quanta of matter to wave forms at gratings and then back again. We discovered little particles that “knew” if humans were watching them and changed their behavior accordingly; so we invented even smaller “things” to spy on them. It’s all overwhelming, and we realize like Ebenezer Scrooge form Dickens’ Christmas Carol that we know nothing at all… that really we never did know anything.
There’s an interesting fact about physical scientists. When they become believers, they generally don’t join the “heady” branches of the church: They join the simplest, the confessional, the liturgical. It’s like they abandon their brains and say, “Lord I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” Perhaps the Episcopalians are misguided when they say that you don’t have to leave your brains at the church door – and maybe that’s exactly what we all need to do.
I heard a remarkable sermon years ago that was built around a scripture from the book of Revelation about the souls of those who were beheaded for Christ. The preacher took the approach that this was not limited to physical beheadings, such as Paul experienced in Rome, but the “beheading” of our human ideas and reason as well — unless you become like a little child, you can in no wise enter the Kingdom of God.
I used to get amused at national morning news hosts making the statement that “scientists believe…” some latest bit of information. I wanted to ask them, “Who exactly took this poll of scientific opinion? And what branch of science was involved?” Two leading experts in hydraulics at American universities that I happened to know couldn’t actually agree on “slip factors,” let alone find consensus on something really complex.
For me, one of the most tragic figures in history is Pontius Pilate at the Hall of Judgment. Jesus said He had come to bear witness to the truth. Hardened, disillusioned and bitter, Pilate said sarcastically, “What is truth?” Truth stood directly before Pilate in the person of Jesus Who is the way, the truth and the life. Eternal Life stood before him, and instead Pilate turned away and died by suicide.
We all stand before Christ Jesus at one point in life or another. Accept Him; trust Him; commit to Him. He will not disappoint. For He is the same yesterday, today and forever; and of His Kingdom, there shall be no end. He will bring lasting peace into your heart and life.
By John G. Cathcart
www.wme.org
Degrees & Decrees
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace; too proud to pray to the God that made us.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Do you pray for the senators, Dr. Hale?” “No, I look at the senators and I pray for the country.” – Edward Everett Hale (1861-1928)
When I came to the leadership of World Missionary Evangelism almost fourteen years ago, I was introduced to the issue of legal compliance by an attorney who was an expert in these matters. Now, having just come from the world of professional engineering where clarity and specificity was mandatory, I found this to be an interesting and instructive learning experience; it also had its humorous aspects.
For instance, ministries are supposed supposed to use photos that have been taken within a recent set period of time, unless spelled out otherwise in clear print. The obvious question is, “What is the best way to indicate the age of a picture?” The answer given to me by the expert was to include yourself in the photo. A word to the wise is sufficient. But after we began following this advice, our office received some interesting letters from readers. One said, “I am sick and tired of seeing your ugly mug in every picture you publish!”
The compliance expert also told us if you published an article about children seeking love and care, you couldn’t say “the child was crying in distress as they approached the gate of the orphanage,” but instead you should state “it appeared that the child was crying and in distress as they approached the gate.”
Through this experience, I began to realize the reason why some ministers and ministries sounded so mealy-mouthed on radio and TV: The simple fact is it’s being imposed on them. Political correctness in its most ridiculous extremes has become the order of the day for Christians. On the other hand, porn and filth is considered to be acceptable fiction and literature forms because they come under the protection of freedom of speech. As one wit said, “All men are created equal; some are just more equal than others.”
A recent and classic example of all this encroaching, methodical constraint was a story that appeared in a local newspaper on the subject of prayer at high school graduations. The local tradition of praying at graduations will continue in this particular independent school district this year, except these prayers will not be called invocations or benedictions. The article went on to state the reasons for this decision by the district: “Our attorneys make it clear that we can continue to have student led prayer, but we will call it ‘student remarks,'” said the chief operating officer of the district. “The reason is that historically invocations and benedictions are ‘prayers’ used at the beginning and conclusion of religious services. By their very nature they’re prayers, religious speeches”, said the ACLU representative, “It’s unconstitutional for a school to make that part of a program and ask a student to deliver it.” Districts must use neutral criteria such as good grades when selecting speakers for graduation ceremonies. “As long as students are chosen through neutral criteria, they are allowed to pray.” At the bottom of all these changes was a lawsuit by an agnostic family who argued that watching their son graduate was forced religious participation.
When the Pharisees were demanding that Jesus tell them when the kingdom of God would come, He replied the kingdom of heaven did not come with observation but was among them. And indeed, it was in the person of Jesus Christ and the disciples. Likewise the kingdom of darkness does not come with observation, but it is among us in the form of militant opponents to open Christian expression and to the principles set out by our nation’s founders and forefathers. These opponents to our faith do their work by degrees and decrees.
Jesus went on to say the day would come when they would long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and they would not see it. I believe the day is coming when we all will long to see even one day of faithful, prayerful leaders like Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln, and we will not see it. As a matter of fact, it seems we are not seeing much of it anywhere anymore. As Edward Everett Hale said one hundred and fifty years ago, it is time to pray for our country.
By John G. Cathcart
www.wme.org
Nicknames
“And [he] called unto him whom he would… and he ordained twelve, that they should be with him… and Simon he surnamed Peter. And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder…” – Mark 3:13-17
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know… we shall be like him…” – I John 3:2
Nicknames are ordinarily given to someone because of things others see outwardly about the individual after a defining event has taken place. There have been some interesting cases of nicknames throughout history.
For example, there was a Roman in the early days of the Republic whose name was Lucius Mucius Scaevola. Now, the first name of a Roman was the name given by the parents – often in memory, out of respect or as a family tradition. The second name was the inherited family surname. And the last name was a nickname. Romans called these parts of a name the praenomen, the nomen and the cognomen. Scaevola meant “burned hand.” The traditional tale is that, in its early and emergent days, Rome was besieged by an enemy who caught one Roman citizen outside the walls. He was taken into the tent of the enemy leader for questioning, and a large brazier of burning coals was brought in for purposes of torture. Before anyone could move, Scaevola rolled up the sleeve of his toga and plunged his right hand into the middle of the burning coals. As his hand was burned to a crisp, he lectured the enemy on the character of Roman citizens and the virtues of the Republic. After witnessing this, the enemy commander decided that it might be wisdom to withdraw rather than to face down a foe whose citizens were like Scaevola.
We know that God gave men “nicknames.” As a matter of Biblical record, God frequently renamed men and women as a prophetic act and a memorial of their encounter with Him. Hence, Abram became Abraham and Sara became Sarah – The “h” in Sarah representing the name of God and His insertion into their lives.
When Jesus renamed people, He did it in spite of what men saw outwardly about the person being named and before any defining event took place. Jesus saw them inwardly and potentially.
Simon Peter was an obvious waverer. He said he would never desert Jesus, and then Peter repeatedly denied Him in the courtyard. Everyone else saw the tendency in Peter to vacillate. But Jesus saw something else, named it and then called it out in Peter. In the end, Peter vacillated in a positive way – He turned back in his flight from Rome and chose to be crucified upside down for his faith in Jesus Christ.
We don’t know too much about James; but from a natural viewpoint, his brother John was anything but a “son of thunder.” Some Bible scholars have called him a “gentle dreamer,” the New Testament answer to Joseph from the Old Testament. But trials and tribulations bring out what is in men and women. In John’s case, he brought the Temple of Diana crashing down when confronted with the demonic challenges of paganism and Satanism in Asia Minor.
Actually, “Christian” is a nickname given to early believers of Jesus Christ in Antioch. It means, “Little Christ’s.” If you’re a believer, that’s also your nickname. Wear your tag with pride and thanksgiving.
And remember, the evidence that God is not through bringing out the best in you yet is the fact that you’re still breathing. If you’re here, be encouraged: He’s not through implanting His nature and likeness in you.
By John G. Cathcart
www.wme.com
Manliness
“When Joab saw that the front of the battle was against him before and behind… he said (to Abishai his brother), ‘Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the Lord do that which seems good to Him.’” –II Samuel 10:9-12
“Be on watch, stand fast in the faith, acquit yourselves like men, be strong.” –I Corinthians 16:13
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating…
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run –
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!”
– Excerpt from the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling
I was half-awake and half-listening to an ABC news program that followed up the usual national weather and sports items of the day with trivia about some of the major entertainment personalities. All of a sudden, the insipid stuff they were discussing jarred me out of my half-consciousness. They were ooohing, ahhhing and drooling over a prominent Hollywood couple that had just had a baby and hadn’t tied the knot yet, but claimed they were in love and thinking about doing it. And I thought — What a ridiculous bunch of nonsense!
Then instantly I felt sorry for the young men of this day and time. Where are male role-models like those that I had when I was a child and an impressionable, young boy? How can society expect boys to become men who act in a morally and socially responsible way when all they see demonstrated and praised is infidelity and irresponsibility?
In recent months, we have been inundated with unmanly, wimpy excuses and denials from former senators and football coaches for their exposed sexual indulgences. Lack of manliness is one of the oldest failures recorded in the Bible. Cain was the first: He killed his brother and then whined because the punishment of having to work for a living was too harsh, simply more than he wanted to endure. Cain demonstrated no repentance, just self-pity.
Lack of manliness is not only in the world, it’s in the church. It is not uncommon for Christians to excuse and minimize the wrong-doing relatives or close friends because, “They’re family!” The Moslems, whom we believe have lower spiritual revelation, have a far higher ethic. Where are men who can stand up straight, admit to wrongs committed and then quit it? When Britain’s Lord Profumo’s part in the Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies spy scandal was exposed, he finally came forward and admitted, “I have made a terrible fool of myself.” Where are men willing like Profumo to publicly acknowledge their failings and then show the good taste to exit the public scene to do charitable work that contributes to the betterment of society? Where are those men today?
Let me be clear here. We’re not talking about saints; we’re talking about men and manliness within the earth. Joab was no saint, but he was a man. Manliness is not about muscles and testosterone. It’s about character, conviction, courage and commitment.
A few years ago a visitor from Australia who had known my parents as a young woman in Glasgow, Scotland, told me how her husband’s life had been revolutionized by a sermon my father preached based on the scripture, “Quit you like men; be strong.” It was during WWII, and her husband had been serving as a minister in a denomination with whose teaching he could no longer agree. The message gave him the spiritual courage of his convictions. He resigned from his pulpit, entered the Armed Forces of Australia, served with distinction and chose to lead a meaningful and fulfilling life when the war ended. That is manliness; that is godliness; that is playing the man.
By John G. Cathcart
www.wme.org
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