HERE I STAND- MARTIN LUTHER

When God revealed to Martin Luther "The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17b), there was a revolution in his soul, which ultimately led to another revolution called the Protestant Reformation. This was to influence history for most of the following 500 years. While others before Luther had seen some of the truths he did, he was the catalyst. He was not a perfect man, but a man God greatly used. When a prominent Christian TV network founder recently sat with a Catholic priest (who has a program on his network), and he said "I am not a Protestant -- I am not protesting anything", this man was sadly exhibiting an attitude held by many professing Christians. He is not only ignorant of history, he is seemingly unaware of what is going on in our day. How can we not protest abortion, gay marriage, the coddling of child molesters, public indecency everywhere, and the attempt to silence preachers from speaking on biblical issues? Ironically, the Roman Catholic Church agrees with most evangelical protestants on much of this. They are being picked on by the liberal media and politicians as well as evangelicals. I still believe Luther was right, but we may have to fight the common enemy for now. Can you and I stand for righteousness and say what Luther said in 1521? "Here I stand -- I can do no other -- God help me!"

LENINGRAD- 1978

I took this picture 30 years ago this coming August. So much has changed in 30 years! Instead of Leningrad, it is St. Petersburg (it's original name under the Czars). Instead of the USSR, it is Russia again with less territory under it's control. Instead of widespread persecution of believers, there is much freedom. I was in a camp meeting here in Georgia USA this week, and a brother told of passing out Christian literature and witnessing in Moscow's Red Square. You could not do that in 1978 without getting detained and possibly arrested. Pastor Bob Doom, director of Russian Bible Society, P.O. Box 6068, Asheville, NC 28816, showed me the Latvian Bible they have recently printed, which was only a dream of Latvian Pastor Yanis Smits back in the 70's. They also have published an Interlinear Russian/English Bible, a Russian Bible Dictionary, and many other excellent tools that can be freely shipped in now. When I worked in ministry to the communist lands, this could not be freely done. Our ministries had to take them in secretly. Yes, so much has changed for the better, not only in the USSR, but in all Eastern Europe, and even China, . Our land has changed too, but sadly for the worse. If the liberals and socialists that are out to take away our religious freedom have their way, America will be no more. Pray for all these countries, and ours! You may call RBS for more info at (800) 252-8896.

BETHESDA ORPHANAGE

George Whitefield was not only a tremendous preacher mightily used of Almighty God in the Great Awakening, he also had a mission work among the Indians, and in 1740 he founded an orphanage near Savannah, GA which still exists today. They still care for orphans physically, but alas, the spiritual needs are not so much a concern there today as with Whitefield. In our day, in my judgment, we could use a man like Whitefield. We definitely need revival. Lord make us instruments of thy truth! Amen!

LOSSES OVERCOME- CHARLES SPURGEON

This week I want to share not only a portrait of Spurgeon, but one of his finest meditations:

“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:25).
Yes those wasted years over which we sigh shall be restored to us. God can give us such plentiful grace that we shall crowd into the remainder of our days as much of service as will be some recompense for those years of unregeneracy over which we mourn in humble penitence.

The locusts of backsliding, worldliness, lukewarmness, are now viewed by us as a terrible plague. Oh that they had never come near us! The Lord in mercy has now taken them away, and we are full of zeal to serve Him. Blessed be His name, we can raise such harvests of spiritual graces as shall make our former barrenness to disappear. Through rich grace we can turn to account our bitter experience, and use it to warn others. We can become the more rooted in humility, childlike dependence, and penitent spirituality, by reason of our former shortcomings. If we are the more watchful, zealous, and tender, we shall gain by our lamentable losses. The wasted years, by a miracle of love, can be restored. Does it seem too great a boon? Let us believe for it, and live for it, and we may yet realize it, even as Peter became all the more useful a man after his presumption was cured by his discovered weakness. Lord, aid us by thy grace.
(Faith's Checkbook for May 18th).

ALAS! AND DID MY SAVIOUR BLEED

Puritan preacher Isaac Watts is known as the father of modern hymnody. He wrote such hymns as Alas and Did My Saviour Bleed (At the Cross), When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Joy to the World, O God Our Help in Ages Past, and Jesus Shall Reign. He wrote theological books such as Improvement of the Mind, Vol 1 and Vol 2, A Short View of the Whole Scripture History, etc. He is best known for those wonderful hymns. Until he began writing his poetry set to music, most Protestant churches only sang psalms set to music, a tradition strongly influenced by John Calvin. The Bible clearly gives us liberty for these kinds of God honoring music: "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:19-20).

SOUNDING BOARD

What about preaching in the centuries before we had sound systems. How did the congregation hear the preacher? Every preacher did not have a voice like George Whitefield, or like Ian Paisley of our day (You could certainly hear these two voices for a great distance). It is said that Benjamin Franklin once measured how far he could clearly hear Whitefield preaching to an outdoor crowd in Philadelphia. After pacing off the distance and calculating how many might be gathered in the area, he estimated that he could be easily heard by more than 25,000 people without amplification!. This account is in Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography which is available online http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/

Other preachers of the past, preaching in churches, needed a little amplification such as provided by the sounding board above the pulpit in this church I visited in Prague in 1982. The sound would go out in all directions enabling a congregation to comfortably hear the minister throughout the building.

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS- JOHN BUNYAN

Possibly the greatest book every written, other than the Bible, is Pilgrim's Progress. John Bunyan wrote it from Bedford Prison where he spent 12 long years from 1660-1672 for refusing to submit to the state church. Modern readers have some difficulty with some of the words, but there are annotated versions, and modern English versions. I recommend the original if you are a good reader. The book seems to force you to "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith" (2 Corinthians 13:5). It has blessed millions. You can read it online at Chapel Library.
http://www.mountzion.org/johnbunyan/index.html