Letting God Interrupt
Our Schedule
7-23-08
by Tad Lindley
It was the Fourth of July, but winter moose hunting was on my mind. I asked Francis, “What are you doing on December 21st?” Harry jumped in, “We’re Yup’ik; we don’t plan that far in advance”. I had forgotten.
You see, where I grew up life was different. It was a different culture and a different time. We were tied more to the clock and the calendar than to the weather and the tides. Things were planned out far in advance. As a family, we would never have dreamed of just dropping in on another family unannounced for a visit. If such a thing were to occur it would be planned out a week or more in advance. It seemed like everything was planned out; little ever happened on the spur of the moment. My mom planned meals out a week at a time, and only went to the grocery store once a week. We assumed that was how people did things all over the planet.
Getting my calendar adjusted
Eventually I moved 4,000 miles from home. I ended up married to a Yup’ik woman. It was at our daughter’s first birthday that I began to notice that the world turns differently in the Calista region. Remember, in the culture I came from, folks needed a one week notice minimum on a birthday party. This would give them time to get a gift and to rearrange their schedule so as to make it to the party seven days later.
As the birthday approached, I started getting pretty worried. I knew that my wife aimed to have a lot of people. She had bought a lot of food and a lot of gifts to give away, but she had not invited anybody. My blood pressure went up as I wondered what would happen when nobody showed up for the party. It was two days away and she had not invited anybody yet. I couldn’t stand the anxiety, so I started pressuring my wife to invite people. She didn’t. She waited until the morning of the party and began calling around. Much to my amazement, the house was packed with people, all the food was eaten up, and somehow with only a few hours notice people were able to find birthday presents.
When the church forgets to make room for God
This same need to plan things out way in advance can carry over into church. Everything is planned out ahead of time. I have actually been to churches in the Midwest where they give you a program at the beginning of the service which tells you the songs that will be sung and which verses you should stand up on and which ones you should sit down on and which verse would not be sung. Believe it or not I have seen services where the preacher had actually written out his prayer and read it instead of letting it come from his heart.
Sometime Jesus gives notice
Sometimes we can get so organized, that we leave out room for God. The Lord gave Noah at least 100 years notice before he sent the flood. Jesus gave the disciples a full one week notice before filling them with the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:8). But these are rare occasions in scripture. Often times, a Biblical move of God happens with very little notice.
Sometimes He doesn’t
When the first temple was completed in Jerusalem, King Solomon had a celebration. There were many, many animals sacrificed. There was much worship. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD (I Kings 8:10-11). Without notice, the Lord interrupted the carefully laid plans of the celebration.
Is there room for God in our schedule?
How often does God move in and interrupt our church services in 2008? It must be hard for Him to do that when we have got to get our three songs sung and move on to the offering and get the people out the door all in under an hour. Have we become so skillful at planning out our church services that God cannot work? The Bible tells us plainly that these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (Mark 16:17-18). I wonder how many times God wanted to fill someone with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in new tongues, or how many times somebody would have been healed of cancer, but we have decided at some point in the past that the preacher has to walk up the aisle and be ready to shake hands at the door at 11:59, and nothing, not even God can change our schedule.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Woman’s Belly Swells and
Thigh Rots After Drinking Holy Water
7-16-08
by Tad Lindley
My friend, Nick, approached me. We were fishing in Bristol Bay. He wanted me to pray for their boat. He held out what looked like a little plastic perfume bottle to me. It had a picture of a woman on it. It may have had the words “Holy Water” also, I’m not sure. Somehow I was made to know that the bottle contained “holy” water. Since I didn’t remember anybody ever using any kind of water while praying in the Bible, I declined to use the water in the bottle, but I did agree to pray for the boat and the crew.
You will have to forgive me for being old fashioned, but I believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God. I also know that I don’t know everything about the Bible. Therefore I realized that perhaps there is something to this holy water that I have simply never noticed in the Bible before. I decided to investigate the matter. Since I prayed for my friend and his crew, I read the Bible cover to cover twice. Then I employed computerized Bible software that will search ten different translations of the Bible. I searched for the term “holy water” in all versions. I also searched for “water of holiness”, “water that is holy”, and the words “water” and “holy” in any order in any verse.
Holy water only found one time in scripture
The concept of holy water occurs only one time in the entire Bible. It is found in the book of Numbers 5:17. And the priest shall take the holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put into the water. This proves that holy water did exist, but that its use was very limited and specific.
Has your wife cheated on you?
In the Old Testament (Numbers 5:11-31), when a man suspected his wife of cheating on him, he was commanded to bring her to the priest. The man also was to bring a half gallon of barley flour. The priest would take the holy water and he would mix into it some of the dust from the floor of the tabernacle. The addition of the dirt to the holy water would make it become “bitter water”. Next the priest would set the accused wife down and undo the long hair on her head so that it hung down. He would then place the barley flour in her hands. At this point he would “charge the woman with an oath of cursing”. Afterwards she would say, “Amen, amen”, and then drink the mixture of dust and holy water.
If the woman was not guilty of adultery, then there would be no ill effect from drinking the water. If, however, she had committed adultery, the bitter water would enter into her body and wreak havoc. It would cause her belly to swell up and her thigh to rot. Furthermore, the woman would become an outcast among her people. That is the only recorded use of holy water in all of scripture.
Water of purifying
The Bible does call for the use of water in a number of applications. These tend to be for purification. This water was used for washing. The priests and Levites used it for bathing in (Exodus 29:4). The Jewish people used it to bathe themselves in preparation for ceremonies. The Jews washed their hands with it before they ate (Matthew 15:2). They used it to wash their feet (John 13:5).
Of course in the New Testament, people were immersed in water for the remission of sins. Jesus himself was baptized in this manner (although he was sinless). There is no indication that the water was “holy”. In fact, many of John’s baptisms occurred in the Jordan River. The Ethiopian eunuch was baptized at the first water that they came to after he believed in Jesus (Acts 8:36).
Holy spit, olive oil, and handkerchiefs; not water
Aside from Naaman, who was healed from leprosy by dipping in the Jordan seven times (II Kings 5:1-17), the young man who Jesus healed with a mixture of spit, dirt and water from the pool of Siloam (John 9:6-7), and the Sheep Gate (John 5) water is not involved in physical healings. These healings all occurred with normal water, not holy water.
The Bible teaches us first of all that prayer is essential to healing. In the New Testament, the only two physical elements we see associated with healing are olive oil and handkerchiefs. James gives us this directive for all Christians across all ages: Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord (5:14). Not “holy” oil; just plain old olive oil. You see we don’t need holy oil, because we have a Holy God.
At one point in time, God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them (Acts 19:11-12). The Bible describes this as a special miracle, so it is far less common than the anointing with olive oil which is a prescription given to all of Christianity.
God has given the Bible believer only one use for holy water. That use is for the Old Testament Hebrews to discern if a woman has been committing adultery. In the New Testament he promises us something that will not cause your belly to swell, nor your thigh to rot: living water.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Escaping the Predator Pit:
Moose and Molesters
7-9-08
by Tad Lindley
There was a day when it seemed that everybody who went up to the Holitna River caught moose. People from the coast were even going all the way up to the Kuskokwim and bringing back boatloads of meat. In those days, we ate moose meat. Then lean times came. Men who invested thousands of dollars in gas and gear were coming home empty.
The predator pit
The moose population had entered into what biologists call a “predator pit”. In a healthy situation, moose give birth to enough calves each year to replace the number of moose being killed by predators and hunters. A predator pit occurs when a population of moose gets small enough that the predators, wolves and bears, keep the population very small by killing lots of calves and pregnant cows. Once in a predator pit, it is very difficult for the population to grow. In this situation the only way to get the moose population to grow is to lift them out of the predator pit. Predator control, such as aerial wolf hunting, is an effective way to do this.
On the Lower Kuskokwim, the primary predator of moose is not wolves, but humans. The five year moratorium on moose hunting has lifted moose out of the predator pit on the Lower Kuskokwim. As long as hunters leave cows and calves alone, we can expect the population to remain healthy and feed many families on the lower river.
Spiritual predators
I have only personally known one person who was attacked by wolves, but I have known scores that were attacked by spiritual predators. You may be one of them. At some point in your life, someone you trusted sexually assaulted you. Or perhaps it was someone who had significant power over you because of their position. At least one village in Western Alaska had an entire generation of young men brutally abused by a church worker over a number of years. Much of this is type of tragedy is now coming to light. Still others have been taken advantage of by family members or other adults. Too many people, both men and women have made bad decisions with alcohol and ended up being exploited because of it. If you are a man and were never approached by a homosexual molester as a child or an adolescent, count yourself rare and blessed.
Are you living in a predator pit?
Sexual abuse is devastating. It leaves the victim with intense shame and humiliation. Although many people have been hurt just like you have, you may feel completely alone. You find yourself in a predator pit. You can only grow so far, but you can never break beyond, because the past always reaches out and brings you back down.
It may be years later. You may live in a different community, you have a different life now, but it seems as though you can never escape. You may be like the woman who can never allow her husband to love her, always creating crisis in the home and strife in the marriage. You may be the man who lives in a perpetual cloud of anger, inflicting his private pain on his wife and children. Maybe you travel through life drunk on mouthwash, marijuana, or methamphetamine, whatever will blot out the pain for a while. If so, you are living in a predator pit. Until you move on from victim-hood into victory, you will never escape the pit.
Escaping the predator pit
If you are tired of living in a predator pit, there is hope. Jesus came that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly (John 10:10). This means that it is not Jesus’ plan for anybody to live in a predator pit. He wants us to live free. Jesus said, “If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32)
If you continue in God’s word, eventually it will lead you to the plan of salvation. It is found in Acts 2:38 (a careful reading of the New Testament will show the same three concepts popping up again and again in other scriptures). I will not quote it here. I want you to look it up in your own Bible. If you are in a predator pit and are sick and tired of being there, you can have the victory. It will come through repentance, water baptism in Jesus’ name for the remission of sin, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The Lord brought deliverance this same way in the beginning, and he is still doing it nearly 2,000 years later.
Friend, God has placed this article in your hand, because he is knocking on the door of your heart, wanting you to open it and walk out of victim-hood into victory.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Salmon
6-24-08
by Tad Lindley
On day five, God created fish. For the record God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created the great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly…and God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth. (Genesis 1:20-22)
From the beginning God had a commandment for the fish. God’s commandment for the fish is to go forth and multiply. We tend to think of Jesus’ relationship as being only with humans. After all, he gave 613 commandments in the Old Testament, and some additional instructions in the New. But the Bible clearly relates that the Lord is also involved in the lives of animals.
King salmon
Right now adult king salmon are returning from the Bering Sea. They are fulfilling the will of God for their lives. They are hearing the command of God to be fruitful and multiply and they are obeying it. This turns out to be a blessing for those of us who love to eat fish, since they must swim by our doorsteps to get to their spawning grounds.
Sea gulls peck out their eyes
The salmon that make it past the nets of fishermen will return to the rivers where they were born. The females will dig out a nest in the gravel and squirt their eggs into it. At the same time, a large male salmon will release his milt to fertilize the eggs. Often times jacks (the small male king salmon) will sneak in during the midst of this while the large male is not paying attention and fertilize some of the eggs himself. Then the female covers up the eggs with more gravel. Her tail gets worn down to a stub.
After spawning the fish get weak. Their bodies become covered with mold. Sea gulls peck out their eyes while they are still alive. Finally they die; every last one. Insects and other creatures in the river eat their decaying bodies.
The eggs, that were laid in the gravel, hatch. Eventually they become king salmon fry. These fry may spend one, two, or even three years in the river. They may even eat the insects that ate their parents’ bodies. When the ice weakens in the spring, they head for the Bering Sea. There they find an abundance of food.
It seems like a no-brainer
It would seem like the logical thing for a king salmon to do to stay in the Bering Sea and just get larger and larger. After all, when the kings head back to the Kuskokwim, the Kanektok, Arolik, or the Yukon, they are headed for trouble. There are seals waiting at the river mouths, as well as miles of gillnets. Those fish that make it past the seals and the people may have to deal with bears. They will go for weeks without eating. They will become weak unto death, unable to swim away from the eye-hungry seagulls. Finally they will die. Yes, the logical thing would be to stay in the Bering Sea and keep growing until they eat killer whales for breakfast.
But that is not what the king salmon does. Every salmon that lives to adulthood returns to spawn and die, because that is what God called them to do. They do not consider the cost. They do not skip spawning to go to do what they want to do; they press forward.
Unless you have worked in a cannery or fished Bristol Bay all of your life, I have probably seen more salmon that you have. I worked for the Department of Fish and Game the year of the last five million plus return on the Kvichak River. That summer I personally saw and counted on my tally-wackers about 300,000 red salmon.
No doubt you have seen fish with propeller wounds, seal bites, squid bites, sea lice infestations, pus oozing from lamprey sores, missing fins, and worms crawling out of them. I once saw a salmon that made it to its spawning grounds with a propeller bite so severe that its tail fin was hanging on by only its spine. I have no idea how it could have swum against the current, but its desire to fulfill the will of God was so great, that it made it.
So what is your excuse?
And there are some of us who cannot make it to church if our temperature gets up to 98.7 degrees. There are literally people who check themselves every Wednesday afternoon. They search their bodies trying to find out if there is some minor discomfort that will prevent them from making it to church that night.
We have something to learn from the salmon. They let nothing stand in the way of serving Jesus. Many of us on the other hand serve the Lord only when it is convenient to do so.
Imagine how hungry for fish we would be if salmon started acting like people. “I’m not spawning this year, the Super Bowl is on.” “I’m having too much fun eating herring to swim up the Yukon, sorry Jesus; I’ll spawn some other time.” “I stayed up too late last winter, I can’t spawn this summer.” Our nets would be empty. Instead our nets are full, and His house is empty.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Supporting Your Pastor
6-18-08
by Tad Lindley
Everyone needs a preacher
It might go against what you believed up to now, but according to the Bible you cannot be saved without a preacher. For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. (I Corinthians 1:21) Did you catch that? Preaching is an essential ingredient for the salvation of them that believe. We might think that preaching is what leads the sinner to repentance, but it is just as important for those that are already born again.
Preaching builds faith
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing cometh by the word of God (Romans 10:17). If faith comes by hearing the word and we hear it through preaching, then preaching is not an option for the Christian. For without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). This proves three important points:
I need a preacher to be saved.
I need a preacher to increase my faith.
I need a preacher.
Preacher or pastor?
But let me take it one step further, because there are a lot of people that have a preacher, but they don’t have a pastor. When you have a preacher you go to church and listen to a sermon and go home. When you have a pastor, you listen to what the man of God says and apply it in your life. Just as a child is to be under the authority of his parents, the child of God has a preacher who is watching for his soul. (Hebrews 13:7)
Judas had a preacher
Judas had a preacher. When Jesus’ little congregation got ruffled about the woman breaking the alabaster box, they brought it to Jesus attention. “What’s going on here? This ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Jesus rebuked them and told them that what she was doing was the right thing to do. (Mark 14:3-9)
Understand what is going on here. As a man, Jesus is their rabbi, their teacher, and their pastor. As God, Jesus is their strength, their song, and their salvation. Eleven of the disciples accepted Jesus’ rebuke: he was their pastor. Judas heard it, but he rejected it, because to Judas, Jesus was not a pastor, he was a preacher. Judas refused to submit to the authority of a pastor. As a result, Judas got angry and sold Jesus to the priests for a tithe of the price of the ointment: 30 pieces of silver.
A man who saw Jesus as pastor
When the Roman centurion came to Jesus he told Jesus: For I also am a man set under authority (Luke 7:8). Because he followed the orders of those above him, he understood that Jesus could order the healing of his servant and it would be done. This is the type of man that supports his pastor. It was this attitude that caused Jesus to turn to the Jewish disciples who were with him and say, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel”. (Luke 7:9)
Three ways to support your pastor
1. Go to church Hebrews 10:25 teaches us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves as has become the habit of some. Any time that you stay home from church, you are giving your pastor a vote of no confidence. You are telling him, “You should have cancelled that service pastor”. If your children ever ask you the question, “Are we going to church tonight”, you have serious problems. It means that somehow you have conveyed to your kids that church attendance is an optional thing. If we would support our pastor, we must be in church every time the doors are open.
2. Honor him
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief (Hebrews 13:17). Support your pastor, obey him. A godly pastor may teach guidelines that are not directly found in scripture. One pastor in Wichita, Kansas, Murrell Cornwell admonishes his families to keep an 11:00 curfew for their children. In his time as pastor, he has had to preach the funerals of five children from church families who died violent, unnecessary deaths. Every one of them died after 11:00 outside of their home.
It is in your best interest to obey your pastor. As long as he is teaching the word of God obey him. Never let your children hear you question your pastor. Never speak badly of a former pastor in front of your children. If you cannot honor those who have authority over you, your children will not honor your authority over them.
3. Pay your tithes
The Lord loveth a cheerful giver (II Corinthians 9:7). A tenth of all of our increase (paychecks, dividends, Citgo stove oil, Quest card, our subsistence catch, etc.) should go to support the man of God and the work of God in our town or village. Any time we are not bringing a tenth of our increase we are robbing God (Malachi 3:8), and we are telling our pastor that our personal kingdom is more important than the kingdom of God.
Having a pastor is something that money cannot buy. A good pastor will pray for you, fast for you, preach to you, and stand in the gap for your soul. These are things that are priceless. Be sure to bless the pastor in your life.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Three Fingers Pointing Back at You
6-11-08
by Tad Lindley
Before you read any further, I want you to take your hand and pretend that you are pointing at someone. Go ahead and do it. Don’t worry about what other people will think. Now look at your hand while you are pointing. Notice that there are three fingers pointing back at you?
The first man to ever blame his wife
One of the first things that Adam and the woman did after they fell into sin was to blame. When the Lord asked Adam if he had eaten from the tree, Adam could have said, “Yes, I sinned. I ate from the tree you told me not to. Lord, please have mercy on me.”
That’s not what he said though. The man said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:12) Not only did Adam refuse to accept responsibility for his sin, but he pointed the finger at God and at his wife. What Adam did not realize yet is that when we point the finger, there are three fingers pointing back at us.
Unfortunately this habit of blaming has been passed down from generation to generation. Husbands blame their drinking and their adultery on their wives. Wives in turn blame their own sins on their children or their husbands or their parents. Fingers are waving everywhere in the world today. Just remember, when we point the finger at a family member, there are three fingers pointing back at us.
The problem with your neighbor
A quick way to figure out what is wrong with us and our attitude is to look around us. The things that other people do that annoy us, often are the very things we are struggling with. Jesus put his finger on the matter: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? (Matthew 7:3) In modern terms, why are you pointing out the splinter in the other person’s eye when you have a two by four stuck in your own eye?
Jesus goes on to say, Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam that is in thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:5) If someone else’s stinginess bothers us, Jesus is telling us that we are probably stingy, and we better take care of that before we complain about them. When we point the finger at them, often we are even guiltier than the one we are accusing.
Quit blaming the devil
If you read the Genesis account, you will see that after Adam blamed both God and his wife for his slip up in the garden, the woman (she wasn’t called Eve yet) blamed the devil. The serpent beguiled me and I did eat. (Genesis 3:13) What the woman didn’t realize is that it wasn’t the devil’s fault: she was the one who ate the fruit. She thought she could divert the blame to the devil, but there were three fingers pointing back at her.
Perhaps this is a trait we have inherited from Eve. People love to blame the devil. The fact of the matter is people give the devil too much credit. The reason that you went to jail is not because the devil was after you. It’s because you quit going to church, started hanging out at the card games, and wound up drunk.
I even hear godly people blame the devil. I cringe when I hear it. Folks blame the devil for not getting the job they wanted. They blame the devil for the rude clerk at the store. They blame the devil for the engine not working. Often times when people are pointing the finger at the devil, when they should be lifting up holy hands and praising God.
If anybody could have blamed the devil…
…it was Joseph. His family betrayed him; he was falsely accused of second degree sexual assault, sentenced to life in prison without parole, and completely forgotten by everybody, everybody that is except for God. Now Joseph could have sat himself down and said, “Boy, the devil is really after me. I can hardly stand to keep going”. But Joseph didn’t say that. You see he had a trust in God.
We want to serve a soft, coddling God who will let us stay the way we are. We cannot imagine a Jesus that would make us uncomfortable. And so when God does bring us through a struggle we blame the devil, when we really should be praising God.
In Joseph’s case, it was God who allowed him to be sold into slavery. It was the Lord who placed him in prison. All of this happened so that God’s people, Israel could rise to become a great nation. This was hardly the work of the devil. It was the work of almighty God. Joseph summed it up like this, But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive (Genesis 50:20).
The blame game is a dangerous game to play. It rarely draws us closer to the truth. Instead we need to accept responsibility for our shortcomings and give God the glory for his ability to take adversity and turn it for victory.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Feasting in the Face of Famine
6-4-08
by Tad Lindley
By the time you read this, fuel prices in Bethel will already have gone up. Local economists are predicting a one dollar increase in gasoline and a $1.89 increase in stove oil with prices as high as seven dollars after the fall barge.
As often happens when the spring fuel barge gets to Bethel, there was a run on gas this weekend. I pulled up Sunday after church to top off my tanks. My credit card was approved and the pump went to zeroes. I squeezed the handle, but nothing came out. A neighbor pumping diesel at the other island confirmed that the gasoline was sold out.
We bought two hundred gallons of stove oil earlier in the week. The sales tax alone was over fifty dollars. It should not take a calculator to figure out that unless we all get a raise or a second job; things are going to get tougher.
Will Bethel become a ghost town?
As I was contemplating these things, a feeling of desperation came over me. Are sensible folks going to pack it up in Bethel and move to some place with cheap gas and electricity? Will the school district and the health corporation have to lay folks off in order to pay for stove oil? Will we all get stuck with houses that are suddenly worth nothing? You know how this line of thinking plays out. Eventually, I’m envisioning my family sitting on the floor shivering around a cardboard box, looking at the last moldy piece of dried fish while the kitchen table crackles in the wood stove.
Eating donkey heads and dove droppings
About 2,500 years ago things got tough in Samaria. The Syrian army had surrounded the walled city. The people were locked inside. Painfully they rationed food and water. Eventually all food was gone and there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver (II Kings 6:25 NKJV). It was so bad that mothers began to eat their babies.
When the king learned about women eating their babies, he lost it. In such a situation, it would seem that seeking God’s assistance would be in order. Not for the king. He immediately set out to kill the preacher in Samaria, a man named Elisha.
There’s nothing like faith
The king’s hit man was delayed at the door. The king showed up and they opened the door. Elisha didn’t hide. Instead he spoke the word of faith: “by this time tomorrow in the markets of Samaria, five quarts of flour will cost only half an ounce of silver, and ten quarts of barley grain will cost only half an ounce of silver” (II Kings 7:1 NLT).
It was a crazy suggestion. People were breaking open the skulls of donkeys that had starved to death so that they could eat the brain. Infants were being boiled and eaten by the survivors. Then this preacher has the boldness to proclaim that tomorrow everything is going to be back to normal. At least one of the king’s men couldn’t believe it. “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opens the windows of heaven,” he said (7:2 NLT).
When the window opens, watch out!
As the people of Samaria were consumed with the stupor of starvation, their God was at work behind the enemy lines. Four lepers sat starving to death outside the gate of Samaria. They realized they had two choices: enter the city and starve to death, or approach the Syrian camp and beg food, possibly getting killed in the process. As they walked out from the city toward the Syrian camp, it was strangely quiet. The army was gone, but nearly everything was there. The lepers wandered from tent to tent. They filled their stomachs and gathered gold and silver.
The Holy One of Israel had sent a panic amidst the Syrian camp, and during the night they had fled, leaving everything behind. As the starving people of Samaria poured out of the city to feast, they trampled the king’s servant who had said, “That couldn’t happen even if the Lord opens the windows of heaven.”
Your personal famine
Reader, there is no famine that the power of God cannot overcome. When we get desperate enough to give up, it is time to reach into the word of God. Whether we are in a physical food famine, or we are in a financial famine, or in an emotional famine, if we serve Jesus, we have nothing to fear. Our God specializes in the impossible. Next time you face a personal famine, remember that while Samaria was suffering and God seemed nowhere to be found, he was actually behind the enemy lines setting up a mighty feast for them.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Revelation
and the Rising Price of Rice
5-28-08
by Tad Lindley
Recently Sam’s Club and Costco both put limits on the amounts of rice that customers could buy. Knowing this, a Bethel resident called about barge ordering rice from Span-Alaska. “Do you have a limit on the number of bags of rice I can buy?”
“No, we have no limit on rice,” was the answer.
“Good, then I’d like to buy twenty bags of rice.”
“I’m sorry, we are out of rice.”
Surviving the rice crisis
Even if there were absolutely no rice available in the Calista region, we would do all right. We could simply throw spaghetti or macaroni into the soup instead. We are wealthy in wild food resources. For much of the world this is not true.
Worldwide about one fifth of the calories consumed by human beings are in the form of rice. For many people, rice is the single most important, and sometimes the only food in their diet. In a country with an abundance of fish, cash, and Quest cards this is hard to imagine.
Where did all the rice go?
Rice has tended to be a fairly stable and reliable crop for thousands of years. Why is there suddenly a worldwide rice crisis?
There are three reasons. The first is weather factors. Rice is dependent on an abundance of water. In times of drought, rice production drops off. Fortunately rice is grown in many countries, and so drought never affects all rice growing nations during the same year.
The second factor is human greed. Those who purchased rice in enormous quantities months ago at low prices are holding on to the rice they bought. Their hope is that the price of rice will go even higher, and then they will sell, making a huge profit.
The third factor is oil. As oil prices have risen, the United States has invested heavily in making fuel from corn. Corn can be fermented to produce alcohol, as can grapes, potatoes, and most other fruits and grains. As the price of corn has risen, farmers have switched from growing other grains to growing corn. This affects everything from the cost of Doritos™ in Platinum to the price of rice across the planet.
The black horse
Would you be surprised to know that the Bible describes a very similar situation to this in the book of the Revelation? Nearly two thousand years ago, when John was exiled to the island of Patmos, he received visions from God of events that would transpire at the end of the time we are living in. Jesus showed John that there would be seven seals that would be opened (not seven nayiq, but seven prophecies), seven trumpets that would be blown, and seven bowls that would be poured out.
The first four seals that are opened are spirits that appear as men riding on horses. The third of these is the black horse and rider. This prophecy concerns the prices of grain, oil, and alcohol (wine).
When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” (Revelation 6:5-6 NKJV) The picture here is one of rising prices for a variety of commodities.
In the past, many have assumed that the black horse represented famine. Certainly that is a possibility, but when we read what the prophet Zechariah has to say about the black horse, then we see that perhaps it is not famine.
The one with the black horses is going to the north country…those who go to the north country have given my Spirit rest in the north country. (Zechariah 6:6,8 NKJV) Famine generally does not give rest to God’s spirit. The hungrier a nation is, the greater the move of God. This is why we see tremendous miracles and greater outpourings of the Holy Ghost overseas.
Devotion to making money is what quenches God’s spirit. The rider on the black horse is a solid picture of the spirit of Capitalism, buy low and sell high. There is presently enough rice to meet worldwide demand, but powerful players are holding on to large quantities of rice waiting for prices to go higher before they sell.
Is the current rice crisis a sign that the third seal has been opened? Only time will tell.
For more on the first four seals, read Revelation 6:1-8, and Zechariah 6:1-8.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Ugly is More Than Skin Deep
5-20-08
by Tad Lindley
You’ve probably heard the story before. Adam and the woman (she wasn’t called Eve until later on, Genesis 3:20) were in the Garden of Eden. Life was wonderful. They did not know sin. They could leave their keys in the vehicles, they did not have to lock their doors at night. There had never been a murder. Nobody had ever sworn at another person. All that they knew was good.
The serpent approached them. He talked the woman into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam took the next bite. They already had the knowledge of good. Now they had the knowledge of evil.
Beating back the ugly
The ugliness of sin came over them. They attempted to cover up the ugliness. First Adam and the woman invented the needle and thread. Next they sewed fig leaves together until they were covered. Apparently it was enough to satisfy themselves. You see, they were under the misconception that ugly is only skin deep. Unfortunately for them, it was not enough to satisfy God.
The Lord sees not as the man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart (I Samuel 16:7). When the Lord looked at Adam and the woman, he saw right through the fig leaves. He saw their hearts. What he saw was ugly.
How ugly is the heart?
When God saw their hearts, he probably said something like this: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it (Jeremiah 17:9). He confronted them with the ugliness of their hearts. Instead of accepting responsibility for their sin, they tried to place the blame on someone else. As a result of this God kicked them out of the Garden.
Covering up the ugly
It is interesting to note that Adam and the woman had tried to cover up their ugliness with leaves. God threw out their garments and made clothes for them from the skins of animals (Genesis 3:21). This is a pattern that people have followed from that day forward: they have tried to deal with their ugliness by covering it up on the outside. Since men look on the outside, they might be fooled, but God knows the heart.
Shoe polish and paint
Recently, when someone found out my age, they asked me if I put shoe polish in my hair to cover up white hairs. I don’t and I wouldn’t. Jesus said, Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black (Matthew 5:36). Furthermore, the Bible tells us that the white head is a crown of glory (Proverbs 16:31).
Yet you know that there are people who pluck their white hairs and others who would not dream of being seen in public without dying their hair. Somehow they feel that if the flaws and imperfections on the outside can be covered up, then people will see them as beautiful.
It is not much of a problem here in the AVCP region, but where I grew up there were many women who were practically addicted to make up. Some were so bound that they felt worthless if they had to be in public without it. Others work diligently to make themselves beautiful by wearing expensive clothes. Some use elaborate body piercing (beauty is in the eye of the beholder).
Overcoming ugliness starts in the heart
The New Testament cautions Christians not to use gold, pearls, expensive clothing, or elaborate hairdos to make themselves beautiful (I Peter 3:3, I Timothy 2:9). Yes, those things might for a time deceive people who are not really close to us, but not forever. According to the word of God ugliness is overcome from the outside in: let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is incorruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price (I Peter 3:4).
In the Old Testament, God despised Adam and Eve’s attempts to cover up their sin. He killed animals and covered them with their skins. In the New Testament, God himself comes manifest in the flesh. He allows himself to be slain, and we have the opportunity to have him cover our ugliness.
Do you feel ugly?
If you have spent your life feeling ugly and trying to cover it in different ways, you can be free. Jesus knows right where you are. When we repent of our old life and are baptized in Jesus’ name, we feel the weight of ugliness slip away. Our own ugliness, shame, and mistakes are covered by the beauty of Jesus Christ. For as many of you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Galatians 3:27). If you feel ugly, slip into something more beautiful.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Congregation Accused of Being Drunk During Prayer Meeting
5-13-08
by Tad Lindley
My friend thought he was going to hurt my feelings. He had been to our church for Sunday morning worship a few years back. I asked him, “How did you like service?” He paused for a moment. “I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but it was unusual for me. You see, I don’t usually see people getting loud like that unless they’ve had a few beers or been smoking pot.”
Far from having my feelings hurt, I took it as a compliment. Way back in the beginning, at the birth of the church, on the day of Pentecost about 29 A.D., folks said almost exactly the same thing. They accused Peter, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and about 118 other folks of being drunk.
Quick history
Let me back track a little bit. You remember that Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. They took his body off of the cross and laid it in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Then Jesus descended into hell and preached to those people who perished in the flood (I Peter 3:18-20). On the third day, he rose from the dead. When they went to the tomb to anoint his body with spices, he was not there.
For forty days Jesus appeared to the disciples and others. The total number of people who saw him at that time was over 500 (I Corinthians 15:6). It was during this forty day period that Jesus taught the disciples and prepared them to turn their world right side up. At the end of forty days Jesus ascended up to heaven. Before he left, he instructed his followers to wait in Jerusalem until they received the power from on high (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8).
The promise poured out
One hundred twenty of Jesus’ followers went to Jerusalem to wait for the power that Jesus had promised them. They were meeting daily both in the temple, and in an upper room somewhere else in the city. The seventh day was the Jewish celebration of Pentecost. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
They’d never seen church like this before
Nothing like this had ever happened before. Apparently there was such a ruckus that passersby in the street noticed that things were getting wild in the upstairs room. The Bible tells us that the word started spreading, and people came from all over Jerusalem to see what was going on (Acts 2:6). Now a lot of modern church services are over and done with in less than an hour. Not so on the day of Pentecost. God filled them with the Holy Ghost and they started speaking in tongues. They were still speaking in tongues and worshipping God much later, because after the word spread across town and people stopped what they were doing to come back to the building where the disciples were, they were still speaking in tongues!
Were the disciples actually drunk?
The Jews in Jerusalem were amazed. People from other parts of the Roman Empire heard the disciples and Mary and over a hundred others speaking in languages they could not have known. People were trying to figure out what was going on. Some of them suggested that maybe the disciples were drunk (Acts 2:13). At that point Peter and the other disciples got up in front of the crowd. He went on to tell them that they were not drunk, instead they had received the Spirit prophesied by the prophet Joel. You can read Peter’s message in Acts 2 in your own Bible. It closes with him telling the people that if they would repent and be baptized in Jesus’ name that they too could receive the very same Holy Ghost experience (2:38-39).
When you too receive the wonderful gift of God, the Holy Ghost, it will change your life. People who knew you before will wonder what has happened to you. You can tell them as did Peter, “We’re not drunk as you suppose. No, we have just been filled with the Holy Ghost”.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
I Smoked All the Marijuana
I Wanted to Today
4-30-08
by Tad Lindley
This is truly a great way to live. I also drank all the alcohol I wanted today. I smoked all the cigarettes and had all the snuff I wanted today as well. Not only that, I played all the 4-5-6 and all the bingo I wanted to. If I had known that living for God was like this, I would have started long ago.
“Brother Lindley, I thought you were a Christian, and now this.”
Wait a minute, let me explain.
Don’t turn the page just yet
The Bible teaches us that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (II Corinthians 3:17) Some people would interpret that word liberty to mean that a person can do whatever they want, act however they want, and dress however they want. In the original language liberty refers to freedom from bondage. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom from bondage to sin.
Exactly how much did I smoke?
Yes, I smoked all the marijuana I wanted today. All the marijuana I wanted today was none. I also made throughout the day without wanting a drop of any alcoholic beverage. All the alcohol I wanted today was none. Neither did I have the desire to smoke or rub snuff. At various times in my life I had no choice; I was addicted to these things. You probably figured out by now that I didn’t feel like gambling today either. You’re right.
How much did you smoke?
What about you, reader? Did you get all you wanted of these things today? If you weren’t able to smoke all the marijuana you wanted to, then there is a problem. If you couldn’t get enough bingo in today, then there is a problem. If you could not get enough alcohol to drink today, then there is a problem. There is a solution to this problem. You can be numbered among those who have found such a freedom in God that there is peace and comfort without the intoxicating effects of drugs, or the excitement of winning at 4-5-6.
Freedom is not…
… being able to drink whenever we want to. It is not having a closet full of cartons of Camel™. Freedom is being able to sleep at night with no regrets. Freedom is living under the same roof as my wife and children. Freedom is being in no particular hurry on Friday night. Freedom is being able to eat a meal without having to step out on the step and have a cigarette afterwards. Freedom is not having to call in Monday morning hung over and lie about having the flu.
For the past two thousand years, many have been set free from the things that at one time were destroying them. Reader, you may think, “I’m so bad, and I’ve sunk so low, that I could never be happy again.” Not true. In fact, Jesus is all about reaching those with problems. Here is what he said: ... They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick ... for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:12-13) Jesus wants to keep those that are already saved, but heaven rejoices over a single sinner who reaches the end of the rope and cries out to God. Things heat up in heaven when a desperate person turns to God. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Luke 15:7 NIV)
Freedom is not free
When the Lord came revealed in a human body as Jesus Christ, he experienced all the temptations that we do. (Hebrews 4:15) In fact he took the crushing weight of every hangover morning, and the pain every gambling addict that spent the grocery money on 4-5-6. He bore the shame of every one who has ever humiliated themselves in acts of drunkenness. He took upon himself the embarrassment of having our crimes and our names printed in the newspaper. Hebrews 9:28 tells us that Jesus was crucified to bear the sins of many. The famous song borrowed in part from Isaiah 53:5 says:
He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, surely he bore our sorrow, and by his stripes we are healed.
When Jesus was hung on the cross, God was literally striking out at his own body, and shedding his own blood. He was allowing himself to take the punishment for us. The weight, shame, and humiliation of our sin were upon him. Regardless of whom you are, if you believe that, you can be set free.
To be set free, we must die out to sin. We must repent, that means to turn around and head in God’s direction. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 4:17, Luke 13:3) We must be buried with him in baptism (Romans 6:4, Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, Galatians 3:27). We will receive overcoming power in the gift of the Holy Ghost. (Acts 1:8, Acts 2:38-39, II Corinthians 3:17) Then we can truly say that we have engaged in all the sin that we want to today, which will be none.
Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
The Reason Most Churches Do Not Baptize in Jesus’ Name
Part II
4-22-08
by Tad Lindley
Last week I related the true testimony of a man who wanted to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, following after the Biblical pattern. He knocked on the doors of ten churches, and ten times was turned away. No pastor or priest was found that would baptize him the way that Peter, Paul, and the other apostles baptized.
Then I created an imaginary story. In this story, a man became president of the United States. Having received a vision from God, he set about to convert the entire country to Christianity. Such a thing would be impossible in the United States without violating freedom of religion. In other times and other nations though, people did not enjoy this protection.
Truth stranger than fiction
In the year 312, the Roman Emperor, Constantine, had a vision. History tells us that in his vision he saw a cross of light in the sky. The words, “In this sign, you will conquer,” came to him. He had his soldiers paint a cross on their shields. On October 28 of the same year, he was victorious at the Battle of Milvian Bridge.
Although Constantine himself did not immediately convert to Christianity (he postponed his own baptism until later in his life), he adopted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. No more would Christians go up against lions or gladiators for the entertainment of pagans. Instead, the entire Roman Empire would be forced to become “Christian”.
Christianity was already divided
Just like today, in the day of Emperor Constantine, there were a wide variety of teachings in Christianity. Understand that almost as soon as Jesus had ascended to heaven, false doctrines crept into the church. Much of the New Testament is devoted to laying down solid teaching against false doctrine. Jude urged believers to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints (v.3). The plague of different teachings caused the apostle, John, to write Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world (I John 4:1). Some preachers taught that Jesus was only a spirit, that he never had a real body. Others taught that Jesus was a junior God to the senior God, Jehovah, of the Old Testament. An ancient manuscript, the Didache, proves that possibly as early as the first century some people were no longer following the disciple’s example concerning baptism.
Straightening out the “official church”
Emperor Constantine called a council of religious leaders. He wanted them to straighten out these issues and settle on one official doctrine for the “Christian” church. In 325 this council met in the town of Nicea (modern Iznik, Turkey). The men gathered to settle disagreements. The men at the Council of Nicea chose Greek philosophy over the Bible and made the trinity the official teaching of the “Church”. Another important deviation from the Bible was the endorsement of baptism using the words “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost”. Those following the example of the apostles were considered heretics and subject to the death penalty.
From Nicea to a church near you
From Nicea until now, most churches have baptized using the words “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”. It has become so ingrained that people no longer realize that this is not how the Biblical Christians baptized. Odd as it may seem, if Peter, John, or Paul came back from the dead, they would be kicked out of many churches if they tried to baptize anybody.
New Testament vs. Nicea
Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus told his disciples, Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 28:19). If you have never seen a Biblical baptism before, it might seem strange to you that in the Bible, when people were baptized the disciples never said, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”. Instead they said, in the name of Jesus Christ… (Acts 2:38). Or they used, in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:16). At Caesarea, Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord (Acts 10:48). Paul baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:5) at Ephesus, and himself was baptized calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 22:16). Who do you trust to better understand what Jesus meant in Matthew 28:19, the men who walked with him, or a group of religious scholars 300 years later (that is longer than the time between the Declaration of Independence and today)?
The winner is…
When human tradition comes up against the word of God the winner is you, if you choose God. If you choose religious tradition that is contrary to the Bible, you are on dangerous ground. The apostle, Paul, cautioned us in his letter to Colosse: Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Colossians 2:8).
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
The Reason Most Churches Do Not Baptize in Jesus’ Name
Part I
4-15-08
by Tad Lindley
Recently a man in Barrow, Alaska studied his Bible very carefully. He came to the conclusion that he needed to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. This is how the apostles baptized in the Bible. There is no Biblical record of anyone being baptized in any other way than in the name of Jesus Christ. Surely it would be easy for a person to get baptized in the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). He went to ten different churches in Barrow looking for a pastor or priest who would baptize him in Jesus’ name. At every door he was turned away. Nobody would baptize him in the name of the Lord.
Finally, by telephone, he was able to locate a pastor in Fairbanks who was willing. Reverend Gordon Parrish and another minister flew to Barrow and baptized the hungry soul in Jesus’ name.
Why was it so difficult for this man to obey the Bible? How is it that ten out of ten churches would refuse to follow in the footsteps of the apostles? It will take me two weeks to explain, so clip this out and save it for next week.
A bit of science fiction
Imagine the following story. In April of 2008, then Senator Constantine Knock-knuckle, an independent candidate, had a dream. In his dream a man told him that if he would use the symbol of the cross in his television advertisements he would win the 2008 presidential election. Senator Knock-knuckle had always thought of himself as “a devout agnostic”. The dream deeply impacted him. For the remainder of the election year America saw the symbol of the cross everywhere they saw the name Knock-knuckle.
Knock-knuckle wins
As the calendar flipped into November 2008, the polls showed John McCain in the lead, but in an incredible turnabout, Knock-knuckle won with a tremendous landslide. He may have been “a devout agnostic” before, but after his victory he became a fanatical Christian. Because he credited the Lord with his victory, he made it his personal mission to see the entire United States converted to Christianity.
At that time, there were a wide variety of religious beliefs among “Christians”. Some contended for homosexual leadership, others for the Biblical standard. Some practiced foot washing, and others had never heard of it.
Christianizing of the United States
President Knock-knuckle sought to bring unity. In early 2009, he created a Department of Christianity (DOC). The first job of the DOC would be to call for a large convention. In this convention, leaders from every known church organization would be represented. They would vote democratically to settle issues of division among the different churches in the United States.
A new national church
One of the issues that seemed to divide people at that time was worship style. Some organizations would have open and expressive worship. Individuals would openly worship God, not worrying about what people down the pew thought. People danced, leapt, shouted, prayed aloud, ran the aisles, and clapped their hands. This group was referred to as the Wild and Woolies. In other churches, people would only stand on the third stanza of the hymns. There were never tongues or interpretation, let alone anyone doing anything other than facing forward silently with hands frozen at their sides. This group came to be known as the Manikins.
The big debate
The Wild and Woolies spoke to the council that had gathered. They passionately pleaded for people to see that David danced before the Lord (II Samuel 6:14). They showed that in the Bible people were to clap their hands and shout unto God with the voice of triumph (Psalm 47:1). After many other scripture references, they closed with the story of the lame man at the gate beautiful (Acts 3). When God healed him, he went leaping and praising into the temple.
When the Manikins stepped before the council of churches, they had only one scripture. But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. (Habakkuk 2:20) They stepped down from the podium, and a call was made to vote.
It was not an issue of scripture. It was an issue of numbers. By this time in history, the Manikins far outnumbered the Wild and Woolies. It was quickly decided that the only acceptable mode of worship was silence. All other expressions of worship would be strictly and severely punished.
Truth is stranger than fiction
Fortunately we live in a nation that believes in freedom of religion. As long as this protection is in place, the imaginary story above can not happen. Unfortunately, this is not the case in every nation. Next week we will look into the past and find out why not even the apostles could neither baptize nor be baptized in ten out of ten churches tested in Barrow.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
The Mechanics of Salvation
4-8-08
by Tad Lindley
I could ask you, “What do I have to do to drive a car?” You would tell me something like this: “First you must put the key in the ignition. Then you need to turn the key clockwise until the engine starts. When the engine starts, let go. When the gas gets low, fill up the tank. Change the oil every 3,000 miles.” A good car will run for 100,000 miles on that advice alone (50,000 miles in Bethel).
There are a number of steps that need to be taken to get a car started. Many people do not bother to read the owner’s manual of their car, but all of the above steps are in there. They are not, however, found on the same page. The oil change information is in a completely different part of the book than the part on starting the car, and yet without it, your car will never last 100,000 miles. The part on filling the tank with gasoline is also in a different chapter. The person who simply goes to the book, circle the sentence that says, “Turn the keep clockwise until the engine starts,” and does nothing else, will find that in a couple of years they will have a car that is dead in the driveway.
No person who values their automobile would treat it that way. Yet sadly, people do exactly that with their Bible. Concerning the salvation of their souls, they will find one or two Bible verses, circle them and ignore everything else. This is why we have preachers telling folks they are saved by confessing with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord (Romans 10:9). A legion of devils acknowledged that Jesus was Lord in Luke 8:28, and yet we know that devils can not be saved. Confessing Jesus with your mouth is essential if we would be saved, but like putting a key in the ignition, it is not enough.
Belief
Belief in the Jesus Christ of the Bible is absolutely necessary. It is the key. Jesus said, “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). When the idol worshipping Philippian jailor asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30-31). Belief in Jesus Christ is the starting point for victory. It is not the end point. If your experience is limited to believing in Jesus Christ, there is much more for you in the Bible.
Repentance
There is a strong tendency in America for “Christians” to live as much like everybody else, until they listen to the same music as the world, they use the same drugs, they watch the same movies, they drink like the world, and they wear the same lack of clothes. When we continue acting just like the secular world, we have not repented.
The Bible message is for men to repent. John the Baptist preached repentance, “Repent ye: for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Jesus preached repentance, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3,5). Peter preached repentance, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted…” (Acts 3:19). Jesus has delayed his coming in the desire that many more of us would repent of our sin. The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9). Unless we repent, we cannot be saved.
Baptism
Baptism is the Biblical response to belief and repentance. When they [the Samaritans] believed Philip preaching concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women (Acts 8:12). When the Jews of Jerusalem believed Peter’s preaching concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ they asked what they should do in response to their guilt. Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins… (Acts 2:38). Everywhere the apostles went, the expected response was that people would either believe the message or reject it. Those that believed were baptized in Jesus’ name (Acts 2:38, 8:16, 10:48, 19:5, 22:16).
Modern religion has muddied the picture with non-Biblical teachings. When you read the word “baptism” in your Bible, you should picture people being put underwater. Never in the Bible were people sprinkled in the name of Jesus for the remission of sin. Never in the Bible was water poured over people in Jesus’ name for the remission of sin. The Greek word for immersion is always used where we see the word “baptized” in English, and anglluq in Yup’ik. If you desire to follow Jesus and Peter, the man to whom Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom (Matthew 16:19), then you will be immersed in Jesus’ name for the remission of your sins.
Holy Ghost filled
In your Bible, people received power from on high when God filled them with his Spirit. On the Day of Pentecost in 29 AD, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4). In Caesarea they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God (Acts10:46). At Ephesus, when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied (Acts 19:6).
The disciples in Jerusalem were so concerned that the people in Samaria had not received the Holy Ghost (they had believed, repented, and been baptized in Jesus’ name, but had not received the Holy Ghost), that they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:14-15). Jesus himself taught that the baptism of the Spirit was absolutely necessary. Verily, verily, I say unto you, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
Over 100,000 miles
You want your soul to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The Bible is the manual for your salvation. I realize that preachers may preach less than the Bible. Do not take your chances. Your soul is too precious to cut corners with. You are in it for the long haul. If you follow God’s instructions, your soul will last longer than 100,000 miles, it will last for eternity!
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
Our First Brush with the Mark of the Beast
4-1-08
by Tad Lindley
The Bible tells of a time when men will not be able to buy or sell without accepting a mark in their body. And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16-17)
It might seem far fetched. After all, we are American. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave. We are used to being able to go down to the store and spend our money as we please, but there is coming a day when this will no longer be the case.
The beast
Before I tell you about my first brush with the mark of the beast, let me explain briefly who the beast is and what the mark is. The beast is either the antichrist or the one world government of the antichrist. John saw a beast coming out of the sea. We know from the Book of Daniel, that the beast represents either a king (7:17) or a kingdom (7:23).
The mark
The mark will be something that is either in the skin as in an ID chip or a tattoo. Driver’s licenses, passports, and social security cards can be counterfeited. Credit card and ATM card information can be copied and duplicates made. If the identification were in the forehead or the right hand, the only way to pass yourself off as another person would be to have their forehead grafted onto your skull, or their hand sewn onto your body.
The reason people will love the mark of the beast
The Islamist terrorist that hijacked the airplanes on September 11 would never have been able to pass themselves off as somebody else if this type of ID were standard. Nobody could ever use your credit card information illegally again. Cash would become obsolete. There would be no more mugging. To buy or sell things, you would simply swipe your hand or forehead. People will want the mark, because it will mean security.
My first brush with it
The United States Passport is not the mark of the beast, but in response to threats from terrorists, you now need a passport to get into the United States. Even if you were born here and have never broken a law, if you go to Canada or Mexico, you cannot re-enter the United States without a passport.
We had applied for our passports well in advance of our trip to Mexico. Then about five days before we were to leave, we received a letter from the State Department indicating that the pictures we submitted were not acceptable. I checked the government web site to see if we could still travel. Yes, regulations were in place permitting people who had applied for a passport to come back into the United States. Unbeknownst to me, within the next few days, a requirement would be put in place requiring us to carry some additional paper work. When we walked up to the Alaska Airlines ticket counter 61 minutes prior to departure time, we expected to sail through.
The first thing the ticket agent asked for were our passports. We did not have them of course, but we had verification that we had applied. Unfortunately it was not the documentation that the State Department had required in their statement released a few days earlier.
“There’s no way I can get you on this flight. You’ll have to get a hotel here in LA at your own expense and I will see if I can get you on tomorrow’s flight. Meanwhile I will go into the back office and look into your passport situation”.
We were completely shut out. There was absolutely nothing that we could do. Suddenly money was useless. “This is not right,” I thought to myself. “I am a US citizen. I should be free to come and go.” I thought about telling her that I was a preacher and that I had been school district teacher of the year, but it would have been wasted breath. She disappeared and we stood stoop-shouldered alongside our bags.
It’s who you know
Then I remembered. You see, I know somebody who is bigger than Alaska Airlines, bigger even than the United States government: Jesus. “I’m going to pray,” I thought, but then doubt crowded in. “If you pray in front of the kids and it doesn’t happen, it’s going to damage their faith.” I figured that it is the Lord’s responsibility to make himself look good.
“Kids, let’s pray.” My wife had stepped aside for something. “Jesus, we’ve got a lot invested in this trip and we’d sure like to get on the plane today. Amen.”
The ticket agent came back out. Twenty minutes to departure. I asked for a manager (I had not even considered getting on the plane in spite of my prayer.) I was going to ask the manager if they would pay for the hotel for us. Instead the Lord told me to ask him if there was any chance we could get on the flight. He turned to the agent and said, “Try it.”
The Lord held the plane and we got on. Even our bags made it. There is nobody like Jesus.
When the mark of the beast comes, it will not just be whether you can get on a plane or not. Without the mark, we will not be able to get groceries, buy stove oil, pay the electric bill, or get medical attention. It will be a time where our faith will be tried beyond belief, but Jesus can and will deliver.
In the midst of complete powerlessness, we turned to the great God of heaven and earth and he heard our prayer.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
When Jesus Tears Up Your House
3-26-08
by Tommy Wells
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of them that sold doves, and he said unto them, It is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. (Matthew 21:21-13) And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables. (John 2:15)
It certainly was not the first time that Jesus saw the temple’s marketplace. He had been there many times during his life, but this time, something snapped. The situation had been eating on him. Finally he had enough.
The Law that God had given Moses required people to bring animals to be sacrificed. In Jesus’ day animal sacrifice at the temple was an every day occurrence. Their bodies were consumed in the continual fire on the brass altar, or dealt with in a variety of other manners thoroughly described in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. When everybody lived close to the altar, it was an easy issue to deal with. Every man brought the best animal from his own flock. As the Jewish people spread out across the Roman Empire, they found it less convenient to bring animals with them on a long trip to Jerusalem. In such cases they would bring money and buy an animal in Jerusalem.
Making a quick buck
Over time, some folks realized they could make a lot of money by setting up at the temple and selling animals to people from out of town. A whole industry was established within the temple courts. Everything from doves to oxen was available. It seems that Adam and Eve instructed their sons that God must have the best animals for sacrifice. This is why Abel brought the fatlings of his flock (Genesis 4:4). The salesmen at the temple were not providing the best for sacrifice. They were offering weaker animals for a higher price (Malachi 1:6-14). They had turned the house of God into an embarrassment. Jesus dealt with it very severely.
What if Jesus came to your house?
I imagine Jesus stepping into a typical American living room. The fleshy, under-active family is sitting on couches aimed at the television. They are bathed in the blue light from the screen. At first they are oblivious to the presence of Jesus, but then they are aware of a man next to their TV. He is placing his hands on the television. Now he is casting it down on the floor. Their hands stop moving somewhere between their open mouths and the bag of Doritos. They want to get up and arrest the intruder, but he is too fast for them.
He is down the hall to a bedroom where he finds another TV with a group of teenagers playing X-Box 360. He wades through the empty energy drink cans, pulls out his Leatherman and cuts the cables on the system. They want to get up and fight him, but they are too worn out from playing Halo all day.
In the next room, a middle-aged man works on his My Space profile. He typically spends thirty hours a week on the computer. All of his My Space buddies are “Christian.” Jesus quickly cuts the cord, and is on to the next house. But as he is walking across the porch on the way out, they hear him say, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”
It’s not me; it’s my neighbor that’s got the problem
I know that you probably only watch the history channel and other educational programming. I know that you only spend twenty-nine hours a week on the computer, not thirty. You will always be able to find somebody who is doing worse than yourself. Compare yourself with yourself for a change. On an average day do you spend more time in prayer and Bible study, or more time in front of the television? Do you spend more time with your computer, or more time with God? It used to be a popular saying among atheists that “religion is the opiate of the masses”. They missed the mark by a long way. Television, video games, and web surfing are the opiate of the masses.
I am only writing to folks that love Jesus and want to see his face. A true Christian wants their house to be a house of prayer. Television and video games are enemies to that. If you don’t believe me, keep a log this week of how much time you spend in prayer and Bible study and then how much time you spend in electronic entertainment. Do the same for your children. In most cases, if you are honest, you will come to the conclusion that TV is consuming your eternal life.
Jesus will not come to your house and destroy your television. He will not take down your satellite dish. He will not hack in and wipe out you’re My Space account. He made you with a free will. If you love him, you will have to choose to make your house a house of prayer.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
Easter: A Door of Hope in a Valley of Trouble
3-20-08
by Tad Lindley
There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. (Hosea 2:15)
The Book of Joshua records the story of a man named Achan (Joshua 6-7). At the battle of Jericho, Achan stole some items out of the city and hid them underneath his tent. Because of his disobedience to God, thirty-six men lost their lives (Joshua 7:5). It was not long before Achan’s sin found him out. The Lord commanded a death sentence for Achan, his family, and his animals. The place of Achan’s death is called the Valley of Achor. In the Hebrew language, Achor means “trouble”. As the nation of Israel closed in on Achan in the Valley of Trouble, he slipped into unconsciousness and death with the shrill screams of his wife and children burning through his ears.
Almost 700 years later, the Lord would speak this promise to his people through the prophet Hosea: “I will make the Valley of Trouble a door of hope”. We would ask, “How can God take the place of ultimate failure, defeat, and destruction and turn it into hope?” Over 700 years after the ministry of Hosea, God’s promise was fulfilled, and the Lord did make a door of hope in the Valley of Achor.
Your personal Valley of Achor
According to the Bible, we all stand to walk into the Valley of Achor, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23). Not only is every man guilty as was Achan, but we are all under a death sentence. From the White House to the prison house, every man, woman, and child has failed God. We can pat ourselves on the back and find someone else whose sin is worse in our eyes, but in God’s eyes our sin is still sin. Unfortunately for man, the spiritual law book is not subject to change by jury or legislature. In it, there is one sentence for disobedience to the Lord. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).
Don’t stop reading here. If it sounds like the Lord wants to strike us all down for our mistakes and our stumbling, read on. The Lord …is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Here is the good news; God has made a door in the Valley of Trouble! Where men and women would find themselves surrounded and defeated by troubles of our own making, Jesus has made a way out.
A door of escape
The purpose for God becoming a man was that he might bear our sin for us. Jesus Christ walked right into the place of destruction and was stricken in our place. At the cross, Jesus was entering into the Valley of Trouble. In burial He was making a doorway out of that valley, and in the resurrection He walked right on through that doorway!
It is not enough for us to merely know that there is a doorway of deliverance from death. We must walk through it if we would be saved.
Getting through the door
... If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it (Luke 9:23-24). How do we follow Jesus through the door? How do we lose our life to be saved?
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4). When we die out to ourselves, and are baptized into Jesus Christ, we are entering the door of hope. Then we can be raised from certain defeat to walk in newness of life. If you happen to be reading this and feel defeated in life and as if everything is caving in upon you, do not give up, Jesus has made a way out for you. When the Jews who had called for the death of an innocent man asked Peter how to be delivered from their sin, Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38). We must die out to ourselves (repent), be buried with Jesus in baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and we will rise to walk in newness of life when we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
Are you smarter than your husband?
3-13-08
by Tad Lindley
When you first met him, he may have seemed perfect in every way, but now that you’re married to him, he seems imperfect in every way. He was charming and handsome; now he’s grouchy and chubby. It used to be that he could do no wrong in your eyes, but now he really would do a whole lot better if he would listen to you and do things your way.
It may be that you really are smarter than your husband. You may be a godly wife who does the best she can, while your husband is self-centered. You do your best to tithe and support the ministry while he spends a dividend’s worth of dollars on tobacco every year. You try to teach your children about the commandments of God, and he pollutes the home with television and movies. You work a job as well as do all the cooking and laundry while he is out playing bingo or 4-5-6. You try to be a peacemaker, but he would rather sit in front of his X-box shooting people. He may be lying on the couch hung over at the very moment you are reading this. Maybe you are blessed with a hardworking man, but he loves his job and his friends so much that you and the kids only get “love leftovers”. You are not perfect, but you seem to be a lot closer to perfect than he is.
Do you let him know?
It is the natural human instinct to let our spouse know when we think that they are wrong. After all, if you are married to a selfish man, he may not realize how childish his behavior really is. You feel it is your duty to let him know. Arguments break out. Doors slam. Children cry. The more you let him know what is wrong with him, the worse things become.
God wants to help you
If you are living out a marriage like I have described there is hope. The Bible addresses godly women who are married to men who are lost. Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. (1 Peter 3:1-2 NIV) Let me break this scripture down, because it is really saying a lot.
Hope for your husband
…if any of them do not believe the word… This means that the wife is born again, but the husband will not serve God. …they may be won over…The Lord is giving you a powerful promise that will enable you to see victory. As impossible as it might seem at this moment, your husband can repent. God can wash away his sin at water baptism, and he can be filled with the Holy Ghost. With God, all things are possible.
With your mouth shut
You may not like what the Bible is about to tell you next; because it is not according to the way you have been trying to force it to happen. …without words… With your mouth closed. That’s right, without words. For years you may have been trying to talk sense to him. You have wasted your breath. If you are going to win your husband to Jesus, you will have to do it without words. This means no more questioning him about where he was when he comes home late. This means no more accusations. When he throws out bait to start an argument with you, you can no longer take the bait. If you believe in God, then your path to victory has to be free from arguments and condemnation
Words aren’t loud enough
You need something louder than words to reach him. …by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives… Your actions will speak far louder than your words. If keeping your mouth shut when you want to give him a piece of your mind is difficult, the next instruction will be even harder, but you can do it.
The Bible starts off this whole message of hope with this commandment that comes from God (see I Corinthians 14:37, and 11:2-3). Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that…they might be saved. This means a complete mind shift if you are a modern woman. A controlling woman keeps bringing up the past and crushing her husband’s spirit. A submissive wife loves her husband even when he does not deserve if. She trusts him even when he has not earned it. A domineering wife sees how much smarter she is than her husband and lets him know it on a regular basis. A submitted wife stands beside her husband and supports him. His immaturity may have caused you to become the head of the household. You have been wearing the pants in the family. A submitted wife lets her husband be the head of the household, even though you might be able to do a better job at it. Until you let him do it, his spirit will be defeated. Turn up the volume with love and submission, and you will be opening the door for God’s promise to be fulfilled.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
The hardest job God has ever done
3-6-08
by Tad Lindley
Gene made his own life hard on purpose. He walked with heavy rocks in his backpack. He hunted deer with a spear. Their meat he cooked over an open flame. He walked from Icy Bay to Cordova. On another occasion Gene walked from Cordova to Valdez. The country there is so thick and rough. It makes the summer tundra seem like a paved parking lot.
But the one thing that sticks out in my mind about Gene is an incident involving logging. A large log had washed up on the beach. Like an ox, Gene had begun to drag it up the beach and into the woods where his cabin was. As night fell he retired to his cabin where, as was his habit, he lit a candle, put on gloves and read a book. Some local men thinking to help Gene threw a rope around the log and drug it up the slope for him with a pickup truck. In the morning, Gene drug the log back down toward the ocean until it lay where he had left it the night before. Then he began slowly inching it up towards his mossy forest home. Gene was the hardest worker I have ever seen.
The hardest worker in history
Even Gene’s monumental feats were nothing but a pinprick in the massive sea of eternity. The greatest creations of men’s hands and minds are nothing in the presence of Jesus Christ. When we one day stand in the presence of Jesus Christ, we will be looking on the one who made all things. All things were made by him, and without him was nothing made that was made (John 1:3). He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not (John 1:10). Jesus is the hardest worker in history.
In the beginning
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light. (Genesis 1:1-3) God created all that we know in six days. He must have been very busy.
The hardest day
This is pure speculation, but I bet the hardest was day six. You might think I’m getting ready to talk about the creation of man. I hate to burst your bubble, but by the time the Lord made man on the sixth day, he had already been quite busy. He had already created 360,000 different species of beetles. Not to mention 170,000 kinds of moths and butterflies, 120,000 different types of flies, 110,000 species of bees, wasps, and ants, 20,000 grasshoppers, and about a quarter million other species of insects. Could you imagine making a life size Lego statue of every single living person in Alaska? It would take you the rest of your life. It seems huge, but day six was not the hardest job that God has ever done.
Other contenders
Was it the day that God called all the quail in Europe to fly across the Mediterranean and dive bomb the Israelite camp (Numbers 11:31)? Was it the day he made the sun move backwards in the sky (II Kings 20:11)? Was it the day that he opened the floodgates of heaven and broke up the fountains of the deep in the days of Noah? Was it the day that he lifted the hedge of protection that surrounded the godly man, Job? Was it the day he flung the stars across the sky and called them all by name (Psalm 147:4)? No, none of those come close to being the hardest job God has ever done.
He sweat blood
Normally when a man works hard, he sweats. There is a job that Jesus did that was so hard it caused him to sweat blood. An angel came from heaven and strengthened him (Luke 22:43). Other than that, he did the job alone. What was the job?
Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane. He was standing at the point of no return. He stood on the side of safety and looked across the deep chasm of the next few hours. On the other side of the deep valley was a great joy that stood before him. He saw victory over death and hell. But between the garden where he stood and the victory on the other side, he saw the betrayal of his friends, the shredding of his back, he smelled the saliva of the priests running down his face, the cold of the pit, and the stench of hell. He knew that he, who was holy and without sin, would shortly become sin (II Corinthians 5:21). He was going to enter into the place of shame. He was going to feel the humiliation of everyone who has ever had their name in the paper for breaking the law, the crushing burden of those that carry around secret sin. He was going to feel the sin sickness and the broken-heartedness of every human being that ever lived. It was the hardest thing that God ever did, to take the weight and the consequence of your sin and bear it in his own body. But he did it so that we might live victoriously. And because God worked harder than he ever did before, we are looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews12:2).
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Chocolate Covered Gravel
2-28-08
by Tad Lindley
If you’ve ever opened up a goose’s gizzard, then you know that geese eat gravel. Since God didn’t give them teeth, they have a special stomach where the gravel chews the food for them. Turkeys, being bigger than geese, have even swallowed larger items to use in their gizzards, such as spark plugs and stone arrowheads.
I never fully understood the whole concept until I raised ducks. I reached into the duck pen with a handful of gravel. The ducks went hog wild! They nearly ate a hole through my hand wolfing down the gravel.
The reason it all seems so strange to me is that I hate sand or gravel in my food. There may be one grain of sand in my soup or on my plate, but I will find it. The instant my teeth bite down on sand, gravel, or steel shot, my brain knows about it.
When I think about the strange things that people eat, I have come to the conclusion that you do not like to eat gravel either. Many people eat caterpillars by choice. Chocolate covered insects are a click away on the internet. The list of foods strange to most of us goes on and on: monkey, dog, bat, spider, scrambled cow brains, etc. Even with the huge variety in the human diet, I never have come across people eating gravel by choice.
Eating gravel in the Bible
When King Solomon compiled Proverbs, he covered a wide variety of topics. Eating gravel was not overlooked. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel (Proverbs 20:17). A parallel concept is found in Proverbs 9:17-18, Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant, but he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.
Sin tastes good…
It would be dishonest of me to say that there is no pleasure in sin. In fact the Bible tells us that there is. The bread of deceit tastes sweet. Stolen waters are also sweet. Bread eaten in secret is pleasant. Think about it. If sin was unpleasurable it would not be an issue. If there was no high from free-basing nicotine and folks developed stomach cancer the first time they used black bull, nobody would be addicted to iqmik. If alcohol didn’t give us that powerfully “in-control” feeling and make us superhuman in our own minds, after the first time we woke up hung over, we would never drink again.
...at first
Marijuana must have a great side that I don’t know about, because people really seem to love it. The problem is that we have men who smoked their first bowl at age fourteen. The next thing they know, they are thirty-five, still living with mom, staying stoned, eating chips on the couch, and playing Halo III twelve hours a day. Or maybe they are a “successful” drug dealer. Going through life wondering when there will be a trooper waiting for them to pick up their package at the post office. Their mouth is full of gravel. Marijuana is no longer a pleasure. It has become a medication to stave of the pain of sin. The thing that was so sweet to them in the beginning is now disgusting.
Perhaps you or someone you know is in an adulterous affair. They tasted the “stolen waters” of another person’s spouse. Just like the Bible says, it was exciting at first, but now it controls them. The end of it is death and hell.
You are not a goose
You were not created to eat gravel. God created you to love him and serve him, not to experience the consequences of sin. When we understand that and live accordingly, God will bless us. Yes he wants to bless the drug dealer and the adulterer, but when we fail to serve him, we miss out on the blessing. We tend to take credit when things are going well and then turn around and blame God when we wake up with gravel in our mouths. If we were doing his will in the first place we would never have had to taste the fruits of sin.
Spit out the gravel
If you are the 35 year old pot smoker, or the successful businessman that sells him the marijuana, God doesn’t want to see you hurt anymore. If you are living in adultery or you are a viewer of pornography, you can have a better life. If you are a gambling addict or a tobacco addict, God wants to deliver you. The problem is, God will not kick down your door and take the cigarettes or the rippies or the magazines or the bong out of your hand. You have to get to the place where you hate the gravel more than you love the chocolate coating. The gambler has to get to the point where they hate going hungry at the end of the month more than they love the fellowship at the bingo hall and the excitement of winning.
When someone decides to spit out the gravel, God moves. In fact, heaven rejoices. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. (Luke 15:10) You are not a goose, spit out the gravel.
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
If Axe® Body Wash Won’t Get It,
Acts Body Wash Will
2-20-08
by Tad Lindley
Sexy advertising sells stuff. When I was small, there really wasn’t a whole lot of variety in soaps for men. Then Irish Springs and Old Spice hit the market. They were powerfully scented soaps designed for men. Their advertisements suggested that a brother’s chance of getting a woman would be substantially enhanced by using them.
At that time there was no such thing as a “body wash” for men. Of course all of that has changed. If you haven’t made it in to Anchorage, it would be well worth the trip to explore the wide variety of men’s body washes available. One even makes the guarantee that it “won’t wash away testosterone”, as if the wrong soap could render the user a perpetual sissy.
As with any new product, the manufacturer tries to make people feel as if they need something that they have gotten along without just fine for 1000’s of years. I am told that Axe® Body wash is presently using the by-line “How Dirty Boys Get Clean”.
The dirt that Axe can’t clean
Unfortunately, there are a lot of types of dirt that Axe® cannot touch. When a person has lived in shame or humiliation, there is no bath, shower, or steam bath that can wash it away. There is no scent that is powerful enough to cover up the stench of bitterness and depression. No washcloth known to man will ever be able to scrub away alcoholism, drug addiction, or abortion. All of these issues leave us dirty on the inside. Their stain is untouchable by any manmade cleansing agent.
Enter the Acts body wash
Acts body wash is baptism. In the New Testament, men and women who wanted to be free from the stain and stink of sin repented and were put under water in Jesus’ name. Peter said unto them, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”. (Acts 2:38) Notice the purpose of baptism is for the remission or the removal of sin. Many translations read, for the forgiveness of sin. This is the awesome truth in obeying the Gospel. When we are buried with Jesus Christ in baptism (see Romans 6:4), our sins are forgiven in God’s sight!
The Corinthian Hall of Stain
Here is a list of some of the stains that Acts body wash can get rid of. It is found in I Corinthians 6:9-10.
• sexual immorality (that is people having sex before they are married)
• idolatry (loving of things, for example when something non-sinful like sports, becomes more important then God)
• adultery
• male prostitution
• homosexual offences
• stealing
• greed
• drunkenness
• gossip
• swindling
The Bible tells us that some of the first church in Corinth was made up of people who had lived these types of lives, but they were washed...in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (6:11) when they were baptized, and their sins were forgiven!
Don’t settle for cheap imitations
Reader, you may have been scrubbing away at bad memories with drugs and alcohol as long as you can remember. You may be trying to cover up shame in your life burying yourself in entertainment, but the stink still comes out. You may have been from partner to partner looking for a love that would overcome the dirtiness on the inside and in the end felt emptier than ever. It is time to try the real thing.
Try Acts body wash today. It is free. Jesus makes it available to all of us through his beating and crucifixion. (This is my blood of the New Covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Matthew 26:28). All that we need to do is to repent of our sins. Then the stain is washed away in baptism. If God’s word is true, you will thereafter receive the promised gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 3:29), which is the power (Acts 1:8) to rise up and walk in newness of life!
In the famous words of Ananias, “What are you waiting for? Wash up!”
Tad Lindley is the Youth Pastor at the Bethel United Pentecostal Church.
Four Year Old Boy Trapped Inside Man’s Body
2-14-08
by Tad Lindley
Years ago, doctors told Nicole Davis that she would never be able to have children. So when she went to the hospital in January of this year with extreme abdominal pain, it was a great surprise to everyone when twins burst forth from her womb. According to the UPI report, doctors at the Cincinnati hospital misinterpreted Davis’s symptoms as the onset of menopause. But when the babies came out, there was no denying what the real problem was.
We might wonder, “How could a woman feel the children struggling within her and never know?” Such stories actually are not that uncommon. They seem to pop up in news reports with surprising regularity. Let us now turn to an even more common phenomenon: when a grown man has a baby trapped inside his body.
Ahab, King of Israel
In case you do not read the Bible regularly, let me catch you up to speed on King Ahab. Ahab was the king of Israel about 2,900 years ago. He married a non-Jewish girl, Jezebel, who was extremely evil. Her wicked influence drug her husband down. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel’s rejection of God led to a three and a half year drought in Israel. Their reign was a dark time for the nation.
You can’t always get what you want
It came to pass after the drought had passed and rain had returned, that Ahab noticed another man’s vineyard. The man’s name was Naboth. Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.”
But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” (1 Kings 21:2-3 NIV)
It might seem unwise for the farmer, Naboth, to refuse the king, but the Naboth had a mandate from God to keep the land that he had received from his father (see Leviticus 25:23). If Ahab were a real man, he would have been able to accept this. He would have honored the God that had protected and preserved his people. But Ahab had a little problem: he had a four year old boy trapped inside of his body.
The baby comes out of the King
So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. (1 Kings 21: 4 NIV) He may have appeared noble and stately to the outside world, but when Ahab got into the privacy of his own home, the baby came out. Just like a toddler who has been told “No”, Ahab sulked and refused to eat. When a grown man is really a toddler inside, that toddler eventually comes out. Usually this happens when he does not get his own way. In Ahab’s case his tantrum got him what he wanted; Jezebel had Naboth killed and then she gave his vineyard to Ahab.
How a grown man ends up throwing tantrums
When a child throws a tantrum that is normal. When a grown man or woman does it that is not normal. If you want to raise up your children to be like King Ahab here’s how to do it. While your children are still young, take them down the candy aisle at the store. When they ask for candy, tell them, “No, I am not buying you candy today”. Then wait until they begin to throw a tantrum. Once they are pouting, crying, or throwing themselves on the floor (manifestations of the tantrum may vary), then change your mind. Tell them something like this, “I’m sorry son. Here have some candy. Then you will feel better.” You have just sent the message to your child that the way to get what you want is to baby out. Continue this throughout the teenage years. When they ask to use the snow machine tell them “No”. When they start slamming doors and giving you the silent treatment, then change your mind and let them take the snow machine. You will have showed them as you have so many times before that the way to get what you want is not hard work, it is acting like a baby, and you will produce an adult with a tendency to have horrible tantrums. Just like Ahab, adults don’t usually tantrum in public, they only let the baby come out at home or around people that they know they can manipulate.
Not as easy as it sounds
For those who have heard their own child issuing the deep mournful bellowing that comes from Mom or Dad saying “No”, you know how painful it can be. You have refused to let the child go outside when it is -20 and windy. Now the howls coming from her mouth seem as if you had plunged a knife into her very soul. The natural thing is to want to spare your child from this pain. To give in now is the worst thing you can do for them. The Bible puts it this way, Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. (Proverbs 19:18) Never let a child’s tantrum control you. Even if his crying tugs at your own soul, do not change your mind.
Delivering the baby
Just as it was no accident that Nicole Davis ended up pregnant with twins, it was no accident that King Ahab threw the tantrum that resulted in an innocent man’s death. If you are an adult that suffers from a tantrum driven lifestyle, you can be delivered from the baby inside. Jesus Christ is the answer. The Bible promises that if any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (II Corinthians 5:17) If you are a parent raising children, it is important that you deliver the baby into adulthood, instead of letting them control you with tantrums. If you refuse to discipline your children, it proves you don’t love them; if you love your children, you will be prompt to discipline them. (Proverbs 13:24 NLT)
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
Do you think you’re big just because you go to church?
1-29-08
by Tad Lindley
Most of us feel like we’re doing pretty good for God if we get to church on a regular basis. Some of us might even go so far as to give a tenth of our income after taxes. The fanatical among us might even give ten percent on their gross income and support a foreign missionary on the side.
When I think I am stretching myself for Jesus, I need to remember those who have made the way ahead of me. Anything I do for the Lord seems to pale in comparison.
How do you measure up?
Iva Nell Pugh received the Holy Ghost in Noble, Louisiana in 1931. She was thirteen years old. Her father had died when she was seven. When Iva Nell was sixteen, her mother died leaving her to care for her thirteen year old brother. In the midst of the Great Depression, they were orphaned and destitute.
King David wrote, I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. (Psalm 37:25) In the face of extreme poverty, Jesus provided for them. Iva Nell was able to graduate as valedictorian of her high school class. She went on to receive a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s degree. It would be normal to expect that Iva Nell embraced the American dream and enveloped herself in the prosperity that swept over America. Such was not the case. You see, Iva Nell loved Jesus.
She gave everything
Iva Nell Pugh used her training to become a teacher. She never married. Instead she worked for God. Iva Nell would go into a town alongside of a missionary couple or family who was starting a church. She never tasted of the luxuries of this life. Everything she made would go toward supporting the fledgling church. Only what she needed for the barest necessities would be kept for herself. Iva Nell left no monetary inheritance. But there are churches in the United States today where people are coming into the healing and delivering presence of Jesus Christ because Iva Nell Pugh invested her life in the kingdom of God.
Sacrifice: the apostolic calling card
In the day of microwaves and shop from home internet, sacrifice has become outdated. Nevertheless, the Bible calls us to give sacrificially of our time, our finances, and our worship. Take a look at the sacrifices that the Apostle Paul made: Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned [not on drugs, people threw stones at him until they thought he was dead], three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. (II Corinthians 11:23-28 NIV)
The modern American version
I suppose if the Apostle Paul had grown up in our day and age he might have written something like this instead: Are they servants of Christ? I am more. I got up at 10:00 AM and went to church every Sunday (except when I had a cold). Five times people made fun of me for being Christian. Three times I got a flat tire on the way to church. Once I prayed for an hour. I even fasted a few times. Besides everything else, I face the daily pressure of my concern for myself. (II Americans 11:23-28)
We need more Iva Nell Pugh’s
In third world countries God is moving with great power. We wonder why we don’t see it more in the United States. Has God forgotten America? No, America has forgotten God. When we see modern day Apostle Paul’s and Iva Nell Pugh’s rise up with a love for Jesus, we will see powerful revival sweep over our communities. Men and women will rise up out of darkness into his marvelous light. Then will come to pass the promise of God, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. (John 14:12)
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
It Takes a Real Man
(or Woman) to Mush
1-22-08
by Tad Lindley
America seems to have a lot of things out of wack. Professional sports are a prime example. They’ll pay some steroid popping guy millions of dollars to play baseball on Astroturf in a climate controlled stadium, and the real athletes like mushers have to take second jobs to support their passion. With the right blend of steroids, most of us could knock the ball over the fence and collect a pay check. There is no medication that makes folks willing to go out and cook dog food at thirty below zero. It takes an exceptional human being to be a competitive musher.
Mushing is a life style. There is nothing easy about it. I realize that there are real joys associated with it, but nonetheless, dogs are a black hole for money and time. Unlike other professional sports, mushing is a 365 day a year commitment.
Competitive racer’s commitment
Everyone that enters a race would love to win. To that end they have trained. They have sacrificed in sleep and safety. They have traded family time for trail time. In the summer they have inhaled mosquitoes while the dogs pulled the four wheeler; on winter runs they are frostbitten. At times the lone musher has pulled into his dog yard tired and cold. The lights of the warm house beckon, but the dogs must be unharnessed and cared for first. He has not eaten. He put on his snowsuit right after work and hit the trail. The dog food smells good as it steams in the subzero air. The fair-weather musher has waited for a warmer day, but the competitive musher has his sights on first place; he is hungry and tired.
The Bible on mushing
The apostle never saw mushing, but they knew about racing. In fact the Bible teaches a powerful lesson to Christians from the sports world. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. (1 Corinthians 9:24-25 NIV).
In competitive mushing, the musher must train rigorously. He understands that he will lose sleep. His body will ache. He will lose weight. His wallet will atrophy, but he (or she) has his eyes on winning. Those who go into a strict training mode will be rewarded with first place finishes and cash prizes. The very best get corporate sponsorship, and no longer have to work a second job to pay for dog food.
Christians could learn something from mushers
Christianity today is plugged full of folks who need a lesson from competitive mushers. Many Christians simply look for a mediocre form of religion where they don’t have to change or make sacrifices. Forget about trying to be best. Somehow in our minds we can tell ourselves, “As long as I’m doing better than some of the other folks who are “Christian” than I will be saved”. So the smoker finds a church where the preacher smokes, the pornography addict finds a church where the pastor watches R-rated movies, and the alcoholic finds a church where the pastor keeps a six pack in the fridge at all times, and they feel “saved”. That is about like me going down to the pound grabbing five dogs, staking them out behind the house, and calling myself a musher. It takes more to win than an appearance.
Christians need strict training too
If we truly love Jesus and want to serve him, then we are running a race. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12:1 NIV) In America, we want an Astroturf, steroid enhanced version of Christianity. We want spiritual muscle without spending time on our knees. We want to do as little as we can and still get by. We are vying for the red lantern award. We want the gates of heaven to close right behind us. That is not Bible Christianity. The Bible teaches us to cast off the things that slow us down. Sin is not our plaything. We are to avoid even the appearance of evil.
What if only one human being could make it to heaven?
Take a look at the scripture I gave you earlier: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. The Bible is telling us to approach salvation as if only one person in the whole world was going to make it. Let me make it a little more generous. If you knew that only one person from your village or town would be saved, would you have a chance at salvation? If the answer is “No”, then you probably need to spend time repenting and drawing near to Jesus. (If you said “Yes”, then you probably need to repent of your pride).
Fortunately, salvation is open to all people, and more than one person will make it. The important question is, “Will you make it?” You will if you run the race that is set before you looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2)
Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, AK.
For a Limited Time Only:
Now Offering Your Choice of Two Resurrections
1-15-08
by Tad Lindley
For thousands of years people have understood the concept of the resurrection. Even in the midst of his horrible tragedies, Job was able to speak in faith: For I know that my Redeemer lives, and he shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see
