Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good afternoon, dear people.

Lot’s of rain fell on us recently…but now it’s trying to clear up.

We fit in our WOG earlier. I guess we should try to keep it up while we can. It won’t be long before we have to do it with a walker…or some alternative.

Someone just gave us more fruit today…so that will prompt more processing. And yesterday someone gave us a hunk of salmon. I promptly cut it up, brined it, and stuck it in the smoker for the night. Good stuff. I do love harvesting and eating the good gifts of our Creator.

We’ll soon head to our regular Sunday 3pm Gospel Sing at Pheasant Pointe. We become a bunch of old people singing old songs out of old songbooks. There have been some in attendance whose memory is so shot that they don’t know where their room is—but when we start singing an old Gospel song like “The Old Rugged Cross” they don’t even need the book.

Blessings on the rest of your day.

Love, Dad/Ray.

The heavy implication I see here would support the thesis Jesus states in Matthew 4:4, quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3—“It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” As good food is to the body, the Word of God is rich in vitamins and minerals essential for the health and sustenance of the soul. To neglect or take exception with that fundamental principle of the Kingdom is to render deterioration to the health of one’s soul. Notice the word, “delight.” That is a byproduct of this principle that Satan doesn’t want humans to know. But David discovered it and wrote about it—“But his (the man who is blessed of the LORD) delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2).

This is not to say every Bible idea and concept is delightful. Take, for example, the Biblical teaching on what we call hell. Man!—that’s a hell of a doctrine! I’ve never been there, but I sure don’t like it. I don’t want to go there. I don’t want anybody to go there. It boggles my mind and imagination. I don’t really understand it. Just yesterday I talked at length with a man who totally rejects the idea of hell. As a result he judges that the God of the Bible is a big jerk to have any mention of hell within His revelation. He essentially rejects everything else contained in the book that doesn’t meet with his approval and has fabricated his own system of theology—another form of idolatry. In order to make his “faith” fit nicely together, there is really no such thing as sin, so no need for a Savior, no Gospel, and everyone will eventually make it to “paradise.” Say’s who? What’s his source of authority? Voices? To be sure, these “voices” are not authored by the God of the Bible. I think we have here a classic case of deception—the founding of another cult.

Is it really my responsibility to perfectly understand hell?—where it is, what it’s like, who goes there, and why, and for how long? Too often people violate their own responsibilities by becoming high-centered on unanswered questions. Let’s just keep the main thing as the main thing—seek God, love God, and understand that your purpose for being is to please Him. I sincerely believe that Sovereign God has every right to be Sovereign God without my permission or approval.

Isaiah articulates a very sound job description for us while we’re here. Paint this on your wall. “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). And make sure you feed the next two verses into your thought processes: “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55:8-9).