YOU and GOD

The Church and the 21st Century Pandemic

A friend of mine, teaching Sunday School, told (with tongue in cheek) how the Puritans dealt with absence from church. “Here is how they did things: Miss one Sunday and you get no meals on Monday; miss two Sundays and you get a whipping; miss three Sundays and you go to jail; miss four Sundays: no one ever missed four Sundays!”

It is good is it not that Puritans are not overseeing church attendance today. It is generally agreed that church attendance, after the C-19 pandemic, will never be the same. Streaming of services has been the most radical change, not to mention social distancing, sterile communion services, masks, no handshakes, no passing of the offering plates, plus other “new normals.”

However, the Word of God is unchangeable and there is still that admonition that we should not “forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is….” Those words were written to a first century Church that was suffering severely the pangs of persecution which, in a different realm, left exhaustion, fear, and death that was pandemic in its reach and life-changing in its impact upon individuals and upon the Church. But the Church then, and now, survived and is surviving and will survive.

You have to love what the late Vance Havner once said about a childhood experience he had as he visited a church: “It was a shabby church house, the preacher was plain, the organ wheezy and the music off-key. But there was something that reminded one of the Upper Room.”

There have been and are churches like that world-wide. Big churches, small ones; country churches, city churches; churches with every possible accruement one could imagine and churches with one door for an entrance and exit, no carpet, no padded pews, but churches where when people lifted their voices in musical praise to God the Father, small bumps were raised on people’s necks and when the preacher opened up the Word of God to deliver the burden God’s Spirit had laid upon him, whether educated or uneducated formally, you could almost hear the holy hush of God move through the building as worshippers were drawn into God’s presence so that, like Havner, when you left you knew you had heard from God’s Word through God’s man.

Believers of all ages have loved to be in attendance, in person, when local assemblies of His followers were meeting for praise, prayer, communion and fellowship in His Word. We love to be with brothers and sisters in Christ and we love to be around those of like precious faith. General Westmoreland was once reviewing a platoon of paratroopers in Vietnam. As he went down the line, he asked each of them a question: ‘How do you like jumping, son?’ ‘Love it, sir!’ was the first answer. ‘How do you like jumping?’ he asked the next. ‘The greatest experience in my life, sir!’ exclaimed the paratrooper. ‘How do you like jumping?’ he asked the third. ‘I hate it, sir.’ he replied. ‘Then why do you do it?’ asked Westmoreland. ‘Because I want to be around guys who love to jump.’ We not only love to “jump” into the Word, we love to be around people who love to! You can be blessed at home participating in whatever way you can via the internet, but nothing can replace the in person, face to face, worship in and through the assembly of the church.

Now, most of my posts are of a pretty serious nature, as is this one. I am writing this the day after the National Football Championship game was played about 12 minutes from our house, in downtown Indianapolis, at Lucas Oil Stadium. So, football in some way or another, has been on our minds both here and elsewhere, especially in Georgia and Alabama. Allow me to “lighten” things up for a change and share with you some football strategies as they pertain to local church gatherings:

Instant Replay: the preacher loses his notes and falls back on last week’s illustrations.

Sudden Death: What happens to the attention span of the congregation if the preacher goes “overtime.”

Trap: You’re called on to pray and are asleep.

End Run: Getting out of church quick, without speaking to any guest or fellow member.

Flex Defense: The ability to allow absolutely nothing said during the sermon to affect your life.

Halfback Option: The decision of 50% of the congregation not to return for the evening service.

Blitz: The rush to the restaurant following the closing prayer.

Quarterback Sneak: Church members quietly leaving during the invitation.

Draw Play: What many children do with the bulletin during worship.

Half-time: the period between Sunday School and worship when some choose to leave.

Benchwarmer: Those who do not sing, pray, work or apparently do anything but sit.

Backfield-in-motion: Making a trip to the back (restroom or water fountain) during the service.

Staying in the Pocket: What happens to a lot of money that should be given to the Lord’s work.

Two-minute Warning: The point at which you realize the sermon is about over and you begin to gather up all your belongings.

Hope you may have gotten a chuckle out of these, (copied, source unknown), but pray you will really never take His Church and the gathering together of His Body, locally in what we call “going to church,” lightly!

“A Complete Change in My Life”

It was the year 1916 that Charles E. Fuller wrote to his wife the following note: “There has been a complete change in my life. Sunday, I went up to Los Angeles and heard Paul Rader preach. I never heard such a sermon in all my life. Eph.1:18. Now my whole life and aims and ambitions are changed. I feel now that I want to serve God if he can use me instead of making the goal of my life the making of money.”

That testimony captured my attention because maybe 25 years later my father-in-law to be, Marvin Beshears, was painting ships in a Virginia shipyard for the war effort, and as he worked, he listened to the Mutual Broadcasting Network airing of the “Old Fashioned Revival Hour” and heard Charles Fuller in Los Angeles preaching to soldiers shipping out to their overseas assignments, many never to return home again alive, Fuller pleading with them to turn to Christ, to accept Jesus as their Savior. Marvin heard Charles Fuller’s passionate plea for soldiers to accept Christ, and as he painted in the shipyards he responded to the evangelist’s message and gave his heart and life to Christ Jesus. He returned to Wilkes County, NC, after the war where he would become a local church pastor and where, in 1945 his second daughter, Ellen, was born who would in 1965 be united in marriage to Anthony Slutz in the little white chapel in the Blue Ridge foothills that Marvin would pastor for 50 before being called to his eternal rest.

I cannot think of those things without marveling at “so great salvation” that God has made possible for all who will receive Him as Charles Fuller did, and as thousands of both soldiers and civilians would do upon hearing Fuller’s plain preaching of the Good News, wafted over radio waves far and near, drawing men and women to the person of the Savior of the world, Jesus of Nazareth.

Countless multitudes have experienced the same complete change that Charles Fuller and Marvin Beshears experienced. John Slater, missionary to the Republic of Ireland, would write: “All my life I had been playing at Christianity while being filled with a cancerous evil in my heart. I had truly been deceived by Satan and my own pride, never aware of the emptiness in my life. In that moment, I called upon the name of the Lord.”

Charlotte Elliot had a personal salvation experience as a young person. Troubled and anxious about her soul, she was very reticent about seeking help spiritually. But, a French pastor, visiting Charlotte’s father on one occasion, put the question directly to Charlotte: “Have you come to Jesus?” She replied, “I want to come, but I do not know how.” He simply answered the young girl, “Come, just as you are.” The girl fled to her room in tears and later emerged a saved person who would in time put the hymn to music, “Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.” Salvation, so simple, so universally possible for any who will come “Just as I am.”

Sadly, though, some still have not come. Some years ago, I visited an Indianapolis southside nursing home where an elderly Christian lady lived who was a member of our church. She had just received news that her only child, a 52-year-old son, had died of cancer. She said, “He was the apple of my eye. I was always there whenever he needed me.” I asked, “Was he a Christian?” She said, “No, I could never get him to accept the Lord. The last time he was here I told him that I had waited so long and had so wanted him and his family to know the Lord; the one thing that I wanted before I died. Now, he is gone and it’s too late…it’s too late.”

The wicked one, a liar, convinces people that salvation would be a good thing, but no need to be in a big hurry about it. Statistics will bear out, though, that after the age of 25 only one in 10,000 will confess Christ as Savior. After the age of 75 only one in 700,000 make that decision having put it off for so long.

Evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman told the story of a revival that swept through Princeton, NJ. Aaron Burr came to the president of the university and said, “Mr. President, I have made up my mind to consider the claims of Christ. Now, Mr. President, what would you do?” And the old president of the university gave Burr this advice, “Burr, if I were you, I would wait until the excitement of the revival has subsided, and then I would think it out carefully.” Aaron Burr, it is said, bowed his head then said, “Mr. President, that is exactly what I would do.” And, as Chapman would conclude the story, “…it is stated as a fact that never again in his life, did he express a desire to be a Christian….”

Ethel Heins wrote that “A God-shaped vacuum was made, within the heart of man, filled only if he humbly yields to His Creator’s plans.”

I am not sure who said this, but I am sure that many who read these lines will be able to say, “Amen” to what this person said:

“In 1943 I was a lad eleven years old. One night in an old-fashioned church I heard an old-fashioned message from an old-fashioned Book by an old-fashioned preacher. And I knelt at an old-fashioned altar, and I received an old-fashioned dose of the old-fashioned salvation. It is this way: God thought it, Jesus bought it, the Spirit wrought it, the Bible taught it, the Devil fought it; but praise God, I caught it! And, hallelujah, I am saved forever!”

How is it with you, my friend? Do not let the old deceiver, Lucifer, whisper in your ear that it is all so very true but you can, as Aaron Burr was encouraged to do, think about it awhile longer. Hear what God says:

“For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor.6:2)

What God Requires of You

“Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the most High God?”

Maybe you’ve asked yourself that question! It’s the question Israel asked itself as expressed in Micah 6:6.

How can a mortal man approach the immortal, invisible God of the universe?

We naturally think in terms of the physical, external. Can I do it with burnt offerings, Israel (the nation) asks?

If so, how many would it take to get His attention? Would thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of holy oil do the job?

Quickly, man begins to think of pleasing God in worship by quantity and by external grandeur. But that’s not what God wants, nor is it what He requires.

All the external trappings of religion: rich and awe-inspiring as they may be, can never please God in and of themselves.

How to come before God then? How to worship Him in a way that will please Him?

God gives us the answer in one succinct statement:

“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” (Micah 6:8)

There it is. That answers the age-old question that man has raised heavenward. God says it so unambiguously: Do justly. Love mercy. Walk humbly with thy God.

You’ve got to love the simplicity of it! Aren’t you glad that God didn’t write it like the government bureaucrats would have? Like they do the instructions on how to file income taxes? We never would have been able to have figured it out! God is so wonderfully plain. Just three steps and you are there:

Do justly. That is, “Do Right.” You must be right in order to do right. Doing right without being right is impossible and the attempt to do so leads to hypocrisy. Being right means to be right with God. One experiences that blessed state by trusting Him by faith for it is still true that if you “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ…thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31). The moment one believes on Christ by faith, what Paul said in Romans 5:1 is experienced: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Doing justly is personal (except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven, John 3:3), and doing justly is possible (“It is God that justifieth, Romans 8:33) and doing justly is profitable: “But the path of the just is as the shinning light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (Provs. 4:18) Job asks “How can a man be just with God?” (Job 9:2) Paul answers that it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, “but according to His mercy He hath saved us, by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost.” (Tit.3:5)

To love mercy. “For the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.” (Ps.100:5) He is also “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.” (Ps.103:8). “For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.” (Ps. 103:11) And, “the earth is full of Thy mercy.” (Ps. 119:164) It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed. How could we but help love mercy, we who have been [AS1] such recipients of His abundant mercies that the song writer was inspired to sing, “There’s a wideness in God’s mercies like the wideness of the sea.”

A poor woman from the slums in London was invited to go with a group of people for a holiday at the ocean. Upon viewing the vast body of water for the very first time, the awe-struck woman said, “This is the only thing I have ever seen that there was enough of.” Such are the mercies of God. We love mercy, and

We strive to walk humbly with our God. Think of it! We can walk with God! Enoch did and was not for God took him. But the list of men and women, past and present, who have walked with God or are walking with God is almost incalculable. And it is possible to walk with Him because Jesus, as promised, when He departed back to heaven, sent His Holy Spirit who “dwelleth with you and shall be in you.” (John 14:17)

Walking humbly with (not before) God is not only a privilege, it is what has been commanded: “Humble yourselves in the sight of God and He shall lift you up,” and “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.” (James 4:10; I Pet. 5:6) We walk with God by faith (2 Cor.5:7) and we walk with Him in the light. (I John 1:7)

How to come before God? Do right, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.

“We mutter and sputter; we fume and we spurt: we mumble and grumble; our feelings get hurt. We can’t understand things, our vision grows dim, when all that we need is a moment with Him.”

“Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.” (Ps. 100:2,5)

Another Year

“Another year is dawning, Dear Master let it be, in working or in waiting, another year with Thee; Another year is dawning! Dear Master, let it be on earth, or else in Heaven, another year for Thee.” (Francis R. Havergal).

So it is. Another year is off to its 2022 start, ready or not! Have you made your resolutions? Whether one has made or has no intention of making resolutions for the new year now in progress, Jonathan Edwards’ resolutions are always challenging: (1) Resolved: to live with all my might while I live; (2) Resolved: Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I can; (3) Resolved: Never to do anything which I should despise or to think meanly of in another; (4) Resolved Never to do anything out of revenge and (5) Resolved: Never to do anything which I would be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.

As for resolutions, one would be hard pressed to find more apt vows than those of the Psalmist: “I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth all Thy marvelous works.” (Ps.9:1)

Or, “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Ps.34:1)

“I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.” (Ps. 89:1)

“But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity….” (Ps. 26:11)

“I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” (Ps.116:9)

“I will meditate in Thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.” (Ps.119:15)

“I will meditate also of all Thy work, and talk of all Thy doings.” (Ps.77:12)

“I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only.” (Ps.71:16)

A.B. Simpson, prayed “Lord, I would ask for a holy year spent in Thy perfect will; help me to walk in Thy very steps, help me to please Thee still.”

May I share three things with you that I am convinced each of us need for 2022 more than silver, gold or any success in life’s pursuits:

More Love, for without it preaching is powerless, prophecy is pointless, knowledge is nothing and faith is futile. (I Cor. 13:1,2,13) Jesus gave it as a new commandment (Jhn.13:34) and James called it the Royal Commandment (James 2:8). John said it was proof of our salvation (I Jhn.3:14) and Jesus said it was the badge whereby all men would know we were His disciples. (John 13:35) We need to learn of His love and to live in His love more than ever in 2022!

More Holiness, Hebs. 12:14. We do have a holy calling: “Who saved us and called us with an holy calling,” (2Tim.1:9); and we must have a holy conversation: “But as He which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written, ‘Be ye holy for I am holy.’” (I Pet.1:15,16) We are a holy priesthood (I Pt.2:5) and are called a “holy nation,” (I Pet.2:9). We are a people of the Holy Word of God with a future in the Holy Land and will live forever in God’s Holy City.

We need spiritual Power. Power that has been provided, Matt. 28:18: “And Jesus came and spake unto them saying ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth…and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.’” It is, too, power that has been promised: “But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you….” (Acts 1:8). His power has “exceeding greatness to usward who believe.” (Eph.1:19) His power does not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (I Cor.2:4,5); and His power is in earthen vessels “that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.” (2 Cor.4:7) Finally “according as His divine power hath given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” (2 Pet.1:3)

How, then, can we possibly face 2022 without being plugged into His power?

I hope that this New Year will be full of blessings by grace through His love, grounded in His holiness and charged with His divine power.

“Lord, give us please a New Year, still, a year to do your holy will; to watch and work and grow in grace, to long to see Your loving face. Lord grant us mercies yet we plead; we stand, O God, in desperate need. Your pardon, peace and promised power is needed now worldwide this hour. Let us not shrink our duties here; give us a heart that’s free of fear. O Savior, Jesus, dearest friend, Be Thou our strength to this year’s end.” (Pastor Anthony Slutz)

“Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.” (Ps. 65:11)

I Love You Pastor Slutz

The phone rang the other day and although there was no name that popped up on the screen, I recognized the number because I had talked with this middle-aged woman only a few days previous to this; in fact, she had called several times recently so the number was easily recognizable. Ellen had just gotten word from our doctor that her Covid-19 test was positive and though I had not yet been tested I was feeling the same symptoms that had caused Ellen to get tested a few days earlier. So, when I saw the phone number, knowing who it was and feeling as raunchy as I did, my first impulse was to just let it ring.

It was a call from Mali, who, when we first met her, was a teen age girl who, with her mother, either came to our church on one of our church busses that we sent from our church to the near down-town Indianapolis neighborhoods, or with an aunt and uncle who were members of our church but have been deceased now for several years. Mali’s mother never drove and Mali, a developmentally challenged child and now adult, cared for with love by her mother with whom she has always lived, of course has been totally dependent on others for a ride to church and, consequently, she has not been in our services for years. She has though periodically called to share a prayer request, and it is pretty common for her to say before she concludes her phone conversation, “I love you, Pastor Slutz. You will always be my pastor.” She recently called the church, Thompson Road Baptist Church, trying to contact me; and one of our male members, doing security detail that evening, told me after the service that a woman Mali (not her real name) called during the service asking to speak to me. The gentleman informed Mali that the service was in progress but that he would pass the message on to me which he did at the conclusion of the service. In the course of her conversation with our security watchman, Mali said, “Pastor Slutz saved me when I was 15 years old.” Well, she has said that many times and, though I corrected her reminding her that only God can save a person and I was simply the messenger, I have not been able to succeed in getting her to say correctly something to the effect that “Pastor Slutz led me to Christ when I was 15.” Mali has the heart of a child and the Lord knows what she means so I just ceased trying to get her to say it with theological preciseness.

But, as you might guess, for a woman to call seeking to talk with Pastor Slutz and manifesting such love and appreciation, and the man taking the call not knowing the woman or anything about her, could be problematic! Mali does not know our current pastor, my pastor, Pastor Joel Stevens, a loving and caring under shepherd, or she would have the same tender affection toward him. And I know that Pastor Joel is not bothered by someone such as Mali reaching out to her pastor of old for help. We have that kind of working relationship. He is my pastor; He is the Senior Pastor of Thompson Road Baptist Church and I am Pastor Emeritus.

So, when the phone rang last week, and I recognized the unidentified number and was about ready to ignore it being about overwhelmed with the symptoms of C-19, Ellen, my dear help-meet, knowing also who it was that was calling, said, “You’d better answer that,” and at once I did. I had known Mali had said she was being tested for cancer and was supposed to find out, I thought, on the day the call was coming my way whether it was positive. I answered the call and Mali said, “Pastor Slutz, I have cancer.” I expressed my heartfelt sorrow for that news and reminded her of what we had rehearsed in our last phone conversation a few days earlier: “Mali, you can just grab ahold of Ps.23:1—the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” When I started quoting that verse Mali chimed in and quoted it with me.” Then Mali said, “I’m afraid, Pastor Slutz,” and she began to cry. I assured her that the Lord was her shepherd and then quoted another verse, Ps.55:3, and began to pray. I was barely into my prayer when I started getting choked up also and struggled getting words out. I was thinking not only of Mali who was fearful of what having cancer would mean to her (she had shared with me that she weighed only 108 pounds) but I was thinking and being rebuked in my spirit that I had almost not answered the phone when this dear soul needed prayer. I did not verbalize it in my prayer with Mali, but I surely did ask God to forgive me that I could be tempted not to answer the phone when someone needed my counsel, encouragement and prayer. It was a humbling lesson. Mali has called since and she will continue to call and this is one former pastor who will thank God that he can still have a ministry, forty years and counting, with a developmentally challenged teenager and now an adult in mid-life who is struggling for her life. I hope God helped Mali the day we prayed and wept together. I know He helped me.

“Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church…and the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” (James 5:14,15)

Tornados, Earthquakes, Floods and God

The second weekend of December and the week following America was shocked by a killer tornado that was reportedly “on the ground” for 200 miles, claiming as of the time of this writing more than 75 lives with the death toll expected to be in triple digit figures before the final assessment is made. Following that devastation, the Midwest was hit with multiple tornados days after the monster had made its way through Arkansas, Kentucky and other states; plus, winds of upwards to 80 and 90 mph raged through some midwestern states leaving a path of death and destruction.

It is altogether well and should surely be expected that the elephant in the room question, “What is God doing?” be asked. At the onset, it should be understood there is no simple answer to that question, but there is a Biblical train of thought woven throughout scriptures that will give us ample clues as to what the Almighty God of the storms is doing and/or saying. Warning: it should be instructive to anyone who sets out to study the question that three friends of Job and a fourth acquaintance, trying to make some sense out of the calamity that visited the ancient patriarch the day he lost all of his ten children and all of his material possessions, missed the bulls-eye entirely. They misjudged that what Job suffered in the worst 24 hours of his life was God’s heavy hand of judgment upon the man who feared God and eschewed evil. Their conclusion was that Job was to a degree a hypocrite, harboring some secret sin(s) for which God was disciplining him severely. We, with finite understanding and only a limited vision of the field, will make the same mistake apart from direction in our thinking from God’s Holy Spirit. Our conclusions, if we come to any, must be rooted in Biblical theology, not popular psychology, meteorology or humanistic philosophy.

I love some of the wisdom that Winston Churchill displayed in his thinking and writing and, seeing what was happening politically and nationally in 1935 with the rise of fascism and the weakness of western leadership, Churchill said something that bears upon our current discussion:

“Who is in charge of the clattering train? The axles creak and the couplings strain; and the pace is hot, and the points are near, and sleep has deadened the driver’s ear; and the signals flash through the night in vain, for Death is in charge of the clattering train?”

Like many who read this, I wonder in contemplating the calamities that have besought our nation and the world in the past few years– including earthquakes, floods, fires, pandemic viruses– what the masses are thinking about it all. Those who believe the Bible and who have sought answers from His Word are in the minority. The masses of humanity, seven billion or so, must be wondering “who is in charge of the clattering train?”

Well, Bible-believers come to the query with certain foundational bed-rock principles as a starting point. First, we absolutely believe that God is in charge, ultimately, of His world. Satan, the “god” of this world (2 Cor.4:4), has usurped God’s authority through deceit, and he is in the business of wreaking havoc and destruction and death wherever and whenever possible, but God can and does limit his power and the exercise of his usurped authority. God is in charge and has the absolute, ultimate power over all of His created world.

Sometimes, God speaks with a thunderous voice to command the attention of this world’s inhabitants who have otherwise made themselves deafened to His voice. “Wherefore when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.” (Isa. 50:2,3)

“The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord…the heavens declare His righteousness and all the people see His glory.” (Ps. 97:5,6)

“He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: so, He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.” (Ps. 106:9)

“The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at His presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.” (Nahum 1:5)

God does use what we call “nature” to speak to the world, and so, when it is easy to observe an intensity of these “natural calamities” it is only to be expected that one should wonder, “what might God be doing or saying through these troublesome times?”

First, let it be noted that in the Nahum 1 passage quoted above that in two verses following the prophet affirms that “The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him.” (Nahum 1:7) Whatever the situation, bad as it might be, God is good. Period. And God has not forgotten you if you by faith have been born into His family and have been adopted by His grace with all the blessings attendant to that humbling status. God is good. He is not the author of evil; He still is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Pet.3:9)

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (Romans 8:22) Paul the Apostle wrote those somber words, acknowledging that because of sin’s entrance into the world, not only was man immediately estranged from God, but that the beautiful, tranquil Garden of Eden and the whole of nature’s realm became “out of joint” groaning under the weight and burden of the blight of sin. This will be corrected in the millennium when Jesus comes to restore the world to its Edenic like tranquility when the Lion and Lamb shall lie down together. The violence which we observe in “nature” as seen in monster storms, floods and fires are part of this convulsing of creation; never intended by God but given as part of the curse of man’s original disobedience and continuing until Jesus comes again to “make all things new.”

This discussion can and will continue; I trust that I have shared some foundational, scriptural truths which will stir up “pure minds” as we attempt to reconcile what we are living through with what we believe to be absolutely true. Your comments are, as always, welcomed.

“That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:6,7)

Christmas Daze

Christmas Daze
Joyous times those Christmas days;	
	Happy times with carefree ways;
Children’s laughter filled the air,
	Moments precious all to share.

Gathered round the evergreen,
	Lights and glitter bright with sheen;
Gifts all wrapped and neatly placed,
	Smiles of love each face did grace.

It was Christmas, day of days,
	Time to sing great songs of praise.
Time to give and time to share,
	Time to let folks know we care.

Quickly did the wrappings fly,
	Wildly little fingers pry;
Off with paper, off with bows,
	Hope with every second grows.

Ah, the beauty of the doll!
	Long black hair and, oh, so tall.
Hold it close and tightly hug,
	Every heartstring it does tug.

Wow! the train, bright shiny red!
	Just like visions in his head.
Seen in dreamlands of the night,
	Now it dazzles in the light.

Toys and cheers and oohs and aahs!
	Dolls and dogs with velvet paws.
All are gathered round the tree,
	For this moment there is glee!

Gather round the table spread,
	Christmas turkey all are fed.
Naps and games-- now most are still,
	Food and fun, all got their fill.

Once again, they go their way,
	On another Christmas day.
Back to work and back to school,
	 To a world that can be cruel.

Back to thinking in the heart,
	How it long ago did start,
With the coming of God’s Son,
	Jesus, His beloved One!

His, the gift above all giving!
	His, the gift that still is living!
His, the gift of purest love,
	From the Father up above.

Thank you, Lord, for your great grace,
	For your Son’s death in our place.
Thank you, God, for Christmas Day,
	As our hearts bow now to pray.

                     Anthony Slutz
	
(Best of all to all! I hope you will enjoy some Christmas Daze on Christmas Day)

To Love Mrs. Land (A Christmas Story)

She had a sort of contorted smile, but we youngins did not realized why. A wheel-chair bound woman, probably in her 60’s when our mom became a friend of hers and began to interact with Mrs. Land, all that my sister and I knew was that we did not like her stories about her own children. She would weave some words, hard to understand at times because of her speech impairment, together about some experiences she had rearing her own little ones, from the handicap position of a wheel-chair. What really turned our hearts away from this lady who attended our church and worshipped with our church family every Lord’s Day was when she explained her form of discipline when a child had transgressed the law she had laid down for her household. She did not have the advantage of other mothers who would go to get a belt or a stick off the lilac bush with which to give the disobedient kids a whack or two, so she did the only thing she could do; she demanded they kneel before her wheel-chair and then, when they were perfectly in place, she would, in her words, grab a fist-full of the woeful and wayward one’s hair and give it a brisk yank or two. Then, having spun her reminiscing yarn, she would, with a contorted grin, chuckle about it, looking intently as I suppose my sister, Cakie ,and I looked on with horror.

Now we had never heard of child abuse back in those “pre-enlightenment” days. We had never had too many meetings with the belt or stick and, for sure, never as many as we might have had. But when we heard of how those hapless little devils, children of this woman who hailed from California before she intruded into our quiet midwestern world, we were horrified. There were a few nights when we actually thought we could hear her creaky voice outside our upstairs bedroom door saying, “Come kneel down now; let’s get this over with.” Then, if we listened intently in what must have been our nightmare, we could hear that warped chuckle of delight coming from the little old lady who could not walk but who could rule her household from a mobile chair.

When she was not sharing part of a day with our family from her choice corner of our living room, she was engaged in long telephone conversations with, yes, our mom; and usually it was when we thought we needed mother to answer a question or to help find something or to give us permission to visit a friend’s house for an hour before supper. Well, Cakie and I, (affectionately known as “Tonk,”) only thought we needed Mom because whatever dear old Mrs. Land was talking about—Mom hardly ever said anything–was far more important than the attention we thought we needed at that time.

So it was for a couple of years and finally, Tonk got his driver’s permit and then his driver’s license and boy did he think he was the “Cat’s Meow!” He actually got to drive an old 1948 Buick (think black Sherman Tank) to school and when it snowed that old Buick could make a path up the hills to the high school for the city snow plows.

But, not only that, the best thing was that Tonk now could drive to church and pick up the wheel-chair bound Mrs. Land! Well, in spite of the night visions of horror, Tonk could think of nothing he would rather do than to give Mrs. Land a ride to church, not now in the Sherman Tank but in the ’52 Studebaker that he was able to drive on occasion since the family car by that time was a more spacious Chevy.

And, it just so happened that the church, at Christmas, was having a special Christmas program about this time, with cookies and Kool-Aid and maybe some cakes and pies, in the Fellowship Hall following the program. Mrs. Land of course wanted to attend and even planned to bring a pie, but she would need a ride. No problem! Tonk’s mother volunteered the to your door teen-ager who would pick her up at the usual time.

The special night came, and Tonk, in the bright yellow Studebaker, drove into the driveway as usual and parked parallel with the door at the back of the huge, two-story, northside house in which Mrs. Land lived in an apartment. The youthful chauffer promptly put the car in park, went directly to the back door of the “mansion” and upon opening the door took his place behind the waiting woman’s chair; whereupon he carefully helped her into the front passenger seat, shut the door and placed the now empty wheel-chair into the trunk of the car. So far, so good. And, yes, he had taken the delicious looking pie (Tonk had never laid his eyes on any piece of pie anywhere that did not look delicious) into the back seat on the floor making sure that the pie would not slip or slide en route to the church.

What an exciting evening. Going to church to enjoy a special Christmas program with the music of angels ringing in our anticipation-laden hearts and with thoughts, dancing in our heads in between stanzas, of Christmas cookies, cakes and pies and fun and fellowship with the church family that we loved.

They were almost there, just another stop sign, routine corner to turn and then straight to church. But wait, after Tonk had stopped and was making the “routine” turn at the corner, the front passenger door, which had not closed securely when the precious human cargo had been loaded, flew open and the dear cripple, with a screech of a scream, fell out of the car onto the pavement. Tonk quickly stopped and horror-stricken, ran to the passenger side of the car, used every muscle in his young body that he could muster, and pulled the helpless passenger up and back into the car. Was she all right? Yes! Any broken bones? No! Just a bit shaken and disheveled but nothing more than her pride was wounded. And Tonk, well he never said an audible word the rest of the way to church after he had profusely apologized to the woman that he had for so long looked upon with a twitch of disdain.

The program was splendid everyone said as was the time of fellowship and feasting afterwards. But that night, that teen-age boy, could only repeat silent prayers of praise to His God for allowing that lady, fellow believer, friend of his mother, to fall out of the car that he had been driving and to be retrieved whole, unharmed and only thankful to be able to attend the special Christmas program.

It was a special Christmas that year with a gift from God to a young man whose heart was changed and whose mind was humbled by a way that no one could ever have anticipated. The gift? Oh, something that could never have come under a tree, but from the heart of God to the heart of a teen-ager who needed to see every person made of God as a special creation to be respected, treated and looked upon with kindness and with love, as all of us each with our own sometimes unlovely and unlovable ways, are and appear to others to be. That certain Sunday night just before Christmas a lad by the name of Tonk put his head upon his pillow and there were no nightmares, no voices outside the door of his bedroom, no screaming, no screechy laugh. Just a grateful heart to God for His protective grace and a thought of a special child of His whose life God had used to teach this young man a lesson that he would never forget, at least not for the next 60 or so years.

“That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for the other.” (I Cor. 12:25)

This Christmas story is fiction, based on fact. The names have been changed to protect the guilty! Have a very special Christmas, one and all!

Christmas Traditions

I have asked Ellen to allow me to reprint an article she wrote for the TRBC Times back in 2004 when I was senior pastor and she has agreed, so enjoy a few words from Ellen’s Corner:

“What will your children remember about Christmas? Will they think only of good food and gifts under the tree or will there be an intangible element that produces a sense of belonging? Are you establishing some traditions that say ‘our family is unique in personality, character and heritage?’

Our traditions include the following: (1) Attending the Christmas Eve service. It’s one of the best ways to show the family Who is important in this celebration. (2) Sitting around the tree with all the lights off except the tree lights with a hot glowing fire in the fireplace. (3) Freshly baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast Christmas morning. (4) The reading of the Christmas story from Luke 2 before any gifts are opened. (5) An ornament for each grandchild every year. (6) Collecting change all year and giving it to the grandchildren so they can buy gifts. (7) A Christmas eve party. (8) Remembering those who do not have family. (9) Baking Christmas cookies.

These are just a few of the traditions that we have established for our household. We hope they will keep our children and grandchildren returning year after year, and that they will pass them on to their children.”

“The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” (Ps. 16:6)

Thank You, Ellen.

And, for several years I have made it part of my Christmas tradition to write a Christmas poem each Christmas. The following is my contribution for the year 2021:

Through Christ Our Lord

He hung the stars in space,

He made the human race;

He sent His Son by grace,

Through Christ our Lord.

He spoke the truth so sure,

He wrote His Word so pure;

He gave sin’s only cure,

Through Christ our Lord.

He made the blind to see,

He set the prisoner free;

He ransomed you and me,

Through Christ our Lord.

He made the lame to walk,

He made the dumb to talk;

He turns the stones to chalk,

Through Christ our Lord.

He brings the dead to life,

He calls the Church His wife;

His peace will end all strife,

Through Christ our Lord.

Anthony Slutz, 2021

From our Home and Hearts to you and yours, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”

Why Jesus Came to Earth

“In the little village of Bethlehem, there lay a child one day; and the sky was bright with a holy light, O’er the place where Jesus lay. Alleluia! How the angels sang! Alleluia, how it rang! And the sky was bright, with a holy light, ‘Twas the birthday of a King.” (William Harold Neidlinger, 1863-1924)

And, oh, what a birthday that was! History had to be rewritten because of it. Potentates quaked at the news of that birthday. Calendars world-wide give evidence every day to it and documents are dated with reference to what happened before and after that indelible date.

We who know the Word of God know it is no accident that all the world once a year sets aside a day to commemorate the most important birthday of all time. It is an event that impacted time and eternity for it is the birthdate of the King that is Lord of time and of history.

The birthday of the King: we will, in a few days, be remembering His birthday with special gatherings and celebrations.

If one were to ask a dozen “men on the street” why Jesus came into the world, no doubt there would be nearly a dozen different answers offered. But if one were to ask the Lord Jesus Christ Himself why He was born, why He came into the world in the humble fashion with which He made His entry, there would be one answer given and it would echo the answer Jesus gave to Pilate in his Judgement Hall:

“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world: that I should bear witness unto the truth.” (John 18:37)

Why was Jesus born? He came into the world to bear witness to the truth:

He bore witness to the truth regarding SIN. The Devil had lied to mankind regarding the results of sin: “…ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Gen.3:5)
The Devil had lied to mankind regarding the responsibility for sin: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” (Gen. 3:4)
The deceiver has been lying to men ever since regarding the results and responsibility for sin.

Jesus minced no words when he confronted the religious leaders of His day: “Ye are of your father, the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:44)

Jesus testified of the truth regarding the results and responsibility for sin:

“I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

“…whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” (John 8:34b)

Winston Churchill once said, “Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.” He went on to affirm that truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it; ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. Jesus came to bear witness of the truth. Men did deride it and it was viciously attacked, but the witness from heaven came and delivered and there it is.

So, our Lord was born into this world to bear witness to the truth regarding sin, the results of sin and the responsibility for sin.

“The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin; the light of the world is Jesus.”

But our Savior also testified to the truth regarding SALVATION. Consider His truthful testimony to:

Nicodemus: “…except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
The woman at the well: “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)
To His Disciples: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)
To Martha: “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?” (John 11:26)
To unbelieving Jews: “Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” (John 6:47)
To the Jews again: “Verily, verily I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” (John 8:51)
Again, to His Disciples: “I am the door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)
To the blind man that He had healed “…for judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see….” (John 9:39)
To a tax collector that had faith in Jesus: “…this day salvation is come to this house forasmuch as he also is the son of Abraham…for the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:9,10)
And, to a woman known to be a sinner who anointed Jesus’ feet: “…thy sins are forgiven…thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” (Luke 7:48,50)

So, on the upcoming birthday of the King, we have so much to celebrate, not the least of which is why He came to this earth, became a servant, was made like as we, His created beings, remaining sinless while becoming sin so that we who are sinners could become ultimately like Him, sinless. He came, as He would tell the Roman interrogator, to testify to the world of the awful results of sin and the truth about the responsibility for it. Satan has deceived mankind since he lied to Adam and Eve about what sin would result in; Jesus came to set the record straight about it, but not only about sin but about salvation. The old Devil-Liar had from the beginning lied about salvation, how to receive it and what would happen to those who did. The proto-type of salvation, true and false, can be seen in Genesis 4 where Cain believed the Devil’s lie about how to be saved while his brother rejected Satan’s falsehood about this crucial matter. History since has been the working out of the histories of men and women, those who believe Satan or those who reject his deceit. None will stand before the final judgment bar of God with any excuse for going to Hell: Jesus came, in person, giving His life in so doing, to set the record straight. He told the truth. There it is.

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)