I told her it may be so but I immediately thought of the statement of Jesus: (Mark 13:32 NIV) "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. I also thought about Matthew 24. In this passage Jesus gave us numerous things to look for. "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
It's not unusual to look at all the problems created by corrupt politicians, greedy people who want to be filthy rich, and selfishness everywhere. Add to that countries all over the globe falling apart, murder, mayhem and craziness everywhere and it's easy to think the end must be near.
In Matthew 24 Jesus gave us "HIS" list of bad things that will come. (Mat 24:7 NIV) Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (Mat 24:10-12 NIV) At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, {11} and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. {12} Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.
(Mat 24:24 NIV) Jesus said: "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. (Religious con men are in the church, on TV and everywhere you look...) Want to know how to spot one? Jesus has the answer to that one also. "They don't have an ounce of compassion for anyone ...unless... "they can use it to fatten up their "bloated" bank account. Try to get one of them to help anyone - whether it's a young man called by God to preach the gospel, a church in need or sick and needy people all around them. They will simply ignore the request.
In traveling and preaching - literally all over the world I've met many ministers who had little interest in helping anyone but themselves. I've also met some really dedicated ministers and Missionaries who would risk their very lives to help anyone in need and especially the desperately poor people who were all around them. I've put together some very large medical - humanitarian projects for some of the poorest people in the world. Lots of Godly people helped, including medical doctors and ordinary people who volunteered and gave everything they could to help needy people.
In Iquitos Peru doing a medical project my heart was broken by the little children who looked like they were pregnant. According to my long time friend and cardiologist - Dr. William Ezyguirre - who was born in Peru, and wrote most of their medical text books -- he said it was caused by drinking contaminated water filled with parasites and Lord only knows what else. Yes, many of them knew they should boil the water for several hours before they drinking it - but how can you wait for it to cool when you are hot and feel like you are dying of thirst?
We saw dozens of "outhouses" in a village placed on the top of the surrounding hills. Below that was a shallow well where people came to get drinking water. Dr. Ezyguirre didn't have to draw me a picture when I looked at the polluted and sickening well.
We raised thousands of dollars to drill deep wells in Iquitos Peru. It was odd that the city was surrounded by the Amazon river, the Nanay, and other rivers. The Perfecto General who was in charge of this great city told me while looking out over the Amazon river - "I could be the president of Peru if only I could get drinking water to the people who need it."
(They had hired a German company to put in a water treatment system, and pipes in the city. Unfortunately within a year the aluminum pipe they used in the sandy soil was cracked and leaking all over the city and the Germans were long gone.)
I talked to engineers and people in the US who knew how to drill very deep wells. Money and skill was the answer to the problem. I came home and raised $10,000.00 then went back and found an honest engineer who could drill wells 130 meters deep.
The perfecto General had already built small building to secure and house the wells. I remember standing in the entrance of the bank, with an absolute blizzard of bugs swarming around the entrance light. (Yes the big ones hurt when they nail you - but we had work to do). I signed all the Cashiers checks I had brought and started the project. We joked and told our contractor drilling the wells that we were going to break his legs if the wells didn't work. He laughed and said "I'll make sure they do."
This good and kind man knew exactly what needed to be done and he did it in record time. We gave have him some money to get started and paid him in full when the job was finished. There was a large storage tank in the top of the building, water was pumped to that and a line gravity fed the water to a outlet on the side of the building.
Here Is a photo of the pump inside the locked building already working to fill the storage tank in the ceiling.
They were 130 meters deep and we placed the electrical pumps in a small locked building with a large storage tank in the ceiling. Then we ran a water line through the wall with a flat "snap" valve that could only be opened with a thumb and finger. Anyone could get clean drinking water only as long as they held the value open. When they let go of the value the water stopped.
The prefecto General of Iquitos told us they spent a large amount of money having a German company put in a water system for the city. The first day they turned it on it went dry in a few hours. The Indians from the forest turned all the facets on and left them running. When he tried to stop that the Indians from the forest said: "We don't have to turn the rivers off and on - why do we have to turn this pipe off and on."
Then a year later the aluminum pipes used in the sandy soil was cracked, broken, and the whole project was a total waste.
In Iquitos Peru - which is on the Amazon river, I took a team of doctors, nurses, medical supplies and volunteers to help the desperately poor people who needed treatment. Their greatest need was for clean drinking water. "Outhouses were everywhere and "yes" near by were shallow "drinking wells."
Our team spent days getting to know the local preachers. I discovered they only had a single bible. These preachers would tear out a page and take it into the Amazon jungle and preach to their own people in tiny villages. Then they would bring the page back and others would use it to do the same thing the next Sunday.
I was so troubled by this that I called a wealthy friend who didn't claim to be a Christian and told him about these local preachers and their one bible. He immediately sent me a large check and I spent every cent of it in a Bible book store purchasing boxes of new study bibles. I got the airlines to fly them free of charge to Iquitos.
In a few weeks I took them down to Iquitos Peru, got these preachers together and gave each one of them a new Bible for themselves. They were filled with joy and amazement like children on Christmas morning. I had a good cry myself as I thought of God's goodness.
Later this great friend who bought the Bibles sat on my back porch in Georgia and asked me a question. "Can I be a Christian without all the "mumbo jumbo" religious stuff of joining a church?" I knew he didn't want a sermon so I said: "Yes, all you need to do is to talk to God, just like you are talking to me, and tell him what's in your heart." I didn't say another word and neither did he. I knew" without a doubt" that God would open his heart and fix this problem. I was blessed to see that happen. We didn't talk about it but I knew God was changing his life.
Jesus said there would be a day or reckoning between the sheep and the goats. Matthew 25:34 (I dare you to read it.) Here's what Jesus said to the true Christians: ( (Mat 25:34-40 NIV) Take time and read it carefully.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. {35} For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, {36} I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
{37} "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? {38} When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? {39} When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' {40} "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
That test came in various ways for me as a pastor. I knocked on a door and heard little children saying they were hungry and crying for food. I knew the father was a liar, and had a long track record of cheating and swindling people. (I had heard it all from his victims.) I knew I had to do something so I took all the money in my pocket and bought $70 dollars worth of food - took it to their door and prayed that the children would be fed. The next day my daughter made a turkey dinner with all the trimmings for them and took it to the family.
A church member told me the plumbing was stopped up at her sisters house. Two little children lived in their house. Her sister and husband was spending large sums of money on Pot and drugs. After a lot of thinking about it I called a contractor and paid him to fix the plumbing. The innocent little children could live a decent life and take a bath. I knew the parents could buy more dope but God would deal with them about that problem in his own way.
(Mat 25:41-46 NIV) "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. {42} For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, {43} I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
We need the wisdom of God to help us know who is worthy of help.
I went to see a couple that briefly attended our church. They lived in a really nice home on a lake and was obviously doing well financially. They told me they were in financial trouble and didn't know what to do. While I prayed a silent prayer about their problem his wife said: "If someone doesn't help us soon I don't know what we are going to do". She cried and said: "We will have to cash in one of our CD's" to pay the house note. I told my wife it was time for us to leave and we did. (We were not even being paid a modest salary for being the pastor of our small church)
{44} "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' {45} "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' {46} "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Remember this is Jesus our Lord and Master who told this story.
(Luke 16:19-31 NIV) "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. {20} At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores {21} and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
{22} "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. {23} In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. {24} So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' {25} "But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. {26} And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'
{27} "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, {28} for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' (Even in hell the rich man had no compassion. He wanted Lazarus to go starve to death as the gates of his five selfish brothers.
{29} "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' {30} "'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' {31} "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."
There is not a single word is this story told by Jesus that indicates the rich man ever did a mean thing to Lazarus. He didn't run over his feet with his beautiful carriage - nor forbid his servants to give Lazarus the crumbs from his table. All he did was nothing!!!!! God looked at the rich man's total lack of compassion and sent him to hell.
How bad was this wealthy man? Even in hell he was selfish and mean. He pleaded with father Abraham to send Lazarus to hell to be his servant. "Send Lazarus down here to dip the tip of his finger into water to cool my tongue for I am tormented in these flames. This is the awful story told by Jesus of people who should have compassion on those in need but choose to "let someone else do it...."I worked hard for what is mine! "
My wife Maggie and I have just celebrated our 60th wedding anniversary. Both of us have been ordained ministers for over 60 years. We live on a small little social security check because our Government decided to change the rules. Instead of going back to the time when we first started paying social security (over 60 years ago) they decided to only go back 10 years. In that period I was working as a Missionary Pilot (hours of sheer boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror....) and Maggie was keeping our tiny little new church going. So we had very little income.
We had decisions to make just like everyone else. In 1990 I stopped being a pastor. My wife Maggie wrote a song that blesses everyone who hears it. I recorded it and It's been recorded and sung all around the world. It's called: "I don't need to Understand I just need to hold his hand." (Songs for troubled hearts.) We started Christian Ministries in 1990. We made the decision to "give" the booklets I was writing and the CD of "Songs for troubled hearts" free of charge to anyone who needed or ask for them".
I make the CD's and booklets in my office and we give them to anyone who wants them. We have given thousands of them to troubled and needy people. Yes, they are expensive and time consuming to make - but God has provided the money through Godly Christians who send us gifts to keep this ministry going. We have never had to ask for help. God sends it and we rejoice.
It cost money and lots of time to make the CD's and Booklets but God has been faithful for all these years. It's really been amazing when it's time for me to make the CD's and Booklets. Always someone sends just enough to pay for the material needed for new Booklets and CD's. (We live on a tiny Social Security Check - Was it stupid to give them away?) We still believe it is the right thing to do. ! My wife will soon be 83 years old and I'm not far behind. It's amazing how God has supplied our needs without us begging, selling "stuff" or asking for help!!!
We have also sent them around the world to places like Assension Paraguay. A pastor there had heard Maggie's song "I don't need to understand I just need to hold his hand". He sent me an e-mail and wanted the sheet music so his daughter could play the song on the piano while the family travels, sings and preaches across the country. It was a pleasure to give them sheet music, booklets, CD's and everything they needed as a gift to their ministry.
Many years ago I earned a Master's degree in Psychology at Georgia State University, and a later on a Ph.D in Theology. I've been blessed with the ability to talk with anyone about any subject. I could name a dozen millionaires that I've spent time with because they wanted to talk. All of them needed help with problems that money can't solve.
I can only remember one of them who gave money to help sick, poor and needy people. He bought the Bibles for the Pastors and Preachers in Iquitos Peru and graciously help us keep going with Christian Ministries. Several years ago he passed away - and we rejoice that he is blessed and in our father's house.
The Apostle Paul wrote in (Acts 20:35 NIV) "In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive. "
We may be near the end of the world, but it is our duty to continue until he comes. To help the sick, to care for the needy to comfort the old. Are you doing what God wants you to do - even to the end of the world?
We may be near the end of the world, but it is our duty to continue until he comes. To help the sick, to care for the needy to comfort the old. Are you doing what God wants you to do - even to the end of the world?
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