Luke 13

Call to Repent

¹Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 

²And Jesus said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? 

³"I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 

⁴"Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? 

⁵"I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, often ask the question, "Why do bad things happen?" Very few people, however, actually turn to the Bible to diligently search for an answer. But the Scriptures are replete with answers as to why bad things happen in our fallen world. The above passage of scripture speaks perhaps more openly about disasters than any other. And Jesus refrains from speaking about anything but the most important issue at hand: that of the salvation of his hearers. Even if no earthquake ever again occurs or another typhoon ever struck land, we will all still one day die and stand before our Creator to be judged. Yes, eternal salvation should be our focus, not earthly safety.

The following excerpt was taken from The Abridged Commentary of the Bible by Matthew Henry (1668-1714). I have bolded one line in particular that struck me as very relevant in light of all the collapsed buildings in this earthquake in China. We all seem to want more and bigger houses, and development that will enrich us for a lifetime, but what can be the result of such top-heavy manmade inventions? Being crushed by them.

Henry commented on the above passage from Luke 13:1-5:

"Mention was made to Christ of the death of some Galileans. This tragical story is briefly related here, and is not met with in any historians. In Christ's reply he spoke of another event, which, like it, gave an instance of people taken away by sudden death. Towers, that are built for safety, often prove to be men's destruction. He cautioned his hearers not to blame great sufferers, as if they were therefore to be accounted great sinners. As no place or employment can secure from the stroke of death, we should consider the sudden removals of others as warnings to ourselves. On these accounts Christ founded a call to repentance. The same Jesus that bids us repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, bids us repent, for otherwise we shall perish."

You will have probably heard about the earthquake that occurred here in China earlier this afternoon (while you were sleeping in America). It was a very large quake and its epicenter was relatively close to where we live; about 400 miles to the south.

The quake was at least a 7.5 and was felt as far away as Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Vietnam, and Thailand, all thousands of miles away. But the crazy thing is that we felt nothing here! We are not sure why, but it could be because of all the high mountains between us and the epicenter, or the fact that we sit at such a high altitude (9,500 ft) and the shaking was more intense at lower altitudes.

Either way, we are safe. However, the places that were heavily damaged are places that we have visited. We traveled through the rural town that was the epicenter (Wenchuan) just back at the end of February. Pray for all those people, that God would use this disaster to open people's eyes to the fact that this world is not the most important thing... that we must prepare for the world that is to come!

Luke 12:16-21:

¹⁶And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷"And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?' ¹⁸"Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."' ²⁰"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' ²¹"So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

After my last post, I feel that I need to share the following article as a warning to those who might place too much of their faith in a man, even someone like C.S. Lewis.

Lewis did write many good and true things, but he also held to many theological views that historical Christianity would completely reject.

Please click here to read the full article detailing some of C.S. Lewis's unorthodox beliefs.

Something that I noticed a couple of years ago, that actually helped to solidify in my mind the soundness and Biblicalness of using the Law of God (see www.wayofthemaster.com)  in evangelism was from Lewis's very popular book "Mere Christianity".

Here is a somewhat lengthy quote in regards to the Law, sin, and God's character, found in the chapter entitled "We Have Cause to Be Uneasy":

"...we know that if there does exist an absolute goodness it must hate
most of what we do. That is the terrible fix we are in. If the
universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then our efforts are
in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves
enemies to that goodness every day, and are not in the least likely to
do any better tomorrow, and so our case is hopeless again. We cannot
do without it, and we cannot do with it. God is the only comfort, He
is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we
most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made
ourselves his enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of
absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are
still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety
or the great danger-according to the way you react to it. And we have
reacted the wrong way.

Now my third point. When I chose to get to my real subject in this
roundabout way, I was not trying to play any kind of trick on you.
I had a different reason. My reason was that Christianity simply
does not make any sense until you face the sort of facts I have
been describing. Christianity tells people to repent and promises
them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to
say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of
and who do not feel that they need any forgiveness. It is after you
have realised that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind
the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong
with that Power-it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that
Christianity begins to talk. When you know you are sick, you will
listen to the doctor. When you have realised that our position is
nearly desperate you will begin to understand what the Christians
are talking about...All I am doing is to ask people to face the
facts-to understand the questions which Christianity claims to
answer. And they are very terrifying facts. I wish it were possible
to say something more agreeable. But I must say what I think true.
Of course, I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the
long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in
comfort; it begins in the dismay I have been describing, and it is
no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going
through that dismay."

After spending my first 3 years as a Christian in the States involved in tons of personal evangelism and now after having spent nearly 6 years living in some of the most Gospel-deprived regions in the world, I am somewhat frustrated by the amount of Gospel preaching that takes place in the West compared to the complete ignorance of the Gospel that exists all around me over here.

Let me explain a little better. Although it seems that the laborers are so very few even in America, it is impossible to even compare the amount of Gospel-knowledge available to the average American with the utter lack of the Gospel found in certain areas around the world.

We happen to live in one of those places. In brief, within 100 miles of where I am sitting right now, there are a couple million Tibetan Buddhists and Chinese Muslims scattered throughout tens of thousands of towns and villages. The vast majority of these people have never heard anything true about Christianity, and (with the exception of just a handful) the villages have never, in the history of mankind, been graced by the presence of a minister of the Gospel.

The need in this and other places is so overwhelming and I truly believe that God will call more people out into these far flung corners of the world if they have the chance to hear about the need
and are shown how they can do something about it.

We simply want to encourage the Western Church to wake up and realize that dozens of regions around the world are still completely devoid of the Gospel AND most of these places are difficult places for even 'native missionaries' to work. It is going to take people like you and me to go and learn these languages and share with these people.

For instance, the large number of Christians in China are primarily located in the eastern half of the country and their culture is radically different from that of the Tibetans and Chinese Muslims. Much of the time, Western missionaries do a better job of reaching out to these minorities than do the Chinese, especially with the raciscm that exists in China and the recent wars that the minorities have often fought against the ruling Chinese.

I hope I have explained my burden clearly enough. Please let me know if anybody has any thoughts, comments, or questions. For God's glory, we want to see more laborers raised up to reach these millions with the Gospel!

A few months ago, I was blessed to hear a few sermons preached by a man named Paul Washer, who is the director of a ministry called HeartCry Missionary Society.

You can check out their ministry website for yourself by visiting:  www.heartcrymissionary.com.

But I personally want to recommend their video page, where you can see 5-15 minute clips of sermons on various topics. Paul is not your average preacher, and his messages are likely to challenge you A LOT! But it is highly recommended.

Here is the link to their video page: http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/resources/video

I am currently in a race with time to get the 2007 yearly financial report done for our Chinese company.

We are required to file this report yearly, before June 30th at nearly half dozen different government offices in our region.

Each of these offices has to sign off that this has not only been done on time, but that everything is satisfactory. Or else what?

Or else we don't get our business license renewed, and thus loose our right to obtain residence visas to live here in Asia's Highlands!

So the majority of my free time during these past few days (and the days and weeks to come) has been staring at a screen very much like the one you see above.

Please keep us in your prayers! There is a lot of monotonous work to be done, but without it, we would not be able to continue living here and doing the eternal work that we have come to accomplish!

Just so you know, I pass most of my working hours listening to Way of the Master Radio @ www.wayofthemasterradio.com. You can listen to today's show, or you can go to www.wayofthemasterradio.com/podcast to download shows from the past 2+ years. I highly recommend it!

This picture was taken on Ariel's Birthday (March 26th) at a Chinese fast-food restaurant play area.

For those of you who read our blog and get our blog updates, I will try to start updating this more often.

Our lives have gotten much busier in the past year so it has been difficult to find adequate time to do a lot of things.

And, most importantly, we want to spend the bulk of our time growing as a family and sharing the Good News with those around us!

So we will try for more updates, but if we are unsuccessful, please pray for us realizing that we are most likely spending time as a family or doing something else relating to our ministry here in Asia's Highlands!

Well, it wasn't really a battle that happened the other night on Chinese New Year's Eve. But it sure sounded like one!

Year after year, I am absolutely left speechless by the amount of fireworks the Chinese people blow up at midnight of their New Year! You open the window (if you don't mind risking getting hit by shrapnel from the apartment above you) to glance up and down the street and all you can see as far as the eye can see are fireworks exploding in every direction, and at any and every altitude.

Some make it fairly high up into the sky, others shoot off sideways and explode next to buildings, others explode right where they were left standing on sidewalks or in stairwells... and everywhere there is noise!

I guarantee you there would be no more noise in a city being bombed in the midst of war. You can hardly carry on a conversation sitting next to someone in your own house with all the doors and windows (double paned) shut.

The next morning I found my car covered with a layer of dust and shrapnel from the previous night's fun. It looked as if a volcano had erupted and left a layer of ash in its wake. Unbelievable!

And we live in a small town that is not even home to a majority of Chinese people. I can't imagine what it would be like in a crowded part of a large Chinese city.

Someone please help me to remember to have my camera and video camera ready for next year's Chinese New Year at 11:50 p.m. I don't know how, but I always end up forgetting how impressive the sights and sounds are each year.