Salvogesis

I think this is a very significant passage. A prophet, a person of God, is used mightily by God to do amazing things (like we have been here). He was even used to shrivel up the king’s hand and then restore it! God told this prophet that then he was supposed to go straight home without stopping. The king, the government, they wanted the prophet to stay and have dinner with them. The prophet said ‘no’. He was faithful to God in the face of the Government.  Part way home, an older prophet tells the younger prophet that God has told him that he is supposed to stop and have dinner with him. The younger prophet, who had just successfully stood up to the government and refused to be delayed in returning home, now defers to the senior prophet and does the opposite of what God wants him to do. He follows a man of God instead of following God – because of this, the younger prophet suffers the consequences. In this case, he is killed by a lion.  This is important: The message of this st...

Tomorrow we begin hamper registration at the corps. Hamper registration and hamper distribution are always an interesting time in any Salvation Army. We just came from Toronto where Christmas was quite a bit different than it is here. But the other day as I was readying application forms, appointment cards and Angels for the Angel Tree I was reminded of one hamper distribution day we had in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Our building there is a former elementary school - like it was here for a bit. It is big and at Christmas time it is full of people; so it’s Hamper Day 2010 and everything is going well – we have so many volunteers helping from the community, it is great. In the morning I receive a phone call: someone is asking if he can register for a hamper that day. I explain to him that not only do we not register people for hampers on hamper pick-up day but that the deadline for registering was three weeks ago. He is way too late. He is persistent though. He is bound and det...

Then Ben-Hadad sent another message to King Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if enough dust remains in Samaria to give each of my men a handful.” The king Ahab of Israel answered, “Tell him: ‘One who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.’” My youngest daughter and I were on another ferry boat today. I have just returned to the Island again and am now remembering the pleasures of travelling back-and-forth on the BC Ferries. The camp that I just dropped my youngest at requires four ferry rides round trip. On one of these ferry rides my daughter -being funny- said, ''we should say this boat is unsinkable and then it would sink and we would have to row to shore." She was referring, of course, to the bragging made about the ship Titanic  before its maiden voyage. The ship was said to be unsinkable and so before the ship set sail a crew member or some other such person was asked by a reporter or someone e...

Today’s pericope is about an awkward family situation and an awkward political situation. Now, I don’t really follow politics as much as I used to once upon a time. Politics is important and being educated about and working to address various issues is important. That being said, I no longer put my faith in the idea that whoever happens to win a contest every so many years will or even can save the nation from all that ails it. On the contrary, as a 21st Century Christian, I recognize as the Scriptures say that ‘I know from where my help comes; it comes from the maker of heaven and earth’ (Psalm 121). That being said, there have been some interesting things happening in our world in politics. When I first wrote this piece a few years ago, the city in which I lived was in the throes of a municipal election and there were 11 people – I believe – vying for just six city council jobs and there were school board elections as well. In Ontario at that same time there was quite a tempest brewi...

Read 1 Kings 13. It is about a young prophet whom God uses to deliver a great message from the Lord to the king of Israel. He then stops for dinner with an older prophet and is killed by a lion. God uses the young prophet to do some amazing things before the king. He obviously has full confidence in what the Lord has told him to do as he is standing before the king. The king then tries to detain him but the prophet tells the king that the Lord told him not to delay in returning home. The young prophet then begins his journey home... On his way home an older prophet seeks him out and invites the younger prophet to have dinner with him. The young prophet tells him that God told him to go straight home and not even stop to eat until he gets home. The older prophet then lies to him. He tells him that an angel told him to have the young prophet over for dinner. The young prophet then doubts what he knows was God's message to him: Go home and don't stop even to eat! The young pro...