Fifteen years ago yesterday on September 2, 1994, I led a team of thirteen from Seattle and other parts of the US to Goma, Zaire (Congo) to work in a refugee camp of over one million Hutus from Rwanda. Over 50,000 had died in three days from Cholera. We put up medical tents and went to work. We hired 300 men to build stretchers to carry the sick to us. Hundreds were treated and saved medically and many more responded to the glorious Gospel of Christ. This little team of thirteen went to a death camp in Africa. All were fearful and feeling very inadequate to the overwhelming task, but in faith stepped forward anyway.
Someone said, “Don’t let the immensity of the task overwhelm you, but let it drive you to do something about it to the glory of God.”
As James says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17, esv).
(A side note: Even though this experience in the midst of death was terrible, sad and dangerous, it was the first step of ACTION’s ministry in Africa, with missionaries now serving in Rwanda, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia.)
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Container Bound for Uganda is for God's Servants!
ACTION, in partnership with Chapel Library (Mt. Zion Publishers; literature@mountzion.org ), has been collecting study Bibles and bible materials to ship to Uganda, Africa for needy pastors, Christian workers, and Bible school students over the past six months.
On August 28-29, Brother Clarence and a team of approximately 25 men in Pensacola, Florida worked for a total of 7 hours loading boxes of donated Study Bibles, Gospel booklets, books, and children’s literature (valued at $250,000) on to a 20-ft. container bound for Uganda on September 4.
Over the months, many individuals and publishers have assisted in this great task with donated literature and books. We praise God for His provision and funds through His people.
The container is scheduled to arrive in Kampala by October 24, 2009. Please pray with us for the safe arrival of the container to Uganda and that there will be no problems with customs.
We look forward to October when these Study Bibles, wonderful books and literature will be placed in the hands of those ministering the Gospel throughout Uganda. Praise God for the opportunity to partner together with others for His glory!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
We Love You, Daddy
In a restaurant we were next to a large family celebrating a father’s birthday. There were several adopted children from Africa, other special needs children, and grandparents. It was quite a party of thanksgiving and honoring the father. When presents and cards were given, suddenly one of the children, who could barely speak, yelled out for all to hear, “We love you, Daddy!”
We were all moved at the unabashed love of these children for their father. They loved him because of his rescue of and love for these needy ones. This should be the same in our love for our Father in heaven. The Bible says, “We love (God) because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19. nasb).
We were all moved at the unabashed love of these children for their father. They loved him because of his rescue of and love for these needy ones. This should be the same in our love for our Father in heaven. The Bible says, “We love (God) because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19. nasb).
Monday, August 31, 2009
Old Man Can't Walk!
Recently my wife and I took a day off after a busy weekend of speaking and driving. We stayed in Wenatchee, Washington, one day and walked the 11 mile Apple Capital Loop Trail. I was okay the first six miles, but the last 5 miles were very hard! I had to stop to catch my breath several times and my back, legs, and broken toe gave me problems.
This little episode reminded me again that our bodies become weaker with age but, “we do not lose heart … though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, nasb).
Yes, we may have momentary light affliction, but this does not compare to the eternal weight of glory! To this we say, “Glory!” even with old bodies, sore backs, and broken toes!
This little episode reminded me again that our bodies become weaker with age but, “we do not lose heart … though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18, nasb).
Yes, we may have momentary light affliction, but this does not compare to the eternal weight of glory! To this we say, “Glory!” even with old bodies, sore backs, and broken toes!
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Decree of God
Source: "The Decree of God" by Derek W.H. Thomas, Tabletalk, August 2007, p. 31-34.
Joseph has just revealed his true identity to his astonished brothers. It had been a tearful moment (Gen. 46:2, 14; 42:24, 43:30). He is about to engage in a discourse on predestination and the divine decree (yes, really!), but this is no abstract theological exercise; it is theology engaging the harshest realities -- betrayal, false imprisonment, and injustice!
Joseph had, from one point of view, every right to think that life made no sense at all because there was no controlling power governing the course of events. He might have been tempted to think along the lines of "open theism," that there were certain events in his future that God did not know or had the power to control in a preconditioned way. True, things had improved for him in ways that must have caused him great joy. But the road to this point had been very hard. He had become the prime minister of Egypt, but he could still remember those days when, as a slave, he had languished in a rotting cell wrongly accused of rape. Joseph has been mediating upon divine providence, asking the hard questions about why things happen the way they do.
Joseph has grown in grace; the somewhat self-centered, pampered mother's teenager has now become the forgiving, theologically astute man that is revealed in the words he now utters to his brothers: "God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God" (Gen. 45:7-8). Several matters are worth reflecting upon.
The first clear feature of these words is the way in which Joseph views the entirety of his life as one that is in every way ordered by God. "God sent me ... it was not you who sent me here, but God." The clarity of this perspective is breathtaking clear: Joseph believes that God is in ultimate control of all that happens. Things happen because God orders them to happen. God is not lost in some numinous world, unreachable by us and impenetrable by him. This is no deistic belief in a divine watchmaker who has made the world and then allowed it simply to tick according to a set of identifiable scientific rules.
Secondly, Joseph asserts a divine predetermination. Things happen because God has ordered them to happen before they happen. God is not simply reacting to events as they happen; He has determined how the events themselves come to pass. There is a cause, and there is an effect. God orders and things happen.
Thirdly, and this where we hold our breath, Joseph asserts God's sovereignty in relation to bad things. The fact that they were in Egypt was due to the evil machinations of Joseph's brothers. They had done an evil thing for which they were entirely responsible and culpable. Part of Joseph's recent strategy in withholding his identity from his brothers and adding to their fear by the suggestion that they had not paid for the grain they had acquired was to bring them to own up to their sin. His tactic was designed to bring them to confess their sin and seek forgiveness. It had worked! But this does not prevent Joseph from asserting that even this evil thing that they had done was also a part of God's divine plan and purpose. The sovereignty of God is total.
This raises the perennial theological and philosophical issue of the relationship of God to evil. If God is sovereign, does this mean He is the author of sin? And if God is sovereign, does this not make our decision-making a fiction and not a reality? And does this not also imply that the universe is like a computer, carrying out the preprogramming of a sovereign software specialist with no real liberty of its own? To all three questions, the Westminster Confession of Faith responded with a negative: "God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established" (3.1). Of course, critics have responded to these words by saying that this doesn't answer any of the questions posed. And they are correct; it doesn't! It merely asserts that the alternatives are not true without explaining exactly how God can order events, including evil ones, without being the cause of them.
But a fourth lesson emerges, too. God orders events for the good of His people. Joseph's family will join him in Egypt in Genesis 46 and thereby survive the famine that will run its course for five years. They find themselves in Egypt because God intends to keep His promise to Abraham.
What we have here, then, is a cameo of Romans 8:28: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Christian, even those who may deny these words on philosophical grounds have always clung to them for the comfort they provide in the midst of the most devastating events. We are always better on our knees before God, acknowledging His sovereignty and basking in its reassurance.
--Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas is the John E, Richards professor of systematic and practical theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and minister of teaching at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS.
Source: "The Decree of God" by Derek W.H. Thomas, Tabletalk, August 2007, p. 31-34.
Joseph has just revealed his true identity to his astonished brothers. It had been a tearful moment (Gen. 46:2, 14; 42:24, 43:30). He is about to engage in a discourse on predestination and the divine decree (yes, really!), but this is no abstract theological exercise; it is theology engaging the harshest realities -- betrayal, false imprisonment, and injustice!
Joseph had, from one point of view, every right to think that life made no sense at all because there was no controlling power governing the course of events. He might have been tempted to think along the lines of "open theism," that there were certain events in his future that God did not know or had the power to control in a preconditioned way. True, things had improved for him in ways that must have caused him great joy. But the road to this point had been very hard. He had become the prime minister of Egypt, but he could still remember those days when, as a slave, he had languished in a rotting cell wrongly accused of rape. Joseph has been mediating upon divine providence, asking the hard questions about why things happen the way they do.
Joseph has grown in grace; the somewhat self-centered, pampered mother's teenager has now become the forgiving, theologically astute man that is revealed in the words he now utters to his brothers: "God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God" (Gen. 45:7-8). Several matters are worth reflecting upon.
The first clear feature of these words is the way in which Joseph views the entirety of his life as one that is in every way ordered by God. "God sent me ... it was not you who sent me here, but God." The clarity of this perspective is breathtaking clear: Joseph believes that God is in ultimate control of all that happens. Things happen because God orders them to happen. God is not lost in some numinous world, unreachable by us and impenetrable by him. This is no deistic belief in a divine watchmaker who has made the world and then allowed it simply to tick according to a set of identifiable scientific rules.
Secondly, Joseph asserts a divine predetermination. Things happen because God has ordered them to happen before they happen. God is not simply reacting to events as they happen; He has determined how the events themselves come to pass. There is a cause, and there is an effect. God orders and things happen.
Thirdly, and this where we hold our breath, Joseph asserts God's sovereignty in relation to bad things. The fact that they were in Egypt was due to the evil machinations of Joseph's brothers. They had done an evil thing for which they were entirely responsible and culpable. Part of Joseph's recent strategy in withholding his identity from his brothers and adding to their fear by the suggestion that they had not paid for the grain they had acquired was to bring them to own up to their sin. His tactic was designed to bring them to confess their sin and seek forgiveness. It had worked! But this does not prevent Joseph from asserting that even this evil thing that they had done was also a part of God's divine plan and purpose. The sovereignty of God is total.
This raises the perennial theological and philosophical issue of the relationship of God to evil. If God is sovereign, does this mean He is the author of sin? And if God is sovereign, does this not make our decision-making a fiction and not a reality? And does this not also imply that the universe is like a computer, carrying out the preprogramming of a sovereign software specialist with no real liberty of its own? To all three questions, the Westminster Confession of Faith responded with a negative: "God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established" (3.1). Of course, critics have responded to these words by saying that this doesn't answer any of the questions posed. And they are correct; it doesn't! It merely asserts that the alternatives are not true without explaining exactly how God can order events, including evil ones, without being the cause of them.
But a fourth lesson emerges, too. God orders events for the good of His people. Joseph's family will join him in Egypt in Genesis 46 and thereby survive the famine that will run its course for five years. They find themselves in Egypt because God intends to keep His promise to Abraham.
What we have here, then, is a cameo of Romans 8:28: "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Christian, even those who may deny these words on philosophical grounds have always clung to them for the comfort they provide in the midst of the most devastating events. We are always better on our knees before God, acknowledging His sovereignty and basking in its reassurance.
--Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas is the John E, Richards professor of systematic and practical theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and minister of teaching at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS.
Source: "The Decree of God" by Derek W.H. Thomas, Tabletalk, August 2007, p. 31-34.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
If You Do Not Read, You Will Not Grow!
The Bible says that we are to “…walk as children of light …trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8,10, nasb). A missionary co-worker has discipled many women in the Philippines – younger, older, poor, rich, middle-class, educated and uneducated alike. She observed over the years of ministry that much growth in the Lord came about with much reading of the Word, good books, and obedience. She said, “If Christians do not read, they will not grow.” The Bible says “But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18, nasb).
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
You Have the Audacity!
Several years ago, friends and supporters of ours asked us to write their son and encourage him to come with ACTION to serve as a writer with our ministry. I and explained what the father had said and encouraged him to prayerfully consider serving with ACTION in the Philippines, especially to serve in photo-journalism in our work with the extreme poor, street and underprivileged children, and prisoners.
His letter of response was quite shocking as his first words were, “You have the audacity to think that I would even consider such an offer. Why would I want to leave America to take my family to a place that is hot and unsafe?”
In contrast, let me share a letter to a mission board from a young man wanting to serve in Latin America:
"While I feel a general call to South America, I feel a special call to Brazil. I believe at present that we have no station in Brazil. I know too that the missionary funds are always insufficient to meet the demands. I am also aware that the opening up of new fields is always hard, slow, and sometime discouraging work. I realize too my woeful lack of experience; but I believe if you will give me a chance, that God will see me through. If you cannot send me to Brazil, and have some other place to which no one else cares to go, let me have that place. I am not looking for an easy place, but somewhere, some little corner of God’s great vineyard where I can spend my life for Him who gave Himself for me."
Yours to do or die for the Master,
Robert C. Ingram
“Sent Forth By The Holy Ghost (The Life of R.C. Ingram)” by Gideon B. Williamson
His letter of response was quite shocking as his first words were, “You have the audacity to think that I would even consider such an offer. Why would I want to leave America to take my family to a place that is hot and unsafe?”
In contrast, let me share a letter to a mission board from a young man wanting to serve in Latin America:
"While I feel a general call to South America, I feel a special call to Brazil. I believe at present that we have no station in Brazil. I know too that the missionary funds are always insufficient to meet the demands. I am also aware that the opening up of new fields is always hard, slow, and sometime discouraging work. I realize too my woeful lack of experience; but I believe if you will give me a chance, that God will see me through. If you cannot send me to Brazil, and have some other place to which no one else cares to go, let me have that place. I am not looking for an easy place, but somewhere, some little corner of God’s great vineyard where I can spend my life for Him who gave Himself for me."
Yours to do or die for the Master,
Robert C. Ingram
“Sent Forth By The Holy Ghost (The Life of R.C. Ingram)” by Gideon B. Williamson
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