Perils of Power

 

 

The following is a paper I wrote back in 2010, once again it time I should be a sleep, at 1:30 I had a coughing attack and was not able to sleep.  Before going to bed, I ran across a paper I had written in 2010, nothing has changed.  I’ve come to this conclusion, when we the family of God humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face, God will heal our land. 

 

Good morning, it began with someone calling the house at 5:50 a.m. and no answer when I awoke from a deep sleep.  It has been very windy so far but the sun is breaking through the clouds and I’ve been reading on page 1427 of (The Complete Works of O.C.) title Perils of Power.  This thought came to mind; the perils of power are taking place in our Congress?  Jan and I were having a discussion on this and she thought not, because many of them are not Christian, but as Oswald states, it is God who places a person in a position of honor, as he did Pharaoh.  King Nebuchadnezzar, came into my mind and how God gave him great power till the terrible peril of pride entered his heart, and God hardened his heart and only after seven years of eating grass did God extend grace and bring him back to rule.  It was at this point, we see a man who understood that his power was a gift, and that the God who gave the gift, was more than able to remove it at His will.  

 

Chambers used this line, “The inevitable result of sin is to destroy the power of knowing it is sin.”  That quote reminded me of what Pastor Joe, the missionary told me as a young Christian, “Sin is akin to darkness, at first it is so dark, but the longer you stay in the darkness your eyes adjust, and before long it is not dark.”  Is that what has happened to the Congress, do they not even know that they are sinning; when they, lie, steal, and break the public trust with the very people who sent them to Congress to represent them?

 

Just Pondering,

 

Bob

 

If you do not have the book “The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers” I am adding the article.

 

Perils of Power (Jeremiah 23:1-3; Luke 22:24-27)

 

Temporal power is merely the manifestation of a Divine purpose, leaving ample room for the prostitution of that power.  “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.”  When once a man is placed in a position of honor under God’s providence and does not maintain a right relationship to God, the very position in which God has put him will harden him against God.  Power we must have, whether we like it or not, but power is a terrible peril unless it is rooted in God’s grace.

 

Bear in mind the distinction between the results of sin and punishment for sin.  Verse 2 refers to the latter – “… behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord.”  The inevitable result of sin is to destroy the power of knowing it is sin.  The punishment of sin is that God banishes the sinner from His presence.  What is being forgotten today is that there is no punishment – “This is simply the result of having made a mistake.”  The suffering that comes to the children of bad people is the inevitable result of sin, not its punishment; punishment is meted out here or hereafter to the parents who may never suffer in this present life.  In this case, God interfered with the punishment because they were His people.

 

“Ye have scattered My flock, and driven them away…” Beware of the possibility of being confronted by God at some time with the lives you have caused to be driven out.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

http://fromourbackporch.blogspot.com/

Bitter Water Made Sweet

 

 

Exodus 15;​ 22-27

September 6, 2024

 

Bitter Water Made Sweet

Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur.  They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.  When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore, it was named Marah.  And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”  And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord^] made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,  saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”

 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

Three days and found no water, can you put yourself in their shoe? They had just seen God destroy the army of Egypt, and let them walk across the Red Sea on dry ground, and after three days without finding water, they had forgotten how big their God is.  And they come to Marah, and the water is bitter, and they are really upset with Moses.  You ask any pastor who has been given a task by God, and it, so to speak, hits that bitter water point, and you are going to have a lot of backseat quarterbacks.  

I was going to ask if God has changed, but you know He changes not.  And the more I read, we humans are not any different than our Jewish friends; we have short memories.  This was the requirement for them, and it is my belief it is still for those who are followers of Jesus. “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”  IF that is a two-letter word, and it is repeated in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “ If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  IF, and that applies to you and me, until we learn to listen to the voice of our Lord and do what is right in His eyes and keep His commandments and all of His statutes, this nation we care about will not be healed.  Let me quote a man I had great respect for: “You can’t; He never said you could; He can, and He promised He would.”  It's all about whether you are willing to ask the Holy Spirit to give you ears to hear and eyes to see, and follow Jesus, not the culture or anything else.  

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Song of Moses

 

​                                                         

Exodus 15:1-21

September 5, 2024

​                                                         

Exodus 15:1-21

September 5, 2024

 The Song of Moses

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.  The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. 

One has to wonder if the person who goes by the title of Christian believes that.

 “Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.  Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.   In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries;  you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.  At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up;  the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.  The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.  I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?  Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?  You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.  “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.  The peoples have heard; they tremble;  pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.   Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.  Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.  You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.  The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.  Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.  And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

They were witnesses of God's power. It took a little faith to step into the Sea with the walls of Water on each side, but they were now out of the sea on dry ground, and they witnessed God letting the  Egyptian army come into the middle of the Sea and the waters cover them.  And they did not look to Moses to give him praise; they looked to the Lord, for He alone had done a great thing.  This is what I witnessed: God begins to move in a Church, and the next thing you see is many churches copying what they believe will give them the same results.  I witnessed and was part of the Law Renewal, a method using Lay people to go to the Methodist Church and share what Jesus was doing in their lives.  Soon, other denominations were asking Ben Campbell Johnson, who heads up the program for the Methodists, to send a team to their Church.  But as always, it was the Baptists who came up with a copycat version, and soon, if a Church had great success, and we witnessed God doing that in the lives of many, including the team members, a year later, they ask for another team to come in the hope of it bringing renewal, and it just did not work.

Many of us who were leading teams believed God had withdrawn His hand, and it became apparent that the Lay Witness Mission had become like the church that had the same Evangelist come back the next year, in that two years ago God had shown up, and they believed it was the Evangelist, and not God, who spoke through him. 

As we keep reading the account, we will find they had short memories of their God; are we that much different?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice 

Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.  The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name. 

One has to wonder if the person who goes by the title of Christian believes that.

 “Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.  Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.   In the greatness of your majesty, you overthrow your adversaries;  you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.  At the blast of your nostrils, the waters piled up;  the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.  The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.  I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?  Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?  You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.  “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.  The peoples have heard; they tremble;  pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.   Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.  Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.  You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.  The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.  Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.  And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

They were witnesses of God's power. It took a little faith to step into the Sea with the walls of Water on each side, but they were now out of the sea on dry ground, and they witnessed God letting the  Egyptian army come into the middle of the Sea and the waters cover them.  And they did not look to Moses to give him praise; they looked to the Lord, for He alone had done a great thing.  This is what I witnessed: God begins to move in a Church, and the next thing you see is many churches copying what they believe will give them the same results.  I witnessed and was part of the Law Renewal, a method using Lay people to go to the Methodist Church and share what Jesus was doing in their lives.  Soon, other denominations were asking Ben Campbell Johnson, who heads up the program for the Methodists, to send a team to their Church.  But as always, it was the Baptists who came up with a copycat version, and soon, if a Church had great success, and we witnessed God doing that in the lives of many, including the team members, a year later, they ask for another team to come in the hope of it bringing renewal, and it just did not work.

Many of us who were leading teams believed God had withdrawn His hand, and it became apparent that the Lay Witness Mission had become like the church that had the same Evangelist come back the next year, in that two years ago God had shown up, and they believed it was the Evangelist, and not God, who spoke through him. 

As we keep reading the account, we will find they had short memories of their God; are we that much different?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice 

They Crossed the Red Sea

 

Exodus 14:26-31

 

September 4, 2024

 

They Crossed the Red Sea

 

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.”  So, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.  The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained.  But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Thus, the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.  Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

 

Have you noticed the drastic change in your culture? Well, we have in the USA, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,  without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”  (2 Timothy 3:1-5)  We are witnesses to this, and it is like God is drawing this nation into the Red Sea.   We have a prophecy going back to Isaiah 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

 

When I was just a small child, it was clear that those Yankees were different from us Southerners.  But as I grew up and was taught by my parents, that yes, how and where a person was raised had a lot to do with their actions.  But they made sure that we showed respect for anyone older than us.  I never heard my dad use a bad word, then one day, and I’m not sure what happened, but to our shock, he said those damn Yankees,  and he was not referring to a baseball team.  As I got older, I studied the  American Civil War (April 12, 1861- May 26, 1865).  My dad was born in 1919, 58 years after the war that divided a nation. His grandparents were very much involved in that war, and the way they were treated by the North after the war.  It is easy to see how people would not trust them, but as a nation, we put that in the rearview mirror. 

 

 Today, September 4, 2024, our nation is divided once again, but this time it is over values, morals, respect, and integrity. So let me address those items: Values are defined as “the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something Your support is of great Value."  Please allow me to share mine, and in that, we are so divided; they may not be yours, but I would die for these, that is the value I place on them.  Freedom, that all men are created equal, and that God has never made a mistake.  My right to Worship God, my right to share my thoughts about His love for all people, and that Jesus is the answer to our division.  The value I put on the family, and that they are my responsibility, not yours or the government's.  Moral: “A person’s idea of morals tends to be shaped by their surrounding environment (and their belief system). Moral values shape a person’s ideas about right and wrong.” Let me once more share that these are my morals, I was taught these by my parents, and by studying the Scriptures.  Not stealing, lying, being lazy in my work, and having a sexual relationship with a man is morally wrong for a man, as is having a sexual relationship with a woman other than your wife.  Respect is defined by the Apostle Paul in Romans 12:10, “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”  As I have stated, I was taught to show respect for anyone 10 years older than myself; they were to be addressed as yes, sir or yes, ma'am.  Anyone in authority was to be given respect, and that for sure meant the police.  When I went into the Army, I had officers who, as men, did not earn respect, but the uniform and rank did.  When it comes to politicians, the same holds, and I must say they do not make it easy.  That brings us to one that I value very highly: integrity: “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. "He is known to be a man of integrity."  From the Scriptures: Proverbs 19:1, “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity  than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.”  Proverbs 12:22, “The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.”  Psalm 41:11:12 is very good counsel; ”I know that you are pleased with me, for my enemy does not triumph over me. Because of my integrity, you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.”

 

In this life, we are all going to experience our Red Sea. Now, the question is, are you going to cross on dry ground, or have the water come over you?

 

I’m 82, and have been blessed by God in so many ways, it took a while to live the values that I now employ in my life, but they have given me something that many are not getting, peace, love, not hate for those who hate me for being a person with values, who has no doubt that God has open the Red Sea of my life to place my feet on sound footing.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Pharaoh Regrets

 

Exodus 14:10-25

 

September 3, 2024

Pharaoh Regrets 

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.  They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?  Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”  And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.  The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

 

Some may say, What is wrong with them? Did they not believe in God? The answer is no, they believed it was going to be a slaughter, and guess what, 98 % of church members, and I'm not sure about the 2 % would be blaming your Moses and begging God to fight for them.

 

Now, Bob, that is so harsh, and you are right, but how many of you and this writer have asked why me, God?  Yes, we are not that different than them.

The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.  Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.  And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

 

Often, God allows you to have your Red Sea out front and your enemy closing in; it comes in many forms, divorce, loss of job, kids in trouble at school, and often being told you have cancer or something worse.  And the only path is the Red Sea, and that is going to take more faith than you have; you need a miracle, you need Jesus.

 

Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them,  coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.

Do you believe in demons? Scripture tells us they are fallen angels, but Israel's Archangel is Michal, their Prince.  He was under orders to protect and fight for the Chosen People.

 

 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.  And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.  And in the morning, watch the Lord, in the pillar of fire and of cloud, looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,  clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

 

Maybe doing as Mo​ses did is the application you and I need.   Just do what God has told us to do, by the faith He has given us, and know He is God.  The Egyptians got it, but it was too late; the waters were coming over them.

 

From ​our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Before crossing the Red Sea

 

 

Exodus 14;1-9

 

September 2, 2024

 

Crossing the Red Sea

 Then the Lord said to Moses,  “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.  For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’  And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done that we have let Israel go from serving us?”  So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him,  and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.  And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly.  The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

Exodus 14:1-9 ESV details God's command to the Israelites to encamp by the sea, setting up a tactical trap. Believing they are confused and trapped by the wilderness, Pharaoh hardens his heart and pursues them with his entire army, overtaking them at Pi-hahiroth.  (From the Internet)

 

Has there been a time in your walk with the Lord when you just felt trapped? You were crying out to the Lord for help, but it was only much later that you realized God had use you real life example to change or show Himself strong in the lives of others?  Well that where the chosen of God find themselves, and looking back, they will have a better understanding of God.  And the people of Egypt will know that He is God, not the images they have been worshiping.

 

From our Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

Pillars of Cloud and Fire

 

Exodus 13:17:22

 

September 1, 2024

 

Pillars of Cloud and Fire

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”  But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.  Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.”  And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.  And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.  The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

We human Critters are often discouraged by challenges, in my career one of my tasks in my job was to be a resource to Dupont, in the Electric Markets Division.  They wanted the plant they had in East Germany to change to 3M’s terminations and asked me to contact the head engineer.  She happens to be a woman, and she let me know that it was not fun making those kinds of decisions.  She said, under communism, we had a committee that did all of that, I do not like all this freedom.  The 40-plus years under communism had I’m sure not been that great, but having to be responsible was not to her liking.

 

Now, it has only been a few days since slavery, God, who is all-knowing, knew they would not fight for freedom and the promised land; they would choose captivity over freedom.  You nor I can imagine 430 years under Egypt's rules and its little gods.  They needed the wilderness to allow them to know whom they were following, and it was God, not Moses. 

 

But God began to show them He would lead, by using a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  

After reading the Scripture, and looking for an application, this thought came into my small thinker, has God had to take us by the wilderness so that we could learn that He is God and not us?  If I began to share the many lessons I have experienced, some very painful and costly, to become the person I am today. Now I’m still a mess; I have not arrived, nor has anyone, so worship God, and you will be on the right path.

 

Today’s sermon was titled “Make Room for Jesus.”  Jesus will not stay in a closet; He wants access to all of your life.  My Pastor quotes Blaise Pascal on how to begin to hear from and seek God.  “All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.”  I’ve found that when you do so, seeking Truth, you will leave the room with a fresh understanding of how to go about the day.

 

Pastor Ray shares about his basketball coach and his senior years. In a very important end-of-the-year game, the coach called the three seniors back after giving instructions to the team and asked, "Do you want to win?" It was a very close game with little time left to play.  They answered yes, coach, and his reply was Go do it.  His point was Do you want a closer walk with Jesus? Then go do it.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice