Following the Call of God

Cooper was a career military officer, a flight surgeon. He had risen to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, soon to be commissioned full Colonel, when at age 40 he resigned to enter the field of wellness and preventive medicine.

It was a hard decision. His wife, Millie, was pregnant, and he had no financial backing for the new enterprise. A Dallas city father, a multimillionaire, denied Cooper his 1.2-million-dollar request.

“Stay in the Air Force another seven years,” he advised. “Don’t risk giving up your benefits.”

The reasons were mounting as to why Cooper should stay put. Yet when he and his wife prayed, they concurred that it was the Lord’s leading.

There was no lending agency willing to put up more than $100,000, since Cooper’s net worth was less than $25,000. But the young doctor persisted. Finally Joe McKinney, President of the Tyler Corporation, agreed to make a loan of $1.2 million.

I’m sure Joe McKinney feels a wave of satisfaction today when he thinks about the thousands, maybe millions, of people who have benefited from Cooper’s philosophy.

At that time, though, the obstacles for Cooper seemed to proliferate daily. Some respected Dallas doctors scoffed at his idea. He was called before the Dallas County Board of Censors to defend his position. Some medical men were pressing to restrict his practice, and even fractured the truth about him, claiming that he had been dishonorably discharged from military service and only had a Ph.D.

Had Cooper wanted to give up at this stage, he would have had no shortage of excuses. But he and his wife were certain that God had called them. So they prayed and persisted until the impossible was accomplished.

Their original vision had been for a modest office employing eight or ten people, but that goal was dramatically surpassed. Today his staff numbers 220. Adherents to Cooper’s wellness philosophy live and work in more than 50 nations. His books have sold more than 30 million copies in 41 languages and Braille.

The Cooper Clinic and Aerobics Center are the focal points of attention for medical, sports, and educational leaders from nations on every continent, including those behind the Iron Curtain. World leaders — among them medical men — come to him for their annual physical checkups. Only out of deference to their right to privacy do I refrain from naming some. Suffice it to say, hardly a day goes by when their names aren’t in the news.

Today Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper continues to embody this book’s formula — trust, organize, persist. He is a man of God, in a marriage made by God. His wife, Millie, shares his trust in God and his determination to see his goals achieved.

Talk about organization! I have never been to any offices where things run more smoothly or promptly. The entire operation is a model of organizational excellence.

Persistence? His annual budget today is more than ten times McKinney’s original investment.

Dr. Cooper’s is a big success story. It measures what can be done when somebody decides to trust, organize, and persist.

Of course his impossibility isn’t the same one you’re facing. But can you honestly say it was easier for Dr. Cooper than it is for you?

Do you really have any more right than he to make excuses?

Are you content to wallow in helplessness when other people, in situations as hard as yours, have managed to turn impossibility into possibility?

Most important, do you think Jesus was joking when He said all things are possible to you if you believe? No?

Then be careful what you call IMPOSSIBLE!

John Haggai

Reconciliation!

Shortly after the turn of the century, Japan invaded, conquered, and occupied Korea. Of all of their oppressors, Japan was the most ruthless. They overwhelmed the Koreans with a brutality that would sicken the strongest of stomachs. Their crimes against women and children were inhuman. Many Koreans live today with the physical and emotional scars from the Japanese occupation.

One group singled out for concentrated oppression was the Christians. When the Japanese army overpowered Korea one of the first things they did was board up the evangelical churches and eject most foreign missionaries. It has always fascinated me how people fail to learn from history. Conquering nations have consistently felt that shutting up churches would shut down Christianity. It didn't work in Rome when the church was established, and it hasn't worked since. Yet somehow the Japanese thought they would have a different success record.

The conquerors started by refusing to allow churches to meet and jailing many of the key Christian spokesmen. The oppression intensified as the Japanese military increased its profile in the South Pacific. The "Land of the Rising Sun" spread its influence through a reign of savage brutality. Anguish filled the hearts of the oppressed -- and kindled hatred deep in their souls. One pastor persistently entreated his local Japanese police chief for permission to meet for services. His nagging was finally accommodated, and the police chief offered to unlock his church ... for one meeting.

It didn't take long for word to travel. Committed Christians starving for an opportunity for unhindered worship quickly made their plans. Long before dawn on that promised Sunday, Korean families throughout a wide area made their way to the church. They passed the staring eyes of their Japanese captors, but nothing was going to steal their joy. As they closed the doors behind them they shut out the cares of oppression and shut in a burning spirit anxious to glorify their Lord.

The Korean church has always had a reputation as a singing church. Their voices of praise could not be concealed inside the little wooden frame sanctuary. Song after song rang through the open windows into the bright Sunday morning. For a handful of peasants listening nearby, the last two songs this congregation sang seemed suspended in time. It was during a stanza of "Nearer My God to Thee" that the Japanese police chief waiting outside gave the orders. The people toward the back of the church could hear them when they barricaded the doors, but no one realized that they had doused the church with kerosene until they smelled the smoke. The dried wooden skin of the small church quickly ignited. Fumes filled the structure as tongues of flame began to lick the baseboard on the interior walls.

There was an immediate rush for the windows. But momentary hope recoiled in horror as the men climbing out the windows came crashing back in -- their bodies ripped by a hail of bullets. The good pastor knew it was the end. With a calm that comes from confidence, he led his congregation in a hymn whose words served as a fitting farewell to earth and a loving salutation to heaven. The first few words were all the prompting the terrified worshipers needed. With smoke burning their eyes, they instantly joined as one to sing their hope and leave their legacy.

Their song became a serenade to the horrified and helpless witnesses outside. Their words also tugged at the hearts of the cruel men who oversaw this flaming execution of the innocent: Alas! and did my Savior bleed? and did my Sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?

Just before the roof collapsed they sang the last verse, their words an eternal testimony to their faith: But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe: Here, Lord, I give myself away 'Tis all that I can do! At the cross, at the cross Where I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away -- It was there by faith I received my sight, And now I am happy all the day.

The strains of music and wails of children were lost in a roar of flames. The elements that once formed bone and flesh mixed with the smoke and dissipated into the air. The bodies that once housed life fused with the charred rubble of a building that once housed a church. But the souls who left singing finished their chorus in the throne room of God. Clearing the incinerated remains was the easy part. Erasing the hate would take decades. For some of the relatives of the victims, this carnage was too much. Evil had stooped to a new low, and there seemed to be no way to curb their bitter loathing of the Japanese.

In the decades that followed, that bitterness was passed on to a new generation. The Japanese, although conquered, remained a hated enemy. The monument the Koreans built at the location of the fire not only memorialized the people who died, but stood as a mute reminder of their pain. Inner rest? How could rest coexist with a bitterness deep as marrow in the bones?

Suffering, of course, is a part of life. People hurt people. Almost all of us have experienced it at some time. Maybe you felt it when you came home to find that your spouse had abandoned you, or when your integrity was destroyed by a series of well-timed lies, or when your company was bled dry by a partner. It kills you inside. Bitterness clamps down on your soul like iron shackles.

The Korean people who found it too hard to forgive could not enjoy the "peace that passes all understanding." Hatred choked their joy. It wasn't until 1972 that any hope came. A group of Japanese pastors traveling through Korea came upon the memorial. When they read the details of the tragedy and the names of the spiritual brothers and sisters who had perished, they were overcome with shame. Their country had sinned, and even though none of them were personally involved (some were not even born at the time of the tragedy), they still felt a national guilt that could not be excused.

They returned to Japan committed to right a wrong. There was an immediate outpouring of love from their fellow believers. They raised ten million yen ($25,000). The money was transferred through proper channels and a beautiful white church building was erected on the sight of the tragedy.

When the dedication service for the new building was held, a delegation from Japan joined the relatives and special guests. Although their generosity was acknowledged and their attempts at making peace appreciated, the memories were still there. Hatred preserves pain. It keeps the wounds open and the hurts fresh. The Koreans' bitterness had festered for decades. Christian brothers or not, these Japanese were descendants of a ruthless enemy.

The speeches were made, the details of the tragedy recalled, and the names of the dead honored. It was time to bring the service to a close. Someone in charge of the agenda thought it would be appropriate to conclude with the same two songs that were sung the day the church was burned.

The song leader began the words to "Nearer My God to Thee." But something remarkable happened as the voices mingled on the familiar melody. As the memories of the past mixed with the truth of the song, resistance started to melt. The inspiration that gave hope to a doomed collection of churchgoers in a past generation gave hope once more.

The song leader closed the service with the hymn "At the Cross."

The normally stoic Japanese could not contain themselves. The tears that began to fill their eyes during the song suddenly gushed from deep inside. They turned to their Korean spiritual relatives and begged them to forgive. The guarded, calloused hearts of the Koreans were not quick to surrender. But the love of the Japanese believers -- unintimidated by decades of hatred -- tore at the Koreans' emotions:At the cross, at the cross Where I first saw the light, And the burden of my heart rolled away ...

One Korean turned toward a Japanese brother. Then another. And then the floodgates holding back a wave of emotion let go. The Koreans met their new Japanese friends in the middle. They clung to each other and wept. Japanese tears of repentance and Korean tears of forgiveness intermingled to bathe the site of an old nightmare.

Heaven had sent the gift of reconciliation to a little white church in Korea.

Tim Kimmel, Little House on the Freeway, pp. 56-61.

Sigmund Freud - Died Bitter

Armand M. Nicholi, M.D., professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, explains that Sigmund Freud died at the age of 83, a bitter and disillusioned man. Tragically, this Viennese physician, one of the most influential thinkers of our time, had little compassion for the common person. Freud wrote in 1918, "I have found little that is good about human beings on the whole. In my experience most of them are trash, no matter whether they publicly subscribe to this or that ethical doctrine or to none at all" (Veritas Reconsidered, p. 36). Freud died friendless. It is well-known that he had broken with each of his followers. The end was bitter.

Discoveries, Summer, 1991, Vol 2, No. 3, p. 1 quoted in Unfinished Business, Charles Sell, Multnomah, 1989, p. 121ff.

Bitterness?

Bruce Goodrich was being initiated into the cadet corps at Texas A & M University. One night, Bruce was forced to run until he dropped -- but he never got up. Bruce Goodrich died before he even entered college.

A short time after the tragedy, Bruce's father wrote this letter to the administration, faculty, student body, and the corps of cadets: "I would like to take this opportunity to express the appreciation of my family for the great outpouring of concern and sympathy from Texas A & M University and the college community over the loss of our son Bruce. We were deeply touched by the tribute paid to him in the battalion. We were particularly pleased to note that his Christian witness did not go unnoticed during his brief time on campus."

Mr. Goodrich went on: "I hope it will be some comfort to know that we harbor no ill will in the matter. We know our God makes no mistakes. Bruce had an appointment with his Lord and is now secure in his celestial home. When the question is asked, 'Why did this happen?' perhaps one answer will be, 'So that many will consider where they will spend eternity.'"

The Importance of Smiling

Holiday Inn, when looking for 500 people to fill positions for a new facility, interviewed 5,000 candidates. The hotel managers interviewing these people excluded all candidates who smiled fewer than four times during the interview. This applied to people competing for jobs in all categories.

Bits & Pieces, March 3, 1994, p. 11.

Gandhi and the Christians

"Almost you persuade me to be a Christian." (Acts 26:28)

When Mahatma Gandhi was attending university in London, he became almost convinced of the validity of Christianity, seeing it as possibly the one true supernatural religion.

After graduation, he continued to seek evidence that would persuade him to become a committed Christian. When he accepted employment in East Africa, and lived with a family who were members of an evangelical Christian church, he believed this would be his greatest source of evidence for the Christian faith.

Gandhi lived with this family for seven months, but after seeing their causal attitude towards God, hearing them complain about making sacrifices for Christ, and becoming acutely aware of their religious apathy, he became disillusioned.

"No," he concluded, "Christianity is not the one true, supernatural religion I had hoped to find. A good religion, but just one more of the many religions in the world."

While the circumstances were vastly different between King Agrippa who heard Paul's testimony and rejected it, Gandhi, too, was almost persuaded to become a Christian, but didn’t become one because of a Christian's very poor testimony.

Dick Innes

Keep Your Fork

A woman was diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. As she was getting her things in order, she contacted her pastor and asked him to come to her house to discuss some of her final wishes.

She told him which songs she wanted sung at her funeral service, what Scripture verses she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. She requested to be buried with her favorite Bible.

As the pastor prepared to leave, the woman suddenly remembered something else. "There's one more thing," she said excitedly.

"What's that?" said the pastor.

"This is important," the woman said. "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."

The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say.

The woman explained. "In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part of the meal because I knew something better was coming—like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie.

"So, when people see me in that casket with a fork in my hand and they ask, 'What's with the fork?' I want you to tell them: 'Keep your fork. The best is yet to come!'" 

(Alan Carr, Biblical Facts about a Place Called Heaven, via Sermons.com newsletter)

Absolutes and Absolutists

"Believing in absolutes doesn't make one an absolutist," writes Chuck Colson in his news report Jubilee about a TV interview where the host accused him of being an absolutist.

Colson said, "When that TV host asked me why we Christians always try to cram our views down people's throats, I was getting nowhere. Then I remembered he loved to sail.

"Have you ever sailed at night, navigating by the stars?" I asked. "Yes," he replied.

"Could you use those stars to navigate if they appeared in different, random positions every night?"

"Of course not," he said slowly.

"I think he got it. Christians are not intolerant absolutists. We just don't want our culture to be lost at sea, unaware of the stars above that could so quickly right our course."

Building A Watermelon

I was passing through Columbus, Ohio, and stopped to eat in a restaurant. My attention was drawn to a slice of watermelon, which I ordered and ate. The melon was so good that I asked the waiter to save some of the seeds that I might take them home and plant them in my garden. That night a thought came to my mind—I would use the watermelon as an illustration.

The next morning when I reached Chicago, I had enough seeds weighed to find out that it would take about five thousand watermelon seeds to weigh a pound, and I estimated that the watermelon weighed about forty pounds. Then I applied mathematics to the watermelon. 

A few weeks before, someone had planted a little seed in the ground. Under the influence of sunshine and shower that little watermelon seed had taken off its coat and gone to work. It had gathered from somewhere two hundred thousand times its own weight, and forced that enormous weight through a tiny stem and built a watermelon. On the outside it had put a covering of green, and within that a rind of white, and within that a core of red through which it scattered little seeds, each one capable of doing the same work over again.

What architect drew the plan? Where did that little watermelon seed get its tremendous strength? Where did it find its flavoring extract and its coloring matter? How did it build a watermelon? Until you can explain a watermelon, do not be too sure that you can set limits to the power of the Almighty, or tell just what He would do, or how he would do it. Everything that lives in like manner mocks by its mystery, beauty, and power, the proud intellect of man.

The most learned man in the world cannot explain a watermelon, but the most ignorant man can eat a watermelon and enjoy it. God has given us both the things that we need, and the knowledge necessary for their use.

Why not avail yourself of His salvation, and decide to give God His place in your life? Jesus Christ is the way to God. He says, "No man cometh to the Father but by Me," and "him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 14:6; 6:37). 

"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him" (Psalm 34:8).

—William Jennings Bryan

The Proud Flying Frog

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 16:18

In the devotional book, Today in the Word, the writer tells the fable about a frog and a duck who shared a pond. They developed a close friendship as they talked and played together. But when the hot summer sun began to evaporate the water in the pond, the duck decided to fly to a larger body of water. Not wanting to be left alone, the frog suggested that his friend and another duck hold a stick in their bills so he could hang onto it with his mouth. In that way they could all fly to another pond.

As the three were flying high overhead a farmer looked up, saw the frog clinging to the stick by his mouth, and exclaimed, "What a brilliant idea! I wonder who thought of that?" Without hesitation the frog said, "I did!" And he was done!

The "YES" Face!

During Thomas Jefferson's presidency he and a group of travelers were crossing a river that had overflowed its banks. Each man crossed on horseback fighting for his life. 

A lone traveler watched the group traverse the treacherous river and then asked President Jefferson to take him across. The president agreed without hesitation, the man climbed on, and the two made it safely to the other side of the river where somebody asked him: "Why did you select the President to ask this favor?" 

The man was shocked, admitting he had no idea it was the President of the United States who had carried him safely across. 

"All I know," he said, "is that on some of your faces was written the answer 'No' and on some of them was the answer 'Yes.' His was a 'Yes' face."


"The most significant decision I make each day is my choice of an attitude. When my attitudes are right there's no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme and no challenge too great." - Charles Swindoll

Any Doctors In The House?

A strained voice called out through the darkened theater, "Please, is there a doctor in the house?"

Several men stood up as the lights came on.

An older lady pulled her daughter to stand next to her, "Good, are any of you doctors single and interested in a date with a nice girl?"

How An Old Farmer Won The Six-Day Race

Cliff Young

The year was 1983. In Australia, the long-distance foot race from Sydney to Melbourne was about to begin, covering 875 kilometers—more than 500 miles! About 150 world-class athletes had entered, for what was planned as a six-day event. So race officials were startled when a 61-year-old man approached and handed them his entry form.

His name was Cliff Young, and his “racing attire” included overalls and galoshes over his—work boots.

At first, they refused to let him enter. So he explained that he’d grown up on a 2,000-acre farm, with thousands of sheep. His family could afford neither horses nor tractors so, when the storms came, his job was to round up the sheep. Sometimes, he said, it would take two or three days of running.

Finally, they let Cliff enter, and the race began. The others quickly left him way behind, shuffling along in his galoshes. But he didn’t know the plan included stopping each night to rest, so he kept going.

By the fifth day, he had caught them all, won the race, and became a national hero. He continued to compete in long-distance races until well up in his seventies. He was an inspiration to millions and a great encourager of younger runners.

In his honor and memory, in 2004, the year after his death at age 81, the organizers of the race where he first gained fame permanently changed its name to the Cliff Young Australian Six Day Race.

What was the key to Cliff Young’s success? It goes by various names: determination, perseverance, persistence, tenacity. It means keeping one’s eye fixed steadfastly on a goal, and not stopping, no matter the difficulties or the obstacles, until that goal is achieved.
Mac Anderson & Bob Kelly

God's Guardian Angels

"Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" Hebrews 1:14

As told by Pastor Glenn Gunderson of First Baptist Church of Pomona, California: A missionary who was serving in a remote area of Africa made a monthly journey to a city two days bike ride away to pick up supplies and medicine.

On one of his many journeys he came across two men who were fighting, one of whom was severely injured. The missionary stopped to help the injured man. After treating him, he continued on his way.

Sometime later in the village a man came to him and said, "You probably don't remember me but I was one of the men who was fighting when you stopped to help."

The missionary said he remembered the incident and the man told him. "We were going to rob you on one of your trips. We knew you always carried cash and medicine and were unarmed. When we came to rob you, I had three friends with me. We saw where you camped and put your bike down, but you had 26 armed guard all around you so we weren't able to rob you."

The missionary said, "That's impossible. I always travel alone and have no armed guards of any kind." The man said, "Oh yes, my friends and I each counted 26 men, heavily armed standing around you while you slept."

When the missionary visited his home church back in Michigan, he related this story to the church family. A man in the congregation stood up and asked, "What time and what day did this happen?" The missionary told him the date and that it was a Saturday night.

The man said, "It was night there but it was Saturday morning here. I was loading my golf clubs in my car. I was on my way to the golf course and the Holy Spirit impressed on me so heavily that I needed to pray for you that I took my clubs out of my car and called men from church and we came together and earnestly prayed for you. He then said, "I would like to ask each one of these men who prayed with me that Saturday morning to stand up. As they stood, each one in the church counted 26 men standing!

Dick Innes

No Way Home

I once read how, in the spring of 1981, Carl McCunn, a young wildlife photographer was flown into desolate northern Alaska to photograph the natural beauty and mysteries of the tundra. He took along 500 rolls of film, several firearms, and 1,400 pounds of provisions.

As the months passed, the words in his diary changed from wonder and fascination into a nightmare. In August he wrote, "I think I should have used more foresight about arranging my departure. I'll soon find out."

In November. sensing the hopelessness of his situation, he shot himself and died in a nameless valley, by a nameless lake, 225 miles northeast of Fairbanks. An investigation revealed that though he had carefully planned his trip, he had made no provision to be flown out.

Difficult to imagine, isn't it? How could anyone be so foolish? He made every provision for his journey except how to get home! Unbelievable! 

"How tragic," we say. And yet, how many people make every provision for life here on earth but no preparation for their departure? God has warned us that there is life after death ... after which is God's judgment.

As God warned the nation of Israel to prepare to meet God (Amos 4:12), so He warns us, "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." (Hebrews 9:27). Are you prepared to meet God?

Spilled Coffee and Compassion

How you perceive a situation will determine your experience and your reaction. Let's imagine that you have a favorite coffeehouse that you frequent. The staff knows your name and always has a warm and friendly greeting as you walk through the door. An extremely grumpy woman whom you have never seen before serves you this particular morning. She appears preoccupied rather than caring about you or what she is doing. As she pours your hot coffee a good portion spills in your lap. Despite your jumping in shock, no apology follows. Your experience is anger: both toward the waitress and the owner, Joe, for hiring such an incompetent person. Then, a friend of yours at the next booth says, "Isn't it great that Joe hired her!"

"Great! Are you out of your mind? She just spilled hot coffee in my lap and walked away," you reply with your best indignant voice.

"Oh, you didn't hear the story?" your friend whispers.

"What story?" you angrily reply, still drying off your new slacks, wondering how you will go through the day looking as though you wet your pants.

"Yeah, Joe didn't know her from Adam. He read in the paper that her husband had died last month in a car accident. Apparently her husband's health insurance stopped, and she was looking for another job in order to pay for her sixteen-year-old son's chemotherapy for leukemia," your friend responds.

Now, you still have hot coffee in your crotch, but are you still angry? Unlikely. The only thing that shifted was your perception and attitude. Through discovering a reason to be compassionate, your entire experience changed—and there are always reasons to be compassionate.

An important part of healing (i.e., letting go of fear) is developing compassion. Instead of going out in the world and finding plenty of reasons to be upset, go out and discover reasons to extend love. There are thousands of reasons waiting for you right now. A helpful thought to remember is that a miracle is nothing more than allowing an old grievance to become a current compassion.

If you ever run short on reasons to be compassionate, remember there is always one good reason: It makes you feel better than anything else you could do.

Lee Jampolsky

Highly Complex Plan For Mars Travel

A NASA official involved in space exploration was talking to a reporter about humans landing on Mars. The reporter was concerned about how they would be able to return to earth.

"That involves a highly complex plan," the space official said. "It begins with the words, 'Our Father who art in Heaven.'"

A Great Lesson in Innate Value

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. Addressing an audience of 200, he asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?” As hands shot up, the speaker proceeded to crumple it up. He then asked: “Who still wants it?”

And still, hands remained in the air.

“Well,” he replied, “What if I did this?” He dropped the bill on the floor and ground it with his shoe. “ Now, who still wants it?”

The hands stayed up, adamant.

The speaker smiled and said: “My friends, you have all learnt a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.

"Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make or circumstances that come our way. There may even be times where we feel we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

The Source of Billy Graham's Effectiveness

Backstage at a Billy Graham crusade, some of the local pastors asked one of the crusade organizers, “What is the source of Billy’s effectiveness?” The organizer looked at them and said, “I’ll show you,” and led them to the speakers’ green room. There, he pointed to a damp spot on the floor and said, “Here is where Dr. Graham weeps in prayer over souls before the service begins.” That wasn’t hard for me to believe. I remember hearing Billy Graham say, “Tears shed for others is a sign of strength.

Larry Walkemeyer

Get Her In!

I love a story told by Robert Coleman in his book The Heartbeat of Evangelism concerning an eminent preacher of a past generation, Dr Charles Berry. 

In his younger days, Berry had struggled with the concept of the cross and its meaning. When he began his ministry, like many people with humanistic training, he had looked upon Jesus more as a great moral teacher than a divine Saviour. He viewed Christianity as essentially living a good life.

Late one night during his first pastorate in England, while sitting in his study, he heard a knock. Opening the door, he saw a poorly dressed Lancashire girl. “Are you a minister?” she asked. Getting an affirmative answer, she continued anxiously: “You must come with me quickly. I want you to get my mother in.” Imagining that it was the case of some drunken woman out on the streets, Berry said, “Why? Go and get a policeman.” “No,” said the girl, “my mother is dying, and you must come with me to get her in—to heaven.”

The young minister dressed and followed her through the deserted streets for more than a mile. Led into the woman’s room, he knelt down beside her and began describing the kindness of Jesus, explaining that he had come to show us how to live unselfishly. Suddenly the desperate woman cut Berry off. “Mister,” she cried, “that’s no use for the likes of me. I am a sinner. I have lived my life. Can’t you tell me of someone who can have mercy on me, and save my poor soul?"

“I stood there,” said Dr Berry, “in the presence of a dying woman, and I had nothing to tell her. In order to bring something to that dying woman, I leaped back to my mother’s knee, to my cradle faith, and told her of the cross, and the Christ who was able to save.” Tears began running over the cheeks of the eager woman. “Now you are getting at it,” she said. “Now you are helping me.” And the famous preacher, concluding the story, said, “I want you to know that I got her in, and, blessed be God, I got in myself.”

Dick Tripp

Good Forgetters

Two little boys got into a fight. But the next morning Johnny took his cap and headed for Bobby’s house again. 

Surprised, an older member of the family said teasingly, "What! Going to play with him again? I thought you had a fight last night and was never going to have anything more to do with him? Funny memory you have." 

Johnny looked a little sheepish, dug his toe into the carpet for a moment, then flashed a satisfied smile as he hurried away. "Oh! Bobby and me’s good forgetters!" .

The Cats and the Ancient Chinese Vase

 

A man wanders into a small antique shop in San Francisco. Mostly it's cluttered with knickknacks and junk. On the floor, however, he notices what looks like an ancient Chinese vase. On closer inspection it turns out to be a priceless relic from the Ming dynasty whose value is beyond calculating. It is worth everything else in the store put together.

The owner clearly has no idea about the value of this possession, because it's filled with milk and the cat's drinking out of it. The man sees an opportunity for the deal of a lifetime. He cleverly strategizes a method to obtain the vase for a fraction of its worth.

"That's an extraordinary cat you have," he says to the owner. "How much would you sell her for?"

"Oh, the cat's not really for sale," said the owner. "She keeps the store free of mice."

"I really must have her," the man countered. "Tell you what--I'll give you a hundred dollars for her."

"She's not really worth it," laughed the owner, "but if you want her that badly, she's yours."

"I need something to feed her from as well," continued the man. "Let me throw in another ten dollars for that saucer she's drinking out of."

"Oh, I could never do that. That saucer is actually an ancient Chinese vase from the Ming dynasty. It is my prized possession, whose worth is beyond calculation. Funny thing, though; since we've had it, I've sold seventeen cats."

To All Those Considering Suicide

One woman had a very intimate experience with suicide and wanted to share her story. We were so moved by her story, her faith and her desire to help others that we simply had to share this from her blog: 

To All Those Considering Suicide

Time stood still. Minutes seemed like hours as the panic rushed in while I read the text that my friend sent me. She told me that she was going to commit suicide. I was states away from her and had no way to stop her from doing what she was proposing. I said a quick prayer asking the Lord for much needed wisdom and called her cell phone. When she answered, I could only hear a sobbing hiccup of a "hello." I remember begging her not to commit suicide and telling her that there was hope.

"You don't know what's it's like, Emmy! You have no clue!" She sobbed.

Oh, but I did. I knew exactly where she was... only all too well. Memory after memory came flooding back as I reminisced how often I had wanted to kill myself as well. Times when I had thought that there was no hope. Times when I was so lonely or hurt that death seemed the much better option. Oh yes. I knew how she felt. But I also knew now that there was always hope. There was always a better way than suicide, and that's what I began to share with her. I soon had to return to work, and was reluctant to hang up the phone. After extracting a promise from her to not kill herself, I went into work and pored over what had just happened. The whole incident brought up memories that were still too fresh to not hurt. Memories that I had tried to bury but were still right there. It was then that I realized that my own experiences had not been in vain. That God had used those experiences in my life to help me save someone else's life. So, here's my story, and the beautiful hope that comes along with it.

When I was in grade school, my parents were having one of their fights again. As always, I was the child that took the brunt of the blame. We children were sent to our rooms so that we wouldn't hear them fighting, but nothing could block out those voices. Accusation after accusation against me was yelled downstairs. At one point they even said that I was the reason for all of their fights and marital problems. I tried my best to block out the words but never managed to do so. I asked my sister if Mom and Dad were going to get a divorce because of me. She held me tight as she told me that, that would never happen. I sat there in my room listening to them fight and wished right then that I could swallow a bottle of 409 so that they wouldn't have to deal with me anymore. The only thing that kept me from doing it is that I thought it might hurt and not actually kill me. That's when the first thoughts of suicide came.

All throughout junior high and high school, I was suicidal. I would never admit my intentions to anyone, but suicide was always at the front of my mind. After constantly being told how ugly, fat, and stupid I was, I just assumed that no one loved me and that I wasn't good enough for anything. For years, I endured emotional, psychological, and sometimes physical abuse. I would sit at my desk and just think of what would happen if I took my life. Suicide was my day dream. I dreamt that if I killed myself, then, maybe my parents would realize what a great kid I actually was. I did everything I could to please them, but it was never enough. Being as I had no real friends, I was so overwhelmingly lonely. I would day dream about people wishing that they had taken the time to get to know me better when I was still alive. Then they would see what a great person I was, right? I would day dream about how much it would hurt people if I killed myself. I wanted to hurt them. They hurt me, so it was only fair that I did something so much worse to hurt them. I wanted to just have an escape from the pain. I thought suicide was my only escape. I could find none other. If I died, I wouldn't have to deal with the overwhelming pain. The feelings of inadequacy would never bother me again. I would never be told that I wasn't good enough again. Joy filled my heart as I thought of that. Suicide brought me joy, but it also brought me misery. Honestly? I didn't want to die. I wanted to get married and have children, but I also knew that it could never happen. I tried so many times to start to commit suicide, but something always stopped me. Something always got in the way of my actually carrying through with my plan.

It was in this deep, dark mire that Jesus reached and gave me everlasting hope. I had been a Christian for quite some time, but had never really lived like it. That didn't matter to Jesus. He came right where I was and held out His open hand. With a lot of hesitancy, I took His hand and was pulled out of my pit of suicide and depression. I now can say that without Jesus I would not be alive today. He showed me that there is always hope. That HE is my escape. When the yelling and emotional abuse started, He gave me the strength to get through it. He told me that He had better plans for me than suicide, and that He wasn't finished with me yet. When I could escape the fights, I would run to my room, plug in my headphones, read my Bible, and just weep. But in those times, I felt Jesus more so than ever before. He was right there beside me, lifting me up, and comforting me. When the emotional abuse would sometimes turn into physical abuse, and I thought that I just couldn't take it anymore, He was right there beside me at every step. I know some of you may think that I'm crazy, but I promise you, that He never let me go. He became my best, best friend. I love how David puts it in Psalms. In Psalm 69, David beseeches God to save him from the mire and the pit. Then in Psalm 70 verses 5, 14, and 16 we can see that David saw that his hope was in the Lord: "For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth. But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more. I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only." Praise the Lord that He is our hope and salvation!

Now, as a young adult, I sometimes still struggle with depression and thoughts of suicide. I still wish to end my life instead of putting up with the pain, but let me tell you something. Suicide would be the most selfish thing that I could do. Suicide only thinks about me, me, me, and me. Why I'm unhappy. Why I'm hurt. Why I shouldn't be here. How I think that other's should treat me. I find that in those times when I am depressed, I need to check my focus. What am I focusing on in those times? I can guarantee you that when I'm depressed and suicidal, that my thoughts are always on me and my problems. Instead, my thoughts need to be on Jesus and His works. During those times, you'll find me breaking out into a praise song in the middle of the crowd. I may be singing way off key, but I'm praising my Lord and remembering all that He has done for me. I will walk around and purposely look for things to thank the Lord for that I've never thanked Him for before. I'll thank Him for the road and the people who built the it, or for person who just smiled at me. Only then, will I find myself rising above my struggles, and find the blessed hope that Jesus has given me. The hope for living.We can again find examples of this in the Psalms as David, in his darkest hours, praises the Lord Almighty for His wondrous works!

My friend, if you are considering suicide, there is hope! I've been right where you are. I know your pain. I know your hurt. I know your loneliness, but I promise you that there is hope. There is a way out. Jesus has promised us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that He will not bring anything into our lives that is more then we can take. There is always hope. I know that right now, all you can see is the darkness of your struggle, but look up my friend! Start praising the Lord. I promise you that if you do, your life will change radically in the way you view it. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, He is standing right there with you in that pit with an outstretched hand, just waiting for you to take it. There is an end to your struggle and there is hope. Let Jesus show you what it is.

May God bless you!

<3 Emmy"

(via alifelivedwithhope.blogspot.com)

Albert's Quotable Quotes 2014

The utility-based approach to church ministry is most dangerous. We use people instead of empowering people. If they are deemed as not useful, we reject them. The result is an enslaved people, bound by duties, rules, laws, guilt and fear. Instead of having love and reverential fear for God, they develop a dreadful fear for Him. Their spirits cry for liberty but the church leadership gives them bondage instead. In time, they become disappointed and leave the local church. Some recover in other good churches but many do not. They have 'lost their faith', thinking that their abusive church is the representation of all Christendom. They want absolutely nothing to do with God or His Church anymore. AK

-----------------------------------------

The danger of our healing testimonies is that we only proclaim what Christ has done for us and not who Christ really is. Yes, eight years ago, the Lord had miraculously healed me instantly of my chronic back pain and nerve-pull caused by Ankylosing spondylitis. However, today, what is proclaimed is not about the healing but the Healer... not about the miracle but the Miracle Giver... not about man but God.
My personal miracle cannot heal you... only Christ and Christ alone can! Seek Him and Him alone! Your miracle is in the hands of Christ alone.
--------------------------------------------------

We need more ministers than preachers! There are so many people who need to experience the Gospel of Jesus through His loving touch. They need healing in their souls, spirits and bodies. We can become God's hands extended and touching them for Christ. We can minister healing in the name of Jesus. We can get rid of the demons that oppress them... in the mighty name of Jesus! We can bring healing by letting the love of Jesus flow through us. Yes, we can do all these because we are the servants of the Most High God. We have been given power and authority to minister! We are His ministers!
--------------------------------------------------

Did Judas see Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead? Did he see Jesus walked on water? Did he listened to all his sermons and teachings? Did he attend the best fellowship in the world? What happened to Judas? His story shows that when one has a different heartbeat from the Lord, one runs his own life and follows his own agenda. The King is there but He is never your king. And you are never a part of His kingdom because you have your own kingdom. The end result is destruction in spite of having walked so close to Jesus.
--------------------------------------------------

Grace and I have been healing the infirm and casting out demons, in the mighty name of Jesus, for the last eight years. We have witnessed thousands of miracles. Some believers misunderstood us when we say that we are "healing the sick". They say only Jesus can do the healing miracles and not us. They are absolutely correct. We can do nothing.... absolutely nothing without Christ.
We are not the "Chef" who cooks the gourmet food. We are only the "waiters" who serve the customers. We do not take credit for the great food that satisfies the customers even though we may say that we "serve and feed" the customers.
The only problem with some believers is that they refuse to be "waiters". They want the "Chef" to do the serving too. They want Him to carry the dishes to the customers at the table.
--------------------------------------------------
When Jesus had given authority and power to His disciples to cast out demons and heal the sick, He did not go with them. (Luke 9:1-2. 10:1, 9). He instructed them to serve His miracles to the people in need. If we understood this concept, we should see countless people healed and delivered. Remember, we are not the "Chef" but the "waiters". We only serve the miracles that Jesus is doing!
--------------------------------------------------

We do not stay at the Cross. We move on to Resurrection. Then move further to a powerful walk on Pentecost. God does not just save us from darkness, He empowers us to challenge darkness.
--------------------------------------------------

Jesus is alive! We no longer fight for victory but we fight from victory! He saved us from darkness so that we now can overcome darkness!
--------------------------------------------------

The Bible is full of testimonies of divine healing. When the infirm read such testimonies, they get encouraged in their faith and start believing God for their own divine healing. Today, there are also many healing testimonies too. If the Lord has miraculously healed you, be sure to share about His goodness and miracle with others. You have been the recipient of grace and share His grace with others. Your own healing testimony may be the catalyst of increased faith and more healing miracles!--------------------------------------------------

Many small people, experiencing small miracles, in many small places, sharing their small miracles, building more faith, having more miracles, touching more lives, making more believers and transforming this small world for Christ!
--------------------------------------------------


There are people who keep advising us not to minister healing to the infirm because if they are not healed, then they would be very disappointed and will forever doubt whether there is a God. Strange logic! These may be the same people who do not share the Gospel with the lost just because some of them may not believe and thus they prove that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is really ineffective. This type of logic is not from God but from the devil. Who will benefit the most when the Gospel is not shared and the power of God not made manifest? We will continue to minister healing and preach the Gospel with power and authority of the Lord. We thank God for the thousands who got healed and saved because there are many children of God who continue to persevere in spite of such discouraging advice!



--------------------------------------------------


Faith must explore what is opened to us. Peter did not doubt that Jesus could walk on water. He only doubted whether he himself could walk on water. He was not opened to explore the possibility that he could walk all the way to Jesus! We all believe that Jesus can heal but do we believe that Jesus can heal through us?


--------------------------------------------------
What do most church leaders do when they do not experience miracles in their churches? They do what I did for 23 years – they give excuses. I used to say that when Jesus wants to heal somebody, He does not need to go through me to do so. One excuse that I seldom gave was that I personally lacked the faith to believe that Jesus would heal through the Church.
Lacking the faith to believe that Jesus can heal is not only a present-day problem it was there since the time of Christ. We read in Mark 6:1-6 that Jesus encountered this type of unbelief when he ministered with his disciples at his hometown, Nazareth. They believed that they were so familiar with Jesus whom they recognized as the carpenter's son in their little town. And such familiarity blinded their faith. I was too familiar with Jesus and had put him in my little theological box.Nine years ago, I bowed before Him and let Him out of my little prison. Since then, I have witnessed thousands who were miraculously healed by the Lord through his Body - the Church.
--------------------------------------------------To whom God has assigned a task, He will give him or her the appropriate authority and power to achieve the task. That's why God has to give us the Holy Spirit when the assignment is to fulfill the Great Commission. The task is massive but the Holy Spirit moving through the Church is much more awesome than the task at hand. If only all in the Church will allow the Holy Spirit to work through them! AK

--------------------------------------------------



Did Judas see Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead? Did he see Jesus walked on water? Did he listen to all his sermons and teachings? Did he attend the best fellowship in the world? What happened to Judas? His story shows that when one has a different heartbeat from the Lord, one runs his own life and follows his own agenda. The King is there but He is never your king. And you are never a part of His kingdom because you have your own kingdom. The end result is destruction in spite of having walked so close to Jesus.





--------------------------------------------------

Can you recall how you struggled to become what your friends and relatives told you what you should become? It was a time of confusion and everything seemed so uncertain. Nothing seemed to correspond with the desire within you. Then the Lord Jesus found you. Suddenly you discovered that the true joy of being yourself was to become what your Creator wanted you to be. You did not allow their opinions to bother you anymore. You stopped comparing yourself with others and began living for God. Life may not be perfect but you are now guided by His Word. You know that when your life journey gets a little tedious or overwhelming, you can always call on Him. He promised that He will never leave or forsake you. He will continue to bless you with wisdom and courage to take charge of your life journey. The question is, for the remaining part of your life, would you continue to trust Him even when the future seems obscure and the journey seems uncertain? Would you?




---------------------------------------


Never, never take busy-ness for the kingdom of God to mean fruitfulness in the kingdom of God. You may be serving just to fulfill your potentials instead of fulfilling the call of God in your life.

What is God asking you to do in spite of the fact that you are very gifted and can do many things? When you seek to fulfill your own potentials, you are doing for self-fulfillment. But when you obey the call of God and zero in on serving His bidding, something happens not only on the outside but also inside.

The faith to obey and submit is the key. As you serve the Lord, the Holy Spirit will cause great transformation within you. You become more and more like Christ. A transformed life is very powerful because by sheer "Christlikeness", this life will impact society. Your transformed life will be the light by which others see the love and grace of God.

You can DO without BEING but you cannot BE without DOING. Keep serving the Lord with this end in mind.


AK----------------------------------------

If you know how to place one day in the hands of God, you'll know how to put your life in the hands of God. For God just needs only one day at a time from you to give you a whole of life of success! And success is becoming the person that God wants you to be!

AK

---------------------------------------

Whenever the Holy Spirit leads you to an assignment, it is because He is setting you up for a blessing with your name on it. Are you called to be an Usher? How about a Sunday School Teacher? Are you called to be a Worship Leader? Are you called to serve in an Orphanage? Are you called to give free tuition to poor kids? Are you called to be a Preacher or Pastor? Whatever God's assignment is for you during this season of your life, it is meant to bless and not exploit you. Don't let the devil convince you and rob you of God's best. God is positioning you so that you are in the finest condition to receive a great harvest that is specially designed for you.


Albert Kang


----------------------------



Mountain-moving faith is useless if you do not command the mountain to go in the name of Jesus.
Albert Kang



----------------------------
The Mirror or the Face
When you look into a mirror and find that your face is dirty, you have to check whether it is the mirror that is dirty or it's your face. Knowing which one to clean will surely help! When you read the Word of God and it reflects who you really are, it is definitely not the Word of God that is wrong. Don't get rid of this spiritual mirror. Go humbly to Jesus for the cleansing stream from Calvary. You will come out as pure as snow!


Albert Kang

----------------------------


Prayers or Demands
In prayers, instead of requesting from God, we have been making demands. In the course of time, we have gotten terribly upset when those demands were not met. We have deemed that our prayers were reasonable and logical. God should answer them... according to our way. Even though, we claim to be followers of Christ, we have unwittingly made Christ to be our follower. We tell Him how He should answer our prayers and do what we ask. He is now our servant and we are His masters. As long He answers accordingly, our faith in Him remains. However, if a series of demands were not met, we'll fire Him. He will no longer be in our employment. We'll look for another servant.


Albert Kang






-----------------------------

I COULD HAVE DONE MORE

Oskar Schinler

The film Schindler's List chronicled the heroic efforts of a German industrialist named Oskar Schindler. Through his unselfish activities, over a thousand Jews on the trains to Auschwitz were saved. After Schindler found out what was happening at Auschwitz, he began a systematic effort to save as many Jews as he could. For money, he could buy Jews to work in his factory which was supposed to be a part of the military machine of Germany. On one hand he was buying as many Jews as he could, and on the other hand he was deliberately sabotaging the ammunition produced in his factory. He entered the war as a financially wealthy industrialist; by the end of the war, he was basically financially bankrupt.

When the Germans surrendered, Schindler met with his workers and declared that at midnight they were all free to go. The most emotional scene of the film was when Schindler said good-bye to the financial manager of the plant, a Jew and his good and trusted friend. As he embraced his friend, Schindler sobbed and said, "I could have done more." He looked at his automobile and asked, "Why did I save this? I could have bought 10 Jews with this." Taking another small possession he cried, "This would have saved another one. Why didn't I do more?" (James Forlines, Men's Beat of Free Will Baptist Foreign Missions, April 1999, 4.)

One day Jesus is going to split the eastern sky and come for His own. It will not matter then how much money we have in a mutual fund or how many bedrooms we have in our homes. The temporary satisfaction we have in vacations and nice cars will be gone. Only what we have done for the cause of Christ will matter. The Privilege we have only now, is to use God's resources for things that eternally matter.

(From a sermon by Matthew Kratz, The Grace of Giving, 6/11/2011)