General Articles

Softly and Tenderly :: By Dennis Huebshman

Published on: by RR7

“But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as Holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the Hope that is in you; yet doing it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame” (1 Peter 3:15-16; any emphasis mine).

Theodore Roosevelt had a policy, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” He was advocating non-aggression, but was prepared to back it up with severe action if required.

All during the arrest, physical abuse and the terrible death by crucifixion, Jesus could have lashed out and destroyed all involved with just a word. He even gave a stern rebuke to Peter who had cut off the ear of the high priest’s slave.

Matthew 26:52-54; “Then Jesus said to Him, put your sword back in its place. For all who take the sword, will perish by the sword. Do you think I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once send Me twelve legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?”

At the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, a legion of Roman soldiers was about 6,000 men. Using this figure, Jesus could have had about 72,000 angels rescue Him if He had called out for them.

When Jesus mentioned that the scriptures had to be fulfilled, Isaiah 53:2-7 comes to mind. “For He grew up before Him [Jesus before God] like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as One from whom men hide their faces. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.

“All we like sheep have gone astray [Romans 3:23]; we have turned -everyone- to his/her own way; and the Lord [The Father] has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.”

He was not received as Messiah by the religious leaders, because He did not arrive with the full pomp and circumstance they expected. They held against Him that He actually criticized their way of “worship.” The next arrival of the Lord, when He steps foot on the earth again, will be nothing like the first appearance.

We know that Jesus did speak to the Pharisees, and also to Pilate, but in a calm and determined way. He allowed everything to take place as prophesied so that as our “Sacrificial Lamb,” He would complete, once and for all, our “bridge” to Salvation.

Every sin ever committed, or will be committed, was laid on our Savior on that cross. His sinless blood that was shed was the price He paid to give us true forgiveness and redemption from our sinful nature. It was the only sacrifice the Holy Father could accept.

The good part is, Psalm 103:11-12 tells how those who receive and accept the gift our Savior provided will be viewed by God. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love for those who fear [respect] Him; and as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.”

Our Creator could very well have decided that the human race was not worth saving, and hold against us every sin we ever commit. No one would be righteous enough to pass His demand for pure, sinless living. Those who truly honor our Jesus by confessing to Him that we know we are not worthy without Him and ask that His precious blood cover our sin debt, will be saved (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:9-13). We know His gift cannot be bought or earned, but that He totally has provided everything we need to be saved.

With all this in mind, you might think God would “Carry a big stick” as Teddy Roosevelt suggested. Thing is, our Father is all about love and tolerance for us – up to a point. He will give us every opportunity possible to turn away from the sin of this world, and call on His Son for forgiveness (2 Peter 3:9). As stated, all who truly call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

As in 1 Peter 3:15-16, our Father calls us with gentleness and respect. He is faithful and just, and will respect our decision either way we choose. Unlike Satan, He does not try to deceive us in any way at all. Right up to our last breath on this earth, He will be “Softly And Tenderly” reaching out to us.

The wonderful Hymn was written by Will L. Thompson in 1880.

(1) Softly and Tenderly, Jesus is calling; calling for you and for me. See on the portals He’s waiting and watching; watching for you and for me.

(Refrain) Come Home; Come Home; you who are weary, come Home. Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling; calling O sinner, come Home!

(2) Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading; pleading for you and for me? Why should we linger and heed not His mercies; Mercies for you and for me? (ref)

(3) Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing; passing for you and for me. Shadows are gathering, death beds are coming; coming for you and for me. (ref)

(4) Oh, for the wonderful love He has promised; promised for you and for me. Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon; pardon for you and for me! (ref)

There are only two ways the scenario ends; we will either be with Jesus for all eternity in Heaven, or we will be with Satan and his demons for all eternity in the Lake of Fire. It’s a personal choice each person must make for themselves.

We will never be perfect as long as we’re in these human bodies, and Our Father knows that. As long as we are honest with Him, and confess our sins and ask forgiveness, He will do so. Go back to Psalm 103:11-12. Yes, we may receive discipline, but the ultimate outcome is that we will be totally forgiven forever.

Satan uses every measure of deceit he can to lure as many people away from the Savior as possible. Sadly, many follow him through their personal desires for earthly “pleasures.” No material thing or evil action is worth our eternal soul. This earth is rapidly reaching the end of this age, and even tomorrow isn’t promised to us.

He’s softly and tenderly calling each and every one of us. There is no sin that cannot be forgiven except to not accept Jesus as Savior before leaving this earth. Answer His call, and you will have an absolute reason for the Hope of a wonderful forever.

Maranatha – Come Lord Jesus!

huebshman46@gmail.com

 

 

Abolish Local Police Departments?! :: By Daniel Payne

Published on: by RR7

There is one thing in particular that is preventing us from being raped, tortured, and brutally murdered in our own front yards: local Law Enforcement (LE), all through the will of God.

The following is an excerpt from a recent article in the New York Times:

Across the country, calls to defund, downsize or abolish police departments are gaining new traction after national unrest following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck for nearly nine minutes on a busy Minneapolis street. [1]

If that doesn’t get your attention, nothing will.

If you live in the United States of America, your local and state police are the hands of a justice system, at the heart of which is the very unique American Constitution. Do they make mistakes? Of course they do. Do they have ability to abuse their authority? Yes, but the vast majority don’t.

Those who live in America should be very thankful for the American Constitution. Many other countries modeled their own constitutions after the American Constitution after witnessing not only the resulting freedom, but also the prosperity once afforded our great nation.

Our Constitution is viciously, maliciously, and persistently being attacked by the forces of evil because it is a force for good. Somehow, as of the writing of this article, most of the protections and freedoms afforded to Americans by the Constitution are amazingly (perhaps miraculously?) hanging on by a thread. Even those with dull senses can now see even that will not last much longer.

We all know just how easy it was for millions of Americans to be deceived into giving up their First Amendment protections. What will be next?

Unfortunately, we are witnessing a growing trend in which Satan wants to take those who are, by and large, being protected by LE and turn them against LE. Satan only wants to bring about our pain, suffering, and violent deaths. He couldn’t care less about our freedoms and our prosperity, except to bring them to ruin.

Focusing on the very few bad apples in LE with the goal of abolishing all local LE is outright insanity.

I have to admit that it’s still absolutely stunning for people to look at the exact same thing I see, and yet the very thing I see as evil, they call good, and the very thing I see as good, they call evil. I’m in complete shock at the absolute and total depravity of humankind.

Right is now wrong, and wrong is now right (Isaiah 5:20).

Human beings are completely lost without the Holy Spirit of God, and their minds are completely controlled by Satan. The most amazing part of that is, they are completely blinded of their own path to destruction.

Most Americans are aware, thanks to Hollywood and their local news, that power is sometimes abused and corruption exists. Just because a bully might be wearing a uniform who disrespects your constitutional protections doesn’t mean it makes sense for you to disrespect the bully. Again, this for our own protection. We’ve heard it before: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

If you happen to be pulled over for whatever reason, what difference does it make if LE does not end up harassing you (or worse) because you were polite and courteous?

Yes, that’s a bit sarcastic, but we all know that God does not advocate disrespect and disparagement toward those in authority, just because they have the potential to abuse their authority.

Think of the respect Daniel must have had to show such ‘bully” kings as Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. Remember “the writing on the wall”? Hopefully, none of us would have despised Moses or Aaron if we happened to believe that they were abusing their authority.

I’m sure we can all at least come together in agreement that we don’t want our families to be violently tortured or murdered. Currently, by and large, American LE is the force that is restraining all-out mob rule in America.

Mob Rule: Control of a situation by those outside the conventional or lawful realm, typically involving violence, intimidation, and murder.

Think about this: When the rare circumstance of the violent physical abuse of power by a law enforcement officer does occur, people usually get upset because the particular officer in question stepped outside the bounds of the law, right? They were acting outside of the protections provided by our Constitution. They operated according to their own human judgment and not according to the law. In other words, for a brief period of time, they acted like a lawless man or woman.

We all know what the Lord said about the dangers of lawlessness (Matthew 24:12).

So, what would you rather have, a system of law and justice that is still held in place by our Constitution, or the complete removal of that system, thereby leaving your neighbors, and LE, up to the will of their own conscience?

I believe the movement to “defund” local police departments is part of the plan to finally do away with the U.S. Constitution and implement world law enforcement in America. It’s quite obvious what the result of a greatly reduced (or absent altogether) local police force would mean: mob rule.

By holding back all-out rebellion against LE, we are holding back all-out rioting by barbaric and cruel mobs ruling the streets. Just take a look at certain lawless places around the world to see what the erosion of our justice system would look like.

Actually, just take a look at the streets of America right now.

If the streets of America end up like the streets of Bagdad, then the door will be wide open to allow a world police force to rule our streets, without the U.S. Constitution to restrain them. That would be the final nail in the coffin of American freedom and prosperity.

Even though things are not looking good for our future while we remain here on earth, God is still in absolute control over what His true children and their families will experience. Just when things look hopeless to the human eye, God can change everything.

“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Psalms 2:4).

Although many of God’s cherished believers have died violent deaths in past generations, and still are in this generation, it is still possible for God not to will for you and other servants to die that way.

Regardless of what the future holds, Jesus told us whom we need to fear:

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

All of us of like faith continue to have this blessed hope: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51b-52a).

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/us/defund-police-floyd-protests.html