R.H. Clark's Blog, page 2

(Luke 1:5-23, 57-65) Zechariah was a Jewish priest who lived in the hill country of Judea with his wife Elizabeth. They were old and had no children, but they were a righteous couple and were careful to obey all the Lord’s commandments and regulations. While it was Zechariah’s turn to serve in the Temple he was appointed to burn incense in the sanctuary. He was standing on the right side of the incense altar when an angel of the Lord appeared to him and said that God had heard his and Elizabeth’s prayers for a son and it would be granted to them. Zechariah was scared, (Luke1:13-17)

I think Zechariah might have preferred to name the baby “Zeke Jr.” but of greater import was that Elizabeth was too old to have a child. (Luke 1:18-20) Zechariah was a godly man who doubted.

Now let’s look at Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was between 16-19 years old and must have been devoted to the Lord. She was not a priest nor married to a priest and had limited education, but she has an angelic visit (Luke 1:26-37). Mary asked a question that sounded very much like Zechariah’s question. However, she isn’t doubting, she just wants to know how.

Now Mary shows her faith (Luke 1:38). No doubt she knew the public ridicule she would face but chose to submit to God’s will.

So what’s the point? Zechariah looked at God’s promise through his earthly understanding while Mary chose to see with her spiritual eyes. Her understanding was based on her faith rather than earthly knowledge.

That’s a lesson for us. Our earthly knowledge can tell us something is impossible, but our faith-based knowledge can show us that nothing is impossible with God.

With Christmas approaching let’s remember that to many the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is so much foolishness. To those of faith, Jesus is the gift of all gifts. He is the “way, the truth, and the life.” Let’s remember the true meaning of Christmas because the Cross and the empty tomb overshadowed the lowly manger that night.

There is no doubt that God created us to be relational creatures. With that in mind, let’s look at relationships especially toxic relationships which seem to abound in life.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?” Please do not interpret this to mean that you should leave an unbelieving spouse. It means, do not choose an unbeliever to be your spouse. It is also an instruction to choose believers as friends because a mutual relationship with Jesus Christ is the foundation of any healthy relationship.

Now let’s move on to discussing toxic relationships and their impact on our lives. A toxic relationship is harmful to one or both parties. A toxic relationship acts as a trigger that activates our old, unhealthy behavior.

I believe that one reason this is true is a toxic relationship lacks trust. The history of the relationship shows that bad things happen when you get together. You expect something bad to happen, but you find some excuse to try some interaction despite the historical record. Then something happens that triggers an old memory or hurt to send you off and run toward your old behavior. When it’s over with you’re left with guilt and resentment to deal with.

You can blame repeated interactions on the obsessive nature of toxic relationships. We allow emotion to rule instead of objective consideration of the relationship. All too often you’ll hear “I love them,” or “I’ll hurt someone’s feelings if I don’t see them,” or “We share an interest in some activity.” The list goes on and on, but the truth is that you just can’t give up for some indefinable reason. In my case, I just had to do the right thing. Can we say, co-dependency class?

I believe that we should accept this obsessive behavior as idol worship because it replaces Jesus as the focus of our lives.

Toxic relationships also elicit excessive emotional responses from both parties during confrontations. Consider spousal abuse as the worst of these responses. Most often arguments result and it’s always about the same old thing. It is impossible to have a rational discussion with a toxic relationship.

An excellent example of a toxic relationship is Jesus and Judas. We all know the result of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, but did you ever consider what led Judas to this horrible act? Judas was a thief and he stole from the group purse Judas resented expensive gifts being given to Jesus. It’s not hard to imagine that Judas resented Jesus’ perfection and kindness, even to himself. As a result, Judas arranged for the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus let Judas go from the upper room and he did not try to renew the relationship with Judas. He knew that Judas had to decide to repent or die.

Toxic relationships are not based on obedience to the will of God, they are incomplete spiritually. Their foundation is strictly the relationship and the other person. As such, both parties are disappointed which leads to more resentment. The greatest of relationships worship together at the foot of the cross.

Toxicity corrupts good character in both parties. Resentments, anger, and even hatred result from such relationships. It is easier to drag down good character through a toxic relationship than to raise the relationship, but all things are possible with God.

If a toxic relationship is to be healed it must be done through faith in Jesus Christ and both parties must be willing to allow these Christ-like changes to take place in their lives.

Christ-like character means love, sometimes agape love, and others it is intimate love. Just be sure that you understand the true nature of love. Paul gives us a complete commentary on the nature of real love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Paul writes, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

Love, especially the love of God embodies the very best virtues to which we can aspire.

Have you prayed about the relationship, present or future relationships? You can pray for it to work, but most importantly pray for God’s will. Does He want you in this relationship? Is it a good one for you?

The following is a lesson I taught to inmates in the Tom Greene County Jail in 2012. I believe it’s a question we should all ask ourselves in order to make changes in our lives.

Throughout our lives, resentment, anger, worry, fear, and stress led us to react in ways that caused chaos in our emotions and relationships. We hoped that controlling everything and everybody would protect us emotionally and physically. It didn’t.

And oddly enough, no matter the result we reacted the same way each time, and surprise, we had the same horrible results. I can remember as a kid, window shopping on a chilly evening with my grandfather. We came to a hardware store and the lights were turned off making it difficult to see in the window. My grandfather leaned over close to the window trying to see and touched his nose to the cold window. He jumped back and then leaned over and touched his nose to the cold glass again. Yep, the same result, he jumped back again.

As funny as that was to see, that behavior is an example of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result each time. Don’t worry; we’re not talking about being crazy, we’re talking about bad decision-making. This begs the question, have we had enough of the results to make positive changes in our behavior?

Only you can answer that question, but I can show you some things from the Bible that will help you change your actions and decisions. First, you must know the truth and Jesus makes it clear, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” (John 14:6). You must believe that Jesus is the only power able to restore us to sanity, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:13

If you’re one of those who say life’s ok, it’s people I can’t stand. They just don’t act the way they should or (truth be told) the way I want them to act. Think about this. Romans 15:7 says, “Accept one another, then, for the glory of God, as Christ accepted you.”

Ouch!! That one hurt. I felt it big time. We must learn to have reasonable expectations of others and ourselves. Stop relating to others in the same old ways. Look to God through prayer and the study of His word to learn how He would have you relate to others. If I may suggest a simple prayer, “Father teach me to accept others as they really are, not as I would have them be!” Once you begin to accept others it becomes easier to stop putting the blame on them for all of our mistakes and hurts.

I know that many things just happen in life, but have you stopped to think that how you react can make matters worse and contribute to your depression and bad decision-making? If you choose to forgive and love like Jesus, your attitude will change to become an attitude of gratitude and joy. I hope you noticed I didn’t say happiness. Happiness is dependent upon circumstance. Joy comes from living like Christ and unlike happiness, joy lasts for eternity.

Planet Earth is armed to the teeth. Its leaders seethe with pride and anger. Pray. Do as the Bible says. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

https://www.hallindsey.com/ww-11-12-2023/

By Hal LindseyThe trigger on a gun need not be large for the gun to be deadly. The Gaza Strip is 25 miles long and only 7.5 miles wide at its widest point. The Gaza trigger has been pulled. We do not yet know the damage it will cause. So far, escalation seems to be the word of the hour. Gaza’s war has already escalated beyond the Middle East — drawing in Russia, China, Europe, and the United States. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), and you will be praying for peace on earth.On Thursday, October 26th, three men met in Moscow. The least credentialed of the three was by far the most important, at least for now. He is Musa Abu Marzouk, an engineer educated in the United States, who became a key leader of Hamas. If the terror group had a Secretary of State, it would be Marzouk. He met with the deputy foreign ministers of Russia and Iran. Their stated purpose was to discuss Hamas’s continuing war with Israel.According to Ezekiel 38, Russia and Iran will one day lead a coalition of nations in a massive assault against Israel. God will intervene on Israel’s behalf — not with iron dome missile interceptors, but with His own mighty hand. Until the Islamic revolution of 1978-79, Russia (then the Soviet Union) and Iran had been highly antagonistic. That began to change with the revolution. The relationship grew much stronger during this century with Vladimir Putin in charge of Russia. As the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, Iran has been the target of many sanctions from the United Nations, the United States, and others. But Putin’s Russia continued to trade with Iran, severely limiting the sanctions’ impact. Russia and Iran now maintain close military and economic ties.At the end of the meeting, Marzouk said of Hamas, “We look at Russia as our closest friend.”That same day in the Middle East, US F-16s struck two facilities in eastern Syria, a weapons depot and an ammunition storage site. The Americans went to great pains to make sure there would be no human casualties. The facilities are used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups. The affiliated groups had made 19 attacks against US military installations in the 10 days leading up to the US response.Administration officials made it clear that they see those who are attacking American forces as proxies of Iran. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said, “Iran wants to hide its hand and deny its role in these attacks against our forces. We will not let them.”The 19 attacks against US installations caused injuries and contributed to the “cardiac episode” of a US contractor that resulted in his death. The United States had to respond, but did so in the mildest way possible. The Biden Administration seemed determined not to escalate the situation. Even so, the US attack in Syria did cause an escalation.Israel’s necessary ground incursion into Gaza will also provoke some level of escalation. Will Hezbollah — with its 100,000 troops and as many as 200,000 missiles — fully enter the fray from the north? Might Iran move directly against Israel, the United States, or both? For years, the Iranians have been practicing and planning assaults against US aircraft carriers. With the Eisenhower carrier group headed for the Persian Gulf just off Iran’s coast, is it possible they might finally dust off those plans and give it a try?Planet Earth is armed to the teeth. Its leaders seethe with pride and anger. Pray. Do as the Bible says. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has insisted that the mRNA COVID jabs do not affect human DNA. It turns out the WHO was wrong.
— Read on lc.org/newsroom/details/231026monkey-virus-in-the-shots

I’ve loved to read as long as I can remember. Some might call my preferences as eclectic, I prefer to say I prefer variety such as action/adventure, biography, dramatized history, history, epic novels such as those by J.R.R. Tolkien, and even Stephen King.

Which brings me to my choice of writing genre.

For years I tried to read the latest novel by Stephen King, but sometime ago his use of profanity caused me to put down his novels and never pick up another. I’m not a super prude and I spent forty-two years working as a pharmacist, serving the public, the majority of them were great people and others could be really mean. Try telling someone who is abusing a narcotic medication that it’s too soon to refill their prescription. Hell hath no fury like… anyway, I’ve experienced life and its ups and downs.

Since I made the decision to read “profanity free” I’ve had some trouble finding pleasure reading novel, especially action/adventure, because there is no rating system for books and most reviews rarely address this issue. There are good books available, but I decided to make sure my writing qualified for my personal selection list and that was my primary guidance while writing “Israel’s Treasure.”

My first idea came from references to a letter written by Jeremiah the prophet mentioned in the Books of the Apocrypha and the historical writings of Josephus, the Jewish historian. Both state that Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiled Jews in Babylon telling them that he had transported the original Tabernacle and the articles of worship (the Ark, Table of Shew-bread, and the Menorah, and hid them on the mountain where Moses stood to look over the Promised Land.

That mountain would be Mt. Nebo located in today’s nation of Jordan.

Joshua And Caleb

Of course, I had to name the leading characters and it seemed natural to me to choose two of my favorites from Exodus, Joshua and Caleb, the only two men to spy out the land and bring back a good report. They also insisted that the Jewish people could defeat the giant people because God would deliver them victory. Great heroes and they were still around forty years later to lead in the battles that followed.

While writing I dedicated the characters to family members, with different names of course. I included some stories and events I experienced or were told to me by missionaries and pastors. My intent was to share the power of God, often times protecting his servants. When you hear a missionary tell you how supernatural beings, angels, protected them from attach, well, you get chills.

I suppose the question you have to ask is:

What happened to the Ark of the Covenant?

Nobody knows for sure and there are many rumors and claims. One adventurer declared he found the Ark on Mt. Nebo in a cave just as Jeremiah’s letter stated, but he claimed to have recovered the cave because the time wasn’t right for this discovery (that’s suspicious). Some say it’s hidden in an underground bunker in Ethiopia and others insist it’s in a tunnel under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

All I know is that Indiana Jones didn’t find it.

“Israel’s Treasure” is a fun read, I hope, based on an obscure reference to the hiding place of the Ark. It is profanity free with Christian characters and some really bad antagonists. It was fun writing it and I hope you will consider taking time to read it, please leave a review it you do so.

Where is Batman when you need him? It has become obvious that crime is on the increase nationwide. Many Democrat city leaders and prosecutors are seen on television saying that the media is to blame by creating a perception of increased crime. They never comment on how their policies of no cash bail and releasing multiple time offenders may contribute to the problem. They seem more concerned with convicting former President Trump of something, anything in order to keep their campaign promises.

It seems that crime is no longer criminal and if a victim protects themselves using deadly force, they must be convicted as the actual criminal. Now, the DOJ has chosen a path of selective investigation and prosecution by ignoring evidence, even denying the existence of said evidence in order to drop charges for selected individuals.

The city of Austin, TX suffered under the assault of liberal groups demanding that the police be de-funded. The liberal city council complied to their demands and as a result, 911 calls are often left on hold and there are not enough police officers to respond to the scene of every incident. Yet, the same politicians are elected or perhaps are replaced by even more radical liberals. There are many complaints, but no change in voting patterns. Such a wasted opportunity.

This last week, video was shown on Fox’s The Five wherein a young woman was beaten and dragged by two young men in broad daylight in an attempt to steal her purse. These criminals have no fear of being apprehended for they know they will be quickly released to the streets and can assault a new victim. If only Batman had been on the scene.

For that matter, who can be Batman? Society does not need vigilantes. It needs law-and-order prosecutors and law enforcement officers who have confidence in the support of the citizenry. Spend more effort in at least drawing attention to an incident to alarm the perpetrators and less effort in recording the scene on your smartphone.

The evidence is clear. Liberal policies ruin a city and allow the growth of crime. It’s time for a change. Either we change our voting patterns or we better find us a Batman.

THE ENEMY (Eph. 6:10-18): Have you ever felt an urge so strong that you can’t resist? That’s the power of this dark world. That’s the spiritual forces of evil. If you are addicted to drugs, alcohol, sex, or money you understand that urge and you don’t have the power on your own to resist.

Scripture speaks of spiritual forces of this dark world and that is none other than Satan himself. Please trust me on this, his temptations can seem beautiful at the time, but they are deadly to the body and spirit. If we are not strong enough to resist, what protection do we have? Paul says to put on the armor of God.

The belt of truth is not a weapon. It’s good character; truthfulness, honesty (Phil 4:8) a noble state of mind. Purity of thought and desire is the goal.

The breastplate of righteousness protects the heart which we picture as the location of our desires and emotions. We can work hard at thinking pure thoughts and emotions, but the enemy’s darts (temptations) are aimed right at our hearts (our emotions). The breastplate begins with Christ our Savior, worship of God, studying scripture, and prayers. These are the breastplates.

Please note, that Paul speaks of standing firm. This is a picture of a single soldier, standing in his place in the face of the charging enemy, perhaps feeling alone and deserted by his fellow soldiers. A day may come when you feel alone, but remember, “greater is He who lives within you than he who lives in the world.” The Holy Spirit lives within you if you are saved by the blood of Christ.

Feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace tell us to live in peace to the best of our ability.

Shield of faith is exactly what it says. It is the strength of our faith and it protects us from the temptations Satan uses to bring us down and destroy us. Paul says that faith is believing in what you can not see, but you can see the results of faith.

The helmet of salvation provides protection to the everlasting portion of our being. That portion is our immortal soul which can only be protected by accepting Christ as our savior. Christ is our crowning glory and sign of victory.

the sword of the spirit is the weapon empowered by the almighty God which will fight this fearsome battle for us. Paul is reminding us that the battle is spiritual and must be fought in God’s strength, not our own.

Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests is a very firm directive to stay in touch with God through prayer. If you are blessed then you should be thanking God in prayer and if you are in need take your requests to God in prayer. Your situation doesn’t matter, you must stay in touch with God through prayer.

With this in mind be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Never let your guard down, and never take a holiday from your prayer life. This is a battle that is constant and never lets up. Satan never takes a holiday so we can’t afford to take it easy. Do you realize that as a follower of Christ Jesus, each of us is a saint? than means we are instructed to pray for each other without stopping.

these instructions are too important to be ignored. The armor of God is our protection from anything that Satan can use to attack us. Each of us is only human with hopes and desires and it is through them that Satan corrupts our lives. It is only through Jesus Christ that we may obtain righteousness and salvation.

When facing the real world you may worry about going the distance without falling, but by the grace of God, you no longer have to fight because the Sword of the Spirit will fight for you every day.

Do not let national events depress you. Remember, God is in control and His plan is still on schedule.

“God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am’” (Exodus 3:14). The topic tonight is Grace and Grace is such a fundamental part of God’s nature that if you don’t understand Grace you can’t fully understand God.

Grace is why God sacrificed His son on the cross to give us the gift of salvation. Grace is a gift that God wants to give us any time or any place.

The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “But he said to me, ‘My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.’ So I am happy to brag about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can live in me. For this reason I am happy when I have weaknesses, insults, hard times, sufferings, and all kinds of troubles for Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am truly strong.”

G God’s gift.

R Received by our faith

A Accepted by God’s love.

C Christ paid the price.

E Everlasting gift.

Grace is God’s gift. We cannot purchase God’s grace. It is freely given by God to you and me.
Do you feel that you are not in a place that you can accept forgiveness as a free gift? Listen to Romans 3:24, “All need to be made right with God by His grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ.” So everybody needs to be made right through Christ Jesus. Now look at I Peter 1:13. “Prepare your minds for service and have self-control. All your hope should be for the gift of grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ is shown to you.” Keep working, reading and praying. It will happen for you. The Holy Spirit wants to live within you.

Grace is RECEIVED by our faith in Jesus. I talk about doing the work, but please know that none of this work is done to earn God’s grace. The work is reading and learning and praying. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

If anyone tells you that all it takes to be saved is to live a good life, just remember Philippians 3:9, “No longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s law, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith—counting on Christ alone.” God wants to know if we have accepted Jesus as our savior. Accept Jesus as your savior, and then be sure that your walk matches your talk.

The letter A tells us that we are ACCEPTED by God’s love. God loved you and me while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Ephesians 2:5, “Though we were spiritually dead because of the things we did against God, he gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God’s grace.”

We also receive a pass which allows us to enter God’s throne room any time we desire. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us, then, feel very sure that we can come before God’s throne where there is grace. There we can receive mercy and grace to help us when we need it.”

This is an everlasting gift according to Romans 8:38-39. It says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

CHRIST paid the price that we could never pay. He took on the sins of the entire world, for all of history. On the cross, Jesus said, “It is done.”

So it is.

Amen!

Hey guys, let’s talk about our most important earthly relationship; our wives.

I know most guys like to quote this scripture, Eph. 5:23, “For the husband is the head of the wife…” and “…wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” That sounds really good, but don’t get carried away thinking this gives you all kinds of power over your wife. It does give you authority, but with authority comes a ton of responsibility. Every time you decide what is right for you and your wife, you must decide what protects your wife from any harm.

Being selfish with this authority is a sin of the worst type. First you must remember they stayed with us for longer than anyone would expect, and if we’re honest, each one of us married up. If they bailed on us it’s because there was just too much pain and danger for them to tolerate. Many, however, are still standing by us no matter even if their family and friends are calling them crazy. They just won’t give up on us. They see something in us worth saving and they are determined to save us from the trash heap.

Proverbs 31:10 says, “A wife of noble character, who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.” That’s what God knows and wants us to learn. It’s time to open our eyes and see our women, our wives, as God sees them “…woman is the glory of man,” 1 Cor. 11:7.

God says that they are our glory, can you imagine, they are seen by God as our glory and, “she brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life,” Proverbs 31:12. We need to treat them with respect and protect them.

God leaves us no wiggle room when he says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…” Eph. 5:23. Stop loving yourself first and start loving your wife before yourself. That’s a tall order, but we should all strive for that goal. We can show this best by considering what is best for our wives in every decision we make and obeying the word of God.

Our wives want to be proud of us, but we make it very hard when we act like the whole world revolves around us and everything needs to please us. We may be guys, but we don’t have to act like it.

If we honor God through Jesus Christ we will be honoring our wives and the love they have for us.