Dr. Harold McNabb
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Monday, 21 November 2005 18:20 |
In a small Jewish town in Russia, there is a rabbi who disappears each Friday morning for several hours. His devoted disciples boast that during those hours their rabbi goes up to heaven and talks to God.
A stranger moves into town, and he?s skeptical about all this, so he decides to check things out. He hides and watches. The rabbi gets up in the morning, says his prayers, and then dresses in peasant clothes. He grabs an axe, goes off into the woods, and cuts some firewood, which he then hauls to a shack on the outskirts of the village. There an old woman and her sick son live. He leaves them the wood, enough for a week, and then sneaks back home.
Having observed the rabbi?s actions, the newcomer stays on in the village and becomes his disciple. And whenever he hears one of the villagers say, "On Friday morning our rabbi ascends all the way to heaven," the newcomer quietly adds, "If not higher."1
One of the most persistent forms of humor of our time is built around someone arriving at the pearly gate of heaven only to be met by St. Peter who poses some test or challenge to the person as to why he or she should enter. Most are quite amusing. One of my favorites is a man who is told that his life will be examined and he gets so many points for each good deed he has done and . . .
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Sunday, 06 November 2005 16:00 |
On July 25, 2000, Air France Concorde flight 4590 on July 25, 2000, which crashed on take off in Paris. One hundred passengers, nine crew, and four people on the ground were killed when the Concorde banked, went into a stall, plunged to the ground, and exploded on impact in a fireball.
The cause of the crash was a 16-inch strip of metal found on the runway that burst the aircraft?s tire, and the debris from the blowout ruptured a fuel tank in the aircraft?s wing. With the plane on fire the pilot could not halt the take off; he planned to make an emergency landing at Le Bourget airport a minute?s flying time away.
As investigators sought to discover the reason for the accident, they listened to the tapes of the pilot?s conversations with the control tower. His last words as he fought to save his stricken craft were, "Too late."1.
"Our oil is run out", "the door is closed", and "sorry, I don?t know you". Words of Jesus in the parable of the wedding attendants. It?s too late.
William Barclay says that a casual visitor to Palestine in the early part of the 20th century would have witnessed the scene which Jesus describes in his parable. A wedding celebration was not a matter of . . .
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Tithing: It's a Law of the Heart |
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Friday, 28 October 2005 17:10 |
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Donald Drusky of Syracuse New York took God to court. The one-time employee of USX Corporation blamed God for failing to rectify the wrong done to him when he was fired in 1968. Drusky waged a 30-year battle with the steelmaker, before deciding to take legal action against God. The suit reads:
The defendant, God, is the sovereign ruler of the universe and took no corrective action against the leaders of his church and his nation for their extremely serious wrongs, which ruined the life of Donald S. Drusky.
For damages, Drusky asked for the return of his youth, the skill of a great guitarist, and the resurrections of his mother and pet pigeon. Drusky hoped that God would fail to appear in court, allowing him to win the case by default.1
Drusky?s case was declared frivolous and thrown out by a Syracuse court, but I imagine he made a bit of money on the late-night talk-TV circuit.
Some folks quicky turn to blame God when life hands them disappointment, but thinking we can turn the tables on God is even too much for a court-room.
We forget that God is the law-giver and the judge of all the world.
If He were just our judge, and nothing more, then humanity might be understood if we spent our time thinking of ways to outwit our creator, as futile as that would be.
But God is not just creator, though that is enough to hold us accountable for all the law and commands we have been given. God is creator, and . . .
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Last Updated on Saturday, 29 October 2005 15:27 |
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You Have the Seed: Plant it |
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Sunday, 23 October 2005 16:00 |
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You will always be rich enough to be generous.
My good friend Gordon Patterson, minister at New Hope Baptist Church told me of a year he spent in mission work in Kenya. He said that on one occasion, he visited a home and that on leaving was presented with a coke bottle full of goat?s milk. This was the best gift his hosts could afford.
Jesus remarks about the single penny a woman puts in the offering at the temple. It was the best gift she could afford. Both these examples were of extravagant generosity. It is not the amount that is the issue, it is extent to which these poor people went to be generous. No matter how poor you are, you will always be rich enough to be generous.
Paul says, "he who supplies seed to the sower will increase your supply of seed and increase your harvest as well." The obvious caveat is, "if you plant what you have."
You know the story of the two lakes of the Holy Land.
The first is the northern lake of Galilee. Sometimes called the Sea of Galilee in the north. In Hebrew its name is Yam Kinneret.
It is watered from the Jordan River and underground springs. It is rich in . . .
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Your Treasure: Send it On Ahead |
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Tuesday, 18 October 2005 16:00 |
In 2000, there were two documented attempts of soul selling.
A Salon.com article titled ?eFaust eFoiled? reported that 18-year-old Sterling Jones ?put his soul up for auction on eBay. Within a few days eBay removed Jones? offer and alerted him that eBay did not allow the auctioning of human souls.
?According to eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove, there?s no proof Jones can make good to the winning bidder. ?This gentleman would have to make a pretty strong case to us that he could deliver his soul.??
Wired magazine reported that a 29-year-old university communications instructor was successful in his attempt to sell his immortal soul. After a 10 day bidding war, a New York real estate agent purchased it for $1,325. The seller said, ?In America, you can metaphorically and literally sell your soul and be rewarded for it. That?s what makes this country great.?1.
It seems to me that $1,325. is a tad undervalued. In fact we know a human soul is priceless. Priceless means that it is impossible to establish a price for it because it cannot be bought or sold. Ebay is right: Mr. Jones could not deliver his soul even if he wanted to, and a purchaser could not take possession.
On another level, people do mortgage their souls, though usually . . .
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 18 October 2005 13:44 |
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