The Greatest Text Ever Sent!

            Texting is all the rave these days. But you have to be careful to send the message you really want to send, especially if your phone has autocorrect. For instance, someone observed that thanks to autocorrect, 1 in 5 children will be getting a visit from Satan this Christmas. Some other wag texted, “The guy who invented autocorrect for smart phones died today. Restaurant in peace.” Then there was this exchange between a mother and her son:   * Mom: Your aunt just passed away. LOL.   * Son: Why is that funny?    * Mom: It’s not funny, David! What do you mean?   * Son: Mom, LOL means Laughing Out Loud.   * Mom: Oops! I thought it meant Lots of Love. Whether all texts convey what the sender really means to say or not, texts are flying off our fingertips and out of our phones. Statistics on texting are staggering. Some 81% of Americans text regularly. Over 6 billion texts are sent daily. Over 180 billion texts are sent every month. 27 trillion texts are sent every year. America is responsible for approximately 45% of the world’s text volume. Adults under 45 send and receive 85+ texts every day, on average. Adults 18-24 years old send and receive over 128 texts every day. Adults 18-24 years old send and receive 3,853 texts a month. I can’t go on with this except to note that texting, like just about every other technology, is a mixed bag. It can be so helpful, but also so harmful. If used reasonably it is a useful tool and can even be fun. But if allowed to, it become a tyrant that turns in to an addiction. Like other potentially dangerous activities, maybe there should be a warning to texters that says something like, “Text responsibly.” 

            Now that I’ve said all that, let me print out the greatest text that has ever been sent, and it was sent almost 2,000 years ago, before anybody on earth ever thought of “texting,” let alone sending one on a smart phone. That “text” is found in what always polls as the most famous and favorite verse in the Bible — John 3:16. It reads this way in the New King James Version: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  No single verse in all the Bible more effectively captures the heart of what we call the gospel or good news of God’s love and desire to save mankind from sin than that 25-word text! It is the most frequently quoted, used (and we might add, misused), and preached verse in the Holy Scriptures. Consider this from Bible scholar of past years B. C. Goodpasture. He wrote, “Forty men engaged in writing the Bible over a period of 1,500 years (1,400 B. C. to 100 A. D.). They wrote as moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21) and not in words of human wisdom but in words given by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:13). The Bible contains 3,566,840 letters; 773,746 words; 31,173 verses; 1,189 chapters; 66 books (39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New).”

He goes on to say, “We cannot be far off the mark when we insist of all letters, words, verse, chapters and books in the Bible, none more effectively and comprehensively captures in a single statement of Scripture the Good News God brings to mankind that    the statement in John 3:16.” Amen, Bro. Goodpasture! John 3:16 is simply the greatest text ever sent!

Dan Gulley, Smithville TN 

Heirs, Not Spares!

The ire of many British people has been stoked to red-hot intensity of late, since the release of (former) Prince Harry’s book “Spare” (January 10, 2023). The title is a provocative reference to the notion that as the second child in line to the British throne, Harry was a “spare,” able to inherit the throne only if something happened to older brother William. Royal historian Robert Lacey stated on a Pod Save the King podcast, “I would say William has been more kindly treated than Harry has been, but that has always been the fate of the spare,” Lacey said. He went on, “Harry follows, sadly, in the tradition of Princess Margaret or Prince Andrew as number twos in the system, who are treated harshly by the logic of the royal system, which actually favors the main bloodline.”  Lacey explains that as time goes on the number 2 or “spare” to the throne gets increasingly pushed down the line to number 3, or 4, or 5 etc. Anyway, a royal stink has been stirred, and, of course, millions of us un-royal folks in America can’t wait to read the book and hear all the juicy, possibly un-royal, stinky, inside-the-royal-British-family stuff Harry spills in his tell-all type book.

 The idea of being a spare, not the heir, leads my brain to think far beyond Britain’s royal family to God’s spiritual family, the church.  Everybody who genuinely and Biblically comes into that family is declared to be an heir, not a spare! Romans 8:14-17 is but one place in the New Testament that makes that clear, and what it makes clear ought to thrill every child of God from our spiritual heads / hearts down to our toes! Hear it: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Christians are people who have been adopted into the family of God! The act of adoption was a big deal in first century Roman culture. The adopted child received a brand-new name and identity, a complete break with the past and its debts and obligations, and equal legal and social status as any other children who had been born into the adoptive family. This act on God’s part has an eternity-altering impact on our standing and status and relationship with Him. Though we are not now nor ever can be a Son / child of God’s in the same way Jesus was or is (God’s unique, only begotten, one-of-a-kind, virgin-born, crucified-buried-resurrected- ascended to God’s right hand Son!), yet we can, through faith in Christ and obedience to the Gospel, enjoy all the spiritual standing and status His perfect life and work at the cross made available to us. In Jesus Christ we stand to be joint heirs with Him, even if some suffering is required to do so. Christians have been given access to “every spiritual blessing” and “unsearchable riches” (Ephesians 1:3; 3:8). The apostle Peter describes the Christian’s inheritance as  “incorruptible, undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in Heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4).  The big take home point: there are no spares with lesser spiritual standing or status in the family of God! Every person with genuine faith in Christ puts on Christ and becomes a child of God when baptized into Him (Galatians 3:26-29). What faithful Christians stand to inherit makes anything in any earthly royal palace pale by comparison. God’s heir, not a spare — as the old adage goes, if that doesn’t light your fire, your wood’s wet!

Dan Gulley, Smithville TN

The Best Book in the World!

Millions past and present refer to the Bible as “The Good Book.” America’s first vice-president and second president, John Adams, paid an even greater tribute to the Bible when he observed, “The Bible is the best Book in the world.” Many, of course, would      disagree, some of them on the flimsy basis that it disagrees with them! Like Judah’s foolish King Jehoiakim who lived 600 years before Christ in the days of God’s prophet Jeremiah. Upon hearing parts of Jeremiah’s inspired words he didn’t like concerning his and Judah’s conduct and future, the Bible says Jehoiakim “cut it [that is, the scroll] with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire.” But God had the prophet write the words down again, and Jeremiah’s scroll, along with the rest of the inspired writings of God’s Book, has stood the test of time. In the words of the late Charles Colson, “The Bible — banned, burned, beloved. More widely read, more frequently attacked, than any other book in history ... Yet nothing has affected the rise and fall of civilizations, the character of cultures, the structure of governments, and the lives of the inhabitants of this planet so profoundly as the words of the Bible” (A Dangerous Grace, p 18). The Bible, measured solely on the basis of its beneficent and positive influence in human history and lives, is indeed the Good Book, yea, the Best Book.  When respected and practiced, the Bible’s teachings bring into human society and institutions and relationships such things as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Thomas Jefferson, who, by the way, rejected Jesus’ miracles in New Testament and Christ’s Divinity, never-less paid tribute to the Bible’s powerful effect for good. He declared, “I have always said and will always say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers, better husbands . . . The Bible makes the best people in the world.” Indeed, as W. J. Bryan noted, "There is not a community which cannot be purified, redeemed, and improved by a better knowledge and broader application of the Bible to daily life. The Good Book makes good people.

For 1,000's of years the Bible has outlasted its critics. The reason can be found in 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” The Bible is the Good Book, even the Best Book, but it is more. It is God’s Book. Herein lies the secret to its staying power — it is God’s Word. The Bible is still going because God is still going. The Bible is still relevant because God is still relevant. You can ban and burn copies of the Bible, but no man or court of council or government can bury it forever. Oh, men can pronounce it dead and attempt to bury it and, just as they did Jesus, seal the tomb and make it as secure as they know how (Matthew 27:65-66). But they might as well try to extinguish the sun by spitting on it. It is tougher than the black boxes designed to survive intact through the worst plane crash. It is quite simply but absolutely, indestructible. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35). You and I will pass away, but God’s Book is here to stay. Joseph Cook said, “Do you know a book that you are willing to put under your head for a pillow when are dying? Very well. That is the Book you want to study when you are living. There is only one such Book in the world.” The Bible — the Good Book, the Best Book, God’s Book! 

Dan Gulley, Smithville TN 

No Improvements Ever Needed!

Question: Why are calendars becoming obsolete? Answer: Because their days are numbered.” Obsolescence is defined as “no longer produced or used; out of date.” Packages of perishable food and other things are stamped with the words “Use by” or “Best if used by” followed by a date. Of course, the most common way for a product to become obsolete is for it to be replaced by something marketers frequently claim is “new and improved.” The truth is many products humans dream up and produce will wear out and be improved as time goes on! From cars to clothes to computers, stuff wears out and advances are made, making obsolescence practically unavoidable.                      

 But not God or His Son Jesus Christ or the Bible! They endure and are never out of date! That’s why they continue to be so compelling today. In a world where everything we see, wear, eat, and drive is temporary and perishable (including our physical lives and bodies — 2 Corinthians 4:16-18), God and Jesus and their Gospel go on and on and on! Today’s critics and skeptics and foes of God loudly claim that He and His Son are out of date with the modern, technological 21st world. To those foes and          critics and claims, Bernard Ramm made this insightful response about the durability of the Bible (and God and His Son): “A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow, the corpse never stays put. No other Book has been so chopped, knifed, sifted, scrutinized and vilified ... the Bible is still loved by millions and studied by millions.” In addition to “out-of-the-closet” foes, many who claim to respect the Bible swallow the shallow charge that the Gospel is “irrelevant” and isn’t addressing the needs and problems we face today. So they adjust its message and add on some “apps” to make it “more relevant” for worldly culture today and announce a “new normal.” Others seek to bend or amend the truth of the Gospel to fit their own religious beliefs and practices. Admittedly, research, education and technology have made us people smarter and even improved life in many ways, but the evidence is in that technology has not and cannot make people morally and spiritually better. Sin still saturates human society. Immorality is perennially pandemic. The death rate is still 100%. The Gospel always has been and always will be the only thing known to mankind that addresses those issues, forgiveness of sins, enablement to live in a holy way, and hope in the face of inevitable death. We don’t have space to examine the context, but the inspired words of Galatians 1:7b-9 send a sobering threat to anyone who would dare to tamper with the Gospel as God gave it — “... there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” My friends, those jarring words make this truth clear — the Gospel as God gave it never needs any add-ons, App’s, updates or improvements. Those who dare tamper with it do so at the risk of their souls. You could never improve the Bible, but its inspired teachings can improve you. Will you think about it?         

                          “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” — Hebrews 13:8 

       by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN   

Don’t Be Mum!

 Some people lack motivation. Robert H. Hutchins said, “Whenever I feel like exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes.” Jo Brand said, “My favorite machine at the gym is the vending machine.” Bill Vaughn said, “As a nation we are dedicated to keeping physically fit — and to parking as close to the stadium as we can.” One anonymous wag asked, “How do you get a man to do sit-ups? Put the remote between his toes” (maybe a frustrated wife said that?!).

The apostle Paul was a highly motivated individual. Even before coming to Christ, he lived a life of full dedication to God’s service, as he (mis)understood it. Although he once opposed and persecuted Christ and Christians, he describes himself to a mob of Jewish people in Jerusalem (that shortly before had attempted to kill him) by saying in Acts 22:3, “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.” He goes on to testify in verse 4 that before coming to Christ, “I persecuted this Way, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.” Paul was never half-hearted in his service to God, even when misguided. Later, after believing and obeying Christ’s gospel (Acts 22:16), Paul (in prison at the time for preaching Christ – Philippians 1:12-18) wrote to Christians at Philippi, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ” (3:7-8). After being commissioned by Christ to preach the gospel, Paul testified to King Agrippa in Acts 26:22-23, “Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing to small and great, saying no other things than those which Moses and the prophets said would come — that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.” And so it was — when it came to preaching Christ and talking to people about Jesus, the apostle Paul didn’t have an “off” button! According to strong church tradition, those who opposed the gospel finally shut his mouth when they cut his head off outside Rome sometime around
68 A. D.

What motivated Paul to tell the story of Jesus? What moved him and sustained him even though doing so often cost him comfort and caused him pain and even prison? Why wouldn’t he stay mum or be a “silent saint” like so many who sit on church pews today? Why was he so bent on preaching Christ? In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 he writes about the force that compelled him to live for and tell about Jesus: “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He      died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” Paul was so gripped by the love Christ had for him that he couldn’t help loving Christ and talking about Him! What do you love to talk about most? Grandchildren? Football or other sports? Politics? Fishing and hunting? Clothes? Computers? Christians ought to talk about Christ! No power on earth can open our mouths for Christ like being gripped by His love. Are you gripped by Jesus’ love for       you? Do you love Him? How long has it been since you talked about Him to someone else? Just asking. 

  Dan Gulley, Smithville TN 

No Stranger To Our Pain!

A little story reminds us pain is a perennial human problem. A man went to a fortune teller. She looked into her fortune-ball and told him you will have lots of pain in your life for the next 8 years.” The man asked hopefully, “Then what?” She said, “Then you’ll get used to it.” Sooner or later pain comes to every life – but we never get used to it. Country artist Keith Whitley captured the painful truth about pain in his 1989 song, “I’m No Stranger To the Rain.” The song describes various kinds of suffering and the foggy, hopeless feeling chronic pain can cause. Whitley, a brilliant young country artist, was telling the truth about himself in that song. He struggled with alcoholism from a young age and died of alcoholic poisoning in May 1989, at 33 years old.                                 

 Let’s shift from a country music singer to Christ the Savior. To put a little twist on the title of Whitley’s song, Jesus was no stranger to our pain. Centuries before Christ came to earth, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “He was despised and rejected by men; A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” Isaiah 53:3a). Jesus was no stranger to life’s pain. His pain began with birth in a stable (Luke 2:7) and built to an excruciating climax 33 years later on a cross. Matt.27:35, says tersely, “They crucified Him,” but death by crucifixion was a death of unimaginable pain. On the cross, as physical, mental, emotional and spiritual pain saturated His body and soul, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani; That is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt.27:46). No theological attempt to explain that heartbroken cry fully suffices. The sight of God in the flesh suffering, on a cross of all things, confronts us with depths of spiritual mystery we simply cannot fully plumb.

 Still, there is a truth here that can help us when we, like Jesus, hurt until we question whether or not God is still with us and still cares for us. The pain Jesus suffers on the cross provides the most powerful proof available God has not forsaken us or stopped caring! He has on the job experience at intense and sustained suffering! Philip Yancey writes, “No other religion – not Judaism, not Hinduism, not Buddhism or Islam – offers the unique contribution of an all-powerful God who willingly takes on the          limitations and suffering of His creation. As Dorothy Sayers wrote, ‘For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is – limited and suffering and subject to death – He had the honesty and courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He is playing with His own creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair ... He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain  and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile’ ” (Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts?, p 225). All this adds a new layer on the theological question, if God is all powerful and all good, why do good people suffer? We may never totally understand why — but if the question is will God Himself suffer, the answer thunders down the ages from the cross — yes, in the worst kind of way. If God had to      suffer to save us, who could imagine we, too, would never have to do some suffering? Just asking.

 For Christ suffered for sins once ... that He might bring us to God”  – 1 Peter 3:18 

Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN