Jereboam's Folly

As we made our way from Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, up the Jordan River and were guided to Tel Dan, we came to the ruins of the ancient city of Dan. That was so very impressive and the history of it as told by our guide was spell binding. But near the edge of the ruins was another ruin that captivated our attention. Here we saw the high place, the altar of Dan, built around 900 years before Christ by the diluded and idolatrous potentate of the Northern Kingdom, Jereboam. It was a well constructed and massive piece of workmanship. And one can imagine Jereboam and his invalid priests sacrificing to their god. This place in the mountains north of the Sea of Galilee is testimony to what the improvisations and machinations of proud and self-centered men can accomplish.

Jereboam was king of the Northern Kingdom, Israel. The place God had designated for worship by His people was Jerusalem. Jereboam's fear was that the people would worship God in Jerusalem, leave the Northern Kingdom and migrate to the Southern Kingdom. So to promote his selfish causes he set up two altars, one at Dan and one at Bethel and informed the people of Israel about those golden calves, "...Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!.." (I Kgs. 12:28)

God sent a prophet to warn him that this was sin and his false priests not from the tribe of Levi was sin. Ultimately Jereboam lost his kingship and his selfishness brought about the beginnings of the ultimate loss of the Northern Kingdom into captivity in 722 B.C.

God told Jereboam "...you have done more evil than all who were before you, for you have made yourself other gods...." "...and have cast me behind your back..." "...I will bring disaster on the house of Jereboam..." "...the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water...""...He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers and will scatter them beyond the River...(I Kgs. 14:7-15).

As one looks upon this giganic altar and views out over the edge of the highplace down into the valley one cannot help but reflect upon the disaster that this one proud man brought to those thousands of people.

And is there any application? It is so vividly clear. The self-serving can be detrimental to the lives of others. Any time anyone stands between another person or persons and God and dictates to them the way they MUST go, that person becomes a modern day Jereboam.

This attitude was also prevalent when Jesus walked this land over 900 years later. The self-appointed masters of Israel still existed. They had comprised through the years over 600 new laws and traditions and when Jesus came they stood between the people and Messiah who came
to "...save His people from their sins...." (Mt. 1-21).

The traditionalists would have none of His simple and direct testimony. Jesus told the people:
"...He who believes in the Son has everlasting life..." (Jn. 3:36). "...he who believes in Me has everlasting life...." (Jn 6:47). "...He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live..."(Jn 11:25). This was not enough for the traditionalists, they rejected Him and led the people astray.

Jesus assailed them for manipulating people to serve their intricate and complicated system and devices. He told them clearly as recorded by Matthew in Matthew 23 "...you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men...". He called them "...blind guides..."and He told them that "...they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear..." and He told them "... you have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith...".

God forgive us if we have ever set up our little kingdoms and diverted souls from receiving the Lord Jesus on His terms. God forgive us if we have ever been a modern day Jereboam and set up our altars and demanded men to worhip at them. God forgive us if Jesus was not first and we stood in His way for truly He is the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Saviour of the world.

Sea of Galilee

Thank God for the magnamious Spirit of the Saviour of the world. He walked on this sea, He traveled on this sea, He saved the disciples from storms and Peter from drowning. He healed people on the banks of this water, He fed thousands on these shores miraculously, near here He preached the most famous sermon ever to be preached. His headquarters for His preaching and teaching were near here in the city of Capernaum. Jesus was raised in a little town of Nazareth where He lived for about 30 years. The little town had about 200 people. He had no comforts, He said himself He had no place to lay His head. He walked everywhere He went through a dusty, rugged mountainous, dry atmosphere. He did not seek riches nor honor. He had no American comforts as we have. He lived in obscurity most of His life and yet Jesus has made an impact upon history that no other single individual has ever done. Perhaps it is because He really did love us like He said He did. He died for us. Not only that, He died for all men everywhere. His commission was literally to the whole world and it remains so today. He shows no favoritism. Indeed He is the epitome of the phrase " all men are created equally". We are all sinners, and yet He loves us all and He died for us all "... while we were yet sinners...".
All of our righteousness is as filthy rags according to Isaiah and David said blessed is the man whose sins are covered and the Apostle Paul quoted David telling us that God imputes His rightoeousness to us . This Jesus who walked by the shores of the Sea of Galilee and who suffered crucifixion in the City of Jerusalem shed His Blood so that we might be made righteous. And as we stood by the Sea of Galilee to praise His glorious name because of His sacrifice, we realized the significance of His saying that if we believe in Him we will never die. Thank God for that. It occurred to us during our tour as we saw the little children , the little Muslim children, little Jewish children, Jewish Christian children that they all looked the same. Little innoncent children. Jesus said of such is the kingdom of heaven. What does He see when He sees all Christians? Does that great magnamious spirit look on us that way? I think He does. Should we not take a lesson from Him.

New Perspectives

I am 65 years old. Am I too old to learn. Absolutely not. I have so much to learn. And we, as we all know will never know it all. In my recent trip to Israel I learned that I had not appreciated America the beautiful enough. And I had not appreciated the blessings I have as an American. We have a variety of foods of all nationalities for one thing. We can pick and choose. We have no background or religion that dictates the choice of foods we can eat. So we eat Chinese foods, we eat Mexican foods. We eat Italian foods. We have numerous choices of foods. And there is no significance attached to that. We have choices of schools we attend, many choices. We can go to private schools, public schools, or we can be home schooled. We are not fearful of being attacked by our neighbors who live just across the wall from us. We do not go through check points where numerous armed soldiers stand. We don't walk down the streets and see guns everywhere. We are not surrounded by enemies. We have not been conquered and destroyed through the centuries by our enemies. As a matter of fact we have never lost a war. We are not oppressed within our own country by our enemies who have inhabited our churches and refuse to let us worship there. We are free to worship wherever we please and whenever we please. We are not hindered, or should not be hindered, by the mistakes of our forefathers. And we have been given the right to think freely and make choices about how we will worship. Israel is surely a beautiful country with beautiful people. But it is still a country that exists under pressure from every direction. We do not have that. Another thing I learned. Jesus said little children are already in the kingdom of heaven. Maybe these little ones, whoever their parents and grandparents might have beeen, will be a catalyst in bringing peace and respect for the rights of others to this beleagured part of the world. Another thing I learned was that perhaps the only thing left is to pray for those who are oppressed and have been for thousands of years...So let us pray....More later...

Return From the Holy Land

To walk where Jesus has walked is an awesome experience. There are many things I wish to share with my friends and family. So much to process in such a short length of time. Israel is a beautiful country and the jewish people are special. I would encourage all of you to pray for Israel and Jerusalem and we are told to do in the bible. I have much I want to write about and I hope to get started soon. I would appreciate any comments from any of you as I try to share this trip with all of you.

Israel Here We Come

This morning we have been preparing to go to the church, gather with a group of Christians, go tothe the airport and begin our trip to Israel. We have been planning this for some months. What is the purpose of this? The history of that part of the world is certainly important. That is where it all began. There is no doubt that mankind owes a great debt to those early civilizations who charted so many ways, as we learned in our early civilization courses in high school. But the important events that occurred over there happened quite recently as time goes. And it all transpired by the will of God. And the Son of God charted a Way that cannot be equaled. For He gave importance to that which is not passing, but that which is eternal. Therefore we go to honor Him. We go to see where he walked. We listen to His history in a sort of first hand way. We bow down before Him as we view the places where He suffered. And unlike many of the early men who in their ingenuity and skill found fire, learned to trade and barter, built machines, etc.,etc., this One came to fix things we could not fix. And to do it He died. So he fixed our sin problem. And we thank Him for it. And we go to honor Him....

30minutes every morning

We start just about every day off with a 30 minute walk. After we have a cup of coffee of course. Some times we just talk about "things", family, children, grandchildren, schedules for the day, etc. But many times as we are walking around the church parking lot we pray for our church, pastors, members ,the sick and other needs. Then there are other times we just start quoting scriptures, I will say one then LaJuanah will say one. It is amazing how the Lord will bring to your remembrance the scriptures He would have you remember. Sometimes we will separate and go at our own speed. Most of the time praying. Although the other afternoon we went to walk and a little black bulldog came charging up behind us. Scared us both half to death.
I am not sure why that happened but Lajuanah was ready to go home. So we look forward to our walks. It is a way for us to share part of our day and just enjoy the day. After all, each day is the day the Lord has made and we shall rejoice and be glad in it. God Bless all who may chance upon this little tale. I hope one day soon to be able to share some of the things God is laying on my heart. Until then, God Bless

Walking Slow

For those of you that are waiting to see if I am going to write anything worth reading or not...........or not I guess fits for now. Seems like God is working with me right now and I am just going slower than I am used to. I am not brain dead although some might question this. We are trying to prepare to go to Israel and this is all new to both of us. Traveling overseas is a biggy for two old timers like us. I hope to be so full of the Lord when I return from this trip and look forward to sharing with all of you what God chooses to show me. So dont give up on me. Feel free to add to this in your comments, who knows. You may be the one to inspire me. Thanks again, appreciate any input ..............I remain Wayne