Thar she blows!

Rough Seas for Believers

As Jonah made his ill fated voyage to run away from God he found himself at the mercy of a storm tossed sea. For those of us who have been at sea in a mighty storm we know that the power of God's wrath can easily be expressed in the descriptions found in Jonah.

The Savior could sleep through these storms because He knew something we can only take by faith. He knew that He wasn't going down with the ship. So He got up and "rebuked" the storm. Now, sailors, I've seen men rail at storms but it was always to no avail. But the Shephard spoke once and the seas subsided!

Jonah finally figured out that he was the cause of the storm and asked to be thrown overboard. If you've ever been in a storm for several days - surrounded by seasick sailors and never able to rest - you will understand why Jonah was so eager to get off the boat. Only the Savior can calm the storms that toss us about in life.

In Acts 27 Paul is caught in a terrible storm - a Noreaster - that threatens to take all of them down while tearing the ship apart. Yet Paul stands in front of cold, hungry, wet, frightened men and says the most remarkable thing:

ACTS 27:21 After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: "Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. [22] But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed.

This is the way we need to live our lives -- knowing that we will be spared and only the vessel we lived in will be destroyed. The very Man who stood to rebuke the waves waits to welcome us home. Jonah's journey was supposed to take him away from God yet it failed. Our journey is to take us closer to God and, as such, it cannot fail!

An anchor is designed to hold you safely. Christ is our anchor - protection against being thrown overboard by the storms of life.

Wilkie Nunn
Pastor, Downsville Church of the Brethren

The DaVinci gospel Judas Code

Test the Spirit

1 John 4:1 - 3 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

We have heard a lot lately about the DaVinci Code and the Judas gospel. Each of these is the work of man and not from the "Spirit of God". Yet, they have a powerful pull on those who do not want to hear the truth. Worse, yet, is that the two get mingled in the minds of those who are not strong in the WORD. For those who have not immersed themselves in the scriptures it is easy to be led astray by writings like these two.

The author of the DaVinci Code makes two claims - first that the book is fiction (definitely a true statement) and secondly that he is a born again Christian. The second statement is the kind of twisted logic often used by the Adversary to cause the weak to stumble. If this is written by a "born again Christian" then it must be valid. This is the kind of confusion that the world wants. New Christians are targets of this - like new born lambs who can't keep up with the flock they are picked off by the wolves. Christians who have not studied the scriptures are targets of this - they can easily be confused by half-truths.

It is for those of us who have studied the scripture and believe in the truth of the scripture to stand up against this assault. Millions have read the DaVinci Code and swallowed the fiction as truth. Millions more will see the movie and, because they are predisposed to dislike the church, will accept the lies as a way of bolstering their resolve not to accept Christ in their hearts.

I am waiting for someone to ask me if I knew that Judas was Jesus Best Man when He married Mary Magdelene and that is why Jesus asked Judas to be the one to betray Him. Next will be someone saying that the "wine into water" was at Jesus wedding. These people are on their way to being lost because they will not read the Truth!

Unfortunately, the damage has been unleashed. We will see it in our own congregations. We will hear life time Christians ask questions that could only have come from one (or both) of these works.

We need to remind them to TEST THE SPIRIT - Is this from God? What do these works say about the divinity of the Christ?

The Adversary is attacking on many fronts and many of our soldiers haven't read the instruction book very closely. Without the WORD we are vulnerable. Without the Spirit we are lost.