Israel and Prophetic Proof – part I
Oct 05
Today we would add one more word, "Israel." In Zinzendorf's day, that tiny and beleaguered nation, born on May 14, 1948, did not exist except in the hearts of Zionists who had never given up awaiting the fulfillment of the "God of Israel's" solemn promises. The continued existence of Israel today, surrounded by more than a billion Muslims who have sworn to exterminate her and who continually plot and repeatedly attack her in the attempt to do so, is one of the most astonishing miracles of modern times.
Juliek – the last sonnet of a dying violinist
Feb 15
“For a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” John 4:23 In the book Night, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel describes a moment in the concentration camp frozen in his memory. In the darkened corner of room, where the dead were slumped beside the living, his friend Juliek sat with his violin. On the brink of his own grave, he played notes pure and heavy to an audience of dead and dying men. Wiesel recalls, "[I]t was as though Juliek’s soul were the bow. He was playing his life. The whole of his life was gliding on the strings--his lost hopes, his charred past, his extinguished future. He played as he would never play again."(1) I cannot make sense of this scene other than to say, there are times when the gravity of a song flattens us. To this day, Wiesel admits, he cannot hear the sound of a violin without memory of Juliek dismantling all other thoughts. Perhaps similarly, you have been floored by a memory locked in a melody or leveled by the words of a song. In a very real sense, these are the images of worship. The Hebrew word for worship conjures a physical image, an outward response to an inward affection; to worship the Lord whether in song or in silence means "to prostrate oneself" before the Almighty. Far too often, this is not the result of the songs I sing.
A spreading sickness
Jan 12
I have learned through many years in ministry that Americans tend to yawn about troubling events that are thousands of miles away. The busyness of life causes many to have a limited focus on the world and its troubles. And so it is with the conflict in Gaza. Yes, this war is part of the everlasting hatred that began thousands of years ago. These wars will go on until the Lord returns. But let me bring the issue closer to home. "The New York Sun" reports that contrary to the long held belief that Hamas "only" seeks the destruction of Israel, America is anything but safe from the terror group's wrath: Hamas leader Ismail Elbarasse was arrested a year ago after authorities witnessed his wife videotaping Maryland's Chesapeake Bay Bridge from their SUV. The images captured by Elbarasse's wife included close-ups of cables and other features "integral to the structural integrity of the bridge."
English