Month: December 2015 (Page 2 of 2)

Too Many Children for Earth?

December 15, 2015 / Allan Babcock

“It is clear that having more than one child is just something that none of us . . . has a moral right to do.” So argues Sarah Conly, associate professor of philosophy at Bowdoin College, in a recent “Boston Globe” newspaper opinion.

She is responding to China lifting its one-child-per-couple policy. The nation now permits two. But this, Conly warns, is not a good thing.

According to the United Nations, the world will reach 9.7 billion population by 2050. Just four years ago we reached 7 billion. It will take only about 40 years to increase the population by almost 3 billion. For perspective, in 1800 the world population was only 1 billion.

Conly concludes: The sad truth is that trying to support this many people will bring about environmental disaster. We can see the damage that is already being done by our present population of “just” 7.3 billion. We all know about climate change with its droughts, storms, rising sea levels, and heat. But it’s also soil depletion, lack of fresh water, overfishing, species extinction, and overcrowding in cities.

We are using resources unsustainably, and despite the frequent cries for a cutback in the use of resources and release in greenhouse gases, nothing much has happened. Today we release more greenhouse gases than we did before the Kyoto accords. More people will mean more unsustainable resource use, worse climate change, and, eventually, wars over scarce goods or massive population displacement and migrations to places with remaining resources.

Conly admits there are societal, economic and moral objections to her “have-fewer-children” argument, which she answers in her article. I’ll make only two comments in response to her “moral objections” answer.

One, God created the earth and us; therefore, he provides what we need for human life to be sustained.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
And God blessed them.
And God said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply
and fill the earth and subdue it . . . ”
And God said,
“Behold, I have given you every plant . . . and every tree . . .
You shall have them for food” (Genesis 1:27-29).

Though the first couple sinned (Genesis 3 and though later God added meat to the menu (Genesis 9:1,2), the essential narrative remains: God created male and female and provided food necessary for them to thrive. Logic demands that God who created humans and provided for their needs will continue to provide. Jesus refers to this when he teaches . . .

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things (food, drink, clothing) will be added to you
(Matthew 6:33).

This doesn’t mean we should misuse God’s resources. But it does mean that when calculating population in light of resources, we can and should remember throughout his Word God is shown as Divine Provider who can be trusted. Just two examples . . .

He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens
when they call (Psalm 147:9).

God . . . richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17).

Two, God really exists; he isn’t a concept of our religious creation.

Answering the moral argument against one-child-per-couple, Conly writes . . .

Does the right to religious freedom mean we have a right to do whatever our religious doctrines dictate? Of course not. No one thinks that if a religion required, say, human sacrifice, those who follow it would be allowed to engage in ritual killing, no matter how sincere their belief. We want to accommodate religious practice whenever we can, even when that has some cost to social welfare. But again, if the cost is too great, we tell practitioners that in this case they need to amend their own ways. We’ve done this many times and will do it again.

Ms. Conly’s answer posits religious doctrines but not God. The question isn’t, “Does the right to religious freedom mean we have a right to do whatever our religious doctrines dictate?”. The question is, “Do we have the right/duty/freedom to do whatever God dictates?”. If God is just a concept of our religion, then such doctrine can be challenged for the common good. But if God really exists, then what he’s revealed cannot and must not be challenged for whatever we see as “the common good.” And the Bible clearly reveals that God exists—eternal, alive in the past, the present and the forever future.

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God,
be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen (1 Timothy 1:17).

Simon Peter answered,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God,
who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).

This begs the question, “Which God?” Not enough space to answer that here. Suffice it to say that it seems foolish, if not arrogant, to merely dismiss evidence for God’s existence and speak only of “religions.” Inevitably that leads to God as a religious concept and that leads to the rejection of certain “religious beliefs” for “the common good”.

* * *

Too many children? There may be good economic or health or relational reasons why a couple should have only one child. But, as I see it from God’s Word, God exists as a living being outside ourselves and, because he created us, he is willing and able to always provide for us.

My advice? Have as many children as you believe you should. Love them. Care for them. Enjoy them. Lead them to know the living God who’s revealed himself in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t be afraid earth’s pantry will someday be empty.

And my God will meet all your needs
according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
To our God and Father
be glory for ever and ever. Amen (Philippians 4:19.20).

Blood-Real Gospel

December 14, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Just finished listening to morning news on TV. ( I was exercising and shaving—not at the same time.) Terrorism topped the reports: ISIS’ threat spreading globally , , , Complaints growing over the president’s response , , , A poll showing most Americans think terrorists will strike soon again.

I turn it off and open my Bible to Mark 14:12-25. There I find quaint ceremonies—Passover and the Lord’s Supper. Compared to radical Islamists killing to take over the world, they seem irrelevant. So I wonder: when I steal away from the news to the Good News of Passover and the Lord’s Supper, am I leaving reality for fantasy? Or am I leaving what will soon pass away like a dream for a better-than-dream reality?

Passover.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. (14:12-16).

Jesus’ instructions sound like a spy story. Why the intrigue? Jesus is a wanted man. Jewish authorities are on alert, anxiously awaiting the traitor’s tip-off to arrest Jesus and kill him. So in secret two disciples prepare the Passover in a real guest room in a real house in Jerusalem.

Passover commemorated a genuine historical event. It was about 1400 B.C. The Hebrew people were slaves to the Pharaoh of Egypt. Despite nine devastating plagues, which Moses claimed came from the Lord, Pharaoh refused to let his free labor go.

So Moses announced the Lord would send one final plague. He told the people’s elders to instruct the people to slaughter a lamb for their family, spread its blood around the door frames of their homes, then eat the roasted lamb with unleavened bread, ready to leave Egypt. That night, Moses warned, the Lord’s death angel would sweep through the land and kill every firstborn in Egypt. Only homes marked with blood would be spared. So as the Hebrews ate, the death angel slaughtered, and wailing was heard in every Egyptian home that night.

This is the saving act of God in the Old Testament. It’s what Jesus commemorates with his disciples now. But early on it’s a Passover tainted with treason . . .

When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me– one who is eating with me.” They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely not I?” “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born” (14:17-21).

“Surely not I?” The anxious question circled the table one by one. When it came to Judas, was he dipping his bread in the bowl? When Jesus warned, ” But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born”, did Judas cringe?

So Jesus and the Twelve celebrated a Passover that had been born in harsh slavery, devastating disasters, a ruthless ruler’s contempt, and blood from countless sacrificial lambs that ran the earth red on a night death dreadfully visited every Egyptian home to set the slaves free. This isn’t a “once upon a time in a land far away” story; it’s authentic history, as real human trafficking, terrible tornadoes, ruthless dictators, and bloody battles we read about today.

The Lord’s Supper.

Jesus would have celebrated the typical parts of Passover—prayers, Psalms 113–118, cups of wine, unleavened bread and roast lamb. At one point, however, Jesus interrupted tradition with what has become known as “the Lord’s Supper”—and what essentially fulfilled what Passover only anticipated.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples and said, “This is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. “I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God” (14:22-25).

So Jesus initiated the Lord’s Supper during days of harsh Roman rule in Israel, being verbally and soon violently attacked by jealous and hostile Jewish authorities, suffering betrayal at the hands of a chosen disciple, facing imminent arrest, mockery and unspeakably cruel execution. The Supper wasn’t a religious, make-believe party; it was a solemn anticipation of Jesus’ very real death—as real as the State’s execution of a guilty criminal, as real as ISIS crucifying Christians today.

“Real” World Reality.

It’s critical we view the Lord’s Supper as a reminder of a real, historical event. I think we tend not to. Somehow we see it as separate from “real life”, an important religious doctrine but one reserved for the “religion closet” of our lives. It’s a little space on the top floor of our house at the end of the hall that we visit once a week (unless we have an emergency).

And when we see the Lord’s Supper as a quaint ceremony fenced off from “real life”, we don’t allow what it recalls to influence how we view and how we live all of life. What does that quaint in-the-sanctuary-ceremony have to do with my job, with my money, with my time, with my sex life, with how I relate to my husband/wife or children, with my entertainment, with my friendships? If we let it be walled off as a “religious ceremony”, nothing.

But if we see it for what it is–a remembrance of the turning-point event of all human history and our salvation from corrupting sin and consequential death–it becomes more important than the latest news alert and more influential than radical Islamist terrorism or who will be the next American president or how the stock market performed last week. It becomes the defining lens through which we see all of life.

Kill-Plot & a Beautiful Thing

December 9, 2015 / Allan Babcock

The air turns ominous and the pace picks up as we step into Mark’s Gospel chapter 14.

At week’s start Jesus had triumphantly entered Jerusalem. The paraders hoped he was Messiah. Yet why a little donkey, not a majestic stallion? The next day Jesus had angrily shut down the temple business, which led to Jewish authorities debating him in the temple courtyard the following day, hoping he’d incriminate himself. He hadn’t (11:1–12:44). Leaving the city late Tuesday afternoon and stopping on the nearby Mount of Olives, Jesus predicted wars, famines, earthquakes, false messiahs, persecution for the future, and then the temple would be ravished (13:1-23). It fell to the Romans 40 years later. Finally, Jesus told of an indeterminate period after which heavenly bodies would quake before the Son of Man’s coming with great power and glory for his chosen ones (13:24-27). They must “stay awake” (13:28-36).

Now in 14:1-11 Mark shows us an unexpected scene of beautiful adoration sandwiched between two covert kill-plots.

Kill-Plot Scene One. It’s Tuesday night. Chief priests and law-teachers are meeting privately . . .

Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. “But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot” (12:1,2).

The Greek word translated “sly way” is dolos—literally “bait for fish.” The authorities still want to “bait” Jesus so he’ll “hook” himself on his own words and they can arrest him. He’s been on their kill list for years , way back when he first broke the Sabbath law (3:6). According to Exodus 31:14, that called for the death penalty. But now, since he desecrated the temple, their plot takes on greater urgency. Still, they must wait until after Passover and the seven-days of Unleavened Bread or his followers will riot and bring down the Romans on them all.

A Beautiful Thing. Meanwhile, Jesus and his disciples are spending the night, as usual, in nearby Bethany.

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly. “Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her” (14:3-9).

Mark (informed by Peter) doesn’t identify the woman. Who she is is less important than what she does. She carries a white, translucent jar of very valuable perfume extracted from the nard plant (native to India). Approaching Jesus at the table, she breaks the top of the jar and pours the costly oil on his head. As the scent fills the room, disciples rebuke her for such waste when the oil could have been sold to help the poor.

Jesus silences them. “She has done a beautiful thing to me.” Ignorance: the disciples are ignorant of the authorities’ plot; the woman is ignorant of the hour’s darkness. Events rush inexorably toward Jesus’ death. Unknowingly, the woman has “poured perfume on [Jesus’] body beforehand to prepare for [his] burial.” A beautiful thing. An act of adoration. She has played a precious part in the heart of the Gospel. “She did what she could.” At worst, it seemed a waste. At best, an inconsequential act. Jesus called it “a beautiful thing to me.” And promised her humble homage would be told wherever the gospel would be preached.

Kill Plot Scene Two. That same night, while the chief priests were meeting . . .

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over (14:10,11).

Judas would find a way to hand Jesus over. The priests were delighted and they would pay the traitor. From that moment on, he would watch for the right moment.

The Continuing Contrast. The authorities, whatever their motivation, are assassins. They’re asking, “How can we kill Jesus?” The woman, whatever her motivation, is a worshiper. She’s asking, “How can I show Jesus my love?” And both are acting at the same moment.

Except perhaps for radical Islamists, I doubt many people want to do away with Jesus today. More typically, Jesus gets treated with indifference (except for emergencies). Like clicking “off” on a TV remote, people mostly turn him off. A bloodless form of rejection by people who want to manage their lives as they wish.

Are there many unknown women today? Women who approach Jesus with whatever their best is? Women who break open their hearts and pour out words of devotion and praise? Doing what they can to honor him, even if no one else understands?

I’m an old man of little consequence. In the world’s cities the wealthy and powerful rule the nations—and fight to keep their prominent places . They don’t know whom they’re rejecting. Meanwhile, let me be content to go to Jesus in a simple house and bring him the best I have. Let me give him words of adoration and a life of love that spring humbly from my heart. And may Jesus say in response, “He’s done a beautiful thing to me.”

Image result for pictures of woman with alabaster box

Fig Tree Alert! Stay Awake!

December 7, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Sounds like a traffic alert. Fig trees on the highway! Be alert! Jesus talks about fig trees and staying awake in today’s text (Mark 13:28-37). But, before we go there, let’s recall how we got here.

How We Got Here. On the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem. Jesus answered disciples’ questions. It all started when Jesus prophesied the towering temple would all come tumbling down. “When?” they wanted to know. “And what sign will point to it?” (Mark 13:1-4).

Jesus identified signs. False messiahs, wars, earthquakes, famines, and persecution (13:5-13). The sign of the temple’s imminent destruction would then appear: “the abomination of desolation” (a reference to the Roman army besieging the city and ravaging the temple). Then, after an indeterminate time, cosmic signs would appear: dark, falling and shaking bodies in the sky. Finally, “they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send out the angels and gather his chosen ones from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven” (13:26,27).

Notes About the Signs. As I see it, all the signs up to the cosmic pertain to the first century, climaxing with the temple’s destruction in 70 A.D. (13:5-23). Cosmic signs and Second Coming remain future, even to us.

But those pre-cosmic, first-century signs (13:5-13) seem to mark the entire period from the first century to the Second Coming. They appear in that indeterminate time between Mark 13:23 and Mark 13:24, which includes our time.

Look at the news. Wars in the Middle East, terrorism metastasizing globally, famine on the African continent and earthquakes all over the place. (No kidding. Google “earthquakes” and see.) These current events, then, have sign value. That brings us to Jesus’ . . .

Fig Tree Alert!

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree:
As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out,
you know that summer is near.
Even so, when you see these things happening,
you know that it is near, right at the door.
I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away
until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will never pass away” (13:28-31).

A blossoming fig tree signified summer’s start (the fig tree being a late-Spring bloomer), so“these [signs} happening” show “it is near, right at the door.” In fact, “this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things happen”.

Jesus’ fig-tree-alert raises three puzzling questions about what Jesus means(1) by“these things” which signify “it is near”? (2) by “it” that “is near, right at the door”? (3) by “this generation”? that “will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened”?

Commentators are as divided as Congress and suggested interpretations as numerous as Obamacare regulations. I’ll just set out what I understand. Two things lead me to believe the pre-cosmic, first-century signs continue throughout these last days until the end. One, is history (including Acts) and current events. Two, Jesus said, “These are but the beginning of the birth pains” (13:8), implying “birth pains” will continue.

Then, we have the questions what “it” and “this generation” refer to. Remember Jesus is answering “When will the temple be destroyed?” and “What signs will precede its destruction?” Therefore, I take “it” (which “is near, right at the door”) as referring to the temple’s and city’s fall in A.D. 70. In that case, ” . . . this generation” which won’t pass away “until all these things happen”, then refers to the disciples’ generation. “These things” would happen within 40 years. Cosmic signs and Second Coming lay outside that time frame.

Stay Awake!

“No one knows about that day or hour,
not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert!
You do not know when that time will come.
It’s like a man going away:
He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge,
each with his assigned task,
and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
Therefore keep watch
because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back–
whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.
If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.
What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!'” (13:32-37).

It seems to me (not a polished,professional prophecy professor) that what Jesus taught here refers primarily to his Second Coming (13:24-27), though it can include the temple destruction secondarily (13:14-23). (Interpreting prophecy is like being a politician: I try to cover all the bases!)

In the 1840s, William Miller proclaimed Jesus would return and the world would be burned up between March 1843 and March 1844. As many as 100,000 “Millerites” sold their belongings and headed to the mountains to wait for the end. Needless to say, they were disappointed, though Miller came up with a later date—and was wrong again.

This is precisely what Jesus warns us not to do with his prophecy. Since no one but the Father knows the day or the hour, it’s useless to waste time trying to figure it out. Miller, Harold Camping, Hal Lindsay are only a few who refused to see that.

What Jesus does urge us to do with his prophecy he states three times in this paragraph: “Stay awake.” Does that mean always have someone on duty watching the sky? Of course not. Each of us is a servant of our Lord with our own work to do. That means preaching, praying, driving a truck, teaching school, changing diapers, running a business and so on, in ways that bear witness of the good news of the kingdom of God at hand in the Son. And it means doing it aware that our Master is returning to call us to account.

I laugh at the prophecy professionals with their wall-to-wall charts onto which they squeeze and stomp everything in Scripture and life. But it’s not really funny. Become obsessed with prophecy and you overlook what Jesus wants us to do with it.

We may disagree about the details of Jesus’ prophecy in Mark 13. But there are three things we must not do . . .

Fight, criticize and divide.
Ignore the urgent lesson of the fig tree. Jesus will fulfill his prophecies soon, even if his “soon” seems slow.
Fall asleep at the wheel or be distracted by the trivial. Instead, “stay awake” in a world that yawns at Jesus. In other words, faithfully do what Jesus calls us to do as his servants who one day soon will give an account to our Lord.

The Son of Man Is Coming

December 2, 2015 / Allan Babcock

(Save video ’til the end!) If Jesus’ prophecy is true (and I believe it is), it will end the world as we know it. Sounds extreme, no? But it’s the best way I can introduce this momentous event beyond imagination.

Lets’ briefly set the scene. It’s (still) Tuesday before Jesus’ Friday crucifixion. Every brand of Jewish authority has verbally attacked Jesus through the day in the temple courtyard, trying but failing to force him into self-incrimination (Mark 11:27-12:34 & previous posts).

As they had left the temple, the disciples had been awed by its wonders. Not one stone will be left standing, Jesus had replied. Later, outside the city on the Mount of Olives, the disciples asked when this would happen and what signs would precede this cataclysmic destruction. Jesus told what lay ahead: wars, famines, earthquakes, false messiahs and persecution (13:1-13). One sign would be critical—“the abomination of desolation” standing where he shouldn’t. That’s when you must flee to the mountains, Jesus had warned. Tribulation on Jerusalem would be unequaled (13:14-23).

“But in those days, following that distress,
“‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
“At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds
with great power and glory. And he will send his angels
and gather his elect from the four winds,
from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens” (13:24-27).

Yeah, right. Religious crazies. It’s been, what, 2000 years? I know, I know. I’ve heard prophecies like this since I was a kid. And the sun still shines. No “Son of Man” in clouds. The time-factor mightily disputes these end-of-the-world words. So does this whole apocalyptic prophecy itself. Dark sun. Murky moon. Fallen stars. Whole lotta shakin’ going on in the sky. Son of Man coming powerfully and gloriously to gather his chosen people from Australia to Alaska.

The Time Factor. Okay. I agree. 2000 years is a long time, especially when my computer takes maybe 60 seconds to power up and a pop-up moans, “Too slow.” Maybe Jesus miscalculated. Or author Mark misheard Peter (from whom Mark got this stuff) or Peter misheard. Maybe instead of putting his foot in his mouth as he was prone to do, he stuck it in his ear.

Peter answered the time-factor dispute like this:

. . . scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing,
following their own sinful desires.
They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming?
For ever since the fathers fell asleep,
all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation . . . ”
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you,
not wishing that any should perish,
but that all should reach repentance.
(2 Peter 3:3,4,8,9)

Jesus’ word “But” concurs. It translates the Greek alla which indicates a strong break with what preceded it and implies Jesus is now speaking of a new time period. Indefinite and long (as we’ve seen) to be sure, but sharply disconnected in time from the temple’s end in 70 A.D.

Apocalyptic Content. What Jesus predicts for the sun, moon, stars and sky sounds crazy. But so would a prediction on 9/10 of 9/11. Who would have imagined the twin towers would fall and make the southern tip of Manhattan a ghostly war zone?

Will the sun really go dark and the moon reflect no light and the stars all shoot to earth and the whole heavens shake like an otherworldly earthquake? Why wouldn’t they if the One through whom they were created was coming to judge the world?

I used to wonder how people throughout the earth could all, at the same time, see Jesus coming in the clouds. When TV went global, I thought that’s how. Some of us will see him in the flesh, others on live, cable TV. I’ve changed my mind. I still don’t know how Jesus will pull it off, except to say that, since he’s coming with “great power and glory”—not just “power and glory” but “great” (Greek mega)—I’m sure he’ll find a way. (Can you imagine what Jesus considers “great power and glory”?)

Good News: Gathering. The first part of Jesus’ prophecy implies bad news for Jesus’ enemies (including all who refuse to follow him in faith). But the second part—“And he will send his angels
and gather [together] his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens” is good news.

I see Jesus’ followers at work in office buildings, in hospitals, on farms, in nursing homes, in families around dinner tables, or alone at a kitchen table. All activity has stopped. Eyes on every continent are lifted toward the great power and glory of the Son of Man coming. Then angels move among people from every tribe, language, people and nation, approaching a man here, a woman there, a child there, saying “Come, he’s calling you.” And like a massive, holy, loving and joyful exodus the chosen stream together to the Son. Somehow, though they seem to be more than the sand by the sea, he welcomes each by name.

(Now, listen to the video, trust his words, and rejoice in praise!)

Rubio On Jesus (& More)

December 1, 2015 / Allan Babcock

I’m curious whenever a politician is asked about Jesus. So when I found this video from Marco Rubio, I watched and listened—and was thrilled to hear his witness.

Donald Trump brought his childhood Bible to a campaign rally to show the world he’s a good Methodist. (Please!) Rubio, on the other hand, articulately seems to speak from his heart about a relationship with Jesus founded on God’s Word and infused with the Holy Spirit. Some may wish he had left the Roman Catholic Church behind. But who are we to say where God can be doing his saving work?

I post this today not to endorse Rubio (though he and Dr. Ben Carson are running neck-and-neck in my mind). I post this because I usually view politicians with a healthy dose of cynicism. Not here. At least by his words and what I sense from his heart, Rubio really knows Jesus. He’s to be applauded for speaking openly about him.

Secondly, I post this today to encourage us all. God is at work in some of the most unlikely of places. That should keep us praying for those needs that seem most unlikely to be met.