Riches of Haiti.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.  Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.”  Isaiah 55:1-2

Back in the day, when returning to our Hotel at Cap Haitian in October of 2010, one of the team members shared with me that at times, it seems like life here is much like it must have been shortly after the slave revolution in 1804; frozen in time.  It was a profound observation.

If there were no trucks, cars and busses or motorcycles it might seem like you had gone through a time warp; welcome to the Twilight Zone.  I remember sharing that we were seeing the more ‘urban’ part of Haiti there in the second largest city of Cap Haitian.  If you could spend more time up in the mountains away from populated areas the daily activities would even more resemble the early 19th century way of life.

The children in the attached photo are drawing water from the well near the school at Torbeck which is located about seven miles west of Les Cayes.  At the time of this photo, the school and church were also home of Pastor Lafayette and since this time a Church has been built and the Pastor has his home back.

Not many schools with Trinity HOPE feeding programs have water wells on their property.  This well is not potable for drinking for you or me, but serves as their source for drinking, washing and bathing needs.  Hate to beat a dead chicken over a stump over and over again, but we sure take our comfy lives in the U.S. for granted…don’t we?

These students are at the top of their peers, a school, a feeding program, a well with a good rope and a risen Savior.  ‘They are truly delighting in the richest of fare.’  Some of these children may teach school here in ten years and perhaps one will be a Pastor and prayerfully each of them will bring another in their neighborhood into the Kingdom and away from the lies of the vodou priest.  Beni soit L’Eternal!  If you are interested in feeding children attending Christian schools in Haiti please check out the Trinity HOPE website at www.trinityhope.org and click on ‘How can I help’ tab and pray that your life may be used to impact a life or lives in Haiti.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

What is happening? I don't know.

“Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure, who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?  Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?  For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.  What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.  I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil.” Job 3:20-26

There was a conversation with Keith Logan last summer where we were talking about the many challenges facing Haiti, when I shared with him that there were times when I just didn’t want to read any more news coming out of Haiti; too depressing.  There were times when other Haitian friends and I send text messages or email to each other and their words brought the challenges they are facing to an elevated level of pain.  What are God’s plans through all of their painful challenges?  I don’t know.

One message last week shared that the street in front of their school in PAP was filled with armed gang members several blocks in each direction.  Parents were not permitted to cross the street to bring their children home.  And if they picked them up, they feared that the gang members would follow them home and take over their home and possessions.  There have been some schools close for a week, a month or until the gang activity subsides.  What are God’s plans through all of these challenges?  I don’t know.

Last week, the Supreme Court of Kenya announced their country would not be sending a 1,000 member police force to Haiti on behalf of the UN to break up the gang activity, and help train Haiti police.  Then late last week the President of Kenya proclaimed they the police force was going to be sent, regardless of their Supreme Court.  When are they coming?  I don’t know. The gang activity keeps bringing fear as we continue to pray.  Lord, what are your plans for putting an end to this gang activity?  We don’t know His plans.  We know He does have plans.

There are times when God's ways of doing things only causes us to be more confused.  It really makes me feel helpless to say “I don’t know”, but…I really don't know.  The great news is that God ‘knows’; He has a plan.  He knows what is going to happen, how it will happen, when it will happen and where it will start to happen.  God tells us “Trust Me."  God never promised He would inform us all about His plan ahead of time; He's just promised He has one. Ultimately, it's for our good and His glory. He knows; we don't.  So, if you and I meet someday and you ask me when the challenges in Haiti are going to end, don't be surprised if I say, "I don't know."  On this side of Paradise, I don’t know…but He knows

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

February prayer guide.

Prayer Guide for February – 2024

We begin our prayer time in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. + Amen.

“I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.”  Martin Luther

‘Adoration’

Exodus 15:1-2; “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.  Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.  “The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.  He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

Into the third month of winter here in the Midwest U.S. and before we lay down for the night, we check to see what kind of weather our Heavenly Father may be blessing us with tomorrow.  On this side of Paradise while we continue to draw that next breath, there will always be a tomorrow; as that is how our Creator planned it.  Tomorrow; either here in our temporary shelter or tomorrow in Paradise, rejoicing inside our permanent home in Heaven; He is always daily providing for our well-being here and has prepared a place for us in His home on the ‘other side’ of here. 

  A time of ‘Adoration’ to our Heavenly Father.    

·        Please take time to sit and consider how our Triune God comes to us through His ‘WORD’ every day and how He has impacted your life.

·        Think about the provisions, protection and love that surrounds you because of His unfailing love for you.

·        Give thanks for where God has placed you and the gifts that you were given to use for Him along your journey.

 ‘Confession’

Psalm 32:5; “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.”  And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”

We were born, sinful and unclean, through no fault of our own, but because of the sins of our parents, grandparents…Adam and Eve. 

God sent His only Son to die for our sins. Jesus did everything right while he was here on this earth. He loves you with a love that cannot be measured.  He gave to the world when no thanks were returned to Him.  He healed when there was no hope, and He died without complaint.  Jesus did nothing wrong and everything right; all this for you.  He lived for you and died for you.  Our sins nailed Him to the cross on Calvary and kept Him there until His life on earth had ended.

·        A time of personal confession.

John 3:16-17, 36; “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

Our sins are placed at the base of the cross...His cross, and we give thanks that the times we have fallen short in the eyes of our Heavenly Father have been washed clean and we have been forgiven through the Blood of our Risen Savior Jesus Christ.

 ‘Thanksgiving’

Psalm 107:1-3; “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.  Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story; those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.”

As my earthly age steadily increases and the senior discounts continue to flow, there are occasions when imagining what the blessings will be like tomorrow.  I often just need to slow down and wait; and give thanks for what they were today.  Please indulge me for a moment, and using just your mind and fingers, please do a mental inventory of your kitchen and pantry and count them one by one on your fingers.  Is there an empty shelf to be found?  Back in the day, while being given a ‘tour’ of several rural homes in Haiti, that question would have been; are there any shelves in the cupboards with food?  We ‘overlook’ God’s providence in our lives each and every day.  Take just a moment to give thanks for what we have today, what was left in the refrigerator from yesterday and what will be coming into your belly tomorrow.

Ephesians 5:1-3; “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” 

Heavenly Father, we come to You now with hearts, minds and words filled with ‘Thanksgiving’.”

·        We give thanks for our Creator, Redeemer and Holy Spirit.

·        We give thanks for having a Savior.

·        We give thanks our providence; monetary, food, clothing and shelter.  As we give of our first fruits may we also give a portion of our best to His children who need the assistance we can provide.

·        We give You thanks for the Haitian children who are not only the prime purpose of Trinity HOPE but also Your missionaries for the present and future generations in Haiti who will bring the true message of Salvation to lives who have never known.

·        We give You thanks for making it possible for us to bringing additional funds into our programs so we can now be feeding over 62,000 children in Christian schools throughout Haiti.

 ‘Supplications’

Our Triune God created everything for us to use for His Glory and we continue to daily receive everything from His Hand; meeting our needs and sharing with others who are living in these ever-challenging times; taking His Light into the darkness of their neighborhoods. 

Genesis 1:29-31; “Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.  They will be yours for food.  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground; everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food.”  And it was so.  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.  And there was evening, and there was morning; the sixth day.”

This month, on Valentine’s Day, we begin to celebrate the season of Lent, and recall the passion of our Savior enduring the challenge of taking upon Himself the sins of our fallen world.  Jesus came down from Heaven and gave us His ultimate sacrifice so that we might enjoy eternity with Him in Paradise.

Heavenly Father, we bring our supplications before You;

·        Heavenly Father, please continue to lead and bless Trinity HOPE with Your loving hand; may we always strive to accomplish Your will.

·        Bless the workers here in the U.S. and in Haiti and give them courage as they face challenges from the evil foe.  Provide them with courage, endurance and love.

·        Heavenly Father, please protect and direct your children to bring peace and stability to the Haitian government and wherever there is unrest in your world.

·        On the 14th of this month, may we choose to look at the Cross and how much You loved us; so much that You sent Jesus to give His life for each of us sinful humans.  May we share the Good News of His Sacrifice with the lost souls living in this fallen world.

“Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed.  Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith.  May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You sent it; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.  Amen.”

2 Corinthians 13:11-14; “Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.  Greet one another with a holy kiss.  All the saints send their greetings.  May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

“I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.  Amen.” Martin Luther

May God go before you to guide you; may His arms be beneath you to support you, around you to protect you and above you to bless you.  And may the blessings of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you always dear sister and brother in Christ,

In His love, Jay Brinkmeyer

The richest of gifts.

“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.  I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.  Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.  I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.  I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.”  Psalm 63:1-5

As I was going through another group of photos of Trinity HOPE children the attached just leaped out at me.  When sleep is interrupted at night I have been getting up and reading through the Psalms and these verses from Psalm 63 seemed to be a good match with these children.

This group of children attends a school in the Les Cayes District in the Southwest part of Haiti.  My humble words cannot begin to adequately describe the reverence of their meal prayer.  They are sitting at a table in their school, temperature is around 90 with matching humidity; the school has no running water or electricity and the majority of these children had nothing to eat since they left this table yesterday.  The plate in front of them is the ‘richest of foods’ and with the ‘singing lips of their mouths they praise our Heavenly Father’ for the gift they are about to receive.

These children understand how important this blessing is to them, how wonderful it is to have a loving God and how important the Trinity HOPE meals are to each of them.  If you would like to help us feed children in a Trinity HOPE program in Haiti, or find out how your congregation or organization can also feed a school and prepare missionaries in Haiti, please check out our Trinity HOPE website or learn more about us at Charity Navagator. 

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

The 'Come' prayer.

“Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed.”  Martin Luther, 16th Century.

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”  Psalm 118:1

Did your school have a hot lunch program?  What are your memories of that noon meal?  I remember sitting down at the table and reciting the “Come” prayer together.  Our Lutheran school had smiling cooks who placed our food onto our partitioned plastic trays and then we picked up our little cold glass milk bottles with a foil cap at the end of the line.  There were several children in my school that didn’t like their food to ‘touch’ one another and they like the trays; the green beans should not ‘touch’ the mashed potatoes.  I prefer the open plate as I am a ‘mixer’ and enjoy the blending of the flavors.

We had five different items each day, always something different.  I don’t have any fond memories of the food that I liked, only the stuff that didn’t hit my taste buds with a pleasant note; canned spinach or peas always struck the forbidden gag reflex in the back of my throat.  They were always a magnet for a nasty gag because of their texture, not their flavor.

I don’t recall ever noticing kids in my school ever going to lunch “hungry” but rather it was just another activity of our day.  The majority of us had breakfast and would eat dinner when we got home and probably another something, before we went to bed.  Giving thanks for my lunch didn’t really seem that important, it was always there, just like all the other meals.

There are 24 plates of rice and beans on the serving table at Bois Marchand which is on the outskirts on the Northern edge of Gonaives.  These plates are ready to be served to one class of children who didn’t have breakfast and when they get home, there won’t be dinner waiting for them and nothing before they go to bed.

When these kids say their prayer before receiving this blessing, you can tell that this is something that really is important to them.  They will eat every grain of rice and every single bean on their plate this day, tomorrow, next week and next month. 

Is there anything in your North American life that brings you to your knees to give thanks for these days?  Around six dollars will feed the twenty-four children who received this blessing at their Lutheran school in Bois Marchand on the day this photo was taken.  Six dollars won’t even get you into the door of a China buffet to eat a bucket of food that you probably don’t need, but will provide each of these precious lives with the sustenance that they have been waiting for this day and every day.  The board of directors for Trinity HOPE and the children of Bois Marchand thank you for your continued prayers and financial support.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Their Hope.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:6-7

I can’t begin to count the number of times people have commented on the bright smiles on the faces of the children in the Trinity HOPE photos.  The smiles are real and too bad you cannot hear their giggling, feel their hugs and fully embrace their appreciation for your gift that provides a pot of food outside their school.

Perhaps their hope is what we really can’t comprehend.  They have a new found hope in Jesus Christ that has conquered the neighborhood vodou priest on the cross and they know that they are saved.  They come to school hungry as they typically have little or nothing to eat for dinner or breakfast and when we take their photo sitting at their desk, they can smell the food and the smiles tell you that there is a special blessing waiting for them.

We have known Jesus for some time, some of us were baptized as infants and have walked with him all our lives and probably take way too much for granted.  We have food, in our cupboards, in our fridge, freezer, pantry, desk, nightstand, automobile and probably even something stashed in a coat pocket.  The wild birds and pesky squirrels in my immediate neighborhood eat better every day than the children in the attached photo attending school in Les Cayes.

It is hard to imagine how something so small from us can mean so much to them.  A little over four dollars will feed these sixteen children in the Southwest corner of Haiti a meal of beans and rice for a day.  Our Triune God feeds His sheep through people like you in His world.  Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Use me.

“Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Mark 4:10-11

On Sunday morning, while reading a devotion and having a cup of Columbian, Alexa shared an arrangement by Vickie Winans on the Southern Gospel format that was called ‘Spirit of the Living God’.  That was a few days ago but the words continue to encourage me.  They initially brought me to consider how God has been working on my life for seven plus decades and then it began to impress upon me how our Triune God is working through the lives of the children attending Christian schools in Haiti.

The words to this song are “Spirit of the living God fall fresh on me, Spirit of the living God fall fresh on me.  Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me; Spirit of the living God fall fresh on me.”  Consider how these words describe the work that our Triune God is impacting on these two young lives walking along the road to Les Cayes.

“Melt me.”  There is a point in their lives and in our lives too when we need to be melted down.  There comes a time in our lives when we are like an unused candle that has accumulated the dirt of this sinful world, and we need to be melted down and once again be purified; Christ accomplished this for us on the cross of Calvary.  These young lives have been under the weight of lies from the vodou priest and violent gangs; lies that are being retold to them by members of their family and playmates.

“Mold me.”  When our being was being shaped in our mother’s womb, we were given specific qualities and abilities by our Creator.  Some of us sing, some of us write, some of us are encouragers, some of us are builders; and the list of abilities is endless as He gave each of us special things to accomplish in this world.  These two young lives are being molded through Christian education at their School.  They are being molded to use their special gifts to accomplish His will for their lives while bringing more into the Kingdom.

“Fill me.”  I could interpret this as meaning their bodies were being filled daily with a meal of rice and beans from Trinity HOPE but that would not be correct; even though they are daily receiving such a blessing.  These two young lives and our lives too need to daily be fed the Word; we need to immerse ourselves in His Word daily to accomplish His will.  Our tanks need to be connected to our Heavenly Father each and every day to stay focused along our journey.

“Use me.”  May our work be His work and not ours.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will descend upon us and use us to do His work in this sinful world.  Our work should be all about Him and not about us, because without Him we cannot accomplish the work that He created for us to do.  Thank you for continuing to support these children attending Christian schools in Haiti.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Keep waiting and watching.

“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6 (NASB)

Where did you go to school?  Was it a large school; did it have desks, blackboards, projectors, a furnace or air conditioner, a solid concrete or wood floor, a bathroom, electricity, a kitchen or running water?  I started school in 1955 and I would have to check each of the above qualities with a “yes”.  Not to mention locking doors, windows with glass, a gymnasium, a music room, a separate room for each class and I was blessed to have attended a Lutheran grade school so we also learned about Jesus. And we were fed a meal for lunch.  That was in 1955 and my old school has seen many upgrades in the past 69 years.

The attached photo of the school at Bois Marchand was taken in March of 2010 when I visited Haiti after the deadly earthquake.  These children could not have said ‘wi’ or ‘yes’ to all of my questions regarding their school; they have a kitchen which was a pot setting over a pile of coals outside and they also learn about Jesus and have a hot lunch; that is it. 

Their desks also double as church pews on Sunday and their school is used as a church.  When you look at their school, does the word success cross your mind?  I don’t know what their GPA average is or what electives they are taking or how well their basketball team is doing in the Districts; they are not familiar with any of these things.  I am sure that their parents are concerned that they do get good grades and will have a brighter future than they had. 

When I interviewed fifteen of these boys and girls, I recognized the unique way God created each of these children and is preparing them to share the love of Jesus at every turn along their journey.  Their parents and those of us who are Trinity HOPE donors wait and watch as they grow up and grow closer to Jesus.  For me, at this point in my life, that is what is really more important than the report cards, elective classes and trophy cases full of sports medals; growing closer to Jesus.

Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” and that causes me to consider the words, “… in the way he should go.”  Is our world placing more importance on training our kids that the “way he should go” is to chase worldly achievement or to chase God?  Whatever they learn to chase as a child, they will chase as adults; you and I both know that to be true.  We wait and watch as these children will be nudged by the Holy Spirit to right the wrongs in Haiti.

Their school may not look like much but these children are so very special to Him and to His work in Haiti.  When they give thanks for their Trinity HOPE meal each day, they are thanking our Triune God for you, for helping to make their lives so special…for Him.  Thank you for sharing your excess with these who have nothing to spare.  God be with you.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

Everything we have; on loan.

“Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” James 1:16-18

There was a video driven Bible study from the Lutheran Hour several decades ago that opened with a Lutheran pastor standing in a cemetery with only a handful of mourners around him.  They we waiting.  Someone was late…again.  Then the camera panned out over a winding road where there came a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer.

There is this from Job 1:21 that adds clarity to the story of the hearse.  “I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave.  The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away.  Praise the name of the LORD!”  We are born with nothing, we live and we die with nothing to take with us.  Forget the trailer, you can’t take it with you.

Everything we have in between birth and death is provided for us by our Heavenly Father.  There are times, that we affluent Americans struggle with that truth.  Too often we feel that we provided it all by ourselves.

You, me and these Haitian children all arrived in a tiny, naked body as we drew our initial breath.  And what do we have when we depart?  A naked body plus a lot of wrinkles, scars and scabs.  We take nothing because we brought nothing!  Accept it.  You don't even own your children.  They're God's children, on loan for you to take care of, rear, nurture, love, discipline, encourage, affirm, and then release.

These Haitian children are God’s children too.  He’s given you an opportunity to feed them while they are at school learning that their Savior, Jesus, loves them.  We have a chance to help change their lives and in turn the lives of others in Haiti.  The stuff in the U-Hall trailer; sell it and help feed these kids. 

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay

If I were the devil.

“Then war broke out in heaven.  Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.  But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.  The great dragon was hurled down; that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.  He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” Revelation 12:7-9

Back in the day, I used to listen to Paul Harvey at noon on the radio from time to time.  He was a wise man, not an evangelist, but a wise man from Tulsa, OK.  Last week, I came across a segment from him that was broadcast in 1965 and titled “If I were the devil”.  This was broadcast fifty-nine years ago and at the time, I probably thought he was crazy as the things he said didn’t seem possible.  Please take some time on this Saturday to read through his words.

“If I were the devil.  If I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness.  And I’d have a third of its real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree; Thee.  So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States.  I’d subvert the churches first; I’d begin with a campaign of whispers.  With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: ‘Do as you please’.

To the young, I would whisper that ‘The Bible is a myth.’  I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around.  I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is ‘square.’  And the old, I would teach to pray, after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington’.  And then I’d get organized.  I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting.  I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa.  I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could.  I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction.  I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.

If I were the devil, I’d soon have families at war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed.  And with promises of higher ratings, I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames.  If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, but neglect to discipline emotions; just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.

Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography; soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress.  And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science.  I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money.  If I were the devil, I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle.

If I were the devil, I’d take from those who have, and give to those who want until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious.  And what do you bet I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich?  I would caution against extremes and hard work in Patriotism, in moral conduct.  I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be.  And thus, I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure.  In other words, if I were the devil, I’d just keep right on doing what he’s doing.”  Paul Harvey, good day.”

This may be a good time to share a Paul Harvey saying, “and now…you know the rest of the story”.  Do any of his predictions seem familiar?  I read yesterday about a woman stabbing her boyfriend to death, 108 times.  No jail time as she was found to be under the influence of marijuana.  The evil enemy attempts to draw us into his seemingly innocent little snares.  What will the next ten or twenty years hold for the workers in the Harvest field?  Remain steadfast in your labors as our Lord Jesus is with us.

Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, 8not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May God be with you,

Jay