Category Archives: Wisconsin Christian News

Battle Scars – Rob Pue

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As we endure life in this world, walking by faith and not by sight, walking in the Spirit of God and not in the flesh, seeking to serve the Lord and His Kingdom, doing that which He has commanded us — and entrusted us to do — it can get very lonely sometimes.

   I think of the apostle Paul, whose letters — which he wrote from prison — are filled with sound doctrine and teaching; but also his deepest personal feelings, as he endured great lonliness, being separated from his friends and fellow believers in Christ.

   Look at Second Timothy 1.  He clearly missed his young friend, as he wrote: “I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.   As I remember your tears, I long to see you, that I may be filled with joy.  I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.  For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

   “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, — and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do.

   “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.  Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.   By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.”

   And then Paul added, “You are aware that all who are in Asia abandoned me.”  Yes, Paul was there, writing to Timothy from prison.  He was jailed for preaching the Gospel of our Savior, and he was alone.  No one stood with him.  All had abandoned him.

   Then in Chapter 4, we have this:  “Do your best to come to me soon.   For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.  Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry…. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.   Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.   Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.   At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!   But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.”

   In Second Corinthians, Paul describes what Christian ministry is REALLY like.  Starting at verse 24:  “Five times I received, at the hands of the Jews, the forty lashes less one.  Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;  on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.”

   There are many today, who will tell you the Christian life is all joy and happiness.  “Just walk the aisle,” they say, “repeat the ‘sinners prayer,’ and MEAN IT,” they’ll tell you…  And “Jesus has a wonderful plan for your life!”  “Just ask Jesus into your heart and you will go from misery to ‘your best life NOW!”  But friends, this isn’t true.  This is a false Gospel…  The fact of the matter is, the Christian life is NOT an easy one.  It’s NOT all happiness and joy.  If you are TRULY living out your faith and serving Christ, you will find yourself in frequent persecution, you’ll be mocked and ridiculed.  You’ll lose your friends.   You may even find yourself being sued in court; you may lose your business, your home, your freedom, and yes, in some cases, even your family.

   Jesus Himself said in Matthew 10, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have NOT come to bring peace, but a sword.   For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.   And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”

   You absolutely will NOT fit in with the modern culture if you are following Christ today.  It is at that point you have a choice:  keep your mouth shut and practice your “religion” in secret, in which case you will NOT endure any persecution and you can just “get along” with everyone — or you can be a faithful servant, obey the commands of Jesus and season this world with salt — being a beacon of light in a dark and dying culture.  Yes, you HAVE that choice.  So what will you choose?

   Those who choose the latter often find themselves very lonely and very misunderstood.  Because they walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh, the world cannot understand them.    Spiritual things are spiritually discerned; and those without the Holy Spirit CANNOT understand.  It’s not that they don’t want to… they just don’t have the Holy Spirit inside them, and therefore they CAN’T understand you.

   “Religious” people will not understand you either.  Many times you’ll even be viewed as a “troublemaker” or a “crazy zealot” by those in your own church, if you dare step outside the box and actually DO the work Christ called you to.  You WILL endure hardship and you WILL experience persecution if you’re openly and faithfully and unashamedly living the Christian life.  Those who preach “health, wealth, prosperity, happiness, roses and rainbows” are lying to you.  You should ask yourself what their motivation is… and oftentimes, you’ll find it’s very simple: it’s so that THEY can be well liked and popular among the people… and well PAID.

   How lonely it must have been for Jesus Himself — MANY times — as even His own disciples had a hard time understanding some of His teachings.  Yet He patiently taught them and explained to them the parables the world could not understand.  And though they walked closely with Him for 3 1/2 years during His earthly ministry, on the night of His arrest, they all abandoned Him, when He needed His friends the most.

   Look at Luke 22.  Here, Jesus was on the Mount of Olives, following the Last Supper.  He went there to pray with His disciples.  But His disciples couldn’t stay awake and watch with Him even one hour.  How lonely our Savior must have been as He prayed, “‘Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’  An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him.  And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

   Not exactly “health, wealth, prosperity, happiness, roses and rainbows”… is it?  That was NEVER Jesus’ message.  That’s a false Gospel, that creates false converts, who quickly fall away.  As it has been said, “everyone wants to follow Jesus — until they find out where He is going.”  Now, I am NOT saying that the Christian life is miserable.  As a matter of fact, I don’t know how ANYONE can make it through this life without Christ.  There IS a peace.  Though the world around you continues to spin out of control into chaos and evil, as a true believer in Jesus, you DO have peace in your heart.

   As Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  Friends, we would NOT NEED “peace that passes all understanding” if the Christian life were EASY.  But BECAUSE we know Christ as our Savior, BECAUSE we have His Holy Spirit within us, we can have a peace of mind and heart that the world just cannot ever comprehend.  But it’s still, often, very lonely.

   In the ministry work I do,  I get a great many phone calls, emails and letters from those who are seeking answers, and often seeking my counsel.  Some have grown children who have become wayward and left their faith behind.  Some have unbelieving spouses who are carnal and worldly, rather than spiritual.  Some deal with ridicule from co-workers.  Most all of them have very shallow “friendships,” with only a few at the churches they attend.  They often have NO ONE they can fellowship with, or commune with or talk to about the deep and rich things of God.  They feel so ALONE.

   All of us, who carry the name of Christ and live out our faith — FOR REAL — have endured great emotional and physical hardships.  It often seems we’ve been in one battle after another, and we have the battle scars to prove it.  And it is when we are alone in the battle that things are most difficult and heart-wrenching;  when all have abandoned us, when even those we thought were our friends turn away.  This is also the time when the enemy likes to come and attack; and unless we remain in prayer and communion with GOD, we can easily become discouraged and depressed.

   This is why we are exhorted — in the book of Hebrews — “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.   And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

   How sweet it is to have REAL, GOOD fellowship with like-minded believers.  Not shallow small talk, fake smiles and handshakes during “greet your neighbor time” at your Sunday service… but deep, meaningful fellowship and friendships with the saints of God.  How wonderful to have a support system like that.  It is so refreshing to our souls when we have friends we can be open, honest and transparent with as we share our Christian walk together.  We can “compare notes,” and we can relate to one another as we let our “Battle Scars” show. 

   When I quoted from Hebrews about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, I’m not just talking about GOING to church.  I’m talking about BEING the church — all in one accord — with fellow saints you KNOW are true believers and true friends that stick closer than a brother. 

   Some of the greatest times in my own spiritual walk have been with friends like this.  Recently, one evening, following a busy day at a Christian conference, I sat with a friend, one on one, and we just talked together.  We shared with one another our experiences in ministry, as well as the heavy burdens we both carry.  Though our ministries — and our battles — are different, and though some of our battle scars run deeper than others, they are all part of the same spiritual warfare we’re both involved in.

   And then, after we talked a long time, we PRAYED a long time, with each other and FOR each other.  I’ve never felt such peace in my heart as I do at times like this.  As disciples of Jesus living in the times we are living in, I UNDERSTAND what the writer of Hebrews meant when he said, — “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” —  how it is even MORE important as we see the Day of the Lord approaching. 

   The spiritual warfare continues to wage all around us.  Those of us who are engaged in this warfare NEED one another.  We need real, deep, intimate friendships; fellow believers we know we can TRUST in any and every circumstance.  We need to KNOW they “have our backs” in our times of need.  We need such friends we can talk to and pray with on a deep, intimate level — and not have to worry about gossip being spread.  We need MORE than shallow, vain, repetitious corporate prayer time.  We need more than “small talk” — we need REAL brothers and sisters in Christ.

   It’s like a little glimpse of heaven during these intimate times with our fellow believers.  As Jesus said in Matthew 18, “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them.”  If you don’t have this in your life, I encourage you to seek it out.  Pray that the Lord open those doors for you and then, even though you may have deep wounds and battle scars, let yourself be vulnerable enough to let them show, and let others know your needs.  Fellowship together, PRAY together…  build an intimate, close bond of friendship.  Because it’s HARD living a faithful and obedient Christian life.  And it’s even harder doing it all alone, with none who understand.  So stand firm to the end, fellow believers… and if you need or want to talk with ME, I’d be honored to be your friend.  God bless you.

   Audio CDs and transcripts of this message are available when you call me at (715) 486-8066 or email Rob@WisconsinChristianNews.com.  Ask for message number 253.


© 2019 Rob Pue, Publisher
WISCONSIN CHRISTIAN NEWS
PO Box 756
Marshfield, WI  54449
(715) 486-8066
www.WisconsinChristianNews.com

Itching Ears that Hate the Truth – Rob Pue

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In one of the apostle Paul’s last letters — the one he wrote to Timothy — he gave some vitally important words of caution and warning.  2nd Timothy 4, starting at verse 2:  “Preach the Word;  be instant in season, out of season;  reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine;  but after their own lusts, shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables.”

   Then, he added, “But watch thou, in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”

   I have been working in full time ministry for nearly 20 years now.  I remember when I began, I was astonished at the many churches that were no longer enduring sound doctrine.  The “seeker friendly” movement, which morphed into the “Emergent Church” movement was on a “fast track.”  Mega churches were springing up with massive buildings.  So large, in fact, they call them “campuses.”  And many of these mega-churches have MULTIPLE campuses in various areas of their cities, because one building will not hold all those who want the feel-good, false “love gospel” message that is preached there.

   I was saddened in those early days of this work, to see so many formerly rock solid, Bible-based, Scripturally sound churches DEvolve into nothing more than “happy fun time.”  A “feel-good experience,” where one could go and see a show, lift their hands in mock reverence to God, dance and sway, while being promised all manner of prosperity, health, wealth, and a life of abundance.  “Your BEST life NOW.”  This is just SO contradictory to everything God’s Word says about the Christian life.  Sin is no longer a word allowed to be spoken of in many churches, and if it IS spoken of, it’s only to say that once we simply say a prayer or walk an aisle (or worse yet, just raise our hand “with all eyes closed and all heads bowed”); we are “good” with God.

   We can then go about our normal lives as usual.  Except now, we are told, we are assured of heaven… just because we repeated a few words and sheepishly raised our hand while no one was looking.  COME ON folks!  Talk about biblical illiteracy.  Talk about wolves in sheep’s clothing…. HIRELINGS lulling fat and happy fools into a false sense of eternal security.  This is so sad.

   But you know, we cannot put all the blame on the pastors.  They’re just giving the people what they want.  Look again at the Scripture from 2nd Timothy:  it says THE PEOPLE will not put up with sound doctrine any longer, and so THE PEOPLE heap up for themselves teachers to tell them what they want to hear, to soothe their itching ears.

   It is the great apostasy, the great “falling away.”  And I have watched it begin as a tiny sprout many years ago, and I’ve watched it grow, blossom, flower and then re-seed itself many times over the years…  Today it is so prevalent in Christendom that one is hard-pressed to find a faithful congregation of true believers anywhere.  I guess that’s why God’s Word says there will only be a small “remnant” that stand firm to the end.

   During my time in ministry, I have seen the old timers, the pastors who were faithful in teaching the WHOLE counsel of God’s Word grow older and retire from the ministry… or in many cases, be FORCED OUT of their ministry by church boards and elders — only to be replaced by somebody younger, more “hip,” more “in step” with the culture and times we are living in.  In other words, a more CARNAL “pastor.”  These “cool” new pastors often use Hollywood films on their big projection TV screens to illustrate their sermons… they make off-color jokes from the pulpits.  They wear t shirts and ripped blue jeans as they speak, to appeal to the average “Joe six-pack” in the audience.  They have a “hot” worship team, complete with electric guitars, drums, smoke and mirrors and in some cases even laser light shows.  “It’s all about the EXPERIENCE,” they say.

   Friends, I’m not some old fashioned stick in the mud.  I’ve been around.  And I can tell you, this ain’t “church.”  At least not a biblical church.  It MAY be a “synagogue of Satan.”  But it’s not church, and it most certainly is not God-honoring.  There is NO reverence for Him; no fear of God there at all.   I have seen youth leaders take their group of kids to R-rated movies as their Youth Group “activity” for the week;  I have seen pastors hold community events called a “car smash,” which apparently the kids love… they get an old car, put it in the middle of their parking lot, and let the kids destroy it with baseball bats, spray paint, and tire irons.  This is their “entertainment” for the evening — a way to get kids to “come to church.” 

   I’ve seen pastors dress up like Hollywood movie characters, or the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.  I’ve seen the bounce houses and carnival games and rock concerts… nowadays, they will do ANYTHING to get kids — AND ADULTS — to come to church, and KEEP coming to church… KEEP RIGHT ON filling those collection plates.  Just don’t DARE tell them what the Bible REALLY says…. are you KIDDING?  That’s MUCH too harsh.  That’s no fun.  Who would want to hear THAT?!

   So when it comes to doing things of any real significance; when it comes to being SALT AND LIGHT and IMPACTING our society and culture with what our society and culture is in DESPERATE NEED OF — the TRUTH, for heaven’s sake — they are all AWOL…  oh NO!  They CAN’T “go there!”  People don’t want to hear about sin and evil, or the consequences of sin and evil in their lives.   They don’t want to be CONVICTED in their hearts.  They want to be COMFORTED and entertained.  And they call this “going to church.”  Preach the WORD?  Are you kidding?  Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all LONGSUFFERING and DOCTRINE?  WHO in the world wants THAT?!  Endure afflictions for the sake of the Gospel?  “NO, thank you.  I’ll take a large coffee, please, and if it’s not too much trouble, please make sure the service is over with by noon, because we need to get home to watch the game.”

   If you want to know why our world is the way it is, it’s because professing Christians have given up.  It began at least a generation or two ago — and maybe longer.  But at some point, we stopped taking God and His Word seriously.  And the Great falling away began.  Instead of serving CHRIST and HIS KINGDOM, we began seeking after things we perceived to be “good, fun, enjoyable, entertaining.”  Instead of afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted, we BECAME the comfortable, …and we like it that way.  So as for those old time preachers who just want to preach the “hard stuff,” “hit the road, Jack, we’ve decided to go a different direction.”  Yes, indeed, they have.

   Over the years I have known countless faithful men of God who have been run out of town by these congregations that no longer wish to hear the truth.  I, myself, have been “disinvited” from more churches than I can count.  But let me tell you about a friend of mine who has recently experienced this at his church in California.  His name is Pastor Justin Hoke, and he is a faithful truth-teller, a watchman on the wall.  He doesn’t allow political correctness to dictate his message.  He speaks the WHOLE counsel of God’s Word — out of love for the lost, and to inform those who profess Christ of the spiritual culture war we are SUPPOSED to be fighting — as we stand our ground against the enemy and his demons.

   He recently put a message on his church sign stating common sense, simply TRUTH.   The sign read: “Bruce Jenner is still a man.  Homosexuality is still sin.  The culture may change.  The Bible does not.”  According to a news story by PulpitAndPen.org, LGBT activists swarmed the church recently, claiming the sign was “hateful.”  They later vandalized the sign.  And less than a week later, Pastor Hoke made the following announcement on his Facebook page:

   “As of today, I am no longer the pastor of Trinity Bible Presbyterian Church.  After much prayer and counsel, I have decided that it is best to briefly communicate what has taken place.   1)  I was informed by our other elder that he felt he could no longer follow my lead as pastor.  2)  I was informed that essentially all but one couple in membership would leave the church if I continued as pastor.  3)  Our other elder and the couple felt that those who left would likely return if I would leave.”

   Pulpit And Pen commented, “Apparently, the public outrage was enough to cause discontent within the local congregation, which appears to value the opinion of men more than the Word of God.  May it not be said of us.”  I should note that this came after the pastor gave one of the most powerful sermons I’ve heard in a long time, entitled “Love Warns.”  In his sermon, Pastor Hoke noted that to “accept and affirm” what the culture embraces, but which God’s Word calls abomination is NOT to love those trapped in sin; but rather WARNING the wicked of their need for repentance and forgiveness by the shed blood of Christ is the definition of truly LOVING your neighbor.  It was an incredibly powerful message he gave.   And then he was immediately tossed out of his role as pastor.  For simply telling the TRUTH, straight from God’s Word.

   I’m reminded of the prophet Jeremiah, known as the “weeping prophet,” because he wept for the nation of Israel.  God sent him to declare His Word and Truth to the people, and sound the warning regarding all their iniquities.  But the people did NOT want to hear.  Instead they demanded, “Jeremiah, tell us something GOOD for once… tell us what we want to hear!”

   Let’s read just a little bit from chapter 7 as God explains things to Jeremiah:  “But this command I gave them: ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people.  And walk in all the ways that I command you, that it may be well with you.’  But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.   From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all My servants the prophets to them, day after day.  Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their necks. They did worse than their fathers.”

   And so God continued, “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.  And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.”

   Does that not sound like America today?  Truth has perished.  It’s DEAD!  Evil is called “good” and good is called “evil” and we LIKE it that way.  And anyone who DARES defy the celebration of sodomy or speak TRUTH on this matter is virtually crucified by all — even those you would THINK would be on your side — the “church” people.  Indeed, we are at a place and time now where even those who profess to be people of God will no longer endure sound doctrine.  Instead, they heap up for themselves teachers who tell them what they prefer to hear.

   I can tell you, from PERSONAL experience, being a watchman on the wall puts a target on your back — for Satan to aim at, AND, sadly today, for many church-goers to aim at as well.  You WILL be persecuted for speaking truth.  It is SO SAD realizing just how many — I dare say, the VAST MAJORITY of regular church-goers today — have NO IDEA what the Scriptures actually say; nor do they have any intention of finding out, of “studying to show themselves approved.”  They would rather just attend the weekly meetings at their local “Religious Service Provider” … as long as it’s a message that makes them feel good about THEMSELVES.

   In the Gospel of John, Jesus said, “IF YOU HOLD TO MY TEACHING, you are really My disciples.  THEN you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  You see,  every church-goer claims to want to follow Jesus — until they find out where He’s taking them.  If the truth be told, they don’t really want Jesus, nor do they want His TRUTH.   They just want the benefits.  They just want to feel good.  But apart from Jesus you can’t even know the truth…  and unless you HOLD to His teaching, you are not His disciples at all.  So if you’re not serious about being His disciple, then by calling yourself a “Christian” — you are actually taking the Lord’s name in vain.  So stop it.  America is in the midst of serious judgment.  We are a nation of depraved minds.  God has sent strong delusion upon our people because we refused to hear and heed His Word. 

   If you want to know WHY the world is in such a mess, I can tell you.  We have deserted our Heavenly Father, and shunned His Son.  America will never be great again, unless we turn back to God, — who promises if we do, THEN He will heal our hearts and our minds, and our land.   America needs Jesus.  And men and women of true faith and courage, willing to preach the Word — in season and out.  Reprove, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering and SOUND doctrine.  Unfortunately, in our world today, TRUTH sounds like HATE, because our people hate the truth… 

Posted with permission of the author.

© 2019 Rob Pue, Publisher

WISCONSIN CHRISTIAN NEWS

PO Box 756

Marshfield, WI  54449

(715) 486-8066

www.WisconsinChristianNews.com

God Calls the Faithful, Not the Fancy – Rob Pue

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By “The Boys of the Bible, by Hartwell James, published by Henry Altemus Company, 1905, 1916 – http://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/Pictures/The%20Boys%20of%20the%20Bible/index.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49274164

It must have been quite the scandal.  A young, 14 year old girl, Mary, engaged to be married, had just returned from a visit to her relatives, Elizabeth and Zechariah who lived in the hill country of Judah.  She had been gone for three months, and when she returned, she was pregnant.

She had not seen her fiance’ Joseph in all that time.  We can assume that Joseph knew nothing of Mary’s delicate condition;  as a carpenter by trade, he had likely been busy working, perhaps building a house for himself and Mary to live in after they were married.  In those days, a young man would not marry until he was well established, with a way to provide for his new wife and a place for them to live and raise a family.  Joseph was looking forward to the wedding day, and doing his best to make everything ready to receive Mary as his bride.

Imagine his shock and dismay when Mary returned to town.  Imagine what HE must have thought… his hopes and dreams dashed; all he had been working for these many months, seemingly gone.  He may have thought to himself, “Well, at least I found out what sort of girl she is BEFORE we got married.”  But he did not know what he was about to find out.

We can only imagine the buzz around town.  You know how people talk, especially in small towns.  Mary takes off for three months and comes back pregnant.  Obviously the child was not Joseph’s…  how her reputation must have been dragged through the mud among the townspeople.  She perhaps went from being a “nobody” to being despised.

And her STORY!  “The child she was bearing was not by the act of fornication, but of the Holy Spirit!”  She may as well have claimed she’d been abducted by a UFO.  How the people must have whispered and gossipped behind her back.  Her parents, also, must have had doubts.  Often times we read the story of Jesus’ conception and birth, but do not really think much about what the people involved endured through it all.

Yes, surely, Mary was the target of much controversy in her little village.  And surely most people expected Joseph to call off the wedding, and abandon her in her “sin.”   “She made her bed,” they likely said, “and now she’ll have to sleep in it.”

Things were different in those days.  Premarital sex was absolutely off limits.  Fornication was perhaps the greatest sin one could commit, other than murder.  Sex outside of Holy Matrimony just was NOT acceptable.  And Mary, they thought, had committed that horrendous crime.  There could be no forgiveness for her, at least among the townspeople, to say nothing of the religious leaders of her day.

But Mary knew something no one else did.  And she had no doubts.  Because three months earlier, she had seen something no one else in town ever had:  she saw for herself the angel Gabriel.  He came to her in person — in her home town of Nazareth in Galilee.  Mary was not only pure of heart and innocent of the crime people accused her of.  But Gabriel declared, in Luke 1, “Hail, thou art highly favored.  The Lord is with thee:  blessed art thou among women.”

The Holman Standard version of the Bible continues, “But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.” Obviously.  Here was an angelic being, the angel Gabriel, standing before her, calling her “highly favored” and “blessed among women.”   She must have been shaking in her shoes… but then imagine how much more disturbing the news must have been for young Mary, as Gabriel went on to explain:  “Do not be afraid, Mary.  For you have found favor with God.  Now listen:  you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call His name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

Can you imagine YOUR response in such a situation?  Luke simply states, “But Mary asked the angel, ‘How can this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?’”  ABSOLUTELY she would ask that.  But the mere words do not convey the emotions and doubts and fears this young maiden must have been experiencing…  on top of that, these were the words of an angel.  Angels didn’t just go around appearing to EVERYONE in those days, anymore than they appear to us today.  This was something truly fantastic and supernatural.  And it was happening to HER!

Gabriel explained, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  Therefore the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.”

What would YOU have done in Mary’s situation?  I can only imagine.  But likely still trembling in fear and excitement, Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s slave.  May it be done to me according to your word.”  By the way, Gabriel also let Mary know that her relative Elizabeth had ALSO conceived a son — even in her old age — and was at that very moment, six months pregnant.  And he added, “For nothing will be impossible with God!”

Immediately Mary set out to visit Elizabeth and Zechariah…  and when Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice in greeting, the baby inside her lept for joy!  Elizabeth then CONFIRMED what the angel had told Mary:  “You are the most blessed of women, and your Child will be blessed!”  Elizabeth went on, with sheer joy:  “How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  For you see, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped for joy inside me!  She who has believed is blessed because what was spoken to her by the Lord will be fulfilled!”

Such joy, such excitement.  And such wonder!  How could all this BE?  Yet it WAS.  And it was happening to Mary, just 14 years old, some say, and not yet even married.

Mary must have wondered what her fiance’ Joseph was going to think of all this. Would he believe her story about the angel’s visit? And the confirmation from Elizabeth?  Yet she had great faith, and great obedience to the Lord.  Luke goes on in verses 46-55 with Mary’s song of praise because of what the Lord was doing in her life.  Unbelievable, yet very, very true.

And what about Joseph?  We don’t know a lot about him, but we can surmise what HE must have been going through as well.  After a three month visit away from home, Mary returned, pregnant.  He KNEW the baby was not his.  Matthew tells us only, “When Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.”

We know from Scripture that Joseph was a “just” man, an honorable man, and a Godly man.  He was a FAITHFUL man, one the Lord knew He could count on to provide for Mary and the baby Jesus, to protect and defend them.  Yet, Joseph could not wrap his mind around the situation.  After all, he was only human, and this was the first he had heard of the situation.  He could have joined the rest of the townspeople in their derision and slander.  He could have accused her of sleeping around and he could have made it public record that this baby was NOT his — HE was not a fornicator!  He could have defended his own pride and reputation.  Imagine Joseph’s turmoil.  The sleepless nights, the anguish as all his hopes and dreams had been dashed, yet he knew he had to do the right thing.  He loved Mary, still, regardless of what she might have done.  But what would he do now?  Matthew tells us, “Being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately.”

But then we read, “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife.  For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.  She shall bring forth a Son, and thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”

Matthew reminds us that all these things were foretold by the prophet Isaiah… which Joseph likely was familiar with, being a Godly man.  You, too, can read about it in Isaiah 7.  But still:  how INCREDIBLE that the Lord had chosen HIM as the husband of that virgin, foretold in the Scriptures so long ago.  But Joseph was a good man.  When he awoke, the Bible tells us, without a second thought, he did as the angel had told him, and took Mary as his wife.  Yet Mary and Joseph did not consummate their marriage until after Jesus had been born.

We all know the rest of the story of the birth of the Savior, how the entire heavenly host of angels praised the God of Creation, how the shepherds came and, in awesome faith, worshiped the baby Savior, as He lay sleeping — in of all places, an animal’s feeding trough in a barn.  We also know what took place after. Joseph proved himself to be a faithful man, a good provider and protector of his family.  When Herod sought to kill the infant Jesus, he again did as the angel of the Lord instructed him:  with NO hesitation and with no doubt in his mind,  he immediately took his family to safety and settled in Egypt until after Herod’s death.  Then, again following the Lord’s instructions, he returned his family back home to Nazareth.

It’s a beautiful story.  But it is also a TRUE story.  It is HISTORY, not a fairy tale.   It’s the miraculous story of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The ENTIRE story of Jesus’  birth, childhood, ministry, death, resurrection and His soon return is indeed, the greatest story ever told.  And depending on where YOU stand with God, it’s either real GOOD news or real BAD NEWS for you.

 As the song says, “Wonderful, Merciful Savior, precious Redeemer and Friend;  who would have thought that a Lamb could rescue the souls of men?”

Such is the love of our Heavenly Father for His children.  Jesus said, “There is no greater love than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  But second to that, as a father myself, I can tell you there is no greater love than a parent for their precious child.   I cannot imagine the INFINITE love it must take to sacrifice your own Son to save the souls of those that are born predisposed to hate you. Scripture tells us, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus came to show us Who God is, and like His Father, during His earthly ministry, He called the “least in the Kingdom” — men and women of no reputation to be His followers, ministers and disciples.  Imagine, a 14 year old girl and a carpenter, from the middle of nowhere, bearing and raising the very Son of God Himself… because God knew, these were FAITHFUL people He could trust. These were His true servants.  They BELIEVED God and they OBEYED Him, without hesitation.  That’s real faith.

It is the same today.  God calls those who love Him, those He can count on to be faithful to Him, who believe Him.  He calls faithful men and women to be His servants, His hands and feet in this world, and those who are the MOST faithful you will probably never hear of in this life.  To the world, they are “nobodys.”   But the prideful, the “high and mighty,” the famous — those He has little use for, and in fact, Jesus Himself most often had to condemn the religious leaders, the Priests, Scribes and Pharisees  — as well as the rich people — for their hypocrisy.  Those He made examples of, for us NOT to follow.

It’s sad that so many today follow and worship the celebrities, the fancy folks who we see on TV, in movies, in politics, in popular music, in the media… even many church leaders.  Worldly people LOVE the rich and famous.    But those rich and famous ones  may have made a name for themselves here in THIS world, but unless they repent and turn to Jesus Christ as their LORD, and not JUST their pseudo-Savior, life on this earth is the only heaven they will ever know.  Because it doesn’t matter that they know who Jesus IS.  What matters is, does Jesus know YOU.   For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?  God doesn’t care if you’re a ‘nobody’ in this world.  In fact, that’s usually who He chooses to do His best and most important work.  In the Kingdom of God, the first become last and the last become first and the greatest is servant of all. These are the ones who honor Him with their HEARTS AND LIVES, not just with their lips.  Those who BELIEVE and OBEY.

So let us each examine our own hearts today.  Do we truly BELIEVE and OBEY God, or do we just know OF Him?   Could YOU have done what Mary did? WOULD YOU have done as Joseph did?  Or would your response – today – be drastically different?

You may not be seeing angels, but God has still given you His Word.  Will you believe?  Will you obey?  Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, teaching them to OBEY all He had commanded.  Not just the “nice” parts — not just the warm and fuzzy parts, those parts of God’s Word that make us and other feel GOOD — but the HARD parts too.  You see, Truth is often a hard pill to swallow, but it’s always what we need.  If we neglect to preach ALL Jesus commanded, in order to be popular and well-liked in this world, we are not good and faithful, nor are we servants to those who need Jesus’ saving grace the most.  So let us be faithful.  Let us be servants to all.  Let us always tell the WHOLE truth, protect and provide for the helpless and innocent.  Be about His Kingdom business, occupying until He returns.  Let us judge with righteous judgment, never afraid or ashamed of the only One Who offers a transformed heart and mind, and everlasting life, for all who will forsake the world, lay down their lives and humbly seek the Savior.  And then, when our time on this earth is through, we may hear those amazing words that Mary heard: “you are highly favored; you are blessed.  Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

   Audio CDs and transcripts of this message are available when you call me at (715) 486-8066 or email Rob@WisconsinChristianNews.com.  Ask for message number 238.
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‘CHURCH ARISE’ — During the Great Falling Away – Rob Pue

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   We live in amazing times.  For centuries, faithful Christians have studied God’s Word and marveled at what was foretold about the very days WE are living in right now.  It must have been hard to believe the depths of depravity, the wickedness and evil that was to come upon the world as the Earth drew closer to that glorious day of the Lord’s return.  Certainly history is filled with examples of evil so horrific one would think things could never get any worse.  Those who walked with Christ and watched Him ascend into heaven must have wondered too, WHEN their Lord would return to them, as He promised; even as they were persecuted, jailed, beaten, tortured and murdered in the most unimaginable ways.  Surely things could get no worse.

   But they have.  Though none of us know the day or the hour, as we see all that has come upon the earth, and just how QUICKLY our culture has devolved to the darkest of depravities — even exponentially moreso just over the past few years, SURELY our redemption draweth nigh.

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‘Now They’re Coming For Our Kids’ – Rob Pue

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“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16, which USED to be the most well-known verse of the Bible, until the Leftists started quoting “Judge not.”  Now, that seems to be the only “Bible” anyone knows anymore.

For those who are unaware, in addition to these radio broadcasts, my main ministry work is Wisconsin Christian News,which is now a NATIONAL Christian newspaper, based in Wisconsin.  We have subscribers in nearly all fifty states, and some larger distribution in other states as well.  In addition, we maintain an active and well-visited website AND, since we are a monthly newspaper, we utilize our Wisconsin Christian NewsFacebook page to post late-breaking news stories and items of interest on a daily basis as well — and THERE we have an opportunity to interact with our readers.

Last night, I posted an article about “Drag Queen Story Time” — now expanding from public libraries to the public SCHOOLS.  I am always amazed that SO MANY Christians are completely UNAWARE that these things are happening.  Because this is not “new” news — it’s actually OLD news.  It’s been going on for some time.  For those who don’t know, “Drag Queen Story Time” is a program which is now taking place nationwide, in which men dress up in full female regalia, loaded with makeup and then they read stories to little pre-school and kindergarten-age children about how being a homosexual is “fun,” a way to “express your individuality,” and that there is “no such thing as “boy” things and “girl” things.  “Children,” they say, “should feel free and open to choose whichever gender they would like…” Even if they would like to be a boy one day and a girl the next. And they’re doing this to four and five-year-olds.

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