The day God ran out of patience

2 08 2016

thunder lightningOne day, God’s patience snapped. It began as a clap of thunder in the distance. His discontent rumbled over the hills of villainy, sending forth the first warning shots that His silence would soon cease.

The ocean began to swell, turning the deep green water into white foam, reflecting the Almighty’s building fury. The winds picked up the tempo as they began to howl, building into gale force, breaking into the bellowing roar of divine indignation. God was fed up with the captivity of souls, sick and tired of the despicable prince’s pompous rule.

The roofs and shutters of the Land of Wrath lost their grip and sailed uncontrollably into the wind, exposing dismal hovels of fear. Then the earth began to shake, and the foundations of the mountains trembled, shaking with God’s burning rage.

Smoke rose from His nostrils and consuming fire burst forth from His mouth. He split the heavens because the perishing cried out; He came to rescue those entangled in the snares of death. From His Sanctuary, He heard their wail of distress.

So He mounted the cherubim and soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his hiding place, the sky’s dark rain clouds His canopy. Out of the brightness of His presence, the clouds advanced over the dreary land, hail-stones and bolts of lightning emissaries of the infuriated King. The Lord thundered from heaven, the voice of the Most High roared. He shot His arrows into the lewd oppression and scattered the devilish minions in a thousand directions. He threw great bolts of lightning and routed the hierarchy of hate. The valleys of the sea were exposed, and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the Lord’s rebuke, at the blast of breath from His nostrils.

Yes, the God of love could bear the sight no longer. He could no longer endure the pain. He had to rescue the people brought forth from His yearning arms, the family He created for holiness.

And so He rose that day in vindication so righteous as to be virtuous. He rose against the devastation and waste. He rose in disgust at the culture of filth, His blood running hot with rage over the crippling depravity. He rose to crush the skull of the vile rebel who had deceived His creation, and with flaming eyes and fuming anger, with clenched fists raised toward heaven, with holy sandals planted squarely on the sludge of deception’s kingdom, God lifted His thunderous voice and shook the rafters of rottenness. His glaring eyes pierced right through the lion, and with words sharpened like a saber, God challenged His enemy to the duel of the ages: “Meet me at Golgotha!”


Excerpt from Safe In His Sanctuary (pp.83-84), by Robert E Rasmussen

photo credit: agatelady.blogspot.com





Look Anew (poem)

1 08 2016

Day after day he had seen it in its case,

gazing on its pristine beauty.

Until one day he freed it from its place

to view it in the sunlight clearly.

And when he did, the beam pierced through;

with eyes awakened did he see.

O friend, do take a look anew

for that same jeweler you can be.


Robert E. Rasmussen, Imagine Meeting Him





The man with the burden

1 08 2016

I was talking with friends recently about God’s forgiveness, and recalled one of my favorite passages from IMAGINE MEETING HIM:

“You couldn’t have been any farther east. You were burdened with an indefinable weight, unable to analyze it or get a grip on it or rid yourself of it. And no one could help you with it.

Until a man came and, taking your burden as if it weighed hardly anything, carried it up and across a range of mountains.mountains

On his climb, a seductive woman, a woman called Justice, intercepted him. She reasoned with him, saying, ‘The one whose burden you carry doesn’t deserve your efforts. Lay down the weight, and stop your journey in the name of fairness.’

Your man kept going.

By and by he passed through a desert, traversing its barrenness for days on end. Under the scorching sun, a strapping young man called Reality desertapproached him. ‘You’re carrying that heavy weight for someone who won’t even appreciate what you’re doing. Not only that, he won’t always relieve others of their burdens, even when given the chance. Let me take care of it for you right now. You won’t have to carry it any farther.’

forestAcknowledging the young man, your burden bearer nevertheless persevered. Soon he came upon a deep forest, so thick that sunlight could scarcely penetrate it. An old man with many years of experience in the world met up with him. The graybeard was called Restitution. ‘You,’ said the elderly man, ‘with that burden on your back. I see that you’re very determined, since you have made it this far. But realizing all the work this requires of you, you must go to the owner of this burden and make him pay for the relief you have provided.’

But the burden bearer passed through the forest without stopping.

Soon he came to the end of his journey. He had gone as far west as he Deep-Oceanpossibly could. There he faced the deepest of oceans.

He removed your burden and threw it into the heart of that sea, where to this day it is still sinking.


“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:11-12).

“You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).


[excerpt from Imagine Meeting Him, by Robert Rasmussen, 1998 Multnomah Publishers, pp. 169-170]

photo credit: unbelievablefacts.com

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If election is the question, Jesus is the answer

31 07 2016

SHS coverRereading SAFE IN HIS SANCTUARY, I came across this treasured section:

Somehow, Jesus is the only explanation of election. Long ago, before the crossbars of governments were lifted into place, before the pillars of society were raised, even before the foundation of the world was laid, God the Father looked at His Son with loving eyes and envisioned for Him a committed people.

He pictured His Son as the King of kings and knew who would be His loyal subjects.

He considered Jesus as the groom and He chose for Him an appropriate bride.

He thought of His Son as the head of the Church, and it apparently came into clear focus as to who would comprise His body. He conceived of His Son as a Savior, and He determined the ones who needed to be saved — no, who WANTED to be saved — no, who WOULD be saved.

If election is the question, Jesus is the answer. He is the scope and boundary, its basis and purpose. He doesn’t have limited capacity to save people. Nor does He have (thank Him) any restriction in His love that excludes some while enfolding others.

When I get baffled about the doctrine of election, I find the best response is worship!





To vote for President or not (2)

30 07 2016

As I pondered who I should vote for come November, I was struck with the number of compromises of character and morality I would have to condone to vote for either Clinton or Trump. As much as I value the right to cast my vote for the Presidency, and as much as I dislike withholding it, I began to wonder if exercising the right to vote outweighs my troubled soul.

Voting is one important way of influencing my country – one way I have been given a voice. But it is not my only voice. I can write and express my opinion and, in this one contest, my words will take the place of my vote. Here is why: Americans have chosen two Presidential candidates that are so raunchy that my commitment to Jesus Christ leads me to vocally reject them both. In what I “know” of their personal character and certain of their issues, both candidates are so out of sync with the eternal kingdom values I embrace, that I conclude it is better to not support either of them.

I am deeply thankful to be an American citizen. Both my parents defended its freedom in WW2. My U.S. passport has opened doors of opportunity in several countries. So I truly wish that our citizenry had chosen at least one candidate worthy of American virtues.isa 41.10

In this series of protestations, I head toward the question, “What Would Jesus Do?” My belief is that He would abstain from the Presidential vote. As I  aim toward articulating an answer, I am reviewing some of the writings of those whom Jesus looked to, and built upon.

isaiahConsider Isaiah. Prophets like Isaiah were not called to be popular. Isaiah, if living today, might have 16 Facebook friends beefed up with 7 Twitter followers. Prophets received biting revelations from God, expressing how disappointed and downright angry God was at His people Israel. Prophets castigated God’s people for idolatry, intermarriage, adultery, sabbath-breaking, and taking better care of their homes than God’s worship center.

America would not receive a rebuke from God if it suddenly appeared on every computer monitor and TV screen. Evangelicals either. Just look at the way brothers and sisters are compromising character to support the lesser of two evils.

For this post, I’ve chosen some of the kindest words out of Isaiah’s mouth (Isa. 40:15,23-24). I like the positive perspective they give us at this time:

Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales;

He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless. Scarcely shall they be planted, scarcely shall they be sown, scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, When He will also blow on them, and they will wither, and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.

To my fellow believers who are all in a lather about this election, I remind you isa 43.2that America is not promised perpetual greatness. The effect of a Presidency is short-lived against the swirling winds of centuries. We who have joined the eternal kingdom are strangers passing through this place. God will still be God when the next century has come and gone.

When our national citizenship asks us to compromise our Kingdom citizenship, we had better have our wits about us.

Stay tuned. John the Baptist is in the on-deck circle!

Photo credits: (Isa 43.2) nyupperroom.blogspot; (portrait) oca.org

Leave me a comment won’t you. What are your thoughts?

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