Roman Holiday

Lisa and I boarded a plane for Rome last Tuesday. I'd sent the book manuscript in on Monday, and had what may prove to be the last NET 11 Planning Committee meeting. Exausted, we went on a badly needed vacation thanks to frequent miles.

Vacation is actually not the right word, since I'm still answering key e-mails, making NET decisions, and will have some work to do that cannot wait. But it is as much of one as we've had in a long time.

Over the years, I've been to over 50 countries and just about every major city in the world, except Rome, curiously enough. My several trips to and through Italy never included the Eternal City, but I wanted to check this out before the prophecy meetings got going.

It is very hot here at this time, and there are kazillion tourists from all over the world. The closest thing I remember is the number of tourists at the Grand Canyon.

One thing really strikes the well-informed visitor about this city: the total unity between the pagan and the religious. You see it in the architecture, the historical details, the landscape. So many times a pagan site from imperial Rome was converted into a house of worship by a pope years later. The tour guides say it with certainty: When imperial Rome collapsed, the city was ruled by the popes until the start of the republic. Do you know when that is? The 19th century. It all coincides with the biblical view of the conflict between good and evil.

St. Peter's Basilica is something to behold. Inside is that famous sculpture of Peter which is probably the god Jupiter, and many other items of interest. Peter himself called this city Babylon (2 Pet 3:15). So, I'm taking mental as well as real notes of what I'm seeing; plus as many suitable pictures as I can.

This morning, Lisa and I traveled from our hotel to worship in the largest Italian church in Rome. It is the one at the Union office, and for those coming from America, it is striking to see how small it is. Maybe 75 people were worshiping there today, and the church was full. We have yet so much work to do!

We look forward to traveling along the Waldensian Valleys next.

So, where are we in terms of prayer needs?

1.  Pray for More NET Churches. We believe this will be a very good series, and wish more churches would take advantage of this opportunity. There is a lot of supporting material to conduct a successful meeting, and churches can use as much or as little of it as they wish. Let's pray that even though it's only a month away, more churches would choose to use this as part of their evangelistic initiative.

2.  Pray for the Promotion.  This includes the social media approaches we're engaging in, the handbills a number of churches will use, and the various other forms of advertising. Of course, the key piece of advertising will always be the personal invitation by a caring church member.

3.  Pray for Church Revival.  Oh, how much we need the churches to fall in love with Jesus! A key to that objective is the commitment and heart of the pastor him/herself. If the leadership is focused on Christ and His mission to the world, it'll be easier for the congregation to follow. So, please pray for the pastors involved in the NET series, and for the congregations to develop an earnest desire to reach out to others as Jesus has reached out to us.

4.  Pray for the Archaeology Meetings. Dr. Hasel and I are looking forward to these meetings starting Sept 14. We hope and pray that many may come to them, and that many guests may choose to come to the prophecy meetings because of their experience with Astonishing Discoveries in the Land of the Bible. A new website about it should be up any time now. This is a great mini-series to invite friends, neighbors, family, and co-workers.

5.  Pray for the Equipment. My personal computer may be on its last dregs, and that makes me think of the various bad things that can happen when equipment you rely on suddenly stops working the way you expect. We have a lot riding on this.

6.  Pray for the Broadcast on HOPE. We weren't able to convince 3ABN to carry this NET series, which was a personal disappointment for me. However, there is a good chance now that Hope will carry the series on Hope TV, not just on Hope Church Channel. This means that for the first time ever evangelistic meetings may be before a potentially large secular audience across the country. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit for every word we say, every song we sing, and every Bible explanation we give. God must be in control of everything, for His glory!

7.  Pray for the NET Music. Due to a limited music budget, it has been more challenging to get well-known Adventist artists to give their time to the NET meetings. They want to do it but they live off their music ministries, and that's understandable. We have a lot of excellent local talent (after all Nashville is Music City USA), but some are untested when it comes to performing for live television. Pray Jesus will guide our music coordinator, Gale Murphy, to bring on those who'd most clearly honor God and be a blessing to those coming to the meetings.

8.  Pray for the Local Fundraising. Fund-raising has depended on me, and we haven't had but one chance to do this work in the Nashville area. We need to raise at least $45,000 to cover our basic budget. Play pray the Holy Spirit may convict men and women of good will to invest financially in the work of the Lord.

Thank you so much for your prayers on behalf of the prophecy book. The title of it is Decoding Bible Prophecy and will be published by Pacific Press. It will be made available to the churches at a very low price. Our plan is to give the book to everyone coming to the prophecy meetings at least six nights. It'll be our incentive for first-week attendance. We now plan to give the Andrews Study Bible to them after attending twelve nights.

Let us not grow weary in doing good. The Lord will sustain us. Thanks for much for your prayers!

"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy,

and keep those things which are written in it;

for the time is near."

Revelation 1:3

Lord, I Give You My Heart

I'm listening to that song, "Lord, I give you my heart, I give you my soul..." It's Sabbath morning, and that is what I've done. That's all I really want to do. My sense is that this will soon come to an end, and I want all to be in the hands of Jesus.

The NET journey has been long and challenging. On Monday, we will likely have one of our last planning committee meetings. On Tuesday I leave for Rome. Once back, I'll be in the Northwest, after which the archaeology meetings begin (Sept 14). A week later is the Consecration Weekend with the Nashville churches and Prophecies Decoded starts.

We have done our best. We produced the extensive evangelistic/empowering DVD, wrote the detailed manual, offered training for Bible studies, small groups, youth evangelism. We developed ways to use the social media, and selected many resources for churches to use during the meetings. We edited archaeology and creation mini-series and created guidelines for home use. We have done fundraising. We have done all the accounting and distributing necessary. We encouraged revival and reformation in the churches, and wrote a book on the Holy Spirit to complement such focus. All this while teaching full loads and traveling 120,000 miles so far this year.

The book on prophetic interpretation (the actual title hasn't been decided yet) is almost finished. I wrote what I think will be the last chapter earlier this week, and have been doing some re-write and editing since. With the help of God, that will be finished tomorrow. Thanks for the many of you who have been praying.

What now? It's all in God's hands. Sometimes I think other institutions or organizations, and other speakers, are much better equipped to do what we are doing and will yet be doing for these NET meetings. But God has entrusted us that awesome responsibility this year. And all we can do is our best unto the Lord. He will do His part, which will make forget our best and forgive our worst.

1. Pray for the Prompt Publishing of the Book. Pacific Press will have to do an extraordinary effort to get this out in time for the churches to use. We've decided to make a change in our live site. Instead of giving the book on opening night, we will give it after they've attended six nights. Pray that the book will be a great blessing to people reading it, so they can get a better handle on how to study God's word, and why some of the things they've believed so far are not from the Lord. 
2. Pray for the Efficient Use of Social Media. We've had a couple of young adults working on this, and have put adds on Facebook, links to the website, the promo DVD on YouTube, etc. Oh, how I wish this, somehow, went viral. That it would stir the interest of many young people, especially, to call the 800 number, or go to the website and seek to register to attend a nearby church.
3. Pray for More Churches to Join. We have about 640 churches signed up (we thought we had more, but after an audit, we realized a number of duplications). While a very respectable number, how I wish we had 1,000 of them! It is still possible, but it would call for a miracle at this point. It is so much better for people to go to a church than even to someone else's home to watch Prophecies Decoded. We realize there will be perhaps thousands who will be watching this at home, by themselves. But the best opportunities to respond to the Spirit of God will be while people attend church.
4. Pray for the Churches Involved. At this point, pastors are getting anxious to be ready, to find all the volunteers needed to do this work well. Churches are sometimes stretched financially and lack people resources. Pray that they may have enough laborers to do the work, and enough financial resources to advertise and promote and resource guests well. Pray that the Spirit of God may be fully in control of their setting and bless each church abundantly. That they may find great joy and a bountiful harvest of souls.

Thank you for your faithfulness. It's been a great source of encouragement to know a number of you have been lifting me and the NET meetings before the Lord.

Lord, I give you my heart.

"Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways."

Prov. 23:26

Four Critical Issues

The reason it's been so long since my last blog is that I have yet to come up for air. Yet the issues are so pressing right now I cannot afford not to communicate this with you. Please pass on this need for prayer far and wide to people of faith who believe in our mission.

My trip to Australia took 32 hrs each way, from door to door. Quite a trip, huh! For two years the Queensland Conference president had been trying to arrange for this, and the time to go was not working out. Finally, about eight months ago, we agreed on the early August dates because I knew I had to have been long finished with the book on prophecy. Boy, was I wrong.

Talking with one of my readers for this project, a writer and scholar of some note, I realized I should have asked him to ghost-write it or co-write it with me. Too late for that. This process has been a crucible for me. For months I've studied and read, but nothing was coming to the surface about the writing. Finally, two weeks ago, I began writing. I've been working on this 18 hrs a day, and am now, I believe, two chapters away from finishing it. The reason I cannot let up is we need this for the NET meetings, and Pacific Press needs it yesterday!

The meetings overseas were greatly blessed, as all of them seem to be when I speak on the Holy Spirit. But I returned home Thursday night, and hours later I was headed to Sacramento, for the ASI meeting. The Sabbath afternoon interview went well, except for the fact I wasn't aware 3ABN needed the promo DVD and graphics hours ahead of time. I pray the NET announcement may get some of those hard working lay people to sign on for the meetings.

In an hour, Lisa and I will drive to Nashville to begin tonight Decoding Revelation an in-depth study of Revelation's seals, trumpets, and plagues I'll be largely skipping for the big meeting. Our plan was to leave two days ago, but that had to change because of the book. Two chapters were written in the meantime.

Due to all this work, I've not been able to revise the presentations for this weekend. I'll be doing some of that today when Lisa is driving. The bad news is that we've only got two AIM registrations for this series. Normally, we should have gotten 50. Something is definitely not working, and only prayer will turn the tide. These meetings are meant for the church-going evangelical interested in prophecy. Most of them would come over to the main series once they attended this one.

In addition, this poor response problem will be worsened by the fact a miscalculation was made allocating the number of handbills to send for the Nashville site, so that only nearly half of them will be sent over the original number I had planned. This is a real problem because the conference, stretched as they are already financially, couldn't come up with the money for more.

So, I beg you to trouble the Lord on the following issues:

1.  DECODING REVELATION MEETINGS. That begins tonight in Nashville, and ends, after five presentations, on Saturday night. Pray God's Spirit will do extraordinary things to bring people to this meeting, because the handbills, apparently, have failed. We don't want to just use these meetings for various ministry teams to practice for the big one, we want to attract people to meet Jesus in the Revelation. Pray also for me, for I am exhausted, and will need to spend time revising the presentations as we go. Our plan is to tape these and make them available later as a set from NADEI.

2.  LOCAL FUNDRAISING. The NET 11 budget is split into the national and the local one. Both budgets require I raise a total of over $200,000. We've not been able to make any progress on the local fundraising yet, but we have lined up four critical visits for Thursday and Friday. Please pray that the Lord may bring conviction to these folk to contribute generously to the cause. If we had had more money available, we could have covered all of Nashville with the handbills. We need help in this regard.

3.  BOOK ON PROPHECY. This goes without saying. I've been sending various chapters to top-notched readers--scholars, writers, evangelists--quality people who've been giving me excellent feedback. But that's just it, it'll mean more time to make the needed revisions. I wasn't kidding when I said PPPA needed this yesterday. The pressure to finish this NOW is tremendous. I know God is near and He is blessing. More miracles are needed for this. The books needs to be simple to read, yet we're dealing with complex prophetic material. It needs to have enough of a "bite" to draw guests' interest and yet I cannot say too much before first winning their confidence with the live meetings. It is a needed book, but one difficult to pull off.

4.  HANDBILL ADVERTISING. The results so far, have been very disappointing. Much lower than anyone expected. We don't know if demonic push back is strong on this issue or if there is something unusual going on that we have yet to figure out. We simply cannot have this low a response for the upcoming archaeology and the main prophecy meetings. That will be a disaster. We have other advertising planned in addition to handbills--a blimp, highway billboards--but response to the handbills will need to drastically improve. Pray the Lord leads us to understand what we should do differently, if anything.

Thanks for your faithful praying. To the outside, this must sound like a crazy life. But we're doing, frankly, the best we know how, while trusting the Lord and counting on Him all the way. For that we need major prayer support. Yours. Thanks for that.

"I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my supplications.

Because He has inclined His ear to me,

Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live."

Psalm 116:1, 2

Alaska

Lisa and I went to Alaska last week for camp meeting. It's not like we drove there or anything. The flights alone took close to seven hours--just flight time. I had only been at the Anchorage airport once before, by mistake. On a flight to Seoul, Korea, about three years ago, one of the first-class passengers had a bit too much to drink, got belligerent, and we had to detour to Alaska so the police could take care of him.

Alaska is big. I mean really big. I you were to overlay the state in the middle of the lower 48, the top of it would be in Chicago, the bottom in the tip of southern Texas, the peninsula strip where Juneau is reach close to Florida, and the Aleutian Islands in the East reach all the way to California. Everyone packs a gun there and most a rifle to boot, even church members, even church pastors. There are more private little planes registered than private cars.

We enjoyed our visit very much. Even though I spoke nine times--nine times!--we had the chance to ride a boat and see one of the hundreds of glaciers, check out a gorgeous mountain pass, visit the national park for Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America (over 20,000 ft high), and even be given a private fly-over the camp region, including lakes, mountains, and or course, another glacier.

God blessed enormously there. This is the sixth and last camp meeting this summer, but the only one where all the presentations were on the Holy Spirit. Maybe we can go back someday, but with more time. This really is God's country--the myriads of wild animals often seen, the lakes, the mountains, the scarcity of people. A great place to contemplate and think.

I'm headed to fulfill a commitment in Brisbane, Australia on Wednesday. When made last year, I was sure I'd be done writing this current book. But it is not so, and no trip can come at a most inconvenient time. I only have chapter one done, and four days to write the rest :-(

If that actually happens, it'll be hard for me to think of a more amazing miracle in my life in many years.

Thank you for praying.

The Power Is in the Word

About a month ago I reported on the struggle to write this new book--the second book, I called it--on prophetic interpretation to give away on opening night of the NET prophecy meetings. My deadline to finish the book was last week. Well, I have yet to write it. All this time has been spent on research and note-taking. Between travel, NET administration, and lack of a clear pathway where to go with this work, my plans have not turned out as hoped.

Why is this so important now? Because I have not found a book like it in the market. Most of the books dealing with prophetic interpretation are, understandably, scholarly books. But this is a book for regular folks interested in prophecy. Other books deal with the broader issue of revelation and inspiration. Then, others tackle the problem of literalistic interpretation leading so many sincere Christians to believe the nation of Israel today is in fulfillment of prophecy, that a secret rapture will precede seven years of tribulation under the world rulership of the Antichrist, when 144,000 Jews will end up trying to evangelize the world. This Dispensationalist model of interpretation is simply a cancer in Christian circles, the biggest impediment to understanding the truth of what the Bible really says about the end.

We have been raised by God as a prophetic movement at the time of the end--that is, since 1844--to give the world "the entire counsel of God." God has given this church the entire picture, without which so many sincere souls remain deceived, lured by Babylon in the guise of orthodox Christianity. Satan has managed a multi-prong, clever approach at this most crucial time in the history of human beings. Through Enlightenment ideas he has eroded faith in Scripture via critical--faithless--approaches to Scripture. Through evolution-based scientific explanations he has destroyed faith in God and made irrelevant the Sabbath of the Lord. Through Post-modern social attitudes the Bible is now viewed as a quaint book for a minority in the world insistent in tradition. The ONLY counter to this onslaught of clever deceptions lulling men and women to slow perdition is the wake-up truth of Jesus Christ as revealed in His Word! Nothing else will be able to open people's eyes to see things as they really are.

But to make matters worse, who studies the Bible anymore? Even our own members seem to be reading it less and less, and those outside our faith who still look into it do so through the glasses of Dispentationalism, thus end up just as confused as those who hardly know a word from the Word. People inside and outside of Christianity are still interested in Bible prophecy. A number of them will come to hear a lecture on Armageddon or the Antichrist. But they don't know how to read Scripture.

This is why this book needs to be written. But there are so many ways to go about it. And that's where I lack clarity, wisdom, and insight. We often hear that a writer's block is cured by writing, regardless of how good it is or where the writing takes you. Perhaps that helps in some type of writing, but not every type. I need a vision from God, perhaps not literally, but nevertheless just as real, of the steps to pursue. After so many weeks, I believe I'm closer to discovering what it is that has been elusive to this point. But the reality is that I'm out of time. In two days, I'll be speaking numerous times in Alaska, and mere days after I return, I have another commitment overseas. And after that, the schedule is full again, and the publisher wouldn't have enough time to produce it for the NET meetings. The way I figure it, my last chance to finish this will be the week before the overseas trip. So, one week left! What is that to organize the writing, write each chapter, and get feedback from readers to avoid the most glaring misses?!

For some time now I've wanted an I-Pod to listen to Scripture while running in the mornings, something I used to do with Bible cassettes years ago. My tech-savvy kids convinced me to simply get an I-Phone instead, and I'd have everything there already. So, this past Father's Day we did that. What a blessing to my soul has again been the listening of God's Word! It stimulates my thinking, it helps me understand God Himself, it answers existential and/or biblical questions I've had for years, it builds my confidence in an all wise and loving and powerful God. This is the God of the Universe and the God who knows me--even me--by name.

All I desire is for people to give themselves a chance to understand the God of the Bible. The rest will take care of itself. Would you join me praying for this?

Thank you. I know He will do it.

"The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

I opened my mouth wide and panted, for I longed for Your commandments.

Turn to me and be gracious to me,

After Your manner with those who love Your name."

Psalm 119:130-132

Update and Needs

It's July already. Less than 90 days before opening night! Where are we according to plan?

1. We're resolving the advertising issues. We've taken weeks now to sort this out. The blimp we're planning to use over Nashville presented some logistic and financial issues, but I believe they are finally getting worked out.
2. The guidelines for Archaeology are ready. Something that should have been ready months ago turned out to be a nightmare. The DVDs took months longer to produce than we had planned, and the guidelines for home use had to follow. I believe we have those ready now.
3. 612 churches have signed up. The signing of additional churches after the Creation-Evolution series has been slow coming. My hope is to get at least 1,000 churches by opening night.
4. Several camp meetings have been covered. I've been to Ontario, Kentucky-Tenn, Pennsylvania, and earlier this week returned from the Wisconsin and Arizona camp meetings. I only have Alaska left for this summer. My hope is that a few more churches will join the NET.
5. Prophecy book writing is stalled. Unfortunately, this has been the reality, for a number of reasons. This needs to change radically.
6. Broadcasting will be via Hope Church Channel. Our expectation was to broadcast the NET on Hope Channel and even on 3ABN. However, different decisions were made by both broadcasters which we could not influence. We pray the Lord will still work through these plans.
7. A renewed communication focus began. As of today, I believe the Reach NAD News newsletter coming from Bernie Delafield's office, will dedicate more focused updates on NET 2011. This goes to the entire NAD field.

We need urgent prayer for the following:

1. Spanish Translation. We've been working for months on this, and have finally found a good interpreter (they're not easy to find, especially to do simultaneous translation) able to do it. However, this was not part of our original budget and it will mean a considerable expense we can't cover at this time. We must resolve this issue in the next few days--which means find the finances to pay for it.
2. The Prophecy Book. To be honest, there has been a great controversy between good and evil over this in my life. I need the direct intervention of the Spirit, mostly in my heart. I need the Lord to perform heart surgery in me, and I believe the rest--the writing--will follow. I'm running out of time.
3. More Churches. With such an excellent opportunity to engage in soul winning this fall, it is sad to note so many churches still unsigned. Pray that the Spirit of God may stir the hearts of pastors and church leaders everywhere to sign on to the NET series and see people come to Jesus.
4. Youth Mobilization for Outreach. Later this month (22-24), the Jesus in Jeans Youth Rally will take place in Nashville to mobilize youth for peer outreach. Let's pray that our young people may be powerfully by the Spirit to reach out to others, and that many of them may make decisions for Christ.
5. Better Use of Holy Spirit Book. I have met people all over the country who've found Adventism's Greatest Need a blessing to them. The Lord led me to write this for personal revival and church renewal. Oh, how much we need this! My prayer is that many more can take advantage of this resource, especially as they meet in groups.
6. Guidelines for Creation-Evolution. This is the equivalent of what was done for archaeology. Again, the development of this resource is taking an inordinate amount of time. Pray this may be expedited so members may use the resource in their homes.
7. More Faithful Prayer Warriors. We live in crucial times, with so many people who could turn their faces towards the Lord Jesus. We desperately need more "knee laborers" to press before the Lord His very own agenda.

Please join me in praying for these issues. They weigh heavily on my soul. And pray especially for me. My spiritual health has been on the wane lately, and I need an urgent intervention of the Spirit in my life.

"And He was saying to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'"

Luke 10:2

The Rest of the Story

Thursday I got good news. The Kentucky-Tennessee Conference, local sponsor for the NET meetings in Nashville, approved going out on a faith limb. This took courage, much courage and faith. And that's what the Christian life is all about.

You see, from the beginning, we had two budgets: the national budget of almost $700 thousand and the local budget of just over $300,000. The NAD has largely underwritten the national budget, although I'm responsible for raising about $160,000 of that money. A chunk of that has been raised, for which I thank God profusely. But the local budget called for fund raising about $45,000, and we had zilch to date (I've not been concentrating on that).

Now, before I go on, a word on fund raising. I'm not a fund raiser. I asked for help from the professional people at headquarters but it became obvious they were not used to raising money for evangelism. They deal with education, health, and other objectives. Most of the times, NET meetings are run by media ministries which survive on fund raising and have a network of people they depend on. Obviously, that is not our case, as my team and I teach at the Seminary, instead. The fact we have over $130,000 raised to date is a true and amazing miracle! This money has come from only a half a dozen friends and family members. I simply don't know more people I could ask.

Here is an example of God's intervention about this. One evening, after a weekend in Nashville, I was driving to another town, when the Lord--it was Him, unequivocally--brought forcefully to my mind to call somebody right away. I had seen that person three months before, and expressed our need for financial help, but nothing had come of it. It was mostly a case, I believe, of "out of sight, out of mind." Well, that crisp night, the thought entered my mind with amazing clarity: "Call such and so now." I called.

To my surprise, he answered the phone, and after talking for a few minutes, we agreed to see each other the next morning. Due to our schedules, our window of opportunity was open for only 15 minutes: a series of things would have to work just right for us to meet. Amazingly, all worked flawlessly, and we had our 15 minutes together, after which he promised me, clearly moved by God, to help me with a substantial contribution.

Back to KY-TN. I had not even began to raise funds for our local needs, knowing we'd have time as we got closer to the meetings, and during them as well. Now, keep in mind that large amounts are also budgeted to come in through offerings and material sales--a much larger amount that most would expect. So, it wasn't only donor money that was expected, and needed, to come in.

The conference treasury, understandably, got a bit nervous because that money not yet raised would be the only way to pay for some planned advertising. And we had no guarantees offerings and sales would reach our hopes and expectations. Should we, then, scratch those advertising plans now? They are already making a larger-than-ever-before financial commitment to evangelism this year. This already shows their conviction and courage. But in addition to mass mailing handbills throughout the metro area, we were considering the use of a blimp--yes, a blimp, like the Goodyear blimp--to float around the major Nashville freeways several hours each morning for two weeks! Tens of thousands of motorists each hour would see our website on the sides of the blimp that would lead them to check Prophecies Decoded, and perhaps register to attend. We'd even expect some press attention to it.

After having a candid discussion with all the officers, and ending with prayer as I boarded a plane to the Pennsylvania camp meeting last Tuesday, the decision was made to go for it, and trust the Lord would provide in His time. That's the news I received from the ministerial man on Thursday. This was a very difficult and courageous decision by the conference, and in my heart, I'm convinced God will repay their trust in Him with great dividends.

Now, we'll use mass mailing, the blimp, and two large billboards along a key interstate highway. Please pray that those efforts may bring many interested guests to the doors of our churches. I'm convinced once there, the Spirit of the living God would move powerfully in many of those hearts. And pray, of course, that we're able to raise the necessary funds to pay for it all.

So, the lesson today is that we must live by faith and not by sight. This is what pleases Jesus. His heart is warmed when we put Him to the test. Is it His will for us to do everything possible to share the Three Angels Messages with the world? Of course it is. Then, we must act accordingly. I never forget the many miracles our Lord made when on this earth, which included the caveat: "let it be done according to your faith."

"And without faith is is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."

Hebrews 11:6