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

The Second Book

Writing a book is a real challenge, I imagine, even to those who write books. For the rest of us, it can be overwhelming. I'm getting there fast these days.

Several times I have thought about how amazing it was to end up writing the book on the Holy Spirit last December and January in such a short time. I gave it my best, and I believe the content has the potential of really changing people's lives, if read carefully, prayerfully, and with others of like mind. But there is a major difference between that one and this one: I had been living with the contents of the subject of the Holy Spirit for years already. I just needed to write it.

The present challenge, however, could undo me. The book is meant to be a primer on how to study Bible prophecy. It is intended to be the gift book for opening night or the first night people come to the NET prophecy meetings. It is a needed little tome because nothing is available from our presses to date that fits the bill. Now, I figured since this would be at least half the size of the other one, that a few weeks (the only ones I have to work on it!) would suffice. Alas! How wrong was I!

The biggest obstacle has been the fact I'm not an expert on the subject, and neither have I lived with the subject for the last decade plus, such as it was in the case of the previous book. That means I've had to amass any number of books by the real experts on the subject, but since what I have in mind is rather unique, I have found no true models to pattern any type of writing after.

The second challenge is the actual format and flow. I have key subjects in mind, for instance, the need for a Christ-centered hermeneutics (interpretation), dealing with Matthew 24 as a template for other prophetic portions, and the necessity of chipping away at that most noxious of theologies--Dispensationalism--which has been the bane of so many otherwise sincere Bible students. But exactly what to say and how to say those things has proved very tough.

The scary challenge is the fact that time moves on unabated. The last two weeks have been the most clearly dedicated to book-writing and yet the progress has been, quite frankly, dismal. Next week, I begin camp meeting travels again (PA, WI, AZ), and by the time I return my writing should be done. Well, I have barely began.

I guess I'm opening my heart here, in case someone is willing to be a strong prayer partner with me on this great challenge. You see, other NET issues don't wait, they don't stop until I get this book written. Phone call after phone call, e-mail after e-mail, project after project keep demanding my daily time, and this is after much of it has been filtered by my able coordinator, Russell, and preciously willing NADEI staff. In other words, these are the MUST things I need to deal with.

This is not about the loss of face if I don't get the book written, it is much more about the loss of a clearly God-given opportunity, a door He Himself has opened, for potentially thousands of Bible students to benefit from a little help deciphering how to study Bible prophecy. And that is really the issue.

More than once, I have concluded this entire NET 11 project is larger than what someone like me should have tackled, and yet, I have, and others have, also concluded that God has not left us nor forsaken us, but that He has given us multiple evidences He is still in control. God is in this!

Please pray for me over the next 30 days. Please pray, first of all, that my heart be surrendered to God each and every day, so that my great desire would be to honor Him and love Him above anything else in the world. Pray, secondly, that the Holy Spirit may illumine my mind in ways unknown before, that a real miracle may take place in my mind. That thought and text and concept may come together as only God can make it possible. And last, pray, as Joshua prayed in chapter 10 of his book, that time may stand still, as it were. That, somehow, this can be accomplished in time to be published, and thus be of help to the NET churches that wish to use it as a necessary resource.

This blog should not be understood as fodder for discouragement. This is my cry for help before the Lord, and I fully believe, all things are possible with Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

"Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,

according to the power that works within us,

to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus

to all generations forever and ever. Amen."

Ephesians 3:20, 21

Providential Leadings

This blog should have been written last Monday or Tuesday, but, oh well. Now, here is a story.

Months ago, Marvin Lowman, from the Kentucky-Tennessee Conference, the sponsoring conference for the NET 11 meetings, asked me to speak at their camp meeting for this weekend. At the time, I already had a commitment elsewhere, and offered to come the previous weekend (last weekend). That was not possible because they already had a speaker lined up for some time (three years, as it turned out), for that weekend. It seemed important that I had exposure at this camp meeting since it is less than an hour away from Nashville, and it is so critical to have good support in the Nashville area for good NET meetings. But it was out of our hands.

A few days later, Marvin offered I do a seminar on evangelism Sunday afternoon. It was not the prime time spots of Friday night and Sabbath, but at least it was something. As the weeks went on, a couple of extra appointments were added, such as speaking to the pastors Monday morning, the retiree workers Sunday at lunch time, and an 8-minute evangelism feature for Saturday night.

God, however, continues to work in mysterious ways. Last Friday, already packed and ready to go to the airport to fly to Nashville, Marvin calls with an emergency. The speaker planned for so long for the weekend is stranded in Brazil, his airplane struck by lightning (nothing happened to anyone). Could I come and speak in his place? I had to smile at the turn of events. Evidently God still wanted that exposure to the largest possible number of people for that camp meeting during prime time speaking slots. I also teased the Lord a bit, saying that it would have been a bit easier to prepare four sermons with a few weeks of advance notice rather than the time it takes to fly to Nashville. The truth is, God probably figured I wouldn't take too much more time than the one I did in this emergency.

So, I arrived 20 minutes after Friday night's program started, yet in time to speak. I spoke four times on Why, Who, and How of Revival. It gave me the opportunity to study and arrange new material for at least two of those sermons. And the Lord, as usual, blessed beyond our limited expectations. Everyone seemed to sense God was in this change of plans.

Even though there have been a number of challenging things regarding the planning and preparation of this entire NET 11 package, this past weekend developments remind me of a number of interventions by the Almighty.

Last January, I don't think I shared this yet, my wife and I were traveling to the airport for appointments in California and Alabama. The flight was early in the morning, it was dark, had snowed, and was a bit windy. As soon as I turned in to the freeway access ramp, I lost control of the GMC, even though it was on 4-wheel drive, and we went careening down the embankment, landing with a significant thud 50 feet below the on-ramp. After checking we were unharmed, Lisa said, "I guess we're not going to the airport today." I thought to myself of the trouble that would mean, missing the chance to speak to significant communities, including pastors, about NET 11. We thanked God we were OK, and asked His intervention. The thought of spending the morning trying to get help to pull my car out of the ditch was enough to discourage me. I couldn't afford wasting time like that.

After the quick prayer, it occurred to me to put it on reverse (it was obvious we could not move forward), even though behind us was a significantly steep hill. As I did, the vehicle simple shifted SIDEWAYS about 45 degrees, so the hill behind us was no longer there. Slowly, we backed out of there, then put it on drive, making a wide circle on the snow, and steadily climbed up the ramp as if that was the most natural thing in the world. I went outside to appraise the damage, and hardly saw any, so we decided to go on the airport. I made all my appointments. The whole incident had taken but five minutes.

No one saw us that dark, snowy morning, but my wife and I sense our angels did something special at God's command to help us out of there. Another confirmation that God is in this NET 11 project. Every time we go by that embankment, we look down it and raise our thankful hearts to our great Protector and Deliverer.

And I could share many more interventions, such as getting Russell Burrill to join our team and become coordinator when it was his inclination to say No. Or getting Tim Standish to join me for the Creation-Evolution series when his schedule seemed prohibitive. Or getting the NAD to approve a budget larger than ever before in NET history.

There are still challenges ahead--the writing of the prophecy book (more on this next time), fund-raising, communication with the field, guidelines for archaeology and creation DVDs, etc.--but God blesses us each step of the way. All we must do is trust Him with all our hearts, and He will bring it to pass.

"Trust in the Lord and do good;...

Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it."

Psalm 37:3-5