But the lunar rover ran into problems. After a day of exploring, the rover lost a rear fender and moon dust blanketed the vehicle's instruments. The astronauts were to explore the surface of the moon for 48 additional hours, so they could not afford the lunar rover to be broken down.
The NASA Command Center in Houston, frantic to get the vehicle going again, was stumped with what to do to repair it. Finally, someone had the bright idea to contact the original engineer/creator of the lunar roving vehicle.
His name is Ferenc Pavlics. This Hungarian scientist who worked for NASA in the 1960s and 70s is now 92-years-old and living in California.
NASA reached Ferenc at his home in Houston and brought him to Command Headquarters. After listening to the problem, the creator/designer of the lunar roving vehicle provided a solution. The astronauts on the moon repaired the vehicle following the instructions of its creator and fulfilled the mission of Apollo 16.
A recent survey from Facts and Trends reveals that less than 1/3 of professing evangelical Christians read the Bible on a daily basis.
In the United States, where church attendance at mainline denominations is declining and the word "evangelical" is almost a curse in the cancel culture climate, Bible reading is at its lowest in the history of our great nation.
There's no need to wonder why our culture is broken down.
Nobody is listening to the Creator.
Know the Bible.
It's your only hope to fulfill the design of your mission on earth.
23 comments:
Wow, I love this and so very true. In my own life, I can testify that life goes better with a little (or a lot) of daily Bible reading. When I don't do it I almost immediately go into a decline.
Amen, ROsborn.
Thank you!
"Then opened He their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures . . . "
(From the Holy Gospel of St. Luke 24:45)
Wade,
Good allegory of the lunar roving vehicle being made right by its creator and man being made right by our creator.
Is reading the Bible as important as attending church?
“Let us think of ways to motivate one another…let us not neglect our meeting together…” (Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT)
Early Christians didn’t have Scripture as we do, but how many Christians today don’t attend church on a regular basis or not at all?
I’d speculate, if they don’t attend church, they don’t read the Bible. That’s saying, ‘Don’t get the cart before the horse.’
What a powerful truth as to how reading the Bible can address all circumstances in life. This is one of those miraculous aspects of God's interaction with His creatures. How can a "book" seem to become a living organism that transforms the person reading it?
Visited a Soka Gakki service one time. It is a sect of Buddhism. When we entered their service we found the people sitting together on the floor chanting the same phrase over and over as they faced a sort of closed box on the wall. I was told that within the box was their sacred book of teachings and they were actually worshiping the book which resulted in their receiving power transmitted from the book into their souls.
Of course they were making the most fundamental mistake of worshiping the wrong source, but the concept seems to have similarities with the truth about reading the Bible. We don't "worship" the book, but the power of God seems to be transmitted through its reading in a very real manner.
What a shame that only 1/3 of those who profess to follow Jesus Christ are not interested in sitting at His feet and cherishing every word that comes from His mouth.
I don't want to sound disrespectful of either Wade or the Bible, but I wouldn't be surprised if some perceive my comment that way....:(
I'm not surprised that so many don't read the Bible or that attendance in church is declining. After all, the current "format" in most churches is centered around one person who is the focus of the service. That person is naturally well studied in scripture and presents it to the congregation that is eager to hear the truth from one they respect and that evidently has received that "gift."
They digest the words spoken from the "stage" and feel satisfied that they have "obeyed" the mandate to keep holy the Lord's day.
My hesitation in suggesting that the Bible is some sort of "magic" book that solves and/or brings understanding to our daily struggles and/or problems. Our churches seem (to me) to resemble the Sanhedrin with similar levels of authority which function in a fairly strict way with a myriad of rules, regulations, traditions, and ordinances.
But the 59 "one-anothers" in scripture do not fit into that system or assembly. The edification and building up of those in attendance happens when each is free to express their gift, understanding, and/or recent revelation. See here:
...When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. 1 Cor.14:26
... speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord...Eph 5:19
I realize many interpret the word "shepherd" in Eph. 4:11 as "pastor"....
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers...
But have you ever walked into a church and seen the office with this sign: "Apostle John" or "Evangelist Henry" or such?
If my thinking is off, I'm willing to be corrected. And I'm grateful for this place where I feel somewhat comfortable posting my thoughts. Thank you, Wade!
the 'bible', or as I call it, 'the sacred Scriptures' are TESTAMENTS, in this way:
""What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon, and touched with our own hands… What we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you!"
(1 John 1-3)
Many of these first 'witnesses' became, in time, martyrs, giving their lives instead of denying their Lord.
These early 'witnesses' were immersed in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit in the sense that they had been 're-born' and were proclaiming the Kerygma from their own experiences. (Kerygma is the proclamation of the Good News, that the Christ Who had been crucified had risen from the dead and that this Christ was the Giver of Life.)
the term ‘martyr’, as used by the early Christians simply meant ‘witness’. Many who believed in Christ were offered their lives in exchange for denying Him and worshiping the Emperor. But they chose Christ as ‘Lord’. And they died ‘witnessing’ to Him. Soon, because so many, so very many, went to their deaths through imperial persecution, these ‘witnesses’ who were killed redefined the term ‘martyr’ for us in a new way.
The early Church deeply respected their witness, which drew many more into the faith, a paradox because one would think that being slain for being a Christian would have driven people away . . . but it didn’t.
Something there was in the witness of those who died that spoke to the pagan world of that time of a hope in a life beyond death so strong that the fear of dying could not bring them to deny Lord Christ. And the early Church grew.
The story of how the 'testaments' of these early 'witnesses' came into our hands as 'the sacred Scriptures', well that is another whole story, and filled with those who cared deeply that those who lived after them would also know what the witnesses had said and heard, and in many cases, died rather than renounce.
The 'bible', the 'church':
more than a book, more than a social hall . . . there is a history of how it all began as that is also a part of your heritage as Christian people
Which came first; the chicken or the egg?
Jesus said: “…I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” (Matthew 15:18 NLT)
None of the New Testament had been written, so the church of Christ came first by Christians obeying his Great Commission.
Many people have been saved by only reading the Bible, but the vast majority have been saved in church. Wouldn’t you agree, Wade?
I never opened a Bible until after I found Jesus. I found Him after reading "The Cross and the Switchblade" and attending the Broadway play, Jesus Christ Superstar. David Wilkerson wrote such a compelling "story" about Jesus that I wanted to find out if He was as "real" as Wilkerson portrayed. So I waited until my husband went to bed and the children were asleep and knelt down and read the prayer at the end of the book. While some may doubt my experience, but my husband noticed the change the very next day. He was reading the newspaper on the sofa and put it down and asked me, "what in the world has happened to you?"
Praise the Lord..."Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you"
CHRISTIANE,
I didn’t have a clue on this talk about Q, so I asked Google. Does Wikipedia have it right?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon
Victorious,
Love your conversion story!
Good Morning REX RAY
as to the Wiki article, my advice is to consider Wiki as one resource, but not the total picture, just as a jumping-off point to further examine other sources . . . you might read the references at the end of the Wiki article, for example.
And then go and find those references that disagree and present a different viewpoint, and consider THEIR sources.
This takes time. But if you want to do your own thinking, it's worth it.
My advice is to trust your own instincts about this trouble. You have a good mind, but you enjoy the 'mysteries' of conspiracy theories, I think, as we all do somewhat (and yes, I like a good mystery, too);
so please know that the whole 'Q' thing is designed to attract people like us. I am now aware of how 'QAnon' is 'using' the 'conspiracy theory' medium to 'upgrade' its destructive manipulation of susceptible people by coming up with horrific conspiracy theories about cannibalism and pedophia and then it points to certain individuals as 'guilty' of these terrible charges.
So QAnon hides behind anonymity, while innocent susceptible people might go out and do things to fight what they see as 'evil' and these folks are the ones who get arrested and charged with crimes whilst QAnon safely watches the destructive violent action from behind its screen: the classic manipulation game of 'Let's you and them go fight'.
So, I'm not much help. But I can tell you one resource on that Wiki site that really alarms me greatly, this:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/26/1007611/how-qanon-is-targeting-evangelicals/
I'm afraid QAnon will hurt the Church. It's already happening, but many in the Church don't know much about QAnon and how they 'invade' churches and eventually pull people away from the Church and into QAnon as 'cult' followers. Very upsetting is this to me. Hence my heads-up to WADE recently. I'm very frightened of this movement to hurt the Church.
So, is there any SPECIFIC PART of the Wiki article on QAnon that you want to discuss? Just let me know. I can focus in on that and tell you what I think, sure.
But in the end, it's best to check sources, resources, consider them well, and make your own opinion about the issue. Just be aware: the 'Q' movement targets us who are into mysteries and conjecture. (that's a lot of people, I'm afraid) And we don't even know if the 'Q' designers are even Americans, as they might be adversarial entities. We don't know.
Nobody can say for certain why fewer are reading their Bibles so Victorious' proposal that folks use it less due to their total dependency upon the pastor's teachings for their edification could be correct. That could be one aspect of it but even that reliance upon church staff to accommodate the person's gratification for spiritual needs seems to be a symptom of a more comprehensive explanation.
Seems to me that our nation is progressing in a movement toward "post-Christian" culture, similar to so many nations in Europe, for example. This is not to propose that the church is "passing away", for we know that will never occur. It's more of an explanation for the changes we see in society in general and for many of the trends we see in the manner in which church is done and individuals function as professing Christians.
Not reading the Bible is consistent with so many symptoms of our being in a "post-Christian" era. Churches and professing "Christians" are behaving in a manner that is blatantly contradictory to the Word of God. Further evidence can be observed by the blur of distinction between the "church" and the "world".
Extreme dogma of the church may be present, but it certainly is not the dominating character of today's church. A diluted, milk-toast, personality is the dominating identifier of today's church as it prioritizes the accommodation of the "world" with its inclusiveness at the expense of identifying itself as being the exclusive body of Christ that continues to reside within the spiritually dark world around it.
As Christians become more accommodating to the trends of the world, their "light" of distinction as being the unique citizens of God's Kingdom lessens in its brightness and thereby, its effectiveness as being "the salt of the earth".
I think "Qnon" is a plant by the anti-Trumpers:)
A journey into what addresses our fears as we enter into the midst of PANDEMIC where so much is danger and so much is unseen and we do not know how to go forward.
So we ‘ask’, and trust for a response to come, like children we trust; and there is something pure and honest about this faith when ‘smugness’ and hubris fall down before the unknown danger and we are in need of help from our Creator once more.
The Book of Isaiah is opened and there we find these words:
““ AND THINE EARS SHALL HEAR A WORD BEHIND THEE, SAYING,
‘THIS IS THE WAY,
WALK IN IT,
WHEN YE TURN TO THE RIGHT,
AND WHEN YE TURN TO THE LEFT.’ ”
(Isaiah 30:21)
so when the ground of our land trembles beneath our feet and the volcanic mountains explode and the forces that formed our world are again seen,
can we still sing the hymn of a dying Christian from Iceland who wrote 800 years ago calling out to his Creator God with these words:
"MAY COME SOFTLY UNTO ME THY MERCY.
SO I CALL ON THEE, FOR YOU HAVE CREATED ME."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4dT8FJ2GE0
Hello VICTORIOUS,
thank you for your testimony
my late husband's rabbit still comes 'round and feeds in the back garden in the early mornings . . .
God's grace is in play in this world through His Creation, and it is beautiful and it is healing indeed
"7 But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you. 8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you. 9Which of all these does not know that the Hand of the LORD has done this? 10 The life of every living thing is in His Hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.…"
(from the Book of Job, chapter 12)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvjiFIlZ85c&list=RDCMUCxdLs9ybv0xJapLrg1EMJHw&index=1
"Skies, let the Just One come forth like the dew, let Him descend from the clouds like the rain. The earth will open up and give birth to our Saviour.
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of His Hands.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end."
Amen.
Good morning!
Rex Ray and Christiane...what I didn't mention above in my testimony is that I had/have no idea where that Cross and Switchblade book got into my mailbox. It just appeared. And after reading some of it, I was so angry that I threw it across the room and it landed behind my sofa. I simply couldn't fathom that God and Wilkerson had a relationship like that which was portrayed in the book. I distinctly remember thinking that "God is not THAT real." Months later when I was doing some Spring cleaning, I found it and decided to give it another try.
And the reason my husband noticed a change in me is because I had been so depressed for so long that I even took the phone off the hook each morning and put it (via it's long cord) in the dishwasher so I wouldn't hear it ring. I was literally shutting out the world. But that morning, I was smiling and even invited the paperboy in for a glass of water since it was so hot outside.
God is so good...He knows how and when to reach us and I have little doubt He makes allowances for our stubborn, headstrong attitude that evolved as the result of circumstances beyond our control over a period of time.
I'm so happy He didn't give up on me!
CHRISTIANE,
You’re writing, “Ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you”, reminded me:
“This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew the floodwaters were almost gone.” (Genesis 8:13 NLT)
Looking out the window from our computer, I can see doves eating our bird seed on a pick nick table.
Song:
On the wings of a snow white dove he sends his pure sweet love, a sign from above on the wings of a dove.
When troubles surround us, the body grows weak, the spirit grows numb. When these things beset us he doesn't forget us. He sends down his love on the wings of a dove.
When Noah had drifted on the flood many days he searched for land in various ways. Troubles he had some but wasn't forgotten, he sent him his love on the wings of a dove.
When Jesus went down to the waters that day, he was baptized in the usual way. When it was done, God blessed his son. He sent him his love on the wings of a dove.
A friend lent me that book perhaps 50 years ago. It hooked me in! So here I am, today.
I heard a sermon around that time that referred to how to fix what doesn't work as promised.
The message had 3 helpful hints:
1) Try again.
2) Find someone who has one like it ... drive around and look, if necessary ... and ask how they do it. (HINT: they may be using it wrong, too)
3) Ask the manufacturer (a-k-a) read the instruction from the manufacturer (If anyone knows, they should)
That strikes me as the gist of Wade's post here.
Tragedy in this: I once remarked in SS class that I tried always to answer hard questions with Scripture. Those in the class said "I never thought of that".
Go figure.
Victorious,
I have a permanent file with the title: “Victorious became a Christian”.
I’ve put your two comments together and with your permission, I’d like to give it to our SS class. If you’d like to add or delete any, I’ll do it. This is what it said:
Victorious became a Christian
I’d never opened a Bible until after I found the book, “Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson in our mailbox. After reading some of it, I was so angry, I threw it across the room and it landed behind the sofa. I simply couldn't fathom that God and Wilkerson had a relationship like that which was portrayed in the book. I remember thinking, "God is not THAT real."
Months later when I was doing some Spring cleaning, I found it and decided to give it another try. I waited until my husband went to bed and the children were asleep. It was such a compelling story about Jesus that I prayed the prayer that was at the end of the book.
My husband noticed a change in me the next day. He said, "What in the world has happened to you?" I’d been so depressed for so long I’d take the phone off the hook each morning and put it in the dishwasher so I wouldn't hear it ring. But that morning, I was smiling and even invited the paperboy in for a glass of water since it was so hot outside.
Christiane,
Late this afternoon I read some pretty derogatory comments directed at me by some commenters on Internet Monk. Just wanted to say thank you for the kind words of support you spoke on my behalf. You stood strong in the face of some withering criticism, and I appreciate what you did.
Wade
Hello Wade,
I felt I had to say something because the attacks seemed so personal and unfair. It just seemed wrong not to stand up for someone unfairly attacked in that way. These are difficult days and of course people will not be in agreement with one another sometimes, but to attack someone's character in that way indeed crossed a line, you bet.
Wade, your site is on Imonk's blog roll. And it has been there for a very long time which I believe is a sign of respect.
Those people who made those remarks are newcomers to the Imonk site, and eventually I think Chaplain Mike will redirect them if they continue along the lines of character assassination and personal 'put-down' behaviors that are malevolent.
Hello Wade,
I felt I had to say something because the attacks seemed so personal and unfair. It just seemed wrong not to stand up for someone unfairly attacked in that way. These are difficult days and of course people will not be in agreement with one another sometimes, but to attack someone's character in that way indeed crossed a line, you bet.
Wade, your site is on Imonk's blog roll. And it has been there for a very long time which I believe is a sign of respect.
Those people who made those remarks are newcomers to the Imonk site, and eventually I think Chaplain Mike will redirect them if they continue along the lines of character assassination and personal 'put-down' behaviors that are malevolent.
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