Jesus asked this question, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Lk. 18:8). The Apostle Peter captured one reason for God’s delay in judging the world. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (II Pe. 3:9). “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (Mt. 24:12). The primary reason for the delay is that the number of those yet to be killed for Christ is not completed (Rev. 6:11). And to those that neglected to attend the Wedding Banquet Jesus said, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Mt. 22:14). To another group He urged, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only few find it” (Mt. 7:13-14). Some one asked, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evil doers!” (Lk.13: 22-27).

Jesus announced His return with these words: “Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Mt. 24:29-31). After that, the final struggle between Christ and Satan will commence. It will not be with materially destructive weapons, but between good and evil spirits. The Word of God shall come out of the mouth of Christ and demolish the earthly forces of Satan (Rev. 19:11-18). Before that day of reckoning, God will commission two witnesses to warn the world for three and one half years. But the world will kill them and God will resurrect them and take them up to heaven (Rev. 11:1-14). These are the two olive trees and the two Lampstands that Zechariah linked with Zerubbabel and Joshua, two individuals that represent the resurrection of Israel as a nation and Jesus the Christ and the constant rebirth of New Testament Christianity (Zech. 4). Both, Israel and Christianity were and still are God’s witnesses in the world and are the blot in Satan’s domain on earth that he used to bribe the Son of God (Mt. 4:8-9; Lk. 4:5-8). “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Ps. 24:1); but, Satan was kicked out of heaven and landed on earth and all his efforts are aimed at destroying anything and anyone that links this world with God, Christ or Muhammad (Rev. 12). Muslims should take notice that after they help Satan destroy Judeo-Christianity, he will go after Islam. At the end you may crave to join the followers of Christ and remove the destroyer from the world. Satan and atheism have no place for any religion that believes in a Creator God. Armageddon will be Satan’s last stand against any faith in a supreme God.

Elijah, the Prophet, sought refuge in the desert and waited on the Lord for orders. “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper” (I Ki. 19:11-12).

Jesus on one occasion said, “the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it” (Mt. 13:45-46).

Jesus made this harsh recommendation, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pears to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces” (Mt. 7:6). Paul admonished, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires” (Ro. 6:12). As long as sin entangles us, we are hindered from becoming free (Heb. 12:1). These statements tell me that I can impair my freedom when I let transgressions control my life. What does it mean to be free? Paul, the Gentile Apostle has been very helpful to me. He led me to three conclusions. First, freedom is a possibility; but it is seldom a reality because of our human weakness (Ro. 6:19). As long as we are in the flesh, we shall be subjected to temptations that lead to errors. Christ has provided an escape from sin; but total freedom comes when death has spoken. That is why a Christian must lead a penitent life. He must be constantly aware of the pitfalls of sin and depend intimately on the voice of his/her conscience that is tuned to the Spirit of Christ. It is the Spirit that reminds the Christian whether he/she is living a life acceptable to God. A person that continues in sin is not on the road to salvation, neither is that individual led by the Spirit of God. The line of demarcation between a life in the Spirit and one in the flesh were marked clearly for Paul (Gal. 5:13-26). Secondly, Paul was freed from religious regulations and observances, but not from the Ten Commandments that governs all life. In Paul’s words, “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good”(Ro. 7:12). It guided Paul’s behavior. “But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal. 5:13-14). The Law kept Paul out of trouble because it highlights the pitfalls of sin. The perimeter of sin had become a serious problem for Paul’s followers. The Grace of Christ gave him a chance to separate him from sin. He believed that one could die literally to sin and begin a new life in Christ. That is why he insisted that his followers imitated him (I Cor. 4:16). It was the Christian’s job to stay out of sin or literally die to it. Christ had paid for all the sins that were committed in ignorance or unintentionally, but not for those that use His sacrifice to continue in sin (Ro. 6:1-14). Thirdly, the burden of freedom, as well as salvation, rested on Paul’s shoulders, and on everyone else’s that follows Christ. This was crucial to Paul because humans reneged their accountability and responsibility. They always looked for a Messiah that would take care of their failures and negligence to deal with their problems and sins. Christ became man’s perfect scapegoat. All one had to do is believe and confess (Ro. 10:9-10). To his chagrin, Paul began to realize that his converts were not separating themselves from their sinful ways (Ro. 6: 1-14). They had not submitted to God’s Law and that made their behavior hostile to God (Ro. 8:6-8). He admonished the Corinthians, “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (I Cor. 15:50). And the Romans he told, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – which is your spiritual worship” (Ro. 12:1). The Ephesian converts were keen on grace, but not so eager on being blameless and holy (Eph. 1:4-5). The reason God had been gracious to them was that He had a job for them. Sin stood in the way of working for God (Eph. 2:1-10).

We do not live in a perfect world. Things do happen unexpectedly. We were interrupted by the death of a loved one. Our nephew’s sudden death, at sixty, led some of us to reconsider how we deal with interruptions. We surprised ourselves how ill prepared we are in accepting people whose lives have been altered by disabilities. We talked as if the disabled had no right to have a life. We were puzzled why a person that was not mentally impaired would choose to marry a disabled? That hit close to home because I am a handicapped and the lady that married me must have been out of her mind. I just could not let go and several days later the words of Jesus bore heavily on my mind particularly, for my being here at this time. Jesus healed a blind man and His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he is blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (Jn. 9:2-3).

A French officer was punishing one of his men for being afraid in battle. Marshal Foch witnessed the act and said, "None but a coward dares to boast that he has never known fear" (Wa. 655). Fear is natural and normal. There is good fear and there is bad fear. Even bad fear keeps us on our toes. It floors me to read, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The person that fears is not made perfect in love" (I Jn. 4:18). I have faced death several times and fear always crept up on me. I just was not perfect enough. The words that came to my mind were the words of the Psalmist, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all that follow his precepts have good understanding" (Ps. 111:10). "Blessed is the person that fears the Lord and finds great delight in his commands" (Ps. 112:1). To David, fear was a blessing because it led him to a better understanding.

Crises are common, more so, every day. As a child, my parents went through crisis after crisis. War drove them from their homes and jobs. Father began in Poland, as a blacksmith, the Germans turned him into a farmer and the Canadians into a carpenter. He was self-employed and had to create his own income. I had to change at twenty-one. I was disabled from being a blacksmith, a farmer or a carpenter. I had to take an inventory of my life and see what I had left to work with. I was at my wits end and found myself strangely draw to a higher power for help. The medical people were only there temporarily. What would I do once they dismissed me into the world that had little or nothing to offer? It was I that left my parents, with their approval, to find my fortune in Canada, and I did find a far greater fortune when I stumbled into God's arms (Ps. 27:10).

Jesus prayed that the Father would protect and keep His followers or disciples in the world as witnesses (Jn. 17:15-18). How then were they to survive in a hostile world? In the Parable of the Shrewd Manager, Jesus made this comment, "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are shrewder in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into their dwellings" (Lk. 16:8-9). In simple terms, Jesus as urging us to "Build a Nest Egg" with worldly goods and earthly friends!

Talk is necessary to go and get things done. We do this by asking, seeking and knocking (Mt. 7:7-8). We learn to commune with each other, in order to get along and get things done. We endeavor to stay in longer relationships and sooner than later, we realize that we are not getting anywhere. In a church gathering, the pastor asked the congregation what they understood by "community?" It was not surprising that there were different versions and different ways to communicate the meaning itself. In my own experience as a pastor, I was not as efficient as I ought to have been. I am 82, and I am still learning how to commune, in a way that the reason for my/me being here has some purpose or goal. I have tried to build a larger inner circle and I have yet to succeed. It is pleasing to be in long relationships, but where does such endless hanging out lead us?