A BIBLE MOMENT: On the other side of forgiveness, there is a blessing

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by The Village Parson

I also count all things lost, for the excellence of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my lord.

There was a Texas billionaire whose daughter attended a youth group at a local church. As was their customer, they met at each persons house and it was her turn that week. The father decided to give everyone a tour of his mansion and as he was ending a boy asked what was in the room they hadn’t shown.

The father said that he had a fascination with snakes, and there was a swimming pool filled with them. As they approached the pool he comically stated that if anyone wanted to swim across the good sized pool, he would give them the hand of his daughter in marriage or half his estate. No sooner had he finished they heard a splash, to find a young man swimming for all he was worth. The stunned group gathered at the other side and as the young man finished, they fished him out. At once they crowded around him, to find out his decision. At that point, he shrieked “keep everything, who pushed me in?”

The moral being on the other side of forgiveness, there is a blessing, the peace that surpasses all understanding.

In contract, it was June 8, 1971, when Nick Ut snapped a photo of a nine-year-old girl running naked out of a Vietnam village that had been napalmed. The photo gripped the entire nation, capturing the horrors of war. The photo went viral, and contributed to bringing about the end of the war.

The photo also affected the mastermind of the bombing, and he was convicted to the core of the realty of the suffering he caused. Upon discharge from the military, he couldn’t shake off the guilt of the tragedy. He ended up divorcing his wife, and began a search for the peace he had lost. He ended up searching for the little girl, to ask forgiveness for what he had done.

Meanwhile, Kim Phuc, the child in the photo had grown up, fled to Canada, and has accepted Jesus as her lord and savior. She then became a spokesperson for UNESCO and became the keynote speaker at a military gathering of veterans, in Washington, DC.

He was attending the meeting when he suddenly realized who she was. He decided that was his chance to ask forgiveness from her, and she would be a symbol for the entire village. He then approached the stage, fighting off the security, and fell humble in front of her. Embracing and weeping together, she graciously forgave him, and he went away with the peace that had alluded him. He ended up becoming a pastor in a small town in Virginia.

This brings me to a favorite package in scripture. Those who have been forgiven much, love much. And also forgive us our sins, (as in like manner) as we forgive others.

The views of the author of this column are not necessarily those of The Town Line newspaper, its staff and board of directors.

A BIBLE MOMENT: The unsearchable riches of Christ

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by The Village Parson

Ephesians 3:8

It was time for the biannual visit from the pastor, and Mrs. Brown arranged her heirloom silver dinnerware and best china for the customary meal after the visit.

After the pastor left, she began cleaning up. She noticed that her heirloom silver spoon was missing from the pastor’s place at the table.

At the time Mrs. Brown didn’t think much of it and figured her silver spoon would show up sooner or later.

The pastor, she knew, was, of course, beyond reproach.

A few months went by with no sign of her spoon. She began toying with the idea of confronting the pastor. Finally she could bear it no longer and called him.

She asked him if he had the silver spoon.

After a gentle pause, he told her that he had put it in her family Bible!

In contrast, the following is a true story.

In 1949, the Communist party took over China and changed the country overnight. Pastors were arrested and church leaders fled. A terminally ill man, and his family sold all they had to buy medicine for him, but to no avail. He went home to die.

One night, his wife, who was a Christian, heard these words in her spirit….”Jesus loves you”. She was moved powerfully in her spirit to wake up their six children and they all together prayed for their father.

Within a week their father was completely healed and their 16-year-old son decided he wanted to know about Jesus! In those days if you were caught with a Bible you and your family were publicly beaten and the Bible was burned. He knew of a man who might have a Bible so he visited him, but the man did not admit he had one.

He told him to fast and pray. Taking the man seriously, he ate only a small bowl of rice, per day, for 100 days! One night he had a dream that a man would deliver a Bible to him. The next day the same man in the dream showed up at his house and handed him a Bible. Then he realized he couldn’t read the words for lack of education, but acquired a dictionary and studied the book all waking hours.

He quickly memorized the entire book of Matthew and the book of the Acts of the Apostles and would recite them at meetings.

Long story short, he became a leader, suffering many hardships. He was responsible for the spread of the gospel in the underground church. Thousands of people became hungry to know Jesus who loves us.

One moral of this story is, ….Prosperity did not bring about the abandon that Jesus was talking about, but adversity caused the eternal love of our heavenly Father to be understood and experienced, in the underground church.

One wife and mother was praying when she heard and …. believed….

“JESUS LOVES YOU”!

The love of Jesus is in us now through belief! How simple!

Falling in Love with a God who would endure the cross for what we deserved, and accomplished forgiveness for our sins is more in line with God’s will.

You don’t have to be a prophet to know that Christ’s loving return is imminent.

The views of the author of this column are not necessarily those of The Town Line newspaper, its staff and board of directors.