The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Nahum 1:7-13, “The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him.
8 But with an overflowing flood, He will make a complete end of its site, and will pursue His enemies into darkness.
9 Whatever you devise against the LORD, He will make a complete end of it. Distress will not rise up twice.
10 Like tangled thorns, and like those who are drunken with their drink, they are consumed as stubble completely withered.
11 From you has gone forth One who plotted evil against the LORD, A wicked counselor.
12 Thus says the LORD, “Though they are at full strength and likewise many, even so, they will be cut off and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no longer.”
13 “So now, I will break his yoke bar from upon you, And I will tear off your shackles.”

The prophet Nahum was a native of Galilee. Hezekiah and Isaiah were his contemporaries.
The theme of Nahum’s book is the destruction of Nineveh! Remember Nineveh, the huge city where Jonah preached –and they repented? Well, 150 years later, Nahum is announcing the city’s total destruction! The Ninevites were apostates, now deliberately rejecting and challenging the God before Whom they had previously repented. Now, after turning back to her old war-faring ways, the LORD God determined it was time for the destruction of this apostate people.

There is a solemn message here for all people: As Leon Morris clearly said, “A nation (or a person) can reach a point in opposition to God where return is impossible.” Yes, God does eventually give up on people who steadfastly refuse to believe and behave as He has ordered. Please, don’t be one of those! If you’ve never been born again, never trusted Him as your personal Savior, do it today! How?
Just pray a simple prayer, confessing your sins. Ask Him to forgive you and take control of your life; and believe in Him. He has responded to others, He will respond faithfully to you.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Micah 6:6-8, “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves?
7 Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Does a boy from the country know things that boys from the city don’t know? If you’ve ever known a country boy, you know the answer to that! Sometimes a country boy appears on the scene, surprises the city boys with something spectacular and then disappears altogether. Micah was something like that.

Micah’s confidence was totally in the LORD. He emphasized the LORD’s holiness, His righteousness, and His compassion. Micah also saw the evil that filled the land; and he vehemently denounced it! His prophecy concerned Israel and Samaria. Both had sinned grossly against the LORD. Idols abounded throughout the land. Judges took bribes and looked the other way. The nation was drenched in sin!

“Woe to those who scheme iniquity, who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it…” (2:1ff). There is no limit to their schemes. Justice and honesty are totally unknown. There may be no other passage in the Scriptures that so describes today’s nations.

Yet, while the LORD always denounces sin, He is also always ready to forgive us. We need the
confidence today that Micah offered to those of his day. For what do you need forgiveness today?
Just remember Micah’s promised words: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Ask the
LORD into your life today. Honestly confess your sins to Him and trust Him for forgiveness. The LORD is faithful. He gave His Son, Jesus, as the sacrifice for your sin. You have only to ask for His forgiveness.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Jonah 1:1-6, “The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,
2 ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’
3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
4 The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.
5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.
6 So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.”

Have you ever been guilty of running from God? It would be my guess that all of us have tried that at some time (or times) in our lives. We’ve thought and prayed, asking the LORD to reveal what precisely He wanted us to do; yet, when He revealed His will to us, we withdrew and ran away from His directive.

Jonah did precisely that! It wasn’t a matter of the preaching to which he objected; it was the matter of where! The Ninevites were fearsome warriors! Just read what the prophet Nahum said of them:

“Woe to the bloody city, completely full of lies and pillage; her prey never departs.
2 The noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of the wheel, galloping horses and
bounding chariots!
3 Horsemen charging, swords flashing, spears gleaming, many slain, a mass of
corpses, and countless dead bodies– They stumble over the dead bodies!
4 All because of the many harlotries of the harlot, the charming one, the mistress
of sorceries, who sells nations by her harlotries and families by her sorceries” (Nahum 3:1-4).

Jonah saw the Ninevites as Israel’s enemy. Yet, the LORD’s message to Nineveh was Repent! Jonah knew that Nineveh would repent, he just didn’t want it to happen. He wanted the Ninevites destroyed! So, he decided to run from God! Interestingly, Jonah’s resistance always led him downward. First, he
went “down to Joppa,” where he found a ship going to Tarshish, the furthest limit of the western world known to the Hebrews. He had to pay a fare (It always “costs” to run from God). Second, he went down into the ship. The Hebrew language tells us that Jonah was so thoroughly exhausted that he fell asleep. (It’s not an easy journey when we run from God!).

When it was finally discovered why the seas were beating so furiously against the ship: Jonah admitted he was running from God, so the sailors dutifully cast him out of the ship. Thus, Jonah went down into the sea and finally, down into a huge fish –a whale of a fish!– that God had prepared for His runaway preacher!

Nineveh ultimately repented because of Jonah’s preaching, but Jonah pouted because he didn’t get to see the cruel nation crushed! Oh, how like that we often are! “Yes, he was saved before he died,” we often say of someone we know, “but we sure won’t have to put up with his attitude any more!” How non-Christ-like is that!! It’s so easy to criticize the wrong-doings of others; but have we stopped to think that our attitudes are exactly like Jonah’s? Pray that the LORD will graciously forgive us all. It pays to serve Jesus!

Heartily yours in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Obadiah 1:1-10, 12-15. “The vision of Obadiah. ‘Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom—“We have heard a report from the LORD, and an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, “Arise and let us go against her for battle” —
2 “Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you are greatly despised.
3 “The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in the loftiness of your dwelling place, who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to earth?”
4 “Though you build high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers by night– O how you will be ruined!– Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings?
6 “O how Esau will be ransacked, And his hidden treasures searched out!
7 “All the men allied with you will send you forth to the border, and the men at peace with you will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your bread will set an ambush for you. (There is no understanding in him.)
8 “Will I not on that day,” declares the LORD, “Destroy wise men from Edom and understanding from the mountain of Esau?
9 “Then your mighty men will be dismayed, O Teman, so that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.
10 “Because of violence to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever.

12 “Do not gloat over your brother’s day, the day of his misfortune. And do not rejoice over the sons of Judah in the day of their destruction; yes, do not boast In the day of their distress.
13 “Do not enter the gate of My people in the day of their disaster. Yes, you, do not gloat over their calamity in the day of their disaster. And do not loot their wealth in the day of their disaster.
14 “Do not stand at the fork of the road to cut down their fugitives; and do not imprison their survivors in the day of their distress.
15 “For the day of the LORD draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head.”

Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament. “It forms a sharp manifesto against the fierce Idumeans, who were the perpetual enemies of Israel. It states the character, career, doom and downfall of Edom,” the descendants of Esau (The Outlined Bible).

The Book of Obadiah has a two-fold message: first, there is a solemn warning to the Edomites regarding their possession of pride and godless defiance against Israel. Also, there is a strong warning against hating and harming the Jews, lest God Himself undertakes Israel’s cause and thoroughly destroys her enemies. Yet, when Edom’s conduct filled up the cup of iniquity toward Israel, the LORD’s sentence of condemnation was visited upon them.

This small, but powerful, treatise of Scripture should be sufficient warning to us today. The LORD always stands ready to protect and fight for His people. Yet, we must be His children and live justly toward Him, always abiding in His righteousness. Then and only then, can we be assured of the safety His presence stands ready to provide. Do you have that assurance? It all comes from faithful love and trust in the LORD. Trust Him today!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Amos 4:10-13. “’I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses, and I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils; yet you have not returned to Me,’ declares the LORD.
11 “’I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze; yet you have not returned to Me,’ declares the LORD.
12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”
13 For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth, The LORD God of hosts is His name.”

The preacher who resides outside the realm of his congregation— The preacher who yells a warning at his listeners—The preacher who lacks the ministerial credentials demanded by his hearers— is more likely to be heckled than heeded by his congregation. Yet, Amos, whose manner was crude when measured against the more cultured preachers of his time, never ceased to declare “Thus saith the LORD!”

He warned against plagues and deaths and huge loss of possessions –all brought about by the LORD.against His people because of their sin.

PREPARE TO MEET YOUR GOD, O ISRAEL! was the young man’s war cry! It’s the warning cry that we desperately need today! Schools and schoolboards support unthinkably crude and evil instructions that are foisted upon children! Never mind history and English and mathematics, as long as they learn sex! Administrative leaders and members of Congress support preposterous measures that all-the-while fill their own pockets—and they do it on the backs of the very ones who voted them into office! “None is so blind as him who will not see!”

Oh, do we ever need an Amos today! Many pastors would do well to follow Amos instead of focusing on what benefits them. Unfortunately, “What’s in it for me?” all too often supersedes “Prepare to meet thy God.” Honest pastoral responsibilities commence with a clear understanding and strong emphasis upon “Thus saith the LORD!” Instead of cheering, congregations would do well to weep! That’s Amos’ message! We will be blessed if and when we accept the LORD’s warning and attend to His business instead of our own! May God see fit to forgive us our sin!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom