The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

2 Samuel 1:1-16, Now it came about after the death of Saul, when David had returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, that David remained two days in Ziklag.
2 On the third day, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul, with his clothes torn and dust on his head. And it came about when he came to David that he fell to the ground and prostrated himself.
3 Then David said to him, “From where do you come?” And he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”
4 David said to him, “How did things go? Please tell me.” And he said, “The people have fled from the battle, and also many of the people have fallen and are dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.”
5 So David said to the young man who told him, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
6 The young man who told him said, “By chance I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, and behold, Saul was leaning on his spear. And behold, the chariots and the horsemen pursued him closely.
7 “When he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I said, ‘Here I am.’
8 “He said to me, ‘Who are you?’ And I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
9 “Then he said to me, ‘Please stand beside me and kill me, for agony has seized me because my life still lingers in me.’
10 “So I stood beside him and killed him, because I knew that he could not live after he had fallen. And I took the crown which was on his head and the bracelet which was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”
11 Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and so also did all the men who were with him.
12 They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan and for the people of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
13 David said to the young man who told him, “Where are you from?” And he answered, “I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite.”
14 Then David said to him, “How is it you were not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy the LORD’S anointed?”
15 And David called one of the young men and said, “Go, cut him down.” So he struck him and he died.
16 David said to him, “Your blood is on your head, for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the LORD’S anointed.'”

This is a long passage, but it seemed to me that we needed it all in order to get the background and meaning.

It was the custom of the Jews to weep and tear their clothes when a devastating occurrence had befallen them. We generally withdraw away from others when occurrences similar to this befall us. Moreover,
David wanted the full accounting of how it all came to pass. David was not only devastated at the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, he was concerned that Saul’s death came at the hand of an enemy.

At the same time, Saul ordered the young Amalekite to kill him. It seems to escape David’s notice that instant death was better than death by lingering. Remember too that David and Jonathan were very close companions in their youth; yet David said nothing about Jonathan’s death, only Saul’s.

The slaying of the young Amalekite, who thoughtfully brought the news to David, seems inappropriate. Yet, all of these queries fall in line with the customs of that day. David’s statement, “Your mouth has
testified against you…” seems quaint, too. Yet, I am fearful that many of us fall prey to testifying against ourselves in the same way.

We do testify negatively when we acknowledge being Christians, but fail to open our mouths on behalf of our LORD Jesus Christ! Perhaps we can extricate ourselves from such neglect by asking the LORD’s blessing upon a dear, elderly friend, who, as I write, is facing a situation of which she has no current knowledge. Please pray for Barbara.

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,

Joshua 1:1-7, “Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying,
2 ‘Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.
3 ‘Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.
4 ‘From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory.
5 ‘No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
6 ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
7 ‘Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.’”

I don’t normally read the sports pages; however, the other day I noticed that a 30-some year-old aspiring professional football player had died. Not that his death did not matter, but whatever team had aspired to sign him is now looking for someone else. None of us is indispensable!

The LORD alone is qualified to say who shines brighter for His service. Moses stood out like none other!
He foreshadowed the Baby Jesus Himself when he was withdrawn from the Nile River by the daughter of the Egyptian King. He was schooled in the language and culture of Egypt; yet he stood before the king and performed miracles until the king released him to leave Egypt. He then lead the Israelites through the Red Sea and into the promised land!

Now, Joshua, who was faithful under Moses’ leadership, is the LORD’s selected new leader. The LORD is never without a chosen leader. It’s as if Joshua were under His serveilence all the time. Indeed He has each of us under serveilence, being morally and spiritually evaluated for some future, spiritual service. Yet, none of us is fully prepared until we meet the spiritual standard of His desire. At that point, “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life…Be strong and very courageous…so that you may have success wherever you go.”

Spiritual strength commences with spiritual trust in the LORD Jesus Christ! Do you know Him? He is the
One whose death and resurrection we celebrated recently on Resurrection Sunday! His death was for you! His Life is for you, as well. A simple, yet sincere, prayer of trust will make Him your’s –and you His!
I am praying for 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,

Philemon 1:1-11, “Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker,
2 and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers,
5 because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints;
6 and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake.
7 For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper,
9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you– since I am such a person as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus–
10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment,
11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me.”

In one of the historical books I am currently reading, author H. E. Dana writes, “Rule with the Romans; worship with the Jews; think with the Greeks.” Philemon was a wealthy man who resided in Colosse. The wealthy in those days owned a large number of slaves. He was also a prominent member of the local group of Christians, who formed the Church in Colosse.

Onesimus, one of Philemon’s slaves, had escaped from his owner, found his way to Paul in Rome, and became a true believer in Jesus Christ. The LORD only knows the responsibilities Onesimus then undertook to assist Paul in his imprisonment. Paul him would have loved to have retained him; yet, he knew that Onesimus belonged to Philemon and needed to return.

Psychology owned no textbooks in those days; yet, Paul undertook to utilize that skill in his response to Philemon. “Receive him as you would receive me,” Paul said. Immediately thereafter, he reminded Philemon of how much he (Paul) had done for him (Philemon) when he was with him in Colosse. We’re not told what Paul did, but Philemon understood the meaning and treated thereby treated Onesimus as a brother rather than as a run-away slave.

We ought never to do things for others just in order to be able to hold them accountable to us. We need always to do things out of a sincere and loving heart, serving the LORD.. At the time Paul helped Philemon, he had no idea that Onesimus would one day run away. We ought always to treat others in the pure love of Christ.

My guess is that you and I both have done some good things for others without thinking of their owing or repaying us. We don’t know the trials others are encountering. True Christian Love seeks nothing but to honor and glorify the LORD Jesus Christ. Sometimes, just a sweet smile cheers the heart of someone who desperately needs it.

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,

2 Timothy 3:12-17, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

Have you ever wondered why more people live ungodly lives rather than godly ones? Do you reckon part of it could be because of persecution? Even in school, and at the earliest grade levels, there are children who want to hurt others because they have choosen not to do what the others want them to do.

It’s the same in the adult world. Some won’t like you because you cheer for a team they don’t like! Or you’re not following the current “dress code,” established by the “leaders of the pact.” You don’t enjoy their music, their films, they entire lifestyle!

In Paul’s day, and in many places today, Christians are disliked because of the doctrines they embrace. Then, it progresses ultimately to hatred and physical persecution –simply because you don’t believe what they believe! It’s precisely at this point, you learn whether you’re beliefs really matter. Hopefully, they do!

Don’t surrender the valuable for the valuless! Don’t allow the faith of your childhood to be destroyed by those who have no true faith of their own! As a child you were taught the Scriptures! Stay the course! It is the Scriptures that gave you the wisdom to trust Jesus Christ as your LORD and Savior. Those Scriptures have not changed! Don’t allow anyone or anything to sever you from the Word of God.

Our world is in deep trouble! We’re calling wrong right, turning life itself on its head! From childhood you
learned the “sacred writings” that gave “you the wisdom that leads to salvation.” It’s all in Christ Jesus!
Don’t give up now! Stay in the Word of God. Keep faith in Jesus Christ. There is a better Day coming!

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,

2 Timothy 3:10-15, “Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,
11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!
12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

How well do you know the Holy Scriptures? Do you know how many “testaments” there are? Do you know how many “books” each testament contains? Are you able to discern the writing of Paul from, let us say, that of Solomon? Do you know the difference between the fine points of theology? Let us all be careful not to brag too loudly about what we know–or what we think we know.

Word this week from Australia tells of the killing of two Queensland police officers that has become a pretext for an attack on premillennial teaching and the branding of it as incitive of terrorism. TV Channel 9 reports, “What we’ve been able to glean from (the) information is that Gareth Nathaniel and Stacy Train (Train family members) subscribe to what we would call a broad Christian fundamentalist belief system known as premillennialism.”

According to this report, advice was received from Mr. Josh Roose, an associate professor of politics and so-called expert on far right and religious extremism at Deakin University. Roose said the two shooters would have believed the world was “corrupt” and fast imploding. He is reported as saying, “…premillennialism is a Christian belief that in effect, the world is so corrupt, so evil , so beyond repair that at some point, in the near future, we’re facing the implosion of the world effectively…an apocalyptic event and that Jesus will return to Earth.”

Roose is truly accurate when he speaks about the world being corrupt and Jesus returning, but his attempt to link premillennial Christians with terrorism belies a gross ignorance of both history and Scripture. He describes premillennialism as “poorly understood and really, there’s not a lot known about to what extent (premillennialists) are present.”

Yes, Mr. Roose, we premillennialists are here, and we do advocate the return of our
LORD Jesus Christ. We’re not experts on everything; but, we do believe the Bible and that salvation resides only in our LORD Jesus Christ. We will pray for you, for the families of the Queensland police officers, who were killed, and for those who killed them. We all need Jesus! And we need to be ready for His soon Return.

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