The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Genesis 35:9-12, “Then God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.
10 God said to him, ‘Your name is Jacob; you shall no longer be called Jacob, But Israel shall be your name.’ Thus, He called him Israel.
11 God also said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from you.
12 ‘The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you.’”

One of the momentous questions of our day is “Does Israel have the right to possess the land which the LORD gave to her?”

I have some things that my parents gave to me. Are they really mine? In some cases, my father said, “This belonged to me; it was made by my father. I want it to be yours.” My understanding is that those things, specifically isolated from the others, were then and there legally mine.

Whatever has been created by the Creator is His. It is not in a state of contention; thereby, no court has jurisdiction to remove what God possesses or assigns to another what He has previously awarded to me.

Nor does Iran, or Iraq, or Egypt, or any other country living on land awarded to Israel by her Creator, possess the right to claim said land as a legally bound possession. Nor does any country have the right to possess what the LORD has awarded to another.

We, too, as born-again Christians, now possess rights, awarded to us by our LORD Jesus Christ. We must, however, be careful how we treasure those rights. One factor is that we allow what the LORD has given to another actually belongs to the nation to whom He has given it. Our failure to treat Israel as His designated recipient, could result in a fight against God. That would lead to our disaster!

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,

Numbers 14:18-21, “The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.
19 ‘Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.’
20 So the LORD said, ‘I have pardoned them according to your word;
21 but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD.’”

As with almost all of Scripture, there is a principle that can be utilized in virtually all situations. For one thing, the LORD is slow to anger. He does not delight in “gotchas.” He is certainly beyond such trivialities. Yet, He does not “clear out the guilty” –at least as quickly as we often desire.

Sometimes, however, He eliminates them; otherwise, how would the earth “be filled with the glory of the LORD”? (v. 21). Verse 18 tells us that the LORD is “slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness.” That leaves us on the other side, because we often (too often) wish Him to be quick with His anger and totally unforgiving! –of others, of course.

Many of us thrill at His forgiveness of our sin! We just want Him to hurry and pour out His wrath on those who deserve it, and be careful not to allow His wrath to fall upon us. A stinging example: we despise the fact that immoral men survive; but are we not among the immoral when we fail to share with them our faith in Jesus Christ? Me thinks there’s sufficient blame to go around.

Let’s not worry about His blame falling on others. Let’s be focused on living so that none can justifiably fall upon us.

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,

Exodus 33:11-14, “Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
12 Then Moses said to the LORD, ‘See, You say to me, “Bring up this people!” But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, “I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.”
13 “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.”
14 And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”

I am exceedingly exercized over the way New York judge Juan Merchan has dealt with Donald Trump. Whether you are for or against the former president, the judicial system is the backbone of our civilization! Should it suffer a collapse, we will join the multitude of “banana republics.”

Perhaps we have taken too many things for granted. We’ve had it good for so long that we’ve simply thought: “It can’t happen to us.” But, now it has!

Like most conservatives, I have more or less taken the situation for granted. We’ve been in troublesome situations before and have survived. Yet, if we stop and think, we are forced to admit that we’ve never been in anything like this!

I am confident that there are many, who will say, “We been in twisted situations before; we’ll survive this.” Just be careful, my friend, the LORD may allow us to encounter “legal hell” until we come to realize that He alone can solve this dilemma!

We need to pray! We need to confess our own sins in order to be right with God; then, and only then, will we be positioned to seek His activity in this exceedingly critical situation. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

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,

Exodus 34:6-9, “Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.’
8 Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.
9 He said, ‘If now I have found favor in Your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your own possession.’”

If you’ve ever been surrounded by difficulties and saw no way out, you have some understanding of where Moses stood when he prayed, as recorded in the verses above.

Sin will always seek to smother us, like filling the room full of smoke, so we’re not sure where the door of escape is! Yes, the Fire Department has been summoned; however, perhaps there are some firemen who want to see the house burn to the ground and
the owner along with it!

There is but one way out– it is prayer! When those responsible to effect our rescue are the very ones who’ve lighted the fire, we must seek help from another source! That Source is the LORD! The way of our communication with Him is prayer.

The initial step required in prayer is confession. We all have sins, be they enormous or miniscule. Our sins must be confessed to the LORD before He will issue an alarm for our deliverence. Such is true
for us and for our nation as well!

Personally, I am both amazed and pleased at the outpouring of financial response that originates with those who love our country. Yet, we need prayer more –far more, than we need the “currency of the realm.”

Like it or not, “we the people” are in this together! I pray daily for numerous people and serious situations. Yet, every prayer is initiated with a confession of my own sin. Sin is Satan’s key method for interrupting our prayers. When sin is erased (and only God can erase
it!), He lovingly leads us into the realm of answerable prayer.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

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

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

Dear Grands,

Psalm 122:1- 9, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD.’
2 Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem,
3 Jerusalem, that is built as a city that is compact together;
4 To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of the LORD– an ordinance for Israel– to give thanks to the name of the LORD.’”
5 For there thrones were set for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you.
7 ‘May peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.’”
8 For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, ‘May peace be within you.’
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.”

I rejoice for the multiple opportunities today for the sharing of the Gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ on radio, television, and the worldwide internet!

At the same time, I cringe at some of the misguided theology that abounds only to confuse multitudes of people. Far too many “preachers” feed their people with less than biblical truth. In fact, I cringe at much of what I see and hear through the media.

There are others, however, whose true calling of the LORD is unmistakably evidenced in their love for the clear teaching of the pure Word of God. We must not forget that there are thousands of indigent people, who are dependent upon radio and television to bring them the warm encouragement of the Gospel.

Simultaneously, we must be careful to live out the Gospel before everyone; for it is in that way that people are assured of its truth. God is glorified when we live before others the Gospel we preach and teach.

A man I had never met used some “colorful” language in my presence the other day. I wanted to reply to him, but chose instead to make a warm and appropriate response that said everything that needed to be said, but without openly rebuking him. As I left, I smiled and spoke to him, and he smiled in return. There is “a time to be silent and a time to speak” (Eccl. 3:7). Yet, we must always remember Who we represent and how we package Him to others.

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