The Grands Letter

Job 14:14-15, “”If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait until my change comes. You will call, and I will answer You; You will long for the work of Your hands.”

Romans 14:9-10, 12, “For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living…For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God…So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”

In the Job passage above, we are taught that we will spend our days in struggling, until the day of death comes to us. We will then stand before Almighty God and give account of our lives. He will long to behold the work of His Hands.

In the Romans passage, we learn that the LORD is Lord of both the living and the dead. At that time, we will stand before Him and give account of our own lives. Have our walk and talk always been acceptable to Christ? We will give account in the presence of all who are there! There will be no anteroom where we may share our excuses in privacy alone with Jesus. Think about it! Everything you (and I) have done that has not been confessed and forgiven –or even thought would be exposed before all born-again believers of all time! Ouch!

LORD, may we so live that we may always glorify 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,

Deuteronomy 31:20-23, “For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant.
21 “Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.”
22 So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.
23 Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, ‘Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.’”

Almost every day I hear someone say, or read what they’ve said, about the troubles we’re facing as a country. If we read the Scriptures carefully, we soon learn that it has always been that way.

I hear and read of people complaining that they don’t possess sufficient money. Then, I read where they’ve bought some extravagant items that, truth-be-told, they didn’t need and I begin to understand their “dilemma.”

But, the desire for wealth is not limited outside the church. Some men (I’ll be nice and call them “pastors”) are among those whose eyes are fixed on money. Oh, they “credit” the LORD with the millions they have; the problem is they never seem to have enough.

I’ve been living by and teaching the Scriptures for quite a number of years. My testimony is that when we serve Him and not ourselves, He provides quite adequately for all our needs. Those who seek money for themselves, more often than not, find themselves weighted down in nefarious deeds that always demand more and more.

Whatever you think, just remember: “You cannot out-give God!” If He wants you to give, He will reveal it to
you. If you don’t do what He wants, He knows where you keep it. Thank you, LORD, for all that you give 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,

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