RELIGION AND TRUTH

Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 15-16

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

In Rome stands a national monument known as the Altar of the Fatherland, honouring Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy. It is a very impressive sight to see. As in today’s reading, the kings of history come and go, but not the King of Kings. He remains forever!

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: 2 Kings 16:14

He also brought the bronze altar which was before the Lord, from the front of the temple–from between the new altar and the house of the Lord–and put it on the north side of the new altar.

Just as in the times of Ahaz, and much later in the times of the Apostle Peter, and in our day also, there are those who mess with the truth of God, turning people away from the true worship of God. Please, please let us not start another denomination or another congregation unaffiliated with an existing fellowship of churches. Let us seek the widest possible connection of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We may want to think about the words of 2 Peter 2:1-22. Don’t be discouraged. Let us keep our eyes on Jesus!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord Jesus, I pray for a daily illumination of Truth from the Scriptures I am reading. Grant that I may always find Your Person revealed clearly to my understanding. Keep me true to You in my thoughts, words, and deeds. In Your Name I ask these mercies, Amen!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I mentioned yesterday that I would tell the story of what happened to my Arab son-in-law, Nizar Shaheen, in Gath Hepher, modern day Mishad, the ancestral home of the prophet Jonah. Today it is a Muslim village, located between Nazareth and Cana.

Nizar’s brothers are stone masons from Cana and are much in demand. Nizar was a student at the University of Haifa while his oldest brother had the contract to build a new mosque in Mishad. While helping his brother, Nizar fell from the top of the mosque and should’ve been killed. He said that he felt that he was being turned as he fell, by unseen hands. He landed on his hands and feet in the only place on the ground which was clear of stones and pieces of steel bars. His brothers loaded him in the back seat of their car and rushed him to the hospital in Nazareth. As he went he says that he heard a voice speaking to him saying, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name, you are Mine.” He was unaware at the time that these were words from Isaiah 43:1. This was one of the major factors in Nizar’s decision to become a believer in Jesus Christ.

Check out the ministry of “Light for all Nations.” Nizar and his wife, my daughter Ellen, and their team are reaching the entire Arabic-speaking world with the message of Jesus (click here).

Yours for following Jesus more closely than ever,

David

Inside Rome’s Altar of the Fatherland is another altar that appears to be a small walk-by chapel.