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"GIVE ME
THE BIBLE" #1
JELL-O FOUNDATIONS
There's a billboard dotting the freeways and cities
of North America that maybe you've spotted in the past few weeks. The
headline reads like this: IF YOU'VE LOST YOUR DIRECTION IN LIFE, TURN
HERE. And there's an arrow that points to a copy of the Bible. In other
words, turn back that front cover of God's Word and start reading.
Now why, right now, is that huge message being shouted across our country?
The answer's really very simple. This week, November 19-26, 1995 . . .
is National Bible Week. This is a coast-to-coast campaign, sponsored by
the Laymen's National Bible Association, inviting us to spend some time
THIS WEEK exploring the treasures in God's Word. In fact, with Thanksgiving
Day being this coming Thursday, it certainly makes sense that we would
ESPECIALLY focus on how GRATEFUL we are for the world's most unique and
valuable Book.
You know, I really LOVE the idea of National Bible Week. And that people
from all different kinds of faith backgrounds would join together, almost
hand in hand, to think about the Bible and about what it means to us here
in the United States and Canada and all around the world.
Did you know that there's been a National Bible Week dating clear back
to the year 1941? I suppose that means that United States presidents going
from Bill Clinton all the way back to FDR have gladly served as honorary
chairpersons of this great campaign. And whether you're a Democrat or
a Republican or a member of the Teamsters or a basketball fan, you'll
appreciate that Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Billy Graham,
Tom Landry, Joe Gibbs, and even Dr. J, Julius Erving, are all honorary
CO-chairs for the 1995 National Bible Week campaign.
Well, you might be tempted to be cynical about something like a NATIONAL
Bible Week. But it's an established and very positive fact that the public
service advertising and media attention focused on National Bible Week
has caused MILLIONS to turn back to the pages of the Word of God. In fact,
one Gallup survey did some checking, and discovered that as many as EIGHT
MILLION people have been persuaded to begin a habit of REGULAR Bible reading
as a direct result of this special week each November. So I don't know
what else to say but "Hats off and a 21-gun salute!" This really
is a tremendous grass-roots concept that makes Jeannie and me very pleased
and excited.
But friend, let me move all these bumper stickers and free bookmarks to
the side for the moment and tell you what the Bible means to me on a personal
basis.
Obviously, as a Christian pastor, a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Bible is my textbook. It's my first and foremost reference volume.
It guides my ministry, my livelihood; it's our Number One resource for
radio scripts.
But let me say this: on a personal, GUT level, the Bible is my ANCHOR.
Anything and everything else can shift and quiver and move. But the Bible
is the one great constant, the firm foundation of my life.
A little less than two years ago, many of you listening here in Southern
California experienced that Northridge jolt. January 17, 1994 . . . and
at 4:31 in the morning, people had to ride out a 6.6 Richter-scale roller
coaster ride.
Now, I have an embarrassing admission to make. I wasn't here. Jeannie
was here, alone in our home in Moorpark, just a few miles from the epicenter.
I happened to be over in Honolulu, and, believe me, I've taken quite a
bit of teasing over that — so, please, don't YOU write in and add to it.
But Jeannie WAS here and most of our Voice of Prophecy staff was also
right here during those moments of raw terror.
But you know, for most of that day, that entire Monday, January 17, the
ground here in Southern California just kept rolling. Little rumbles and
quivers, and your house would kind of shake a bit. One of my staff members
said to me later, "Lonnie, it was just like being on top of Jell-O."
And he described what a HORRIBLE sensation that was.
You see, we expect our houses to be solid. They're not supposed to shift
and shake. And so, when they do, it's terrifying.
Just about everything in our lives is subject to CHANGE and alteration,
isn't it? We think about the United States Constitution and how it's endured.
The Bill of Rights. Listen — there are movements all the time working
to tear a page out of the Constitution or to write up a few new paragraphs
and stick them in there somewhere. A Constitution CAN be changed; you
get enough votes in the United States Senate and then get 38 states to
ratify it . . . and you can put in just about anything you want.
If you get enough signatures you can start up a third political party.
Spend enough money and you can turn a murder conviction into an acquittal.
Not much in life is a SURE THING.
Maybe you remember the old story of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge up in Washington
State, built across Puget Sound to connect Tacoma with the Olympic Peninsula.
Back in 1940, this was the world's third-longest suspension bridge and
all the architects said it was one of the best ever built. It kind of
undulated whenever there were high winds, though, and people who lived
there soon began to call it "Galloping Gertie."
Well, just about six months after it was constructed, this bridge did
a little too much galloping one day. On the morning of November 7, 1940,
a stiff wind whooshed down through the Narrows and begin to give that
bridge a whole new rock-and-roll experience. At first it was the usual
undulation that people had stopped worrying about, but suddenly it began
to buckle and bounce. I've seen old pink-tinged movie footage of this,
and it's a scary thing to see with some people and cars still out there
as that concrete ribbon swayed back and forth in the wind. All of a sudden,
at 11:08 in the morning, the middle section collapsed and that $6.4 million
bridge went tumbling into Puget Sound.
We don't expect that from something huge and rock-solid like a bridge.
We don't expect the Sears Tower to come crashing down. We don't expect
our houses to jiggle like Jell-O or slide down the hill when the rains
come. But these things happen, don't they? Our favorite buildings collapse
and our favorite documents get shredded or amended.
Except for God's Word, friend. Here's the one Book that stays the same.
The volume with this name on the front — "Holy . . . Bible"
— it always has the same powerful, unchanging message.
You know, I could say to you: "Here! Here's a book I wrote! I want
you to read it." And we've done that sometimes on this program. But
you're smart enough to know that when you read a book by Melashenko and
Smith, it might contain truth and it might NOT contain truth. Things are
written and typeset and printed and distributed all the time that very
quickly fall into disrepute.
But when I say to you today, Monday, November 20, during National Bible
Week, "Friend, why not return to the Word of God?" . . . you
can KNOW that you're entering into a house, a STRONG house, built on a
STRONG foundation that can NEVER give way. When we turn to our Bibles,
we don't have to wonder where we're going. We don't have to worry about
validity or an author's integrity. When we walk through the front door
and into THAT house, we can know that we're safely in the hands of Almighty
God Himself.
I like the way the apostle Peter writes in his second letter:
"We did not follow cleverly invented stories
when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
but we were EYEWITNESSES of His majesty."
Okay. That's good news. Then he goes on in verse 19
of chapter one:
"And we have the word of the prophets MADE
MORE CERTAIN, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light
shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises
in your hearts."
In the original King James, it says:
"We have also a MORE SURE WORD of prophecy."
Friend, the Bible is a SURE Word. It can't be changed;
it's not subject to alteration. And then the last two verses add this:
"Above all, you must understand that no
prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.
For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke FROM
GOD as they were carried along [or moved or inspired] by the Holy Spirit."
You see, books by Melashenko and Smith contain the
opinions of Melashenko and Smith. And we do our very best to be true to
God and to His Word. But it's the sad truth that if Melashenko goes around
the bend, as we used to say, then Melashenko books are going to go around
the bend as well.
But the Bible is the Word of GOD. It's as sure as God Himself is. Just
as reliable, just as unchanging.
Maybe you've sung the old song: "On Christ the solid Rock I stand.
All other ground is sinking sand." Well, the Bible — Christ's Words
and His testimony — is just as solid as He is, since He's the author of
that Book. It reflects and reveals HIM.
Friend, I'd like to invite you all this week to "LOOK AWAY."
Look away from TV ads and best-selling books and the fluffy wisdom of
pop radio. Why not spend this week really getting back to THE BIBLE? Why
not make that eight million and ONE people who have made this week, November
19-26, a time of returning to the Rock, the unchanging truth of the Bible?
Since today's Monday, we've got three days to really get thankful for
this greatest of gifts. Why not join me in starting right now?
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