The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
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Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Amish family pulling garden cart
We never weary of seeing our Amish neighbors and their various means of conveyance and resourcefulness. This family had rigged their Vermont Garden Cart to use as a trailer behind their spring wagon to haul neck pumpkins!
Click on photo to enlarge

"A Powerful Delusion" (Part 1)

Note: This is the first of a projected 2 part message on delusion.  I wonder if we are seeing the beginning stages of the great delusion Paul wrote about in 2 Thessalonians 2 which we will consider in the 2nd part.

Message summary: Today we consider and seek to make sense of the great deception and powerful delusion that is sweeping our world. We must be vigilant in protecting our hearts from deception! In seeking to understand the times in which we live, the mess our country (and world) is in, and the blunt reality that things will only worsen without a transforming revival let us commit to faithfulness.

Listen to this message on your audio player.

"Men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do" (1 Chronicles 12:32). “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Romans 1:21).

Yesterday I saw a video of shoplifters brazenly and apparently without shame stealing from a store in Chicago. This seems to be indicative of an increase in lawlessness as more and more moral restraints are cast aside. Good is called evil and evil is called good.

Spiritual unbelief and rebellion always bring about consequences. Sometimes immediate, but other times the consequences lag for a season. We might even think that the fall-out from our actions will be inconsequential. Following his adulterous sin with Bathsheba and then having her husband murdered, David thought he had beat the rap but alas, “The thing that David had done displeased the Lord” (2 Samuel 11:27). God’s Word plainly states, “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction” (Galatians 6:8).

All believers should, like the men of Issachar, seek to understand the times so they can know what to do
in remaining steadfast in our faith and commitment to the Lord.

Today’s second verse is from a powerful section in Romans 1 dealing with a panoramic view of man’s state of disbelief, disobedience and rebellion against God. Disbelief, disobedience and rebellion against God lead to one’s failure to glorify and thank God. This in turn results in the dire consequences described in the remainder of the daily verse (as well as the verses that follow). Although this portion portrays the human race as a whole it also describes the individual.

Romans 1:21-32 describes the awful descent of the human race into depravity. They went from a loss of knowledge of the true God, even further downward into idolatry (and polytheism) and then into the gross immorality (as God gives them over) and finally to internal conflict in which, as a result of a depraved mind, they become filled with all unrighteousness.

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him.” This speaks of the knowledge of God available through general revelation, that men are conscious of God’s existence, power, and divine nature through His Creation (Romans 1:18-20). But knowing this they did not glorify or thank God.

“Their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Man’s search for meaning and purpose apart from God only produces vain, meaningless conclusions. The result of rejecting the truth about God is an empty mind and a darkened heart. What a tragedy! Man the worshiper became man the philosopher, yet his vain wisdom only revealed his foolishness. Paul summarized all of Greek history in one dramatic statement: “the times of ignorance” (Acts 17:30).

This is a portion that is very helpful to me in seeking to understand current events. The world apart from God's truth is under a delusion. Increasingly the world is mocking people of faith and labeling them as ignorant and uninformed. Sadly some in the professing church want to be loved and esteemed by the world more than staying true to God, and they sacrifice their beliefs to accommodate the world’s way of thinking. I am appalled at the increase in liberal and "woke" outlook that is infecting so many of our historic Christian colleges and eventually dilutes the pure message from God’s Holy Word in our pulpits.

Today we who follow Christ need to examine this passage and determine that our knowledge of God will result in belief, obedience and submission. This in turn will fill our hearts with a desire to glorify and thank God. In turn our thinking will be clear and our hearts will be enlightened as we walk in His ways.


Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13)


Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Praying man Daily prayer: Father, Romans 1:21 indicates that those who knew You neither glorified nor gave thanks to You which led to their futile and foolish thinking. It eventually caused the light of Your Word to be veiled and ineffective in their lives as darkness crept in and covered the radiant light of Your truth. They sought honor for themselves and lived for self-glory. Anything good in us is but a reflection of the Spirit of Christ who resides within, so we will glory only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ though mocked and ridiculed by the world. We are unashamedly children of God whose depth of wisdom comes not from the understanding of the world but the understanding of Your Word. May its truth always be our source of light in the darkened age in which we live. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.



Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

"Be Thou My Vision"   Video  Shane & Shane

"Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me"  Video  CityAlight



Calf sitting
Calf sitting?
This photo was taken on Trout Run Road near our house.
Click on photo to enlarge

Rye seeding
Yesterday afternoon we witnessed the next stage in farming the field across from our home, seeding rye. This is considered a cover crop and both replenishes and protects the soil through the winter as well as giving us a pretty green view. The rye will be harvested next spring and then they will plant corn (most likely). The scene is a verification of the promise in Genesis 8:22. Can't capture this in a photo but this morning we got a whiff of a very pleasant aroma not expected out here in the country; chocolate from a Cargill cocoa and chocolate processing plant in Mount Joy!

Note: Brooksyne continues to recover from her surgery on Monday afternoon and is even making a peach pie today!



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Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.



Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."



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