Exodus 14; Luke 9:10-17; 2 Peter 3

Nine-year-old Danny came bursting out of Sunday school like a wild stallion. His eyes were darting in every direction as he tried to locate either his mom or dad. Finally, after a quick search, he grabbed his daddy by the leg and yelled, "Man, that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was great!" His father looked down, smiled, and asked the boy to tell him about it.

"Well, the Israelites got out of Egypt, but Pharaoh and his army chased after them. So the Jews ran as fast as they could until they got to the Red Sea. The Egyptian Army was gettin' closer and closer. So Moses got on his walkie-talkie and told the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Egyptians. While that was happening, the Israeli Navy built a pontoon bridge so the people could cross over. They made it!"

By now old dad was shocked. "Is that the way they taught you the story?"

"Well, no, not exactly," Danny admitted, "but if I told it to you the way they told it to us, you'd never believe it, Dad."

With childlike innocence the little guy put his finger on the pulse of our sophisticated adult world where cool skepticism reigns supreme. It's becoming increasingly more popular to operate in the black-and-white world of facts . . . and, of course, to leave no space for the miraculous.

It's really not a new mentality. Peter mentions it in one of his letters:

I want to remind you that in the last days there will come scoffers who will . . . laugh at the truth. This will be their line of argument: "So Jesus promised to come back, did he? Then where is he? He'll never come! Why, as far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly as it was since the first day of creation" (2 Peter 3:3-4 TLB).

Skeptics think like that. If they could choose their favorite hymn, it would certainly include the words, "As it was in the beginning, it is now and ever shall be. . . ."

Take gravity. Heavy objects fall toward earth. Always. So a builder can construct a house and never worry about his materials floating away. Count on it. Take chemistry. Mixing certain elements in precise proportions yields the same result. Always. So a doctor can prescribe a medication with predictable confidence. Take astronomy. The sun, the moon, those stars work in perfect harmony. Always. Even the mysterious eclipse comes as no surprise. Take anatomy. Whether it's the pupil of the eye expanding and contracting in response to light or our skin regulating our body temperature or our built-in defense mechanism fighting disease, we operate strictly on the basis of facts. Hard, immutable, stubborn facts. Reliable as the sunset. Real as a toothache. Clear as an X-ray. Absolute, unbending, undeniable.

People who conduct their lives according to such thinking are called smart. They haven't a fraction of tolerance for the supernatural. To them it is sloppy to think in terms of the unexplainable, the "miraculous." If insurance companies choose to leave room for "acts of God," that's their business . . . but those are fightin' words in laboratories and operating rooms and scientific rap sessions and among newspaper editors.

Then what about miracles? Well, let's limit them to a child's world of fiction and fables. And, if necessary, to stained glass sanctuaries where emotion runs high and imagination is needed to make all those stories interesting. After all, what's a little religion without a pocketful of miracles? And if we started trying to account for all those things in the Bible, think of the time it would take to explain stuff like how the sun stood still, or why all those fish filled the disciples' nets, or what brought Lazarus back from beyond, or why Jesus's body has never been found, or how the death of Christ cleans up lives year after year, or how come the Bible is still around.

Smart, keen-thinking skeptics don't have to worry about explaining little things like that. It's easier to simply embrace a wholesale denial of the miraculous . . . which is fine and dandy . . . until the skeptics themselves get sick, face death, and need miraculous help crossing that final river.

What happens then? Hey, if I told you what the Bible really says, you'd never believe it.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who
has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was,
since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the
worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend
more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children,
are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy
charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended
from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for
reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the
job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly
children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental
consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could
not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an
abortion..

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses;
and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a
burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to
realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in
her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by
his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son,
Reason…

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and
do nothing.

The name of the book is Conversations with God.. James Dobson talked about
this book twice this week. It is devastating. Parents, churches and
Christian schools need to be aware of it. Please pass this information on to
church/e-mail addressees, Parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins,
friends.

Please pay special attention not only to what your kids watch on TV, in
movie theaters, on the Internet, and the music they listen to, but also be
alert regarding the books they read.

Two particular books are, Conversations with God and Conversations with God
for Teens, written by Neale D. Walsch. They sound harmless enough by their
titles alone. The books have been on the New York Times best sellers list
for a number of weeks, and they make truth of the statement, 'Don't judge a
book by its cover or title.'

The author purports to answer various questions asked by kids using the
'voice of God'. However, the 'answers' that he gives are not Bible-based and
go against the very infallible word of God. For instance (and I paraphrase),
when a girl asks the question 'Why am I a lesbian?' His answer is that she
was 'born that way' because of genetics (just as you were born right-handed,
with brown eyes, etc.). Then he tells her to go out and 'celebrate' her
differences.

Another girls poses the question 'I am living with my boyfriend. My parents
say that I should marry him because I am living in sin. Should I marry him?'
His reply is, 'Who are you sinning against? Not me, because you have done
nothing wrong.'

Another question asks about God's forgiveness of sin. His reply 'I do not
forgive anyone because there is nothing to forgive. There is no such thing
as right or wrong and that is what I have been trying to tell everyone, do
not judge people. People have chosen to judge one another and this is wrong,
because the rule is "judge not lest ye be judged.'

Not only are these books the false doctrine of the devil, but in some
instances quote (in error) the Word of God.

And the list goes on. These books (and others like it) are being sold to
schoolchildren through (The Scholastic Book Club), and we need to be aware
of what is being fed to our children.

Our children are under attack. So I pray that you be sober and vigilant
about teaching your children the Word of God, and guarding their exposure to
worldly mediums, because our adversary, the devil, roams about as a roaring
lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). We know that lions usually
hunt for the slowest, weakest and YOUNGEST of its prey.

Pass this on to every Believer you know. God bless! And, if you are in
doubt, check out the books yourself.