We received this email, with the subject line “The Map How True It IS”:
A father wanted to read a magazine but was being bothered by his little girl, Shelby. She wanted to know what the United States looked like.
Finally, he tore a sheet out of his new magazine on which was printed the map of the country. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to Shelby, and said, “Go into the other room and see if you can put this together. This will show you our whole country today.”
After a few minutes, Shelby returned and handed him the map correctly fitted together. The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly. “Oh,” she said, “on the other side of the paper is a picture of Jesus. When I got all of Jesus back where He belonged, then our country just came together.”
This one is worthy of forwarding…
Our reply:
Several points on this story. First, it is fictitious. That is not so bad, but manufacturing a story to get a message of godly truth across is not so good, particularly when we go to the next point. It speaks of a picture of Jesus. A picture of Jesus or of anything in the context of worship is a transgression of the second commandment. Pictures men paint not only fall short of the truth, but are a mockery of it. They are misrepresentations of God. Finally, nobody gets the Lord “all back where He belongs.” He is Lord; He runs the show, raises and brings down nations as he pleases, and neither America nor any other country will come together by somebody putting Jesus anywhere.
If America as a nation were to repent, things would go very well, except that it would not be as one would imagine. Whenever people have repented, they were the few, suddenly persecuted by the many who resented their conversion to God. It would be no different with nations. America would suddenly face persecution and hatred in a new way, and it should not surprise anyone if America should be “killed” for righteousness’ sake, if it turned righteous.
“Damned if we do and damned if we don’t,” I can hear it said. America is damned to Heaven if it does not repent, but if it repents, as a nation, it will be damned by the world. The former is bad; the latter is good, because the Lord rewards those who turn to Him. Blessed are they then to Heaven, and He restores all that those who love Him lose, manifold. He is the Resurrection and the Life. Nothing can ever be lost through faith in, and obedience to Him… nothing.
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Can I also ask you if it's possible to have a 'man of God' or an 'apostle' who hears from God and yet still be found lacking in some area of their lives - especially when the 'true marks of a cult', are applied to them. I know this might be one of those silly questions but I am just wondering especially when the person or 'man of God' involved makes public confessions about 'not being the finished article' or repentant just like anyone else in his 'church'.
願意遭受你的罪的後果。要願意等待主的安排給你的時機和方式，使你從一切束縛中解脫出來。感謝並讚美祂，一方面是為了你的束縛、你的痛苦、你的無助，另一方面是為了祂的應許和對你救贖的執行。 要放心，只要你繼續仰望主和只祂一個，你的需要就會得到滿足，當一切都完成後，你會完全自由、潔淨、純潔，充滿說不出的喜悅。主的旨意將在你身上實現。
Everyone wants to be a hero, and men find many ways to play the part. The author of “The Silent Revolution” suggests you can be part of a company of important and genuine problem solvers of the world, ushering in a New Age, no less. The real problem, however, which the author exhibits, is pride and independence of God, and this is the reason for the many problems that plague the world in the first place. Only God, through Jesus Christ, can fix us, and He will.