Grieving the Holy Spirit

When your child doesn’t come to you for help

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

     

     My dad used to jokingly tell me, if you are ever out and about and you get arrested, don’t come crying to me. He was joking of course... I hope. Then there were times that he would tell me when I legitimately needed him, but didn’t turn to him, “Why didn’t you come to me when the problem started?” 

Often times we’re guilty of doing the same thing to God by not going to Him in prayer when we find ourselves in a jam. In Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul specifically instructs us not to grieve the Holy Ghost  by not making Him our first point of contact in a crisis situation.

God desires to be there to help us when the going gets tough. That’s what any father’s desire is for his children. God put our dads in a leadership role as head of and responsibility barer of the family. Traditionally, it is the man who proposes marriage to the woman he has chosen. By doing so, the father is taking on the responsibility role as the person accountable for everything in his family. 

When a family is torn apart by divorce, the father is usually the one to be separated from his family. Even in most cases of adultery where the father was not the guilty party, he is still the one that leaves the rest of the family, leaving the children to cope with life without a father. 

It is still possible to see the pieces of the family put back together again, if God is allowed into the situation to bring about healing of the marital and parental relationship.

In instances where he was the one guilty of the affair, thinking that healing is impossible is the first step in quenching the Holy Ghost from bringing about true change, repentance, and resolving the issue at hand to fit back the pieces of the broken model that God instituted and ordained. 

In the instance of a child doing poorly on a test, and not coming to his or her parent to ask for help in something that they don’t understand, the child can also grieve the Holy Ghost. Not allowing the person that God trusted to be the parent and help out in times of confusion or misunderstanding, is a huge step on the way to a division in trust, respect and hope of the parent/child relationship growing to one that pleases God. 

No one has ever been completely perfect in their lives. Even the professionals with years of training and God-given talent make errors in performance, judgement and morality. It is not a shameful thing to go to the Father when one needs help with an issue they are facing. 

Our friends fail us. Our family fails us. Even the churches we go to don’t always have all the answers and resolution to problems we face. God is a prayer away. Show me a person who is good at bringing others down around them due to their problems, and I will show you a person with no prayer life and no faith in God. If they would only turn to Him and trust His way in all of life’s circumstances, they will not only see a miracle come to them, but the people  around them won’t have to ask if they go to church. They will see the goodness of God in that person through the life they live.

A man was buying a soda one day at a supermarket. He paid with a $20 bill. He saw the clerk inspect the bill to make sure it wasn’t fake. She performed all of the tests that she was trained to do. Before she put the bill in the drawer, she took a tissue and rubbed the dollar bill with it. Inspecting the tissue, she put it in the drawer and gave the man his change and receipt. 

The man was perplexed. He said, “Ma’am, I know you have all the inspection tests that you have to run on the dollar bill, but I didn’t understand the reason for the tissue test.”

The clerk said, “Well sir, I was checking to see if the print of the dollar bill smeared on the tissue Yours did, so that was how I knew it was real. The real thing rubs off.”

If we allow God to help us in time of need, and if we maintain a healthy prayer life, and we stay fed in God’s word and line our lives up with His word, God’s goodness in us will rub off onto others around us. 

R. Douglass Mahaffey  - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.

God has a standard

Yet we blame him for the decisions we make

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

      For years now, I’ve heard people criticizing God for what people in His church do. Just because someone says that they are doing something in Jesus’ name, doesn’t mean that He honors what they do. One quote you will read on my blogs time and time again, is that if someone’s actions, words, and beliefs that they promote don’t line up with the word of God, then His blessings will allude them, and He certainly isn’t to blame for their ignorance.

        I read a news story today of yet another teacher who had been involved in an inappropriate relationship with one of his students. This man was also a youth leader at his church in Wiley, Texas. I read comment after comment of people who blame God, or even the idea of God. They were condemning of the man as well. 

As wide spread as this type of atrocity is these days, and as rampant as the sinful nature is, one would be arrogant to believe or proclaim that it would never happen to them. First of all, no one knows if the girl in this situation was making it up to cause trouble. That’s not always the case. In fact, nine times out of ten, I would venture to say that the adult was most likely guilty. But we don’t know because we weren’t there. 

It’s one thing to post a comment on a news story that one reads on the Internet. They are hidden. No one knows who they are and never will. It’s another to be a parent of the victim in this type of case, or the spouse or family member of the alleged offender and have to live with what they did and still be a family member or spouse after the smoke cleared and the punishment was handed down from the judge. 

When we make comments that push the blame on God, asking, “Why  would God allow that to happen,” or,  “Where was God in this matter?”, we are definitely barking up the wrong tree. God was right i the midst taking names and placing the proper judgement on the guilty. I will say in this case, that if the teacher was guilty, he was found out. If the girl is making it up, as one commenter suggested, then the truth will come out and it’s best to leave the judging and condemning to the only perfect one there is, who is qualified to judge them. 

To say that in my flesh, I don’t agree with the severity of some of the comments, would be a lie. In my flesh, I wish true punishment for the guilty. But in my spirit, I am reminded to pray for everyone involved. Alas, sometimes, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, as Paul wrote in his Epistle. 

The bottom line is this; we can never be sure that we are above doing things of this nature. Paul wrote in Romans 3:10-12, 10 “There is none righteous, no, not one. 11 There is non that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (God seeks us). 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; (Again, Paul repeats), there is non that doeth good, no not one.” 

We in and of ourselves can do no good thing, because the flesh is weak. But through Christ Jesus, who conquered the flesh, sin, death, hell and the grave, we are found innocent in His righteousness if we are standing in His holiness on the day of judgement. For the sins of the world, we can not blame God, because mean listened to his flesh and chose to do evil, even after God warned us that we would surely die. 

That was not the way God intended it to be. Sinful nature of man chooses evil, even when God has given us a way out of temptation. 

That still small voice that Christians hear when met with temptation that says, “Hey, you know God isn’t going to like that, and you will be robbing yourself of His blessings if you go through with it,” that’s the Holy Spirit trying to give you an out from temptation to follow through with sin. If we go through with it anyway, we can’t blame the devil, he get’s too much credit for what we do anyway. We certainly can’t blame God, because as I’ve written before, God is not the author of confusion. 

Listen to that still small voice and choose to do what’s right. Don’t condemn another man for doing what any of us are capable of doing as well. Pray. Listen to the Holy Ghost. He will direct your paths. 

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.

Who am I, and what's behind the name

An up close look at the publisher

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

          A man once said of himself, "To know me is to love me." I won't be so arrogant as to say that about myself. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I have mine as well. I grew up on the tri-district line of Cy-Fair ISD, HISD, and Spring Branch ISD in Houston. As fate would have it, I lived in the house on Limestone Street that was the dividing line of all three districts. My house was in the Cy-Fair District. But I didn't start off by going to Bane Elementary as I was supposed to. Thank God my mother was made privy to the correct information, or my life would have turned out quite different; not necessarily worse, just different.
          I started Kindergarten at 4 years old at Benbrook Elementary. I was only there for two weeks when a mistake in logistics was made known to my mother. First of all, I was too young by only 13 days to begin school. Secondly, we didn't live in Houston School District. So, for a couple of years, my dad picked at me and called me a Kindergarten drop out. I thought for the longest that it was my fault because of my dad's non-stop teasing about it. My mother assured me that she was the one mistaken, but I was four and took my dad's teasing to heart about it.
          The next year, 1976, I began elementary at the right age and at the right school. I went to Bane Elementary for Kindergarten. My brother was a prodigy in those days, and went to a private Christian school that our church, Central Baptist owned, in the Spring Branch area. After Kindergarten, I joined my brother at Central Christian Academy. I was smart, but still average. I was picked on a lot on my block because of how small I was. I only weighed about 50 pounds until my second or third grade year.
          The one thing I loved was spelling tests. I loved getting home and having my mother drill me in spelling words. I would spell them all about ten times or so, then my mother would give me the definitions for all my spelling words and I would give her the word and spell it. I read over 260 books that first year in Mrs. Huffman's class. We had a bookworm program that I won a third place ribbon for. When it was time for the first grade spelling bee, I was ready. I went through all the words in the book that Mrs. Huffman had for us to spell. She had to start coming up with more words when we spelled through all the book.
          It was down to myself and a girl named Becky. We went back and forth. Soon, it was a contest, with all the boys rooting for me and all the girls rooting for Becky. After too long, Mrs. Huffman got all the teachers from second grade to sixth grade to come out to the area that we were having the spelling bee. They all gave words for us to spell. 45 minutes into the one-on-one tussle back and forth, Mrs. Huffman declared a tie. Becky and I both won co-first place trophies.
          I stayed at Central Christian Academy until the third grade. I developed a condition that affected my kidneys and spent three weeks in the hospital before the doctors could figure out what was wrong. I had a blocked ureter due to a narrow tube coming from my left kidney. They had to operate on me to unblock it. My mother was incensed because our pastor never came to see me in the hospital. He sent his deacons in his place.
          My mother called a pastor from Langwood Baptist Church in our neighborhood and he came to see me. She took us out of Central Christian Academy and sent me back to Bane Elementary in the fourth grade, and my brother to Dean Junior High in the seventh grade. I hated public schools except for the fact that there were more organized activities to get involved with like band, choir and drama. I wasn't very athletically inclined, and I had a nervous mother, so sports were out of the question, much to my dismay.
          I had a pretty good time at Bane with my grades and with making friends. Junior High was a much different beast. When I got to Dean Junior High, I pretty much expected to get beat up almost every day. It only happened physically about two or three times, and usually it was unprovoked by myself. I was treated like utter, complete garbage by a lot of people though, so I think getting beat up for no reason would have probably been better. Seven years I put up with getting kicked around verbally at school, at home by my brother, and even some of the guys at church targeted me because I wasn't athletic. They played basketball. I stunk at basketball back then and still do today.
          So there I was, stuck in a society that would rather spit in my face than give me a hand once in a while. I would show them though. I got really heavy into my acting and singing, as well as my percussive talents. I didn't do very well at my other classes, but I excelled in my elective classes. I still play the drums at church every chance that I get, I still act, (Seven films, 14 stage plays, 4 commercials, 1 music video and I currently play "The Blue Beacon" - Anti-Bullying Superhero on Keys Media TVs "Keys For Kiddos.") I sing when I'm not writing, working and when I'm not asleep. I love doing karaoke.
          In 1989, I enlisted in the delayed entry program of the United States Army. I graduated in June of 1990 and was dying to leave home and serve my country, or just be away from the life that I had long since grown to hate. I left for Basic Training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma on August 1, 1990. You guessed it! Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Guess where I was headed in January of 1991? YUP! Saudi Arabia; Riyadh to be exact. I did good there. Our unit only lost one soldier, Specialist Emanuel Sapien, to a land mine.
          I was engaged to a girl back home that still had a year of high school left. After the war, I came home and spent most of my time with her. She seemed distant, but still loving. I went back to my unit in Germany that was deactivating and coming back state-side. In November of 1991, I came home on pass from my new unit in Oklahoma, and she broke up with me. I was crushed and devastated beyond belief. I turned to alcohol when I got back to Oklahoma. It had a huge affect on me and my First Sergeant saw it. When I got out of the Army, I went and got help from God and the Church.
          I am proud to say that I no longer have a problem with alcohol, because on July 13, 1992 I found a friend in Jesus. I had been in church my whole life, but I lacked the relationship with God that I needed to make my life complete. I had gotten into ice skating and playing hockey. One day, on my way to the ice rink for a drop-in game, I was on the bus and a homeless man got on in Downtown. He smelled bad, he had severely dirty clothes and long, shaggy hair. As he sat down, there were young people laughing at him and holding their noses. I was getting impatient with them to say the least.
          The bus was approaching the Salvation Army shelter and the man pulled the cord to signal for his stop. He got off, but tripped and hit the ground. The whole bus, minus myself, busted out laughing. I got off as well, because I had taken all of them I was going to. I offered him some money for some food. He turned it down and said that he had enough money to stay at the Salvation Army shelter. He told me that instead, he had something to offer me.
     He asked me if I was a child of the living God. I told him, "Sure, I go to Langwood Baptist Church. I sing in the choir there, I was the chairman of the events committee and I was a youth sponsor." "I, I, I, I."
          He stopped me and said that wasn't what he was talking about. He asked me, "Have you come to the point in your life where you realized that your sin offended God?"
          No one had ever asked me that before. I guess I had never thought about that. Needless to say, I missed my hockey game, because that homeless man, Don White, showed me in his Bible how God wanted people to desire to live in His will, not some flibberdy-gibbet wanna-be that played Christian on Sunday and then lived like the devil from Monday t Saturday. He wanted a person who was real with himself and everyone he faced.
          That started my ministry. I had already appeared in a music video, a film and two commercials. I stayed the course with my acting career until my two year modeling contract ended and I learned how to land my own gigs without the use of an agent. There was no sense in paying someone when I could do their job and perform as well. So I appeared in church plays, a couple of more films and one more commercial...then, I got married and put it on hold.
          I married a friend from the church I used to go to that owned the private school I went to. We lived in Katy, Texas and had two children. That marriage lasted all of about 10 1/2 years before we just grew apart. It ended in August of 2007 when I left just for what I felt was the right thing to do. (Keeping things private on that matter.)
     While spending the next four years on my own, I performed in about four or five more plays, was cast in three films that I actually got speaking parts in, and then came Facebook. I went to a church that was just down the street from where WWE's The Undertaker went to school at. I had a friend on Facebook that was a mutual friend of his. I sent him a friend request and he accepted it. One day, I saw a picture on his wall that I thought was interesting. I posted a comment on it about my Christian views of marriage. Later that afternoon, I got a private message from a girl on his friend's list named Lisa. She simply said, "Hello there."
          I saw that she was a friend of his. I asked her how she knew him. She worked as a security guard in Dallas at the Sportatorium where World Class Championship Wrestling was held in the 1980s and 90s. She knew the Von Erich's, Chris Adams, Gino Hernandez, and a lot of the famous wrestlers back then. That was how she met Mark (The Undertaker). We talked for a few weeks and I got restless one weekend and traveled by bus to Rhome, Texas up in Wise County, to meet her. We met for a few more weekends, and I felt it was right, so, I asked her to marry me. When you know, you know.
          On September 9, 2011, two months after I was divorced from my first wife, Lisa and I were married. (My first wife and I stayed separated for four years before she filed for divorce). I took Lisa back to Houston with me and we got married at the Civil Courthouse in Downtown in Judge Michael Engelhardt's courtroom. We stayed in Houston for exactly one year to the week of my moving Lisa to Houston. We decided to move to Rhome where she was from after her sister was arrested for criminal trespassing for crossing a railroad track in a field across the street from her home, instead of crossing at the intersection.
          Lisa and I moved to Rhome and immediately, I fought with City Hall and the Railroad company that owns the railroad she crossed, to have no trespassing signs installed where she crossed at. Most people don't even know that it is a crime to do so. I only found out a few years ago on a safety test when I was working for ExxonMobil. (I was laid off from ExxonMobil just 2 1/2 months after Lisa and I got married. Really good timing on that one. I was there 9 1/2 years).
          Six months later, after moving to Rhome, we found a place in Boyd; also in Wise County. I received a job working for Bridwell Publishing Company that publishes the Bridgeport Index and Chico Texan newspapers. Writing is a love of mine. I have written three feature length screenplays, one short screenplay, one pilot episode for a Christian Television Series idea, countless songs and poems, so naturally this was a job I would excel at. Not! I'm not from here, I don't know anyone here except the people that I go to church with and my wife's family, we are limited to such a small reporting area, the publisher doesn't compensate for fuel, doesn't give raises, doesn't pay sick pay or vacation time. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? I know, I'll go into business for myself writing a Christian Conservative Magazine.
          The Wise Conservative is named that because I have strong Christian Conservative views and because I live in Wise County. I didn't want to call it The Wise County Conservative, because there is already a newspaper in the county that has Wise County in its name. I didn't want people to get me confused, and I certainly didn't want them associating me with that particular publication, because they are the Bridgeport Index's main competitors. So, where it is a play on words, no it's not suggesting anything about my wisdom in comparison to anyone elses because I am still wrapped up in this fleshly body and am far from perfect.
          But, I believe that God has given me a message to share with as many people as I can with this blog. This blog is only experimental. I want to learn what I need to about this process before I invest a lot of money in an online magazine publication, because I want it to be successful; not for my sake, but for the sake of the Glory of God.

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.
         

Turn around and run

God's escape route from sin

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

 
        Every day we are faced with opportunity to choose to either cross the line, or turn around and run toward God’s sheltering arm. Sadly, in America only 45 percent of all marriages are successful in lasting until “death do we part.” The courts have made it easy for couples to get divorced and try for a do-over with someone new. 

I, for one, was in such a marriage for over 10 years. It had the making of a story-book romance at first. I was 25, she was 27. Both of us thought we were “of age” to marry. That term “of age” is relative in the sanctity of marriage. Unfortunately, there are children caught in the middle that learned first hand how reconciliation shouldn’t go. 

Just when two people who think that they are in love, believe they have all the answers, here comes the main stream media changing all the questions. Things can get way out of hand when a contributing partner to the marriage hears on television often enough that there is someone out there who will be much better than the person they’re with. They say it doesn’t hurt to weigh all your options as far as your romantic happiness goes.

After all, people break promises all the time, it’s no big deal these days. Those same people see nothing wrong with terminating an unwanted pregnancy either. After all, it’s only a fetus until it’s actually born, right? Not so, according to the Bible. Jesus told his disciples and the Jews that terrible things will happen to anyone who so much as harms one hair of the littlest of the children. Those so called “Fetuses” count in that too. As soon as the cell splits and turns into what scientists call a zygote, life is born. 

But that’s another topic for another article. This one is about the sanctity of marriage and the vows exchanged between a man and a woman who are supposed to love one another. I recently saw a post on Facebook that I shared. It said that cheating didn’t have to involve kissing, flirting, sharing or having sexual relations with someone. As soon as you start deleting messages that you don’t want your spouse or partner to see, you’re already there. 

The Bible says that it is better to never vow, than to vow and not pay. That means that once you make a promise to another person to forsake all others and keep themselves solely unto their spouse, you owe that person, as well as God a debt to keep every word of that promise. Once you decide to go sneaking under other fences to find out how green the grass is, there is no way back without causing hurt. 

God says that there is a way out of temptation. Turn the computer off if you get a mysterious message or friend request from someone you don’t know, or haven’t seen in a long time. Tell your partner, or spouse about the near encounter. Be honest and forthcoming from the get-go and you won’t have to back track with lies later. 

If you get a text from a co-worker or friend of the opposite sex, delete them, but show your significant other the message first, to let them know that it was unwelcome, and was not responded to. Then the two of you together confront the person sending the texts. 

If you have snuck, you will cause hurt. But, there is forgiveness where God is in the midst. There can be rebuilding of bridges and there can be full restoration. It doesn’t have to end in pain. It can end in victory, as long as both parties of the incident realize that neither are perfect and can fall into temptation just as easily as anyone else, because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. 

Turn to God in your times of temptation. Open His Word and read it. Ask Him to guide your path as you guard your heart and turn the other way and run!

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.

The anguish of Job

The dramatic saga of life, death, anguish and victory

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

        The poetic saga of the prophet Job is drama-filled, tragic and shows true resilience of a man that God never left nor forsook. It reads almost like a play with Act and Scene I beginning with a personal show down between God and Satan. God tells Satan that during his search for whom he may lead astray, Job was one that even in the face of a test of affliction, loss of loved ones, wealth that totally disappears, and even his family and friends turning their backs on him, He was sure that Job, through the grace of God, would prevail.
        Satan offers a test of the validity of Job's faith. He questions as to whether or not it is because God has a hedge of protection around Job. He offers a test to allow Job to be completely vulnerable, without God's protection around him. "Surely, his present faith would be for naught if your hedge of protection was lifted from him."
        God tells Satan that no matter what harm Job experiences, he will not renounce God. God allows Satan to place any affliction upon Job's family and possessions, but he could not touch Job's body. God displays His ultimate dominion over all heaven and earth as He limits Satan to the power that he can have over Job. Satan has no choice but to comply with God's supreme authority.
        His sons and daughters were in the eldest son's house eating and drinking wine, enjoying the toils of their father's riches. While they feasted, Sabeans, enemies of the land, attacked the animals and servants and killed them all, except one servant, who came to Job to bear message of what had come to pass.
        When the first servant had finished telling Job what had happened, another came to him and told of fire from heaven that consumed all of Job's flock of sheep and servants. He was the only one left to tell what had come to pass.
        Afterwards, another came to him and bore message that the Chaldeans came upon the camels and took off with them and killed all of the servants tending the camels. He was the only one left to tell what had come to pass.
        Finally, the last messenger came to Job and told him that all his sons and daughters were feasting when a great wind blew and knocked down the house and killed them all. He was the last person left to tell what had come to pass.
        The first strike blown against Satan was Job rising, renting his clothes, shaved his head in reverence to God, fell to the ground and worshipped God. Job proclaimed, "Naked, I came out of my mother's womb and naked I shall return to the earth; the Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
        In his grief for his sons and daughters, not bearing mind to the rest of his losses, Job went through this and did not sin; Act I ends.
        In Act II, Satan again came before God and God asked him about Job. God told him that even after what he had done to Job, Job stood strong for God. Satan told him that the hedge of protection still was around Job's body. He said that if he could smite him with physical afflictions, Job could not handle the pain that he could bring about him without renouncing God.
        God told Satan that Job's body was his to do as he wished, but he could not kill him. Satan smote Job with sores and boils all over his body; from the soles of his feet to his head. Job scraped all of the boils from his body and sat in ashes.    
        When Job has been sunken to his very lowest point of his life, after losing everything but his wife and his very life, his wife comes to him and presents her point of view as to why Job has been afflicted with such hardship. She told him that because of all the good that Job had accepted from God, that they must now pay it back by receiving evil.
        His three friends in his town came to comfort him. Upon first sight, they did not recognize him. They all cried when they finally realized it was him, took off their clothes and sat in the ashes with him in morning for their friend, Job.
        In the opening of Act III, Job broke his silence of a few days. He cursed the very day that he was born. He could not understand why God would allow all of the grief that befell him. He wished for his very death. His friend, Eliphaz told him that in the days of his strength, he had taught many and helped them to be strong in their own weakness, yet that day, in his own weakness, he wished for death. He asked him if this was not a test that had come upon him so that he might prove all that he had taught others about strength in their afflictions.
        Eliphaz then relays to Job a vision that he had about the sin of man and how terrible it is to receive communication from heaven. He asks, "Why does man pretend to be more just, more pure than God?"
        He talks about the presumptive pride of mankind and the patients of God to put up with us. Man can not be cleansed without his maker. Eliphaz asks if God will justify sinful men and clear them from their guilt. He asks, "or will he do so without their having an interest in the righteousness and gracious help of their promised Redeemer, when angels, once ministering spirits before his throne, receive the just recompence of their sins?"
        Job gives justification for his grief and desire for death. He tells that in addition to the outward hardships he had experienced, the inward sense of God's wrath had taken away his resolve and confidence. In his grief, he had no relief, but what he did have was burdensome and loathsome. But even though he was wishing for death, he still gave service to the glory of God. Those who have God's grace in them bear the evidence of it; they exercise it and the wisdom they possess because of that grace will be their strength in times of need.
        Disappointed in his friends, he then compares his suffering to the evaporation of rivers and streams in the summer time. People who put their trusts in temporal things of the flesh, find that it fails them when they need it most. But to those who put their trust in God, shall have all their needs (not necessarily their wants) met according to His riches in glory. It is best to commit our trust to Him. God keeps our souls. Every upright believer shall have praise of God.
        As the saga of Job progresses, Job even went so far as to tell God that he was angry with him, yet, as Job finally listened after expressing his feelings, the more God is able to deal with Job, in Job's bearing of the afflictions so that God shall be praised. God never left Job in his sufferings and even when Job's own wife advised hi to curse God and die, Job rebuked her with the wisdom that can only come from the holy anointing that God can provide in forbearance to the fact that it was God that allowed this so that his faithful servant could prove him right to Satan.
         As the saga draws nigh in the final act, in his anger, Job did not sin, and he did not renounce God. God shows Job that in his ignorance, God is all knowledgeable, being the creator of everything; and nothing existing that wasn't created by God. God showed Job his weakness in arraigning divine counsels, and shows him that he ought not oppose the ways of God's providence because it has the wherewithal to satisfy our every need. In Job's riches and great possession, he took for granted that God would continue the supplication of his needs and wants.
        Job humbled  himself before God and God reasoned with Job to show his righteousness, his power and his wisdom. In this saga of Job, his troubles began in Satan's malice, which God restrained; his restoration began in God's mercy, which Satan could not oppose. God turned his wrath toward Eliphaz and the other two friends of Job for their insolence toward Job's hardships. He ordered Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, Job's friends to offer up burnt sacrifices to him for not speaking of God with righteousness, but instead, twisting the metaphorical thorn in Job's side because of all of his sufferings as though God himself brought it onto Job with no care as to the pain he went through.
        God established His grace back unto Job because of Job's obedience and his resilience in withstanding the test. God rewarded him with twice more wealth, land, crops and livestock to Job's possessions than he had before. God also blessed Job with seven more sons and three more daughters.
        As the curtain draws and the cast takes their last call, Job prove his best, his last works his best works, his last comforts his best comforts; for his path, like that of the morning light, shines more and more unto the perfect day.

R. Douglass Mahaffey - Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.
        
       

The measure of a man

David stands up to a giant

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

David, the son of a shepherd from Bethlehem, was out tending his father’s flock one day. David’s family lived near a valley that stretched from just east of Bethlehem to just west of Jericho. Traditions held by Jews in that region believe this area to be the valley that David wrote about in the 23rd Psalm, when he wrote, Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of death, I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me.”

            Just a side note; there is also a spot in this same valley where it is believed that Mary and Joseph stopped to rest on their way to Bethlehem from Nazareth before Jesus was born. The animals in the valley, which were mostly predatory, were said to have been more desirable to face than the criminal element of Samaria, that would have awaited them, had they taken the eastward route from Nazareth, which would have been shorter.

            In that valley, David slew some of the world’s most fiercest predatory animals of that day, in order to protect his father’s sheep. He was only a boy of about 16 or 17 years old. Jesse came to David with food to take to his brothers, who were in the Israelite Army behind enemy lines, battling the Philistines, who controlled the area that we now call Gaza.

            David set off to take the food to his brothers. When he got to the Israelite’s camp and found his brothers, he was ashamed to find them hiding in their tents. He confronted them and asked them why they were hiding. They told him that they were afraid of the Philistine’s biggest weapon against them, Goliath of Gath.

            The Philistines would come up to the battle line and taunt the Israelites. They would call them dogs and threaten them to come out of their tents and face the onslaught from Goliath. The Israelites remained in their tents, hiding. When David heard the things that the Philistine army was saying to them, he couldn’t believe his ears.

            David told his brothers that they were God’s chosen people and that no giant should be able to stop them from living freely in the land God gave them. David had a personal relationship with King Saul, as his armor-bearer and musician. David came before King Saul and offered to face Goliath. King Saul attempted to “talk some sense” into David, that no boy could defeat the giant on his own. David told the king that he didn’t plan to face Goliath alone. He planned to destroy Goliath with God on his side.

            King Saul continued to discourage David to no avail. David was dead set on showing Israel and all of their enemies what can be accomplished with God on their side. King Saul then tried putting his armor on David. But David was too small to fit the armor and it was too heavy for him. David told King Saul that having God on his side was all the armor he needed. Saul told David to go and may the Lord be with him. King Saul didn’t believe that David would survive facing Goliath.

            David walked down to the river that flowed within the valley of Elah. Picking up five stones and placing them in his shepherd’s bag, he approached the Philistine’s camp, where Goliath came out to face-off with David. Goliath scoffed at him, “Am I a dog that you come at me with staves?” The Philistines cursed God before David.

            David rebuked Goliath and the Philistines and said, “You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day will the Lord deliver you into my hands; and I will smite you and take your head from you; and I will give the carcases of the Philistine army this day unto the fowls of the air and the beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”

            Goliath ran toward David and David ran toward Goliath. Before Goliath could strike one blow at the Shepherd, David reached into his shepherd’s bag, grabbing one of the stones that he had gathered from the river earlier. He put it in his sling and shot it at Goliath, sinking it into the forehead of the giant. Goliath fell dead to the ground.

            David drew Goliath’s sword from its sheath and cut the head off of the giant, just as he said he would. The Philistine army ran away in fear of David after seeing their hero fall to the little shepherd boy. The Israelite army caught and killed all that were present for the army of the Philistines, and the birds and beasts fed on them.

            What giant are you facing? How do you deal with the things that come at you with adversity? Do you stand up to those that mock God and belittle you for being a believer? We are called to be soldiers for God. If you were serving in man’s army and an enemy came after you, you wouldn’t stand idly by and let them walk all over you and what you stood for. You would be court marshaled for not fighting back.

            God expects the same thing from His soldiers. Put on His armor; that is, read His word and turn to him in your time of need. He will be your shield of protection. Then you will measure up to being the person God created you yo be.

R. Douglass Mahaffey – Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.

 

The covenant with Abraham

God fulfilling a promise

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

            Abraham made a solid treaty with God concerning a covenant that was made, establishing the seed of Israel, God's chosen people. As Abraham was on a mountain when the covenant was settled, it was made to him by God as a covenant of promises. First, God promised kindness and good-will to Abraham. In Genesis 15:1, there was a declaration of the purposes of God's love toward Abraham in two different ways; one, that He would give Abraham a numerous issue, two, in verses 2-6, that He would give Abraham Canaan for an inheritance. 

           Either an estate without an heir, or an heir without an estate would have only been a half-comfort to Abraham, but God ensures both an estate and an heir to him, the promised seed and the promised land; comforts indeed to Abraham. Both of the two invaluable things that God promised and delivered on toward Abraham was Christ and Heaven.

            God made this covenant with Abraham after the famous act of generous charity had been performed by Abraham (rescuing his friends and neighbors out of distress not for price or reward). Then God visited Abraham of which the conversation and actions of Chapter 15 came to pass. God told Abraham that He was his shield and great reward. Abraham, wondering what reward God would give him, made notice that he had no son, but one from his house, a steward named Eliezer of Damascus, was his heir.

            God assured Abraham that Eliezer was not to be his heir, but one that would come from Abraham himself, instead. Now Abraham was an old man by today's standards. He was almost 100 years old when God made the covenant with him, that his seed would be the Jewish origin. Before the time of Noah, Abraham's ancestor, people easily lived to be over 800 to 900 years old. God made sure that man only lived for about 100 to 150 years old after the flood. Abraham had a hard time understanding how a man of his age would be able to conceive a child, not to mention, his wife, Sarah was well in her 90s as well.

            God then assured Abraham in Genesis 15:5 as "he brought him forth abroad, and said, "Look now, toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them," and he said unto him, "So shall thy see be."

            From that day forward, Abraham believed the Lord and counted it to God for righteousness. God told Abraham that He brought him out of the land of Ur of the Chaldees to Caanan to give him the land as an inheritance. God then told Abraham to make burnt sacrifices unto Him of a three year old heifer, a three year old female goat, a three year old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon.

            Abraham followed God's instructions. He divided each of the animals and gave them up as an offering to God. He did not cut the birds in two, however. This was of no consequence in the sacrifice. The blood of the heifer, goat and ram was enough to suffice the offering to God.

            That night, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Abraham. Verse 12 says that while Abraham slept, a "horror of great darkness fell upon him."

            There, God told Abraham that his seed would be a stranger in a land that was not theirs, and that they would serve the inhabitants of that land and would suffer for 400 years. God also told Abraham of the judgement that would fall upon those they served. He assured Abraham that after their suffering was over, that his seed would "come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy father's in peace. Thou shalt be buried in a good old age." God was referring to the Jew's captivity in the land of Egypt, as they would suffer under the Egyptians as slaves for 400 years, before being released to inherit the promised land of Israel 40 years later.

            He then told Abraham about the great battles that would be fought against the Amorites as His judgement for the Amorites iniquity. As Abraham awoke and was leaving the mountain after his talk with God, the covenant was made that Abraham's seed would inherit the land from the Nile unto the Euphrates. The Jews would also inherit the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaims, Amorites, Caananites, Girgashites and Jebusites; the land we now know as Israel (or Palestine) today.

               God wants to make a covenant with us. In our families, God wants to prosper us all in the goodness and righteousness of His glory. He wants to make us His children. He wants to make us His chosen race, as he did with Israel. He wants us to desire that in return as well. God does not force His way into our lives. He gave us a free will to choose His Son, Jesus, as our propitiation, or the one worthy sacrifice that could rescue us from the sinner's hell that we have earned, but don't have to suffer. The sacrifice has already been made. Choose this day whom you shall serve. Make it Jesus.

R. Douglass Mahaffey -  Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.