The Idaho Falls local library is having another weekend book sale.

I bought the following books and music for $5 + tax:

1. Family Devotions for Children (1999) by Kenneth Taylor
2. Holy Bible (KJV) on Audio CD
3. The One Year Book of Devotions for Kids #2 (1995)
4. The One Year Book of Devotions for Kids #3 (1997)
5. The Treasure Principle (2001) by Randy Alcorn
6. God’s Road Map for Grads (2006) by Bordon and Winters
7. Building Strong Families: How Can Your Family Withstand the Challenges of Today’s Culture (1997) by William Mitchell
8. Robert’s Rules of Order (Newly Revised)
9. Jesus, Our Lord by Charles Swindoll
10. Starting Over: Fresh Hope for the Road Ahead by Charles Swindoll
11. Psalter Hymnal
12. A CBD Exclusive!  The Sunday Morning Hymnal:  Majestic Hymns of Worship Praise and Adoration, 3 CDs (2003)

We had a nice conversation at the beginning of this week in Lorie Swisher’s home in Idaho Falls, getting some earlier city history behind the Christian Center, the Family Bible Church, and the River of Life.  The pastor during those days was Rick Lunsford, who is currently connected with Gratefully Grafted Ministries International.   His son, Shane Lunsford, and I knew each other back in the day.

I learned about some of the city-wide events, the prayer meetings seeking the welfare of the city, and the Upper Room coffee shop.

I listened to two things connected with Lorie:

1.  She graciously gave to me a couple CDs of the music – Things Above.

2.  The Youtube video – Heaven, composed before Eric Swisher went to heaven.

From the Idaho Falls Public Library

• Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross (Crossway Books, 2009), edited by Nancy Guthrie (library # 232.96 GUTHRIE)
• Future Men (Canon Press, 2001) by Douglas Wilson (library # 248.845 WIL) “Christians are a race of dragon-fighters.  Our sons are born to this.  Someone ought to tell them” (107).
• Loved by God (W Publishing Group, 2001) by R.C. Sproul (library #231 SPR).  As our church family has been studying I Corinthians 13 on Sunday mornings, this book concludes with its last three chapters discussing this biblical text.
• NIGTC: The First Epistle to the Corinthians (2000) by Anthony C. Thiselton (227.2 THISELTON)
• Magazine – Christian Century (February 8, 2012) – Robert Millet is quoted – “It has become important for traditional Christians to maintain an unbridgeable creature-Creator chasm.  For Latter-day Saints, God and man are the same species.  God has substance — he is not just a force or power.  He is an exalted, glorified man, and one of the purposes of the Gospels is to help us become what he is.”  “We believe that Jesus and all humanity had a life before this life and in that world, Christ was the eldest — Jesus was our elder brother.”  The magazine author, Daniel Burke, then writes, “Thus, Jesus is a step below God on the stairway to heaven — and not an equal member of the Trinity” (p. 16).
• Magazine – Christianity Today (February 2012) – Russell D. Moore –  “For too long, we’ve called unbelievers to ‘invite Jesus into your life.’  Jesus doesn’t want to be in your life.  Your life’s a wreck.  Jesus calls you into his life” (p. 32).  “If the kingdom is what Jesus says it is, then what matters isn’t just what we neatly classify as “spiritual” things.  The natural world around us isn’t just a temporary “environment,” but part of our future inheritance in Christ.  Our jobs–preaching the gospel, loading docks, picking avocados, writing legislation, or herding goats–aren’t accidental.  The things we do in church–passing offering plates, cuddling crack-addicted babies, or fixing the “pop” in the sound system–aren’t random.  God is teaching us, as he taught our Lord, to learn in little things how to be in charge of great things (Matt. 25:14-23)” (p. 33).

From Barnes & Noble in Idaho Falls

• The Mormon People (2012) by Matthew Bowman. “Joseph Smith’s church is the last incarnation — or, to use Mormon parlance, the last dispensation–before Christ’s Second Coming.  Mormons believe that this time God has established his kingdom so firmly, and in such fertile ground, that it will not fall again.”
• Magazine – Newsweek (Feb. 13, 2012) – Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes about the rise of Christophobia.  “From blasphemy laws to brutal murders to bombings to mutilations and the burning of holy sites, Christians in so many nations live in fear” (p. 30).
• Magazine – Biblical Archeaology Review (Jan/Feb. 2012) – “When Did Israel Begin?  New Hieroglyphic Inscription may date Israel’s Ethnogenesis 200 years earlier than you thought.”  It is “a gray slab 18 inches high and 15.5 inches wide.”  “The third (broken) name-ring may read “Israel,” according to three German scholars.”

Read Dr. Garry J. Williams’ paper.  (HT: Charlie)

There is contention in Idaho over a moral issue.  The “Add the Words” rallies last month are contending for equal rights in Idaho for those of various sexual orientation.

Just recently, Rev. Lyn Stangland Cameron of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Idaho Falls demonstrated alongside with other “representatives from other religious and civic groups and members of PFLAG” at the Add the Words rally at the Broadway bridge on Jan. 28.

On February 2, Corey Taule in the Post Register, wrote in favor of the bill seeking to add words “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” to the Idaho Human Rights Acts.  Corey urges that we don’t be like “bigot” Bryan Fischer and that we should not be left behind in an “increasingly educated and tolerant world.”

Today, our local newspaper features a column from the Lewiston Tribune asking, “What is McKenzie [Senate State Affairs Committee Chairman Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa) afraid of?”  Their opinion closes with this argument, “In another 21 states, including Washington, discrimination against the gays already is illegal.  Support for gay rights is strongest among younger people.  History is taking shape, and Idaho remains on the wrong side of it.  Why wouldn’t McKenzie not choose to witness the sweep of society changing before his eyes?  What is he afraid of?”

That is an easy question for me.  We should fear the Lord.  Does the Lewiston Tribune fear the words of the Lord?  In desiring to add any words to be considered law by our society or culture, should we not compare with God’s Word?

Would the Lewiston Tribune consider the veracity of this proverb:  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

To ignore words that come from heaven invites peril.  It brings hell.  Please.  Please be open to God’s words.

And if you have been in rebellion to God’s words, as I once was, let it be known that God’s words, as no other words, provide hope for the sinner.  His words are the light for our feet.  Post up God’s words with a little sticky on your bathroom mirror.  Insert them on your I-phone.  Write them on your refrigerator wall.   Teach them to your children.  Bind them to your heart.  Be a hearer and a doer.  God’s words were the hope for ancient peoples.  And the words of God point to the way of joy and freedom for us today.

Consider God’s words.  Yes, “Add His Words”.  Start today.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your King is coming to you: He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey” (Zech. 9:9)

Lowly – it is the same Hebrew word behind the English translation of “poor” in Zechariah 7:10.

A King who came poor.  Needy.  Afflicted.

This is unexpected.  A scandalous event.  The kind of stuff that makes for a radical revolution.

He is not in a big, black SUV.  He is not even driving a Ford.  You could be looking in all the wrong spots.  He is on a donkey.  During this election season, don’t miss Him.

There is joy among His followers.  The shout of a King is among them.

Men gather for prayer during the Tuesday noon hour at the City of Refuge downtown in Idaho Falls.  Join us at the COR!

I am wearing my t-shirt in the middle of January.  Can you believe it?

This week, would you like to donate any of these supplies to the City of Refuge?   The top of the list should read “postage stamps”.

1.  “I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me” (Gen. 32:20).  Jacob wanted to give gifts to his brother, but he really didn’t want to have any close relationship with Esau.  The gifts are more like bribery.  Isn’t it possible to treat God the same way?  Offer Him extravagant gifts in order to get Him off your back?  See Micah 6:1-8

2.  Genesis 34 – The sons of the original patriarchal family for modern-day Israel have murdered all the male inhabitants of a city.  Wives and little children are in slavery.  Jacob is afraid for his life.  What does this Jewish family desperately need?  The direct, gracious intervention of Almighty God.  Grace – it is what we all need.

3.  “And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matt. 11:2)  I cry out in prayer for brothers and sisters in prison on this day, January 17, 2012.  May the mighty Intercessor, Christ Jesus, grant new grace to those who are under intense persecution for their faith.

4.  Jesus says, “Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple” (Matt. 12:6).   How do you think we should apply this fundamental truth within the city of Idaho Falls?

5.  For the Occupiers on Hitt Road and the Tea Partiers in Freeman Park, consider the King announced by God through the lips of the ancient prophet, Isaiah:

Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!  I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles.  He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.  A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory; and in His name Gentiles will trust (Matt. 12:18-21).

– utilizing The NKJV Daily Bible (Thomas Nelson, 2004)

Today’s headlines in our local newspaper:

‘Mormon factor’ wears off for Romney

Here is the input from Greer and Greenville, South Carolina:

“Although Romney’s faith is still a matter of some discussion, it is less of a political problem for him than it was in 2008,” said Jim Guth, a political scientist at Furman University in Greenville, in South Carolina’s conservative upstate. “Most Republicans have a generally positive view of Romney, even evangelical Christians.”

Four years ago, the Romney campaign directly took on suspicion about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Conservative Christians, including many protestants and Roman Catholics, do not consider Mormons to be Christian, although Mormons strongly do.

Sitting outside in the sunshine today during the noon hour and reading scripture (can you believe this weather in Idaho Falls?) . . .

1.  God tells Abraham:  “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Gen. 22:2).

2.  How do you respond to a command like that in which you do not at all understand?  Well, here is the section of Proverbs for today’s scripture reading – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5-6).

3.  Today’s New Testament reading:  “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!” (Matt. 8:25).  But sometimes as the Lord Jesus would answer our cries, He lovingly rebukes us, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” (Matt. 8:26).

There is one thing that we can always be confident about – “The-LORD-Will-Provide” (Gen. 22:14).

The Father’s loving provision to us is both His Son and His Spirit.  Glory.  We can trust.  If there is anyone we can fully trust, it is the LORD, the Everlasting God.