Reaching Alaska for Jesus

That no man might buy or sell…

alaska4jesus — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:18:00 +0000

I awoke in the early hours of the morning, thinking of Sabbath-keeping in the context of Revelation 13. As I meditated, the phrase “…that no man might buy or sell…” (verse 17) came to the forefront of my mind.

From my Bible study, I believe that Revelation 13 describes religious persecution which will be implemented just before Jesus returns. While not wishing to judge any man’s relationship with God, I believe that the Roman Papacy fulfills the criteria of the first beast of Revelation 13. I believe that the “image to the beast” formed in Revelation 13 will be a combination of church and state government much like the Papacy had during the Dark Ages. So far, this is nothing different than the reformers believed in the 16th century.

Revelation 13:15 describes enforced image worship, if we take the language literally. We can find Bible precedent for enforced breaking of God’s law, however it might be implemented. Daniel 3 and 6 dealt with the second and first commandments respectively. No government is likely to enforce breaking of the last six commandments (they are common sense by any reasonable human standard). However, the first four commandments would be likely targets for governments to attack. While the language of Revelation 13 literally sounds like enforced image worship (2nd commandment), knowing that the Beast is not an animal should tell us the “worship” is more than bowing down to a statue.

Reading Revelation 14:7, I see a reference to the Sabbath commandment of Exodus 20:8-11. Knowing that the Papacy considers the change from a Saturday-Sabbath to Sunday-worship to be a mark of it’s authority, I expect that when religious people gain control of government, they will try to implement Sunday legislation. And in fact, there are people today pushing for that (including the Pope). The Sabbath is the main commandment that people have a hard time seeing a reason for. It is the only one that begins with “Remember…” and yet it’s the one that most people want to forget!

However, simply enforcing Sunday-worship would not cause my conscience any worries– I’d be happy to worship God on any day of the week. The more pressing issue will be, what about the Sabbath of God, given in Eden, written in stone (Ex. 31 and 34), kept throughout history (including by Jesus and the Apostles), and that will be celebrated in the New Earth (Is. 66:23)?

I’ve heard much speculation about how the Beast of Revelation 13 might bring persecution to bear and prevent buying and selling– everything from bar codes to computer chips or credit cards. And I’m not ruling those out. However, if Sabbath-keeping is the issue here, perhaps the most effective way the Beast could force allegiance would simply be to try to force Sabbath-breaking. One way I’ve heard suggested that could be done would be switching to a 6-day week (Sabbath being a work day). And anybody not complying would lose their job, and thus their income. However, I had in the past thought in the back of my mind that this would not affect me if I was self-employed.

Now, back to my early morning meditation. As I considered the words, “…that no man might buy or sell…” (Rev. 13:17), a startling thought suddenly struck me. What more direct way could there be than to force “buying and selling” to be done on Sabbath? What if even self-employed people would have to break Sabbath in order to survive economically? There would be no need to identify people who had or did not have the mark in a vast government database. Those who were true to God’s command would be unable to purchase needed supplies. And what if self-employed people were unable to make business transactions needed to gain their income, on any day but Sabbath?

Now, I can see how even many Seventh-day Adventists might rationalize doing a little Sabbath buying and selling. After all, many of us must admit to having done it “in emergencies only”. And what if our daily lives were emergencies? (See Jer. 17:24, Neh. 13:15-22 regarding Sabbath buying and selling).

There are major hurdles to this kind of enforcement (one being that merchants wouldn’t like having only one day to sell). I don’t really know how the end time events will unfold, but I believe God can impress us with things important to know. I would be interested in hearing feedback and Bible study regarding this subject.

Perhaps it is time we started keeping the Sabbath more faithfully. Not because we think we’ll be saved that way– no– but as a faithful commitment to the God we love and serve. How can we witness to others if we are inconsistent in any area of our lives? It’s time we start developing strength of character that will stand the test. Will we be true to God though all the world stand against us? Perhaps it’s time for us to be more faithful in speaking often to one another and thinking upon His name.

“Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not.” – Malachi 3:16-18

- Warren

God works in mysterious ways

alaska4jesus — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:11:00 +0000

Last Friday, while our family was enjoying a stroll back from the mail, we came across a loud argument in progress. It turned out to be a young intoxicated man threatening himself and others, while the others were trying to get him to go home and sleep it off. When my initial efforts to help were rejected, we went on home and finished our Sabbath preparations. However, I couldn’t get the young man off my mind, and wondered and prayed about if I should have tried harder to intervene.

Later that evening, after the kids were in bed, Verity and I were enjoying the evening air outside when we again heard loud voices. The same young man had been going at it all afternoon with anyone who passed by, it seemed. Verity and I decided to see what we could do this time, so we went back to the scene, stopping to pray as we went. On arrival, another young man who was trying to calm the guy down, said something like “Here comes the pastor, talk to him”. So I was in the “hot seat”. I offered to take a walk with the guy, while Verity offered to talk with his girlfriend, who was still trying to calm him down.

The entire stroll was punctuated with angry outbursts (not at me, fortunately). Talking to him about Jesus calmed him down though. To make a long story short, while returning from our stroll, my friend became unable to walk. I offered him a place to sleep it off, since nobody else wanted to take him in. Another friend of his offered to ride him home on a 4 wheeler, but he kept trying to jump off while it was going. Finally, we got him to our parsonage, where after half an hour or more of agitated talk and some shouting, he finally went to sleep in my arms. When I finally got to bed myself, it was 2:30 am.

The next morning, having sobered up somewhat, my new friend was very embarrassed at what he had done. However, we have been happy to have him visit three times since then. He has resolved to “stay dry” and has begun reading a Bible and Steps to Christ. Please pray for him that he will continue to grow more attracted to Jesus and desire to have a relationship with Him.

This has been a breakthrough for us, as we have made our first spiritual-minded contact in this age range (21). Pray that it will bear fruit with this young man sharing with his friends.

- Warren

Historic Meetings in Selawik

alaska4jesus — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:48:00 +0000

Last month we had a very special native campmeeting. It began with a health fair on Thursday afternoon following by the first of three days of meeting based on the Power of the Cross Revealed Series. If you have watched or attended the Revelation Now series hosted by the O’Malley church in Anchorage, you may have noticed our speaker, Darlene Heckler. She led the children in singing “Jesus Loves Me” in Inupiaq to open the second meeting. She is a Selawik native, so we were all excited to have her present Jesus to her friends and relatives. The health fair went well with the whole school attending, yet we wish had had more adults and been more prepared for the younger grades. Though we prepared for a larger group by meeting at the school,we were encouraged by the small group who attended. (We would have had less if we had met in our church.) And there was power there. We all agreed that this only the beginning; next year may be better.

Darlene is an exciting person to be around. She is passionate about how God has touched her life. It was hard to her to come, since she has a lot of bad memories here. When her mother died about eight years ago, she said she would not come back. (She had been a teacher here, but had moved two years before.) We first met her last December at her sister’s wedding, for which Warren was asked to help with the music. We were mutually encouraged when we discovered each other. Darlene has a dream of traveling to the villages and sharing what she has learned as she follows Jesus. Please pray that she will be empowered in her desire to share.

Blessings,
Verity

Does He Know Me?

alaska4jesus — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:44:00 +0000

People seem to admire that our family has moved here to the Arctic and think we are very courageous and have sacrificed a lot. Please do not think that of us; pride is the worst of sins– it does not seem to want to die. Yes, our home is smaller and it is colder. Yes, it was a big step for us. But we have sacrificed nothing. Instead, we receive countless blessings each day. We are so rich, it is hard to describe.

Yet I want more. I want to pray more. I want to hear God more every day. I want to be more dependent on him. I want to be more compassionate. I want to give more of myself away. I want to share more of the wonders I see with my family and those around me.

Jesus tells of the separating of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46. Do I see Jesus hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in prison? Yes, I do. Around the world food prices are rising and people are becoming desperate and afraid. The food crisis is being caused by droughts around the world. People are thirsty. The world is full of people who do not know about Jesus, they are equivalent to the stranger or Gentile to the Jews. The church is also full of people who are naked because they need fuller understanding of how to be clothed in Jesus’ righteousness. There are many people who are suffering because they do not know how to care for their health or how good it feels when you do. There are people who are struggling to be able to live and share the good news of Jesus with those around them.

What can I do? I can’t go there to help them. But I can’t ignore them either. We still have money. Frankly, I don’t see how the world can go on with business as usual with droughts, a food crisis, and a growing
financial crisis. I want to disburse my remaining assets while I still can. I want to know Jesus and I want Jesus to know me. How about you?

Verity

P.S. We received great news this week. We had heard a rumor that the Adventist company at Barrow had drifted apart after their lay leader Ken Robbins’ job was transferred out of Barrow. But they are still meeting as strong as ever, their location had just changed. Praise God!

Does He Know Me?

alaska4jesus — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:42:47 +0000

Verity

Better late than never post

alaska4jesus — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:51:00 +0000

Warren,
Here is an e-mail from Manokotak that might fit into your blog We have received a request for baptism, so the work is growing in Manokotak.
Love,
Dad

Thank you guys for coming over. I enjoyed the sabbath day! I am going to miss H and the other 2! I’m just so surprised at how many people that I’ve told by email, they never showed up at all. But just like Florie said, the devil threw all he could to make people not show up. Friday evening, M showed up and stayed all through out the bible study and asked if they were done when they were done. I guess he had fun learning. I always pray for someone from this village to be converted, someone who speaks well in yupik and for that person to become a 7th Day Adventist pastor for Manokotak. I also pray for a church to be built and for more people to convert to our church. This is such a very hard village. They’d rather stick with people who study with moravian church goers. A little discouraging.

Aright, I gotta get going here.

Take Care

On Life and Death

alaska4jesus — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 22:59:00 +0000

Here are some of my thoughts recently on life and death

On death, today Selawik is holding its third funeral of the last three weeks. Orren and Roy had both been sick for some time. Ira died the same day as his brother, Roy. Ira and Roy left a brother and sister as the last of eleven siblings. At Ira’s funeral on Friday, we discovered Sara’s Inupiaq name was the same as his, Paniyaaqluq. Louis, our Inupiaq teacher shared how he owes his life to Ira, his uncle, who stepped in as the one to comfort him as a baby when crying would turn him blue. We are beginning to see how connected they are in Selawik. Warren has gotten to experience that community spirit in coffin-making and grave-digging. They really do take care of each other.

On life, at Orren’s funeral, the main speaker referred to the original Greek meaning of a word in the Bible text he was using. I have observed that the people here come in all personalities, shapes, sizes, and educational levels. Yet, incidents like this have showed me that it is not as hard as I thought to transition to life outside Selawik. The differences between us are mostly only in personalities. We are trying to study their culture, but they are acquiring our culture as fast as we are figuring out theirs, or so it seems.

On life and death, I want to ask you to pray for Elvis Jr. (Yes, Elvis. He’s five and is called Junior). He is very sick, and going back into the hospital today. He has a cyst in his lung, and has a tube going to his heart as I understand. He was moved to outpatient for about a week. He is such a sweet boy and the medical care horror stories I have heard from people here have me very worried. I don’t know why natives seem to get less quality care, but I want Elvis Jr. to come home alive and well.

On life again, I have good news, sort of. Warren and I have been discussing having Adventurers and Pathfinders Clubs here probably since before we came. Finally “Selawik Seekers” has been born. We have had two Adventurers Club meetings, mostly set-up, but some classwork too. We have ordered materials for Pathfinders and will make a plan when those arrive. We will need wisdom to structure the meetings to work with Inupiaq culture, but we will not be alone. Debbie Reiswig has experience for which we are most grateful.

To life,
Verity

Another house fire causes death

alaska4jesus — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:49:00 +0000

A recent Selawik house fire, the third one (second house fire) in two months, claimed the life of a woman. I received a call about the fire around 5 am, Friday February 8th. As I was getting my outdoor gear on, someone came to the door to get our fire extinguisher.

Arriving on the scene (the house was only four down from our church), I found one fire hose already hooked up and spraying the front and side of the house. Helping get a second one hooked up, we had a valve lever break off. I was able to help by supplying a pair of pliers to open the valve. Other than that, there wasn’t much I could do to help.

Nobody seemed to know if the occupant had escaped the house, and nobody had a fireproof suit and breathing mask to make it possible to go into the burning house to check. We later learned of the woman’s death. She was found near the wood burning stove. Rumor has it that she had mentioned the stove being dangerous, prior to the fire.

We are saddened especially by this loss of life, and have considered how such losses could be prevented in the future:

Fire alarms need to be provided for all houses that don’t have them. You can get fire alarms for $10 or less at Home Depot.
Heating and electrical systems need to be held to safety standards.
Education, exit plans, fire drills.
Better and more fire fighting equipment.
Fire rescue equipment (suits and masks, etc.)

One additional thought about fire safety. Using fire extinguishers (10 or more at times) from outside burning houses seems to me to mostly worsen fire danger. The extinguishers cannot stop the fire at the point where you can’t get into the house. But using them up leaves the neighbors without a first-line defense. So unless fire extinguishers are handed out by the city, I don’t think using them enmasse at a fire is much good. (I’ve seen them used at all three recent fires, but to no avail).

Having another death in the village brings home once again the urgency of our mission here in Selawik. Yet it is not only Selawik that is a mission. There are millions of people in this world going to Christ-less graves all around us. Do we really realize how serious this salvation issue is? Do we care for others enough to do something about it? What have you done for someone’s salvation- today?

Let Them Come

alaska4jesus — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:28:00 +0000

We have a core group of kids who like to come and visit but vary in regularity. We may not see them for weeks and then they may come all at once. I try to make myself free to join in a game or have an activity for them. But sometimes when I am tired and don’t have a plan, then I feel at such a loss for what I should be doing, that I just watch them in a stupor. I like these kids, but a group of 5-10 of them all talking at once do that to me.

Lately, my trust and respect issues with them have had more sting than usual for me. Yet I have also been having plenty of “I love being here” and “I belong here” moments. Meshing these two opposite feelings in my mind, I came to the conclusion that these kids really are special to me.

Our Valentine’s Day cookie decorating as they watched The Jesus Movie for Children seemed to go rather well. They loved having their pictures taken as always. Despite all the things they have done and said to us, I still see the all good times we have together. So when I hear that nerve-racking pounding on our door, I let them come.

I am so glad Jesus never turns us away, despite all we have done to hurt him. God is so good to us, we are just beginning to discover how much.

Blessings,

Verity

Eleven visitors packed to the ceiling

God’s Laundry Soap

alaska4jesus — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:46:00 +0000

Events in my own life and those of friends and family have reinforced in my mind the idea that God is in the process of preparing His “elect”, his chosen people, to be ready to meet Him when he returns in the near future. (For those of you not familiar with Seventh-day Adventist teaching, this is what we call the doctrine of the Investigative or Pre-Advent Judgment).

The idea that God wants to cleanse His people before His return is found in many places in Scripture (the Day of Atonement-Leviticus 23; Cleansing the Sanctuary-Daniel 8; Robe of Righteousness-Zechariah 3; Isaiah 61:10; Ten Virgins-Matthew 25; Without Sin-Hebrews 9:26-28; Laodicea=Judgment-Revelation 3:14; Hour of Judgment-Revelation 14:7; Overcometh-Revelation 2,3,21; Close of Probation-Revelation 8:5 and 22:11). While many have focused on the “fear factor” of coming Judgment, whether before or at Christ’s return, there is a positive message in this for us if we love His appearing (2 Timothy 4:8).

I had never noticed until my attention was drawn to it recently, that Malachi 2:17-3:5 is another Old Testament reference to God’s effort to cleanse and prepare us for His return. I really like this passage as it clarifies several things that people have gotten confused.

The entire book of Malachi is a call of love from God, regarding the false accusations being made against Him, and His true witness about our state of affairs. I recommend you read the entire book in one sitting, to get an overview of what it’s saying. It’s a short book, so it shouldn’t take long.

The passage in Malachi 2:17-3:5 (chapter divisions are arbitrary) discusses how God is accused of allowing wickedness to continue without punishment. He responds that His professed followers are not ready for Him to come back in judgment. However, He is a refiner of silver, and like laundry soap. He wants to clean up our lives so we will give a pure offering to Him. Then He can come back and deal with the problem of sin. Note that we are the Spiritual Sons of Levi mentioned in the chapter, since we are to be Kings and Priests unto God (Revelation 1:6, 5:10).

I don’t have to be afraid of the pre-Advent judgment, except in the sense of “Fear God and give glory to Him”. If I love and reverence God enough to let Him remove sin from me– to let Him be laundry soap and a refining fire in my life– I have nothing to fear from the Judgment. In Malachi 3:17, God promises that those who speak often of His name will be remembered in His book, and will be His jewels when he returns. That’s good news to me and I hope to you too.

“When He cometh, When He cometh
To make up His jewels
All the pure ones, all the bright ones
His loved and His own

Like the stars of the morning
His bright crown adorning
They shall shine in their beauty
Bright gems for His crown”

“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” (Daniel 12:3)

God bless in your life as he refines you for His soon return, and as you work to “turn many to righteousness”.

Warren