#13 Bishop

Saturday, May 16, 2009 (my son Nathan’s 27^th birthday!) was alternately rainy and sunny. Late in the afternoon about 3:00, the sun was shining – mostly - and I went to OV Beach to read God’s holy Word. There weren’t as many people as usual because of the threat of more rain, but God’s Word only needs one person to be miraculous. (When it comes right down to it, even without people the rocks and stones themselves would start to sing of His glory!) After awhile, a very tall young man came and stood next to me. After I finished the passage I was reading, Hosea chapter 11, I stopped to talk to him. He was dressed in all black and said he had a word from God for me. At first he spoke in a foreign tongue and then he relayed a great deal of encouragement and support for the ministry and me. He was very intense as he spoke the Word from God! When he was done, we hugged and I thanked him.

And then we talked for a while. He introduced himself as Bishop and said he was from Florida. He had been in this are for awhile and traveled each day where God wanted him to go, sharing his faith and a Word with whomever God sent him to. He didn’t have a paying job, but that was God’s idea and so the Creator took care of him. He got what he needed when he needed it. We shared some stories for a bit and then we started to leave. As we walked to our vehicles, he came over to share some of his Christian poetry with me – awesome stuff, very inspiring and revealing. Then it started to rain and we sat in my car. He shared some more of his writings and said that he was going to put it all in a book – that God was giving these poems to him. I encouraged him to put his poems in a blog but he would have no part of it – said that God would put it together in His own time and fashion. I told him about my blog and asked him to write me a few lines. He started thinking and then broke into a big smile and started to laugh. He jumped out of the car and was back in a flash with a paper in his hand. He told me he had written this a couple of weeks ago, and wondered why God had given him this particular verse. Then he looked at me and said, “God wants me to give this to you!” And he did. Then I gave him my cell number and asked for his. He smiled and said he didn’t have one, that God would put us together when He wanted to. So, here is what Bishop wrote and God wanted me to have:

The Dangers of Life – May 10, 2009

Freewill, the greatest gift known to humankind, in the flesh that is.

While living life in sin, people often make statements like,

you can’t tell me what to do -

this is my life, let me live it -

and my personal favorite – only God can judge me!

In the end, we all get what we deserve based on the lives that we lived and the decisions that we made. There will be no blameshifting. So be careful while you are out there living your life to the fullest. Don’t forget the one who created you and for what purpose. If you don’t know your purpose, seek and you shall find. Call on the Father in the name of the Son.

May God richly bless you, Bishop. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for letting me see some of the other members of the Body, and the work that God has them doing. You are an inspiration. God bless all the readers! Pray!

Article - "ONLY ONE"

How many roads lead to God, the ultimate and sovereign creator of the universe? Can there be more than one? If there’s only one, can we know which one is true and which are not? While the sheer number of religions and faith systems in our world seem to allow for various paths to the Creator, can we really establish a genuine and intimate relationship with God through numerous paths – based, for instance, on our cultural and geographic circumstances? These questions form the basis of a popular train of thought among Christians and non-Christians alike, which I believe needs to be critically examined. Why? Because the answers to these questions are part of the foundation upon which ones faith is built. Case in point: to choose a pluralistic point of view, one that allows for many paths to God, will take one in a very different direction than for those who believe there is only one path to God.

I believe there’s only one way to God. I do believe that when one considers the many faith options available, only one clear choice will emerge, because there is only one Son of God/Son of Man that created the way back to God. There is only one faith that clearly spells out humanity’s broken relationship with God and what is needed to return to God, to re-establish an intimate and deeply personal relationship. Yes, re-establish; because at one time humanity enjoyed that kind of relationship with the Creator. At one time, we were innocent and free; walking and talking with him as if he was our best friend – because he was! Then, we went in a different direction and we chose disobedience and became slaves of our perceived independence.

And that’s where we are today; separated from our Creator, trying in vain to repair our broken relationship. The French philosopher Blaise Pascal put it best when he said, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man (and woman) which cannot be filled by any created thing . . .” Yet we continue to stuff all manner of things into that vacuum – drugs, alcohol, lust, greed, the pursuit of what the world deems ‘success’ - hoping it will fulfill our often unconscious need for that deep bond with our maker. But, of course, it cannot and does not. The rest of Pascal’s quote gives us the only one true entity that can fill our vacuum, “but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” Only when we accept Jesus’ offer of forgiveness and freedom will we be restored as the creation God intended. Only when we, as Pastor Dick Waters used to say, “plug into the power source,” will the chasm between God and his beloved creation be closed and the relationship repaired.

Why then is Jesus, the foundation of the Christian faith, so different from the other central figures in some of the major world religions? Why is he the only way back to God? The Buddha - Siddhārtha Gautama – and the prophet Muhammad were men who were born and died. They weren’t God. They didn’t claim to be, as Jesus did when he told the Jews, “The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30) Same with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - a great man, to be sure. But one who lived and died. Jesus, however, claimed to be the exclusive manifestation of the one true God. This inferred that, along with the Father, he created life and was present in the beginning. (John 1:1-3) To all those in the temple he said, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am,” (John 8:58) using words that left no doubt he believed himself to be one with Yahweh. The Jews in power believed that to be blasphemy and sought to kill him on the spot, but he slipped away from them.

If you remove the Buddha, Muhammad, Gandhi and the many, many Gods in Hinduism, from their respective faiths, the teachings of those faiths remain. However, if you take Jesus out of Christianity, you have no Christianity at all. Why? Because Jesus claimed to be one with the Creator (John 10:30 & 14:6-7 - almost always referring to him as Father), claimed to have all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt 28:18), told his followers that he would be rejected by the ruling authorities, killed, and would be raised up in three days to complete their faith (Luke 9:22). If he were wrong on any one of those points, then he would be considered a liar or a mad man who couldn’t be trusted and whose teachings would be false.

But Jesus isn’t a liar or a mad man. He is the risen Savior of our planet. Unlike any of the other central figures in any other religions, he is alive in real space and time and is alive in the hearts and souls of those who trust him. Jesus is:

the only mediator between God and humanity.

“Jesus answered: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

“All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." Acts 10:43

the only God-Man in history. Jesus is the only one who can be God in the presence of humanity, and human in the presence of God.

“The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” John 5:22-23

the only one who, because of His sinless life, could take the rap for humans and pay the price for our crimes against God. He is the only one who can reconcile and bring healing to the broken relationship between God and humanity.

“For the Son of man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

the only one who DID redeem humanity.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” John 12:32

the only necessary and sufficient means by which we may be saved.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

the only one to face death and make it out the other side, with hundreds of witnesses to verify that truth.

“Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11:25-26a

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.” I Corinthians 15:3-7

The fact that Jesus claimed to be the only way to God is what separates him from any other figure on the stage of history. He didn’t say he was ‘one’ of the ways. He never said that there were others doing a ‘similar’ work or providing ‘alternate routes’. From his birth, through his ministry and culminating in his death, his whole life was lived in order to provide the necessary and sufficient sacrifice to atone for the sins of all humanity. In modern-day vernacular, Jesus was groomed to fulfill his destiny as Savior. What he said, where he went, who his friends were, was all carefully planned so that his life and mission would be clearly understood. When God raised Jesus from the dead, he validated his life and sacrifice, once and for always providing for all humanity the exclusive and undeniable ‘way’ back to him. That said, why would God create additional or alternate paths when his Son, a very real and tangible part of himself, had already blazed the path and accomplished the mission? To allow for ‘alternate’ paths would be trivializing the life of Jesus and the horrific, but necessary, work of the cross. Only Jesus’ sacrifice could pay the price for our sins and create the forgiven path back to the Father.

Having accomplished this ‘way’ back to God, it only makes sense that the Father would make plain to everyone exactly who the Savior is. As of 2007, it has been determined that over 7.5 billion Bibles have been distributed worldwide - almost one per person - and these figures do not include the various digital versions of the Bible being used today by millions on computers, iPhones and Blackberries. Little wonder that the plan and story of God’s salvation, the Bible, is the bestselling book of all time. It just makes sense that God would want as many people as possible to know about his gift. God becoming a man to rescue us from sin is totally unique among all the world religions and is the only solution for the separation between humanity and God. God’s forgiveness is a gift - the gift of grace. It is a gift we do not deserve, and can never earn. Grace is how we are saved, through Jesus alone. All the other religions, faiths, paths and myriad ways are imposters and seek to deceive us and divert us from the truth.

Ultimately, there is one way to the Creator God and only one way. We can both acknowledge that and believe in Jesus - or not. That is our decision to make.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
John 3:17-18

Jesus is:
the light of the world. John 8:12
the good shepherd. John 10:11
the bread of life. John 6:35
the only way to God. John 14:6
the creator of all things. John 1:3
the true vine. John 15:1
the resurrection and the life. John 11:25-26
the savior of the world. John 3:16, Acts 4:12

Now, go forth - reach out to Jesus - and reach back for a friend . . .

Mark Eulo Virginia Beach, VA May 2009

#12 Out-Of-Towners

On the first Saturday in May (5/09/09) I was leaving the hair salon after getting my haircut and got a strong message to go to OV Beach and read. I fought the urge at first because I wanted to get home in plenty of time to watch the Kentucky Derby, a tradition in my home since I met my wife 8 years ago. In fact, this was the first time that Colleen and I weren’t going to watch it together because she was in Tampa, FL on business. Colleen was raised just outside of Louisville, KY where the Derby is a way of life, and we enjoy watching it together. The plan was that we would talk to each other on the phone while each of us watched the race from our separate TV’s.

After a moment, I realized God had something else in mind and made a sharp left onto Shore Drive and rode down to Ocean View Beach, set up my table and stool and began reading from the Holy Scriptures. The day was beautiful and there were a bunch of folks coming and going. Before long, a young woman took one of the Gospel of John booklets and sat down about 10 feet in front of me to listen. I am always so invigorated to read God’s Word, to know that Jesus is coming out of me and filling the air with promise and hope! After awhile, a woman came over and introduced herself – Yael – and told me that she was a Messianic Jew and for me to keep on glorifying God as I read. Her husband, Norm, waved at us and I found out that he was from an area of Chicago that I had lived in as a boy. He told me that Messianic Jews in Israel are growing very fast. An article on CBN.com dated 12/26/08 states that “a resurgence in the number of Jews who believe in Jesus is getting a lot of attention. Many leaders say it's the strongest growth since the time of Jesus and that the Messianic movement could be on the brink of a great revival.” The same article says that there are about 120 congregations and between 10,000-15,000 Jewish believers in Jesus – Yeshua, as they call him. Praise be to God!

After we talked for a few minutes, they returned to their bench on the boardwalk and I to the Scriptures. Finally, the woman who was sitting down was joined by her children and husband and another couple. Turns out they are all in the Army stationed about 2 hours from Norfolk and had come to the beach for the day. After listening to me for awhile, they wanted to tell me how encouraged they were and how they were being blessed. I told them that they were doing the same for me! They thanked me for having the courage to read the Scriptures on the boardwalk and gave me some great hugs. Then we prayed for each other and they left.

As Yael and Norm were leaving, Norm wanted to pray for the ministry and me and he did. I really am grateful for all the prayers that are said for me. Meanwhile, I am constantly praying that God’s Word would penetrate the hearts of those who hear it.

When I drove home that evening, I listened to the Derby on the radio while my beautiful wife was on the phone sharing the moment. I was reminded of just how incredible it is to be in the will of God and to be doing the work He has assigned for me. It is the greatest joy of my life! To give back to Jesus, the redeemer of my soul, is such an honor! I yearn for the day when I stand in His presence and he wraps His loving arms around me and says, with that clear, strong voice I have come to know, “Well done, Mark, good and faithful servant.” I believe that will take me right on through eternity . . . wow!

I hope to have some concrete news in the next week or so about the development of the Street-Reading ministry. I'm talking to some important people who are going to help me get things rolling. Until I post again, my prayers are for all those who are reading this. Thank you for yours and may you be blessed every moment of every day. Praise to our Savior, Yeshua!