By David Scott Robertson
Last evening my wife and daughter and I saw Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ."
Our reaction to the film parallels many positive reports you may have already read or heard. It's difficult to put into words the profound impact the movie has already begun to make in the lives of my family.
An eight-year-old child that I was escorting to the R-rated movie (with permission from his mother) asked me as we were going in if we were going to get Cokes and popcorn. My reply was "No, son. This movie is not entertainment."
Perhaps my eleven-year-old daughter Abbey summarized it best when I asked her reaction on the drive home from the theater: "Daddy, until I saw this movie I never really understood what Jesus did for me. Now I'm glad that I'm a Christian." We had her sleep with her mother last night while I slept in another room.
Our family prayed before we viewed the film that the Holy Spirit would do in us what He wanted to accomplish. I believe God is answering that prayer.
As I write this, the Holy Spirit continues to massage deeper truths into my spirit. I can't speak for anybody else but me, but I suspect the effects of this movie on my life are going to be far-reaching and it may take some time to realize its full impact.
It's now the "day after," and I find myself sitting in my office with the lights off meditating on the movie. The graphic scenes of Jesus' profound suffering that justifiably earned an R-rating are being played and re-played through my mind and are being engraved on the tablet of my heart.
Still, I do not believe that Mel Gibson and his associates were able to capture the full measure of the sufferings of Christ. I believe that his team has done a more than satisfactory job, perhaps even the greatest job ever by a group of filmmakers, in bringing this true story to the screen without including excessive and unnecessary embellishments or detractions from the gospel text of the passion of the Christ.
Still, I don't believe that any human being or group of human beings will ever truly know the full extent of the outpouring of God's love through Jesus' sacrifice, nor the depths of His suffering and abuse during the last twelve hours of His life.
My thoughts today, oddly enough, drift to imaginary conversations of Roman soldiers re-uniting back at the barracks after an unusually difficult day at work.
"What just happened here?"
"I don't know what came over me. My lust for blood was insatiable today."
"I can't believe I said the things I said to Him. I don't know where I came up with the curses I cursed Him with."
"Did you see Him stand up after we whipped Him the first time?"
"I can't explain my irresistible urge to ram that crown of thorns on His head. I couldn't help myself."
"When I spit in His face, He looked at me. I'll never forget that look."
"Malchus! Malchus! What's up with you?"
"Truly this man was the Son of God."
It is my conviction, not in a dogmatic way, but firmly nonetheless, that Satan and his fallen angels were there en masse at the passion of the Christ.
I also believe that at least twelve legions of angels were there, hands on weapons, poised to strike immediately at a single command of their King, Jesus. Agonizingly, it never came.
But it's the demons' powerful influence over human beings at the passion of the Christ that my thoughts drifted to seated in the darkness of my office this morning.
I believe they played a key role, spurred on by their bloodthirsty master, Satan, to influence Roman solders to set new benchmarks in cruelty, to work a crowd into a murderous frenzy, to whisper key phrases into the ears of religious leaders who parroted the evil words out loud to an insecure Pontius Pilate persuading him to accept their unreasonable request to release Barrabas and permit the murder of Jesus of Nazareth.
The unconverted, unregenerate Roman soldiers that day were morbid puppets manipulated and guided into saying and doing things I believe even hardened soldiers didn't normally do. But this was not a normal day. And Jesus was no ordinary prisoner.
As the scriptures say, "…at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6).
And at just the right time, the ex-archangel Lucifer and his demonic followers, who had been excommunicated from heaven along with their fallen leader, seized the opportunity to kill the Christ and orchestrate the greatest upset in the history of the world.
And Satan laughed in his arrogant pride.
Having said all that, I want to revisit a writing I released a long time ago called "The Unrecorded Sufferings of Christ." Perhaps it's time to think about such things. Perhaps it time for us to petition the Father not for a raise at work or another blessing to add to the list, but for a revelation of the cross; for a greater understanding of the passion of the Christ.
"The Unrecorded Sufferings of Christ - Revisited"
by David Scott Robertson
"He [Jesus Christ] was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not" -- Isaiah 53:3
Jesus Christ was familiar with the concept of suffering. You see, there's no teacher like experience. Jesus was well acquainted with the full range of pain that a human body can experience.
The climax, of course, the cataclysmic centerpiece of human history, culminated in the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus Christ. The bleeding began in the Garden of Gethsemane.
"And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground" (Luke 22:44).
And it did not stop until He was drained to the dregs on the cross. Much blood was sacrificed at the whipping post. The flogging, the flogging was horror and agony personified. The flogging scene from the movie "The Passion of the Christ" pushed me closer to the edge than I've ever been. As devastating as the flogging was, it was survivable. But the cross was fatal 100% of the time.
We read the Bible narrative about the horrors of crucifixion. And there is no short supply on the Internet of commentaries that add to our understanding of how death is achieved on a cross. Medical doctors have written detailed explanations of what physiologically happens to the human body during the actual process of dying in this brutal manner. Although history books can tell us about the particulars of a victim being nailed to a cross, they cannot adequately communicate the level of suffering that takes place upon it.
Here is what I want you to consider today: Were there other unrecorded sufferings of Christ? Could it be that the half has not yet been told? Is it possible that Jesus endured more, much more suffering than at first believed?
Perhaps additional sufferings took unorthodox and unaccounted for forms. It would be impossible to refer to these as "lesser" sufferings. God alone knows the full extent of the agony that took place that day. Point your attention, if only for a moment, to the subtle sufferings of Jesus the Christ…
Consider this one fact and ponder its profound implications: The hands of Jesus Christ were immobile while nailed to the cross. He was incapacitated. His hands could not perform routine duties that hands are designed to do.
I think about the flies that must have been drawn to Him by the smell of blood; biting flies with no way for Jesus to flick them off.
Have you ever had a broken arm or known someone in a cast? Have you watched a friend go crazy trying to scratch an itch they couldn't get to? Was this the case of our Lord?
Ever had a cramp or a "charley-horse" in your leg while in bed asleep and the only thing that brings relief is to jump out of bed immediately and walk it out? If Jesus had any cramps He could do nothing about it except grunt and bear it.
Do you think He had a headache that day? Have you ever had a head-on collision with something or somebody and knocked yourself silly? The Lord had several head-on collisions that day.
"…and they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. 'Hail, king of the Jews!' they said.
They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again" (Matthew 27:29-30).
No aspirin or medication for Jesus. The ultimate Pain Reliever had no access whatsoever to any pain reliever.
Have you ever been so thirsty that all you can think of is getting a drink? We know He was thirsty because He said on the cross, "I thirst" (John 19:28). I'm sure Jesus' thirst was beyond anything you or I have ever experienced. Psalm 22:15 prophetically captures a few of Jesus' words on the cross:
"My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death."
Have you ever "pulled a muscle" during work or exercise? Torn a ligament? Strained a tendon and had to go to an orthopedic doctor to get it checked out? I cannot imagine that Jesus didn't suffer all sorts of muscle pulls, rips, tears, strains and tender tissues being forced out of joint.
If a chiropractor could have x-rayed Jesus' spine after His death, what story do you suppose the x-rays would tell? What problems would an MRI reveal? What would the cat scan say? Not a bone broken, but as the prophetic Psalm of Christ on the cross, Psalm 22 says: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint."
None of us enjoy being subject to outside weather and the elements without having the proper clothing to regulate our body temperature. Jesus was at the mercy of the weather that day with no ability to adjust for it. Chapped lips? Sun in His eyes? Sweat in the cuts? Salt in the wounds? Cold? Hot? Too bad.
Have you ever had the unfortunate experience of having a bug fly in your ear? What's the knee-jerk reaction of your body? A finger immediately goes to the ear to help dig the pest out!
What if Satan sent a bug? Or bugs? Demons entered pigs one time (Matthew 8:30-32) so why not control bugs? Did the devil have the power to arrange it? Even a gnat can be a nuisance when it keeps dive-bombing your face. Flies? Mosquitoes? Spiders? Ravens? Crows? Vultures? Were they present and accounted for on Golgotha's hill that day?
Have you ever had a stopped up nose and needed to "blow it?" You reach for a tissue and you blow your nose. Jesus had no tissue and no reach to blow his nose or wipe His brow and dry up salty sweat in His stinging wounds.
Have you noticed that most artwork of the crucifixion depicts Jesus wearing an undergarment? Or was He, in fact, crucified naked? Normal crucifixion protocol called for complete humiliation and degradation.
Now what I am about to say is almost unspeakable, but…did the Son of Man have to "go to the bathroom" that day while nailed to the cross? If He had to obviously He couldn't go anywhere but on Himself.
Ever had a blood test where they prick the end of your finger? For most people the jab of a lance or a sterile needle drawing blood is an unpleasant experience. What about hundreds of dirty splinters raking over a raw, bloody back as Jesus labored to breathe? Just dropping the cross into the hole and the sudden jolt at the end would have caused most men to faint in pain.
What about when they tore His clothing off prior to putting Him on the cross? The coagulated blood had caused His garment to be like an adhesive to His skin and the soldiers carelessly ripped it off re-opening the wounds. We don't read about it but I believe it may have happened just that way.
From the foul-smelling saliva that was spit upon Him to the foul words that were vomited on Him from the very "enemies" for whom He was dying, Jesus endured unimaginable, and I believe unrecorded, sufferings on the cross.
None could compare, I suppose, with what I'm about to say. Pain of the body is one thing, but pain of the heart can be unbearable. Jesus had to endure the worst of the worst of sufferings while on the cross:
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
As Jesus' life ebbed away, the Light of the World began to flicker. As Jesus became sin for us, His Father in heaven who in the beginning said "let there be light" withdrew. And the Bible records: "From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land" (Mat 27:45).
For three hours the same darkness that hovered over the face of the deep before the world began returned, and the earth, in a way, once again became without form and void.
For the first and only time, God the Father had to turn His back on His Son who bore the sins of the world and prompted an agony so deep, so intense, so immense, that Jesus cried out:
"…'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?'--which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (Matthew 27:46).
I write this thought today not to subject you to spurious thoughts carrying shock value, but to somehow try and wrap my own mind around the astonishing and lavish price that God paid for my sin and for your sin in order to adopt us into the family of God.
It's been said that the Son of God became the Son of Man so that the sons of men could become the sons of God.
Writing this thought today helps me focus a little bit more on the unimaginable horror of sin
and the incomprehensible price it cost God to redeem us from it.
Some have said that God paid much too high a price for us. Who can argue with that?
Nevertheless, Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, so we could gain a life we could not earn.
Given that, how can we doubt the love and caring concern of our living Savior? No matter what you face to today, consider the problem in light of the cross.
We've talked about the unrecorded sufferings of Christ, but we haven't even considered the unrecorded sufferings of God the Father who had to watch His Son, His only Son, suffer and die in such a shameful and painful manner. And all this for sinners, many of whom would never repent and embrace God's love at all despite knowing the facts of the passion of the Christ.
To my view, the only thing that could conceivably be worse than the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus Christ is for you and I to refuse to accept His sinless life and vicarious death as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
So then, let us take to heart God's passionate declaration of love forever settled in heaven, permanently written in His Holy Word, and infinitely memorialized as scars on the hands, feet, and side of His beloved Son.
The next time you are tempted to ask yourself, "where is God in all of this?" remember…
"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)
DSR
2/27/04
Friday, February 27, 2004
Monday, February 23, 2004
Anger Management
by David Scott Robertson
Exodus 31:18; 32:15-16; 19 (NLT)
"Then as the Lord finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, written by the finger of God. Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. [16] These stone tablets were God's work; the words on them were written by God himself. When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing. In terrible anger, he threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain."
Moses had an anger problem. We see it surface time after time when pressure was applied to his life. When the going got tough, Moses got angry.
Our first glimpse of Moses' uncontrollable anger was when he was still a prince of Egypt. One day, while visiting the Hebrew slaves, he saw an Egyptian beating one of them. The sight made him so upset that his blood boiled to the point of actually committing murder (Exodus 2:11-12).
As we track along with Moses through his experience of leading the children of Israel out of bondage, we come to find out that Moses himself seems to be in bondage to anger. While it is true that by and large the children of Israel were a nation of stiff-necked and unruly people, Moses' fleshly response to them was often anger and resentment instead of the godly qualities of compassion and mercy.
Numbers 16:15 (NLT)
Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, "Do not accept their offerings! I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, and I have never hurt a single one of them."
Exodus 16:20 (NLT)
But, of course, some of them didn't listen and kept some of it [manna] until morning. By then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. And Moses was very angry with them.
The grand finale of Moses' anger problem manifest at a place called Meribah. It was here that the anger of Moses against the stubborn people apparently so distressed him that it caused him to sin against the Lord through disobedience.
Numbers 20:10-11 (NLT)
Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. "Listen, you rebels!" he shouted. "Must we bring you water from this rock?" [11] Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So all the people and their livestock drank their fill."
While not implicitly stated, we can glean from this passage that in his anger against the "rebels," Moses struck the rock in direct violation of God's command to speak to the rock (Numbers 20:8). In his rage, even his wording was presumptuous: "Must WE bring you water from this rock?" Was the "we" Moses and Aaron or Moses and God? At any rate, this one outburst of Moses caused God to disqualify him from entering the Promised Land.
Moses had a serious anger problem.
It is possible to be angry and not sin. Jesus demonstrated this when, in righteous indignation, He drove out those who were buying and selling in the temple and turned over the tables of the moneychangers and benches of those selling doves (Matthew 21:12-13).
How then, does God prescribe that we manage anger?
"And "don't sin by letting anger gain control over you." Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, [27] for anger gives a mighty foothold to the Devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27).
And in another place the Bible says:
"Don't sin by letting anger gain control over you. Think about it overnight and remain silent. [5] Offer proper sacrifices, and trust in the Lord" (Psalm 4:4-5).
What are "proper sacrifices"?
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17).
Let's finish our discussion today with a final observation about Moses. God calls Moses a second time to the mountain to receive the Law - again. Only this time, God orders Moses to chisel out the stone tablets that he had broken in a fit of rage earlier!
"The Lord told Moses, "Prepare two stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the same words that were on the tablets you smashed. [2] Be ready in the morning to come up Mount Sinai and present yourself to me there on the top of the mountain. So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Early in the morning he climbed Mount Sinai as the Lord had told him, carrying the two stone tablets in his hands" (Exodus 34:1-2; 4).
The first time God presented the Law to Moses, He provided the stone tablets. Now we see the Lord giving Moses the assignment of chiseling out tablets made of rock by his own hard labor! Furthermore, God's deadline was by morning! Obviously, Moses spent a sleepless night of hard labor chiseling rock and then he had to carry the heavy tablets up a mountain the next day!
Throughout the long night, perhaps he thought to himself, "Why did I smash the tablets in the first place?" Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time but now he had to suffer the consequences of his rash behavior. Do you see the principle at work here?
In our anger, we can erupt like a volcano, spewing out hurtful words and committing harmful deeds that often come back to haunt us in the form of sleepless nights, hard labor, and heavy burdens to carry.
Let's learn the principle God is patiently trying to teach us: "in your anger do not sin!" If you allow your anger to go unchecked (or the politically correct terminology today would be, if you don't "manage your anger") you may find yourself disqualified from receiving something profound that God has promised you.
Fortunately, in spite of his anger problem, Moses continued to seek the Lord. In spite of being forced to chastise and discipline Moses, God continued to mold the character of His servant until before the great God Jehovah was through with him, the Bible reports that "…Moses was more humble than any other person on earth" (Numbers 12:3).
Let's determine today to not allow anger to disqualify us from the promises of God and make our way hard. Rather, allow the Holy Spirit to smooth off our rough edges with each encounter with anger until the character of Christ's humility be formed in us.
DSR
2/23/04
Exodus 31:18; 32:15-16; 19 (NLT)
"Then as the Lord finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, written by the finger of God. Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. [16] These stone tablets were God's work; the words on them were written by God himself. When they came near the camp, Moses saw the calf and the dancing. In terrible anger, he threw the stone tablets to the ground, smashing them at the foot of the mountain."
Moses had an anger problem. We see it surface time after time when pressure was applied to his life. When the going got tough, Moses got angry.
Our first glimpse of Moses' uncontrollable anger was when he was still a prince of Egypt. One day, while visiting the Hebrew slaves, he saw an Egyptian beating one of them. The sight made him so upset that his blood boiled to the point of actually committing murder (Exodus 2:11-12).
As we track along with Moses through his experience of leading the children of Israel out of bondage, we come to find out that Moses himself seems to be in bondage to anger. While it is true that by and large the children of Israel were a nation of stiff-necked and unruly people, Moses' fleshly response to them was often anger and resentment instead of the godly qualities of compassion and mercy.
Numbers 16:15 (NLT)
Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, "Do not accept their offerings! I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, and I have never hurt a single one of them."
Exodus 16:20 (NLT)
But, of course, some of them didn't listen and kept some of it [manna] until morning. By then it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. And Moses was very angry with them.
The grand finale of Moses' anger problem manifest at a place called Meribah. It was here that the anger of Moses against the stubborn people apparently so distressed him that it caused him to sin against the Lord through disobedience.
Numbers 20:10-11 (NLT)
Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. "Listen, you rebels!" he shouted. "Must we bring you water from this rock?" [11] Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So all the people and their livestock drank their fill."
While not implicitly stated, we can glean from this passage that in his anger against the "rebels," Moses struck the rock in direct violation of God's command to speak to the rock (Numbers 20:8). In his rage, even his wording was presumptuous: "Must WE bring you water from this rock?" Was the "we" Moses and Aaron or Moses and God? At any rate, this one outburst of Moses caused God to disqualify him from entering the Promised Land.
Moses had a serious anger problem.
It is possible to be angry and not sin. Jesus demonstrated this when, in righteous indignation, He drove out those who were buying and selling in the temple and turned over the tables of the moneychangers and benches of those selling doves (Matthew 21:12-13).
How then, does God prescribe that we manage anger?
"And "don't sin by letting anger gain control over you." Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, [27] for anger gives a mighty foothold to the Devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27).
And in another place the Bible says:
"Don't sin by letting anger gain control over you. Think about it overnight and remain silent. [5] Offer proper sacrifices, and trust in the Lord" (Psalm 4:4-5).
What are "proper sacrifices"?
"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17).
Let's finish our discussion today with a final observation about Moses. God calls Moses a second time to the mountain to receive the Law - again. Only this time, God orders Moses to chisel out the stone tablets that he had broken in a fit of rage earlier!
"The Lord told Moses, "Prepare two stone tablets like the first ones. I will write on them the same words that were on the tablets you smashed. [2] Be ready in the morning to come up Mount Sinai and present yourself to me there on the top of the mountain. So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Early in the morning he climbed Mount Sinai as the Lord had told him, carrying the two stone tablets in his hands" (Exodus 34:1-2; 4).
The first time God presented the Law to Moses, He provided the stone tablets. Now we see the Lord giving Moses the assignment of chiseling out tablets made of rock by his own hard labor! Furthermore, God's deadline was by morning! Obviously, Moses spent a sleepless night of hard labor chiseling rock and then he had to carry the heavy tablets up a mountain the next day!
Throughout the long night, perhaps he thought to himself, "Why did I smash the tablets in the first place?" Maybe it seemed like a good idea at the time but now he had to suffer the consequences of his rash behavior. Do you see the principle at work here?
In our anger, we can erupt like a volcano, spewing out hurtful words and committing harmful deeds that often come back to haunt us in the form of sleepless nights, hard labor, and heavy burdens to carry.
Let's learn the principle God is patiently trying to teach us: "in your anger do not sin!" If you allow your anger to go unchecked (or the politically correct terminology today would be, if you don't "manage your anger") you may find yourself disqualified from receiving something profound that God has promised you.
Fortunately, in spite of his anger problem, Moses continued to seek the Lord. In spite of being forced to chastise and discipline Moses, God continued to mold the character of His servant until before the great God Jehovah was through with him, the Bible reports that "…Moses was more humble than any other person on earth" (Numbers 12:3).
Let's determine today to not allow anger to disqualify us from the promises of God and make our way hard. Rather, allow the Holy Spirit to smooth off our rough edges with each encounter with anger until the character of Christ's humility be formed in us.
DSR
2/23/04
Saturday, February 14, 2004
Senator Robertson: America's Most Controversial Politician
by David Scott Robertson
If it had been in God's will and plan for my life to be a United States Senator instead of an ordained minister, I'll bet I would be one of America's most controversial politicians.
Let me give you just one scenario.
The big story in America as I write this is "same-sex marriages." While lawmakers continue to debate the issue, this particular weekend hundreds of homosexual and lesbian "couples" flocked to the city of San Francisco to obtain marriage licenses to sanction their gay union as legal. It remains uncertain whether or not the State of California will ratify the marriage licenses the city has issued. Our nation, once again, has found itself at a moral crossroad.
Now here's where I come in. The media contacts my office for an interview. I consent. The camera crew arrives. The red light comes on.
One question is asked and I give two separate responses.
"Senator Robertson, what do you think of the recent events in San Francisco involving hundreds of homosexuals and lesbians entering into gay marriage?"
Senator Robertson replies: "It's absurd. It's scandalous. It's tragic. It's an abomination. It's a perversion. It's unnatural. It's a direct attack on the American family and strikes at the very heart of our most basic core values, morals, and ethics. Make no mistake, I do not endorse, support, or even acknowledge the viability of same-sex marriage."
And the media takes it from there.
Wire services publish my quote in newspapers from sea to shining sea faster than you can say "right wing, dogmatic, narrow-minded, conservative Christian."
Over the next three days, my secretary walks in messages for me to return from the offices of Barbara Walters, Good Morning America, Larry King, David Letterman, and the O'Reilly Factor. Suddenly, a spot has opened up for me to appear on CNN, CBN, and TBN.
For the last two mornings, as millions of online subscribers logon to America Online to check their email, they see my picture posted on their splash page with the news story hyperlink reading: "Has Senator Robertson gone mad or is he just mad at the gay community?"
Comments begin to surface in various media from my fellow politicians:
Senator Smith, from the State of Confusion, comments while being interviewed in a Fox News exclusive story: "I cannot see eye-to-eye with Senator Robertson on this one. He has gone way over the edge and treats our civil liberties as if they were not important."
Senator Jones, representing the State of Lawlessness, appeared on Prime Time and remarked: "Senator Robertson's views are his own. He in no way represents my views, or indeed the views of the American people. This is why we hold public elections, so we can rid our country of constricting politicians like him."
Congressman Jane Doe, who serves her constituency in the State of Rebellion, in a hastily put together segment on 20/20, says: "I cannot believe Senator Robertson's intolerant viewpoint. It borders on bigotry. It's barbaric, antiquated, and obsolete. If he had his way he'd send us all back to the dark ages under the rule of a tyrant king with no personal freedoms of choice at all!"
Yes, many of my fellow political allies who told me privately that they were "behind me all the way" in my stand to allow the Bible to formulate our moral code on political issues are now publicly so far behind me that I need binoculars to see them!
The emotions and response in America concerning me range from love to hate, from support to threatened violence from radical feminist and gay organizations, from a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union to an offer to defend me in court from the America Center for Law and Justice. A comedy skit portraying me as a blithering idiot appears on Saturday Night Live the following weekend. The monologue writers have a field day with me as Jay Leno brings down the house.
What gets me is that how the media downplayed my second quote to their single question.
"You ask me what I think, but you know, what's more important is what God thinks. God loves the gay person but hates their sin. Jesus Christ, God's Son, died on a cross to free gay people from bondage to sin and prevent the scourge of AIDS from prematurely destroying many of their lives. It was God who invented marriage as the union of one man with one woman in holy matrimony enjoying the security, health, and blessings of a loving, monogamous relationship. To go against God's revealed will and original design is to invite disaster and destruction to a family and a nation."
I guess it was perhaps my third quote that I gave responding to the reporter's final question that got me labeled as one of "America's Most Controversial Politicians."
While the camera rolled, the reporter asked: "Senator Robertson, where do you stand on the topic of abortion?"
DSR
2/14/04
If it had been in God's will and plan for my life to be a United States Senator instead of an ordained minister, I'll bet I would be one of America's most controversial politicians.
Let me give you just one scenario.
The big story in America as I write this is "same-sex marriages." While lawmakers continue to debate the issue, this particular weekend hundreds of homosexual and lesbian "couples" flocked to the city of San Francisco to obtain marriage licenses to sanction their gay union as legal. It remains uncertain whether or not the State of California will ratify the marriage licenses the city has issued. Our nation, once again, has found itself at a moral crossroad.
Now here's where I come in. The media contacts my office for an interview. I consent. The camera crew arrives. The red light comes on.
One question is asked and I give two separate responses.
"Senator Robertson, what do you think of the recent events in San Francisco involving hundreds of homosexuals and lesbians entering into gay marriage?"
Senator Robertson replies: "It's absurd. It's scandalous. It's tragic. It's an abomination. It's a perversion. It's unnatural. It's a direct attack on the American family and strikes at the very heart of our most basic core values, morals, and ethics. Make no mistake, I do not endorse, support, or even acknowledge the viability of same-sex marriage."
And the media takes it from there.
Wire services publish my quote in newspapers from sea to shining sea faster than you can say "right wing, dogmatic, narrow-minded, conservative Christian."
Over the next three days, my secretary walks in messages for me to return from the offices of Barbara Walters, Good Morning America, Larry King, David Letterman, and the O'Reilly Factor. Suddenly, a spot has opened up for me to appear on CNN, CBN, and TBN.
For the last two mornings, as millions of online subscribers logon to America Online to check their email, they see my picture posted on their splash page with the news story hyperlink reading: "Has Senator Robertson gone mad or is he just mad at the gay community?"
Comments begin to surface in various media from my fellow politicians:
Senator Smith, from the State of Confusion, comments while being interviewed in a Fox News exclusive story: "I cannot see eye-to-eye with Senator Robertson on this one. He has gone way over the edge and treats our civil liberties as if they were not important."
Senator Jones, representing the State of Lawlessness, appeared on Prime Time and remarked: "Senator Robertson's views are his own. He in no way represents my views, or indeed the views of the American people. This is why we hold public elections, so we can rid our country of constricting politicians like him."
Congressman Jane Doe, who serves her constituency in the State of Rebellion, in a hastily put together segment on 20/20, says: "I cannot believe Senator Robertson's intolerant viewpoint. It borders on bigotry. It's barbaric, antiquated, and obsolete. If he had his way he'd send us all back to the dark ages under the rule of a tyrant king with no personal freedoms of choice at all!"
Yes, many of my fellow political allies who told me privately that they were "behind me all the way" in my stand to allow the Bible to formulate our moral code on political issues are now publicly so far behind me that I need binoculars to see them!
The emotions and response in America concerning me range from love to hate, from support to threatened violence from radical feminist and gay organizations, from a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union to an offer to defend me in court from the America Center for Law and Justice. A comedy skit portraying me as a blithering idiot appears on Saturday Night Live the following weekend. The monologue writers have a field day with me as Jay Leno brings down the house.
What gets me is that how the media downplayed my second quote to their single question.
"You ask me what I think, but you know, what's more important is what God thinks. God loves the gay person but hates their sin. Jesus Christ, God's Son, died on a cross to free gay people from bondage to sin and prevent the scourge of AIDS from prematurely destroying many of their lives. It was God who invented marriage as the union of one man with one woman in holy matrimony enjoying the security, health, and blessings of a loving, monogamous relationship. To go against God's revealed will and original design is to invite disaster and destruction to a family and a nation."
I guess it was perhaps my third quote that I gave responding to the reporter's final question that got me labeled as one of "America's Most Controversial Politicians."
While the camera rolled, the reporter asked: "Senator Robertson, where do you stand on the topic of abortion?"
DSR
2/14/04
Monday, February 9, 2004
Details, Details...
by David Scott Robertson
"Set up this Tabernacle according
to the design you were shown on the mountain….Be careful to build it just as you were shown on the mountain." (Exodus 28:30; 27:8)
I love my One-Year Bible. I usually read the Bible through each year and have done so for many years. (This year I'm reading the New Living Translation and it is wonderful!)
I'm making my way through Exodus and today's passage describes, in great detail, the dimensions of the tabernacle. On the surface, it may appear to be tedious reading.
Case in point is the book of Exodus which often reads like a technical manual listing exhaustive directions on precisely how to construct things, like the Tabernacle or the Ark of the Covenant.
As a modern-day Gentile reader, the temptation is to "scan" the text and dismiss it as meaningless detail. For example, how does a Christian in the year of our Lord 2004 benefit from knowing the following information:
"So the entire courtyard will be 150 feet long and 75 feet wide, with curtain walls 7 ½ feet high, made from fine linen. The bases supporting its walls will be made of bronze." (Exodus 27:18)
I think I have a hunch as to why this is relevant to you and me.
The overarching principle that I see in God revealing His plans for the Tabernacle (or the Ark of the Covenant, or the three annual Feasts of Israel, or the special clothing worn by Levitical priests, etc.) is that God reveals His plans to man!
This is a magnificent truth! When is the last time you got instructions from God on a project He wants you to work on as detailed as this:
"Across the inside of the Tabernacle hang a special curtain made of fine linen, with cherubim skillfully embroidered into the cloth using blue, purpose, and scarlet yarn." (Exodus 26:31).
The glory of God is embedded in the details! Aren't you glad He paid attention to details when He made your body?
King David knew about details.
"Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the LORD and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things. He gave him instructions for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work of serving in the temple of the LORD, as well as for all the articles to be used in its service." (1 Chronicles 28:11-13)
King David was inspired by God to provide the blueprint for God's temple precisely the way God intended.
Cornelius knew about details.
"Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea." (Acts 10:4-6)
Send who? Some of your servants.
To where? To Joppa.
To do what? Bring back a man.
What man? Simon, who by the way, is also known as Peter
He's staying where? With Simon (who by the way, is a tanner)
Where does Simon live? In a house by the sea.
Let me ask a key question again: When is the last time you got instructions from God on a project He wants you to work on as detailed as this?
If you want to undertake something great for God, don't you want details like Moses, David, and Cornelius received from the Spirit of the Lord?
Again, God's glory is revealed in the details! He is a great Architect. He is a Master Builder. He is an ingenious Planner.
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11)
Is God in the business of hiding His plans from hungry hearts desiring to know and do His will?
"Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7)
How, then, do we receive plans from God like Moses, David, and Cornelius did?
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings." (Proverbs 25:2)
If we truly want to know the Lord's will concerning a matter, then we can surely obtain it by following the prophet Jeremiah's sound advice:
"Ask me and I will tell you some remarkable secrets about what is going to happen here." (Jeremiah 33:3 NLT)
Conclusion: As you read the Bible and start to get "bogged down" wading your way through descriptive passages about civil laws and dietary regulations and territorial boundaries and sacrificial rituals and so on…consider this:
- The details you are reading were extremely important for those whom God was directing to do it at the time to bring about God's will in heaven to the earth on a matter.
- The details provide necessary "types" and "foreshadows" representing things to come for New Testament believers like the "Passover Lamb" in the Old Testament (Exodus 12:21) being revealed as Jesus the Messiah in the New Testament as "the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29).
- The details encourage us that God can and will give us explicit instructions of what and how to do something He desires in our lives if we will seek Him for the details.
Finally, and most importantly, know that no detail listed in the entirety of God's Word, no matter how insignificant it may appear, is insignificant. To be sure…
"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right." (2 Timothy 3:16 NLT)
DSR
2/9/04
"Set up this Tabernacle according
to the design you were shown on the mountain….Be careful to build it just as you were shown on the mountain." (Exodus 28:30; 27:8)
I love my One-Year Bible. I usually read the Bible through each year and have done so for many years. (This year I'm reading the New Living Translation and it is wonderful!)
I'm making my way through Exodus and today's passage describes, in great detail, the dimensions of the tabernacle. On the surface, it may appear to be tedious reading.
Case in point is the book of Exodus which often reads like a technical manual listing exhaustive directions on precisely how to construct things, like the Tabernacle or the Ark of the Covenant.
As a modern-day Gentile reader, the temptation is to "scan" the text and dismiss it as meaningless detail. For example, how does a Christian in the year of our Lord 2004 benefit from knowing the following information:
"So the entire courtyard will be 150 feet long and 75 feet wide, with curtain walls 7 ½ feet high, made from fine linen. The bases supporting its walls will be made of bronze." (Exodus 27:18)
I think I have a hunch as to why this is relevant to you and me.
The overarching principle that I see in God revealing His plans for the Tabernacle (or the Ark of the Covenant, or the three annual Feasts of Israel, or the special clothing worn by Levitical priests, etc.) is that God reveals His plans to man!
This is a magnificent truth! When is the last time you got instructions from God on a project He wants you to work on as detailed as this:
"Across the inside of the Tabernacle hang a special curtain made of fine linen, with cherubim skillfully embroidered into the cloth using blue, purpose, and scarlet yarn." (Exodus 26:31).
The glory of God is embedded in the details! Aren't you glad He paid attention to details when He made your body?
King David knew about details.
"Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the portico of the temple, its buildings, its storerooms, its upper parts, its inner rooms and the place of atonement. He gave him the plans of all that the Spirit had put in his mind for the courts of the temple of the LORD and all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the temple of God and for the treasuries for the dedicated things. He gave him instructions for the divisions of the priests and Levites, and for all the work of serving in the temple of the LORD, as well as for all the articles to be used in its service." (1 Chronicles 28:11-13)
King David was inspired by God to provide the blueprint for God's temple precisely the way God intended.
Cornelius knew about details.
"Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea." (Acts 10:4-6)
Send who? Some of your servants.
To where? To Joppa.
To do what? Bring back a man.
What man? Simon, who by the way, is also known as Peter
He's staying where? With Simon (who by the way, is a tanner)
Where does Simon live? In a house by the sea.
Let me ask a key question again: When is the last time you got instructions from God on a project He wants you to work on as detailed as this?
If you want to undertake something great for God, don't you want details like Moses, David, and Cornelius received from the Spirit of the Lord?
Again, God's glory is revealed in the details! He is a great Architect. He is a Master Builder. He is an ingenious Planner.
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11)
Is God in the business of hiding His plans from hungry hearts desiring to know and do His will?
"Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7)
How, then, do we receive plans from God like Moses, David, and Cornelius did?
"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings." (Proverbs 25:2)
If we truly want to know the Lord's will concerning a matter, then we can surely obtain it by following the prophet Jeremiah's sound advice:
"Ask me and I will tell you some remarkable secrets about what is going to happen here." (Jeremiah 33:3 NLT)
Conclusion: As you read the Bible and start to get "bogged down" wading your way through descriptive passages about civil laws and dietary regulations and territorial boundaries and sacrificial rituals and so on…consider this:
- The details you are reading were extremely important for those whom God was directing to do it at the time to bring about God's will in heaven to the earth on a matter.
- The details provide necessary "types" and "foreshadows" representing things to come for New Testament believers like the "Passover Lamb" in the Old Testament (Exodus 12:21) being revealed as Jesus the Messiah in the New Testament as "the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29).
- The details encourage us that God can and will give us explicit instructions of what and how to do something He desires in our lives if we will seek Him for the details.
Finally, and most importantly, know that no detail listed in the entirety of God's Word, no matter how insignificant it may appear, is insignificant. To be sure…
"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right." (2 Timothy 3:16 NLT)
DSR
2/9/04
Monday, February 2, 2004
The Birth of Thoughts about God
by David Scott Robertson
The year was 1987. It was one of the greatest years of my life. That was the year I married my best friend, Monica Ann Lambert. Seventeen years later, we're still going strong.
Something else that's still going strong is my writing and sharing these "Thoughts About God." 1987 was the year that God used to form in me the desire and discipline to write "Thoughts" like those I share with hundreds on a weekly basis via the internet.
I have never put in writing what I am about to share right now.
It was in 1987 that I felt the irresistable tug of the Holy Spirit to embark on a writing project. In retrospect, I know now that the Lord was teaching me valuable lessons that would last the remainder of my life span. At the time, however, I was a bit overwhelmed at the assignment I felt the Lord had given me. But I did it anyway and God proved His faithfulness and resources are more than enough.
The assignment was to write a "Thought About God" every day for a year. Yes, 365 thoughts at the rate of one a day.
I wrote each day of my honeymoon on a cruise in the Bahamas. I wrote every day I went to work. I wrote one each Sunday I went to church. I wrote one every rainy, snowy, hot day in 1987. I wrote one "Thought About God" every single day without exception. New Year's Eve came and went and the mission was accomplished.
With God's help, we did it! But there's more...
God also impressed on me to do another writing project in 1987. More "thoughts." This time the assignment was to write 365 thoughts in a month's time. I did the math and it was about 12 thoughts per day.
But you know what? It happened! With God's help, we did it! But there's more...
Again God impressed on me to do another writing project in 1987. Still more "thoughts." This time the assignment was to write 365 thoughts in a week's time. I did the math and it was about 52 thoughts per day.
Gasp! Talk about overwhelmed! Talk about stretching your faith! But I know I heard the Lord on this one so I took a week's vacation from work, bought lots of groceries to tide me over and locked myself in my apartment for a week (this was before I married Monica) and began to type on my computer.
But you know what? It happened! With God's help, we did it! But there's more...
By the way, did I mention to you that all three of these assignments were to occur simultaneously?
Here was my writing quota:
January 1-7, 1987- God inspired and enabled me, by His divine power and through the wisdom of His Holy Spirit to write 52 + 12 + 1 = 65 "Thoughts About God" per day for a week.
January 8-31, 1987 - God inspired and enabled me, by His divine power and through the wisdom of His Holy Spirit to write 12 + 1 = 13 "Thoughts About God" per day for the remainder of the month.
February 1 - December 31, 1987- God inspired and enabled me, by His divine power and through the wisdom of His Holy Spirit to write a "Thought About God" per day for a year.
But you know what? It happened! With God's help, we did it! But there's more...
I'm just going to tell you straight out what happened. (I've never written this before nor shared this in a public forum like I'm about to do now.)
In September of 1986, God began dealing with me about writing 365 "Thoughts About God" in a single day. Impossible? It is with man but nothing is impossible with God. After the necessary confirmations that I needed and the word of the Lord on the matter solidly settled in my heart, on September 12, 1986, God walked with me through a miracle.
For 23 hours and 52 minutes straight I sat at the computer to write 365 thoughts about God. No food. No phone. I paused only to use the bathroom. About 10 hours into the writing assignment, I did the math and calculated that I could not possibly finish. I slumped back in my chair in front of the PC and quit. I told God it was too much. I alleged that He had commanded me to do something that was literally and physically impossible. I wouldn't blame God for my failure, I would reckon that I misheard His voice. But that's not what happened.
At the moment I quit and resigned to failure, it started. What "it" was felt like hot oil being poured on my head. It started at the crown of my head and flowed like warm honey down my entire body all the way to my feet. When it reached my feet I felt energy begin pumped into my body and I sat up with renewed strength and a renewed mind and a renewed heart and began to write for another 13 hours or so straight.
When I keyed in Thought #365, my time clock read 23 hours and 52 minutes. God helped me finish early!
That was the day I lived inside a miracle! Nobody and no thing can ever take that experience away from me.
Why did that all happen? Why did God orchestrate these bizarre series of writing assignments? Why am I sharing it with you seventeen years later?
I'm not exactly sure. I have a thought rising up from within my spirit on this subject though. I think that God used the year 1987 and especially 1986 to teach me about faith, discipline, anointing, and miracles. I think He set before me a task so large that both he and I knew it would take divine intervention to pull it off. And that's exactly what happened.
Some day, God willing, my dream is to publish all my thoughts in a book. Would you believe me if I told you that sometimes I have to cry out to God to help me write one unique and freshly inspired thought per week to share with you? Imagine that!
But I am never overwhelmed and never afraid that God won't come through. Why? Because I lived through 1986 and 1987 and God did extraordinary things in that season of my life.
For whatever reason, I share this part of my life with you to encourage you to reach for God always and never fear the impossible. God will always pick up where our strength leaves off.
In the weeks to come and from time to time, I will pull from my archives one of the 1,460 thoughts that I wrote during the '86-'87 season of miracles. It is my hope that they will bless you as much reading them as I was in writing them.
DSR
2/2/04
The year was 1987. It was one of the greatest years of my life. That was the year I married my best friend, Monica Ann Lambert. Seventeen years later, we're still going strong.
Something else that's still going strong is my writing and sharing these "Thoughts About God." 1987 was the year that God used to form in me the desire and discipline to write "Thoughts" like those I share with hundreds on a weekly basis via the internet.
I have never put in writing what I am about to share right now.
It was in 1987 that I felt the irresistable tug of the Holy Spirit to embark on a writing project. In retrospect, I know now that the Lord was teaching me valuable lessons that would last the remainder of my life span. At the time, however, I was a bit overwhelmed at the assignment I felt the Lord had given me. But I did it anyway and God proved His faithfulness and resources are more than enough.
The assignment was to write a "Thought About God" every day for a year. Yes, 365 thoughts at the rate of one a day.
I wrote each day of my honeymoon on a cruise in the Bahamas. I wrote every day I went to work. I wrote one each Sunday I went to church. I wrote one every rainy, snowy, hot day in 1987. I wrote one "Thought About God" every single day without exception. New Year's Eve came and went and the mission was accomplished.
With God's help, we did it! But there's more...
God also impressed on me to do another writing project in 1987. More "thoughts." This time the assignment was to write 365 thoughts in a month's time. I did the math and it was about 12 thoughts per day.
But you know what? It happened! With God's help, we did it! But there's more...
Again God impressed on me to do another writing project in 1987. Still more "thoughts." This time the assignment was to write 365 thoughts in a week's time. I did the math and it was about 52 thoughts per day.
Gasp! Talk about overwhelmed! Talk about stretching your faith! But I know I heard the Lord on this one so I took a week's vacation from work, bought lots of groceries to tide me over and locked myself in my apartment for a week (this was before I married Monica) and began to type on my computer.
But you know what? It happened! With God's help, we did it! But there's more...
By the way, did I mention to you that all three of these assignments were to occur simultaneously?
Here was my writing quota:
January 1-7, 1987- God inspired and enabled me, by His divine power and through the wisdom of His Holy Spirit to write 52 + 12 + 1 = 65 "Thoughts About God" per day for a week.
January 8-31, 1987 - God inspired and enabled me, by His divine power and through the wisdom of His Holy Spirit to write 12 + 1 = 13 "Thoughts About God" per day for the remainder of the month.
February 1 - December 31, 1987- God inspired and enabled me, by His divine power and through the wisdom of His Holy Spirit to write a "Thought About God" per day for a year.
But you know what? It happened! With God's help, we did it! But there's more...
I'm just going to tell you straight out what happened. (I've never written this before nor shared this in a public forum like I'm about to do now.)
In September of 1986, God began dealing with me about writing 365 "Thoughts About God" in a single day. Impossible? It is with man but nothing is impossible with God. After the necessary confirmations that I needed and the word of the Lord on the matter solidly settled in my heart, on September 12, 1986, God walked with me through a miracle.
For 23 hours and 52 minutes straight I sat at the computer to write 365 thoughts about God. No food. No phone. I paused only to use the bathroom. About 10 hours into the writing assignment, I did the math and calculated that I could not possibly finish. I slumped back in my chair in front of the PC and quit. I told God it was too much. I alleged that He had commanded me to do something that was literally and physically impossible. I wouldn't blame God for my failure, I would reckon that I misheard His voice. But that's not what happened.
At the moment I quit and resigned to failure, it started. What "it" was felt like hot oil being poured on my head. It started at the crown of my head and flowed like warm honey down my entire body all the way to my feet. When it reached my feet I felt energy begin pumped into my body and I sat up with renewed strength and a renewed mind and a renewed heart and began to write for another 13 hours or so straight.
When I keyed in Thought #365, my time clock read 23 hours and 52 minutes. God helped me finish early!
That was the day I lived inside a miracle! Nobody and no thing can ever take that experience away from me.
Why did that all happen? Why did God orchestrate these bizarre series of writing assignments? Why am I sharing it with you seventeen years later?
I'm not exactly sure. I have a thought rising up from within my spirit on this subject though. I think that God used the year 1987 and especially 1986 to teach me about faith, discipline, anointing, and miracles. I think He set before me a task so large that both he and I knew it would take divine intervention to pull it off. And that's exactly what happened.
Some day, God willing, my dream is to publish all my thoughts in a book. Would you believe me if I told you that sometimes I have to cry out to God to help me write one unique and freshly inspired thought per week to share with you? Imagine that!
But I am never overwhelmed and never afraid that God won't come through. Why? Because I lived through 1986 and 1987 and God did extraordinary things in that season of my life.
For whatever reason, I share this part of my life with you to encourage you to reach for God always and never fear the impossible. God will always pick up where our strength leaves off.
In the weeks to come and from time to time, I will pull from my archives one of the 1,460 thoughts that I wrote during the '86-'87 season of miracles. It is my hope that they will bless you as much reading them as I was in writing them.
DSR
2/2/04
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