The Final Harvest Blog

Eva wrote the lyrics to this song and I put music to it. The more I listen to it, the more I feel this is a word from the Lord. The first verse talks about money being the bottom line. The 2nd verse talks about winning being the bottom line. In the next verse, image is the bottom line. Then man-made attractions in the church is the bottom line.

But, as the final verse suggests, giving credit to the Holy Spirit, to live in God’s kingdom there is only one way: Enter through the cross and love and pray. Jesus is the bottom line, come Judgment Day.

Powerful lyrics (and the music’s not bad either–praise God). I’ve quoted the whole song at the end of this blog plus here is a link so you can hear our recording of the song. The first link is for LO-FI (for dial-up) and this second link is for HI-FI (for broadband or DSL connections).

So often leaders of the church do not give credence to the supernatural power that God brings to a concerted effort to remain true to the Bottom Line. Truthfully, no one needs “attractions” as there is only one true attraction–Jesus Christ. And when we are faithful to Him, FIRST, He will provide the rest. He will bring people in because beneath all of our facades we show the world, there is a hunger that only He can fill. In fact, no one really has to go door to door to invite people (unless the Holy Spirit moves people to do so). God will bring them in by the droves IF the leadership will knock on Heaven’s door and invite everyone else to knock with him or her.

Attractions are man-made devices to bring people to the church–they are not from God. We must get on our knees and pray–pray for the community, the lost, the neighbors, the city officials, and so forth. Let THIS act be first and foremost. THEN God will provide. And He will do it supernaturally. People will come in “accidently” and sense the sincerity of the church membership on knees, interceding on their behalf. They will feel God moving in their spirit and they’ll know they have come to the right place, they’ll know they are “home.”

Attractions are distractions. Only getting on our knees will please. You can bank on it.

For additional information on the power of prayer and its supernatural results, please read my book, Loving Atheists. Turn to chapter 28 which tells the story of Charlie “Bulldog” Wireman who was as bad as anyone can get and what the power of a town praying did!

Here are the lyrics to The Bottom Line:

Hear the corporate jargon of the day
Be the best of the best, take it all the way
Shareholders and CEOs to pay
Money is the bottom line, the bottom line they say

Chorus:
The bottom line is on my mind
Let’s get to the real bottom line

Hear the slogans cried in sports today
We’ll be number one and that is where we’ll stay
If you aren’t the best, then you can’t play
Winning is the bottom line, the bottom line they say (chorus)

Bridge:
Oh have we missed something
Our Lord has tried to show?
The care of this life
Make a world that’s full of woe
We trample over everyone
To bask in worldly glow
Missing the point, yet thinking we know (chorus)

Holy Spirit, what have you to say?
To live in God’s kingdom, there’s only one way
Enter through the cross, and love and pray
Jesus is the bottom line–on Judgment Day
Jesus is the bottom line, the bottom line–come Judgment Day

Please visit us at TheFinalHarvest.org.

By Vic Zarley of TheFinalHarvest.org

Eva and I just finished reading 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. What a powerful testimony and what an amazing setup by God to inform those who have ears to hear that Heaven is real.

This book tells, initially, of a public supernatural event that defies all of mankind’s understanding of the nature of death and its effects on the physical body. A man is in a devastating car accident that killed him. He is physically checked by EMTs at the accident scene and, by all appearances of his physical body, is quite dead. However, 90 minutes later, because of the Holy Spirit inspired prayers of a fellow pastor, this dead man comes back to life with an amazing tale of what it is like in Heaven, where he had been the previous 90 minutes.

This is a book you do not want to miss as it effectively tells it like it is (or will be) for those who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Another book NOT to miss is 23 Minutes in Hell by Bill Wiese which I review on our website, TheFinalHarvest.org in our “Transforming Books” section. In both these books, God takes time to share a reality we, clouded by our existence in this material world, cannot see with our physical eyes. Since we did not make or invent ourselves, who are we to question what God reveals in His Word, the Bible, or through revelation?

Don Piper’s book does not read like a fairy tale with a happy ending: Man goes to heaven comes back and lives happily ever after. No, Don was in that terrible accident and died but was brought back to life and he had to deal with excruciating injuries and unbearable pain and exhausting rehabilitation that lasted over a year. Many times Don wondered why he had to come back and face all this pain but, by the end of the book, you will have a satisfying understanding of Don’s purpose while he is here on this earth.

How much more clear could God make it that He resides outside the boundaries of the physical and that we will, too, when our time comes (if we know and accept His Son, who is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ)? The obstinate people have to deliberately remove their focus from all things supernatural and keep it reigned in so that it will not acknowledge what cannot be understood. But in doing this, the truth, riding in a side-car down the road of life, comes loose and careens down a hill into oblivion. Are we so confident that we understand so much that we can tamper with our perception and choose to label everything we do not understand as garbage? Is this fair to God’s reality?

If Don had wanted to make this book up, do you think he would have had 50 pages tell about Heaven and 250 pages tell about his injuries, depression and the healing of his heart and the alignment of his purpose on earth with God’s? His glimpse of Heaven was meant for all of us and it does reassure us who are stuck in our routines, as we try to love God with all of our hearts and each other as we love ourselves.

Please try not to hide under the oppressive rock slab of the world, focusing only on the minute physical reality this world contains. There is much more that you can open, yes, open, your mind to.

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By Eva Zarley of TheFinalHarvest.org

Eva wrote the following for an organization known as Kid’s First after we had the opportunity to review two movies for them. The first movie, No More Baths, is the story of children who protest when a black man’s property is taken from him. Of course, the protest is that the children vow to take no more baths until this is resolved. The second movie we had the pleasure of watching was called Walking Across Egypt. An elderly lady has to decide if Jesus really meant what He was saying about taking care of “the least of these.” This lady chooses to get to know a young man currently in a penitentiary for youth.

No More Baths

Watched Feb 4^th, 2009.

Are these the kinds of movies you’d want your kids to see?

We try to show our child movies that teach about Jesus Christ. We found this to be very secular humanist. Can you expect society to have true moral standards while neglecting the Author of moral standards? Secular humanism attempts to do just that and invariably fails at it. With the exception of the biblical reference (unnoted) of “Am I my brother’s keeper?” this movie tries to instill values whose basis is found in the Word of God, but without acknowledging the Word of God. Therefore, while we found the movie to be “clean” and acceptable for family audiences, it falls short of our personal standards and would not be our ideal choice for family entertainment. We feel that it teaches people to take matters into their own hands using worldly wisdom and clever devices of men to solve problems and there is no indication that any of the characters ever bother to appeal to the highest power through prayer. It’s a great movie for the secular world but, unfortunately, they are usually more interested in movie fare that appeals to a baser nature. So when you say “family features” you are apparently trying to appeal to all of society on the assumption that they want wholesome entertainment. We, however, seek out films that enlighten us, feed our spirits, present eternal truths as established in God’s Word and inspire us to be like Jesus. This film kept us feeling sad and upset for about 85 out of 90 minutes. And at no point did we see the powerful and almighty God sought out or glorified. Therefore, this is just not our cup of tea.

Could you use these films to help your kids understand values like friendship, kindness, and honesty?

No. We do not believe those values exist unless you acknowledge the basis of them. It is the Word of God that teaches us to love our neighbor as ourselves; it’s the Word of God that establishes that we should not lie, cheat, steal, or operate in greed. When you take that standard away, you have no premise upon which to determine values at all.

What is most important in a film to you: The content of the film, the entertainment value, or the values taught in the film?

We find all three to be of equal importance however all three must relate to the Word of God in some way. We would rather watch old episodes of Gomer Pyle who unashamedly makes a stand for right and wrong with God’s Word as his foundation.

Walking Across Egypt

We enjoyed this one very much. This movie had the Christian values we feel are imperative to successful living on this planet. Thank you for allowing us to preview this one! It fit all our criteria for preferred entertainment, valuable teaching tool, and worthwhile content. The Word was prominent throughout the movie and the need to follow the teachings of Christ was exemplified throughout the movie. As opposed to being upset with a last minute redemption (as in the previous movie), there were satisfying redemptive elements consistently portrayed in Walking Across Egypt. 

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By Victor Zarley of TheFinalHarvest.org

We recently finished both of Jackie Pullinger’s books, Chasing the Dragon and Crack in the Wall. Jackie is an anointed servant of God who was directed to minister to “the least of these” in the slum areas of Hong Kong. There, according to these books, the Holy Spirit re-directed countless lives and delivered many from some of the most horrible addictions this world can offer.

Heroin has ruined many lives and is considered to be one of the most difficult drugs to quit. People have unbearable pain during withdrawal. But, according to Jackie’s books, people who have become willing to turn their lives over to Jesus, praying in the Spirit, have experienced completely painless withdrawal. This is unheard of in the secular world.

Specifically, this leads to the conclusion that submitting to Jesus, allowing Him to be the Authority in our lives, can lead to pain free withdrawal from even the most dangerous of drugs or life-styles.

Today’s blog questions the logic of the secular humanist movement that refuses to consider submission to Jesus Christ in its arsenal to help humanity. If pathetic drug addicted individuals can painlessly break free of chains that had bound them for many years by simply being willing to give up their own methods of coping in this sad and dark world, why can’t all who dwell in this world understand the saving nature of Christ and adopt it as a tool that can help the oppressed?

The reason this important data is ignored needs to be looked at. Logically it makes no sense to ignore something that, by the testimony of hundreds of individuals, works miraculously to relieve the pain of withdrawal from the addiction to heroin. Jesus also relieves other addictions that, by our own human strength, seem impossible to overcome. Indeed, Jesus is the answer no matter what the question.

Is there any logical reason for ignoring such wonderful and proven information?

Does the education system need a complete overhaul? If it doesn’t teach the truth, should it teach anything at all? On what basis does our education system establish a foundation in our lives from which knowledge is seeded and allowed to grow? If the foundation is faulty, will the knowledge that is planted be reliable? Should, in this case, the truth of Jesus Christ’s authority and power be the foundation upon which all other knowledge is imparted? Is there any logical reason to assume that the astounding testimonies of millions of individuals who have hit rock bottom and given their lives to Jesus, is faulty and their lives have not been changed?

We have the ability to be selective in our learning. Why are we selecting only data that ignores Jesus Christ and the miracles He has worked in rescuing the down and out and turning lives around? How does this type of rationalization make us somehow, smart?

Go ahead and be an open minded individual and use the scientific method to come to a conclusion about the foundation of your life. What is it based upon? Why? Is it possible you have missed the proper foundation because you have been steered away from it? Has the pride of man, in the personification of teacher or professor, taught you to be self-sufficient and not in need of a Savior?

Go ahead and learn to see with open eyes the mighty miracles of God in people’s lives and begin to question what you’ve been taught all these years. It only hurts for a little while.  

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By Victor Zarley of TheFinalHarvest.org

1Co 13:1  IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (Amplified Bible)

Sister Rose, working in the kitchen downstairs at the church, mutters under her breath, “Why isn’t anyone else helping me? Do I have to wash these dishes all by myself?” She turns around, scowling at everyone sitting at tables, enjoying the dinner, busily engaged in happy conversation.

Suddenly, the sound of a noisy gong echoes throughout this page. Gong, Gong, GONG!

Pastor Rogers steps up to the podium, the look of boredom on his face, after all these years, preaching, preaching, preaching the same old thing, over and over again. Look at them out there, sitting in their pews, eyes glued on me. Why won’t they listen. Why won’t they “get it”? There are too many familiar faces and not enough unfamiliar ones here today, he thinks. Is it my job to do EVERYTHING around here? Can’t the congregation take an interest in bringing the lost into this building (where “church” is)?

Suddenly, the sound of a noisy gong echoes throughout this page. Gong, Gong, GONG!

Brother Hank (who sits in a pew toward the front of the church), is stuck in traffic so he tries to swerve suddenly out of his lane to merge into a faster moving one, but in doing so, he almost collides with a blue pick-up truck which Brother George is driving. He sits in a pew toward the back of the church and is completely unaware of Brother Hank (except at this moment). Brother George slams on his brakes, skidding his truck to avoid a collision, and then yells obscenities out his window. Brother Hank guns his motor, speeding out of there, thinking what nerve that guy has in yelling at him like that! He should never have been going that fast!

Suddenly, the sound of a noisy gong echoes throughout this page. Gong, Gong, GONG!

Anger blankets the world, honking hearts seem to beat around bushes of contempt. Cars swerve, nearly missing. Cooks fumble, steam is hissing. Bosses grumble, there’s no missing what ISN’T there—love. The love of Christ is too hard to bring with us into this boxing ring. At the sound of the bell, there is too much to swing. There may be seven days, but we are mighty weak, when it comes to love. “Thy Kingdom Come” is trumpeted from heaven but the canyons of this carnal world swipe at the sound until barely a whisper settles on the ground outside. “Thy will be done” echoes off the mansions in heaven, reverberating down to earth, but it lands, unnoticed in a junkyard guarded by growling dogs. “On earth as it is in heaven” is a jumble of letters, all mixed up, falling haphazardly, bouncing off speeding taxis, jogging businessmen, and UPS trucks.

The sound of a noisy gong echoes throughout this page, and here comes the Hollywood celebrities with gong sticks ready and the ever smiling Chuck Barris. Jesus shakes His head forlornly and weeps from His Throne in heaven: Gong, Gong, GONG!  

By Vic Zarley of TheFinalHarvest.org

This is Part 2 of a chapter from my book, Extreme Christianity, which is available for free online at TheFinalHarvest.org. We hope you will provide us with some feedback.

Each time we respond in like manner to someone’s hate or inconsideration, we make the world’s cycle of rage, harder for everyone to escape. Each time we respond with love, we make the road to Heaven smoother.

What other purpose do we have here on this earth? I, for one, am sorry that religious institutions seem to have a monopoly on God and Jesus. God and Jesus MUST be integrated into the workplace and into all of our relationships. Remember, Jesus saves us from our sins now as well as the future. He can’t save us if He isn’t allowed to be a real and viable help in our minds and hearts, while we are here in the world. He gave us Himself and told us to take Him into our hearts. He does not, then, just become a pretty flower in a vase upon our mind’s mantel. He becomes a Mighty Companion, able to give us both strength and joy as we comply with His instruction in the Word. We are not going into suffering in compliance alone. Nor will we go unrewarded.

The first reward will be a peace in our hearts that comes from knowing we are now doing something the way God has instructed. We are no longer in defiance toward His peaceful approach. The second reward will eventually show up as joy.

How is this? When Paul and Silas were singing songs of joy while in chains in prison, they rose above the earthly circumstances of suffering. When our hearts are full of the joy of the Lord, no matter what circumstances we have before us, our suffering cannot reach us, nor hold us, nor harm us.

We must remember what we want. Since we are going to suffer in this world anyway, it makes sense that we go from suffering in defiance to suffering in compliance which eventually leads to joy as we are resurrected from the suffering.

If we try to fix the world any other way than through suffering in compliance, we will find its ungodly tentacles slowly wrapping around our necks, strangling the life from us. This deliberate defiance actually puts Jesus back upon the cross and scars His body once again. Do not disgrace our Lord and Savior by placing His instructions to us on so low a scale of priorities. Remember Jesus, who sweated blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, for each of us, who carried the cross to Golgotha, for each of us, who chose to do His father’s will and suffer in compliance for us, and did not do His own will. Do not make His journey to the cross as some small thing. Suffer in compliance with Him, so that, eventually, all suffering might end its grip on God’s children.

God brings people to us who are in sin so that our response to their “suffering in defiance” will be our “suffering in compliance” and possibly bring relief for them by our example. The result will be either a seed planted, eventually leading to Jesus or a conversion right then and there. Ultimately, both they and we will experience the deep relief and peace that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

In Job, we find another kind of suffering in which Satan gets permission from God to tempt Job to disavow God. This testing that Job went through cost him his family, his health and even tested his marriage as well as some of his friendships. But, through it all, Job remained firmly convinced that God is the rock on which he builds his life. Though his wife, at one time when his health was exceptionally bad, suggested he “curse God and die,” it was not in Job’s heart to do that. Though his friends, meaning well, offered that Job had done something wrong to bring all these things on, ultimately, by Job’s perseverance for God and his willingness to serve God “even though He slay me,” proved to be the proper response to what life (and Satan) gave him (based on the end of the book when Job got rewarded many times over).

With regard to what appears as “randomly generated” suffering, we generally go through a defiance first, as we resist it. We cry out to God, sometimes in bitterness and resentment, “Why did He let this happen to us?” Then, as we realize that God’s perspective is so much greater than our tiny one, we submit to Him once again, and fall into His arms, knowing that “all things work together for good to those who love the Lord.” We lay our burdens, once again, on the Lord, and rest in the knowledge that He will use this experience in some way to mold us, refine us, and make us more like Him.

It is important to recognize that we can receive what we would label “unwarranted evil” which can cause us to suffer, but we still have a choice as to how we are going to respond to that “gift.” We can choose to resist it and go into a state of defiance, kicking and screaming, but we know that eventually we will fall into the arms of God for our true rest and healing. Why not choose that option as soon as possible? That means, in the case of unwarranted evil, which leads to our suffering, we can choose suffering in compliance and use this event to drive us to our knees where we come to know God in a much deeper and moving way than we’ve ever known Him before. Pain and suffering CAN bring us to new depths in our relationship with the Almighty God, and this is never bad.

Please visit TheFinalHarvest.org.

By Vic Zarley of TheFinalHarvest.org

Today’s blog is part 1 of an excerpt from one of my books, Extreme Christianity, which is available for free online at TheFinalHarvest.org. We hope you enjoy this and perhaps have some feedback for us.

No one is exempt from suffering in this world. The one question we must ask, though, is “What is it for?”

We can suffer for many reasons. Mental, emotional, and physical are the three types of suffering that happen in this world. And, most certainly, they are all involved when any one of these types of suffering is occurring.

Because the Word of God is for all of us here in this world, it, too, is filled with suffering. There is much we can learn about suffering from the Bible. Have you considered that suffering comes in two ways? (1.) We can suffer in defiance and (2.) we can suffer in compliance.

Let’s look at suffering in defiance. This is suffering brought on by complete rebellion against the principles laid out by God through the Bible. Suffering in defiance is deliberately going against what God says we must do and reaping the results of this which is suffering. This type of suffering can either lead to greater suffering in defiance or it can lead to repentance, or changing one’s thoughts and beginning to comply with God’s commands. Even when we do this, however, it still leads to suffering, but it now has a new name: Suffering in compliance.

Suffering in compliance leads, eventually, to joy. Unfortunately, suffering still happens when we turn our lives around and align them with God’s commands because people are fallen and this world is basically carnal. Jesus came to bring a light into the darkness. He has asked us to take Him into our hearts and shine our lights and not hide them under a bushel. If we are suffering in defiance (that is, in complete rebellion), we are contributing to the fallen world’s agenda and, more than likely, suffering the pains brought on because so many are so thoughtless and inconsiderate.

Suffering in defiance is synonymous with an attitude that many in this carnal world have major problems that they thrust onto ME. I am fine. It is they who reek of disgusting and revolting attitudes. It is they who are immature, self-centered, and obnoxious. When we see so much sin outside ourselves, it is we who are in pain. Nothing seems to work out right. People are constantly bumping into us, rubbing us the wrong way, being disrespectful and deceitful. This feeds the fire in us and makes us all the more upset with them, the world and ourselves. And, of course, many really are this way. There is no doubt about it. But whose pain is in need of healing? We cannot heal other people’s pain. We can only heal our own pain, but in doing this through prayer and communion with God, other people’s pains are often healed as well.

How is this so? When our pain is no longer perceived as coming from outside us, we begin the process of healing ourselves. We can realize that we look through a glass darkly when we view others as coming at us with torches and pitchforks to slay us. The “glass darkly,” however, is removed when we no longer see them as coming to slay us but, instead, see them as suffering and in need of Christ’s healing. Again, this does not mean our suffering ends, but it does mean our suffering changes to suffering in compliance and the suffering is no longer unbearable.

How can we find peace and healing?

We must repent, or change our mind, and go from suffering in defiance to suffering in compliance. Suffering in compliance does not do away with bad people and maddening situations. What it does do is remove our responsibility from changing the world and everyone in it, to just being responsible for our own reactions.

Why is this important? Because Jesus asked us to do this. He asked us to love our enemies, bless those who persecute us and “turn the other cheek,” when someone does evil to us. Trying to force others to change does not work.

People will come to the Lord by our example, not by force of our will. “You’d better change or else..” does not work. However, when we respond to hate with love, when we respond to being treated unfairly with a blessing and prayer, when we respond to any of the worldly traits with the fruit of God’s Spirit, we are erasing from the face of this earth much of the power of sin. We are no longer contributing to the world’s empty solutions to its countless problems. Instead, we are untangling the many-knotted strands brought on by those who are suffering in defiance. Consequently, we are paving the road to Heaven and the abundant, eternal life with Jesus (not only for them, but for ourselves as well.) This can only be done one incident at a time. Each time we respond in like manner to someone’s hate or inconsideration, we make the world’s cycle of rage, harder for everyone to escape. Each time we respond with love, we make the road to Heaven smoother.

Continued in Part 2 of Suffering in Compliance or Suffering in Defiance.

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By Victor Zarley of TheFinalHarvest.org

Sometimes I need an inhaler to help me breathe properly. Last night I had to have one. It isn’t often that I need it, but it sure is great when those little medicine particles go to work in my lungs, opening up the channels so air can maneuver its way into them. Breathing is quite important to life in this physical body. We must have air, lots of it, and quite often. When my lungs aren’t working properly due to allergies or the congestion of a cold, it can be a little scary.

Sometimes I need an inhaler to take my fear away and let that refreshing air flow into the narrow capillaries in my lungs that it must flow through—so I can breathe, so I can live. Air-blockage gets my attention. But prayer-blockage is often elusive as it takes on disguises and appears to be something else. Prayer-blockage manifests as anxiety, worry, and, yes, fear (even the fear I had when I couldn’t breathe properly). Prayer-blockage causes us to wear the cloak of the mysterious, but often spoken, phrase: Why is this happening to me? Indeed, why? Free-flowing unceasing prayer does not mean we will be free of problems. It means we’ll be able to look at them afresh, with eyes eager to please our Father, our Creator, and eager to see what’s in it for us—like the gift we receive of striving to love, know, and trust our Father to an even greater degree. What is blocking His pure love from flowing from our lives to others? I know that the Holy Spirit loves it when we ask this question.

If we aren’t looking at our problems from the top, down then things will look quite out of balance and fuzzy. By the top down, I mean from the truth to the appearances. If we look at things from the bottom, up (appearances to the truth), we will believe in a chaotic, mean and sinister universe and, perhaps, we won’t even believe there is a God.

God, who dwells outside the circle we travel in (”God’s ways are higher than our ways…” Isaiah) and inside our circle, too, by the way, is often not detected with our senses. When there is a lack of air, it is detected by our physical bodies. With an air-void, we gasp, but with a prayer-void, we furrow our brow and wonder why? Why did my day go so wrong? Why do people irritate me so? Why do I fear so much? Why this and why that? This is what prayer-blockage looks like.

When we have prayer-blockage, we find our trust in God declines and since the world cannot be trusted, our whole countenance falls. There is no one we can trust. Where does that leave us?

Prayer-blockage has a cure. It is prayer! Prayer is an Inhaler of God, so to speak. With prayer we are breathing in our God, we are reminding ourselves of His authority, His majesty, and His love and omnipotence. He is the ultimate Inhaler for our lives and His wisdom and truth will prevail over the world of appearances as we regularly know the truth.

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By Victor Zarley of TheFinalHarvest.org

My cousin, Myron sent me a link to an article that was published in the New York Times on the day after Christmas. Writer Charles Blow shared some data that stopped me dead in my tracks. I’m only going to share the results of the survey and discuss the ramifications. To see the whole article, go here.

“70% of Americans said that they believed religions other than theirs could lead to eternal life.” I don’t believe eternal life a good phrase to use in this statement because most people believe in eternal life—it is just a matter of WHERE we’re going to spend it that matters. But, if the question was meant to bring out that most Americans think it doesn’t matter what you believe, you’ll still go to heaven, then it raises some interesting additional points. Since Jesus, in the Bible, says there is no way into the Kingdom other than through Him, then many people also doubt that the Bible is the word of God. And yes, according to additional questions in this same survey, only 39 percent of the people believe that the Bible is the word of God.

We at the Final Harvest believe our God breathed the Bible into existence and loved us all so much that He sent His only begotten son to die in our place, taking away all our sins and giving us eternal life with Him. We cannot deny the amazing setup God performed to help us see this truth. How the Old Testament foreshadowed the coming of the Messiah uncannily and how the New Testament revealed Him. We recognize that if that survey mentioned above, is accurate, we are part of a minority that believes that God gave us free will and we blew it in the Garden of Eden. And, since then, we have tried to run things by our own puny standards and we have failed miserably.

We humans have tried to make our lives happy by striving for materialistic things and have found that when we hunger for things of the world, and obtain those things, we are never satisfied. We get temporary highs from our many toys. But then, as the excitement fades, we always want more! We have tried writing our own rules, making our own laws that we must follow, but find that we, being fallen, do not have much of a heart for those who have nothing. We, in error then, make laws that oppress the poor, exempting the rich.

Why do we think we can take care of ourselves so well? What has our track record revealed? Are we living in a spiritual utopia? Are we filled with benevolence and mercy and love, no longer exhibiting the carnal traits the world is famous for? I’m sorry, we’re not. And this is what is so hard for us to realize: We need help. The Bible, God’s word, provides it. It has a track record that far exceeds what man has accomplished on his own. And Jesus? The gift He gave us stands head and shoulders above all the gifts people have given in this world. He gave us Himself for our eternal salvation.  

So it makes me wonder, “Who are we blogging for?” Is there anyone out there who might be inspired by the truth as found in God’s word, the Bible? Or are most people living by their own standards, their own “truths” and do not support the idea of their being one truth who came to live among us 2 millennia ago?

We recognize that in this multi-cultural society most feel there are many ways to God and that one “truth” is as good as another. But, though we are to love one another with the love of Christ, we at The Final Harvest believe we must stand firmly in the one truth because only one truth is true (or, think about it, truth in general will mean nothing). 

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By Eva Zarley of TheFinalHarvest.org 

Tonight is our night for prison ministry. We go with a group of fellow Christians to a nearby state correctional facility for men, every fourth Saturday night. I look forward to this time more than any other worship service I attend. I know that Jesus can make all the difference in the world, and in eternity, for these men. Jesus is the master of rehabilitation. No, it is far greater than that. He does so much more than rehabilitate. He renews and transforms the human soul, utterly! He is able to change these men’s lives for the better, forever. 

These men are a joy to worship with. They know they have messed up. Their situation proves they are sinners. No one has to tell them. Looking for hope, they find the promises of God’s word and the pardon this world will probably never fully give to them is found in Christ. The men have lots of time on their hands. They fill much of it in prayer and studying the scriptures. They come prepared to worship. Those who are in a genuine relationship with Jesus stand out like a candle in a cave. Their eyes shine with joy, despite their circumstances. They have their testimony of God’s blessing on their lips. They sing those praise and worship songs with resounding exuberance and their rich voices make the most beautiful all male choir I’ve ever heard. It brings tears to my eyes and my heart swells with love for them. They glow with the forgiveness they have received by the grace of God. 

I don’t know what they’ve done. I would rather not know. I know that each of them have probably left a victim in their wake. It might be a child molested, a woman raped, a store owner robbed, a person beaten. Most of them are drug-related charges. They at the very least have devastated finances, a broken home or a broken-hearted family on the “outside.” Sin has left its ugly scar on the lives of the offender and his victims. I have read of and personally know of some convictions where it really is a situation of injustice, and the offender is the victim. Hopefully, that is a rare case, but it does happen. 

But the Lord can heal. I know he can. I’ve been a victim of many crimes in my lifetime. Some were at the hands of a true convicted offender. It caught up with him much later and I read in the paper that he was sentenced to eighty years. I didn’t feel any smug satisfaction. Rather, I was sad. Perhaps if I had told someone what he had done to me, he would have gotten help before it came to this. Now he will spend the rest of his life in prison. I pray for his salvation every time I think of him. Some wealthier, “respectable” citizens have gotten away with their crimes and still do, especially those in “high places” of wealth and affluence. I have been beaten and abused by people whom I dearly loved. I have been cruelly rejected, scorned and slandered by friends who had no cause. Injustice occurs in this fallen world. It is a simple fact. So we must be careful not to judge and hate. We must minister to those who are lost. Some of the worst “offenders” of this earth are running around on the “outside” and they are not only getting away with their crimes, but treated with respect, because of “who” they are. 

Not for long, however. God sees everything and His day of recompense will come. Those in Christ, who are being “punished” in prison, are the blessed ones. They have been broken and have repentant hearts and are crying out to God. They’ll be the first to tell you that being in the prison has been good for them and they know they are there by God’s mercy. They are thankful, not bitter. Those on the outside are less fortunate. They may be committing terrible crimes, or they may “just” be guilty of self-righteousness. They may go about in religious trappings, judging those around them as less worthy than themselves. Sadly, these are the ones who will feel God’s greatest wrath. The Lord corrects those whom He loves. Those who don’t submit in humility to His divine correction are illegitimate and not true sons of God. 

Tonight is particularly special at the prison. This is our annual Christmas party. We get to take them soft drinks, (A luxury they are not normally allowed) and home-baked cookies. On this night, there will be men coming just for the cookies and soda. They don’t know that Jesus came to heal and forgive them and grant them that clean slate they long for. I know this world can’t offer it to them. No matter how good they try to be, few on the outside will be willing to have them in their church, few will be willing to give them a job, and few will be a trusting friend to them. Their record will haunt them for years to come, if not for the rest of their earthly lives. They will have to work harder than anyone to make it in an already difficult world. But if they remain in Christ, they will have an eternity that will wipe every memory of this sad time on earth. At last they will be free of guilt and shame, because at last, the rest of us will clearly know that we are no better. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All are guilty of the murder of Jesus Christ, who had to be sacrificed to redeem us. All of us are nothing more than pardoned law-breakers. Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus!   

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