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| The Fall of Man |
Time with Jesus - Sunday, 09 June 2013
Hi all,
Yesterday I wrote a few words
about WWII. It was 6 years of madness. Only the Lord knows the overall cost to
humanity in terms of times, material and lives.
It was also a time of “If
only’s”. If only the Allies hadn’t bombed Monte Casino. If only the allies had
attacked Germany immediately after the invasion of Poland. If only the cities
of Europe had not been bombed and devastated.
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| Nuclear Blast |
If only Hitler had died in WWI; if
only the two atom bombs had not been dropped on those two Japanese cities. If
Roosevelt had not died, would he have taken the same decision as Truman did? Is
there an answer to these pointless questions?
±68 years ago Japan was alone in her stand against the
Allies. Watching the account of it in the World at War TV series, some of the
true horror of what happened was shown in all its stark awfulness.
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| Hiroshima After the Bomb |
Looking back
and with all the advantages of 20/20 vision, it is so easy to point fingers of
accusation. Some say that it should not have happened. The comment was that
Japan was finished as a military power. The American planes had an almost open
sky to reduce a town to rubble; it was mastery of the air! The people were
starving. They had no raw materials. Capitulation was inevitable. However, they
would not accept unconditional surrender. They wanted to keep their Emperor.
The Russians, their previous allies, were on the point of attacking
them. In
fact they did so as the atomic-bombs were being dropped. Many of the Japanese
people wanted the war to end. Surrender was a foregone conclusion.
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| Field Marshall Erwin Rommel |
The USA had a significant
problem. The lesson they learned in Okinawa. The Japanese lost 120,000 troops
in the defence of Okinawa, while the Americans suffered 12,500 dead and 35,000
wounded. Of the 36 Allied ships lost, most were destroyed by the 2,000 or so
Japanese pilots who gave up their lives in kamikaze missions. The comment in
Washington was if this was an example of what took place in Okinawa, some 350
miles from the Japanese mainland, what would be the loss of life if they
invaded Japan?
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| Normandy Landings on D Day |
The Allies had a good idea of
how devastating the bomb would be. What they didn’t know was the effect of radiation
on people. If they had known this, perhaps Truman would not have given the
order to go ahead.
Next year it will be 100 years
since the start of WWI. This means that in the past 100 years this world has
experienced its most destructive time in history. The free world was looking for the fall of
several deadly and misguided nations. We look back at it with horror. But this is
“chicken feed”, compared with the fall of man! This was more devastating and destructive than Hiroshima, Nagasaki, D Day and all the 20/21st century warrs combined
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| The Most Destructive & Deadly Fall of All |
It looked innocent enough. In
fact, Adam and Eve were innocent, living in a sin-free society. They knew there
was a weapon out there somewhere. It was a deadly, all-encompassing weapon,
wrapped up to look like a piece of ordinary fruit. That’s exactly what it was,
unless it was eaten. If Adam ate it, it would burst inside him like an atomic
bomb. It would destroy him and all of creation. Rather like radio-active fall
out, it polluted everything. Adam and His wife were touched, cutting them off from
the source of all provision.
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| God's Solution |
The creation itself would groan at the terrible damage
inflicted upon it. Things would die – whatever that meant? Animals, trees, birds, fish, the ground and
people were infected. Furthermore, there was no solution. From that point in
time, creation was under a death sentence, one that would not be put aside or
commuted by misguided men. God said “the wages of sin is death”. Nothing has
changed. Only God can change it. He has; in and through Jesus Christ. He and He
alone is able to remove sin.
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| God's Atom Bomb The Blood of Jesus |
It’s not atomic fallout He needs to neutralise. We
should call it “Sinomic “ fall out. For Him, it’s easy. It only takes one drop
of His blood and the sinner is washed as white as snow. Thank You Lord!
Shalom,
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Sunday, 09 June 2013
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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©
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These devotionals are the intellectual property of
Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and
distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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HE
DIED TO SET US FREE
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Have you heard of the man who never was? You are
probably fully acquainted with the movie made and distributed in the late
1950’s. It’s the story of one of the greatest deceptions of the 20th
century. Certainly it’s one of the greatest hoaxes the Allies “sold” to the
Germans in WW2.
Both sides knew that there were only two places the
Allies could land in Europe. Calais or Normandy. Calais was the shortest
distance between England and France. The other was the beaches of Normandy.
Only the Allies knew where.
Planning for the invasion had been on the go for
something in excess of a year before D-day. It was to be the greatest
invasion in history. The logistics and planning left nothing to chance. They
knew that they would only get one chance to invade. General Rommel, one of
the great German Generals, was in charge of building a huge Atlantic Sea Wall.
The Germans were determined to beat the Allies and drive them back into the
sea. Furthermore, the German army was formidable. It was perhaps the greatest
fighting machine of WW2.
When the Allies chose Normandy, it was essential to
trick the Germans into thinking that the real attack would be via Calais.
Somehow they had to convince Hitler and Co, that Calais is where it would be.
The Allies used every method they could scheme up to convince Hitler that
Calais was the place!
One of the schemes was “The Man Who Never Was”. A
corpse was carefully chosen and given a false identity. This “man” would
carry a “secret message” meant for Allied eyes only. It was essential that
this “man” appeared to be absolutely authentic. German counter intelligence
were not fools. The corpse had to provide overwhelming evidence that Calais
was where the Allied attack would take place. The hoax was an unqualified
success.
The Christian parallel with this story, took place
in and around Jerusalem when Jesus Christ was taken, tried, condemned to die
and crucified on Calvary.
After the fall and in Genesis 3:15, Satan was told
that a man would one day come and defeat him. From that day on, Satan did
everything he could to destroy all young male children who might grow up and
be a threat to him. Examples include the death of male infants in Egypt. The
murder of boys under three on Herod’s order, when Jesus was born is another
example.
After Jesus was born, Satan did everything he could
to eliminate Him. He never quite got it right. Then, suddenly Jesus appeared
to become passive. He allowed Himself to be taken prisoner, mercilessly
beaten, mocked and abused. He even allowed Himself to be crucified. Satan was
ecstatic, I’ve beaten Him he thought! He didn’t beat me. I’ve won! Of course,
Jesus’ passivity was necessary. He had to convince Satan that if he killed
Jesus, he would be victorious over God. Three days later, Jesus was raised
from the dead. Satan had taken the bait hook, line and sinker. The tables
were turned around. Not only did he lose to Jesus, but every man, woman and
child in Satan’s clutches, could no longer be kept there against their will.
Paul wrote to the Colossians 15 “He
took away the weapons of the powers and authorities. He made a public show of
them. He won the battle over them by dying on the cross. Colossians 2:15 NIrV
Satan was hoaxed. If he’d understood, there would
have been no crucifixion.
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
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5 The good times of the wicked are
short-lived; godless joy is only momentary.
Job 20:5 MSG
15 I will make you and the woman hostile toward each other. I will make
your descendants and her descendant hostile toward each other. He will crush
your head, and you will bruise his heel."
Genesis 3:15 GW
53 When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay
hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power
of darkness."
Luke 22:53 ESV
14 Because God's children are human
beings--made of flesh and blood--the Son also became flesh and blood. For only
as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of
the devil, who had the power of death.
Hebrews 2:14 NLT
15 He took away the weapons of the powers
and authorities. He made a public show of them. He won the battle over them
by dying on the cross.
Colossians 2:15 NIrV
8 Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil
is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping.
9 Keep your guard up. You're
not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It's the same with
Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith.
1 Peter 5:8-9 MSG
7 So obey God. Stand up to the devil. He
will run away from you.
James 4:7 NIrV
12 The wicked plots against the righteous
and gnashes his teeth at him, 13 but
the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming.
Psalm 37:12-13 ESV
20 The God of peace will soon crush
Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Romans 16:20 NLT
10 Then the devil, who had deceived
them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning
sulphur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Revelation 20:10 NLT
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Satan thought that he had won the day when Adam fell.
But God knew all about it. He’d planned for it as well.
He knew that it would happen when He created time.
He’d thought through the scenarios. All would work out fine.
He even knew about it when Lucifer was made.
That someday in the future, He would be disobeyed.
I wonder what was in His mind when Satan came to be.
Although He was expecting it, it was a tragedy.
He knew He’d cast out Satan and his demonic host.
But on the day that Adam fell, I think that touched Him most.
The problem with omniscience is; nothing’s a surprise.
Perhaps He thought that it would be a “blessing in disguise”.
But as we look around us at all the death and sin,
It’s difficult to realise the choice was up to Him.
Because He knows the ending; He’s known right from the start,
That all of this would happen. That sin would tear apart,
The “fabric” of creation. But still He went ahead.
The final outcome will exceed the comments men have said.
I think it is a little bit like looking at the price,
Our local bank has quoted us. The interest isn’t nice.
But when the debt has been discharged and when the bond is paid,
The difficulties that we have had, were really there to aid,
Us with that first decision; it’s surely worth it all.
No longer will that creditor be authorised to call!
Perhaps I am mistaken. With God, there’s no mistake.
No matter what may happen and all the time it takes,
We’ll join Him and acknowledge that He had got it right.
In spite of all the wickedness with which He had to fight.
We get a little sample when looking at the cross.
What Satan thought was victory became his greatest loss!
They were celebrating; the Son of God’s was beat!
But very soon He changed their victory into defeat.
He spoiled their principalities; their
powers put on parade!
They were a “public spectacle” and openly
displayed.
It was His greatest triumph. The cross had done it all.
He died to give us liberty; He has made void the fall.
His life blood had been poured out. He died to set us free
Satan has been vanquished on that cross at Calvary.
Jim Strickland
Written 9th June 2012
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