Jack Chick passes to his eternal reward.

I note from the chick books web site (www.chick.com) that our beloved brother, Jack Chick, is now with the Lord.

Over the past few decades his comic books containing clear Gospel messages have been the means whereby many, many precious souls from all over the world have been saved.  The most famous title (This Was Your Life) has been translated into numerous languages and, indeed, even as I write, I suspect that someone, somewhere, is reading a copy in his, or her, own language.

I have a personal reason to be grateful to this dear brother's ministry.  As a young Christian, saved in September, 1975 I came across the Chick books very early on in my Christian walk.  I found them to be so encouraging and they certainly helped me to appreciate just what Christ had done for me in saving my soul.

Moreover, the book, The Next Step, for growing Christians, gave me a huge boost in my Christian life and spurred me on to spend a great deal of time reading and studying the precious Word of God.

My love for evangelism and missions was fostered by reading Chick books and, indeed, one of my earliest memories of evangelism was going round the phone boxes of Sheerness (my home town) placing them on the shelves - of course, this was back in the 1970s before the advent of mobile phones.

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to pass out many copies of them (particularly This Was Your Life) in my ministry as a street evangelist.  Only yesterday, in Canterbury, I was able to pass out a French copy to a young lad from across the channel who was visiting the city for the day.

Eternity will reveal the good done to precious souls from the distribution of these small, seemingly nondescript comic books.

"Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel" - Mark 16 v 15

2nd Kings 2 v 23-25 is a warning to persecutors of Christians

Towards the end  2nd kings chapter 2 we read of the account of a group of youths harassing a man of God.  Shortly afterwards 2 female bears come out and mauled 42 of them.

This, at first, seems rather harsh.  After all, didn't Jesus teach us to "turn the other cheek" and not seek personal revenge?  However, when we compare scripture with scripture we find that there is no contradiction.   Jesus clearly taught that His followers should not seek personal revenge and, in the passage quoted above Elisha did not do so.

Moreover, the Bible teaches, in both OT and NT, that the reason there is no need for God's people to take revenge is because God, Himself, deals with those who persecute His people.  In Zechariah 2 v 8 we are told that those who come against God's people "touch the apple of His eye" - the inference being that they will face God's righteous judgement.  Also, in Romans 12 v 19 we read that we should not seek revenge because vengeance is the Lord's.  Furthermore, in 1st Peter 2 v 21-23 we read of the fact that Jesus, when faced with abuse, did not seek to get revenge but committed Himself to the perfect judge.

I would also draw readers' attention to the events in Acts chapter 12 where Herod was "eaten by worms".

Taken together, these verses (and many more) clearly tell us not to seek to get even with our persecutors but trust God to do the business.  In my own life I have witnessed this many times and now have complete confidence in the sovereignty of God in this matter.

As I'm typing this, news is coming through of a Christian bakery in N. Ireland which has been unjustly attacked by a court for not promoting a particularly vile form of perversion.  It is easy to be angry at the wickedness of the judges and, of course, at the "person" who took the case in the first place; but, we need to place the judgement in God's hands, He will deal with these opponents of the Gospel.

Even if they don't face His wrath in this life, then they will do so in Hell, when they will have all eternity to bitterly reproach themselves for their folly.  One hopes, of course, that they will come to repentance and faith in Christ before that dreadful day when they face God and pay for their vile crimes.

As this country becomes ever more godless and hostile towards the Bible let's encourage ourselves in God - He is on the throne and He will have the final victory.

Psalms 68 v 1 "Let God arise...His enemies be scattered"

Medical science has advanced since Victorian days - is this a good thing?

In the days of Victorian England medical science was primitive, to say the least, and people were constantly surrounded by death.   Illness could strike at anyone, anytime, leading to an early death; even the rich were not immune from this state of extreme uncertainty.  Remember, Prince Albert contracted Typhoid and the doctors were not able to save him.

This state of affairs meant that most people had a strong sense of God-consciousness as they knew that they could be ushered into eternity at anytime.  This did not, of course, mean that they automatically repented of their sins and accepted Christ; indeed, there was a great deal of wickedness around even in those days.  However, there was a much stronger sense of right and wrong felt by many people compared to today, and knowledge of, and respect for, Biblical truth was not in short supply as is the case in this pagan country in 2016.

Because illness and death could strike at any time it was not difficult for preachers to lead people to Christ especially if they had just witnessed the death of a relative or close friend.  However, as medical science has improved (and illnesses which, at one time, were incurable, can be healed) so the number of people seeking after God and eternal life has markedly diminished.

We tend to laud the fact that there has been such a strong advance in medical science over the last 100 years, or so, but I sometimes wonder if it is such a good thing after all.   In countries where the standard of medical care is very poor there is a great work of evangelism going on.  Not only do people have a stronger sense of eternity, but Christian missions are able to get alongside the sick and offer both medical help and spiritual care - thus, in many cases, leading people to a saving knowledge of Christ.

I strongly suspect that, because most people do not have a God-consciousness or sense of what happens in eternity it may be that the only way God is going to get their attention is by some terrible calamity hitting this nation.  For example, if there was a plague that did not respond to medication, and many 1,000s of people died every week, there would, no doubt, be a deep sense of the need to get right with God.   If we could see death all around us there would be a sense of "holy fear" which God could use to bring people to repentance and faith in Christ.

Given that this country has fallen into a state of dire wickedness, it may be that our only hope is a national calamity on a Biblical scale.  If such were to occur this would, indeed, be a mercy sent from God for the purpose of saving souls from a dreadful eternity.

I close by referring readers to Proverbs 27 v 1 - "Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth".