Pastoral Resources

In China’s later Han era, there lived a politician called Yang Zhen, a man known for his upright character. After Yang Zhen was made a provincial governor, one of his earlier patrons, Wang Mi, paid him an unexpected visit. As they talked over old times, Wang Mi brought out a large gold cup and presented it to Yang Zhen. Yang Zhen refused to accept it, but Wang Mi persisted, saying, “There’s no one here tonight but you and me, so no one will know.”

“You say that no one will know,” Yang Zhen replied, “but that is not true. Heaven will know, and you and I will know too.”

Wang Mi was ashamed, and backed down. Subsequently Yang Zhen’s integrity won increasing recognition, and he rose to a high post in the central government.

Human nature is weak, and we tend to yield to temptation when we think nobody can see us. In fact, if there was no police force, many people would not hesitate to steal. This is not to say that when we do something bad, we feel no compunction at all, just that man is weak and prone to yield to temptation.

But even if nobody witnesses our sins, and not a soul knows of them, we cannot hide the truth from the eyes of our conscience. In the end, what is important is not that other people know, but that we ourselves know. When Yang Zhen told Wang Mi that “Heaven will know,” he meant that the gods would know what he had done: in other words, his own conscience.

A person who sins neither in thought nor deed, and is fair and just, gains enormous courage and strength. As a leader, you need courage born of integrity in order to be capable of powerful leadership. To achieve this courage, you must search your heart, and make sure that your conscience is clear and your behavior is beyond reproach.

During New Testament times those who were actively sharing the gospel met opposition. A case in point is Paul and Silas in Thessalonica. According to Act 17:1-9, these two personal workers were persuading and converting several people. There were, however, those who were unconvinced, and they complained that the preaching was disruptive and upsetting. They took their views to the authorities and ultimately the two missionaries had to flee by night.

It might be hard for us to imagine such a thing happening today. We may believe that our beloved Bill of Rights would protect us from such outlawing of evangelism. The reality, though, is that the local newspaper recently reported on the front page an instance of religious freedoms in jeopardy. The article is about an 11-year-old in the Norm school system who was told not to discuss the Bible or pray during recess because "a parent had complained that it was disruptive." The school district further states that the girl had "infringed on the rights of other students."

Greg Clark comments, "I have seen several things take place during recesses, both while a student and later as a substitute teacher. Amongst other things I saw boys fighting, girls arguing, hair being pulled, kids being picked on, and heard all kinds of foul language. I am wondering if a girl with 'six of her friends' reading and praying could be any more 'disruptive'or could be any more infringing on personal rights?

"I can remember school days with Bibles on the bookshelf and lively religious discussions. We certainly did not consider ourselves religious fanatics and prospects for lawsuits. What has happened? Why are things like flag burning, Satan worship, and obscene materials "forms of expression" protected by the Bill of Rights, and yet an 11-year-old praying is questionable?

"What would Paul and Silas do in a similar situation? Would they agree with the idea that religion should be confined to the church building? A quick look at the text shows that in their case they merely moved on to Berea and agitated (and converted) a few more.

"It is true that there are people who purposefully set out to cause disorder. On the other hand, I have personally been threatened by a local man simply for doorknocking in his neighborhood. The thing we need to remember in both cases is that Christians have never gone through a period when everyone was encouraging them to proclaim Jesus. There have always been those who give 'strict orders not to continue teaching.'It is in response to such charges that first century proclaimers stood and said, "we must obey God rather than men" (Act 5:28-29). They knew that if they waited around on the majority vote they would only end up talking to each other. Such a lifestyle for a disciple was and is unsatisfactory. The command of our Lord is still: 'Go into ALL the world,'even if the world gets a little upset."

Upward Mobility Rule: don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.

Vaughn’s Rule of Corporate Life: The less important you are on the table of organization, the more you’ll be missed if you don’t show up for work.

During the Revolutionary War, a loyalist spy appeared at the headquarters of Hessian commander Colonel Johann Rall, carrying an urgent message. General George Washington and his Continental army had secretly crossed the Delaware River that morning and were advancing on Trenton, New Jersey where the Hessians were encamped. The spy was denied an audience with the commander and instead wrote his message on a piece of paper. A porter took the note to the Hessian colonel, but because Rall was involved in a poker game he stuffed the unread note into his pocket. When the guards at the Hessian camp began firing their muskets in a futile attempt to stop Washington’s army, Rall was still playing cards. Without time to organize, the Hessian army was captured. The battle occurred the day after Christmas, 1776, giving the colonists a late present--their first major victory of the war.

George Sweeting, in his book The No-Guilt Guide for Witnessing, tells of a man by the name of John Currier who in 1949 was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Later he was transferred and paroled to work on a farm near Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1968, Currier’s sentence was terminated, and a letter bearing the good news was sent to him. But John never saw the letter, nor was he told anything about it. Life on that farm was hard and without promise for the future. Yet John kept doing what he was told even after the farmer for whom he worked had died.

Ten years went by. Then a state parole officer learned about Currier’s plight, found him, and told him that his sentence had been terminated. He was a free man.

Sweeting concluded that story by asking, “Would it matter to you if someone sent you an important message—the most important in your life—and year after year the urgent message was never delivered?”

We who have heard the good news and experienced freedom through Christ are responsible to proclaim it to others still enslaved by sin. Are we doing all we can to make sure that people get the message?

Oracles are the divine revelations given to God’s people. God’s method of communicating these oracles varied from dreams and visions (Num. 12:6-8), to wisdom (Prov. 30:1), and even the Urim and Thummim (Num. 27:21; 1 Sam. 14:3-37).

The Urim and Thummim were placed in the breastplate of the high priest (Ex. 28:30) and were used as a means of communication with God. They mean “light” and “perfection”. Unfortunately, they are not described anywhere in the Bible. Some theories maintain that they were twelve stones that made up part of the high priests garments. The process of the communication with God is not given either.

There was a small Christian sect of an exclusive nature which was holding a convention. Outside the auditorium there was displayed the motto, "Jesus Only." A strong wind blew the first three letters away, so that the sign read, "Us Only." Isn't that too often the sign that our prayers, attitudes, and behavior present to the world? And then we expect God to bless us.

67% of American adults believe in a hell. But less than 25% believe they will go there, while 25% believe their friends will be there.

In the year 1210 King John of England had an idea. For many years the Royal Forest was available to all who paid the usage fee. Paying this tribute to the crown allowed nobleman and peasant alike to hunt, fish, and frolic on the regal property.

The king, looking to reduce the strain on this resource and increase the empire’s income (to help support the war with France), decided to raise the usage fee and restrict use of the forest to the upper classes. To carry out this decree, he appointed Thomas Mulberry as Royal Forester.

However, it wasn’t long before Thomas realized he had a problem. The king expected a certain amount of revenue each month, but there simply weren’t enough customers among the upper classes to maintain the projected revenues.

In order to keep to the crown’s budget, Thomas decided to allow use of the forest by some of the local peasants at a discounted rate. This kept the king’s coffers filled and, at the same time, still restricted the use of the land to the upper class and a relatively small number of peasants.

After six months, the king summoned Thomas to report. “Well, my Royal Forester, is my plan working as expected?” asked the king.

“Yes, your highness,” replied Thomas. “Revenues are as projected.” The king was obviously pleased. Added Thomas, “There was one problem, but I managed to solve it.”

Thomas described how there were not enough noblemen to maintain the budgeted revenues and how he allowed some local peasants use of the land at a discounted rate. The king listened intently and offered an occasional “Uh-huh,” or “Yes, I see.”

The following morning Thomas was hanged for treason.

Reports the DENVER POST: “Like many sheep ranchers in the West, Lexy Fowler has tried just about everything to stop crafty coyotes from killing her sheep. She has used odor sprays, electric fences, and ‘scare-coyotes.’ She has slept with her lambs during the summer and has placed battery-operated radios near them. She has corralled them at night, herded them at day. But the southern Montana rancher has lost scores of lambs—fifty last year alone.

“Then she discovered the llama—the aggressive, funny-looking, afraid-of-nothing llama...’Llamas don’t appear to be afraid of anything,’ she said. ‘When they see something, they put their head up and walk straight toward it. That is aggressive behavior as far as the coyote is concerned, and they won’t have anything to do with that... Coyotes are opportunists, and llamas take that opportunity away.’“

Apparently llamas know the truth of what James writes: “Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you” (4:7). The moment we sense his attack through temptation is the moment we should face it and deal with it for what it is.

The Lord has given to each one of us at least one gift, and probably many more than that. The most important thing in life is to find what gifts we have; secondly, to recognize that they are from God; thirdly, to be faithful and dependable in using them. Anything that is not used doesn't develop. A pianist said, "You know, I must practice every day. If I don't practice one day I know the difference. If I don't practice two days, those who hear me know the difference."

When St. Paul's Cathedral in England was being demolished to make room for a new edifice, thirty men operated a battering ram for one whole day on a certain part of the wall. Not seeing any immediate effect, they thought this a colossal waste of time, but they were told nonetheless to continue. On the second day, the wall began to tremble at the top and fell in a few hours. If our prayers and repentances do not appear to overcome our inner corruption, we must still continue to use these battering rams, for through faith in Christ the power of evil shall be overthrown.

As the golfer approached the first tee, a hazardous hole with a green surrounded by water, he debated if he should use his new golf ball. Deciding that the hole was too treacherous, he pulled out an old ball and placed it on the tee. Just then he heard a voice from above say loudly: “USE THE NEW BALL!” Frightened, he replaced the old ball with the new one and approached the tee. Now the voice from above shouted: “TAKE A PRACTICE SWING!” With this, the golfer stepped backward and took a swing. Feeling more confident, he approached the tee when the voice again rang out: “USE THE OLD BALL!”

The prize for the most useless weapon of all times goes to the Russians. They invented the “dog mine.” The plan was to train the dogs to associate food with the undersides of tanks, in the hope that they would run hungrily beneath advancing Panzer divisions. Bombs were then strapped to the dogs’ backs, which endangered the dogs to the point where no insurance company would look at them. Unfortunately, the dogs associated food solely with Russian tanks. The plan was begun the first day of the Russian involvement in World War II...and abandoned on day two. The dogs with bombs on their backs forced an entire Soviet division to retreat.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior, was a doctor. As such he was very interested in the use of ether. In order to know how his patients felt under its influence, he once had a dose administered to himself.

As he was going under, in a dreamy state, a profound thought came to him. He believed that he had suddenly grasped the key to all the mysteries of the universe. When he regained consciousness, however, he was unable to remember what the insight was.

Because of the great importance this thought would be to mankind, Holmes arranged to have himself given either again. This time he had a stenographer present to take down the great thought. The either was administered, and sure enough, just before passing out the insight reappeared. He mumbled the words, the stenographer took them down, and he went to sleep confident in the knowledge that he had succeeded.

Upon awakening, he turned eagerly to the stenographer and asked her to read what he had uttered. This is what she read:

“The entire universe is permeated with a strong odor of turpentine.”

Josiah Wedgwood, English maker of the famous Wedgwood pottery, was showing a nobleman through his factory one day. One of Wedgwood’s employees, a young boy, was accompanying them. The nobleman was profane and vulgar. At first, the boy was shocked by his irreverence; then he became fascinated by the man’s coarse jokes and laughed at them.

Wedgwood was deeply distressed. At the conclusion of the tour, he showed the nobleman a vase of unique design. The man was charmed by its exquisite shape and rare beauty. As he reached for it, Mr. Wedgwood purposely let it fall to the floor. The nobleman uttered an angry oath and said, “I wanted that vase for my collection, and you have ruined it by your carelessness!” Wedgwood answered, “Sir, there are other ruined things more precious than a vase which can never be restored. You can never give back to that young man, who just left us, the reverence for sacred things which his parents have tried to teach him for years. You have undone their labor in less than half an hour!”

In the heyday of the New York Yankees, manager Joe McCarthy once interviewed a coach being brought up to the majors from a Yankee farm team.

“How much do you know about psychology?” McCarthy asked.

The coach said he had studied it in college.

“So you think you’re good,” said McCarthy.

The coach replied: “I don’t know how good I am, but it’s a subject I’ve studied.”

“All right,” McCarthy said, “I’ll give you a test.”

McCarthy said that a few years before he’d had a problem and had gone to Frankie Crosetti, his shortstop.

“Frank,” McCarthy said, “I’m not satisfied with the way Lou Gehrig is playing first base. He’s too lackadaisical. I want you to help me. From now on, charge every ground ball. When you get it, fire it as quickly and as hard as you can to first base. Knock Gehrig off the bag if you can. I don’t care if you throw wild or not, but throw it fast and make it tough for him.”

Crosetti demurred and said: “Maybe Lou won’t like the idea.”

“Who cares what Gehrig likes!” McCarthy snapped. “Just do as I tell you.”

McCarthy then said to the coach: “Now that’s the story. What conclusions do you draw from it?”

The coach considered the matter for a minute, then answered: “I guess you were trying to wake up Gehrig.”

“See?” McCarthy shrugged his shoulders in resignation. “You missed the point entirely. There wasn’t a damned thing wrong with Gehrig. Crosetti was the one who was sleeping. I wanted to wake up Crosetti.”

Dr. Donald Granvold, a professor at the Univ. of Texas at Arlington, surveyed 262 marriage counselors. 22% thought marriages are jeopardized when the wife has an affair, while only 2% thought marriages are in trouble when the husband has an affair. 40% of the counselors he surveyed admitted that they themselves had had extramarital experiences. (1985)

Former pro basketball star Bill Bradley tells that at the age of 15 he attended a summer basketball camp that was run by Easy Ed Macauley, a former college and pro star. “Just remember that if you’re not working at your game to the utmost of your ability,” Macauley told his assembled campers, “there will be someone out there somewhere with equal ability who will be working to the utmost of his ability. And one day you’ll play each other, and he’ll have the advantage.”