THE BROWN SCAPULAR

Over the past several years I have come to know quite a few of the residents at the nursing home where my father resides.  I have also been blessed by having the opportunity to share the Gospel with many of them.  I have known one particular woman since 2001.  She has come to our church services and is always happy to see us.  Recently her health has been failing and, as a result, has been in and out of the hospital.  Years ago I gave her a Bible and in addition to hearing the Word preached at the church services over the years, I have also witnessed to her privately.  She tells me she loves to hear what I say.  There have been times when she has heard me witness to others and told me later that she loved listening.  She  likes to hear my husband preach also.  What more can I say?  I really thought she was coming along. Can you imagine my disappointment when I recently saw her wearing the brown scapular around her neck?  It was the brown scapular that I am very familiar with.

The Brown Scapular

Excerpt …

Mary’s promise to those who wear the scapular …

whosoever dies clothed in this shall never suffer eternal fire

it shall be a sign of salvation,

a protection in danger

and a pledge of peace

The Brown Scapular of O.L. of Mount Carmel

I said to my nursing home friend “you know that I talk to you like I would talk to my own mother, and you know how much I loved my mother.”  She gave me a big smile and said “yes I know.”  Then I asked her about the scapular she was wearing.  She said “if I am wearing this scapular when I die I will go to heaven.”  She told me her daughter had given it to her.  I told her that although her daughter meant well, and although the promise associated with scapular was something that we had grown up believing, it was a false hope to put our trust in Mary and scapulars.  I reminded her that Jesus was our only hope, encouraged her to seek the Lord and His truth, and then I prayed for her.

As born again Christians, when we are with Roman Catholics, we must always look beneath the surface even when a Catholic professes  love for Jesus.  If we do that, then we will know their true spiritual condition, and know how to witness, and how to pray for these souls.  A long time ago I overheard a Christian say “God would not send my grandmother to hell just because she prayed to Mary.”  The real issue is that if someone knows the Lord they would not be praying to Mary.  They would be repulsed at the very thought.  The said truth is (though many a Christian may dispute it) “Mary” is the mediator for most Roman Catholics.

See  … SALVATION

THE UNCERTAINTY OF RICHES

Proverbs 23:5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Matthew 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

1 Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

See  … SALVATION

THE NIGHT COMETH WHEN NO MAN CAN WORK

If you have been born again, tell someone the good news of salvation today!

John 9:4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

2 Timothy 4:5  But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Ephesians 5:11  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

ARE YOU READY TO DIE?

Proverbs 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

No one likes to think about dying.  I don’t.  But death is inevitable.  Sooner or later we all must die.  So often we hear of a sudden and unexpected death.  We always think that it will not happen to us.  It always happens to someone else.  But it will happen to us one day.  The issue is, whenever it happens, will you and I be ready.  Jesus said we must be born again if we want to enter heaven.  His teaching has been twisted to mean something that Jesus never intended it to mean.  Some think it is the act of being baptized.  Others think it means belonging to a certain Christian denomination.  Then there are those who claim to be born again when in fact they are not.  In so doing these false professors of the new birth have misrepresented the Lord and His Word of truth.

There is no second chance for repentance after a person dies.  Their fate will be sealed.  They will be conscious, and they will have a memory.  They will either be in heaven or they will be in hell . . . forever. (See Luke chapter 16 verses 19 to 31.) This subject is so important that everything else in life pales in comparison.

No one will enter heaven based on good behavior. Salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ.  It is a gift, received by faith.  Repent, believe the Gospel, and the Lord will send you the gift of the Holy Spirit.  To be indwelt by the Holy Spirit is to be truly born again.  There is an indescribable peace in knowing that come what may we belong to God, and know where we are going when we die!

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 3:1-7  There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. {again: or, from above} Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. {again: or, from above}

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

HEARING FROM GOD?

Here are several examples of God communicating with His children …

– Years ago the Lord revealed to me that my mother would survive her very serious illness.  She had uterine cancer. Her colon ruptured as a result of chemotherapy and the doctor told us she probably would not survive the surgery.  I asked the Lord to bring healing and extend my mother’s life because she wasn’t saved.  I won’t to into the details but the Lord told me she would live, and she did live, almost 15 more years, and it was during those years that she became a believer!

– Several years ago we were part of a prayer ministry.  People would phone in prayer requests and give testimonies of answered prayer.  A woman called to tell us that she always prayed in her car before driving to work, but the previous night the Holy Spirit had impressed upon her to pray specifically that the Lord would take control of the steering wheel of her car. That evening she had an accident driving to work.  Her car hit the middle divider on the parkway, bounced off and then spun around in circles across four lanes of traffic!  The car landed in a ditch on the side of the road. Two men driving by saw the accident and stopped to help her. The first thing they asked was “are you ok?” – then they asked “how did you do that?”  There was only a minor crack in the window of the car and, miraculously, she was not injured at all.

– A pastor told of driving on the highway when he felt the Lord impress upon him to slow down, or pull back a little.  He didn’t understand, he wasn’t speeding, but he did it anyway.  A short while later there was an accident on the road up ahead of him.  If he had ignored the prompting to pull back he would have been involved in that accident.

– A Christian woman was at her mother’s wake. Because her mother, a Christian, loved Christian music and hymns, the daughter wanted to have music at the wake but there was none. While the family was talking about this, a Christian man was riding on a bus nearby with his keyboard. He was prompted by the Holy Spirit to get off the bus and go into the funeral home. He was hesitant, and told the Lord he didn’t know anyone in that funeral home. The prompting continued and seems it was strong enough to cause the man to go into the funeral home. When he went in he was made aware of the situation and played his keyboard at this Christian woman’s wake, a woman who was a perfect stranger to him! This testimony was given to us by the dead woman’s son, who was at the funeral home that day.

– At another time this same daughter in the story above was standing by a light pole waiting to cross the street. She was prompted by the Holy Spirit to go to the other side of the street right away. She did, and a few short moments later a car hit the pole right where she had been standing.

– Years ago a pastor in the U.S. gave a testimony in the church I was attending. He told of several pastors in Guatemala who had gathered for a retreat. One evening, after they had all retired to their rooms for the night, one of the pastors awakened all of the other pastors.  It was the middle of the night when he told the other pastors that the Lord told him that there was going to be an earthquake “tonight.” The other pastors were kind, but they didn’t believe him. The pastor who had the “word from God” said “I’m going to the church to pray.” One other pastor said “I won’t let you go alone, I’ll go with you.” That night, as the two prayed in the little church, there was a terrible earthquake.

I’ll backtrack a bit. A short time prior to the earthquake, the pastor who I heard give the testimony said that he had been prompted by the Holy Spirit to go to  Guatemala.  At a church service he told his congregation about the prompting. After the service someone gave him money for the flight, and someone else gave him extra money to have for the trip.  The pastor arrived in Guatemala right after the earthquake. He was at a hospital there when the two pastors, who had gone to the church to pray, came to the hospital. The little church was destroyed but they had been miraculously “sheltered” in the little area where they had been praying. They survived, but had been injured and needed medical attention. In that particular hospital in Guatemala, at that particular time, you had to pay in advance for medical attention. The pastor from the U.S. had the money to pay for the medical care of the two Guatemalan pastors.

See  … SIGNS AND WONDERS