Faith after the Fire...

1 Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Yesterday a community in southern Manitoba experienced tragedy when a horrific fire passed through the small town of Vita. With strong south winds blowing, a grass fire quickly moved into the town forcing the entire town to be evacuated on very short notice. Four houses burned down as well as a bridge on the highway leading into the town of Vita. What caught my attention has been the faith of one particular family who lost everything and escaped with just the clothes on their backs. Their names are Jacob and Margaretha Marten. Mrs Marten was interviewed by both CBC radio and also by the Winnipeg Free Press.


This is what's left of the Marten's home ( picture from Winnipeg Free Press)

 Through this tragedy, Margaretha Marten is sharing her faith and being a shining witness for the Lord. Here is what the Winnipeg Free Press reported :

"We don’t turn from the Lord now," said Margaretha Marten. "We are safe and we don’t question His ways."

She and her husband, Jacob, returned to Vita this morning to see the charred aftermath of a wild fire that swept thourgh the edge of town on Tuesday afternoon.

While they have their faith, they no longer have material possessions.
When firefighters pounded on their door at 12:50 p.m. Tuesday, and warned that a raging fire was only minutes away, they fled with only the clothes on their backs.
This morning, Jacob peered into the smoldering ruins, trying to see a metal strongbox that held the couple's personal papers, including insurance policy on the house that had an estimated value of $125,000.
The couple said it's too early to say if they will continue to live in Vita. For now, they are being surrounded by the loving support of their seven grown children, several of whom inspected the rubble with their parents, and their church family at Sommerfeld Mennonite Church in New Bothwell.

This reminds me of the importance of becoming grounded solidly in faith in the Lord Jesus before hard times come into our livess. Then if and when tragedy strikes in our lives, we can stand strong like the Martens are doing, trusting in the Lord regardless of our circumstances.  We do not need to wonder if God is good or if He has forgotten us or how we will carry on. Through faith in the Lord Jesus, we can be confident and have assurance that  - Yes, God is good, and He will never forget about us and He never leaves those who trust in Him.
Hebrews 3:5-6 for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Matthew 28:20   lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

God's Rainbow Promise and Satan's Gay Deception

Don't you just love seeing a beautiful rainbow in the sky after a rain. I most certainly do. I can sense God's presence in the loud crashing thunder as well as in the calm rainbow that follows the storm. As we read the Bible, we will find that at the end of the story of Noah and the great flood, God makes a promise that He will never again destroy the entire world with a great flood. As a sign of that promise, God creates the rainbow. Now any time, after a rain we look into the sky and see a rainbow, we know that God is remembering His promise that he made thousands of years ago. God will always remember His promise and shows it to us by placing the beautiful rainbow in the sky. Genesis 9: 12-17 records the promise God made to us and reads as follows :
¹² And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
¹³ I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
¹⁴ And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
¹⁵ And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
¹⁶ And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
¹⁷ And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
                                                      

We can be 100% sure that God will keep this promise to us. He is that kind of God - faithful and true to His Word throughout the ages. We can depend on Him.

picture from blogthehumanist .org

It seems though that Satan will so often come and try to take what God has created as precious and true and make it into a counterfeit deal and now again we see satan using the rainbow in a counterfeit way. God destroyed the world in Noah's day due to the wickedness and violence that had swept across the earth. God could find only Noah and his family who were living righteously. In our day today the gay pride movement is moving across the nations. And what does satan use to promote this wicked movement ?? - what else but the rainbow flag. Satan takes the rainbow and uses it for his evil purposes. Satan knows that he has but a short time left here on earth to continue deceiving people and sees the signs of the end of time nearing. I wonder if satan is trying to provoke God Almighty by using the rainbow colors in this evil display called gay pride.  As Christians we know that God will keep moving ahead with His end time plan schedule.God is right on time - never late!  We know that Jesus will return for those of us who love Him and we will be taken up to heaven to be with our Lord forever.  But  we also know that satan and his demons and followers will be cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. and Revelation 20 14-15 : And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

 Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.