Words from a Branch

  Daniel 1             Babylon attempted to re-identify Daniel and company through a brutal program of brainwashing, not dissimilar in content to today’s programs of conformity. The key to successful resistance, as we see in this chapter, is to draw the line precisely at the point of obedience. Draw the line too early, and you have lost your witness by your absence. Draw the line too late, and you have lost your witness through compromise. The key to effective witnessing is to be in the world, but not of it. We must understand that the world is not so much a physical place; it is, in reality, a state of mind. Verses 1-4: the Ruin of Israel             Daniel’s home was completely devastated, and even the Temple was plundered. Babylon took the best and brightest, Israel’s future, and sought to turn them into Babylonians. Daniel has witnessed a catastrophe; he has see...

  Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:3 NASV             Confronted with a man born blind the disciples jump to exactly the sort of conclusion we might, that a bad result came out of a bad action. Sin directly leads to blindness. This a human logic, this is karma; and it is hopeless. Indeed, it is hopeless, and must remain hopeless until God enters the equation setting fire to logic to empower it to good. Now we must understand that our Lord’s reply is logical, it makes just as much sense as what the disciples have concluded; but no, it must make more sense if we believe the words of Proverbs 1:7.             Whether you will concede the rationality or not, the redemption cannot be denied. Before the one born blind was dammed to remain blind, and more to remain in ...