The Bible – It’s Personal

The Bible has changed my life and still does. It is truly God’s Word for us on how to get to heaven and how to live an abundant life while we are here.

If you are skeptical about the Bible research it. It’s too important to ignore, your life depends on it.

Here are five things the Bible states that it is good for.

Psalm 119:105  “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light (1) to my path.”

2 Timothy 3:16,17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching (2), for reproof (3), for correction (4), and for training (5) in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

(1) Daily light – Every day is valuable

Psalms 90:12  “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

Andy Stanley says there is a point in your life where you no longer think about how old you are but about how much time you have left. We start sensing that there is a finish line. For me, it was in the spring of 2001, age 55. I had been experiencing pain down my arm and had been to the doctor a couple of times, but I wasn’t ready for surgery. My wife Carol and my doctor were ready, but I thought I could get through another season of softball before I had to go under the knife and have neck fusion. At our first practice that spring I was up to bat during a practice scrimmage. I took a hard swing, and as the bat hit the ball I felt a sharp pain down my arm that really got my attention. I then told the guys I had to take a season off and arranged for the surgery. I know neck fusion is not as traumatic as some other kinds of surgeries, but for me it was an eye opener. I realized that my body was starting to go through the aging process, and at some time I would have to give it up. That was the turning point for me. How many years would I have left? But even more important than that, how am I going to spend the time I have left. Stanley says there is a web site, deathclock.com, where you can find out how much time you have left. How gruesome is that? L

Even though our time is running out and our time on earth is short, for us, time could be our greatest resource! Just think about it. We are no longer raising kids, we are probably retired from our job, and our church and community responsibilities are probably less. We have time! And it could be a lot of time. A study from the Society of Actuaries states that from a healthy 65-year-old couple, one will probably live to be 92, and there is a 25% chance they could live to be 97. If we are 65 there is a good chance that we could live to be 95. We could have 30 more years!!  Now, relatively speaking, that’s a lot of time.

(2) For teaching – Going the wrong way story

Prov. 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

As I was approaching my retirement years, Carol asked me what I was going to do in retirement. At that time she encouraged me to get a seminary degree so I started to take classes for a Master’s Degree in Theology. It took me ten years but I eventually graduated.

I took classes by correspondence but in order to graduate I had to attend the graduation ceremony. So I went to the ceremony and we had to rehearse the night before. I was second in line for graduate degrees and the guy ahead of me was complaining about having to rehearse and mocking the process the whole time. The undergraduate degrees went first and we just followed them but for the actual ceremony the next day there was a large separation between the two groups and my first in line friend went the wrong way. I just stopped when he made a wrong turn but he didn’t realize it until he went thirty or forty feet in the wrong direction. He turned and ran back to us as we waited. What a good lesson for us when leaders go astray. His pride got the best of him and it gave me a good story to tell.

(3) For reproof – Executive pastor story

The Bible is good for reproof but it also tells you that reproof is good. I’ll let you think about that for a few seconds. J When I was an executive pastor the leadership had a consultant come in to give advice and counsel where needed. After he had spent some time talking to the staff and analyzing the situation he met with me personally. During our conversation he was going over his analysis and stated that I had one specific personal problem. He said I was defensive. After his comment I was quick to respond “I AM NOT DEFENSIVE!!” So after I calmed down a little, I thought maybe he was right. J So on my own I went through Proverbs and highlighted all the verses about reproof. Here are some:

  • Proverbs 10:17b “But he who ignores reproof goes astray.”
  • Proverbs 12:1b “But he who hates reproof is stupid.”
  • Proverbs 13:18b “But he who regards reproof will be honored.”
  • Proverbs 15:5b “But he who regards reproof is sensible.”
  • Proverbs 15:10b “He who hates reproof will die.”
  • Proverbs 15:31 “He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.”

The process had a large impact on me as I read how reproof is good and valuable. From that time forward I have tried to view it that way. I am not always successful but I am certainly a lot better at it.

(4) For correction – IBM Peer Manager story

At one time, I was a first line manager, and a peer manager in the same organization started telling my employees that I was not doing a very good job.  At first I was defensive and told them not to talk to him, but God convinced me that He could handle it, so I told them to go ahead and talk to him. My peer manager was trying to move up the corporate ladder, and he viewed me as one of the rungs. But God worked it out that instead of acquiring my business area, he had difficulty with his; and our superiors gave his business area to me. This was sort of like the story in the book of Esther about Esther and Haman.  (If you have never read or don’t remember the story, take time to read Esther, an Old Testament book which tells about how God works through the small circumstances.)  As he saw his job falling apart, he came into my office one day and closed the door.  I can still picture him walking back and forth in my small office as he struggled with the fact that his career was not working out as he planned. He then stopped and looked at me and asked, “What should I do?”  I replied that I’m not sure exactly what the answer is, but I know where to find it, and I pointed to my Bible on my credenza. He then puffed out his chest and said “Oh, Yeah.” He then walked toward my Bible, and I can remember saying to God in my mind, “Ok, it’s in your hands.”  He then opened my Bible to a random page, pointed down and read, “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in speech and is a fool” (Proverbs 19:1). It was so powerful that he fell slightly backward and looked at me and said, “Maybe the answers are there.” I lost track of him after that as he transferred out, but I hope by now he has taken the most important step and trusted Christ.

(5) For training- my IBM story

At another time in my IBM days I would have my personal devotions at lunch time. I would go into my office, read a portion of scripture, and pray. Today I would not recommend that because sometimes I didn’t have time for lunch. So shortly after that I started to have my time with God the first thing each morning, because no matter what happens during the day I have to get up first. J

During that time I was the technical lead on developing the first digital avionics display. The job was challenging and on one day I got into a deep argument over our technical approach with my fellow engineer. Then I went into my office for lunch an read these words:

  • 2 Tim 2:24-26 “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”

How can I witness to someone that I am arguing with? These verses were so impactful to me that I claimed them as my life verse (or verses) and my daughter later made a cross-stitch picture of them which now hang on the wall in my home office.

So please get more of God’s word into you and pray for your families and neighbors for the same.

In conclusion: 

Psalms 19:7-11 “The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes than much fine gold; sweeter than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is GREAT REWARD.”

Is God’s Judgment Coming on America?

In the past God has punished Israel for their sin. In Ezekiel 5:15 He said “You (Israel) shall be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations all around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and with furious rebukes.” God has also punished other nations. In Isaiah 34:5 He said “For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction.” Since God has punished nations before, will He punish America?

Anne Graham Lotz (Billy Graham’s daughter) says “absolutely.” In 2017 She said “A few years ago I was teaching through the book of Joel when the ancient words of his prophecy came up off the page. I knew with hair-raising certainty that God’s severe judgement was coming on America! “I have taught Joel several times since. Each time has served to confirm with deep conviction that God is warning America of impending disaster and destruction.”

John Piper says maybe. Piper said “It would not be unwarranted, to suppose that God would bring to ruin the nations that follow a course of corruption the way the Canaanites did.”

In Revelation God warns the church of Ephesus. In Revelation 2:5a God says “Remember therefore from where you have fallen.”

So let’s look at America’s course of corruption and see how far have we fallen? 

Why is the Liberty Bell called the Liberty Bell? Because Leviticus 25:10 is written on the Bell …proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: It was rung in 1776 to proclaim liberty. It was also very common in early America to see Biblical quotes in homes and in public.

Let’s look at what the lives of our government leaders were like when our country was formed? It was common for our founding fathers to attend church together and pray together. Early congressional prayer meetings would put most all of our church meetings today to shame. We have a hard time just praying in public because we don’t do it often enough.

The first time I prayed in public was at my mother’s bedside when she was dying of cancer. She was only in her late 40’s and I was in my late 20’s. She would just say, “Ronnie let’s pray” and I would honor her request even though I was extremely anxious about it.

When John Adams was asked if we could win the revolution he stated “we can if we fear God and repent of our sins.” John Hancock declared a day of prayer and fasting.

We today do not truly understand the depts. of our sin. We think we are pretty good, especially when we compare ourselves to others.

The pre revolution American war motto was: No king but King Jesus. This was proclaimed by the prewar Colonial Committee of Correspondence. Can you imagine our government proclaiming that today?

Nearly half of the original signers of the declaration of Independence had a Bible or Seminary degree and nearly all of the framers were members of Christian churches. They actually started the present day Sunday school movement and Congress approved the first English Bible printed in America. John Adams said “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity.” John Quincy Adams said  “that it (USA) laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.” George Washington said “Religion and morality are the two most important pillars.”

The Bible was by far the most quoted source of all the early writings. Actually 34% of all quotes in their writings came from the Bible.

Noah Webster who has been called the “Father of American Scholarship and Education” stated that “The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society.”Dr. Benjamin Rush in 1791 warned not to remove the Bible from public schools. John Jay (The first chief justice of the Supreme Court) said “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers; and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”

Let’s look at the downward trend of the US Supreme court

  • In 1892 said “This is a Christian Nation”
  • In 1947 they started to exclude public religious expressions
  • In 1962 they stopped voluntary prayer in schools
  • In 1963 they removed Bible reading in schools
  • In 1980 they removed the 10 commandments from schools
  • In 1985 they stated that you could not pray silently in schools

In removing the 10 commandments they said a student might see them and they might obey them – WOW!  But now the largest group of internet porn consumers is children from 7 – 17 years old. One out of ten porn consumers is under the age of ten. If that doesn’t scare you then I don’t know what will.

The divorce rate was declining before 1962 and from 1962 to 1991 has increased significantly.

Violent crime has increased 470% from 1963 to 1991. It has been said that the Supreme Court is “a national theology board,” as it determines the moral values of our country.

Is God’s Judgement Coming on America? If so, when? John Piper states that it is when our sin has become big enough as God tolerates sin to a point. Piper stated that one of the reasons God delayed the Israelites in Egypt for 430 years was because “The iniquity of the Amorites (Canaanites) is not yet complete” Genesis 15:16.

So God could be delaying judgement on America until He can no longer stand it.

John Piper states that there is a remarkable sequence of sins in Leviticus 18:20-25 that sounds very much like the progress of iniquity in the modern Western world. Moses writes that by these iniquities “the nations, which I am driving out before you, have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

Let’s look at the sequence:

1. Adultery: Leviticus 18:20 “Andyou shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her.”

Adultery is now accepted as a way of life and most often celebrated as a robust form of sexuality, open marriage etc. Adultery is now so accepted we don’t even talk about it from our pulpits. Living together is common, now even in older adults

2. Child Sacrifice: Leviticus 18:21 “You shall not give any of your children to offer themto Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.”

Abortion continues to be legal and is now around 700,000 per year in the USA. 50 million abortions have been performed in America since 1973.

3. Homosexual Intercourse: Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”

Homosexuality has grown in acceptance. Even Christians think you are born that way. The older community has changed significantly in the last 20 years in their acceptance of homosexuality. It seems like TV programs always portray them in a positive light and Christians as radical or weird.

4. Bestiality: Leviticus 18:23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.”

John Piper (2014) asks “Will the approval of bestiality be next? Probably He said “Last week, the Huffing Post reported a woman finding on her boyfriend’s phone pictures of him having sex with her dog.” Piper continues to say “Our reaction to this is probably about the same as most people’s reaction to so-called homosexual “marriage” 50 years ago. Is there any good reason to doubt that in 50 years the laws against bestiality will have fallen the same way laws against homosexual intercourse have fallen in recent years?  (And as for marriage Wikipedia already has an entry on “human-animal marriage) We now treat our animals as humans… this is not a big leap!!!! Sorry for this, but we need to know where we are headed.

What do you think will stop the coming of God’s judgement on America? 

Revelation 2:5 states “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.” Again, if we don’t change God will probably bring judgement on America just as He told the church at Ephesus.

So……….

  • Remember where we came from
  • Repent and go back to the way we used to live or God will remove everything He has given us and will bring judgement on us.

John MacArthur says that to remove your lampstand means that God’s judgement would bring an end to the Ephesian church

We need to stop tolerating our nation’s immoral behavior.

It is time to fight back!!!

About Ron

I am a Christian Senior Adult. For the Christian part, I came to Christ at age 17 and what seemed like a few seconds later I became a senior adult. I am now 76 and have a passion to finish the fight “Soaring Into Heaven.”

We have been told to “finish strong” and to “press on” which is good, but I think it is far greater than that. This should be the most productive time in our life for impacting the kingdom. It should be an encore of such proportions that all that God accomplished through us in our life to this point would only be a fraction of what He will do now. That’s the purpose of this web site. It is for those of us who call ourselves Christians, who believe in the Lord, and who are in the later stages of our life, maybe over 55 or 65. We have served God for some time, we have seen Him work in and through us and now we think we have finished the work. I want to tell you the work is not finished! There is far more to do, and God is looking for men and women completely devoted to Him such that they want to give their all and to Soar into Heaven going full steam and not limping along.

I have a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Arts in Biblical/Theological Studies. I have been an executive pastor and am now heavily involved in evangelizing, teaching, and discipling in my senior adult community as well as in McLean Bible Church the Prince William campus.  I have been married to my wife Carol for 55 years have two children, four grandchildren, and one great grandchild.

Even though I am an engineer and do numbers not words, I have written two books, “Relational Evangelism for Today” and “Soaring Into Heaven – A Challenge for Christian Senior Adults,” which you can get on Amazon.com if you are interested.

I hope this web site will be an encouragement to you to finish strong and be soaring spiritually when the battle is over.