(Exodus 7:10-12)
And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD has commanded; and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents but Aaron�s rod swallowed up their rods. - Exodus 7:10-12
You may notice that my title has to do with the staff of Moses, while the passage has to do with the rod of Aaron. The simple fact of the matter is that I misspoke when I gave my title. My mind was fixed upon this passage. Unfortunately, I seem to have recalled the incident from the CBDMV of the Scripture. That is the well known Cecil B. DeMille Version of the Holy Scripture.
I was somewhat chagrined when I realized my error. I saw just three things I could do.
1) I could just barge ahead and hope that no one would notice. Not a likely event.
2) I could keep looking at other versions until I found one which would agree with me. No one�s ever done that! If you believe that I�ve got some beach front property I�d like to sell you.
3) Or, I could just leave it as it was, own up to my mistake, and take my lumps.
I�ll take two, with cream, in my coffee.
I could, of course, claim a number four. God is the CEO of this project. Moses is the Chief Managing Office. Aaron is simply a member of Moses� staff. Hey, I�m right after all!
I choose to go with number three because I think that it points up an important fact about these new versions. Well, that and the fact that� I�d never get anything past you anyway!
The thing that this points out to us is that the use of many versions will tend to confuse us. One cannot read the many versions, study them, pray over them, and not see our own familiarity with God�s Word be compromised.
If one spends his time reading the many competing versions, each with its own word order, favorite passages and section, marked our areas and additions, footnotes and other fictions, his mind will tend to become overloaded. It will become increasingly hard to separate fact from fancy. Scripture from scribble, truth from biased fable...
Somewhere along the line, if one continues to use the many perversions on the market, one will lose his grasp upon the True Scripture.
Simply put, the use of the many versions will lead to - must lead to - confusion rather than consecration.
I�ve never even seen the movie, �The Ten Commandments.� I�m not certain that I�d really want to do so! Yet, I find myself influenced by the movie. Maybe I need to spend a little more time in the Word and a little less time in other frivolous pursuits!
Of course, how many of us are able to cite verse and chapter from the GFSV (Grandma�s, or Grandpa�s, Favorite Sayings Version), or the well-known FSFAHV (Favorite Saying From American History Version), or the highbrow TSWTSHBITBV (Things Shakespeare Wrote That Should Have Been In The Bible Version).
Oh, well, we all do know that, �As the Good Book says, �cleanliness is next to Godliness.� I think that�s from II Hezekiah 4:18.
God planned for man to be a very creative being. Though the Fall has greatly dimmed that capacity, we - as a race of human beings, are still able to write much that is wise and helpful, and even noble.
However, man at his best could never have produced the wisdom and insight, let alone the spiritual leading, of this Book. This Book stands above the most noble and noteworthy of our best efforts. The Bible is Testimony that God is in charge and loves His creation.
Now, there are those, sadly some call themselves �Fundamentalist,� who would argue that God was not strong enough to protect His Inspired Word from the feeble efforts of mankind to destroy it. Worse, they would argue that God capriciously hid His Word from His Own Church, the Bride of His Own Son, until the True Text (Maybe! We hope so!) was rescued from the burning barrel of a Roman Catholic Monastery.
Let me tell, that�s all the warmth that you can expect from this bogus text - or from it�s evil cousin which was dusted off from the back shelf of a Vatican library just in time to aim a stream of cold water at the Protestant Reformation.
I�d rather have the Water of the Spirit of God. The bloodied heads of martyrs and saints of old have dipped in this cool water to thirst no more as they read, revered, and faithfully transmitted His True Text down through centuries of persecution. That�s the Water that will revive my soul! It is for This, not some half diluted cocktail of putrid heresy and soul damning error, which are the contents of the Johnny-Come-Lately - and wrongly!, so-called versions of today, for which we hunger in this day.
Are your hands cold? Burn these modern versions in those furnaces of Sinai. These monks had the right idea at least once! Don�t worry about getting cold. When these versions have passed - and pass they will!... God�s Word is settled in Heaven and It does not agree with these! We may not see their ending. Indeed, human history may not see their ending. But, end they will! God will not allow this error to enter into the Halls of Heaven!
We�ll not have to worry about getting cold when the fires from these discarded pages is dust and ash. No! The Fire of the Holy Spirit will continue to shine out from the recesses and mountain tops of His Inspired Word. His Word will not pass away. Jesus made that promise. He does not go back on His Word.
That�s why the True Text could not possibly have been lost for a thousand years. That would mean that Jesus was mistaken. If He were mistaken then He is not the Son of God and can never be my Savior. We know that Jesus was not mistaken. He was not lying. He was not even just �a funnin� with us.
Jesus is the Son of God and God the Son. He is my Savior. How do I know? This Book tells me so. This miracle Book from antiquity - until tomorrow!, tells me so.
And, now... We are met here to defend this Book! Yeah! Right! That�s just like the man out in the jungle. He saw a lion creeping up upon a baby fawn. The man just ran out to protect that lion. God�s word does not really need our protection. But, I glory in the realization that He is allowing me to be counted among those who He is using to insure the transmission of His True Text to the next generation.
I know that I am not important. If I were to die tomorrow the world would say... Well, to be brutally honest, the world wouldn�t say anything. They�d never notice. But, even though I am the least grape in the arbor, I can still contribute to some pretty good wine when I join with others and allow the Master Vintner to ply His Craft.
Well, I�m gonna start preach if I�m not careful. I�d better get started.
On the past three occasions when I have spoken, I have stated the truth that I am the least of this group assembled. I stand as a pigmy among giants for the Lord. This, once again, is not humility. It is a simple reality.
But, I�m not going to say that this time. I�m not going to say that now is the right time to use the facilities if the need arises; you�ll not miss much! I was going to say those things but I remembered the words if a speech teacher of mine. He said that there is no need to state what will soon become obvious!
Before I get started today, I�d like to relate a bit about Linda. We were married thirty-two years ago this summer. We had met several years before this, all the way back in the eighth grade at Lombard Junior High School in Galesburg.
We met as we both worked on the school newspaper, �The Elm Newsette.� We were both valued and talented members of the production staff. I would like to be humble and state otherwise but don�t feel it would be proper to tell an untruth in front of a group such as this.
That was a long time ago, way back in the days before word processors and copy machines. We typed every edition on blue sheets of mimeograph film and made copies on typewriter paper. The pages then had to be stapled together to form each individual issue for the week. This was somewhat time intensive.
We, Linda and I - unknown to each other at this point, both sought out a job which few were able to seek - or was it �willing� to seek? We were collators. Our job was to collate the pages and staple them together. I know, it could be argued that this was just simple work for simple minds. In my case - guilty! But, hey, without us the paper would never have been put together.
We had to exercise some care. At the end of the day, after putting all of these ink filled pieces of paper together, our hands would be covered in mimeograph ink. Anything we touched would bear our imprint - forever!
Somewhere along the line of our work on the paper Linda and I must have touched each other. Linda told a friend of hers, I found this out years later, after we were married, �I�m going to end up marrying him. He�s insufferable; but, I know I will.� And, she meant me!
I just wish she�d have let me know. It would have saved me a lot of time and teen-age heart ache.
For my part, I dated about as would any stupid teen-age boy - that means, �Like any normal teen-age boy.� The twist was that I always reported to Linda all of the who�s and what�s. We ate lunch together, along with a herd of her friends (and while I was seeing another girl), every day that we were both at the local high school. Sometimes I�d go over to her house and fill her in. When I went away to college, she was on my mailing list above my own family.
(A little aside: As proof of the above, my mother once sent me an entire box of stationary - stamped and addressed!, as a gentle reminder!)
One of the girls about whom I�d written Linda, came up to me one find day during my second year of college. She said that she had consulted a Ouija board about what would be the time of my death.
Now, don�t start to tell me all the reasons to run away -fast!, from a Ouija board. I know them. I knew them back then. Within five minutes of this girl relating her story to me she knew them also!
She had, honestly, not known - never been told, of the dangers of a Ouija board! A college girl at a Baptist college, yet!, not understanding the potential harm from a Ouija board! Isn�t that an indictment of someone for not telling her.
By the way, if there are any here who are not aware of the dangers of the Ouija board... Just stay away from it! The Ouija board is a device which offers us �hidden� knowledge. All we have to do is hold on to the pointer and allow it to take control of where it wants us to go. And, where it wants us to go spiritually!
Seeking so-called �hidden� knowledge is something that the Scripture frowns upon. It was playing on this very same note that the serpent was able to beguile Eve. If there is something that we need to know, or that God wants us to know this side of Heaven, we�ll find it in this Book of His. To move for counsel anywhere else is to move from the spiritual to the occult. This is not what God would have us to be!
Isn�t this the same dilemma which faces those who use �Unscriptural Scripture?� Why do people say that they use these new �Scriptures?� The answers may be many; but, they boil down to, �I want more than the King James Bible will give me.� The vocalization may be, �better understanding,� �more accurate,� �It just speaks to me,� or a few others. The bottom line, however is that the KJB is considered as unreliable. Something else is needed.
All I can say if you really believe that the KJB is short of the mark as to what you need spiritually, if you really believe that the KJB is just not able to speak to your need, if the KJB just leaves you �cold,� well, I bow to your superior intellect and spirituality. I am impressed. After all, I�ve been reading this Old Book for nearly fifty years, now; and, I ain�t no where near the end of It�s mysteries, treasures, and messages to my heart.
Besides, this is the Book that God gave to me. That makes it sort of special to me.
Now, let�s see. Where was I? I was out hunting duck when I went off after a rabbit trail. Then that squirrel ran out in front of me. Oh, yeah, now I remember. I was talking about a young lady in college who consulted a Ouija board about when I was going to die. I am not certain as to why she would have asked that sort of question. Anxious? In a hurry?
She got the answer that I would die at about the age I am presently.
She was right.
On My 15th, of this year, Linda, my wife of nearly thirty-two years, my friend of more than that, my rock and my all as far as this world is concerned, passed away.
My life, all that had any worth to it, passed away with Linda. She was all that was good about me. On that death bed passed away all my strength, all my ambitions, almost all of the ability I ever had in my pastorate. I more than loved her; I needed her. Now, she is gone - too soon before me.
A local pastor who I�ve known nearly as long as I�ve known Linda was there less than ten minutes after Linda had left this life. I was just talking. Letting my mouth move with sounds coming out. I said to him that Linda had loved to travel. She had been every place that she�d ever wanted to go, with the exception of the Holy Land.
�Well,� he said, �She�s there now.�
Comfort. That�s the wonder, one of them, which God offers in His Word. I Thessalonians 4:13 tells us, �...sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.�
God didn�t tell me I couldn�t sorrow. And, I�m gonna do it! I�m gonna set new records for doing it! But, God, Himself - the Author and Ruler of the Universe, He has Personally, in the Word He gave to me, promised that I�ll see Linda again.
It�s a selfish sorrow that I feel. I don�t sorrow for Linda. I rather envy her early departure to Glory. I sorrow for me; I live now without her.
But, I must admit that she has left a strange world. She has left a world where most people�s view of the Christian churches is gleaned from television. That means that most of us are viewed as Charismatic and are considered to care more about the politics of the day than we do about the condition of the souls of man. That is how the world views our churches.
A proper church, then, is viewed as one that will accept any denomination. They prefer $50's and $100's, but they will accept any.
We�ve moved from preaching about the burning fires of Hell to announcing that the ovens are all fired up for the coming bake sale.
We�ve seen society move from the place where, if someone said, �Go to Hell!,� he was considered boorish and uncouth, to the place where now, if we get up the courage to say, �Could I show you the way to Heaven?,� we are considered raciest and antisocial. And, if we are bold enough to ask that question on the job we may lose that job because we�ve �harassed� a fellow worker.
If has become a �Politically Correct� world where we must learn to accept al people, and all views, on all things. One exception. Things that are of Traditional Christian values are not allowed. These are just too hurtful for some people to be assaulted by them.
I heard the story about a school district in Colorado which is posting the phrase, �In God We Trust,� in all of their class rooms. The superintendent has said, �If the Supreme Courts tells me I can�t do this, then I�ll have to stop taking money in the cafeteria.�
I think he�s right!
Oh, by the way, if there are any atheist�s out there who are offended by that phrase, let me know. I, really, don�t want to see your tender sensibilities harmed. I am only offering this because I love you a fellow human beings and don�t want to see you go through any more hurt over this issue.
If you are truly offended by the phrase, �In God We Trust,� if it hurts you and causes you pain, I want you to take every single piece of U. S. money you have. All of it. Don�t leave any of it out to offend you. Now, put it all in an envelope. Mail that envelope to me. Remember, I�m only offering this because I feel your pain and want to help in any way I can.
Don�t you dare do that!
It�s a strange world partly because it is changing so fast. We live in a time which has been called one of �Cultural Flux.� I prefer the term �Cultural Disintegration.� The term, �flux,� implies a change within kind - sort of like when Linda and I were first married. We had a Pekinese dog; he got together with a Dachshund. The puppies they produced were still dogs; but, they were strange looking beasts!
To me, at least, it does not seem like the culture is simply changing. To me it seems as though culture is falling apart in a manner not seen since the Dark Ages engulfed Europe. Again, to me this is interesting since it is the Bible of the Dark Ages which is being foisted upon the world in this day.
To give you an idea about how fast the world is changing, I�d like to read this article which I found on the internet. That is a change in itself. Internet. Twenty years ago, if we�d heard that word we would have pictured a basketball hoop in our minds. I was going to say, �soccer goal,� but twenty years ago soccer would not have entered our American minds!
Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of that year�s incoming freshmen.
Here is this year�s list.
The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1980.
They have no meaningful recollection of the Regan Era and probably do not know he had ever been shot.
They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember the cold war.
They have never feared a nuclear war.
They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.
The expression �you sound like a broken record� means nothing to them.
They have never owned a record player.
They have likely never played PAC Man and have never heard of Pong.
They may have never heard of an 8 track.
The Compact Disc was introduced when they were 1 year old.
As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 32 cents.
They have always had an answering machine.
Most have never seen a T. V. set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a black and white T. V.
They have always had cable.
There has always been VCR�s, but they have no idea what BETA is.
They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
They were born the year that Walkman was introduced by Sony.
Roller skates have always meant inline for them.
Jay Leno has always been on the Tonite Show.
They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
The Vietnam War is an ancient history to them as W. W. I, W. W. II, and the Civil War.
They have no idea that American�s were ever held hostage in Iran.
They can�t imagine what hard contact lenses are.
They don�t know who Mork was or where he came from.
They never heard: �Where�s the Beef?,� �I�d walk a mile for a camel,� or �de lane, de plane!�
They do not care who shot J. R., and have no idea who J. R. is.
The Titanic was found? They thought we always knew where it was.
Michael Jackson has always been white.
�Kansas,� �Chicago,� �Boston,� �America,� and �Alabama� are places, not music groups.
McDonald�s never came in Styrofoam containers.
There has always been MTV.
They don�t have a clue how to use a typewriter.�
If anyone is interested, I got this from switchboard.com. It is from their humor board number 16100.
Isn�t it nice that in a world of change - fast, headlong to destruction change, we have a Word that is Sure? Why in the world would anyone even consider giving up the Sure Word of God, settled in Heaven and on earth, in exchange for the �maybe� of man�s theories?
Linda bought a Bible with a wooden cover at a �Camp Meeting� she attended when se was just a teen-age girl. We used that Bible in our wedding.
When she was diagnosed with cancer, before she lost too much movement from the disease, she got that Bible out of her �Hope Chest.�
After being married for over thirty years she was still in hopes that I�d grow up!
She kept that Bible next to the chair she was confined in at home.
When she went to the hospital, I�d visit during the third shift. It was nice, in a way. Just the two of us together. We rekindled that feeling, if we�d ever lost it, that we�d had as newlyweds back in those ancient days.
I�d just sit and hold her hand - AND read to her from this Bible. When she stepped over into Glory, after everyone else had left the room so it was just the two of us together for one last time, I read John 3 to her from that old Bible.
This Book is a Comforting Old Friend. This is so because this is the Word which God gave to me, and to Linda, and to you! Cherish this Word. Don�t allow anyone to tell you to exchange the Sure Word of God for the possibly melodious (but certainly odious) maybes of man�s God rejecting scholarship.
I think that my introduction went on for a little too long. I�m not going to get all the way to Moses and his staff.
I would like to note just this much about Moses. It was into a changing would that he, too returned to confront Pharaoh with the Message of God.
Moses came to a nation which had once honored the people of God but now saw them as only fit for slavery. The current Pharaoh of this land, at this juncture, would defy the Message and messenger of God.
Moses came to lead his own nation to freedom. Jacob�s family, a group of nomadic sheep herders, went into Egypt. That group was now a nation of slaves - stone masons, servants, gardeners, etc. - but slaves. These people had some fear about this Message from God.
The �religious establishment� of the day in Egypt rejected the Message from Moses. The people of Egypt had their own rods of texts.
Moses may not have been the bravest man in the land. It was Moses, you may recall, who coined that immortal phrase; �Here am I, Lord. Send Aaron.� Moses may not have appeared the most logical choice. But, Moses moved forward at the behest of the Lord.
Moses moved forward because he had seen a vision and heard a voice. Moses was not energized by a bush running for an election. The heart of Moses was brought to a boil of activity by the Fire Who spoke from the bush.
May we, likewise, at the end of this convocation, move forward for God. May the fire that burned in that bush for Moses warm our hearts. May we move forward in the confidence that we have not only heard the Word of God, we can consult that Word because God has preserved a copy for us, today!