Burunche’s Blog

Deuteronomy 12:29 – 32 “When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations you are entering to dispossess, and you drive them out and live in their land, be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”

You must not worship the LORD your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.”

Revelation 22:17 – 20 “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely. I testify to everyone who hears the words of prophecy in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (John the Apostle, describing the visions God gave him on the island of Patmos.)

Reading through Deuteronomy, you realize that God doesn’t think much of the Israelites’ abilities to remember or follow orders. Once more, God is promising to cut off the nations now inhabiting the Promised Land, but God is also warning the Israelites against taking up the pagan religions these people practice. God is very specific: “You must not worship the LORD your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.” Does God love those people currently inhabiting Canaan? Yes. But unfortunately, those people have steadfastly turned away from the One True Living God to worship demons, even going so far as to make burnt offerings of their own children. The shedding of innocent blood brings curses on a land, and these people have brought curses on themselves.

God is also concerned that the Israelites not twist or pervert His Word. God has given specific instructions and expects them to be followed. God is not interested in someone changing wording to make the commandments more palatable or reducing the requirements for sacrifices.

In the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelations, God continues to warn us about the need to respect His word. Those who refuse to respect the Word of God and who insist on changing it to suit themselves will eventually suffer eternal torment.

APPLICATION: Anyone buying a new piece of equipment is careful to read the manufacturer’s instructions. Failure to follow the steps outlined in the instruction manual might lead to a disaster or even destroy a valuable purchase before it gets used.

it is amazing but true that the same people who will carefully follow instructions for a new computer or a flat screen television feel no need to pay attention to God’s Word. There are those who present a cafeteria – style Gospel; they pick out the parts they like and ignore everything else. There are others who refuse to believe that God can do miracles, so they find all kinds of strange explanations for events such as the crossing of the Red Sea, the provision of manna, etc. Why do people do these things?

The fundamental problem with people who try to change God’s Word is this: they neither know God nor respect Him, and they have an exalted idea of their own importance and intellect. There is a story circulating in which a scientist comes to God and tells God that he can now make a living man from dirt. God says, “Fine. But create your own dirt.”

When Satan fell from heaven, taking one third of the angels with him, he fell because he thought that he was more powerful than the God who had created him. Men still make that same mistake. But our lives are very fragile, and at any moment we can suffer strokes, heart attacks, or other illnesses. If the COVID – 19 pandemic has taught us nothing else, it should have taught us that nobody is immune. Even young healthy people who run marathons and work out in gyms have died from this virus.

The Bible contains our Manufacturer’s Instructions. Doesn’t it make sense for us to follow them completely?

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to treasure Your Word, to study it, and to memorize it so that we will follow Your Will for our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

He never really thought that it might be like this. The pressure of the mask on his face, struggling for each breath – never in his wildest dreams had he imagined such pain or such struggles. And then he began noticing…

Certainly, his family was in the room, but now there were others. He felt a cold nose on his bare leg and looked down to see Ruffy, the family Newfoundland standing at the bedside. He remembered when Ruffy had died of old age under a lilac bush in the front yard, but now Ruffy was standing there, very much alive and bigger, blacker, and glossier than he remembered. And Ruffy looked at him with eyes full of love.

Then as he continued to look, he saw other animals crowding into the room – the 4-H sheep, the calves, his cow Elsie and her daughter Whiteface, and all the other dearly remembered family pets. The animals were waiting as if for a signal.

Suddenly, he heard his mother calling him, “Russie! Russie! Russie!” He hadn’t heard that beloved voice in more than 41 years. Looking around the room, he gazed one last time at his wife and daughters and his son – in – law. And then he knew. The animals had come for him, but now one more figure was entering the room. As he looked up, he saw the face of Jesus – that face he had longed to see for so many years, that look of perfect love and perfect acceptance. Jesus reached out his hand, and Rus and the animals crossed into heaven.

And echoing in the room were the words of Mr. Valiant – for – Truth from The Pilgrim’s Progress:

“Then said he, “I am going to my Father’s; and though with great difficult I am got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who now will be my rewarder.’ So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.”

Deuteronomy 12:20 – 28 “When the LORD your God expands your territory as He has promised, and you crave meat and say, “I want to eat meat,” you may eat it whenever you want. If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His Name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of the herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want. Indeed, you may eat it as you would eat a gazelle or deer; both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it. Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. You must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

But you are to take your holy things and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD will choose. Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.”

God wants His people to draw a sharp distinction between the sacred and the ordinary. God has already commanded that only particular animals be set apart for sacrifices and that these animals only be sacrificed at the place of worship He chooses. But God is fully aware that travel may be difficult, so if the distance between someone’s home and the temple is too great, they may still celebrate a feast. If the family does not travel to Jerusalem, the family may slaughter any of their animals and everyone can take part, whether or not they are ritually clean.

Again, God is warning His people to pour the blood from any animal they slaughter out on the ground and not to drink it or to eat it. To repeat one of the messages from yesterday:

“In Leviticus 17:10–12, we learn that blood was God’s ordained means of atonement: “I will set my face against any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who eats blood, and I will cut them off from the people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner residing among you eat blood.’”

This Old Testament act of atonement pointed forward to the shedding of Jesus Christ’s blood on the cross for the forgiveness of sins: “Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins” (Hebrews 9:14, NLT; see also Hebrews 10:1–18). Each time an animal was sacrificed on the altar and its blood poured out, it communicated a picture of the Savior. Jesus Christ suffered in our place. His blood is the life that was given so that we might have eternal life.” (https://www.gotquestions.org/blood-is-the-life.html)

APPLICATION: When we first came to Ghana, we were introduced to the practice of pouring libation. “A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid as an offering to a god or spirit or in memory of those who have died. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in various cultures today. … The libation could be poured onto something of religious significance or into the earth.” (https://www.definitions.net/definition/libation)

Although there are controversies, most Christians in Ghana refuse to pour libation, considering it an act of ancestor worship, worship of traditional gods, or both. Christians also believe that when Jesus poured out His blood on the cross at Calvary, he made the ultimate blood sacrifice.

Years ago, we had a hospital worker who visited us on the pretext of welcoming us; however, as soon as he could, he attempted to pour libation on the ground at the old mission house where we were then living. We stopped him and prayed over the ground, neutralizing any curses that he might have been invoking against us. We also prayed to break off any spiritual hold that this man was attempting to gain over us. Although this man had claimed to be a Christian, by the time we knew him, he was thoroughly caught up in the traditional religion of his clan. Eventually God removed him from the hospital. Interestingly enough, our dog who was generally friendly threatened to bite this man, perhaps another indication of the spirit in which this man was operating!

The Bible records numerous instances in which drink offerings were poured out to God with His approval. 2 Samuel 23:14 – 16 “At that time David was in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was at Bethlehem. David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out to the LORD,…” David felt that his men had risked their lives to bring him that water and that the only appropriate thing to do was to offer it to the Lord.

We must be careful about what we offer to God! Many times the offering God desires most is our obedience on some small point; meanwhile, we would do almost anything rather than obey. If you find yourself saying, “Surely, God doesn’t REALLY want me to do that,” you need to check your heart!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to be willing to be willing to yield at any point in our livers when You are asking us to obey. Help us not to try to cover up by offering You anything as a substitute. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 12:10 – 19 “When you cross the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you live in security, then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see; you must offer them only in the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribal territories, and there you shall do all that I command you.

But whenever you wish, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you. Both the ceremonially clean and unclean may eat it as they would a gazelle or deer, but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you do, and be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.”

Location! Location! Location! That’s the number one consideration in real estate. Here God is making a similar point, but why? Remember that many of the possible sites for worship in the Promised Land have been spiritually contaminated by pagan rituals. God knows that if the Israelites insist on worshiping Him in any of those places, the demons still inhabiting those locations will hook into the Israelites and their worship will rapidly deteriorate into orgies or worse. The blood sacrifices that should be made to the One True Living God will wind up honoring demons instead. Eventually this actually happened, as the Israelites failed to obey God.

God already has a site for the center of His worship ready. Mount Moriah was sanctified by Abraham’s willingness to obey God and to even give up his only son, if that had been necessary. God has protected that location all these years, guarding it against the time when it would be used by the Israelites.

When God laid out the structure for the Jewish religion, He ordered that there should be regular festivals at which all the men should appear and bring “burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD.” God wants His people to celebrate, but He wants them to celebrate in a holy fashion.

“And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you. Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see; you must offer them only in the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribal territories, and there you shall do all that I command you.” These celebrations are for everybody in the family, including the servants. Why does God specially mention the Levites?

The Levites were the tribe set apart as priests to conduct worship. Although there were villages with limited lands set aside for the Levites, God did not allot large amounts of land to them. Had the Levites been given the same amount of land as other tribes, they would have turned away from conducting worship to farm and conduct business. God is laying the care of the Levites on all the rest of the Israelites.

Why is God forbidding the Israelites from eating or drinking the blood of the animals? Blood represents life, and the blood of animals belongs to God, the Giver of life. In addition, many diseases are carried in blood; God may have instituted these restrictions to protect the Israelites. Some pagan rituals encouraged worshipers to drink the blood of animals and even of humans as a means of gaining power. God wants his people to have nothing to do with this! During sacrifices, the priests were to pour the blood of the sacrificed animal on the altar; that blood was holy and not to be mishandled.

In Leviticus 17:10–12, we learn that blood was God’s ordained means of atonement: “I will set my face against any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who eats blood, and I will cut them off from the people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner residing among you eat blood.’”

This Old Testament act of atonement pointed forward to the shedding of Jesus Christ’s blood on the cross for the forgiveness of sins: “Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins” (Hebrews 9:14, NLT; see also Hebrews 10:1–18). Each time an animal was sacrificed on the altar and its blood poured out, it communicated a picture of the Savior. Jesus Christ suffered in our place. His blood is the life that was given so that we might have eternal life.” (https://www.gotquestions.org/blood-is-the-life.html)

APPLICATION: When Jesus died on the cross at Calvary, He made the ultimate blood sacrifice, rendering animal sacrifices unnecessary. We should be able to thank and praise God wherever we find ourselves. But we should not be foolish; there are places in the earth that are spiritually dangerous.

Several years ago, two men came to northern Ghana to begin a new ministry. When these men asked our friends who were veteran Bible translators with forty years of experience for advice, our friends warned them not to visit a particular shrine that had an unsavory reputation. Despite these warnings, the newly arrived missionaries chose to visit the shrine and to undergo all the required rituals. Sadly, that act of arrogance spelled failure for these hopeful missionaries.

Today we no longer have Levites; however, we do have ministers who devote their lives to preaching God’s Word and to helping His people. Many times, these men and women have made enormous sacrifices to follow the call of God. We will be blessed when we help those in the front lines.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to obey Your commands and to rejoice in Your goodness and mercy. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.

“Well, Lowell, remorse is useless!” It was December 1, 1950, and the speaker was Dr. Ann Hopwood, our family doctor and treasured friend. My mother, Helen Dale Bjorling, was pregnant with her second child and past her due dates. Now Dr. Hopwood was inducing my mother’s delivery in the hopes of saving her from having a Caesarean section. Blessedly, the induction worked, and Russell Lowell Bjorling was born in Kewanee Public Hospital, Kewanee, Illinois.

I was the big sister, the one charged with helping care for Rus, sometimes even attempting to change diapers despite struggling with the safety pins. One of my earliest memories of Rus was his delight in creating baling wire spider webs that crossed the back yard gate just outside the east windows of our kitchen. Rus loved to tinker and became a tool user at an early age. As farm kids, all three of us learned to use hand tools before we entered grade school, and we delighted in going to the Houghton Lumber Yard in Altona and raiding the scrap barrel for neat pieces of board so that we could go home and build little sitting stools and other things. Of the three of us, Rus was the best mechanic and could do all kinds of repairs, plus welding.

Rus was always fascinated by science and began absorbing all kinds of scientific information at an early age. In a day and age when educators failed to recognize dyslexia, Rus could explain scientific ideas but struggled with reading until my mom began applying the phonics concepts she was learning at college to Rus’s problems. After that, Rus became a voracious reader and always had at least one or more books going. That interest in science continued for the rest of Rus’s life and even to his last days, he would listen to several podcasts on various scientific themes each morning.

All three of us kids loved caring for animals. One year, Rus acquired a Holstein heifer as a 4-H project. Our standing joke was that the cow had a longer pedigree than we did; her full name was “Lone Tree Prillie Twenty Grand.” We simply called her “Elsie.” Then there were Rus’s 4-H sheep. Different people do well with different kinds of animals, and Rus could handle sheep quite well. One year, Rus’s 4-H project took him all the way to a Reserve Grand Championship at the Illinois State Fair.

We lived on a stretch of highway that had been abandoned by the State of Illinois. In those days, herbicide use was not even a problem, and we had wild roses and wonderfully sweet wild strawberries that grew along that road. I would ride my bicycle and my brothers would peddle their toy tractors down the road to the strawberry beds.

My parents were very active in Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altona, Illinois, and all three of us began Sunday School as soon as we were old enough. My mother also taught us Bible stories and hymns. Later in life, Rus became a gifted Bible teacher. At the time of his death, Rus was teaching Zoom Bible studies twice a month.

As far as I know, Rus always wanted to farm, and he began farming with my father at an early age. Rus did two years of junior college and then completed his B.Sc. in Agriculture at the University of Illinois by attending class three days a week and then returning to farm the rest of the time. In the early days, Rus and Dad were raising hogs in pastures; later on, they built confinement set-ups and continued the hog operations for many years. Little did any of us realize that the exposure to ammonia in those confinement houses would damage Rus’s lungs.

Rus was a devoted son. It was Rus and Carol who called me in March 1980 to tell me that my mother was developing health problems and that she refused to go to a doctor. (I was in surgery residency in Charleston, WV, at the time.) Sadly Mom was admitted to the University of Iowa Hospital on March 18, 1980, only to die fifteen days later from cancer and brain abscesses.

Rus was a loving husband and father. This last August, Rus and his wife Carol celebrated their 45^th wedding anniversary. Rus and Carol had two daughters, Elizabeth and Amanda. The girls were the light of their lives and they were thrilled beyond measure when Elizabeth married Pastor Christopher Poest in 2015. Christopher became a treasured part of the family. Together, Rus and Carol gave their daughters both roots and wings. Dr. Elizabeth Bjorling Poest is a pastor, a writer, and a seminary professor. Amanda Bjorling has two Master’s degrees in Library Science and is a teacher and media specialist for a private school in Luxembourg.

When my nuclear family was together, we had five part harmony. My mother sang soprano, my dad sang tenor, my brother Dale sang baritone, and Rus sang bass, while I sang alto. One of my fondest memories is the last time Dad, Rus, Dale and I sang together at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altona, Illinois. It was September 2011, and my husband and I were preparing to return to Ghana. We knew that we were seeing my dad for the last time; in fact, he died three months later.

Rus was absolutely honest and very sincere; with Rus, there was no pretense. Rus was also very sensitive to the hurts and needs of others. Together, Rus and Carol helped many people in various ways, including encouraging them in their faith. Rus was also a very funny guy, who could crack one joke after another on occasion. Rus was a fantastic cook, and his pancakes were a breakfast highlight.

One of the most painful parts of working overseas is not being able to share family times like birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. This last few months, we were privileged to spend nearly four weeks with Rus and Carol while we were in America. When we said good – bye to Rus on October 15, 2021, we had no idea that it would be a final parting.

We learned of Rus’s pneumonia problems as we were preparing to return to Ghana. By that point, we were 1500 miles away in central Texas. When we prayed, God told us to return to Ghana, and we did so. Sadly, my wonderful affectionate, funny, kind brother joined the Lord he had served for so long on Wednesday November 17, 2021.

I write these words in tears. I realize that I have barely scratched the surface. But I want those who read this to remember that we are never promised all the time we want with our loved ones. TELL THOSE WHOM YOU LOVE THAT YOU LOVE THEM WHILE YOU CAN! MAKE THAT PHONE CALL! SEND THAT E-MAIL OR MESSAGE! TAKE THE TIME WHILE YOU CAN! ONE DAY YOU MAY BE LEFT WITH NOTHING BUT MEMORIES. MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE NOT LEFT WITH REGRETS!!!

Deuteronomy 12: 1 – 9 “These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess. Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place. You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way.

Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go. To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks. There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

You are not to do as we are doing here today, where everyone does what seems right in his own eyes. For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Idols! The Promised Land is chock full of them! Over the years, the idols and altars have proliferated to the point that there is practically no high mountain or even a high hill that does not have some kind of altar or sacred pillar or Asherah pole. In a land where green trees are not always common, any large tree is also likely to shelter some kind of worship center in its shade.

Why is God demanding that the Israelites destroy all these worship places, and not only destroy the altars, the pillars, and the Asherah poles, but wipe things out so completely that even the very names of the local gods will be forgotten?

Evil attaches itself in any way that it can. These worship places have been used to serve demons and merely destroying the physical objects of worship will not rout the demons. God wants the Israelites to destroy and deface these places of demonic worship so completely that in the future, nobody will even remember that horrible sacrifices or fertility rites took place there.

APPLICATION: “Why does that baobab tree have white material tied around it?” we asked our friends. It was 1993 and we had just moved into our small northern Ghanaian village. On the way in, we had noticed a number of baobab trees with white material tied around them. Our friends explained that these were fetish trees and that the white material was an offering to the fetish represented by that particular tree. As time went on, we learned that there were small fetish shrines in several parts of our village. We also learned that just because a tree was cut down, did not mean that the demons that had attached themselves to that location were gone. One veteran missionary couple told of a field director for their mission who was fine until he moved into a mission house next to a fetish shrine. Suddenly this man became a petty tyrant, making some irrational decisions and even driving some missionaries off the field by his erratic behavior. In another case, a particular location in a northern Ghanaian town was the site of several terrible accidents. When we inquired, we learned that formerly there was a fetish tree on that corner. While the tree had been destroyed, nobody had prayed to cleanse the area spiritually to rout the demons.

The Sentinel Group (https://www.sentinelgroup.org/) has some of the best material in both videos and books on the spiritual transformations that have taken place when communities have come together to pray. This group also has excellent material on spiritual mapping and prayer walking.

Dean Sherman, who teaches on Spiritual Warfare for Youth With A Mission, states that “there is more power in one drop of the blood of Jesus than in all the forces of hell.” While that statement is quite correct, we should also not be stupid or lazy and assume the area in which we live is a spiritual demilitarized zone.

Ephesians 6:12 – 18 tells us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

God wanted the Israelites to destroy every evidence of the demonic pagan religions and then wait for Him to select a safe location at which they could worship. But above all else, God did NOT want His people doing “whatever was right in their own eyes.” When we choose to go off on our own, rather than waiting for God to guide us, we will get into deep trouble spiritually.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Please help everyone who reads these words to take them to heart. Help them to realize that You want to protect us from evil but that we must follow You and not our own instincts. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 11:26 – 32 “See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse— a blessing if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. Are not these mountains across the Jordan, west of the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh?

For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. When you possess and settle it, be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.”

Sometimes reading Exodus through Deuteronomy seems a bit repetitious. Throughout these books of the Bible, God keeps laying out clear choices for the Israelites: untold blessings if they follow Him and His Word or terrible curses if they do not. Why does God keep repeating Himself? The point is simple: people are slow learners and they would rather choose the easy and expedient than the difficult and rewarding.

 “Delayed gratification” is not a term that has ever been very popular. The religion that God is establishing for the Israelites is one that demands self control, obedience, and constancy. There are daily patterns of worship, plus set festivals at particular times of the year. The patterns of worship are designed to help the Israelites remember Who their God is and the greatness of His Power and Majesty. The focus of this worship is God- centered; men are to worship God, to love Him and serve Him for His Goodness. God is promising that when men worship Him, He will bless them.

Most pagan religions also demand festivals and sacrifices, and there are curses for failing to take part in these celebrations. The focus of these sacrifices and festivals is to manipulate the deity into granting the wishes of the people. There is no emphasis on love for these gods, only fear that if they are not propitiated, crops will fail, women will die in childbirth, etc. Failure to appear at a festival at the correct time of the year is alleged to bring terrible curses on the person and their family.

APPLICATION: “What do these marks on this woman’s abdomen mean?” I asked one of our nurses. The year was 1993, and I had recently come to our remote village to work as a doctor. The pregnant lady in question had a series of scars radiating from her umbilicus. “Oh,” the nurse replied, “those marks are a form of magic to help the lady give birth easily.” That was my first time of seeing scarifications; however, I soon became used to the practice. In the ensuing months I learned to identify sickle cell patients by scars over their joints. One small child with seizures from malaria came in with a fresh 2 cm wound below the left eye. The parents had made the wound and had rubbed ashes in it to stop the seizures. Hernia sufferers reported with fresh marks on the skin overlying their hernias.

One pastor friend bearing the name of a traditional god defied his family when he became a Christian, refusing to return home to attend the festivals for that particular god. Other Christian friends have refused to sacrifice to traditional family shrines. For non – Christians, traditional beliefs may cause them to do strange things. This combination of manipulation and fear is very powerful but also something about which people are unwilling to talk.

For the ancient Israelites, God established a religion that would help shape them into a holy nation and a light to those around them. It was never God’s purpose merely to bless Israel but to cause others to see how blessed a nation could be when they followed the One True Living God. In every generation, there were those Israelites who were observant and who were blessed. There were others who went through the motions but whose hearts were not in it.

The question for us today is this: where are our hearts? God still blesses those who will love Him and serve Him. But when we refuse to love or serve God, we remove ourselves from those blessings. What are the blessings God gives? Galatians 5:222 – 23 tells us, “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Those of us who worship and trust the One True Living God may go through terrible trials. But no matter what happens to us, we still have spiritual blessings. And ultimately, we will have the biggest prize of all: “the peace of God that passes all understanding will keep (our) hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to realize that we gain immeasurably when we seek Your perfect will for our lives and then follow it. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 11:18 – 25 “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates, so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers.

For if you carefully keep all these commandments I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him— then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you. Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours. Your territory will extend from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea. No man will be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the fear and dread of you upon all the land, wherever you set foot, as He has promised you.”

Make no mistake! God knows that people have lousy memories! To help the Israelites remember God’s commandments, God wants them to literally bind small containers on their arms and their foreheads and on the doorposts of their homes and on their gates. The Israelites are to post God’s commandments in so many places that they will always be within sight of them. And God wants the Israelites to constantly remember these commandments, discuss them with one another, and to teach them to their children. If the Israelites will only follow orders, they will be blessed beyond all measure. They will even get to claim every bit of ground that they walk on, wherever they go, and all the nations around them will fall before them.

 This passage is part of the basis for the wearing of Tefillin, the containers pictured above. Many observant Jewish worshipers still wear the Tefillin when praying. The container for the commandments is called a mezuzah and is found at the entrances to many Jewish homes.

Why wear tefillin or have mezuzahs? If someone truly loves God, they will delight to keep His commandments. Tefillin and mezuzahs can serve as reminders of God’s love, His grace, and His mercy. At the same time, if these things are used mechanically, they are meaningless and may even be viewed more as charms than as acts of obedience.

 APPLICATION: Although the tefillin and mezuzahs are used by many observant Jews today, most Christians do not use them. But the driving idea behind these memory aids is one of respect, awe, and obedience to the One True Living God who is truly the Lord God of the Universe.

God is more concerned about our heart attitudes than anything else. If God tells us to do something, do we obey or do we argue?

We were preparing to return to Ghana on November 8, 2021, when we learned that my brother Rus had been stricken with COVID pneumonia. We immediately prayed, asking God whether we should remain in America or return to Ghana as scheduled. God ordered us to return to Ghana. Over the next several days, we maintained close contact with Rus’s family. At first the news was hopeful; however, a few days ago, Rus took a turn for the worse. Sadly, my brother died on November 17, 2021.

When we prayed, we could have argued with God. We could have marshal led all kinds of reasons why we needed to remain in America. But the mission hospital where we work needed my services as a doctor. I could do very little for my brother, apart from praying. I could pray just as well from Ghana as I could from America. And Christmas is coming; at Christmas time our hospital is one of the few in our area to have doctors at post.

Am I sad at my brother’s passing? Of course. I was very close to Rus and we loved each other dearly. But we made sure that we told him we loved him and demonstrated that while we were with him. Rus was a dedicated Christian and we know that he is now with Jesus. We have the promise of the resurrection and the hope of eternal life.

My brother was many things, but among others, he was a gifted Bible teacher. There is no finer thing I can do for my brother’s memory than to continue to write these Bible studies.

Should you wear tefillin? Not necessarily. But there’s nothing wrong with posting Bible verses around your house, particularly if you are trying to memorize them. And most importantly, write those verses in your heart and mind so that you will always have them available.

God promises that those who study His Word will be blessed. Why not get those blessings for yourself?

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Thank You for the life of my brother Rus and for all who follow hard after You. Help us to study Your Word and to hide it in our hearts. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 11: 8 – 17 “You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden. But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven. It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.

So if you carefully obey the commandments I am giving you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil. And I will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied.

But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods, or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.”

Strength to possess the land and long life to enjoy God’s blessings – these are the promises God is making to those who will keep every commandment that He is giving. The verses that follow are some of the loveliest descriptions of country ever given; they practically sing all by themselves.

“a land flowing with milk and honey” For milk to be plentiful, there must be extensive amounts of grazing available for cows, goats, and sheep; otherwise, they won’t give milk at all. In ancient times, people gathered wild honey rather than keeping bees. For the honey to flowing in huge quantities, there must be lots of wild flowers and rain to sustain them.

“For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden. But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven. It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.”

The flooding of the Nile and irrigation – these were the two main sources of water for crops in Egypt. The Egyptians worshiped the Nile as a deity because they believed that the Nile gave them new soil each time it flooded. (https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Hapi_(Nile_god) Even in ancient Egypt there were irrigation canals in the narrow green belt that surrounded the Nile River. It was in these flat places that both the Egyptians and the Israelites lived.

In this passage, God is making a distinction between the life the Israelites have known in Egypt and the life they will live in the Promised Land. This new land “is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven.” The Israelites are going to depend on rainy seasons for their water, and they must depend on the Lord to send them rains. “It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.” God is promising to watch over their land continually. There are few more beautiful promises than this one. But there are conditions.

So if you carefully obey the commandments I am giving you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil. And I will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied.

But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods, or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.”

In Egypt, the Nile would flood every years whether or not the Egyptians were faithful to their gods. But in the Promised Land, the Israelites must rely on God for their rains. If the Israelites prove faithful, God pledges to bless them abundantly, but if they are faithless, the rains will cease, famine will come, and the Israelites will be exterminated.

APPLICATION: The scenery may have changed, but one fact remains the same: If we want God to bless us, we must first learn what He wants by studying His Word, follow His commands, and worship Him “in spirit and in truth.”

We are God’s children, and God wants to give us good things. But when we turn our backs on God and worship ourselves, our professions, our achievements, our families, or any other created thing, we block our own blessings. So many times when things go wrong in our lives, we choose to blame God, even though we have ignored Him and have flouted His commandments. We are the sources of our own problems.

Many of us smoke too much, take too much alcohol, overeat, and fail to exercise, only to blame God when we develop health problems related to these abuses. We drive motorcycles and vehicles recklessly, only to blame God when we are injured in accidents. God does not promise to shield us from every bad thing that might happen in our lives; however, God cannot bless us when we are going in the wrong direction.

Today, find a quiet place and then pray, asking God to show you what He wants you to do with your life. God promises that if we ask for wisdom, He will give it. Eventually, the Israelites did get evicted from the Promised Land, only to return after many years. But those sufferings were not God’s perfect will; had the Israelites remained faithful to God, He would have blessed them just as He promised.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives. Thank You that when we follow You faithfully, You will bless us. Help us to realize that every good thing in our lives comes only from You and from no other source. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 11:1 – 7 “You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.

Know this day that it is not your children who have known and seen the discipline of the LORD your God: His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm; the signs and works He did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land; what He did to the Egyptian army and horses and chariots when He made the waters of the Red Sea engulf them as they pursued you, and how He destroyed them completely, even to this day; what He did for you in the wilderness until you reached this place; and what He did in the midst of all the Israelites to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that belonged to them. For it is your own eyes that have seen every great work that the LORD has done.”

Moses is still giving a recap to the second generation of Israelites about the great things that God has done throughout the journey through the wilderness. If the Israelites had trusted God in the first place, they would not have spent 40 years wandering in the desert, but they would have entered the Promised Land swiftly. In these verses Moses is reminding the Israelites of the things that he told their parents. It was the parents of this generation who witnessed the plagues of Egypt and who walked through the Red Sea on dry land. It was those same people who watched as Pharaoh’s army was wiped out, consumed by the flood waters.

Moses moves on to describe other signs and wonders the Israelites have witnessed, including the time when the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan and Abiram and their entire households. Why is Moses recounting all these things?

It’s tough to believe, but the Israelites really seem to have lousy memories! Events that would have already become legends to the tribes surrounding them have left these people curiously unmoved. It’s difficult to understand how anyone can possibly have witnessed even one of the plagues or one of the other miracles without being impressed for the rest of their lives. Moses is trying to remind the Israelites because they NEED to remember. Those signs and wonders are going to be part of the fabric of the Jewish religion from this time to eternity.

APPLICATION: Many times we wish fervently that we could see even one small miracle, just something that would encourage us in our faith. But are we really looking for miracles or are we expecting God to hit us in the head with something?

Recent archaeological discoveries suggest that in fact Pharaoh’s army actually was wiped out. Throughout the desert, camp sites of the ancient Israelites have been discovered. Even the manna has its basis in fact, although creating enough manna to feed two million people would definitely qualify as a miracle. But what miracles do we see?

As a physician, I am continually amazed at the miraculous workings of the human body. There is no part of the body that is not highly complex. Each time I operate, I wonder again at the beauty of the tissues I am handling, and I beg God to help me restore His handiwork as much as possible.

Want demonstrations of power? Tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, tsunamis, lightning storms all show the power of God and the inability of men to control nature. Even if you consider something as simple as a single leaf from any tree, the more you study it, the more magnificent it is.

“But,” you argue, ”these things are merely natural phenomena.” These things are only natural in that they are found in nature; however, to ignore the God who has created them is to be spiritually blind.

Despite Moses’ best efforts, the Israelites repeatedly turned their backs on God and ignored His wonders, His goodness, and His grace. In the end, they paid a terrible price for doing so. God is still looking for those who will love Him and who will appreciate His magnificent creations. The choice is ours. We can choose the artificial, the stimulating, the tantalizing things men have created, burying our noses in our electronic gadgets. Or we can look outside ourselves and see God’s wonders, then love and worship Him. The choice is ours; however, one way leads to spiritual death and the other to eternal life. Choose wisely.

APPLICATION: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to appreciate Your miraculous creation and to worship You. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.