REFLECTION
F or this month’s Reflection, let’s go to
another Old Testament account that
involves Moses and the Chosen People
wandering in the desert. Last month we
studied the golden calf and the power of
Moses’ intercession to spare the people. We
saw how our intercession, too, is very
powerful and can turn God’s righteous
anger away from individuals and nations.
This time we go to the Book of Numbers,
Chapter 21: “They traveled from Mount Hor
along the route to the Red Sea, to go around
Edom. But the people grew impatient on the
way; they spoke against God and against
Moses, and said, ‘Why have you brought us
out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no
bread! There is no water! And we detest this
miserable food!’ Then the Lord sent
venomous snakes among them; they bit the
people and many Israelites died. The people
came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we
spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray
that the Lord will take the snakes away from
us. So Moses prayed for the people. The
Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it
up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at
it and live.’ So Moses made a bronze snake
and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone
was bitten by a snake and
looked at the bronze snake, he
lived.” We know from the
Book of Genesis that Satan
appeared to Adam and Eve in
the form of a serpent, a snake.
He did not bite them literally,
but he might just as well
have; he tempted our first parents and they
gave in to the temptation and ate the fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil –
they deliberately disobeyed God, their loving
God who had made them in His image and
likeness and who walked among them
intimately in the garden. So, sin bit Adam
and Eve, they were expelled from the
garden, and mankind was inflicted with the
poison of original sin from the moment of
conception. This had the effect of not only
making Satan the prince of this world but it
also closed the gates to the Kingdom of
Heaven. Now, during the forty years that
the Chosen People wandered in the desert in
preparation for their entering the Promised
Land, the Land of Canaan, a snake
reappears – this time highly poisonous
snakes who lived in the desert and who came
to the camp of the people and began biting
them and killing many. Why? Because once
again the people sinned. They rebelled
against God and against Moses and
complained bitterly about their living
conditions, even though God had
miraculously provided food and water for
them. So, God struck them down by sending
the snakes among them. It must have been a
horrible sight – hundreds, probably
thousands, of serpents entering the
enormous camp, slithering among campsites,
into tents, and striking person after person
with poison-filled fangs. Screams filled the
air, people ran to escape, but many, many
fell where they were and died from the
venom. So, once again the people cried out
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to Moses and begged him to intervene with
God. They admitted their sin and asked for
God’s mercy and pardon. This time God
responds to Moses’ intercession by giving
him a strange order: He told Moses to erect
a pole, to fashion a bronze serpent, and to
place it on the pole. He then had Moses tell
the people to look at the pole when they were
bitten, and they would get well, they would
not die from the venom coursing through
their bodies. This probably seemed an odd
thing to do; but Moses obeyed. And it
worked. What Moses did not realize when
this happened and when he later wrote it
down in the Book of Numbers, was that this
was a highly prophetic event. Think about it
with me: The serpents represent Satan and
his demonic forces. The venom represents
sin, both original sin and actual sin. The
pole – ah, the pole – represents the Cross!!
But wait!! What about the serpent on the
Cross? Surely a serpent cannot represent
the crucified Son of God, the Messiah who
would come fifteen hundred years later or
so? Here is what I believe is the answer to
this puzzle: Jesus is the Messiah; but His
coming was a reality far beyond what even
the most devout Jew could imagine. He was
not just a man raised up among men for a
Messianic role. No, He was the Second
Person of the Blessed Trinity who took on a
human nature and a human body when He
was miraculously conceived by the Holy
Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. So,
though He was sinless, though He did not
have original sin because He was not
conceived in the normal way and therefore
did not have original sin passed on to Him,
He nevertheless had a human body and a
human nature and was subject to
temptation, to hunger and thirst, to fatigue,
to everything that we are subject to except
sin. So, the analogy of the serpent changes
when that bronze snake was placed on the
pole; it became a representation of the Son
of God, bleeding, suffering, thirsting and
dying on the Cross at Golgotha. And when
we gaze at Him, when we turn to Him, when
we cry out to Him, we now have the
awesome gift of having original sin taken
away, of having our natures restored to their
pristine beauty, and of having the Kingdom
of Heaven open once more to us. But there
is an application beyond us: As intercessors,
brothers and sisters, we are called to plead
for God’s mercy on the lost, on our
communities, our nation and on the entire
world. The venom of sin is rampant all
around us – and we, too, sin, but we know to
look at Jesus, to repent and to have our sins
forgiven – and people are getting bitten,
people are dying, our nation is weakening
and perhaps even tottering because of its
turning away from God by so many. I
firmly believe that the “signs of the times”
around us are no accidents: The rising
prices and the weakening economy, the
increasing immorality and Godlessness, the
turning to and the glorification of the self,
the immigration problems which seem to
include the desire by many to accept illegal
immigration on the same par as the legal
immigration that has brought millions to our
shores and at the same time an ignoring of
the desperate plight of many who are coming
here illegally, an almost frenzied presidential
race, the continuing threat of terrorism
coming to our land again, wars and rumors
of wars, droughts and floods, hunger around
the world and in our own nation and rapidly
increasing food prices, and it goes on and on.
I truly believe that God is trying to get our
attention, trying to tell us that we cannot
solve these
problems on our
own but that we
need Him and that
we must fall to our
knees and on our
faces and seek
Him. We must
look to the Cross,
and to the
Resurrected and
Risen Lord. This,
folks, is the
urgency of the call
to intercession, to repentance, to
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thanksgiving for His love and mercy, and to
adoration of Him as the Creator and Lord of
all. We need to get to 24/7 prayer! And to 7-
8 deep in 24/7 prayer! If you are an UP
member, your time of prayer is precious and
critically important. If you are a friend of
UP, your prayerful support is urgently
needed. Please commit to an hour, or more,
or recommit; please encourage others to join
the UP Team; please work with other prayer
groups so that we may all join in this urgent
work of prayer. The venom is sin; the
antidote is God’s grace; the chosen
methodology by God is the prayer of His
people.
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION
T he following is not a political
endorsement. It is a retelling of a
reported reflection of John McCain on the
Pledge of Allegiance: “As
you may know, I spent
five and one half years
as a prisoner of war
during the Vietnam
War. In the early
years of our
imprisonment, the NVA
kept us in solitary
confinement of two or three to a cell. In
1971 the NVA moved us from these
conditions of isolation into large rooms with
as many as 30 to 40 men in a room. This
was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change
and was a direct result of the efforts of
millions of Americans on behalf of a few
hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.
One of the men who moved into my room
was a young man named Mike Christian.
Mike came from a small town near Selma,
Alabama. He didn’t wear a pair of shoes
until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted
in the US Navy. He later earned a
commission by going to Officer Training
School. Then he became a Naval Flight
Officer and was shot down and captured in
1967. Mike had a keen and deep
appreciation of the opportunities this
Country and our military provide for people
who want to work and succeed. As part of
the change in treatment, the Vietnamese
allowed some prisoners to receive packages
from home. In some of these packages were
handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of
clothing. Mike got himself a bamboo needle.
Over a period of a couple of months, he
created an American flag and sewed it on
the inside of his shirt. Every afternoon,
before we had a bowl of soup, we would
hang Mike’s shirt on the wall of the cell and
say the Pledge of Allegiance. I know the
Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most
important of our day now, but I can assure
you that in that stark cell it was indeed the
most important and meaningful event. One
day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as
they did periodically, and discovered Mike’s
shirt with the flag sewn inside and removed
it. That evening they returned, opened the
door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of
us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next
couple of hours. We cleaned him up as well
as we could. Later, I looked in the corner of
the room, and there sitting beneath the dim
light bulb was Mike Christian, with a piece
of red cloth, a shirt and his bamboo needle
and making another American flag. His
eyes were almost shut from the beating he
had received. He was not making the flag
because it made him feel better; he was
making it because he knew how important it
was to us to be able to pledge our allegiance
to our flag and country.” There is much to
love about our country, the United States of
America; she needs our allegiance and she
needs our prayer.
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE – SORT OF
“M
y drug problem: I had a drug
problem when I was young. I was
drug to church on Sunday morning. I was
drug to church for weddings and funerals. I
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was drug to family reunions no matter the
weather. I was drug to the bus stop to go to
school every weekday. I was drug by my
ears when I was disrespectful to adults and
teachers. I was also drug to the woodshed
when I disobeyed my parents. Those drugs
are still in my veins today; they affect my
behavior in everything I do, say, and think.
They are stronger than cocaine, crack, or
heroin, and if today’s children had this kind
of drug problem, America would certainly
be a better place!”
MORE ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
A teacher asked the children in her
Sunday School class, “If I sold my
house and my car, had a big garage sale, and
gave all the money to the Church, would I
get into heaven?” They all answered,
“NO!!” “If I cleaned my church every day,
mowed its yard, and kept everything neat
and tidy, then would I get into heaven?”
“NO!!!” “Well,” she continued, “then how
can I get to heaven?” In the back of the
room, a five-year old boy shouted out, “YOU
GOTTA BE DEAD!!”
MORE KID STUFF ON THE LIGHTER
SIDE
A three-year old: “Our Father, who does
art in Heaven, Harold is His Name.
Amen.”…A Sunday School teacher asked if
anyone could recite the last of the Ten
Commandments. One little girl raised her
hand, stood tall and said, “Thou shalt not
take the covers off thy
neighbor’s wife.”…After the
christening of his baby brother
in church, little Jason sobbed all
the way home, in the back seat of
the car. His father kept asking
him what was wrong, and Jason finally
replied, “That preacher said he wanted us
brought up in a Christian home, and I
wanted to stay with you guys.”…More about
the Our Father from kids: “Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us some e-mail.
Amen.”…”And forgive us our trash baskets,
as we forgive those who put trash in our
baskets.”…A Sunday School teacher asked,
“Why is it necessary to be quiet in church?”
The reply from one little girl: “Because
people are sleeping.”…A six-year old girl
said to her four-year old brother, who was
giggling and talking out loud: “You’re not
supposed to be talking out loud in church.
See those men standing over there? They’re
hushers.”…A mother was at the beach with
her children. One of her young ones ran up
to her and pointed to a dead seagull lying on
the shore. “What happened?” “He died and
went to heaven.” “Did God throw him back
down??”…A mother was hosting a dinner
party. At the table, she turned to her six-
year old daughter and said, “Would you like
to say the blessing?” The little girl replied,
“I don’t know what to say.” Mom replied,
“Just say what you hear Mommy say.” Her
daughter bowed her head and said, “Lord,
why on earth did I invite all these people to
dinner?!”
MOTHERS’ DAY
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The preceding are in honor of all the
mothers reading this. Thank you for your
love and care!!
PRESIDENTIAL QUOTE
T he following is a quote from one of our
earliest Presidents, John Adams: “The
Christian religion, as I understand it, is the
brightness of the glory and the express
portrait of the character of the eternal, self-
existent, independent, benevolent, all
powerful and all merciful creator, preserver,
and father of the universe, the first good,
first perfect, and first fair. It will last as
long as the world. Neither savage nor
civilized man, without a revelation, could
ever have discovered or invented it. Ask me
not, then, whether I am a Catholic or a
Protestant, Calvinist or Arminian. As far as
they are Christians, I wish to be a fellow-
disciple with them all.”
THE CARING PEOPLE
T his is a Christian ministry to single
Moms, founded by Jodee Herschend.
In February, The Caring People treated
single Moms and their kids to an event
called “Circus of the King.” Afterwards,
they received a letter: “Dear Caring People:
My son, niece and I are very, very, very
thankful for allowing us to get to go to the
Clowns for Jesus show. My six-year old
niece accepted Christ as her Savior that
night. We thank you! Love, Michelle.”
UP TEAM MEMBER’S DREAM
O ne of our UP Team members – a
precious lady who takes multiple hours
every week – shared a dream she had, and
she gave me permission to share it here:
“My dream: “I had the need to go to a place
I have been before, a warehouse-type charity
place where you buy food at a very large
discount. They price the food as you sit
there, telling them what you need. They
always sit on the floor there, calculator/price
marker in hand, marking the deeply
discounted items as you order. This day, I
was there because I had been asked to cook a
meal for a group with some serious needs
and I knew that the warehouse was my best
hope for getting the amount of food I
needed. But, the warehouse only takes cash,
and the items were quickly adding up. I was
noticing a total developing which would
easily reach six hundred dollars plus, and I
would need that amount of cash. As the
kind, young woman sat on the floor,
feverishly pricing food items, I was
beginning to worry. I did not have this kind
of money with me. I was poised to beg for
mercy…Even now I feel very bad for leaving
that very patient, very hard-working young
lady sitting on the floor in my dream. I feel
apologetic to her, even in my waking time. I
wish I could go back and pay for the food, so
badly needed by all involved. End of dream.
God wants me to share, I realize, that He has
done one of the biggest ‘check-out’
calculations this life will ever present to us.
The need is greater than we could ever
fathom – people to be fed – and the bill is
entirely too high for us to pay. What God is
saying, dear friends, is for us to share Jesus,
the Bread of Life, with many.
Serve a meal, as it were, to the hungry
people we meet and do not know yet, and the
bill for the Food is going to be astronomical;
in fact, we can’t afford to pay for it. There is
simply not enough in our account to pay for
it. Romans 5:8 says this: ‘But God
commandeth his love toward us, in that,
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while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.’ Matthew 26:28: ‘For this is my Blood
of the New Testament, which shed for many
for the remission of sins.’ Jesus is like the
young woman in my dream. He is sitting
there, preparing my order, and I can’t pay
for it, even a little. We need ‘cash’ and the
amount is much too much for us to pay for.
Yet, we need it badly. Romans 12 tells us
what to do: Offer ourselves, our lives, which
is our reasonable service. We should not
hope that the best we can do is really the
best. God has so much more to offer and
there is more to Salvation than just the
words of a sinner’s prayer. We can’t afford
the bill, and we can’t hope to ‘feed’ others
unless we ‘buy’ the ‘Goods.’ Check out
Jesus. He has all the answers we need; He
has paid the bill in Blood and Love, and that
is no dream. There isn’t any way we can
offer to pay for life in eternity, unless we
check out Jesus and let Him pay the price.
What will WE do, today?? Ellen”
MEDICAL SECTOR
M any thanks to
Mary
Helen Jeruzal,
the Chaplain at
Skaggs Community
Health Center,
who is an UP
Team member
and who has
offered to take on
the role of the Prayer
Leader for the Medical Sector, now that
Jackie Hartman has gone to be with the
Lord.
KINGDOM BUILDER AWARD
E ach year during the Mayor’s Prayer
Breakfast in Branson, there is a
presentation of the Kingdom Builder Award,
to someone in our area who, from a
Christian perspective, has a servant’s heart
and is a servant leader. This year there were
co-winners, and both people won for the
exact same reason: They both have jobs in
the marketplace and they implement prayer
whenever they can. Barbara Brezavar is a
CRNA (Nurse Anesthetist) and is known for
her consistent praying for and with patients
and with staff. Brad Swofford is the
Principal of Branson Junior High School
and is known for his commitment to prayer
– including going into classrooms before
school begins and praying for students and
teachers. These are marvelous examples of
people being intercessors not just at home
and in church but finding ways to be people
of passionate prayer at work.
PRAYER MOBILIZATION
P lease pray for: An UP Team member,
for healing of marriage…Emily, little
girl in bad pain…Joe, who contemplated
suicide and all of the people ministered
today by Reflection of Christ ministry…A.
and all who are trying to quit smoking…
Richard, cancer…Upcoming Arab
Christian/Messianic Jewish Fellowship
convention, for radio Bible study programs,
and all people in the Middle East…Margo,
health and job…Mark Aldred, beginning
new show in Branson…Catherine, health
and direction and all her intentions,
including preparation for Veterans’ Week…
Tim Blacke, upcoming serious surgery,
overall health, and finances…John/Jan
Goldsberry, finances, direction, health…
Tom Fish and Merrilyn…Joan, surgery…
Lauree, direction…Shelly, direction…Josh,
job…Vassie and his ministry…Promise
Show, Sight & Sound, and all area shows…
Torchbearers and Cameroon, Africa…Kelli
Tennison, back…all spoken and unspoken
intentions.
God bless and keep you all! Peace.
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Bob Burton
331-1028.