Sound The Trumpet

Esther 1:1-6 Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:) (2) That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, (3) In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him: (4) When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days. (5) And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace; (6) Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.

Worldly people want to put on a good party. They want the party to be the best one anyone has ever been to. Sometimes, it even seems like people will put more work into having a good party than we put into serving God. Which is more important: serving God or a fancy party? Do you always do your best for God or is there something else you work on?

As the day draws to a close, I take a moment to reflect upon the state of our country. As I do on every Sunday, I was in church today exercising my right as an American Citizen to worship as I please. It is because the United States is a Christian nation that I can worship God. Because America is a Christian Nation, the Mormon can do what they do. And because America is a Christian nation, the Muslim can pray to whomever they pray to. Of all mainstream religions, it is only the Christian which is truly tolerant of others. If a Muslim is adherent to the teachings of their book, and that same Muslim is given the opportunity, that Muslim will try to force you to convert to Islam. This is not tolerance. It was an outgrowth of this very belief which led a group of Muslims to attack the United States of America on September 11, 2001. Their attack was a success on many fronts. Initially, we could all see thousands of people die. What we did not see on that day was the perpetual change of the face of America. We could spend hours talking about the numerous ways Americans have so willingly given up their privacy and their rights. Are we really any safer? No. More importantly, September 11, 2001 saw a great revival of the public naming of God. It was commonplace for people to spontaneously sing "God Bless America." It was equally common for people to invoke God's name in prayer. I wouldn't presume to believe that everyone who used God's name during those weeks was saved, but I believe God smiled as this great Christian nation seemed to turn toward Him. Sadly, it was not long before those calls to God were silent. What changed? We forgot we were in a war. No, not necessarily a war with Islam (though our country is at war with Muslim aggression), but in a war with powers and principalities we cannot see. More importantly, we are in a war which no amount of missiles or bombs can fight, let alone win. We are engaged in spiritual warfare and we, as a nation can only win if God is on our nation's side.

2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Yes, this verse does specifically apply to the nation of Israel, but we must remember that we, as Christians, are adopted children. If we, as a nation, will humble ourselves, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways God will hear our cries -- God will hear from us in Heaven. As long as we, as a nation, embrace the enemy, God will not smile upon us and we will be vulnerable for another calamity.

For personal reasons, I have been working toward regaining a certification I once held. In the process of regaining that certification, I must take (and pass) Anatomy and Physiology. In this case, I am taking the equivalent of two semesters of college-level A&P in four weeks. My brain hurts every time I think about all that I must retain to pass this class. However, so far, the class has been quite exciting. I expected the class to be memorizing which bones were where, the names of various muscle groups, etc. When this class started, I was shocked to see that our study would begin on the molecular level then progress to the cellular level. As we have progressed, I am learning just how wonderfully our bodies are assembled and how skillful our creator had to be. I had never considered the complexity of the simple cell. We all studied cellular construction in middle and high school. However, I do not recall ever learning anything to this depth about the cellular biology and human anatomy.

Ge 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Ge 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

The time will shortly come when we will be studying which muscle is where, what each bone is called and so on. But now, I am simply amazed at the intricacy of cellular anatomy and the glory of God revealed through our very construction. Anyone who spends any time at all studying the human body (or any animal) must see the hand of a Supreme Creator. Anyone who denies that Supreme creator is willingly ignorant.