Clinton Valley

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No Escape

We live in a day where many people are brainwashed by our society. They try to blot out of their minds any reference to the Gospel. But if they do think on their future, two things bring terror to the hearts of those who are wicked, and those two things are: the omnipresence and the immutability of God. God is everywhere and no matter how they try to ignore this, nothing they do escapes His attention. When we say God is immutable, we mean that God never changes. God will never condone sin nor look away from the sins of people. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. To us who know God these facts about Him are comforting, but to the lost, to those who snub their noses at God, they are frightening. How blessed we are to know the faithfulness of our God. To those who run from God, they find no escape route. Even death will never separate them from God’s judgment. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your Presence?” Psalm 139:17. To deny God, to block one’s mind from the reality of the Presence of God will be futile. How great is the need to spread the Gospel and pray for open hearts to hear and respond to it. D. Birr

The Stranger Among Us

“The man who enters the gate (of the shepherd) is the shepherd of the sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has brought out all of his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice”, John 10:2-4. What a beautiful picture of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus said: “I am the Good Shepherd”, John 10:11. Not only does He know His sheep by name but they know His voice. We are the sheep of His pasture and we must know His voice above all the voices of strangers among us. Then we must closely follow His leading and run away from any stranger’s voice that tries to take us away from the Truth that is only found in Christ. We know Who our Shepherd is; we know who we are; but who is the stranger? There are many voices out there that follow the leading of the enemy of our souls. These are voices of deception; voices that confuse the Truth and manipulate the Word of God to suit their purposes. These voices we as sheep run from because their voices are unrecognizable. These strangers are wolves seeking to attack and lead the sheep astray. We are to only follow the Good Shepherd Who laid down His life for the sheep. How protected we are when we only follow the voice of our Shepherd, “Who leads us daily in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake”, Psalm 23:3. D. Birr