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Faith Fellowship Church of the Lutheran Brethren • May/June 2015 • Vol. 82, No. 3 Opposition The Light Shines in the Darkness www.ffmagazine.org In This Issue At the Intersection of 4 Via Dolorosa and Wall Street Randall E. Davey FF Faith and Family FAITH & FELLOWSHIP 6 Doug Lindgren Volume 82 - Number 3 artJazz/iStock/Thinkstock” Captured by Bandits Juline R. Kilen Director of Communications/ 8 Publisher/Graphic Designer: Troy Tysdal CLB [email protected] Editor: Brent Juliot [email protected] F cusROY HEGGLAND Cover Photo: 2015 Women’s Event Scanrail/iStock/Thinkstock” Saturday, July 11 – Minot, ND 11 abadonian/iStock/Thinkstock” All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY Opposition to Blessed are BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL God’s Mission the Hungry VERSION®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 12 Joy Mathiesen 18 Dan Venberg 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used Promises Fulfilled CLB News by permission of Zondervan. All rights 14 Bob Heggestad 19 reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International LB Homes: 100 Years... re:Think Version” are trademarks registered in 16 and Counting! 20 Brent Juliot the United States Patent and Trademark John Zwiers IngramPublishing/ModelReleased/Thinkstock” Office by Biblica, Inc.™ Quiet Moments Take God seriously! He hates sin with a perfect hatred. We who sin cannot escape The Wrath of God God’s wrath. H.E. WISLØFF What shall we do? Only one thing–flee to Jesus. He is our God’s Word speaks often about his wrath. We, however, substitute. God’s wrath smote him. He seldom speak of it. But the wrath of God is a reality and died for us. And the one who in faith flees shall be revealed in all its terror on the “day of wrath.” Rigmor Dahl Delphin/Oslo Museum to him will be saved from wrath. God’s wrath indicates his terrible and holy wrath against sin. He must judge sin regardless of who the sinner is. God’s Hans Edvard Wisløff (1902—1969) was a Norwegian theologian and writer. wrath will smite all ungodliness and unrighteousness of He was also the Bishop of the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland from 1959 until his death in 1969. men. Ungodliness signifies that a person does not reckon seriously with God and therefore makes him a nonentity. The CLB Prayer Team is on call to pray for requests from our family of churches. We know his will which is revealed in the law. But the E-mail: [email protected] ungodly do not heed God, and will not do what he requires. The ungodly do not fear God. 2 Faith & Fellowship Glimpse Fight the Good Fight TROY TYSDAL In 1975 a struggling young screenwriter named Sylvester Stallone bought a ticket to a theater in Los Angeles. That evening the theater was broadcasting a boxing match between the Bayonne Brawler, Chuck Wepner, and The Greatest, Muhammad Ali. To coin an overused, and often abused, sports analogy… It was David vs. Goliath. Muhammad Ali was the World Heavyweight Champion with a record of 45 wins and 2 losses. Chuck Wepner was Geribody/iStock/Thinkstock” a big tough guy, but many questioned his easy. The Apostle Paul called Satan the that the fight was won, but Ali would right to be in the ring with Muhammad god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). The not listen. He wanted to destroy Wepner! Ali. His record was 30 wins, 9 losses, and world clings to ideals, hopes and goals With nineteen seconds left in the match 2 draws. He basically lost one in every that are contrary to those of Christ. And Ali caught Chuck with a big right hand four fights he fought. Publicly Wepner if we live out our faith we quickly find that ended the fight! was confident, but behind the scenes he ourselves at odds with this world and on a This might seem like a strange was apprehensive. He just wanted to put collision course with the god of this age. illustration for our battle against Satan, on a good show, to prove he belonged in Satan would have us internalize our faith, sin, and death, but I think it works. the ring with The Greatest, Muhammad shrink back, and remain silent, but we are You see, we are not called to win the Ali. called to endure, to overcome, to keep fight, or even to finish the fight. Jesus In the early rounds Wepner went on the moving forward, to fight the good fight of won the fight at the cross! We are simply attack while Ali rested against the ropes, faith no matter what the cost. called to fight the good fight, to keep verbally taunting him and occasionally We are not asked to defeat the giant, and moving forward until our final breath. landing a big jab. With each shot, that’s a good thing, because the giants we When Sylvester Stallone went home he Wepner would stagger back, regain his face in this life don’t always stay down. was inspired to rewrite Chuck Wepner’s composure, and start moving forward As Muhammad Ali lay flat on his back, story and he created the character of again. In the seventh round Ali ramped Chuck Wepner turned to his corner and Rocky Balboa. If you remember the up his assault and cut Chuck over the left said to his manager, “Get the car, we’re movie, Rocky is standing when the final eye. But Chuck kept coming, pursuing going to the bank.” His manager replied, bell rings. the Champ around the ring. “You’d better turn around! He’s getting As Stallone rewrote Chuck Wepner’s In the ninth round, the unthinkable up, and he looks mad!” story, so Jesus Christ will rewrite yours. happened. Muhammad Ali threw a jab, Over the next five rounds, Ali unleashed Fight the good fight of faith, keep Wepner stepped under it and connected a physical assault on Wepner as brutal as moving forward, and you will receive a with a big right hand below Ali’s heart. any beating he had ever given out. Ali crown that will last forever, in a kingdom The giant, Muhammad Ali, staggered had been embarrassed and he wanted that will have no end! back and fell flat. to punish Chuck. He started throwing punches from every angle, but Wepner Rev. Troy Tysdal is Director of Communications and Prayer for the Church of the Lutheran JOHN 15:18-19 would not go down. He cut Chuck over Brethren and serves as publisher of Faith & Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep the right eye, but Wepner kept coming! Fellowship magazine. in mind that it hated me first. If you He broke his nose, but Wepner kept belonged to the world, it would love you moving forward, fighting the good fight! as its own. As it is, you do not belong to At the end of the 14th round the crowd FF the world, but I have chosen you out of stood and gave Wepner a standing the world.” ovation. Visit Faith & Fellowship online at: www.faithandfellowship.org Entering the 15th and final round, Ali Being a Christian in this world is not was told by his manager to stay back, www.ffmagazine.org 3 TaraBird/iStock/Thinkstock” At the Intersection of Via Dolorosa and Wall Street RANDALL E. DAVEY t was warm without being too warm Woodstock aura as up to 500 protesters runaway teens and gawkers. I was in lower Manhattan on Columbus made Zuccotti their home. A few numbered among the latter. Unshaven Day, 2011. I was in the city for a two- musicians—who odiferously appeared since the Friday prior, I stood on the Iday meeting at 7 Hanover Street, not far to be protesting soap—strummed guitars sidewalk, separated from the majority from Wall Street’s bronze Charging Bull and whispered lyrics as though they were by a temporary barrier erected by the and Zuccotti Park. The DoubleTree hotel, alone in an unfurnished apartment. Others police, whose presence was formidable. my temporary quarters, was an easy walk stood in groups, while some walked My wrinkled jeans, untucked shirt and just to the east. Zuccotti Park was ground the perimeter of the park, intermittently Nikes must have made me appear to zero for Occupy Wall Street, the genesis shouting to passersby. The stench of those congregating in the park as “one of of which was a proposal launched by two marijuana was ever present and street them.” Canadians on a nondescript website. In artists entertained with acrobatics. In time, I decided to go among them their judgment, the best place to protest They were a motley crew, these and I talked to several. When asked social and economic inequality was New protesters—chanting “We are the 99%!” what he was protesting, one chap said, York’s financial district and the rest, as and bearing placards blasting corporate “McDonald’s, man—they don’t use real they say, is history. greed and privilege. Some were clearly meat in their patties.” Another said he’d It was a big deal, really, and the park professional activists, others unemployed arrived just that morning from Boston, a consisting of one small block took on a locals, with a healthy mix of homeless, serial activist of sorts. A few to whom I 4 Faith & Fellowship “Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.” Philippians 1:27 spoke seemed too stoned to know where bread and wine at the table of the Lord.