Michael Ford

3 yrs

Days of Praise
A Keeper at All Times
by Charles C. "Chas" Morse, M.C.Ed. | Jun. 29, 2022

“He that keepeth thee will not slumber.” (Psalm 121:3)

Everyone needs that one person who “has your back,” especially in times of calamity. But who is equipped to fill this keeper role unilaterally and compassionately “by day [or] by night” (Psalm 121:6)?

The Hebrew word for “keeper” found in Psalm 121 is šāmar, meaning to guard or keep watch. David directs believers to look to that one Person who holds us fast, keeping watch over us. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD [Yahweh], which made heaven and earth” (v. 1). As pilgrims journeyed to Jerusalem to attend major temple feasts, they would sing and meditate on this Ascent Psalm, reminding themselves that their help came only from the Creator of the universe—Yahweh!

But this psalm is not just for David and these pilgrims. David changed the personal pronouns “I” and “my” in the first two verses to “thee” and “thy” in verses 3-8. David’s keeper is every believer’s keeper! All believers have Yahweh’s protection, underscored by His “keeping role” being repeated six times in the next five verses.
“He that keepeth thee will not slumber” (v. 3).
“Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (v. 4).
“The LORD is thy keeper” (v. 5).
“The LORD shall [keep] thee from all evil” (v. 7a).
“He shall [keep] thy soul” (v. 7b).
“The LORD shall [keep] thy going out and thy coming in” (v. 8a).
Believer, be assured we have an eternal keeper “from this time forth, and even for evermore” (v. 8b). CM

3 yrs

Days of Praise
Christ the King
by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. | Apr. 27, 2022

“But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.” (Luke 19:14)

In this parable, the nobleman who had gone into a far country to receive his kingdom is a picture of Christ in the interim between His first and second comings. The “citizens” of His Kingdom, however, refuse His Kingship. Nevertheless, He is the King, and when He returns, those “enemies, which would not that I should reign over them” (v. 27) will be slain. How much better to accept Him now!

The first title ascribed to Him was “King of the Jews” (Matthew 2:2). Long before that, however, He was King of creation. “For God is the King of all the earth,...a great King above all gods....The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land” (Psalm 47:7; 95:3, 5).

He is also King of redemption, providing salvation for the world He created. “For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth” (Psalm 74:12). “[The Father] hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

He is not only King of all the worlds, but also King of all the ages. He is “my King of old” and also “King for ever” (Psalm 10:16). He is “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God” (1 Timothy 1:17).

He is “King of saints” (Revelation 15:3), the “LORD of hosts, my King, and my God” (Psalm 84:3). Indeed, He is “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15). Therefore, let His citizens say: “Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever” (Revelation 5:13). HMM

4 yrs

Days of Praise
He Who Made the Stars
by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. | Mar. 17, 2022

“Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name.” (Amos 5:8)

This striking exhortation is inserted in the midst of a prophetic rebuke by God of His people Israel. They were rapidly drifting into pagan idolatry, and Amos was trying to call them back.

His exhortation, given almost 2,800 years ago, is more needed today than it ever was before. Modern pagan scientists have developed elaborate but absurdly impossible theories about the chance origin of the universe from nothing, and the evolution of stars, planets, and people from primordial hydrogen. But the mighty cosmos and its galaxies of stars—even the very constellations, such as Orion and the Pleiades (the “seven stars”), as well as the solar system—were made. All of these had to be made by an omniscient, omnipotent Creator, who certainly had a glorious purpose for it all.

Similarly, the global evidences that waters once covered all the earth’s mountains (i.e., marine fossils and water-laid sediments at their summits) cannot possibly be explained—as evolutionary geologists try to do—by slow processes acting over eons of time. God, the Creator, had to call massive volumes of water forth from their original reservoirs and pour them out on the earth in His Flood judgment on a rebellious world.

All of these witness to the fact of creation and judgment, not to impotent “gods” personifying natural forces. Men urgently need to seek the true God of creation and salvation before judgment falls again, for “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). HMM

4 yrs

Love and the Heart
by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. | Feb. 14, 2022

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

According to Jesus, this is “the great commandment of the law” and this is also the first verse in the New Testament to associate “love” and the “heart.” This “love,” of course, is not romantic love (the Greek word for that love is never used in the New Testament at all), but the divine type of love (Greek agape), as in “God so loved the world.”

The “heart” (Greek kardia, from which come such English words as cardiology) is mentioned often in the Bible, but almost never means the actual physical organ. It refers to the emotional and spiritual components of man’s nature—“the hidden man of the heart” (1 Peter 3:4). We use “heart” for the same purposes in English. Just how this particular date came to celebrate the heart as a symbol of romantic love and to be called Valentine’s Day is uncertain. There were various emperors, popes, and religious leaders named Valentine in the early history of Christendom, including two Roman Catholics designated as Saint Valentine. In any case, Christians should remember that true Christian agape love should be manifested in our lives every day of the year. To that end, “see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1 Peter 1:22). True Christian love can only be expressed out of a heart that has been made pure. As Paul wrote young Timothy, “Now the end of the commandment is charity [that is, agape love] out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned” (1 Timothy 1:5).

And remember that, first of all, we must “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment” (Mark 12:3. HMM

4 yrs

Days of Praise
Beware of Balaam
by Henry M. Morris, Ph.D. | Feb. 6, 2022

“O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.” (Micah 6:5)

Three New Testament writers have left us sober warnings concerning Balaam. Peter warned against “the way of Balaam”; Jude against “the error of Balaam”; and John against “the doctrine of Balaam” (2 Peter 2:15; Jude 1:11; Revelation 2:14). God evidently considers these warnings necessary and appropriate for Christians even today. Yet Balaam, in his day, was a genuine prophet (note 2 Peter 2:16), possessed great knowledge concerning God, and even received direct revelations from God. What, therefore, were his way, his error, and his doctrine?

“The way of Balaam” was a readiness to prostitute his high spiritual gifts and privileges for “the wages of unrighteousness” (v. 15); being willing to preach something contrary to God’s Word for personal gain.

“The error of Balaam” was evidently his willingness to compromise his own standards of morality and truth in order “greedily” to accommodate those of his pagan patrons (Jude 1:11). Finally, “the doctrine of Balaam,” which even in John’s day was already infiltrating the church, was to use his own teaching authority to persuade God’s people that it was all right for them also to compromise their standards, even “to commit fornication” (Revelation 2:14) with their idol-worshiping enemies.

The notoriously corrupt state of much that is counterfeiting true Christian ministry today is clear evidence that those warnings against “Balaam-ism” are still urgently needed. No wonder Micah (the faithful prophet) urged God’s people to “remember” Balaam and his tragic end (Numbers 31:8). HMM