Whose Robe Are You Wearing?
by Barrett Vanlandingham
(October 7 - 2008)
In my house growing up, it was always fun to put on a robe. Or, if I really wanted to have an adventure I would put on my mom’s robe, and transform into royalty, or Moses, Abraham, or even Jesus. Getting to carry a big stick to serve as my “rod or my staff” was a bonus that compounded the fun. Nobody but me really knew who I was pretending to be since the costumes for all my characters looked basically the same.
That wasn’t the case in 2 Kings 10:22. That’s where we read about how Jehu, the King of Israel at the time, tricked all the ministers of Baal (false god) into putting on robes. This action made them easily identifiable so Jehu could have them put to death.
King Jehu called together an assembly of all the people. He told them they were there for the purpose of holding a great sacrifice for Baal. Jehu said, “…Anyone who fails to come will no longer live.” When the temple was crowded, “full from one end to the other,” Jehu said to the keeper of the wardrobe, “Bring robes for all the ministers of Baal.” Then, after sending everyone away who was not a minister of Baal, Jehu ordered them to be slaughtered. The bodies were thrown out, the temple was demolished, and people after that used the temple site as a latrine.
So what does this mean to us? Things are not always as they appear. And sometimes, culture can even convince us to put on robes that identify us with the world even though we profess to side with God. In your spiritual battles, you have the choice everyday of putting on a robe that identifies you as being on the world’s side, or you can choose everyday to put on a robe that identifies you with God’s team. Evil forces in this world are very clever at disguising sinful activities as things that bring lasting joy. But the robe of sin will only weigh you down and lead toward spiritual death.
Sometimes, we think we can fool people as to which side we’re on. The fact is, most people are not fooled for long. The true color of your robe is usually revealed at some point in your life. And God is NEVER fooled.
Revelation 6:11 and 7:9 indicates that God can clearly distinguish those who have given-up their lives for the hope of life in heaven. They are the ones with white robes, washed in the blood of Jesus the Lamb. Are you washed in the blood of Jesus?
Acts 22:16 tells us the apostle Paul was baptized to wash his sins away. Romans 6:1-11 tells us that after you’re baptized, you can live a new life. Acts 2:36-47 says that three-thousand people were baptized for the forgiveness of sins, and that the “saved” were added to the church.
May God bless each of us with the wisdom to lay down our pride and do whatever God asks of us to be saved. Will your robe be white when God returns? (end)

Goliath’s Failure Gives Giant Lessons for Us Today
by Barrett Vanlandingham
(Fort Faith, September 16, 2008)

By all accounts, the fight between Goliath and David should have ended much differently than it did. When you read 1 Samuel 17 it is easy to see that a nine-feet tall Philistine warrior whose armor weighed 125 pounds, and whose iron spear-tip alone weighed 15 pounds should have not wound up flat on the ground with his head cut off. But that’s exactly what happened in spite of the fact that Goliath even had his own shield bearer who went out before him.
No one else besides a shepherd boy named David would even dare to fight Goliath. So, what happened? What went wrong? Well, a couple of things. Goliath was obviously in the habit of placing his confidence in none other than himself. He was arrogant, threatening, rude, and irreverent towards God’s people. For forty days, Goliath came out to taunt King Saul and the Israelites saying, “…Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us… This day I defy the ranks of Israel! (1 Sam. 8-10)…” After Goliath saw who was coming out to fight, he said, “:44 Come here… and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.”
The whole scene sounds pretty intimidating to me. But that didn’t stop David who then said to the Philistine, “…You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head (1 Sam. 17:45-46)…”
What follows next is my favorite part of the story “:48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.”
David takes five smooth stones and uses one of them in a sling to strike the giant down, and then takes Goliath’s sword and cuts off his head.
“:51 …When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.”
I’m not sure which part of the story is more pathetic, Goliath’s over-confidence, or the Philistine army’s cowardly reaction to a young shepherd boy defeating their “hero.”
Two lessons we must learn from this are 1) where to put our faith, and 2) what kind of things we should place our priorities on.
David put his confidence in God even though the odds were against him. He had to endure criticism from many including his own brothers, and being made fun of by those who were only judging David from outward appearances.
May we all pray that God gives us the confidence to trust in Him even when the world says we’re not strong enough or smart enough to win the battle against the devil. May we never be afraid to lay our pride aside, and let God’s power work within us. (end)

Your decisions can make for generations of consequences
by Barrett Vanlandingham
(Fort Faith, September 30, 2008)

In 1 Kings 12:1-33 we read about how the mistakes of Jeroboam (Solomon’s official in charge of the labor force) caused problems for the northern kingdom of Israel for the next 250-years.
In 977 B.C. Israel split after Solomon died because his son, Rehoboam would not relieve any of the tax burdens on the people, and in fact planned to make it worse.
Rehoboam remained king of the southern kingdom of Judah where Jerusalem and the temple were located, while Jeroboam became king of the new northern kingdom of Israel.
Here’s where Jeroboam messed up, royally! He made two golden calves to which his people were to offer sacrifices. He set one in Dan and one in Bethel, both in the northern kingdom in an effort to keep his people from going down into the southern kingdom of Judah to Jerusalem to worship at the temple there. Jeroboam also appointed priests from “…all sorts of people even though they were not Levites (:31).” He also instituted a religious festival on the same day as the one in Jerusalem, so that sacrifices could be made to the idols instead of to God.
Jeroboam did these things because he feared for his life if the people were to again become loyal to Rehoboam, the king of Judah (:27). Jeroboam’s actions put him in direct opposition to God’s commands to not worship idols.
For the next 250 years, most of the 19 kings were evil and were said to have walked in the ways of Jeroboam. What a way to be remembered! Over and over in 1 Kings and 2 Kings we read about the sin that Jeroboam “…caused Israel to commit” until eventually they were removed from the Lord’s presence and exiled to Assyria (2 Kings 17:21-23).
There are many lessons that can be learned here. Trusting and obeying God for starters. But one very important lesson is this: Every decision we make has a consequence attached to it. In this case, the ripple effect was HUGE. It went on and on. Jeroboam’s actions to influence the people to worship idols started a trend that infected almost every king of Israel who came after him, and caused problems for the few good kings to have to deal with.
In 1 Kings 16:31 we read that King Ahab was even more evil than any king before him including Jeroboam. He went as far as to marry the wicked Jezebel and began to serve and worship the false gods, Baal and Asherah.
In 2 Kings 10:28-32 we read that King Jehu destroyed Baal worship, but he still did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, “which he had caused Israel to commit.”
For us today, we need to keep in mind that even though culture puts a lot of pressure on us to accept worldly ways as normal, God’s standard has never changed. Doing things the world’s way may bring temporary happiness, but it will never bring the lasting joy that serving God can. And it is only by doing God’s will that we know for sure which direction our ripple effect is carrying us and those we influence. (end)

Autumn Fast Approaches
Is it ever too early to decorate your life with Christian virtues?
by Barrett Vanlandingham (9-9-08)

Not to jump the gun or anything, but it won’t be long now before the autumn season begins to cover Northeastern Oklahoma with cooler weather, crisp air, beautiful fall colors, and the rustling sounds of leaves.
Lisa actually wore a sweatshirt to Fort Gibson’s first football game. Not only that, but she also decorated our front porch and fireplace mantle with autumn leaves, scarecrows, and pumpkins. Lisa is not a fan of any particular state school, but I would definitely classify her as a “Sooner” at least in her drive to decorate for fall during the first week of September. But hey, if that’s all it takes to keep peace in the Vanlandingham house, then I’m definitely a huge fan of fall in September. Besides, autumn hits for real on September 22nd if you can believe that! So, why wait ‘til the last minute, right?
Anyway, what’s the point of all this talk of “Sooners” and fall decor? Spiritual lessons, of course. Friends, one of these days the Lord is going to return. It may be sooner. It may be later. But it will happen. We just don’t know when. Unlike autumn, there’s not a date on the calendar for us to highlight in order to be prepared for that final day.
As Christians, we are to decorate our lives with the fruit of the Spirit every single minute of every single day. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Near the end of the apostle Paul’s life, he told Timothy to “…be prepared in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2).”
Jesus himself said “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Matt. 24:36).”
So what does this mean to us? If scripture says that no one but the Father knows when judgment day will be, then it would certainly be to our advantage to be prepared all the time. After all, God is good… all the time.
Wouldn’t that be strange if God was only good to us part of the time? What if God only let us breathe 23 hours a day? Or what if God only provided food for us every now and then? Or what if God only provided hope for us occasionally? Or what if every other day God changed His commands that he expects us to obey?
The fact is, we serve an awesome God who is faithful, true, and just. We can depend on Him all the time, even if we don’t know exactly when His return will be. Practically speaking, our destiny is sealed when we die.
In Matthew 16:27 Jesus says, “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” May God bless each of us as we pray for the perseverance we need to be prepared all the time, and not wait ‘til the last minute since we don’t know when that will be.