Well do I remember my track coach in high school emphasizing the importance of finishing well. Regardless of how well we started, or our stumbling during the race, it was imperative that we finish the race…and finish it well. We were running for the prize, the trophy, and team points. Every place counted; we were to do our best, and finish well. I never forgot that lesson. There were times when running my mile long race that I became fatigued beyond belief, yet when the finish line came into view I pushed as hard as I could so that I finished well. It not only looked good and made the spectators respect my efforts, it often made the difference in placing or not as other runners petered out just short of the finish.

Being a distance runner helped me to better understand Paul’s words in the Bible when he said, "run to obtain the prize…" (I Cor 9:24). I realized that my life had a purpose in God’s course of human events and that my efforts, totaled with others ‘on the team’ (the Body of Christ), helped God accomplish His goals on planet earth. My personal responsibility, therefore, is "…finishing the course…" (Acts 20:24), knowing that without a successful finish at the end of my life the rest of my efforts could come to naught.

Our race of life is similar. We all begin from different points. Some come to know Christ early in life while others don’t meet their Savior until later on. However, once our race has begun, we are to run our best. The stumbles we take during our lives can hurt us but finishing well is of utmost importance. One of the most valuable witnesses a person will ever have is the one place they won’t be: their funeral. The funeral of a person who finishes well is priceless. Regardless of their beginnings, or of what life brought their way, finishing well is a testimony to the saving and sustaining power of God. It’s irrefutable evidence to unbelievers of God’s power to change lives. Finishing well is also a priceless encouragement to fellow believers to do the same.

A current phenomenon, however, is that many Christians aren’t finishing well. After years well lived for Christ they are blowing it in sight of the finish line. Priceless testimonies are being ruined by sinful living in people’s golden years. I think of a teenager who saw the devastation an alcoholic father had on his family. He received Christ into his life and vowed never to go that route. He spent most of his life involved in a good church, but now, in his retirement years, he is sitting in bars just as his alcoholic father did. His neighbors are wondering, "Why?".

Another elderly man, after a lifetime of church involvement and countless times witnessing to his unsaved siblings, began cohabiting with an ungodly woman after he was widowed. His children were distressed, and his siblings, who are unsaved, are simply shaking their heads at what their ‘saved’ brother is doing. Even they wouldn’t do that! Their conclusion: all of that ‘Jesus stuff’ was phony. This poor man blew his testimony in sight of the finish line.

I’m finding many Christians no longer take holy living seriously. I can only conclude it’s a sign of our times. God told us that just prior to Christ’s return) "…iniquity shall abound, the love of many will wax cold." (Matt. 24:12). Satan knows his time is short. He’s pulling out all stops attempting to neutralize as many lives as possible. So let me ask you: how is your race going? Tired of fighting the good fight? Ready to quit? Tempted to give in and join the world? If that’s been a temptation to you in a tired moment, do one more thing: Remember the Witnesses!

The Bible tells us that "…we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…." (Heb. 12:1). There’s that race again. But this time we are informed of a great cloud of witnesses watching us run our earthly race. Who are they? The heavenly hosts, of course. That includes angels, saints who have gone on before us, and God Himself. All are watching. That thought can give us great comfort when we’re fighting the good fight. We can almost hear the cheers when we do well. Of course, it can also make us blush to think of the things we’re prone to do in ‘private’- when we realize there is no ‘private’ with God. But that is one of God’s check-points for our safety. We’re never alone! That’s God’s promise: "I will never leave you nor forsake you…" (Heb. 13:5).

One of our Six Seasons members was wearing a T-shirt in Texas last month that read: Live your life so your pastor doesn’t have to lie at your funeral. Sound advice.

We are all familiar with cause and effect. That is what my parents used in my childhood to teach me good behavior. When I told a lie - I received a spanking. If I beat on my little brother - I received a spanking. When I sassed - I received a BIG spanking. It didn’t take me long to connect the dots between my behavior and their consequences. I decided fairly early that honesty and kindness and obedience were traits helpful to my well being.

My parents disciplined me when I was young because they knew if they didn’t do it then someone else would have to do it when I was older and the price would be much higher. Not all learn this valuable lesson. I have ministered with many inmates in our prison system who still don’t get the connection between their illegal actions and why they are incarcerated. They feel picked upon and singled out for mistreatment and have a myriad of excuses for their transgressions. They are the prisoners who will be repeat offenders because they fail to connect the dots between actions and consequences.

But there is a higher law than civil law: God’s law. Indeed, our civil laws are based upon God’s laws (though shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, etc.). Disobedience to those laws is called sin. When we sin there is a price to pay also. But for some reason, because God chooses not to zap us immediately upon their transgression, we don’t always get the association. I believe this is due in part to the lack of religious instruction on the part of many. Their parents never taught them God’s ways and they never attended a church or Sunday School where they could learn them. They just don’t know any better. But for others it’s a matter of choice; to admit that there is a God who created us is to admit that we may, in some way, be held accountable to Him for our actions. We don’t want to be accountable to anyone, so we simply deny His existence - a common politically correct practice in our society today. That is why sin has become a non issue. People laugh at the ‘outmoded’ thought of it. However, denying it’s existence and the consequences doesn’t make it not so. The results of sin are all too familiar: alcoholism, drug addiction, divorce, child molestation, high insurance premiums due to frivolous law suits because we fail to take responsibility for our own actions, etc. We have failed to connect the dots.

While these issues, if not addressed, will ultimately destroy a people and a nation internally, there are outward actions of a nation that have consequences as well. Let’s take our relationship with Israel, for example.

God states in Genesis 12:3 "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." He chose the Israelites as His people so that the world would come to know God through His dealings with them, which embodies His protection, chastisement, and blessings. The Old Testament is their story of cause and affect. When they disobeyed God or followed other false gods, they lost their way and wound up in slavery. When they repented of their sin and were obedient to God, they regained their freedom, wealth, and became a powerful nation. "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come."(I Corinthians 10:11).

The treatment of God’s chosen people, the Israelites, is manifest in world history. Every nation that mistreated them fell from power. When Spain turned on the Jews within her borders, the great Spanish Armada fell to a much lesser force in the English Channel a short while later. She has been on the back burner of history ever since. England failed to allow the Jews to return to their land after WWII and, in fact, strove to keep them disarmed in the face of imminent attack by their surrounding Arab neighbors in 1948. The sun definitely sets on the British Empire today. Interestingly, the first nation to recognize Israel as a nation in 1948 was the United States of America. We were the only country who assisted her in her last two wars, even when our allies, who would be speaking German today had we not rescued them, denied us use of their airfields for refueling in the process. We had to fly our aircraft non-stop, refueling in the air, to supply Israel with the means to protect herself. God has blessed America for this.

Today the United States is the only friend that Israel has in the world. But we must be careful how we treat her. God has a plan for Israel and she is not to be separated from her God given (covenant) lands. In the past few years, during our last administration, our president pressured Israel many times to give up her covenant land for peace. Each time this occurred something interesting happened to America.

August 23, 1992 the Madrid peace conference met on American soil for the first time. We pressured Israel to give up massive sections of ‘land for peace.’ On this very day the U.S. was hit by a category four hurricane. Hurricane Andrew was the greatest natural disaster ever to hit the United States with over $40 billion in damages.

January 16, 1994, President Bill Clinton met with Syrian President Hafez Assad in Geneva to discuss peace between Israel and Syria. President Clinton stated that "Israel must make concessions that will be politically unpopular with many Israelis." It included Israel giving up the Golan Heights, more covenant land, to it’s enemy. Less than 24 hours later a powerful 6.9 earthquake rocked southern California. This earthquake, at $20 billion in damages, was the second most destructive natural disaster to ever hit the United States.

More recently the Bush administration has formulated it’s ‘road map’ for peace. It’s goal is to establish a permanent Palestinian state within currently Israeli held territory with east Jerusalem as it’s capital. Israel would have to cede it’s control of part of Jerusalem over to it’s sworn enemy. The Secretary of State was going to announce this plan at the UN General Assembly on September 23, 2001, but it has yet to be formally announced because of the 9-11 Twin Towers attack.

Are you beginning to connect the dots? God has not taken His eyes off of His people, Israel. We are to pray for peace in Jerusalem, but we are not to tinker with her inner affairs. "…he who touches you (Israel) touches the apple of his (God’s) eye" (Zechariah 2:8). God promised that Israel would survive. The real question today is; will America? Our fate hinges much upon our treatment of Israel.

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That is where my first article left off right after 9-11. I reprinted this portion here to refresh your memory and so that you can be assured that what follows is nothing new. It is a continuance and ever increasing warning to the United States by a very patient God that He is concerned with our treatment of His chosen people. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize the hand of God in these events. Anyone who studies God’s word, and believes it, the Holy Spirit will give the understanding to. We may not know exactly what He is going to do, but we can know that God will act, simply because He is consistent. "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever." (Heb: 13:8).

I was teaching on the relevance of Jewish Holidays and God’s consistency in Hot Springs, South Dakota the first week in August. I related that the Jewish month of Av was rather significant to Israel. It was on Av 9 that the first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. Over five hundred years later the second temple was destroyed by the Roman legions - also on the 9^th of Av. Other events, all disastrous to the nation of Israel, occurred on this date as well. I won’t relate them here due to space (that’s what my seminars are for). However, I reported an event that had never before happened in Jewish history that was about to occur in a few days: For the first time in history Jew was going to be expelling Jew from covenant land. It was being done, declared Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, at the insistence of President Bush in accordance with his road map for Peace. The expulsion was going to begin on August 15^th, which was just a little over a week away. I pointed out that August 14 just happened to be the 9^th of Av. I warned that unless we turned from this pressured expulsion, America could expect some major calamity to befall her on or about that time.

God’s actions were timely. The September 4^th headlines in the Duluth News Tribune read: CAUGHT BY SURPRISE. Hurricane Katrina’s erratic behavior confused forecasters. The article went on to state that "tropical depression 10 was detected …by satellite. It wasn’t big enough to deserve a name, and it faded away on Aug. 14. More than a week later… a fragment regenerated. It’s confusing birth…was noted in the National Hurricane Center’s Aug. 23 advisory. This stated that it’s "complex genesis" would make predictions "a little tricky."

It wasn’t a surprise to people who know God’s word. It wasn’t a surprise to Jews in Israel who had read their rabbis’ predictions in Israeli newspapers that God would do something to America if she persisted in forcing Jews from covenant land. Make no mistake. I am not a prophet. I don’t foretell future events. But I am a student of God’s word. I made my warning based upon God’s unfailing Word.

America made no changes in policy regarding Israel’s covenant land after Hurricane Katrina. In fact, we told Israel that she must give up even more covenant land. So God spoke again. Two more hurricanes, Rita and Wilma, have hit the Gulf States since that time. Yet we continue to talk about rebuilding rather than repenting. We’re relying upon Government to bail us out rather than God to build us up.

What will it take for us to listen? God’s patience will only last so long. He is warning us, patiently, hoping that we will connect the dots and change our ways. If we don’t, very soon there may be no USA. We will destroy ourselves by our own disobedience. Then Israel will have only God to rely upon. That is another story.