A Victory To Celebrate

An article from the CrossExamined.org website carried the following… “Opal Stout, of Cottageville, West Virginia wrote, ‘When the fireworks display began on the Fourth of July, my six-year-old nephew became so frightened I had to take him home. As we drove away, he said, ‘I bet God is mad at those people shooting at him!’ (Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom”)

There are those who do try to ‘shoot down’ the things of God. French philosopher and atheist Voltaire (1694-1778) is said to have predicted in 1776, ‘One hundred years from my day, there will not be a Bible on earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity-seeker.’
He even wrote and published a large two volume work in French called ‘The Bible Fully Explained’. It was Voltaire’s commentary on the whole Bible. It was written in a satirical and scoffing manner. He viciously was mockingly critical and skeptical of practically every book and verse in the Bible.

Voltaire delusionally believed as a result of his books he had struck a death blow to the Bible’s believability. However, instead of the Bible becoming irrelevant and no longer believed, the Inspired Volume continues to increase in circulation. Only fifty-eight years after his death, in an ironic twist of Providence, the very house in which Voltaire once lived and wrote was used by the Evangelical Society of Geneva as a storehouse for Bibles and Gospel tracts. And the printing press that was used to print his irreverent anti-Christian works was used to print Bibles.

The story of Voltaire serves as an example and a reminder that the foolish predictions and efforts of man to extinguish the Bible will come to nothing. No skeptic’s scoffing hammer has ever made a dent in the Eternal Anvil of God’s Word. To those who attempt to do so, Jesus emphatically declares, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away’ (Matthew 24:35).

There may be those who shoot their arrows at God, but He will not be harmed. The ultimate victory is His. And our victory is in Him. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:57, ‘But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’” Let’s all Celebrate the victory!

Speaking of Celebrations… I hope you’ll be here Sunday at 5:00 PM as we join in celebrating what God has done and is doing in our Kingdom work. There will be stories of victories and ministry along with outstanding worship music. Several staff will share briefly about what God is up to at Ridgecrest. There is so much going on here that you may not even know about. We are calling it a “Night of Celebration” I believe your heart will rejoice as you hear about God’s work.

I also believe that you will be inspired by our staff’s comments regarding our ministries and the purposes of God’s Kingdom work at RBC. Our service will go for about an hour and then we’ll all Celebrate with one another for a Church family fellowship in the gym of our Recreation and Fitness Center… we’ll have snack foods, drinks, and tables to gather around with friends and family. It’s been a while since we’ve enjoyed a relaxed evening like this, I hope you’ll be here!

And remember that God is always trying to take us someplace new. I love being your Pastor!

For God’s Glory Alone,

Pastor Ray

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