Connxions - Event Center and Bookstore

Last night Toni and I had the privilege of attending Jerry Chiaramonte's grand opening reception for his new bookstore/event center in Urbandale. It has been a forty year dream for Jerry who began writing down ideas and drawing images of this project as a 20 year old college student. He told me he was going through a folder the other day containing pages of plans he had collected over the years and came across a forty year old sketch he had made of the layout of the store with a baby-grand piano in the center. Then he pointed right behind where I was sitting at the new baby-grand piano. Every detail of the store had been in the process of development over all these years. This is an inspiration for all of us who have dreams and plans. Abraham waited 25 years for a son, Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness before delivering Israel, and now, Jerry Chiaramonte has built his bookstore after forty years of planning and waiting.

One of the many features of Jerry's bookstore is the classroom he has set up right across the hallway from the event center. Beginning in January I will be teaching a weekly class in this classroom at Connxions beginning at 7:00 PM. (We are still discussing which night.) We will be handing out copies of our new 550 page book called Framework for Christian Faith and teaching through this Bible School material in a year.

Visit Connxions website

Download the .pdf files here for the new Framework for Christian Faith book which will be available in print in about a week.

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

God Moves Through People

Tonight in Bible study we reviewed Zechariah's eight night visions he received on February 15, 519 BC. The consistent theme of the visions was to show that God was able and willing to restore the Jews returning from Babylonian exile. The purpose of the visions was to motivate the Jewish leaders and the general public to fulfill God's plan for their generation.

In the fifth vision Zechariah is shown a lampstand that was burning oil supplied by two olive trees. At the end of the vision Zechariah ased the angel who was talking to him , "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" The problem with this question was the use of the word "What" instead of "Who" because the angel answered, "These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth."

The two trees were two men, Joshua, the high priest, and, Zerubbabel, the governor or civil leader. These two men were represented as two trees who supplied an unlimited supply of oil for the lamp, but this was only possible because they were anointed by God.

The point: God anoints people in order to accomplish his will. It was clear through out these eight visions that God was ready to move but he first had to convince the people who were anointed for that generation to move before his plan for rebuilding the temple and reestablishing the nation of Israel would move forward. It is the same today. When God moves in the earth or provides the supplies that are needed he will do it through people.

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Individual Responsibility and Capitalism

Our cultural foundation includes the economic concept of capitalism. Capitalism has at its core the necessity of individual responsibility. For individuals to act responsibly there must be some level of ethics and morality. Before an individual or a cultural can identify right from wrong so that ethics and morality can be established there has to be some standard that is recognized as absolute. Thus, the sequence for establishing a capitalistic society:

1. Absolute standards
2. Ethics and morality
3. Responsible individuals
4. Profitable and beneficial capitalism
5. A Successful society

In Hope for America's Last Generation I closed the book with the following statement in the epilogue:

The other, and perhaps most important, thing you can do is change yourself. Begin to do what is right in every area of your life - taking personal responsibility for all your choices. If you change the one institution you have control over, the rest of the institutions will fall in line. (page 251)

The five institutions established by God for the well-being of mankind and man's societies are: individual responsibility (free will), marriage, family, nationalism and government. We know that nationalism, family, and marriage are under attack in our culture today. Could it be that due to the failure of individual responsibility being kept in perspective the institution of government is also being forced further out of line? The need for the bailouts is a sign that our new principles are false and failing. We have neglected Truth and reality for false philosophies and vanity. Are we following our idols to judgment?

Read Hope for America's Last Generation online in .pdf or request a copy at gw@generationword.com

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com

Why Do Children Suffer?

Jan, a longtime listener and promoter of Generation Word who lives in Australia, emailed this morning and asked this question:

Hi Galyn,
Hope you and Toni and boys are all well, all my best wishes for your holiday season.

I am enjoying your teaching on Ephesians and I am also doing Romans (from the blue tabs). I was asked a question by a new believer (friend) and I didn't really know enough to answer her sufficiently and wondered if you could help me. I know you are very busy and I don't want to encroach upon your time, but if you could send a reply I would be really grateful. Her question was "why does God allow little children to suffer e.g. being born with aids or drug addiction or being abused by adults" my friend is a nurse and works in hospitals where she sees the suffering of small children and wonders why these things are allowed by a gracious and loving God.

Jan,
Thanks for the email. It is always encouraging to hear from you and know you are still using the website. I have attached an audio clip from the series "30 Questions and Answers". In this message I answer the question "Do science and the Bible conflict?" then in the second half I address the question you are interested in: "How could God allow suffering and evil?"

http://www.generationword.com/on_line_audio/q_a_3_4.ram

This message may also be of interest: "What do I say to my patients? How did Satan come to be?" It can be heard at:

http://generationword.com/on_line_audio/q_a_16_17.ram

The basic answer to the question is that God created a perfect world for man and then God told man that he was free to eat from any tree in the garden but advised him not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

"You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Gen. 2:17

In summary:
1. God made a perfect world.
2. God told man he was free.
3. Man choose to corrupt the perfect world.
4. The result: we live in a fallen world.

Adam choose to live outside of God's will back then which still effects us now. Today men, including me, often make choices that are in rebellion to God's will which continues to compound the problem. Realize though that even if we choose to do everything in perfect agreement with God's plan (live a sinless life) we would still face suffering since we live in a fallen world.

Galyn Wiemers
http://www.generationword.com