BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS

Man can count on no one but himself; he is alone, abandoned on earth in the

midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than

the one he forges for himself on this earth. - Jean-Paul Sarte

We stand on the shore of an ocean, crying to the night and the emptiness;

sometimes a voice answers out of the darkness. But it is the voice of one

drowning; and in a moment the silence returns. - Bertrand Russell

The haunting echoes are drowned out by the heavy electric rhythms of acid

music as we try to forget the reality that has stripped us, ripping us of

value. Life is a myth! Do your thing. Do it! do it! do it! The stage is right

NOW. We are the actors. Cry, "No one understands" but wink out of the corner

of your eye, because you know if we are understood we are rendered impotent.

But sometimes we forget - as the rape of the earth and the exploding

population tell us we are up against the wall. Famine, they say, is inevitable

this next decade. Five hundred million people will starve to death or die

because of resulting plagues. For those of us who survive we must face an

environment ravished by our own greed.(1) We know we cannot continue to mark

the earth with ruin - and escape! It will come up over the horizon one day and

destroy us.

-And man dizzily plunges on toward an explosion point, speaking peace and

pouring out virulent hate. Without a radical change in man by the year 2000,

according to Dr. Isaac Asimov of Boston U., "the growth of present pressures

will have burst our fragile balloon and our world will be in fragments."

Tell us different you pseudo politicians-scientists-educators. Tell us we will

usher in utopia. Tell us we will bring peace to this shattered world. Tell us,

Oh Revered Ones, there is meaning.

We consult the stars and astral world for guidance and sit open-mouthed at the

feet of the Ouija Board signaling for a deal in life.

One man's claims ring down the corridors of history to us today throbbing with

answers

I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness but

have the light of life.

It is the man who shares my life who proves fruitful. The man who does not

share my life is like a branch that is broken off and withers away.

I have told you all so that you may find your peace in me. You will find

trouble in the world - but never lose heart, I have conquered the world!(2)

The world has yet to understand that revolutionary man. Religion has failed

miserably. Jesus Christ is Unique. No other life lived on this planet has so

widely and deeply affected mankind, as that one solitary life, Jesus of

Nazareth.

-And He said he would return to earth again!

It would happen when civilization would be threatened by its own destruction.

Describing this period as the most terrifying time in the history of mankind,

Jesus warned it would be introduced by the birth-pangs of "wars and

revolutions... There will be terrible earthquakes, famines, and plagues

everywhere," he said, "whole countries will be in despair... men will faint

from fear over what is coming over the whole earth."(3)

This, Jesus continued, would lead to an explosion where "unless those days

were cut short no life would have been saved."(4)

Pinpointing it in time, he said it would happen in the generation that would

see the ancient city Jerusalem returned to Jewish control.(5) The Israelis

retook the city for the first time since 70 A.D. in the six-day war in 1967.

The explosion of the world would be centered around that city.(6)

However domineeringly oppressive the political and economic establishments of

society would be, Jesus knew that the real problem that would hurtle man

toward destruction lay within himself.

"For from the inside," Jesus said, "from a man's heart, come the evil ideas

which lead him to do immoral things, to rob, kill, commit adultery, covet, and

do all sorts of evil things."(7) Self-centered man eventually will ravish his

environment and destroy himself. There must be a new man, radically liberated

and changed from within. "Every man" he said, "who commits sin is a slave. If

the Son then sets you free, you are really free."(8)

With deliberate knowledge, Jesus Christ allowed himself to be taken and

killed. Compressed in time the sin of the world was placed on him. "And he

personally bore our sins in his own body on the cross."(9) His death for us is

the source of our liberation.

Three days later he was ALIVE. No one has been adequately able to explain the

revolutionary impact of that event in history.

Of course there are always some skeptics and cynics. One such famous one was

Dr. C. E. M. Joad, head of London University's Philosophy department, who

together with fellow colleague, Bertrand Russell, sought to destroy the "myth"

of Jesus Christ. Dr. Joad shocked the academic world by saying:

"I have subscribed all my life to the Life-force philosophy which is: God is a

part of the universe - should the universe be destroyed God would be

destroyed. I have ridiculed the idea of man's sin. I believed that given a

little time man would have heaven on earth. However two world wars and the

imminence of another have demonstrated conclusively to me that man is not

good... the only solution for man's sin is found in the cross of Jesus Christ.

The one whom I have denied all my life I must now embrace."

The French physicist and philosopher, Pascal, said, "There is a God-shaped

vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing

but only by Jesus Christ."

He is the end of our quest. Today, you also can make the wonderful discovery

of knowing him. Jesus said, "Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any one

hears my voice and opens the door I WILL COME IN TO HIM."(10) Turn to him with

an attitude that says, "Lord Jesus, I need you. I am a sinner and need a new

life. I believe you died for my sins. Come into my life. Start changing my

life and making me the kind of person you want me to be." Jesus Christ living

in you by His Spirit is the Revolution of Life!

Maybe you have never studied the claims of Christ before, as an adult. Why not

begin by reading the Gospel of John in the New Testament?

Life is real; it is meaningful; it is NOW and forever! and Jesus is the

answer. HE IS THE BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS.

1 The Population Bomb, Dr. Paul R. Ehrlich

2 John 8:12; 15:5-6; 16:33

3 Luke 21:9, 11, 25

4 Matthew 24:22

5 Luke 21:24-33

6 Zechariah 12:3

7 Mark 7:21, 23

8 John 8:36

9 1 Peter 2:24

10 Revelation 3:20

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