Way down in the innermost recesses

new article tomorrow. in meantime here's a post from 2018:

The devastating earthquake in Nepal caused me to remember this outtake on the non- impact of famous historic catastrophes from China evangelist R. Dawson Barlow’s book, “The Origin of the Races,” posted to my website after the horrific earthquake in Haiti. Here it is:

The last generations before the actual return of Christ to this earth will be characterized by godless masses of mockers who scoff at the preaching of His return.

Barlow writes, “In the days that precede the coming of Christ, it will be extremely ‘politically incorrect’ to proclaim His coming. (2 Peter 3:3 says, ‘Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days SCOFFERS, walking after their own lusts, And saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming . . .?’)

“What is the measuring stick, the criteria, and the basis for such scoffing and rejection of the preaching of Christ’s return? It will be based on an unshakable trust in a philosophy of evolution that rests on the assumption of uniformitarianism. Remember this is the view that believes in no sudden changes and no catastrophes.

“A casual examination of the prophetic scriptures reveals there will be worldwide global catastrophes happening in association with the return of Christ. This generation only believes in a slow, peaceful, uniform transformation occurring over vast amounts of time.

“Notice the inspired words of the Apostle Peter as he concludes the above thought. Those scoffers give their ‘reason’ for rejecting prophetic preaching and the catastrophes associated with the return of Christ. The following statement is a definition of uniformitarianism given 2,000 years ago:

‘ . . . For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation’ (or as our generation would say today, The Big Bang). (II Peter 3:4)

“History is replete with examples of local catastrophes. Those tragic events traced through human history have become the focus of many a study and geological research . . .

MOUNT ST. HELEN’S—I well remember when Mount St. Helen’s erupted back on May 18, 1980. Some scientists, who were considered ‘in the know’ to all who lived around the endangered area, gave ample warnings. Because of those warnings many were safely evacuated from the area. Almost everyone listened to the warnings and they were not harmed. Nevertheless, there were some die-hards, one of which was a certain Mr. Harry Truman, owner of a nearby Inn. He appeared on the national evening news each night for about a week before the eruption and refused to budge! He had lived in the shadow of that mountain for many decades. Since nothing had ever happened to that volcano in his lifetime, he dogmatically surmised that nothing ever would. He was like a committed uniformitarian. There were no such things as catastrophes in his thinking. But the eruption came on Sunday, May 18, 1980. Tragically, Mr. Truman perished, along with some others of like mind! That eruption, we later read, spewed enough volcanic ash into the atmosphere to equal a ton of debris for every human alive on the planet at that time!

NEVADA DEL RUIZ—A horrible tragedy happened in South America in 1985. Another long dormant volcano erupted and killed over 25,000 people. The place where the tragedy struck was called Nevada Del Ruiz, ‘The Valley of Sorrows.’ It was so named because of a similar tragedy that occurred several hundred years before! Yet, people built homes back in that very same valley, in spite of the sad remembrance memorialized in its name.

EL ESNAM—Another tragic catastrophe occurred in 1980, in the country of Algeria, on the northern coast of Africa, on the Mediterranean Sea. A huge earthquake completely destroyed the town of El Esnam, just a few miles southwest of the capital, Algiers. Thousands were killed and injured. It occurred in the same exact spot where another earthquake had occurred just 20 years earlier. Yet, a friend of mine who was there said the people still intended to build on the same spot if the government would allow them.

ATLANTIS—But how about the granddaddy of all the historical catastrophes (which are not mentioned in the Bible)? It is Plato who has left us a tale of woe of a certain people who were utterly destroyed by a catastrophe in less than two days. It was of such epic proportions that the masses of people of this past century and a half have had trouble digesting the thought it might have actually occurred, even though it was believed as historical until the 19^th century. Of course I speak of the famed civilization known as Atlantis. Note the very words of Plato:

‘But afterwards there occurred violent earthquakes and floods, and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea.’ (‘Great Books of the Western World’)

“In his book, ‘Great Mysteries of History,’ (Dorset Press, New York 1987 Edition) Kenneth B. Platnick says,

‘In the two dialogues Timaeus and Critias Plato locates the empire ‘in front of the straits which are by you called the Pillars of Hercules (the Strait of Gibraltar).’ The entire area, which he describes as larger than all of Libya and Asia combined, is roughly the same as that we know now as the Middle East.’

"This account of Atlantis was thought, in many cultures, to be a true account of civilization that perished. But in the last 150 years it has fallen into almost total disfavor. This has been mainly because of the almost universal adoption of uniformitarianism, which does not allow for such catastrophic happenings. . .

“It seems that each new generation cannot adapt itself to the thought of sudden epic scale catastrophes, and certainly not the kind associated with those described in the Bible that are connected with the return of Christ! We are convinced that this is mostly due to the thorough indoctrination of uniformitarianism in our generation’s worldview.

“In other words, the philosophy which attempts to explain the universe, our world, yea, even ourselves, APART FROM A CREATOR, is the SAME PHILOSOPHY which gave ammunition to half a billion unbelievers living before the days of the Flood to laugh off the loving warnings of God. . . .

“There is a prime reason the warnings of the Flood seemed so preposterous to the antediluvians. Before the Flood there had never been a flood. Not only that, according to the biblical record before the Flood, it had never rained on the earth:

‘And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.

[6] But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.’ (Gen. 2:5-6)

***** 
"That is the reason the New Testament says of Noah:

‘By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.’ (Hebrews 11:7)

“Noah was warned of ‘things not seen as yet.’ The thought of water coming down from the sky was totally foreign to every human up to that time of history. The ecosystem of the earth was SO totally different from what it is now. The earth was watered by a misting system that kept the entire globe in ‘greenhouse’ perfection.

“No rain! Just what kind of myth is this? It is no myth at all, just a factual account of the pre-Flood days. The reason many readers of the Bible have such a difficult time discerning exactly what these Scriptures are telling us is that most of us have failed to grasp the clear declaration by the Scriptures that the PRE-FLOOD earth was vastly different from the POST-FLOOD earth. This is the reason for Peter’s words in the following passage:

‘Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

[7] But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.’ (2 Peter 3: 6-7)

******

Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), famous missionary in India, once wrote, "The word comfort is from two Latin words meaning 'with' and 'strong' – He is with us to make us strong. Comfort is not soft, weakening commiseration; it is true, strengthening love."

Her example as a missionary was one that personally inspired Jim Elliot and his wife Elisabeth Elliot to pursue a similar vocation in Ecuador. Her message was, "It is a safe thing to trust Him to fulfill the desire that He creates."

Paul starts Philippians 2 with, "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

[2] Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."

One commentary explains, "The word comfort in the passage is the ancient Greek word paraklesis. The idea behind this word for comfort is always more than soothing sympathy. It has the idea of strengthening, of helping, of making strong. The idea behind this word is communicated by the Latin word for comfort (fortis), which also means 'brave.' The love of God in our life makes us strong and makes us brave. Of course there is comfort of love!"

“When people hear ‘bowels and mercies’ they say, ‘What’s that?!’ ” explains Jordan. “Go back to chapter 1 and Paul’s already told you. He writes in verse 8, ‘For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.’

"Obviously he’s using a figure of speech or a metaphor. You can easily find another place it’s used that will explain it to you. The bowels of something is the innermost recesses. Bowels of the cave; bowels of a ship.

“Isaiah 16:11 says, ‘Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.’ He’s talking about, ‘I’m going to have some groaning way down in the depths of my inner man; my inward parts,’ and he’s not just talking about his physical anatomy; he’s talking about his soul.

“I John 3:17 is another place that helps you. ‘But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?’

“He’s talking about the innermost part of a person’s soul. The inward part. By the way, the issue about 'the bowels of compassion'—that’s where compassion comes from.

“If there’s something that can go right down into the depths of your soul where life really comes from . . . is there any of that? It’s all in Christ. Now he says, ‘If all this identity and these things you have in Christ are true, here’s the mindset it’s going to produce.’

“What Paul's saying in Philippians 2 is, ‘Here’s the thing I’m trying to get done in the ministry.' He writes, 'Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
[4] Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
[5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:’

“ ‘In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves’—that’s the whole key!

“By the way, verse 4 is a great verse to remind you you have to be careful when you read the Bible. If you take that verse out of its context, and take it literally, you can see how that verse will get you into trouble!"