Brown's Daily Word 8-6-10

Praise the Lord for this Friday, a beautiful day in the Kingdom of God. We had another heat wave in the region this week and, due to the abundant heat this summer, an early apple harvest is being forecast for New York State. Fresh corn and various fresh vegetable are available in plenty all around. "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming." Those who live in the area, please join us this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner Cable channel 4 for our weekly television outreach. We will be assisting in serving the meals at the First UMC in Endicott tomorrow at 12 noon. We will gather for worship Sunday at 8:30 and 11:00 at Union Center UMC and for Sunday School at 8:50 AM. We will be meeting for worship at Wesley at 9:30 AM. Our annual Vacation Bible School will be held at Union Center this coming week, starting Monday at 6 PM. Please pray for us the Lord would bless our labor in His Kingdom.

I was reading this morning from Daniel 3; the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the burning, fiery furnace is a favorite in the Old Testament. The story was painted in the catacombs by believers persecuted by the Romans and has been an inspiration to all who have been oppressed or afflicted. It is a story of rugged faith and uncompromising faithfulness to God.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to a golden image at the king's command. They refused to renounce God and His commands. They refused to follow the crowd. They were determined to stand out against this evil thing and to be faithful to the Lord at any cost. This was courage of the highest order, for they were prepared to face a fearful death rather than dishonor their God. It is easy to compromise on morality, honesty, faithfulness to the Scriptures in order to cut a few corners. Yet Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would have none of it. Nebuchnezzar threw down the challenge, saying, "Who is the God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" The 3 men gave a classic response, "The God we serve is able to deliver us from the fire, and will rescue us from your hand, O king".

The young men also had confidence in the purposes of God. Here we have some magnificent words, "Our God can deliver, but if not...". What they were saying is, "God can deliver, and if it is His will, He will deliver us - but He may not! It may be His will to let us suffer and die. We do not know what His will is, and we do not mind, for His will is best." What a statement to make! They felt that loyalty to God was of greater importance than life itself.

While I was in Oxford I visited the Martyrs' Memorial. It is an imposing stone monument positioned at the intersection of Giles', Magdalen Street and Beaumont Street in Oxford, just outside Balliol College. It commemorates the 16th-century "Oxford Martyrs"-- Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer. This monument is located close the area which has the marker where John Wesley preached his first outdoor sermon.

Hugh Latimer, famous as a preacher, was Bishop of Worcester in the time of King Henry, but resigned in protest against the King's refusal to allow the Protestant reforms that Latimer desired. Latimer's sermons speak little of doctrine; he preferred to urge men to upright living and devoutness in prayer. When Mary came to the throne, he was arrested, tried for heresy, and burned, together with his friend, Nicholas Ridley. His last words at the stake are well known: "Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man, for we shall this day light such a candle in England as I trust by God's grace shall never be put out."

Nicholas Ridley had become an adherent of the Protestant cause while a student at Cambridge. He was a friend of Archbishop Cranmer and became private chaplain first to Cranmer and then to King Henry. Under the reign of Edward, he became bishop of Rochester, and was part of the committee that drew up the first English Book of Common Prayer. When Mary came to the throne, he was arrested, tried, and burned with Latimer at Oxford on 16 October, 1555.

Thomas Cranmer was Archbishop of Canterbury in the days of Henry, and defended the position that Henry's marriage to Katharine of Aragon (Spain) was null and void. When Edward came to the throne, Cranmer was foremost in translating the worship of the Church into English and securing the use of the new forms of worship. When Mary came to the throne, Cranmer was in a quandary. He had believed, with a fervor that many people today will find hard to understand, that it is the duty of every Christian to obey the monarch, and "the powers that be are ordained of God" (Romans 13). Mary had become Queen and commanded him to return to the Roman obedience. Cranmer five times wrote a letter of submission to the Pope and to Roman Catholic doctrines, and four times he tore it up. In the end, he submitted. However, Mary was unwilling to believe that the submission was sincere, and he was ordered to be burned at Oxford on 21 March, 1556. At the very end, he repudiated his final letter of submission, and announced that he died a Protestant. He said, "I have sinned, in that I signed with my hand what I did not believe with my heart. When the flames are lit, this hand shall be the first to burn." And when the fire was lit around his feet, he leaned forward and held his right hand in the fire until it was charred to a stump. Aside from this, he did not speak or move, except that once he raised his left hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

The inscription on the base of the Martyrs' Memorial is as follows:

"To the Glory of God, and in grateful commemoration of His servants, Thomas Cranmer, Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer, Prelates of the Church of England, who near this spot yielded their bodies to be burned, bearing witness to the sacred truths which they had affirmed and maintained against the errors of theChurch of Rome, and rejoicing that to them it was given not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake; this monument was erected by public subscription in the year of our Lord God, MDCCCXLI".

"Keep us, O Lord, constant in faith and zealous in witness, after the examples of thy servants Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, and Thomas Cranmer; that we may live in thy fear, die in thy favor, and rest in thy peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever".

In Christ,
Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qEjRLlL9iE