Disappointment, Or His Appointment?

I've been learning that interruptions and disappointments can be God's way of getting our attention, of changing our plans. Here's a glorious example:

In 1806, while attending Williams College in Massachusetts, Samuel Mills and some other students would gather for prayer every week. Afterward, they all set off for home. Mills and four others were traveling homeward together when a sudden downpour struck. The men sought shelter in a haystack by the road. If they had been like many of us, they would have sat there whining and worrying about the waste of time. But they simply resumed the prayer meeting. It was then that the Lord revealed himself and his will to them in such a powerful way that all of them dedicated their lives to missionary endeavors on the spot. And they lived out that commitment. This was at a time when almost no one from the US was serving as missionaries.

As a result of the now-famous "Haystack Prayer Meeting," the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was born, the very first American missions agency.

Incidentally, Mills' mother had dedicated him to the Lord as an infant to be a missionary. Again, at a time when very few Americans were doing this. Her prayer was wonderfully answered.

The Religious Right vs. The Religious and The Right

I'm encountering increasing opposition to faith-informed political involvement from my brethren in the Church as well as from libertarians on the Right side of the political spectrum.

To my brethren, I would point out that God's people being involved in secular politics has a long and distinguished history. Is there any doubt that God himself made Joseph the Prime Minister of Egypt? Were not Nehemiah and Daniel political figures? Was George Whitfield neglecting his preaching when he led the labor reform movement in Great Britain? Should William Wilberforce have become a preacher rather than remain in Britain's Parliament after his conversion to Christianity? If he had, the British slave trade would have thrived for decades longer. Should the 19th century missionaries to India have concerned themselves with evangelism only? If they had not become politically active, many hundreds more widows would have been burned along with their deceased husbands. Today, prison reforms, anti-slavery movements, and other human rights causes have been led by Christians around the world, not to mention the efforts to curtail the slaughter of unborn children. Are the saints wasting their time in these efforts?

To my irreligious friends on the Right, can you really win elections by continuing to alienate social conservatives? Will accepting abortion-on-demand and embracing (or ignoring) the homosexual agenda serve to rally the millions of conservative churchgoers to the polls? Do not the founding documents of this Republic, documents which you claim to adhere to, honor our Creator as the source of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of justice?

Genesis

Genesis has long been my favorite OT book, and I've been getting even more excited about it lately. For instance, I see now that when God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden, it was an act of mercy as well as of judgment. If they had eaten from the Tree of Life after disobeying the Lord, they would have been stuck in their sinful condition forever, just as the fallen angels. No hope of redemption. God prevented them from becoming immortal.
Why is it that many well-meaning Christians insist that all people are immortal? Doesn't the Bible refer to us as mortals? Doesn't it say that one receives eternal life only when one is converted to the faith of the Lord Jesus?
Hallelujah! Those who follow Jesus will one day eat from that Tree of Life.