SPECIAL PRÉCIS ON DIVINE RESCUE: FROM THE ASH HEAP TO THE SUMMIT IN 48 HOURS

SCRIPTURE. “‘Keep and protect me, O God, for in You I have found refuge, and in You do I put my trust and hide myself.’ I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good beside or beyond You. As for the godly (the saints) who are in the land, they are the excellent, the noble, and the glorious, in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied who choose another god; their drink offerings of blood will I not offer or take their names upon my lips.’” – PSALM 16:1-4, AMPC

KEY TERM: “PROTECT ME, O GOD!” ‘Shamar’ [שָֽׁמְרֵ֥נִי]: “A primitive root meaning, ‘To hedge about (as with thorns); i.e., to guard, attend to, preserve.’” NOTE: “The Hebrew verb ‘shamar’ primarily means to keep, guard, or observe. It conveys the idea of careful attention and protection. In the context of the Bible, it is often used to describe the act of keeping God’s Commandments, guarding one’s heart, or observing the Sabbath. ‘It implies a sense of Diligence and Responsibility in maintaining what is valuable or sacred.’”

QUOTATION. “‘Assurance grows by repeated conflict, by our repeated experimental proof of the Lord’s Power and Goodness to save.’ When we have been brought very low and helped, sorely wounded and healed, cast down and raised again, have given up all hope, and been suddenly snatched from danger, and placed in safety; and when these things have been repeated to us and in us a thousand times over, we begin to learn to trust simply to the word and power of God, beyond and against appearances: And this trust, when habitual and strong, bears the name of Assurance; for even Assurance has degrees.” – JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807), Newton on the Christian Life, 2015, p. 220

• BIO. “John Newton was an English Evangelical Anglican Cleric and Slavery Abolitionist. He had previously been a Captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy (after forced recruitment) and was himself enslaved for a time in West Africa. He is noted for being author of the hymns Amazing Grace and Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken. Newton went to sea at a young age and worked on slave ships in the slave trade for several years. In 1745, he himself became a slave of Princess Peye, a woman of the Sherbro people in what is now Sierra Leone. He was rescued, returned to sea and the trade, becoming Captain of several slave ships. After retiring from active sea-faring, he continued to invest in the slave trade. Some years after experiencing a Conversion to Christianity during his rescue, Newton later renounced his trade and became a prominent supporter of Abolitionism. Now an Evangelical, he was ordained as a Church of England Cleric and served as Parish Priest at Olney, Buckinghamshire, for two decades and wrote hymns. Newton lived to see the British Empire’s abolition of the African slave trade in 1807, just months before his death.” – EDITORS, Wikipedia, Mar. 26, 2025; edited

COMMENTARY. “This Psalm begins with expressions of Devotion, which may be applied to Christ; but ends with such confidence of a Resurrection, as must be applied to Christ, and to Him only. 

‘David flees to God’s Protection, with cheerful, believing confidence.’ Those who have avowed that the Lord is their Lord, should often put themselves in mind of what they have done, take the comfort of it, and live up to it. ‘He devotes himself to the Honour of God, in the service of the saints.’ Saints on Earth we must be, or we shall never be saints in Heaven. Those renewed by the Grace of God, and devoted to the Glory of God, are saints on Earth. The saints in the Earth are excellent ones, yet some of them so poor, that they needed to have David’s goodness extended to them.

David declares his resolution to have no fellowship with the Works of Darkness; he repeats the solemn choice he had made of God for his portion and happiness, takes to himself the comfort of the choice, and gives God the glory of it. This is the language of a devout and pious soul. Most take the world for their chief good, and place their happiness in the enjoyments of it; but how poor soever my condition is in this world, let me have the love and favour of God, and be accepted of Him; let me have a title by promise to life and happiness in the Future State; and I have enough.

Heaven is an inheritance; we must take that for our Home, our Rest, our Everlasting Good, and look upon this world to be no more ours, than the country through which is our road to our Father’s House. Those that have God for their portion, have a goodly heritage. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, and look no further. Gracious persons, though they still covet more of God, never covet more than God; but, being satisfied of His loving-kindness, are abundantly satisfied with it: They envy not any their carnal mirth and delights. But so ignorant and foolish are we, that if left to ourselves, we shall forsake our own mercies for lying vanities.” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

DK’S STORY.  So it was that I awakened early the morning of Wednesday, April 16, to prepare for me mid-week Commentary, “The Future of the American Church 2025.” But as I rolled out of bed, I experienced a spate of Vertigo as never before in memory, nearly falling immediately to the floor. I cannot recall my first reaction (may have said a bad word!) and tried to shake it off and proceed with the day’s work.

As I edited the Draft of the presentation that was to be given in a couple of hours, I found the Vertigo not only stayed with me but seemed to intensify. During my time of prayer prior to going on camera, I increased the volume and the zeal of my intercessions for Satan to back off, while my wife became concerned and suggested I see a doctor. Which I was to do the very next day, Thursday, April 17.

As always, the Lord’s Spirit spared me any distraction during the 50 minutes or so of presenting God’s Message, and I was deeply grateful for it.

The next morning I was still experiencing the dizziness to the extent that I nearly fell again several times, accompanied by an overall sense of weakness, making it difficult for me to even walk a straight line. I became, understandably, increasingly concerned, but more frustrated than fearful. So, I made an appointment with our beloved nurse practitioner named Rebecca – a rough and tumble young mom and all-around typical Colorado native, mountain climber married to a former cop.

THE FIRST MIRACLE. As Rebecca showed her genuine concern – and curiosity since I was always upbeat and physically strong for an octogenarian – She began to ask me questions to get to the heart of the problem.

• “Your vital signs are all good, so, are you adequately hydrating?” “No, I drink lots of coffee but don’t drink enough water.”

• “How about your sleep, you get a good night’s rest most of the time?” Nope, haven’t slept soundly since the Second World War” (big smile and chuckle).

• “Well, how about stress, you experience that much?” (Had to stifle a guffaw about here). “Um, yeah, just received my 77^th death threat two days ago.” – “What?”

In our nearly three years of knowing and going to Rebecca for medical advice and treatment if necessary, we had never brought up “God” to this intelligent, extremely professional but likeable atheist. So when I began to explain that I was a Christian writer who had opposed Donald Trump for years, and that his acolytes wanted me dead, she leaned in close and said:

          “I hate that man, and what he is doing to the entire country!”

Thus was the First Bridge to God build as I distinguished between the Real Jesus and the Jesus of the American Church, and recall her saying, “Of course!” It ended with her receiving my card with interest in my broadcasts, and a first -time hug as I left.

Her parting advice to me along with her medical counsel was, emphatically: “Cliff, you be sure to be who you are and not stop!”

THE SECOND MIRACLE. ‘By Friday, April 18, just 48 hours after it began, I was fine.’ What? Just like that, from being barely able to walk to being, as we elderly sometimes say it, being “Fit as a fiddle!” Now then: What was the whole Purpose of God for allowing this Drama to play out as it did?

Several possibles of course, but the one that stuck with me was this.

God will go to any lengths, including making us very uncomfortable, to reach even one unbelieving soul in these waning hours of the Church Age, beloved. Or as the eminent British evangelist LEONARD RAVENHILL said it: “There is a love constraining me, ‘To go and seek the lost; I yield, O Lord, my all to Thee To save at any cost!’” – Why Revival Tarries, 1959

CODA. Some of you have heard me say the words from a Christian song at the close of most of my daily times with the Lord: “Make me a vessel, Lord, make me an offering; make me whatever you need me to be.”

I sincerely urge every true follower of The Messiah to consider speaking that prayer every day, but be forewarned: He will do exactly that, even at your expense, to rescue just one precious soul. Selah.