A Tale of Two Towers

 Image courtesy of posterize/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How technology has advanced over the last century. Think of all that has been introduced to us. We have witnessed the invention of the automobile, flying machines, the telephone, and who can count all of what has been set at our disposal? Because of the cars we drive, we no longer have to walk for long distances to see friends and family. Because of flight, we need not have to take long voyages across our oceans as we once did. And because of the invention of the telephone - which now we carry in our pockets - it became possible for us to chat with others without having to pay a visit. How all these things have served to bring us so much closer together - to shrink our world, if you will.

In the last half of the twentieth century there came an invention surpassing the popularity of all that has been mentioned. We call it the internet. When you talk about bringing together millions upon millions who call the earth their home, nothing will do it like this tremendously popular tool. Nation may be rising against nation as scripture predicts will happen near the end. But in another sense the people of our globe have never become more united - all due to the internet.

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech…And they said, come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of man had built. And the Lord said, Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they purpose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.


The people of the earth today - have we not built for ourselves a tower? And have we not made for ourselves a name? And nothing that we purpose to do is being withheld from us in the day and age in which we live. For in great leaps and bounds is our technology advancing, so much that many are becoming frightened over it, while wondering just where all of it is heading.

Don’t misunderstand. Does it sound like I am saying that an invention like the internet is evil? If so, why would I be making use of it? The internet is no more evil than a gun or a knife. Such things, having neither a mind nor a heart of their own, could never be found to have iniquity in them. But not so for the user. Here is where evil may lie. There are two different types of people who use the internet. There are those who are of a right spirit before God. Then there are those who are of the spirit of Babel. If the spirit is true before the Creator, then there is no sin. Rebellion against Him is not to be found. However, for the one who is of a haughty or of a foul spirit, in him, not only will there be rebellion present, but also every evil thing. This is the one, who when joined together with those of like minds, defiantly fly in the face of God. Look at all that we have achieved, is their thinking. They echo the words of their fathers of long ago. “We have built for ourselves a tower whose top is in the heavens; and we have made for ourselves a name.” I’m sorry to say that when He comes their ruin will be sure.

The first Babel had nothing redemptive to come from it. But following the present-day return of it there will be a long season of the mercies of God for all whose hearts have become joined to His own - the millennial reign of the Son. Then we will truly be united as a people, a universal harmony among the nations for a thousand years, something that at times was worked for by men but it wasn’t the Father’s time; neither was our thinking right in the matter of it.

In today’s rebellion the thoughts and desires of the people to be exalted to the place of God may be greater than ever before. Nevertheless it will be for the sake of His elect that He will bring the kingdom down to us. Then peace, love, and full devotion to the Father and the Son will flourish for a thousand years. And for a thousand years there will reign over us a Lion - a King such as the world has never seen. Once he was a Lamb, who allowed the world to have their way with Him. But it was all in the wisdom of God, even as His reign as conquering King will be. A Great Light will He be upon the earth, so that war will only be spoken of as a thing of long ago. Just as it’s written of at the end: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

　

- J. Pecoraro

Teen Challenge-A Brotherhood

Don’t let the name fool you. I remember two men in their seventies who came to us; it was for teens in the early years only.

Apart from God granting me an eternal salvation, followed up with a family of my own, it was then Teen Challenge that became the third great blessing of my life. When I was only about eight years old my brother Jack showed me how to draw human figures. I quickly picked up the knack, and getting a little carried away, I drew about a dozen young men all in one night. Above every head I printed a name, along with a rhyming nickname. They became my guys. A couple of years later I developed a big interest in the U.S. Cavalry due to a TV series that I’d always watch. I asked two of my uncles if they would put yellow stripes down my younger cousins’ blue jeans. I wanted a cavalry of my own. As a teen I loved belonging to a gang of guys who hung out in Hale Park, mostly looking for trouble. All my life I’ve been fascinated with the idea of being a part of a body of people, beginning with make-believe ones as a young boy, pretend soldiers a couple of years later, and troubled teens in the days when I was troubled.

In 1973 a miracle occurred in my life. I became what Jesus referred to as “born again”. I had become thrilled over much of what I was learning about Christ and the scriptures. But what I was also excited over was the fact that I’d become a member of a body of men and women of faith - both of the church where I attended and of the worldwide body of Christ. But then came the autumn of 1995. The ministry of Teen Challenge had visited our church. They told their stories and they sang their songs; they laughed and they cried; and I knew that night that I had to become a part of who they were. I afterwards spoke shortly with the director. We set up a day to meet and talk further. By February of the next year he brought me on as part-time staff. For seven years, nearly to the day, I conducted bible studies with the men and led them in prayer sessions. I was numbered among them and bound together with them whenever we came before the Lord. I couldn’t have been more grateful or have felt more privileged for the door that God had opened to me.

Some things last a lifetime but not so for everything. In January of 2003 the four story building where the men stayed was ravaged by fire. It wouldn’t be habitable again for an entire year. The ministry along with the men moved far from Chicago’s inner city, where it had been located for about two decades; so far was the move that there was no way I could follow. For a good while I felt a bit lost and empty inside. From time to time, while on my regular full time job, I’d drive by the building on the corner of Cortland and Central Park. I’d look up at the fourth floor windows and remember the prayer times we had together, along with the studies; it blessed me to recall it. After about four years from the time of the fire I began going back every couple of months to speak in the chapel hour. Every now and then I’d run into an old student who had enrolled in the program again, or who had just stopped in to visit. It was always so good to see them. We’d talk a while and maybe even catch some lunch together.

It will be two years this May that I entered into retirement. Once I had done that I began looking for part-time work - something of a ministerial nature. A program like Teen Challenge was what I had in mind. I knew that there were many in Chicago. However there was one that I would exclude - Teen Challenge itself. Why? I never did like the idea of trying to recapture the past, of retracing my steps. And so I began to cover north, south, east and west. To my surprise I would find nothing. I’d say it was early in December of the year I retired that I was to be speaking in the T.C. chapel hour. Upon entering the building I met the director. After we talked a few minutes he turned to one of the staff, a man that I worked alongside before the fire hit. He told him how they would be needing to hire a teacher soon. Your teacher is right there, said Darren. And the rest, like they say, is history.

The ministry that I excluded early in my search was the Lord’s choice all the while. Sometimes we can really miss it. Well, I’m at Teen Challenge again for over a year now, and glad to be back. And in some ways the ride is better than it was the first time around.

- J. Pecoraro

Who of us would have liked to remain in elementary school up until our adult years? Doubtless there would be none. This is because in elementary school we learn things that are merely elementary. And so there came the day for all of us when it was time to close the books and move on to higher learning. We called it high school. Now our knowledge and understanding of certain subjects would become broadened. Following high school many would choose to further their education and go on to college. Here we’d grow in the knowledge of the world about us like never before. I repeat “in the world about us.” But how should all of what I have written thus far apply to the world above us? For here too there are plateaus to scale, by which our knowledge and understanding of the Holy One may be ever increased - and not just of Him but of His eternal kingdom and all of His ways.

I’ve heard it expressed by some, that in the church by and large, we’ve become content with an elementary knowledge of God and the things of God. I’m inclined to agree; no desire for high school; college, out of the question. But this is nothing new. I’m reminded of the words penned by the author of Hebrews: “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” I believe all of this could have been written to the church today.

Not wanting to be critical, I think it’s a sad scene when Christians who were born of God three and four decades ago, yet continue to speak to one another of nothing but the base things of their walk in Christ. Have our ears not heard enough - and how long will our words run on from cliché to cliché? We must awake from our slumber. There is a Ladder to climb. I believe we’ve heard it referred to as Jacob’s Ladder, on which the angels of God are ever ascending and descending. And that Ladder is Christ. He is the Great Mediator who stretches from earth to heaven. Upon Him messengers of God, chosen by the Father, would lead us on to higher heights in the Son. For in those heights we will gain a greater knowledge while embarking upon a more firm understanding, concerning the things that are not passing, but eternal. Not this only, but also that we should be granted a knowledge of The Holy.

Still, in all of this we are led down again into the shadow lands. For as long as we walk in the tent of this flesh our work is not done on the earth; neither has our fellowship with friends and family been made complete here. Though while we remain in this world we should never fail to encourage others to scale the only Ladder that abides. Consequently we may shine as the stars in the sight of God forever and ever. Moreover, we have pointed out the way for another, that they may come to possess a fuller knowledge of things above.

 　As we ascend the Ladder between heaven and earth we learn that not all things are as they once appeared. Certain works that we thought of as being good, we’ve now found to be rather dark in the eyes of God. On the contrary, some things that we may have looked at as wrong or harmful, we now learn have been done of God - and in righteousness, since He can work in no other way. While I watched TV one night many years ago, there was money being raised for the cure of a disease. As I continued to watch, a man looked angrily up into heaven and this is what he said. “If this is someone’s idea of a great cosmic joke, I’m afraid I don’t understand.” I was stunned. Believers should know this for certain. No matter how noble the work may appear, whenever a perfectly holy and righteous God is angrily accused and judged by perfectly filthy rags, we can quickly cross out the word good from good works. Sometimes what appears to be light isn’t light at all, even as the scriptures teach. Contrariwise, the apostle Paul once struck a man blind for a season, all because the man stood between Paul and a potential convert. Moreover, it seemed that God’s servant wasn’t worried about being an offense. For he knew the leading of his God. But how could this have been a righteous act? It was a righteous act for one reason only. The scripture states that when Paul carried the act out he was filled with the Holy Spirit. This and this alone made it every bit right and altogether justified. And so, even as what may appear to be light is not always light - likewise what may appear to be dark is not always darkness. It’s never about the manifestation of a thing as much as it’s about the Spirit who is at work. We then must pray for discerning spirits.

  As we ascend the Ladder that Jacob beheld in his dream, we will become surprised at some things that the Spirit of God will unfold. And we can become confident that it is He who unfolds them. For the prudent child of God learns of His voice. Not only this, but when it is the Spirit who speaks, He will not leave us with a single revelation of a matter. He will bring it to us again and again, adding well fitting pieces to the foundation which He had formerly laid.

So much is there to be learned as we walk with the Saviour - our Ladder to the heavenlies. What if perhaps He should show us this? That what pleases the Father more than anything else is simply when a believer’s heart is right before Him. Let’s say that this one had chose the wrong direction to go at times; once or twice there may have even been detrimental consequences. The fact that his heart blessed the Father will override the blunders of the man. But if one’s heart - though he be a son - is not right in the eyes of God, then it matters not how wise his decisions are. His Creator is not pleased with him.

Despite the mistakes of king David, his heart was most pleasing to the Almighty. This is why the Lord referred to him as a man after His own heart. Actually David was a man ahead of his time, understanding certain New Testament concepts in an Old Testament world. For instance, he believed in the Spirit of the law as being over the letter of the law - a thing pretty much unheard of in his day. He knew that the Spirit of the law would always meet human need and save human life, something which the letter often failed to do. Once when David and his men had gone for days without food, he entered the house of God and asked the priest for whatever showbread he had. The priest’s response (the letter) was that it was unlawful for anyone but the priests to eat of it. David pressed him. In the end David and his men ate the bread. Their dire need for food was met - end of story. Or was it the end? I like to think that the final stamp of approval was given to David about a thousand years later - and then by Christ himself. It happened one day as Jesus and His disciples walked through the grain fields. The men were hungry; and so they began to pluck the heads of grain and to eat them. It wasn’t long and they were approached by the Pharisees. These men asked why Jesus’ followers did what was unlawful on the Sabbath. This was the Lord’s response - and here’s one for David. “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and ate showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?” But how is it, that in the same breath Jesus both commended David, yet stated his actions to be unlawful? There’s no contradiction. David did act unlawfully - according to the letter of the law. However David kept a much higher law that day - the Spirit of the law. In the third chapter of II Corinthians and the sixth verse, we read of the Spirit of the law. It is always what meets human need and saves human life. And it is for this that Jesus commended David. It was His way of stating that man was not made for the law, but the law for man. In fact those were once His very words. The apostle Paul clearly let the Corinthians know that the letter of the old covenant kills, but the Spirit of the new brings life. Good for king David, a man ahead of his time, and one whose heart was truly right before God. And it was that right heart that made him who he was. He was a man after the very heart of God. Now what about us? Do we merely look to be legal in the eyes of our Creator, or do we act from out of a right heart - a heart such as David’s?

 Hear the words that the apostle Paul once wrote to Titus. “Unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.” These words go far beyond our actions, our decisions, and even all of our good works; and they cut right through to the heart of a man. If the heart should appear polluted before God then nothing from that man can please Him - be he a son or a stranger. On the other hand, if one’s heart mirrors His own, then He is ever glad over him, always showing him the way, should he become turned around.

 I am convinced that in the church of Jesus Christ today we say one thing yet do another. Our intentions may be good but we are not quite accurate in our practice of the truth. Example: We as believers may make a statement like, Our walk is not by works but by faith. But are we saying these words merely because they are religiously correct? Probably more so than not. For the truth of the matter is that in reality we live pretty much the opposite. Our goal for the most part is to make ourselves think right thoughts; to follow that up with right behavior; and then to go on and live overall right lives before God. We’ll put it another way - works. Instead our focus should be on the heart, the spirit man, the new man born from above that Paul now recognized as the new him. We’ve read about it at the end of the seventh chapter of Romans. To walk in that man is our victory, since it is that man who is in Christ and altogether justified.

A righteous life, well lived out, is no doubt very important. However we will only begin to have success in this as our eye is on the new man and not on the one who we see in the mirror. Even then the flesh will have its moments and we will stumble and fall. But it is at this time that we must look again within, to the inner man born from above, to whom is imputed no sin. And that fact does Paul emphasize to the Romans. And so, the more we recognize the man of the heart, the more we will walk pure before our God. We then can believe what is written of us. “To the pure all things are pure.” Contrariwise, the more our eyes are upon the temporal man of this world, the more we become defiled and unbelieving in His sight. About such it is written that nothing is pure. Why? Because we have come to look to our own abilities and to trust in ourselves to do right; meanwhile the entire person grows corrupt. We’ve learned to walk in the first man, who we have been told is of the earth - Adam. However it is the second man from heaven that we must behold - Christ in us.

We need not look to the ways and the wisdom of the world; we need not lean on our flesh or on our own understanding to live right before our Maker. Simply we are called to have faith; to believe. Such things are in league with the spirit man. And it is through that man that we must daily come into communion with the Father. Here as we sit before Him and learn of Him, He directs our way. He unfolds to us in accordance with how heartily we seek. But one thing He will always bring to mind is to never cease scaling the Ladder that rises from earth to heaven; to ever go on gaining new heights in the Son. For the Son is all we need. It is in Him and no other who all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, even as it has been written. And no doubt these treasures will be uncovered to us through ages unending. In this shadowy life upon the earth we only begin to discover them. But, Christ our Living Ladder, ascends into the heavens and beyond since He being of the Godhead is also infinite in nature. Therefore we will continue to discover through eternity the treasures that the Father has set in the Son. May our desire be kindled from heaven even now, that we may know Him who stands between heaven and earth - that we may allow His holy ones who ascend and descend upon Him to always show us of his Greatness, of his Glory, and of his Power - yes, even of the Life that is in Him.

- J. Pecoraro

Near To God

Do His words billow o'er my soul?
How would I last the day?
But that His Spirit falls on me -
This is what I pray.

And what if He should tell me
What I do not long to hear?
But if His Spirit falls on me
Then I know that He's drawn near.

With my head upon His bosom
There I lie in pure delight;
And words are never needed
Where my soul has taken flight.

Desire the High and the Holy thing -
What's done on heavenly sod.
Lie upon His bosom -
Rest upon your God.

- J. Pecoraro

The Removal of the Veil

 

 

All the world loves a ceremony. And surely there is an assortment of them that we’ve become acquainted with. From one culture to another they will vary. Nevertheless all reach the intended purpose at the close: A newborn has been dedicated to God. A hero is honored. One chosen by his compatriots has been sworn into office. A man and a woman become one through marriage. Of all ceremonies, no matter what type they are or what they signify, I believe there is one that is more sacred in the eyes of our Creator than all of the others. Also it seems to be the one that people are most moved by. It’s the wedding ceremony. But why would the Lord find the coming together of a bride and her groom of such high importance? Why would He honor it above the rest? The answer is simple. It’s because the marriage union is - and has always been - a type of the Son of God becoming one with His church. Christ is made the Head, while His bride comprises the many members of His body. Blessed by the hand of the Father, it is a union that will remain strong, sacred, and altogether complete throughout eternity.

Even the average wedding ceremony is likely to be rich in significance. The father of the bride, walking his daughter down the aisle to give her away, speaks of the fact that she will no longer be his, but will instead belong to another. Then there is the exchanging of rings. I myself am partial to the bride and the groom coming together to light a single candle. But there is an occurrence near the close that seems to draw little attention, though the symbolism is of some magnitude. I speak of the removal of the veil. What is the meaning behind it? The meaning is this. As long as the veil remains upon the face of the bride, the groom has no right to her. But once the veil is removed, for the bride to be kissed, she becomes his. No longer does anything separate the two; the veil has been lifted. She now belongs to her husband, and her husband to her. Soon the union will be consummated.

About thirty-five hundred years ago there was a great man of God who at times needed to wear a veil upon his face. His name was Moses. But why was it that Moses had to cover his face? It was because he had drawn more near to the living God than any other man of his day. He had in fact come so near that afterwards his face shone. Moreover it shone in such a mysterious way that his brother Aaron and all of the children of Israel were afraid to come near to him. Still, when it came time for Moses to speak with them they would have to behold him with an unveiled face, a thing difficult for them to do. When he finished speaking he again covered his face. Yet whenever Moses returned to the tabernacle of meeting, outside the camp, to be with and speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil until he departed from there.

We believers in the New Testament age, who have become known as the church of Jesus Christ, are also referred to as His bride. It is for this reason that Paul the apostle writes these words: “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Yet this is what Paul writes of the Israelites in the wilderness: “But their minds were hardened. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

According to the third chapter of the second letter to the Corinthians, the Israelites couldn’t keep their vision fixed on the unveiled face of Moses. Why? My guess is that they were not yet ready for the concept of mortal man becoming intimate with the Great I AM - even as a bride with her husband. Somehow I believe they saw the glory of that in the face of His chosen one. And when it became too difficult for them to go on beholding it, Moses would once again put the veil upon his face. But whenever he returned to the sacred tabernacle of meeting, where he would enter into intimacy with his God, he would remove the veil, since it was fitting for him to do so. Of all the children of Israel it was Moses alone who the Lord had prepared to come into so close a union with. Though fear and trembling may have had its place, how he must have relished those moments spent with the Almighty Creator of the heavens and the earth.

Despite the scriptures teaching that this glory was but a passing one, I yet believe that Moses stood as the prototype of the New Testament church - the unveiled bride of Christ. And so the removal of his veil was a foreshadow of the true removal; that is to say forever removed. It is this happening that grants us today not only the liberty of the Spirit but access to God in the innermost sanctuary, where the barrier has been torn away; and this access is for ages unending. Moses’ experience with Him was only in part and for a time, since the precious blood hadn’t yet been shed. But when this occurred many centuries afterward, the union between Christ and His church had in truth become consummated, and that in blood - running down from His body and onto the earth. It would serve as the seed of the church. Once again we are taken from the womb of the earth - though now a bloodstained earth - and born a second time. Yet this time we are granted the life of the Spirit forever, as we now emerge from higher ground than did Adam - from out of a hill called Calvary. Here our heavenly Father bestows upon us the honor of dying with His Son, being crucified with the Head of the body, we ourselves the remaining members. But because He has risen and lives forevermore, then in His footsteps we will follow. And we will not lose our way, remaining near to Him who is the firstfruits of the dead.

Today for the bride of Christ, all things have been made possible. For we have become of one body with He who is God divine. We have tasted of the Man and have drunk of his Spirit, and every obstacle has been removed that once stood between us. Unveiled before the Son, we have come to inherit all things with Him - an inheritance exceedingly rich and unending. With Him we have entered a union that even the angels weren’t created for. Therefore the writer of Hebrews wrote this: “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you take care of him?’” This “one” was David, who has left us with these words: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?”



I think that we will never comprehend the glory and the magnitude, the richness and the splendor, of the calling that we who believe have in the Son of God. If forever we honored and praised our heavenly Father - if we worshiped and thanked Him for ages unending, it would never suffice; always it will remain that we could do no more than accept from Him everlasting waves of love and blessings flowing over our souls. Still we heap upon Him the fruit of our lips without end. Great glory and honor to the Living God; to the High and the Holy; to Him who is seated upon the throne.

J. Pecoraro

Louie Miceli - Truly A Special Guy

 

1988 - 2012

Louie was born in the winter of 1988. He left the many that loved him in the summer of 2012. So short a stay. So sad a parting. So great the breaking of a multitude of hearts - this evidenced at his wake. He came to us at Teen Challenge in the earlier part of this year. I’ll always remember the first time I saw him. I looked through the large office window into the conference room. There he sat alone. He had just gotten finished being processed in. His eyes were fixed on a student who was hugging a visitor out in the hallway. It was apparent how much he appreciated what he saw. I knew immediately that there was something special about Louie. Then as time went by it all began to unfold before me - not only to me but to all who came to know him, staff and students alike.

How was it that Louie was so special? Well, to start, he never discriminated when it came to who he’d choose to socialize with. I’ll put it this way. Usually when people find themselves in a setting where they have to intermingle, then much more than not will they gravitate to those who are like they are - who think the way they think, who share similar backgrounds, who have like interests, and so it goes. Whether it be on the job, institutionalized in some way, or whatever the case be, a person’s normal tendency is to seek out their own kind. It’s the case at Teen Challenge just as it is anywhere else. Teen Challenge is where I counsel and teach misguided men, and where Louie came to for help only some months ago. But as I already said, Louie wasn’t your everyday guy. He was different. Though the cliques formed, Louie spread himself around to everybody. He would even visit with the few loners we had then. He seemed to know how to relate to all; and genuinely did he care for them. Everybody loved Louie.

Louie had a heart of compassion. I remember the day that a man came to speak in the morning chapel hour. At some point in his sermon he mentioned how he and his family had fallen on hard times, and there was no guarantee they’d have a place to live the following week. Not long afterwards Louie left the chapel and came to the office. I was the only one there. He asked me if I’d let him take up an offering for the man. The only reply I could give was that senior staff alone could make that decision. And so he began searching for one of them, but to no avail. In the meanwhile the chapel hour had ended and the man had left. At that point most would have thought that they did all they could do but it just didn’t pan out. Not Louie. He ran into the right man, told him of the minister’s troubles, then asked if he had his cell phone number so that they could get him back. The plan was agreed to. When the man returned we put together a big load of grocery items for him and sent him happily on his way - all due to the big heart of a special young man.

If you’ve noticed, just saying the simple words I love you has become the thing to do today. More and more, whether it be in person or over the phone, people are ending the time they share together with those words - and that’s great. So often however you get the feeling that it’s being said just to be said. When Louie told you that he loved you, you knew that he did. It could be seen in him. And so I never had trouble returning those words.

Louie was very mature for his age. He always did what was asked of him and never with a word of complaint. Never did I see him react negatively in a situation that I’m sure he saw as adverse. In fact, I remember telling my wife about him one day. Much of what I told her were the things I’ve already shared. I ended it all with letting her know that if God would have seen fit to bless us with a third son, I would have wanted for him to be Louie Miceli.

Did Louie make mistakes? He did. Did he stumble in the end? No doubt. And did he fall? All who knew him learned of his terribly unfortunate end. At only twenty-four years of age Louie was struck down, and on the great battlefield of the Lord did he succumb. But now I become minded of a very great man - a man who also made mistakes with some weighty consequences to follow. Old Testament Israel knew him as king David. David clearly had a tendency to steer himself in the wrong direction during crucial times in his life. Yet there was something that David embodied that caused his God to love him greatly through it all. That “something” was that his heart was right before the One who he ever worshiped and adored. And this was why he was after the heart of God. It was none other than his Creator who testified of that.

I happen to believe that despite wrong decisions made, Louie Miceli also walked with a right heart, and that before the Lord, who he truly knew and loved. I therefore am convinced that today he sits with the Son of God at the right hand of Power and in the highest heaven. There with every believer who has gone on before does he intercede for his brothers who remain upon the earth, doing battle and waging war against the darkness. And with his heart of love and compassion that his God alone had fashioned in him, will he intercede until the great gathering together of the body of Christ in the kingdom of God - a kingdom unlike no other. Through all eternity its end will not be found, but only its reign.

J. Pecoraro

One day while speaking of believers’ rewards in the kingdom yet to come, Jesus said these words: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” I’m sure we will all be in for a lot of surprises at the judgment seat of Christ. Some who headed up ministries that bore much fruit, their names known by Christians throughout the world, will not have abundant reward. Yet others, who had pastored simple storefront churches, their names known only by a small number of people in the neighborhood, will have great reward. But how can this be you may ask? It’s because God will judge us by our spirit man in that Day, and not by the man who can now be seen, the one who the world knows.

What if the one whose fame and popularity was unmatched had secret sins? What if he lived in adultery? On the other hand he may have been the ideal husband, yet loved money more than souls. Or couldn’t it have been that he was a wonderful husband, the love of money was not a vice, though his own personal relationship with God had grown o so cold; all but ceasing to have communion with Him any longer; too busy with ministry. He’d lost his first love - a thing we were all warned against by the Son of God.

Now what if there was a storefront preacher who ever searched his heart, fearing God, and whose greatest desire was to walk in a manner pleasing to his Maker all of the days of his life? To add, he was fully dedicated to the people that the Lord had put him over. However, living in an impoverished area made it impossible for him to be supported by his small congregation. He therefore had to work a forty hour a week job in an old and noisy factory. On Wednesday evening he’d head straight from work to conduct the midweek service. Most Saturdays along with some week nights were spent attending to church business or dealing with matters concerning the flock. Worn to the bone by thirty years of such devotion, and never seeing his congregation grow past forty in number, he quietly slipped away in his sleep one night, and into the everlasting arms of his Jesus. I ask you - will this man’s reward be lacking in the kingdom of God? I think not. I believe I’ve described a humble hardworking man who walked in a manner not of this world. Neither did he expect anything from it. Instead he had ever set his vision on a heavenly country and on its King, who would one day grant him glory, honor, and eternal life. On the day that we stand before Christ, I see this man in wisdom and lowliness of heart, taking his place in the shadows along with those who are of the poor in spirit. In the meanwhile there will be many church leaders seeking higher ground, while others will scramble to get as near to the glory as they can. But on that day the Lord will send His attendant to walk past the throngs and into the shadows. There he will take the hand of the storefront preacher and lead him to a seat of honor in a high place. And so the words of our Savior will come to pass: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

The wise and humble preacher remembered and lived by a parable that Jesus once taught us: “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

As I contemplated this one day, the Lord spoke to me. This was what He said. Son, don’t ever seek the place of honor. When you do, you’ll have no further ground to gain, but much ground to lose. Choose the low places. There you’ll have no ground to lose, but there will lie before you much to gain.

　

J. Pecoraro