Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Learning from Bible Grandparents
    Learning from Bible Grandparents
    Learning from Bible Grandparents
    Ebook75 pages1 hour

    Learning from Bible Grandparents

    By Brian Johnston

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Brian Johnston highlights the good, the bad, and the ugly of 8 family relationships from the Bible which both young and old can learn from today!  Discover: the grandfather who couldn't let go of his bitterness, a grandson who would see the reversal of his grandfather's disappointment, the grandfather who would have been so disappointed, the grandson who wasn't judged because of who his grandfather was, how a foreigner became a (great-) grandmother to King David, a grandson who proved a worthy successor to his grandfather, the grandmother who teamed up to raise a man of God, and the grandmother who helped a curse become a blessing.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHayes Press
    Release dateMar 17, 2017
    ISBN9781386490371
    Learning from Bible Grandparents
    Author

    Brian Johnston

    Born and educated in Scotland, Brian worked as a government scientist until God called him into full-time Christian ministry on behalf of the Churches of God (www.churchesofgod.info). His voice has been heard on Search For Truth radio broadcasts for over 30 years (visit www.searchfortruth.podbean.com) during which time he has been an itinerant Bible teacher throughout the UK and Canada. His evangelical and missionary work outside the UK is primarily in Belgium and The Philippines. He is married to Rosemary, with a son and daughter.

    Read more from Brian Johnston

    Related to Learning from Bible Grandparents

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      He’s No King David

      Dec 2, 2019

      He’s No King David
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Oct 8, 2020

      Thank you for making my life more joyful month after month. I can’t tell you how important to me the Fortean Times is. Kevin Hope By email Regarding Matt Salusbury’s Forum article on sunken bells [FT396:54-55], there is more to the bells of Aberdyfi

      14 min read

    • Article

      The Art of Reading James Baldwin

      Oct 11, 2017

      WILLIAM GIRALDI is the author of the novels Busy Monsters (Norton, 2011) and Hold the Dark (Norton, 2014), and a memoir, The Hero’s Body (Norton, 2016). A collection of criticism, American Audacity, is forthcoming from Norton in 2018. I WENT looking

      14 min read

    • Article

      In The Name Of White Divinity

      Aug 5, 2009

      It recently occurred to me that in order to really understand the Civil War, and the people living in that era, I would need some familiarity with the Bible. I know as much about the Bible as I know about opera, car engines, and construction. But I c

      3 min read

    • Article

      Anthropomorphising God

      Feb 24, 2022

      TO SEND REVIEW COPIES, CONTACT THE BOOK REVIEWS EDITOR AT DVBARRETT@FORTEANTIMES.COM Francesca Stavrakopoulou Picador 2021 Hb, 608pp, £25, ISBN 9781509867332 There’s no doubting Francesca Stavrakopoulou’s ambition. In this huge, hugely entertaining,

      11 min read

    • Article

      Anthropomorphising God

      Feb 24, 2022

      TO SEND REVIEW COPIES, CONTACT THE BOOK REVIEWS EDITOR AT DVBARRETT@FORTEANTIMES.COM Francesca Stavrakopoulou Picador 2021 Hb, 608pp, £25, ISBN 9781509867332 There’s no doubting Francesca Stavrakopoulou’s ambition. In this huge, hugely entertaining,

      11 min read

    • Article

      Excuses When God Calls

      Dec 30, 2019

      Excuses. There is never a shortage of them. People throughout history have always been quick to find an excuse. Way back in the Garden of Eden, Adam set the pattern of excuses when he tried to shift the blame to Eve and to God who gave him the woman.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Ricko’s Not-so-modern Life

      Dec 11, 2018

      Ricko DeWilde steps off of a small wooden boat on the Nenana River and onto dry land. The steep, muddy ridge he must ascend to continue our goose hunt is too tall for him to see over the top, but it’s not too tall to climb. He eyes it warily. “I don’

      8 min read

    • Article

      Robert C. Koehler: Igniting A Peace Fire, Even As War Rages

      Oct 26, 2023

      Here’s some advice you probably never got about parenting: Write your child’s name on his or her leg or stomach, so that if — when — your building is bombed, the child can be identified when she’s pulled from the rubble. Apparently, mothers in southe

      4 min read

    • Article

      Why Babel Matters Today: Fighting Prejudice & Racism

      Nov 27, 2020

      In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan to show what it means to love your neighbour as yourself. In the parable, a man is travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho when thieves attack him and leave him on the road, severely wounde

      2 min read

    • Article

      Cornel West on Why James Baldwin Matters More Than Ever

      Mar 2, 2017

      James Baldwin was the prophetic voice of an era that isn’t over. Fifty years ago he was the intense man from Harlem who wrote, in essays and novels, his version of a civil-rights movement. Over the ruins of the 1960s, and specially the assassination

      12 min read

    • Article

      Ever The Diplomat

      Dec 19, 2021

      David Shearer may be a masochist. When you consider his career choices, you do have to wonder. He was a short-lived leader of the then-beleaguered Labour Party before resigning and being replaced by a similarly short-lived leader, David Cunliffe. He

      7 min read

    • Article

      This Is Love

      Jan 10, 2019

      This Is Love
      8 min read

    • Article

      3 Points To Ponder On Bringing Down Walls In Your Life

      Mar 18, 2022

      I enjoy revisiting the interesting and “odd” stories in the Bible – I read them to remind me how good our Father is. The stories of prophets praying fire from the air, out-running horses, giants falling, and an angel locking the mouths of lions, for

      2 min read

    • Article

      Why Hope Restores in Every Situation

      Jan 1, 2021

      Every one of us goes through dark valleys and troubled times. But in Christ Jesus we have hope. And hope restores in every situation—no matter how dark it may seem. To say the last year has been challenging would be an understatement for most of the

      4 min read

    • Article

      Churchill the Dramatist

      Nov 5, 2020

      Churchill the Dramatist
      9 min read

    • Article

      At Canaan’s Edge

      Nov 1, 2023

      I’VE started this column 10 times. Writing for a magazine as tolerant as COUNTRY LIFE is an enviable job, but the Editor does expect the writers to make sense. You aren’t required to tow a party line, but you should know what you are writing about. E

      4 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Apr 27, 2022

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Invisible War

      Feb 10, 2020

      The Invisible War
      3 min read

    • Article

      Why 'The Guy' From The Office Wants A Spiritual Revolution

      Aug 13, 2023

      Rainn Wilson's book calls for a spiritual revolution in America. And even though he himself is a very funny guy, he is not joking about this at all.

      8 min read

    • Article

      Hate the Sin, Not the Book

      Sep 6, 2020

      Hate the Sin, Not the Book
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Learning from Bible Grandparents

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Learning from Bible Grandparents - Brian Johnston

      LEARNING FROM BIBLE GRANDPARENTS

      BRIAN JOHNSTON

      Copyright © Hayes Press 2017

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, without the written permission of Hayes Press.

      Published for Search For Truth by:

      HAYES PRESS Publisher, Resources & Media,

      The Barn, Flaxlands

      Royal Wootton Bassett

      Swindon, SN4 8DY

      United Kingdom

      www.hayespress.org

      Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible®, (NASB®) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org). All rights reserved. Scriptures marked NIV are from the New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

      ISBN 978-1911433491

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Table of Contents

      Copyright Page

      CHAPTER ONE: THE GRANDFATHER WHO COULDN’T LET GO OF HIS BITTERNESS

      CHAPTER TWO: A GRANDSON WHO WOULD SEE THE REVERSAL OF HIS GRANDFATHER’S SADNESS

      CHAPTER THREE:  THE GRANDFATHER WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN SO DISAPPOINTED

      CHAPTER FOUR:  THE GRANDSON WHO WASN’T JUDGED BECAUSE OF WHO HIS GRANDFATHER WAS

      CHAPTER FIVE: HOW A FOREIGNER BECAME (GREAT) GRANDMOTHER TO KING DAVID

      CHAPTER SIX: A GRANDSON WHO PROVED A WORTHY SUCCESSOR TO HIS GRANDFATHER

      CHAPTER SEVEN:  THE GRANDMOTHER WHO TEAMED UP TO RAISE A MAN OF GOD

      CHAPTER EIGHT: THE GRANDMOTHER WHO HELPED A CURSE BECOME A BLESSING

      Further Reading: If Atheism Is True...

      Also By Brian Johnston

      About the Author

      CHAPTER ONE: THE GRANDFATHER WHO COULDN’T LET GO OF HIS BITTERNESS

      Someone has said that bitterness or bitter resentment is like a beach-ball that we try to submerge in water; no matter what we try, it bobs back up. It all starts out when an offence gets ‘under our skin’ - probably because we’ve interpreted the offence as intentional. Like a goal scored in a televised football game, we replay it in our minds. What happens is that each time we replay it, it gets etched more vividly in our memory. Brooding on it means it’s likely we’ll share it freely with any sympathetic audience. Of course, when we do that we stoke up the fire of resentment. It doesn’t take long before we find ourselves cringing whenever we hear the offending person's name mentioned. We find ourselves looking for additional reasons, real or imagined, to dislike the offender. And so we end up forming successive layers of bitterness over the original irritation – something like the way an oyster does. The difference is that the end result is not a thing of beauty.

      In his book, Lee: The Last Years, Charles Flood reports that after the Civil War, Robert E. Lee visited a Kentucky lady who took him to the remains of a grand old tree in front of her house. There she bitterly lamented the fact that its limbs and trunk had been destroyed by Federal artillery fire. She looked to Lee for a word condemning the North or at least sympathizing with her loss. After a brief silence, Lee said, ‘Cut it down, my dear Madam, and forget it.’ It’s better to let go of the injustices of the past than to allow them to remain, let bitterness take root, and so poison the rest of our life.

      Perhaps one man who would have benefited from such deep insight is Ahithophel, who we encounter in the life story of king David, his name forever intertwined with the most shameful episode in David’s life. At this point, I should sound a caution that the following reconstruction depends on assuming that the same name repeated in Scripture is referring to the same person. Of course, it’s quite possible that there were contemporaries of the same name.

      The Ahithophel I have in mind is David’s counselor, who betrayed him and joined the conspiracy of Absalom. Absalom was the son of David who rebelled against his father and tried to take his throne. Ahithophel’s wisdom was proverbial (2 Samuel 16:23), and it seems clear that he didn’t take a backseat in the rebellion against David (2 Samuel 15:12). What could have given him the motivation for this treachery? We know Absalom’s – and I’ll leave you to re-familiarize yourself with that from this part of the Bible – but what motivated Ahithophel? Some suggest (and this is where the caution about his assumed identity fits in) that we need look no further than to identify him as the same Ahithophel who was the grandfather of Bathsheba; for she was the daughter of Eliam (2 Samuel 11:3), and an Eliam, the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, is listed as one of David’s valiant men (2 Samuel 23:34).

      This is why we began this chapter with some introductory discussion of bitterness. This plausible reconstruction suggests that Ahithophel retained a certain bitterness toward David, the murderer of his grandson by marriage – king David being the corrupter of his granddaughter. (Others note, however, that the timing seems tight for Ahithophel to

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1