Fireflies

You might say it's been quite a month for me and my family back in the States. My mother passed away suddenly, and it's been a whirlwind of emotions and activities ever since. She woke up the morning of May 11th in good health and in good spirits, but was home with the Lord by that evening (about three weeks shy of her 89th birthday, which would have been June 2).

As I understand it, the cause was related to internal bleeding in the stomach area, and both of my sisters were with her at the hospital throughout the entire ordeal. They told me she did suffer to some degree, but mercifully it was over in a matter of a few hours.

Needless to say, we have all been busy with things related to her passing ever since, especially my sisters. I made the excruciating decision to not attempt to travel from Taiwan to the United States and back to attend the funeral for reasons I would prefer not to go into in grinding detail, partly because the situation is so maddeningly frustrating. Let me just say this: Due to moronic, misinformed COVID restrictions that the Taiwanese government diddles with on a daily basis, I probably would have had to take a month off from work. And when a teacher takes a month off from my school, they don't find a substitute—they find a replacement.

For the last several years, I have chatted with my Mom on the LINE program every single evening (morning here) for about 45 minutes to an hour, and we routinely talked about everything from Bible prophecy to the Portland Trailblazers. As a result, I know she was well aware of the situation that was playing out here in Taiwan. So, although down deep I feel like a terrible son for not being there at her funeral, I can take a small degree of solace in the fact that I was there every evening for about an hour thanks to LINE.

The brunt of the load fell on my two sisters, who have been sludging through the maelstrom of heartbreaking tasks that invariably accompany the death of a parent—especially one that occurs so suddenly. My younger sister prepared a video for the funeral featuring numerous photos of our Mom and a couple of her favorite gospel songs, and I put together something to be shown at the funeral as well. My video featured photos of me and my Mom together (since that was essentially my only presence at the funeral), and for the audio portion I recorded myself reading a short piece I wrote for the occasion.

In this month's article, the first thing I am going to do is share with you what I wrote for the video I created to be shown at the funeral, and then briefly discuss one of the primary topics that grows naturally out of it.

Hi, my name is Greg Lauer, and I'm JoAnn's only son. I'm addressing you from the beautiful island nation of Taiwan, where I have lived for the last 30 years and where I teach adult English. And before I continue, my Taiwanese wife Phoebe has something she'd like to say:

"Mom, how lucky I am to be your daughter-in-law. I love you so much, and I miss you now."

It goes without saying that I would love to be there, but right now the idea of traveling to the United States and back from Taiwan is fraught with overwhelming difficulties, delays, expenses, uncertainties, etc., etc., etc. We're slugging through one of the worst COVID outbreaks on the planet as I speak, and to make things worse our government's clumsy, chaotic response to it has amounted to a cacophony of partisan bickering. As Americans, I'm sure you can relate. And as if that wasn't enough, I just had eye surgery last week and I'm slam in the middle of nursing my right eye back to health. [Cataract. Ed.]

But never mind all that—this is about my Mom. As I thought about what I might say in this little presentation, a couple of things occurred to me. The first thing that occurred to me is that the greatest gift any person can have is a godly mother. Sorry Dads, but in my humble opinion you're number two. Deal with it. Of course, my sisters and I were lucky enough to have both a godly mother and a godly father, but at the end of the day I think that prize goes to Mom. Incidentally, the third greatest gift any person can have is a couple of sisters like Glenda and Karen—you are my heroines in more ways than I can count.

But I can say one thing with certainty: The seeds for every spiritual blessing I have ever enjoyed in my entire life were planted by the fact that I was raised by a mother that loved and honored the Lord in every conceivable way, every single day I had the pleasure of knowing her as my mother.

It might sound strange, but as I thought about my Mom, one of the images that came to my mind was that of a certain type of insect that you're all familiar with. Yeah, an insect. Relax...I'm going somewhere with this. We're natives of Illinois, and in the Midwest they're known as lightning bugs. Here in the West, the preferred term is fireflies, so we'll go with that. As you probably know, fireflies possess an ability called bioluminescence that enables them to produce a glowing light that emanates from their bodies. They fly around in the evening around dusk and begin to flash their lights, and it strikes me that this is a beautiful illustration of what it should mean to be a born-again believer, as was my mother throughout her entire adult life.

When we trust Christ for our salvation and are born again, one of the key things that occurs is that we are sealed with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. He takes up residence within us and for the rest of our earthly lives He does two basic things: (a) He convicts us of sin, and (b) He gradually conforms us to the image of Christ. That's His job. Of course, some of us make His job a little harder than others, but that's the plan.

But as we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit's leading, we let Him shine through us, and I believe that's what Jesus was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount when He said, and I'm quoting the King James here:

Our job is to allow the light of God's Spirit to shine through us and out to others so that they may see the good works He prompts and empowers us to do, and as a result glorify our Heavenly Father.

And that's what my mother did every single day, more so than any other person I have ever known in my entire life, bar none. She positively glowed with the presence of the Holy Spirit. Every single day it oozed out of her pores and beamed out onto everyone she came in contact with—everyone from family members to a waitress at Fiesta Bonita. [A local restaurant. Ed.]

Now, one other interesting fact about fireflies is that they don't make any distinctive sound—they're a relatively quiet insect. I mean, bees buzz, crickets chirp, and cicadas click—but fireflies really don't make any particular type of sound. Now, if one flies right past you, you might hear the faint sound of its wings, but that's about it—they really don't make any noise to speak of. They have light emanating from their bodies, and they do it quietly.

In the same way, my mother had the light of the Holy Spirit emanating from her each and every day, and she went about it quietly. She didn't make a lot of noise doing it. She didn't say or do things to attract attention to it. She never talked about being spiritual or about living a spiritual life—she just quietly went about the business of doing it, day in and day out throughout her entire life.

More than anyone I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, she was without a doubt one of the Lord's Fireflies—the type of believer that sets a sterling example of Christ-likeness for other believers to emulate. And for that, I will be eternally grateful to her.

She will certainly be missed, and she certainly cannot be replaced. I'm sure I speak for my sisters when I say this, but our world is a little bit darker without her. But personally, I'd like to think this means we are going to have to let our lights shine just a little bit brighter to help compensate for her absence, and I know that would please her very much.

I know full well that we will see not only our Mom, but our Dad and other departed family members as well in heaven soon enough. And when we do, I hope Mom takes me and my sisters aside and says to us:

"Way to shine, you guys. Way to shine."

We love you, Mom. And I know based on God's Word that it won't be long until we see you in that city that lies four-square that the apostle John describes in the book of Revelation. Again, from the King James:

The New Jerusalem. That will be our new home for eternity, and Mom, I cannot wait to be there with you.

Oh, by the way Mom, your cat Millie has a new home and she's fine.

And my eye will be fine.

And things will be fine.

And we will be fine.

So, I'll say goodbye for now, but we'll be seeing you soon and very soon.

[Outro: Opening chorus of "Soon and Very Soon" by Romanian gospel quartet 4Give, accompanied by a graphic showing 2 Tim. 4:7–8.]

As I said in the video, my Mom was truly what I can only describe as one of the Lord's Fireflies. Of course, I know exactly what many are liable to think as soon as I say that:

"Yeah, we know how it is. People always say stuff like that about their Moms. It's OK, Greg—we get it."

Yeah, I know how it is as well as anyone else—I get it. But I didn't say what I said in the video just because she was my Mom—she really was exactly how I described her. I have always been in awe of her spiritual qualities, and she genuinely motivated me to strive to maintain a closer relationship with the Lord. She built me up. She was just that type of believer. She just had a way about her that tended to build others up in their faith, and I know it was the Holy Spirit working through her.

And now that she's passed into an eternity in the presence of the Lord and is having one whale of a time in heaven with family and friends, I felt led to discuss this idea of building up other believers in a bit more detail in the remainder of this article.

Building each other up

Scripture tells us that we are to strive to edify and build each other up in our faith; to provoke one another to love and good works; to strengthen, encourage, and exhort each other in our walk with the Lord. There are a number of places in Scripture where this issue of building up other believers is addressed, and I want to briefly discuss a small handful of New Testament passages that tie in to this idea.

1. Romans 1:11–12 

Notice the reciprocal nature of Paul's statement: He wants to encourage the believers in Rome so that he may in turn be encouraged by them. In other words, we can experience a mutual strengthening of faith when we seek to encourage other believers.

This verse struck a chord with me, because there were times during my many hours of chatting with my Mom on the LINE program when we would discuss Bible prophecy. My Mom held to a pre-trib Rapture view (as do I), but it wasn't necessarily a big area of personal study for her. Our family attended an Assemblies of God Church for many years while I was growing up, and they teach a pre-trib Rapture—so that was her position by default. That said, however, it's true that I never heard her press the issue with anyone.

But if you've read very many of my articles, you know that the Rapture, particularly the pre-trib Rapture, is a big area of personal study for me, and I do tend to press the issue in my articles. There were times when my Mom and I discussed the Rapture when I could sense that I really did succeed in encouraging her and building her up just by confirming and establishing from Scripture in greater depth and clarity what she had already been taught by various pastors over the years.

And as far as my Mom is concerned, trust me—the idea of me building her up was an incredible spiritual boost for yours truly.

2. Romans 14:19 

Later in his letter to the Romans, Paul is repeating his teaching first given a couple of years earlier to the Church in Corinth (1 Cor. 8) about the issue of eating meat offered to idols. His point is that the meat itself and the idols it has been offered to are of no consequence, and eating it is certainly not a sin. But if any "weaker brother" lacks the freedom to eat such meat and do it as unto the Lord, for him it is a sin. And it is also a sin to cause a weaker brother to stumble by influencing him to do something that defiles his conscience, even though it may not defile yours.

So, Paul writes, don't do things that might cause a weaker brother to defile his conscience and fall into sin. Rather, seek after things that will "make for peace" and in so doing build up other believers instead of allowing your own personal liberty to destroy them.

It's a horse of a different color, but one area that comes to mind where we could use a lot more building up of one another is end-time interpretation. It grieves me to say it, but some of the vilest, most hateful invective I have ever heard proceed from the mouths of believers has come from people who are adamant that the Church will go through the entire Tribulation before being raptured at the Second Coming. Like many, they believe their view of the timing of the Rapture is the correct one—but in their self-righteous zeal they promptly slay all others who deign to disagree. Their "freedom" stems from the fact that they are persuaded their view is the only correct view and all other views are lies from the pit of hell foisted on the Church to cause believers to be unprepared for the Tribulation they are certain we will go through.

And it saddens me to say it, but I've heard nearly as bad coming from pre-tribbers, present company included.

Ah, yes...the Rapture Wars. Yes, even in discussions of eschatology, there is a place for serving Christ, for joy in the Holy Spirit, for the making of peace, and for the building up of other believers who may not possess the insight into Scripture you do (or believe you do).

I'll just say that if our discussions of Bible prophecy and the various associated eschatological events are not characterized by "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (v. 17) and serve to tear down other believers rather than build them up, then something is wrong and it needs to be fixed ASAP.

And I'm first in that line.

3. Ephesians 4:29 

Paul tells us in this verse that the speech that proceeds from our mouths should be such that builds up others and gives grace to those who hear what we say. Would that I could emulate my mother's example in this regard. Any and every species of "corrupt speech" was alien to her—without fail, her words were words of peace and edification, giving grace to those who heard them.

Especially her son, who often needed such peace, edification, and grace.

This is a powerful verse, because our tongues are the subject of a considerable number of warnings and admonitions throughout Scripture. The book of James contains one of my favorite teachings on this most powerful yet diminutive member of our bodies:

But nobody can tame the tongue...but before God, my mother came closer than anyone I have ever known in my entire life.

Verse 1 of this passage is an oft quoted verse, but unfortunately a lot of people have a tendency to stop there.

4. 1 Corinthians 14:26 

In verses 1–25 of this chapter, the apostle Paul has just finished ripping on the Church at Corinth for their blatant misuse and abuse of the miraculous sign gifts of speaking in tongues and the interpretation thereof. Beginning in verse 26, he begins to patiently instruct them in the proper procedures to follow in their worship in regard to these gifts.

Some people actually misread verse 26, assuming Paul is encouraging them to all have a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, another language, or an interpretation to share with the others when they come together. But in reality, Paul is describing the chaotic nature of their current style of worship, and goes on to instruct them in ways to eliminate this confusion and do things in an orderly fashion so that all present may be built up by what the Holy Spirit wants to impart to the congregation.

Paul's key point, however, is that all the things that are done when believers meet together should be done to build each other up.

• Not to build up or edify yourself.
• Not to show off and impress others with how super spiritual you are.
• Not to make others think you are God's gift to the congregation.

That was basically the situation in Corinth, and the resultant flesh-glorifying chaos is one of the reasons Paul wrote this letter in the first place.

Note: Bear in mind that when Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians in about AD 56, the miraculous sign gifts of the Holy Spirit were in full swing. By around the end of the first century, however, that was no longer the case. Now, I'm not going to browbeat anyone over this issue or get on my high horse about it, and I certainly love and respect other believers who disagree. But I feel compelled to say this, and I will do my utmost to say it in love:

Not here, not now: I don't want to get sidetracked on this issue in this article, but I am convinced the miraculous sign gifts were expressly given for the purpose of establishing the fledgling Church on a foundation that people knew for certain was from God and not merely the clever arguments of men. After the Church was so established, however, they had served their purpose and were no longer needed and they passed from the scene.

And what happened on Azusa Street from 1906 to 1909 didn't change that one iota, nor does anyone's goosebumpy experience.

Now, don't get me wrong. That doesn't mean God doesn't heal people today—He does. That doesn't mean God can't perform whatever miracles He chooses whenever He chooses—He can. That doesn't mean God has never enabled a person in modern times to miraculously speak in a language they don't know for a special, highly specific purpose—He has. But I am convinced from Scripture that the miraculous sign gifts that were routinely dispensed to believers by the Holy Spirit in the first century ceased about 1900 years ago after they had fulfilled their purpose. And although I believe this based solely on Scripture, I have to confess that I have never seen anything in the modern Charismatic movement (which I am intimately familiar with because I grew up in it) that leads me to believe otherwise.

5. Hebrews 10:24–25 

The writer of Hebrews chose an interesting word to use in verse 24. The Greek word paroxusmos means to provoke, stimulate, or incite someone to do something, and it actually lends itself more naturally to a negative connotation, just like the English word "provoke." If you paroxusmos someone, you normally provoke them in the sense that you cause them to respond with an outburst of anger or rage. But it can also have a positive meaning, as in to provoke someone to do something good or beneficial.

This word is only used twice in the entire New Testament, once here in the book of Hebrews and once in the book of Acts, where it is used in the quarrelsome, negative sense:

In Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas are planning to revisit some of the places where they had preached, and Barnabas wants to take Mark along. But Paul strongly disagrees, citing the fact that Mark left him in Pamphylia and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13), something that left Paul unconvinced Mark was fit for such ministry. The disagreement between them grows so sharp that Paul and Barnabas ultimately part ways. That's the negative aspect of paroxusmos.

In Hebrews 10:24, however, we are being told to provoke one another to love and good works, which is the positive aspect of the word.

Note in verse 25 that we are told to stir up and exhort one another to love and good works even more "as you see the Day approaching." This is almost certainly a reference to the Second Coming, although there are a few who see it as a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. The book of Hebrews is widely believed to have been written between AD 64–69, so it's not inconceivable that the Roman attack on Jerusalem in AD 70 could have been in view at the time of its composition. The great majority of commentators, however, see this as the Second Coming, and I fully agree.

I don't have to tell you that we can certainly "see the Day approaching" as we speak, so God's prophetic Word is telling us that we need to provoke and stir up one another to love and good works now more than ever, which makes perfect sense as we witness the darkness, depravity, and deception that is enveloping and overwhelming a fallen world to an ever increasing degree.

Way to shine!

Any believer with an ounce of biblical discernment can see that the Day (not to mention the Rapture that precedes it by seven-plus years) is not merely approaching, but screaming towards us at breakneck speed. Each day, new revelations of the twisted lies, deception, and chicanery of Satan's deluded globalist pawns are being revealed. And biblically literate believers know it all has one ultimate, overarching purpose:

To prepare the world for the kingdom of the Antichrist.

Countless millions of people all over the globe hear the news each day and wonder "Where in God's name is all this heading?" Well, that's exactly where all this is heading—in God's name, and it's heading there at an alarming rate of speed. Alarming, that is, for those who don't know where it's all heading.

Believe me, I'm not trying to scare you—I just want you to catch hold of one important truth:

There has never been a time when we needed to build
each other up in every possible way any more than
we do now—and that is going to become increasingly
true as we stare down the barrels of the Rapture.

If you've read much of what I've written, you know full well that I'm not one to set or sensationalize dates for the Rapture. In fact, I'm the type who is almost hesitant to even talk about a range of years. But if someone's got me in a headlock, I might confess that I'm seriously looking at 2022–2024...ish, and not too awfully far beyond that.

When my Mom and I talked about the Rapture, however, I would politely avoid mentioning anything about exactly how soon I actually thought it would occur. Timing questions were checked at the door. I mean, when you're talking to someone who is pushing 89 and you chirp "I think the Rapture will occur in the next two or three years," it's likely to be followed by an awkward silence, you know? It's like you're thinking...

"Gosh, I sure hope you're still alive in two or three years!"

And they're thinking...

"Thanks for reminding me that I may not be."

But it never really mattered for us, because my Mom and I both knew without a doubt that it's coming, as the song says, "soon and very soon." That was good enough for both of us.

My prayer is that I can use every opportunity I get to build up other believers, and that I could allow the Holy Spirit to shine through me to anywhere near the degree that my Mom did. My goal is to be one of the Lord's Fireflies—and I hope you feel the same.

Just think of it...you're in heaven after the Rapture, standing before the Lord at the bema. The Lord takes one look at you and smiles, and says:

"Way to shine!"

Works for me.

Greg Lauer — MAY '22

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