Early in the new year of 2022 wildlife officials in Ohio revealed that a rare fish believed to have been extinct in the state was found in local waters for the first time since 1939. The Ohio Division of Wildlife disclosed that two longhead darters were caught by fish management crews surveying for bass in the Ohio River. The darter was thought to be eradicated from the state, considering it to be “locally extinct”.
“Words from Above” in the Bible tell us over and over again that there was a determined attempt by the religious leaders of the Jewish faith to rid the world of a popular teacher named Jesus. They were actually jealous of Him because He had a far greater following than them, and they considered their position among their people to be threatened by Him. This became very clear after Jesus raised His very close friend Lazarus from the grave after he was buried for four days. It was then that the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered their religious council together to discuss what they could do about it.
The conclusion drawn at the council meeting was that everyone would choose to follow Jesus, so that the Romans who ruled their land would come and take away their position as well as their nation. Caiaphas, who was the high priest at the time, suggested that the best thing that could happen is that one man should die for the people rather than for the whole nation to perish. He definitely was talking about Jesus, and added that Jesus might not only gain followers from the nation of Israel, but from those scattered all over the known world at the time. Therefore, they agreed together to find a way to put Jesus to death.
These religious leaders succeeded in having Jesus crucified, and they thought that they had eradicated Him for good, like the darter fish in Ohio. But their success was extraordinarily short-lived, because a mere three days later Jesus rose from the dead. Forty days later He ascended into heaven, from which he originated, but His disciples soon picked up the very ministry which he had begun, and spread His story everywhere throughout the world.
Thousands of years later, the mission of Jesus has been left to His present-day followers.
More importantly, one day Jesus is coming back, and is by no means gone forever. He will return to gather His Church up out of the earth in an awesome event which we normally call the Rapture. The year 2022 may very well be the year when Jesus comes back, and by all means we must all be ready.
Larry R. Steffee is pastor of the Center Hill Brethren In Christ Church on Miller Road in Smithville. Everyone is welcome to attend. For informa-tion, you may email lrsteffeetn@yahoo.com.
