Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script Notes:

The devil took [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 4, verses 8 through 10, New International Version

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VK: Hi! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m here today with RD Fierro, author and founder of Crystal Sea Books, and part-time event lighting technician. He straightens out the cords on the Christmas lights before we put them up. Today on Anchored by Truth we’re going to finish up our current series where we have focused on the life and historicity of Jesus. And we’re going to hear the last installment of our seven part, epic Christmas poem The Golden Tree: The Frost Lion. When we left off last time the koala bears who live in the arctic village that surrounds the Golden Tree had just encountered the Frost Lion for the first time in their history. The bears have lived in the valley surrounding the tree for many generations and had heard of the Frost Lion but this is the first time they have ever seen him. And they have only seen him now because the lion has chosen to come to their village. Why did the Frost Lion choose to come to their village now, RD?

RD: Well, the biggest reason that the Frost Lion has chosen to enter the bears’ village at this time is because something else has happened to the bears for the first time in their generations around the tree. For the first time since the bears have lived in the village they have had visitors from their ancestral homeland. A bear named Roleb and his travelling companion had made an arduous journey to the north because they were concerned about the state of their village’s faith. Roleb’s travelling companion died just before they could reach the village. Roleb himself was almost at the point of death. They had known that their quest to travel to the great far north would be dangerous but they had made it because their homeland had lost its faith in the bears’ creator who they thought of as the Great White Koala Bear. To try to preserve their own tribe’s faith the two bears from down under had gone searching in the arctic even though they were mocked for doing so. Fortunately for them, two teenage bears from Golden Tree village had spotted Roleb just as he collapsed on the snowy wastelands outside their village. This had kicked off a search for Roleb’s friend. With the aid of a Great Ice Eagle, Gabriel, they had found the friend but he had just died. But when they brought the friend back to the village the Frost Lion was there. But no one knows what the Frost Lion can do – and no one knows what the Frost Lion will do …

VK: So, it’s time to find out what happens to Roleb, and his travelling companion in this Christmas epic poem: The Golden Tree: The Frost Lion.

---- The Golden Tree: The Frost Lion – Part 7

VK: So, the Frost Lion was able to raise Roleb’s friend from the dead. But I hope that most listeners noticed that the Frost Lion didn’t just stop with restoring the life and health of the two bears down under. The Frost Lion began the process of addressing the deeper need – the fact that the bear clan down under was losing its faith. So just like Jesus did after His resurrection the Frost Lion commissioned missionaries from the Golden Tree village to carry the good news back with Roleb and his friend. Obviously, the message you are sending through this poem is that we live in a day and age when many people in our own clans are losing, or have lost, their faith. And we need to be missionaries to our family and friends. Because if we aren’t who will be?

VK: And just as a reminder as of the time of the production of this broadcast and podcast in late 2022 The Frost Lion has not yet been made available for commercial release but that will happen in the early part of 2023.

RD: That’s a good note. So, let’s amplify on the reason that the Frost Lion has now chosen to visit the bears, his disciples, in the village around the Golden Tree. For the first time since the bears had come to live near the Golden Tree they had now been presented with a missionary need. In other words, the Golden Tree village bears now knew that their ancestors had actually been saved generations ago for a reason – and that reason had now been brought to their attention in an unmistakable way.

VK: Well, if we went back to the first part of the Golden Tree Tales which is The Golden Tree: Komari’s Quest we heard the heroine, Komari, say something significant which was quoted by Kodan in The Frost Lion. In her confrontation with the Demon Lord Komari said, “

For if not for the tree, which of us

Would ever have even been born?

The tree saved our forebears

When they came upon it that morn.

Ever since then, we’ve not been our own,

Our lives bought for a price.

This tree that was sown for you and me

Was the Great White Bear’s sacrifice.”

So, that’s part of the point you’re making with this whole epic saga. Those of us who know Christ as our Savior have been saved for a reason.

RD: Right. So, in answer to the question of why did the Frost Lion appear now it was because the Frost Lion wanted to commission the Golden Tree village bears to begin what is sometimes termed “The Great Commission.” The Great Commission is the mission that Jesus gave to His followers in Matthew, chapter 28 and which we heard repeated in the section of the poem we heard today. After His resurrection Jesus told the followers who had been with Him throughout His earthly ministry that the time had come for them to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and [teach] them to obey everything I have commanded you.” That’s from the New International Version of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 19 and 20.

VK: So, the reason that the Frost Lion appeared in the Golden Tree village at this time reminds us that there came and a time and place in history when the Lion of Judah entered world history to conduct His earthly ministry. And as we have talked about in other episodes of Anchored by Truth the time that Jesus entered world history as the God-Man wasn’t a random time. It was the time that had been chosen by the Father before the foundation of the world. Up to that time the world was being prepared for the arrival of the Messiah, the Anointed One, because it was at that time that the good news of salvation was going to be made available to a much larger audience.

RD: Right. Before the incarnation it’s not that there weren’t Gentiles who had worshipped the One True God – there were. But up to Jesus’ arrival on the earth the primary audience for God’s message that He was going to provide a Savior had been the Jews. All that changed with Jesus’ life. After Jesus’ earthly life, death, and resurrection not only did Jesus issue the Great Commission to His first followers but we see other evangelical and apostolic giants such as the Apostle Paul come on the scene and begin a concerted outreach to the Gentile nations as well as continuing the spread of the gospel among the Jews. But, this outreach was not going to be easy. Jesus knew it wouldn’t be which is, I believe, He made it so plain that this was a mission He was now assigning His followers. It would have been easy, more natural, for them to want to just speak to their countrymen in Israel or even just to other Jews. The outreach to the Gentiles was going to be hard – but it was the right thing to do because that’s the reason God had preserved His chosen people for thousands of years.

VK: That calls to mind a line out of the West Point cadet prayer that you mentioned to me a long time ago. The line says, “O God, our Father … Make us choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong and never to be content with a half-truth when the whole can be won.”

RD: Exactly. God had selected and preserved a people for Himself because it was through that people that He was going to bring a Savior for the whole world. Jesus, of course, was that Savior. But even after proving that He was the Son of God and the Messiah through His earthly ministry Jesus still had to complete His mission and send His followers to carry that message to the rest of the world. Until the message of salvation was sent to the rest of the world the rest of the world was still under the burden and curse of sin. But the message of salvation could and did change that.

VK: And that calls to mind Jesus saying in Matthew, chapter 11, verses 28 and 29 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus’ promise is to help us bear our burdens not merely to dismiss them from our lives but we have to hear that good news for it to be effective in people’s lives.

RD: Exactly right. So, living near the Golden Tree had brought many blessings to the bears in the arctic village. But it wasn’t enough for them to enjoy those blessings. They had a responsibility to share their blessings with others.

VK: So, that brings us to another question. Couldn’t Roleb and his companion just go back to their village and told their friends and neighbors they had seen the Golden Tree, the Frost Lion, and the northern bears?

RD: They could have but it would strengthen their witness to have others from the Golden Tree village support their testimony. That’s something anyone who has ever testified to their friends and neighbors will tell you. We all have a responsibility to give a reason for the hope that lies within us. That’s 2 Peter 3:15. But our witness is strengthened when we have others who will go with us and add their voices to our testimony. That’s one of the reasons it’s important to always engage in Christian fellowship with other believers. Sometimes we can put too much emphasis on that old admonition that “if it’s to be, it’s up to me.” Well, of course, we must do our part. But we should also seek the help of others in our own missionary activities.

VK: That’s a really important point. As Christians we can get so caught up in struggling to be good believers, good workers, or good parents or family members that we can forget to turn to other believers for support and help. And we must always trust the Lord to support us and depend on the Lord to provide for us. There’s nothing wrong with hard work but ultimately if we think that our lives and destinies on this earth are all about us we are in danger of relying on our strength rather than the Lord’s.

RD: Right. And again our model in how to approach struggles is Christ in his confrontation with Satan. Even Jesus didn’t depend on Himself to when He responded to the temptations presented by Satan. When Jesus needed strength to repel Satan Jesus went to scripture.

VK: And most people may not realize that all of the scriptures Jesus used came from probably one of the least well-known books in the Bible, Deuteronomy. Christ quoted Deuteronomy, chapter 8, verse 3 in response to the first temptation Satan presented. He quoted Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 16 in response to the second temptation, and Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 13 in response to the third temptation. This certainly reinforces the need to study the entire Bible. Jesus certainly knew all of the Old Testament and used it in his life.

RD: Right. Part of us fulfilling our role in the Great Commission is recognizing that the Lord is sovereign and we are not. Even Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for the Father’s will to be done and not his own. We must be willing to witness and testify to others, kindly and gently, but ultimately the results are up to God. Only God can bring change to a human heart.

VK: And that calls to mind James, chapter 1, verse 17. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” So, in essence what you’re saying is that Jesus is not only the One who issued the Great Commission but Jesus is the One who enables us to fulfill it. We dare not try to undertake any part of the Great Commission or any other aspect of the Christian life on our own. We must always turn to, and trust in, Jesus to guide and provide.

RD: Yes. Jesus is both the source of the instruction and the strength for the obedience. Turning to Jesus should be our first response but all too often I fear it’s our last resort. I always wince a little when I hear people say “the only thing I can do for you is to pray.”

VK: Because as you say in your book Purposeful Prayers “the whispered prayer that stirs the hand of God dwarfs the most powerful force in the universe.”

RD: Yes. The one big advantage that the bears who lived in the Golden Tree had over their southern relatives was that they had learned that ultimately the supply for their needs came from a source outside themselves. They had lived near the Golden Tree for generations. They knew there was a source of blessing outside of their own effort and that’s where they placed their trust. Anyone or anything that tempts you to place your trust in anything other than God cannot be of God. It’s not that we should not work hard to develop our own skills and abilities but we must keep them in proper perspective.

VK: The Apostle Paul essentially affirmed this sentiment in the one of the best-known verses from the Bible: Philippians, chapter 4, verse 13. “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength”

RD: Exactly. We should learn from Golden Tree village bears’ example to be discerning when the world presents us with challenges or opportunities. Jesus is our sure and certain guide in this world and the primary way Jesus imparts wisdom to us is through the Bible. That’s why we must become so familiar with the Bible that we can immediately discern things or events in our lives that tempt us to depart from its teaching. There are a lot of things that will come our way that may not seem to be harmful, in and of themselves, but we can see that it what they offer or tempt us to do will not be consistent with scripture. At my age I’ve learned that the most important skill we can develop is spiritual discernment and we can only get that from the Bible and developing a strong network of mature Christian friends.

VK: And while The Frost Lion doesn’t get into that level of detail it’s obvious from the poem that the bears had a strong regard for genuine wisdom and Kodan, Kojon, Koest and all the reset developed even more wisdom after their encounter with the Frost Lion. Christ came to bring us not only joy and peace but “life more abundantly.” But how can we enjoy that abundant life if we don’t ensure that as we travel through life we stay as close as humanly possible to the author of all life, peace, and joy. Staying close to Jesus means reading the Bible, developing a strong prayer life, and staying connected to other believers who can bless us and who we can bless in turn. Sounds like a great time for a prayer. Today since we’re so close to New Year’s Day let’s listen to a prayer for blessings to come to us in the new year.

---- Prayer for NEW YEAR’S DAY

VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on our website or your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” Also, we’d like to remind listeners that copies of the first part of the Golden Tree saga, The Golden Tree: Komari’s Quest, is available from our website.

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!”

The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 4, verses 8 through 10, New International Version