Category: Morality

Lead a Quiet Life, Mind Your Own Business, and Work with Your Own Hands

1 Thessalonians 4

Plea for Purity

4 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.

A Brotherly and Orderly Life

9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more;

11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

 
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The Comfort of Christ’s Coming

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

The Idolatry of Life Itself

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Superbowl 51 recently opened with a lengthy roll-out by former President George HW Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush.  I read tales of how many people found it touching and emotional.  I found it emotional too, but in an embarrassing and shameful way, and I wondered for a while if I were not watching an SNL spoof, that is just how ridiculous it appeared to me.

It is not that I do not have respect for America or our former presidents.  I am a patriot.  And I am not an ageist, I do have respect for old folks, and all that ails them with the natural aging process.  I take the Bible verse seriously that we should rise and give respect in the presence of the grey-headed and elderly (Leviticus 19:32).

But what greeted our collective eyes on Superbowl Sunday just seemed wrong to me and got my dander up.  Why do all our old people have to be so weak and rely on gadgets to get them around, to feed them, and to keep them alive?  How did old people live in the olden days?  And were they always so weak?

I believe I feel righteous indignation viewing this sort of scene because it illustrates how much we idolize life itself and keep people alive way beyond God’s will for them to be alive.  I already posted here that God’s way is not to use physicians.  Indeed, this elderly Bush couple were recently hospitalized for pneumonia.  How many other hospitalizations and surgeries have they had to ‘improve’ their quality of life and keep them alive?  And the inevitable question begs to be asked, “When would God have naturally taken their life?”

George H. W. Bush, the oldest living president, was in the hospital a week ago in Houston. But he recovered from pneumonia and gave us the rare memorable Super Bowl coin toss.

Bush was rolled out by a military member in a wheelchair while wife Barbara took a golf cart to center field. (http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/02/george-bush-super-bowl-51-coin-toss-barbara-bush-hw)

Chelsea Clinton’s Emotional Experience

Old people in general seem to have more gadgets to keep them alive and mobile than a Millennial living on a trust fund has trendy devices.  It is expected in our consciousness now that most white males (and females) over the age of 60 will receive heart surgery and a joint replacement before their tenure in this world is through.  And we hail this as wonderful and normal!  Christians praise God for doctors.  Deacons and pastors leading church prayers implore the congregation to pray for physicians and their patients, a profession not anointed in the Bible, while the biblical command to call the church elders to pray over and anoint the infirm is completely ignored!

Calling 911 is considered a right in our society, and resuscitation of life the default.  Indeed if one does not want to be brought back to life, one must file a legal Do Not Resuscitate notice in their personal paperwork.  It used to be that being brought back to life was a miracle performed by Jesus Christ Himself and those holiest prophets anointed by God.  Now even EMTs can bring people back from the dead.

Have we stopped to consider God’s will in this matter?

Doctors in America have driven this idolatrous cow with the ever available bait of money.  The prolongation of human life appeals to us because of our innate fear of death, and those who do not have the promise of eternal life are the most fervent adherents of it. The medical establishment over the last 150 years or more has been creeping in and insidiously taking over, like a cancer.  Now we are at Stage 4 where it has become part of every fiber of our beings.  It has become so commonplace to live as long as possible that nearly all of us take it for granted, and think those who do not believe life should exist at all costs, and exist as physically perfect, are crazy.

President George HW Bush’s son, George W Bush, like most Americans is eager to undergo the high priest’s scalpel.  In this article it is suggested he had prophylactic heart surgery just to prevent a problem, and this type of preventative surgery is not supported in physicians’ own medical literature!  He did it because he had the money (or insurance), and he found a willing doctor, just like when Angelina Jolie shocked the world with her preventative mastectomy.

Regarding prolongation of life, much money is spent on trying to keep people alive beyond the age of 65, mainly through hospitalization.

And studies show that we spend the most amount of money trying to keep dying people alive in their last year of life, and that is increasing rapidly as the years tick by.  The numbers show we are collectively afraid of death.

Life is the idol.  Doctors are its high priests.  Hospitals are the temple.  And body parts are the sacrifice.  Blood is let freely and voluntarily to appease the gods of fake life.

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Life itself is being idolized.  Humans are placing the value of their lives over everything, over God and definitely over His will.  Some would argue that God uses physicians to keep people alive, and He might in some cases.  But overall that argument is as baseless as saying God uses sin as a teacher.  God allows us to have free will.  If we choose to try and live forever, He will allow it in His way.  That does not mean He supports it or that it is right.  We cannot understand God’s ways as humans.  We must look to the Bible for knowledge of His will, and we must abide in Christ to keep His will.  Both are necessary for living in His will for us.

…And dying in His will for us.

If You Are Not With Me, You Are Against Me

“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”  ~Luke 11:23 

There is a seeming contradiction in the Book of Luke which has bothered me for some time.  I finally researched the verses in the Greek and got to the bottom of the problem, which can simply be attributed to a fallacious translation, as unfortunately happens in the extensive text of the Christian Bible.

In Chapter 9 Jesus states, “If they are not against us, they are for us.”  But then in Chapter 11 follows up with, “If you are not for us, you are against us.”

It cannot be both ways.  Those statements are mutually exclusive.  If one exists, the other cannot exist.  They both cannot be true.

The mystery lies in one simple but profound word translated as ‘for’ in the latter part of verse 49 of Chapter 9, usually translated as:  “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is for us.” However that word in the Greek means much more than ‘for’, it is the word ‘huper’ which means ‘over’ or ‘superior to’.  But what can Jesus mean by that?  If we substitute in that meaning we get:  “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is over us?”

Yet let us back up and look at the context in which Jesus is speaking to His disciples in Chapter 9.  John had told Jesus they saw (the Greek word for ‘to see’ here also means ‘to know’) someone casting out demons in Jesus’ name, and they prevented him because he was not someone they knew.  Jesus countered John by answering that if someone is casting out demons in His name, and he is not against Jesus (an antichrist spirit or agent), he must be doing this deed by a superior authority, and is actually over His disciples.

Wow.  That suggests that other entities were at work whom the disciples did not know.  This word ‘huper’ is also used in Romans Chapter 13 when it states all men are subject to the highest authority superior to all; and that rulers, while over men, are also under this highest authority, which is superior to them.  In all translations ‘huper’ is simply translated as ‘for’ or ‘over’, without its divine meaning carried forth.

 

So for practical purposes, if man is lackadaisical and lives in a way that is not against Jesus Christ, but is merely apathetic or agnostic, if you will, it does not mean that he is FOR Jesus.  The context of this statement is when good works are done by those professing Jesus’ name but whom we may not know or recognize as brethren.  Jesus tells us to allow this to happen, because if miracles are worked in His name, and they are not worked by those against Him by false prophets or an the antichrist (i.e. by magic or subterfuge as with the Egyptian magicians), they are being done by a Higher Authority, someone infused with the Holy Spirit, or an angel.

Jesus goes on to state very clearly later in Luke’s gospel that,

“He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.”  ~Luke 11:23 

This is what we need to remember:  To be lukewarm about Jesus means to be against Him and to prohibit God’s Kingdom.  Doing nothing to promote the name of Jesus by those who know His name, means to be against Jesus.

We need to be proactively FOR Jesus Christ.  Anything less than this means we are against Him, and therefore God Almighty.

When the World Hates You

My ex-colleague who is an eastern pagan idol worshiper stole my washer and dryer today with her family members.  She literally came into my large domicile and unhooked them and took them.  She did not need them and I had laid claim to them because I did need them.  My other colleague, a lukewarm Christian, watched her do it, and also told her I had thought about keeping the refrigerator because I thought I might need that too (when I move out of here).  So the pagan worshiper left a nasty note on the refrigerator saying that it was mandated that it stay in this building, because she said so.  She really had no more right to those items than I had, and I actually could make a legal claim for them, but I will not, because Jesus says if someone takes your cloak, give them your tunic also.

I am a poor single mother, and she and all her family came in and literally took my washer and dryer.  She put it ‘in storage’ (per my other colleague’s report).  But she likely gave it to her children to have.  Now I have no way to wash clothes and will have to go to a laundromat to wash my and my sons’ clothes.  She has taken other things from me as well, and she is escalating in her boldness in doing so.  She really does not want me to have anything, while she and my other colleague get whatever they want (they have been carting out a lot of furniture for themselves).

I console myself and rejoice because I am constantly having to deal with this behavior from my wicked ex-colleagues and I pray that I continue to be humble in my behavior back toward them.  I want my actions to be like Jesus’ actions would be.  I talk to God and I talk myself through the hard times.  And I rejoice because I know if she hates me that much for no apparent reason, it means that the devil in her smells the righteousness in me.

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,  not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you.  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.  ~1 John 3:11-14

In these types of stressful situations with my wicked colleague, I also think a lot of this verse because she acts hatefully toward me as often as she can:

If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  ~John 15:18-21

There are a LOT of haters in the world.  There are more people who hate than who love, so being the victim of true hateful actions is a common happenstance for most of us.  It is difficult to constantly be on the side of being the hated, but it is still better than being on the side of the hateful.

Thank You for this good word, God.  I love You.  I know you see my anguish and persecution.  I consider suffering in the name of Jesus a blessing.

Clergy Sexual Abuse

Excerpts taken out of this article: http://www.crusadeagainstclergyabuse.com/htm/AShortHistory.htm

1952:              Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, founder of the Paraclete Order and associated treatment facilities for priests located in New Mexico, Missouri and California, wrote to Bishop Robert Dwyer of Reno, NV, about priests afflicted with sexual disorders that cause them to abuse young boys.  This letter indicates that Fr. Fitzgerald had already treated a “handful” of men charged with such abuse.  He shared his recommendation that such men be laicized since they would never be free of the temptation to act out.  This letter is remarkable in that it clearly assesses both the disorder and the risks.  He warns against the very solutions that many bishops resorted to in the ensuing years: “Hence, leaving them on duty or wandering from diocese to diocese is contributing to scandal or at least to the approximate danger of scandal.”  Fr. Fitzgerald’s efforts at helping troubled priests were unique and quickly became known to all US bishops.  It is safe to assume that his opinions about sexually abusing priests were known to most if not all bishops. Concerning priests who sexually abused minors he said “We find it quite common, almost universal with the handful of men we have seen in the past five years who have been under similar charges – we find it quite universal that they seem to be lacking in appreciation of the serious situation.  As a class they expect to bound back like tennis balls on the court of priestly activity.  I myself would be inclined to favor laicization for any priest, upon objective evidence, for tampering with the virtue of the young, my argument being, from this point onward the charity to the Mystical Body should take precedence over charity to the individual and when a man has so far fallen away from the purpose of the priesthood the very best that should be offered him is his Mass in the seclusion of a monastery. 

Moreover, in practice, real conversions will be found to be extremely rare. 

Many bishops believe men are never free from the approximate danger once they have begun.  Hence, leaving them on duty or wandering from diocese to diocese is contributing to scandal or at least to the approximate danger of scandal.” (See Fitzgerald Letter, dated Sept. 12, 1952,)

1957:              Fr. Fitzgerald wrote to Bishop Matthew Brady of Manchester NH on September 26, 1957: ‘From our long experience with characters of this type, and without passing judgment on the individual, most of these men would be clinically classified as schizophrenic.  Their repentance and amendment are superficial and, if not formally at least subconsciously, is motivated by desire to be again in a position where they can continue their wonted activity.  A new diocese means only green pastures.”  [In short, antisocial, without conscience (song of mary addition)]

1957:              Again, Fr. Fitzgerald writes to Archbishop Edwin Byrne (Santa Fe) that he thought it unwise to “offer hospitality to men who have seduced or attempted to seduce little boys or girls.”  He went on to utter an eerie prophecy of the future:
If I were a bishop, I would tremble when I failed to report them to Rome for involuntary laicization.  Experience has taught us these men are too dangerous to the children of the parish and the neighborhood for us to be justified in receiving them here….They should ipso facto be reduced to lay men when they act thus.

1961:              The Sacred Congregation for Religious issued an official document entitled, “Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and sacred orders,” 2 Feb. 1961.  The document states that one of the common causes of “defection’ or departure from the priesthood is “…sexual tendencies of a pathological nature…” which refers to homosexual tendencies.  Later in the document reasons for dismissal are listed.  The following statement is found:

 “Advancement to religious vows and ordination should be barred to those who are afflicted with evil tendencies to homosexuality or pederasty, since for them the common life and the common life and the priestly ministry would constitute serious dangers.”

1966:              A workshop for psychologists engaged in the assessment of candidates for the priesthood and religious life is held at the School of Nursing of the Saint Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York.  One of the participants stated : Perhaps the most troublesome and most frequent appearing sociopathic features or disturbances in assessment work concern the high incidence of effeminacy, heterosexual retardation, psychosexual immaturity, deviations or potential deviations of the homosexual type….A recent study of 107 male candidates, for example, shows that 8% of these were sexually deviant, whereas 70% were described as psychosexually immature, exhibiting traits of heterosexual retardation, confusion concerning sexual role, fear of sexuality, effeminacy, and potential homosexual dispositions.”

1971:              Dr. Conrad Baars and Dr. Anna Terruwe presented a scholarly paper to the 1971 Synod of Bishops at the Vatican and to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.  Citing 40 years of combined psychiatric practice treating about 1500 priests, they concluded that 20-25% of U.S. priests had serious psychiatric difficulties and 60-70% suffered from emotional immaturity. They concluded that the psychosexual immaturity manifested itself in heterosexual and homosexual activity.

1972:              Dr. Eugene Kennedy published a psychological study of U.S. priests commissioned by the Bishops’ Conference.  His findings concurred with those of Baars and Terruwe and concluded that American priests were
7% psychologically and emotionally developed
18% psychologically and emotionally developing
66% underdeveloped
8% maldeveloped.

Kennedy and Heckler stated that the underdeveloped and maldeveloped priests (74%) had not resolved psychosexual problems and issues usually worked through in adolescence.“Sexuality is, in other words, non-integrated into the lives of underdeveloped priests and many of them function as a pre-adolescent or adolescent level of psychosexual growth.”

~~~

I would say these findings are likely true of pedophiles in general.  Pedophile is being defined as adults preferring to sex with children of any age.  It just so happens that the allure of the Catholic priesthood with its power, prestige, accommodations, and unlimited stock of vulnerable children attract those men with proclivities to pedophilia and who are likely immature themselves, either with an underdeveloped (psycho-socially stunted) or maldeveloped (antisocial) ego.

While this article and these studies pertained to Catholic priests, it seems reasonable the data can also apply to protestant clergyman and chaplains as well, though perhaps at a decreased rate than the Catholic priesthood for the reasons mentioned above.  Protestant priesthood still carries with it power, prestige, and a surplus of vulnerable children, though its accommodations are usually meager in comparison to their Catholic counterparts.  The level of blind trust and the pervasiveness of long-standing historical church abuses and abrogation of duty regarding those abuses may be higher in the Catholic dioceses versus those of protestant church communities, but many protestants are starting to speak out about the abuse problem in their own churches and ministries as well.

Stunning to note is the staggering incidence of the sexual immorality of priests, one of God’s holiest offices.  Jesus said if a member of your body causes you to sin, then you should cut it off.  But what if that member is a priest, corporally?  The law in the Bible calls the presumptuous sins of priests the most heinous sins that can be committed among men, and those sins carry greater punishments and need more atonement than other sins.  Jesus also said that if someone causes a child who believes in Him to sin, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea.  This leaves a punishment for sex offenders of children life in prison, since suicide is a sin itself.  Unless that person is one of the very ‘few who can effect a real conversion’ away from perpetuating the abuse.

If three quarters of priests are psychosexually immature and deviant, which several studies have shown, then society should expect that the most likely exposure of our children to sexual immorality will ironically be through the church, or those who elevate themselves in the church to positions of power, proving that the devil does indeed masquerade as an angel of light.

 

~selah

Podesta-esque: Art & Life (& Death)

Art informs us of the stuff in men’s hearts:

Pedophilia and child trafficking are becoming more well known due to Pizza Gate and other media blitzkrieg. It’s disgusting what men will do, but we must remember what is behind it all: A demonic force ruled by Satan.

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What if Adam had Chosen a Gay Lifestyle?

What would have happened if Adam had rejected Eve whom God had made just for him, and told God he preferred others?

The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs[d] and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

“At last!” the man exclaimed.

“This one is bone from my bone,
    and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
    because she was taken from ‘man.’”

This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame. ~Genesis 2:15-25

What would Eve have done?

What would God have done?

HYOWM AYWB~The Day of Job

As feelings of desolation, gloom, and hopelessness pervade my being I am reminded by the Helping Spirit that Job suffered just like me.  No other account in the Bible relates the human condition of losing everything when it seemingly makes no sense like the Book of Job.  Hence there I find my only solace.

I can completely relate to his story and I am so thankful it is in the Bible, and that I am acquainted with it.  As I lift my head above the churning waves of despair, I get a glimpse of the hope that is my God looking down upon me with affection and love, eager to assuage my pain.

I believe God is using me as He did Job:  to be an example of righteousness to the devil.

It’s not that I am perfect.  I have struggled with difficult things.  Since becoming a Christian I have sinned less and less, but pulling out of a sinful way of thinking has been a long process of two steps forward, one step back.  I have especially fought a battle with sexual immorality.  It isn’t that I am that bad by worldly standards, but that it has taken me longer to perfect the side of myself that seeks romance and relationship.  I think this is typical of most women.

Yet I do get better as time goes by, praise God.  And I believe He has chosen to make an example of me despite these fall backs.

I first lost my marriage when my husband left me.  I then began losing my family as I had known it; my kids gravitated to their father’s house and he remarried, giving them a new family.  I have grieved the loss of their presence as a mother would grieve a literal death of her child.  I fought in utter desperation to try to keep them close to me, all to no avail.  As time went by my hope for having another committed relationship slowly eroded away until I have all but given up on hoping for one anymore, and this is after much effort was exerted on my part to meet someone who completed me.  My business then failed into which I had invested my time, money, heart, and future.  As I go forth trying to carve out a career niche that suits me, I meet mostly dead ends.  I have interviewed for jobs to only be turned down, even when I seemed to be the best candidate or even overly qualified.  God gives me work, but it does not utilize all my talents leaving me feeling like my potential is untapped, and leaving me always unfulfilled.  My financial situation is rather dour and I am in debt.  I have noticed of late that I am having chest pain after moderate aerobic exercise which I never had before.  My friends are left baffled by my circumstances, but instead of understanding this as a Job moment and giving me good counsel, they begin launching into a litany of advice and vain words which only increases my frustration and pain.

I have lost my marriage, my family, my career has stagnated, and now I am losing my health.

Through it all, I have tried to do what modern Christian pastors, counselors, and friends tell you to do:  I have shared my plight with my Christian friends.  The problem is that my failures make no rational sense when you try to explain them, which they inevitably try to do.  My husband did not have to get a new wife two weeks after he left me; my children should not have gravitated to him because I was a doting stay-at-home-homeschooling mom; my business was a shining example of perfection in this region of the United States as I am a highly qualified practitioner with a good reputation in my community; and I have always had exemplary health, am relatively athletic, have low blood pressure, and low cholesterol!  Yet all but one of my few Christian friends have difficulty validating me and my experiences at the least, and at the worst, cause trauma to me with their words which sound harsh to my wounded and sensitive ears.

Like Job’s friends, my primary Christian female friend implies that either I am somehow not being thankful enough for what I have (I am very thankful and thank God without ceasing); that I am focusing too much on the negative side of things because the reality really is not that bad–that I just am going through a hard time and having trouble seeing objectively; that it is not time yet for God to bless me because I am somehow not ready or matured in my faith enough to warrant that yet; or that His purpose is being fulfilled through me in all these failures but I just cannot see it–as if others go through this all the time (and I know they do not).  These false ideas come at me as I try to do as I am told and seek comfort among my Christian sisters.  However, just like Job’s brethren, my sisters do me more harm than good.

The fact is that our Christian culture has adopted an understanding of God’s will as something like this:  If you are obedient, you will be blessed and those blessings will look like success in our world.  Christian fruit has been taken to mean having plenty, being successful in business, and having a close relationship with your children.  You may suffer a little while, but not too long….unless you are being disobedient.  There is no room for extended catastrophic events or Job-like moments in our modern understanding of the Lord.  I would guess this is because we don’t have much cultural memory as Americans of times being very hard, and our understanding of God has been molded along with the advancing affluence of our country.

But sometimes God still makes examples of people like He did Job, and I am here to testify of that.  It is the only explanation that makes rational sense for the things I have endured and continue to endure.  God still wants to show the devil that some put Him first.  Even a new Christian who has only known Him 4 years!

I am tested often but I am not usually consciously aware it is a test at the time, but sometimes I become aware of it during the test or just afterward.  I do not usually try to answer in a way to merely please God, though that would be okay, I believe, but I answer in what I know or feel to be right in the situation.  I know many Christian sisters who would pass these tests too, and I have to ask, as Job did, “Why me, LORD?”  Maybe more of us have Job moments than we can know.  But what I do know, is that I am blessed to be debased in the world.  The lower I become in the world, the higher I become unto God.

I hope I am pleasing God as much as Job did.  Thankfully I can see where Job made his mistake doubting God, and hopefully with Jesus’ strength, I can keep my faith as I keep my love for Him and my neighbor.  I pray the devil can see that there really are some Christians who fear God and shun evil faithfully through pain, loss, and as all worldly blessings fall away.  Thank God for the Bible.  I can find validation and solace here I can literally find no where else:

Oh that my grief were fully weighed, and my calamity laid with it in the balances!  For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea–

What strength do I have, that I should hope?  And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?  Is my help not within me?  And is success driven from me?

To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.  My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, like the streams of the brooks that pass away, which are dark because of the ice, and into which the snow vanishes.  When it is warm, they cease to flow; when it is hot, they vanish from their place.  The paths of their way turn aside, they go nowhere and perish.  The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope for them.  They are disappointed because they were confident; they come there and are confused.  

But what does your arguing prove?  Do you intend to reprove my words, and the speeches of a desperate one, which are as wind?  Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you undermine your friend.  Now therefore, be pleased to look at me; for I would never lie to your face.  Turn now, let there be no injustice; yes, turn again, my righteousness still stands.

So I have been allotted months of futility, and wearisome nights have been appointed to me.  When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, and the night be ended?’  For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn.  My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.  Oh, remember that my life is a breath!  My eye will never again see good.  The eye of him who sees me will see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be.  As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the grave does not come up.  He shall never return to his house, nor shall his place know him anymore.

What is man, that You should magnify him, that You should set Your heart on him, that You should attend to him every morning, and test him every moment?  How long?  Will You not look away from me, and let me alone till I swallow my saliva?  Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to myself?  Why then do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity?  For now I will lie down in the dust, and You will seek me diligently, but I will no longer be.

Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.  What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.  You are all worthless physicians.  Oh, that you would be silent, and it would be your wisdom!  Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes….

Be silent with me, and let me speak, then let come on me what may!  Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hands?  Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.  

Biblical History Repeating Itself

Relentless Judgment on Israel~ Hosea Chapter 13

When Ephraim spoke, trembling,
He exalted himself in Israel;
But when he offended through Baal worship, he died.
2 Now they sin more and more,
And have made for themselves molded images,
Idols of their silver, according to their skill;
All of it is the work of craftsmen.
They say of them,
“Let the men who sacrifice[a] kiss the calves!”
3 Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud
And like the early dew that passes away,
Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor
And like smoke from a chimney.

4 “Yet I am the Lord your God
Ever since the land of Egypt,
And you shall know no God but Me;
For there is no savior besides Me.
5 I knew you in the wilderness,
In the land of great drought.
6 When they had pasture, they were filled;
They were filled and their heart was exalted;
Therefore they forgot Me.

7 “So I will be to them like a lion;
Like a leopard by the road I will lurk;
8 I will meet them like a bear deprived of her cubs;
I will tear open their rib cage,
And there I will devour them like a lion.
The wild beast shall tear them.

9 “O Israel, you are destroyed,[b]
But your help[c] is from Me.
10 I will be your King;[d]
Where is any other,
That he may save you in all your cities?
And your judges to whom you said,
‘Give me a king and princes’?
11 I gave you a king in My anger,
And took him away in My wrath.

12 “The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
His sin is stored up.
13 The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
He is an unwise son,
For he should not stay long where children are born.

14 “I will ransom them from the power of the grave;[e]
I will redeem them from death.
O Death, I will be your plagues![f]
O Grave,[g] I will be your destruction![h]
Pity is hidden from My eyes.”

15 Though he is fruitful among his brethren,
An east wind shall come;
The wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness.
Then his spring shall become dry,
And his fountain shall be dried up.
He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.
16 Samaria is held guilty,[i]
For she has rebelled against her God.
They shall fall by the sword,
Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,
And their women with child ripped open.

Footnotes:

  1. Hosea 13:2Or those who offer human sacrifice
  2. Hosea 13:9Literally it or he destroyed you
  3. Hosea 13:9Literally in your help
  4. Hosea 13:10Septuagint, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read Where is your king?
  5. Hosea 13:14Or Sheol
  6. Hosea 13:14Septuagint reads where is your punishment?
  7. Hosea 13:14Or Sheol
  8. Hosea 13:14Septuagint reads where is your sting?
  9. Hosea 13:16Septuagint reads shall be disfigured

 

In the belief that the following passage is true and that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), I give you Hosea 13 from God as a backdrop for events that will soon unfold in America; IF we do not turn from our persistent idolatry of sex, money, and willful ignorance and cling to the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and might.

All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; 17 so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.  ~2 Timothy 3:16-17

Ephraim was the largest tribe in the northern part of the kingdom of Israel.  After King Solomon died, the kingdom of God-the 12 tribes of Israel-became divided into a northern and southern kingdom:  Ephraim, the largest, (usually called Israel) and Judah, respectively.  The people of God made idols out of silver (and gold) and the finest craftsmen sculpted these objects.  They began worshiping their idols and abandoning the one true God.

One cannot but help notice the uncanny similarity with ancient objects crafted skillfully by hand out of silver and our modern-day electronics, all of which contain silver.  Our first electronics contained gold, lead, and platinum, sometimes in high quantities, so much so that harvesting these precious metals from salvaged appliances is a booming business, especially in third-world countries.  See this post on how idolatry is clutched by nearly everyone in America today in the form of personal devices.  Idolatry is not a practice that got left in antiquity when we stopped making animal figurines.  It very much continues on an even more pervasive scale today.

Even though God is not readily visible (we have to seek Him out), nor easily proved (His existence requires faith, not facts) does not mean that He is not real.  Furthermore, His word stands true forever, so what is written in the historical record of the Bible was true, is true, and will be true in the future.  Self-identified church-attending Christians are in denial about how much they practice idolatry.  Not only that, but as Americans fall further and further away from belief in God, our citizens are bold about denying the existence of God at all.

God tolerates this behavior and practice no more today than He did when the Jewish nation was expunged from the Holy Land, several times over.  He clearly states in the scriptures that if we forsake Him, He will not only forsake us, but He will allow the ‘wild beast to tear them [us], [we] he will know pain like a woman in labor, [we] he will lose his children, [our] his spring will dry up, [we] they shall fall by the sword, [our] their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and pregnant women will be ripped open’.

This sounds like Islamic practice.  And it is happening very, very close to us!  It is happening to Jews, and our Christian brethren in all parts of the world, and has even happened here, on American soil.

Islam has declared war on us, whom they call ‘infidels’.  But instead of fighting their war their way, we must cling to God because God promises us in His covenant with us that if we love Him with our heart, soul, and might; and love our neighbors as ourselves above all else, “Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.  ~Leviticus 26:8”

We cannot fight a war on our own and win.  We have exalted ourselves because our lives became easy as Americans, and we neglected and forgot about God; as the Jews before us also had done and were punished.  Only with God we will stand strong and be invincible.

~selah

 

Christian Charity and Immigration

I have been unusually silent on the subject of immigration, and specifically the issue of aiding refugees who, finding themselves in a desperate situation, want to suddenly emigrate from their native lands by the hundreds of thousands.  In our current events, this means Syrian refugees.  But I also want to address long-standing immigration from our border country of Mexico and other Latin American neighbors.

God has finally given me an understanding of some of the Truth in this matter, in general, and an understanding of how to reconcile living a Christian life while still having safe boundaries, and borders.  I am not a political expert but I don’t believe I need to be.  I am an expert on living with God daily, discerning the truth of His word, and living it out in my life.

In the Great Commission, Christ calls us to go forth and make disciples of all the nations.  Jesus sent His disciples out two by two to preach the gospel taught to them by Him.  He reminds us to love God and love our neighbor.  He illustrates that our neighbor may be an enemy, but if we come upon him and he is in danger, to take care of him like our own family member (the Good Samaritan story).  In the Book of Luke, Jesus also reminds you to love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you; and if someone strikes you, to allow him to strike you again, and to give to everyone who asks of you.

In all of these examples, we go forth.  Poor people or the oppressed don’t usually have occasion or means to travel very far.  The Israelites took 40 years to enter the Promised Land which was adjacent to Egypt, where they had been enslaved.  No one went and got them and carted them into the Promised Land.  They were led there by God, on their own, and defeated their enemies because of God’s favor.  In the Book of Luke reference, if we are individually approached to help another human being, we are commanded to do so, but as an individual, not as a government.  If we choose to travel to another land, then we should be ready to help the people we commune with and among, which is what a missionary does, or a humanitarian relief worker.

When in Acts chapter 3 Peter and John came into the presence of the lame man outside the synagogue in Jerusalem, he asked for alms, and he looked to them to be handed alms, but because they did not have silver or gold, they gave him the blessing of the Spirit of Jesus, and lifted him up for he could then walk.  They could not give him what they did not have, but a blessing in Jesus’ name was better than monetary gifts of any kind!

When other cultures are in trouble and look to us for help, we cannot give them what we do not have (monetary resources), but we can always bless them with the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  If we choose to go to their land, we are commanded to live among them and make believers of them.  We are not commanded to steal gold (make money we do not have) so that we can go after them to bring them to our country, or pay millions of dollars to ‘save’ them!

Furthermore, when peoples have diametrically opposed beliefs to our chosen way of life, which is overall, ‘One Nation Under God,’ we have a responsibility to move away, to keep ourselves far from a false matter, and to avoid them, all of which are biblical commands.  Saint Paul states in Romans Chapter 16:

Romans 16:17-20New King James Version (NKJV)

Avoid Divisive Persons

17 Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.18 For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus[a] Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. 19 For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. 20 And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

The special interests that influence our government to act contrary to not only Americans’ best interests, but also biblical theology, are surely serving the world and not God, because if anyone is a friend of the world, he is an enemy of God:

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.  ~James 4:4

The Farm in Tennessee was a commune that got started in the hippie era of the 70’s.  In the 80’s, many poor people migrated to The Farm for various reasons no doubt in part because they heard no one was turned away.  As part of the Farm’s doctrine in that day, families on the Farm opened their homes and larders to all these strangers who poured in.  Soon all the longstanding Farm families began to starve and the children went without shoes in the Winter.  Many did not work or worked at jobs with no monetary pay, and could not buy necessary resources.  Finally, when the leader was out of town, the rest of the group led a coup to overthrow him!  It seems on the surface that he was leading them to  do God’s will by sharing all they had, and to open up completely to them, but how can it be God’s will that all should starve because of lack?  Instead, the poor need to stay where they are and make the best of their situation where they are, or rely on an individual to help them, or go forth in faith relying only on God, not others, to save them.

When the poor and oppressed descend in droves upon a group of people who are not very stable themselves, financial decline and poverty will ensue.  This also happened in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when the poor of New Orleans emigrated to cities in Texas.  While Texans and other states’ citizens opened their towns to receive them, they might not have known that crime rates would dramatically rise and the way of life they had previously enjoyed would decline, but that is exactly what has happened in those places.

It is not our duty in any way as a nation to provide for refugees in other countries, to bring them to our country, or to pay for their life once here.  At the same time, our country was given to us by God and is founded on His principles.  We should not exclude brethren who desperately want to come here and be a part of our way of life, in every way.  It is not that we earned our land, but that He blessed us with it, and will do so only as long as we live according to His will and word.  Brethren should not come here to live as liabilities, but as assets, contributing at least as much as they take, if not more.

Reasonable measures should be taken to protect what God has blessed us with, and to be good stewards of it.  Not everyone can, nor should, live here.  God provides even the swallows with a nest, and how much more will He provide a man a home, if that man follows Him and listens to His word.

The cold reality that many soft-hearted Americans and Westerners do not want to face is that most people will choose to not follow God and in so doing will choose the path of destruction.  We can not let our eye pity these people to pervert justice, but press on sharing the gospel with those who DO want to hear it.  We have to stand for something, lest we fall for anything, and our republic already chose to stand ‘under God‘.

Amen.