Ok. Fine! So I’m Stupid.


I woke this morning after 3 hours sleep.  I can’t sleep!  I want God’s will.   And I’m going to rant here a bit.  I don’t care if you can forgive my ranting.  I’m frustrated and simply need to vent.  I stand between the world and the Lord.  I want Him far more than I want anything in this world.  And people who know me and hear me say that would nod in understanding:  “Yep.  I can testify.   This man really is crazy after God’s things”.

No matter where I turn I find lies and confusion.  People speak of God as a fairy tale.  They don’t realize that the world they’re trying to re-create is the fairy tale.  They think this day is the day they’ve been waiting for.  They think they have what they finally wanted since man began.  They want no part of God or His ways.  Oh how they speak fine words.  Refined language is the religion of the day.  If they can speak the right words, they think they have nullified the Word of the Lord.  They turn to what they call reason.  “If we can just approach life from a logical perspective, we can rid ourselves of all this God stuff.”  What they are saying is that the mind of man can create the utopia he deserves and desires.

Fine!  Have your utopia by virtue of your own imagination.  And you call Christians fairy tale people.  Foolishness!  What has your tiny mind created that you can hold in your hand?  Murder?  Chaos all over the planet?  Hunger?  Rape?  And every other kind of horror.  Has your tiny mind created a solution to all these things?  And does your tiny mind really blame God for all this?   Are you really that stupid?  Or are you simply misguided.

I am frustrated by the denial men live their lives under.  If I tell them that the answer is to turn to God in humility, they laugh at me.  Yet if I point out their failing foolishness, they get angry.    Where is the godly man and woman in the face of all this stupidity?  Where are the voices of the “called out ones”?  The main stream “church” is full of the same kind of stupidity as the world.  Every place I attend I find smatterings of philosophy, psycho analytical nonsense, “how to’s”, and more books to read.  What?!   Is this the answer?  NO!

The Living God, present in the lives of man, is the answer.  Doing what He demands all men to do is the answer.  He will not be silent much longer.  And when He speaks you will wish you could just disappear, O’ World!  Right now is your day.  Go ahead.  Have it your way.  Speak the lies you embrace.  Sell each other the trinkets you have made to replace the Holiness of God.  Advertise all manner of foolishness to each other.  Speak of peace, while you are at war with the Most High God.  You are being manipulated by the father of lies.  And you don’t even notice.

Where is truth?  It is found in the Living God, through Jesus.  There is no other such thing as “truth”.  And what I have said will be found true.  But this is your day.  While you send truth to the pile of dung in your world of lies.  God will bring your lies to ruin.  Abandon will be your meal for eternity.  For you have abandoned the Lord of Life.  Hatred will be the fork and spoon you feed yourself with from you plate of “nothing”.  For nothing is what you hold so dear.  You want nothing!  And you’ll kill to get it.  Nothing is what you will receive.

What I testify about the Lord is true.  And you will taste it soon enough.  There is not one shred of doubt in me regarding the judgment to come or the present demand by God that all men turn to Him through His Son.  Yet you say “God is like us”.  Like you?????  Are you kidding?  Are you serious?  You want a God who lies?  You want a God who will die?  You want a God who gets sick?  You want a God who doesn’t know his ear from his toe?  Is this your version of God?

He says, the one who sins is the one who will die.  And you hate Him for being so blunt.  He created you and everything you have.  But you hate the fact that He asks you to give it all up and accept Him instead.  YOU ARE THE CREATED ONE!!!!  What do you have that you made for yourself from nothing?  You are a user.  Breathing uses the air God created.  Thinking uses the brains God created.  You point your created finger of hatred at God and His people.  You move your created tongue with hatred and lies.  You crain your created ear to hear others speak of things you want to hear.  And you ignore anything godly.  And I’m the foolish one?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

By His Grace.

I’m Not the King.


Delivery Truck

I presented a witness to you.

And you thought you mocked me.

I stood before you and spoke.

And you shot your hatred at my head.

I did not flinch, nor did my soul respond.

While the dust of your words passed me by.

I knew, without doubt, that those words you cast out,

Were not meant for one such as I.

The dust of your words left no trace upon me.

Every speck has landed somewhere else.

It is the Lord you’ve insulted.

I am only His messenger to your face.

And how foolish to dash the messenger,

Then turn and boast that you have killed the King.

 

By His Grace.

Friend or Foe?


my_facebook_applications

Image by Cremo via Flickr

In facebook, all you have to do to earn a friend is click your mouse.  Supposing the “clickee” responds in kind.  But in this world, friendship is based on mutual respect and a cautious striving for trust.  I mention these two modes of friendship because there is another type of friendship that matters far more than the superficial type.

Am I a friend to the sinner?  Am I a friend to the godless?  Am I a friend to those who hate what is pure and good?  The answer has to end up as a “no”.  It’s not that I don’t want to befriend the sinner and godless.  It’s that they harbor a hatred for the God I serve.  They remain in rebellion and thus hate everything in me that belongs to God.  And the closer I get to understanding and worshiping the Lord, the further away from friendship they will move.

Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you”.  This scripture in John 15: 14 speaks volumes for all who call upon the name  of the Lord.  Friend speaks of something solid, when it comes to the Lord.  And how can I be friends with someone who hates everything I am coming to love?  We’re not talking marriage here.  In a Marriage, the woman will not like somethings the husband does.  And vice versa.  But in a friendship we are looking for similar desires.  And the more similar they are, the greater the friendship.

Love overlooks the differences.  But the sinner is mistaken to think friendship is love or that love is friendship.  I will love sinners and godless people enough to point out the center of all hope.  They will hate me for it.  But by pointing out Jesus, I am showing them love.

By His Grace.

Any Loss is Still a Loss.


The Argument Sketch

Image via Wikipedia

I was pondering the last post about those who tear down everything about Christianity.  And the following understanding came to me:

As we argue over the Lord Jesus, everyone loses.  No one wins as we are in the phase of debate and argument.  Because while the Christian is eternally solid, there is a reminder of the fate reserved for the godless and sinner.  And while the godless and sinner argue their points which support their life choices, they lose time which could have been gained in the service of the Lord.

As necessary as these arguments and debates are, they present a period of loss for both sides.  The gain comes when we are living out the Christian life at the “cutting edge” of our faith and understanding.  Anything less can be considered, to some degree, a loss.

 

By His Grace.

The Never Ending Blog.


Typing ape

Image via Wikipedia

Many write in their blogs wondering what to talk about today.  So do I.  But it’s not for lack of something to say.  It’s a war between what I can grasp with my tiny understanding, and what words to use to describe what I do perceive.

I find it interesting how the general subject seems to turn from one aspect of the Lord to another each week.  But there does seem to be a certain thrust every week.

If you want to write a blog where your material is never ending, try Jesus.  People will hate you for your words.  Isn’t that irony…………..

 

By His Grace.

To Judge or Assess?


Scale_of_justice

Image by TaranRampersad via Flickr

I witnessed an old man having trouble with the lock on the back of his trailer.  Now, I’d jump out and help.  But only one key opens the lock.  And only one set of fingers at a time can turn that key.  And what advice can I possibly give to help? “Try to turn it this way.”  Yeah.

I was waiting behind him to pull into my door.  And there was nothing more to do but sit and watch.  After a while he gave up and waddled back to my truck.  Was he going to ask for help?  Maybe he thought I carried a bolt cutter or an oxy acetylene torch.  Nah, that’s not reasonable to expect.

He got near my truck and I jumped out to meet him.  He began to talk and my soul was startled.  Anger and cursing flowed from his mouth like a river of fast moving mud.  I didn’t expect that.  He didn’t look like someone who carried that kind of heart.  But there’s not much a person can tell about another by simply looking at them.

This experience brings me to ponder “judging”.  We are instructed (commanded actually) not to judge.  But what would this world be like if we didn’t access our fellow humans? How would we sort out danger or friendly?  Would we allow the enemies of truth to come live in our house?  Perhaps, but not without making some measure of prevention.  So what is this judging thing?

Judging, as we’re commanded to refrain from, is more likely having to do with settling on a conviction that someone is a certain way and  without redemption.  Perhaps it’s like being a judge at a trial and rendering a sentence on the person in question.  I can see how this would be a source of major damage.  There would be no hope of that person ever overcoming their history.  And such judging would preclude any possibility of change.  So they would be locked out of our sphere of acceptance and hope.

Judging, as is necessary, might be more like assessment.  We consider the other person according to what knowledge of truth we contain.  And we allow for learning on both parts.  I allow myself room to learn something more about the person, while I continue to consider that person with reserved guard.  And I allow that other person room toward possible clarification of their personality.

Refrain from condemning others to the life they now present to you.  But be careful not to allow enemies to get too close.  A curious mix of understanding is needed here.  But doesn’t this just show how small and unwise we really are?  Who can know what is right without the Lord giving understanding?  How many people have been killed, through the ages, because others judged them unfit.  Even the righteous have become victim of this kind of judging.

In the end, perhaps it would be better to identify two words we can use.  We are allowed to access a person’s intend and tendencies.  And do so with understanding that we might well be wrong.  We’re allowed to protect what is precious in our world.   But we’re commanded not to condemn others before we have all the facts.  And even when all the “facts” are presented, can we truly judge them on an eternal scale?   “Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

And what would have happened if Jesus had met the “man of the tombs” and simply turned around and left?  After all, wasn’t the entire village afraid of this man?  Wasn’t he a horrible person?  But look what happened when Jesus drove the evil spirits out of him.  The villagers found that man “in his right mind and sitting at the feet of Jesus”.  (Mark 5: 1-10)  See also:  http://timglass.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/a-man-from-the-tombs-mark-51-10/

At the same time I’m put in remembrance of the 7 sons of sceva:

13 “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. ”  (Acts 9)

Again, we are told to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

By His Grace.