What Was, Still Is.


Why do we do the things we do?  Why have we learn to love what we love?  What causes a man to gravitate toward one sin or another?  Why is ignorance so beloved while wisdom and sobriety wander like orphaned children?  It is impossible that any man should answer these things.  At best they can only say, “It is the way of Man”.

Centuries ago (Pick a moment in time.) one man made a choice.  He agreed with wickedness; to perform and action of death.  Once the deed was done, the ripple effect into future days has not ceased.  No, it is carried in the soul of those who came from his day.  It is carried like a disease to the generations that follow.

As it is so with one man, centuries ago, so it is with all the men who lived in his day.  The laws they made, the words they spoke, the perceptions they held so dearly, the deviceiveness they encouraged without end, the judgments they made, the dress codes they approved or disapproved, how they segregated one man from another by language, color of skin, or other cultural differences, what lies were considered innocent, what does were considered necessity, didn’t all these things shape the mind of those to come?

Certain wickedness is adored, while holiness is forgotten.  Protections are made for certain wicked people, while the righteous go abandoned.  And haven’t we inherited all these things?

Add to this, our own imaginations.  Look around and see what we adore.  Aren’t we shaping the inheritance of those who will come after us?  And how will they know what they believe?  How will they be able to divide between what is necessary and what is inherited from the wicked who came before them?

Such is the plight of man to suffer in his own vile filth.  Yet the good news of God remains.  If we will humble ourselves and call out to him for help, he will give us what we never had.  The more diligent the soul, the more God will give.  In Christ Jesus, he will save us from our ignorance.

Is it any wonder that so few find “The Way?

The Ant Head


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They gathered in a building.  The final place of the final test.  They came together to prove the value of Man.

The question was leadership and righteousness.  Who is worthy and why.

From the body of the elders they pick the wisest one.  They said to him, “Choose for us a prize that we may begin the contest”.  The old man, bent over and half blind, said to them, “Bring me the head of an ant”.

The youngest of the elders was the first to move.  He ran outside and grabbed the first ant he could find.  With urgent dispatch he returned with the head of an ant.

The elder told him to put it plate and set the plate the middle of the table. 

The elder sat at the head of the table.  “Now debate among yourselves who is worthy to eat this head.”

They all stood speechless for the space of a minute.  Then the first to move was the youngest.  As his fingers reached for the prize, one of the elders slapped his hand with disdain.  “What gives you the right to think you are worthy?”  The reaching and the slapping became a spark to a pool of flammable liquid. 

It started with a response.  But it soon developed into an all out brawl.  This went on for quite a while until a breeze came to the top of the table.  Not even one elder noticed the ant head drift off the plate, down to the floor, and disappear in a crack.

________________________

I have looked at Man.  I have tried to discover why righteousness eludes us.  I thought I had the answer.  But in the telling of it, it took too long.

In my life I have testified well over fourteen thousand times, trying to nail down the reason why we are full of disarray.

I have come to the conclusion of the elder who ordered the ant head.  There is no righteousness among men.  There is no peace to be found anywhere on this earth.  Man simply does not have eternal life in him.

And I have understood from all that is Christianity, Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb.  Except that the Living God had done his “Strange Work”, not one man would rise from the grave.

I used to stand at the edge of the city and wait to hear wisdom.  I stood along the path where men walk and waited to hear someone utter something wise and beautiful.  But I realized I will starve to death before I find a wise man walk by me.

Unless the wisdom of God comes down from heaven, man has no option but death.  And hasn’t this been done?  Christ Jesus crucified on our behalf.  Yes, the wisdom of God has come down.

In Man there is no life.  But God has sent mercy.  Let every man do as he will; seek righteousness with all your heart.  You will not find it here!

The Religion of Speculation


The recent downswing in the stock market shows the fragile environment that Man relies so heavily upon.  Speculative investments and mass production have become the religion of the day.  And in this religion there is no god but Man.

This god that Man has created will rebell against those who have created it.  It is an unsustainable desire for wealth and prosperity.  It is created by dead desire, therefore it has no life in itself.

This is to speak of the way things are from the perspective of Man.  But what has been said here has not taken into account the active involvement of the Living God.  For while the things of man deteriorate and act against the ones who set it up, the earth itself will begin to undermine the desires for security.

Where crops were stable, feeding the creators of false religion, they will begin to fail.  Where infrastructure was dependable, it will be shattered in various places.  But still man will lie, saying that things will get better.

There is no god but the Living God in Christ Jesus.  There is no sustaining strength except that which God provides.  There is no hope but that which lay in Truth.  There is no peace but a life led under the direct guidance of the Lord Jesus.  There is no sustaining power but the blessing of God on those who are righteously bent toward his will.

Consider these things with strong sobriety.

Utter Love of Poverty


How needlessly the people suffer under an endless variety of oppressions.  How uselessly they cry out for release.  How hopeless are the cures offered by Man.  They are no cures at all.  They are simply pain killers.

How unspeakably lovely is the release of Christ’s strength!  There are no words among men to describe the wonderous release He offers.

They want freedom.  But see how they love the shadows.  They want riches.  But see how they desire those things that do not last.  They want to be well fed and clothed with security.  All the while they feed the body and purchase what protection the flesh can provide.

How long will they wait?  How much more violence must the soul endure?  Is there a limit to “want”?  Where is the place of submission?  Where is the place of receiving?

Webster Please


Let’s get something straight.  (No pun intended)  “Gay” is not a noun, it’s an adjective.  To put it more simply, it’s not what people are, it’s what they do.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.


Wake.  You who say “Shhhhh”, wake.

Look.  You who close your sleepy eyes.

Listen. You who fill your ears with tripe.

Your legs are broken.

Yet you think you can run.

You have religion.

But you have no Strength.

Wake.  The Living God moves among you.

But your stupor of greed restrains your senses.

You do not shed blood.

Yet you murder the souls of thousands.

Look.  See how the children reflect the doings of the inner room of the parents.

Listen.  The children hate with abandon, for they are not taught to revere the Lord of Hosts.

You give birth to babies, breaking their legs before they can learn to walk.

Yet you expect them to run!

You gladly receive a happy word from fools.

But you despise the Holy Word from the Living God’s Holy Son.

You are dead, even as you think you live.

Seek the Lord while He can be found.

Look about you.

See how the door has shut in your face.

Look at the horror that is your precious hope.

Look in the streets!

Can’t you see what’s happening to your precious hope?

Seek the Lord or remain dead, even while you think you live.