9 ¶ He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
Proverbs 21:4 told us that even the plowing of the wicked is sin. Here, under the Law given to Moses for the Hebrews, even the prayer of someone who turns his ear away from the law, is an abomination.
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
Proverbs 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
Because of Christ and the Holy Spirit, God will never turn away from hearing us. This is a great tragedy, though, to think of a blood bought born again Christian who does not care to hear God’s words and by the use of to hear in the Bible, obey God’s words written for Christians. What a shameful thing. There are many people who believed on Christ, who still claim to be His, and yet, neither care to unite with the body of Christ in fellowship and worship, nor care to hear God’s words of grace from the New Testament about God the Son dying for our sins, and rising from the dead for our hope of eternal life, about loving each other, not getting revenge, not envying or coveting, living in peace with all men, and how God would that all would be saved if they would only hear; such sweet, gracious words of peace with God and man.
We have been shown such mercy as God has washed us from our sins in His own blood. How can we neglect the hearing of His word either plain from the Scriptures, or preached? They will not hear God speak to them but they will pray when they are in trouble. Their prayer, indeed is an abomination.
Ask yourself if your child was at death’s door or perhaps your spouse, if you would not plead with God for mercy, and yet, you, right now will not darken the door of a church building nor read or hear His word preached. Ask yourself if you expect someone to talk at your own funeral about how you have “gone to a better place” or are “at rest in the Lord.” How sickening it is that you don’t care any more for the One from whom you will beg for mercy than to ignore what He has said in His Bible. You’d rather be anywhere on Sunday morning than at worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ; sporting events, work, or some entertainment, perhaps a dinner. I understand that there are reasons why people who are sick or those caring for the sick might not be able to unite in worship with others likeminded but at least they could take the time to read His word each day and fellowship with Him. But, when the time comes they who refused to hear or obey or even read will cry for His mercy. How dare you.
I’m not spiritual enough to judge whether or not you are saved and I’m certainly far less of a decent human being than most of you are but, at least I know my Maker and I thank Him, praise Him, and worship Him every day and not a day goes by that I don’t read or hear His word. You who treat the One who made you with such contempt when you aren’t in pain, grief, or afraid are abominations. You should be ashamed.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Proverbs 28:8 commentary; from ill gotten gains to pity on the poor
8 ¶ He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.
This is one of those verses that crosses Christians up when they try to use claim it. This was written under the Law given to Moses for the Hebrews. Under that Law it was wrong to charge interest to impoverished fellow Hebrews or foreigners on a loan.
Leviticus 25:35 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. 36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.
Here we see that usury is increase or profit charged on a loan, which is what we know as interest.
A stranger is a foreigner.
Exodus 22:21 Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
A stranger and a sojourner are synonymous as a person who sojourns in a place is foreign to it and just passing through, abiding only temporarily.
Genesis 23:4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
An example of a sojourner today might be a migrant worker, a foreigner or stranger from another country, or you, a sojourner on this earth, just passing through, whose home is a far country.
The Holy Spirit, in this Proverb, is saying how a person who gains wealth dishonestly and oppressively might one day see it taken from him by someone who will show mercy on the poor. It would be ironic justice if the money he took from people were used to help that same group of people impoverished by him.
This is unlikely to happen today as the ill gotten gains of a criminal would just go into the coffers of the state who would spend it quicker than you could say “Jack Spratt could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean.” I doubt any money Bernie Madoff pays in fines will go to show pity on the poor. Its even doubtful the investors he scammed will see much money.
However, there is a principle here. If a Christian is one of those who would make a dishonest profit and charge exorbitant interest God might well take his money and give it to someone who would show mercy on the poor.
This is one of those verses that crosses Christians up when they try to use claim it. This was written under the Law given to Moses for the Hebrews. Under that Law it was wrong to charge interest to impoverished fellow Hebrews or foreigners on a loan.
Leviticus 25:35 And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. 36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.
Here we see that usury is increase or profit charged on a loan, which is what we know as interest.
A stranger is a foreigner.
Exodus 22:21 Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
A stranger and a sojourner are synonymous as a person who sojourns in a place is foreign to it and just passing through, abiding only temporarily.
Genesis 23:4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
An example of a sojourner today might be a migrant worker, a foreigner or stranger from another country, or you, a sojourner on this earth, just passing through, whose home is a far country.
The Holy Spirit, in this Proverb, is saying how a person who gains wealth dishonestly and oppressively might one day see it taken from him by someone who will show mercy on the poor. It would be ironic justice if the money he took from people were used to help that same group of people impoverished by him.
This is unlikely to happen today as the ill gotten gains of a criminal would just go into the coffers of the state who would spend it quicker than you could say “Jack Spratt could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean.” I doubt any money Bernie Madoff pays in fines will go to show pity on the poor. Its even doubtful the investors he scammed will see much money.
However, there is a principle here. If a Christian is one of those who would make a dishonest profit and charge exorbitant interest God might well take his money and give it to someone who would show mercy on the poor.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Proverbs 28:7 commentary: you are known by the company you keep
7 ¶ Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father.
Notice the contrast here creating a definition as the Bible does in many places. The wise son keeps the law; obeys it, guards it, stays close to it. But the opposite type of son hangs out with party people. The first one is a wise son and by the understanding of the phrase makes his father glad whilte the second son shames his father.
Young people, you are often known by the people you keep company with. I used to be one of the riotous people it refers to here back when I was unsaved, and in some part, even afterwards for a time until God’s word took hold of me. I was not the kind of person you want to hang around to keep your reputation from being dragged through the dirt. That condition began with me hanging out with the wrong people and learning from them while I ignored the good people in my life. Guard your good name, keep your reputation clean. I have been denied employment recently based on events that transpired nearly thirty years ago.
Proverbs 22:1a A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches…….
Ecclesiastes 7:1a A good name is better than precious ointment…..
(I have heard that ointment for burial purposes, as was applied to Jesus’ head in Matthew 26, could cost as much as a year’s earnings for a Hebrew.)
What characterizes riotous men? For one, they are party people.
Proverbs 23:20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
You know the kind of young person who hangs out at the local sports bar every night after work or the older person who has to stop off at the club for a drink or two before he can go home. On weekends they overindulge: drink too much and eat too much. Its always happy hour for them, sort of like the premise of the TV show, Cheers. The Prodigal Son in Luke 15 wasted his entire inheritance on riotous living and wound up eating with the pigs.
Riotous living looks like fun for awhile but unless God has mercy on you and you repent of your lifestyle your life will usually come to ruin if riotous living is your life code. The Christian is not in danger of losing his or her salvation but you hardly appear saved to others or have any kind of testimony for Christ with a drink in one hand and a noisemaker in the other falling down drunk on New Year’s Eve. Listen to my advice carefully. Make friends with people of good character regardless of their social status or political views. Make friends with people who are, as we used to say down South, about something.
The frivolous, immoral party girl like the one glorified in the songs by the pop artist Kesha or the wild boys extolled by many different artists are fools and if you make the mistake of associating with them outside of presenting the gospel in an attempt to save them from Hell, then you will not only appear unwise but bring shame to your parents, most likely.
A wise son or daughter will spend their time with people who will help them, build them up, strengthen their faith, and who display Christian character and the Fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5. Do your friends drink alcohol, stay up late, and are they irresponsible, loud mouthed, going nowhere losers or do the following things emanate from them like a good smelling ointment?
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
It’s your choice. Are you a wise son or daughter or are you a fool who causes unbelievers to blaspheme the name of God because of your foolish companions? Think carefully. You may answer for your choices thirty years from now in this life or at the very least at the Judgment Seat of Christ at the end of it.
Notice the contrast here creating a definition as the Bible does in many places. The wise son keeps the law; obeys it, guards it, stays close to it. But the opposite type of son hangs out with party people. The first one is a wise son and by the understanding of the phrase makes his father glad whilte the second son shames his father.
Young people, you are often known by the people you keep company with. I used to be one of the riotous people it refers to here back when I was unsaved, and in some part, even afterwards for a time until God’s word took hold of me. I was not the kind of person you want to hang around to keep your reputation from being dragged through the dirt. That condition began with me hanging out with the wrong people and learning from them while I ignored the good people in my life. Guard your good name, keep your reputation clean. I have been denied employment recently based on events that transpired nearly thirty years ago.
Proverbs 22:1a A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches…….
Ecclesiastes 7:1a A good name is better than precious ointment…..
(I have heard that ointment for burial purposes, as was applied to Jesus’ head in Matthew 26, could cost as much as a year’s earnings for a Hebrew.)
What characterizes riotous men? For one, they are party people.
Proverbs 23:20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
You know the kind of young person who hangs out at the local sports bar every night after work or the older person who has to stop off at the club for a drink or two before he can go home. On weekends they overindulge: drink too much and eat too much. Its always happy hour for them, sort of like the premise of the TV show, Cheers. The Prodigal Son in Luke 15 wasted his entire inheritance on riotous living and wound up eating with the pigs.
Riotous living looks like fun for awhile but unless God has mercy on you and you repent of your lifestyle your life will usually come to ruin if riotous living is your life code. The Christian is not in danger of losing his or her salvation but you hardly appear saved to others or have any kind of testimony for Christ with a drink in one hand and a noisemaker in the other falling down drunk on New Year’s Eve. Listen to my advice carefully. Make friends with people of good character regardless of their social status or political views. Make friends with people who are, as we used to say down South, about something.
The frivolous, immoral party girl like the one glorified in the songs by the pop artist Kesha or the wild boys extolled by many different artists are fools and if you make the mistake of associating with them outside of presenting the gospel in an attempt to save them from Hell, then you will not only appear unwise but bring shame to your parents, most likely.
A wise son or daughter will spend their time with people who will help them, build them up, strengthen their faith, and who display Christian character and the Fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5. Do your friends drink alcohol, stay up late, and are they irresponsible, loud mouthed, going nowhere losers or do the following things emanate from them like a good smelling ointment?
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
It’s your choice. Are you a wise son or daughter or are you a fool who causes unbelievers to blaspheme the name of God because of your foolish companions? Think carefully. You may answer for your choices thirty years from now in this life or at the very least at the Judgment Seat of Christ at the end of it.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Latest Reading
Rights and Duties: Reflections on our Conservative Constitution by Russell Kirk. Introduction by Russell Hittinger. Dallas, TX: Spence Publishing Co., 1997. Russell Kirk was one of the great conservative thinkers of the 20th century. This book is a must for people to understand the origins and intents of our founding documents and of the people who changed those documents through amendment. Our constitution is more than just words on paper but a rich body of social, religious, and political traditions that go back thousands of years. Liberals won't like it. Neocons will be disturbed by it. But, it is basic stuff. I took a year to read it to try to soak it all in.
Proverbs 28:6 commentary; a tale of two Christians
6 ¶ Better is the poor that walketh in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.
There are several ways of looking at this Proverb from the most obvious, literal way to some very spiritual ways for the Christian. The first thing that is important to note is we need to have a handle on what a person’s ways are. Is it their manner of living, their personal attitude, the way they handle problems, or just what are a person’s ways?
In the following verse, ways is a reference to the Law given by God to the ancient Hebrews through Moses.
Deuteronomy 5:33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
So, the commandments of the Lord are called His ways.
Deuteronomy 8:6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
A man’s ways are the way he lives day by day and moment by moment, step by step.
Job 31:4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
Man’s ways are often and usually different than God’s ways. Here we see ways as thoughts by the method of parallel phrasing.
Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
When man’s ways line up with God’s ways for him, then he is right. As one of the fundamental understandings of the Christian is that he is wholly incapable of pleasing and obeying God without God’s intervention through His Holy Spirit by the method of speaking to the heart through His words in His Bible how can we take this verse, written literally under the Law, to the Christian, saved purely by God’s grace and mercy?
Jesus said that it is out of the thoughts that evil and sin proceed.
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
And Paul, speaking through the wisdom given to him by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 3:15) says that we are to bring our thoughts into subjection to Christ.
2Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
He also says that the Bible will discern those thoughts, knowing what our real intentions are.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
So, let’s move beyond the obvious and literal explanation of this verse under the Law, that it is better to be poor and right with God than it is to be rich and perverse in your ways, something which is obvious to every one with any common sense. Just as the reverse is true, it being better to be rich and right with God than to be poor and wicked.
The American Christian who has everything to commend himself as spiritually rich; freedom of religion and conscience, a great church, much access to the Bible, commentaries, great preaching, and an opportunity regularly to meet with the saints and to spread the gospel and yet, is perverse in his thoughts and actions is in far worse shape than the Sudanese Christian who has not even so much as seen the printed word, a copy of the Bible, but has committed himself to Christ’s keeping and faithfulness to Him even in the face of torture, mutilation, and death by an oppressor of another religion.
The poorest Christian in the jungles of the Phillipines hedged in on every side by fanatics of other religions, hunger, disease, and hardship who has to walk miles to hear any preaching of God’s word and that under great danger, and who has to share a Bible with someone else, and yet is faithful to Christ, is far better off in his or her relationship with God than the Christian in Pennsylvania who attends church when nothing good is on TV, rarely cracks open his Bible, and thinks of prayer as some meaningless poem you mutter hurriedly before dinner or repeat with your child before bed, and who views things of God as for church and the rest of the week follows the perverse ways of the world.
The most impoverished Christian in the heart of Africa who is barely able to eat enough to keep body and soul together and who is oppressed on every side by corrupt leaders and haters of Christ and Christians but is faithful to Christ and His ways is far better off than the Christian in the heart of Alabama who listens to every TV or radio preacher, lots of gospel songs by his favorite celebrities, and calls himself a Christian and yet, is so carnal and worldly he reeks of it.
It is better to have nothing and Christ than to have everything you ever desired and not to have Him or to claim His mercy and grace and then live like the devil. We need to think on that the next time we start being fearful of some politician whittling away at our freedom. Perhaps God will make us poor so that we can be rich.
There are several ways of looking at this Proverb from the most obvious, literal way to some very spiritual ways for the Christian. The first thing that is important to note is we need to have a handle on what a person’s ways are. Is it their manner of living, their personal attitude, the way they handle problems, or just what are a person’s ways?
In the following verse, ways is a reference to the Law given by God to the ancient Hebrews through Moses.
Deuteronomy 5:33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
So, the commandments of the Lord are called His ways.
Deuteronomy 8:6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
A man’s ways are the way he lives day by day and moment by moment, step by step.
Job 31:4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
Man’s ways are often and usually different than God’s ways. Here we see ways as thoughts by the method of parallel phrasing.
Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
When man’s ways line up with God’s ways for him, then he is right. As one of the fundamental understandings of the Christian is that he is wholly incapable of pleasing and obeying God without God’s intervention through His Holy Spirit by the method of speaking to the heart through His words in His Bible how can we take this verse, written literally under the Law, to the Christian, saved purely by God’s grace and mercy?
Jesus said that it is out of the thoughts that evil and sin proceed.
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
And Paul, speaking through the wisdom given to him by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 3:15) says that we are to bring our thoughts into subjection to Christ.
2Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
He also says that the Bible will discern those thoughts, knowing what our real intentions are.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
So, let’s move beyond the obvious and literal explanation of this verse under the Law, that it is better to be poor and right with God than it is to be rich and perverse in your ways, something which is obvious to every one with any common sense. Just as the reverse is true, it being better to be rich and right with God than to be poor and wicked.
The American Christian who has everything to commend himself as spiritually rich; freedom of religion and conscience, a great church, much access to the Bible, commentaries, great preaching, and an opportunity regularly to meet with the saints and to spread the gospel and yet, is perverse in his thoughts and actions is in far worse shape than the Sudanese Christian who has not even so much as seen the printed word, a copy of the Bible, but has committed himself to Christ’s keeping and faithfulness to Him even in the face of torture, mutilation, and death by an oppressor of another religion.
The poorest Christian in the jungles of the Phillipines hedged in on every side by fanatics of other religions, hunger, disease, and hardship who has to walk miles to hear any preaching of God’s word and that under great danger, and who has to share a Bible with someone else, and yet is faithful to Christ, is far better off in his or her relationship with God than the Christian in Pennsylvania who attends church when nothing good is on TV, rarely cracks open his Bible, and thinks of prayer as some meaningless poem you mutter hurriedly before dinner or repeat with your child before bed, and who views things of God as for church and the rest of the week follows the perverse ways of the world.
The most impoverished Christian in the heart of Africa who is barely able to eat enough to keep body and soul together and who is oppressed on every side by corrupt leaders and haters of Christ and Christians but is faithful to Christ and His ways is far better off than the Christian in the heart of Alabama who listens to every TV or radio preacher, lots of gospel songs by his favorite celebrities, and calls himself a Christian and yet, is so carnal and worldly he reeks of it.
It is better to have nothing and Christ than to have everything you ever desired and not to have Him or to claim His mercy and grace and then live like the devil. We need to think on that the next time we start being fearful of some politician whittling away at our freedom. Perhaps God will make us poor so that we can be rich.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Proverbs 28:5 commentary; understand and see God's judgment
5 ¶ Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the LORD understand all things.
All of God’s ways are judgment.
Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
All of mankind is facing God’s judgment for the sin of Adam, which we inherited, much like a cat inherits its need to hunt or a dog to run in a pack. Sin is one of a human’s few instincts, something he hungers to do. But Christ is the remedy for sin.
Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Even under the Law of Moses people who walked in God’s ways tried to do right.
Psalm 119:1 ¶ ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. 3 They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
Evil men do not get it. They don’t see that they are natural born sinners by instinct. They don’t see the human’s spiritual heart as wicked.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Evil men don’t understand. They simply don’t see that fornication, covetousness, envy, malice, a love of violence, revenge, perversion, etc. are all a consequence of turning your back on God, on who He is, and on His love for mankind expressed at the cross of Christ and, most of all, on His judgment. (See Romans 1:16 to 2:3.)
When God’s judgment is on a person or a nation they often do not understand it and seek to find temporal causes. After more than a century and a half of ripping apart God’s word with so called “Higher Criticism” and destroying the faith of many so called Christians even the Kaiser embraced occultism and Germany was released to a barbaric paganism and Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and suffered horribly in two major wars that nearly destroyed it. And yet, men will look to political and economic reasons for the wars and read back into history their own justifications. Why? They don’t understand God’s judgment.
Great Britain had, perhaps, the greatest empire in the history of mankind. It is said that the “sun never sets on the British flag.” And yet, within a generation of the disastrous revision of the Authorized Version of the Bible and its replacement by the Revised Version on the mission field, within a generation of their genocide of Indians on the Deccan Plateau by starvation, and after attempting to go back on their promise for a Jewish homeland in Palestine; the land given by God to the Jews, their empire began coming unglued. Men, unaware and unbelieving in God’s judgment, will look to purely political reasons or economic reasons but ignore the possibility that God’s view of history by way of the Bible’s statements is different than their own.
Can you, as in individual, see events in your life as God’s judgment steering you toward His will or trying to turn your heart from sin and idolatry to Him? Do you understand judgment? Are you receptive to the Holy Spirit’s leading?
As it said back in Psalm 119:2 I quoted earlier that those that seek Him with the whole heart are blessed. They that seek the Lord may not know who Disraeli or Gladstone were or who Bismarck was but they do know God’s word. They know what He has promised and they know what the eventual outcome of human history will be and if they are immersed in God’s word they know His will for their lives and how they should live before men. They understand all things that are important to God in their lives; their salvation first and then their sanctification; being made a useful vessel for His work and that the affairs of all men are under God’s judgment. They know that, as Ben Franklin said, in a speech he gave to the Constitutional Convention on June 28, 1787, “I have lived sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”
It was Abraham Lincoln who implied in his October 3, 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation that the Civil War was a judgment on the entire nation for slavery. But, most men do not understand why nations are sifted like wheat and why individual people rise and fall. They’ll say, “oh, it was such and such a cause,” and write books about that opinion. But, even the men who engaged in our war for independence against Great Britain knew that a divine hand was involved. If I get the quote right I believe it was John Page who wrote to Thomas Jefferson and said, “Do you not think that an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?”
Now, do you understand what’s happening to America today?
All of God’s ways are judgment.
Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
All of mankind is facing God’s judgment for the sin of Adam, which we inherited, much like a cat inherits its need to hunt or a dog to run in a pack. Sin is one of a human’s few instincts, something he hungers to do. But Christ is the remedy for sin.
Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Even under the Law of Moses people who walked in God’s ways tried to do right.
Psalm 119:1 ¶ ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. 3 They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
Evil men do not get it. They don’t see that they are natural born sinners by instinct. They don’t see the human’s spiritual heart as wicked.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Evil men don’t understand. They simply don’t see that fornication, covetousness, envy, malice, a love of violence, revenge, perversion, etc. are all a consequence of turning your back on God, on who He is, and on His love for mankind expressed at the cross of Christ and, most of all, on His judgment. (See Romans 1:16 to 2:3.)
When God’s judgment is on a person or a nation they often do not understand it and seek to find temporal causes. After more than a century and a half of ripping apart God’s word with so called “Higher Criticism” and destroying the faith of many so called Christians even the Kaiser embraced occultism and Germany was released to a barbaric paganism and Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and suffered horribly in two major wars that nearly destroyed it. And yet, men will look to political and economic reasons for the wars and read back into history their own justifications. Why? They don’t understand God’s judgment.
Great Britain had, perhaps, the greatest empire in the history of mankind. It is said that the “sun never sets on the British flag.” And yet, within a generation of the disastrous revision of the Authorized Version of the Bible and its replacement by the Revised Version on the mission field, within a generation of their genocide of Indians on the Deccan Plateau by starvation, and after attempting to go back on their promise for a Jewish homeland in Palestine; the land given by God to the Jews, their empire began coming unglued. Men, unaware and unbelieving in God’s judgment, will look to purely political reasons or economic reasons but ignore the possibility that God’s view of history by way of the Bible’s statements is different than their own.
Can you, as in individual, see events in your life as God’s judgment steering you toward His will or trying to turn your heart from sin and idolatry to Him? Do you understand judgment? Are you receptive to the Holy Spirit’s leading?
As it said back in Psalm 119:2 I quoted earlier that those that seek Him with the whole heart are blessed. They that seek the Lord may not know who Disraeli or Gladstone were or who Bismarck was but they do know God’s word. They know what He has promised and they know what the eventual outcome of human history will be and if they are immersed in God’s word they know His will for their lives and how they should live before men. They understand all things that are important to God in their lives; their salvation first and then their sanctification; being made a useful vessel for His work and that the affairs of all men are under God’s judgment. They know that, as Ben Franklin said, in a speech he gave to the Constitutional Convention on June 28, 1787, “I have lived sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”
It was Abraham Lincoln who implied in his October 3, 1863 Thanksgiving proclamation that the Civil War was a judgment on the entire nation for slavery. But, most men do not understand why nations are sifted like wheat and why individual people rise and fall. They’ll say, “oh, it was such and such a cause,” and write books about that opinion. But, even the men who engaged in our war for independence against Great Britain knew that a divine hand was involved. If I get the quote right I believe it was John Page who wrote to Thomas Jefferson and said, “Do you not think that an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?”
Now, do you understand what’s happening to America today?
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Proverbs 28:4 commentary; the conflict we are in
4 ¶ They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.
Psalm 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
Of course the law being talked about here is the law of God given to Moses. We remember that;
1John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
And people who like to sin, who live by it, whose very character is defined by it, not only want the freedom to do it but take great pleasure in being confirmed in their obsessions by other people doing the same.
Romans 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
However, we are not justified, since Christ’s resurrection and the beginning of the church age, by keeping the law.
Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
But, as under the law in Ancient Israel, men who did wrong according to the law were in constant conflict with those who followed the law, so today, there is a spiritual and sometimes political war going on between those who follow Christ and seek to obey Him in their human frailty and those who worship their own lusts and desire to sin. There will always be a conflict between those two groups as long as there is faith on the earth.
Those people, in our country for instance, who seek to ignore God, make the country God neutral, so to speak, or simply flaunt their contempt for His word and His people will always have constant conflict with the people who worship God. As the godless get more and more powerful and faith gets more and more watered down with less of a dependence on God’s word and more of a dependence on the opinions of, the agendas of, and the fear of men in pulpits across the land and people in the congregations the godless will take their vengeance on God’s people.
Tribulation and martyrdom are the natural and eventual outcomes for the people of God in that situation. As government has afforded citizens a constitutional right to murder their unborn children for the purpose of simply another type of birth control, as sexual perversion of all kinds becomes more normalized and more accepted, as non-Christian religions and ideals become pre-eminent, as more and more of mainstream Christianity moves from the supernatural power of God’s word to the weakness of a fluid civil religion, as a constant state of warfare becomes necessary to support the globalist one world agenda, and as wealth becomes gathered in fewer and fewer hands and the middle class is erased with one group owning the wealth and the other needing government help just to survive as they work for faceless corporations or government itself, the spiritual and political war will become more intense. In America, this began with Christians looking more and more to government as God’s agent on earth and then, eventually, as a replacement for God, until their faith lost its salt and became as tasteless as the white of an egg.
There will come a time and is already here when people who actually believe the Bible will be marginalized, looked at as fruitcakes, in the way of progress, unpatriotic, unworthy to be parents, to hold a good paying job, to serve in government, the armed forces, and eventually will be driven back to the days of the early church to worship in private homes under peril of being arrested.
There will always be conflict in the public and private spheres of life between those who forsake God and those who keep His word.
Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
This Civil War has been going on since the tragedy of the Garden of Eden. It will not end until we enter eternity and God is acknowledged for what He is, Lord of all.
Psalm 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
Of course the law being talked about here is the law of God given to Moses. We remember that;
1John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
And people who like to sin, who live by it, whose very character is defined by it, not only want the freedom to do it but take great pleasure in being confirmed in their obsessions by other people doing the same.
Romans 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
However, we are not justified, since Christ’s resurrection and the beginning of the church age, by keeping the law.
Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
But, as under the law in Ancient Israel, men who did wrong according to the law were in constant conflict with those who followed the law, so today, there is a spiritual and sometimes political war going on between those who follow Christ and seek to obey Him in their human frailty and those who worship their own lusts and desire to sin. There will always be a conflict between those two groups as long as there is faith on the earth.
Those people, in our country for instance, who seek to ignore God, make the country God neutral, so to speak, or simply flaunt their contempt for His word and His people will always have constant conflict with the people who worship God. As the godless get more and more powerful and faith gets more and more watered down with less of a dependence on God’s word and more of a dependence on the opinions of, the agendas of, and the fear of men in pulpits across the land and people in the congregations the godless will take their vengeance on God’s people.
Tribulation and martyrdom are the natural and eventual outcomes for the people of God in that situation. As government has afforded citizens a constitutional right to murder their unborn children for the purpose of simply another type of birth control, as sexual perversion of all kinds becomes more normalized and more accepted, as non-Christian religions and ideals become pre-eminent, as more and more of mainstream Christianity moves from the supernatural power of God’s word to the weakness of a fluid civil religion, as a constant state of warfare becomes necessary to support the globalist one world agenda, and as wealth becomes gathered in fewer and fewer hands and the middle class is erased with one group owning the wealth and the other needing government help just to survive as they work for faceless corporations or government itself, the spiritual and political war will become more intense. In America, this began with Christians looking more and more to government as God’s agent on earth and then, eventually, as a replacement for God, until their faith lost its salt and became as tasteless as the white of an egg.
There will come a time and is already here when people who actually believe the Bible will be marginalized, looked at as fruitcakes, in the way of progress, unpatriotic, unworthy to be parents, to hold a good paying job, to serve in government, the armed forces, and eventually will be driven back to the days of the early church to worship in private homes under peril of being arrested.
There will always be conflict in the public and private spheres of life between those who forsake God and those who keep His word.
Amos 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
This Civil War has been going on since the tragedy of the Garden of Eden. It will not end until we enter eternity and God is acknowledged for what He is, Lord of all.
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