As an oppressed person (because of my sin, apparently), I look at the situation in the Middle East with horror and dismay. How could a country, or set of countries, so assured of their relationships with God, allow this situation to continue to deteriorate? I often think that what God says in his bible is not true, or that I have misunderstood it, because of situations like this. And what can honestly be said about it? Not very much, unless you yourself want to be stood up and humiliated in a court of law for being “anti” this, that, or the other (whatever they choose to accuse you of!)
My overriding opinion, although largely assumed to be worthless and ignored, is that this should not be happening in the world. Again I have to choose my words pretty carefully, for the reason stated above but I am overly disappointed with this situation because of how close the entire region was to some sort of lasting peace before the attacks began (on October 7th, 2023). Can we safely assume that God does not want this to happen? If you read the bible, you could depend on your own interpretation as to whether this is something that God wants or not. Do I dare continue with this particular blog post? The propensity of human beings to take offence at the slightest solecism, particularly for matters relating to the existence and will of God, is enormous after all!
And what can honestly be said about war, anyway, apart from that it is horrific and also that the whole world is about to be plunged into its darkness, for according to the bible, “if those days were not shortened, no one would survive. But they will be shortened for the sake of God’s elect”. Which brings us to the point of who, exactly, God’s elect are because many people claim they might be but very few actually live lives worthy of him or the noble name they bear. But we know that God’s elect do exist because these near future days of darkness will be shortened for them. Perhaps if we look into the scriptures we’ll find out why the ones chosen by God are not the ostensibly “righteous” individuals who are making the decisions that have ultimately lead us all to the brink of extinction, for “all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are”.
It may even be said that no one enters the house of God without first undergoing a thorough period of testing and/or ostracism or disgrace. Apart from the obvious condition that this implies, namely that this coming time of testing will be made useful by God to train, condition and select his faithful followers (“these are the ones who went through the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white”), it should also be said that no one alive has currently passed this trial – only those who have departed to be with God after having lived in a way which invokes his ultimate praise (“well done, my good and faithful servant”) have yet been chosen – everyone else is still only a breath away from hell: “Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword.” This time indeed calls for “great endurance and faithfulness by God’s holy people”, does it not?
If I’m right about this period being the “greatest time of testing that mankind will ever face”, that is. Indeed, perhaps this is just one “time” among “testings”? I’m wrong about various and multitudinous things, after all. I was wrong about most of you, for instance. I thought you were alright and even after you started your witch hunt following my sinful existence and consequent repentance, I thought you had a point that you were “better people”! Still, we must all live and learn if we are to progress from simple delusion to any kind of understanding, so I’ll take it with the pinch of salt it deserves and a necessary lesson that we should all, really, seek to learn: suffice it to say that if most of you acted in the same way as your sycophantic, pretentious, and often garrulous, self-righteous, virtue signalling, proclamations suggest you should, I don’t think the world would be in such a self-inflicted, doom-ridden, catastrophe scenario in the first place!
But enough of such harmless banter. Let us return to the matter at hand and see if we can fit God into the situation, whether we believe that God is greater than all our problems, which he surely is, or some other twee, churchie, nonsense, such as, “we all have a God-shaped hole in our hearts.” Try telling that to someone whose home has just been bombed to oblivion; or to the families of the murdered Israeli citizens who lost their lives when a relatively amateur terrorist cell invaded the country who has arguably the best intelligence agency in the world. Will any number of worthless platitudes, which seem to make up the vast majority of political, judicial, and religious communication in this country (and I honestly consider it still to be the strongest democracy in the world) ever make up for such losses? No, these sins are eternal, and if you’re angry about them now, just hang in there, Chester, ‘cos it’s gonna get a whole lot worse!
So we must graduate to a mature faith. Are you too offended already, I wonder, after a couple of minutes in my company to consider reading on? And what, you would surely ask (if you ever read this), could we possibly learn from you? To which I would reply, “only what you want to.” And in having an attitude of learning, whoever the teacher is, you will ultimately gain the understanding you need. I try to learn from everyone for the same purpose, because with faith comes understanding: “And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.” And how do we get faith (come on, please, read the bloody book: faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes from the Word of God!? And when we have faith, we have hope; and hope is a weapon in this dark age: “And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus in this world.”
Ultimately “we can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” It’s a virtuous circle: “Those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” So be it, but I can’t get too preachy. I have a limited capacity for using my mouth in ways which the world finds “acceptable” now, having been subjected to their “wisdom” over the past two decades. Nevertheless in order to develop we must believe that what God says is true and act on it and keep the matter as simple as that. And why doesn’t this happen more often? Because walking in love will always cost you something you don’t want to give away, as far as I can tell. Forgiving people, for instance, comes at great personal cost, since you don’t get justice; but should we care if, “mercy triumphs over judgment”? However “everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property for my sake, and the sake of the good news, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will also inherit eternal life.” So if you don’t believe what he says, you won’t do what he says and your reward will be earthly, not eternal, and herein we find the problem in as succinct a way as I can say it!
You have been led astray by your earthly leaders. They do not tell you the truth, they tell you their truth and it rarely if ever coincides with God’s word. Does the “God” thing seem a little too geeky to you? His words are truth and if you do what he says you’ll grow in wisdom, which he says is more profitable than gold, even the finest gold. Of wisdom, he says: “Choose my instructions rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold. For wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it.” Although it’ll cost you something, you can rest assured that what you have to give away is either worthless in comparison or will be replaced with something of far greater value. So it’s up to you. Will you accept God’s gift of eternal life and do what he says, or will you choose to obey what is not truth and be rewarded with the miserly alternative? If you’re not sure, I’d advise you to make up your mind pretty quicky, because “the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth!” Soon bad advice will turn into terrible advice because Satan has his “virtuous” circles too!
I’m not saying you should start a revolution if you don’t agree with the directive of the government, after all we must, “fear God and respect the King.” I am saying that if you’re in a position of authority, you have a much greater moral responsibility to make the right decisions on behalf of those you serve. Is this happening? If according to the Word of God, “the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God” it hardly seems likely. And even worse if you profess to know God and make terrible decisions in leadership, how pitied you are to be for he was speaking to you when he said, “what sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now, for a time of awful hunger awaits you.”
Be careful how you judge because the whole world is affected by your decisions. And if you mock and make light of my words, be warned: “What sorrow awaits you who laugh now, for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow.” And if the world praises you for your mocking, look out: “What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets.” And if you have grown rich by your trade, can you really find consolation in the mirror of God’s Word: “What sorrow awaits you who are rich, for you have your only happiness now.”
So you see we should all be careful, because our words can bite hard and “those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” Much better to reflect and consider what God might be trying to say to you. Although I honestly believe it is too late globally to avoid this tribulation, it is not too late to save the day if we avoid the mistakes that have led us to the precipice of this destruction. In these final hours, we should press into the good life that he died to give us, regardless of whether we will personally profit or not – is it really public service if you won’t serve unless your gain is proportionate to your desires? It is the leaders of this world, and those who will lead us through this time of trial, who should have the greater accountability. When the truth is distorted so clearly, I find it hard to believe that this distortion is wholly due to the citizens of the countries who are just about to take arms against each other and all but destroy themselves – how can it be?
I’ll stop now before I get myself in trouble – heaven knows how much my enemies want to destroy my life, even before my ministry on earth has begun – I’ve been written off by all and sundry, on the assumption that I’ve got nothing of value to say. But there it is, maybe I haven’t! But if you review this post, and even previous posts, you might concede that these words have in some way been influenced by his words, and if so then I hope you find something of value. But if you’re making terrible decisions from a position of power in the world, start worrying because the whole world is under Satan’s power, according to the Word of God, so is it really not your fault? He gave you a choice, just like everyone else, after all.
For those not so badly compromised, remember the truth that he has spoken: “And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. Therefore rejoice, O heavens! And you who live in the heavens, rejoice! But terror will come on the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you in great anger, knowing that he has little time.”
We die a little bit every day, don’t we? But how we choose to die will determine what our lives will be like in the world to come. Even in death, we still have a choice and if we are spared and still have our lives, our choices are potentially very powerful: “Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies”, and “make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision or moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But your choices could easily be deleteriously weak and corrosive: “But those who fail to develop in this way are short sighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”
The fact remains: “It is apportioned to man to live once, and after that to experience judgment.” And let us not forget the written law:
Exodus 20: 1 – 17:
Then God gave the people all these instructions:
“I am the Lord you God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
“You must not have any other god but me.
“Your must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth on in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected – even children in the third or fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
“You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.
“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord you God is giving you.
“You must not murder.
“Your must not commit adultery.
“You must not steal.
“You must not testify falsely against your neighbour.
“You must not covert your neighbour’s house. You must not covert your neighbour’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbour.”
In short, you must not do anything that harms you or other people. Although I’m not guiltless in this regard, I have been given time to repent and hopefully this will have a preponderant effect in both my current life and for my life in the world to come. “Repent therefore, because you do not know when the master of the house will return.” But it is expedience, not moral rectitude, that is the priority in war, and essentially this is the existential crisis that your soul will soon face. Time is just about to run out and “when the Lord raises his fist against them, those who help will stumble, and those being helped will fall. They will all fall down and die together.”
And who are “they”? Not God’s elect, surely?
“If you wanted to return to me, you could. You could throw away your detestable idols and stray away no more. Then when you swear by my name, saying “As surely as the Lord lives,” you could do so with truth, justice, and righteousness. Then you would be a blessing to the nations of the world, and all people would come and praise my name.”
“Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life.”
He may yet leave you a blessing instead of this curse:
Revelation 3: 10-13:
“Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God – the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.
“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”
Amen.
The battle has come to my front door. In the course of the time that’s passed between my last blog post and this one, personal attacks on my character, name, and reputation have continued unabated and now I find myself in a position where those who are sworn to help such people are too afraid to help. Why? Because those who consider themselves “awakened” have made it their mission to prevent such things happening anymore. Far from the river of justice that they’ve promised to their acolytes, the only thing possible now is a river of injustice. And while they’ve got me to blame they are content (and quite obviously utterly complacent), to let me take the blame.
Why are they so complacent? Why, indeed! You only need to read the bible with anything resembling an open and unbiased mind to find example after example where God himself points directly to their behaviour and condemns it. Do you really need me to show you such examples? Are you also so utterly deluded that your version of the truth only includes the sound bites of scripture that these so-called “woke” individuals have made their truth? Do you read the bible and read that “we are all sons of God” and then consequently spend your life swanning through the corridors of power which you infest, without ever considering that the scriptures actually say, “we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus”? Do you consider yourself to be an ambassador of Christ, without adhering to any of the eternal truths that he makes clear in his word, for example?
Where do we start with such people. “I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices” – mercy!? And have you seen these people in their churches on Sundays, swinging their arms around wildly, singing how much they love God!? Indeed you should go to church but my advice would be not to stay – not if you require any kind of mercy, at any rate! They consider one person of importance in their lives and it is by no means God! Yes the first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength but the second (given by their own Jesus the Christ!) is to love their neighbour as themself! The two things are in fact the same thing! Which bit don’t they understand? Would they want to be lied about and ridiculed, and isolated that the devil may destroy them? Not by any means, although unfortunately they are now destined to be so treated!
The current machinations against me in the world are cruel and unyielding but fortunately for me they’re also extremely crude, ill-informed, and unthinkably stupid and as such I’ve got more than a fighting chance of fending off these demonic attacks, not least because along with their other delusions my enemies have convinced themselves of two utterly mendacious “truths”. Firstly that they are inerrantly and morally superior to me and ineffably correct in everything they do; and secondly that I am without any level of skill, spiritual or otherwise, in the world we live in. And as they are pursuing any means, foul or fair, in order to “bring me to justice in the world”, they have also gravely misjudged yet another of the solemn truths their God left them with in the world that they assume to govern so expertly: “Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” Evidently and quite predictably they only heard the first part of this verse: “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Isn’t it great to have such knowledgeable leaders?
Now because we are clearly at war (if not in the local community, then certainly in the world at large), let me expound this verse by way of another pithy example from a more practical treatise: “Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise: – 1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? 2) Which of the two general has the most ability? 3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? 4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced? 5) Which army is stronger? 6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained? 7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment? By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat.”
If you have to take it by faith then do so but believe me when I say that in their naïve ignorance, they’ve thrown away a great tactical advantage! Not to mention that “if you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court”, (yes, it seems that they’ve understood this bit), and “if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell” – quite clearly, not this bit!
I could go on and on about how the scriptural truth has been distorted and misunderstood (often deliberately) but really what’s the point? No one is listening anyway. But the fact remains that the world is going to hell in a handbag exactly because no one is listening to the direction of God. Are we really so blind and we can’t see this great tribulation coming? Are the signs not written in the stars and heavens themselves? Can’t you see in the growing discontent and anger of the silent majority that your inability to show any level of compassion until you’ve destroyed the lives that you consider blameworthy for failing to uphold your ridiculous ideals in the world; that your hypocrisy in not feeding the hungry until you’ve made them homeless and on the streets; in your mad insistence that everyone should be as insipid and banally uninteresting as you are; that you yourselves, and not the predominantly white male population of so-called “undeserved privilege”, are to blame for the wars and conflicts that arise in the world?
“If you have been a fool by being proud or plotting evil, cover your mouth in shame. As the beating of cream yields butter and the striking the nose causes bleeding, so stirring up anger causes quarrels.” Oh you can see it when what I say or “do” causes anger (and how easily you are angered!), but when your malicious hate and pernicious schemes have caused the anger in the first place you are completely blind to this obvious fact! How utterly absurd! Can you really see no similarity in what you are trying to do in my life and what evil dictators have declared sacrosanct in the name of their “ideals”? You say in your churches that homosexuality is wrong but look at how you treat people who deliberately repent of such acts! According to you these people are not just unrepentant but also worthy of any level of libel or abuse, in order to “bring them to justice”!
Look around you and see what is happening! I would say look into the Word of God but you’re obviously tried that, and look at where it’s got you! But if you do look around you, you will see people reflecting the truth; people written off by the world but nevertheless holding the truths and promises of scripture in their hearts. Yes, they may be like mirrors reflected inwards (how else can they protect themselves from your ugly intrusion into their lives?) but they are the ones who God has chosen for such a time as this. You won’t believe me even if I tell you (and I have told you, quite clearly):
“Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.”
“Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.”
“God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.”
And before you quote to me: “God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied”, (even though: “Evil people don’t understand justice, but those who follow the Lord understand completely.”) let me say (shock, the next verse!): “God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy”; not to mention umpteen scriptures which highlight exactly what you do not understand, what you may never understand! And of course the obvious truth that in your blind ignorance you have proved conclusively that you don’t understand even the basics of the Word of God, or his rule of grace, or any other salient fact about the existence of the almighty! If only your spiritual condition was so simple as to be able to blame all of this on your own human dogma – I feel that your true predicament is far worst than that, and the coming years are bound to test you in this fact.
“Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.” – can you really expect to be absolved from your own existence in light of the fact that you have obeyed not God’s command to persevere but your own perverse insistence on your own sense of right and wrong, not only believing lies that support your “cause” but also deliberately spreading these lies to discredit my witness? You’re nothing if not optimistic, it would seem!
“If they listened to me, they would listen to you.” – and so you will go, in bitterness and turmoil, from the world you created back into exactly the same existence (if you even manage to escape from the boulder you’ve rolled down onto my helpless head) and you will learn from counter-example what you refused to put into place from the revealed word of god. How sad and ultimately avoidable your predicament is!
“Yet even now, be free from your captivity! Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.” (Babylon is often termed in the bible as synonymous with confusion) – but repentance requires a level of understanding that you’ve sacrificed to your “gods” of reason and justice, and it can only really be put back by God. Believe me when I tell you: “You too will perish unless you repent.” And in godly repentance there is hope. You might want to use your “insight” and “understanding” to convince yourselves whether the next scripture is good news for you but let me assure you that if God has stopped disciplining you for your sins it’s anything but good news:
“Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”
And guess what? There’s another verse after that!
“Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.”
I have had to accept the fact that the initial fervour and enthusiasm for my Christian faith, to which I “converted” in 2005, has all but gone and this raises some very serious questions regarding my status and security as a child of God, particularly because scripture depicts such people as having “shallow roots” and that, although they “accepted the good news with joy”, have fallen away (when they faced persecution) because they have “no roots”.
That’s all well and good, except that I didn’t really accept the news with anything even resembling joy. Prophetically I predicted the following trauma-filled decades with an unnerving insight and accuracy and sure enough, I have spent the time following my declaration of faith in Jesus doing whatever I can do in order to survive a barrage of hostile, loveless, persecution, most of which (although not all) has come from people who used to claim to be my friends.
You might say that I deserved the treatment I got. If you knew me between 1995 and 2005, you would almost certainly have come away from our meeting with some sort of complaint. I did try to apologise to the people I hurt most but I feel it was probably too little, too late. Indeed I didn’t accept the good news with any level of joy, just a prescient foreboding that the good news would probably turn out not to be good news for me at all. Good news is for people who deserve good news; people who haven’t pissed anyone off, fallen out with anyone important, or snogged their best friend’s girlfriend.
Or is it? Lots of people snogged my girlfriend and if they ever turned and asked for forgiveness (which of course they won’t), I’d be expected to forgive straight away; anything else would be “hypocrisy”. I suspect that the main part of the problem, in regards to my faith, is not that I don’t believe, or that my roots weren’t deep enough; if anything, it would be because the ground that the roots attempted to secure themselves in were not in any way conducive to growth.
There are many reasons for this. One must surely be the state of my heart when I was “saved” from my sin. I had many problems and had developed many bad habits and practises. My peers have noticed these behaviours and traits and made the most out of them. But perhaps the most pertinent reason why the “ground” that the sower sowed his seed into was not suitable for growth is because, in light of my mistakes, most have not even considered that I have any strengths. It would seem that these people have decided that there is nothing of my life worth saving, regardless of what God says about me or about repentance in general.
Here we hit a point in the argument where I could turn this around, which I am wont to do. This strategy is commonly called “contradiction” and was in fact what Jesus himself suffered during his ministry on earth: “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.” Please don’t misunderstand me (as you are wont to do). I’m not claiming to be God – I am merely trying to prove, or otherwise, if there is any truth in the fact that I am a child of God. At the start of this essay I was almost resigned to the fact that you are right and I am wrong but now I’m not so sure.
Let’s get to the point. I’m sure you can’t stand yourself for having read this far in the first place. The last thing you need is a protracted argument. The message of the cross isn’t of the popular opinion in this case. This is the case of a person who does not deserve mercy but because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross you are required, even expected, to show mercy rather than take the revenge that you agree I deserve. Also and since you have taken the revenge that you agree I deserve, which I’m sure you’re not finished doing yet, you have nailed your colours to the mast. Anything less than my condemnation now would not suit your design at all.
But let me assure you that you don’t know the full story here and if you’re a Christian of even lowly rank you’re expected to know the scriptures that you shouldn’t judge, specifically because it’s not your place to judge, and also because if you do get it wrong it could be extremely embarrassing for you personally if you have sat it judgement over a person who God is insistent will be forgiven their sins.
I see your point. You think that right is right and wrong is wrong and you can justify that thesis scripturally because the bible says things like: “If you’re not altogether for me, you are against me” and suchlike. But it is the message of the cross that is at stake here. The detail of the given law brings death (which I’m sure you didn’t know?): if you cannot accept it there is bound to be conflict not least because your heart, which you claim is so clean and ready soil for sowing, has not understood that you do not understand enough even to withhold judgement whilst God repairs the life of someone who he died to redeem.
If you add to that the fact that the details of my confessed sin, when they get back to me through the natural grapevine among my peers, bears absolutely no resemblance to the sins I confessed, you’ve got a situation where it might not even be my heart that’s at fault here. The problem might be you.
We’re all responsible for what we do with the word that is delivered to us, whether that is receiving the word by the grace of God, knowing that in another situation or in another way it might be you implicated or caught in the sin, and therefore showing mercy by deference of your fully accepted ignorance in the light of Christ’s light. Or it might be incumbent of you to check the scriptural truth in the word you’re given so that people are not led astray or deceived from the simple precepts of God’s word. Either way, it’s up to you what you do with the word.
So I think, all things considered, the main point to make clear at this juncture is that it’s not up to you whether I’m God’s child or not. It’s up to me. God decides who his children are by virtue of what they do with the truth that is revealed to them; the truth, incidentally, that is given in the written word of God, not in the opinions and often devious machinations of the masses in the earth! Yes I made mistakes but contrary to popular opinion not only have I repented of those mistakes, and therefore become eligible for both forgiveness and inclusion in the family of God, I have also not committed the same crimes that I am, unnaturally, accused of amongst my peers.
When you add to this that the word of God states that as well as “carrying our own cross”, the next verse instructs us to “carry each other’s burdens” (not make them worse!); and we are also told to “beware of destroying each other”; how many reading this can honestly say that their behaviour has not been deliberately designed to provoke an angry reaction which they might condemn? Or that their behaviour might bring about an internecine skirmish where I would be implicated and condemned as the perpetrator of all the nasty things that are happening in the local community regarding my existence (if I haven’t been already?)
I’m not expecting you to read this. Most people make their judgement about me by the strength of the evidence presented to them by those who hate me most, and therefore most people don’t give me the time of day. But more than likely, if you’re guilty of causing these problems for me you’ll eventually read this yourself. And to you I would say – check the scriptural truth. It all points to a startling revelation in the end, I’m sure you’ll agree (if you ever get to the end of the book) and it’s not clear who’s side you’re on. As Jesus said – “Why worry about the speak in your friend’s eye, when you have a log in your own..”
“You hypocrite.”
Yet again we are left with the unshakeable conviction that the world has failed us, aren’t we? After the Paris attacks I sought answers from God in my inimical way, praying that he would show me how he can expect me, or anyone, to believe that he cares for people, in general. No answer. Why?
Over 130 individuals were killed on 13th November 2015, and the attackers have left an indelible impression on those people, their families, anyone who knew them, or their families, and everyone else who adheres to a clear conscience – as far as I can tell. As a Christian of currently waning belief in an all-loving God, I feel that there must be an answer available from the one who calls himself “Wonderful, Counsellor”, but I struggle to make it out.
How did this happen? In a basic sense, this time, terrorists slipped though the net. But in a more general sense, this happened because of the deep resentment that many people feel about the West, about how we live our lives and conduct our affairs, particularly overseas. Are these attacks unforgiveable? Of course! But are they understandable, and can our understanding of why these things are happening help us to find solutions?
In this instance, the terrorists are clearly to blame. They do not live by our laws or in our way. They are evil. They have decided that killing is the solution. They choose soft targets and aim to dissemble the structure of society. Our response, inevitably, is to bomb them, causing more resentment as more families – families who are deliberately, it has to be said, used as human shields, are killed.
We have a terrifying caliphate developing on the planet, with auxiliary, internecine appendages, vying for supremacy, steeped in religious conviction; a religion, it would seem, that was born out of war-torn humanitarian desolation. Is it any wonder? Even if we rolled the clock back to the first man, would we find any cause for hope? No, I’ve written in previous posts that the past offers very little in the way of hope for mankind. So we look to the future and cannot see a solution.
The bible forewarns us of the coming woes, and instructs us in how to respond. The most sententious instruction is this: “And they have defeated him by the blood of the lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. Therefore, rejoice, oh heavens! And you who live in the heavens, rejoice! But terror will come on the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you in great anger, knowing that he has little time.”
We see in the news and, earlier in the year, we were shown footage of Egyptian Christians crying out for Jesus to save them in the moments before they were beheaded. He didn’t act in that instance but we can, from the book of revelation, make out that it is not the end of the story for those Egyptians or, presumably, any of the victims of these terrifying attacks. They are, perhaps, even mentioned specifically in the book: “Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white. That is why they stand in front of God’s throne and serve him day and night in his Temple. And he who sits on the throne will give them shelter. They will never again be hungry or thirsty; they will never be scorched by the heat of the sun. For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.””
Perhaps all who have been wronged are included in this number, all who have suffered from the anger of the devil; that masquerading angel of light, who has lost his place in heaven, and he knows it; therefore his anger is directed against the sons of men, that he may not suffer the fate that is planned for him; namely damnation; that he may have someone to blame before God Almighty. His followers, presumably, are not so convinced what awaits them, blithely insisting that their actions bring glory to God, wildly expecting to be welcomed into heaven with delirious rejoicing.
But the Devil is a liar, and the father of lies. “When he lies, it is consistent with his character.” It is simply a lie to assume that you can blame someone else for your own sin. We are all sinners, but we all have a responsibility to act for the good of our fellow man. So where does the buck stop? Can we really “blame the devil” for all the evil in the world? Isn’t it more realistic to blame the endemic hatred that has existed since the beginning in our human hearts, regardless of where “it came from”. Possibly, but this problem needs a permanent solution.
Perhaps it is only those who die in the tribulation, those who through their suffering have been made perfect like their Master, who are included in the number who attend to and worship our Lord. We are told in the scriptures that it is assigned to man to “live once, and after that face judgement”, but do we know that the judgement will be faced in an other-worldly, ethereal existence? Why wouldn’t we be reborn into the exactly the same existence that we left? Does this help us to understand why there is so much suffering? No, but it might help us understand that God’s solution for the existence we live in relies on us so heavily that there are no other solutions to the problem other than to do God’s will wherever, and whenever, we exist.
If we listen to the scriptures there is hope and the solutions are made clear. For example, in the book of Daniel we are told that: “At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation, will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued. Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.”
We don’t, surely, at this stage of our development, need to be reassured of such basic truths as eternal judgement, do we? No, of course not. Therefore, it is clear, that those who do evil, no matter how well hidden it is, will suffer judgement and shame and everlasting disgrace. Only those who truly repent are truly forgiven.
And also, in the book of Revelation, in the exhortation to the churches we are told, among many other essential truths, that: “I know about your suffering and your poverty – but you are rich! I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to Satan. Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life.”
Don’t forget that the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. The devil can’t take that away from a believer no matter how convincingly he lies about it, and so, inevitably, the believer will return to life at a future appointed time. The devil will have even bigger problems then, to be sure. We need to look at this from the correct perspective. The devil and all his followers are going to be destroyed, but if you have a faith, in God, the God of Life, then you’ll live forever. The devil can’t get rid of you permanently if you have God’s Spirit in you – the spirit that instructs us to live lives of love. And your suffering will, perhaps, drive you towards perfection.
Let us also remember that it is said of Jesus that, “by his experience he will make it possible for many to be counted as righteous.” So when he returns, when you return, you will be able to pass on to others what you’ve learnt about life. Let’s not kid ourselves, our problems go from bad to worse from this moment on, but the devil’s problems also increase until he is destroyed on that fateful day when he meets his end, because he has learnt nothing about life, and he cannot kill you again!
We are told to “think clearly and exercise self-control”. We are at war. I can assure you that there is a devil and I can reassure you that there is a God but make no mistake, the devil is at war with us as much as he is with God. By hurting us, he assumes, he can hurt God. And he is dressed in a robe of light, often masquerading as a good man but he will, “destroy marvellously”, and betray many who trust in him. He is a deceiver; not a deceiver like Jacob, who later turned and became a person who loved and honoured God but a deceiver who will not turn, who cannot turn. He is lost, but even more so: he is a deceiver who cannot conceive his own conceit, who cannot apologise, who feels totally justified in his insane criminal mind.
During my cynical analysis of the Paris attacks my contention, until very recently, was that if you don’t believe in the devil then it just “hasn’t happened to you yet”. Now I’m certain that if you don’t believe that remedying this situation consists in effecting the change we need to see in the world, then it’s because you haven’t understood the gravity of the situation and the progressive and pernicious nature of evil. An evil that creeps and insidiously captures individual after individual with lies, abuse, hatred, and a painful lack of understanding; also victimisation, condemnation, ostracism: the wiles of the devil are many and wearisome.
If you don’t know, as a human being, that your capacity for good is just as profound and full of potential as your capacity for evil, then you are going to suffer a defeat in this life, at some time very soon. “The Art of War” tells us that “if you know the enemy and know yourself, then you need not fear the result of a thousand battles. If you know either the enemy or yourself, then for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. And if you know neither the enemy or yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
Know then that we are at war, and know yourself, and your enemy, who is the devil (not your fellow man). The one who claims that his ways are as high as God’s, and that his truth is more perfect, little knowing the triple imperfection that is his alone. The one whose judgement is sure. And all who follow him will suffer the same. In that much, there is hope.
“And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. And all the people who belong to this world worshipped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God’s hold people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.”
Chilling stuff. And is it a permanent solution to make the providence of your law eternal, then allow the human story to take its own course right up to the bitter end? I guess it must be. But don’t forget your part, which cannot be done by anyone else. God wants everyone to be saved, even those who’ve made mistakes, and you can convince them by your actions that God loves them and therefore bring about salvation in their lives.
Hope is a pretty risky business in this world, it seems. But if we believe God then we believe that it exists and it gives us cause to action and bring light where there is only darkness. With so much at stake, Heaven forbid that we just give up!
Happy New Year!
I recently, yesterday in fact, posted a quote from Pope Francis the first line of which read: “You do not have to believe in God to be a good person”, and it’s this line, only, that I want to write about because, I find, I am assumed to be slightly ambivalent with regard to my faith in this statement.
Having listened to half of a friend’s sermon recently (the recording switched to a different sermon halfway through), I am impressed by how easy it is to listen to half a message, think we’ve got it, and not bother to explore the rest of the message because of this. It is easy to read the bible and believe the part of it that agrees with your argument. Not so to read the full message and believe it in the spirit in which it is given. The bible, it has to be said, contains arguments that are not easy to believe or live out and it is not surprising that people, and particularly some parts of society, are “put off” God altogether by our adherence to the stricter parts of biblical law.
I have thought about not having to believe in God to be a good person and have decided it is not necessary to believe in God to be a good person. The scriptures say that the demons believe there is a God and also state, plainly, that many charismatic “Christians” are not recognisable from themselves in the final estimation of character. The scriptures say that the first and greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength” and that the second is exactly like it: “To love your neighbour as yourself.” So, you see, if you say you love God and ignore your neighbour, you add little to the case that you “have to believe there is a God to be a good person”. If you love your neighbour you agree with God’s good purpose, whether you believe in him or not.
Do you have to have the Holy Spirit in order to love people though, I hear you ask? Do we really have the spirit of God living within us, I reply? “If we live in God, we live in love and God lives in us”, is an example from scripture that could be used to assert that you need the Holy Spirit in order to love other people. But it might equally be said that if you say that you have the spirit of God living within you but hate another person who is loved by God then you cannot possibly have God’s spirit within you. The scriptures state plainly that “if you cannot love your brother, who you can see, you cannot love God, who you cannot see.” Everyone we meet is a believer in disguise. You say you believe in God but do you love him, and does your insistence that you do matter at all if you do not?
Are we surprised that people don’t believe there is a God when we look at the state of the world? I can see the point of people who are offended by people who say that they need to be saved when they’ve done precious little wrong in their lives. They might have served in the armed services, for example, saving lives by putting their life on the line, only to be told that they need a miracle to be saved! I’d be upset if I were a good person, if someone told me I needed salvation. No, I have to lean on the scriptures that I know and quote “healthy people don’t need a doctor, sick people do.” I needed salvation because my behaviour had proven that I was not able to live according to eternal principles on my own, for one reason or another. Someone who by giving their life for their brother or sister has already proven, in my opinion, that they know the general principle that governs the rule of grace: living in love is the way, the truth and the life; there is no greater love than to give your life for another person. Hence, suffice it to say: healthy people do not need a doctor.
Have I made myself clear, here? Can we really justify, as a family of believers, being so critical when one person’s opinion does not agree entirely with our own? I am baffled by the spirit who insists that we should judge so critically when the scriptures clearly state that it is in our “eye” that the problem exists.
“Ah”, you might say, but without Faith it is impossible to please God. But this isn’t the point, as such. “The Lord approves of those who are good, but he condemns those who plan wickedness.” However faith, the assurance that what we hope for will become real, is not something that is gained by mere assertion. Faith is acting out the good path that is before you, and leaning into the challenge that is before you with assurance that it is meaningful; in faith you push forward into the assurance that you hope to receive. Religion, the expression of faith it is said, is looking after widows and orphans in their distress and refusing to be corrupted by the world. It is looking out for the interests of your fellow man, not waving your hands skywards and saying “I love you” to God. Not singing about your salvation but acting it out by recognising that the lowest among you is your greatest concern, since it is they whom God intends to save. And you do not have to believe there is a God to be kind to your fellow man. You have to be a good person to be kind to someone who doesn’t deserve kindness. It is ironic then that by doing so you prove your love for God and conversely, by refusing to do it you prove otherwise.
Without wanting to cause a fight, I think I’ve made my point pretty clearly.
God’s purpose is that everyone lives and that not one should be lost. His eternal plan may well achieve this, although in this life we can be assured that some are lost. However not all, by any means. I state plainly again what has been said before: it is not the healthy who need a doctor and it is by living by the precepts that the healthy deem as obvious that one lives their life in accordance with God’s generalised will for his fellow man: “to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Furthermore, if you are not living like this you will not inherit life. Therefore to live this way affords you (eternal) life.
God is with us always, whether we believe in him or not. Let us not insist that our doctrine, which might exclude God himself, is predominant in a world that needs good people to be good for goodness’ sake.
“Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy. Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to replay all people according to their deeds.”
After all, who are we to judge?
Our words often fail us, don’t they? When we should speak we are all too often silent, and when we should be silent we all too often speak. In Nelson Mandela we were given a model of how and when to speak; what to say, and what not to say. A person who can control their tongue is a complete man. We have been given an example to follow. Do we dare to follow? Can we imagine the world we would create if we did? As the world mourns the passing of a great leader, we need to take this opportunity to examine our hearts and minds in the light of what was an amazing life, lived with all the passion and commitment of a truly just man, with motives that were pure. Out of the hate of intolerance his cause shone like the noonday sun, and we need to capture the image and hold it tightly in a world which daily tends towards chaos.
The battle against apartheid was won, essentially, by one man choosing to stand by his principles, much like Jesus stood by his conviction and became our salvation. That’s what it takes though. Do we realise this? We hear a lot about how people want to change the world. We ourselves are prone to talk a great game but present a shit-show when push comes to ultimate shove. Indeed some of my blog posts have been dramatically principled at times and certainly my behaviour has, from time to time, been less than angelic. But do we really even want to do what we have to do to affect the change we really need to see in the world? Nelson Mandela was a man who loved peace but not so much that he refused the discomfort of imprisonment in order to obtain it. Do we love the peace that we have and are we content to accept the injustices in our own worlds, however small they appear to be, in order to protect it? Or are we willing to stand by our (Christian) convictions and suffer the loss of our serenity and temporary calm in order to bring about a greater peace: justice?
Love is not necessarily divisive but it does cut straight to the heart of the matter; it is full of truth. If we examine our own hearts and minds (as human beings) we find the problem there, we see that clearly in the apartheid. But Jesus came to bring a sword, and the sword he brought is the word of God. The answers contained are difficult but effective if we choose to accept them. The problem perhaps is that we are afraid since we are not completely certain of God’s love for us. What is it that we fear to lose so much that we can’t give (forgiveness)? We surely fear to lose our lives, don’t we? But we see clearly from the life of Nelson Mandela that he gained far more by giving up his freedom than he would have done in attempting to keep it, and even more besides for forgiving his captors and opponents. Do we not long to do the same to the extent that we become willing to do God’s will? Can we not live under a greater herald than the one we have developed by our experiences, hurts, and prejudices and just let it all go?
The truth is that we all have our reasons for disbelieving God and fearing the result of abandonment to his will, but if we continually seek to blame each other for the problems in the world, instead of accepting the word of God that has been put into our hearts, aren’t we certain to fail again and again every time?
I thank you Lord for the life of Nelson Mandela. Thank you for giving us an example of the power of forgiveness over hatred and the witness of a heaven-born conviction that we are all created equal, that we are all equally loved, and that we are proven to be of God by our actions (faith acting in love). Thank you that there wasn’t any pretence with this man, and no concession or weakness in the face of injustice. I pray that his work will be remembered in our hearts and minds, and that as we go about our business we recognise the strong and certain pall in our spirits, that it is in us that the solutions to these problems are resolved; not in the prejudices we have inherited and developed, but in the eternal spirit that you give us through your Son. He who tells us plainly that we are responsible and culpable in the world, he who assures us that through him the battle is won, he who is standing in the door, waiting with his reward or his recompense. He who is with us to the end.
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it but we are not called to think our problems away. We are asked to act in accordance with God’s will for the benefit of our fellow man and ourselves, and only by doing this can we uphold the first commandment: to love God with all our heart, all our souls and all of our strength and the second, which is essentially exactly the same. We will do well to remember this. Nelson Mandela was a priceless gift, and we must go on and maintain his cause of justice for all. Only if we see God in the doorway between heaven and earth can we do this.
R.I.P Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Looking at the situation in the Philippines, I begin to wonder about God and his ways. It seems a little strange that a God of love would allow these things to happen so frequently. Although I am struck by the goodness of people in response to the crisis, I am also left with an unnerving sense that it isn’t really our responsibility to fight fires after the devastating whim of a higher power. But in that rather glib comment is where I find the solution.
I get pretty upset about things like this, I have to be honest. I do actually think that I’ve got a pretty valid point. It always seems to be the poorest people on the planet who suffer most, doesn’t it? In response to disasters like this, God seems to have nothing to say.
The truth is, perhaps, a little more alarming. God is speaking all the time. The answer to this problem might just be our responsibility to each other. No one knows where the weather comes from, or where it goes, but we are each in possession of a God given liberty and with it the ability to exercise the will into action. He sends his rain on the righteous and the unrighteous alike. Maybe we’re all here to see how we get on. Never mind questioning God’s judgement, just get on and help where you can. Is it that simple?
We clearly do not live in a utopia and there are certainly things that could have been done to lessen the impact of this particular storm. It had to have been expected. Giving to ease the burden now is important, and just as important and necessary is a regular contribution to the Disasters Emergency Committee. Even more important than that though, is the responsibility that the governments of the world must show to countries like the Philippines in order to strengthen their infrastructure and housing so that storms like this do not have the same devastating effect. This responsibility might be as simple as applying pressure on the Philippine government to make sure that this is done. This seems to be more difficult in practice than it is in principle. Why?
Almost 90% of the population of the Philippines are said to be Christian. As a friend of mine said, it has to have tested the faith of many people to destruction. Is God wont to do this? It strikes me as a particularly cruel person who would. No, surely not. These changes in the weather are the natural result of the biosphere that keeps our planet in a state of balance. And people congregate in these regions for a reason: the Philippines is laden with natural resources. In the quest for survival, danger is found alongside reason. We must therefore insist as part of a sparse, poverty stricken and overpopulated populous that we have a responsibility to each other.
We need to remember that in the end, on the final day of reckoning, we will all be asked the same question: where were you when I needed you most? To go into these places to provide help after a crisis is admirable (but why the inappropriate delay, again? Why not just dispatch aid as the storm gathers?). But surely we have to ask ourselves the question, why did this storm have such a devastating effect? Why didn’t anyone see this coming? Why isn’t there any sense of urgency to provide responsible, direct, and honest council to prevent storms like this from becoming tragedies?
In a world full of specialists, doctors, professors, biologists, environmentalists and, most pertinently, politicians who claim to want to make a difference, surely we have to ask ourselves in all seriousness, where were we when they needed us most?
Stuffing our mattresses, I don’t doubt.
We find, don’t we, that we run into trouble in life. Some of it is our own fault and some of it isn’t. We need to develop the wisdom and the character to be able to deal with our problems, and this begins with doing what the Lord requires of us.
“Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” Proverbs 1: 7
The start of wisdom is the fear of the Lord or, put in simpler terms, the understanding that he can do and does do what he says he will do. Therefore, when we become convinced that there is a God and agree to do what he prescribes in his word, and not to do what he proscribes, we begin to walk in wisdom, and the bible tells us that this is when we begin to live.
“For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy. Wise choices will watch over you. Understanding will keep you safe.” Proverbs 2: 10,11
So you have a problem with someone, what do you do? Well, essentially, you need to call on God in your trouble. What can he do for you? The answer might seem a little counter intuitive to start with. What he can actually do for you is to discipline you. Why does this help? Because it means that it becomes less of a problem for you to deal with your problems because you get better at dealing with them. You become more disciplined.
Whatever the reason for your suffering God can help you to overcome it, but it will probably involve more of a journey than an instant fix. Some previous posts have impressed the necessity of persevering in your problems, and as you do this you build up character. It is this character and the wisdom that God freely gives that will sustain you through your problems.
That said, don’t underestimate the power of prayer. Send one up to the Almighty and see what happens. Put your hope in God, who loves you, and you will find later on, after you have travelled some way, that you are much further down the road than you ever thought you could get. You will look for your enemies but you will not find them. The chances are that they will be in exactly the same place that you left them (in the pub?) and you will be in a new place, a better place.
Even if you’re suffering because you’ve done something wrong, if you’re suffering on God’s timetable you will end up in this new place if you walk in his ways, but it’s not just because of your mistakes that you’re suffering and God knows this. He knows all things.
There is a way out. You don’t have to stay where you are. Even if you think you don’t have enough in yourself, if you dedicate it to God you will find that it is more than enough. You won’t be able to contain the gift he has for you. And you’ll get to help other people who have problems like you once had which, if nothing else, will help you build more character!
Everyone’s a winner. Except those still down the pub.
Do we really want God to change lives? Are we prepared to hear what he has to say to us personally? It is a very difficult thing to dedicate yourself to God and to continue to seek and to do his will, whatever your personal circumstances but it is exactly this that will set you apart as his servant, ultimately give him glory, point people to him, and set off the changes in people that as Christians we should long to see.
God speaks to us in many ways and it is often difficult to make out the cadence of his specific direction to us but we know his generalised will for our lives from the bible and it is from this foundation that we can be assured that he will work through us. When you come into agreement with God, what you do is done with the full authority of God and his Christ but it is only under this arrangement that this is done, and under no other circumstances. (Without him you can do nothing: John 15:5, e.g.).
The Great Commission is to go and make disciples of all the nations and when we go we need, indeed must, go in the authority of God and that is done by being in full agreement with what he says in his word. This is a difficult thing. In fact, going out to souls in this manner can be uncomfortable at best, distressing and painful often and sometimes even fatal.
I said in a previous post that we need to change the world one person at a time. Remember it is only when a kernel of wheat has hit the ground and has died that it produces many new kernels. Getting through to people is often tough and if they’ve been hurt, neglected, or worse, this task becomes much more difficult. Submission to God should not be painful for these ones and our job is to convince them of this and also to ensure it!
Gentle speech can break a bone (or crack a nut). Keep going. The person you are struggling with needs you to keep trying. He or she may be trying to push you away but in their world this might mean that they want you to pursue. There may be no change. Keep going. Only God knows when to use a stronger tool. The tools of our trade are gentleness and patience. I’m not saying that it’s never appropriate to give up on someone – just don’t make it a consistent solution. We’re in the business of convincing people God loves them, not that they may as well give up!
Also, I’m not saying that you should let everyone you meet babysit your kids but you need to be able to do God’s will (particularly) when you don’t feel like doing it. Love isn’t a feeling. It is the predetermined agreement to act in a certain way regardless of your feelings. Set your face like stone and be prepared to do his will whatever the weather or the season. You will eventually get a response, and that response will affect many more.
One soul at a time, we really can change the world. This responsibility has been devolved to us. We need to know that in God’s economy, no-one is beyond help who isn’t already beyond help.
I find that during the struggle of my life, I am all too easily convinced of how much better my life would be if I didn’t have to struggle so much. If my circumstances were less difficult, I assume, my enjoyment of life would be much greater. Like all of the deceptions of the devil, this is only partly true. Indeed, my life might be instantly more enjoyable, but like a decadent and forbidden treat to my carnal man the pleasure would last only a short while, and in the end I would be left with the residue of my excess and most importantly, without the character that I will need for the next part of my journey through life. How complacent we are to wish our troubles away.
A saint to be once wrote: “it is not your suffering which will grieve you in the end, but the fact that you suffered so little so badly.” It isn’t difficult to understand the wisdom of those words with hindsight, but that comment was surely written at a time when no one listened to that man (or woman). Am I saying that my words will be similarly venerated? No, not at all. I am saying that it is exactly when you are suffering that you must give, because your suffering can bring salvation. That person who is troubling you needs you to minister to them, that they might escape the trap of the devil. A difficult thing but, I am convinced, perfectly true. We need to change the world one person at a time. Concern yourself with your fellow man, who needs you more than you know.
Every time you do God’s will, you make it more difficult for the enemy to harm you or your enemy, who is actually your friend. Conversely, every time you do not do God’s will, you convince your enemy to hate you and lessen the chance of them becoming your friend. The devil, of course, rejoices. In it’s simplicity, the solution statement is there. It hurts, of course, whenever you have to give up your rights in order to bring a true sense of balance to a situation where someone has been hurt, but remember that they are hurting and that you would (you absolutely would) behave in the same way if you had been similarly wounded (perhaps a little worse).
Change your enemy little by little. Teach them to love by encouraging them not to hate. Do this by doing the right thing. It’s a simple thing but oh so difficult. It might make or break eternal destinies. Don’t let your good intentions alone deprive you of doing the right thing. Our salvation was not won by prayer but by action and prayer, so don’t pass the buck. The responsibility of restoring the lost has been given to you whenever it arises in your life. You might lose some and win some, but you will lose them all if you refuse to try!
Remember, God made one son without sin but never one without suffering. Your struggle will bring you closer to God and make it easier for you to express Godly love. Your exact circumstances today are the crown of glory for your head tomorrow. Suffer with God on his timescale and you will receive the crown of life. Don’t let anyone steal your crown by persuading you that it is not your responsibility to love. The love of many will grow cold for reasons such as this. You are loved so that you can love; he is in you so that others will see him in you and so desire him. Be a channel, be a source. Hold onto the word of life and shine brightly, as you are destined to do.
“Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12: 3
Why not suffer?
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