Should We Then Make Mirth?

Last Sabbath (Saturday) in church the preacher made the divine hour a humorous adventure. By the looks of him he is a naturally mischievous man with an unapologetic sense of humor. He began well enough, with a Bible verse and an exposition of the principles it entailed - the need to pray in faith. Then his natural predilection for jokes kicked in and he went on and on, raising bouts of laughter from the congregation with spontaneous good-natured jokes (the young lady I was seated next to was a particularly rampant giggler), until eventually, when the joke was too good to let slide, he spoke unadvisedly, something downright irreverent, and he reaped a hailstorm of laughter.

Earlier on today (Sunday) I was at a roadside hotel for late breakfast with a friend (long story!). The TV at this chapati-and-mandazi establishment was tuned to a live Sunday broadcast of some church service somewhere in Kenya. The pastor's message was the usual "prosperity gospel" fare that's all the rage these days- "your breakthrough is in the pipeline". The camera cut to scenes of attractive listeners nodding in inspired expectation. Effectively his message was that Jesus' blood had purchased his audience's miracles. Now that may be open to interpretation, but his focus was decidedly temporal. Afterwards the worship team leader turned out to be a shrill, loud lady.

With hindsight there was little difference between these two sermons. That disturbs me. Christians are supposed to have a message for the world that is distinct from the world, especially at this time of world's history. But the podiums have become stages for "charismatic" but meaningless performances of humor and smooth talk. "All will be well, relax, have a laugh."

Elisha's rhetorical question to Gehazi in 2 Kings 5:26  becomes relevant.

...Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?

You may think I'm being uncharitable with criticism. Hear me out.

Ezekiel 21:8-9 (I recommend you read the whole chapter) contains GOD's message to Israel at a time when judgment was imminent. It thus gives us the correct attitude we should have in view of the impending end of the world:

⁸ Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

⁹ Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:

¹⁰ It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemneth the rod of my Son, as every tree.

A sword brings death; GOD's sword is His executive judgment upon the wicked who reject His ways - they shall be destroyed forever.

A rod represents correction; the rod of GOD's Son - the cross - is the only means by sins may be forgiven.

These verses are prophetically telling us that if we reject Christ's "rod", we must then contend with GOD's sword! That someday it will be too late to apply the rod of correction, and only the sword of destruction will be applicable! Could any warning be more urgent? Indeed it is repeatedly given throughout the Scriptures in a variety of ways! 

But the churches increasingly have other things to say.

The signs of the times multiply, prophecies of the end time are fast fulfilling, but many pastors, the shepherds of the flock are blind to these things hence not preaching the need for preparation. Even excepting that, there is a wealth of spiritual instruction for character development (take up your cross daily, etc) that a pastor must overlook before they settle for jokes and nice-sounding promises of prosperity. These two sermons were similar in their omissions, by which the true gravity of the present situation was minimized in peals of laughter and obscured by visions of opulence.

 Ezekiel 13

1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,:1-16
2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
11 Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
14 So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
15 Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
16 To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.

Indeed. Not peace, but a sword.

Satan's Weapons of Mass Destruction - Introduction

The war for your mind, heart and soul proceeds apace. GOD, with love, grace and mercy vies for your life. Satan in wrath and hatred kills, steals and destroys while promising peace and prosperity.We must discern his lies and identify his weapons of mass destruction, otherwise in ignorance we are prone to destruction.

Proverbs 1:17 "Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird."

Let us pray for spiritual eyesight. Wisdom comes from GOD.

Satan desires total dominion on earth. He gauges the extent of his kingdom on earth by whether he has deceived mankind into breaking GOD's law. Satan is a rebel commander, desperate for more recruits to his army, seeking strength in numbers, trusting in his own might. His dominion over the earth is not total or permanent so long as there are many who willfully obey GOD. To strengthen his kingdom, Satan strives to tempt and harden men in decided law breaking, to greater outrages in proud rebellion. He deceives man to destroy himself - it is the spiritual equivalent of suicide-bombing, only the target (the law of GOD) being impregnable stands unhurt while its opponent is defeated and lost. 

All of Satan's WMDs are illegal: they rely on sin for their effectiveness. Through sin, man is separated from GOD, and defenseless against Satanic attack. Yet the devil is more interested in claiming the man's soul and chaining him to sin's bondage. So the man while he yet lives (life is a blessing from GOD) expends that life in the bondage of sin (a curse) in rebellion against GOD, and exhausting his life in the service. Such is Satan's hatred for mankind - in this war his projectiles aimed at GOD are people who his arts have perverted, his shields are human shields, he cares only for his pride.

Satan's weapons of mass destruction are those things he has perverted in order that, as human beings embrace them, knowingly or not, they may bring upon themselves curses.

Proverbs 26:2 
As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

This verse tells me that curses do not roam the earth looking to fall upon whomever hapless passerby they randomly chance upon. Curses have specific causes, they can be called the consequences of someone somewhere breaking spiritual laws, or they can be the outcome of misuse of blessings. But let us continue.

The love of GOD for his children is vast, we fall short of understanding it; he strives to save each one of His children. By His omnipotent power and boundless love, GOD gave His only begotten Son to offer salvation freely to everyone who, hearing His warning, will access that salvation BY FAITH, turning from sin by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The devil knowing this designs that souls chained to his miserable service will be deceived into loving their bondage and rejecting that salvation! By the love of the world, by worldliness, the devil satisfies men with this world's illusory "good", so they do not seek a better country, where righteousness dwells. They settle - and fight - for far less: fool's gold, survival for the fittest; a brutal and meaningless existence - but for sin, which alone can stir passions perverted bythe devil's black arts.

We shall go into a step by step analysis of Satan's WMDs - the curses he intends for us to claim under deception - in future posts in this series.

News Blues

Is it just me, or is the news depressing?

Watching news makes me philosophical of late. Yes, like that bachelor who is advised to get a wife because he will either become happy (with a good wife) or a philosopher (with a bad wife) - that type of philosophical.

I think depression is a moment of intense clarity on the true human condition.

The news may be true, but it certainly ain't uplifting. The tone of a typical news broadcast is urgent. "There is an army of crises whose battering rams are pounding at the gates of Life-As-Usual." My mental big picture looks like this: a vice is tightening on the inhabitants of the earth, and all they have to alleviate the pressure is shopping and the occasional lottery and other assorted distractions. Party politics deafens the voice of sanity. 

Good news comes once in a while, rare displays of mankind's love for fellow man, even ignoring the lot of it that happens to be corporate bodies flaunting Social Responsibility. 

Crime and escapism stated in pompous officialese fills your typical news broadcast. It can weigh down on one. To maintain sanity, one decides "the system is broken, the problem can not be resolved. Let us just continue." Picture how the financial news dude makes perfect sense, an eternal jabberer of vaguely optimistic-sounding speculations. So we wait for different results. However, head-burying in the sand, lamentations beneath one's breath, carrying on as usual, is exactly how downward spirals end up in crash and burn.

Let us not miss the forest for the trees. The devil's worldwide schemes advance, his global structures rise higher each passing day. His trick is to co-opt deluded men into the program, to turn people against each other and against GOD, until at last when Satan presents the mark of the beast, mankind will enthusiastically hail him as savior. 

But to expect a different savior than Jesus Christ would be disingenuous: who else can save mankind from himself in these last days? For the cesspits from which people crave to be dragged are whirlpools of their own stirring.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

The Me Generation

Our generation is pampered unto spoilt , both relatively (comparing our parents' time) and absolutely, especially the urbanites among us. I am pointing fingers at myself as well; this confession is derived from a critical analysis of my own life as I turn 24. Having watched such unfortunate shows as "Wife Swap" and "Soulmate Tryout," I know that our third-world spoilt brats have nothing on first-world spoilt brats.

The apparent ease and comfort extends beyond childhood, especially now that we have a well-worn beaten path that defines most people's lifetimes. Default framework: go to school, graduate, get a job, start a family, get insurance, retire. Artificial systems - entire industries from healthcare to housing - have grown up around these stages of life to prop up the "commensurate" material standard of living. Their shared backbone is the system of financial usury. (Today you need a loan in some places to get a child into nursery school.) All the pains we endure to achieve this expected standard of living almost neutralize the enjoyment of any gains attained. This system, being wasteful and exploitative, is designed to take more than it gives.

It's nice to have luxuries, rights and privileges. However, there is danger when the culture inculcates a sense of entitlement in its members. The community becomes a production line of self-absorbed, antisocial workaholics, easily given to despair when a crack in the narrative shows.  Yes, there is a place for self-esteem, but the great paradox is that the higher one prides themselves in their own conceits, the less genuine esteem they earn from themselves or others. That said, a lot of popular logic is up-side down. Many of society's so-called "role-models" derive their motivational aspect from their fame and riches rather than the values they stand for. They create fans in their own moral likeness. I'm certain there was a time showing off ("flossing, balling") would have earned the extravagant braggart a concerned word of advice. Those days are gone.

Love for "things" poses a fatal spiritual danger. Anyone who is desperate for the good life is much more willing to sacrifice principle for profit - to sell their souls - which is being made fashionable in a twisted kind of way (Illuminati, anyone?). But this is not the example taught to us by Jesus Christ, the prophet Elijah and John the Baptist, amongst many other who became wanderers, fugitives and martyrs courageous for the sake of the kingdom of GOD.

These considerations are not merely academic/historical. The hour is late. As these last days darken, each individual within this pampered generation of ours will be forced to choose between our beloved comforts and the express commandments of GOD. The good life (easy credit, fiat money, conspicuous consumption) will be leveraged on the mark of the beast. GOD's people will leave all that behind in faith and obedience, counting even their very lives a small price to pay. That's Bible prophecy.

Revelation 13:15-17
¹⁵ And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
¹⁶ And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
¹⁷ And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

End Times Literature

The prophetic books of Daniel and Revelation have suffered everything between misinterpretation and absolute derision. Many Christian denominations entirely neglect these sections of scripture. Certain misguided souls like to impute folly upon the words of GOD because their own ignorance limits them; they “find” in these apocalyptic books cause to dismiss the entire Bible as the writings of unreasonable men with overactive imaginations. (I have already heard more than enough atheist arguments in my life so far.)

The good news is, this incomprehension was factored into prophecy’s design as an intended outcome. The prophecies were sealed, not physically, but through coded language.

DANIEL 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

The verse above indicates that the meanings of the prophecies contained in the latter books of Daniel were kept hidden (“sealed”) until the time of the end. Then, knowledge will be increased at the appointed time so that the prophecies will be understood. Later in the same chapter we read:

12:9 And he [the angelic messenger] said, “Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”

Now we catch insight into the complexity of ingenuity involved in the sealing of the prophecies. Not only are they to impact the end-time generation only, they are further to be exclusively understood by “the wise” among that generation – rather than being ignored and dismissed as merely profound parables. Verse 10 (above) presents is an ironical situation: all have equal access to the same prophetic text, but only some through understanding can apply its provisions to their lives. This distinction, by itself, marks the “wise” apart from the “wicked.” Let that speak to you.

I put it to you, dear reader, that we are entering the last days. Very soon, the real time fulfillment of Daniel chapters 7 to 12 (some of which has come to pass) will become of vital importance to those who watch and pray.

John the Revelator also received instructions from the angel who talked to him:

REVELATION 22:10 And [the angelic messenger] said to me, “SEAL NOT the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.
22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”

To paraphrase: the prophecies in Revelation were “not sealed,” because “the time (of their fulfillment) is at hand”. Note the similarity with Daniel in what the distinction is between one’s capacity to understand or misunderstand the prophecy’s meaning, and the implication thereof. This “time” which is “at hand” refers most obviously to the end times, the era we are entering, if we are not manifestly in it already.

With this declaration, the entire book of Revelation, with all its symbolism, is spotlighted as vital life-and-death literature for the end-time church of Christ. Read it, friends, in and out, and Daniel also. Prophecies are to be fulfilled at the appointed time. To understand them, just do this one thing: DON’T be wicked :)

(Hint: The Bible interprets itself.)