Ten Virgins

Line by Line - Matthew 25:1-13
Post 219

“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom” Matthew 25:1.

Pre- Ten Virgins:

Leaving the very first word of this verse for a later post, we note this entire parable is describing what the kingdom of heaven is like after the “then”. But before we can really apply what it is like we must ask the question: “what IS the kingdom of heaven in the first place?”

This is not as easy to answer as first thought. For some reason we all assume we know what the kingdom of heaven is without ever trying to define it. So go ahead, take a moment and discuss with yourself the question until you provide some expressible idea you feel reasonably happy with, or discover you don’t know.

I find asking; “what IS the kingdom of heaven?” is a lot like asking; “what is truth?” The mind is so sure it knows but doesn’t really want to exercise too much to get the actual answer. But again, the arrival at the answer is exposed in the first word of the verse; “Then”, which I intend to cover in a post called “Pre Ten Virgins”. It is not a quick answer but the study is actually a big part of getting past Revelation 17.

* * *

The kingdom of heaven is like:

So moving on with the understanding that this parable is describing what the kingdom of heaven is like, we must read everything in it with this foremost in mind. The virgins are not representing the kingdom of heaven, nor are the lamps, or the bridegroom, etc. All these are but elements that make up the representation of what the kingdom of heaven is like, so that we can begin to grasp the concept of the kingdom itself.

Since the story is about virgins and a bridegroom we are obligated to learn just a little about the Jewish wedding customs regarding such an occasion. Since Jesus was raised in a Jewish culture that was originally designed to imitate this kingdom, he used a Jewish concept that was readily understood and could be readily applied, whereas we in a modern western culture have little idea how to apply this as it has little ready meaning to our lifestyle understanding.

When I was a child I was under the (now questioned) understanding that “engagement” was a period of commitment promising a future marriage. It never crossed my mind that perhaps this happy couple would engage in acts reserved for marriage, especially a Christian couple, but today our Christian youths are unashamed to explore their sexuality long before even engaged. And I am sorry to say this is found also among the Paganized Jews today.

The Jewish custom of betrothal (from which the west originally got its custom of engagement) was not just some arbitrary idea of an old frustrated priest, but was directly given by the law of God. Not as an arbitrary rule to make young people suffer under their raging passions but because it had an eternal message; "The kingdom of heaven is like..." And while Leviticus chapters 18-21 are instructions regarding sexuality for health reasons; (mental, emotional, spiritual and physical) the righteous perspective of the Jewish marriage custom was a representation of how we are to perceive the kingdom of heaven. This is not some lesson you learn one year in Sunday school and move on, the marriage process takes place over and over again as each generation of young couples reach that wonderful phase in their lives after the long wait.

If you will permit it, the marriage ceremony is a phylactery we keep always instantly available in our minds as we wait for it, and observe the glorious event, remembering that it shows us the practical understanding of what the kingdom of heaven is like.

The constant phrase "Next year in Jerusalem" for the long exiled Jews was just such a phylactery for the same reason.

As an instructional preservation, God wanted to make sure that even when the marriage concept was eventually corrupted by society, there would remain a pure message that could be found, and so he established the chapter of Leviticus 21 governing the marriage of priests.

“And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife”

Leviticus 21:13 (see also II Corinthians 6:14-17).

Today in ignorance of God’s wonderful design we read this and in ignorance of what Jesus was getting at we immediately use such passages to condemn these less qualified women and so miss the actual purpose of the rule: it is God’s pure example as a tool of comprehension to understand the parable showing us what the kingdom of heaven is like. Don’t be confused; the priest's marriage is not the example, just the tool needed to understand the example. The example is the singular committed waiting for "the one" while remaining uncompromised in the long delay.

Jewish marriage custom:

I am no expert on this custom but glean enough from the study of others, to better understand this parable, and so share it with you for the same ends.

Even more binding than our own “engagement”, the Jewish custom viewed “betrothal” as simply the first phase of marriage and in this way the couple was already regarded as “eventually married” though the marriage was not yet completed. The western culture has somewhat diminished the view but nonetheless retained the notion that with an engagement ring the girl was already “taken off the field” and committed to one particular man. “I’m going to be married to HIM” was her joyful proclamation and confidence, though consummation and the life of marriage was yet to be experienced.

Likewise the requirement of virginity: God had an eternal thing in mind when he established that a woman should be a virgin upon marriage. Yes, in our temporal minds we might comprehend a myriad of very solid reason why virginity at marriage is a good idea; avoiding diseases, lack of baggage (clinging history), uncomplicated future (pure unsoiled heart), avoiding fatherless children, and alimony and "bad Xs", etc., but all these are just examples of the spiritual concept showing even greater importance as these directly translate to our relationship with God and the ways we can damage the exclusive relationship even before it begins.

Originally, and even in America’s own recent past, the fallen woman was looked upon as undesirable regarding marriage because it was understood that our marriage is the image of our relationship with God and what we do should reflect that image as best as possible. The fallen woman is less able to represent that image in marriage.  Having no complex variety of past experience, the virgin can openly devote her undamaged heart to her husband without cause of reservation or division instilled by previous failed examples. This virginity is likewise how we can best respond to God, and so this is recommended in both life and faith.

So is it forbidden for a common man to marry such a woman? No. As Jesus our groom makes us spotless through forgiveness, so we too have that option (Ephesians 5:25-27) and might be so willing if her heart is repentant. Even God himself has often shown in scripture his willingness to forgive his whoring wife (the Jews) if she would only repent and return (Hosea), but we see the damage she has done to that relationship and so by understanding, this is the condition that men once desired to avoid by marrying a woman without baggage: a heart undamaged for him alone.

 Young women fall in love so easily and so hard because they have not experienced the consequences of bad choices yet. “Mature” women have, and so are far more self-protective and leery, resulting in a lack of trust that actually damages even a good marriage. God desired us to avoid all that as far as is possible by remaining pure until marriage.

This also carries over in our faith not as a byproduct but as the actual reason. If we are raised to commit to God before we run wild, we will have the advantage of avoiding lots of hurtful history that cannot then be easily overcome. The pain and resulting self-preservation through lack of trust by experience, is actually damaging to the relationship with God.

Continuing the Jewish marriage custom; it was common for a groom to betroth his wife while young, then leave her with her father, to prepare himself (grow up), and make his livelihood and home secure for them once they were married. In that time she prepared herself learning how to be a good wife and homemaker for him. Once he was ready he would return for her and they would be married.

* * *

Waiting:

So with this knowledge we read our parable. We find ten virgins having been betrothed, all prepared ready and waiting for their groom to arrive *1.

“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom” Matthew 25:1.

But look! These virgins went forth to meet him, why would they do that? Clearly the verse makes it important that they took lamps because of the darkness they would encounter. So where did they go and why go and not wait? I hate to keep coming back to it, but the answer is made available in the first word, so lets leave that alone for now and move on.

“And five of them were wise, and five were foolish” Matthew 25:2.

Hold on here! We have ten virgins, not fallen women, committed to the groom in betrothal. They all have their lamps, and they all go out together, and so far we see virtually no difference between them (Matthew 13:30?), so what makes five foolish; they all appear to be the same. Since we remember this is representing what the kingdom of heaven is like, are we to assume there is such a thing as foolish genuine Christians who are betrothed to Christ and have their hope in Christ’s coming for them? It sure appears plausible, let’s continue:

“They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps” Matthew 25:3-4.

Nice! We are clearly shown what distinguishes the foolish from the wise; It’s all about the quantity of oil. Note: that all ten are virgins, all ten virgins have lamps, all ten lamps have oil, and all ten lamps are lit, this is not the problem. You would think this would be commendable but instead five are called foolish. Why? Let’s continue:

“While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept” Matthew 25:5.

Isn’t it strange how this is not written as some unusual or unexpected delay (tarrying), and because the five are called foolish we are assured that all ten had been given warning that the bridegroom would in fact tarry (in fact the tarrying is built right into the betrothal/engagement concept). The five wise betrothed virgins had preplanned for the long wait by taking extra oil in a separate vessel while the five foolish betrothed virgins planned only for the short term. This appears to be the only difference between them as all ten slumbered and even slept while waiting.

Since we know the wise five were not rebuked for their slumbering it seems apparent that they had all completed their tasks of preparation and were now simply waiting patiently. The five foolish had simply done an insufficient job in preparing for the longer than expected wait.

“And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” Matthew 25:6.

Since we remember that this is showing us what the kingdom of heaven is like; Christians quickly see that the cry made is representing the trumpet that calls the Christians to Christ in the rapture (I Corinthians 15:52) and I am not declaring them to be wrong, but there is far more here because of the context of the previous chapter and because this is describing what the kingdom of heaven is like. Is the rapture event the kingdom of heaven? No, but it is a part. But this whole parable is not about just a part, it is about the whole thing; “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto…” the wording is becoming more apparent as specifically important; “At this specific time after all the previous events that bring it to this state, the kingdom of heaven can be comparable to ten virgins...”

This is not a matter of “at the end of a string of events, the kingdom will be likened” but rather “after understanding all these events as a whole, the kingdom will be likened”.

So yes, the rapture is included here, but there is much more also included here in this parable. This is not a parable about the rapture as in; “Then shall the rapture unto the kingdom of heaven be likened…” NO. This is not the meaning of the parable, and so again I ask; “What IS the kingdom of heaven?”

* * *

In verse 1 we saw the virgins go forth to meet the groom, so why do we see them later commanded to go out to meet him? Go out from where after they already went out? Go where now?; Where did they slumber?

It is important that we don’t just blow off the parable as a general story to get a general idea across. God does not waste words. Understanding this parable is crucial if we are to be counted among the wise!

But perhaps it doesn’t really matter; a betrothed virgin is a betrothed virgin, all are eventually made safe in Christ through faith, right? Let’s keep reading to discover the truth:

“Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps” Matthew 25:7.

Here we see the event that proves their preparation; as all ten are awakened and in eager excitement to see the fulfillment of all their long awaited hopes, they trim their lamps together!

What does it mean to trim a lamp?

An old oil lamp was a bath that had a wick protruding from the oil. As the thirsty wick that bore the oil was consumed by the flame, it became burnt ash no longer able to bear much oil, and the flame was dampened down by the encumbrance to the fuel. To trim the lamp was to cut away the ashen part to reveal the oil rich wick, and pull a little more wick from the reservoir. Then the oil rich flame sprang to life to light the way. There is no need for a bright flame while you are slumbering as long as the flame is present all you need to do is trim the lamp to get a ready light.

“And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out”

Matthew 25:8.

Here we see the first consequence of their lack of proper preparation. Everything went smooth and all ten girls had exactly the same results of their mission of waiting… right up until the event they were all waiting for! Until then no one could have told them anything that would show them the consequence of their foolishness; they were virgins, they had prepared, they had lit lamps, and oil, and went out to meet the right groom, and patiently waited the delay. In every way, preparation for preparation, they lay down in confidence just as the others did. All was well with the world as they waited in excited expectation.

The parable does not even mention all the virgins left behind who did not go out to meet the groom, or all the girls who already gave their virtue elsewhere. No, the parable showing us what the kingdom of heaven is like (after understanding all that was described in the previous chapter), uses only these ten virgins to describe it... but it uses all ten, not just five. And we are to comprehend what makes them different, as this is the whole topic of the parable.

We must at least touch on the whole “spreading the wealth” socialist mentality of the foolish, which is another deep lesson found here, so let’s simply understand that the kingdoms of men are an image of the kingdom of heaven and we can see the parallel apply; The request of the foolish five is the cry of the Socialist Progressives, apparently the foolish five got their idea from hanging out with them.

“But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves” Matthew 25:9.

This is a hard saying in today’s confused socialist society of unending compassion regardless of cost. Compassion is a truly wonderful thing and commanded by God himself in many places such as the Good Samaritan of Luke 10:25-37, but compassion is to spring in wisdom, out of our abundance. Do you take the food from your children to give to the soup kitchen? No, you give of your pantry so that your children can also eat. There is so much wealth in America that few yet know what it’s like to have so little that they cannot come up with something to share with those less fortunate, and to their credit America has long been a nation of incredible benevolence. But what we see in this parable is a waiting that lasts so long that even the well prepared have only enough to sustain themselves, there is simply not enough to sustain others. I am confident that as the five departed to purchase more oil, the hearts of the five wise were broken for the foolish and their own inability to help them.

It is my silly belief that the wise virgins actually gave the foolish money by which to purchase the needed oil, because ministers share their knowledge of God to aid the foolish to purchase the needed faith. But the purchase is theirs to do.

Oh, didn’t I tell you? The lamp is your soul, the oil is your faith, and the flame is the Holy Spirit in your soul lighting the face of Jesus when he comes so that you can recognize him and be seen of him.

* * *

So let’s think about the wait:

After careful preparation, they eagerly went out to meet their groom when they got the sign it was time (Matthew 24:30). And the waiting began again on a new level. They were no longer at home and could not continue preparing if the need became apparent, they had nothing to do now but wait. They slept some, and they slumbered some, and still they waited, and the wait was long. Then finally there was a shout; the time had come, but no! They still needed even what oil was left to meet the groom as they were told to do by the shout. Just how long does it take to actually unite with the bridegroom anyway?! Clearly a significant period of waiting even after the waiting is over (Daniel 12:11-12). Half the girls simply did not have the oil needed to sustain the final wait.

“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; (don’t it figure?) and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” Matthew 25:10.

It almost seems as if God himself is trying hard to keep them out! But while the complaint is argued that he is just not fair for this, the “Battle of the Brides” (or whatever new reality TV show) proves the concept of competition to weed out all the candidates that don’t measure up, is alive and well among the population today. The Marine Corps slogan “The Few, The Proud” suggests the many who do not measure up, by the recognition of those who do in comparison: "The Few".

God has often and clearly used the term “remnant” also described as a very small percentage of the whole. Beginning with Noah (Genesis 7:23) and carrying through to the last verse of Zechariah (as the few families left after the great wars), the concept is repeated 231 times in the Old Testament and seems to only be missing from the “love books” of Ruth, Esther, Song of Solomon, Hosea, Jonah, Nahum, and Malachi expressing God’s compassion for his loved.

It greatly saddens me to know there are those ten that made it to the final selection process, but only five will make it. Who gets weeded? Those who were not prepared for the long delay in their hopes. In the sports world these that make it so far but fail in the clinch are said to have choked; they did not hold up under pressure. In this kingdom description parable it is not a matter of skill or talent or natural gifting. It is all about preparation for the delay.

But lets think about those five who went away but did not give up, they went to buy more oil so they could finish the job they started. But time for preparation had passed and they had failed to meet the challenge. After a long and diligent wait of happy preparedness, the groom came when they exhausted their oil and were no longer ready. How many times do we see this in our lives as "unlucky circumstance" and miss the lesson of extended perspective needed? It wasn't unlucky, it was planned! Jesus is not something you try in college with your circle of friends, to then grow out of as you mature, Faith is who you are, and the faith needed in your lamp only runs out when you're dead! This is not simply a choice of determination, the oil you collect is gathered as you deepen your prepared faith. If your faith is shallow it burns up as the tough times don’t seem to let up. The foolish virgins were in it for what they could get out of it in shallow faith whereas the wise, having a single eye on the groom, prepared to wait as long as it took, and by understanding, they knew it was going to take some time (Hebrews 11).

It heartbreaking to know there will be many whose faith is so shallow that this post will discourage them. They are barely holding it together now, what hope is there if it gets worse and lasts a long time? These are the foolish virgins who by all accounts appear to start off well but are actually missing the whole concept of the faith and the reason for the long wait (Hebrews 10:35-39). Quick, wake from your slumber, run, diligently purchase deep oil as if your life depended on it because you might actually get back in time to not be counted as one of the foolish five!

The wise five on the other hand were betrothed to the groom while they waited but the consummation of the marriage took place after he opened the door to them. Representationally Christians are saved now by the engagement ring of the Holy Spirit (II Corinthians 1:22,5:5-6), but the consummation does not take place until we join the Messiah in his father’s kingdom.

* * *

Latecomers:

“Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us” Matthew 25:11.

Oh how tragic to see them try and fail. These are those who have been taught the right way and know it’s the right way, but in failure of confused trying, can’t figure out how to choose it until it is too late. These are the Exodus people who failed to enter in, but later diligently went about what they refused to do at the right time (Deuteronomy 1:41-45). I will cover this in a later post as we explore the interpretation of this parable, but right now we’re just understanding the parable!

“But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not” Matthew 25:12.

There is not a single sentence in the world more tragic than this one from this person. Remember these are not strange girls who didn’t care anyway, these are those virgins committed to this relationship and went waiting on the bridegroom but came up short. They went away to buy more oil and are now returned, but the door is shut and the words come through “I know you not”.

What is to become of them now? It seems there is not a person on the planet in worse condition than they at this moment. This is not a matter of a one-time slip and the hammer comes down, it has nothing to do with that (I John 2:1-2). This is a matter of the depth of your faith for endurance. Is it real, or just a religion you practice? If it’s real, you don’t run out of oil (Exodus 16:18). If it isn’t real, it doesn’t matter how much oil you have it won’t be enough (Exodus 16:27).

Jesus wraps up the representing parable with the reason he presented it:

“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" Matthew 25:13.

The entire concept of this parable is about the waiting. This is the primary reason that we are directed to abstain from forbidden pre-marital activates while the hormones rage. The physical endurance of self-control directly strengthens our spiritual wait. Patient endurance is extremely important to understand, but in today’s age of open and permitted fornication we have utterly lost this important comprehension and guarantee this generation of Christians will not have the waiting oil needed to enter the kingdom of heaven because of frustration and impatience.

But though the parable ends here, it does not indicate what becomes of the foolish five virgins. They are indeed included in the “like unto the kingdom of heaven” so what becomes of them? Have you ever thought of how they went away in the dark since their lamps went out? Where did they buy their oil to make the return? How is it possible to have oil of faith and a flame of Holy Spirit but not be let in as now “unknown”? Why does the parable not tell us what became of them?

I have asked alot of questions in this post and the parable does not seem to provide the answer. This is because the first word is "Then".

What IS the kingdom of heaven that it can be explained by such a parable? We will explore that in the next post; “Pre Ten Virgins”, but because of my new circumstances I expect to be “off air” for a while. Drat those troublesome responsibilities that get in the way.

* * * * * * *

*1 This parable is not advocating ten wives for one man as the mind of lustful man might think, the scriptures are clear that God designed one man and one woman as the intent (Genesis 1:26-17, I Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:6, etc.) This is a parable of the kingdom of heaven and so we understand the groom represents Christ and the virgins as his believers in waiting.

Does polygamy represent this relationship? Yes it does. Is polygamy what God wanted for man? No. Polygamy, like socialism, is a perversion of scripture even if it works.

* -b

[November 19, 2013: For my reply to the first comment below, please see Post 306 "Two Replies" (http://when-did-reason-die.blogspot.com/2013/11/two-replies.html).]

“Change You Can Believe In”?

Post 218

On Friday I had a brilliant idea. I know how I can keep this boat floating for another month. Since I don’t have any renters, I called the fuel company and sold them back the heating oil in that tank. After the heavy charge for pump-out and even with the reduced buyback rate I still ended up with enough money to make another mortgage payment! Brilliant. Now I can keep doing what I want. The fuel company seemed so eager to buy it back at that arrangement they sent an empty fuel truck on Sunday to do the job. Since Monday was a holiday I intended to drive to town this morning (Tuesday) to collect the check and make the payment just in time. But it rained hard all weekend in a typical fall storm and this morning I woke up to Fall rockslide at 19 mile that crossed the road between me and town. Oh those troublesome waves in this storm!

And I hear you cry; “WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT WILL NOT LIFT A FINGER TO CREATE INCOME, BUT INSTEAD THINKS IT’S A GREAT IDEA TO TAKE A LOSS IN SELLING WHAT HE HAS ALREADY BOUGHT? THIS IS NO SOLUTION! DOESN’T HE SEE THAT THIS ELIMINATES THE POTENTIAL OF RENTING THAT PLACE AND GAINING MUCH NEEDED INCOME THAT ACTUALLY MAINTAINS WHAT HE HAS?”

But my great idea has suddenly expanded my inventory of ideas and I am now seeing previously unconsidered things I can sell or trade to keep this up for even more months, so why do you say this is a bad idea? It may not be the solution you have been raised to think of, but look, it works; I’m safe for another month! This is change you can believe in! It’s a new brilliant way of thinking that has immediate positive results and allows me to continue my present desires.
* * *

If you do not ridicule me for this I have to question your own sanity. How short sighted can a person actually be? How many things can I sell off before there is nothing left to sell? Then what?

Oh, I could fill pages of the strange ways that “circumstances” are systematically bringing about my disaster, but as I have declared; It is the Lord directing me, so isn’t my pending disaster the actual work of God himself even though it is at least in part my own choices and actions that result in my worsening situation? How can I blame God for my own stupidity? But in fact I can and do, as a representation;

“Wherefore God…” Romans 1:24, “For this cause God…” Romans 1:26, “[so] God gave them over…” Romans 1:28.

Do not ignore the fact that God wants to make sure we understand that all the disasters we bring upon ourselves is also the will of God for our disobedience (*1).
Just as the victory is a “teamwork” between God and his people, so is the destruction;

“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” II Thessalonians 2:11-12

What was the cause referred to?
This is what America is doing. This is what Christian America (not the faithful) is doing as well. While our national leaders, that the people themselves have placed in that role, make utterly foolish and shortsighted choices of obvious destruction in response to “circumstances” of destruction, their actions do keep the accustomed life going prettymuch unaltered for a bit longer. Many Americans applaud in happy approval.
And the Christian Americans cry “foul! These are not our choices, we don’t think this is smart”, but they are likewise driven by their circumstances being guided by unseen forces clearly driving the destruction around them. “Its not fair! Why do we have to pay for the wickedness of people we didn’t vote for?” They cry out to God. But don’t they believe the scriptures; that it is God himself that brings the destruction and that, not without cause?

“And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Genesis 6:13

Who destroyed the earth? Whose fault was it? Do you suppose Noah had the only church on the planet who figured they were “good with God”?

“And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain…” Genesis 19:28-29

Again we see clearly that God took the credit for the destruction, but he used temporal means to get the job done. (While the reason and means and blame and implementer are the focus of this post, keep reading this passage for the prophetic salvation of God’s covenant people, but that is not the topic of this post.)

“He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed… And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless (says the LORD)” Exodus 22:20,24.

The offense to God is the clear cause but look, it is the sword of man that does the destroying even though God says it is himself that handled the sword for that very reason, not as a reprimand but a destruction.

“Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.” Deuteronomy 4:3.

Here we see God separating out the wicked from the righteous, which shows that if there are righteous, God is Just to refrain from destroying them with the wicked. So as in the event of Noah, how many righteous were there on the planet in all those churches? (again read the next verse for the promise to the genuine faithful, but don’t miss the destruction here.)

“(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth” Deuteronomy 6:15.

Do you suppose this passage of scripture was written to the Pagans? Or was it perhaps written to God’s people themselves who must have thought they were “safe” because they were God’s people? (keep reading the passage for the way to keep this from happening)
This next one is very significant so slap yourself and read it with an alert mind. If your mind somehow won’t focus on it, slap yourself again and re-read it!

“As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God” Deuteronomy 8:20.

How were their enemies destroyed before them? It was by the hand of God’s people that their enemies were destroyed at the command of God who took the credit for the deed he commanded. Therefore this verse says the tables now turn; and now God’s people will be destroyed by the hand of their enemies at the command of their enemy’s god, but God doesn’t just allow it, he pre-arranges it and sends the warning to avoid it before it comes!
So how was their success originally accomplished against their enemies? One battle at a time; it was a rapid progressive consuming of the land until it was theirs. It was a sweeping change of powers:

“Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shall thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee” Deuteronomy 9:3.

Note the combination of God going before (softening them up as it were), but them doing the work. This is the prophetic battle strategy which the Lord will bring back upon his own wayward people to destroy them for their disobedience.

“Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee” Deuteronomy 9:4.

THIS IS A CRITICAL CONCEPT:
The misconception is a very strong root cause of failure to understand WHY things work the way they do. With wrong thinking comes wrong responses. Today America is feeling very guilty for our founders “taking the land” from the Indians. Our Federal government for years has given lands and moneys to the displaced Indian’s descendants in a fruitless effort to make up for the “crime”.
We see in this passage the principle that God declares America was not given to his faithful pilgrims because of their righteousness: but because of the wickedness of those who possessed the land. I’m sorry if this offends your sensibilities but it is an important truth that is foundational to a right response! I live fifteen miles from the Indian village of Klukwan. I am friends with several who live there and have nothing but equal human respect for them as I do for any other American neighbor, to me they are just people. To see someone of Indian decent as deserving some special treatment is to become racist in thinking. What does my neighbor deserve that I don’t deserve because of something in the long ago past that has virtually nothing to do with him? How do I know that his ancestor didn’t scalp my ancestor and so it is HE that owes ME some special favor? No. The people that God sends to overtake America today do not succeed because of their own righteousness but because of our wickedness! And this is not a matter of who is more wicked, God uses whom he will for his purposes regarding HIS people. Wickedness and unrighteousness are not the same thing and not treated the same way by God to people in different categories; it is a matter of ownership, but that is another topic for another time (Amos 9:12 "...all the heathen, which are called by my name..."?).

The scriptures are full of many more examples making it clear that while God declares the destruction is of his own design and purpose, it nonetheless comes by our own hand as it were; We bring it upon ourselves by our own choices not so much for general wickedness but for disobedience to our God.

“And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them. And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away…” I Chronicles 5:26.

It is truly frightening to study the detail of God’s commands to his people in the original taking of the land from the wicked, when we consider its same way return upon his people for our later disobedience; Deuteronomy 8:20 (is posted three verses above. See also: Deuteronomy 12:2-3, Joshua 10:40 among others) (*2)

But this is not the only tool God uses in his anger against his own people. I Chronicles 21:15-16 is worth reading about God’s destroying angel. Or II Chronicles 15:3-6 regarding God sending a lack of peace and great vexation and trouble because of going a long time without the true God, and without (true) teaching ministers, and without (righteous) law itself.

“And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity” v.6

II Chronicles 35:21 is a very strong warning against sticking our military nose in where it does not belong while we are in confusion;

“But he (pharaoh Necho of Egypt) sent ambassadors to him (Josiah king of Judah), saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war (Assyria): for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not” II Chronicles 35:21

What a study and intriguing story this is when considering the complexity of the confusion God’s people now face! The choices we make at the time seem logical to us, but end in our own destruction. Josiah was an actually godly king of Judah after a long line of real wicked kings. The nation was in trouble, but due to actually pretty good reasoning according to God, from his perspective, Josiah Stands between Egypt and Assyria. What a strange twist of events to have the Pagan Egyptian ruler declare to God’s pretty good king, that it was God who sent him! Apparently God didn’t let his own man in on the knowledge but Josiah didn’t take the warning from the Pagan ruler, and why would he? and so he stood against the Pharaoh of Egypt and was killed for it!

Being “God’s man” is not the place to stand in supposed confidence! This was the flaw in the religious leaders of Israel as they stood against Jesus and his followers.

“And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I way unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” Matthew 3:9.

Standing confidently on the grounds of morality by heritage is some very soft sand. Standing there against the might of Islam because it is clearly evil is utterly meaningless in assuming our success because “we are less evil”.
On what Ground does American now stand against Islam? Are you kidding? America no longer even standing against Islam, Obama speech and in fact is heavily leaning in that direction by the lawless rule of our national leaders and its current repeated support of Islamic nations over our Israeli ally by sponsoring indefensible borders , Surrendering much of their tiny nation to Palestine, Dividing Jerusalem and other anti Israeli recommendations. Our quazi-president can’t stop falling all over himself to praise Islam Obama Islamic praise-fest reel While he publically disdains our nation to foreign countries and mocks our God.
But we covered all this when he was elected, I’m just reminding you that we don’t have much room to claim righteousness by heritage anymore as we have not removed this man from office for his offense to America and to God.

This is the “Change you can believe in” that we were promised, and it is the change your going to live with now whether you like it or not because we did not stop it.
When the Jews were taken captive into Babylon, Jeremiah the prophet told them not to resist; it was a punishment that would have an end. What end has America been promised? I suggest our nation has no promise other than destruction for our disobedience. If we had a clue what is actually coming we would resit it with our very lives, but because what comes is a judgment from God such a response would still be infective. National repentance is the only national salvation, but personal repentance is still in your hand. Use the time wisely.
* * * * * * *

(*1) Personal Notes:
I have been significantly conflicted as to know if I am still in the boat or out of the boat. In the spirit I have long left the boat behind but in the flesh I am still sitting here (there aren’t any electrical outlets for my computer on the sea). The confusion of my struggle is my apparent attempt to keep the boat floating in the flesh but in the spirit I have already dropped it from consideration as no longer my concern.
How then to marry flesh and spirit in agreement? It fully comes at the physical sinking of the boat, which is not my job to do but the wind and waves. I have been busy walking even though it has not yet sunk (no fault of my own… but actually it has been my fault it hasn’t sunk yet I guess as I am finding ways to keep it floating even knowing it will eventually sink. In otherwords I am periodically dipping a bucket in the act of bailing the Titanic for a lack of something else to do. If its going down anyway, why not dip an expensive vase full before tossing it overboard?). But is that or is that not clinging to the boat? I cannot tell.

(*2) Recorded history has hidden much of the original conduct that returns as Just retribution in both directions! Psalm 137:9 appears obviously to be a godless heart of venom by David himself. “Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.” How could David verbalize such a thought?!
This verse is the end of a message: Read verses 7-8 and you find that Edom, Israel’s blood relative (the people of Esau: Jeremiah 49:7-18), just stood by as "observing neighbors" when Babylon came to destroy Jerusalem and they cried; “Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof” (v.7), This clue allows us to further study the scriptures for Edom’s conduct and we see that David’s cry was only returning the acts of Edom earlier (Isaiah 25:12, Joel 3:19 etc.). Just retribution, as verse 8 declares the principle; Eye for an Eye of the law.

(*3) A few days after writing this post, but before I could get it posted, out of the blue I get a phone call from an out of town company I worked for several years ago, asking if I wanted a project. Unlike other hopeful opportunities through this, there appears to be no hindrances to this direction and so I accept this as a completion of my strange adventure very much like Peter and the Lord returning to the boat (Matthew 14:32). I'm certainly not going to now refuse to get into the boat.
As I dwell on this sudden arrival back at the boat and what I have learned, it occurs to me that I left this boat several years ago when my job ended and began seeking the face of Jesus full time leaving everything behind to fend for itself.
There was the great struggle as I developed my faith and purified my soul and refined my walk as I made my way to him not for the first time, but in a deeper and significantly more powerful way. There the Lord met me as I struggled and I had three years of incredible blessing and provision and intimacy with God on a level I previously thought impossible while on earth, but then the waves seemed to again become a nuisance as I struggled with my footing of application in the unfamiliar situation, Jesus was teaching me how to walk beside him on the tumultuous sea.
And now suddenly, in a very quick turn of events, I am apparently back at the boat to continue a normal life with normal rules and the storm is suddenly calm. (Funny how yesterday I stressed over the need for firewood to survive the winter but today it means nothing, the job is out of town for the winter.) This adventure will make quite and entry in my personal book of remembrance but I confess I’m actually finding it hard to let go of this incredible period of intimacy with God to return to a regular life… but to be frank, I am really glad I did not have to experience a sinking though I was willing to go the distance if necessary, expecting some mission work in a distant land or who-knows-what-God-has-planned kind of thing. I should have known by the scriptural example that the boat was not going to sink and we would eventually end up back there.

What I glean from the three versions of Peter’s experience now with a lot more meaning to me personally, is that everybody else in the boat is not going to want to hear all about my great adventure once I get back in and rejoin them in rowing to shore. What happened to me out there is for my own edification and the few friends interested in hearing my story. I understand by the scripture that Jesus also met all the rest of the disciples that stayed in the boat, so most believers will not need to experience such an adventure and in the end it really doesn’t seem to add any advantage as they all arrived to shore together! This is a private thing.
Something that surprised me thought it shouldn't have, is that the wind does not stop blowing until you get back to the boat, even while you’re walking with Jesus through it. Jesus did not calm the seas for Peter, he just made it possible for him to walk it.
For the disobedient, this "change you can believe in" is a great leap in further separation from God as a government of wickedness takes power. For the believer this change is not unexpected and in fact right on schedule, and should be seen as a powerful tool of God to purify the dross from us in preparation of the kingdom of God.
“We now return to our regular broadcasting.”
*

Abused by Proxy

August 18, 2011 - September 3, 2011
Post 217

I am finding myself flying deeper into this box canyon as it grows ever narrower and darker and foreboding. I really don’t want to be here and if there were an acceptable escape I would be taking it, but such an escape is not offered and so I keep flying.
I want to ignore this personal conflict and continue with the study of Revelation but that is not going well either, I get little in that direction at this time (rowing against the wind?). What I do get is focus on this personal issue that has earmarks of not being so personal as I thought and so as frightening as the end result appears to be I am compelled to continue flying in that direction narrating as I go
"Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths." Psalm 25:4-5
"Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty." 27:11-12.
Those familiar with these chapters of scripture will be quick to jump to the positive confirmed hope clearly provided “in context” of the verses that follow these; God’s sure salvation and protection from evil. But that is a general simplistic view of scripture that does not always apply the way we want it to. We must in the Spirit of wisdom use the entire scripture to identify just when to apply what, as Jesus did when he read only part of Isaiah 61:1-2
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,” and then he just stopped there at the comma as we are told in Luke 4:17-21 (the slight variation of the words between OT and NT is due to the Greek to English translation of the original Hebrew text of the OT which they used at that time). After stopping at the comma Jesus declared; “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” Luke 4:21.

Today, we well versed bible readers would have, like them, been incredulous that he would misuse the scripture so obviously. You cannot just pick and choose half a verse to make a declaration! And we, like they, would be right. But Jesus did not build his argument on half a verse. He was basing his declaration on the entire message of the scripture and in that much larger context he used that small portion of scripture to make his declaration. Who could have known that he the Messiah would be killed, and then resurrected, return to the father for a very long time, before returning to fulfill the rest of the passage? The Spirit of wisdom in the entire body of scripture gives that message but only to be revealed in its fullness at the appointed time.
We are now entering the beginning of the period ending in the fulfillment of the second part of that passage which he didn’t read; “...and the day of vengeance of our God;” (Isaiah 34:8).
And so I too leave out the rest of the passage I referenced because “the comfort of all that mourn” and "...the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living" appears to come later still (Luke 21:21-22…).
To provide further support of my questionable use I submit the chapter that follows my use; Psalm 28.
If I were to call upon verses 4-5 in my case “Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert. Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.” There is great comfort in knowing those who oppress God’s people will fall into their own destruction.
But how does this really work when the oppressors are, say; your own government? Reading the passage again with this question of how does that actually work out in reality, it tells me that my wicked government will bring itself down, but being that I am affected by their experience I cannot suppose I will not suffer further as a result of this prayer fulfilled.
In wisdom we understand this verse is not a vengeful desire initiated by David, it is David simply repeating a promise of God that the guilty will be accountable and fall by their own plans. David was simply expressing this known Principle of God; I can know that my wicked government will also fall in this manner and it is not wicked to pray this to be so, not in vengeance but in agreement with God.
NOW with this big picture understanding I can apply the rest of Psalm 27:13-14 with the awareness it does not come right away; In fact it will get worse before it gets better, which is why I left out this part. We have the verification of this idea in the Children of Israel fleeing Egypt when their prototype Savior Moses came to rescue them, and their burden got greater not less (Exodus 5:7-8), also in the fear of the disciples after Jesus showed up to help (Matthew 14:26), quietly suggested in Matthew 24:14 coming after v.13, and again shown in Daniel 12:12 after verse 11. This is a critical concept of Christianity that must be viewed from God’s perspective before it can become useful to us. Patience of the Saints (Revelation 13:10, 14:12).

So back to my thought regarding the verses I selected from the text of Psalms;
I am struck by a reoccurring question; “Why did God abuse his prophets so greatly?” How do you suppose these following prophets viewed those scriptures of comfort that I didn’t select?
I am not asking why he allowed the wicked people to abuse them; that I get. But why did God himself abuse them too?

Lets review a few of them:

Daniel: That great man of God from his youth was taken into Babylonian captivity just as if he was rebellious to God like the others who actually caused the captivity, and for the rest of his long life he faithfully served the Pagan king that castrated him (Daniel 1:3,6,17-18). Now although this was not specifically by the command of God I put it here because we naturally assume God would divinely protect his faithful prophets from such atrocities against them personally. Did Daniel question the many promises of scripture regarding Divine protection to the faithful?

Jeremiah: similar to Daniel he was not specifically abused by God himself but experienced great suffering in his personal participation in the captivity of the wayward people. He is known for his weeping (Jeremiah 9:1) because of how heavy was the burden he foresaw soon to come on his fellow people (Jeremiah 1:1-3). He experienced a progression of bondage until eventually serious abuse close to death (Jeremiah 37:4,15,20-21,38:6,9-13), but being it came from the wayward people and not from God directly, I leave that part for another argument.
But it was God himself who required Jeremiah to abstain from marrying or having children in the land of Israel (Jeremiah 16:1). Are you serious? Could God not have saved out a single woman for his prophet? Were there no righteous women in the entire nation even though it was admittedly so wicked God sent it into captivity? Was there not one? But that was not the reason for Jeremiah’s required abstinence; Read Jeremiah 16:2-6 to find out the actual reason for this command of God that affected this man’s “normal” life.

Apostle John: was given the incredible Revelation… after spending years in a cave on an island as a prisoner in basically solitary confinement (Revelation 1:9 + historical record).

Hosea: a faithful prophet of God gets a message from God to deliver to God’s wayward people.
And what is the first thing God tells Hosea to do? “The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD” Hosea 1:2.
God actually commanded Hosea to marry a known unfaithful woman from a line of unfaithful women. Through their troubled marriage she bore three children whom God commanded him to name: Jezreal - as a testimony of doom against the northern kingdom, and Loruhamah - meaning “Not having obtained mercy”, and Loammi - meaning “Not my people” (Hosea 1:3-9). What a happy family that must have been. Talk about bringing his own curse upon him and his family!
Are you kidding!? Why would God command his faithful prophet to seriously harm his own entire life and that of his resulting family in this way? This man’s potential tranquil life of beauty in the holiness of the Lord was ruined by this requirement and he spent the rest of his life suffering in the heartbreak of a whorish woman who kept running off on him to take pleasure in other men while he worked hard to bring her back each time. It was not Hosea’s lusty departure from God’s commands that got him such pain, it was God himself who ordered it up special.
But we read it once as a youngster and think we got the message? Hosea spent his whole life in consequence of that one message of 14 chapters. Perhaps we can respect him enough to read it a second time? Just maybe the message that cost him lifelong unhappiness might have something important?

Ezekiel: Another faithful prophet of God was taken captive into Babylon with the rest of the punished people of God (Ezekiel 1:1) and there God gave him visions. This was no second-class prophet, God gave him several very great messages and prophecies to deliver and he did his job faithfully. So why would God in effect turn him into an eccentric or insane man as we see beginning in chapter 4? His first mission was to set up a little mock event and play with what was in essence plastic army men in the sand in front of everyone in town (Ezekiel 4:1-3,8) while taking up a public protest in a “lay-in” for well over a year (Ezekiel 4:4-6) all the while chastising his bare arm scolding it in front of his toy army scene as a mad man (Ezekiel 4:7). All this was to take place over this long period of time in a specific public display and like a mime he was to make a show of weighing his designated food and water allotments carefully before cooking it over human excrement, all in their sight (Ezekiel 4:9-12).
Poor Ezekiel was willing to do it all if that’s what God wanted, but even he couldn’t stomach that last instruction and begged God to give him a break (4:14) and so God did, and allowed him to use cow dung instead (4:15) not as a change of plan but simply a proxy for Ezekiel’s sake. God’s disgusting intent did not change.
Why would God put his faithful man through all that shame and misery and in essence destroy his life and dignity? I bet his wife really liked explaining that at the weekly ladies tea.
Oh but that was not enough, he gets more:
He was to shave his head and beard and then separate it into three clumps by weight. Then he burnt one clump, and repeatedly stab another clump with a knife like a madman trying to hit a cockroach on the kitchen table, and chuck the last part into the wind but take a few strands and tie them into his cloths before later tossing them into the fire too (Ezekiel 5:1-4). This guy was just plane whacko!
But Ezekiel was not mad and the national elders knew it as we see in Ezekiel 8:1 “…as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.”
Believers love to imagine the glory of the past prophets and often wish to be counted among them wishing themselves recognized as extraordinary by the people and honored of God, but Ezekiel was not so disillusioned as he prophesied horrible things as is recorded in Ezekiel 11:13 “And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?” (the last hairs thrown into the fire).
Ezekiel was heart sick at his own message and the anger of the Lord against his people. He was not having fun obeying the Lord but he was obedient.
Next in Ezekiel 12 we see him commanded to make a public display of moving from his house by first packing stuff into it to be moved. But of course it could not be in dignity, he had to dig a hole in the wall of his home and pack his stuff out through the hole while the people stood there and watched with raised eyebrow.
All this the Lord God required of his faithful servant, but yet that was still not enough.

“Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire 6287 of thine head upon thee (put on your fancy dress hat), and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.
So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.” Ezekiel 24:15-18

Tell me, who wants to be a prophet of God now? Who thinks it is a glamorous and envious job? And these men devoted their lives abandoning a normal life of happiness for this? Is this the reward of righteousness? Why would God himself do this to his faithful prophets? Where’s that American God-of-love for them?

According to modern logic of reasoning this is unacceptable; “A God who does this to his prophets is twisted”. In fact I am surprised the Dark One has not yet capitalized on this in his vilification of Jehovah.
We find the beginning of the answer to “Why” in the very next few verses;
“And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?”
Isn’t it strange that in Ezekiel’s time of sorrow in which he did not mourn even a little, the people were so taken aback by his conduct that they wanted to know what it meant to THEM. They knew the cause and his reaction to the death of his wife was a message to them and they gave no thought to his own emotional needs, they only saw how it might apply to them… and this was the reason for his commanded reaction; so that they wouldn't pity him and miss the message. It wasn’t about Ezekiel, Ezekiel was abused by proxy. And Ezekiel knew it was not his place to rebuke them for their self-centered attitude, it was indeed a message to them, they understood that, and so he gave it:
“Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,…” Ezekiel 24:20 and we learn that it was a direct representation of what they would later experience themselves on several levels (Ezekiel 24:21-27).
* * *

What is the Job of a prophet?
What’s the point? Why does God send them? Don’t the people have the scriptures? Why send his messengers to experience in real life these horrible destructions to their own lives?

The reason is staring America and the rest of the world right in the face today:
The all-consuming motivation of the religion of Islam is a hatred of Jehovah God. They have made their hatred of God as clear as possible by declaring war on all His followers. They publicly call Israel the Little Satan and America the Great Satan in their effort to get the point across clearly. They intend the extermination of all people on earth who will not follow Islam, starting with God’s own followers. Their hatred is so great they will send their own offspring to kill themselves if it means taking out a few of God’s followers.
And still America can’t quite get that message.
So they send jet liners full of our own hostage citizens crashing into several American targets killing even more than those on the planes, and finally we get a small light of dawning and retaliate with a pathetic half hearted “war on terror” with so many rules that we can’t actually get the job done. And still we appease, and negotiate, and placate, and coddle this demonic force bent on global oppression.

The mind of man that turns his heart away from God becomes fogy and simply cannot see the obvious. Very clear and specific words mean nothing to him as they are just words. This is not a metaphor as I watch in real time the mental fog roll in on regular people I know very well. I am stunned to see their mind go sleepy and they recognize it themselves to the point of comment but are powerless to fix it, while I notice God increase the clarity of my own mind as I stay focused on him!
And so to help the confused figure out the solution God sent his written word of warning in scripture.
But not getting the message, he sends the prophets to speak his word of warning.
But not getting the message, he sends the prophets to act out his word of warning.
But not getting the message, he sends his prophets to live out his word of warning. But not getting the message, God finally sends his own Son to die out his word of warning (Matthew 21:33-38). Why?

God sends his servants to deliver the message in a way the fogy mind might see the real pain in someone’s real life and relate; the reality of the message delivered means; “This is representing YOU in a very real way”. Its supposed to jolt the fogy mind to comprehend this is not a video or a TV show; this is real life and death stuff that needs to be addressed by YOU. In the image of Christ, God sends one of his own faithful to suffer loss in the desire to save many from the suffering represented. All the suffering of Christ ending in his death, is not something that might befall you IF… It is guaranteed to be your lot UNLESS. Your sins have already condemned you. You are already judged and sentenced by your own life;
(18) “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only Begotten Son of God.
(19) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:18-19
But in the fog, the children of God to whom this passage was written, cannot see how this applies to them in the reality of their very comfortable lives of convenient sin. This is the warning message of the prophet telling of the unpleasant future that is coming, and the nature of the message therefore must be futuristic which makes it a prophecy; By nature a warning regards something to happen in the future.
To be clear; very, very few of God’s warnings of scripture are to the Godless, they are to His wayward children. Yet in the fog the children assume this is a warning to the heathen and does not apply to them as children even though verse 19 follows verse 18 as an explanation and they fall condemned under the description of verse 19.
And so God sends another stronger message of warning.
* * *

To be very frank I have been stalling the public declaration of my message in fear that it would lock into my personal life what still seems to be avoidable. But now I understand my message in a very clear way; weep for me mother as God has made me a prophet. But wait! Ezekiel was not allowed by God to weep for his loss, why? He was not to focus on himself but in faith he was to focus on God. This will be a war of wills until our master is singular. Is God really your master in love or in regret? I choose God because I trust his perfect will. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” Jeremiah 29:11. The question is; do you believe God when you can’t possibly see it? “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1. DO NOT weep for me mother; GOD HAS MADE ME A PROPHET!

First - My personal events in my life are for my own verification of empowerment that I indeed have a message from God. Unapplied faith is just empty words and without tangible effect they are as meaningless rhetoric. God’s message through me is made very real to me as I experience the message in real life painful representation.

Second- My public events I am compelled to share are my living out the represented real life message to you in proxy. What I am experiencing is God’s personal prophecy to you for the days ahead. “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. It is too easy to hear the words "America" and "Global", and so miss that this is a personal message to you as an individual, So you read of my personal difficulties and hopefully it sinks in; This is personal to real INDIVIDUALS that happen to be in America, in the globe. Suddenly the fog lifts and you realize; "hey, this is a real guy with a real message in a way I can see the reality of it apply in a real way".

Third- My private and public message comes in two levels:
1- My easy to understand firewood collection for winter is a metaphor of spiritual preparation.
2- My more complex life problems I have represented by analogy *1 is a metaphor for the physical tribulation coming soon through ever increasing compounding problems that cannot be answered.

In the spirit of the Gospel message delivery of Matthew 10:5-6, originally my message was specifically for America first but is now Global (Acts 13:42, Ephesians 3:8). Like the Daniel 2:38 prophecy interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom being “global”; it does not mean directly affecting every home in every village in every nation on the planet but the odds that it means you are still very high, this is the meaning of global.
* * *

Here is the complex message as represented in the previous “6th 7 Pause” posts by analogy:
For several years in singular worship of God I was granted divine miraculous provision that blessed my life in ways not normal to others.
In time the Divine provision became comfortable and even expected by the repeated and consistent frequency. There was not fault in this just as the rapture of a new marriage matures into comfortable familiarity and the love grows deeper though less flamboyant.
But then, and quite quickly, the miraculous provision stumbled and I did not know why, and through searching to no real conclusion I thought; “somehow I must have resolved the issue because everything turned out ok”.
But the miraculous provision HAD ended though the transition was hard to identify because normal events came at just the right time to enable me to continue on. Was this not also Divine?
But as time progressed the timely events also failed to continue, so I began to use my “inventory” to keep up; still not sure what happened I eagerly anticipated the blessing to soon return.
But quickly it became commonplace to use up the inventory as a means of continuation which allowed me to keep my head above water, so I learned to get used to being wet. “I can survive” became the new thought of hopeful perseverance having dropped behind the easily forgotten glory days of so much extra I could grow an inventory.
But then the troubles grew larger and faster and the waves now washed over my head as the inventory is gone and the needs consume things actually painful to loose. But each time I came up for air I realized this too was survivable and so the new thought of hope became “I can reach the surface in time”. Isn’t it strange how quickly we can leave behind the old thought of hope no longer useful? When you exhaust all avenues of discovery and come up empty, you can do nothing but just move on, finding new fragments of hope to keep you going.
Now the troubles come in the form of sharks and the hope of survival seems to flee entirely with the will to try. Exhaustion sets in and giving up just seems like the thing to do. What’s the use? Hope is gone. And the black cloud on the horizon promising a great hurricane threatens to bring real significant change to an already hopeless situation *1.

Here is the spiritual message in simple form as represented in the previous posts:
I live in Alaska, I know about long hard winters, I know what it means to be cold.
It is normal to spend some time in the pleasant days of summer to collect ten cords of firewood all split and stacked for winter heat. A cord is 4’x4’x8’ tightly stacked. By doing the math of experience, ten cord is about 80 small pickup truck beds randomly heaped to spilling out. And by experience, ten cord will just get me through an unusually cold or long winter.
For several years I have had no problem easily collecting, splitting, and stacking firewood each winter, but last winter I was just not able to get around to finishing it until almost too late because of a preoccupation of something else (by instruction of the Lord for the sake of the message - Oct 2010 post 092 Your Doing What?). As winter was falling I scrambled, working hard to finish the firewood collection and was able to get what I needed enabling me to make it through the winter in relative comfort with the added frustration of green (wet) firewood.
But this winter, I was not able to make it happen at all in the summer (by instruction of the Lord for the sake of the message) and now as the last few weeks of fall are here I am suddenly allowed to get whatever I can (allowed by the Lord for the sake of the message). Clearly by the math alone it will be impossible for me in my present condition to get even half of what I desperately need to survive the winter. But every stick I bring in is a few minuets of warmth to keep the miserable cold outside, yet the discouragement of the obvious is very hard to face in the effort to even try. The years of easy collection now makes the unblessed effort that much harder, so it is very easy to sit inside in the comfort of a still warm house and watch it rain outside while the very real cold draws ever closer but is not here yet.

Do not miss the message by opinions, speculation, blame or even pity and sympathy; This is not a lesson for me, it is a twofold message from God to the Christian world;
The faithful can use the suffering of my obedience as a message of patent endurance, and the unfaithful can use the suffering of the message itself as a warning. But like the prophets of old, I will fully experience the consequences of my actions long after I post this. This too is part of the message.
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Here is the meaning:
My coming temporal destruction revealed by analogy, represents the temporal hardships (tribulation) coming soon to each of us faithful and unfaithful in a very real way while my Firewood collection represents spiritual preparation for the same period of tribulation.
For some time America (and its individuals) experienced a period of unsurpassed blessing of a Divine nature. Originally recognized as the incredible miraculous hand of God, it was warmly appreciated as special among the nations of the earth. But the duration and consistency was long enough for America to become so accustom that it became familiar and even expected as natural, and so as natural, the provision stumbled. The ease at which wealth, power, sustenance, ingenuity, resources and comfort came to America was glorious indeed but we began to think it was just the luck of the draw and so as luck it had unlucky streaks too. Instead of seen as a warning that needed attention it was seen as proof that it was just luck all along, and the old history was rewritten with the new perspective of proof.

Then came a period when “its just the way things are” began to also change but it was still not known why. What was once easy with little effort, now did not come without struggle. The effort needed was that much more difficult due to the period of ease that made America soft. But America adapted and became as one of all the other nations to succeed or fail without Divine provision; by normal self-effort, which is really hard to see the difference from that place in that mindframe of rewritten history.

But before that new period could become comfortably familiar there came yet another period when with each met hard time the time of recovery became shorter before the next sacrifice was necessary. Sacrifice after sacrifice with limited recovery rapidly depleted what remained available to use for the next hard time to come along and we began to use up the necessities of comfort we could ill afford to give to the problem. And the rain of fall began to come in earnest. Summer clearly was over.
Then comes wars that must be fought and natural disasters that must be met. These are no longer choices they are demands, and each demand consumes rapidly the comforts of life, and still we simply adapt by confidently “choosing” to do without. Gone are the days of abundance but we quickly forget them and even turn on them as Lifestyles of self-gluttony to be rejected on moral grounds. Today is the only reality we know and I can survive without “that”.
And now today, we see that drought and floods and fires and legislation are almost systematically consuming the produce of crops not yet become resources intended to replace those already consumed, and still the hard times come as we can do nothing but plow ahead deeper into trouble. And this is just fall. Winter is about to come and we are more unprepared than ever, and still we don’t know how it happened.
The difficult decisions that must be made now are not at the pleasure of America but America finds itself for the first time at the pleasure of the difficult decisions. This too is divine as was the miraculous blessing but because the blessing was not recognized as Divine, neither is the difficulty and so the correct response cannot be recognized either.

This is not argued by most Christians. Anyone with one open eye while intoxicated can see this writing on the wall (Daniel 5:4-5), Christians have been watching for this to come for many years as warned in the prophecies of scripture.
But this is not my message, only the build up.

What Christians have done for years is to continue studying their scriptures instead of finding a job (meant spiritually James 2:16-18), they have been “writing their blog of faith” instead of collecting spiritual firewood.
Too many Christians have long played in the carefree sun of Grace, and more recently looked out the window at the fall rain from the dry Grace still to be had, but not feeling the cold or the wet they ignore the harsh winter coming very soon. Somehow its just hard to imagine. And because they neglected to do their work in the summer (spiritually guiding the nation), the scramble is suddenly on to make up for lost time once the chill in the air was recently felt by current political events. But in the excited confusion of a flabby and unexercised faith suddenly called upon, they have no idea how to actually go about the job and the mathematical evidence of the need shows a grave shortness of probable success (Ezekiel 7:14,23-27).
Somewhere not too far back in the mind of unpracticed hope-in-something-other-than-hope, are all those scripture verses promising wonderful and Divine protection, and so the silly confidence is bolstered by the history of Divine providence experienced by those now gone; “Something will work out, God will come through, you just have to have faith”.
But these are the very thoughts of the children of Israel and their self-prophets just before going into Babylonian captivity, they refused to hear the prophet of God speaking from the heart of God because it was a distasteful message: (Jeremiah 5:30-31,6:10,7:8,28,9:6,11:14,14:14,18:12, and 22:21,23:21-22,23:30-32,26:11 etc. well worth the time to look up.).

The point; the purpose of my message from God is not so much that hard times are coming for sure (which they are), but that the coming winter is longer and harder than any now imagine through a misuse of scripture. This period of harsh spiritual winter now very close, that Christians are wholly unprepared for, will be a long and unusually harsh period that many Christians will not spiritually survive because they expect to be “raptured” out of the trouble early-on. Christians boldly preach to the heathen; warning them not to neglect salvation, but then turn and neglect their spiritual preparation in the same way, choosing instead to practice a social religion in the image of the heathen at his Lodge.

I previously thought my blog was supposed to soon cover the rise and reign of the Antichrist, and we did cover a bit of learning about that future time, but now I see that this 6th 7 Pause is very significant in both magnitude and duration. It is the needed PREPARATION for this now rising period that needs our attention and not what comes later down the road perhaps even to our children. I am stunned that there has been such blindness on the period of “the end” (Daniel 8:17) BEFORE the period of “the last end” of the Antichrist arrival (Daniel 8:19).
So in the spirit of this understanding I intend my next post to be a study of the 10 virgins of Matthew 25.
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I will continue as long as possible but fear that due to the desperate times I face, my blog might not continue as still more of my message representing the time when there will be a famine in the land for the word of God (Amos 8:11-13). The dark days are not behind the world in the dark ages or even the past holocaust; the darkest days are yet before us as we watch America Fall and Islam Rise.

So where is the hope of the Lord in the time of trouble?
Of course we always have hope in the Lord if we understand that is not the same as the fulfillment of that hope which comes only at the appointed time in the trouble. Hope by its nature is a future focus. Faith casts out fear! (Revelation 2:10)
We do not find the fulfillment of hope in the past feeding of the 5000 by the meager impossible pittance brought to Jesus for the job that miraculously succeeded as representing the Church age of grace through America if you will, we find it after the period of hard rowing in the event that came next. This too is a needful study I intended to cover further regarding the period now beginning, which I hope to expand as I continue to dig deeper into the prophetic message of the two boat trips of the disciples. Very exciting stuff!
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*1 I maintain sharing my personal situation through analogy because my troubles are not to be compared to those of others, this is not the point of the message. Ezekiel’s wife died by a stroke, but was his the only wife to die this way? What about the guy down the road whose wife and children were devoured by a lion for instance? The death of "Ezekiel’s wife" was not the point to focus on, though her death was a message from God. I am very aware that many, many in today’s economic collapse have already endured far more loss than I even have the potential to loose, but this is not the point. My situation was designed by God for a specific message.
It is curious to me that I of all people have the skills, and the history, and the availability to fix my present problems, but it is the Lord himself who constrained me to get into this specific boat and set sail on this specific mission knowing full well the winds of adversity that would assail me. By previous real time posts you have watched the blow by blow of my calling, and my obedience, and my confusion, and my discovery, as I sail this course really no different than the disciples of Matthew 14:22-31 with the small hope of seeing verses 32-34 come to pass as well, yet knowing Ezekiel did not get his wife back. The specific time of my message strongly suggests the later end.

I now see clearly at least one reason why the Lord constrained me to sail this particular course and why he called up this particular storm for me, and why he has denied me to wisely turn into a safe harbor short of the destination. Mine is to sail this course and wait on the Lord to meet me. And this I am committed to do as I struggle with the rowing in the storm making little or no progress by the effort. I really want to cry uncle and be delivered from this, but I know God is adding oil to my spare container for the dark days ahead.

In my message I am abused by proxy as the prophets were, in order to deliver a very real and hard to receive message of warning. I can take the abuse because I am secure in the Lord while those the warning is for are not. This is why God can abuse his own prophets; their experience of loss is fare smaller than the same loss of the wayward.
The foolish Christians will not have the sustenance to remain and this warning will be rejected as harsh and unloving by a harsh and unloving God whom they will not worship, but the wise will take heart and be grateful that God has had mercy to deliver a warning, and use the encouragement to get very serious with God, storing up oil while it is still comfortable to do so before it is too late.
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