Posts
--Who Wants To Know The Truth?--
A short-story outline
Post 352
This story is based on a dream that I actually had last night, Dec 17, 2016.
This is a first-person narrative about a single, ex-reporter on the world’s largest tropical cruise ship. He doesn’t usually “do such things” but he won this trip as a promotional, and circumstances lost him his job at a convenient time to make use of it, so here he is, on a pleasure cruise with people he doesn’t normally associate with, among activities that don’t normally appeal to him. He is not your typical party animal bent on indulging his animal pleasures as a way of life.
The majority on this cruise are middle-class young people who seem to try to live beyond their means, although being single with good-paying jobs in an affluent culture; it’s almost hard to do. Among this majority our former reporter also finds the retired, and families with young children. It’s a ship that accurately reflects modern American society.
We follow our ex-reporter for a few days as he wanders the grand luxury of the ship discovering its great variety of time-wasting activities and meeting people of all professions and characters, including the ships staff and officers. The decadent luxury is very appealing, and most of the people are quite nice, everyday-people, that are just looking for a good time in a meaningless existence that is carefully designed to pamper their self-indulgent pleasures, or help others do the same. He soon discovers that he can actually like most of the people he meets and easily finds “friends” among them to make his indulging cruise more enjoyable than walking alone or among strangers. He even stumbles into the moderate beginnings of a possible love interest.
But as time goes on and he gets to know them better he begins to notice people making bad choices and using strings of illogical thoughts that cause him to question their very thought processes. He begins to watch with a new curiosity of disconnected observation as his reporter instincts kick in. He wonders to himself why they would all act in such self-destructive ways that cause not only themselves but others such pain. “How can they not see the obvious results before they come to pass? Everyone knows that with uninhibited pleasures come uninhibited sorrows.” Yet on this boat they seem to imagine as suspended the law of cause-and-effect. In fact they imagine the suspension of many such natural laws.
In his exploration and observation, among other activities, he finds an entertainer on board named Benn Gleck who always has a large attendance at his repeating stand-up monologue about how the growing chaotic contention among shipmates is bringing us all the sorrows of a less enjoyable cruise. He recommends that; “we all just take a chill pill and learn to get along. It’s not that big o’ ship when it comes right down to it, and there are more than enough various activities to keep us all happy in whatever means we choose, if we don’t judge others for choosing something other than what we like.”
Our reporter thinks to himself: “As I struggle to wake my fellow passengers from their determined insanity of a meaningless existence, which the very nature of the party-boat promotes as “Life,” I sort of agree with Mr. Gleck in theory, yet somehow I also disagree in principle. I see the value of his sleepy point-of-view to reduce the spirits of contention and depression in an aimless environment designed for meaningless and purposeless pleasure, but it’s apparent that he doesn’t see the awake concerns at all: that there is more to this voyage than trouble-free debauchery; either depressed or happy, alone or communally. Regardless of the environment, the laws of nature tell us that debauchery is always self-destructive, and this boat must one day dock at it’s destination where a man’s wife or a woman’s husband will be waiting for an explanation.”
Our reporter discovers another similar entertainer across the hall on the same deck who is a young blond-bombshell called “Jack.” She sings and dances and shotguns a non-stop dialogue as she does it. The self-glorifying substance of her dialogue would be instantly rejected and her show closed for both contention and lack of interest if she didn’t have such sex appeal, but her youth and beauty draws them in, and her unexpected quick-wit for a beauty keeps them mesmerized as she performs. The basic nature of her show seems somehow similar to Gleck’s….but not. She is more willing to openly mock the most foolish passengers in their daily foolishness, but the purpose, as with Gleck’s show, is just to entertain; it’s not meant to actually hurt anyone. And so they come, savoring the stinging salt on her very pink tongue.
Of course on lower decks there are also the alt-Right shows like Dimtrain and I-slam using hate as their chosen theme to entertain in the same way. There are Religious Magicians that play games in your mind, and Genetic Magicians that play games there too. There are alt-Liberated shows that take great pleasure in all things wicked by promoting “Christian tolerance through social Hedonism,” and those who talk about burning the ship to the water with the intent of repurposing the wet ashes to rebuild it into something better. Clearly not a well thought out plan. The consistent value in all of their diverse shows that got them billing on this ship of entertainment is that they entertain, and in so doing keep all their passengers thinking they are “happy” on the cruise as if it will never end.
Our reporter’s beautiful romantic interest-- who really enjoys the sauce to the state of perpetual drunken stupor in her chosen club-- allows him to persuade her to stick with him for a good portion of our story, and seems to begin to see the reality of the ship’s pathetic worldview perspective. Her new alertness brings out her wonderful and intelligent personality as she slowly dries out and we begin to see in her the potential that he sees. But eventually she looses interest in his prudish mentality and reluctantly goes back to her dance club saying; “I’m sorry, I really like you, but what’s the use?”
The story develops into an actual catastrophe of bad choices, both personal stories among his new friends and social stories among larger groups, and eventually by the similar choices of the new crew, the ship itself strikes a reef, rolls over and everyone on board is lost at sea, because, while the captain and crew keep reassuring folks that everything is under control until it is too late to save any, there are others who take the law into their own hands as it were and work the life-boats without knowledge, making them all broken on the decks below or uselessly tangled in their lines.
Then after seeing all these things, I heard a voice say; “Who wants to know the truth?”
I replied loudly and determedly; “I do, show me!”
Then I awoke, right at the beginning of the dream.
The story changed from reality to a vision early on in the cruise, which, by already being on board under way, cannot be avoided. Now our reporter goes about observing the same events again, but with graphic foreknowledge of every bad choice they make and the chain-of-reaction effects that he knows will play out. He passionately tries to stop them, to reason with them at length, to distract them from their doing, to draw her away from her club, but all to no avail. It’s as if their history is already written and cannot be altered. The people on the ship now appear to him as sleepwalkers; mechanically acting but not thinking, actors in a play that have rehearsed scripts in which they take pride in following to the letter with all the practiced passions, yet with no personal contemplations as to what they are performing.
The closer to the final disaster they come the more alarmed and concerned our reporter gets, but this time, in the desperate actions of his alarm, having replaced the original Captain with a well-spoken popular passenger, the ship’s new authority begin to view him as a threat, maybe even a terrorist. The ship turns into a struggle of disagreement between two democratic opinions of the right course, and in the arguing and bad choices of impassioned chaos the ship once again strikes the reef, but this time apparently because of the struggle itself being the bad choice of distraction. The young reporter realizes too late that he is no different than the others on the ship. All the actions of his foreknowledge efforts and good-will are just another bad choice. He is just another character in the tragic play.
Then I heard the voice just as before; “Who wants to know the truth?”
I startled awake from a sleep that I was so sure was a wakness after a dream, suddenly aware that my reality after the dream was only a deeper dream itself. So this time I replied humbly and fearfully; “I do! please show me.”
Then I awoke, right at the beginning of the vision, again on the pleasure cruise underway.
And I finally understood the truth.
* * *
While more detail may help the reader come to the answer sooner, you now have all the information you need to figure out "the truth" in the context of this allegory.
What have you come up with?
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Monday, December 26, 2016
Monday, November 7, 2016
It's Always Been a Group Thing
Post 350
Before I begin, let me assure the reader that I will get to the part you think you’re looking for: the Election debate issue, so if that’s all you want, you can skip this important stuff and get to that at the end before you cast your last-second vote of frustrated indecision that will save the nation. For those with a deeper quest; we are looking into things far bigger than who the next President will be.
* * *
Preliminaries:
Let me open this Post with the preliminary encouragement found in Jesus’ reaction to his sleeping disciples once the time for preparatory watchful prayer was behind them:
“Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” Matthew 26:45.
The reason why I want to open this Post with this significant encouragement with cause is because there will be more than plenty of discouraging things to occupy your minds and spirits in the very near future. Now is the time to sleep in rest without guilt. Why? It’s found in the colon: Because the Christ of America has been betrayed and is now in the hands of sinners. In that light, everything has changed in America fundamentally, the cause of Right has been officially revoked and wickedness now reigns as the triumphal authority with power.
…“Therefore the prudent shall keep silent in that time; for it is an evil time” Amos 5:13.
As the caretakers of your Christian nation, you are now out of a job. Take a nap at noon. The exciting part of this to me is that in this concept it is now time to stop criticizing each other for inappropriate building material choices and questionable architectural styles we built into our nation as Christians. Now is the time to stand on the sidewalk as spectators and watch the unchangeable things set into motion play out. The time of speculative correction is behind us. As humanity in general, that period (often called the age of Grace that followed the Law) began at the garden when Jesus was arrested by sinners in authority, but as the Nation where Christ Jesus put his name in that Gentile age, that period began when God and his ways was officially tossed out by sinners in authority. The time for criticisms and corrections and admonitions and facts and appeals to fix the national problem is past. It’s encouraging to note that after things started to go south in a big way and the disciples didn’t know how to react, or what to do, we do not once hear Jesus admonish them of their failure to watch and pray when they should have been watching and praying; This is the time of experiencing the events in whatever state of preparedness we now find ourselves.
Satan sifted both Judas and Peter, and, while Judas was destroyed, having no revealed foundation that couldn’t be screened; Peter was also lacking in preparedness to handle the sifting, and Peter’s worldview was broken by his own confused weakness through not understanding God’s big-picture plan that Jesus had been telling them was coming. But through Peter’s broken state, his emaciated but still-living-faith found new solid ground in Christ’s grace when his own footing of self-reasoning utterly failed. After the trying of his faith through fire had burned away the dross, Peter had a new appreciation and understanding for the Rock on which to rebuild his entire life, obstruction free.
For the Christian; the evil time is not a horror which God is unable to stop; but a God-induced fire of cause for a reason of good. If our foundation is Christ, the success or failure of preparation will determine how we respond in the fire as the unrighteous facade is burned away yet the foundation remains untouched (I Peter 4:1-2). Rather than be afraid; Now is the time to dwell securely in God’s rest while the fire does its work:
…“Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” Hebrews 4:11.
The time of unbelief is now upon us nationally; the labor referenced here as future is now past tense in this case. At this time in our history we need to already be well established in the Lord’s rest in order to be as victorious through the fire as the Lord designed possible. Dragging into the kingdom all covered in soot and scarred from the events will still be successful and reason for rejoicing, but not how the Lord intended us to get there. In spite of what Hollywood promotes in nearly every movie; After the battle has begun in earnest is not the time to pluck up your courage and perform untrained, in a way that only proper training can allow. Hollywood promotes Peter’s brave but unskilled swordplay as commendable valor. Jesus doesn’t. Said in another way; During a shark frenzy is not the time to get a hankering for blood; you’re going to bite a friend by mistake (Galatians 5:15vs.16).
As America’s world now melts down around them, the Christian who has earnestly stayed spiritually alert and in constant communion with God in the time of preparation will not be caught by surprise of the trials, but instead-- having seen them coming, and their purpose-- will find a sweet rest that even he cannot explain in and through the fiery events (Philippians 4:4-7). The genuine Christians who slumbered instead of watching will find the sudden fire deeply alarming and very, very hot, to the point they will experience their very faith being stripped away like paint under a sustained sandblaster. For these, the only focus remaining must be that, in the face of all they see and experience by all the lies and confusion and deception and persecutions that attempt to convince them to the contrary; Jesus the Christ is the only sure Rock, and will keep them, even in spite of themselves, unto that day (II Timothy 1:12). When all is burned away in the heat of the fire of great trials that will try your faith, and your trusted great edifices of empty religion are burned to the ground as proof that God has failed, the foundation of Christ Jesus and whatever structures of true righteousness built upon that foundation, which cannot burn, will reveal who is actually a Christian vs. who put on a good show, in the days of leisure and pre-mature slumbering that built a city of temples as dry as a tinder box. Remember; all ten virgins slumbered, because it was the time to slumber. Their success or failure, though revealed at the last, is found in the wise preparation before the slumber. Wise preparation is that important!
But we have adequately covered all that in past Posts. This is not a stand-alone Post, it follows a long and detailed preparation to arrive here. Let’s leave it behind us and now look ahead. Now is the time to put proof to our claim. Is Christ Jesus really your Lord; the very center of your whole world? Is it his voice you are following or your own? Answering this question by evidence rather than words is the purpose of the fiery trial. Some will come gloriously through the fire as did Shadrach Meshach and Abednego; without so much as the smell of smoke on their clothes (Daniel 3:21-27), while others will be so burned that only the foundation will remain (I Corinthians 3:15). Fortunately for them, the foundation of Christ Jesus is the only required element to enter into God’s kingdom. So while your brother’s house is engulfed in flames and he is shocked to see it burn like a dry Christmas tree whose use is two-weeks past, it is not the time to say; “I told you so”; rather it’s simply an event to experience, and then begin again in greater wisdom with a new focus. The Apostle Peter experienced such a loss… but he is still an Apostle, and what an Apostle! Wipe the tears of sorrow and find a new perspective of rejoicing, because after the fire your foundation is cleared of junk and a new worthy house can be constructed! Do you think that Jesus’ grief, which was so great he was nigh unto death, was for himself alone? He knew full well the fire that was to come upon his own --and he knew they were not as ready as they should have been-- and like as with Lazarus’ death, he knew the agony and loss it would cause before it was over. When Jesus stood over Jerusalem and wept, was it because he was feeling the personal loss; or because of the agony he knew was coming to them, and how many would fall short? Jesus loves his own, good and bad. He grieves for the unnecessary great sorrow that the pre-mature sleeping will experience. But the future, after the fire, is still the future; Now is the time to focus on that. Now is the time to sleep; to shut ones eyes and ears tight and cling to Christ by blocking out the Charles Darwins’ and the Richard Dawkins’ of the world (I Corinthians 1:18+II Thessalonians 2:10). There was a time to respond to their arguments with logic and reason and intelligence and faith, but that time is past, because it has now been established that; “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation.” The Son of man is given into the hands of sinners, and their chosen lifestyle won’t abide his reasoning any longer. Remember; we are speaking of the nation rather than individuals at this point. Individuals can still be turned, but the individual, as in a fast river, is nonetheless carried along in the events of the nation’s direction. The one is tied intimately with the other. Let’s review a Scriptural example for our edification:
* * *
It’s A Group Thing:
(Recommended reading: Joshua 22).
“And when they (the tribes that took possession of the lands on the other side of the Jordan) came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the land of Canaan, (they;) the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an alter by Jordan, a great alter to see to. And the children of Israel heard say… And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them” Joshua 22:10-12.
A bit of background is needed before we can just jump into our study in the middle of a complex issue. After the conquering wars that resulted in Israel possessing the land that God had long ago promised Abraham but waited until its inhabitants had maximized their wickedness to justify their destruction, the individual tribes were each given their domains to begin living the dream. As with any good book, God’s story (His-story) seems to love complexity. Two-and-a-half tribes asked for lands on the other side of the Jordan, seemingly outside of the designated boundary of the Promised Land. This land was given them as their inheritance leaving even more room for the remaining tribes on this side. No problem.
But soon after, the tribes on this side heard that those on the other side had built them an altar. Such a thing was strictly prohibited by God and documented in the sacred scriptures for them to follow (Deuteronomy 12:5-7, 27:4-6, Joshua 8:30-31). What were the faithful tribes to do? What business was it of theirs what their brothers were doing in their own lands? Why did the majority believe that they had the right to straighten out the minority? “Let them do what they want on that side of the river, we will stay on ours. If God is unhappy with them, he will judge them.” Right? But for some reason the tribes on this side were not happy with the tribes on that side, so much so that they tooled up to go to war against their brethren. WHY?
“And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying, Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the LORD?”… Joshua 22:15-16.
Do you understand; we are talking civil war here. It promised to be a blood bath. We desperately need to understand WHY the righteous children of Israel felt it was their obligation to straighten out their brethren by force if necessary. Let’s let them explain it as they continue their inquisition:
…“Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD…” Joshua 22:17.
Peor, do you remember what happened at Peor? If you don’t, then it’s very relevant message is lost to you. Let’s do a quick recap:
“And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab…. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel” Numbers 25:1-3.
The point of the argument that Israel used in their inquisition, was that in spite of the discriminating punishment commanded by Moses against the evildoers at Peor (Numbers 25:5), God’s wrath on the children of Israel as a congregation was not discriminating, and it was severe:
“And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand” Numbers 25:9 (read to 11).
So let’s let them continue in their argument that justifies their straightening out their brethren:
“…And it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel” Joshua 22:18.
From the Lord’s perspective of his kingdom order; it has always been a group thing. Not a Democracy, where the majority gets to determine the rules; but a Republic, where God makes the rules and the people chose to collectively follow them as a society or pay the price as a society. We have the solid evidence that God works with nations as a single entity, and, in that working, the individual is simply a cell in the body. Christ’s Church is no different, when you sin it affects me (Hebrews 12:15 as one example).
Fortunately the children of Israel had the wherewithal to actually confront their brethren and require an answer for their actions, rather than just wade in swinging the righteous sword to destroy the “obviously wicked” without a trial. The issue we are not here concerned with in what we are learning is that a war was not necessary; It was discovered that their brethren had done nothing wrong. It was a misunderstanding. What we are looking into here, and a reason why this bit was included in Scripture, is the principle of national accountability. God expects us, his people, to maintain our national righteousness; it’s ours to do, or suffer the cost. I think American Christians tend to know this instinctively, which is why they are now so disheartened at the prospective of the cost of negligence now coming due.
“OK fine, but how does this apply in helping me choose the next President for the United States of America?”
I have delayed this Post until now because, like Jesus telling his disciples he was going to be killed, no matter what I say, people don’t hear. They don’t hear because they don’t want to hear that. Christians are frantic to learn how they should vote in this election. They listen to this guy and are temporarily swayed his way, then they listen to that guy and are temporarily swayed the other way. They have their metaphorical hands on their head spinning around frantically begging someone to tell them something substantial that they can cling to regarding how to vote. All they want to know is how to vote. They don’t stop to ask themselves why they are so troubled about the choice; they just want to make the right choice that will magically save the nation from destruction, but they can’t see the answer other than the guy they instinctively know is a bad choice. That’s the wrong focus. But since this is the only focus that people are prepared to be answered, let’s talk about choosing Donald Trump as our next President.
* * *
Choosing A Bad President:
I have heard repeatedly, almost as a mantra, the concept that we need to elect Trump so that we don’t get Hillary. It’s the lesser of two evils idea. Many well-respected conservatives, as well as many respected conservative Christian leaders, are using this concept without actually saying it in so many words. So when did such a godless foundational value creep into Christianity? It’s certainly not a biblical principle.
Look, even Trump doesn’t think Trump is a worthy candidate; he spends all his campaign speeches telling us how bad Hillary is, rather than telling us why he would be the best, or at least a good, choice. So let’s distill this down to the basic elements; Forget the threat of Hillary and her indisputable wickedness for a minute, we are evaluating Mr. Trump as a stand-alone choice for the office. Is Mr. Trump the kind of man that you want to be your President? If there were no causal issues to demand him, do you see him as the right man for the office because he has shown himself to have the kind of character and/or skills that the office requires? I know very few people who will vote for him because they actually have any reason at all OTHER than he is not Hillary.
Alright, let’s go there.
That means by default that he apparently lacks all qualifying elements that would actually make a good President. So let’s talk about what character he does possess: The greatest sin is Pride, and pride is the recipe for sure destruction (Proverbs 16:18). Even Mr. Trump knows that he is a narcissist, but he sees it as part of his charm. I get the impression that he sees himself as Iron man. So are we now electing a Hollywood fantasy based on pride into a real world high office? Is that what rational people do? A description that seems to be often used is that Mr. Trump acts like a spoiled rich brat. How does it not bother anyone that he is using his own money to buy the Presidency? And you praise him for that; you even support him in his quest? How have we suddenly forgotten the age-old phrase; Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely? What kind of thinking is excited that a narcissist is buying the highest seat of the land, and expects that to turn out well? And have we already forgotten that Mr. Obama’s greatest achievement was to turn that seat into a Kingship for the next President? History has shown that Tyrants are usually grown in the chair, they didn’t have the cognizant intention until they experienced the power and its potential. Has Mr. Trump shown the character of self-discipline needed to handle that kind of power? Hardly! And does the whoredom of Peor seem to be applicable to him? How then can we, the nation known to the Pagan world as; the people of the book, expect a different result when we hold that as a lifestyle so common that we see nothing wrong with electing such a man to lead us? It is regularly argued as justification for Trump, that we have had philandering Presidents in the past and we survived it. True, but that’s because America’s people were collectively in a far more righteous state than we find ourselves today. The righteousness of the People carried the unrighteous man. Today, we are a people already joined to Baalpeor ,we can ill afford to carry anyone now. All that’s left is the anger of the LORD to manifest.
“But Mr. Trump has recently accepted Jesus!”
Uh-hu. How conveniently timely. As I remember it, Mr. Obama was a Christian too. How is this NOT a campaign tactic? Where is the evidence of salvation? Common people, are you really that desperate to cling to such a flimsy justification? Give the man four years to show the evidence of a changed life and I will vote for him at the next election.
In a campaign email I just received, Mr. Trump outlines his “Contract with America.” In part:
2-- Enacting trade tariffs to discourage offshoring of American jobs.
Not reducing the business taxes and strangling rules that drove them away in the first place; just punish them for wisely avoiding what the king says they must endure.
3-- Expanding energy production, which will spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment.
This doesn’t reveal enough to be worth contemplating… other than to recognize that with the specific sum he must have a calculated plan. Who pays the trillion? Maybe it’s another Obama stimulus? Maybe it’s that our “energy costs will necessarily skyrocket”? What kind of energy are we talking about, more government subsidized unsustainable foolishness that we got with Obama? But people don’t care about the viability found in the details, this sounds exciting!
5-- Repealing Obamacare and fixing our nation’s health insurance system.
Forget that we never wanted a socialist nationalized health care system in the first place; Trump is offering to replace Obamacare with Trumpcare. I can hardly wait.
6-- Making childcare and eldercare more affordable.
That’s another way of saying more socialized government teats, with promises that they will produce more milk. I thought Trump was supposed to be a Republican, not more of the same Democratic socialism. Apparently even Republicans are now socialists.
OK, enough Trump bashing, I really have no interest to even take this over-trod rout. We all agree that he is not a choice we make happily, but rather out of desperation because of the carefully designed threat pushed in our face. The problem is that with desperation, (called panic), comes a blindness to everything but the targeted presumed relief. Remember, that’s why Obama was elected! “Change.” Nobody cared about asking “to what?” So how did that work out? We conservatives love to chastise the left for their blind approach, but my conservative friends and neighbors, who I used to think were rational, have become frantically blind in their designed induced lather of sure destruction with Hillary. All they can see is the rationale that; “We must vote for Trump because we really don’t want Hillary!” and what they get just doesn’t matter right now. This is exactly how Egypt recently replaced a flawed but working conservative government… for Terrorism! How have we, rational Christian America, so easily fallen prey to the same blindness as a Pagan nation?
“But not voting for Trump is a vote for Hillary!”
Why do you so easily believe such leading propaganda? If the nameless committee that gave us this “choice” of two, had only given us Hillary on a ballot of one; would you vote for her because; “I have to vote for someone”?
Not voting for Trump is a statement that says to the committee; “I reject your proposal.”
Not voting for Hillary is a statement that says to the committee; “I reject your proposal.”
What they do with that information is as out of your hands as is a good candidate option to choose. But honestly, that’s still thinking too myopic.
* * *
A Choice Must Be Made:
When king David blundered he too was faced with all very bad choices:
…“For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in the land? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me” II Samuel 24:11-13.
What was David’s choice? and more importantly; WHY?
“And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men” II Samuel 24:14-15.
In our current election choice of two, the third option is to declare by vote to the LORD that we do not agree with either of the offered worldviews of how a nation should pay for it’s blunders. (The importance of this stand will be explained later). The third option is to leave the choice in the LORD’s merciful hands. But not to vote, says to the election board; “I do not care to offer my preference; do whatever you want.” So to do this rightly, in our case, means choosing the candidate that is not probable of incurring God’s wrath, even if that choice has no chance of winning the election. If there are no such candidates on the ballot, a vote for Mickey Mouse makes the declaration of rejection quite well. But what do you know about the several other choices on the ballot? Nothing? Why? Because you have been solely focused on making a known bad choice as directed. Why? Because you believe in the leading propaganda rather than in Divine Providence.
* * *
Divine Providence:
Our founders spoke and wrote frequently that they believed in what they called Divine Providence; that is the improbable coming to pass through natural events that “just happened” to result in a favorable outcome; that God works behind the scenes through his creation; that He constantly sustains it anyway, so causing it to work in our favor is no special thing to God, nor outside of what we should be able to expect. Our founders believed that if we look to God in our time of need, He will be pleased to bless us in our efforts.
“… In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding? In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection.- Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. To that kind of providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest. …” -- Benjamin Franklin before the Constitutional Convention July 28, 1787.
Faith, to our Founders, was not an illusion or a fancy; it was the experienced center of life itself. You say that you are a believer, Fine, but you don’t think like a believer, even in the time of need. As Mr. Franklin insightfully stated in the last line above; the reason to cast a dissenting vote is less for our wellbeing than a message to another generation or age. Do we really want to go down in history as a Christian people who willingly put the likes of Mr. Trump into that high office? What does that say about our mindframe? About our faith? About Christianity itself?
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters” -- Benjamin Franklin.
You think you are virtuous, but you cast your vote for Mr. Trump…the virtuous? Have you forgotten the lesson of Peor, or the Godly nation that was willing to go to war to keep their brethren from bringing the wrath of God down upon them all? Your presumed virtue that doesn’t feel your representative must be likewise virtuous is not a well thought out idea.
I tell you now, before it happens, that what you don’t know about Mr. Trump should scare the daylights out of you. I say it again; Donald Trump will do for America what TSA has done for the airport. Think about it.
* * * * * * *
“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth, do I hate” Proverbs 8:13.
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Before I begin, let me assure the reader that I will get to the part you think you’re looking for: the Election debate issue, so if that’s all you want, you can skip this important stuff and get to that at the end before you cast your last-second vote of frustrated indecision that will save the nation. For those with a deeper quest; we are looking into things far bigger than who the next President will be.
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Preliminaries:
Let me open this Post with the preliminary encouragement found in Jesus’ reaction to his sleeping disciples once the time for preparatory watchful prayer was behind them:
“Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” Matthew 26:45.
The reason why I want to open this Post with this significant encouragement with cause is because there will be more than plenty of discouraging things to occupy your minds and spirits in the very near future. Now is the time to sleep in rest without guilt. Why? It’s found in the colon: Because the Christ of America has been betrayed and is now in the hands of sinners. In that light, everything has changed in America fundamentally, the cause of Right has been officially revoked and wickedness now reigns as the triumphal authority with power.
…“Therefore the prudent shall keep silent in that time; for it is an evil time” Amos 5:13.
As the caretakers of your Christian nation, you are now out of a job. Take a nap at noon. The exciting part of this to me is that in this concept it is now time to stop criticizing each other for inappropriate building material choices and questionable architectural styles we built into our nation as Christians. Now is the time to stand on the sidewalk as spectators and watch the unchangeable things set into motion play out. The time of speculative correction is behind us. As humanity in general, that period (often called the age of Grace that followed the Law) began at the garden when Jesus was arrested by sinners in authority, but as the Nation where Christ Jesus put his name in that Gentile age, that period began when God and his ways was officially tossed out by sinners in authority. The time for criticisms and corrections and admonitions and facts and appeals to fix the national problem is past. It’s encouraging to note that after things started to go south in a big way and the disciples didn’t know how to react, or what to do, we do not once hear Jesus admonish them of their failure to watch and pray when they should have been watching and praying; This is the time of experiencing the events in whatever state of preparedness we now find ourselves.
Satan sifted both Judas and Peter, and, while Judas was destroyed, having no revealed foundation that couldn’t be screened; Peter was also lacking in preparedness to handle the sifting, and Peter’s worldview was broken by his own confused weakness through not understanding God’s big-picture plan that Jesus had been telling them was coming. But through Peter’s broken state, his emaciated but still-living-faith found new solid ground in Christ’s grace when his own footing of self-reasoning utterly failed. After the trying of his faith through fire had burned away the dross, Peter had a new appreciation and understanding for the Rock on which to rebuild his entire life, obstruction free.
For the Christian; the evil time is not a horror which God is unable to stop; but a God-induced fire of cause for a reason of good. If our foundation is Christ, the success or failure of preparation will determine how we respond in the fire as the unrighteous facade is burned away yet the foundation remains untouched (I Peter 4:1-2). Rather than be afraid; Now is the time to dwell securely in God’s rest while the fire does its work:
…“Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” Hebrews 4:11.
The time of unbelief is now upon us nationally; the labor referenced here as future is now past tense in this case. At this time in our history we need to already be well established in the Lord’s rest in order to be as victorious through the fire as the Lord designed possible. Dragging into the kingdom all covered in soot and scarred from the events will still be successful and reason for rejoicing, but not how the Lord intended us to get there. In spite of what Hollywood promotes in nearly every movie; After the battle has begun in earnest is not the time to pluck up your courage and perform untrained, in a way that only proper training can allow. Hollywood promotes Peter’s brave but unskilled swordplay as commendable valor. Jesus doesn’t. Said in another way; During a shark frenzy is not the time to get a hankering for blood; you’re going to bite a friend by mistake (Galatians 5:15vs.16).
As America’s world now melts down around them, the Christian who has earnestly stayed spiritually alert and in constant communion with God in the time of preparation will not be caught by surprise of the trials, but instead-- having seen them coming, and their purpose-- will find a sweet rest that even he cannot explain in and through the fiery events (Philippians 4:4-7). The genuine Christians who slumbered instead of watching will find the sudden fire deeply alarming and very, very hot, to the point they will experience their very faith being stripped away like paint under a sustained sandblaster. For these, the only focus remaining must be that, in the face of all they see and experience by all the lies and confusion and deception and persecutions that attempt to convince them to the contrary; Jesus the Christ is the only sure Rock, and will keep them, even in spite of themselves, unto that day (II Timothy 1:12). When all is burned away in the heat of the fire of great trials that will try your faith, and your trusted great edifices of empty religion are burned to the ground as proof that God has failed, the foundation of Christ Jesus and whatever structures of true righteousness built upon that foundation, which cannot burn, will reveal who is actually a Christian vs. who put on a good show, in the days of leisure and pre-mature slumbering that built a city of temples as dry as a tinder box. Remember; all ten virgins slumbered, because it was the time to slumber. Their success or failure, though revealed at the last, is found in the wise preparation before the slumber. Wise preparation is that important!
But we have adequately covered all that in past Posts. This is not a stand-alone Post, it follows a long and detailed preparation to arrive here. Let’s leave it behind us and now look ahead. Now is the time to put proof to our claim. Is Christ Jesus really your Lord; the very center of your whole world? Is it his voice you are following or your own? Answering this question by evidence rather than words is the purpose of the fiery trial. Some will come gloriously through the fire as did Shadrach Meshach and Abednego; without so much as the smell of smoke on their clothes (Daniel 3:21-27), while others will be so burned that only the foundation will remain (I Corinthians 3:15). Fortunately for them, the foundation of Christ Jesus is the only required element to enter into God’s kingdom. So while your brother’s house is engulfed in flames and he is shocked to see it burn like a dry Christmas tree whose use is two-weeks past, it is not the time to say; “I told you so”; rather it’s simply an event to experience, and then begin again in greater wisdom with a new focus. The Apostle Peter experienced such a loss… but he is still an Apostle, and what an Apostle! Wipe the tears of sorrow and find a new perspective of rejoicing, because after the fire your foundation is cleared of junk and a new worthy house can be constructed! Do you think that Jesus’ grief, which was so great he was nigh unto death, was for himself alone? He knew full well the fire that was to come upon his own --and he knew they were not as ready as they should have been-- and like as with Lazarus’ death, he knew the agony and loss it would cause before it was over. When Jesus stood over Jerusalem and wept, was it because he was feeling the personal loss; or because of the agony he knew was coming to them, and how many would fall short? Jesus loves his own, good and bad. He grieves for the unnecessary great sorrow that the pre-mature sleeping will experience. But the future, after the fire, is still the future; Now is the time to focus on that. Now is the time to sleep; to shut ones eyes and ears tight and cling to Christ by blocking out the Charles Darwins’ and the Richard Dawkins’ of the world (I Corinthians 1:18+II Thessalonians 2:10). There was a time to respond to their arguments with logic and reason and intelligence and faith, but that time is past, because it has now been established that; “Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation.” The Son of man is given into the hands of sinners, and their chosen lifestyle won’t abide his reasoning any longer. Remember; we are speaking of the nation rather than individuals at this point. Individuals can still be turned, but the individual, as in a fast river, is nonetheless carried along in the events of the nation’s direction. The one is tied intimately with the other. Let’s review a Scriptural example for our edification:
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It’s A Group Thing:
(Recommended reading: Joshua 22).
“And when they (the tribes that took possession of the lands on the other side of the Jordan) came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the land of Canaan, (they;) the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an alter by Jordan, a great alter to see to. And the children of Israel heard say… And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them” Joshua 22:10-12.
A bit of background is needed before we can just jump into our study in the middle of a complex issue. After the conquering wars that resulted in Israel possessing the land that God had long ago promised Abraham but waited until its inhabitants had maximized their wickedness to justify their destruction, the individual tribes were each given their domains to begin living the dream. As with any good book, God’s story (His-story) seems to love complexity. Two-and-a-half tribes asked for lands on the other side of the Jordan, seemingly outside of the designated boundary of the Promised Land. This land was given them as their inheritance leaving even more room for the remaining tribes on this side. No problem.
But soon after, the tribes on this side heard that those on the other side had built them an altar. Such a thing was strictly prohibited by God and documented in the sacred scriptures for them to follow (Deuteronomy 12:5-7, 27:4-6, Joshua 8:30-31). What were the faithful tribes to do? What business was it of theirs what their brothers were doing in their own lands? Why did the majority believe that they had the right to straighten out the minority? “Let them do what they want on that side of the river, we will stay on ours. If God is unhappy with them, he will judge them.” Right? But for some reason the tribes on this side were not happy with the tribes on that side, so much so that they tooled up to go to war against their brethren. WHY?
“And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying, Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the LORD?”… Joshua 22:15-16.
Do you understand; we are talking civil war here. It promised to be a blood bath. We desperately need to understand WHY the righteous children of Israel felt it was their obligation to straighten out their brethren by force if necessary. Let’s let them explain it as they continue their inquisition:
…“Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD…” Joshua 22:17.
Peor, do you remember what happened at Peor? If you don’t, then it’s very relevant message is lost to you. Let’s do a quick recap:
“And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab…. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel” Numbers 25:1-3.
The point of the argument that Israel used in their inquisition, was that in spite of the discriminating punishment commanded by Moses against the evildoers at Peor (Numbers 25:5), God’s wrath on the children of Israel as a congregation was not discriminating, and it was severe:
“And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand” Numbers 25:9 (read to 11).
So let’s let them continue in their argument that justifies their straightening out their brethren:
“…And it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel” Joshua 22:18.
From the Lord’s perspective of his kingdom order; it has always been a group thing. Not a Democracy, where the majority gets to determine the rules; but a Republic, where God makes the rules and the people chose to collectively follow them as a society or pay the price as a society. We have the solid evidence that God works with nations as a single entity, and, in that working, the individual is simply a cell in the body. Christ’s Church is no different, when you sin it affects me (Hebrews 12:15 as one example).
Fortunately the children of Israel had the wherewithal to actually confront their brethren and require an answer for their actions, rather than just wade in swinging the righteous sword to destroy the “obviously wicked” without a trial. The issue we are not here concerned with in what we are learning is that a war was not necessary; It was discovered that their brethren had done nothing wrong. It was a misunderstanding. What we are looking into here, and a reason why this bit was included in Scripture, is the principle of national accountability. God expects us, his people, to maintain our national righteousness; it’s ours to do, or suffer the cost. I think American Christians tend to know this instinctively, which is why they are now so disheartened at the prospective of the cost of negligence now coming due.
“OK fine, but how does this apply in helping me choose the next President for the United States of America?”
I have delayed this Post until now because, like Jesus telling his disciples he was going to be killed, no matter what I say, people don’t hear. They don’t hear because they don’t want to hear that. Christians are frantic to learn how they should vote in this election. They listen to this guy and are temporarily swayed his way, then they listen to that guy and are temporarily swayed the other way. They have their metaphorical hands on their head spinning around frantically begging someone to tell them something substantial that they can cling to regarding how to vote. All they want to know is how to vote. They don’t stop to ask themselves why they are so troubled about the choice; they just want to make the right choice that will magically save the nation from destruction, but they can’t see the answer other than the guy they instinctively know is a bad choice. That’s the wrong focus. But since this is the only focus that people are prepared to be answered, let’s talk about choosing Donald Trump as our next President.
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Choosing A Bad President:
I have heard repeatedly, almost as a mantra, the concept that we need to elect Trump so that we don’t get Hillary. It’s the lesser of two evils idea. Many well-respected conservatives, as well as many respected conservative Christian leaders, are using this concept without actually saying it in so many words. So when did such a godless foundational value creep into Christianity? It’s certainly not a biblical principle.
Look, even Trump doesn’t think Trump is a worthy candidate; he spends all his campaign speeches telling us how bad Hillary is, rather than telling us why he would be the best, or at least a good, choice. So let’s distill this down to the basic elements; Forget the threat of Hillary and her indisputable wickedness for a minute, we are evaluating Mr. Trump as a stand-alone choice for the office. Is Mr. Trump the kind of man that you want to be your President? If there were no causal issues to demand him, do you see him as the right man for the office because he has shown himself to have the kind of character and/or skills that the office requires? I know very few people who will vote for him because they actually have any reason at all OTHER than he is not Hillary.
Alright, let’s go there.
That means by default that he apparently lacks all qualifying elements that would actually make a good President. So let’s talk about what character he does possess: The greatest sin is Pride, and pride is the recipe for sure destruction (Proverbs 16:18). Even Mr. Trump knows that he is a narcissist, but he sees it as part of his charm. I get the impression that he sees himself as Iron man. So are we now electing a Hollywood fantasy based on pride into a real world high office? Is that what rational people do? A description that seems to be often used is that Mr. Trump acts like a spoiled rich brat. How does it not bother anyone that he is using his own money to buy the Presidency? And you praise him for that; you even support him in his quest? How have we suddenly forgotten the age-old phrase; Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely? What kind of thinking is excited that a narcissist is buying the highest seat of the land, and expects that to turn out well? And have we already forgotten that Mr. Obama’s greatest achievement was to turn that seat into a Kingship for the next President? History has shown that Tyrants are usually grown in the chair, they didn’t have the cognizant intention until they experienced the power and its potential. Has Mr. Trump shown the character of self-discipline needed to handle that kind of power? Hardly! And does the whoredom of Peor seem to be applicable to him? How then can we, the nation known to the Pagan world as; the people of the book, expect a different result when we hold that as a lifestyle so common that we see nothing wrong with electing such a man to lead us? It is regularly argued as justification for Trump, that we have had philandering Presidents in the past and we survived it. True, but that’s because America’s people were collectively in a far more righteous state than we find ourselves today. The righteousness of the People carried the unrighteous man. Today, we are a people already joined to Baalpeor ,we can ill afford to carry anyone now. All that’s left is the anger of the LORD to manifest.
“But Mr. Trump has recently accepted Jesus!”
Uh-hu. How conveniently timely. As I remember it, Mr. Obama was a Christian too. How is this NOT a campaign tactic? Where is the evidence of salvation? Common people, are you really that desperate to cling to such a flimsy justification? Give the man four years to show the evidence of a changed life and I will vote for him at the next election.
In a campaign email I just received, Mr. Trump outlines his “Contract with America.” In part:
2-- Enacting trade tariffs to discourage offshoring of American jobs.
Not reducing the business taxes and strangling rules that drove them away in the first place; just punish them for wisely avoiding what the king says they must endure.
3-- Expanding energy production, which will spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment.
This doesn’t reveal enough to be worth contemplating… other than to recognize that with the specific sum he must have a calculated plan. Who pays the trillion? Maybe it’s another Obama stimulus? Maybe it’s that our “energy costs will necessarily skyrocket”? What kind of energy are we talking about, more government subsidized unsustainable foolishness that we got with Obama? But people don’t care about the viability found in the details, this sounds exciting!
5-- Repealing Obamacare and fixing our nation’s health insurance system.
Forget that we never wanted a socialist nationalized health care system in the first place; Trump is offering to replace Obamacare with Trumpcare. I can hardly wait.
6-- Making childcare and eldercare more affordable.
That’s another way of saying more socialized government teats, with promises that they will produce more milk. I thought Trump was supposed to be a Republican, not more of the same Democratic socialism. Apparently even Republicans are now socialists.
OK, enough Trump bashing, I really have no interest to even take this over-trod rout. We all agree that he is not a choice we make happily, but rather out of desperation because of the carefully designed threat pushed in our face. The problem is that with desperation, (called panic), comes a blindness to everything but the targeted presumed relief. Remember, that’s why Obama was elected! “Change.” Nobody cared about asking “to what?” So how did that work out? We conservatives love to chastise the left for their blind approach, but my conservative friends and neighbors, who I used to think were rational, have become frantically blind in their designed induced lather of sure destruction with Hillary. All they can see is the rationale that; “We must vote for Trump because we really don’t want Hillary!” and what they get just doesn’t matter right now. This is exactly how Egypt recently replaced a flawed but working conservative government… for Terrorism! How have we, rational Christian America, so easily fallen prey to the same blindness as a Pagan nation?
“But not voting for Trump is a vote for Hillary!”
Why do you so easily believe such leading propaganda? If the nameless committee that gave us this “choice” of two, had only given us Hillary on a ballot of one; would you vote for her because; “I have to vote for someone”?
Not voting for Trump is a statement that says to the committee; “I reject your proposal.”
Not voting for Hillary is a statement that says to the committee; “I reject your proposal.”
What they do with that information is as out of your hands as is a good candidate option to choose. But honestly, that’s still thinking too myopic.
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A Choice Must Be Made:
When king David blundered he too was faced with all very bad choices:
…“For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in the land? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me” II Samuel 24:11-13.
What was David’s choice? and more importantly; WHY?
“And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men” II Samuel 24:14-15.
In our current election choice of two, the third option is to declare by vote to the LORD that we do not agree with either of the offered worldviews of how a nation should pay for it’s blunders. (The importance of this stand will be explained later). The third option is to leave the choice in the LORD’s merciful hands. But not to vote, says to the election board; “I do not care to offer my preference; do whatever you want.” So to do this rightly, in our case, means choosing the candidate that is not probable of incurring God’s wrath, even if that choice has no chance of winning the election. If there are no such candidates on the ballot, a vote for Mickey Mouse makes the declaration of rejection quite well. But what do you know about the several other choices on the ballot? Nothing? Why? Because you have been solely focused on making a known bad choice as directed. Why? Because you believe in the leading propaganda rather than in Divine Providence.
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Divine Providence:
Our founders spoke and wrote frequently that they believed in what they called Divine Providence; that is the improbable coming to pass through natural events that “just happened” to result in a favorable outcome; that God works behind the scenes through his creation; that He constantly sustains it anyway, so causing it to work in our favor is no special thing to God, nor outside of what we should be able to expect. Our founders believed that if we look to God in our time of need, He will be pleased to bless us in our efforts.
“… In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding? In the beginning of the Contest with G. Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection.- Our prayers, Sir, were heard, & they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending providence in our favor. To that kind of providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that “except the Lord build the House they labour in vain that build it.” I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest. …” -- Benjamin Franklin before the Constitutional Convention July 28, 1787.
Faith, to our Founders, was not an illusion or a fancy; it was the experienced center of life itself. You say that you are a believer, Fine, but you don’t think like a believer, even in the time of need. As Mr. Franklin insightfully stated in the last line above; the reason to cast a dissenting vote is less for our wellbeing than a message to another generation or age. Do we really want to go down in history as a Christian people who willingly put the likes of Mr. Trump into that high office? What does that say about our mindframe? About our faith? About Christianity itself?
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters” -- Benjamin Franklin.
You think you are virtuous, but you cast your vote for Mr. Trump…the virtuous? Have you forgotten the lesson of Peor, or the Godly nation that was willing to go to war to keep their brethren from bringing the wrath of God down upon them all? Your presumed virtue that doesn’t feel your representative must be likewise virtuous is not a well thought out idea.
I tell you now, before it happens, that what you don’t know about Mr. Trump should scare the daylights out of you. I say it again; Donald Trump will do for America what TSA has done for the airport. Think about it.
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“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth, do I hate” Proverbs 8:13.
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Monday, October 31, 2016
Watch and Pray, or Sleep On?
Post 349
(Related readings: Matthew 26:30-46, Mark 14: 26-42, Luke 22:31-46, John 18:1-2).
I am keenly aware that we have a Presidential election in one week. I am also aware that many Christians, knowing full well that Hillary Clinton personifies wickedness, are very zealous and confident that Donald Trump is the right choice to defeat her and her wickedness. I intend to have that discussion in the next Post and I hope to post it before the election. But this Post is more important to have in play before that one. This one helps us correct our foundational error of Worldview perception regarding the topic that is clouding believer’s minds with debilitating sorrow for our nation.
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What’s The Point of the Passage?
“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then said he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” Matthew 26:36-39.
Anyone who has any familiarity with the Gospels of the scriptures will immediately recognize this as from the passage where Jesus was in stunningly revealing prayer just before his unspeakable horrors began. His disciple’s participation is described as passive at best and, to us looking back on the event, irrelevant: “Bla-bla-bla and Jesus asked God to let him off the hook.” We simply blank out the irrelevant and focus on Jesus’ prayer to contemplate what he must have meant by asking the Father to let him escape what was soon to come. We foolishly wonder if his humanity and fear were causing him second thoughts regarding why he knew he was here (*1). But I ask you; Did his prayer result in the answer he would have preferred? No. So what good were Jesus’ prayers at this time in this garden? Does Jesus waste words? Does he do fruitless things? What are we supposed to get from this passage besides the common assumption that it describes his weak humanity? Why include the bit about the disciples napping?
I propose that what Jesus was looking for in prayer also has something to do with his disciples’ need to pray. Let’s read further to see if we can find it:
“And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” Matthew 26:40-41.
After waking them, Jesus told them why it was important that they should be watching and praying as he had instructed; So that they might not enter into temptation (*2).
What temptation do you suppose Jesus was speaking of? What were their spirits all willing to experience that their flesh might find too overpowering if they didn’t watch and pray? This section so closely follows the previous that it doesn’t even identify who was with Jesus as they went; “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane…” Who are them? Why it’s the disciples that just told him they would die with him rather than deny him:
“Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane…” Matthew 26:35-36a.
Now stay with me. Jesus had just told them that they would all deny him because of the events of that very night, and he said it was prophesied in scripture that they would (Matthew 26:31=Zechariah 13:7). But instead of appearing as broken as they must have been about the unbreakable scriptures regarding themselves this very night, they confidently replied to the contrary with bold, self-powered bravado, unintentionally but effectively claiming the scriptures to be wrong rather than accepting that their flesh was weaker than their present resolve. I mean; It’s sort of defeatist to just openly acknowledge or accept the inevitable, right?
Jesus was watching and praying in the time that his sorrow was the heaviest. He was preparing himself for what was to come. He was capitalizing on his Father’s bigger Worldview, which has the power to expand our limited human perspective. If the Son of God needed to do that; how much more the disciples?
But Peter didn’t need it; he was ready! In fact, when a few hours later they came in mass with weapons of war to get Jesus, Peter proved Jesus wrong by swinging his sword to defend his Messiah, alone if necessary; “Deny my Lord? Hardly!”
Now here is the real clincher:
With a smaller, limited, watchless, prayerless, unprepared Worldview, Peter used his sharp intellect, his dedicated brave spirit, and his Jewish education of the scriptures and understanding of the Messiah now come, to do what seemed certain to him to be the right thing, regardless of the personal cost. What bravery! What dedication! What loyalty! Oh to hear the words; ‘Well done thou good and faithful servant’!
What shock it must have been to hear Jesus’ unexpected response:
“Then said Jesus to Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” John 18:11.
(For more detail of Jesus’ bigger perspective on this, read Matthew 26:52-54).
So is it possible that the temptation Jesus spoke of to Peter, regarding the temptation he was to watch and pray to avoid or at least be victorious in, might have been the temptation to take up arms and fight to the death to defend the Messiah himself? And if Peter’s focus was instead on overcoming the temptation to deny his Lord in this way, it’s just possible that his brave action that was rebuffed by Jesus rather than rewarded, may very well have been the cause of his spirit’s deflation, which then made it impossible for him to keep from denying his Lord later “when all was obviously lost” and his carefully constructed spiritual perspective destroyed. Even as a devout follower of Christ, his focus was on the wrong Worldview entirely. His Normalcy Bias told him matter-of-fact that, in spite of the strange things Jesus had been saying for some time, the long awaited Messiah could not actually die. Peter’s Worldveiw could not even contemplate such a thing. Only watching and praying in the proper time of preparation could have aligned his spirit and his flesh with God’s Grand Tapestry so that he would have the right response in the time of temptation.
“…For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD…” Isaiah 55:7-9.
I’m going to hit this sore nail yet again: I have observed that the more Christian women read their bibles and get excited by the revelation it provides them, the less they are willing to submit their reason to their husbands, as God commands, and we have covered. My concern is not with wives and husbands, but so it is with Christians toward Christ, and specifically at this time, regarding the upcoming election. We refuse to hear what we have not prepared ourselves to hear. We only accept what makes sense to our carefully crafted human perspective of reason. The pattern in layers of Type remains consistent, and we are yet to actually see it clearly enough to apply its point in the practical world. But the time is now.
What they were to be praying for was what they would needed in the time that their very faith was going to be tried to the breaking point, because the events of reality were going to shake their very foundation of faith by seeming to destroy the substance of faith itself.
OK, so with this new bit of contemplation let’s return to our chosen topic of passage. Of those in his tight group of followers, why do you suppose Jesus told the general disciples; “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder,” but took Peter, James and John a bit further before telling them to; “Tarry ye here, and watch with me,” before going yet a bit further to pray by himself? I propose that the answer can be found in the distinction between what Jesus knew but didn’t reveal, vs. what he revealed to the three, that he didn’t reveal to the others:
“And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then said he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me” Matthew 26:37-38.
I propose that the common disciples that came with him to the garden could not handle the truth that their Lord was unspeakably troubled: “He’s the Messiah for crying out loud; How could he be troubled? such a thought is kin to blasphemy!” so he kept from them anything that would alarm their simple faith, he only required them to participate by their presence as dedicated members of his team, much as David’s keepers of the stuff (I Samuel 30:24-25); “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.”
But Peter and the sons of Zebedee were of the Lord’s inner circle, they had what we might call “better seats” in Christ’s kingdom, much perhaps as the martyrs get a better resurrection than the average saint (Hebrews 11:35). These better seats are earned by condition of experience, while in no way diminishing the place of those who stay by the stuff for weakness. With more capacity comes more responsibility; “Tarry ye here, and watch with me.” And with more responsibility comes more intimate knowledge; “and (he) began to be [visibly] sorrowful and very heavy. (and he said;) My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death:” With the intimate information it was their special job to do more than wait as Jesus had commanded the others (Revelation 3:8-11); they were to watch and pray (Revelation 2:8-11).
Watch G1127 gregoreuo; from G1453; to keep awake, i.e. watch (literally or figuratively):-- be vigilant, wake, (be) watch(-ful).
Pray G4336 proseuchomai; from G4314 and G2172; to pray to God, i.e. supplicate, worship:-- pray (X earnestly, for), make prayer.
So now imagine Jesus’ disappointment when he returned from prayer to find them sleeping:
“And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” Matthew 26:40.
Their watching and praying were not so much for him but for them: “That ye enter not into temptation.” We get more of the right perspective from Luke’s narrative of the evening’s events:
“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not…” Luke 22:32.
Why would their faith fail? Jesus needed them to be strong for what was coming, because what was coming was going to shake their Worldview; it was going to destroy their “Christian Normalcy Bias” if you will. They needed to be strong in the Lord, not strong in their own strength. This kind of strength comes only through prayer and alertness (Matthew 17:21, Luke 2:37-38).
So just for contemplation’s sake, imagine how the later narrative might have gone if they had stayed awake and watched with the Lord:
“…The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way” Matthew 13:24-25.
For one; a prayed up and aligned perspective would not have been to take up swords as a team and successfully defended the Lord from being taken and crucified; that was all in the Lord’s design laid out in prophecy even before the earth was made. Peter did not have the Lord’s perspective… on almost EVERYTHING!
OK fine, but they did sleep. No sense in crying over spilt milk now.
Moving on.
Now contemplate why Jesus stopped his desperate prayer to check on his disciples, wake them, and encourage them to stay awake to pray while he went back to prayer. Their watching and praying for their preparation was obviously very important to Jesus, even at this time of his own great need.
So contemplate that when he came back a second time to check on their praying, he again found them sleeping:
“And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy” Matthew 26:43.
We may get the idea in Matthew’s passage that Jesus just left them undisturbed the second time, but Mark 14:40 informs us that at his questioning for their second slumber they had no idea what to say. It’s curious why the scriptures seem to hide the details here among the several gospels, requiring that we earnestly search to find it, but Luke gives us even more explanation for their severe drowsiness:
“And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow” Luke 22:45.
Sorrow G3077 lupe; apparently a primary word; sadness:-- grief…
What were they so grief stricken over that it caused them to blank out, turn off, go to sleep? Maybe they didn’t actually know, as evidenced by the fact they had no explanation for their inability to stay awake, but it was the same spirit of sorrow that had overtaken Christ himself: the near future was unimaginably bleak. In our modern vernacular we might carefully call it depression without attempting to add to scripture what it doesn’t actually say. Clearly even this inner circle of three were not so sorrowful that they were close to death, as was Jesus, but he stayed up to watch and pray while they were too sorrowful to. And don’t pull the simple explanation that “he was God,” and so explain away their failure as mere humans. He was human enough to ask the Father to give him an out when he knew there wasn’t one, yet that man stayed to pray it through. It was this same man that asked his disciples to comfort him as team members in mutual prayer. But they just couldn’t overcome the sickness of heart and spirit.
Now comes the confusing part, that has answers in its discovery:
When he finished praying, and came back the third time to find them sleeping yet again, he said to the sleeping; “Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” It might make sense… until the verse goes on as we hear him continue by saying; “Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.” That’s really odd. Let’s read the passage as written to be sure we get it right:
“And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me” Matthew 26:44-46.
So which is it; “Keep sleeping because…”; or “Wake up because…”? What is he saying? How can it be both?
What we have to understand in the interpretation is that there are two issues going on simultaneously; one spiritual and the other temporal. Their drowsiness was a spiritual issue with a physical affect, providing the second issue.
Jesus was not asking them to stand watch so that bad guys wouldn’t catch him while he was praying; they were to be watching and praying about a spiritual issue that would threaten their very faith. So when they failed to stay praying, and let their sorrow overcome them, they fell asleep spiritually as well as physically. When Jesus came back the third time, his praying was finished, that period of opportunity to watch and pray was past. So he said to the spiritually sleeping; keep on sleeping now, at the same time he told them physically to get up, because the time for praying was over. Now was the time for events:
“And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude…” Matthew 26:47.
If you dissect the words of the two instructions you find this truth. “behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” Jesus as God called himself the Son of man. He is speaking a spiritual truth: The determined time has come that Christ be betrayed unto the power of the wicked, vs. the physical fact that Judas has now come to betray the man Jesus. The instruction is different for each of the events, though they are one in the same by practical reasoning. How to know which to do in each of the realms of the same event is why we should be alert and in communion with God.
* * *
So what does it mean? How do we apply this?
The scriptures are written in a way that allows many various right applications, while at the same time having one overshadowing point. Here is how I propose this applies to the United States of America, here, at this specific time in history, with our history being overshadowed by this specific time in human history per the prophetic clock that keeps ticking down our seven-thousand-year existence, with events pre-written in stone as it were.
The United States of America has had two recognized Great Awakenings in our nation’s time of watching and praying that we do not enter temptation (Google it). The first was in the 1730s-40s, and the second was in the 1790s-1820s. There is scripturally no third awakening.
“America, America, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not…” Luke 22:32 applied.
As a Christian nation we were to remain alert and prayerful, beseeching God that we would not enter temptation, let alone fall to it. But after being awakened by the Lord, we fell asleep. Twice. Now as Jesus comes to us at the end of our preparation period there is no more time to be praying in that manner for that cause. Now is the time for the events, the preparation is over. Keep sleeping spiritually, even as you intellectually “wake up” to the grave danger now upon us:
“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. And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be” Revelation 22:11-12.
Remember, this is an application of layer. The actual passage for individuals is specifically written for a time yet in the future, but for the United States of America as a nation, the time of this application is now. “Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man, as the God of this nation, is betrayed into the hands and jurisdiction of sinners.” And for the world; the repercussions will trickle down.
Christians who have been spiritually sleeping during the time they should have remained alert will be unable to see the big picture, and so, like Peter and his sword, though full of zeal, will not be able to respond to the events correctly. It’s generally too late to change that now. Now we cling to the faith we have and see if our faith stands when the smoke and blood clears.
“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. … If any (Christian*) man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” I Corinthians 3:13,15 (*see v.11-12).
Now ask yourself; How does this apply to our imminent choice for U.S. President?
I hope to discuss that in the next Post.
* * * * * *
(*1) Regarding Jesus’ knowledge that his crucifixion was written in stone unchangeable:
“Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him,…” John 18:4a,
“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he (Jesus) expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” Luke 24:27.
“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” Psalm 22:16-18 as one example among many.
(*2) “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” Luke 22:28-30.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” Matthew 6:13.
*
(Related readings: Matthew 26:30-46, Mark 14: 26-42, Luke 22:31-46, John 18:1-2).
I am keenly aware that we have a Presidential election in one week. I am also aware that many Christians, knowing full well that Hillary Clinton personifies wickedness, are very zealous and confident that Donald Trump is the right choice to defeat her and her wickedness. I intend to have that discussion in the next Post and I hope to post it before the election. But this Post is more important to have in play before that one. This one helps us correct our foundational error of Worldview perception regarding the topic that is clouding believer’s minds with debilitating sorrow for our nation.
* * *
What’s The Point of the Passage?
“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then said he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” Matthew 26:36-39.
Anyone who has any familiarity with the Gospels of the scriptures will immediately recognize this as from the passage where Jesus was in stunningly revealing prayer just before his unspeakable horrors began. His disciple’s participation is described as passive at best and, to us looking back on the event, irrelevant: “Bla-bla-bla and Jesus asked God to let him off the hook.” We simply blank out the irrelevant and focus on Jesus’ prayer to contemplate what he must have meant by asking the Father to let him escape what was soon to come. We foolishly wonder if his humanity and fear were causing him second thoughts regarding why he knew he was here (*1). But I ask you; Did his prayer result in the answer he would have preferred? No. So what good were Jesus’ prayers at this time in this garden? Does Jesus waste words? Does he do fruitless things? What are we supposed to get from this passage besides the common assumption that it describes his weak humanity? Why include the bit about the disciples napping?
I propose that what Jesus was looking for in prayer also has something to do with his disciples’ need to pray. Let’s read further to see if we can find it:
“And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” Matthew 26:40-41.
After waking them, Jesus told them why it was important that they should be watching and praying as he had instructed; So that they might not enter into temptation (*2).
What temptation do you suppose Jesus was speaking of? What were their spirits all willing to experience that their flesh might find too overpowering if they didn’t watch and pray? This section so closely follows the previous that it doesn’t even identify who was with Jesus as they went; “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane…” Who are them? Why it’s the disciples that just told him they would die with him rather than deny him:
“Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane…” Matthew 26:35-36a.
Now stay with me. Jesus had just told them that they would all deny him because of the events of that very night, and he said it was prophesied in scripture that they would (Matthew 26:31=Zechariah 13:7). But instead of appearing as broken as they must have been about the unbreakable scriptures regarding themselves this very night, they confidently replied to the contrary with bold, self-powered bravado, unintentionally but effectively claiming the scriptures to be wrong rather than accepting that their flesh was weaker than their present resolve. I mean; It’s sort of defeatist to just openly acknowledge or accept the inevitable, right?
Jesus was watching and praying in the time that his sorrow was the heaviest. He was preparing himself for what was to come. He was capitalizing on his Father’s bigger Worldview, which has the power to expand our limited human perspective. If the Son of God needed to do that; how much more the disciples?
But Peter didn’t need it; he was ready! In fact, when a few hours later they came in mass with weapons of war to get Jesus, Peter proved Jesus wrong by swinging his sword to defend his Messiah, alone if necessary; “Deny my Lord? Hardly!”
Now here is the real clincher:
With a smaller, limited, watchless, prayerless, unprepared Worldview, Peter used his sharp intellect, his dedicated brave spirit, and his Jewish education of the scriptures and understanding of the Messiah now come, to do what seemed certain to him to be the right thing, regardless of the personal cost. What bravery! What dedication! What loyalty! Oh to hear the words; ‘Well done thou good and faithful servant’!
What shock it must have been to hear Jesus’ unexpected response:
“Then said Jesus to Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” John 18:11.
(For more detail of Jesus’ bigger perspective on this, read Matthew 26:52-54).
So is it possible that the temptation Jesus spoke of to Peter, regarding the temptation he was to watch and pray to avoid or at least be victorious in, might have been the temptation to take up arms and fight to the death to defend the Messiah himself? And if Peter’s focus was instead on overcoming the temptation to deny his Lord in this way, it’s just possible that his brave action that was rebuffed by Jesus rather than rewarded, may very well have been the cause of his spirit’s deflation, which then made it impossible for him to keep from denying his Lord later “when all was obviously lost” and his carefully constructed spiritual perspective destroyed. Even as a devout follower of Christ, his focus was on the wrong Worldview entirely. His Normalcy Bias told him matter-of-fact that, in spite of the strange things Jesus had been saying for some time, the long awaited Messiah could not actually die. Peter’s Worldveiw could not even contemplate such a thing. Only watching and praying in the proper time of preparation could have aligned his spirit and his flesh with God’s Grand Tapestry so that he would have the right response in the time of temptation.
“…For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD…” Isaiah 55:7-9.
I’m going to hit this sore nail yet again: I have observed that the more Christian women read their bibles and get excited by the revelation it provides them, the less they are willing to submit their reason to their husbands, as God commands, and we have covered. My concern is not with wives and husbands, but so it is with Christians toward Christ, and specifically at this time, regarding the upcoming election. We refuse to hear what we have not prepared ourselves to hear. We only accept what makes sense to our carefully crafted human perspective of reason. The pattern in layers of Type remains consistent, and we are yet to actually see it clearly enough to apply its point in the practical world. But the time is now.
What they were to be praying for was what they would needed in the time that their very faith was going to be tried to the breaking point, because the events of reality were going to shake their very foundation of faith by seeming to destroy the substance of faith itself.
OK, so with this new bit of contemplation let’s return to our chosen topic of passage. Of those in his tight group of followers, why do you suppose Jesus told the general disciples; “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder,” but took Peter, James and John a bit further before telling them to; “Tarry ye here, and watch with me,” before going yet a bit further to pray by himself? I propose that the answer can be found in the distinction between what Jesus knew but didn’t reveal, vs. what he revealed to the three, that he didn’t reveal to the others:
“And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then said he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me” Matthew 26:37-38.
I propose that the common disciples that came with him to the garden could not handle the truth that their Lord was unspeakably troubled: “He’s the Messiah for crying out loud; How could he be troubled? such a thought is kin to blasphemy!” so he kept from them anything that would alarm their simple faith, he only required them to participate by their presence as dedicated members of his team, much as David’s keepers of the stuff (I Samuel 30:24-25); “Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.”
But Peter and the sons of Zebedee were of the Lord’s inner circle, they had what we might call “better seats” in Christ’s kingdom, much perhaps as the martyrs get a better resurrection than the average saint (Hebrews 11:35). These better seats are earned by condition of experience, while in no way diminishing the place of those who stay by the stuff for weakness. With more capacity comes more responsibility; “Tarry ye here, and watch with me.” And with more responsibility comes more intimate knowledge; “and (he) began to be [visibly] sorrowful and very heavy. (and he said;) My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death:” With the intimate information it was their special job to do more than wait as Jesus had commanded the others (Revelation 3:8-11); they were to watch and pray (Revelation 2:8-11).
Watch G1127 gregoreuo; from G1453; to keep awake, i.e. watch (literally or figuratively):-- be vigilant, wake, (be) watch(-ful).
Pray G4336 proseuchomai; from G4314 and G2172; to pray to God, i.e. supplicate, worship:-- pray (X earnestly, for), make prayer.
So now imagine Jesus’ disappointment when he returned from prayer to find them sleeping:
“And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” Matthew 26:40.
Their watching and praying were not so much for him but for them: “That ye enter not into temptation.” We get more of the right perspective from Luke’s narrative of the evening’s events:
“And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not…” Luke 22:32.
Why would their faith fail? Jesus needed them to be strong for what was coming, because what was coming was going to shake their Worldview; it was going to destroy their “Christian Normalcy Bias” if you will. They needed to be strong in the Lord, not strong in their own strength. This kind of strength comes only through prayer and alertness (Matthew 17:21, Luke 2:37-38).
So just for contemplation’s sake, imagine how the later narrative might have gone if they had stayed awake and watched with the Lord:
“…The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way” Matthew 13:24-25.
For one; a prayed up and aligned perspective would not have been to take up swords as a team and successfully defended the Lord from being taken and crucified; that was all in the Lord’s design laid out in prophecy even before the earth was made. Peter did not have the Lord’s perspective… on almost EVERYTHING!
OK fine, but they did sleep. No sense in crying over spilt milk now.
Moving on.
Now contemplate why Jesus stopped his desperate prayer to check on his disciples, wake them, and encourage them to stay awake to pray while he went back to prayer. Their watching and praying for their preparation was obviously very important to Jesus, even at this time of his own great need.
So contemplate that when he came back a second time to check on their praying, he again found them sleeping:
“And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy” Matthew 26:43.
We may get the idea in Matthew’s passage that Jesus just left them undisturbed the second time, but Mark 14:40 informs us that at his questioning for their second slumber they had no idea what to say. It’s curious why the scriptures seem to hide the details here among the several gospels, requiring that we earnestly search to find it, but Luke gives us even more explanation for their severe drowsiness:
“And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow” Luke 22:45.
Sorrow G3077 lupe; apparently a primary word; sadness:-- grief…
What were they so grief stricken over that it caused them to blank out, turn off, go to sleep? Maybe they didn’t actually know, as evidenced by the fact they had no explanation for their inability to stay awake, but it was the same spirit of sorrow that had overtaken Christ himself: the near future was unimaginably bleak. In our modern vernacular we might carefully call it depression without attempting to add to scripture what it doesn’t actually say. Clearly even this inner circle of three were not so sorrowful that they were close to death, as was Jesus, but he stayed up to watch and pray while they were too sorrowful to. And don’t pull the simple explanation that “he was God,” and so explain away their failure as mere humans. He was human enough to ask the Father to give him an out when he knew there wasn’t one, yet that man stayed to pray it through. It was this same man that asked his disciples to comfort him as team members in mutual prayer. But they just couldn’t overcome the sickness of heart and spirit.
Now comes the confusing part, that has answers in its discovery:
When he finished praying, and came back the third time to find them sleeping yet again, he said to the sleeping; “Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” It might make sense… until the verse goes on as we hear him continue by saying; “Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.” That’s really odd. Let’s read the passage as written to be sure we get it right:
“And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me” Matthew 26:44-46.
So which is it; “Keep sleeping because…”; or “Wake up because…”? What is he saying? How can it be both?
What we have to understand in the interpretation is that there are two issues going on simultaneously; one spiritual and the other temporal. Their drowsiness was a spiritual issue with a physical affect, providing the second issue.
Jesus was not asking them to stand watch so that bad guys wouldn’t catch him while he was praying; they were to be watching and praying about a spiritual issue that would threaten their very faith. So when they failed to stay praying, and let their sorrow overcome them, they fell asleep spiritually as well as physically. When Jesus came back the third time, his praying was finished, that period of opportunity to watch and pray was past. So he said to the spiritually sleeping; keep on sleeping now, at the same time he told them physically to get up, because the time for praying was over. Now was the time for events:
“And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude…” Matthew 26:47.
If you dissect the words of the two instructions you find this truth. “behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” Jesus as God called himself the Son of man. He is speaking a spiritual truth: The determined time has come that Christ be betrayed unto the power of the wicked, vs. the physical fact that Judas has now come to betray the man Jesus. The instruction is different for each of the events, though they are one in the same by practical reasoning. How to know which to do in each of the realms of the same event is why we should be alert and in communion with God.
* * *
So what does it mean? How do we apply this?
The scriptures are written in a way that allows many various right applications, while at the same time having one overshadowing point. Here is how I propose this applies to the United States of America, here, at this specific time in history, with our history being overshadowed by this specific time in human history per the prophetic clock that keeps ticking down our seven-thousand-year existence, with events pre-written in stone as it were.
The United States of America has had two recognized Great Awakenings in our nation’s time of watching and praying that we do not enter temptation (Google it). The first was in the 1730s-40s, and the second was in the 1790s-1820s. There is scripturally no third awakening.
“America, America, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not…” Luke 22:32 applied.
As a Christian nation we were to remain alert and prayerful, beseeching God that we would not enter temptation, let alone fall to it. But after being awakened by the Lord, we fell asleep. Twice. Now as Jesus comes to us at the end of our preparation period there is no more time to be praying in that manner for that cause. Now is the time for the events, the preparation is over. Keep sleeping spiritually, even as you intellectually “wake up” to the grave danger now upon us:
“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. And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be” Revelation 22:11-12.
Remember, this is an application of layer. The actual passage for individuals is specifically written for a time yet in the future, but for the United States of America as a nation, the time of this application is now. “Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man, as the God of this nation, is betrayed into the hands and jurisdiction of sinners.” And for the world; the repercussions will trickle down.
Christians who have been spiritually sleeping during the time they should have remained alert will be unable to see the big picture, and so, like Peter and his sword, though full of zeal, will not be able to respond to the events correctly. It’s generally too late to change that now. Now we cling to the faith we have and see if our faith stands when the smoke and blood clears.
“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. … If any (Christian*) man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” I Corinthians 3:13,15 (*see v.11-12).
Now ask yourself; How does this apply to our imminent choice for U.S. President?
I hope to discuss that in the next Post.
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(*1) Regarding Jesus’ knowledge that his crucifixion was written in stone unchangeable:
“Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him,…” John 18:4a,
“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he (Jesus) expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” Luke 24:27.
“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” Psalm 22:16-18 as one example among many.
(*2) “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” Luke 22:28-30.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” Matthew 6:13.
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