I read my Bible to see what men ought to do; and read my newspapers ( and smart phone apps) to see what men are doing.
Lord renew thy church beginning with me; Lord renew the church that the church may renew the Church.
Because we know what it is to fear god we try to persuade men.
THE NEWS
The week the the shooting death of a young medical student, who panicked and ran from an armed robber, coupled with the news of multiple rounds pumped into a father and his one year child, shocked an already traumatized nation. As it is not easy to live with this kind evil occurring week after week, and month after month.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/UWI–UTech-condemn–brutal-murder–of-med-student
The news broke this week also that the embattled Minister of Health, Dr. Fenton Ferguson, who presided over a Health Ministry at a time when the nation was reeling from the news of 19 babies who died from bacterial infections, was removed from his office by the Prime Minister.
http://jamaicagleaner.com/article/news/20151108/pm-instructs-new-health-minister-horace-dalley-quickly-correct-shortcomings
THE WORD OF GOD
So what Word or inspired word did the the Lord send this week as I agonized over these two events in particular. A constant theme was the need to understand the struggle between good and evil. And that there is only one winner. But only for those who trust in the God of Jacob.
THE FIRST MESSAGE – sent out on Whatsapp. And features a warning from God’s Word not to place our trust in any man. Regardless of how popular he or she is!
GM: PUT YOUR TRUST ONLY IN THE GOD OF JACOB
Generally I don’t have a problem sleeping. Thank God. But every often the Lord wakes me up in a special way. To read His Word! Last night it was 1:20 am. To read about His Wisdom in Proverbs 15 & 16. And then this morning in my devotions Psalm 146; the Psalm appointed for reading in my Church for Sunday coming.
Context? Two things. Have you been pushed by the trials and troubles and spiritual warfare in life to ‘ the end of your rope’? Right up against the wall! Are you deeply disturbed about the state of your country? Do you find the arguments and prescriptions for change by your local talk show hosts in various parts of the media, appealing. Revolutionary even?
In Jamaica we have had many who got ‘ into the heads’ of our people. To the extent that a day could not pass without listening to, ‘ Mutty Perkins’. Or Tony Abrahams and Beverley Manley on ‘ The Breakfast Club’! Currently Cliff Hughes and Dionne Jackson Miller ‘ rule the roost’; and are a ‘ terror’ to the Politicians in particular. While in the USA, Oprah Winfrey and Russ Limbaugh, on either side of the political spectrum ‘ run tings’. And in recent times young Dr. Michael Abrahams has become the ‘ darling’ of the social media in Jamaica.
But while we are busy trying to solve our own personal and national problems, ‘ pushed against the wall’, the Lord God, who created man, the earth and the heaven and the sea, and all that is in it, speaks to us lovingly and faithfully, from His Word.
Last night:
‘ By loyalty and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,
and by the fear of the Lord one avoids evil.
When the ways of people please the Lord,
he causes even their enemies to be at peace with them. Proverbs 16:6-7
This morning:
‘ Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men who cannot save.
When their spirit departs they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them –
the Lord who remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives good to the hungry.
Psalm 146:3-8 NIV
Yesterday was celebrated in some Churches as All Saints Day. Originally meant to recall the persecution and suffering and death of the martyrs of the early church; and to give thanks for those persevered. In recent times it had been broadened to include all those who suffered and died in Christ – the Saints.
So, despite the temptation to ‘ give in’ and give up’, and trust ‘ in princes’ like the rest of the world, and seek our own solutions for our problems, the perseverance of the Saints of yure, under extreme pressure ‘ with their backs right up against the wall’, offers us encouragement. That the God of Jacob is a faithful God! We can trust Him as others have done. Even when facing certain death!
For our God can make even our former enemies, live in peace with us.
Once we remain loyal and faithful to Him.
So can PNP and JLP, Republicans and Democrats, ‘ two warring tribes’ ever live ‘ in peace’? Can a home where love and trust has broken down so badly between parents, and even children ever, like Humpty Dumpty ‘ put together again?
Can a country wracked with Crime and Violence, Corruption and Injustice ever find Peace again? Can warring factions in the Middle East ever find Peace in this World?
This morning the God of Jacob says ” Yes” in Christ Jesus. And then we say ‘ Amen’. For with man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.
THE SECOND MESSAGE – sent out on Whatsapp features a Word from the Lord which reveals to us our history. And hence the importance of the salvation offered by Christ. Even as we contemplate the solution to the number one social problem in our country. Violent Crime.
GM: DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD IS AT THE ROOT OF CRIME
Last night I heard three perspectives on why Crime and Violence is so pervasive in Jamaica.
– because of indiscipline. Dennis Chung, the Executive Director of the Private Sector of Jamaica PSOJ
– associated with inner city neglect and decay. And whether or not there is a ‘ chicken and egg ‘ situation at play. Bruce Golding, former Prime Minister of Jamaica
– If you want to fight crime you have to take care of the people who lead the fight against crime. viz. The Police. Andrew Holness leader of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party.
Last week, immediately after writing about a ‘ profound theological truth’, that no one should boast before the Lord, I was led to this Word of God. And which Word not only validates the theological truth – as I read it I became almost frightened at the speed and clarity with which the Lord speaks – but gives ‘ better and more particulars’ on this matter of Crime and Violence. And also infidelity in the marriage; disobedience in children, even at a young and tender age; and all kinds of social ills.
For the Word of God is indeed, ‘ sharper then any two edged sword, penetrating to dividing soul and spirit……it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
And what has gone wrong in Jamaica, in the USA – where people die there every day too, even in #rightaddresses; the latest scourge affecting middle and upper class America is Heroin addiction; last year over 8000, mostly young people, died tragically from an overdose of that ‘ recreational drug’: is a disease of the heart. Which only Jesus can fix. Permanently.
That’s why the Psalmist cried out:
” Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a right Spirit in me’. 51:10
That’s why we need to share the Good News that Jesus saves, and help to rescue our country. And the whole world, held captive by ‘ ruler of the kingdom of the air’!
THE WORD OF GOD
http://bible.com/111/eph.2.1-10.niv
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Peace.
THE THIRD MESSAGE – sent out on Whatsapp features a Word which has served to strengthen the faithful over the years; that suffering is redemptive
GM: DO WE LOOK LIKE GOD?
In #Jamaicalandwelove, the ‘ drums of elections’, are beating. Just like those in America. The stakes are high. State Power! No doubt that’s the reason behind the suspension of the business of Parliament, the lower House, yesterday, as turmoil reigned.
The situation in America may be slightly different, as #RemoveObama at all cost, has been one of the issues which has driven a wedge between Republicans and Democrats; and not just the desire to place their ‘ man’ in the White House.
But there is another election coming, as the Lord reminded me by His Word early this morning. And the stakes are even higher. Eternal Life in Christ vs Eternal Separation from God – Judgement. And the God who created Heaven and Earth, and all mankind, having rescued Creation by The Atonement for Sin on Calvary, has now given to His Church, the Mandate – The Ministry – and the Power to show those who are not yet in Christ, not yet Saved, not yet Baptised, ‘ The Face of a Loving and Merciful God.
For this God ‘ famously has mercy on the wicked and the ungrateful’, viz. those who claim He does not exist; those who ignore and reject the cleansing Blood of a Suffering and Crucified Christ; those who look to idols for ‘ salvation’ and comfort rather than The Living God; those who live in such desperate conditions in #WrongAddresses that they find it difficult to serve a Holy God ; and those who have experienced the Joy of God’s love but have since turned away.
But equally so a God who will Judge the world one day – The more important Election!
THE WORD OF GOD
http://bible.com/111/2co.2.14-16.niv But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
All of this began yesterday when I was led to read Chris Tiegreen’s Wonder of The Cross Devotional for November 3.
The Verse:
In him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. Ephesians 2:22
These closing words:
Creation displays God’s glory. The heavens speak forth His glory. Israel was chosen for glory. The Church I’d being built as a monument to God’s glory. Everything God does points to that purpose. God has chosen to display His glory in remarkable ways.
The remarkable is His desire to inhabit His own creation. In order to do that, He redeemed sinners and poured out His Spirit into them. The infinite God lives in finite beings. That’s amazing.
That’s so amazing, in fact , that we should spend the better part of our days soaking in the Spirit, operating in His gifts and by His strength. The world needs the presence of God, and we are called to be the presence of God. We exist to give everyone a glimpse of what the glory of the Kingdom will be like.
Finally the Word which caused me to wake up and read and write and share. For be warned, if you ‘ look like God’, if you are faithful in your Ministry then, not ‘ prosperity’ awaits, but that which awaited Christ, and that which has awaited all the Saints throughout the history of the Church -suffering and trials. And thank God Peace in the midst of the storm.
For that’s how God has chosen to ‘ show His face’ to a dying world. So that no one should boast! Nor despair in the face of extreme wickedness as manifested in the level of Crime and Violence in our countries, or in the face of personal trials which attend us along the way.
THE WORD OF GOD
http://bible.com/111/2co.4.1-12.niv Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
Peace.
And as I am about to press Send strains of :
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling;
Calling for me and for you.
Why should we linger when Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me.
Come home, come home.
All ye who are weary come home….
come into my mind. From memory!
THE FOURTH MESSAGE – sent out on the morning that the news broke about the death of the young female student. A Word of comfort that in the midst of trouble God delivers us from evil
GM: GOD IS OUR ONLY REFUGE AND STRENGTH AND A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TIMES OF TROUBLE
Last night, as I read this quote from Oswald Chambers’ Complete Works, in which is to be found the world famous Devotional, ‘ My Utmost For His Highest’, it touched something deep in my soul:
To people who are satisfied on too shallow a level the Bible is a book of impertinences, but whenever human nature is driven to the end of things, then the Bible becomes the only Book and God the only being in the world.
And then I recalled another quote from the same theologian, I think, or if not another wise person, that :
‘ you never know that you need Jesus, until Jesus is all that you have’.
Then this morning I woke up with a passage from St. Paul in my head. One that has ‘ stayed with me’ for years now; just the profound truth of it all. And on opening the Bible to search for it, this Word from the Psalmist, highlighted in green ink, with the obvious implication, stared me in the face:
THE WORD OF GOD – THE PSALMIST
‘They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress’. Psalm 107: 5-6 NIV
THE WORD OF GOD – ST. PAUL
http://bible.com/111/2co.1.8-11.niv We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
What do we make of all if this? Influenced by the Scientist and renowned Atheist, Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, and others, it has become common, and in some cases, almost fashionable, if not de rigueur, not to believe in God, or to declare that ‘ God is dead’. Or just ignore His existence and get along with your life.
Until, very sadly, and with great pain, as a friend of mine, lost his son – one of my daughter’s friends – in that wicked act, 9/11 happened.
Then America, and perhaps others across the world, reacted philosophically in two ways. One was, a temporary ‘ filling of the pews’, of churches, by many who had not gone there for years, as reported on the news networks at that time. The other was to question, ‘ why would a good God allow such wickedness to happen’? Of course militarily, other actions ensued.
Once again Jamaica is under the ‘ gun’, as we woke up tob the news on the front page of The Daily Gleaner, that a 22 year old medical student was murdered in one section of the island. And a man and his one year old infant shot multiple times, in another section. God have mercy indeed!
The question is, how much more, how much longer will it take a nation, whose people were rescued from the hell of slavery, from death itself, by the God of Jacob and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, before we collectively cry out to this God, like the Psalmist. And receive deliverance from the evil of murder!
And the same question can be posed to America, the only Industrialized Country to have such a high rate of homicide! A nation of immigrants, whose history, apart from the native Americans, is rooted in deliverance from religious persecution in Europe.
Many have turned to God when potentially life threatening illnesses strike; when they realize that Jesus is all that they have now, after living a life of ‘ gay abandon’. Others in times of financial disaster; while others find the Lord out of the ‘ death’ of addiction to drugs. For our God, is a God who ‘ raises the dead’. And fashioned for Himself and His Glory a ‘ fair land’ called Jamaica, which was once the envy of many nations, including Singapore.
Until ‘ Jeshurun grew fat and kicked’ – you can read the sad and tragic story of how Israel rebelled against the God of Abraham in Deuteronomy 32. In the same way that, led by the influence of ‘ wise and powerful heads’, far too many Jamaicans, children of slaves freed by the efforts of Baptist Deacon Sam Sharpe and others, sought their ‘salvation’ in their Political leaders and the ‘ system’, in ‘ bling’ and ultimately in the Don. And in the same way America has grown fat and kicked. And so we are now reaping the ‘ fruits’ of this madness.
And yet, and yet, in all of this God never turns His back on anyone or any nation. For we can still hear Him calling from the Cross of Calvary:
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
calling for you and for me….
Why should we linger when Jesus is calling,
calling for you and for me.
Come home, come home
All who are weary come home.
Softly and tenderly….
THE FIFTH MESSAGE – sent out on WhatsApp is really a prelude to a deeper consideration of the reality of Satan, and how he has influenced the world, and promoted evil. But thank God for the Blood of Jesus which ‘covers’ all Sin and rescues us from Evil.
GM: THE REALITY OF SATAN. AND SATAN IS BUSY BUT GOD IS REAL – FROM ORDER MY STEPS IN YOUR WORD
Last night, like the Psalmist from yesterday’s message, ‘ I cried out to the Lord’. O God have mercy on my country. For it hard to live in a place where a man can just kill a young girl just like that. Why did he have to kill a poor frightened young lady running away, more than likely, because she panicked? Why didn’t he just run after her and grab the bag and leave her alone? What manner of evil is this?
This morning as I began my devotions, searching for one hymn but led to another, which taught me more about the death of my Lord on Calvary, I began to receive an answer.
A reminder really! That we ‘ fight not against flesh and blood’ but against supernatural evil. And that’s why we need the help of an ‘ Awesome God’.
Sadly, it is only when our collective backs are against the proverbial wall, that the ‘ veil of secrecy’ is pulled back and the reality of evil if fully revealed.
I don’t know how many of you have read or can recall – for this ministry goes out to both the committed and the uncommitted in Christ – one of the most dramatic scenes in the Bible. Far better than TNT can ever produce. When the veil is lifted and we see life as it really is. A clash of Supernatural Forces, with only One Winner. The scene as described by the Word below is never far from my consciousness. And this morning it came into my mind.
THE WORD OF GOD
http://bible.com/111/2ki.6.15-17.niv When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord , so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Now we know, if we weren’t already aware, of the origins of the inspirational Movie ‘ Chariots of Fire’.
There is Professor at UWI, Herbert Gayle who studies human behavior, and who has done excellent work on exposing some of the root causes for violent crime in Jamaica. At the top of the list, not surprisingly is the much debated ‘ absent father’ reality. And how that phenomenon and deficit in the socialization process makes these boys more vulnerable to the pull of the gang and the instructions of the Don. The combination of which is literally and metaphorically ‘ deadly’.
But as I wrote in the last message, OSWALD CHAMBERS the great theologian, inspired by the Word of God has ‘ further and better particulars’, as the lawyers would say. For writing about The Philosophy of Sin in his Complete Works, he writes this:
‘ One of the significant things the Bible reveals about Satan is that he rarely works without being incarnated ( see Genesis 3:15 and Matthew 16:23.) God’s Spirit and our Lord trace Satan behind men and women who are really time-manifestations of Satan……
The fact that people ridicule the belief in Satan and sin is simply an indication of the principle that we have laid down, that we do not see God till we get to the last point and His Word has no meaning for us until we get there.’
The question is, with another senseless, horrific and horrifying killing, once again traumatising the nation’s psyche, and ‘ ripping out the belly bottom’, of this young lady’s mother, and other family members, to whom will we turn for comfort and true ‘ salvation’ in this ‘ demon possessed’, not just nation, but world.
For by now we must realize that ‘ Jesus is all we have’ and need, in this Cosmic struggle between good and evil.
So for a moment, just for a brief moment, let us forget about the drum beat of elections, about what entertainment awaits us on TV, TNT, Netflix, and HBO, or on the town, this weekend. Let us forget about the news on TV, or on the radio or the discussions on the Talk Show programs, and spend some time in this hymn which triggered this message from the Lord. On a morning when a confused nation and a grief stricken mother seek to find answers in a confusing world.
Actually in order to ‘ cut a long story short’, I’ll just share the second half of the second verse of the hymn, and the glorious response to mercy in the final verse of ‘ Come, thou fount of every blessing’:
THE HYMN
……Jesus sought me when a stranger
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be !
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee:
prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above
For the Eternal Truth is that the Supernatural God in Christ Jesus has rescued us from Supernatural Evil on the Cross. Evil which manifests itself in simple things and in big things. Like the wicked slaying of a young girl. But most importantly in our being held captive to Sin and Death. I pray God that her parents and family, and my beleaguered country, will find solace in the blessed reality, that in Christ Jesus her soul is safe from all evil. Forever!
And that’s why my Savior deserves all the praise and the honor and the glory. For such a Salvation, such a victory over Satan was purchased by His precious Blood on Calvary.
Peace.
THE FINAL MESSAGE – sent out on WhatApp and which was blogged on account of the central message of the reality of evil. And the ( desperate) need for Jesus in our lives.
GM: PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SATANIC ACTION
Last night, after contemplating all day on yesterday’s message – they probably help me more than they help others – I prayed before going to bed. That God would grant me, and all with whom I come in contact, wherever, with some special persons in mind, the gift of discerment to know when Satan is acting through individuals, thoughts and situations. And for protection from evil.
I must confess that I prayed for the no longer embattled Minister of Health, who lost his job; eventually over the ‘ dead babies scandal’, but which movement to unseat him, had its genesis in prior events and policy decisions. And I wondered how much of that which led to his downfall was as result of his own personal failings, and how much was a consequence of him who the Bible tells us has come to;
steal and to kill and (ultimately) to destroy.
For at a deeper level, as the veil was ‘ pulled back’ in yesterday’s message, we know that there is a clear connection between human failings and Satanic action. The prime example and most devastating to the human race played itself out in the Garden of Eden, where Satan had an unsuspecting, naive to the ways of pure evil, and curious Eve, and disobedient Adam – the ‘ accountable officer – for ‘ lunch’. As described by Oswald Chambers in The Philosophy of Sin to which I returned last night.
For make no mistake about it, and the world needs to ‘ wake up everybody’ ( as the famous singer Teddy Pendergrass sang), to the reality that when a bomb goes off on a plane carrying holidaymakers retuning from an Egyptian tourist area, man may claim the responsibility, but lift the veil and you will see Satan behind it all.
Lift the veil of secrecy from thousands of murders carried out by evil men, and you will find Satan behind the wickedness that has overtaken the Jamaican society like a modern day plague. All because a select few powerful individuals introduced gun violence to unsuspecting, naive to the ways of pure evil, curious and vulnerable youths, in the late ‘ 60’s and early ’70’s.
Lift the veil of secrecy that surrounds the millions of people who have died from road traffic crashes, HIV/AIDS, Drug Abuse, Abortions, and even infections in premature babies’, and although individuals and governments have to accept personal and collective responsibility, ultimately Satan is the one acting to destroy. For that’s his goal. And destruction in his warped mind is anything that will separate us permanently from a loving God. Including rejecting Christ as Lord and Saviour.
This morning as I began my devotions, contemplating all of this revelation, the Lord directed me to the solution. The only protection we have against this ‘ roaring and ravenous lion’ who is determined to cause havoc in our lives, create mayhem in our communities and deaths in our nation. Whether premature babies, young girls going to Universities or older people who ought to be left to die in peace having served well.
The Benedictus, about which I have written before, is used in my church and others for a type of worship service called Morning Prayer. A service which has its origins in the glorious history of the early church.
In this song, the father of John the Baptist, the first Evangelist, is given a profound message from the Lord on the birth of his son. In the same way that Mary the mother of Jesus sang a new song – The Magnificat – when she was told by the Holy Spirit that she would give birth to her Saviour.
So in this song – edited – found in Luke chapter one we are given the following revelations.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel:
for He had visited, and redeemed his people;
And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us: in the house of his servant David;
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy Prophets: that we should be saved from our enemies: and from the hands of all who that hate us.
( as I read this verse, words from Psalm 35 which I pray each night before going to bed came to mind. ‘ Contend, O Lord, with those who contend against me; fight against those who fight against me….May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away).
….That we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies: might serve him without fear;
In holiness and righteousness before him all the days if our lives.
And thou, child, shall be called the Prophet of the Highest: for thou shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people: for the remission of their sins……
To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.
Final comments:
One of the dangers of modern politics is that leaders are often so caught up with serving that they neglect their spiritual life. A very dangerous thing to do when a ‘ roaring lion ‘ awaits their every action and decision. To steal and kill and destroy. And do even more damage to they, their families and the nation, than that which personal human failings will do; and in some cases in combination with such failings.
But the virus of complacency, ignorance of the ways of pure evil, and disobedience does not only affect Government Ministers. So today it may be #FireFenton, but tomorrow if they are not vigilant and pay no attention to the John the Baptist’s of this world, the authentic Church, the same roaring lion awaits people in the media, members of the opposition, members of civil society, the private sector and others. As Satan is not partial. And will always, always, seek to destroy whom he will. Those who ‘ sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. viz. those who have not yet accepted the free Gift of Forgiveness of Sins offered by the shed Blood of Jesus, the mighty salvation about which John the Baptist’s father sang in the Benedictus.
Our role then, in the midst of controversy, and the fall from grace of a Minister, or anyone else, publicly or privately, as children of God, rescued by Grace, from the roaring lion, Satan, is neither to rejoice not condemn, but to seek more fervently to spread the Good News, that only Jesus saves. From evil.
For if we get caught up in the trap of ‘ doing what others do’, we lose our identify as children of God, and our protection from evil. And we too will become vulnerable to the plans of the roaring lion.
Peace.
danielgodsurelywilldeliver 