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Challenging, thought provoking issues for the need of this hour.
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History Repeats Itself
History repeats itself. Israel ignored the prophets God sent them.
The reason God sent prophets was because the Priesthood was willful,
corrupt and wicked. But the people rejected the prophets and chose
rather to have a King like the other nations. This arrangement went
on for hundreds of years from Saul to Zedikiah.
Then in 2 Chronicles 36:16 But they mocked the messengers of God,
and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of
the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Heb =
healing (KJV).
After Samuel appointed Saul, the prophets were sidelined. The day
to day running of the Kingdom was in the hands of the reigning Monarch
assisted by the Princes, and the officers he appointed. They made war,
owned large tracts of land, which their servants farmed for them. The
maintenance of the king, his household, and army, was a costly burden,
yet it was willingly born by the people that supported him, and fought
his battles. These kings were politically powerful, became exceptionally
wealthy, and invariably led the people into idolatry and apostasy.
Except for a pitiful few they were stubborn and sinful men. Their own
brethren assassinated fourteen of them.
We see their counterpart in Christianity all around us today. The
Kings of these religious Domains surround themselves with financial
savvy administrators whose task is to promote the personal interests
and projects of their overlords, and ensure their success. Whether
they are individuals or movements makes no difference. Some have encompassed
themselves with well-rewarded servants who bathe in the limelight of
their masters as they attend to their every whim. Flaunting their success
these super-flops and those that pander to them are an impediment on
the Gospel message.
Jude said they are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast
with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without
water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withered, without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots Jude
1:12 KJV.
Except for a pathetic few, the majority of the Kings of Judah and
Israel were very wicked men. They murdered the Prophets with impunity,
and all the while the majority of the priests were snivelling willing
pawns in their hands. (Successful preachers are surrounded by them).
Many commenced their reigns in a promising fashion, such as Saul, Solomon,
Uzziah, and Joash to mention a few, but before their lives ended most
were living in open rebellion and idolatry. God gave these kings, and the people that chose them, over to their reprobate desires. The people
were to pay dearly for hundreds of years for their rejection of King
Jehovah. They are still paying today.
Heriditary Succession Of Our Children
The gospel doesn’t centre in abstract truth but upon the person
of Jesus Christ. When truth comes to us by hereditary succession, and then handed down to the
next generation by us, its not surprising to see our youth beginning to question
the truth of a system in which they were brought up. All forms of Christianity
that preaches ethics and morality and ignores the doctrines of the scriptures
are powerless to transform.
We must not allow our Christianity to degenerate into a mere system of ethics.
Robbed of its best energies, religion merely takes on the form of a compilation
of restraints and prohibitions. Then what we cannot bend, we go ahead and
break rationalizing our weakness as a good excuse, and pleading the clemency
of God.
Knowing Christianity chiefly by its difficulties and the impossibilities falsely
imputed to it some will very quickly join the ranks of those who look for answers
outside the gospel. Recently I read a blog, which said “we need some
answers regards sexual promiscuity among our youth; and, especially for homosexual
pastors who can’t find deliverance thru confession, repentance, and counseling
no matter how hard they want to be free”.
That comment was made by a supposedly born-again, spirit filled Christian?
There is but one answer, and that is the
Gospel. Inherent within it is the
power of God to save every one that believes. Rom
1:16.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women
did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise
also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one
toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving
in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. Romans
1:18-27 KJV
Back to our children: If parents want their children to keep their faith they must teach them how to defend it.
If they fail to do so, they shouldn’t be surprised when they see them
abandon a position that they are unable to defend against the power of sin.
It is solely because their parents never took the time
to train and equip them.
Sin is independent decision making.
We are all interdependent.
Thus in the multitude of counselors there is wisdom and safety.
Children need their parents (not the Sunday school teacher no matter how dedicated
they are) to teach them to make Godly decisions.
Parents must realize their children are assigned to them by God.
Because our children are called upon to make the major decisions of life when
they lack wisdom and have very little experience, they need Godly parents to
safely channel them. They are often called upon to make decisions while in
a high emotional state; i.e. their careers and their relationships with the
opposite sex.
You are preparing them for a contest. It’s a fight to the death.
Their preparation must begin from birth.
Children need a firm but loving strong hand upon their lives. They need to
feel safe. Wives have husbands, husbands have fathers and elders, and they have patriarchs.
How can we expect to be successful in communicating the light of divine truth
to those who sit in darkness, when we pay so little regard to the great task
of raising our children to love and follow the Lord?
In this task most have failed abysmally.
We cannot expect our children to become proficient accidentally.
Since the curse life is full of thorns and briars. Gardens don’t just
grow they must be tended if they are to be fruitful.
Act before it’s too late; beware before your children bring your gray
head down to the grave in shame and sorrow.
When God in His goodness has granted unto us such an abundant means of instruction,
how great will be the guilt, and how awful the punishment of voluntary ignorance.
If a Christian is ignorant, he is voluntarily so, therefore he has no excuse.
If our children are ignorant then their parents have failed them lamentably.
Bountiful as the hand of providence may be, it does not bestow gifts to seduce
us to laziness. It bestows gifts to arouse us to exertion.
Surely no one expects to succeed in any field of endeavor; without stern forceful
resolution, strenuous diligence, and steady perseverance.
Diligence is not forced upon us, but offered to us.
“
And he said; then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, for
I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this
place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let
them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to
them from the dead, they will repent.'
He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither
will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead”. Luke 16:27-31 RSV
It’s not enough to ascent to truth, it must possess us. The word must
become flesh in us.
Our unreasonable assumption of proficiency without effort will find us like
the foolish virgins, without oil.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom
and instruction. My son; hear the instruction of your father, and forsake not
the law of your mother; for they shall be an ornament of grace to your head
and chains around your neck. My sons, if sinners lure you, do not be willing.
(Proverbs 1:7-10 MKJV)
Jehoiachin was only 18 when he began to reign. 2 Kings
24: 8.15; 2 Kings 25:27.
He spent 37 yrs in prison in Babylon. Hemmed in by bad past decisions.
Solomon was only 19 when he came to power. But he lived to defile himself.
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to
depart from evil is understanding. Job 28:28 KJV
Ezek 16: 49. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness
of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither
did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. www.kingdomline
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Kind Regards
Johnie
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