The Elephant in the Room Has Sharp Teeth

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Wednesday, November 6, 2019

For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions.  You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.  So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.  Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live!  Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed.  Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice.  Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people.  Therefore, this is what the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, says:  “There will be crying in all the public squares and mourning in every street.  Call for the farmers to weep with you, and summon professional mourners to wail.  There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will destroy them all,” says the Lord.  What sorrow awaits you who say, “If only the day of the Lord were here!”  You have no idea what you are wishing for.  That day will bring darkness, not light.  In that day you will be like a man who runs from a lion—only to meet a bear.  Escaping from the bear, he leans his hand against a wall in his house—and he’s bitten by a snake.  Yes, the day of the Lord will be dark and hopeless, without a ray of joy or hope.  “I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies.  I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings.  I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings.  Away with your noisy hymns of praise!  I will not listen to the music of your harps.  Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.  Amos 5:12-24

Just as most people are aware elephants are not known for sharp teeth, most people would rather not think of God other than soft, warm and fuzzy.  That’s a form of denial!

Amos, the sheep herding, sycomore fig-tree farmer-turned-prophet took a walk into the capitol city of Jerusalem and saw a whole bunch of folk who loved to play politics, throw their weight around, get rich and fat, but were living in the worst form of denial.  They imagined God couldn’t see their black hearts and concluded that the idea of Judgment Day was a myth. 

In response, Amos pulled-out some images of his wilderness experience and told them unless their hearts were cleansed they’d be like a man running from a lion who stumbles into the pathway of a hungry/angry bear; escaping the bear claws by a hair, he runs to his house, slams the door shut, locks it, leans up against the wall to catch his breath, and is bitten on the neck by a lethal cobra.  Amos tells the religious fakes they’d better get their acts together, or their history would be written in their own blood…from bad – to worse – to worst!  Their future would be surrounded by darkness, wailing, and a loss of all hope.  We can live without a lot of things, but air and hope are not on that list!  Many people would rather not think about the FACT of JHWH being a sovereign God who does judge sin.  Because we’re all vulnerable to a God like that, we’d rather have a god who winks at our sins, and lets us slide…there, there, you’re ok; I know you tried.  

But God’s judgment of our behavior is more than provable.  From the beginning creation was put together with natural judgment as an incontrovertible principle:

·      Fire has always contained judgment for sticking your finger in the flames. 

·      Up always has a violent result when gravity brings you in contact with Down! 

·      And, if your mother has to tell you to take out the garbage a third time…you’ll find out what fury judgment can bring!

The most evident proof of God’s sharp-toothed elephant in the room is the cross.  Without the death of Jesus no person is forgiven, no one escapes the bar of judgment.  When it comes to justice, the kind of right behavior God expects is our unconditional love with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength…and loving our neighbor that way too![2]

For You Today

Each of us on planet earth wants a soft place to land.  God has provided that; it’s the fellowship of a close relationship with One to whom you can take all your sins, sorrows, and fears.  He forgives the heart’s confession, sets the captive free, and that’s an elephant in your room worth talking about!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com      Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
[2] Luke 10:27 

Playing Church

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Monday, July 15, 2019

Announce this to the leaders of Philistia and to the great ones of Egypt:   “Take your seats now on the hills around Samaria, and witness the chaos and oppression in Israel.”  “My people have forgotten how to do right,” says the Lord.  “Their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence.  Therefore,” says the Sovereign Lord, “an enemy is coming!  He will surround them and shatter their defenses.  Then he will plunder all their fortresses.”  This is what the Lord says:  “A shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion’s mouth will recover only two legs or a piece of an ear.  So it will be for the Israelites in Samaria lying on luxurious beds, and for the people of Damascus reclining on couches.  “Now listen to this, and announce it throughout all Israel,” says the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies.  “On the very day I punish Israel for its sins, I will destroy the pagan altars at Bethel.  The horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.  And I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy—their winter mansions and their summer houses, too—all their palaces filled with ivory,” says the Lord.  Listen to me, you fat cows living in Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who are always calling to your husbands, “Bring us another drink!”  The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by his holiness:  “The time will come when you will be led away with hooks in your noses.  Every last one of you will be dragged away like a fish on a hook!  You will be led out through the ruins of the wall; you will be thrown from your fortresses,” says the Lord.  “Go ahead and offer sacrifices to the idols at Bethel.  Keep on disobeying at Gilgal.  Offer sacrifices each morning, and bring your tithes every three days.  Present your bread made with yeast as an offering of thanksgiving.  Then give your extra voluntary offerings so you can brag about it everywhere!  This is the kind of thing you Israelites love to do,” says the Sovereign Lord.  Amos 3:9 – 4:5

When God extended the invitation to Egypt and Philistia, arch-enemies of Israel, to take a front row seat and watch the humiliation of defeat that God was engineering to straighten-out his rowdy children, it should have brought waves of fear in Jerusalem and Judea; if anyone knew what the powerful wrath of God looks like in action, it was the children of Abraham.  These former slaves, people who had nothing, were led out of Egypt by Moses and a miraculous GPS cloud by day and pillar of fire by night.  They watched as the Red Sea swallowed Pharaoh’s storm troopers who were in hot pursuit.  They saw 23,000 of their fellow Israelites swallowed by the earth’s crust and fire when Korah led a rebellion against Moses.  They watched thousands die at the bite of venomous snakes when they complained against God.  These people had seen God’s wrath.  But they had forgotten all that and forgotten how to do right.  Their sin was playing at church! They kept the rituals but forgot how to do right; they were going to re-learn!

I have never claimed to be a prophet.  However, there is this foreboding deep within my spirit about the state of the current culture in America which I cannot shake.  It has amazing parallels to Israel of old, those who were blessed by Heaven’s hand, and descended into Hell’s ways.  They saw ways to accumulate wealth by oppressing others; they refined and strengthened their hold on the weak in order to become stronger, lazier, and increasingly self-indulgent.  Justice was a laughable joke, and the powerful saw to it their power would require others to look to them as God. 

Now, the parallel I fear most in the comparison of America as the New Israel is we have the Old Israel’s same mindset…accumulation of power, wealth, and the ability to keep others under control.  It’s hedonism, multiplied by situational ethics, empowered by a calloused heart that looks out for #1.  With apologies (perhaps) to President Trump, it’s The Art of the Deal as king…get from others before they get from you.  America, as a nation, is not generous and gracious; we are despised in the world today for our arrogance and childish selfishness.  

We dole out a bit of our resources here and there to the poverty-stricken third-world countries, but it is little more than dangling the carrot in front of the enslaved mule to keep him walking to the beat of our drum.  

For You Today

While it is true there are many thousands, perhaps millions of Americans who much more truly reflect the Jesus-following life, generous, gracious, and God-honoring, what we see coming out of Washington is a 21^st century God-invitation for wrathful judgment.  May He have mercy in His wrath; we stand in need of it!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com        Unless otherwise noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

Good Advice from a Prophet a Long Way From Home

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                                                                Friday, June 17, 2016

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.  James 4:10^(NLT)

I have watched many documentary programs that deal with the issue of racial integration in this country.  One of the strong impressions I usually come away with is the picture of isolation experienced by a single African-American kid in a white school.  Trying to understand the difficulty of it all, I would attempt to put myself in that kid’s situation.  Of course that’s difficult – imagining what someone else is going through. 

But a few years ago I stumbled across some thoughts that made me realize I have more in common with that struggle than I previously imagined.  There are two aspects of my minority status which stick out like a sore thumb:

1.   I’m a Yankee who has served his entire ministry in the deep South!

Having been born and bred in the Northeast, and spent the last 39½ years in Dixie, there have been more than a few times when someone has pointed out how very fortunate I am to have been allowed to live below the Mason-Dixon Line.

A good friend who was born, and lived all his life, near Tallahassee, Florida once took me fishing in the Gulf of Mexico along the panhandle.  As he was driving us to the launch area we travelled through a deserted forest area and I asked him what this place was called.  In true Southern Speech (with a hint of New York Gambino family mixed-in) Joe Ball said:  Don’t rightly know the name, but we call it that place whar’ Yankees ain’t never heard from ag’in.  Needless to say, it was a long afternoon until I got back home.

It’s tough enough to be a preacher these days with the likes of snake oil salesmen, “so-called preachers” who wind up in jail for fraud or sexual scandals…or the rock stars whose TV ministries would probably make Jesus turn over some more tables in God’s house.  But add to that the problem of being a long way from home and being an alien just trying to love the locals; it’s like Amos, a good ol’ po’boy shepherd from Southern Judah being sent by God up to northern Israel to preach to them Yankee fat cat rich folks.

It’s not easy; sometimes being humble means swallowing your tongue when you encounter regional prejudice.

2.   I’m a Methodist minister who speaks with a Baptist accident

You heard right…a Baptist accident.  While I was thinking about this minority dilemma, I was speaking my thoughts into a digital recorder.  I meant to say “Baptist accent” but it came out “Baptist accident”.  I became a Methodist by accident…and that’s another, very long story.

But it works in this case; as a people-pleaser I have a natural tendency to try to fit-in with people.  A New York twang spoken from a southern-drawl pulpit gets old when you’re the week-in/week-out pastor.  The accident of losing my accent (mostly) didn’t take long. 

But it still shows up occasionally – particularly for those protectors of the border who are looking for any trace of impurity in their parsons.

I’m not sure if Amos had a different regional speech pattern than the folks who populated Israel’s capitol city, but his sheepherder’s rough-cut ways had to set him apart from the genteel manners at court.  He was a long way from home!

For You Today

The fact is all who love Jesus Christ, and wish to serve Him are a very long way from home!  Northern, Southern, Western, Eastern…all are under God’s sun. 

In reality, we are only one race – human.  And that’s a good reason to be humble.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image: Gustave Doré [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

When the Lion Roars

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Devotion VIDEO here

The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?  Amos 3:8^(NLT)

Amos had the unenviable task of strolling into Jerusalem with bad news.  Jerusalem, that holy city of God, the place of King David, and the center of the universe for the rule of God, had sinned by forgetting the God they had been called to serve.

And Amos was but a simple man, a shepherd from the tiny village of Tekoa.  A southern boy called to speak the Word of God to the rulers of the temple in Jerusalem. 

Who among my Methodist colleagues would covet that appointment?

Amos was not alone; Jeremiah, Noah, Nahum, Elijah, Elisha, and the list goes on!  And, now that we’re in Advent season, the name of the Baptist, John, the cousin of Jesus, will come into full view as he prepares the way of the Lord. 

All those prophets were charged with announcing God’s Word and will. 

It’s called prophesying – preaching – sermon – standing in the gap…and, by a hundred other titles it is the same thing:  putting God’s people in remembrance that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.  He is holy, loving, fearful, judging, forgiving, creating, sustaining, life-giving, cross-bearing, people saving, and the all-consuming LORD of his universe! 

He is God!

When THAT lion roars, who can but tremble.  And, for a preacher, you must speak what He has put in your mouth.

It’s not hard to lose focus – to forget that God is in charge, especially in a week when there has not been a day that passed without another killing or more news on the terrorists. 

We are in an extraordinary time when life is being treated as if it has no value whatever.  From cradle to senior life is tossed towards the dumpster, and the Lord Who gives life cannot be pleased.

News cycles run their course, and I have to remind myself to not dwell before the altar of CNN or NBC nightly news.  To do so mounts an accumulative depressive toll on this old man’s already tired brain.

God, in His mercy, helped me develop a quiet spirit for the mornings that mitigates against the fear and hopelessness that is our “news of the world”.  Every morning I begin with God’s Word, asking the Father to enlighten (and sometimes just lighten) my mind and heart and soul.

This morning I read from The Revelation:

“You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power.  For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased.”  And they sang a new song with these words:   “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it.  For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.  And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God.  And they will reign on the earth.”  And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang:  “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.”   Revelation 4:11, 5:9-10, 13^(NLT)

God’s created beings have been killing each other since Cain picked up the first loaded rock.  

It will continue for a season – just as long as God permits. 

For You Today

Let us never lose sight of the angels praise in heaven to the One Who is worthy of blessing and honor and glory and power…though it seems the heavens are silent and the Prince of Darkness is having his way…when next The Lion roars from His throne, all preaching and men’s power will cease.  In its place will be trembling, judgment and salvation; it will be the Day of the Lord.

Think about that out on the Rocky Road today…and have a great day!

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[1] Title image:  Robek (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons