"....Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they...will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!' For it they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (From Luke 23:27-31, NKJV, NASB)
This is from my yesterday's Gospel reading. Our text is a most disturbing and sobering utterance of our Lord concerning the future of humanity after His Cross. Could we respectfully paraphrase, "If you think this is bad.........................."
I made a decision many years ago when I heard of a pastor in Canada who was sentenced to take sensitivity training for insulting Islam. He had to drive 6 hours one way every week for six months to attend the class. I thought at the time, This is a more serious issue than tea. I will write from prison first. This is not fleshly bravado. This is preparation for what our Lord Jesus warned the women of in our text. We read in the Book of Acts that it began to happen very shortly after Christ's death, resurrection and ascension. And succeeding Church History, right to the present day, reveals just how awesome was the warning.
The Church in America should have taken our text seriously and been prepared for the events of the 1960's. There had been forces at work for many years in America which were determined to take the nation from a Judeo-Christian based nation to an atheistic, believe-anything-and-stand-for-nothing nation. In 1962 and '63, the Church in America should have said to those who reject and hate Jesus Christ, "You may not like the prayer of Jesus and the Bible, but you are living in a nation which was founded in both. Your child may sit in a classroom and not say the prayer, and be free to not listen to the Bible reading. But as long as you are a citizen in our "house," such activity will continue. To all atheists and those who reject Jesus Christ: The Church of the United States of America says to you, You are in our house; we are not in your house.
History reveals just how unprepared the Church in America was in those days. Yet what about now? Our text was no idle words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing God says is idle words. He still speaks the solemn words to Planet Earth, "For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
Father, in Jesus' Name, I trust You and You alone for my strength when, "what will happen," may come upon me. Amen.
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Read of "14 March, 2012, International Day of Action to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates @: www.jerberwash.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
This is from my yesterday's Gospel reading. Our text is a most disturbing and sobering utterance of our Lord concerning the future of humanity after His Cross. Could we respectfully paraphrase, "If you think this is bad.........................."
I made a decision many years ago when I heard of a pastor in Canada who was sentenced to take sensitivity training for insulting Islam. He had to drive 6 hours one way every week for six months to attend the class. I thought at the time, This is a more serious issue than tea. I will write from prison first. This is not fleshly bravado. This is preparation for what our Lord Jesus warned the women of in our text. We read in the Book of Acts that it began to happen very shortly after Christ's death, resurrection and ascension. And succeeding Church History, right to the present day, reveals just how awesome was the warning.
The Church in America should have taken our text seriously and been prepared for the events of the 1960's. There had been forces at work for many years in America which were determined to take the nation from a Judeo-Christian based nation to an atheistic, believe-anything-and-stand-for-nothing nation. In 1962 and '63, the Church in America should have said to those who reject and hate Jesus Christ, "You may not like the prayer of Jesus and the Bible, but you are living in a nation which was founded in both. Your child may sit in a classroom and not say the prayer, and be free to not listen to the Bible reading. But as long as you are a citizen in our "house," such activity will continue. To all atheists and those who reject Jesus Christ: The Church of the United States of America says to you, You are in our house; we are not in your house.
History reveals just how unprepared the Church in America was in those days. Yet what about now? Our text was no idle words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing God says is idle words. He still speaks the solemn words to Planet Earth, "For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"
Father, in Jesus' Name, I trust You and You alone for my strength when, "what will happen," may come upon me. Amen.
***************************
Read of "14 March, 2012, International Day of Action to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates @: www.jerberwash.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
