“The Anger of the Lord hath divided Them”...the Wayfarer 3/31/14

“The Anger of the Lord hath divided Them”

3/31/14

“The anger of the Lord hath divided them; he will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favored not the elders.”

(Lamentations 4:16)

Today, despite a desire to go elsewhere, I am drawn to the book of Lamentations, another seldom read, seldom heeded book within the Old Testament held in disregard by the youth and new age, progressive “Christians” who forget the importance of that Testament  in relation to the New Covenant that was given us through Christ Jesus.

The lessons given us by the prophets, including, Jeremiah, the writer of this book are part and parcel of the teachings given us by Jesus, and the disregard of those lessons the reason there was a need to have that New Covenant.

Before any attempt to remind me again, that the Old Testament is only the school master, and no longer as pertinent after receiving Christ’s teachings, I remind them again that Christ said that He did not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but in fact to fulfill that law.

If Christ found that law, and the prophets, pertinent, perhaps we too could, and should, pay a bit more attention to them as well.

That anger mentioned in my opening still exists. That righteousness that is God’s only that gave that anger also still exists. The reasons given for that anger, that brought it about then, also still exists when the same actions are taken today that were taken then.

As is often my habit, I will again back track and again try to put into context the reasons I choose to go to this book, as I said, so often, neglected, forgotten, ignored and held in so much disdain by so many.

“How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.

The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!”

(Lamentations 4: 1 & 2)

The gold, that was, and is, nothing less than those Christians who were tried by fire, the dross removed from them to provide the shine and purity that gave that gold value, are rapidly being replaced by brass imitation, that not only is dull in appearance, but upon exposure is filled with the corrosion that discolors it to the point of no longer having any resemblance to the gold it attempted to replace.

The true gold that still exists, those precious sons of Zion, are held in disdain while the world accepts the brass with the corrosion that comes with it.

I receive, as I have stated before, a monthly circular that comes from a convention that I no longer hold in the esteem I once held it, a circular that I read much like a newspaper to give me an overview of what is happening in today’s churches that still cling to and participate in that convention.

I found the most recent one a pleasant change that provided just a bit, just a glimmer of the reality of what is happening to those churches and others all around the world today. Every article contained in it was worthwhile to read, and every one of them contained warnings of things already predicted to come by none less than Christ Jesus.

It spoke of the persecution worldwide to be seen of Christianity in other nations, the hardships and disregard, dispute, and denial of the very faith being given by various governments and false religious teachings with no tolerance for God and his laws by those governments and their peoples.

For a change, attention was also focused on the persecution, not quite as overt, but equally insidious that goes on coming from the lofty heights of our own government, now taking advisors that would prohibit even the mention of Christ Jesus in the chapels provided to guide those whose job it is to protect the right to speak that name and give honor and glory to that God that allowed a country to come into existence, and blessed it for so long because it too was once gold, tried in the fire and dross removed from it.

Chaplains within the services of our own nation’s army are not only being prohibited to speak the very name Christ Jesus, but to even use that name while praying for the continued blessing and salvation of this nation. They are being court-martialed and removed from those chapels for doing so even in the mildest of speech, if that speech includes Christ, whom they serve above those who are removing them!

While a few, very few indeed see these happenings, and the consequences of them, too many ignore them, continuing only to line their pockets by ignoring the name of Christ, the warnings given both by the prophets of old and Jesus himself, preaching instead only the need for equality and justice for any and all religions that are supplanting Christ while denying Him.

“The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.

For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,

They have wandered as blind men in the streets; they have polluted themselves with blood, so that men could not touch their garments,

They cried unto them. Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, they shall no more sojourn there.”

(Lamentations 4: 12-15)

The cries that go up from those claiming that the very teaching of the Truth of Christ Jesus as being inequitable, and unjust are being heard, and listened to by a people refusing to hear the Truth, equal, and just, as it was given both by those old prophets and by Christ who promised equality and blessings to those following HIS teachings, not those misrepresentations that replace them.

The division spoken of  in the verse I opened with is occurring as I write this, has already happened, as my Lord separates the sheep from the goats, the Christian followers  proclaiming the Truth of his message of redemption through repentance, and of the love available if it is heard and heeded, and the WRATH and ANGER to be faced when it is ignored, both by the individuals leading a people from God, whether wearing the trappings of feel good philosophy that embraces the teachings that separate us from the love they profess while wearing appellations of Reverend, Rabbi, Priest, Pastor, Bishop, or any title given them by men that too willing to hear what they want to hear, and unwilling to hear what they need to hear, to once more refine what should be gold, from the poor substitutes of brass which embrace all things from denomination to demon worship instead of embracing the very prophecies of the prophets and the laws that Christ came to fulfill.

All these trappings and teachings given by man lead only to the same place, the same judgment given at the end of this chapter of a book ignored instead of carefully read and heeded by those claiming to follow Christ but refusing to stand in resistance of the division to unite Christ’s people, and truly be that gold intended.

“The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.”

(Lamentations 4:22) 

While Jeremiah lamented the sins of Israel, proclaiming the truth to them, attempting to heal those divisions and cull the fakes that caused that division, he also attempted to unify the few that heard, understood and complied with the need to take a stand against the evil destroying his nation; that evil that caused the anger of God that assured that destruction unless repentance was given; so that grace could be given in return, and that that nation could receive the redemption needed to continue to exist.

That same need is here, now, for the unity of those who truly would follow Christ to stand together in defiance of that same evil faced then that we now face as well.

That same need to defend to the death, by individuals willing to endure as we have been commanded to do by Jesus exists today.

It is past time to find the unity demanded of us, to preach and teach the truth of Christ Jesus, to defend that truth from the onslaught of denial both from without and from within; and actually be who we say we are despite the splinters and bonds that come with the cross we are told we must carry.

I close in prayer for that unity, that it overcome and demolish the division, that the fakes and false prophets be exposed, that the true equality given only through the judgment of God, the true justice of that judgment be preached and our people be led back to the truth of the teachings of Christ, the prophets and the laws He came to fulfill, and that the commandment to love one another come to fruition in true form to include the harsh love needed to remind the world, and our people, that the only means of attaining that love is through HIM.

I remain, that same simple sinner saved by grace through faith in my Lord, in HIS teachings, and faith also that He will stand beside me in the days to come allowing that endurance to exist which He demands of me, allowing, at least for a time the proclamation of that truth to continue, and in the surety of the promise of eternal live given me long ago when I chose His Truth instead of that given in its place.

I remain, so long as He allows, yet and still the soldier whose voice is seldom heard in a wilderness choosing not to hear either my words nor His, proclaiming the love available, the joy and life available only if we:

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

Again choice is offered to all willing to listen, UNITY with Christ and what is expected of us in return for the rewards promised by Him, or division from that love created by the anger of God, that will not be assuaged without that required repentance and the return to the Way Truth and Life denied by the acceptance of mankind’s vision of what is correct instead of accepting what is correct and righteous as given by God Himself.

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen
the Wayfarer