-can
we expect anything less than a similar sequence of events? A people who reject God’s messengers and
God’s standards will soon be without the prospering, protecting and refining
influence of the Holy Spirit. Such a
people will soon experience destruction, not necessarily at the hand of God’s
wrath but because they have chosen lawlessness.
We know that we are living in such a day. Should not we expect the precursors of
destruction as identified here? Not a
plesant time to be a prophet…
“the Spirit of
the Lord ceaseth soon to strive with them”
-there
comes some point when the invidivual and collective actions/behaviors of a
people have become so onerous to God, have become so contrary to His standards
of righteousness that they cannot coexist with the Holy Ghost. This is a point that is not alltogther clear
to the people of that society because they have lost the ability to measure
their moral temperature. They have
become too desensitized and have rationalized so much that their self-awareness
is a fiction. Good has become evil and
evil has become good. They think they
are engaged in virtuous things but virtue has been redefined often in the name
of causes and movements like equal rights (same sex marriage), feminism, tolerance,
sexual freedom, right of choice (to have an abortion). Real virtual –living with integrity, moral
purity, and reverence for the sacred- are denigrated, mocked and ridiculed.
-when the
point comes when the spirit ceases to stive with a person or a society they are
left to their own sustenance and devices.
Self-desctruction –individual and civil- is the unavoidable and natural
antecedent. There is a pattern and
progression in these things. First the
people discount the presence of the Holy Ghost in their own lives, then they
expel the prophets from their society and finally the Spirit of the Lord cannot
remain to propser, protect and inspire the communal or social cohesion
(civility) of the people. Their life
literaly falls apart, civil society ceases to exist. This condition is not surprising nor is the
rapid descent into desctruction. A
society that has expelled God, His standards and morality is, by definition,
one that is on the brink of lawlessness, of violence and deterioration. It is made up of people who love themselves,
who have no sense of reverence, who view themselves as little more than
advanced animals and thereby adopted animal-like behaviors. This is a ruthless and
base level of morality. Civil society
cannot long be maintained in such a situation.
-Scary
Time: how long the Spirit works on a people even amidst their wickedness.
“they have driven him out of the land”
-interesting
that the Lord can take a man violently driven from his homeland and make the
circumstance into a man being given a promised land as an inheritance
forever! Hence we see how the Lord takes
lemons and makes lemonade! Not only do
we see how He works with the designs of Satan (which are directed to frustrate
man and God) but also with his children.
If we are to be as God, we would do well to achieve this talent!
-the
wicked are intolerant of those things, people and symbols of
righteousness. They drive them out of
their presence. Any representation of God,
morality and righteousness becomes a target of their hostility. In a day where wickedness permeates society
we should hope that our lives are a target of social derision. We had better not fit too comfortably with or
be honored by society.
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