Preparing for an Emergency—Four

Noah was preparing for one particular disaster—a flood. Not just any flood, either, but a very big one, one that, as revealed to him, would eliminate all inhabitants of the Earth except those in Noah’s Ark. If we choose preparedness, for what types of disasters shall we prepare?

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

Matthew 24:7

Y’shuaJesus said those words around two thousand years ago. Since then, nations have risen, fallen, and fought one another. There have been famines and pestilences, disease outbreaks, and a whole variety of natural calamities. The United State Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) suggests at its website Ready.gov, the following in its introduction to PLANNING:

“Emergency preparedness is not the sole concern of Californians for earthquakes, those who live in “Tornado Alley”; or Gulf Coast residents because of hurricanes. Most communities may be impacted by several types of hazards during a lifetime. Americans also travel more than ever before; to areas impacted by hazards they may not be at risk of near their homes. Knowing what to do before, during and after an emergency is a critical part of being prepared and may make all the difference when seconds count.

“Some of the basic protective actions are similar for multiple hazards. For example, safety is necessary when experiencing all hazards, whether this means sheltering or evacuating depends on the specific emergency. Developing a family communications plan or making an emergency supply kit are the same for accidental emergencies, natural disasters and also terrorism. However, there are important differences among potential emergencies that should impact the decisions you make and the actions you take.”

Storms seem the most frequent and severe disasters we, in the US, face each year. Even in fair-weather places, like Georgia, storms disrupt services. During the winter of 2010-11, a nice storm pretty much shut down northern Georgia, including the metropolitan Atlanta area, which is home to about five million people. The worst of it lasted only three days, but driving even five days following the storm was difficult in many areas. Schools were closed. Deliveries were disrupted. Most still had electricity, so didn’t need to evacuate. In other winter storms throughout the United States, power is often lost. Without power, most will have not heat. And when it’s freezing outside, it soon freezes inside. Not pleasant. With no power, evacuating is often the only solution. And to where? Why, to a friendly government-established and -staffed facility.

But there is still the revelation of Y’shuaJesus that more severe things will occur. On Wednesday, I have scheduled an repost of an urgent warning from an American pastor.

Until then, May the Lord continue to Bless, Keep, and Shine upon y’all. . .

Preparing for an Emergency—Three

How much should a pantry have in it? Here’s what’s written about Noah:

And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Genesis 6:21-21

Not exactly clear how much Noah stocked in his boat. Perhaps Noah knew it would take forty-days supply. If we were to consider a cache, how much would we store?

Well, that’s a matter of opinion. Some survivalists/preppers stock several years of dried food, extra clothing, farming equipment, medical supplies, and various sorts of hunting and self-defense/protection gear. At that point, it’s not a pantry, but an entire room or more that is filled. That’s definitely prepared. At the opposite side is the man I mentioned with absolutely nothing in his pantry, as he lived from one day to the next buying what the family needed daily. Going upward from there is people who follow the government recommendations. I remember the 1950s when we were preparing for what we thought would be an eminent nuclear war. We had AM band radios marked with a radiation symbol to let us know where to tune in the event of an emergency. We had a list of things we were suppose to store, that included two-weeks supply of food that could be eaten without cooking, lots of water, candles, matches, and personal items. There were shelters fully stocked in the various public buildings. That was forgotten for a while as the threat of the Cold War died out. With it died the emergency broadcast system. The shelters were quickly forgotten, too. One day, in one town I lived in, one of the shelters was cleared out. There were a lot of leaking bottles of chemicals that had to be disposed.

With “9-11” emergency preparedness took on new life, and the government is once again in the recommending a plan and a kit. There’s an interesting campaign launched by CDC providing posters to state and local health departments. These posters use the Zombie Apocalypse as an eye-catcher. The idea is to get people to think and plan in the event of a local, regional, or national disaster. Depending upon the government agency, the recommended supply of emergency food and gear is now a three-day pack that can be quickly carried out of the house. Occasionally there are recommendations that include the three-day kit and a “long-term” supply for between two and three weeks. There is no provision for defense measures, either.

Where to go? In America, today, tt is expected that we, the people, in the case of disaster and evacuation, will move to a nice shelter somewhere out of danger. I suspect this is why the three-day pack is recommended, it is definitely more portable than the ultimate prepper’s larder. Were a disaster to strike, we will follow along with countless others shambling into a stadium or other suitable venue, where we will be fed and cared for until the disaster is mitigated. From what I’ve heard, that scenario didn’t work out too well during the Katrina Hurricane disaster in New Orleans. Those that took to the road to avoid Katrina, found themselves in gridlock going north with many just running out of gas on the highway. Some others that stayed out of desire to, or didn’t have a way to evacuate, went to the stadium, where they found another form of disaster. That three-day supply would have been a great idea in either case, and a two-week kit even better—if someone didn’t “requisition” it from the bearer.

More thoughts on Monday.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: Lower 9th... — New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: Lower 9th Ward. House thrown off foundation, partially atop an upside-down Ford-150 Photo by Infrogmation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Preparing for an Emergency—Two

Now it’s a good thing Noah didn’t live in America today. I read recently of a man facing charges from city government for not completing his boat in the time frame in which he was originally granted. The city was going to move the boat, completed or not, away from the guys home because the boat had been an eyesore too long. In my neighborhood, I agreed to something called CC&Rs, which restricts me to lots of things beyond what the county ordinances disallow. No way could I build a boat on my acre of land; I’m not allowed to have a ham radio antenna.

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

Luke 17:26,27

We are an increasingly urban society in America. This means lots of people crammed together coexisting, or at least trying to do so. In the area in which I now reside, which was rural not too long ago when I moved here, growth has brought us to a point nearly suburban, which means we still have some open land left to pillage, and no high-rise buildings in clusters. Things are a bit less concentrated, but we have industrial and office complexes appearing next to neighborhoods. Roads running by the neighborhoods are snarled with automobiles when employees head to work or to home, and often during the day. Schools are crowded, while new ones are built and filled quickly to overflowing. And there seems to be no end in sight. It also means that we are within a mile of a grocery store in a large shopping plaza. Each plaza seems to have a salon, a shop to do ladies’ nails, dry cleaners, and a restaurant or two, and several fast-food places.

Urbanites don’t keep food on the shelf, it seems. One of my neighbors admitted he had absolutely nothing in his cupboard, that his family either ate out or picked something up to bring home each day. I’m not from that lifestyle. To use a line from a song, “I’m a little more country than that.”

I grew up in rural areas, lived most of my adult life in rural areas. During season, we ate a lot of fresh produce from farm stands. My mother shopped sales and stocked the pantry with as much as we could afford. They also travelled about a hundred miles to an Air Force base to shop at the commissary—saving a lot of money doing so. The only things they needed to buy more frequently were perishables that wouldn’t freeze. They didn’t call it “Prepping”; it was just a way of life.

There are other reasons to have a large pantry. One example is one community in which I lived, up in northern California. Winter storms rolled through at least once each year that closed the main interstate that runs between California to Washington. It could stay closed for several days. After the first day of the storm, the store shelves were bare, and no shipments arrived until the interstate reopened. We either had a minimally stocked pantry, or went without.

It’s time for you to look in a cupboard, or closet, or where ever you store food, to see what’s on hand. Let me know what you find. How long can you exist, not thrive, but just exist on what you have on hand? Until Friday, then.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Preparing for an Emergency—One

Back in the day, it was Survivalist; today it is a Prepper. The word isn’t yet in the dictionary, but that doesn’t stop about 7,490,000 results (in 0.34 seconds) in a search on Google. While once a fringe in society, like, ah yes, environmentalists, preppers are popping up all over, like Georgia wildflowers after a gentle rain. Now the popular media, television, has a show called Doomsday Preppers. Whether one is a Survivalist or a Prepper, or just hoping to survive a local natural calamity, like a hurricane, the idea of preparedness isn’t new; it goes way, way, way back—to at least Noah.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Genesis 6:11-22

Did you watch the movie 2012? There were three arks depicted. It took a lot of engineers to develop a system in which those arks would survive what was to come in the movie. So here’s Noah, perhaps a farmer and hunter who may never have seen a boat in his life (I don’t know, but just guessing). Perhaps the most water he may have seen was a river swollen after a sudden desert rain. So G-d, Who is an excellent Engineer, gives Noah detailed plans. Noah follows along, just like build-by-the-numbers- construction sets, and gives birth to a pretty cool boat. Well, maybe it was a ship. It was big.

Noah is often shown as being laughed at by those around him. Hum, a lot like the Survivalists of the late 70s, the Preppers of today. I can’t recall where it came from, perhaps from some Sunday school lesson a long time ago, but somehow I got the notion of Noah not really having a clue to what he was doing. It’s like he might say, “Hey, I don’t know what it’s for, I’m just following orders.” This can’t be a true representation of Noah, which is why I find suspect some of the way kids are taught the Bible. Even if Noah didn’t totally know what was going on at first, one can’t think ill of him if it were, for at least he followed orders. (And it was nice of him to do so, as it sounded like G-d didn’t have a lot of good folks to choose from back then, and he’d already “repented” of his creation, giving up on the whole “Let’s create man in our image” thing.)

Matthew Henry commented that “Noah [was] distinguished from the rest of the world, and a peculiar mark of honor put upon him. When God was displeased with the rest of the world, he favored Noah. Being a good man, He found him out, and smiled upon him. He was made a vessel of God’s mercy. God makes Noah the man of His counsel, communicating to him His purpose to destroy this wicked world by water, as afterwards, He told Abraham His resolution concerning Sodom (Genesis 18:17). The secret o f the Lord was with His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7) by a spirit of revelation, informing them particularly of His purpose.”

Noah had to have seen the corruptness in the world that he knew. He had to have been removed from that evil, too. Maybe he wasn’t perfect, just like us, but at least he caught G-d’s attention. He also must have seen some natural signs that made all the work and harassment he received from people around him, worth continuing until the ark was complete. Once it was done, how long did Noah have to wait until G-d decided it was time? Could have been a while. And once it was time to start loading, how long did that take? That could have taken a while, too. It’s hard enough sometimes to get my daughter’s dog to return to the house when she’s licking her lips at the scent of rabbit; she just wants to sit still, like a hunter in a stand, waiting for dinner to appear on four legs. I can’t imagine gathering up a whole bunch of animals, trying to care for the first few while gathering more. I’m sure the whole process has been expounded upon by a witty preacher trying to make a point about something or other.

The series continues Wednesday, in the meantime take a look at Genesis and think about parallels between the days of Noah and these days.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Back to Basics—Five

Two more points in my reading of Ezra that I initially suggested were: G-d’s prophets must stir up the people AND appeal to non-Jewish leaders to honor previously granted commitments to G-d’s people while declaring they are following the G-d of Israel; Once again, a non-rebellious, non-Jewish leader looks reasonably into the records and sees that the Jews are entitled to rebuild their temple, and commits to help also.

In my reading of Ezra, even though the rebuilding of the Temple had been objected to, and the Jews ordered to stop work, it continued. Perhaps it continued only very slowly. Perhaps it was problematic even among the Jewish Returnees. I can image some Jews saying to others who might be working on the Temple, “Hey, we have orders not rebuild. We have to honor those orders.” I can also imagine some Jews beginning to side with the non-Jewish residents of the area, even telling them when building is going on so that protests can be made. Non-Jews then would be telling the Jews not to follow G-d’s desires, not to follow after G-d’s heart, that the king had ordered them to stop.

Finally a couple of men begin to see things from G-d’s perspective, and encourage actively rebuilding the Temple. And this time, these wise men appeal to the king based upon King Cyrus’s decree. And they win. The decree is located in the archives, and permission is granted to continue the building. Not only does the current king, King Darius, allow it to begin, he helps fund it.

Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place. Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king’s goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered. And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail: That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons.

Ezra 6:7-10

King Darius even desires prayers be made for him and his sons. Once again, a non-Jewish leader has reverence for the Lord, G-d of All.

Ezra provides a picture of Restoration. It models getting back to the basics. Once apart, we must get back to a stable place from where we can begin to celebrate in the Lord in the Community of Believers. We can then rebuilt our selves as Temples of the LORD. It seems clear that today, as Believers, we will go through periods in our lives in which we find resistance to our focus. And as we begin to slow down our work, our hope is that G-d will send someone to encourage us in our journey, our seeking, of G-d’s heart. We seek G-d’s heart and His Temple in us is restored.

There are other lessons in the remaining chapters of Ezra. There is another group of exiles to return. There are more corrections to be made in the religious observance of the Jews in Israel. It is like this for us, too. We ascend a tower, following a circular stairway. We look out a window each new level, and see more of the landscape then previous levels. We continue on. We will do this our entire lives, until the Lord calls us to Him, in death or in His return to Earth. We grow. And every now and then we must take a time in which we return to the basics, renewing our vows and journey with our Messiah, Y’shuaJesus.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Getting Back to Basics—Four

Regardless of how we get into an exile situation, we are not in the place G-d intends for us to be. In the book of Ezra, a wave of exiles are released to return to Israel. Once there, they follow an interesting order: First on the agenda: getting settled in and their own homes in order. They meet in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths/Tents), and then begin the ritual sacrifices to G-d. Finally they begin work on the Temple, starting with the foundation.

Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the LORD, the God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

Ezra 4:1-6

Point three in this look at Getting Back to Basics is: Once G-d’s people return to where they are suppose to be and begin to rebuild their spiritual lives, there is resistance to their efforts.

Now those “adversaries” are not Jews. But before you say, “Well, the Jews made the Gentiles angry when they refused to let them help.” I think the Gentiles wanted work, wanted a share in the money being spent. They wanted construction contracts. And they were refused. Here’s what the note in The Apologetics Study Bible says, “Some people see an arrogant attitude at work in this rejection of help. However, the Jews were applying an important spiritual principle—service should be conducted by God’s people. They should be very wary of partnerships that involve unbelievers in fulfilling their service to God.” This rebuilding is between the people of G-d and G-d Himself, without outside “assistance.” This rejection of help enrages people, and those people become resistant to the Jews’ efforts at rebuilding their spiritual lives, their nation.

So here’s the the modern-day exile: Tarnished Gold. We are Christians. We are among those who Believe. We know we are saved by grace. Our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Live. But we also know we are far from being G-d’s model Christian. We are tarnished. At some point we become conscious of the tarnish that is on us. Our Thoughts, Words, and our Deeds are not what we want them to be. We begin to try to clean ourselves up. That’s when things get interesting.

Sunday I visited Christ Community Church. Pastor Jason, in his talk, spoke of the fallacy of trying. We try, we fail. We are, he said, to train. We either do or we don’t. We train to do. We take it one step at a time, is what I took from this part of his talk. The overall theme of his talk is really interesting. It was May Day: A Heart Check. It took its core message from Mark 10:17-31 in which a man walks away from Y’shuaJesus, turns away from Y’shuaJesus, Who asked him to sell all his material possessions and come and follow Him.

The key points in Pastor Jason’s talk are:

Sincerity is not the same as obedience.
If possessions have our heart, God cannot.
Following Christ will always cost you something.
Allow his love to transform your heart.

So, in the book of Ezra, non-Jewish folks resist the Jewish rebuilding of the Temple. They raise concerns to the Earthly authority, and that authority says, “Cease and Desist.” Pastor Jason didn’t speak about resistance as such in our attempt to reconnect with G-d, to get into a place with Him to which we feel called. Pastor Jason did, however, talk about how he would, as his pastor before him, try to talk people out of going into the ministry. Pastor Jason said that if he could talk a person out of it, it wasn’t from G-d.

If we really want to build or rebuild our relationship with our Lord, we are going to experience resistance. In Ezra, the resistance is from non-Jewish peoples afraid of the power of a people totally in G-d’s plan and protection. The resistance we may receive today, to our re-establishing or deepening our relationship with G-d, should only come from non-believers in Messiah. But, from what I take out of what Pastor Jason said, this resistance can come from those near and dear to us in order to test us to be sure that we are truly called to this new thing. Wow! Assaulted from both sides.

Funny. There are so many times in which I’ve pushed toward some goal, whether physically or spiritually, that I’ve not known whether it was G-d’s desire that I push onward, or allow myself to stop and be redirected. Resistance. The real question is when is resistance to bend us toward the destination or be broken through in order to get to the destination. Interesting question, isn’t it? But then perhaps you’ve got that figured out. I suppose is has to do with knowing precisely what the will of G-d is, what the destination is suppose to actually be.

Here’s something from Mira Grant’s book Blackout (the third book in a zombie trilogy):

“You’re a crazy. . . Shaun Mason, and I think sometimes you’re not going to be happy until you’ve managed to get every last one of us killed, but you’re a good man, all the same.”

“Remind me to have that inscribed on my urn.” I said, and Becks laughed, and things felt like they might be okay again. We had a direction. I didn’t like it; I didn’t have to. All I had to do was follow it, and let it lead me to whatever the next step on this increasingly insane journey would prove to be.

Direction. The Will of G-d. Perhaps I think too much. Perhaps I’m sincere, but fail to obey. Perhaps I simply am not willing to spend what it takes to follow. It becomes a bit clearer to me now, though, that isn’t the doing. The way Pastor Jason put it is that it isn’t about finding out, and following, G-d’s will; it is about seeking G-d’s heart. This isn’t something new to me. Rephrased, yes. I’ve known it this way: “It’s not about doing, but being,” meaning being in relationship with the Lord, our G-d, our Creator, and knowing HIM.

Knowing G-d’s heart allows us to overcome all resistance, even if it means allowing the resistance to redirect us. Knowing G-d’s heart means not worrying about the moment, where we are starring at our path, but to lift our head up, to look toward heaven, to watch for our Lord with utter rapt attention.

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Matthew 24:30

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Memorial Day in which American’s Remember

English: The "Bennington Battle Flag"... — The “Bennington Battle Flag” flying outside City Hall in San Francisco, California (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today is Memorial Day. Today we remember. We remember that the Liberty, the Freedom, that G-d has provided us, is codified in the American Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Liberties and Freedoms allow us to worship the LORD, Who is G-d, in the way we choose. This is a Divinely inspired right, and has been successfully defended for over two hundred years, from enemies both domestic and abroad.

Today, we remember the men and women who died in defense of our country, our liberties, and our freedoms that allow us to worship G-d. May G-d continue to defend America, its Constitution, its Liberties, its Freedoms.

Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

Psalm 74:22

For then the sacrifice of so many lives will not be lost, and the worship of the LORD Who is G-d, the Lord Who is One, shall prevail in America, and throughout the world.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon all His people. . .

Save Our Military Cemeteries (foxnews.com)

Getting Back to Basics—Three

Recapping. In one of my Bibles, the book of Ezra is introduced as having a theme of “Restoration: getting back to basics.” In my reading I found a number of points worthy of discussion. The first point, “As shown in the book of Jonah, and now in Ezra, non-Jews can acknowledge G-d as The G-d of All and obey Him,” was discussed Wednesday. The second point is that “G-d sees to it that even when He allows His people to be hauled into captivity—which perhaps provides a modern analogy for backsliding into sin—He finds a way for them to return to His service.” Here’s how the book of Ezra begins (Ezra 1:1,2):

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

It doesn’t seem that ol’ King Cyrus was really letting the Exiled Jews return out of pure altruism. The king said he was charged to build G-d a house at Jerusalem. Additionally, it was a general policy he’d developed of letting exiled people and their stolen goods return to their homelands. A note in The Apologetic Study Bible states that “Skeptics note that the magnanimity shown by Cyrus toward the Jewish exiles was not due to divine intervention. It was a typical policy toward displaced people under his rule. This is undeniable, but this fact of history does not diminish the significance of the return of the Jews for exile. After all, the return was a fulfillment of prophecy. Isaiah prophesied the rise of Cyrus and his benevolence toward Israel 150 years earlier (se Is 44:28-45:7). Furthermore, the timing was impeccable. Cyrus’s decree coincided with Jeremiah’s prophecy that the captivity in Babylon would last 70 years (see Jr 25:11).”

Irregardless of what people think, G-d worked upon the heart of king Cyrus—says the Bible—and the king decided he would let Israel go. Good decision. Better than Pharaoh. The prophesy was fulfilled. Israel’s exiles returned.

In the book of Ezra, the people got into this state of captivity because they were hauled away after conquest. Israel was conquered as a result of forsaking G-d. Israel remained only seventy years in Babylon. Egypt is different. Israel fled from drought that would have led to famine, into a land that G-d had prepared in advance to receive them. Once there, Israel remained for four hundred thirty years. And in the beginning, Israel was welcomed, given land away from the Egyptians in Goshen (see Genesis 46:34). Israel prospered in Goshen too. But perhaps too much, as successors of Pharaoh that didn’t know Israel well, became afraid of Israel, and began to subjugate the people. As with Israel in Babylon, the people ended up in harsh captivity. As with G-d rescuing His people out of Babylon, the LORD came to the rescue of His people in Egypt, Both times, returning the people to the place He’d chosen for them. The Promised Land.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

note: There’s no doubt more that can be compared/contrasted between the two exile periods and the subsequent returns. You may also like Mark’s Blog This Day With God, in which he has great studies from the book of Ezra.

Getting Back to Basics—Two

G-d is the the King of Heaven and Earth, of Believers and unbelievers. In Ezra we see an Earthly leader, King Cyrus, who is not Jewish, acknowledging and submitting to G-d. Additionally, as I pointed out, the people of Nineveh and their leader, as recorded in Jonah 3:5-8, acknowledged the LORD our G-d:

So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

And there is King Nebuchadnezzar, who brought some of the Jews to Babylon. He had some trials and tribulations in coming to the following conclusion (Daniel 4:37): “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.”

The opposite is seen in Pharaoh, to whom Moses appealed on behave of G-d, “Let My people Go.” Pharaoh is one who failed to submit to G-d. He was a rebellious leader. He paid the price for his arrogance and rebellion, too.

What about today? Do we see modern leaders actively acknowledging G-d, our G-d, and submitting to Him? Sadly, I can think of no one country in which the leadership submits to G-d. Have I missed such such a country? There is talk, sure. But submission? The proof is in the putting forth of G-d’s agenda, not man’s.

There are, however, many countries with rebellious leaders. In North Korea, for instance, the king is considered god. When he died, his son became king in his place, and is due worship also. The North Korean policies are not favorable to Christianity (an understatement), therefore the leadership is in rebellion to G-d. There are 50 something countries in which the Gospel of Y’shuaJesus is restricted—in which Christianity is restricted and the messengers of the Gospel of Messiah are persecuted, murdered. The leadership of these countries is in rebellion to our G-d. There are many more countries that, while permitting Christian churches to exist, have laws that call quoting from the Bible a “Hate Crime.” Um, I guess that make them restricted countries, too. Australia and Canada are two such countries. And if some of the leaders in America have their way, the United States will also adopt such restrictive legislation.

There are leaders in countries that speak as if they submit to G-d, but their actions belie this. Some leaders say they are Christian, yet demonstrate through words and actions that they are in rebellion to G-d. One cannot, for instance, support various activities expressly forbidden by G-d, and actually be a Christian. One cannot, as a political leader, advocate for homosexuality, and turn to Christian ministers for their support in an upcoming election. But Paul, in his letter to the Romans (1:21) wrote: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Given the darkening the minds taking place in our topsy-turvy world in which we live, a national leader can advocate that which is contrary to the Bible, and can ask Christian ministers to support him in his re-election. Here, in America, the President, the central figurehead representing the American people, has announced that he supports marriage between people of the same gender. He is pictured on Newsweek magazine with a rainbow-colored halo over his head. The caption under the photo implies the president is homosexual: “The First Gay President.” I infer from the photo that Newsweek feels the presidential support for same-sex marriage is saintly—that the president is a somehow divine. If President Obama is re-elected in November, it means that a majority of Americans support homosexual unions. According to the Bible, homosexual practices are forbidden. This would place America in rebellion to G-d. How long shall a rebellious nation continue before bringing upon itself the wrath of a merciful G-d?

Given all that is happening, how come I continue to see signs in front of churches proclaiming “God Bless America”? Perhaps we should be more like Ezra, and tear our clothing, fall upon the ground, and bewail our current, sad, state of affairs (Ezra 10:1). Perhaps then G-d might have mercy upon us, that we might actually find His blessings.

As the slogan for a nearby church declares, “There’s Hope!” Perhaps, like Nineveh, leaders and people will reconsider their allegiance, acknowledge the the LORD of ALL, and turn away from practices contrary to scripture. Perhaps then the wrath of a merciful G-d shall be turned away.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon you who take Him seriously. . .

Getting Back to Basics

Ezra shows us how G-d puts it into the heart of a non-Jewish king, King Cyrus, to not only release the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, but to fund it all. Sweet! Had Pharaoh cooperated so readily with G-d, a lot of people would have not died, including Pharaoh’s son.

Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 1:2-4

According to the introduction to the book of Ezra in my Matthew Henry Study Bible (KJV), “The purpose of the book seems to be threefold: 1. To show the providence of God as He cares for His people in the face of hostile neighbors, 2. To show the importance and wisdom of obedience, 3. To underline the importance of distinctness of belief and separation from ungodly practice.” The major theme is “Restoration: getting back to basics.”

As I read the first six chapters of Ezra, I was struck by the following:

As shown in the book of Jonah, and now in Ezra, non-Jews can acknowledge G-d as The G-d of All and obey Him;
G-d sees to it that even when He allows His people to be hauled into captivity—which perhaps provides a modern analogy for backsliding into sin—He finds a way for them to return to His service;
Once G-d’s people return, there is resistance to their efforts to rebuild their spiritual lives;
G-d’s prophets must stir up the people AND appeal to non-Jewish leaders to honor previously granted commitments to G-d’s people while declaring they are following the G-d of Israel;
Once again, a non-rebellious, non-Jewish leader looks reasonably into the records and sees that the Jews are entitled to rebuild their temple, and commits to help also.

I plan to finish off the book before expounding upon these initial points. Perhaps y’all might take a look at Ezra and we can dialogue on it.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

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