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Guest
There is a famine amongst us, and it has deepened...
It is not a famine of ordinary food and water; those things are relatively plentiful. Neither is is a famine of material goods; we are virtually DROWNING in those. Nor is it a famine of "entertainment"; it bloats our TV's and computers, game systems and streets alike, nearly bursting them at the seams with any sort of diversion we wish, both "legitimate" as well as the baser vices. Yet, there are people STARVING before our very EYES:
"Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? “You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. “Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. “They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. “My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.”’Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: “As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “surely because My flock has become a prey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock; therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’" (Ezekiel 34:1-10, NASB1995, emphasis mine)
These words described the situation in Israel had been, and why the both parts of the nation fell. Those charged with the care of the people had not done their tasks, and had chosen instead to neglect them. As a result, the people began to wither and atrophy, and belief and faith was replaced with selfishness, lust, greed and unbelief.
It was not a famine of food and water, nor of material good, but a spiritual famine. One started by a lack of The Word of the Lord, and now deepened into a lack of standing for that word in a sinful, evil world.
" Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD. “People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it " (Amos 8:11-12, NASB1995, emphasis mine)
Both these passages describe the spiritual condition in Israel, and at first, seem to contradict each other in who was responsible for the "famine" God or man? But if we examine them closely, we discover that Ezekiel's prophecy examines the root cause of the "famine"; Amos' deals with God cutting off his word as a result of the people no longer even desiring the word of the Lord. As His departure from the Temple shows, God's presence will NOT remain on earth where he is NOT revered.
While these prophecies were directed at Israel, it holds a warning for us today. And it is a warning we'd best heed, because all around us, we can see the effects...
...and they are horrific beyond words.
As it stands, there has been a harvest of souls in the Middle East, with thousands of Muslims coming to the Lord every day, despite intense persecution that extends all the way to execution. The same goes for China, where underground churches thrive despite the intense persecution by the Chinese government, which includes raids, imprisonment, beatings and even death. Latin America, Asia, Indonesia; all these places are seeing harvests of people coming to repentant faith in Jesus Christ. But in the "developed" nations, we see that transgenderism, depravity, pedophilia, homosexuality, paganism, atheism, unbelief, agnosticism, evolution, "religions" and "woke" that feed the people nothing but worthless dreck, have spawned like so many maggots!
Meantime, we drown in material goods, "services", vices and luxuries that even the most posh of regents of ages past could only have dreamt. But put on the "spiritual goggles" that Scripture affords, and you will see lands filled with the emaciated, the feeble, the malnourished and the dying, feeding from theological dumpsters and garbage cans!!! Filth fills the mouths of the famished, and "beggars of the soul" scavenge the ecumenical landfills and dumps for scraps of whatever will fill their starvation-wrenched spiritual bellies.
Why?
We are instructed in Scripture:
"“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB1995, emphasis mine)
"Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." (Romans 12:6-8, NASB, emphasis mine)
Sadly, the following is the case:
Our churches, once the place where prayer warrior and evangelist alike would gather together to have their wounds bound, worship the Living God together and refresh their weary spirits have now become battered fortresses where we ensconce ourselves from the peering eyes of the world. We sit and expect the pastor (or whoever is preaching) to not only feed us, but to chew our bread as well. Meanwhile, we fret about who's turn it is to pack away the "welcome basket", what the agenda for the board of elders happens to be, and are more concerned with the dress or suit one is wearing than we are their spiritual welfare. We whisper and bicker behind the backs of those we do not like, and insist that since we have disdain for them, that they are not walking with the Lord". Afterward, we race home to grasp eagerly for the comfort of our own digs, secure within the four walls that surround us. We watch the news, which tells us of the latest horrors our "government" have perpetrated upon the children and the people while rewarding and empowering the wicked and the evil, wring our hands and then seek some "entertainment" to take our minds off of the entire debalce.
Is this "earnestly contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints"? (see Jude 1:3)
We are in the midst of a spiritual famine, and people are eating garbage.
Jesus had much to say about the duties of a shepherd, and what His thoughts on this:
"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." (John 10:11-15, NASB, emphasis mine)
Jesus demonstrated what kind of heart we should have as shepherds. Anyone who brings the word of God to feed those who hunger for it are a shepherd, and all of us have been commanded to do exactly that by proclaiming the Gospel. This also includes standing for the word that we have been given, as we are to model what the Lord has commanded us to preach to others.
Further, Jesus had this to speak to us:
"And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." (Luke 12:47-48, NASB1995, emphasis mine)
The Church has been entrusted by God not only with the incredible good news of the Gospel, but the very words of the Lord himself in Scripture. Has not a great deal indeed been given unto us? We know the Master's will, and we have received the instructions to complete our task. But yet, famine has taken hold where we live, and people are feeding their "inner man" on the equivalent of spiritual slime mold! And we wonder how not just all these other nonsense "religions", but "transgenderism", "LGBTQ+" and "woke" took hold?!
It's called "being asleep at the wheel".
Should we say "oh, it's all prophesied; people are going to fall away anyways because it is the end times"? I'm sorry, but that doesn't cut it, and we know it. For all Paul knew, Jesus could have been back the very next day for him and everyone! Suppose He, Peter, john, James and the other apostles and all the first-century Christians took that same approach and just let their preaching go to waste? Suppose they didn't even bother, and let the other religions of their day such as Gnosticism encroach, all because they believed "apostasy would happen in the end times anyhow"?
The Church has a SEVERE amount of waking up to do, and QUICK. We have a date with the Lord at the Bema Seat, and while Scripture tells us we are not under condemnation, we still have an account to give before Him of what we did here on Earth.
GOD ISN'T PLAYING GAMES......ARE WE?
-Sojo414
It is not a famine of ordinary food and water; those things are relatively plentiful. Neither is is a famine of material goods; we are virtually DROWNING in those. Nor is it a famine of "entertainment"; it bloats our TV's and computers, game systems and streets alike, nearly bursting them at the seams with any sort of diversion we wish, both "legitimate" as well as the baser vices. Yet, there are people STARVING before our very EYES:
"Then the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? “You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock. “Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. “They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. “My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.”’Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: “As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “surely because My flock has become a prey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock; therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’" (Ezekiel 34:1-10, NASB1995, emphasis mine)
These words described the situation in Israel had been, and why the both parts of the nation fell. Those charged with the care of the people had not done their tasks, and had chosen instead to neglect them. As a result, the people began to wither and atrophy, and belief and faith was replaced with selfishness, lust, greed and unbelief.
It was not a famine of food and water, nor of material good, but a spiritual famine. One started by a lack of The Word of the Lord, and now deepened into a lack of standing for that word in a sinful, evil world.
" Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the LORD. “People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east; They will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, But they will not find it " (Amos 8:11-12, NASB1995, emphasis mine)
Both these passages describe the spiritual condition in Israel, and at first, seem to contradict each other in who was responsible for the "famine" God or man? But if we examine them closely, we discover that Ezekiel's prophecy examines the root cause of the "famine"; Amos' deals with God cutting off his word as a result of the people no longer even desiring the word of the Lord. As His departure from the Temple shows, God's presence will NOT remain on earth where he is NOT revered.
While these prophecies were directed at Israel, it holds a warning for us today. And it is a warning we'd best heed, because all around us, we can see the effects...
...and they are horrific beyond words.
As it stands, there has been a harvest of souls in the Middle East, with thousands of Muslims coming to the Lord every day, despite intense persecution that extends all the way to execution. The same goes for China, where underground churches thrive despite the intense persecution by the Chinese government, which includes raids, imprisonment, beatings and even death. Latin America, Asia, Indonesia; all these places are seeing harvests of people coming to repentant faith in Jesus Christ. But in the "developed" nations, we see that transgenderism, depravity, pedophilia, homosexuality, paganism, atheism, unbelief, agnosticism, evolution, "religions" and "woke" that feed the people nothing but worthless dreck, have spawned like so many maggots!
Meantime, we drown in material goods, "services", vices and luxuries that even the most posh of regents of ages past could only have dreamt. But put on the "spiritual goggles" that Scripture affords, and you will see lands filled with the emaciated, the feeble, the malnourished and the dying, feeding from theological dumpsters and garbage cans!!! Filth fills the mouths of the famished, and "beggars of the soul" scavenge the ecumenical landfills and dumps for scraps of whatever will fill their starvation-wrenched spiritual bellies.
Why?
We are instructed in Scripture:
"“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, NASB1995, emphasis mine)
"Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." (Romans 12:6-8, NASB, emphasis mine)
Sadly, the following is the case:
Our churches, once the place where prayer warrior and evangelist alike would gather together to have their wounds bound, worship the Living God together and refresh their weary spirits have now become battered fortresses where we ensconce ourselves from the peering eyes of the world. We sit and expect the pastor (or whoever is preaching) to not only feed us, but to chew our bread as well. Meanwhile, we fret about who's turn it is to pack away the "welcome basket", what the agenda for the board of elders happens to be, and are more concerned with the dress or suit one is wearing than we are their spiritual welfare. We whisper and bicker behind the backs of those we do not like, and insist that since we have disdain for them, that they are not walking with the Lord". Afterward, we race home to grasp eagerly for the comfort of our own digs, secure within the four walls that surround us. We watch the news, which tells us of the latest horrors our "government" have perpetrated upon the children and the people while rewarding and empowering the wicked and the evil, wring our hands and then seek some "entertainment" to take our minds off of the entire debalce.
Is this "earnestly contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints"? (see Jude 1:3)
We are in the midst of a spiritual famine, and people are eating garbage.
Jesus had much to say about the duties of a shepherd, and what His thoughts on this:
"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep." (John 10:11-15, NASB, emphasis mine)
Jesus demonstrated what kind of heart we should have as shepherds. Anyone who brings the word of God to feed those who hunger for it are a shepherd, and all of us have been commanded to do exactly that by proclaiming the Gospel. This also includes standing for the word that we have been given, as we are to model what the Lord has commanded us to preach to others.
Further, Jesus had this to speak to us:
"And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." (Luke 12:47-48, NASB1995, emphasis mine)
The Church has been entrusted by God not only with the incredible good news of the Gospel, but the very words of the Lord himself in Scripture. Has not a great deal indeed been given unto us? We know the Master's will, and we have received the instructions to complete our task. But yet, famine has taken hold where we live, and people are feeding their "inner man" on the equivalent of spiritual slime mold! And we wonder how not just all these other nonsense "religions", but "transgenderism", "LGBTQ+" and "woke" took hold?!
It's called "being asleep at the wheel".
Should we say "oh, it's all prophesied; people are going to fall away anyways because it is the end times"? I'm sorry, but that doesn't cut it, and we know it. For all Paul knew, Jesus could have been back the very next day for him and everyone! Suppose He, Peter, john, James and the other apostles and all the first-century Christians took that same approach and just let their preaching go to waste? Suppose they didn't even bother, and let the other religions of their day such as Gnosticism encroach, all because they believed "apostasy would happen in the end times anyhow"?
The Church has a SEVERE amount of waking up to do, and QUICK. We have a date with the Lord at the Bema Seat, and while Scripture tells us we are not under condemnation, we still have an account to give before Him of what we did here on Earth.
GOD ISN'T PLAYING GAMES......ARE WE?
-Sojo414
Based on tithing principles, Sunday School should comprise at least 10 percent of available time for training. So, in this example, Sunday School or Confirmation should be 4 hours a week, and that's just the classroom portion.
