May 3, 2013

• Judgment Comes, Part 2: Peace, Peace

  For the next few days I will be reprinting several old posts.  There is a reason for this, and I do feel it necessary to rehash old material before proceeding with new thoughts.  I have done some minor editing, so this is not entirely a rerun.  New thoughts will be in italics.

  In any case, this was originally posted on September 7, 2011 as “Judgment comes, Pt 2” and continued an unplanned series of posts which I will soon finish.  Expect Parts  3 & 4 to be reprinted soon, and then I will finally conclude what was started nearly 2 years ago.

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  There is a strange pattern in scripture that gets little notice.  I’ve been looking at it lately and wondering why.  Do we not see?  Are our hearts hardened?  Or have we just failed to learn the lessons from the past?  I’m not complaining this time… I’m just observing…. and wondering.

  The pattern I am referring to is this: Judgment comes when men cry “Peace, Peace”.

  In Jeremiah’s day it was the (false) prophets and (false) teachers of the law.  They told the King “Peace, Peace” when Babylon was on the horizon.  Israel had fallen to the Assyrians and Jeremiah was sent to Judah to preach repentance.  Thing was, his message was not received well.  No one wanted to hear it.  To many preachers were filling the children of Israel’s ears with nonsense.  They were telling the King, and from there onwards to the people:  Peace, we will have continued peace.  All shall be well, there will be no famine or war, God has given us peace and will keep us in peace for all our days. (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11; 14:13)

  Jeremiah had a condemning message to Judah — You say I will turn to Egypt, surely they will protect me, but I tell you that Egypt, too, shall fall and leave you barren and unprotected.   It’s not what the king and the people wanted to hear.  Better to trust in man, than to turn in repentance to God. 

  Even in Jesus day men were crying out for peace.  They wanted a political messiah to bring about the end of the Roman oppression.  Peace, to 1st century Israel, was merely an outward circumstance that had little to do with our standing before a Holy God. 

  Today we are hearing “Peace, Peace” again.   We want peace in Egypt.  We want peace in Greece.  We want peace in Russia and in Europe and in Great Britain.  We yearn for peace in the Middle East and Israel.   All over the word we are seeing civil unrest and regimes toppling — only to hear later that the new leaders have made no difference.  People look to men, and spurn God, and then wonder why the problems persist. 

  Yet “Peace, Peace” isn’t ONLY men falsely claiming that there will be no war — it’s men claiming you can find peace anywhere but God. 

  • Want peace?  Try modern psychology, surely they have the answers. Just accept yourself — be who you are — and don’t let anyone tell you that you sin, for they don’t know what’s best for you.   Why bother caring what others, let alone God, thinks about me, my lifestyle and how it impacts others around me.  The greatest Biblical command is to love myself just as I might somehow love others…. or something like that.
  • Want peace?  Turn to the scientists, they have all the answers.  Observation of the clearly definable always leads to answers…. doesn’t it?  If the earth has been unchanged since the beginning of time, well then Evolution works…. but if there was a global flood… doesn’t that change the entire equation??????  (Seems to me that sediment isn’t laid down gradually as evolutionists assume, but catastrophically — such as when Mount St Helen’s blew and laid down 10+ feet of sediment in a single day.)
  • Want peace?  Turn to the politicians, surely they can make a change for “Hope”.  (Yes, that was a take on the Obama 1 term election slogan…)  Surely those who make laws can make it so my life isn’t so full of crap and miserable.  All we need is a new boss…..
    
  • Want peace?  Buy the latest fashion and you’ll have peace (till fashions change).  

  I’m not saying that Science doesn’t hold some answers.  I’m not saying that psychology is entirely wrong.  But when men turn away from God to any passing fancy in order to find peace  — and when even Christians follow — it begs the question of when Judgment will follow.

  Today I’m looking out across the world and curious — in a time when men are crying out for “Peace, Peace” (both to others and inwardly to themselves) and turning to whatever is new, fashionable & shiny — when Lady Gaga and Oprah can tell people “be who you are and don’t let others judge you: Accept yourselves” and be the most popular “preachers” (quote unquote) on the planet — then I really have to wonder when judgment will come.

  • 1:40 am
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