1302AFC 011113 Words from the Son of the Preacher
Read it online here, please. And please click on the links!
Mark 4:12 – I speak everything in parables so that ” WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN.” See also Isaiah 6:9-10
In the past six weeks, the newscasts on TV, the blogs on the Internet, whole sections in newspapers, or just about every kind of media outlet has reported about the heinous activities of mass murderers, horrible weather events on every continent, financial catastrophes, political intrigue and ineptitude, and other disturbing news. Meanwhile there are a bewildering number of so-called “entertainment” products that feature scenes or references to gory violence, pornography, physical and mental abuse – including torture – rampant immorality, cursing and other inappropriate language, and many affronts against traditional values of God, family, and country. There are untold numbers of persons who abuse their own bodies, the bodies of others, and expect to be appreciated for their vulgarity. Sexual promiscuity is so pervasive it is considered an integral part of life. Think about these media offerings:
- A lawyer whose unfaithful husband is still having sexual liaisons despite being supposedly exonerated, and a bisexual coworker whose provenance must be from the King of Liars. The lawyer is herself involved in an extramarital relationship with a coworker.
- A self-professed homosexual plays the role of a womanizing bachelor whose one-track mind focuses completely on gratuitous sex with any woman that can fog a mirror. He is constantly urging his comrades to join his endless pursuit of debauchery.
- A videogame marked M for Mature features scores of ways to score by violently murdering other characters, while another allows the player to take up the role of a rapist planning and carrying out disgusting crimes. Another video game is an endless orgy of murder and bloodshed with satanic themes throughout.
- A long-running series features a team of investigators that profile the most severely disturbed humans on the planet and neatly bring them to justice within an hour. Some of the antagonists in this “entertainment” are shown committing horrible acts of violence on other humans.
- We have seen a rash of senseless mass murders committed by people who seem to have no moral compass whatsoever, and the trend is escalating.
- No point in going into the porn on the Internet or even on your cable TV network. It is ubiquitous and utterly unnecessary.
This is a very, very short list. What is behind all this? Or is the better interrogative “who?” Why is there so much evil, and is there more now than there was 5 years ago, 10 years ago, fifty years ago, a thousand years ago?
Evil is always with us, and those who give their lives to evil and think nothing will come of it are in for one hell of a surprise. 1 Peter 4:1‐11: The World wants us to be like them, and constantly entices us to live “in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.” They make fun of us for being “religious nuts,” but when Judgment comes, they will have one hell of a time coming to them. As for us, we are to “keep loving one another earnestly,” since love covers a multitude of sins (theirs and ours). Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another. Jesus blood cleansed you of your sins – the ways you have hurt yourself, your community, and your God. His sacrifice covers all completely, permanently, eternally.
That is why it is so important to pray zealously for those who state, with pride, that they want nothing to do with God and want God to have nothing to do with them. It rips my heart to pieces to hear this! It makes me physically ill to see such blatant affronts to the Mercy and Holiness of God because it means that these people doing these things stand an excellent chance of living for the rest of eternity without and outside of the joy of being in the Presence of God, the Holy Trinity.
I want to share something with you that’s dated 5/5/67. It was written back in the days when people called me a Jesus Freak. In April of that year: Surveyor 3 had landed on the moon a few weeks earlier. There was a military coup in Greece. Abortion was legalized in my home state, Colorado. Nuclear testing recommenced in Nevada. Aretha Franklin’s recording of RESPECT stormed the charts. Muhammad Ali lost all his title because he refused to be drafted. On May 1, Elvis married Priscilla. Altogether these events produced:
Words form the Son of the Preacher
Go now deeply, darkly, slowly
into the dust-impregnated sky
and hold your light
to perforate darkness.
Then plummet and crash
deeply scarring the virgin breasts
of all our raspy ancient seashores.
Pierce them to the depth of Hades
and cross that river, gain that shore
where life and all its petty drooling
wrings its tongue to quench the burning
souls of men who died for knowledge,
breaching doors of God’s own wisdom.
From there, scrape a taste of sulfur
and grind it bitter in your belly.
Mix it well with soot from Heaven
gathered on your learning heart
and vomit them upon the morrow.
Earthly rantings then will bore you
‘til at last you see your quest
and fly with fury ‘round the planet
giving more than you can hold
to sullen hands of death incarnate
blindly waving God away.
When I see all this corruption in the world, when I cringe at the tsunami of evil that is crashing down on it, I see … “sullen hands of death incarnate blindly waving God away.” That I why I want you to PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!! Pray for the conversion of sinners. Pray for full conversion, conversion that includes believing in the heart, confession with the mouth, repentance with the soul, and charity with the body. Here is a prayer I found that may help you:
Father all Merciful,
let those who hear and hear again
yet never understand,
hear Your Voice this time
and understand that it is You, the Holy of Holies.
Open the eyes of those who see and see,
yet never perceive,
to see with their eyes this time
Your Holy Face and Your Glory.
Place Your Finger on their hearts
so that their hearts may open
and understand Your Faithfulness.
I pray and ask you all these things, Righteous Father,
so that all the nations be converted and be healed
through the Wounds of Your Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
God’s Spirit Poured Out according to Joel 2:28-32
28 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. 30 I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 32 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.
The LORD is calling you to call others. Pray, Beloved! Pray for the complete conversions of sinners everywhere! Here’s a short and simple prayer – easy to memorize – that you’ve seen before: We pray for the conversion of sinners everywhere. Help them to nurture and cherish the spark of your Spirit that dwells in every living soul.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved.
Do it for them out of love, Beloved!
