The title of my post today is really tongue-in-cheek. Many have heard of the novel and subsequent movie entitled "Love in the Time of Cholera". Well, this is my take off on that title. I have not read the book I allude to...but it sounds to me like a cesspool of contradictions. Love. And pestilence. A blessing. (albeit a blessing by the world's standard to possibly include adultery, which is not a blessing at all). Set against the backdrop of catastrophe.
This is the theme of today's entry. We are living in unique times. The times we are entering (and to some degree have been IN), are unlike any the world has ever seen. Sure there have been times of sickness and pandemics. There have been famines, earthquakes, all of the symptoms of the last days enumerated by Yeshua in His end-times discourse. But for those chickens who have been sitting idly in the boiling pot, enjoying the nice sauna-like atmosphere...you are about to be in for a rude awakening. For these are not times of prosperity. They are not times of victory. Nor are they times of desired "change". Oh, they are times of change alright, but not change for the better. Sometimes God wanted His people to feel the brunt of His judgement- a truly sobering experience. To be on the receiving end of His chastisement. A holy rebuke from the Holy One of Israel. He wanted them to sit there in their consequence and think about their rebellious ways which had led Him to turn His face from them for awhile. It is a cosmically tragic event for the Lord of Glory to turn His face against a nation. Just look at Egypt. My friends, I am sad to say that this nation is about to receive the brunt of the Lord turning His face against us for really the first time in our nation's history. I am not an alarmist. I look at the scriptures. And I look at how the decisions we have made and are making which God promised would bring judgement. And I speak up. That is all.
For the purposes of today's post, I have specifically pointed out the recent pandemic in order to give the reader something to anchor to. Something you are familiar with.
We have seen the unleashing of what will evolve into a major pandemic of sickness this year with the Swine Flu (I was recently corrected at a family function by a relative who happens to be a nurse for a major local hospital...' H1N1' she said. Oops. I stand corrected before the establishment. Now, before you think I have just written her off as drinking the Kool-Aid, I do not believe she knowingly would condescend to me or subscribe to an indoctrination which refusing to do so would endanger her job). The ensuing vaccine farce has only made things more comical. VACCINE!!! GET YOUR VACCINE HERE!! (said like a beer peddler at a Yankees game). Uh, no thank you. Not after I have read the ingredients in said vaccines and have seen the FDA cow down to the WHO (World Health Organization) and pass the vaccine without any clinical trials on the demographics of people for which they desired to treat. Not after the widely available info I have come across regarding vaccines in general and especially not after seeing their ingredients list.
I put my faith in God and His Torah. Period. Not the medical establishment. Not Big Pharma. If my God says swine is unclean and Big Pharma says it helps inocculate me against disease.....I think I will side with the Almighty. If God says do not cause your son or daughter to pass through the fire (an ancient form of child sacrifice not unlike our abortions today), then I will not willingly inject myself nor my son or daughter with a shot which contains aborted fetal tissues.
WAKE UP CHRISTIAN!! Learn to think again for yourself. Jesus told us to be watchful. This does not mean looking for the next ear-tickling prophet to come to town for a worhsip and prophecy conference to give you a word so you can be slain in the Spirit. Read your Bible. God allowed it to be written in your language so you could do so. That very same Bible tells us that the lawless one who is coming will have power to "overcome the saints". Are you standing bravely for the Lord, for righteousness where you are right now? If the anti-messiah practices lawlessness (Hebrew-Torahlessness- without God's teaching), are you practicing Torah-fullness? Are you full of God's teaching? Mindful of His ways? Able to detect when leaders and the influences in our society are not mindful of His ways? King David was constantly meditating on the law of the Lord. And God said David was a man after His own heart.
I know this approach for some people is very direct and can seem a little tearse. But the time for niceties has long past. The time for dire warnings is upon us. After all, most American Christians think that we just started a New Year and "Boy brother....is God gonna do something awesome this year!" No, a new year is not upon us. God's calendar is set by His moedim (His Feasts Leviticus 23) and His signs in the heavens- the clock-setters according to His scripture. And the Almighty's calendar is the only one that matters. It is the timeclock He has always gone by and it is the one He will use to mark events to look for in the last days. The new year will begin at Passover according to the Biblical Hebrew calendar according to the aviv barley harvest in Israel. Now, attmittedly, I am no expert on this subject. I am learning much of it for the first time. But I WANT to learn it. I want to make the switch. I want to be on Yehovah's agenda. Not the world's. And I have already made leaps in the general direction of repentance. A change of mind and heart to what is true. To what is right. I pray I continue to repent in the face of opposition.
In the midst of all of this, I have just this last week given birth to my second child, a girl. (Thus the 'love' portion of my title). She is adorable. She overtook me with surprise at how much I love her. I bonded with my first child, my son, while he was in the womb. Which was good because he spent the first 2 weeks of his life, the most critical for bonding, in a hospital isolette. Isolette- even the word conotates lonliness. Now I am doing all my bonding with my baby girl while she is here, in the flesh. She is a bright spot in my life. A reminder that LIFE is the most precious thing in this world. And LOVE is the most appropriate response to that life.
Love. And repentance. In the time of Swine Flu.
Many would ask...well, if you have such a bleak view of the future, what would make you decide to have a child for goodness' sake?! Well, this same God, the One True God, whom I have been telling you His ways are different than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts....convinced me. You see, to Him, life is so precious and valuable, it is worth a little tribulation. It is worth going through trials and temptations. And persecution. It is worth having the fear of the unknown and bringing a new person with you along for the ride. It is worth creating another human being who has an eternal soul. And besides....God is the author of life. It is up to Him anyway.
We forget the majesty and awesomeness of the Creator in a culture steeped with blasphemy, idolatry, and the taking of innocent life for personal gain. We have kicked Him out of our schools, marketplaces, and churches.
I am mindful of His sovereignty now, during a time I had not forseen, even a little more than a year ago. You see, after my son, I was not particularly planning on having any more children. At least not for a long time. I'll go into all the factors of our decision in a later post. The point is, even despite the (very well-justified) reasons I had for not wanting to have another baby right now, The Creator thought having another child would be the most fitting thing to do. And I will spend the next several years, as many as God blesses me with, finding out why.
So...you can keep your Shacks and your vampires and your Avatars. And even your transcendetal prayer and Christian yoga. I am not interested in the many ways the devil tries to get us followers of the Messiah Yeshua of Nazareth back onto the wide path that leads to destruction. I am more interested in this season of my life with preparing myself to be faithful in the grave times ahead. Not to panic. And to be prepared...taking care of my family. Integrity is not something you wake up one morning and decide to have. It is a discipline you exercise day in and day out. It is a lifestyle you make one decision at a time in the present moment. To listen and obey. Or not to listen and not obey. I am working on flexing those muscles now so I can be spiritually buffed when the critical time comes and all of my creature comforts are taken away and even my freedom and human dignity are on the line.
Those who heed and do the same- we need to encourage eachother and prod one another on in this critical time. Find someone on the narrow path which leads to life (someone who has gone through the Narrow Gate which is Yeshua HaMaschiach) and bless and encourage their faith. There is no other period in time as exciting as the one we are living in. And you never know when you will be seeding for your own encouragement which will return unto you in a most critical point in your future. During this time of love, repentance, and swine flu.
Shalom. (Peace).
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