Pastor Letter (December 11, 2020)
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Pastor’s Letter, December 11, 2020
Don’t Sweat the Big Stuff – Nothing to See Here Folks
Those 33,000 e-mails – they never happened 100 Million to Iran? How can you be sure; - I mean, really You ask: Where did those 200,000 ballots come from? Beats me Dead People voting? How can you be sure ? Did they tell you? No proof of voter fraud, all the affadavits are wrong ‘Come on man!,Chinese bribes have never influenced US institutions or politicians Don’t talk to me about Bengazi; that was ages ago Read my lips; no new taxes You know that $30,000 found in my school locker? I got it from a friend I can’t tell you how those Watergate tapes got erased Those Dominion voter machines are flawless but you can’t look at them Whistle Blowers just ruin my day
I am reminded of a classic statement mentioned in Isaiah 30:8-10
“…write these words in a book. They will stand until the end of time as a witness that these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s instructions . They tell the seers, Stop seeing visions! They tell the prophets, ‘don’t tell us what is right. Tell us nice things, tell us lies (NLT)
..or as the KJV concludes “Speak unto us smooth sayings; prophesy deceits.”
We are witnessing, more than ever now, the death of moral outrage. This country is losing its ethical moorings as more and more people become complacent with lies and deceit. As long as they get theirs, they don’t really care. As long as God’s commandments are ignored, people become convinced that they can do whatever they want - But is that a winning strategy? Does that work well in the long run? Yes it is easy to cut corners, easier than ever to compromise – anywhere and everywhere, easier than ever to sin and defy God, and apparently, as some have proven, easier to gain great wealth through illegal means…but there is a price to pay, ultimately ending with the death of the nation.
Ingrained in our culture See no evil Hear no evil Say no evil Leaders or Liars – Which?
Institutions of any government cannot continually lie and expect to be blessed. This happened in ancient Judah. According to the prophet Isaiah who compared his country of Judah to a very sick person:
“The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores; they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment” (Isaiah 1:5-6)
Where there is bias instead of justice and greed with bribery instead of honesty, disaster is not far behind. God notes those who maintain a will to be sensitive to support right over wrong and worship of the true God instead of the god of materialism.
We are seeing a record amount of bribes and kickbacks in portions of our government yet this entitlement mentality reflected by those who appear to be on the take are merely symptomatic of what much of society is doing at all levels of social interaction. Nothing short of the return of Christ can remedy these persistant proclivities of mankind. God speed the day that Christ returns. In the meantime, perhaps God will mercifully extend our opportunity to have free course to complete God’s work in a bigger way than God is currently allowing us to do now.
Fortunately for Judah in the twilight of its existence, God mercifully let Judah have a good king, Josiah, who against all odds became the king of Judah at the tender age of 8 and began to take forceful charge of the country by the age of 16. (II Chronicles 34:1-2) He began destroying pagan shrines and groves on high places in the country as he vowed to wipe out all pagan worship and restore true justice amid the general activity of the people.
On the other hand, WE must not be an accomplice to others’ crimes or mistakes As Leviticus 5:1 states “If you are called to testify abut something you have seen or that you know about, it is sinful to refuse and you will be punished for your sins.” I am sure that society has no idea that the Bible demands transparency from its leaders.
It is so important that we do not get wrongfully influenced by what others in society do. We need to be sensitive and alert as to what is going on all around us as we cannot afford to be callous. While others, including spineless leaders, may believe in compromise and bribery, we need to pursue the truth (God’s word) as a virtue to develop…not to hide.
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FT. MYERS Tomorrow long-time member Mike Hammelle of Miami (part of the Ft. Lauderdale congregation) will give the sermon at the Baymont Wyndham hotel.
OCALA Stan Braumuller will speak in Ocala and we may have some visitors with us.
VERO BEACH Bill Wilson and Jonathan Hendricks will give split sermons. It should be noted that Dec 26 Vero will have Karaoke Night at the regular church hall, after sunset. Anyone from outside the Vero Congregation is welcome to be there. A pot luck meal will precede the evening activity.
TALLAHASSEE Ron Wroblowski and I will give split sermons. We have several members and visitors that have moved into the Tallahassee area which is great to see.
As always, have a great Sabbath. bv
Don’t sweat the big stuff"An ostrich with its head in the ground representing a warning to people who ignore the facts about AIDS; advertisement for the AIDS hotline in Maine, U.S.A. Colour lithograph by Media Source." is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
"Liar's Club - Chicago, IL" by technochick is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"no evil" by gfairchild is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"'Leaders Not Liars' London After 'Brexit'" by Creative Commons Photos For London & Brighton is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"ignorance" by rstrawser is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 (and for those who can’t read the words under the picture, they say:
“Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse.” (African proverb)