Psalm 62:10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.
Oh Friends, the weekend’s over! Like time these days, it passes rather quickly. Now it’s Monday, and we need to put on all the protection available from Almighty God before heading out to the crazy workday world, to again engage the enemy in hostilities to the death. Make no mistake Friends, the enemy is intent on taking us down with him to eternal death and damnation, and it’s only if we stand strong in the faith granted us by the risen and living Christ, our Lord and Saviour, can we defeat him and live to receive salvation and eternal life. Wow! What a mouthful! (smile) But a true mouthful. Bruh David knew this when he penned Psalm 62, ‘God only is my rock and my salvation.’ And that’s the gospel truth my people! If you believe nothing else, please believe that. All that we are, depends entirely on our Creator and our God, as Bruh David acknowledges in the opening verses. ‘Truly my soul waiteth (waits silently) upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense (strong tower); I shall not be greatly moved (shaken). (Ps.62:1-2) To that my people, let’s all offer a thankful shout of ‘Glory Hallelujah! All praise and thanks be to the Living God for His never ending and impenetrable protection of those who sincerely believe in and worship Him!’ However Friends, there are a significant number of people who don’t believe that; Lucifer’s workers of iniquity. And sadly, these days they greatly outnumber us who consider those words of Bruh David gospel. They also attempt to pressure us into being like them, using all sorts of evil and ungodly means and methods to do so. Their arsenal includes harsh means like oppression, suppression, greed, anger, torture, even outright warfare. And if these negative methods don’t work, then they can also be nice and sweet and entice us with worldly things that our fleshly lusts adore, but our spiritual side abhors. So my brethren, the enemy is not only brutal and ruthless, he is also cunning and charismatic, and not afraid to use any means, devious or otherwise, to achieve his wicked, godless ends. But Friends, I’m here to convey Bruh David’s soul and mind changing message to us all: ‘Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery.’ In other words, don’t depend on oppressing and suppressing others to build yourself up, for what goes around comes around. Every dictator’s been ousted by another power hungry fool. Neither should we vainly hope in robbing or stealing from others to enrich ourselves, like so many of us do today. Robbery is probably the number one crime in our society, and too often it’s accompanied by violence. But we also have the legalized kind of robbery, synonymous with the word business. Steups! In too many cases the words greed and robbery can be substituted for business, since the number one end or motivation in those endeavours is to enrich, to make ever larger profits. We therefore stoop to whatever unconscionable levels we need to, in order to attain those unjustifiable ends. Please remember my people that the enemy has no conscience. He lives by the mottos; kill or be killed, the ends justifies the means, grab whatever and as much you can, live for today and forget about tomorrow. But as believers, we know that all those things are wrong, and thankfully, the Spirit of Christ which dwells in us, our conscience, will not allow us to participate in them. And we have one more everlastingly important caution from Bruh David on the subject: ‘if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.’ Oh Friends, that is the enemy’s biggest ploy, most prominent enticement; to have us set all our hearts, minds, souls and goals on becoming rich; in money, material possessions, social prominence and political power. He makes us believe that success is based on being on top of the heap; wealthy and well known. But mih breddren, nothing can be further from the truth. You just have to look around our world today and see the vast number of wealthy, powerful, well known but unhappy people. Oh I know some of us will say it’s better to be rich and unhappy than poor and happy, but that’s all a matter of personal preference and it’s not the determining factor in this debate. And what is? It’s the opinion of Jesus, our Leader, our Lord and Saviour. Listen as He enlightens His disciples and a young, rich, ruler who comes asking how he can obtain eternal life. Jesus first tells him to go and obey the commandments. ‘And he answered and said unto him, Master (Teacher), all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him, LOVED him, and said unto him: One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and take up the cross, and follow me.’ (Mark 10:20-21) Obviously Jesus’ words saddened the youngster, as it would have any of us with much wealth, and he went away unhappy. And Jesus, always adept at using drama in His teaching, turned to His disciples and said: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ (Mark 10:23) The disciples were astonished at Jesus’ words, but He continued unperturbed. ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.’ (Mark 10:24-25) Now the disciples were truly astonished and began muttering amongst themselves, ‘Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.’ (Mark 10:26-27) And if we are true believers we know that. Oh Friends, there’s basically nothing wrong with being rich, but it boils down to how and why we acquire the wealth, then what we do with it? We’ve run out of space and time today, so we’ll delve into these things tomorrow, as there’s much more to talk about, for this is a very important aspect of the believer’s life. Oh, I forgot to mention, provided God is willing. But then why shouldn’t He eh? All we’re doing is glorifying Him, Spreading His Word and Living Our Faith. So till then, Much LOVE!…be wary of riches…for they are one of Lucifer’s calling cards…
Oh Friends, the weekend’s over! Like time these days, it passes rather quickly. Now it’s Monday, and we need to put on all the protection available from Almighty God before heading out to the crazy workday world, to again engage the enemy in hostilities to the death. Make no mistake Friends, the enemy is intent on taking us down with him to eternal death and damnation, and it’s only if we stand strong in the faith granted us by the risen and living Christ, our Lord and Saviour, can we defeat him and live to receive salvation and eternal life. Wow! What a mouthful! (smile) But a true mouthful. Bruh David knew this when he penned Psalm 62, ‘God only is my rock and my salvation.’ And that’s the gospel truth my people! If you believe nothing else, please believe that. All that we are, depends entirely on our Creator and our God, as Bruh David acknowledges in the opening verses. ‘Truly my soul waiteth (waits silently) upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense (strong tower); I shall not be greatly moved (shaken). (Ps.62:1-2) To that my people, let’s all offer a thankful shout of ‘Glory Hallelujah! All praise and thanks be to the Living God for His never ending and impenetrable protection of those who sincerely believe in and worship Him!’ However Friends, there are a significant number of people who don’t believe that; Lucifer’s workers of iniquity. And sadly, these days they greatly outnumber us who consider those words of Bruh David gospel. They also attempt to pressure us into being like them, using all sorts of evil and ungodly means and methods to do so. Their arsenal includes harsh means like oppression, suppression, greed, anger, torture, even outright warfare. And if these negative methods don’t work, then they can also be nice and sweet and entice us with worldly things that our fleshly lusts adore, but our spiritual side abhors. So my brethren, the enemy is not only brutal and ruthless, he is also cunning and charismatic, and not afraid to use any means, devious or otherwise, to achieve his wicked, godless ends. But Friends, I’m here to convey Bruh David’s soul and mind changing message to us all: ‘Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery.’ In other words, don’t depend on oppressing and suppressing others to build yourself up, for what goes around comes around. Every dictator’s been ousted by another power hungry fool. Neither should we vainly hope in robbing or stealing from others to enrich ourselves, like so many of us do today. Robbery is probably the number one crime in our society, and too often it’s accompanied by violence. But we also have the legalized kind of robbery, synonymous with the word business. Steups! In too many cases the words greed and robbery can be substituted for business, since the number one end or motivation in those endeavours is to enrich, to make ever larger profits. We therefore stoop to whatever unconscionable levels we need to, in order to attain those unjustifiable ends. Please remember my people that the enemy has no conscience. He lives by the mottos; kill or be killed, the ends justifies the means, grab whatever and as much you can, live for today and forget about tomorrow. But as believers, we know that all those things are wrong, and thankfully, the Spirit of Christ which dwells in us, our conscience, will not allow us to participate in them. And we have one more everlastingly important caution from Bruh David on the subject: ‘if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.’ Oh Friends, that is the enemy’s biggest ploy, most prominent enticement; to have us set all our hearts, minds, souls and goals on becoming rich; in money, material possessions, social prominence and political power. He makes us believe that success is based on being on top of the heap; wealthy and well known. But mih breddren, nothing can be further from the truth. You just have to look around our world today and see the vast number of wealthy, powerful, well known but unhappy people. Oh I know some of us will say it’s better to be rich and unhappy than poor and happy, but that’s all a matter of personal preference and it’s not the determining factor in this debate. And what is? It’s the opinion of Jesus, our Leader, our Lord and Saviour. Listen as He enlightens His disciples and a young, rich, ruler who comes asking how he can obtain eternal life. Jesus first tells him to go and obey the commandments. ‘And he answered and said unto him, Master (Teacher), all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him, LOVED him, and said unto him: One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and take up the cross, and follow me.’ (Mark 10:20-21) Obviously Jesus’ words saddened the youngster, as it would have any of us with much wealth, and he went away unhappy. And Jesus, always adept at using drama in His teaching, turned to His disciples and said: ‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ (Mark 10:23) The disciples were astonished at Jesus’ words, but He continued unperturbed. ‘Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.’ (Mark 10:24-25) Now the disciples were truly astonished and began muttering amongst themselves, ‘Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.’ (Mark 10:26-27) And if we are true believers we know that. Oh Friends, there’s basically nothing wrong with being rich, but it boils down to how and why we acquire the wealth, then what we do with it? We’ve run out of space and time today, so we’ll delve into these things tomorrow, as there’s much more to talk about, for this is a very important aspect of the believer’s life. Oh, I forgot to mention, provided God is willing. But then why shouldn’t He eh? All we’re doing is glorifying Him, Spreading His Word and Living Our Faith. So till then, Much LOVE!…be wary of riches…for they are one of Lucifer’s calling cards…
SCRIP-BITS 