Zephaniah 1:14 The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
And the month of March said: ‘I can’t give you snow or freezing winds, but I can surely give you blustery winds and rain; lots of them.’ And so it did. Yes Friends, it’s been raining for two days now, and yesterday the wind blew something fierce. Since we laughed March to scorn for its kindness in giving us plenty sunshine and balmy temps, it retaliated as best it could in this era of global warming with high winds and plenty rain. Oh my people, it’s the same way the Israelites scorning of and ingratitude to Almighty God caused Zephaniah and the other prophets to declare that there’d come a day when the Lord’s anger and vengeance would be unleashed on His chosen people, who’d become ungodly. ‘The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly (hurries), even the voice (noise) of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.’ And what kind of a day will it be? ‘That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation (devastation), a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced (fortified) cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung (refuse). Neither their silver or gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance (end) of all them that dwell in the land.’ (Zeph.1:15-18) Oh mih breddren, you don’t need me to read and spell for you because what can happen when the Lord’s anger is unleashed against the ungodly is all there in simple terms. No earthly wealth or power will save us. The land will turn red from the blood that’s shed, and the carrion eaters will have a field day with many corpses. And sadly, that kind of society which existed back then in Israel, now exists in our time. I don’t want to be a harbinger of bad tidings, of doom and gloom, but the facts speak for themselves in the Word of the Lord. He will eventually punish those wicked, ungodly societies that exalt Lucifer and not Him. It’s also something we’ve seen happen regularly down through the ages. The societies that got prosperous off the Lord’s goodness and mercy, then turned fat, lazy and idolatrous, all suffered serious setbacks and catastrophes, through natural disasters and disease, attacks from other nations, even internal implosions, like civil war and revolution. The important point Friends, is that they all paid a severe price for deserting the Lord. They forgot who brought them to the dance. And it seems that we’re doing the same thing, headed in the same direction as those other societies. Now that we’ve become wealthy and powerful, in our pride and arrogance we believe that we did it through our own might and power, conveniently forgetting all the Lord’s done for us. But that’s a very wrong attitude Friends, because it’s God, and God alone, who allows us to prosper. As He told Joshua in no uncertain terms: ‘This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.’ (Josh.1:8) Oh mih people, what part of that don’t we understand eh? The same principle applies to us too since our great God doesn’t change. Please note that when we followed the edicts of the Good Book we were very prosperous and successful, but now that we’ve outgrown it, or so we figure, our prosperity and success have hit the skids and we’re sliding downhill fast. If we don’t repent and pull up our socks soon, then we’re liable to slide all the way into the dark abyss of oblivion or be conquered by some other more powerful society. It might therefore be necessary to do like Joel said: ‘Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.’ (Joel 2:1) Oh Friends, I don’t know how close at hand that day of the Lord’s wrath is, but I’m sure that if we continue our ungodly slide into evil, idolatry, excessive immorality and all the other things we revel in that our God despises, then ONE DAY WE WILL PAY FOR IT. As Jesus said so long ago: ‘If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.’ (Mark 4:23) My brethren, all I can do is remind us of what the Good Book says, and encourage us to walk the path it prescribes, but in the long run, each individual has to make a personal choice, then live with it for better or for worse. Let’s hope, for our children and society’s sake, we all choose the option for better. Much LOVE!…you can’t expect good results from evil doings…can’t plant corn and reap peas…
And the month of March said: ‘I can’t give you snow or freezing winds, but I can surely give you blustery winds and rain; lots of them.’ And so it did. Yes Friends, it’s been raining for two days now, and yesterday the wind blew something fierce. Since we laughed March to scorn for its kindness in giving us plenty sunshine and balmy temps, it retaliated as best it could in this era of global warming with high winds and plenty rain. Oh my people, it’s the same way the Israelites scorning of and ingratitude to Almighty God caused Zephaniah and the other prophets to declare that there’d come a day when the Lord’s anger and vengeance would be unleashed on His chosen people, who’d become ungodly. ‘The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly (hurries), even the voice (noise) of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.’ And what kind of a day will it be? ‘That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation (devastation), a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced (fortified) cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung (refuse). Neither their silver or gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance (end) of all them that dwell in the land.’ (Zeph.1:15-18) Oh mih breddren, you don’t need me to read and spell for you because what can happen when the Lord’s anger is unleashed against the ungodly is all there in simple terms. No earthly wealth or power will save us. The land will turn red from the blood that’s shed, and the carrion eaters will have a field day with many corpses. And sadly, that kind of society which existed back then in Israel, now exists in our time. I don’t want to be a harbinger of bad tidings, of doom and gloom, but the facts speak for themselves in the Word of the Lord. He will eventually punish those wicked, ungodly societies that exalt Lucifer and not Him. It’s also something we’ve seen happen regularly down through the ages. The societies that got prosperous off the Lord’s goodness and mercy, then turned fat, lazy and idolatrous, all suffered serious setbacks and catastrophes, through natural disasters and disease, attacks from other nations, even internal implosions, like civil war and revolution. The important point Friends, is that they all paid a severe price for deserting the Lord. They forgot who brought them to the dance. And it seems that we’re doing the same thing, headed in the same direction as those other societies. Now that we’ve become wealthy and powerful, in our pride and arrogance we believe that we did it through our own might and power, conveniently forgetting all the Lord’s done for us. But that’s a very wrong attitude Friends, because it’s God, and God alone, who allows us to prosper. As He told Joshua in no uncertain terms: ‘This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.’ (Josh.1:8) Oh mih people, what part of that don’t we understand eh? The same principle applies to us too since our great God doesn’t change. Please note that when we followed the edicts of the Good Book we were very prosperous and successful, but now that we’ve outgrown it, or so we figure, our prosperity and success have hit the skids and we’re sliding downhill fast. If we don’t repent and pull up our socks soon, then we’re liable to slide all the way into the dark abyss of oblivion or be conquered by some other more powerful society. It might therefore be necessary to do like Joel said: ‘Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.’ (Joel 2:1) Oh Friends, I don’t know how close at hand that day of the Lord’s wrath is, but I’m sure that if we continue our ungodly slide into evil, idolatry, excessive immorality and all the other things we revel in that our God despises, then ONE DAY WE WILL PAY FOR IT. As Jesus said so long ago: ‘If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.’ (Mark 4:23) My brethren, all I can do is remind us of what the Good Book says, and encourage us to walk the path it prescribes, but in the long run, each individual has to make a personal choice, then live with it for better or for worse. Let’s hope, for our children and society’s sake, we all choose the option for better. Much LOVE!…you can’t expect good results from evil doings…can’t plant corn and reap peas…
SCRIP-BITS 