SCRIP-BITS

Ah my Friends, like the Lord is now in full painting mode, for the green of the leaves is quickly disappearing. A few days ago, a big, spreading tree in front of my house was only yellow at the top, but by yesterday it was completely yellow, and in the bright sunshine, it was indeed a pretty picture. The Lord’s going around now colouring all the remaining green spaces, and by next week it will all be awesomely coloured in varying shades of brown, red, yellow and gold. Wow! Oh Friends, if you’ve never seen the Lord’s autumnal artistry live, then you’re missing something truly spectacular, a real wonder of nature. And I challenge any mortal to match that colourful canvas! But on a more serious note, our Bit today comes from Ezekiel’s condensed history of the rebellious Israel. The Lord heard Israel’s cry of oppression in Egypt and found a rich and fertile land for them to inhabit: ‘a land… flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.’ (Ezek.20:6) But before the Lord brought them out of Egypt, He solemnly warned them: ‘Cast ye away every man the abominations of (which are before) his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’ Oh my people, that sounds very much like what he’s been telling us, especially over the last fifty years or so. Put away all the vile images and ‘whoredoms’ you’re involved in. Stop worshipping the world’s man-made idols and letting the lusts of the flesh rule your lives. Zeke said basically the same thing earlier on when proclaiming that the way of the Lord is just: ‘Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves and live ye.’ (Ezek.18:30-32) My brethren, the Lord’s saying the same thing to us today: He will judge each of us according to our wrongs, so we should repent and turn from our sinful ways, so that sin will not ruin us. Remember what Jesus said yesterday about the house that was built on the sand, referring to those who didn’t follow His dictates; ‘and the ruin of that house was great.’ (Luke 6:49) And I’m sure we’ll all agree that if it’s one thing this world desperately needs to do is to turn away from sin and create a new heart and a new spirit, for far too many of us are downright evil and idolatrous. And my people, the Lord even spells it out, makes it abundantly clear that He derives no pleasure from His children’s death through sin, for the wages of sin is death. He goes so far as to plead with us to repent, to cast off our sinful ways and live. We all know what happened with Israel. ‘But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto (listen to, obey) me: they did not every man cast away their abominations of (before their) eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt.’ (Ezek.20:8) Can you imagine that Friends? After all the Lord did for Israel, the ingrates repaid Him with rebellion. Hn! But I guess we can, because it’s the very same thing we’re doing now. Our lands used to be fertile and productive, our factories humming with production, our markets full of reasonably priced produce, most people only needing one job to lead a fairly decent existence, and our lives fairly godly and peaceful. But just like the Israelites, in the last half-century we’ve taken a turn for the worse. We’ve become so wicked, sinful, idolatrous and filled with mostly fleshly lusts that our wretched behaviour must be surely grieving the Lord’s heart. Every day the Lord must look down on us in sad wonder, gaze heartbroken at the mess we’ve made of our lives and the earth through sinful disobedience to His rules, then sadly shake His head and tearfully ask: ‘Why my people, why?’ But the major question though Friends, is His reaction to our nose thumbing sinfulness; whether He will treat us as kindly as He did the Israelites? In His anger He wanted to punish them right in the midst of Egypt, but wisdom prevailed. He realized that destroying them would not be good for His Holy and glorious name, wouldn’t be good public relations, as we’d call it today, especially amongst the same nations above whom He’d chosen them with such fanfare. (Ezek.20:8-9) So He brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness, journeying towards the Promised Land. ‘And I gave them my statutes, and showed them (made known to them) my judgements, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.’ (Ezek.20:11-12) But wouldn’t you know that Israel also rebelled in the wilderness, and the Lord again withheld His anger for His Name’s sake, not destroying them, but causing them to wander in the wilderness forty long, dreary, rough years, when apparently they were less than twenty miles from the Promised Land. Note too my people, that none of those who came out of Egypt, except Caleb and Joshua, ever set foot on that Promised Land, all because of their sinful rebellion against God’s Word.  Oh my Friends, please let that be a lesson, a serious warning to us. Everyday we’re going further and further down the wide and sinful road, allowing Lucifer greater influence in our lives. That is definitely unwise my people. I don’t know what the Lord will do, or when, but I can assure us He won’t let us carry on with the stubborn, continuous disobedience to His Holy Word. He has already given us and out from sin through His Son Jesus Christ and if we choose not to accept it, then we’ll ultimately pay a severe price. Oh my people, let’s wake up and realize the serious error of our ways, and repent and turn back to the Lord nuh, for we are living on borrowed time! He’s always ready, willing and able to forgive those who sincerely come to Him, but just like our creditors, the Lord can call in our debt at any time. So if you haven’t spoken to Him recently, please talk to Him TODAY, RIGHT NOW, so you can come to some kind of agreement, and He won’t have to call your debt and put you into bankruptcy. Much LOVE!…we know not when the Lord will call our number…so the wise thing to do…is to be always prepared…