SCRIP-BITS

Jeremiah 6:16.    Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
 
Oh Friends, August is just beginning, but I believe it will be a very provocative and revealing month in the history of our world. Too many controversial things are on the boil right now, and some must be dealt with speedily or else they will boil over and cause even more controversy, as well as irreparable damage and much torment. We all realize that our world is on the brink, the very edge of the precipice of destruction, for there are many more evil and destructive forces at work than good and constructive ones. But having said that, it’s not a given that we will go over the edge. And that’s where believers have a most important part to play, because we’re one of the few forces interested in good works and constructive building, rather than just destroying willy-nilly. But as Mahatma Gandhi says in this month’s quote from the Covenant House Calendar: ‘You must be the change you wish to see in the world.’ Now that’s an obvious truth my people! If we want to see change, whatever it might be, then it’s our responsibility to become like what we hope to see. In other words, we can’t expect to see a change for good, but remain evil, for remember whatever we sow, that’s what we’ll eventually reap. And our Bit brings that home very forcefully: ‘Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.’ Unfortunately, that’s how the people of Judah behaved when Jeremiah warned them of impending destruction due to their sinful ways and turning away from the God of their fathers. It’s even more unfortunate that our world is in exactly the same position today. Because the Israelites stubbornly refused to seek the old traditional ways of their fathers, ways of true righteousness, and walk in them, they were doomed to destruction. Oh Friends, can’t we see that we have also stubbornly refused to walk in the ways of righteousness because the enemy has labelled it old fashioned and out of date. But believe me people, the ways of our God may be considered old fashioned since they’ve been in existence for so long, but they’re definitely NOT, and NEVER will be out of date, because they bear sterling witness to the truth, the Word of God, re His creation of the universe and all therein. Oh my brethren, our once beautiful and godly world is slowly sinking into a mire of evil and destruction because of the enemy’s superior power and wicked machinations. But the Lord’s giving us believers a wake up call here to try and right the situation. And if you don’t believe me, then listen to what He told Jeremiah when questioned about the prosperity of the wicked and their treacherous, deceitful behaviour to the righteous. He promised to pluck the righteous from amongst their wicked enemies: ‘And it shall come to pass after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land. And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, (As) The Lord liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built (established) in the midst of my people. But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.’ (Jer.12:15-17) Now Friends, it doesn’t take a whole lot of wisdom to realize that we’re in the same boat as the Israelites were long ago. Several times they refused to obey the Lord’s dictates, and several times were they severely punished, brought to their knees in humble recognition that the omnipotent, infallible, immortal Lord God Jehovah is the One who runs things, not a mere flesh and bones, fallible, mortal man. Please understand that our God is kind, LOVING, merciful and forgiving, but He’s also a stickler for truth and justice, and if we keep up with our current sinful, rebellious, ungodly behaviour, then there will come a time when He’s forced to punish us. Don’t think for even one moment that we’ll get away forever with our current ways. Please look carefully at what’s happening around us, the writing’s on the wall. Besides the times of Great War, our world has never been in such turmoil, in such a state of widespread uproar, dissatisfaction, violence, oppression, greed, poverty, famine, natural disasters and uncertain economic times. Oh fellow believers, I’m therefore imploring us to get very active in the LOVE Revolution that we need to retake our world. We can’t sit idly by, while the forces of evil ruin it. Remember God is LOVE, and since God is the most powerful Being in the universe, therefore LOVE must be the most potent and powerful force in existence. Let’s use it to bring our world back to the Father. Much LOVE!…whatever’s broken…LOVE can surely fix it…