Tag Archives: on guard

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“Lest we forget…”

“At that time, Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan king of Babylon, sent letters, and a present unto Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.

And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things (treasures), the silver, and the gold, all the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour,and all that was found in his treasures, there was NOTHING in his house, NOR in ALL his dominion that Hezekiah shewed them not. 

Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? (what did they say and where are they from) And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country, even from Babylon.

And he (Isaiah) said, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All the things that are in mine house have they seen, there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them.

And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the lord, Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried away into Babylon, nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.” 2 Kings 20:13-17

That was quite a trap, notice the plural of letter, nothing like his good old friend or more to the point, those whom he was already trying to “play nice” with, the Babylonians checking him out seeing how he was doing because they knew he had not been well.

Quite true, so unwell if fact that God had just extended his life, but now with the attention he craved and desire to impress he had in fact invited in the very enemy that would devastate their nation and not only were they invited they were given the grand tour of everything, everything that was held precious, dear, and above all, even what should have been kept most secret, the armour was made known.

Can you only imagine the glee, the laughter in the hearts of the Babylonians once they knew every treasure, every ounce of substance, and most assuredly every possible defense that Hezekiah had?

And you know maybe he just felt like, well, it’s okay, their not really that dangerous, or maybe, he was like, well they may be ruthless conquers but that won’t be like that with me, after all if we can all be “on the same side” a few differences won’t matter. It DID matter and it has always mattered and it will ALWAYS matter.

Enemies are enemies even while pretending to care about you only to know what is there for the taking.

And honestly, social media has all but destroyed us and if we don’t wake up soon , we will be destroyed. We have become like Hezekiah, we have put our hearts and souls, those “precious things” on display for the entire world to see, people, thousands and in some cases millions of people seeing every area of our lives and what truly horrifies me, is as a nation, we are displaying all the hate, mistrust, indifference fighting against each other, in battles that can only be fought through God and that only God can change those darkened hearts.

Which is why we are so warned by Jesus, Matthew 7:6: Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend (tear) you.”

There are countless scriptures on this, you can not reason with someone who has not been spiritually enlightened and they will only attack us farther, there is no changing minds that are blinded and darkened by the enemy and that does not mean to fail to speak for truth and justice. We also must very careful of the snares of lesser of two evils, there is evil, there is good and two wrongs don’t make a right and ends do not justify means.

We are to weigh every single action on the Word of God, not that we always meet this mark, not many of us do, I try and often fail to hit that mark myself, that is why are we human, but we must try and the reason this is so important is this, we can often while in pain and distress create alliances that will, like in the case of Hezekiah cost us more than we would ever willingly pay

We often forget during times of turmoil and unrest is the simple truth that while we are busy being each others enemies, real or perceived, that we collectively have common enemies, and satan has done such  a job with divide and conquer that even the most innocent word or miscommunication can have every word or action being viewed as an attack, we can not have thoughts, feelings, or opinions that differ without being labeled and individuality completely lost because we are categorized, stereotyping each other with the same typecast that we accuse others of, the names may be different but still the exact same action.

And now for what we are totaling forgetting, just as Hezekiah forgot, sure these guys may seem to support you at the moment and sometimes when you’ve been down that can seem like a welcome comfort but while we are showing the treasures of our house, we as Americans still have some serious enemies, and a little dose of reality right here, they do not care, they do not care that we are black, white, american Indian, Mexican-american, Asian American, Jewish, Christian, any documentation or no denomination or not even believe at all. Rich, poor, old, young, chick, guy, straight, or gay and I will tell you want they do care about, that in the enemies opinion,  whether we act like it or not, believe it or not, we are ALL the same. 

And to sound a little like an editor once answering a child’s letter addressing the existence of Claus, but our question is of not so whimsical a topic, YES AMERICA, YOU DO HAVE ENEMIES and while you are hating each other those enemies are watching and they do not care what you think, what you feel, they hate you because you are AMERICAN. 

We have all been hurt, wounded, and oppressed in one form or the other and I will never deny that and we still are, that is why we have ashes and thorns. ALL of us, people are just mean and there will be mean people in this world until Jesus Christ comes and cleans house which He soon to do, but in the mean time we need to remember a little something,we still have been blessed to live a nation that we are FREE, we can say whatever we want without the fear of retaliation and that does not mean we need to say everything we feel, because often what is said should have never been said at all.

The freedom we are taking for granted was given us from God and we need to appreciate that freedom and do a little less screaming and take a look around the world at what others endure, I can tell you a lot about the backlash and rejection being a pants clad, makeup wearing female preacher in the South will get ya, but I can be thankful knowing that even with the good ol’ boys wagging me down, that I am still free to do as God leads me and I have blessed sisters the world over that would be executed if they dared mention aloud the name of Jesus.

We are blessed to have our Bibles and our churches when our brothers and sisters risk dying for the choice to follow the Gospel. We are blessed to have water, food, or at least access to it when we are in need and many the world over a literally dying of starvation and the threat now is horrifying.

Wake up and realize who is really at work in our country because some of the truest words a human ever muttered were truly “UNITED we stand DIVIDED we fall” and none of this is going to stop the social media and the forces that would spread but it can stop at us, just stop, our job on this earth is to lead others to Jesus and His Kingdom is not of this world and there will be no peace on this earth until that Kingdom comes, but the peace, love, and light you choose to give to another in the midst of all these things will reflect that Kingdom. 

We are here and being here we need to appreciate what we have now and be mindful of those who would love to see us fall, because we do stand for freedom and we do have rights, rights that others in many countries would love to have and I will leave you with these words, God wants to take us all to that “good land”, God wants us to have peace, joy, and love in Him.

“For the Lord God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills.

And of the wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil,and honey;

A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. 

Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statues,which I command thee this day.” Deuteronomy 8:7-11

Well, we know for a surety many, many already have and many others have sold out the Gospel for the candy version and we see the fruits of that and if we don’t get a grip on our current situation I am afraid will we also see those fruits and pray, pray that God will bless our land and that HIS truth will bring the changes that truly need to come.  All the things o this world will fade away and all the heartache and sorrow with that when Jesus wipes every tear away but heaven and hell are eternal, do’t let this world ever make lose sight of that.

Φλογιζω NBJ 2020/ Reverend Nina Brown Johnson

 

 

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Desensitized…much?

By Rev. Nina BrownJohnson

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Put away from thee a forward (deceitful) mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. 

Ponder the path of thy feet and let thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left; remove thy foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:23-27

I heard something on the radio, it was just chitter chatter asking listeners their feelings on “automated” restaurant pick ups. The thought being to place their orders on line and then just come to an awaiting box and pick up their order, never having to interact in any way with an actual human, and so many were excited, expressing that they would be thrilled with this, thrilled with the ability to avoid the usual “small talk” that was exchanged while checking out.

I thought, “Man, desensitized, MUCH?”

No one should have to have any qualms when admitting that through the onslaught of technology, we have gone backward socially.

Oh, I know it is called social media, but really how SOCIAL, are those medias?  One meaning of the word social is this, the need for companionship.

But now we have all these outlets to express every single thought that comes to mind, and often being hard “read”, emotion in what is written,leaves many comments and remarks automatically received on the defensive.

While other comments and remarks are meant to be attacks, no hold barred attacks on every single thing about our lives, like thorns  how we look, how we talk, feel, walk, or think and it is so readily spewed forth because it is so easy for our words to cut like knives and attack and bully others when they are often people we do not know, nor will ever meet and certainly will most likely ever have to justify our remarks to face to face.

And it has created a society that often holds absolutely no accountability. And the hatered and bad ideas expressed by others often spread like the venoumous poison that it is, just as the Bible tells us “Be ye NOT partakers of another mans (persons) sin.”

Anyone notice the story about the lady with the flu licking ice cream in Walmart and putting it back, posting that to social media, with what she evidently thought was a cutesy hash tag and encouraging others to do the same?

Well, some did and now we will all pay more for products to be sealed and we will think twice every time we dive into something purchased sans seal.

And for what? Her cheap shot to get some attention while risking making God only knows who deathly ill, because in some cases if those with certain medical conditions had came into contact with her germs they really would have faced life threatening maybe even fatal consequences.

And I could give you a staggering list of scenarios across the board of copy cat instances that harm people and animals or are just degrading, such as sticking cheese to babies for “fun”.

Does anyone not notice that these are not typical “grown-up” behaviors?

And phones are now the most important sole possession of many, or should I say, single most soul possession.

Possession, could be worded as obsession which speaks for itself.

Especially when you consider very carefully, that parents are being warned to put their phones in the backseat with their babies to avoid forgetting the baby because they will remember the phone and while grabbing the phone they will then notice the baby that must be removed from the vehicle.

Now, tell me that you do not find something desperately wrong in a society that will remember an inanimate object while forgetting a living being?

And I am not picking on people, and I am not making light of it and we all forget sometimes, but the numbers of kids that have died in this way, just this year, is horrifying and it just disturbs me to no end that people will go for the phone as a safety net, not to mention the “don’t forget your kid” apps.

And it can be clocked over the period of decades that desensitization started slowly and with pure stealth started creeping into human hearts.

We have now seen so much on television and through movies, murder after murder, robberies, torture, rapes, kidnappings, you name it, most have seen it.

People cursing and using vulgarity like a first language, this was once shunned, but now it seems that spouting “F” this and “F” that and the host of every other crude, lewd, and absolutely rude term is common every day usage.

Abortions and pride in those abortions is now foremost as most imitating these behaviors are imitating those who they “admire”  and if “they” do it, it must be right.

Now we need the added “social” ease of depending on technology to purchase our groceries, goods, and takeout’s and never have to deal with one of those ghastly humans that we may have to actually talk to.

And I think those are fabulous programs for those who actually may need them, but just to avoid human interaction…

Please don’t buy into to more desensitization’s because it is getting to the point that you will not even miss human contact and that should be terrifying.

BTW, some of the adjectives and verbs  according to online dictionaries defining desensitized, speak loud and clear, check it: “numbed, senseless, stunned, anesthetized, drugged, dazed, insensible, cold-blooded, compassionless, merciless, heartless, stony, dead, deadened,” and the Mc Daddy, which is: “Having or showing a LACK of sympathy or tender FEELINGS.”

So… that speaks for itself, but here is the verse that explains the condition this will lead to: “Having the UNDERSTANDING darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them (being totally unware), because of the blindness (hardening) of their heart; Who being PAST feeling…” Ephesians 4:18,19a

We are quite capable of reaching the point that we are past feeling, no longer have an ounce of compassion, or caring, or even common, human sympathy toward another.

As 1 Timothy 2:2b describes what eventually happens to the conscience, “seared with an hot iron.”

Which gets you right back to being deadened, as described in 2 Timothy 3:3a, “Without NATURAL affection…”

Meaning even basic common decency has gone out the door.

And people can really give themselves over and refuse the word of the Lord to the point that they become reprobated, they have crossed the line, to the point of no return, which is the beginning of the walk to Armageddon, and you can already smell the smoke rising.

I know the better part of the world laughs hysterically at us for trying to give the warnings that God left us to give, and are like, “Yeah, seriously some angel dude coming out of a bottomless pit…”

Well, yeah, seriously, and Jesus Christ and the whole Host of Heaven coming down out of the sky, {let that sink in} and then you come back and account for me the beginning of your soul, tell me your memories of being in your mother’s womb, tell me the moment your soul was created and until then, don’t be so sure you know everything, because those points alone, prove that you do not.

And in the meantime, don’t write off humans and human interaction, because we are human and we need those interactions, because once you take the human out of the equation, all you are left with is inhumane.

Φλογιζω NBJ 2019