Just a few days ago I received this bone shaking message. As a Central American citizen, and a former witness of all these repeated political shenanigans of the most recent cynical responses to the enduring suffering of a fellow country´s people, I have been at times, irking and irefully itching to be as young as I was thirty years ago.
And if you ask me why I would respond: to be able to more actively participate in the efforts to show and defend the moral and societal values that are so unashamedly and cynically messed up and manipulated in the name of democracy and international consensus.
My reactions were as human as it could be as I have seen face to face and even in my own flesh and my family, relatives and friends, the inflicted injustice, suffering and abuse by the so many called, by themselves, the modern leaders of this world.
I have become a Christian, but at times I have felt that even Christianity today is not the answer because of the timid stance of the professing ones who hide themselves behind promises and prayers for their own personal well being, exulting in emotional responses of attributed blessings in terms of individual or personal prosperity and well being.
As a human that I am, I feel the sting of the always present and ongoing human tendency to violently impose my personal points of views about the reasons why these social injustice and cynicism prevail all over.
And if you ask me why I would respond: to be able to more actively participate in the efforts to show and defend the moral and societal values that are so unashamedly and cynically messed up and manipulated in the name of democracy and international consensus.
My reactions were as human as it could be as I have seen face to face and even in my own flesh and my family, relatives and friends, the inflicted injustice, suffering and abuse by the so many called, by themselves, the modern leaders of this world.
I have become a Christian, but at times I have felt that even Christianity today is not the answer because of the timid stance of the professing ones who hide themselves behind promises and prayers for their own personal well being, exulting in emotional responses of attributed blessings in terms of individual or personal prosperity and well being.
As a human that I am, I feel the sting of the always present and ongoing human tendency to violently impose my personal points of views about the reasons why these social injustice and cynicism prevail all over.
Because what we see all over, are a myriad of all type of pharisaical pontifical Pharisees of all types pounding over and expounding all around the most hypocritical assertions in order to preserve the status quo of the most absurd legalistic justification of the pretended new order of abuse and domination of the masses and the nations resources and welfare.
Is the most varied assortment of political and social wolves, vultures, coyotes, hyenas and snakelike predators that preach, expound, mimic, holler, unashamedly discredit, to justify the abuses ,without the slightest regard to the inner righteousness of reasons and situations, manipulating circumstances to preserve the so called new revolutionary order of societal living under the yoke of the newer revolutionary leaders.
And they do it so mounting up all type of scenarios over all reason, justice, righteousness and real truth and not the fake one that is forced down our throats by all the biased actors of what is presented as the irrefutable and unavoidable social revolutionary structures we should embrace.
God is good and understanding. He knows that the root of everything lies within the human wickedness of the spirit corroded by greed and thirst for control and power.
He also knows that depression and dispiritedness easily comes over the spirit of we, former members of the worldly systems now become “trying to be real and committed Christians”, as we try to find a logic response to the nightmarish avalanche of moral distortion turn into the present individual and collective social, financial, political chaos.
He sends his messengers to show us the righteousness needed to understand His ways as well as the patience needed to wait for His timing and development of His planning, and the necessary trust to give our expectations to Him and His purposes for our lives both in our present and our future.
What we can do, in the interim times, is to analyze situations if we have reached the Habakkuk position of being sentinels on the ramparts to clarify the darkened paths of the thoughts, motivations and actions of the warriors engaged in the battlefields of the minds and the hearts and the present and the future of the individuals and the nations.
To do so we must always and incessantly
ask the lord for the spiritual strength to be able to
tell the truth before the powerful without fear or regard to compromise or convenience, keeping silent before the injustice and abuse or manipulation of the masses
and not to lie to deceive or win the applause of the ignorant or the weaker
But for being able to do so, and because of our human weaknesses, hesitations and failures, we must recur to the spiritual foundation of our spiritual strength: God
And in doing so let´s pay attention to His messengers and messages! And a good beginning could be to read and meditate upon the following excerpts from Oren senior to his son, and in him to all the posted as sentinels on the ramparts of God´s Kingdom on this earth).
How numerous are the times and ways that our Father God tells us to seek His face. He talks about shining His countenance upon us. He talks about guiding us with His eye rather than with bit and bridle like animals.
The Upper Window! (Words of old song) Verse 1: “When God spoke unto Noah and told him build the ark, the Lord knew well the vessel would cheerless be and dark. So He said build a window with an outlook to the sky, and when it’s dark and lonely you’ll see Me standing by.
Chorus: “The storms may come, but fear not; oh, children, I am nigh. For through the upper window, you’ll see Me standing by.”
Unlike all other residential structures I’ve known, this ark had just one “upper” window, so that Noah could see the Lord. Oh yes, he felt the floodwaters and tumult rising all around him and his family, as they were in the ark of safety.
He, no doubt, heard all the noise of destruction all around him as the floods continued rising. He with his household experienced the same destructive flood as the rest of the world in his day. But he was on top of it, while the rest of the world was under it.
God reassures us through Paul that “we are seated with Christ in heavenly places.” David sings, “He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty…underneath are the everlasting arms…a thousand may fall on one hand and ten thousand on the other, but nothing shall come nigh you.”
The above Old Testament picture of our position in Christ is so wonderful to all those who understand that we are in Christ and that Christ is in us the hope of glory.”
God is truly “our refuge and strength.” Jesus is our “Rock,” our “shelter in the time of storm.” I believe that the Lord is prompting me (and every one of us) to be involved with the rest of His people who still want to see His wholesome values maintained among us on down to the oncoming generations.
We as regular citizens can call ourselves Citizens for Wholesome Values (CWV). We are just as well to go without another extra “official” name just “be about our Father’s business.”
There would be no dues or “official duties” etc., just fellow citizens whose hearts and minds are joined together with true desire to please God and bless our children and grandchildren with something better than they will have, if we continue to allow our influence to be overwhelmed by the world system, the flesh, and the devil.
Our reason to exist would be to dedicate ourselves to swim upstream and influence those around us, especially, our families to swim with us instead of allowing ourselves to float downstream with those who do not care. I am talking first of being true examples of wholesome values and teaching our children and children’s children the same.
I am talking of honoring God and giving Him thanks according to Romans 1, so that we do not have to see our own society continue to deteriorate.
This movement should cross all denominational, class, and racial lines exemplifying the very Body of Christ. As we encourage one another to remain faithful to this charge from the Lord Himself, this may jump across community, state, and even national lines.
The Body of Christ under His Lordship is still the strongest force on this planet, if we will just be who are supposed to be. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it (us)”, Jesus Himself says.
When God’s people found themselves in Egypt, where they could have experienced the scourge they had brought on themselves, their merciful Father God gave them the way out that would separate them from the judgment due the Egyptians idolaters.
Even though they dwelt in the same land, all God’s people had to do was to insure that the blood of sacrifice was on their doorposts, and they were saved. It’s like Noah being inside the ark of safety during the great flood.
It’s the same as our being in Christ. We are safe.
Yes, during this financial chaos we are in, we will feel the waves and hear the sad news all around us. Yet, our “hearts” do not have to “fail” us “for fear.” “In Thee, Oh Lord, do we put our trust.”
“In God we trust" is still on our currency. Now is the time to prove that we really mean it. One nation “under God” is still in our pledge, if we really mean that, too.
This so-called "separation of church and state" was only meant to keep the state from interfering with the church and to not establish one church denomination over another. It was never meant to bow to such modern day religious diversity as to take God out of the picture.
This is the fastest way to national suicide. "The wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God." This is not because God is mad, but because He is the only one that can save us from hell. When we ignore the Life Guard, we drown ourselves.
If we do not return to the God of our fathers, we are definitely being allowed by God Himself to taste more and more of what it is like to forget to Honor Him and give Him thanks.
It is not that He has such an ego that He must have our praise. It is for our own good as His children that we learn from the Fathers of all fathers to honor our Father Who is in heaven.
What do we mean when we pray, “Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever! Amen.”?
What do we mean by all these words?
While we are praying these words, which sometimes are meaningless to us, God is still trying to be heard over our clamor, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face (upper window), and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. There is no man or political party that can heal our land. Only God can do it.
Is it not time for us to listen to Him and determine together to please Him for the good of our own children and grandchildren? How much longer should we wait to see what happens?
Or, should we not at least be seen by God as allowing Him to work His will in and through us here where we live. Again, it is altogether possible that He is speaking the same thing to many people over our nation at this time. Every forest fire starts small.
All we need is just the spark of a few concerned citizens for wholesome values so that God is not further mocked in this great nation He has entrusted to us and our children can have real hope as we once had.
Whatever anyone else does or does not do, I am starting my part today by writing a few solid friends of this Northwest Arkansas community whom I have known over the years as people of wholesome values with moral integrity who care more deeply for our oncoming generations that to simply entertain them. I am committed to go further than that with my children and grand children.
Thanks. Flying wings! Love, Dad Oren Paris II
And in doing so let´s pay attention to His messengers and messages! And a good beginning could be to read and meditate upon the following excerpts from Oren senior to his son, and in him to all the posted as sentinels on the ramparts of God´s Kingdom on this earth).
How numerous are the times and ways that our Father God tells us to seek His face. He talks about shining His countenance upon us. He talks about guiding us with His eye rather than with bit and bridle like animals.
The Upper Window! (Words of old song) Verse 1: “When God spoke unto Noah and told him build the ark, the Lord knew well the vessel would cheerless be and dark. So He said build a window with an outlook to the sky, and when it’s dark and lonely you’ll see Me standing by.
Chorus: “The storms may come, but fear not; oh, children, I am nigh. For through the upper window, you’ll see Me standing by.”
Unlike all other residential structures I’ve known, this ark had just one “upper” window, so that Noah could see the Lord. Oh yes, he felt the floodwaters and tumult rising all around him and his family, as they were in the ark of safety.
He, no doubt, heard all the noise of destruction all around him as the floods continued rising. He with his household experienced the same destructive flood as the rest of the world in his day. But he was on top of it, while the rest of the world was under it.
God reassures us through Paul that “we are seated with Christ in heavenly places.” David sings, “He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty…underneath are the everlasting arms…a thousand may fall on one hand and ten thousand on the other, but nothing shall come nigh you.”
The above Old Testament picture of our position in Christ is so wonderful to all those who understand that we are in Christ and that Christ is in us the hope of glory.”
God is truly “our refuge and strength.” Jesus is our “Rock,” our “shelter in the time of storm.” I believe that the Lord is prompting me (and every one of us) to be involved with the rest of His people who still want to see His wholesome values maintained among us on down to the oncoming generations.
We as regular citizens can call ourselves Citizens for Wholesome Values (CWV). We are just as well to go without another extra “official” name just “be about our Father’s business.”
There would be no dues or “official duties” etc., just fellow citizens whose hearts and minds are joined together with true desire to please God and bless our children and grandchildren with something better than they will have, if we continue to allow our influence to be overwhelmed by the world system, the flesh, and the devil.
Our reason to exist would be to dedicate ourselves to swim upstream and influence those around us, especially, our families to swim with us instead of allowing ourselves to float downstream with those who do not care. I am talking first of being true examples of wholesome values and teaching our children and children’s children the same.
I am talking of honoring God and giving Him thanks according to Romans 1, so that we do not have to see our own society continue to deteriorate.
This movement should cross all denominational, class, and racial lines exemplifying the very Body of Christ. As we encourage one another to remain faithful to this charge from the Lord Himself, this may jump across community, state, and even national lines.
The Body of Christ under His Lordship is still the strongest force on this planet, if we will just be who are supposed to be. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it (us)”, Jesus Himself says.
When God’s people found themselves in Egypt, where they could have experienced the scourge they had brought on themselves, their merciful Father God gave them the way out that would separate them from the judgment due the Egyptians idolaters.
Even though they dwelt in the same land, all God’s people had to do was to insure that the blood of sacrifice was on their doorposts, and they were saved. It’s like Noah being inside the ark of safety during the great flood.
It’s the same as our being in Christ. We are safe.
Yes, during this financial chaos we are in, we will feel the waves and hear the sad news all around us. Yet, our “hearts” do not have to “fail” us “for fear.” “In Thee, Oh Lord, do we put our trust.”
“In God we trust" is still on our currency. Now is the time to prove that we really mean it. One nation “under God” is still in our pledge, if we really mean that, too.
This so-called "separation of church and state" was only meant to keep the state from interfering with the church and to not establish one church denomination over another. It was never meant to bow to such modern day religious diversity as to take God out of the picture.
This is the fastest way to national suicide. "The wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget God." This is not because God is mad, but because He is the only one that can save us from hell. When we ignore the Life Guard, we drown ourselves.
If we do not return to the God of our fathers, we are definitely being allowed by God Himself to taste more and more of what it is like to forget to Honor Him and give Him thanks.
It is not that He has such an ego that He must have our praise. It is for our own good as His children that we learn from the Fathers of all fathers to honor our Father Who is in heaven.
What do we mean when we pray, “Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever! Amen.”?
What do we mean by all these words?
While we are praying these words, which sometimes are meaningless to us, God is still trying to be heard over our clamor, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face (upper window), and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. There is no man or political party that can heal our land. Only God can do it.
Is it not time for us to listen to Him and determine together to please Him for the good of our own children and grandchildren? How much longer should we wait to see what happens?
Or, should we not at least be seen by God as allowing Him to work His will in and through us here where we live. Again, it is altogether possible that He is speaking the same thing to many people over our nation at this time. Every forest fire starts small.
All we need is just the spark of a few concerned citizens for wholesome values so that God is not further mocked in this great nation He has entrusted to us and our children can have real hope as we once had.
Whatever anyone else does or does not do, I am starting my part today by writing a few solid friends of this Northwest Arkansas community whom I have known over the years as people of wholesome values with moral integrity who care more deeply for our oncoming generations that to simply entertain them. I am committed to go further than that with my children and grand children.
Thanks. Flying wings! Love, Dad Oren Paris II
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