(IHEAM:CH14) I HAVE AN ETERNITY AHEAD OF ME CHAPTER 14 THE BLIND

I HAVE AN ETERNITY AHEAD OF ME 

CHAPTER 14

THE BLIND: Why The Golden Calf Had To Be Destroyed and Should Never Have Been Built

Memorial Day has passed and in defense of fallen Southern Confederate Soldiers and in an effort to preserve historical statues of the Confederacy, many have cried out, "This is part of our (America's) history, too!"

We must stop to ascertain the proprietary intent in claiming ownership to this side of American History, at this present time; for indeed, it is of great importance and significance. Also, does the person truly know and understand the history to which they claim ownership?

Anyone who claims to know or believe in God should have a basic understanding of Biblical History, which is also "our" history, in order to properly assess contemporary or national history. History is not simply the documentation of events, but, a complete analysis of who, what, why, when, and where an event occurred, with an implied intent to emphasize that we acknowledge history so that we learn from our past to improve our future.

Thus, it is important for one to know in "our" history, why the golden calf had to be destroyed and should never have been built. If one can then understand the error, then, it becomes apparent to why the error must be corrected.

For those wishing to hold on to and maintain the error, is it that they really care about history or rather more, to continue clinging to that past which represents their present and their hoped and intended future for the entire nation? Therefore, the error is never erased.

Is it that they wish to ease their guilt and no longer be deemed a deviant in society, or have to suppress their anger, frustration, and hatred toward sharing a country and a world with those they discriminate against and loathe?

Yes, Confederate History is part of America's history and should never be forgotten. We should always teach the truth about our history. However, should we honor and glorify the lives of those who die fighting for unjust causes? Do we celebrate the bad part of our history as if we should lovingly embrace it?

It is productive and positive to embrace the good that comes from learning truth and correcting our mistakes. As for the lives that are lost fighting for an ill or unjust cause, should we decorate their graves with symbols of their blindness, believing we are honoring them? We must truly evaluate what those symbols stood for and represented at the time.

A statue is not a life, yet, it should be regarded as a representation of the truth which nurtures and sustains life, if it is to be a visual reminder of man's accomplishments, achievements, milestones, landmarks, overcoming his past failures, and celebrating his victories.

We do ourselves a disservice to lift up, memorialize, or idolize those people and things which have led us into darkness, division, death, and despair. We might as well erect a pillar to represent darkness and evil and worship it as men worshipped idols in the past.

If we are seeking or living in abundant life, then, ALL that we do is for the GLORIFICATION OF GOD! We must ask ourselves if we are trying to defend that which glorifies self and darkness? How does the cause of the Confederacy glorify God, who is Truth, upholding his precepts and principles? How does God view these earthly images and matters which are of concern to us? What does He see in our hearts? Are we putting self and the world before Him?

So, then, how can we justify honoring Southern Confederate Civil War Soldiers as war heroes or placing Confederate flags upon their graves?

To honor a life is to honor manifested fruitfulness: love; truth; peace; provision; rest, and equality. Our honor must be Fruitful, whether it be exuded through our behavior or, as a physical token of our esteem, which has been manifested through us from God.

Fruitfulness is borne of truth, to be upheld, just as we honor and obey our parents. This is commanded of us by God to keep us in TRUTH, RIGHTEOUSNESS and HOLINESS!

So, it is also for the dead. To honor them is to remain in TRUTH, RIGHTEOUSNESS and HOLINESS, producing good fruit ATTACHED to The Vine!

The cause and fight of the Confederacy was based on a LIE! They did not believe in  FREEDOM and JUSTICE FOR ALL! There was no honor of God and Truth in their cause. There was no holiness....no righteousness. Slavery was neither good for man, nor good for the nation! It was pure EVIL! Just because they chose to believe in the cause and die for the cause does not make it honorable!

To take pride in those who died for this CAUSE is to become a part of that evil and that lie! We can't have it BOTH WAYS! When we try to taint honor it also becomes a lie and dishonorable.

No, if we are to honor our fellowman who has died upon the battlefield in vain for an unjust cause, we must forgive their blindness, forgive our nation, and give them peace and rest through TRUTH!

Our nation has a flag which is supposed to represent "Truth marching on."  Truth marching forward into the future in victory and not backward to revive a failed and misconceived past. It represents the truth and unity that came about and was ESTABLISHED as a result of ALL fallen soldiers having given their lives in a war to achieve and celebrate living in UNITY, not division, discrimination, and separatism.

The political climate in our nation today has been chilled by those LOOKING BACKWARD instead of LOOKING FORWARD. They say that they want change in the nation, but, that change must look like the PAST.

However, God did not create things to be so. We cannot stop, change, rewind, or repeat time. Everything has a season and a purpose, even people, leaders, nations, ideas, rituals, and philosophy. But, God is never changing. Therefore, if we are holding to his Hand, walking in His Light, we aren't caught up in isms and scisms, drowning in lies and darkness afraid to move on to the future and afraid to live in the Light.

Change becomes necessary to our GROWTH, clear and welcome. We are not AFRAID or DISMAYED whatever betide, for we rest on God's promises that He will take care of us. The adversary cannot confuse us or lead us astray, for we cling to The Rock, and our soul is ANCHORED in the Lord.

Partisanship has placed a WHOLE in the heart of America and many Americans! They are blinded to TRUTH because they choose to leave God out of politics in order to be free to HARDEN THEIR HEARTS and place BLAME upon the self-proclaimed enemy!

The true enemy is making fools of men, having them say and do things without rationale or justification! People are acting out of PRIDE and SELF to boost their own egos, and carry out their own justice, caring nothing about their brother.

The adversary has staged a giant puppet show with blind puppets bumping into and tripping over themselves, because ignorance is their guide. This is a sign of the times, because MEN NO LONGER WANT TO KNOW GOD and have a relationship with Him. They believe they have knowledge and wisdom, technology, and the ability to distort, manipulate, change and bend the truth. For all their self-driven intentions and purposes, God is dead, not a threat, inconsequential, or a tool for their use.

The Blind leading the blind today are certainly afraid to step into the Light in fear of being exposed! Their life is a lie! Yet, their greed and fear is REAL because they have no relationship with God to come to know Him and become like Him.

For those who are awake and able to see, God is ALIVE and does not lead men into darkness, nor will he cause us to stumble and fall.

Some things have not changed and one crippling constant is the fact that men continue to worship RELIGION instead of worshipping God in Spirit and Truth. Some wear religion as a removable hat, while others grope around in the dark shadow of unbelief.

Is it no wonder that many Americans are steeped in prejudice, bigotry, greed, selfishness, and all manner of darkness, just as it is no wonder they have chosen to elect a blind leader to lead them out of darkness?

It was Jesus who came to SHINE THE LIGHT, not men like Putin and Trump! AMERICA! MY COUNTRY' TIS OF THEE! Sweet land of liberty? The BELL has stopped ringing!!! Freedom and Democracy stand on the brink of destruction if you do not act with conviction to blot out the stains upon your history and embrace a new era of enlightenment in the Will and Way of God!

Jesus came to shine the LIGHT! But, men with hardened hearts and deaf ears still cannot see.

There is another way!!! For those who are not led by their pride...COME! FOLLOW!!!

JESUS, The Truth, The Way, and the Life came to show us ANOTHER WAY! Yet, the pride of the Pharisees and Sadducees kept them worried about someone being seen as HOLIER, MORE POPULAR, and MORE REVERED THAN THEM! They wanted to be EXCLUSIVE instead of INCLUSIVE; even to continue to stay ISOLATED from the gentiles. Yet, that was not God's plan. The adversary allowed their ignorance, selfishness, and pride to blind and deceive their hearts.

God may start with a few sheep, but, He plans to bring other sheep into the fold to INCREASE THE KINGDOM; and nobody can tell Him how, when, or not to do this.

Those who are busy counting candy-filled jars, as if they are PEOPLE, leaving GOD out of the equation better take HEED, for God has His own list of real people who WILL BE COUNTED OUT at the end and condemned to eternal damnation. We cannot count others out and ban them from what BELONGS TO GOD!

That you were born into this world was A MIRACLE of God! He could have looked at the capacity of the world, the capacity of your nation, the capacity of your family, and said what they told His Son at the inn, "NO MORE ROOM!" God could have allowed for you to be spontaneously ABORTED, VANQUISHED, a dream that never came into fruition, or never a thought.

He could have looked at the color of your skin or your parent's finances, circumstances, marriage status, religion or lack of holiness, righteousness, or love for their brother and said, "NO!" And you would never have been born, but, God is MERCIFUL!

Do you really KNOW about history? Do you really KNOW GOD?! Or, are you playing a game along with the adversary who says, "This is how " I " want things to be?"

Where is your RELATIONSHIP with God? Where is your HOLINESS and RIGHTEOUSNESS? Where is the love of God within you?

Men like the Pharisees and Sadducees could not see that man cannot be HOLY without being ONE with God, therefore, one must be CONNECTED in a RELATIONSHIP with God!

Jesus came to guide us into a RELATIONSHIP with GOD, by which we become ONE and made WHOLE. Our obedience to His Word comes through LIVING inside, resting, and ABIDING in His Word, thereby, becoming HOLY through Him. There is no uniting with God to become holier, or becoming holier on ones own. There is no holier than thou. There is only ANOTHER WAY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST!!! HE who JUSTIFIES us, increases our faith and leads us to the throne of MERCY!

Don't get caught up in Satan's ploy to keep you ignorant and blind, destroying not only yourself, but, those around you, as well as your community and nation. We must create an environment where ALL the sheep, of ALL varieties, are safe and can thrive.

Many cannot accept the mistakes we have made in our country because they cannot separate themselves from the color of their skin and an allegiance to an ideology that supports them remaining in the FLESH. They claim to support and honor a faith or religion that they really do not know or follow. They break every commandment of God for the sake of self, race, and political party. They put man above God and give no credence to being their brother's keeper. They claim to stand for God and country while wholly supporting racist, bigoted lies and traitorous men whose goal is to work with our enemy to destroy our country.

Yes, Trump and Bannon's angry, misguided goal is to RUIN, and destroy our institutions and the United States of America to create an alternate society; one based on intolerance of others and constant lies. They can't get past their prejudiced, hardened and blackened hearts to see the TRUTH. Their blinded supporters cannot see a blind madman keeping them in darkness!

Instead, they focus on who exposed the traitor's traitorous plot! They would rather our nation be run by traitors and spies as long as their party is supposedly in control. They don't care how corrupt, ignorant or inept the president is as long as he pretends to represent their party to give them power. They don't care how much damage he does as long as he represents their party!  Oh, but, they are devout men of God! They claim to praise and know Him, but, DOES GOD KNOW THEM?!

They prove that they lack ONE THING! They have not been made perfect in LOVE, because...because...they have NO RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!

Tell me, just because MEN decide to keep God out of politics, does that mean God agrees, so, he doesn't care about our political views? So, when we vote, we don't have to care about what happens to our brothers? Then, we can go to church and pretend to have a love fest with people who agree with us and who are like us, right? But, that's really not hypocrisy is it? We're still living in TRUTH, right? No?

Then, tell me, what is happening in our nation when others around the world can see the disturbing truth about what is going on in America, but those republicans and supporters still backing a corrupt and unfit president believe he, his family and staff, and they are VICTIMS?

Are they living in an alternate universe where things are reversed?

Will they still be crying, "THIS IS MY COUNTRY, GET OUT, when Jesus leads the charge for the last battle and claims His Kingdom?!--When He unites, Whites, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Indigenous People, Jews, Christians, Muslims, etc.? Will they see any different then, from now?

Can they claim forever that which was ill-begotten, stolen and obtained by murdering, conniving and lying? Oh, but, I've forgotten, we're supposed to forget about that now, just like slavery. Those Native people have been relocated on reservations, out of sight and out of mind, with most of them living in poverty. But, isn't that part of our history?

Where are the monuments, statues and flags and sympathy for the calvary soldiers who murdered, scalped, beheaded, raped, burned, looted, hung, spread plagues, killed buffalo to starve human beings and commit genocide? It is part of our history. Yet, should we continue to live it and honor it, or should we learn from it and look to improve the future, TOGETHER, as the United States of America; a strong democracy, because it is a country filled with DIVERSITY?

There are people in this nation trying to resurrect the past because it serves their self-interests. The common people, or populists aren't going to get rich off of their scheme.

However, time moves on and that is beyond anyone's control. It will move on with us or without us. You can bury your head in the sand or try to fight it, but, Time gets its orders from God and even the winds and waves obey His Will.

Is there anyone whose arms are not too short to box with God, or whose feet will not perish kicking against the goad?

If you choose to move on with time, make sure you know where you are headed. Follow Jesus to His Father's heart. Your Heavenly Father wants to have a relationship with you that will remove all of your doubts and fears. He will take you beyond depending on this world to give your life meaning and give you abundant and eternal life.

The adversary wants to steal God's promise to you, but, he can't. It's yours for the taking, when you truly follow Jesus and learn to have a relationship with God. There is a better way. Instead of being led by the blind, God wants to empower YOU to lead others to follow Yeshua.

We who have an eternity ahead of us have a choice to make also, as long as we are living on this Earth. Will we be silent? Will we allow the wolf to come and devour the sheep? Will we take up the cross and shine the Light, showing others that there is another way and a better way?

Within your abundant life God's Holy Spirit lives within you waiting to manifest His Fruit. His fruits are part of His Kingdom and serve to glorify God and increase the Kingdom. If you try to suppress and inhibit what lies within you, returning to the ways of the world, how grieved His Holy Spirit will be. You will not be living in abundance.

The enemy never ceases to try and distract and lead us astray, pulling us back into the world to be OF the world. Know your history. Know what you are truly asking for when you ask to walk with Jesus and share His Kingdom. If you are truly seeking to live in abundance, seek to know God.

My Brothers and Sisters, our Peace (Jesus) be with you! Be Blessed. Be Well. Be Connected to God.

America! Humble yourself, Repent, Pray, Seek His Face and He will heal our land.

your servant and soldier, united with the One,

Mishael