Pharaoh saw one judgment after another from God....and was set back on his heels....but only for a moment. That is essentially what we here in America are doing. There is very little mention....from what I can see....from the Christian churches in America....and from believers....that this pandemic was judgment from God....not on the world in general....and not on America....and certainly not on us.
We are totally oblivious to our part in the decades long collapse of American culture. In our estimation it has all been the fault of others.. We are tithers at best.....10%.....not of our money....but our time....as God is seldom in the conversations amongst ourselves....unless it is a weekly Bible study.
We can attend parties....and get together as friends at barbecues and such....and laugh....and talk about wholesome things.....family....and stay for hours before looking at our watch and saying....'Well...we'd better be going.....church in the morning'.....and never once mentioned our Lord and Savior! If you would be an observer to these get-togethers....you would have no clue if any of the people present were Christians. We meet before church in the vesitbule or sanctuary.....and Christ is never mentioned.....and we say our good-byes afterwards.....and the sermon is never mentioned.
So God is now bringing war....the next judgment....the previous judgment not even over yet.....a judgment that we in as much as said to God...."You're going to have to do a whole lot better than that to get our attention." And He will....and He is.
We have witnessed wars in cultures that were nothing like ours. Maybe they wore turbans....or silk....or tribal headdresses....but in the Ukraine there are cities very similar to ours....with condos and modern buildings and sports arenas and parks....with fancy automobiles going this way and that for reasons very similar to why our cars are going here and there....and these cities are now beginning to look like bombed out German cities....or London during World War II....but this doesn't seem to alarm us enough to ask God if maybe His judgments are on all of us....increasingly....and if the return of the King of all Glory is indeed near.....as so many such as Billy Graham have warned....of whom we just ignored as if they were fools....just like Judah ridiculed Jeremiah. A beginning for us would be to ask ourselves why would God have had mercy upon us to begin with....and remind ourselves as to what this great salvation is....and what the price paid was....and then consider just how much we may have fallen short in thanksgiving?
The following preface is from 2016....the post itself....as mentioned....2012:
As a personal preference, I cannot think of too many things more enjoyable than conversation with another Christian on our God, our Savior and His written Word to us. Conversely, to spend an hour or so with a brother in Christ and not talk about our shared faith is more than disappointing. The following post from December of 2012 is a simple dialogue. Betty and John Hunter are are their way to visit Jen and Tom Ayers. They know each other but as it turns out, not as well as they thought:
Who Knew?
Betty: Where's your smile John?
John: This is my smile.
Betty: I know better than that.
John: I know. I like Tom. It's just....It's all hunting and sports with him.
Betty: What about me? Jen is like... almost a chef...(pausing) But they were nice enough to ask us over.
John: I just hope that I don't have to look at more pictures of Tom crouching over a dead deer.
Meanwhile at the home of Tom and Jen Ayers.
Jen: Tom! Try to smile. They're nice people. It's not going to be that bad.
Tom: Jen. I know they are nice but we have nothing in common. John is a contractor. Going to Lowe's is like sitting in the dentist's chair to me. And Betty...Her conversation is all triglycerides, blood pressure and vitamins while I haven't been to a doctor in my life.
Jen: (Peeking through the drapes as a light flashed outside) They're here...be nice.
Tom: I'm always nice!
Betty and John enter with a bottle of wine as a gift.
Jen: Thank-you. Ooh, Tears of Gettysburg. It's one of my favorite wines!
Tom: Hi John. How's everything?
John: Hi Tom. Fine. How's everything with you?
Tom: Good.
Betty: It's just about to rain. My Arthritis always acts up in damp weather.
Jen: Well we have dry heat. Maybe you won't notice?
Jen served up a beautiful (there's no other word for it) vegetable plate and dip. and Tom didn't have to show pictures, for a mounted deer head was hanging a foot over John's head at the table. Tom felt obliged to comment.
John: Wow! Get that this year Tom?
Tom: Yeah....ten point. I was only an hour in the woods.
Betty: This dip is great Jen.
Jen: I'll give you the recipe Betty and walk you step by step through it.
Tom: What have you been up to John?
John: I'm remodelling the kitchen. The house is a disaster area right now.
An hour into the visit and John's complete design was laid out for Betty and Tom. Tom then started talking about his golf game. John just smiled and nodded not having the slightest idea what a slice was. Jen took Betty into the kitchen to prepare the dip while Betty analyzed the ingredients to see how the the evening would affect her triglycerides. The four then retreated to the living room and Tom was happy to get out from under the mounted dear head.
John: Whew! It's 9:30. Maybe we ought to be heading home Betty?
Betty: Well, church in the morning. We go to a 9 AM service.
Tom: Where do you go to church?
John: First Reformed Presbyterian in Lawrenceville. How about you?
Jen: We go to First Baptist right here!
Betty: Do you have a good preacher there?
Tom: Betty, he preaches the Cross of Christ every week. I don't know what I'd do without it.
John: That's unusual Tom...preaching Christ.....We're blessed too. I don't think that we have ever had a Lord's Day where the Gospel wasn't preached. We had spent five years in a church previous to First Reformed Presbyterian where the Gospel was never really preached; the name of Jesus was everywhere but nothing about our lost condition and Christ's atoning work on the cross.
Jen: Hey! Can you two stay a little bit longer. I'd like to go into the den and show you Tom's bookshelves. Have you ever heard of Michael Horton?
John: Jen, we were on a White Horse Inn cruise in April and had conversations with all of those guys! I'd like to see the books. Got any decaf coffee?
Tom: It'll only take a few minutes. What about getting up early?
Betty: Ah...we both had afternoon naps today...Right John?
John: I'm not tired at all.
John and Betty then spent and additional two and a half hours at the homes of their friends. In the car on the way home the conversation went like this:
John. Ya know. I really like Tom. He's a wonderful brother in Christ.
Betty: When do you think the kitchen will be done so we can ask them over?
John: The kitchen doesn't have to be done. I already asked Tom about coming over next week. You don't mind do you?
Betty: No! We'll just put some plastic up over the doorway to the kitchen.
Meanwhile back at Tom and Jen's:
Jen: How about that Tom, and I just love Betty. What a wonderful time tonight!
Tom: I was wrong about John. Yeah he has those interests but I never knew that they paled next to his Christian faith.
Jen: Who knew
Tom: Yeah. Who knew?
Afterthought: This is an odd post....and I'll continue with it with this anecdote that I had given an entire post at one time. It was on a cruise to Bermuda....only a few years ago. Ten of us were seated around the dinner table for the entire cruise.....which we like because you get to meet new people. Anyway we were just about to arrive at Bermuda.....and the dinner conversation the entire cruise had been totally light-hearted....with no serious talk of any kind. So I thought I would see if I could stir things up a little. I asked if anyone had ever seen the Oscar winning movie.....Mrs. Miniver.....with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon? No one had which surprised me.....especially since two ladies at the table were from London. So I went into drama mode and told the whole story.....abbreviated here.....on how the film began at a church service just outside London on the River Thames....where all the main characters were present but no one had any interest in being in a worship service. Everyone had their own passions.....one on fancy new hat she was hoping to buy.....her husband on the sports car he was excited about.....the son about girl on the other end of the pew....and so on. Well then World War II started....and before the film ended a couple of the main characters were dead....and the church had been bombed....with a big hole in the roof. The film ended with another church service.....but this time....with a bombed out hole in the roof....and some of the people dead....everyone in the service was intensely interested in the hymns and the sermon. There I had said it all....and looked around.....hoping to generate some kind of serious comments. Everyone was quiet after my story.....and one of the ladies from London then said loudly....something like this....."So what excursions are everyone going on in Bermuda?'
