Simple to the Profound

“When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.” (Psalm 56:9)

The first time I was in USSR, communist Russia, my traveling companion was a news man with WOR Radio/TV, New York. We engaged a driver-guide each place we visited, Moscow, Leningrad. Kiev, etc. I said to him, “It seems to me that everyone is drunk.” The driver said, “Alcoholism is Russia's greatest problem.” Anyone would notice that in the horror pit of life, in a totalitarian state, drunkenness was probably an escape from the reality of living. Surely someone, other than this writer, has noticed the almost obnoxious laughing of an audience in a live television performance, such as the late night shows. People laugh about things that are not really funny. It appears they just want an escape by laughing at just anything. We find this even in televised church services. The preacher more an entertainer than proclaimer of the Gospel... everything punctuated by laughing and clapping.

It is time for someone to demystify spiritual things, to get the nonsense out of the pulpits, choir lofts, vestibules of the churches. The church worship service is not a social gathering. There may be room for levity at a civic club meeting, some political gatherings, but we live in a time when we should awaken to the seriousness of the problems that surround us. When you consider that the world owes a debt of $706 trillion debt, and there is not that much money in the world, politically, there is little to laugh about. Too many people pray, expecting God to go along with them. Don't mess around with God, there is nothing in His book not serious. At Mt. Sinai, wilderness, the people were told that they would die if they even touched the mountain. Chief priest Aaron, Moses' older brother, saw his two priest sons evaporated by fire because they disobeyed God.

David, “a man after God's own heart” ,(Acts 13:22) anointed King of Israel, seeking to escape the wrath of Israel's first King, Saul, hid in the cave of Adullam, surrounded by a small army of misfits, loyal to him.

We must put flesh and blood on Bible characters to fully understand God's work in their lives. Perhaps Psalm 56 tells the story. David, and those around him, hungry, smelly, from not having eaten or bathed for weeks. We have all been there, thinking we were at the end of the rope. But think of the words that came from David's mouth, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul. Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God. Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me. In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word.” (Psalm 56:3-10)

There is little time in life, at least for the Christian, for foolishness or nonsense. Even if you live as long as this writer, 82 years, you better learn early to have the courage of faith, a mountain of trust in God to hold on to, a firm grip. Satan and his cohorts, the world around you, temptations of the flesh, pernicious evil, will use every trick possible in his bag of tricks, to snare-entrap you, your own family and associates will call you a nutty-fanatic. This is the reason that Jesus told us that we must be willing to give up everyone and cling to the knowledge of His everlasting arms. (Deuteronomy 33:27)

When you put your trust in His Word, His Word is on trial in you, a living epistle, a living soul. George Foreman, the boxer, said, “When I became a Christian, I was raised from the dead”... and so he was. His focus shifted from himself and the world around him, to the cross.

Many years ago, I became so “heart-sick”, speaking in churches, particularly Baptist churches, where there was never a cross. The Christian cross should be the epicenter of every church, every church activity. Only the Catholics have succeeded to have crucifixes dominate their services and buildings. Such a tragedy that Catholicism now compromises with Obama and his ilk, (Georgetown), father Jenkins and his ilk, (Notre Dame), in the nonsense of removing crosses because of the offense to Muslims and the sexually promiscuous, (Miss Fluke-Georgetown.)

In the Song of Asher, Moses speaking to the children of Israel, message from God, they would have shoes of iron and brass because of the hard trip. (Deuteronomy 33:25) The Christian trip is hard, not complicated, but tough.

In the global swindle, just as Nirenberg, world bankers should be tried and hanged. There have been three great awakenings, elimination of slavery in Brattain through the efforts of Wilberforce, the American revolution, the elimination of slavery in America. As a nation and as a Christian remnant, we have come too far to fall so soon. Jude, said it all, Probably a brother of Jesus, give particular attention to the last verse. “Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupt flesh.” (Jude 1:21-23)