Be Wise and Discerning

Monday, November 23, 2015, 1:13 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “All Through the Night.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Jeremiah 40-41 (Select vv. NASB).

Murder and Trickery (41:1-10)

As a judgment of God on his people for their disobedience and refusal to listen to him and to his messages via his messengers, and because they were determined to do what they had decided to do in open rebellion against God, God judged his people, as he had warned them, and he brought about the destruction of Jerusalem via the Babylonian army (chap. 39). Then, those who did not die in the siege were taken into exile, with the exception of some of the poor who were left in Judah, but who were given vineyards and fields. A man named Gedaliah, appointed by the king of Babylon, was left in charge of the people who were left in the land. Jeremiah stayed with Gedaliah and with the people who were left in the land. Many Jews who were in the open country or who were scattered among other countries heard that a remnant had been left in Judah, so they came back to the land. Some of the army officers warned Gedaliah that Ishmael had been sent by the king of the Ammonites to take Gedaliah’s life, but Gedaliah did not believe them (chap. 40).

In the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men, came to Mizpah to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. While they were eating bread together there in Mizpah, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and put to death the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land. Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

Now it happened on the next day after the killing of Gedaliah, when no one knew about it, that eighty men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria with their beards shaved off and their clothes torn and their bodies gashed, having grain offerings and incense in their hands to bring to the house of the Lord. Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went; and as he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” Yet it turned out that as soon as they came inside the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men that were with him slaughtered them and cast them into the cistern. But ten men who were found among them said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death; for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil and honey hidden in the field.” So he refrained and did not put them to death along with their companions.

Now as for the cistern where Ishmael had cast all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down because of Gedaliah, it was the one that King Asa had made on account of Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people who were left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had put under the charge of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; thus Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and proceeded to cross over to the sons of Ammon.

This man Gedaliah, who was a government leader over God’s people, was given warning that a certain man intended to kill him, and that it would mean the death or the scattering of God’s people, but he refused to heed the warning. He took this man Ishmael and ten others into his trust, and he ate with them, and they killed him and many of the Jews and the Babylonian soldiers, too. Then, Ishmael tricked Jews who were mourning the destruction of Jerusalem into coming with him by pretending to be mourning with them, and he killed them, too. And, then he made captives of all the rest of the people whom he had not killed.

What Can We Learn?

Ok, so what can we learn from this story? For one, I think we should not be so quick to cast off warnings of danger or to so easily put our trust in human beings, no matter who they are or how trusted we believe them to be. We should also not so easily be gullible by believing everything we hear, read or see, for there are many tricksters who will play on our emotions and who will try to convince us they are our friend, when truly they are our enemy. Our enemy will try to deceive us by playing on our emotions in order to trap us, utilizing trickery (a Trojan Horse) in order to gain our trust so that we invite him or them into our lives only to have him or them turn on us and take us captive. So, we need to be wise and discerning, we need to test everything, and we need to put our trust in the Lord and not give human beings our blind trust, believing everything they tell us to be true.

So, how is something like this being played out in our world today? The US government and their political allies, as servants of this New World Order “Beast,” first create crisis situations within nations so that they can go in as “saviors,” but not to save, but to kill, destroy and take captive the people of the earth. The US government and the intelligence community, in concert with this New World Order, recruits, trains, equips and finances various terrorist groups to do their dirty work for them, such as ISIS, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, etc. Then, when the terrorists attack, these government leaders fake tears, pretending to be grieved with the people, but then they use “going after terrorists,” as a Trojan Horse in order to gain control over independent governments, to conquer people, to kill and to destroy, and to take out their real enemies, which are all those opposed to the rule of the “Beast” New World Order, and followers of Christ, especially those who are sharing the gospel.

In other words, the real terrorists going throughout the nations of the world, killing and destroying, work for the New World Order “Beast,” which means many of the leaders of our nations who are part of this New World Order help facilitate these terrorist acts, which means they are actually turning on their own people in two ways. First they bring in the terrorists and allow them to do their dirty work, then they have an excuse to cause even more death and destruction to their nations, or to other nations, and to exercise tight controls over the people of their own nations via lockdowns, martial law, raids throughout the city, etc., all under the guise of protecting their own people from the terrorists whom they first let into the country. They also go into other countries to kill and destroy under the guise of going after terrorists and to protect their own people, but they can’t be trusted.

The true “wheel man” who drove the getaway vehicle in the Paris attacks, for instance, is two-fold, i.e. Beast #1 and Beast #2 (Revelation 13), or a one-world totalitarian government and a one-world false religion, both of which are being forced upon the people of this earth today, in our time. They are the same people (or entities) who or which attacked and killed people in Mali and Beirut, and are threatening people in Brussels. They are coming against all people throughout the earth in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. All this talk in the news about terrorist suspects is fake, for the US and their allies in the N.W.O. are the terrorists, so they are not going after ISIS, but after us, the people of this world and Christians and independent governments. This is all about getting the people and governments of this world into compliance or cooperation with the New World Order. So, the real “grave threat” facing our nations is the death of the gospel of Jesus Christ and its messengers by the leaders of their own nations who are part of this “Beast” (#1 & #2).

So, when we read in the news that the goal of these “terrorists” is to divide us, to get us to turn against one another, to get us to be afraid, and to get us to treat people badly who are different from us, because we fear they are our enemies, and that they do this in order to defeat us, know that this is exactly what the US government and their political allies in the New World Order are doing. It is a strategy called “divide and conquer,” and they have been utilizing it much, trying to pit black against white or white against black, Muslim against Christian or Christian against Muslim, or Republican against Democrat or Democrat against Republican, etc., which often entails Christian against Christian as they fight over these issues among themselves to the point to where they are not united, and to where they are giving the name “Christian” a bad reputation. They have forgotten that they are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth and to proclaim the excellencies of Christ to a world in need of the Savior.

Also, when we read in the news that the goal of our leaders is to defeat these “terrorists” and to take back the land they are living on, to terminate their financing, to chase after their leaders, to disassemble their networks and their supply sources, and to finally destroy them, know they are not talking about “terrorists,” but they are talking about independent nations, the people of those nations, and Christians who proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, i.e. all who pose a threat to the rule of the “Beast,” and/or who directly oppose the rule of the “Beast,” and all people in general who they intend to bring under the rule of this “Beast” New World Order, i.e. one-world totalitarian government and one-world false religion. Their intention is to make us all in subjection to the New World Order, so they must destroy our way of life as we presently know it so that we will have to be dependent on them, or so they think, but we are commanded of God not to take the mark of this “Beast,” which means we will not be able to buy or sell, but God will take care of us, and then he’ll take us home.

So, don’t be afraid of what is coming. Put your trust in Jesus Christ/God, and not in humans. Don’t believe everything you read, hear or see, especially coming from our government leaders, the news media, and even many of our church leaders. Test everything. Cling to the good. Hate and reject all that is evil. And, follow Jesus Christ in obedience, even if it is to your death. You will be richly rewarded.

All Through the Night / An Original Work / December 7, 2013

Based off Various Scriptures

Blessed are you when you’re persecuted
Because of your faith in Jesus Christ.
Blessed are you when people insult you,
And falsely say what leads folks to doubt.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is
Great in the heavens. You’re not alone.

When you are persecuted in one place,
Flee to another. God will be there.
You will be hated by all the nations
Because you testify of God’s grace.
Many will seize you and persecute you,
And put to death the foll’wers of Christ.

Yet, do not fear what humans may do to you,
For I’m with you all through the night.
I tell you, love your enemies with my love,
And forgive as I forgave you.
Pray for those who do evil against you.
Rest in my love and grace from above.

 
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sometimes it's good to be poor, lol, praise God
Sometimes it is, I agree. I think we appreciate the things we have more when we don't have as much in the way of the riches of this world. One of my grandsons had a school project in which he was to interview an "old" person. Well, that ended up being me. I was born in 1949, so I guess I qualify. :) Anyway, he was to ask me a series of questions on what it was like in the "old" days when I was a kid, like how did I get to school (I walked), what kind of technology did we have then (not much), did we have TV (black & white when it worked), what kind of chores I had to do (he asked, "What are chores?"), etc. He also had a question about community life.

As I answered his questions, and we were very poor back then, by American standards, I reflected on the simplicity of life when I was growing up and of how people interacted more with their neighbors because we didn't have all the technology that exists today. I was reminded of how we had one phone to the whole household, and no caller ID or answering machine, so sometimes it could take days to connect with someone. TV had 3 main channels and VHS, I think it was called, in which we could get a few local channels. News was at 11 p.m. and then TV signed off for everyone until maybe 7 a.m. the next day. It was a real treat if we got to see a movie. We spent a lot of time outdoors playing all sorts of games with our neighbors, putting on plays, having bake sales and the like. We rode bikes, jumped rope, roller skated, etc. As kids, we also enjoyed sitting together and singing hymns.

Anyway, just made me think of that when you said about how sometimes it is good to be poor. I think sometimes that could be a real blessing.
 
Sometimes it is, I agree. I think we appreciate the things we have more when we don't have as much in the way of the riches of this world. One of my grandsons had a school project in which he was to interview an "old" person. Well, that ended up being me. I was born in 1949, so I guess I qualify. :) Anyway, he was to ask me a series of questions on what it was like in the "old" days when I was a kid, like how did I get to school (I walked), what kind of technology did we have then (not much), did we have TV (black & white when it worked), what kind of chores I had to do (he asked, "What are chores?"), etc. He also had a question about community life.

As I answered his questions, and we were very poor back then, by American standards, I reflected on the simplicity of life when I was growing up and of how people interacted more with their neighbors because we didn't have all the technology that exists today. I was reminded of how we had one phone to the whole household, and no caller ID or answering machine, so sometimes it could take days to connect with someone. TV had 3 main channels and VHS, I think it was called, in which we could get a few local channels. News was at 11 p.m. and then TV signed off for everyone until maybe 7 a.m. the next day. It was a real treat if we got to see a movie. We spent a lot of time outdoors playing all sorts of games with our neighbors, putting on plays, having bake sales and the like. We rode bikes, jumped rope, roller skated, etc. As kids, we also enjoyed sitting together and singing hymns.

Anyway, just made me think of that when you said about how sometimes it is good to be poor. I think sometimes that could be a real blessing.
You should write a book, love what you shared, it seems like a magical time. Doing books now a days is easier to do, you can do it through amazon. I'm sure other people know of other different ways to publish a book. I would be the first in line to buy it
 
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