Between knowing and dead silence

Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. – Matthew 24: 28 (NIV)

With its eyes set on the dull green plastic garbage bag placed near the edge of the driveway of my son’s home in Melbourne, Florida, an approximate 2 foot tall solitary bird paced up and down in a stalking mode- being sure that there was no movement. Without fear of being intimidated or discouraged, it was decked out in dull black heightened with wrinkles covering its face and head. With the tip of its grayish bill sticking out and the long wiry white legs attached to funny looking feet, the 5 (pound?) vulture was a sight to see.

I viewed the whole scene from the seat of my automobile during the mid-morning hours. The sunlight was unusually brilliant on that Friday and I hoped that no one would disturb my view. But the garbage truck started at the far end of the street making all kinds of noises. The “black crow” or “black buzzard” took to flight and landed atop a lightpost nearby. Peering in the distance, it rested there for a bit.

I looked and looked at that marvelous creature. My mind went back to my childhood days when a yelling [to cry loudly as in pain] sound came from the green corn field adjacent to my grandmother’s house in the Crab Point vicinity of Morehead City, North Carolina. A larger animal had somehow attacked a little puppy that had been left alone, snatched it up, and headed for the open field. However, the puppy’s cries must have been heard and before it could be consumed, the larger predator got scarred off. I had visited my friend’s house down the road and was returning home when I heard the weak sounds. Mercy! When I got near the scene, several large black birds took off and the poor thing was just about gone with its flesh strung open. Mama told me later that those kinds of birds served useful purposes of keeping rotten and dead things under control for the farmers. Well, those horrible looking creatures looked bigger than life; I knew they were close by, so I left the scene as quick as I could. The weak cries were gone – the puppy died. The buzzards returned.

My eyes were opened to two spiritual lessons. The first one is from the Old Testament. When it comes to identifying special animals like the vulture, here is what God said in Leviticus 11: 13-17; 24, These are the birds that are detestable to you. You must never eat them: the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, the kite, the falcons of all kinds, ravens of all kinds, the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the seagull, hawks of all kinds. The following creatures will make you ceremonially unclean. If any of you touch their carcasses, you will be defiled until evening.

During the time of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness, God gave special instructions to Moses and Aaron to pass on. He had strictly forbidden eating the meat of certain “unclean” animals and to make sure, he forbade even touching them. God wanted the people to be totally separate from those things he had forbidden. Today, we flirt with temptation, rationalizing that at least we are technically keeping the commandment not to commit the sin. But God wants us to separate ourselves completely from all sin and tempting situations. We are to be more aware of areas in our lives where we have “technical innocence” but in which we have actually been involved in sin. It’s time to cross back over the line and stay there.

The second lesson comes from 1 Peter 5: 8 in the New Testament: Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. The Lion attacks sick, young, or straggling animals; it chooses victims that are alone or not alert. Peter wants us to watch out for Satan when we are suffering or being persecuted. If you are feeling alone, weak, helpless, and cut off from other believers, or if you are so focused on your troubles that you forget to watch out for danger, those are the times when you are especially vulnerable to Satan’s attacks. During your times of suffering, seek other Christians for support. Keep your eyes on Christ, and resist the devil. Then says James, “he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) Resistance demands constant reliance, dependence, and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Finally, observe what Jesus said in Matthew 24: 28: Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. In other words, since the gathering of vultures indicates the presence of carrion then the end of the age {the signal of Jesus’second return} will be very obvious to all. Selah

High as a Georgia Pine

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. – Genesis 6:5 (the Amplified)

I went to a nearby art supply store to purchase a 24 x30 inch stretched canvas for a project that I’m working on and found out that the price was rather high. I asked the stock clerk, “Is this the right price that is shown for the [cotton duck] stretched canvases?” “Yep,” the employee said. “That size and variety don’t come cheap; in fact at the other stores, the price per unit is as high as a Georgia Pine! We offer the best deal – how many do you want? ” I smiled and acted as if I would come back to it, but politely meandered (to wander without specific direction) my way to the exit. I went immediately across town and discovered that what I wanted was nearly four times cheaper. But I remember the stock clerk saying, “ the price per unit is as high as a Georgia Pine.”

“As high as a Georgia Pine” was used of course as a figure of speech to point out something particular. My curiosity was raised just by the colloquial use of the phrase and most importantly of envisioning the height of a pine tree grown in the state of Georgia. Just how high is this tree anyway? It has been said that the Georgia Pine can reach up to nearly 200 feet high in its natural habitat. However, the Georgia Pine is best understood when it refers to someone extremely intoxicated from drug use. Here is an example.

Abuser 1: Wow, I am high as a Georgia Pine right now.
Abuser 2: Are you kidding? We just down our first pint of whiskey and we got
lots more to go. I’m as high as a hundred Georgia Pines.
Abuser 1: No way dude. How high is that?
Abuser 2: Let's open another pint and find out.
Abuser 1: I mean, if we can get higher that this, let’s try it.

Hopefully, this approach is an eye opener and has gotten your attention. Did you know that at one time sin had piled so high that God decided to wipe out the human race along with all the living creatures in the world? Give ear to what was written for our learning in Genesis 6:5-8:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground – not only man, {but} the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air – for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them. But Noah found grace (favor) in the eyes of the Lord.

Let me ask you, is there evidence to prove that the wickedness of man is great in our current world? That in the 21st century, the imagination and intention of human thinking is continually evil? It’s appears that the shedding of blood through violent crimes of abortion, rape, suicide bombers as a result of war, robbery, etc are escalating rather than decreasing! Would it be easy to conclude that these grieve the heart of God? Is he pleased to see people of the same sex marrying each other, to be satisfied when a parent throws a new born infant off a high bridge, to be jubilant when an angry educator kills fellow workers as a result of self-imposed anger, to smile at a sex offender kidnapping, raping, and inevitably snuffing out the life of someone’s child? All we have to do is look at and read the news locally and nationally- the results are astounding. But what about a compassionate and loving God in cases like these?

Re-look at verses 6,7: And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground – not only man, [but] the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air – for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them. This is heavy stuff. Could this mean that God regretted creating humanity? Was he admitting he mad a mistake? No, he does not change his mind (1 Samuel 15:29 - And he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie, nor will he change his mind, for he is not human that he should change his mind!). Instead, he was expressing sorrow for what the people has done to themselves, just as a parent might express sorrow over a rebellious child. God was sorry that people choose sin and death instead of a relationship with him.

A good friend said to me recently [after the news of another earthquake in Turkey] that God is telling the world something! Could it be that sin has piled high as a Georgia Pine? Selah

Kind words are worth repeating

Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the mind and healing to the body.
– Proverbs 25:11 (The Amplified)

[Oh well, what does it matter anyway! This person isn’t going to change no matter what you say to him or do for him. He’s beyond help so the best thing to do is to leave him alone. After all he has more to lose than we do.]

Although this may fall into the probable sayings of the “give uppers,” yet this train of thought seems so common place. However, before going any further, what’s wrong with this kind of thinking? Would this kind of attitude reflect some one labeled as a born again Christian earmarked as a leader in the church? Just what are the conditions that determine whether an individual will never change? How can you know when it is best to leave anyone alone to fend for himself or herself? Most importantly, what internal mechanism allows you to know that you're speaking sincere words? How much emphasis should be placed upon doing something as well as speaking words? What is the best way to get started?

Yeah! You are right! There are [no doubt] numerous ways to answer these kinds of questions and I believe they have been touched upon before by a great many people. As I'm sure they have found out, it is so easy to speculate or give an opinion not based on fact, but just the opposite happens whenever an individual knows exactly what he's/she's talking about.

What’s behind the concept of “what do you have to lose anyway?” I just happened to meet a fellow pilgrim that testified that he was once a drug addict and lived from pillow to post – an outcast of his family. But one day, a praying mother of the church saw his condition and felt the need to pray for him as he typically could be seen making his way to the drug house. One day she called out to him and he heeded the call. She prayed for him and for many days afterwards, he couldn’t be seen strolling past the old lady’s home. He was off the streets. Something miraculous had happened to the man she prayed for. Little did she know that he was led to accept Jesus Christ as his lord and Savior.

Listening to the story of his radical transformation, what follows is a summary of Sylvester’s testimony. A young man that I’d met before but didn’t get a chance to talk with until just a few days ago after a church meeting. After the conversation was over and I had to re-think on what he had to say, I scribbled a few notes. He pointed out that he knew what it meant to be without hope. He knew what it was like to be down in the dumps…he had been there…but Jesus came in and changed everything for him. Jesus gave him a brand new image of himself. Now, he could tell everyone he met that Jesus Christ is real.

What saddened him the most was that “we can say how beautiful a flower is or how adorable a new house is, but we are afraid to say a kind word to a person that has been made in the image of God. It’s so easy to point out the colors of a new car or be carried away with its slick- body frame, but never an encouraging word to one of God’s children resembling His likeness. It shouldn’t be that way for a Christian.”

What struck home was the emphasis of speaking kind words especially to a fellow believer but also to everyone that you come into contact with. I had a field day just thinking about the kind of words that got Sylvester’s attention. They had to have been words nurtured by the Holy Spirit. The elderly woman lovingly responded and did something that only the prayer of faith can do. Meeting a complete and total stranger wasn’t an issue. She had everything to gain and nothing to lose remembering that an act of kindness is just like kind words – they’re worth repeating. In fact, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12: 11, The words of the wise prod us to live well. They’re like nails hammered home, holding life together. God, the one Shepherd, gives them. – The Message/Remix. Selah