The general and his armies of darkness gazed upon the City on a hill with a burning hatred. The citadel had not fallen, the walls had not been breached, and it was not for lack of trying.
The siege had been extensive, his armies had used every weapon in their arsenal, but somehow every attack had been anticipated and beat back. The King was wise, the city built upon the Rock, and the fact that the city was able to repel his attacks only served to fuel the general’s anger.
“It’s not working my general, the city is too well fortified. Maybe we should wait and starve them out”, one of his lieutenants said gazing malevolently at the city.
“They have the Word, they will not starve, they are nourished and well taken care of; the King loves his people. But perhaps there is another way. If we can’t starve them out, then we poison the food supply.”
“But that would mean finding someone to commit treason, to betray the King, to sell their birthright. And even if you find such a soul, it will take years for the plan to come to fruition.”
“Years I’ve got”, the general answered, “and as far as finding one who is willing to betray his Master, well it’s been done before. Appeal to their vanity, offer them treasure, and you’ll have plenty to choose from. Yes, I see now, the city must be breached from within. All we need is a way into the city, after that we will do the rest. Make it happen.”
“But who do we approach my general?”
“Why, those who have been assigned to guard the storehouses and granaries of course. Those who have been assigned to feed the people.”
And so the enemy made haste and sent in the well-concealed spies, who began to whisper into the ears of those whose responsibility it was to feed the people within the City on a hill. Many refused outright, sounding the alarm, for death would have been better than to betray the King. There were a handful however, who lent their ears to the enemy’s whisper, and once the enemy had their ear, it was all but over.
What they said made sense in a way. They were performing an important task after all, and no one seemed to appreciate it. They were feeding the people, and the people acted as though they were entitled. The pay was meager, the job was thankless, but still, treason?
The spies spewed their well rehearsed lines: “We wouldn’t expect you to do it for free of course, we take are of our own. Plus most of the people will never even know that the food has been tainted. They’ll thank you for making it taste better. You won’t regret this; just think of it, fame, fortune, and the adoration of your fellow man for being brave enough to step of the mold, to think outside the box, to be a revolutionary, a free thinker! Even our side will applaud you, embrace you, you’ll be able to reach more people, plus what’s the harm in focusing on social issues, prosperity, self esteem, global warming, rather than on Christ and the cross for a little while? Maybe it is time for a change; maybe it is time for a revolution of thought, a revolution of the mind. Doesn’t a global ministry sound good to you?”
And so the food supply in the great city was tainted, only a little at first, so as not to arouse too much suspicion, and to the surprise of all who had thrown their lot in with the enemy, and had betrayed the King, the people loved it. Sure it was less filling, but it tasted great.
Their great dining halls began to grow, and grow, and as soon as they would finish building one, they were forced to get started on another. Yes, bigger, more seats, brighter lights, more shekels in the coffers, while those who still chose to serve untainted food saw their crowds shrink and dwindle.
Some came upon the discovery that the more poison they added to the King’s food, the more the people loved it. Some began to increase the percentage of tainted food to such levels that the king’s food was almost nonexistent in their recipes.
Even among the traitors some began to feel uneasy about it, guilt eating away at them for having poisoned the King’s subjects, but they had to go along. What could they do? Expose themselves for what they were? Stand before the people in their great dining halls and confess to the fact that they were being poisoned? No, they would do no such thing. It was the people’s fault for preferring their food to the King’s food anyway wasn’t it? They weren’t to blame; they were just facilitating a need.
I could go on with this story, but I think everyone gets the point. As children of God, as those who still cling to the King and find His word nourishing and sufficient, we must face certain harsh realities. First, in many a church truth can now be quantified in parts per million. The necessary gospel has been replaced with an irrelevant gospel, for all that pertains to the physical, to this earth, and to the material is vanity, irrelevant banalities that keep people distracted from the truth that they are dead in their sins and going to hell.
Just in today’s news headlines I read that fifteen year old kids are contracting their own father’s murder, pre-teens are having sex in school, teenagers are cutting, and drinking each other’s blood, but no, the clear and present danger is global warming. Hey, it’s snowing in Houston! The climate could be put on the back burner just tad dear pastors and Christian leaders, let’s for the sake of our very existence focus on the relevant and necessary for a change. Let’s go back to the cross, to the Christ, and stop poisoning the sheep of God’s house because the enemy is getting ready for his final assault, and now the walls are weak enough, there are enough cracks in the defenses where he will breach the city.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Basic Instinct
Although this article should have been entitled the 'the basic instinct of the unregenerate man' it seemed a little too wordy to be a title. I've been trying to get this story out of my mind for over a week now to no avail. It has had a very disturbing effect on me for reasons I don't fully comprehend. Maybe it's all the talk of how evolved and forward thinking our modern day generation has become, how we have grown in love and kindness as a civilization, and then seeing something like this.
For those of you who haven't heard about it, let me fill you in. On what has been coined as black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, where people wake up before the crack of dawn and stand in the often freezing weather to be the first ones into the store, a young man was trampled to death by a mob of shoppers. The young man was doing his job, tending the door, and in their hearty quest to save ten dollars on a back massager, men and women of all ages and races, actually trampled this man to death. What struck me as even more brutal and telling was the fact that once his co-workers saw this young man laying on the ground breathing what would be his last breaths, they attempted to drag him out of the way of the rushing mob only to have the mob scream expletives at them for being in the way. Yes, we've come a long way, this is the pinnacle of civility and civilization.
Most people today like to think that as a whole, we are beyond such things, we have evolved into a climate of understanding and tolerance, one of peace and joy. Why to many it's surprising that most people aren't skipping down the street, with flowers in their hair humming the tune of their favorite song. The truth of the matter is that every unregenerate man, every unregenerate woman has the aptitude and often the compulsion to be unfeeling, uncaring, self centered and self obsessed. Keep in mind it was not hardened criminals that trampled a man to death, it was not murderers and gang members, it was housewives, and average every day folk. And for what? It wasn't like they were there to get the last of some miracle drug that would heal their terminal disease, they were there for trinkets and worthless things, for material trivialities that lose their luster as soon as one gets them home.
Civilized as we would all like to believe ourselves to be, what do you think would happen if let's say there was a real and tangible reason for being in front of a store at five a.m. like a shortage of food? If a group of people were willing to trample a man to death for a discounted sound system, what would they be willing to do for the last can of tuna?
I realize to some of you this might seem like a purely hypothetical situation, but the dark days of which so many have warned for so long are finally here. There are no limits to the depravity of the unregenerate man, there is no low he is unwilling to sink to, or action he deems too horrid to undertake. I think that's why this story impacted me so.
If you believe that such things are beyond the scope of possibility due to the fact that we've grown and matured as a race, well I submit to you that absent of the transforming love and grace of Christ Jesus man's basic nature has remained the same throughout the ages.
The time has come to watch and pray, the time has come to trust our heavenly Father in a measure never before experienced by many modern day Christians.
Some of you will wave the following comment off thinking I am making a mountain out of a molehill, taking one isolated incident and extrapolating it, but if we are to believe the Word of God, if we are to believe the messengers of God then we must prepare now rather than later, strengthen our faith and stand on the rock of God's promises.
Whatever you think or imagine the future holds, not only for this nation but the world as a whole, is nothing compared to the reality that will be evident. I do not say this to stir fear in the heart of any man, I say it because I must.
The children of God, those who have been born again and have learned to trust the heavenly Father at peace under the shadow of His wing have no reason to fear for they know that He is able. If there is still fear at the edges of your heart, if you still harbor trepidation concerning the future, then my dear brother, my dear sister, it is time to stand before the cross and lay your burdens down. It is time to look into the perfect law of liberty, and the love of Christ, for perfect love casts out fear. These are exciting times.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
For those of you who haven't heard about it, let me fill you in. On what has been coined as black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, where people wake up before the crack of dawn and stand in the often freezing weather to be the first ones into the store, a young man was trampled to death by a mob of shoppers. The young man was doing his job, tending the door, and in their hearty quest to save ten dollars on a back massager, men and women of all ages and races, actually trampled this man to death. What struck me as even more brutal and telling was the fact that once his co-workers saw this young man laying on the ground breathing what would be his last breaths, they attempted to drag him out of the way of the rushing mob only to have the mob scream expletives at them for being in the way. Yes, we've come a long way, this is the pinnacle of civility and civilization.
Most people today like to think that as a whole, we are beyond such things, we have evolved into a climate of understanding and tolerance, one of peace and joy. Why to many it's surprising that most people aren't skipping down the street, with flowers in their hair humming the tune of their favorite song. The truth of the matter is that every unregenerate man, every unregenerate woman has the aptitude and often the compulsion to be unfeeling, uncaring, self centered and self obsessed. Keep in mind it was not hardened criminals that trampled a man to death, it was not murderers and gang members, it was housewives, and average every day folk. And for what? It wasn't like they were there to get the last of some miracle drug that would heal their terminal disease, they were there for trinkets and worthless things, for material trivialities that lose their luster as soon as one gets them home.
Civilized as we would all like to believe ourselves to be, what do you think would happen if let's say there was a real and tangible reason for being in front of a store at five a.m. like a shortage of food? If a group of people were willing to trample a man to death for a discounted sound system, what would they be willing to do for the last can of tuna?
I realize to some of you this might seem like a purely hypothetical situation, but the dark days of which so many have warned for so long are finally here. There are no limits to the depravity of the unregenerate man, there is no low he is unwilling to sink to, or action he deems too horrid to undertake. I think that's why this story impacted me so.
If you believe that such things are beyond the scope of possibility due to the fact that we've grown and matured as a race, well I submit to you that absent of the transforming love and grace of Christ Jesus man's basic nature has remained the same throughout the ages.
The time has come to watch and pray, the time has come to trust our heavenly Father in a measure never before experienced by many modern day Christians.
Some of you will wave the following comment off thinking I am making a mountain out of a molehill, taking one isolated incident and extrapolating it, but if we are to believe the Word of God, if we are to believe the messengers of God then we must prepare now rather than later, strengthen our faith and stand on the rock of God's promises.
Whatever you think or imagine the future holds, not only for this nation but the world as a whole, is nothing compared to the reality that will be evident. I do not say this to stir fear in the heart of any man, I say it because I must.
The children of God, those who have been born again and have learned to trust the heavenly Father at peace under the shadow of His wing have no reason to fear for they know that He is able. If there is still fear at the edges of your heart, if you still harbor trepidation concerning the future, then my dear brother, my dear sister, it is time to stand before the cross and lay your burdens down. It is time to look into the perfect law of liberty, and the love of Christ, for perfect love casts out fear. These are exciting times.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
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