Surely every man walks (even when he walks in state, when he walks in pleasure) in a shadow, in an image, in a vain show. When he makes a figure his fashion passes away, and his great pomp is but great fancy. Acts 25:23 [And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp, and was entered into the place of hearing, with the chief captains, and principal men of the city, at Festus' commandment Paul was brought forth]. It is but a show, and therefore a vain show, like the rainbow, the gaudy colours of which must needs vanish and disappear quickly when the substratum is but a cloud, a vapour, such is life James 4:14 [Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away], and therefore such are all the gaities of it.
And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, And creid with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices (Revelation 10:1-3)
The vain parade themselves, displaying their disobedience as though the world were their runway. It saddens me greatly that so many have become pawns, preening as though all eyes must turn to them, as they shamelessly prance. The devil knows scripture, but so few humans do, making them easy targets, easy prey for marauders. Jesus, clothed in majesty vs humans attempting to adorn themselves in rainbows that do not belong to them, do not resemble the LORD ... they betray self, and in their vanity, I suspect, they simply do not know what they do.
When we have been lied to, when we lie to ourselves, and everyone around us is too weak, to cowardly, or simply too ignorant to know any better, and they go along with our self-deception, we can cling to our errors as though our life depends upon them being true. The unspoken fear may be that in admitting we have tricked ourselves, or that someone else has un-lovingly colluded with us in our deception, our psyche will snap, along with our ability to cope. When on the cusp of this type of breakage, all the world comes crashing in: what we have done privately or publicly, what we have said, again privately or publicly, and lastly what we have thought, goes on instant replay in the mind and the embarrassment and shame can be excruciating: and yet, it is the most beautiful point of pain for anyone that willingly admits they were very, very, wrong. Change can only occur when we know and admit we were mistaken, and when we are willing to live differently.
Christians know this self-loathing feeling very well. Christians understand how vain, how arrogant, how self-directed we have been, when our eyes have been mercifully opened, our ears unplugged so that we can hear and heed, and when our hearts were first broken (and this is not a one time deal, because sinning is a human behaviour and Christians understand their is much to repent of, and often), knowing Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and the sins of those we hold near and dear. A Christian cannot help but weep over the state of the world, seeing how sin soaked it is, and longing for all to know that God wants to love us to Christ, love us like his very own children, redeemed through his Son, even though we walk or run away, and put on the death clothes of worldly fashion.
The devil aims high when he shoots his death darts. He attempts still, to dethrone the King of kings. He makes demonic suggestions, and humans delight in living their lusts, and when pride becomes their persona, they walk perilously close to the ditch of their own grave. We are beings unto death, but few want to consider this: and so, they live as though forever is their due, their right, despite the frailty we humans feel each time we are unwell, injured, and sometimes even immobilized with pain.
The Bible is my great help, and I see the historical value in reading it, and comparing what is revealed there, and what we are witnessing in society at large. The theme, ancient and current, is the rebellion of man, and God's long-suffering of our perpetual digressions. Noah built an arc (some say it took 100 years: I extrapolate this to mean that there was plenty of time for repentance for wrong doers), and only eight humans entered in, while the rest of the populace absolutely refused to give up their rights to freedom regarding their sexual lives, their spiritual lives, including sacrificing their children to idol god's, and doing as they pleased with lawless fervour, despite the commandments long set before them.
The miserable part of all this, is humans clothing themselves in rainbows: this is a declaration of a magnitude that I fear they are completely unaware of, since Jesus is Revealed, and clothed in a rainbow upon his head ... added to this, his voice is the roar of a lion, and thunder ushers from his mouth. Thunder thrills, unnerves, and frightens most humans, and to imagine the scenes that John describes in the book of Revelation, can be terrifying. Please refer back to the Revelation quote above; I clearly do not do it justice in my cherry picking for points here.
And so, I am terrified, for souls. I am frighten for them. I am concerned that people have been lured, and that they have unwittingly agreed, to thumb their nose at the God of the universe; and that if they do not see what they are doing to themselves, and they die in their unrepentant sin, they will live eternally in excruciating, soul crushing agony.
The spell must be broken, and Christians must pray for the currently lost and openly reprobate. God wants none to be lost, and we need little lamb sheep herders to direct the wanderers back into the fold. I beseech you, dear reader, to go to The Bible often, to pray without ceasing, and to plead with God for souls.
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16)
We have been given a ministry of reconciliation. You cannot do your part, if you do not know scripture. You cannot live Truth, if you do not know Christ. You cannot speak salvation, unless you are confident about Who saved you.
Get in your Bible, and live the commandment, today.
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