The Wicked Slay Each Other

I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. Ezekiel 38:21.
The wicked are filled with regret, not because of their sinful neglect of God and their fellow men, but because God has conquered. They lament that the result is what it is; but they do not repent of their wickedness. They would leave no means untried to conquer if they could. . . .
Ministers and people see that they have not sustained the right relation to God. They see that they have rebelled against the Author of all just and righteous law. The setting aside of the divine precepts gave rise to thousands of springs of evil, discord, hatred, iniquity, until the earth became one vast field of strife, one sink of corruption. This is the view that now appears to those who rejected truth and chose to cherish error. No language can express the longing which the disobedient and disloyal feel for that which they have lost forever–eternal life. Men whom the world has worshiped for their talents and eloquence now see these things in their true light. They realize what they have forfeited by transgression, and they fall at the feet of those whose fidelity they have despised and derided, and confess that God has loved them.
The people see that they have been deluded. They accuse one another of having led them to destruction; but all unite in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers. Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they have led their hearers to make void the law of God and to persecute those who would keep it holy. Now, in their despair, these teachers confess before the world their work of deception. The multitudes are filled with fury. “We are lost!” they cry, “and you are the cause of our ruin”; and they turn upon the false shepherds. The very ones that once admired them most will pronounce the most dreadful curses upon them. The very hands that once crowned them with laurels will be raised for their destruction. The swords which were to slay God’s people are now employed to destroy their enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed.
Maranatha p. 294
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Prayer Requests
—– I got my first ride in an ambulance. Vomiting & excruciating pain started & got worse until I was on the verge of passing out. Way worse than any pain I’ve ever had! Wes stayed with the kids & I was rushed to ______ by ambulance. It took 3 different pain meds to get my pain under control. Now we are waiting on blood results & a Cat Scan to see what’s going on. Pray for me please. I have been sick or in pain for a year (when I got pregnant) & I’m ready to be well! It’s also killing me not being with my baby right now…& being at the hospital alone. I just hope they figure out what’s going on so I can deal with it once & for all! Marion
—–Please continue to pray for Brian as he travels and for Ron as he re-broke his collarbone and is in a lot of pain. Rose
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Dear Friends
Until I was 10, I was raised by my grandparents, Edwin and Ida Harmon. My grandfather had his own special room where he could relax and keep his stuff. He had a big overstuffed chair that was very comfortable and in the evening he would relax in that chair and read his magazines, when I was outside playing, that is. Whenever I came inside, he put them in his drawer and told me stories, made shadow pictures against the wall, played a drawing game, etc.
I knew why he always put his magazines out of the way when I came into his room. Those magazines were not “children rated.” However, while he was at work and my grandmother was in the kitchen (where she spent most of her time), I would look at grandpa’s magazines. Many of them were about hunting and fishing, but one was called Adventure Magazine. The drawings in that one were really scary. He also had a Time-Life book about World War II that was even scarier. That book had very graphic pictures from the war. They frightened me and fascinated me at the same time. I spent hours looking carefully at horrifying picture after horrifying picture until they became indelibly etched in my mind. Even today, just the thought of some of them makes me shudder.
How cruel war is! How cruel is the heart of mankind without the Spirit of God dwelling there. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, how little they realized the results of their disobedience. It was such a little test. It was such a small act of disobedience, but it was a pivotal moment in their experience. From that small act, came a great change.
Before the fall, Adam and Eve had good fellowship with their Creator. At the time for evening worship, He came to this small planet in His great universe and conversed with them. But after their disobedience, hearing Him walking in the garden brought a new feeling to their heart. It was a feeling of fear and dread. God’s Word tells us, “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” Gen 3:8-11
God knew what had happened, but He wanted them to acknowledge their transgression. Instead, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent, and , ultimately they were blaming God. “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” vs 12-14
How good and kind our Loving Father is! Before He told His erring children of the consequences of their sin, He gave them the promise of a Saviour! “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” vs 3:15 “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. vs 16-19
From that one little sin, the close communion they had had with God became a more distant one. They could no longer hold face-to-face conversation with their Maker. They could no longer live in their garden home. “Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Gen 3:22, 23
From that point, the war that had begun in Heaven began to be fought here upon this planet. Adam and Eve’s sweet harmony was broken. Worse still, their firstborn son murdered his brother. “And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” 1 John 3:12 How those grieving parents must have wished that they had never listened to the evil one’s temptings.
From that moment the world began to deteriorate and mankind became “worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” 2 Tim 3:13 Praise God! He does not leave us in such a pitiful state. He has provided a Way out of the war “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Eph 6:12 Jesus is the “way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6 His Great Heart of Love years over us offering His Grace and Mercy if we will reach out and accept it. He will help us resist the devil who goes about as a roaring lion to devour us. (1 Peter 5:8) He will protect and guide us.
Let us thank Him for sacrificing His own life, so that we may have a restored relationship with our Creator. Let us serve Him from a heart full of gratitude and love for all He has done for us. Let us place our weak and trembling hand in His strong and mighty hand, and let Him lead us to His Heavenly Kingdom is my prayer.
Rose