Hashkama – God speaks in a parable

It has been a while since my last article.  I hope you will be able to persevere until the end of this one, which I began at the end of September.

The Holy Spirit the Disturber, disturbed my sleep through a dream during the night.  There were so many thoughts going through my mind, some that I have yet to understand, that I decided it would be more profitable for me to get up out of bed, than to try to go back to sleep.

Whereas I would prefer to begin by saying, this is our God, the Servant King…. My attention instead is drawn to our distortion of the character of God.  The god that many serve, is not the God that is revealed and described in Scripture.  (1) In one religion in particular, punishments for various infringements or crimes include cutting off limbs, and even heads.  This disfiguring of the image of God in mankind (Genesis 1:27), or what we now refer to as human-kind, appears to be a common demand by this foreign god.  (2) His image is also desecrated by those who describe human-kind other than God has when He said, “male and female.”  There is a call now by the ‘UN Women’ agency, for the scrapping of the words “man,” “woman,” “female,” contravening God’s word.  Man is creating a world of confusion and chaos; God is not a God of confusion or disorder, whether in the Church or the world.

What is one to make of such classics as that authored by American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), “Little Women”?  Among others she also wrote “Little Men” (1871), and “Jo’s Boys” (1886).  I haven’t read Little Women, but I understand the novel spoke of ‘true love’.  True love is expressed by Jesus when He said, “If you love Me, you will keep My [Mitzvot] Commandments” (John 14:15).  “My Commandments” – Like Moses, Jesus gives commandments that are central to the covenant relationship between the believer and God.  The way we treat fellow humans reveals out attitude towards, God.  That we flush so many of the unborn down the sewers speaks volumes.  Likewise, the way we treat God’s word reveals our attitude towards Jesus, the Son of God.  If we love Him, we will obey Him.  If we distort His word, we distort His character.  Other examples of God’s love are expressed in verses such as John 15:13; John 3:16; Romans 5:8 – We are good at quoting such verses, but not so good at living them.

You are a hypocrite!

What do we mean when we call someone a hypocrite?  We are not speaking of someone that has made a hypocritical statement or act; rather, we are describing a lifestyle.  Matthew sometimes used the word when referring to Pharisees (6:2,5,16; 7:5; 15:7; 22:18. See Habakkuk 2:5; Proverbs 21:24).  The rabbis used the term “hypocrite” to refer to one of four classes of people (along with liars, scoffers, and slanderers) who will not bask in the glory of the Divine presence (“Shekhinah”).  The person that beheads someone in the name of his god, is probably as much, if not more hypocritical, than the poor soul that is beheaded.  Likewise, the minister or person pointing the finger and calling someone a hypocrite, very likely hasn’t examined their own life by the word of God, but judge only by their own standard.[i]  When someone says that you are a hypocrite, how do you defend yourself against such a charge?  Read through such passages as Matthew 5:28; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Galatians 5:19-21; Timothy 1:9-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Revelation 21:8, and Revelation 22:15.  Who among us can claim to be innocent and righteous before the Lord?  Surely, we plead “Guilty my Lord”, and cry out for mercy.  It is only through the sacrifice of Jesus that any of us are delivered from the wrath of God and the second death.  Only in Christ are we made alive to God.  We might all cry out to the Almighty: “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my rebellious acts; remember me according to Your loving devotion, because of Your goodness, O Lord” (Psalm 25:7).  We might also include the sins in our old age.  With scientists predicting the maximum human lifespan will be 130 within this century, I might be considered young…but we are not quite there yet.  So many of my age have died, reminding me of an old Scottish friend’s adage, “A lot of people have died that have never died afore.”  The longest-lived person so far is said to be a French woman.  She reached the age of 122 before she died.  Compared to her, I am very young!

The first group we considered at the beginning of this article, (1) worship a vengeful god, a god of hate, a demanding god, and many are they that follow him (though according to at least one report, quite a number are falling away and have given up their belief).  There are also Christians who believe that the God of the Old Testament is a condemning, vengeful God; a God of wrath, relentlessly and ruthlessly unforgiving.  These sanctimonious souls malign God, and falsely accuse God every bit as much as those who accused and condemned Jesus, leading to His Crucifixion.  There were character assassins of a religious nature then, and there are character assassins of a religious nature now.  We might not cut off limbs, but we disfigure the image of God in one another by our cutting, destructive words.

A member of fire

The tongue is “a world of evil” (James 3:6); and a world of evil is being created today, by the tongue, and the words that emanate from it.  The slander and violence against the character of God is often done in the name of God, as the Church both heeds and follows the word of the world and not the voice of God: “If only My people would hear My voice and Israel would follow My direction!” (Psalm 81:13).  The member of fire, namely the tongue, is playing with Fire when contradicting God’s word in Genesis, or in any other book of the Bible.  “My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

According to some, if trouble of a certain nature comes upon you, it is because God is visiting it upon you, because you have spoken out about something that God hates.  In my case, although the trouble is attributed to me, or is “visited” upon me (by God), it is actually my grandson and son that are suffering.  I shared about them for prayer, not for sanctimonious condemnation.  Yes, it happens and it is nothing new.  Job suffered it from his so-called comforters.  They turned out to be “miserable comforters,” in Job’s estimation (Job 16:2).  The tone of today’s “comforter” is that of an “accuser.”  Perhaps, if we are to take the view that God “visits” trouble upon us for speaking His truth, we need ponder no longer why it is that the Church will go through the Great Tribulation.  It’s not my understanding, but that would appear to be the logic of some; once again, it slanders God’s Name.

CBN reported on an American marine named Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller who has been imprisoned “For speaking the truth.”  Another reporter states that the marine did something that everyone has been waiting for for years, and has been longing to hear.  He had asked for accountability from military leadership for the withdrawal from Afghanistan.  For speaking out, he was immediately “relieved for cause” by his superior officers.  Having been relieved of his command, he was then forced to undergo psychiatric testing because of his public criticism of the top military brass.  He had a gagging order placed on him, which he broke.  Then he was imprisoned.  The marine’s parents spoke out against their son’s detainment for ‘Speaking Truth to Power.’  They allege that top military leaders are trying to “bury” him.  You might think that the alleged action by those in power is unjust; but injustice is found in the Church, probably almost as much as in the world.  Speaking the truth creates enemies and opposition.  We can point to politicians and say, as many do, you can’t trust any one of them.  It appears that it is not only politicians that are not trustworthy; military leaders; police officers; politicians; and in some cases, religious and church leaders.  They all destroy lives and reputations.  Injustice in the Church is diabolical.  By making a charge, of fear, for example, a leader can change the subject and the focus, enabling him or her to divert from dealing with the situation.  My concern is for young believers.  Don’t join a church or ministry just because the leadership claims to be biblical.  Seek the Lord and be led by the Spirit of God.  Preaching and practice don’t always line up.  The build-up of opposition from the world is increasing, and so is the deception in the Church.

The What, and the Why

I have intimated at what God has been said to have visited upon me, and why; now I will tell you what God has actually visited upon me, and my wife.  It includes God’s love; God’s mercy; and God’s Grace…”  Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love…” (Psalm 23:6)

The parable of the tomato plant

Epaphroditus was ill and he “almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow” (Philippians 2:27).

Paul refers to Epaphroditus as his brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier.  He was Paul’s attendant and assistant missionary worker.  In our verse, Paul reports that God’s mercy in this incident, extended to both Epaphroditus and Paul.

Margaret had been to see the heart specialist a number of times over the years, and she arranged for Margaret to have yearly heart scans.  For some reason, the scans over the last three years had been neglected, nothing had been arranged.  Of course, it was impossible to do anything once the pandemic was diagnosed for what it is, and lockdown was introduced.  However, in January 2021, Margaret took matters into her own hands and phoned the surgery.  She asked them to make an appointment to have a heart scan.  The person she was speaking to said that she couldn’t find any record of her ever having a heart scan.  Margaret phoned the surgery a number of times and received the same response.  Eventually, an appointment was made for Margaret to speak to the GP.  It had to be a phone appointment, because they didn’t do face-to-face appointments, and they still don’t.  Someone in an interview on TV said, “I think the doctors have joined the Magic Circle, because they have all disappeared.”  It has rather felt like that at times.  It was during the period of trying to get appointments, and getting appointments that we planted our tomato plants.  I wrote a quick, short piece about it in July – “The Planting of the Lord.”  Because the weather wasn’t too bad, I thought that I would leave the plants for a day or two before tying them to stakes.  That night, while we were sleeping a strong wind developed.  In the morning, when I checked if the tomato plants were ok, my heart sank.  One of the plants had snapped at the stem, just above ground level; it was hanging together by a thread.  I was about to pull the plant up when the thought entered my mind.  What if I stood the top of the plant back onto the bottom stem and tied it to a stake; would it survive and grow?  Thinking those thoughts were the first miracle.  The second miracle is that I acted on those thoughts, and left the plant in the ground.  I put a stake into the ground, placed the top of the plant onto the bottom stem, and tied it in place.  Miraculously, in my eyes, the plant grew!  It stands over 4ft 9ins high, and is still packed full of tomatoes.  We named the plant “Margaret”, because as you will see, Margaret’s life hung by a thread.  We believe that God was speaking to us through a parable of the tomato plant.

Eventually, Margaret was able to speak to the GP on the phone.  The GP told her that anybody at the practice could have made the appointment for the scan.  So, an appointment was made.  It was two months later when Margaret had the scan.  She received a phone call two days after the scan, to say she was being referred back to the specialist.  Then it was arranged for Margaret to have heart surgery in a London hospital.  By now she was feeling quite unwell.  The London hospital phoned to do the pre-admission checks.  After asking Margaret various questions, the person said that she wanted Margaret to see her own doctor straight away.  Margaret said that that wouldn’t happen, it takes months to get an appointment.  The person responded saying, tell them we have sent you.  We phoned the surgery expecting the usual response from them, but when they were told that the London hospital said Margaret needs to see the doctor immediately, they gave her an appointment that afternoon.  When the doctor saw her, he took her blood pressure and did an ECG, he kept pondering, and eventually said, I don’t like the look of you.  We all laughed, and he apologised explaining he didn’t mean it like that.  We knew he didn’t.  He told Margaret he would like to send her into the local hospital straight away.  We agreed, so he sent for an ambulance.  After three hours in a waiting room and still no sign of an ambulance, it was decided that I should take Margaret to hospital myself.  We left, and she was admitted into hospital.  She had many tests during the week she was there, and then she was transferred to the London hospital.  She was a week there before they operated.  She was admitted as an emergency so we wondered why it was taking so long.  It transpired that Margaret’s organs were failing, and they had to build her up, to be able to withstand the operation.  They replaced a heart valve.  After the operation, one of the cardiac team came to see Margaret.  He asked her what she thought of what they had done.  Margaret said she thought what they did is amazing.  The team member responded saying, we all think that you are amazing.  Margaret looked at him, and he said, “We think it is amazing that you lived long enough to get here alive.”  Margaret had long gone past the point where they would normally carry out the operation that she had undergone.

Margaret is at home recovering.  She has had no support from the local GP sadly.  This led to her having to go into A&E for several hours to receive treatment.  To all accounts she should not be alive today, but God intervened.  Before the operation, she was like the tomato plant.  Her life was hanging by a thread.  God had mercy upon her and saved her life.  In doing so, He had mercy on me too, and spared me from sorrow upon sorrow.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Blessings and shalom

Malcolm [28.09.2021]

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[i] 6 ways the Church becomes hypocritical http://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdlvr.it%2FS8kSC3&h=AT3Lw2hywHnqcfEoq4dlYrJhvmME4eN4H4mRaEGdyGfxjhW6UCix9tH6oYxEhWOToy3c7Q2kkTI8IkL_JGdwgVYhVw9C7GJ7NweXaY-rSSZaINKfIMIZa0Wlc4MdGOgwl5j1DWxl9sV5BUBYdqva