May the mumbling commence!
Our culture is infected with the love of money. It’s an infection that is thousands of times
worse than Ebola. And it’s even more
deadly.
But we are not alone in this infection. The love of money transcends national
borders. It transcends the gulf of
time. Read from Ezekiel chapter seven
and think about the parallels to our day in reference to the United States.
"They
will throw away their money, tossing
it out like worthless trash. It won't buy their deliverance in that day
of the Lord's anger. It will neither satisfy nor feed them, for their
love of money made them stumble into sin.
They were proud of their gold jewelry and used it to make vile and
detestable idols. That is why I will make all their wealth disgusting
to them. I will give it
as plunder to foreigners from the most
wicked of nations, and they will defile it.
I will hide my eyes as these
robbers invade my treasured land and corrupt it.
Prepare chains for my people, for the land is
bloodied by terrible crimes. Jerusalem is filled with violence. I
will bring the most ruthless of nations
to occupy their homes. I will break
down their proud fortresses and defile
their sanctuaries.
Terror
and trembling will overcome my people. They
will look for peace but will not find it.
Calamity will follow calamity; rumor will follow rumor. They will look in vain for a vision from
the prophets. They will receive no teaching from the priests and no counsel
from the leaders.
The
king and the prince will stand helpless, weeping in despair, and the people's
hands will tremble with fear. I will bring against them the evil they have done
to others, and they will receive the punishment they so richly deserve. Then they will
know that I am the Lord!" (Verses 19-27)
For the love of money, we fill the world with
violence. Some of the violence we can
easily see. Some of the violence we can
see if we look hard. Some of the violence
is hidden from our eyes completely.
We are in denial, but the violence is there. The things that we see are only the tip of
the proverbial iceberg. The gulf between
the wealthy and the poor grows by the minute.
The gulf between the wasteful and the hungry grows by the minute.
We are lulled into sleep by the ads that we are
bombarded with day after day that tell us we are incomplete without some
product. We are distracted by “reality” TV,
so that we cannot see the realities around us.
We are distracted by the escapism of the sports and entertainment world.
But both our hands and our land are bloodied by terrible
crimes of violence and destruction and murder.
There is no peace because we have rejected the leading of our Lord God
Almighty. Visions and teaching from the Lord
through our prophets and pastors are rare.
If we cannot be still and listen to the voice of God in
the midst of this culture that bombards us with sensory overload, then we will
suffer the fate of all the great nations that fell long before ours came to
be.
But take solace in the fact that the kingdom of God
never fails. It stands forever. Seek that kingdom, and you will never be disappointed. Be still and listen for the voice of
God. Seek to understand and obey. That’s the Way to bountiful blessings
forevermore.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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