The Fall (Pun Intended) of 2008

Through my daily readings back in The Fall of 2008, God was basically saying to me, “I have told you.” So I started to record in my journals what He told me then, and I am sharing these now (in 2014) under the label The Fall (Pun Intended) of 2008. As always, honest sharing and civil discourse are most welcome.

The Lord’s word is a reproach to many people I love. Lord says they are (unwittingly) scoffers who have no delight in His word. He tells me they are (also unwittingly) hypocrites because they call themselves tolerant when they are not; they say they celebrate difference when they do not; they believe with their hearts that no one should ever judge, while they stand in condemning judgment when I state my belief (Jeremiah 6:10-11).

I found this out when a relative said, “Let’s not go there” when it came to stating my belief. She could state hers, but I was not allowed to state mine. She has an interesting definition of “tolerance” but does not even realize what she is doing.  Her treatment of me feels like she is scoffing and mocking me while thinking herself nice and open-minded. I feel like Jeremiah when he said so many years ago, “I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary of holding it in”  (Jeremiah 6:10-11).

Through me, the Lord has tried to tell many people I know that there are good paths and bad paths, that the Lord wants them to stand in the way and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in that good way.  Unfortunately, they have replied instead, “We will not walk in it!” adding, “We will not listen” (Jeremiah 6:16-18).

Everyone deals falsely. My own blood relatives and closest friends are not ashamed when they commit abominations even by their political inclinations and their actual votes. No, they are not at all ashamed, nor do they know how to blush (Jeremiah 6:13-14). They do not heed Your words, oh Lord, nor do they heed Your law. Instead, they have rejected it. You say that even their most devout offerings are not acceptable to You, Lord, nor are their sacrifices sweet (Jeremiah 6:19-20).

Because they do not know Your will, Lord, they do not recognize right from wrong anymore. Like me, they once did, but they slid gradually down same slippery slope I slid down. They do not even know that they do not know! They are stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers, but they have no idea, Lord. You know they have no idea (Jeremiah 6:28-30).  And You know I was just like that once.

Oh Lord, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return (Jeremiah 5:3). They are foolish, for they do not know Your ways, oh Lord (Jeremiah 5:4). Their prophets prophesy falsely, and their priests rule by their own power, and my own family loves to have it so. But where will my beloveds turn, Lord, when things get really rough? What will they do in the end? (Jeremiah 5:30-31).

Lord says to me, a follower of Christ, “Bring out the blind people who have eyes and the deaf who have ears! Let them hear and say, ‘It is the truth.’  You are to tell each one they have been chosen to know and believe Me and understand that I am He and that, besides Me, there is no savior (Isaiah 43:8-11).

And He says to me,, “I will give You as a light to the Gentiles that You should bring My salvation to the ends of the earth, that You may release many prisoners and bring light to many who sit in darkness. Sing, O heavens!  Be joyful, O earth!  And break out in singing, O mountains! For I, your Lord and God, have retrieved and comforted each one of your beloveds! I have shown mercy on each one who was afflicted, and I now hold each one of them in My arms. See, I have inscribed your name, and the names of all your beloveds, right here -- on the palms of My hands (Isaiah 49:3-6; 9-13; 16).

This photograph is by Jo Chaney.