The day the Mormons came to my door.

I don't like confrontation, nor do I like to embarrass myself, so typically, I tell the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witness that I am not interested, and they leave, but not today.

For years I have heard others talk about how they have disarmed every statement that the Elders have made. Few ever tell you that the elders gave their hearts to Jesus, but there is some twisted sense of pride, knowing that they dissembled their arguments.

As I stood there, merely trying to be polite, I heard my spirit crying out, God, I have no clue as to what to say. So, I simply listened to their pitch, which was well-rehearsed, about how Jesus called disciples to himself, anointed them to be Apostles and prophets, and how that church grew out of their ministry. But the church went a tremendously long dark time because there were no prophets. At this point, the red flags went up, but I was still constrained by the Holy Spirit.

The two elders alternated in sharing their parts of the story, but essentially, they said that "John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and conferred upon him the Melchizedek or higher priesthood. After this Joseph Smith was directed to organize the Church of Jesus Christ again on earth, ... and that through Joseph Smith, Jesus again called forth the twelve Apostles." (I got the quote directly from their pamphlet, The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.)

They then asked me if I wanted more information on Joseph Smith - the prophet, to which I replied, it isn't about Joseph Smith; it's about Jesus. While it is true that the church did go through a dark time, I made a point of talking about how there were four hundred years between Malachi and Matthew where no one seemed to hear God's voice. But you need to understand something, Mr. Smith is not and was the only prophet on earth. To prove my point, what do you do with the instructions God gave to Moses when Aaron and Miriam rose against him, for they, too, wanted to be deemed prophets.

Numbers 12:6-8 NASB He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. (7) "Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; (8) With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?"

I then told them how Jesus had appeared to me in a dream or a vision and laid out my life before me. Shouldn't that, according to God's standard, make me a prophet as well? But don't ask me to tell you what that title prophet means because no one listens to me.

At this point, I brought up the most recent turn of events, as we found out about a year ago that my mother may have had pancreatic cancer. The Doctor would not say affirmatively without a biopsy, and my mother refused the biopsy. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and told me that, at best, I would only have her for six months. Well, no one was willing to hear that. Two months later, the Holy Spirit told me to go say my goodbyes to her as she would be going home within the week. I called one of my brothers, who lives a distance away, and told him that he needed to come quickly. Although he berated me, he still showed up the next day to say his goodbyes to Mom. She died the following Sunday.

As for false prophets and teachers, I know one personally, and today, he espouses that the church MUST suffer through God's wrath - that event in which He pours out His wrath upon Israel and the nations. This conversation then evolved into how I believe that God is out to save people and bring them into the kingdom. This can be seen in Matthew 24 and 25, where the Shepherd calls all the dead to Himself; these are people who were not part of the church and, by church standards, not worthy of God's mercy. He separates the group into those he designates sheep and those he terms goats. The sheep are then invited into the kingdom. Stunned, they ask why? To which Jesus says, because when I was thirsty you gave me water; when I was hungry, you fed me; and, when I was in prison you visited me. In reality, these people lived outside of their selfishness. The goats did none of those things and were cast off into outer darkness to follow their chosen leader - Satan.
I then told the two young Mormon men that I pray for them often, as I do not wish for them to have to endure God's wrath when merely believing in Jesus Christ as their savior was the way into God's eternal kingdom.

This led me to talk about the parable that Jesus told about the ten virgins. Do you realize that He was talking about the church today? I said, in a sense, you and I sit by some of those that make up the fifty percent. I looked into both their eyes. I asked, how is it that upon getting an invitation you would not prepare yourself, especially if you have a written invitation? These virgins ran out of oil, but did they ask politely? No, they demanded oil from the others, and not getting it, they went out into the night and tried to obtain oil from any of the households they could wake up. Obviously, they missed the entrance into the party, and I suppose, had to endure the potential wrath that is to come. I told them, that by the voice of the Holy Spirit, who speaks to me all the time, that I know that they have a comprehension of this Jesus I speak of. I also said I believe you have the potential of being one of those who will be caught up.

There is no Joseph Smith; it is all about Jesus and His word. I love His word, but I don't waste my time with false prophets.

They asked me if I would like them to come back with a book of Mormon, to which I said no, I can get several of those at the second-hand store if I needed one, but I don't because I have Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

I told them that I had chosen to be polite and friendly, just as I must choose Joy or not to be bitter. I told them how my small group had broken up over bitterness and how the remaining brother, because of the Word of God, has talked lately about the changes he perceives God is making in his life.

I thanked them for indulging me and wished them a great day. As they walked away, I wiped a tear from my eyes because having the Holy Spirit speak through me so powerfully always does that to me. I then prayed a prayer out loud that I do not expect you to understand, but I said, God, just wreck their day. To me, that is when He steps into the middle of your life, changes everything, and turns your heart toward Him.

I noticed something about this entire process. Within moments of answering the door, the fear and intimidation left me. All the questions I had in my mind just went away as the Holy Spirit began to speak through me. Honestly, it was such a short time ago and I am struggling to remember what and how I said it. To me, that is a pretty good indication that it was the Holy Spirit because I am not that clever.

Babylon the great, Mother of harlots. Revelation 17:3

 I am jumping off my commentary on the Gospel of John to point something out.

One of the so-called “watchmen” that goes by “generation 2434” went on a bit of a rant, saying.

“I, 100%, stand against the teaching that “Mystery Babylon” could be Jerusalem because it goes against God’s word.”

He went on to say,

“There are many scriptures that prove this… but here is the short and firm answer.”

“Mystery Babylon is destroyed and will NEVER be a city again.”

If you search for the phrase “mystery Babylon,” you will NOT find it. The closest thing we have to mystery Babylon is Revelation 17:5. Here is the KJV.

(I have intentionally broken up the passage so that aspects could be emphasized.)

“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment.”

(Judgment is that which originates from God and, in general, would be deemed “the great tribulation”; once again, this is an inappropriate term.)

“of the great harlot”

(Momentarily, we will see that BABYLON, THE GREAT, and THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS are the same thing, and Jerusalem is included.

Here is a huge assumption: If there is a great harlot, can there be lesser harlots?

Since we know that Babylon is one and Jerusalem is another, there is the possibility of others.)

“who sits on many waters,”

(Waters is representative of the nations.
Telling us that this “great harlot sits on many waters indicates that “she” has influence over multiple locations simultaneously.
If this were a human, this kind of influence could only be accomplished by having others fulfill their wishes; this conversation fuels the idea that this being is demonic.

Remember that Satan took a third of the angels, an uncountable number, to earth in his rebellion. It is the reason that Satan can have such an influence. )

“with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality,”

(Perhaps it is best to think of this harlot as wickedness, evil, transgressions, and general darkness.

The question to ask yourself is, against whom?

The answer is that these acts of evil are generally perpetrated against the masses who can do little to defend themselves.)

“and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”

(God is showing John, and subsequently us, the punishment of the harlot and who she has had an impact upon; this is an aspect of God’s wrath. It is important to recognize that by the time we read this, the collapse of their empires and national relationships because of the immoralities associated with the harlot will just about be complete.)

Consider what Revelation 17:3 tells us.

“And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness;”

(When God showed Abram how committed He was to this covenant that He was asking Abram to follow, the entirety of the dream, although it sounded like reality. What the Apostle John passes on to us is no less vivid and real. In Acts chapter 8, we see the disciple, Philip, run and catch up with an Ethiopian eunuch, who is riding in a chariot while attempting to read the scroll of Isaiah. I have so many questions about this scenario. Having, a few moments later, baptized the Eunuch in some standing water, Philip is translated; perhaps we can say he was carried away in the Spirit.

Did this happen to John? I cannot say, however, that it sounds like John’s experience was more like Abram’s.)

(Wilderness should be a familiar term as we saw Jesus driven into the wilderness – Matthew 4 - to commune with the Father and to be tested by Satan. The wilderness is typically bleak, foreboding, and lacking water.)

“and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names,”

(If I saw anyone riding on a “beast,” I would assume they believed they were in control of that animal. I had an opportunity to ride a horse when I went to Oklahoma. That horse, for the majority of the time, did what it wanted to do. Finally, as the horse was standing in about a foot of muddy water, a man led some young riders out by me and told them clearly to let their horses know who was in control and told them how to do that. Unfortunately, I don’t remember how to do that, but I applied my momentary education to the situation, got the horse out of the muddy lake, and got the horse to run on a sprint. By the way, this is when the ride smoothed out, but the thought occurred to me that this horse could run in front of an oncoming vehicle.)  

(It is the woman’s head that is full of blasphemous names, and she is riding the scarlet beast, and the beast is speaking blasphemies.

Let’s focus on the blasphemous names for a moment.

Blasphemy is the Greek word blasphēmia and carries meanings of slander, defamation, vilification, and verbal abuse against someone. The WSD conveys that it is the wounding of someone’s reputation by evil reports. We are not given the names, but if you can understand what they are intended to do, you can comprehend the focus of those words – they are meant to demean God and those who represent Him.)

“having seven heads and ten horns.”

(If you search for “seven heads,” you will only find the phrase in the Revelation.)

- Revelation 13:1 TLV  Then I saw a beast rising out of the sea that had ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten royal crowns, and upon his heads were slanderous names.

(I am constantly reminding you that our Biblical study is concentrated on Israel and the Mideast; with that in mind, these ten horns and seven heads are defined in Daniel 7 as ten kings. In Daniel 7, he desired an explanation.) The passage that follows is one of those responses.

- Daniel 7:23-24 BSB says ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it.  24  And the ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom. After them, another king, different from the earlier ones, will rise and subdue three kings.

(Question: Of the nations in the Middle East, how many are NOT Muslim? Not many.)

The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality,

The description conveys that the participants are motivated by wealth and comfort. Soon, they will be subject to God’s wrath, and their money won’t do anything for them.

And on her forehead, a name was written, a mystery,”

Before we go any further, I want to explore this word mystery. I am NOT an expert in English grammar; I pay dearly to have my work edited by “Grammarly’s” document editor. With that said, I noticed that the word mystery ends with a comma. This indicates that there is a pause worthy of contemplating, in this case, the context of the paragraph. While the implications involved with Babylon are significant, we are not given this information for us to be confused because the name Babylon is a mystery.

The word mystery, as used in Revelation 17:5, is the Greek word mustḗrion, and it carries the implications of a person initiated into sacred mysteries. The word mustḗrion is a derivative of the Greek word muéō (G3453) and means to initiate, learn a secret, or some esoteric knowledge. It also denotes something hidden or not fully manifest.

If you are familiar with the Free Masons or the Illuminati, you are already acquainted with the terminology used to describe being initiated into the sacred mysteries.

The prophet, Daniel, revealed this piece of information, somewhat deflating the mystery.

“But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” Daniel 12:4 NASB

(God has seen fit to open the eyes of those who have an interest in end-times prophecy.)

And this is what was written upon her forehead.

“BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
Revelation 17:5 NASB

You do not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that the description seen on the harlot’s forehead is the mystery. It is also an analogy to the centralized system progressively taking over the world.

In an attempt to understand what this mystery is, let’s look at what Revelation 17:18 says.

“And the woman that you saw is the great city exercising kingship over the kings of the earth.” Revelation 17:18 TLV

God calls Babylon the great city, but the problem is that Babylon is no longer there. To add to the confusion, Jerusalem is also called that great city. There are multiple references to the destruction of Babylon in the Old Testament and Revelation. Jeremiah 51:8 is one of our examples.

With all that history, God still has the initiative to use the term suddenly.

“Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken; Wail over her! Bring balm for her pain; Perhaps she may be healed.” Jeremiah 51:8 NASB

We find the beginnings of Babylon when we find Nimrod and the tower of Babel. It is from this that Nebuchadnezzar brought about his Babylonian kingdom.

An excerpt from www.worldhistory.org.

“Babylon was founded at some point prior to the reign of Sargon of Akkad (the Great, 2334-2279 BCE) and seems to have been a minor port city on the Euphrates River until the rise of Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 BCE), who made it the capital of his Babylonian Empire. After Hammurabi’s death, his empire quickly fell apart. The city was sacked by the Hittites in 1595 BCE and then taken by the Kassites who renamed it Karanduniash. The earliest mention of the city comes from an inscription from the time of Sargon of Akkad. It was briefly ruled by the Chaldeans (9th century BCE), whose name became synonymous with Babylonians to later Greek writers (notably Herodotus) and biblical scribes, and then was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian Empire (912-612 BCE) before being taken by Nabopolassar (r. 626-605 BCE), who established the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Babylon fell to the Persians under Cyrus II (the Great, r. c. 550-530 BCE) and was a capital of the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BCE) until it fell to Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. It continued as a trade center under the later Seleucid Empire (312-63 BCE), Parthian Empire (247 BCE to 224 CE), and Sassanian Empire (224-651 CE) but never attained the heights it had known under Hammurabi or the Neo-Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605/604-562 BCE). The city declined after the Muslim Arab conquest in the 7th century CE and was finally abandoned.” (https://www.worldhistory.org/babylon/#:~:text=Babylon%20was%20founded,was%20finally%20abandoned.)

Jeremiah 51:37 also speaks to the cessation of Babylon, a place where no one will ever live again, much like the coming prophecy against Damascus.

Not that long ago, I watched an archaeologist as he visited the site of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. The foundations that mark the perimeter of Babylon still exist, but no one, to this day, lives within those boundaries.

“Babylon will become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, An object of horror and hissing, without inhabitants.”
Jeremiah 51:37 NASB

Consider this: Babylon, acting on behalf of God, in time, took the majority of Israel captive. It is possible that the prophets Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, and Obadiah were taken captive alongside Daniel.

One of the ways we can look at the original Babylon is to see it as a protective force.

Did everyone obtain untouchable protection?

No, and we see an example of this when we read about King Zedekiah, the King of Judah (the Southern kingdom. Read Jeremiah 39:1-9), but others, such as Daniel and the other three young men that were taken captive, enjoyed God’s protection.

If you read about Daniel, you learn that he was thrown into the lion’s den for maintaining his routine of worship. King Darius, who had been tricked, fought to save Daniel, but his own edict was against him. Daniel came out of this sure death unharmed. Read all this in Daniel, chapter six.

Since we can understand that Babylon is gone, this discussion about Babylon, which is deemed a mystery, has to be more spiritual in nature and in the future. Needless to say, that future is now.

And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.”
Revelation 11:8 NASB

When God talks about the two witnesses who stand in the streets of Jerusalem, He refers to Jerusalem as that great city, merely clouding the issue.

So, when I or anyone else talks about false teachers and how they can lead you astray, someone speaking authoritatively can drag you into confusion by insisting that Babylon must be rebuilt. Clearly, that is not the case. To combat that happening, you must become a student of the Word of God; that means you read and write with the express purpose of gaining insight into how God thinks and feels.

I have been on a rant about false teachers lately.

Seeing as I have been on a rant about false teachers lately I thought I should add one more.

    Two more guys I tend to respect, were recently speaking on the subject “are there prophets in these last days.” Their answer leaned heavily upon the fact that God's word is the final word on things to come; and, it has been made available, unlike when the Apostle Paul walked this earth, and there was NO printed Word, so that every household could have sixteen Bibles and NOT study any of them.

    I happened to notice the comments associated with this teaching. A lady put up a “band-aid” sized banner, with pastel letters, spelling out “AMEN.” My spirit wrenched inside of me, and I wrote a comment for all to see.

    “While it is true that God's Word is the definitive of all prophecy, did He leave the door open for us to speak into other people's lives? Absolutely. (Try reading Romans 12:6; 1Corinthians 12:10; 1Corinthians 13:2; 1Timothy 4:14.) Those words, these two men spoke that day, implied that we are to keep our mouth's shut when it comes to outward expression.”

I asked the question in the comments,

    “Have you ever worked through your broken self-esteem, your introverted tendencies, and subjected yourself to the ridicule of religious zealots, who believe you should not and cannot speak like this to people, most of which are believers?”

“It's not so easy, is it.”

    At a small church I attended, I gave a word to a person that had come up front for prayer. The man with the Doctorate in theology got there first and prayed his well rehearsed words over this person, while I stood by waiting quietly. He walked away and I reached out and touched this persons shoulder before they could walk away. I did what the Holy Spirit told me to do. I looked into their eyes and began speaking into their life. The reaction said it all, as God had reached down inside them and tears began to flow. When I give Words like this, they typically speak to me as well, and I often weep afterward, mostly because I am so deeply affected by the idea that God would use me.

    Mr. Doctorate, had apparently stopped to watch and judge me, and he immediately approached me, saying, “never tell someone, “the Lord is saying,” because there is nothing we do that is not entwined with our broken human nature, and therefore, may not be the Lord, but your brokenness motivating the word you speak.” While what he said is sound wisdom, I had already seen rubbish like that and had chosen never to speak to someone in that manner. I often say, I believe the Holy Spirit is saying.”

    Here is the problem that all of us must face. That voice that you heard, and, therefore, believe is the voice of God, telling you to go that person and tell them that the LORD is telling you that you are wearing too much gaudy makeup and your skirt is too short, is your voice. (In case you did not notice, I was being facetious.) As believers, we have the Holy Spirit, leading us, guiding us, and showing us things to come. So, yes, it may well be the Holy Spirit, but He convicts through the Word of God, not you. Oh, and you are NOT the judge, Jesus is, so leave the judgment and criticism out of the conversation.”

What did that voice sound like?

    If you are honest, you would say, it sounded like my voice.

How connected is your voice to your angry emotions and religious traditions?

    It is wholeheartedly connected, but it can be trained and controlled.

    One day at church, a dear lady, whom I only knew by eyesight, stopped me and said, “Why aren’t you doing what the Holy Spirit told you to do?”

    Yikes, I knew what it meant to me, but what did it mean to her? So, I asked. Her response was very similar to the words the Holy Spirit had already been using to implore me about giving words to the church body.

    Speaking out like this was a gut-wrenching process for me, and I pleaded with God to find someone else. The Holy Spirit said, no, I want you, and I want your voice. Once I started, it went on for six weeks. Finally, after giving the first message to the church, my lady friend came to me and said, honey, no one beyond five seats could hear you. I thought I was yelling, so if I did that again, I would have to be louder.

    I remember the theme of the words I was giving to the church, and it went something like this, “Though you think you are sitting pretty, you have no idea what’s coming for many of you, and you will not be able to handle it. You need to feed on my word and strengthen yourselves.”

    That was the just of it, and it went on for six weeks. When He would speak to me, I would start shaking, overwhelmed by His presence. Finally, you could hear me down the street in the sixth week. Yes, there is a learning curve, but I never got to learn it as I was met at the door by the Pastor on the seventh week. He told me that several people told him that I made God sound angry. He continued to say, but I will say this. I listened to every word, and you could have taken those words directly from the Bible. Nonetheless, you will not speak out like that without my approval. That meant handing him a note with some rehearsed speech I believed I received from God while I was in the shower that morning. It never worked out like that for me. So when God would tell me to speak to the people, I would reply with, what will I say? And He would come back with, “start with, and the..” 

Are you kidding me, that’s all?

    “Yes, you will have to learn to trust me.” As you might expect, I was hurt and angry, not just with the people and the pastor, but with God. Sometime later, I left that church. In the meantime a few ladies would give words, but it came across like we were supposed to be lying in the clover and daisies. For a warrior spirit, this meant nothing.

    I have not been to a church since that allows the Holy Spirit the freedom to do and say what He wants, mainly because all of the churches are afraid of what the Holy Spirit will do. And though we sing worship songs that plead for the presence of the Holy Spirit, I find myself internally saying; you will freak out if He does, and you will unleash the security guards on the one exhibiting the Holy Spirit.

    You need to get real and read about the prophets of the Old Testament. Samuel, the prophet, hacked King Agag to pieces. The effects of Samuel’s actions were that the elders would ask him, do you come in peace when he came to town? Isn’t that Fascinating!

    No doubt, there have been flakes in the church. Flakes are a given when you have broken people involved, especially those who have no manners and have not learned to keep their mouths shut while someone else is speaking, nor can they keep their inner struggles out of the word being given.

    Surprise, we are all broken; this is precisely why you and I need to trust the Holy Spirits’ ability to lead and guide us and why we are so effective with some people and not others.

There is always more, but let us end with this. 

Be careful about who you judge and what you say, 

as your very words will be your judge.

Perhaps you are secure in God’s love and grace and confident that you will not be subject to the wrath that is coming upon the world.

But all of us (believers) will stand before Jesus and be judged for our acts or lack thereof.

For example, imagine you idolize Calvin Klein underwear, which is all you wear because they make you feel sexy. Yet, on that day, standing before Jesus, those things we have made idols in our lives will be burned up, and you may end up standing there with no underwear. Get my drift? Good.

Wait for the salvation of God. Micah 7:1-17.

As I move into the last chapter of Micah I feel a sense of relief because it seems that book studies/commentaries can, at times, be wearisome. In looking at statistics on the blog, I can see that readers have dropped off, especially when I use some of the oppressive wording that God is conveying in that portion of scripture. Perhaps that is why people do not and will not read their Bibles, because God often comes across as tedious. I too have to labor through sections as I try to make some of the darker passages more palatable. So when I opened Micah chapter seven today and began to do a quick read through, in hopes of moving quickly through Micah in one post, I found myself reading about many of the same feelings I feel as I write these posts. One sentence stands out, whether it is true or not is irrelevant, as it feels like it is.

No one is loyal to God; no one does right.(CEV)

I recognize that many of you have a heart toward God and desire all that God has for you, but there are others, that after reading a few lines, catch only a vague feel for the heart of God and simply leave the post, just as they leave the Word of God. Welcome to the heart of Micah and the close of his book.

This section is entitled by the translators as Wait for the God of Salvation.

The passage seems long, but I will break it down.

Micah 7:1-17 CEV  I feel so empty inside— like someone starving for grapes or figs after the vines and trees have all been picked clean.  (2)  No one is loyal to God; no one does right. Everyone is brutal and eager to deceive everyone else.  (3)  People cooperate to commit crime. Judges and leaders demand bribes, and rulers cheat in court.  (4)  The most honest of them is worse than a thorn patch. Your doom has come! Lookouts sound the warning, and everyone panics.  (5)  Don't trust anyone, not even your best friend, and be careful what you say to the one you love.  (6)  Sons refuse to respect their own fathers, daughters rebel against their own mothers, and daughters-in-law despise their mothers-in-law. Your family is now your enemy.  (7)  But I trust the LORD God to save me, and I will wait for him to answer my prayer.  (8)  My enemies, don't be glad because of my troubles! I may have fallen, but I will get up; I may be sitting in the dark, but the LORD is my light.  (9)  I have sinned against the LORD. And so I must endure his anger until he comes to my defense. But I know that I will see him making things right for me and leading me to the light.  (10)  You, my enemies, said, "The LORD God is helpless." Now each of you will be disgraced and put to shame. I will see you trampled like mud in the street.  (11)  Towns of Judah, the day is coming when your walls will be rebuilt, and your boundaries enlarged.  (12)  People will flock to you from Assyria and Egypt, from Babylonia and everywhere else.  (13)  Those nations will suffer disaster because of what they did.  (14)  Lead your people, LORD! Come and be our shepherd. Grasslands surround us, but we live in a forest. So lead us to Bashan and Gilead, and let us find pasture as we did long ago.  (15)  I, the LORD, will work miracles just as I did when I led you out of Egypt.  (16)  Nations will see this and be ashamed because of their helpless armies. They will be in shock, unable to speak or hear,  (17)  because of their fear of me, your LORD and God. Then they will come trembling, crawling out of their fortresses like insects or snakes, lapping up the dust.

In a sense, Micah is pouring out his heart in anguish before God.

• (1) I feel so empty inside— like someone starving for grapes or figs after the vines and trees have all been picked clean.

Who hasn't felt that? Maybe there are some; my wife would say to me, I don't understand depression. After several tries at explaining some of the symptoms of depression, she is now aware that she too goes through depression as well.

• (2)  No one is loyal to God; no one does right. Everyone is brutal and eager to deceive everyone else.

You should know that is a false premise. It is, however, the same premise that Elijah moaned about when he said, I am all alone; there are no other prophets besides me! God told him differently. The problem here is that it is easy to feel alone and needs to be recognized for what it is, a deception from the enemy. This happened to me. A group I used to sit in had someone new show up; the assumption that several of the men made was that this new guy knew nothing, and so they immediately tried to impress him with their knowledge. The question was asked, how tall was David when he slew Goliath? After several moments of awkward silence, as no one knew the answer, I responded with, about six foot four inches tall. Needless to say, I was verbally attacked. I could give you several strong reasons for saying what I did, but because I had gone against tradition, I was deemed disloyal to God, and they, were brutal and deceptive in their responses.

•  (3)  People cooperate to commit crime. Judges and leaders demand bribes, and rulers cheat in court.  (4)  The most honest of them is worse than a thorn patch. Your doom has come! Lookouts sound the warning, and everyone panics.

That has never changed; it is a part of that nature we inherited from Adam. Everyone does it, but it does not make it the right thing to say. Saying that the entire world has gone down the toilet is nowhere close to a true statement. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, said that a small portion of Joel chapter two had been fulfilled in their ears. This was the Holy Spirit of God talking through Peter, and God has never changed His mind about this statement.
It goes like this: Joel 2:28b-29 NLT  “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.  (29)  In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants—men and women alike.

Are you having visions; dreaming dreams; has the Holy Spirit pour His spirit upon you, and are you prophesying? I know the answer and it is NO. Do you ever wonder why? Joel chapter two sounds more like hope and power; I would rather live in that instead of focusing on the doom that has come. I want to live in hope and power.

• (5)  Don't trust anyone, not even your best friend, and be careful what you say to the one you love.  (6)  Sons refuse to respect their own fathers, daughters rebel against their own mothers, and daughters-in-law despise their mothers-in-law. Your family is now your enemy.

These are the words of a wounded man – he is wounded by people he trusted; people he thought would receive the words he gave them. You can't cross deeply embedded tradition and not expect an attack. Religion, no matter how safe you think it is, is not your friend. Don't mistake a relationship with Jesus for religion. Jesus himself told us that those of our own households would become our enemies. Matthew 10:36.

• (7)  But I trust the LORD God to save me, and I will wait for him to answer my prayer.  (8)  My enemies, don't be glad because of my troubles! I may have fallen, but I will get up; I may be sitting in the dark, but the LORD is my light.

In the midst of Micah's moaning, there is this amazing bright light. These words should be our battle cry no matter what.

• (9)  I have sinned against the LORD. And so I must endure his anger until he comes to my defense. But I know that I will see him making things right for me and leading me to the light.  (10)  You, my enemies, said, "The LORD God is helpless." Now each of you will be disgraced and put to shame. I will see you trampled like mud in the street.

We don't know what Micah did; we assume he led a pristine, carefree life. I don't think so, because God seems to take those of us who have been battered and turns us into testimonies and warriors for Him. Maybe, Micah was like me; he understood his weaknesses and frailties. In that understanding, I can easily say, I too have sinned. Paul said, confess your sins one to another; well I can guarantee you that I am not sharing my life with many of you as you will eat me alive just as they do on the Walking Dead television show. I have to be selective about who I share things with and how much I share. Just know, that I have a couple of people that I can and do share things with, and, there are things that I will take to the grave. Religion and selfishness almost guarantee that some will gloat over me, but note this truth – I will see you trampled like mud in the street.

• (11)  Towns of Judah, the day is coming when your walls will be rebuilt, and your boundaries enlarged.  (12)  People will flock to you from Assyria and Egypt, from Babylonia and everywhere else.  (13)  Those nations will suffer disaster because of what they did.

Verses 11, 12 both reflect hope and prophesy. To some degree the walls were rebuilt, and, in the six-day war, Israel's boundaries were enlarged. The UN would love to see that undone. Sadly, the prophets, including Micah, have spoken of enemies from those same nations that will flock to Israel, attacking Israel in the last days. The disaster that befalls them comes in the form of a firestorm [Ezekiel 38,39] and then a tremendous slaughter of all fighting forces when Jesus returns to earth. [Revelation 19:15]

• (14)  Lead your people, LORD! Come and be our shepherd. Grasslands surround us, but we live in a forest. So lead us to Bashan and Gilead, and let us find pasture as we did long ago.

Verse fourteen is prayer and a plea to God.

• (15)  I, the LORD, will work miracles just as I did when I led you out of Egypt.  (16)  Nations will see this and be ashamed because of their helpless armies. They will be in shock, unable to speak or hear,  (17)  because of their fear of me, your LORD and God. Then they will come trembling, crawling out of their fortresses like insects or snakes, lapping up the dust.

Verses 15 -17 is God's response. In the end, the nations will fear/respect the Lord God, and they will come and bow before Him – end of discussion.

Hebrews 12:2 The act of fixing my eyes on Jesus. An edited repost.

This idea of fixing my eyes on Jesus will not let go of me.

Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The KJV puts it this way:

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;"

The Greek word for fixing or looking is aphorao and means to consider attentively.

To be honest, I have a problem with this idea of looking, because it implies distance, and distance suggests that I can never get close to God. Some churches I have been a part of, with their superstar pastors, have demonstrated what it is like to have a leader that is untouchable, and I have had more of that than I can stand. I have also, because of choices I made, experienced infidelity in marriage and divorce. The battle I had to fight was learning that God did not act like the people who have created false imagery in me. While God may never leave me, I sometimes wonder how embarrassed He is with how I talk or act. In the worst of conditions I have never experienced any distancing toward me on God's part, but I can assure you I have felt significantly distanced at times. There is no doubt in my mind that this distance I felt was because of my selfish indulgences.

The NET version says: "keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,.." This version has pulled in both concepts; keeping our eyes on Jesus, and the idea of our fixation upon Him.

Why would you fix your eyes on something?

Detectives do it because they are on the hunt for something. Artists study or set their eyes upon a subject so that they can capture what they see. We, as believers, are told to fix our attention, vision, thoughts, and emotions upon Jesus because I believe that God wants us to live in a state of peace that passes understanding.

To be filled with peace, at a time when it is illogical, passes my understanding. Yet, having read this, and desired it, I find it easier to comprehend knowing that was God in the situation, though I did not know it, and He only wanted good for me.

Hebrews, the faith book, is meant to train us and establish us with the benefit of a solid information, and believable eyewitnesses. If I could equate this life to a trial, the evidence for the prosecution would be overwhelming and beyond a reasonable doubt. In reading Hebrews, I find out that the peace I just spoke of, requires faith, and is wrapped up in my faith.

Is it my faith or God's?

I suppose both. I have to exhibit some degree of faith in the process of accepting my position within the family of God; I have to act in faith upon God's promises to me to live in this world; And, God has placed His confidence in me that I will succeed and join Him in eternity. Example: There was a brief time in my life that I was keenly aware of a tremendous faith for healing.

How would I know that? I was a shy person who for the longest time was very timid. Speaking out boldly, or placing my hands upon someone for healing, would have been out of character for me. However, in several circumstances, I saw God's hand at work in extraordinary ways. Here is where the faith aspect comes in. God's word tells us to lay our hands on the sick, and they will recover. There is no emotion needed in that, merely obedience. The faith part is acting and letting God do what he said he would.

"Not with bodily eyes, for at present he is not to be looked upon in this manner, but with the eye of the understanding, or with the eye of faith; for faith is a seeing of the Son;" ( John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)

Having read several commentaries on the passage, I agree with Gill. I believe that the intent is to focus on Jesus at all times and in every circumstance, but that seems impossible to do. When I was at work, I was barraged by customers, to the point that I barely had time for a thought of my own.

Where and how do I squeeze God into this hectic scene?

I know I am not alone in this struggle, because it is a human struggle, and it does not take a detective to realize that few people invest quality time with God to the degree that He becomes predominant in their thinking. For me to say, I am looking at Jesus with the eye of my faith makes it sound like I am very spiritual, although I sometimes wish I could be like Enoch and simply walk off the earth, that will never happen. In reality, this ability to stay focused on God seems to imply some act of our inward man that can operate aside from the circumstances the body is experiencing. What we are talking about here could be nothing more than the ability to reason, and that ability to reason would have to include the mind, would it not?

For the skeptics who think this inward man talk is something new age, I give you Paul's own words.

2 Corinthians 4:16 NASB 16) Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

If you consider our beginnings then this inward man idea may make more sense. In Genesis 1:27 we see God creating man in His image.

NASB “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

God's image is a spirit, therefore the man was a spirit, and, just like the Father, eternal. We don't see a body on the man until Genesis 2:7, after the completion of the earth.

John 4:23-24 NASB "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24) "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

This plays a role in our understanding of death as well, for the spirit never dies. Since the spirit never dies, then how did Adam understand this death that was to come upon him should he partake of the forbidden fruit? Because of the eternal nature of the spirit, death, in one regard, would have to mean eternal separation from the Father God. God, in the form of Jesus, had no intention of allowing that to happen as long as He could do something about it, and therefore, through Christ's activities in “death”, we were redeemed. Paul, in Ephesians, speaks of a mystery.

Ephesians 1:6-9 NASB to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8) which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9) He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.

It is almost overwhelming when you let it all sink in.

It would seem that the spirit, which wars against the flesh, can function independently of the body.

Galatians 5:17 NASB For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

If that is the case then I should be able to have a conversation with you and the Father at the same time. In truth, I am not that good. If I have too many conversations going on at the same time, then someone is going to lose in the battle for my attention.

I believe that Paul was speaking to this distinction between the spirit and the flesh when he wrote:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 1 Corinthians 14:14 NASB

Perhaps I am missing the point. It may be that Paul is saying that the spirit bypasses human reasoning. I have never been able to pray in the spirit without involving my mind, as something had to initiate this conversation. That does not mean that if I am praying in the spirit (that means praying in tongues to me,) that I am always keenly aware of what I am praying, but I always have a general idea.

Do not despair at the apparent futility of this exercise of the tongue for James tells us that God gives wisdom to those that ask. Is he talking about understanding everything that you might say in tongues? Probably not, but at least we have the opportunity to understand a great deal of what we say in tongues.

Since the topic had to do with fixing our eyes on Jesus. I think we have found that there is so much more to this simplistic phrase. Fixing my eyes on Jesus entails all of me, body soul and spirit. And, the spirit wants to take a well-needed advantage of the desire to commune with the Father. Now, this is where I could move into an entire teaching on aspects of our communications with, not only the Father but the body of Christ as well.

Back to my struggles with fixing my eyes on Jesus (A funny thing happened as I wrote this. I slipped up and wrote ears instead of eyes; I have since fixed that error. Why that might be funny is because if we could hear what God is saying, and respond, then maybe we would be walking as Enoch did. We have no evidence that Enoch saw God. So then, any seeing would have been by faith. Hearing, on the other hand, is a different story altogether.)

So, as I was trying to deal with the continual onslaught of customers at work, I could at the same time be praying in the spirit on the inside If I can pray in the spirit, then I can have communication with the Father at the same time too. I think it would primarily be Him talking to me.

The trick in this is to fine-tune your listening skills.

You should be aware that there are too few of us that have any clue how to listen to others. With your insight, you picked up on something. How does one fine-tune their listening skills so that God becomes the focus? Prayer, which is merely conversations you are having with God, often on behalf of others; that, and spending time in His word. The words that God uses currently, are no different in theme, from those he has already spoken. Trust me on this one, God can speak your language. How many translations of the Bible are there?, many, and yet He has brought innumerable lives into the family by speaking their language or slang. There is always the skeptic who does not believe that God speaks all the time. While God is not just incessantly rambling to hear His head rattle, as we often do, but there is a purpose in everything He says.

Keep this in mind as you read your Bible; everything in that book has a purpose. For example, why does the Gospel of John emphasize things like the cloth that was folded so precisely in the tomb (there was a reason); why is the trip to Samaria a three-day journey?; Why did Jesus go to the Samaritans, they were effectively Gentiles, and going there was contrary to his stated mission? There are things that all throughout the Bible that seem like nothing and yet the Jewish leadership believes that when the Messiah returns (he already did) that he will explain even the spaces between the letters; they are that serious about God's word. If only we were that serious about His Word as well.