Drowning In The Shallows

Part 1 of a series, a series I have no idea how long it’ll be as I sit here tonight…but at least one more installment, perhaps two. I can’t say exactly. I sit down and write. No outlines. No mockups. I read something, an idea enters my mind, and I may ponder it a bit, but I just sit down and write. And that is probably very evident in my writing. I never make any claims of being polished, educated in writing, or good at it. I just do it. So, I’m hoping this works out to be in two parts, at most three — but right now I just don’t know.

Monday, August 2nd, 2021

by Ken Pullen

ACP — A Crooked Path

The aversion to numerous divine truths, the refusal to plump the depths of some of the most necessary meat near the bone make most at this time appear like fainting vegans who would rather perish than be sustained. By the truth. Far too many consider most vital divine truths as “terrible things” — the idea for this piece came to me upon reading a commentary written by John J. Murray about John Duncan and his spiritual and theological influence. I read Mr. Murray’s excellent piece in a recent Banner of Truth magazine and it led me to write this. And nothing about any of these things are “terrible” though that is how they are thought by far too many. Things to avoid or deny. Or to alter to suit them.

Too many are drowning in the shallows…

There is a pandemic in the land, throughout the world, certainly, but COVID-19 is not the one to focus on most, be concerned about most. The pandemic of evil being adopted as good is the greatest illness and killer. The pandemic of people being given over to reprobate minds is the pandemic that is killing the most, destroying the most.

It isn’t about politics. It’s easy to come to a clear understanding of this if you try. No nationalism, no one party behind it all. To move from the room of politics in the house of their mind and life appears one of the most difficult or impossible tasks for far too many people settling into that confining, noisy room with a constant air of rottenness no matter how much air freshener one buys. Most people never moving from this room where everything clashes with everything else in the space. Never bothering to check another room out, explore more, learn what the whole house design is for, why it is, what the whole thing is about.

Politics — all of it — pummeling the distracting noise into people 24/7/365 in a sort of electronic waterboarding — this whole left versus right thing is 100% manipulated and controlled to keep the majority of people in the constant frame of mind, structured life they have. To keep them controlled yet unsteady. Evil loves chaos and confusion. And lies. Evil is nothing but lies, mayhem, rebellion, mixing it all up, twisting it all about, turning it all inside out and upside down and spilling it all over the place and then smirking, laughing like some deranged and spoiled serial killer. Which it is. What? Never thought of evil in that way? Evil is a pure maniacal, cunning, seductive, hey-I-just-want-to-be-your-friend-and-be-loved deranged, spoiled (rotten to its dead ugly core) serial killer. It’s murdered and taken billions of lives over the course of history. And takes more every day.

Politics is the shell game. The little foldable table set up on a street corner, the crafty loud guy in the Hawaiian shirt and wrinkled trousers talking nonstop, doing the sleight-of-hand getting so many to step right up and try their luck. Where’s the peanut, where did it go keep watching, and when he stops let him know. And no one in the throng ever really sees. Ever really knows. Not in that crowd. They are pulled down the wrong alleyway. Into the abyss.

Politics in bed with modern-day media is the endeavor discovered and used to keep folks, most of them, more and more of them thinking and believing everything happening is political and nothing more, and we’re having any problem that arises due to the folks on the opposing side of things! If only it wasn’t for THEM! Which is total lunacy and ignorance. Almost everyone falls dutifully into lockstep (ever more so in lockdown!) with the direction, commands, edicts those in presumed or given to them power dictate. Groupthink. It’s all the rage, you know!

Here we need to pause. And learn some truths. And contrary to the viewpoint of many divine truths are never terrible things. Every one of them is from God the Father. There is nothing imperfect, not quite right created by God. Even the things we personally don’t like or can’t understand, or misunderstand;

Submission to the Authorities

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Fulfilling the Law Through Love

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Romans 13 — Engish Standard Version

God ordains every ruler, leader, person in power. Even those we define as evil, for they truly are. Sometimes it takes evil rulers to get the belligerent, arrogant, lost and turned to evil and idol worship — denying God — in order to bring about a restoration. to revive matters. Through an awakening. A repentance and coming out from a smoke-filled room choking everyone in that room to come out into the light and inhale clean, fresh air. Renew. Build back up after tearing down. We might not understand this but we have assigned our own imaginings as to how God ought to work rather than humbling ourselves, coming to understand as best we can in our small finite minds in comparison to God’s, bow to God the Creator, and live to learn how God works and why. To bring His people to Him. To one day bring them all, assemble them all in heaven. To create a new heaven and a new earth. All His people, His new creation total perfection. And those who denied, disobeyed, rebelled, scoffed, mocked, refused the Truth, the Way to Life, and refused the Light to remain in darkness? They will receive their just reward from the Lord.

In the meantime…

Anyone want to know what’s REALLY going on? Why what is happening is happening? And why now? Like it is? Why are so many things happening simultaneously that have never happened in world history before? On a worldwide scale? With these things, all of them, being so accepted, embraced, pushed, and installed with no resistance, no difficulty? Why? Why now? To the degree they are? And folks many things are taking place that has NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.

It isn’t politics, or political and everything stops there. Thinking that’s the end of the line. Politics and putting people on this side, that side, this ideology is this, that ideology is wrong, my ideologies are spot-on correct, and on and on it goes.

Is everything now clear because of politics?

And a political explanation for everything satisfies within? Really? Like the TV commercial that drives the point home that what satisfies when things just aren’t right is a Snickers bar? Politics like that? I get it. I understand that’s most folk’s comfort zone. Putting labels on things and people and then punching out. Plopping down in the recliner in the noisy confining political room in their house of life.

I also understand human nature a bit having lived as long as I have, how I’ve been knitted together as  I have been by God. Being a person called “intense” by many who have known me through the years (although I have no idea what they mean). I’ve heard “lighten up” quite a bit through the years. I hear I’m a person who “observes constantly.” I can’t help it. I have eyes that work, thank the Lord, ears that hear, thank the Lord, and a functioning mind, well, that’s also come under various descriptions (and debate) by folks over the years, but my mind is functioning, thank the Lord. So what is a person to do that has those wonderful things built into them? I’ve always been like this. Haven’t you? Perhaps mine was enhanced from all those years sitting by myself in the rear-facing third bench seat of all those station wagons my father bought (there’s a pea soup green Pontiac I just can’t shake from my mind!). You see life quite differently from that position and vantage point. Or, it could be this is just how it is with me. Hey, why am I defending the ability to keenly observe? To have an intensity in this life, to this life? To watch? Listen? Consider? Intently. In a quiet manner to then assemble all the accumulated things later on.

People say they want the truth but when they are near it they are mostly repulsed by the truth. Afraid of it. So their comfort zone is to live in a state of fantasy. Delusion. And go with the prevailing toxic winds blowing that everything happens due to politics. They create their own Disney World and carry it with them everywhere all the time. But the overall cost of living in such a way is so high if we translated that cost into dollars? It would be much less costly to move to Disney World and live there, eat there, never leave there, buy all your needs there than to erect your own fantasy theme park and ride the rides within that mist and fog.

It isn’t politics. Even though that’s the room most people like hanging out in even though that room is never cleaned. It stinks. It is full of empty pizza boxes, bottles, cans, chip bags, half-eaten something unrecognizable due to the mold growing on it, along with unwashed clothes and a lot of used tissues. It’s a room that would trump any and all rooms on any of those hoarder programs people waste precious time watching, as they are glued to the glowing screens in this very room. But no one ever wants to budge from this room! Oh no, can’t do that! Then? Then they might actually learn what is at the root of it all. Everything. And breath some fresh air. Have the smoke removed from their eyes. But you see…that scares the feces right out of them and they would no longer be as constipated as they have been for almost all their lives…

Okay, now that we’re warmed up and introduced let’s dive into this finally, shall we?

Some of the things included here will be;

The claims of God upon His creatures. His rational creatures’

The right of God to withhold His grace.

Leaving sinners to perish.

The infinite evil of sin.

Sinners blindness, indifference, ignorance of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and their inability to take hold of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

The wickedness, deceitfulness of the human heart.

These are some of the things, considered “terrible things” by many, but they are most excellent, pure, and righteous matters with God, to God, and thusly for us. Or, at least the true faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true children of God. His faithful and obedient children living to obey the Father. They are in truth a revelation of love. God’s love. And of the truth. God’s truth. And, as a result of that these ought to be loved by us for our love of God and His ways, His word, His promises, His justice, His gift of grace and mercy to those who come to have faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Not that sin is love, not that evil is love, not that we ought to rejoice in those that perish due to their lack of faith and love of this world — do not misunderstand.

All these things point to, lead to the love of God. Things are misunderstood because we fail on a spiritual level and mostly attempt to understand on a self-directed, worldly, human level. Because we do not hold firmly and enough to the Word of God. Because we do not seek and ask and have faith in the Holy Spirit to provide us with much beyond our feeble and limited ways. It’s all about love but do not misunderstand with regard to sin, evil, unrighteousness, God withholding His grace, so on.

Not awful, not terrible things at all. The best of things really.

Who dares contend in such a manner with the One True God? Do those who contend with God have any idea of what deadly thing they do? Far too many contend with and refuse, rebel from, or attempt to deny or omit altogether such divine truths as the claims that God has upon His rational beings He has made. Call me weak, call me fearful, call me what you want but I am of the mind I in no way regarding anything ought to contend, argue with God. Debate God. Question God. Who am I to imagine being capable of such a thing!?

Does the maker of an instrument contend, argue, debate, or imagine they are equal to, able to, capable of such things with the one who made them?

The earth is the Lord’s.

The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

Psalm 24:1 — King James Version

We have not made anything ourselves. What anyone imagines they make is only due to the will of God. Only able due to God creating everything there is. Yet God’s rational beings continue to act irrationally, sinfully, rebelliously towards Him refusing to acknowledge He is God. Rather living as though they are gods and the One True God does not exist, or He is unable to tear down, shout down, bring down. Everything. By His will. “Let there be…” Do they not have any morsel of understanding of God? It is clear they do not. Not to contend with, not to imagine they know better than He does, or think they can debate with. To attempt to cut a deal with, or totally erase because they don’t like or agree with what He says in His Word. His claim upon them. Far too many hate that truth. And not only the unbelieving.

God intends for His creation to know His mind. Yet most pay no mind and are given over to utterly wicked minds. They are destined for hell’s eternal pain, sorrow, and fire. The wrath, God’s ire met on them for their wickedness, their unbelief, their constant rebellion.

And most can’t abide this divine truth.

That’s only the beginning. Many wail and say things such as, “That isn’t fair!” when they are told God can withhold His grace and leave sinners to perish in hell for eternity. They contend how can this be a God of love? There must be two different God’s an Old Testament God and a New Testament God, right?

We will explore further in the Word. Later.

And it’s all about love, really. Real love. Eternal love. That surpasses human understanding but I attempt to go along faithfully, asking the Holy Spirit for wisdom beyond my finite feeble abilities to keep from drowning in the shallows…

Count it all joy, my brothers [and sisters], when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James 1:1-8 — English Standard Version