Written to Shock You!

Deuteronomy 28:56-57

The most tender and delicate woman among you—so delicate she would not so much as touch the ground with her foot—will be selfish toward the husband she loves and toward her own son or daughter.  She will hide from them the afterbirth and the new baby she has borne, so that she herself can secretly eat them. She will have nothing else to eat during the siege and terrible distress that your enemy will inflict on all your towns.

http://bible.us/116/deu.28.56-57.nlt

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Deuteronomy chapter 28 is written as a warning and it is written to shock you!This passage is written to set you up! It is written to lead you into the utter revolting shocking horrific end of our selfishness, disobedience, and sinfulness. We may think someone is good, graceful, and full of poise and culture the very picture of beauty and sophistication, when in fact inside lies the avarice of a cannibal!   And it is revolting! Still this was not fiction. God's people did disobey his commands and they did literally end up in this hideous situation of starvation, mental collapse and cannibalism. Sin is serious. We really don't believe God. We can't accept the warnings on cigarette containers how can we see the reality of where our path is taking us. Drug addiction can steal our mind and turn our young and promising capable bodies into complete walking corpses.I've seen young people with the bodies and minds of septuagenarians due to alcohol and drug abuse. And who hasn't seen families torn apart by people hell bent on greed, pleasure, lies, deceit and hatred. SIN LEADS TO DEATH!
God wants to bless his people but he wants them to know that they will suffer unimaginably if they turn from the source of life. If they seek life from the source of death they will shrivel to less than an animal.
We should thank God for painting the picture so clearly of a heart that has run from Him. We may turn from God and have the outward beauty and grace of a movie star but our selfishness will lead us to devour our own young.
We need to be rescued from the consequences of abandoning the creator of love and life. We need to cling to the fountain of selflessness and sensibility. We need to bask in the safety of HIs Words and clarity of his ways. 
Only in rejecting our own way and in embracing HIs will we avoid the horrific rock bottom gutter existence of our sinful self.
Be warned!

The Watchman is Responsible!

Ezekiel 33:1-13 NLT

Once again a message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, give your people this message: ‘When I bring an army against a country, the people of that land choose one of their own to be a watchman. When the watchman sees the enemy coming, he sounds the alarm to warn the people. Then if those who hear the alarm refuse to take action, it is their own fault if they die. They heard the alarm but ignored it, so the responsibility is theirs. If they had listened to the warning, they could have saved their lives. But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm to warn the people, he is responsible for their captivity. They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths.’ “Now, son of man, I am making you a watchman for the people of Israel. Therefore, listen to what I say and warn them for me. If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But if you warn them to repent and they don’t repent, they will die in their sins, but you will have saved yourself. “Son of man, give the people of Israel this message: You are saying, ‘Our sins are heavy upon us; we are wasting away! How can we survive?’ As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live.

Turn!

Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die? “Son of man, give your people this message: The righteous behavior of righteous people will not save them if they turn to sin, nor will the wicked behavior of wicked people destroy them if they repent and turn from their sins. When I tell righteous people that they will live, but then they sin, expecting their past righteousness to save them, then none of their righteous acts will be remembered. I will destroy them for their sins.

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Are you neglecting your responsibility? Did you know God holds you responsible to warn people of his coming judgment? Ezekiel was given the job of being a watchman.

People need to know that the wrath of God is coming.

But rather than judging people the watchman's job is to warn, to plead, and to warn as one who shares the same fate. The watchman is from among the people, the watchman is chosen to warn and watch. The watchman lives among the people.

The watchman bears responsibility for the death of the people if he does not warn them.

Do you recognise you have a responsibility?

Do you know you are in peril?

Do you understand the peril facing those you have not warned?

You are responsible!

The role of a prophet of God.

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Ezekiel 2:1-10 NLT

“Stand up, son of man,” said the voice. “I want to speak with you.” The Spirit came into me as he spoke, and he set me on my feet. I listened carefully to his words. “Son of man,” he said, “I am sending you to the nation of Israel, a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been rebelling against me to this very day. They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But I am sending you to say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says!’ And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for remember, they are rebels—at least they will know they have had a prophet among them. “Son of man, do not fear them or their words. Don’t be afraid even though their threats surround you like nettles and briers and stinging scorpions. Do not be dismayed by their dark scowls, even though they are rebels. You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won’t listen, for they are completely rebellious! Son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not join them in their rebellion. Open your mouth, and eat what I give you.” Then I looked and saw a hand reaching out to me. It held a scroll, which he unrolled. And I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom.

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The work of a prophet is fraught with hardships.

The messenger of God nearly always confronts unwelcoming audiences.

Israel is not alone in its rebellion although it is particularly hard hearted and it should know better since God had revealed the right way to them.

Every one you meet today will be or has been a rebell against God.

Some people have only had their consciences to guide them. These people were born with a moral compass. This compass can be ignored or even altered but both internally through their conscience or externally through the created order everyone understands there is a God!

But no one welcomes God or his rule over them.

Bethany walking a hard path on Kinder Scout, Edale England.

So the prophet is up against the hard hearts of humanity on one side and the eternal God and his royal rule on the other.

Even today a Christian's role in the world is not too unlike that of Ezekiel.

God plans to reveal more of his character and plan to the world but the world wants to ignore the message and harm the messenger.

So the prophet of God faces these two formidable forces The Word of God compels him to go out and speak but the hard hearts of man rebel against that word and threaten and mock the messenger. Yet there is still another threat!

The prophet's own heart is vulnerable. We too are rebels at heart and we are prone to join the rebels. Although we know the truth of God's clear and righteous message we tend towards joining the rebels.

The prophet of God is telling people who do not want to hear a message that they find offensive, all the while concerned he'll become a traitor to God himself.

But you dear christian like Ezekiel the prophet have some powerful and compelling aids in the prophetic office.

First, you have been called by God himself. You have not dreamed this up, it is not about you and it is not your plan. You have been given the task by the ruler of the universe.

Second, you've been filled by the Spirit of the living God. God is in you, and he protects and empowers you. God has not sent you alone. God is with you.

Thirdly, God has told you what you are up against. God has made it clear that you are to be opposed and that the people you will speak to are rebellious and they will try the get you to come to their way of thinking. You are warned.

Fourthly, God says, "Don't be afraid!"

Remember when you tell people God's news, whether it is welcomed as a life giving warning or more likely rejected God is with you, instructing you, indwelling you, and sending you.

You and Ezekiel both are seeing a bit of the glory of the everlasting God.

Spock versus Kirk?

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Jeremiah 4:3-4, 14, 18-19 NLT

This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: “Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns. O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the Lord, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins.

O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart that you may be saved. How long will you harbor your evil thoughts?

“Your own actions have brought this upon you. This punishment is bitter, piercing you to the heart!” My heart, my heart—I writhe in pain! My heart pounds within me! I cannot be still. For I have heard the blast of enemy trumpets and the roar of their battle cries.

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We say we live in a an age of reason. And yet our science fiction still sees a need for the heart. Passion versus proof, gut verses intellect, these are the arguments of our day just as they have been since the dawn of time.

Constantly Kirk on Star Trek is going with his gut (Interestingly the gut was the seat of emotions in antiquity in some cultures rather than the heart). And whether its David of Prometheus or Data of Star Trek the desire to be more human always involves possessing a heart that feels but it is held in check by logic.

So many times I and my Christian friends know the truth, we can recite the answer but our hearts are far from God.

To be sure if we had all the information and the proper perspective our intellect would still not always choose God.
Why? Passion! The heart and its desires often overrule the mind.

God is asking us to do something about our hearts.

God's people would not stray from thier collision course with God's judgment.

Their hearts were hard.

God and Jeremiah have broken hearts over the impeding doom.

Whatever side of the passion versus logic divide you find yourself you will need to turn both over to God.
God wants your mind and heart.

Nothing less will suffice.

Will you heed this warning and soften your heart towards God?

"And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:5 NLT

https://soundcloud.com/wkbode/consider-the-following-spock-v