January 8 2023
BECOME LIKE A CHILD.
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God above.’
In my Grail version of the Psalms, the Catholic Priest, Joseph Gelineau, who translated the 150 songs, comments on Psalm 13, “The fool in the Bible is not an ignoramus; nor is he a theoretical atheist or agnostic….He has his values all wrong and is encouraged by past experience to behave as if God would never take action”.
“Would never take action?”
Well, observe the world; war, mayhem in Washington, weird weather everywhere. It took a long time, but God is now taking action: His revenge is unfolding before our very eyes! Time to reflect, and accept that the new and dangerous conditions prior to Christ’s return, are here. And getting worse.
When I was 4 years old, our family spent a day at the sea. I was thirsty and tasted the sea water and spit it out right away. Weaned on biblical stories (each night my mother would read from our Children’s Bible) I went to my father, and told him to get a piece of wood as Moses had done to make bracken water, sweet.
That, somewhat, indicates what it means when Jesus tells us to become like a child: trusting and simple-minded. God’s wisdom compared to our intelligence is like comparing the Himalayas to a toothpick. We act as if we are God, but it is now becoming painfully clear that our actions are overpowering us.
Today foolishness defines life.
There is more uncertainty now than there’s been in the past 80 years. There’s more tension between large nation states, particularly nuclear-capable entities than we’ve had in a long time: in many countries, the threat of unrest, as well as crime, terrorism, health issues and natural disasters, is higher than ever. The stalemate in US politics is typical of today’s stupidity: it illustrates that there are no simple answers to complex problems. The emerging forces of fragmentation will continue to bedevil the leaders of both American political parties, as do parties throughout democracies today: how do we deal with end-times?
Confusion reigns in the weather especially. We have created a meteorological monster whose power dwarfs anything humanity has devised. We have done something to the weather, our constant companion wherever we go. The changes we have wrought now are irreversible. Chances are that this year we’ll move into the next El Niño. Moving from the bottom of a La Niña to the peak of a strong El Niño could make a difference of more than half a degree Celsius. Look what we face already with the rise of just ONE degree Celsius: imagine a rapid escalation there!
Earthquake.
We have fundamentally altered the earth, God’s Created Word. I cannot emphasize this enough: God’s works are God’s words in which he speaks to us loud and clear. This tragic truth is that the church has never wholeheartedly endorsed creation’s holiness.
What we are experiencing today is just the beginning of the birth pangs, as Romans 8: 22 attests. We haven’t seen anything yet: Revelation 11: 13 informs us how a coming earthquake will cause a significant section of the world to collapse. My study Bible notes that ‘earthquakes are a regular feature of divine visitation, and reveals the terrified realization that Christ is the true Lord of all.’ When that ‘ominous warning’ of Christ’s imminent return will strike, no earth scientist can accurately predict.
The Bible is not a history book, nor is it a book that tells us when and where a certain event will take place. It basically tells us that God created, we uncreated, and Christ re-created, we being partners in that re-creation process. The Bible informs us of a beginning and an end, and tells us to look for the final signs, which today point to ‘the last Days’. Matthew 24 warns us that they will be terrible, as the full consequences of our ‘foolishness’ is revealed, evident in political confusion, warlike conditions, increasing weather volatility, economic uncertainty, over-doses staggering, and more nihilistic behavior. The youth senses that there really is no future in a society where ‘more’ is the norm, while ‘less’ should be the aim.
“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God above.’
Well, there is a Creator/God who has embedded in his creation a revenge factor: destroy my work of art at your own peril! We now are directly dealing with what Malachi, the last Old Testament Prophet, writes: “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble” (Malachi 4:1). The root meaning of ‘arrogant’ is foolish selfishness, failing to care for creation.
Isaiah 42:9: “See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them”.
Have a look at the latest Arctic News