How To Turn Garbage Into Rubble.

Back in the depression era, my family was barely making ends meet. With three small boys in "1 day bed," housed in the same room with mom and dad, made for some difficult nights. When I was, dunno, three or perhaps four, I experienced night mares quite a bit. My dad worked in a dairy and had to get up very early, and my night mares didn't help his nerves much. However, at that young age I do remember blaming the night mares on the devil. One particular night mare I recall even today, although my memory has faded quite a bit since then was of a nation in rubble. The reason I vividly recall it might be linked to the fact that it occurred more than once. Even at that time, with whatever ability of understanding I had, I felt the nation in question was America.

Today, we see America in a time of mockery and complacency, ignoring the warnings of many years gone by. No one would argue that the depression of the 30's & 40's was merely a foreshadow of what we are seeing now or about to see. Many in those days thought the German dictator was the anti-Christ and Bible scholars were in hot pursuit of connecting the dots. Howbeit, one major piece of the puzzle was missing at that time. The prophecy of the Jew returning to his/her homeland had yet to occur.

At our time in history, it is agreed to by many scholars that most of the pieces are in place and the stage is set. Much like Israel, America also had a role to play in both history and Bible prophecy. As the homeland for the Jews (God's chosen people) by whom God said He would bless the nations; God set it aside and blessed America to become a homeland for Gentiles from every nation (founded on Judeo-Christian principles) for the purpose of blessing other nations.

However, much like Israel, America became so prosperous through God's blessings that it said: "God, we don't need you anymore." "We are rich, in need of nothing." Get out of our courtrooms and sporting events. Get out of our graduating ceremonies and classrooms. Sure we believe in free speech, but don't mention God or Jesus to us or we will single you as a hate monger.

We Americans are a civilized people. We would never do anything barbaric to babies. We would never reward the guilty and tax the innocent. We would never say, "Thou shalt not kill" is offensive to anyone."We would never turn a confessed killer loose to society on a technicality. We would never allow any marriage to occur other than what has been the norm since the beginning of time. We would never give our government's taxpayer money to any group that commits voter fraud. That's just who we are, and because we are a righteous nation in our own eyes, we do not need a God to tell us what to do.

I never have zeroed in on what the rubble in those night mares were. I do know that America has a lot of excess garbage that needs to be cleaned up. But, we can always just pass that along to the next generation and let them deal with it. And if that don't work, perhaps some day the garbage will become so large it will simply turn into rubble. Dunno, just wondering.

"The Covenant of Marriage"

The Bible says, "God hates divorce" and for the most part I guess we all do. When God made a covenant with Abraham, He made the vow one sided. He made the vow as something He was going to do through Abraham. He would bless the nations through Abraham as the stars in the skies, and bless a people called out for Himself as numerous as the sand upon the seashore. It was a covenant He kept and fulfilled Himself. However, unlike God's covenant, marriage is a two way covenant.

 

When two get married, it is a covenant between two people - to cherish each other and to love, honor, and obey; through sickness, and in health; till death do us part. The words spoken by the two parties should be as important in their situation as the Words spoken by God to Abraham. When we make a vow about anything, it is not to be taken lightly. Jesus said of the words we speak: "We shall give an account of every idle word we speak on the day of judgment." Our words, our vows, bear the same weight as the covenant God made to Abraham. God expects us to keep our word as He keeps His. Not to be used as an easy way out of a situation, but with deep meaning and commitment. Certainly there are situations which cannot be reconciled and God understands that and that is also why marriage goes much deeper than we consider.  Marriage is not a short term answer to a problem, but a life-time pledge to be faithful to the end.

 

So what is the secret to marriage? It is not of ourselves. It is a vow, a long-term commitment, not only to our spouse, but also to God. God must be and/or must become the center of the marriage for a marriage to succeed. With man it may be impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

What Did Jesus Say About Marriage?

Never in the history of mankind has marriage been outside the realm of one man and one woman. The issue of marriage was already settled in the Old Testament account of Creation. This issue never ensued as a topic in the Gospels and therefore Jesus never address the marriage issue as being challenged today. However, Jesus did verified in the New Testament what God stated in the Old Testament. The following passage contains all the information necessary to clarify and verify how God stands on this issue.

Genesis 1:27-28 reveals how God created man in His own image, male and female He created them and told them to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth.

Genesis 2:24 expounds how God made the woman from Adam's rib and records how God joined them in the marriage ceremony,  "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh."

Jesus reinforces the Genesis 2:24 account with clarification in Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6 by stating that "from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female, and for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh: so then they are no more two, but one flesh." Without this structure for marriage they could not obey God's command to be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth.

There can be no misinterpretation of the design God proposed for marriage from the beginning seeing that particular stance was never changed in any other place in the Bible. However, as with many laws of God, man chooses to change them to fit his own agenda even if it means denying God Word.

Within all this we can find that the Christian is manifested in contrast to the world. Jesus made the remark that if they hated Me, they will hate you also and He further declared  that the elect shall not be deceived by those things of which man attempts by twisting the Word of God around to fit his own purpose and lusts. 1 John 3:9-10 expounds: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin (transgression of the law - verse 4); and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil; whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

One side note to all this is that the Bible (1 Timothy 4:3) also predicts in the latter times they will forbid to marry. As things stand today, we see hints of doing away with marriage altogether. Along with that possiblity also comes the probability of those views spilling over into polygamy, child marriage and other deviant practices. Jesus told us of a time that would exceed the wickedness of Noah's day. Could those days be rapidly approaching?

In conclusion, Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that: "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Once we realize who is behind the wickedness of this world, we can understand that God knows we are but flesh. We all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God. And while you have heard it said that God hates the sin, but loves the sinner, the Bible verifies that statement with a Scripture in Romans, "that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" and through Him is eternal life obtained. Jesus does not condemn us, but as He said when on the cross, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." God loves us and forgives us, but we must be willing to accept that forgiveness and the salvation provided through His Son Jesus. Invite Him into you life to become your Lord and Savior today. Only when we do our part, will God do His part. He will not override your free-will.

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