An Unlikely Portrait:
A more unlikely group of men could not be found to scribe the volume we know as the Bible. Moses a man impaired in speech, and a murderer; Nehemiah the cupbearer to the king of Persia; David the shepherd boy, giant killer, and womanizer. Solomon the king, a builder of magnificent monuments, and bigamist; Daniel a man sent into captivity as a youth, yet blessed by God to share greatly in his captives prosperity; Jeremiah and Samuel both called of God in their youth to fill a prophetic office. The fishermen, Matthew and John; Luke the Doctor, Paul the persecutor of Christian’s, each flawed, yet called to serve.
The young and old, the Doctor and fisherman, men of sorrows and despair; but for sure, all were wanting. Some began as worldly purist, others as faithful followers, but none could claim they truly knew God.
Let’s move forward into the 20th and 21st centuries. Recently man’s inventions have had a great impact upon our society. The wonder years of the industrial revolution have come and gone, only to be replaced by the age of technology. We now venture where no man has gone before; we have taken the first step into space; in communication satellites and computers. The industrial revolution was that first giant step into the age of science and invention, and it’s only recently that the cleverness of men has been turned loose upon an ungodly world.
As trophies of a great athlete sit on his mantel, so do the trophies of the world’s inventors. Let’s begin with the printing press, move on to the discovery of film, the internal combustion engine, flying machines; telephones and computers, and now followed by the world’s elaborate web-like communication and information systems.
Infinite is the internal heaven of the human mind:
Does this surprise anyone? Mankind has this ungainly dreadful habit of repeating its most painful, unpleasant blunders and misconceptions regardless of its history, science, and technology. This appears to be caused by the lack of moral leadership; immoral men chosen by their piers, but surely not called by God. What does man’s future hold? Are we destined to again come to that place we find in the words of our Creator?
Gen.6: 5, “And God saw that wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Why is it that most intelligent people are openly suspicious of the word of God? Nevertheless in secret, many have at one time or another thumbed their way through the pages of Scripture. Can they not help themselves? In their inner-most being do they hunger for the comfort of the God’s Light? Do they desire to know the reality of their condition, and gain the immediacy of truth declared. Yet when the glorious book is closed they again slide toward a cultural attitude that will legitimatize their denial. Have they hardened their hearts and come to the place where they incapable of coming to God’s saving grace?
We America’s have survived the roaring twenties, the grim thirties, the war years of the forties; followed by Korea and Vietnam which have taken the lives of over 100,000 American soldiers. So again is the caldron of death and destruction being stirred in the hearts of the Muslim nations, and soon will Edom strike.
When investigating the Scripture, many can not retain a critical objectivity when their foundation is unstable. It is not uncommon for these who stand on soft sand to have visceral responses, then to hit below the belt with their critical and very public commentaries.
Can men create their own prophet when it’s only God’s prerogative to call them? Are we to focus on a person’s physical stature, their personality, family name, or their personal beliefs in order to shape and then bring to the forefront a prophet? Is there a certain balance required of the above? Or has Christianity bowed a knee to the cult of personalities, cleverness, or popular demand?
The calling of a prophet of God will elude the wisest of men, for it is an elusive and ill-defined thing, a thing only known of God. I say, “Let us be still in a glorious innocents, in words, having a pure heart, and believe that , “The Father has already spoken to us by his (glorious) Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, and by whom also he made the worlds. And I say “A’men, and A’men.”
Phil LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com