Echoes From the Campfire

Now, Lord, I’m not too sure why You create men like him.  Maybe they are meant just to test the rest of us.”
              –Stephen Bly (Friends and Enemies)

    “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.”
              –Proverbs 8:13 (NKJV)
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Probably the most despicable thing a person can do is to hate someone else.  Hate is a by-product of bitterness and rebellion against God’s Word.  Hate causes people to do rash things, to become vengeful.  Hate is reflected on the individual from the ugliness in the heart.
    I am currently seeing more hatred than ever before in my lifetime.  People call for love, reconciliation, and peace, yet they promote hatred.  A case in point is the current political situation in our government.  Most all work has ceased simply because of hatred.  Not likely a person, their agenda is one thing, out-and-out hatred is another.  When someone comes along to rattle the agenda of the elite, hatred is often the reaction.
    There are other outcries on the land, many legitimate and many do not have much sense.  There are troubles along the border, there are homeless in the cities, there are those in power circles promoting the breaking of national laws.  What is going on?  Why the chaos?  “Chaos, chaos…out of the chaos shall come the superman.” (Nietzsche) Or as Paul would say, the man of lawlessness will soon appear.
    It reminds me of the words of one of Christmas carols:

         And in despair I bowed my head:
         “There is no peace on earth,” I said,
         “For hate is strong and mocks the song
         Of peace on earth, good will to men”
                   –Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Hate does indeed mock the word of the angel that Christmas morn of long ago.  Peace on earth, bah–humbug.  There is no peace, there is only turmoil, strife, hatred, mockery.  The person who says there is peace must be a lunatic.  Hmmm, or is it the other way around?  Peace rests upon those who seek and serve the Lord.  The One who came so many years ago to bring peace; the One who wears the title “Prince of Peace”, is near to those who serve Him rather than those who mock Him.

         Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
         “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep,
         The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
         With peace on earth, good will to men”

    This season when you hear a bell ring, do not think that an angel is receiving its wings.  Nice story, completely false.  Rather, think of this truth–“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.”  God’s truth will come to pass.

         “Mock me, will you?—I’ll mock you!”
                   –Proverbs 1:26 (TLB)

So listen to the bells!  They cry outloud that God is alive, well, and active in this world.  He does sleep or slumber, in fact He doesn’t even get sleepy.  Peace on earth may sound hollow to some, but the His children is rests deep in the heart, therefore, don’t let the world trouble you.