I might "get stoned" for saying this, but folks, we need to talk! It's time to put childish ways behind us.
Many people quote this passage, particularly in the United States of America...
"if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV)
There are many, many places where this passage is quoted, and that's understandable. It is a very encouraging statement, and it comforts many. It is also a very challenging statement, and is often used in sermons and speeches, always with good intentions.
But, we must be careful because this passage is usually taken out of context.
What is the context of this passage? Have you read it recently, in context? I challenge you to do so, but before you do, I have some questions for you to ponder as you read it. Actually, I have one primary question, and then several followup questions.
The primary question is this: Who are "My people"?
How we answer that question reveals much about our understanding and what we have been taught. I am sure many people believe it refers to Christians, and some people believe it refers to the people of the United States, as can be inferred from the picture, above. But is that really what the text actually says?
The followup questions are ones I challenge you to formulate and ask yourself. Consider some of the things I have discussed in previous posts, particularly Paul's Mystery and Critical Thinking. See if your ideas about the passage change.
And please, put down that stone. Thanks.
All glory to God!
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UPDATE, August 21, 2022...
"My People" are Israelites. That has always been the case and is still true today, but the Darkness does not want you to know it because identifying with Israel will give you authority over them!
UPDATE, November 2, 2023...
I believe I became one of "My People" when I made my commitment to spiritual Israel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Prior to that, my experiences just happened to me, and I believe they were to get my attention and teach me lessons. After that, my actions seemed to correlate with authority, like when we stopped at the service area near Somerset and the prayer I prayed on my daughter's birthday.
I believe that moment at the Tomb was when I was grafted into the Israel "tree," and started receiving the "nourishing sap."
So, what does this mean?
I believe it means those who have not identified with spiritual Israel are not "My People," meaning they are not God-The-Creator's People and Yehoshua is not their King. I believe this is what Marvin Byers was in anguish about as he wrote Paul's Mystery, and it is a big part of what motivates me to do what I do, including saying things on this blog.
It grieves me and horrifies me to see people I love and care about be deceived by Gentile Teachings, and nothing I say seems to get through that narcissistic armor.
Many people read and preach from the Bible about the passages stating how God loves us and cares for us, but those authors were writing to spiritual Israelites...
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39 NIV)
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (1 John 4:7-12 NIV)
These things were written to spiritual Israelites, "My People," ... not Gentiles. Paul was telling receptive Gentile individuals how to join Yehoshua, the King of Israel. John was reassuring fellow Yehoshua-believing Israelites.
Please take these things into your prayer closet and discuss them with your God.
Please.
UPDATE, November 4, 2023...
My most recent post explains how and why I have fallen in love.
I have the right to love whoever I want, although they are not obligated to love me in return. I wish they would, however, and hope they eventually will.
As I have reflected on that post, The LORD has revealed to me He is letting me get a taste of his feelings for "His People." He has the right to fall in love with whoever He wants, as well, and He has fallen in love with the children of Abraham.
The Book says "His People" will eventually recognize their Beloved and run to Him. I hope that happens to me.
UPDATE, November 16, 2023...
All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations... (Isaiah 65:2 NIV)
obstinate, adjective, 1: stubbornly adhering to an opinion, purpose, or course in spite of reason, arguments, or persuasion.
The one I love came to Midland to learn how to operate a free coffee shop, and she was driven by a vision she had shortly after she returned from an extensive overseas experience where she encountered people who loved her and led her through a time of brokenness. During that time, she said she was baptized. These things fascinated me when I first met her, and I felt a kinship. So much was lining up with my experiences and views, and this is why I initially pursued knowing more about her.
Eventually, it became apparent she had a particular purpose in mind from the vision, and her plan was to return to where she had been before her overseas epiphany. My heart sank because I had really grown to like her, as did everyone else, but she was determined and shouted from the rooftops what she intended to do. Most people seemed to view her as highly spiritual and were impressed with her story of her vision. I was, too, and wanted to know more.
As I started to ask questions the answers were vague and she soon started pushing me away. I backed off and just observed. Eventually, we had some disagreements and misunderstandings that demonstrated she and I were "not on the same page." As I learned about our personality types, things started to make sense. Although I was learning from her, she did not seem to be learning from me. I think she realized I was seeing through her facade and that is why she pushed me away. Her arguments were irrational and biblically incoherent, which I learned is typical of her personality type. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. My spiritual sibling also independently saw through her and emotionally told her she was making "a huge mistake." It seems The LORD was giving her testimony from two witnesses.
Late in her tenure at Midland, she fleshed out the details of her plans for moving back to where she had been, and doors kept closing. She saw this, but refused to believe she might be wrong, and she became even more hostile towards me. I was only trying to help and simply wanted to know more, but she irrationally seemed to blame me for her troubles. Again, I learned this is typical of an INFP.
It has been a year since she left, and things have not panned out as she expected, but she is persevering. The place where she intended to set up her "free coffee" business is a small tourist town saturated with casual eating establishments. Unable to find a "brick and mortar" location for her business, she has "gone mobile," and acquired equipment to set up on a day-to-day basis. Where she is getting the money to do these things is beyond me, but apparently people are helping her. She is so sweet and she is so determined, but it has become apparent to me she is doing this all "in her own strength."
From the beginning, she seems to have considered the vision she had to be a prophecy and she has faithfully acted upon it, but as things have not worked out most people seem to have realized her conclusions were presumptuous. That is why I wanted to know more about the vision. I wanted to test the prophecy. As I said in that other post...
We should be concerned that our prayers are answered, especially our public ones, because if they are not, what does that say about us? And what about the people we follow? Does God answer their prayers and bring about what they prophesy and proclaim? If not, what does that say about them?
...when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:22 NIV)
The prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true. (Jeremiah 28:9 NIV)
The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16, in part, NIV)
I do not know what my friend saw in her vision. She said it was too complicated to explain, and I believe that. I am certain she had it, and I told her so. My concern all along has been her interpretation of it. She believed it was guiding her to start a coffee shop in that particular tourist town, which is located about halfway between where each of her parents live, more than a day's journey by car. She fell in love with the place when she was living her previous, sinful life.
The LORD used her isolation overseas to break her out of what bound her, and this has been my biggest concern. She has returned to the location of her sin, and I am afraid it is too early for her to do that. My stronghold was Darwin's Theory of Evolution, and I needed time away from that subject before I was ready to advocate against it. But this is The LORD's project, not mine. He is able to protect her and give her the lessons He wants her to have.
I continue to ask my Master why he is leading me to focus on this woman. I understand my history during high school was to obsess over a particular girl and that led to bondage, but I do not think that is what is going on here. The LORD is using this to teach me things, and I believe he is using me to influence others, so I do not believe it is unhealthy. It is also helping me overcome my broken heart from losing my wife, and it is a season. I care deeply about my friend, but I can let her go if The LORD no longer wants me to pursue it. That is something I understand my personality type is able to do, but we also put tremendous energy and time into pursuing those we believe to be worthwhile.
I desire a relationship with my friend, and I am jealous for her attention. (There is a difference between jealousy and envy.) I hope she eventually sees what I have written here. I have written this blog to whoever will be my eventual wife, should God grace me with the opportunity. I want them to understand me, where I have come from, and where I am going. Is it going to be her?1 I do not know.
This is The LORD's project, not mine.
UPDATE, February 5, 2024...
1 With God, all things are possible... but I believe this has been unlikely from the beginning, and I knew it after that third meeting. Please see the January 7, 2024 update of my Shulamite post.
UPDATE, December 24, 2024...
It's interesting how God's Tapestry intertwines with itself.
Back in 2001, not long after I had left my engineering job, I was in my family room with this man discussing how we might make a music video of one of his Christmas songs. The project did not go anywhere because I was an absolute neophyte at that kind of thing, but it was a spark motivating me in the direction God was taken me.
We both have proceeded with our walks, doing as we have been led.
He has a new song out, a Christmas song again, and I really like it. It is directed at Israel...