February 25, 2014

From Jim McGuiggan... The Irish Wolfhound

The Irish Wolfhound

The government was exterminating the little Jewish boys, they were enslaved to the point where they cried to God because the bondage was so severe. They were brothers and sisters, suffering the same agony and oppressed by the same enemy and yet we have Exodus 2:13. If that was the situation, how come they were oppressing each other? You'd think since they were enduring oppression from their enemies that that would be enough, how could they turn on each other and do the enemy's work for him? Wasn't there enough pain in the world for the People of God to face? Weren't there enough enemies who bullied and butchered? In Exodus 2:13 we have one brother wronging another (and by consequence, wounding the man's family--do we ever wrong only one person?). There, there, in the land of injustice, where Hebrews should have stood by each other and had good reason to stand by each other; there, we find brothers and sisters wronging brothers and sisters.
And in a world filled with tireless evil, vicious, brutal, evil; slimy, rotting evil; crushing, debasing, cruel evil—in a world filled with that we find churches grinding each others bones. We find journals, bulletins, taped-sermons and all kinds of church media devoted to the exposure of some preacher, church or other on matters of teaching. Ah, yes, but surely the critics are dealing with something foundational like the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus? Maybe his atoning death? The certainty of judgement? The one true God? The truth and trustworthiness of Scripture? Some central affirmations of Scripture—surely? No! Take one quick glance around at these papers and see for yourself. With the porn industry, the booze industry, the drug industry, the vice industry, the abortion industry; with the many open sewers pouring out filth, with countless open wounds around us, caused by gangsters, corrupt landlords, politicians and war mongerers, Rolex-watched prime-time evangelists of hype, nonsense and a ceaseless diet of "give us more and more of your hard-earned money"—with all these in front of us as enemies, who do we pick a raging battle with? Some other little assembly, that, with Bible in hand and God set in their trembling little hearts, has taken on these tyrannies. That's who some of us dedicate our papers, sermons and letters against to scorn and destroy!
There's this story about the Irish Wolfhound that enjoyed a big juicy bone and then hobbled off on three legs. Ummm...I don't believe I'll tell it.
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, theabidingword.com.

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