Why Trust A Nation Still Waiting For Their Jesus?

Every one of my biggest problems in this world- even complex topic writer's block- seems to get resolved at the seat of GRACE. It was a problem trying to make sense of  an inspiration that felt a bit too complex to properly chew and digest- even for my overactive mental digestive tract.

You ask, how might the spirit of forgiveness unto salvation help a struggling writer?  What I discovered is that, in all things, don't take yourself too seriously.  In other words, forgiving yourself can be liberating towards self expression and also towards experiencing the liberating change we often expect from others.

In the spirit of GRACE, it has been a very long time since I've journalistically pricked the conscious of those prescribed as atheist or agnostic mostly because the elevating intolerance of those prescribed as Christian (me) has pricked my angst against pointing a finger at anti religion people who have religiously organized themselves to say that they want no part of religion's nonsense.


I get it.

I totally empathize with the damaging impact religion has had on God's favorability numbers. Skepticism towards God always makes sense until I find myself outside each spring pulling up the undesirables in the lawn, hoping for the prize of best grass on the block.  I have yet to win the title, but not for the lack of sincere effort.  My hours of gripping and grinding give me ample time to marvel at the majesty of life as well as the doubt of God's disbelievers.  Seeing the circle and cycle of life makes it hard to imagine that everything came without the conscious design of something greater than the designs themselves, so even my seasonal attempts at broad leaf genocide reminds me of the resiliency of life in a way that humbles me to the core.

Children killed in Syrian chemical attack

Chemical Weapon's Don't Work

I no longer spray chemicals to fight the war with weeds because, for aesthetic reasons, even shriveled and dying weeds have to be pulled up. I figure, if I've gotta pull the damn things regardless, then I will pass on the pesticides and keep on pulling.  Not to mention, my neighbor made me curious about a recipe of dandelion soup that his family in Oklahoma has mastered. My love of cooking and a Google search could certainly justify an attempt at repurposed dandelions, except my pesticide shriveled dandelions might not be soup suitable for a few years.

The impact of chemicals is clearly pronounced on the leaf pattern and on the overall size of my dandelion's, yet the three seasons of Syrian style chemical warfare on all the broad leaf weeds that inhabit my lawn has yet to eliminate them from the landscape.  Those who are familiar with chemical lawn warfare must be certain not to employ weapons that might eliminate every form of vegetation, so chemicals designed to kill broad leafs, and not your grass, have to be humane enough to kill strategically and slowly.

Within our inherant DNA for survival, every life form must modify and adapt itself.  The weed modification's from chemical lawn warfare produces a dandelion that flowers without broad leaves and actually flowers (seeds) below ground level if necessary. In essence, chemicals kill many existing weeds, but only alter the survival nature of the weeds that continue to grow in the future- especially those dandelions.

If you are no longer a little kid who picks dandelions for a bouquet for mom, or blows the seeds all over the yard because they literally invite you to do so, dandelions seem offensive.  In reality, dandelions tend to coexist with grass fairly well and will only overtake grass with the severe neglect of not cutting down the yellow soldiers whenever their heads pop out of the trench. Crabgrass, on the other hand, starts out looking similar to grass, but changes as it grows and will eventually overtake grass if allowed to stay.

Unlike the dreaded crabgrass.
Pulling up dandelions....

I mostly stopped the chemicals because I started seeding, which makes chemicals counterproductive to the young grass shoots, and mild chemicals only work on broad leaf weeds anyway, not crabgrass. One blast of crabgrass killing chemicals, and  an entire area of young grass will likely be the biggest victim.  The weakest, slowest, least of these will always be the worse victims of war, especially something so subversive and stealthy as chemical war.

.....leaves very few blemishes

In part, its the 
death of the least of these that forces 
the end of most war, because the death of children strikes a blow at society. 
That was the calculation of Syrian president Bashir Al-Assad, or whoever will be held responsible for the recent chlorine gas attacks

Syrian children killed by chemicals

on Syrian areas thought to be subversive to the Al-Assad government. Striking a blow at the heart of a society was certainly what WE had in mind when we dropped bombs in Japan to end their opposition during WWII. In the effort to finally address the ISIS threat, Al-Assad will have to soon become an ally or be removed like Sadaam Hussein.  If, on the other hand, the world community is asking Al-Assad to deal with the ISIS weeds in his own lawn, he must have the freedom to use any of the means and methods that every conscientious lawn owner has employed to varying degree's of success- since ALL weed removal bears retributive damage.

No more crabgrass.....for now.

Al-Assad appears to be a dandelion to me, and eventually the world might be forced to remove him one way or another.  In my experience, you must snatch crabgrass up by the root to  eliminate the problem.  I can pull dandelions all day long with minimal damage to the surrounding grass, but crabgrass has to be snatched at the root- which will be at the expense of some of the least of these.

What Becomes Of Those Who Deny Christ?

I realize ISIS is of major concern, but I need GRACE to help me with Benjamin Netanyahu and the nation of Israel- the shameless middle eastern Jewish caliphate that is anxiously waiting for the messiah most of the world accepts in the form of Jesus Christ.  That sometimes seems like a small religious dispute which should be easily overlooked in a world full of varying religions, but most Americans rarely stop to think about what happens when Israel's messiah arrives, and how will he impact the lawn in the middle east.  True Christian GRACE does not stack rank sin, even the sin of denial that occurs with atheists, agnostics and more fearfully, Jews like Benjamin Netanyahu who consider the Jewish messiah, Christ, a lie.

ISRAEL'S ROLE FOR HUMANITY

There is no answer without a call.  Therefore, the very purpose of humanity might be connected to the call of Abram to be the father of a people chosen for a purpose greater than themselves.  If society is searching for an answer to the middle east, we should begin with the call of Israel.

GENESIS 12 

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2 “I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.”[b]

Seperate our world into its major religious components (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), and all roads point back to Abraham, the undenied father of each religion.  Genesis 12 began the call of Israel, but the doctrine of Israel and eventual dogma of Judaism has little connection with God's call.  Israel, the founding nation of father Abraham, considers themselves worthy by virtue of a religious doctrine that the Christian messiah claims to have nullified through the act of GRACE. Stated more clearly, kosher, not Christ, is king.

Outside of the spirit of GRACE, religions and opinion bloggers with mental hurdles fall victimized by the very thing Christ hoped to save us all from, dogmatic illusions of righteousness that leave us governed more by rules and rituals (The Law) and less by the spirit (GRACE).  The Law code is perfectly fine except for its rejection of rule by the spirit.  In ancient times, dogmatic illusion of righteousness became married to the Law of Moses, which God originally gave to man to serve as a mirror for sin until the marriage of GRACE which freed man from the guilt of his sinful shortcomings.

Pastor Joseph Prince creatively describes the Law of Moses in this way.  If a glass of water has lots of dirt and sediment in it, the silver spoon (the law) can stir it and reveal the sediment.  If you let the glass sit for some time, the dirt (sin) might settle to the bottom and make the water appear worthy of consumption.  The spoon will easily stir and reveal the dirt once again, but the spoon did not cause the dirt just as the mirror doesn't cause the reflection to appear ugly- they both only show you what was already there.

GRACE came to place the silver spoon and the mirror behind a door of mystery. Every mystery door has its lure, and the curious will typically turn at the knob. Behind the door, however, is nothing more than the mirror of sin or that silver spoon (the Law).  When Christ took every sin upon himself, he locked the mirror and the spoon behind that door. Our guilt and shame can easily unlock the door, however, their power is married to the revelatory Law of Moses which, once again, came only to bring each of us to the end of ourselves (salvation by achievement) until the beginning of salvation through the simple acceptance of the complete sacrifice of Christ- the embodiment of GRACE.

Man is now dead to the demand of the law upon receiving the gift of GRACE even though sin remains fully intact in our flesh waiting to be stirred by the spoon or revealed in the mirror. Does staring in the mirror make your pimples go away or just aware that you've got them? Does stirring the dirty water produce holiness or the opposite?

Let's connect the dots.

Does stirring sin or revealing sin's reflection remove sin or increase its power? Those who live by the law are bound by its power, which means Israel is not just married to the Law of Moses, they are a nation constantly being stirred- or cornered by sin's inescapable reflection.

How do you define sin and evil in a kosher society?  Everything that doesn't comport to the code of the Law- even America- becomes potentially evil if you live in a way in which the very food you eat comports a belief of righteousness.  How does a kosher world leader comport with men and women so defiled as to actually consume swine?  Ironically, Jews and Muslims totally agree on this point of contention as well as the necessity of religious justification by virtue of other dogmatic expectations.  GRACE, on the other hand, declares a view of sin and of the Law of Moses that is more radical than even some Christian religion's can fully accept.

Pastor Prince expands his view of the law by explaining that the very first sin illustrated in the 10 Laws of Moses (Have No Other God's Before Me) was not committed by the Jews until the moment that the law was given.  In other words, the Jews simultaneously decided to melt down their gold and build the golden calf exactly at the moment that God sent instructions through Moses not to do it. From then until now, Jews have been desperately seeking  a true expression of God, including an anticipation of God's promised messianic return.  Since ancient Jewish doctrine promises a coming messiah, modern Jews can not transition from the demands of the previous Law of Moses or the present complex doctrine it generated, until a messiah arrives to document a new law. If the Law of Moses is not fulfilled in the form of a new Jewish messiah, Jews remain married to a law that was only designed to function as the bridge to salvation, not salvation itself.

What that means to me is that Netanyahu and Israel is not only a nation trapped inside of the law of Moses, waiting for THEIR messiah to arrive to prove OUR messianic theory a lie, they are geographically designed for military peril while they wait. If ever there were a nation in need of the non-judgemental hand of GRACE, it is Israel.  Upon the arrival of the Jewish messiah, how do we connect and conclude the story from Deuteronomy to the coming of the new Jewish messiah instead of the Jesus story we've heard about?  Which Jewish official will chronicle their messiah to fill in the untold portions of the Jewish bible that other Jewish forefathers (Isaiah, Jeremiah or John the Baptist) describe another way?

Will there be a manger to fulfill prophecy?  Do manger's even exist anymore?

Someday, in our life time or in the life time of our children, Israel must eventually find their messiah, and their continued search (aka., rejection of GRACE's provision) is not something to take lightly. Until Israel receives expanded instruction from the new Jewish messiah, they remain a nation governed by mirrors, silver spoons and an  unfinished bible. Jew's who believe in Jesus seem to recognize the challenge of waiting for the correct Jesus to come and finish their bible story, but few of them live in Israel.  Of the 161,000 Christian Jews living in Israel (2.1% of the population), 127,000 are actually Arab Christians.  What happens when the new messiah arrives?  Will he be called Christ too, and which Christ will prevail among the current people of Israel?

The Grass Is Always Greener

Every nation, Israel included, has the duty of its own lawn.  America's lawn might be seen as the best on the block, but from an aerial view, we are reminded that police brutality and unabashed Hillary abuse remain brown spots. Nations with a lawn full of violent weeds must do the grueling work of uprooting some of them to establish balance and order-  and grass will be sacrificed.

The middle east represents one big giant desert landscape with winds that blow your neighbors problems directly into your yard.  Whatever choice your neighbor employs in the fight to create the type of yard they prefer will impact everyone in the middle eastern community at large- which is why nuclear weapons are a major risk to the entire region.

Much like nuclear weapons, chemicals can be more problematic than useful.

Trust US.  WE know from experience.  Chemicals only appear to get rid of your problem when they actually exacerbate the width, breadth and resolve of your opponents. Your problem might relocate for a spell, but the war will resume another day.

Needing to borrow dandelions from my pesticide free neighbor is the least of the worries- for my soup recipe or the middle east.  Even a ground force of American soldiers will ignite the struggle between  middle eastern vegetation trying to fill the vacuum from the American removed undesirables, be that Al-Assad of the future or the vacuum created from Hussein and Ghaddafi of the past. However kosher they claim themselves to be, at this point, I am not entirely certain that a nation  lead by Netanyahu and still in search of their own Jesus is not a form of crabgrass themselves.

Without intervention, crabgrass, which thrives on minimum moisture, will overtake a lawn.  Al-Assad won't be able to keep the lid on Syria without chemical intimidation or something similarly heinous. Eventually, Iran, Iraq, Israel or someone in the middle east will be forced to address Syria simply to address the ISIS threat and the need to fill the vacuum when or if Al-Assad is removed. Because of Israel- the kosher crabgrass of the middle east- no matter how we achieve a military victory over ISIS and Al-Assad, there will NEVER be room for a continued US presence that doesn't ruin the landscape and make the middle eastern weed problem worse.

Grass is losing popularity, even in America, because it comes at the cost of lots of water and constant weed pulling. In the dry middle eastern landscape, even kosher crabgrass deserves a place, but achieving a peaceful balance will be at the expense of the least of these, and to the benefit of those who mock the very GRACE that keeps them the blessed and not cursed nation they are. Although this is a problem for American's (me) tired of being pulled into the middle east because of Israel, its not too big for GRACE. In the eyes of God- and the command of Genesis 12- the challenge of being God's chosen people is a journey wrought with opposition and demanding of radical forgiveness.

How to handle Israel is sort of like that problem some of us married men suffer from.  It seems many of us complain of wives who rarely admit to being wrong.  The certainty I've gained this spring lawncare season is that the marvel and majesty of life is similar to the marvel and majesty of GRACE. When I found myself complaining to God that husband's (me) have to forgive our wives like we do Israel, as if she's never done anything wrong, he say's back to me:

"Now You Understand GRACE".