Righteous @ MindSay 
Yet another weird dream, the product of watching "The Fog" while trying to study the scriptures during the commericals. In this dream, a fog covered the town and those who breathed it in become ravenous zombies thristy for blood (mwhahahaha!). "My family" ( I use quotes because they were not my real family but in my dream we had an apparent connection) and I are trying to escape the town. The military come to our aid and recuse us from our homes loading us up in buses. Through the course of the dream we are almost attacked by a mob of zombies and in talking to a young lieutnenant who recused us we determined what the zombies are searching for based on whose houses they were attacking; pastor's, church houses, christian homes.
"They are seeking the blood of the righteous."
"And the blood of the Lamb, the blood of the righteous saves," I replied.
When the coast was clear, the bus stopped. My family begged me not to get off but the Lieutenant and I had a plan. If it meant a few would have to die for the many, then it was worth the cost. Ironically enough, we were close to a graveyard and ordered the people in the buse to strap us to the tombstones so that we could not run away no matter what. They did so and left us tearfully. When next we looked, the lieutenant and I were surrounded by zombies. They circled hungrily but we were not afraid...even as they knawed and tore as our flesh and drank us dry of blood. The plan worked though and by drinking our blood they were all cured and returned to normal. The lientenant and I died and I woke up. Two scriptures come to mind when I recall this dream now:
"But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" ~ Romans 5:15
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." ~Romans 5:6-8
I am also reminded of Psalm 1, where David writes that a righteous man delights "in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night." We cannot control our dreams but in this case God used this one to remind me of some very important lessons, selflessness amoung them. Would I contemplate dieing for an unbeliever, if it meant that they might live to one day know Christ? What greater testimony could I leave behind?
Ndosch
I've been a staunch defender since the day the enemy's name was made known to me. I greeted each assault upon Your Glory with righteous fury. Each blashpemy was met with swift vengeance from my hand. I was Your Champion once; where now is the halo that I wore when defending Your Glory? I will not believe that your paladin has been forgotten.
The believers' faith, once unwavering, now flaps sadly in the wind like sodden flag. You have not been true to Your faithful, and my eyes have opened to Your betrayals; yet against all logic still I believe. I know in my heart that You have the power to fulfill the hopes and dreams of Your believers, yet I know also that You have the power to irrevocably break our spirits. We have withstood the slings and arrows of our enemies, but we cannot withstand another assault upon our faith by You, our beloved.
Your next Incarnation descends upon our world, and I pray that it shall be the one to restore our fortress to it's former glory. There are whispers of false prophecy amongst the faithful, and even I am losing hope. Flex Your glorious muscles and convert the non-believers; we are faithful, but we are so few! Betray our faith once more and You shall become a ghost in this world, a memory to be cherished only until the end of our generation.
You can read my heart as though it were a book, but I wish to see this written: Whatever befalls us, I shall never stop loving you.
Cold winds blow from the enemy's fortress. They whisper lies to me: "Your god has betrayed you. We shall protect you in this time of darkness. Let us hold you, and keep you strong. You shall be our Champion."
I will not believe them. Instead I shall wait hope in heart, heart in mouth, for news of Your victory.
-Mitch
(1) Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. (2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (3) And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (4) The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. (5) Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. (6) For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalms 1:1-6
Some people get a kick out of meanness. They enjoy trying to spoil the faith and trust that others have in God. They have nothing good in their lives, so they wish to ruin what others have. I don't think it makes them feel better; I think it is just a bad habit.
I also think some of them are jealous; they don't have any faith, so they don't want anyone else to have it. Kind of like the dog in the manger of Aesop's fables, the dog can't eat the hay, but it won't let the cattle near it either.
God says that scoffers will not stand in the judgment. Can you think for a moment what that must be like? Sandyquill has been teaching on the Revelation, and she has talked quite a bit about the idea that no matter how many chances God gives to man to repent of doing evil, there are many who will still shake their fists at God all the way to their destruction.
It hurts my heart to see people in this position. It makes me sad. However, I must be firm with them when they approach me to vomit their gullets all over me. Sometimes I have to rebuke them, but I pray for their souls. As I said a while back, I wouldn't want even my worst enemy to go to Hell; so, I certainly would not wish that for a complete stranger.
This has nothing to do with condemning someone because they don't believe "like I do." That is a shallow misunderstanding that can only be applied by transference of some pet rant on religion. It has to do with the fact that people who do not LOVE God, or BELIEVE in God, or people who HATE God, would not wish to spend ETERNITY with God. Pretty simple, but apparently the fact gets overlooked quite often.
Think about it this way: if you were born to one family, but got put into foster care early in life due to an accidental separation at birth, you might wish to know your biological parents. Through no fault of their own, the parents have lost their child - you - and they are seeking all legal means to locate you and to get you back. But suppose you have heard bad things about your birth parents: they hated you, they didn't love you, they purposely put you in foster care so they wouldn't have to care for you, they have too many other children to care about you - and on and on it could go, though not a single one of these guesses would be fact. Eventually you would have to make a decision whether or not you wanted to find out the truth for yourself. Would you try to meet your birth parents and give them a chance to show you the truth? Or would you listen to the lies of strangers?
It's pretty much that way with learning about God. Many people lie about Him. Many hate Him, and seem to be missionaries of hatred: trying to get you to see Him in the worst possible way, when in truth all He is doing is loving you and providing you with every possible opportunity to get to know who He really is - and not through the eyes of some jaded mocker.
He loves you, no matter what the scoffers say. Won't you try Him and see for yourself?
Rev. Cathian
E asked me the other day how Lot could be considered righteous (2 Peter 2:7,8) if he had really offered his virgin daughters up to the men of Sodom to do whatever they wished with them (Genesis 19:8). To answer this, we really need to look at the exchange between Yahweh and Abraham.
The happenings of Genesis 19 must be read in light of the theme in Genesis 18 and preceding. Abraham asks Yahweh repeatedly: "Will you not deal rightously?" "Will you not spare the city on account of the righteous?" Abraham believed God to be faithful to his covenant promises. Abraham knew the consequences of not following the stipulations of the coenant, but he knew that God's patience and mercy runs deep, and he knew deep down in his bones that God would deal justly. The dialogue in the preceding chapter 18 is not a bargaining ploy. It is Abraham getting reassurance that his God is a faithful, just, patient, merciful, righteous God. God shows his faithful, patient mercy by assuring Abraham if there only ten righteous people in the city, it would be spared. Of course, as this familiar story unfolds, we realize there aren't ten righteous, there aren't even five. There are only Lot and his immediate family. I will continue this a bit later.
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