Fire

My mother used to have a little wooden plaque hanging over the kitchen sink. I read that plaque many times as a child and onward. On the little plaque was a proverb that read:

"It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool,

than to open it and remove all doubt!"        

Perry's Nut House
Belfast, ME

Many years later, my own family was travelling through Maine, when we passed a place called, "Perry's Nut House". I had to stop there and go in. As well as selling nuts, sure enough, they also had on their walls for purchase plaques of proverbs in all different sizes. NOW I knew where my Mom had found her little plaque all those years ago.
The years have proven my Mom's plaque to be a true proverb. Our Book of Proverbs in the Bible also has numerous verses regarding the pitfalls of the tongue, and the words out of our mouths. Here are just a few, including one that must have been the inspiration for the words on my mother's plaque:
"He who has knowledge spares his words, and a man of understanding is of a calm spirit. Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace; When he shuts his lips, he is considered perceptive."   Prov. 17:27-28
"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit." 
                                                                                                    Prov. 18:21
"A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart...A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul."   Prov. 18:2, 7

How many times I remember something I have said, and wince at the stupidity of it. I say to myself, "You should have kept your mouth shut." I used to be talkative, but after hearing my own words played back in my mind, as well as the words of others, I became much more reticent to open my mouth.
To multiply the problem of careless words, the world is full of unfortunate "Tweets" and regrettable Facebook posts. We don't realize what our outpouring of words reveals about ourselves. Regardless of a desire we might have to be careful in our speech, often, it seems, the words pour out of our mouths, seemingly beyond our ability to stop them. Jesus said that what we say reflects what is in our hearts, and many times, it isn't a pretty picture:
"Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things."  Mt. 12:34-35
"But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man..."   Mt. 15:18-20
We may think that because we know and sincerely love the Lord that we are not the ones for whom Jesus meant these words, but for unbelievers only. Not so. Jesus also heard what came out of His own disciples' mouths, and discerned that the source of the words spoken were evil spirits, and even Satan himself (Mt. 16:23, Lk.9:54-56). One of these instances concerned the disciples' suggestion that they call down fire from heaven in judgment, while thinking that they were speaking righteousness according to the will of God. What have we spoken that we thought was righteous, but might cause Jesus to say to us, "You don't know what manner of spirit you are of "?
Paul wrote:
"Let no corrupt (rotten, unfit for use, of poor quality, worthless) word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification (building up), that it may impart (give, deliver, bestow a gift, furnish, supply) grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor (loud quarreling), and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another..."   Eph. 4:29-32
Jesus said that the end times would be like the days of Noah. In the days of Noah, evil and violence totally pervaded the hearts of men (Gen. 6:5), and we know that out of the heart, the mouth speaks. We only have to hear a small portion of the news to see this same level of evil and violence flowing out of people's mouths, and filling their actions. This evil is spreading like a fire, because of the times in which we are living. We are not immune to these spirits, especially if we are careless and unwatchful.
In discussing the danger of the words that we speak, we must go to the Book of James:
"So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath...If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless...Even so, the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course (a circuit of physical effects, to incur extreme peril which requires the exertion of all one's effort to overcome) of nature ("genesis": nature, course of life, existence, lineage, human origin, generation-the whole multitude of men living at the same time); and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison."    James 1:19, 26, James 3:5-8

We are literally setting the world, a whole generation of the living and their progeny, on fire with our tongues. The Greek language used in these verses does not limit the devastating consequences of reckless words to the spiritual realm, which is serious on its own, but the Greek specifies effects to the natural realm on a huge scale as well. And James was writing to the brethren, the believers. As I see out-of-control fires destroying homes and taking lives, I never realized that these raging fires could be a manifestation of the words out of man's mouth, out of my mouth.
I did not expect to make this discovery when I started this entry, but I should have known not to take the scriptures lightly on this topic, or any other. As we saw above, Jesus took this topic very seriously and warned:
"But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."   Mt. 12:36-37
And David, a man after God's own heart, prayed:
"Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips."  Ps. 141:3
I don't want my words to kindle fires, spiritual or natural.

Our Father is urging us to bridle our tongues.

Innocents

There is a judgment that follows the shedding of innocent blood. The ground becomes defiled by the curse of the innocent blood. Let us look at the scriptures:
"...keep all these commands and do them...lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you...but you shall put away (to burn, remove, consume, be kindled-as in purge) the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you."  Deut. 19:10, 13
"They gather together against the life of the righteous, and condemn (be guilty, act wickedly, to do wrong) innocent blood."  Ps. 94:21
"They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters..and the land was polluted with blood." Ps. 106:37-38
"Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood...whoever takes that way shall not know peace."   Isa. 59:7, 8 (excerpt)
"Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place...Yet your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, and practicing oppression and violence."
                                                                                                            Jer. 22:3, 17
"...do not consent if they say, "Come with us, let us lie in wait to shed blood; let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause; let us swallow them alive like Sheol..."  Pro. 1:10-12
"These...things the LORD hates...hands that shed innocent blood..."  Pro. 6:16-17

In this nation, and perhaps in your nation as well, there has been a long history of the shedding of innocent blood. Whole peoples were killed because their land was coveted. People were murdered for racial or cultural reasons. We have seen murders of people because of the faith they follow. During this present generation, millions of unborn children have been murdered, principally because of the inconvenience of their birth. Every day, the news is filled with individual and mass killings committed for no rational reason at all. Our land is awash in innocent blood. The land becomes defiled, polluted, cursed as a result.
There was a King of Judah, Manasseh, who flooded Judah and Jerusalem with the blood of children who had been sacrificed to idols and demons at his command. The LORD executed judgment and justice for the innocent killed:
"So I will forsake the remnant of My inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies...because they have done evil in My sight."... Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the LORD...And the LORD sent...them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken by His servants the prophets...this came upon Judah to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon."   2 Kings 21:14-16, 24:2-4
Innocent blood cries to the LORD until the LORD gives justice. We see this from the very first recorded murder, which was the murder of Abel by his brother, Cain:
"Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?...What have you done? The voice (call aloud, bleating, cry, lowing voice, thundering) of your brother's blood cries (call for help, clamor, to be summoned, cry aloud in grief) out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand..."    Gen. 4:9-11
Also, cries from those who have been killed for their faith in Christ sound before God:
"...And they cried with a loud voice saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"   Rev. 6:10
Imagine the cries that continually sound before God from the blood of the millions of innocents killed in our nation during its relatively short history? Like Jerusalem under King Manasseh, our land is filled with shed innocent blood "from one end to another". How long, do we suppose, the LORD can delay the judgment and justice that this blood demands? This has been very much on my mind recently, because I think that the time is drawing very near. The LORD said to Noah:
"Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man."   Gen. 9:5-6
I am praying for God's mercy. I am praying that He can change our hearts. Scripture says, "For with God nothing will be impossible." (Lk. 1:37).
King Manasseh, who was responsible for the murder of many innocents, and had drawn all of Judah into the same evil, was dragged away from his kingdom in Jerusalem to Babylon in nose hooks and chains by the invading Assyrian army. In great affliction, "...he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God." (2 Chron. 33:12-13). Upon his restoration, Manasseh also brought Judah back to the worship of God by command. Although Manasseh was restored and Judah returned to the worship of God, Judah was still later carried away into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. The only thing that would cleanse the land that had been cursed by the shedding of innocent blood was enforced years of Sabbath rest for the land.
The shed blood of the innocents is crying out to God for justice. How then can our land be cleansed from the curse? Scripture says that if the people of God will humble themselves, pray, recognize and turn from the wickedness in our own hearts, and seek God's face of mercy and truth, God promises us that He will hear, forgive, and heal our land (2 Chron. 7:14). Jesus redeemed us from the curse, having been made a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). Can you imagine Him carrying the crushing weight of this terrible curse upon Himself? We who believe must humbly apply this redeeming sacrifice of Christ to ourselves, and to our land.
If we truly understand the seriousness and the urgency of this issue, perhaps we will do it. I very much love the people and land that God has given to us for a nation. Because this has been very much on my mind recently, and in my prayers, I have written about this to you.

Our Father hears the cries of the blood of the innocents.

"Abad-Shamar"

Satan drew man into sin by telling a lie. It is a lie that not only worked then, but is still working now. It is not a lie directed only towards those who are already perishing, but it is especially directed towards those who, like Adam, were created, or reborn, in the image of God, and who are called the "sons of God". Scripture tells us that, if possible, even the elect will be deceived (Mt. 24:24). After all, it does not benefit Satan to deceive those already condemned, but to deceive the sons of God. If the whole world is deceived at the same time, so much the better.
The custom-tailored lie with which Satan chose to deceive Adam questioned the truth of what God had instructed Adam:
"Has God indeed said, "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"....Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die."  Gen. 3:1, 4
We may say, "But it was Eve who was deceived." This is true, but Adam was recorded as being present every step of the way, and consenting (Gen. 3:6). Being present at the scene at the time, if Adam had not also been deceived, he would have stopped his wife from partaking of a death sentence, and he certainly would not have also partaken himself: "She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate."
As devastating as the lie has proven to be, there is a story behind the lie. The lie with which Satan chose to lure Adam was not chosen at random. Satan perceived a weakness in Adam, and custom-tailored his lie to successfully exploit the weakness. The weakness did not die with Adam, the son of God. The weakness, like the lie, persists today even regarding each of us, the sons of God through Christ. What did Satan see in the man that led this cunning, wily creature to choose the lie that he chose? It is important for us to know for ourselves.
We cannot say that Adam didn't know the Word of God. He was told the Word before Eve was created (see Gen. 2:15-18). Not only did he know it, but he even overemphasized the wording and danger of it, according to Eve's understanding (Gen. 3:3).   
So, how did Satan know that Adam would choose to ignore the Word of God? Adam was given two other instructions by God even before the command regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We tend to overlook these two commands, thinking we understand what they involved by the common English words used to describe them. However, the two preceding commands are extremely important, and anything but common, in the Hebrew language. God "took" (take away, carry off, carry away) the man He had created, and "put" (to rest, give rest to, make quiet, to cause to rest, to be granted rest, to pacify) him in the Garden (enclosed, fenced garden, to defend, cover, surround, to hedge about, protect) of Eden (pleasure, delight, luxury, dainty, finery, delicate, to be soft or pleasant, to conduct oneself softly), and then instructed him. In the commands from God, Adam was told to dress ("abad"- servant, to work, to make oneself a servant, bond-servant, enslave, worshipper) and to keep ("shamar"- to be on one's guard, to keep, guard, observe, give heed, watch, watchman, protect, save life, preserve, reserve, beware, pay heed) the garden (Gen. 2:15). 
As we will see later, these same commands were also the understanding of the Son of God, Jesus, and He fulfilled much of His Messianic purpose around them. When the Apostle Paul referred to himself as a "slave" or "bond-servant" of Christ (Rom. 1:1, Phil. 1:1, Titus 1:1), he was referring to "abad". We can know for sure that Adam neglected these first two commands, because of what occurred afterwards. Satan, in the form of a serpent, was allowed to come into the garden by Adam, and challenge the Word of God. Even before Satan's lie, Adam had failed to "shamar" - to protect and preserve. He failed as a watchman. He failed to beware, letting his guard down. When Satan began to challenge the truth of the Word that God had given the man, Adam failed as an "abad" worshipper and bond-servant, who should have immediately defended His Father's truth. Satan had seen by these failures that Adam could be successfully challenged in the commands he had been given by God.
Knowing the Word is a necessary thing. However, Adam's weakness was a weakness in character, as much, if not more, than a lack of Word knowledge, and Satan was able to overcome him. It is the same for us today. We strive to know the scriptures, but if we are not transformed by them in nature and character, we also can be easily deceived:
"And do not be conformed (to the same pattern) to this world, but be transformed (change into another form, transfigure) by the renewing (renovation, complete change for the better)of your mind (understanding, reason, thoughts, feelings, purposes, desires, the capacity for spiritual truth, perceiving divine things, considering and judging soberly, recognizing goodness and hating evil), that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."  Rom. 12:2
Jesus was also tempted in the wilderness by Satan, as Satan again tried to twist, turn, and challenge a Son (Mt. 4:6) with the Word of God. As we see from His responses to that temptation, Jesus overcame the temptation with a faithful knowledge of the Word. However, every response He gave to the temptations also expressed His obedience in character to the abad and shamar commands of God to a Son (Mt. 4:4, 7,10).  
Jesus viewed Himself as an "abad" servant to His Father, and He was always discerning and determined to keep, or "shamar", and preserve what had been given into His care:
"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day."   Jn. 6:38-39
"While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me, I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled."   Jn. 17:12, 18:9
This is what it means to be a Son. This is what it means to be transformed by the abad and shamar of the Word. This is also our challenge. We must also be abad servants, being the shamar the Father has ordained us to be. Unfortunately, the prevailing sentiment of our time, and of this world is, "It's all about me." It seems that by the manner in which Adam so quickly accepted the lie that God was withholding good things to which Adam felt entitled (Gen. 3:5), he showed that he believed this philosophy of the world also. The lie of Satan played right into Adam's already revealed heart of resentment and rebellion towards his God Who had saved him out of the dust of the world, created him as His son, carried him away from danger, and set him in a protected place of restful delight.
The lie is still around, and the same weak character of Adam is still drawn to it. However, we have been called to abad and shamar.

Our Father has called us to be sons of God.