Has this day lost its glamour? Or, do you still feel and love the pomp of this day every four years?
Do we see and hear so many reprehensible things that its hard to appreciate hairstyles, clothes and pomp.
Hearing and watching the loss of lives in Algeria for the last few days; does it make you want to sit and cry and wonder why so much glib from Our Nations Leaders rather than a comforting, consoling voice to Our nation. Just read news with the following; “Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal is expected to give details at a Monday news conference about one of the worst international hostage crises in decades, which left American, British, French, Japanese, Norwegian and Romanian workers dead or missing. …”
Sometimes I think Sackcloth and Ashes should be the dress code for the day.
thedailylily.com 
“Do we see and hear so many reprehensible things that its hard to appreciate hairstyles, clothes and pomp.”
Yes. The ‘glamour’ seems surrealistic against the reality backdrop of what is really playing out on the world’s stage. It is very sad.
In a most intriguing book, “The Irrational Season”, by Madeleine L’Ingle, she writes on page 92, “if we look back throughout history, the record shows quite clearly that societies where man is god, have much less concern for human life than those which believe in God’s loving concern for every iota of [His] creation. Alexander, Tiberius, Hitler, Mussolini were all big on causes”…[and I would add on pomp and circumstance.]…” and small on people”…[humanity].end.
History has only come forth to repeat itself. There is a Proverb that says that a woman (or man) builds a house [or a realm or a nation] and then tears it down by his/her own devices. Shades of Nero fiddling while Rome slowly burns down to an ember. Shades of”Babylon has fallen, fallen…that great city.”
Thank Heavens for a loving God of the second-chance. Do we care one iota for those who are dying in the streets of African and middle -eastern cities? Will I mention them in my prayers tonight when I ask for healings for loved ones and friends; for safety and protection for me & mine; for direction for tomorrow? Will He not direct me to place on the mercy seat the lives of those all over the world who will die tonight without bread, without shelter, without love and without hope? Will I be next?
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
New Living Translation (©2007) Daniel 9:3
Fox reports….Breaking News: U.S. officials say the bodies of two Americans were recovered from Algerian gas plant, bringing the total to three Americans killed in the standoff.
Let us remember these American families that lost their loved ones while at work in this horrific terrorist attack. May God comfort these families. Also, all families involved.
I join you in prayers for these families.
What a sad time for the USA – yes sack cloth would have been in order. With so much sadness I went to Sister Gwen Shaw site to see what her word for the US was. She had said to read Ezekiel 7 very carefully. We see the pomp addressed within the verses. After reading her word I found she has gone on to be with the Lord. Her journey for the Lord is over here on earth – a woman who stood for the Lord and spoke without compromise. I remember many many times at her early morning prayer times prayer for America – weeping and crying out.
Ezekiel 7
The Message (MSG)
Fate Has Caught Up with You
7 1-4 God’s Word came to me, saying, “You, son of man—God, the Master, has this Message for the land of Israel:
“‘Endtime.
The end of business as usual for everyone.
It’s all over. The end is upon you.
I’ve launched my anger against you.
I’ve issued my verdict on the way you live.
I’ll make you pay for your disgusting obscenities.
I won’t look the other way,
I won’t feel sorry for you.
I’ll make you pay for the way you’ve lived:
Your disgusting obscenities will boomerang on you,
and you’ll realize that I am God.’
5-9 “I, God, the Master, say:
‘Disaster after disaster! Look, it comes!
Endtime—
the end comes.
The end is ripe. Watch out, it’s coming!
This is your fate, you who live in this land.
Time’s up.
It’s zero hour.
No dragging of feet now,
no bargaining for more time.
Soon now I’ll pour my wrath on you,
pay out my anger against you,
Render my verdict on the way you’ve lived,
make you pay for your disgusting obscenities.
I won’t look the other way,
I won’t feel sorry for you.
I’ll make you pay for the way you’ve lived.
Your disgusting obscenities will boomerang on you.
Then you’ll realize
that it is I, God, who have hit you.
10-13 “‘Judgment Day!
Fate has caught up with you.
The scepter outsized and pretentious,
pride bursting all bounds,
Violence strutting,
brandishing the evil scepter.
But there’s nothing to them,
and nothing will be left of them.
Time’s up.
Countdown: five, four, three, two . . .
Buyer, don’t crow; seller, don’t worry:
Judgment wrath has turned the world topsy-turvy.
The bottom has dropped out of buying and selling.
It will never be the same again.
But don’t fantasize an upturn in the market.
The country is bankrupt because of its sins,
and it’s not going to get any better.
14-16 “‘The trumpet signals the call to battle:
“Present arms!”
But no one marches into battle.
My wrath has them paralyzed!
On the open roads you’re killed,
or else you go home and die of hunger and disease.
Either get murdered out in the country
or die of sickness or hunger in town.
Survivors run for the hills.
They moan like doves in the valleys,
Each one moaning
for his own sins.
17-18 “‘Every hand hangs limp,
every knee turns to rubber.
They dress in rough burlap—
sorry scarecrows,
Shifty and shamefaced,
with their heads shaved bald.
19-27 “‘They throw their money into the gutters.
Their hard-earned cash stinks like garbage.
They find that it won’t buy a thing
they either want or need on Judgment Day.
They tripped on money
and fell into sin.
Proud and pretentious with their jewels,
they deck out their vile and vulgar no-gods in finery.
I’ll make those god-obscenities a stench in their nostrils.
I’ll give away their religious junk—
strangers will pick it up for free,
the godless spit on it and make jokes.
I’ll turn my face so I won’t have to look
as my treasured place and people are violated,
As violent strangers walk in
and desecrate place and people—
A bloody massacre,
as crime and violence fill the city.
I’ll bring in the dregs of humanity
to move into their houses.
I’ll put a stop to the boasting and strutting
of the high-and-mighty,
And see to it that there’ll be nothing holy
left in their holy places.
Catastrophe descends. They look for peace,
but there’s no peace to be found—
Disaster on the heels of disaster,
one rumor after another.
They clamor for the prophet to tell them what’s up,
but nobody knows anything.
Priests don’t have a clue;
the elders don’t know what to say.
The king holds his head in despair;
the prince is devastated.
The common people are paralyzed.
Gripped by fear, they can’t move.
I’ll deal with them where they are,
judge them on their terms.
They’ll know that I am God.’”
Ezekiel says in vs.23,24… “Make a chain:for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses:I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. Destruction cometh;…”
I am very sadden to hear the news of Gwen Shaw’s home going. Her voice in the land will be missed. She has left a great legacy of books and words to be read and reflected upon. She leaves a message from Ezekial and if not careful I may say Old Lady, Old Bible and OT….
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. ….vs. 18
Ezekial, an OT prophet. Sister Gwen a voice today just leaving the words of yesterday for today. Holy Spirit, help us to hear the message.
Comfort her family and loved ones we pray.
Yes, I agree with you Sara, “Holy Spirit, help us to hear the message”.
Also, you quoted from Ezekial above, “I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease”.
“You asked us 2 days earlier regarding ‘pomp’…”Has this day lost its glamour? Or, do you still feel and love the pomp of this day every four years? Do we see and hear so many reprehensible things that its hard to appreciate hairstyles, clothes and pomp.”
We really do need to wake up, hear and heed. The prophet is speaking from God’s heart the things that are right here on our doorstep.
What did Ezekial mean when he said; “make a chain” vs 23
“Make a chain”. Looking up that passage online [ Ezekiel 7:23], I found it means…make chain for the prisoners…chain the prisoners (like a chain gang) who will be taken into captivity when the Lord allows the enemy to desecrate the land.
Whee, how would one do that?
The topical index in my bible defined chain as “a series of connected links’. Ezekial 7: 23…”Make a chain:for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.” Perhaps a meaning is an admonition to make note, recall, string togther the events and sins that all connect to bring the judgement that Ezekial refers to.
Looking up chains I found In Psalm 2: 3-8 says:
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
Sounds like to me that are trying to break their bonds (chains) by their own means. Not possible without Jesus.
What has man done:
3 Jeremiah 2:20
[ Israel Turns Its Back on God ] “Long ago I broke the load from your neck and tore off your chains. But you said, ‘I will not serve!’ For on every high hill and under every green tree you have lain down as a woman who sells the use of her body.
We will not serve our God – We have chosen another to serve – the devil. Its either God or the Satan. If you are serving the world/Satan you are choosing as the verse says become one with him/whore (bondage, chained to Satan).
In a book I have recently read on porn when you become chained to sin it messes up your mind. You can’t think straight. Perhaps we begin to believe that untruth is truth. No wonder there are so many mind problems. Chained to Satan and he’ll take you down.
Have you heard; “you are what you think?”
Yes, I have heard that.
We would be wise to heed the words in Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”
True, think on The whole of God’ Word….Noble would be hang out, watch and read of those of practice it…pure would be my behavior, lovely would be in the doing of good deeds, on and on….the think would good back to the earlier blog where we covered, a thought in a thoughtless mind going like a Ferris wheel…
A friend writes; “I love my job. It is awesome and I am so thankful that God is in charge and I followed his plan. If you want to get a real perspective on life talk to the ones that have lived it and aren’t able to do the things they once did.”
Here is a thought from a lesson (to The whole of God’s Word) I’m studying from Bible Study Fellowship – we are studying Genesis. This is a direct quote from the lesson: “Lot made a fatal mistake when he judged his standards by the world around him. He was content as long as he was better than his neighbors. Are you satisfied to follow the standards of those around you or to do what seems right to you? Do you refuse to take time to know and to live by God’s standards which He reveals in the Bible? Jesus spoke of the Old Testament when He said to religious people, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22:29) Which do you live by the accepted standards of your culture or the standards of God’s Word that you read for yourself?”
The devastating example that Lot left was that he had made no converts to God in that city.
Love the BSF study. I agree with the whole of their comment. I can relate to Lot.
As far as relating to Lot, I am a “close” relative! In the world that yammers at us day in, day out, it is difficult to even get a word in edgewise much less a word about the the Lord Jesus Christ. Met with a stony stare at best, very few opportunities avail themselves….or maybe that I can even endeavor to avail myself of them….anymore….. No converts in the city; no converts in the country; no converts in the family. No converts in the workplace. Jesus said, “compel” them to come in!” COMPEL!
Sara writes in the beginning of the blog “sackcloth and ashes”. All that I heard was, “ashes, ashes, they all fall down.”
I guess I’ve been teaching little kids music for so long…..
Maybe some of us are like or part of the Republican party, out of touch. I see where the party is meeting this week to discuss what went wrong in the last election, they lost. Their candidate was more popular than the party. Where was the support of the party, all divided. They have won many elections but not the last two. Some of us, likewise, can tell our story of yesterday. Crusades, tent meetings and other outreach meetings where 100’s were saved. But,today we may need to reevaluate our outreach.