A Dream And A Warning

Monday night I had a dream. All day Tuesday I spent my time contemplating the dream and its meaning and, more importantly what I was supposed to do with it. I hardly remember any of the details except for three words and a message that was personal for me. It’s those three words and the message that comes with them that I wish to share with you and I pray that you will consider these things with much prayer and trembling.

Recently someone called me an optimist. I have never seen myself as such though as a general rule I will try to look for the good in about any situation if I think it’s there. Even in my more recent “rants” in the end I have pointed out that G-D is in control and for me that’s enough and I am content. This writing today is not going to be like that, there is indeed hope at the end of it all, which I will share at a later time, but it’s the warning that I want you to take seriously and prayerfully.

The three words that came to me were whistle, horn, and Isaiah. At first I had thought that it was whistler’s horn so I took to the internet thinking that I might find an answer there, which, of course, I did not. I did find many references to “Whistlers Mother” a very famous painting and I found a mention on a small device that is put on a trumpet and it gives it a different sound. It could be argued that I found at least part of the message there because what you are going to hear from me is going to be a different sound then you are used to. I then realized that the answer was right in front of me and that was Isaiah. I went to Biblegateway.com and typed in the word “whistle” because I thought that I had read somewhere about G-D whistling and sure enough I found two references in Isaiah and one in Zechariah.

I read the verses in question, Isaiah. 5:25-27, 7:17-19, and Zech.10:7-9 and while the word “whistle” was used, I really wasn’t sure what the message was supposed to be from it, so I decided that I would read the whole passages and see what came from that and it was then that it hit me like a ton of bricks what was being said in Isaiah 5 and this will be my focus.

Isaiah 5:1 says the following, and this is the key that told me that this is what G-D wanted me to tell you, “Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill.”

 I took this verse and the chapter and looked at it on another program that I have that gives you the Hebrew translation as well, and it was there that my first round of goose bumps started. I discovered that the word for “hill” is translated as “in Horn of” it has several meanings but the fact that the very first verse contained one of the words in Hebrew that I had dreamed about really got my attention, I then read the rest of the chapter and I was surprised at what I found .

Starting with Verse one and going until verse four, G-D is giving a description of a vineyard that He has planted, He has done everything just the way that He is supposed too and yet the end result is wild grapes instead of cultured grapes. Then inverses 5 and 6 G-D makes it very clear what He is going to do with that vineyard; “ And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:  I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;  And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds. That they rain no rain on it.” 

This was a message to the Hebrew people but I believe that it is a warning for us to day as well. We were once a nation of people who feared and worshipped G-D. Our founding fathers understood the need for G-D in our laws and in our constitution. They understood that real freedom comes from the hand of G-D and they formed our constitution based on that understanding and we were a blessed nation. We became the envy of the world and people from every nation in the world flocked to our shores to have a piece of that freedom that comes with G-D based laws. Some will argue and say that we shouldn’t have had slavery and we shouldn’t have taken the Indians land and I agree, but at the same time we were blessed and this really isn’t about the politics, it’s about the fact that our nation was based on Hebraic law and we were once a blessed people we have tossed that all aside and we are now beginning to pay the price for that.

Before I go on let us talk for a moment about verse 7. This is where some of you or even perhaps all of you will disagree with me, and honestly it doesn’t matter, because I have been told to give you this message and so I will do so, but I want you to consider verse 7 for a moment and then see if you “see” what I see from the rest of the verses.

Verse 7: “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but be hold, oppression;  For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.

Please note that here you have a distinct separation between the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Judah is very obvious because they are currently in the land of Israel and are commonly called the Jews, but what about the “house of Israel?” Where are they?

There are many Jewish scholars and historians that believe that the lost tribes of Israel are scattered over Europe, North America, to include Mexico and Canada as well as Central and South America. For the purposes of this writing I am not going to get into a whole lot of detail as to how they draw that conclusion except to say that I believe it to be true and they base this on historical records and Biblical texts. You can research it yourself on their website BritAm.com.

This warning is given to both the house of Judah and the house of Israel and if what I believe is true then G-D is sending us a very distinct warning as to what is to come.

You see He doesn’t just give us a warning, He also gives us a description of what the people and their governments are like just before these things happen.

Now look at verses 8-25 and think about what you are reading, see if any of this fits as to what is happening in our world and particularly our nation today.

Woe to those who join house to house; They add field to field, Till there is no place  Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land! In my hearing the LORD of hosts said  ,truly, many houses shall be desolate, Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield one ephah.” Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue until night, till wine inflames them! The harp and the strings, the tambourine and flute, and wine are in their feasts; But they do not regard the work of the LORD, Nor consider the operation of His hands. Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, And their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure; their glory and their multitude and their pomp, And he who is jubilant, shall descend into it. People shall be brought down, each man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled. But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness. Then the lambs shall feed in their pasture, And in the waste places of the fat ones strangers shall eat. Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, And sin as if with a cart rope; That say, “Let Him make speed and hasten His work, That we may see it; And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, That we may know it.” Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man! Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them and stricken them, and the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. 

Do you see any similarities? We are a people who have become full of greed and corruption. Our officials are bought off daily by big corporations and we are so busy being entertained that we don’t see the corruption in our governments or in our churches.

We know more about what is going on in American Idol and what is coming out in the theaters then we do the things of G-D. Why is that? Because we prefer mind numbing entertainment then the words of our creator. It is so much easier to watch the idiot box then to actually take the time to pray and find out the things that G-D really wants from us. We refuse to confront our leaders and point them to the word and call them on their corruption. We have kicked G-D out of almost every aspect of our lives and even in the churches, many times, people come for the entertainment rather then the word. We don’t want to hear that there is a way to live and that G-D requires it of us. We are afraid that we might offend someone if we call them on the carpet for sin and corruption. In short we have abandoned His word and His precepts, have essentially told G-D we don’t need Him or even believe in Him any more and corruption has taken it place.

The irony of it all is when I hear these same people ,who are either allowing this evil to take place or are even participating in it, say stupid things such as why has G-D abandoned us or why are all these bad things happening to us? It’s simple; If you throw out G-D, evil will take His place.

Do you really think that it’s just some freak of nature that is causing all this weird weather around the world? Flooding in Australia, Heavy winter snows in Europe and North America. Deep freezes here in the south, warm weather in the Artic. Typhoons in the Pacific, earthquakes all over the world, volcanoes erupting, not to mention the massive amounts of dead birds, fishes and bees. The Gulf of Mexico poisoned beyond all measure. Do you really believe this is mere coincidence?

One of my favorite shows is the X files and at the end of one of the episodes, Scully makes a comment that I think is very fitting, she said “What I am afraid of is that G-D is speaking to us but were just not listening.” This is very fitting for what is going on today.

G-D is trying to get our attention and He is using, for the moment, subtle ways to get our attention. His desire is not to destroy us but to return us to His word and to heal the land, but if we don’t return and do so soon there is worse to come.

Keep in mind that G-D sent multiple prophets to His people over a period of time, calling for them to repent and turn back to them and every time that they refused G-D would send another prophet and the predictions would get worse. It finally got to the point of where He did exactly what He said  He was going to do and the land of Israel, along with many of the nations round them, were brought into captivity and the cities destroyed.

This is what is going to happen to us if we don’t turn our hearts back to G-D and follow His ways. He has warned us. It happened before and it will happen now.

Read the rest of the chapter and draw your own conclusions but I believe that it is a warning for us that a captivity is coming for us as well, whether it be from our own government or from an outside enemy, make no mistake G-D will do it if it is the only way to turn us back to Him. Consider; “He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, and will whistle to them from the end of the earth; Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly. ²⁷ No one will be weary or stumble among them, No one will slumber or sleep; Nor will the belt on their loins be loosed,  Nor the strap of their sandals be broken;  ²⁸ Whose arrows are sharp, And all their bows bent; Their horses’ hooves will seem like flint, And their wheels like a whirlwind. ²⁹ Their roaring will be like a lion, they will roar like young lions; yes, they will roar and lay hold of the prey; they will carry it away safely, and no one will deliver. ³⁰ In that day they will roar against them like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, Behold, darkness and sorrow; and the light is darkened by the clouds.

If this seems to you to be little more then a message of gloom and doom, then you have missed the point, if you think that I am crazy and are making claims of knowing what G-D is doing then again you have missed the point. If in the end you simply decide that I am little more then a raving lunatic, I simply give you this warning; G-D said it was going to happen before and it did, so rest assured it will happen again, but more importantly when your world has collapsed and everything that you thought that you knew turns out to be lie, you will not be able to claim that you were not warned.

Ignacio

      

Rant The 3rd

Rant the 3^rd and final.

I have edited this, a lot, over the last few days. I have cleaned it up a bit and it’s not so much a rant anymore as it is a written sadness as to what is happening , not just to us, though this is what this about, but to thousands if not millions just like us.

It is also NOT about whining. I wrote a week or two ago that G-D is in control and all is well. This is still my belief. G-D has His plans and purpose and I will be content in that knowledge.

So here it is in a nut shell. Our world has come to a screaming halt. My credit rating is about to drop through the floor. We will be loosing our house to foreclosure and everything that we have tried to build on for the past 20 years will come crashing down around our ears and there is nothing that we can do to stop it. This is not so much about what has happened as it is about how.

Welcome to the American dream.

I must take a moment first to talk about our wonderful financial system and institutions that we have in this great nation of ours. Where else in the world can you live where the banking and auto industry can rob you blind and make you believe that it’s a good thing? Where else can you go, that when you want to try and talk to a real person you will likely get nothing but a machine or, if you are really lucky, you get to talk to someone who lives in another country who promptly tells you that there is nothing that can be done to help, or they tell you what it is you need to do and you follow all the rules and you are promptly and completely ignored?

If I was a powerful business man or someone from the government trying to contact them, they would respond with much groveling, but because I am but a mere peon I can’t get the time of day from them. Such has become the acceptable way of life in America now.

There was a comment someone once made that goes something to the effect that if the American people really understood the banking industry that the bankers would all be tarred and feathered. I have truly come to understand this.

The first of the offending institutions probably will not come as a shock to you, Bank of America. They have been all over the business news for some of their less then savory practices and all over the internet for a host of complaints that, by far, out weigh my small bit of rant but here it is.

In the state of Arkansas, because I am 100% disabled from the military, I do not have to pay property taxes. All that is required is a particular form from the VA stating as such and then you send it in with all your paper work and it is supposed to be a done deal.

Well B of A has decided that it will play by its own rules and has ignored that paperwork even after I had it sent again via the county tax office. When you try to call you get the aforementioned lack of service and you are essentially ignored. So as the tax rate has gone up so has my payment. But they are not alone.

My home owners insurance went up as well. I can’t get much of an explanation as to why except that we live in Tornado country. OK fine, but that hasn’t changed in the last year and a half so why does it need to go up so dramatically? Are they planning on sending a Tornado our way?

The Town of Clinton, in order to make things appealing to Pilgrims Pride, gave them a huge break on everything from water to electricity. They re- did their septic systems and fixed roads, all this in the hopes of attracting them back to the area, but of course the cost had to be eaten by someone, so all our utilities doubled and tripled almost overnight and to add insult to injury, no sign that Pilgrims Pride is going to reopen.

Property taxes went up of which I wasn’t supposed to have to pay in the first place.

Van Buren County added a 5% sales tax on top of the states 9%. Now we are paying 14% every time we go shopping and as most of you know the food prices have been going up as well.

Have you noticed a pattern here? Everything has gone up dramatically in the last year, everything that is except for my paycheck. Our current bunch of legislators have seen to it that we have not received any kind of COLA for what is now going into our 3^rd year.

I would just love to see some of them try and live on what we get paid, but that is, in part, some of the point in this. We have successfully lived on one income for the last 15 years. We have had to move a bit to keep our heads above water, but up until now, we have been able to. We have wondered if the day was going to come when it would finally become too much and we would loose everything, but we have kept at it. For the record we home school our kids and I would rather eat nothing but bread and water rather then put my children into one of those mind numbing schools, so that is the primary reason for just one income.

Well the day finally arrived last week, where we finally hit a wall…hard. It wouldn’t be so bad if it had been our mistake but in this case someone else made a mistake, has admitted to it, over the phone anyhow, and yet will do nothing to rectify the situation.

Last month, after much research on the part of my wife, we traded in our car for a Van.

My wife  found what appeared to be a good deal. There was a catch though that we were not aware of until it was too late.

Last week after payday we went to register the car and received a rather rude shock.

Apparently Red River Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep, in Heber Springs, Arkansas, did not include the tax in the cost of the vehicle.

Never in my life have I ever bought a vehicle where the taxes were not included. I didn’t even know it was possible to do that. Try going to Wal-Mart and walking out of the store with out paying the taxes. They would drag you away in handcuffs.

We contacted the car dealer about this apparent oversight and the short version is that they are going to do nothing. Their argument is that I should have asked about it sooner, while at the same time admitting it was their mistake, that they should have said something at the time of signing. I am not sure how I can ask about something if I am not even aware of the problem, but that is why they are a business and I am but a mere mortal. The simplest thing would have been for them to own up to it and take care of the problem, but instead, like most businesses in today’s world, their own profits are put ahead of doing the right thing.

This has been the proverbial straw that has broken the camels back or, in our case at least, the bank. I can’t afford to pay the tax unless I skip all the other bills including the mortgage. We have hit the wall that many have already hit and many more are going to hit unless things change. One clerical error, one unforeseen bill and everything that you have worked for can disappear.

I am not telling you this to invoke any kind of sympathy. I am not telling you this because I want any thing from you. It’s not about losing the house or having to move out of the area. It is the way that it happened that troubles me and should trouble you as well. We have not been living beyond our means. We have no credit cards and other then our house and car we have bought nothing on credit. Yet all it has taken is one major unexpected bill and the cost of living to go up and it has pushed us over the edge.

You are not nearly as far away from disaster as you might think you are.

My faith and belief in G-D has not diminished. If anything I know that it will become stronger because I am going to have to rely on Him more to make things happen for us.

But I would ask you to consider this; while everyone in the political arena debates over who is deserving of what help, or you intellectually decide that only certain people are worthy of your attention, you may be next on the list to go down and your intellectual debate won’t hold water much like the cup that will be missing from your hand.

Governments will fail. Economies will collapse. Religions may disappear.

But G-D will always remain. That is all I can base my hope on, and He is enough.

End of Rant.

Ranting Day 2

Ranting day 2,

Do you know who your neighbors are? If I was to ask you what their names are could you tell me? Or if I asked about their health or financial situation would you have a clue? Most people can usually answer the first question but then get very vague or not know at all on the second, so where do you fit?

Being here in the south, the proverbial Bible belt, has given me a much more different picture of Christianity then I have ever had in my life, this started long before I left Christianity but has been reinforced  over the last year or so. It would seem that Christianity has become a place that is filled with hypocrites. Now I know that some of you are going to look at that last statement and not read a bit more, and honestly I don’t really care, but for those of you who have any amount of courage you might get an answer as to why I say that and perhaps you might even figure out what to do about it.

It’s kind of a funny thing, in a way, because if I was in the “church” many of you would listen to what I say, nod your heads in all the appropriate places, and then forget everything that was said to you as soon as you get out the door yet if it comes from the outside you will screen it  ( or ignore it ) for  perceived errors and then forget all of it anyhow, but here I go.

Now for the record, there are some Churches and Synagogues that I know are doing great things, for instance Mishkan David based in RI, they give so much of their time and effort to helping people that they don’t even have a building to call their own. They literally help the poor and needy, the widows and the orphans. Not only do they sponsor an orphanage in Haiti, but they actually went there several times over even while the chaos was running wild to help the children . They know who their neighbors are.

There are some things that we may disagree on religiously speaking, but in the things which really matter, loving G-D with all your heart and loving your neighbor as yourself, we would agree on and that is the point of all this.

When was the last time you or your church reached out to people who were outside of your particular faith? I am talking people who believe different, look different, smell different maybe they have no belief at all. When was the last time that you or yours bothered to go and  LOOK for people to help even in your own neighborhoods?

This is where I believe the hypocrisy is taking place. The very person that you claim to follow has told you do go out and find these people and yet you do nothing.

I have heard many of an excuse, everything from we don’t speak the same language to they are never going to believe the same way that we do. Is that what is really important?

I think the worse one that I have ever heard was when a prominent person asked one of the most telling questions; How much is this going to cost. What sadness.

Some of the most beautiful buildings around the world are churches and cathedrals and yet we have people living in tents right here in America. What’s wrong with this picture?

Where are the churches? Where are the Synagogues? Where are the religious leaders who should be doing everything in their power to help their neighbors?  I’ll tell you where they are. They are in their comfortable offices and homes wringing their hands and doing nothing. They are debating as to whether or not G-D would be a Democrat or a Republican accusing each other of being wrong and doing nothing.

It’s rubbing off on your members.

I have a neighbor who attends one of the prominent churches in the area, who will not speak to me. My offense? I had an adult beverage. That’s right an adult beverage. I had seen that they were having some trouble with their vehicle and so I went out to help with tools in hand, but apparently it was the smell of the beverage that offended, but what was worse was that it wasn’t until later that I found this out and then through a different source, but the fact remains that they no longer even speak to us.

I realize that some of you are SDA or Baptist and you believe that this is wrong, fine we can have that debate on another day, my point though is that is not the way to treat people because not everyone is going to be on the same level as you are. Did not Jesus, the one you claim to follow, reach out to everyone no matter who they were? According to the NT he didn’t care if they were Jew or Gentile, prostitute or tax collectors they were children of G-D and he treated them as such.

So why am I talking about this so much? It comes down to this, I have taken it personally.

I have left Christianity. I don’t believe that Jesus was G-D. These are facts that I have stated before. But does that mean that we ( my family and I ) have no more need of those who once called us friend? Do we not rate the same kind of love and affection from G-D and from you that was there once upon a time? G-D I don’t doubt. He has shown himself true, no matter the circumstance but I have come to learn the ugly truth about most of you in Christianity, especially here in the south, that if your not a member of the club, then you apparently don’t rate friends anymore.

I think when the time comes, and I suspect it will be soon, we will go back to the Liberal east, where at least they are accepting of those of us who see things differently.

I have friends who go to the afore mentioned Mishkan who would have us even though they know that we believe different and I have even spoken to some Rabbi’s who would as well. What a difference. All the stats would suggest that the East is filled with godless people and yet in the things that truly matter, love, compassion and charity they beat out the south hands down.

So who’s your neighbor?

Shalom,

Ignacio