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TITLE: A symphony of Miracles Book 2 Chapter 24 Wanted! Men of Integrity 11/11/14 By Richard McCaw 11/11/14 |
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A Symphony of Miracles Book 2
Chapter 24
Wanted! Men of Integrity!
If you ever visit a prison, where men are caged like animals, you will see grim unhappy faces and bitter eyes whose creative minds have gone completely astray. Men in large auditoriums, confused by satanic bondage stare at you through large glass windows, protected by iron bars.
Talking to some, you sense distrust, even hatred behind a smile or a sneer.
“Why are you here?’ you ask.
“Selling cocaine.”
“Why were you selling cocaine?”
“I’m not making my 3 year old go hungry!” he sulks through brown-stained teeth.
The man beside him searches your face.
“And you?”
Before you finish, he swears and turns away. “You’re probably one of their pawns!”
On leaving you think, “What if only God could get into their hearts!”
When I became a young believer, men were comparatively few in the church. But I knew they were at the dance parties, the movie houses, the liquor stores, defiling their bodies with immoral practices.
When you asked, “Why don’t you go to church?” popular excuses were, “Church is too boring!” and “Too many hypocrites in the church.”
At one time on Sunday mornings I used to drive around to several churches distributing music brochures and I could see the overwhelming presence of women everywhere. They were active and busy, willingly testifying, their infectious excitement drawing the congregation’s support with “Amens.” The babble of feminine chatter in church lunch rooms, or in parking lots encircled their little ones as they climbed into cars.
If you asked, “Where are the men?” they would tell you, “They’re with their men friends playing dominoes or fixing the car,”or “My husband says church is for women and children.” Others say, “My baby’s father says, It’s the same thing every week.”
Men are looking for excitement, men things to do. Others think the songs they sing are more for women and little girls. There’s no adventure sitting down and listening to one man week after week.
Men really have not changed since the days of the prophets. Long ago, the leaders of Israel stood guilty before God for the worst crimes.
A political or religious leader would stand at the door of a poor woman’s house and holding his fist rap boisterously. When she opens the door, she shrinks back in horror, and he forces himself within, grabs her by the arm and says, “Your brother did not pay the rent!”
She pleads with him. But he is adamant. Then with subtlety he tries to make a deal with her. If she will go to bed with him, he will give her one more week.
“But I can’t do that!” Horrified she slaps her hand across her mouth.
“Come, woman,” he demands and drags her to the bedroom.
“One more week!” he declares, “and you are OUT!”
Ashamed she is left whimpering.
Long ago, in Israel, the leaders of Israel robbed and oppressed the poor, the needy and the aliens. God spoke through the prophet Ezekiel, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.”
Desperately needed were men of integrity, who were tough, uncluttered with worldly attractions, men who knew how to endure suffering. God looked for men who could be students of His Word, not influenced by popular culture, upon whom He could place His Spirit of gentleness, patience, and meekness. Such men could be like vessels of honor, trophies in the annals of history, who would shine with the glory of God throughout the centuries.
At another time, the Lord God of Israel said, “I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”
Where were the energetic young men, in whom God had placed the spirit that dared to be different, to stand for righteousness and justice? Everyone was busy building his own castle, marrying and giving in marriage. As you follow the charges Ezekiel makes against the children of Israel, you become painfully aware that the same carnal lusts that trapped men then are the same ones holding men in bondage today.
One day Jesus looked across the crowds that followed Him. They were like scattered sheep. Many had abandoned temple services, and were following psychics, and counsel from the dead, and others trusted in the stars for guidance. Lost in the plethora of cults, they were confused and nervous, unable to find their way back to God.
Christ had come seeking them. One day, He told the men He had spent three years training, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” There was hope, but He was still looking for men, who would sacrifice themselves to bear the good news first to His people Israel, then to the rest of the world.
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