Pork-barrel religion

“All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” (Rev. 18:3).

“What the health” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJs28pniT74 is the latest of revelations concerning the collusion of non-profit health organizations and the high-powered meat industry. It even brings in the involvement of government entities, the IMF, and the World Bank. To many people this information isn’t new, but it is new to many others who haven’t been able or still can’t to bring themselves to believe in “spiritual wickedness in high places.”

They can’t accept what they consider a wild notion that there are “rulers of the darkness of this world.” But, the word of God is clear that such do exist.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Eph. 6:12).

“The prince of this world” was the title Jesus gave the king of that dark facet of our planet. “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” (John 14:30).

Paul called it the “god of this world”.

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2Cor. 4:3,4).

But Jesus and His servant Paul weren’t speaking of world powers and conspiracies or crimes against humanity. Jesus was speaking of all the hosts of hell fighting against His great self-sacrifice, and of the battle that would ensue beginning at that moment and which would increase as He entered into the Garden of Gethsemane. There a new power came over His strong body, mind, and soul.

“And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me. And He went a little further, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Matt. 26:37-39).

The curse of our sins would continue to weigh heavier and heavier during the next hours until it would crescendo the next day with the accumulation of fully waged spiritual warfare. Jesus would battle for His clarity of open communion with His Father, and strive to keep His sealed heart pure from the surrounding, mysterious, unleashed powers of hell.

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted His raiment, and cast lots.” (Luke 23:34).

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46).

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished.” (John 19:30).

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having said thus, He gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:46).

Christ took our damnation. He was made to be sin. God destroyed His only begotten Son, the divine Word from the beginning.

“For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Cor. 5:21).

The Father looked upon His precious Child, whom He incarnated into putrid human flesh, and focused His thoughts of every ugly act and word and thought of this sinful world since its first act of rebellion in Eden. He would no longer restrain Himself. All the wrath of God for His stubbornly rebellious, hard-hearted children, being servants of the enemy of all honesty and goodness and love, all converged upon His only Princely Son from eternity. He would destroy His Son so that He wouldn’t have to destroy our whole careless, obstinate, arrogant race.

Our amazing gracious God! Sheer amazing grace! He made His Son His epitome of filth for our sakes!

As I watched the above mentioned video, “What the health”, there was a scene of butchered swine carcasses hanging by their feet from a suspended conveyor belt, moving to the end, and finally thrown into a dumpster-sized bin bound for grocery stores and fast food companies. For a sad, shocking, sudden split second I envisioned humans hanging by their feet and bound for everlasting destruction.

At times I have looked out at a passing field and seen the beef cows. They are eating to their heart’s content. Do the cows know what lies ahead for them, as in the slaughter house? No. And that is the life of a cow. Eat so that can be slaughtered. And often I have thought of humans in the same vein. Are we eating to our hearts’ content so we can burn in the fires prepared for the devil on Judgment Day. Does Hebrews 9:27 apply to us? “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Heb. 9:27).

A cow’s lifestyle doesn’t have to be all that there is to our existence. We have much more offered to us, for we have a spirit that can commune with our Creator. We don’t have to be like the cattle that perish.

“Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?

They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:

(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)

That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.

For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.

Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.” (Ps. 49:5-12).

The billions of animals sacrificed during the pre-Messiah era all died for the sake of the sinners who would accept this arrangement from their Creator, for their death to self created by the perishing of the beloved, innocent animal, and thus their justification. The only other option would be the eternal destruction of the sinner. Yet, most during the Old Testament would not look by faith to the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. They would live only for this life, mindless of eternity. They would prefer to have their conscience oblivious to any duty to God or to the eternal ramifications of their glorification and exoneration of God in His great controversy with Satan. They would therefore never once feel the chastisement of peace from God in their conscience and fall on their face in repentance as Jesus had done because of them, but for Him a judgment under the infinitely harsher Gethsemane chastisement from above.

“Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for He shall receive me. Selah.

Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.

Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.

He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.

Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.” (Ps. 49:14-20).

They spent their whole life roaming this planet, oblivious to their damage to all around them by leading a lawless, care-free life, abundantly idle, and quiet and secure in their consciences. “Then the five men … saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing.” (Jdg. 18:7). “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.” (Eze. 16:49).

Their souls are alive without law. They never let guilt and sorrow for sin ever affect their self-exalted happiness. This is a great grief to God. 

“Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of His holiness.

For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.

For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in My house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.

Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.

And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused My people Israel to err.

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.” (Jer. 23:9-15).

“For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of His glory. The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.” (Isa. 3:8,9).

“How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman.” (Eze. 16:30).

The law of God presents a standard of truth that will correct us and lead us to repentance and conversion to God. And if His Law is kept from the people, or they have kept themselves from it, then His sacrifice for them is cancelled and they will assume all the judgment that He took for them. “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” (Heb. 10:26).

“For among My people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” (Jer. 5:26-31).

“Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’s. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against Me, saith the LORD.” (Jer. 5:9-11).

“Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me, saith the LORD.

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of My people?

Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.

Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.

And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.” (Jer. 9:6-11).

“Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed My people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.…

Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.” (Jer. 23:1,2,19,20).

“For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” (Rom. 7:9). “Where no law is, there is no transgression.” (Rom. 4:15).

But, Paul was honest with God by keeping himself before the Law of God and letting it grind on his moral tumors and then letting Jesus’ precious promises wash away the grindings. This is what saved Paul. In the end his cry was just Jesus was waiting for, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24).

The solution came, “Through Jesus.” The next thing Paul found was the power of God unto salvation. “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 7:25).

But, having obtained salvation Paul didn’t immediately rule out the continued work of the Law upon his heart. With a heart and mind surrendered to Jesus, he could keep the Law before him as he climbed to new heights in the science of salvation. For the Law had become his delight (see Romans 7:22).

“So then with the mind I myself serve the Law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom. 8:1).

Paul fell on his face before the Most High God and the Most High God brought him to His Son. “Wherefore the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:24).

All the guilt and shame, the sweat, and tears turned into a blessing in disguise—the greatest of all blessings, the gift of God, the gift of His reconciled Spirit.

We don’t have to be like the beasts that perish, careless, lawless, and dumb about what lies ahead. We are bound up in Satan’s trap if we don’t have Jesus as our constant Comforter and wonderful Counselor. Without being laid in the dust by the Law, and the Saviour’s uplifting to new life, we are mice walking into a mousetrap. We smell the delicious cheese, and don’t see the trap. Our trap is a gargantuan, global regime bent on the destruction of Protestantism and the Protestant people. Their health must be destroyed; their temple for the Spirit must be weakened. Their diet must ruin their mind and its honest weighing of evidence of their Creator. The Protestant Bible must be discredited or lost sight of. In the minds of the Protestant world, doubts must accompany all thought of the words from their Maker and Deliverer from the Dark Ages. The unchurched Protestants must bring open attacks against the Book that made them free from the enslaving Papal Roman hierarchy. And the churched Protestants must lightly regard their holy Book sent down from heaven. Protestantism’s spiritual enemies have been amazingly busy about this work, and amazingly successful.

We would not stand before the Law and fall on our face. We would not let the Law grind upon our souls. We chose to not suffer under “the chastisement of our peace”. Therefore we could never know the chastisement that “was upon [Jesus]”. We chose to not know the healing from “His stripes” (Isa. 53:5). Therefore, we chose to not know Jesus.

Therefore, the trap is set. We have indulged the bait and tripped the trap. The death bar is speeding on its way upon our heads by the many diseases that are already falling. Our doom is sure; our demise will be a rapid one. Will we turn to Jesus before it is too late? Will we let Him be the mouse that takes the hit for our filthy body? Will we admit to being nothing better than a rodent? And will we also admit that the high-and-holy,-separate-from-sinners Son of God became a filthy rodent in order to perish in our Judgment Day destruction? Will we let His humiliation sink in and change the course of our self-indulgence? Will we go back to Gethsemane with Peter and fall on our face there where Jesus fell on His? Will we grind our wretched face into the damp soil where Jesus’ ground His sinless, bloody face because of our blatant life of transgression? Will the Lamb of God take away our sinfulness because we renounce our sins and say to them, “Get thee behind me, Satan!”? “Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.” (Isa. 30:22).

Or will we continue as self-indulgent and mindless cows and swine bound for the slaughter? Will we remain in the mousetrap until there is no more time, and the speeding sword of Damocles falls on us sealing our doom forever?

God forbid it. Let it not be.