Tag: Faith

Two Men

There were two men.

 

The first, a lot of what he predicted was wrong

But he did what God told him to do.

He’d say, “On this date, this would happen.”

And it didn’t happen on that date.

It, rather, happened, if it happened, a lot longer.

He, making one thousand shekels a month,

Gave twenty-thousand shekels to the poor.

He healed the lame with his words

And comforted them.

He spoke what was wise

Though he got his predictions wrong.

He also condemned the sinners with his words

Though he did not judge them

The sinners felt condemned when he spoke

Therefore, they hated him.

 

The second man, every word he predicted came true.

He didn’t do what God told him to do.

He would say, “On this day, this will happen.”

And it would.

He, making two billion shekels a month

Gave none of it to the poor.

He would tell the sinners, “God loves you”

But would not correct them to their face,

But it made them feel secure.

He would hug the sinners,

And make them feel very happy about themselves.

He never told anyone that they were wrong,

But rather, everyone was right because he was a murderer

And he didn’t want to accuse others for his own sin.

Every sinner felt like they were saved

Though they had great sin,

And they were comforted by this word,

“A mass murderer, if on his death bed

“Confessed Christ, he will go to heaven.”

So, they all committed murder

Believing their final confession would save them.

 

Which is the prophet?

 

 

A Little Parable I Told

There were two men.

Both heard God’s voice.

God said to both,

“You do what I ask,

“And I will give you everything your heart

“Desires, even wives, children, and vineyards

“And man-servants and female servants

“And oxen and sheep in great number.”

 

The first man,

He listened to God’s voice

And being a great sinner

He hindered himself

And caused a great calamity

Against himself.

He had sinned

And therefore had shame cast upon him.

For, his sin was known to everyone.

But, he had only made it known because God had told him to repent.

He believed in God’s voice

But, the more good he did

And the more he waxed in righteousness

The more he grew hesitant in his belief that God would save him.

He believed God would not even

Give him a mote of what his heart desired.

 

The second man,

An even greater sinner,

Knew he had heard God’s voice

But decided instead to act very foolishly.

He went out and began to torment his family and friends

And began to spill innocent blood.

He began to whore-monger

And would not repent.

When asked about his crimes

He felt shame, but would not repent.

He said in his heart, “There is no God

“And I don’t want to be mad like my brother.”

So, he continued on sinning.

 

Which is faithless

And which is unfaithful?

Who is the greater sinner of the two?

The man who did what God told him

But didn’t believe there would be justice?

Or, the man who did unjustice

In spite of God’s commandment?

All the Reasons I Could Go To Hell

Just today,

I woke up late.

I watched a show

Where a man put leeches on his eyeballs;

Just two seconds of it.

I have holes in all my clothes.

 

Just yesterday,

I woke up late.

I didn’t mow the lawn.

I got cranky with a local clerk.

I thought someone had stolen from me when he didn’t.

 

Just two days ago,

I woke up late.

I back-talked my dad.

I accused a friend in my heart of a grievous sin.

I was afraid.

 

Just three days ago,

I woke up late.

I was suspicious about my friend.

I back talked my dad.

I was angry.

I talked nonsense.

I said things that weren’t true.

I didn’t speak the truth in my heart.

I was afraid.

 

Just four days ago,

I woke up late,

When I was praying, I asked for something that was not good.

I feared something that did not happen.

I was angry.

I let myself get confused.

I argued with my brother.

I provoked arguments with people.

I had strife and bitterness.

 

This is the last four days.

Any one of these is worthy of going to hell.

This was the extent of my sin those four days

The whole of it,

Yet, any one of those

Could be the reason I go to hell.

This is why I need Jesus;

Because he wipes the slate clean

So I can still live,

And try to be the best person I can.

What the Tortoise Said to Achilles; My Version

After having a race,

In which the Tortoise won

Achilles sat beside the Tortoise

And began challenging him.

 

“How did you win?”

Asked Achilles.

 

The Tortoise said,

“Because God made things

“Men cannot understand.”

 

Achilles then said,

“How can there be a God?

“Like I can prove three equal lines make

“An equilateral triangle

“I can prove your God does not exist

“By proving the Fermentation of Species;

“Because, certainly your book is relegated to myth

“By proving the fermentation of species.”

 

The Tortoise said,

“Certainly, there are things

“That man cannot understand.

“There certainly is a God,

“For I am a tortoise,

“And have knowledge

“Of God being that I am so;

“I observed Him a few times

“In my life.”

 

Achilles then said,

“By Modus Ponen

“I can say that your God does not exist!

“Because if there is a fermentation of species

“It must follow that God does not exist.”

 

The Tortoise replied,

“I do not believe species fermenting proves

“My God does not exist.”

 

“Then, can you at least believe in Modus Ponen?”

Asked Achilles.

 

The Tortoise said,

“Alas! This argument again, Achilles!

“How many times shall I have to rebut it?

“For you lie all the time

“About my answer.

“You say I cannot accept Modus Ponen!

“Well, I do! But you forget Modus Tollens!

“Because there is a God

“It CANNOT be true

“That evolution proves He does not exist.”

 

To which, Achilles then posited again,

“But, can you believe that Modus Ponen exists?

“And therefore, Modus Ponen exists?”

 

The Tortoise,

This time,

Walked away because it was Achilles

Who did not understand logic.

LORD, My God!

LORD, my God!

Let me have pleasures in your tabernacle.

Let me see your vineyards, and your tabrets of gold.

LORD, the wicked man with mischievous devices

Rises up against me.

LORD, to where should I turn?

 

LORD, to Whom shall I turn?

Shall I turn to the Egyptian

Whose strength is Pharaoh?

Shall I turn to the Assyrian

Who is Your rod

To break the wicked nations?

Shall I turn to Sheshak

With all his greatness?

Where? Where shall I turn?

Whom shall I turn to?

 

LORD. in these nations there is no help.

Though my friends rise up against me

Though a host encamps against me

LORD, I know You are with me.

LORD, I know Your strength will feed me

Against the wind of their chaff

And their devices.

 

LORD, I am greatly anguished

So that I cannot sleep.

My flesh groans all night

Because of my mourning

And my sleep is very thin.

LORD, when I awake, LORD

Are the winds ever against me?

Surely You know, LORD.

 

To Whom shall I trust?

To Whom shall I go for answers?

The whirring winds?

LORD, You are a God Who is near

And before the troublesome waves have stirred

LORD, I have asked of You good things.

I have asked, and You have provided.

My heart was not lifted up against mine enemies.

 

LORD, wicked things were said of paradise

Before my face.

It was said, “Because you do not know

“You do not know this earth

“After you go to paradise…”

LORD, surely, You have great pleasures stored up for us

Even grains and great soups and good offerings.

LORD, like a woman in travail

We shall give birth

And not to wind

Nor to vanity.

We shall give birth

And shall tabernacle in Your house for eternity.

For, LORD, heaven is wondrous

And the works of your hands

And the foundations of my houses

LORD, surely You know and have set them

And they are great.

For in the paradise of our LORD

There is a city, a city called Zion

And there are houses, and mansions

And great feasts

And great pleasures for eternity.

Our sin has been cast away,

And Zion rejoices.

Our sin, let Israel now say,

Has been cast to the bottom of the sea.

As for me, I was as a dead man

And You delivered me.

I was speechless, and dumb

And could not execute judgment for myself.

For ones too strong rose up against me

And sought to beset my soul

With lies, in order to turn the path of the murderer.

But, LORD, I testified before his face what were his sins.

And he did not answer

For my wisdom excelled.

No, he rather listened

And it was not wind

Nor was it chaff that I said.

I fed him, for his fathers have led him to err.

 

LORD, this is the people I dwell close to

Ones who honor you with their lips

But in their heart it is war.

In their heart it is great mischief and devices

And they seek to destroy me and my soul all day long

Even to lie about your paradise.

LORD, all knowledge rests with those who go to Your kingdom.

All wisdom and all glory

And we, we, Your saints,

Shall rule with You.

Yet, not yet, and my heart was haughty

Like Tyre, therefore, curses were among me

For my haughtiness and my sin.

Yet, for my repentance, and my patience

LORD, You will reward me.

 

Shall the wicked turn from his sin?

Shall the robbers turn from their sins?

Shall they, and pay back what they have stolen?

Shall they? Certainly they shall not hear

A word about their sins

If they do, and they shall grow as a cedar planted by waters

And You, You shall restore them

If, if they turn from their sins.

 

Yet, they shall not.

They shall continue in their wickedness,

And shall not be made straight

LORD, for they have sinned, and erred grievously against You

Even to Blaspheme your Holy One.

They have caused many to err

And have caused the righteous to err in judgment

And therefore bring a curse upon his head.

For he was set like a cedar by a river

Until the destroyer came into his life

And wrecked his vineyards

And spoiled his vines.

LORD, he did nothing so evil

But LORD, You shall pay recompense against those who besiege Jerusalem.

You shall pay recompense against those who besiege Judah.

LORD, even those round about Israel, let Israel now say

Even these, even those who set about Ephraim

Even these shall be saved, those who are to deliver your people.

But, to those who fight against us

LORD, these shall not be saved.

These shall be as stubble in the great furnace.

 

LORD, the greatness of Your mercy is kind.

And LORD, great things await those who wait on You

For in Zion, yes, in Zion, we shall no longer sin.

We shall no longer have sin, nor sinful thought

Nor deed. For heaven is glorious

And greatly to be feared is God

For creating such a place

Of sprawling forests,

And waters and rivers,

And the holy City of Zion

And the peaceful rivers of Ezekiel

And the cities, and the surrounding

Wastes shall be where the wicked go

To be feasted on by the worm

Outside the gates of Zion.

A continual feast, a continual weeping

A continual gnashing of teeth, shall the worm

Cause those who have deeply revolted from Your truth

Even to scourge the jewel which mine own eyes

Have seen.

For great pleasures shall be laid for eternity

And activity for the saints

And death, yes, the grave

Shall be for the sinner.

Great love shall be for those who trust in Your Name

Jesus, yet for the sinner, they shall fall by the sword

And be slain all at once.

They shall no longer rise up against Your servant Israel

And they shall be feasted on sweetly by the worm.

The Nation Types

Here is the interpretation of the nations in scripture.

 

Prince of Tyre is a rich man

Who gains riches, and believes

Himself to be God.

He is deluded to think

That he has gained his own treasures

And hasn’t accrued them from the blessing of God.

 

Nebo and Chemosh Moab’s

Type is those who are wicked,

Exceedingly wicked

And hide it from the rest.

They hide it, and are prosperous.

They are inflamed with their material possessions

And cannot separate from them;

They turn their creature comforts into their gods

To comfort themselves for their sins.

 

Ziddon’s nation type

Is the worst,

Higher over the Philistines

Amonnites,

Amorites,

Amelekites.

They are at war,

Constant

With the LORD’s people

As a thorn in their side.

Every person the Godly offends

This is these nations.

 

Zoan is Egypt,

The type of those who

Shield the wicked

When they have sinned.

They go to war

For them,

They fight beside them

But ultimately,

They enslave them.

 

King of Tyre

Is a man who has done nothing wrong

His whole life.

He gains riches.

And, when he sees he is rich

He believes he is responsible for it.

So his heart begins to sin

And because of his sinless nature

He believes himself incapable of it.

So, he becomes the worst of all demons.

 

Daughter of Moab

Is a person who

Follows the wicked

Wherever they go.

They cling to them

Are loyal to them

Because in their heart they make justification

For the wicked.

They will battle, war,

And are loyal to a wicked person

No matter what.

 

Whore of Babylon

Or Daughter of Babylon

Is a person inflamed with

Idols. Their position is simply

Idolatry. Naked.

Unabashed. And they

Spread idolatry to everywhere else.

 

Tyrus is a person

Whose beauty

Makes them vain.

 

Jareb, or the King of Assyria

Is someone who sees what is

To be conquered, and will

Even conquer the righteous

To obtain what is not his.

He will destroy what is right

In order to gain possession

Over lands and riches

That do not belong to him.

 

Ephraim is a drunkard.

Up to mischief for mischief’s sake.

Drunk on naked power,

Drunk on wine.

It is just mischief for mischief’s sake.

No rhyme, no reason.

Just because it is fun.

 

Nebuchadnezzar

Is a person who sees the plight of the righteous

And shows no mercy because of it.

They come and destroy

Because of the plight of the righteous

And use it to overthrow the wicked

To a point where it no longer is justice

But is revenge.

 

Abaddon is just naked foolishness.

He is cruel. He is unwise.

He is never satisfied with good.

He is strong, and able to accomplish his lusts.

He has no knowledge, and he despises knowledge.

 

When I’m writing my poetry, the thirteen kings

Represent these nation types.

This is the highest of the sin.

 

There is one more I know about

And I tremble at the thought of not knowing all of the nations.

 

That is Ethiopia.

She is false Christianity

And false morality.

She is religions built from the true faith

But obscure it.

 

The reason why I bring this up

Is because when  you interpret prophecy

This is how  you interpret it.

You do not use it to predict tomorrow.

You use it to hide yourself from evil

And be like Israel, Judah and yes, even Ephraim.

You also use it to hide yourself from these thirteen nations.

Because there are wicked Israel, Ephraim and Judah.

There is also righteous Israel, Ephraim and Judah.

Each prophesy correlates with a curse and blessing

On each nation, that reflects the heart.

This is the sum of the wisdom I’ve learned

And it has guided my pen in creating my poetry.

LORD! I Cannot Bear My Shame!

LORD! I know my own sins!

They are with me!

Why, why LORD do the heathen try to destroy me?

Why, why LORD do they this thing?

Why do they continually try to throw Your beloved in prison?

Why do they continually try to assault me with their tongue?

 

LORD! Have I done this thing to them?

No! I listened to the Prophet’s words

And I submitted my yoke to Babylon.

I did not fight it.

I did not make haste.

I did not say, “Yes! I was innocent.”

Because, LORD, surely You know I was not.

When my sins came to remembrance

I put off my outer garment

And I repented in ashes

And fasting.

When I had fasted,

My own kin had made it my shame.

 

I had mourned, and I had wept

I had known I had done this abomination in Your sight.

Why then, when I am at peace

And in the land

Do these come upon me

And try to break me with their tongues?

Why LORD! When I have honored You.

I had not resisted.

I had not said, “I was surely innocent.”

For I knew I had done this abomination in Your sight.

Why then do my enemies try to pounce?

Why then do they try to put my soul in bonds

And my dove into prison?

I had not done anything!

 

Yes, what I had done, LORD,

Surely You know

What I had done, LORD,

You had corrected me.

You had stricken me.

You had cleansed my soul.

 

LORD, when I was among the heathen

I was just like one of them.

Then they rejoiced at my sin.

They said, “Eat, drink, be merry!

“For You are one of us!”

So it is not for my sin

But my repentance

That I have found myself an enemy.

LORD, for their shame

They try to take me to the grave.

They even seek to kill my soul.

LORD, I am fragile

And I cannot bear my own sins.

Surely, if every sin had been numbered

And every sin laid to my account

LORD, I would be encumbered and destroyed.

But, LORD, I know You are with me

For when I cry, You listen.

When I pray, Your ear is ready to hear.

In the time of great waters

I had not raised my prayer

But before it.

LORD, the waters threaten to lay me up to the neck

But LORD, why do these heathen try to take my life?

 

Had I not laid silently?

Had I not succumbed to justice?

Had I fought it, or done any thing otherwise unwholesome?

When I saw I had sinned, I had laid it to Thy account

To render unto me what was my just due.

And I had received double for all my sins

According to the Heathen’s justice.

I had not laid a cry.

I had not tried to fight my bondage

Which was right, and You had put me unto chains.

No, I had laid my yoke, and let it stay.

 

Now my bonds are broken,

And they try to take from me

And to put me back under bonds.

No… they shall not.

For their trap shall spring on them like a wild animal

Bereaved of its cub.

It shall come upon them as a bear

Furious for meat

And it shall tear them.

For my sin, I had been recompensed double.

For the injury they had done to Your servant Israel

To not allow him to come out of his bonds

You, You LORD shall recompense the Heathen.

 

Why should a man suffer an entire lifetime

For the sins he has committed?

Is not grace sufficient?

Is not justice paid its due to the heathen

Who do not cry about an injury

But because of vanity?

They cry because of their own vanity

And not that this evil had been done.

For the evil I could suffer, yet but a little longer.

For even for evil, they ought not recompense a man

For his whole life.

For the LORD has spoken to me:

“I will touch you.”

And LORD, I ask that I never see chains again.

LORD, I ask this because I am innocent

And washed in Your blood.

I had this stain upon my conscience

And needed it lifted.

 

In my pride I had gone and tried to recompense my salvation to myself.

When I had sinned, in conceiving vanity to save me

I learned that my own mouth or hand could not save me.

Therefore, LORD, I had laid unto the yoke

And let Your waves pass over me.

Night after night, and day after day

I mourned, I fasted, I had loosed the bonds of my sin.

Yet, the Heathen grew even more wrathful

At my chastity, for no longer was I the one who had committed offense

But they. They for trying to lengthen my bonds.

 

LORD, even soldiers and warriors and spies

Had encamped against me, and LORD, surely You know

They sought my life while I was in my captivity.

Why, then, do they continually try to lay this evil upon me

When I have suffered and have paid my due

Double for my sin?

LORD, do not let their plans prosper.

For even brethren are lifted up against Your servant.

And LORD, I cannot bear my own shame

Lest I be destroyed.

Certainly You know my sins

And have hidden them in Your mercy.

For they are against You, and no one else.

It is You who I have sinned against.

Let not Your servant Israel taste of the captivity a second time.

His soul could not bear it.

Amen.

What Was Forgiven

O! Moses, Moses, you killed a man!

So did Paul!

So did King David!

 

Joseph’s kin

You sold your baby brother into slavery

To the Egyptians.

 

David, did you not commit adultery?

Did you not even approach her

In her time of uncleanliness?

 

Yet… I do remember

It was the Philistines,

The Amonites,

The Amelekites

The Moabites

The Assyrians

The Babylonians

And the Amorites

Who were given unto the wrath of God.

 

When Israel had put off sinning

He was made clean.

He no longer was under the curse

For his sins were purged.

 

My sins are purged.

Therefore, why do I still suffer

Like I were a sinner?

Why do I get continually attacked by my enemies?

Have I murdered?

Have I?

No…

Have I stolen?

No…

Have I destroyed?

Have I?

No…

Why do I continually get attacked?

 

A prophet told me God would touch me.

Please, Father, come soon!

Touch me and heal me, and cleanse me soon!

I can bear no more shame.

 

I can only be right with God.

Oh Jerusalem, Why Have You Transgressed?

Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem,

Your moment of pride has come.

To the breadth you betrayed your prophets

And called them mad and liars and a fool.

You have allied with Media,

Oh Jerusalem…

 

I had loved you.

I had spoken good of you.

Yet I did see you of the world

As a giant. I saw you call me a “god.”

O! Mad Prophet! I am not a god!

 

I had wept for you.

I had prayed for you.

I had given you my benefit of the doubt.

Yet, you stood at the birth of the world

And lifted yourself with pride against your sister Sodom.

 

The prophet you scorned,

He had made his mistake.

He had humbly requested to go into captivity.

He had fought and shamed his own council

And therefore incurred war against himself

For the foolishness of putting himself in bonds

To appease his LORD’s wrath.

 

You, you had laid out the tongue against him

Every day, and had slandered him

Your own brother.

Andrew saw I was right.

So did Elisha.

Who are you? Thou art Jerusalem in Ezekiel.

 

I had taken my oath, and I had performed it

Unto the LORD, I was not late in paying my vows.

I had mourned, and wept, and given all my bread to the hungry

That I could afford.

What did Christ say?

He who has bread share it.

What did you say, “Work like a slave! It is only right.”

This is not the message to the prophet

O foolish man! I had loved you as my own brother!

For God’s servants had required rest.

And rest I did.

I had not taken a mark upon my palm or forehead.

This mark I have is not the mark of the beast

But the mark of a Christian…

To give what I have unto the poor

To love my neighbor

And to desire my God above even my own bread

Which I wept over in tears.

 

Had there been a single thing you said

That was right? So you can fortune tell.

Had  you spoken what was true of an interpreter?

That is to have mercy? That is to have kindness?

That is to loosen the bonds of the captive?

So you had power to heal the blind with a word.

I had healed the blind without a word.

So you had strength to deliver over the spoil in battle

To yourself.

I had fought no battle,

And what battle I fought, it was a sin

Just like yours.

 

Violence is in your hands

O Jerusalem.

In my hands is chaff

For the nations consume my work

Because of your false prophecies.

Repent. But you will be like Jerusalem

Crying over your sister Sodom;

“She had done so too!”

You had forgotten her in your day of pride

O Jerusalem.

I, I had humbled myself and realized my confession was vanity.

That is why I did not resist nor trust in Farrow’s Chariot.

Instead, I had rejected his counsel

And did not resist the punishment.

I did not go forth into greater wrath,

But to appease my LORD I stayed where He had

Made a place for me

And there I had listened to the preachers.

It is not me who is guilty

For I had known my sins;

And when I confessed I realized

Had I resisted, I would be like a snake charmer

Who had no whistle

Or a man walking on coals

And standing there to let my feet burn.

 

I had loved you like a brother.

I had wept for you.

But I found you in the world

As if you belonged there.

Woe unto Jerusalem

Who scorns her prophets.