Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
January 01, 2016
The 1939 epic movie of the American Civil War, called Gone with the Wind, is as pertinent for today as it was for yesterday. Is a burning wind about to be blown by God to bring about a sudden explosion, which will set off the fire judgment in America?
Upon the wicked He will rain coals, fire and brimstone and a burning wind; this shall be the portion of their cup (Psalm 11:6).
The explosive fire of Atlanta marked the end of Scarlett O’Hara’s life as she knew it, living in her beloved house of Tara. This spoiled, selfish, pampered child-of-a-woman would lose everything she loved. She had trusted then, as we are trusting now, that life will continue on as usual, in spite of the wicked nature of society and this country’s growing hatred for the things of God.
The signs of a coming war were all around them in the South. They, literally, could barely wait for it to come. Having experienced very little adversity in their pampered lives, the men were excited at the prospect of going off to war to confront their enemy who, in some cases, would be members of their own families. They neither knew the suffering of war, nor how painful the killing fields could really be.
At the time, the end of a peaceful era had come when Rhett Butler was there as Scarlett’s savior, to lead her through the fire of Atlanta and safely to what remained of a world gone mad. Still, she rejected him who had loved her unconditionally. She refused to ever return the love he so passionately felt for her, the one unworthy person for whom he would willingly die, in order to see that she lived.
But there was another woman worth saving. He would pay the price for her and her first-born child, though He had not specifically come for her, alone. This woman, unlike Scarlett, was honorable in all things and, like the love of Rhett, her love for her friend, Scarlett, was unconditional. She could tolerate Scarlett’s devious nature, for she was secure in her supernaturally given love and desire for the best to befall all men and women, regardless of who they were, or what their nature.
This woman, called Melanie, was almost like a fisherman who could pull her fellow humanity out of the seawaters of gossip and their blatant pride of position in society. She recognized the weakness of the world around her but gave her life to seek the good in even a woman like Scarlett who would rob her of her husband, if she could. In fact, Scarlett made every effort to do so. Still Melanie welcomed her friendship in spite of her deviousness, which she refused to recognize, in direct opposition to a society, which would have ostracized Scarlett, if Melanie would have allowed it.
Then there was the harlot, among the women of ill repute, who, in fact, was twice the woman Scarlett ever could or would be. Perhaps, she was a throw-back to Rahab, at the time of the sudden destruction of Jericho, when the walls came tumbling down. She, in many ways, was a tower of strength and decency, though the world would probably never see it or recognize her for her inherent goodness.
The breath from God’s nostrils is about to blow and the sleeping giant, America, is asleep at the switch, in a time when she is unaware her own Atlanta is about to explode into fire. Atlanta, today, is a city at the heart of air travel. It is a connecting city for flights coming into and going out of it, on route to their various destinations. Is this not like a crossover point, where one embarks directly for one’s destination?
Are we, as a nation, not on the very edge of just such a fiery explosion? Where is our Savior whom we have rejected, like Scarlett rejected Rhett Butler? Have we not refused to allow Him near our children or into our public square while, at the same time, welcoming into the country all sorts of cultic, false gods, which can save no one?
This is the time of the true exodus, the taking of God’s people from out of this world of empires through which Satan rules the world and into the kingdom where the Lord God will rule. Will America go down with all the other warring nations or will she return to the God who rules over her in justice and liberty? I believe she is going the way of Israel, ruled once by God, but then rejected by her for the ruler of the world called Caesar.
It is not ancient Israel, which is back in the land today, but rather a mere facsimile of it as just another nation of people, most of whom never lived there before, one created by this world of nations in time to receive the same judgment as is going to fall upon the other nations of the world. God has no love whatsoever for nations, which hate Him (see Isaiah 40:17). The Savior, of whom Rhett Butler is a type, tried to save her, just as Rhett saved Scarlett, but the nation Israel rejected His saving love and grace to say, “No, thank you! Give us the empire ruler Caesar, for we have no other king.”
So the question is – do you think the Lord God is going to listen to America’s pointless pleading to such an amazing God she has rejected, any more than Rhett would listen to Scarlett, once she finally recognized, too late, who he really was as her husband and lover. Is the Lord God likely to listen to pleading prayer from the nation America, which is still as spoiled, selfish and as dishonorable as she always was? In fact, she seems to have grown even worse, if possible, as the judgment begins to close in on her.
“Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble (Jeremiah 11:14).”
Give us a lying, cheating, immoral Bill Clinton and his wife of the same ilk, and we would rather have them than God rule over us any day. Give us a judiciary, which legislates God’s Law out and the devil’s into the land. This is the answer to a pleading Rhett who finally had reached the point where he had done all he could do to save Scarlett from herself and her lusting for another. Now, her pleading would go unheeded as Rhett responded, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Damnation is the only word one could use, for she has damned herself all on her own with no one else to blame but her foolish, foolish self.
So, how does Moses conclude his message for the Egyptian Empire upon which the breath of God was about to blow with judgment exploding in the heart of it, just as the fire judgment rained down on Sodom for her sins of sodomy and, likewise, upon Atlanta?
“Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand; the earth swallowed them. You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation.
The people will hear and be afraid; sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling will take hold of them; all the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away. Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of Your arm they will be as still as a stone, till Your people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over whom You have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which you have made for Your own dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. The Lord shall reign forever and ever (Exodus 15:11-18).”
Yes, just as Rhett had finally decided it was time for him to have his day, with a fruitful marriage, so, too, will the Lord have His day, with the bride for whom He paid the price. The empires of this world will all melt away in the heat of fire. Like the Titanic, the last Roman Empire and its religion of Romanism will sink like lead into the depths of the mighty waters as the sea covers them over. It took merely the breath of God, which blew like a wind, to freeze the seawaters of evil and take down the mighty, floating, iron empire called the Titanic. You could say that it was all “gone with the wind”.
But what of the decent, honorable Melanie and her baby for whom she died that the child might live? Here is a type of the true Israel (see Revelation 12:1-2), but not the woman, Scarlett for whom Rhett was only too willing to give his life, along with the honorable Mammy to whom salvation also would come, who desired nothing more than a blood-colored crinoline to wear. Her uncleanness is in her skirts (Lamentations 1:9).
Isaiah, who tells us the Lord hates the nations, goes on to tell us just how much He loves His bride for whom He not only cares but cared enough to die for her. Look into the heart of America and you will find the true church, the true sons and daughters of God and the true house of Israel, which Jacob discovered all those centuries ago in Bethel where, in his dream, he encountered the Savior, whose name is the Lord. He is the only Ladder between heaven and earth, upon whom the angels of the Lord ascend and descend.
“You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, ‘You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish. You shall seek them and not find them – those who contended with you. Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing. For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’
Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I will help you,” says the Lord and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. “Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, and make the hills like chaff. You shall winnow them, the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; you shall rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 41:9-16).”
On this New Year’s Day, are you standing in the Passover threshold of a new year with a Suffering Servant who has now turned Judge of the firstborns, or are you safely protected from the fire judgment by a Bridegroom ready to lead His bride through the fire and into the kingdom? The choice has always been yours – between coming through the fire safely and into the kingdom, or being blown away by the breath of God’s nostrils and “gone with the wind”, the same breath that once gave you life, but was rejected for death.
After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads (Revelation 7:1-3).”