Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
October 01, 2013
I read a story the other day, which bears repeating, about a grandfather arriving upon a rather unpleasant scene. His grandson was confined to his playpen where he was in the midst of shouting and crying at the top of his lungs. When he saw his grandfather, he reached up his little arms, pleading to be taken out of the pen.
Now, the child’s mother immediately discouraged the grandfather, saying, “No Dad!” and to the little boy she said, “No Johnny, you are being punished and must stay right where you are!” The grandfather knew that his daughter was right and that the boy must stay in his playpen. Still, it tugged at the grandfather’s heart to see the little fellow so unhappy, but he knew it would be wrong to interfere with his daughter’s disciplining of the child.
Perhaps, there was a way around the situation. The grandfather looked at the child and then at the playpen and, upon sizing up the situation, he made a decision. The older man stepped into the playpen with Johnny, sat down and stayed there until the period of discipline was over. The love of the grandfather had found a way to bridge the gap and overcome the separation from the family, which Johnny’s disobedience had created.
The divine Word created the universe, endowing every human being with life, breath and an element of God’s light from which man turned away to reject it. The Word became flesh, in the person of Jesus, so that mankind could see what the love of God and His grace toward man looked like. He climbed right into the playpen of this world to become one with the human race in its suffering for the effects of its rebellion against God.
Jesus shared in the separation from the Father in order to put an end to the separation, which sin had caused between man and his Creator, God. There was no other way to bridge the gap between the two, any more than man can jump from one side of the Grand Canyon to the other. The only possible way would be for God Himself to bridge the enormous gap for mankind, with that bridge being the gift of His Son, Jesus.
Now, you would think that being confined to suffering in the playpen might be discipline enough for a rebellious child. But he took one look at his loving grandfather, whose heart was directed toward his well-being, and rejected both the grandfather and the spirit of kindness, shown toward him. To push away the only life-line there is presents a situation beyond the imagination; but man has done exactly that to God and His Son.
Can one fully understand what it means to grieve the Holy Spirit? The cross of Jesus is the bridge over the chasm; without Him, there is no other way for God’s kingdom to come on earth. He has always been the Way and remains so until this day. But He will not be the Way for everyone, for God gave man free will to decide whether he wanted to have eternal life with the Father or not.
God has allowed man to make the choice to live only for this world under Satan and to live for the here and now, getting all the rewards he can in this life of rebellion and sin. The sad thing is that He told man from the beginning that to reject His truth and believe the lies of religion from Satan would end in death, with this life being all there is. God will not tolerate a lie in His coming kingdom for which He is disciplining and preparing His own.
When the first parents of the human race, Adam and Eve, rebelled against the truth of God, they died spiritually (see Genesis 2:17) and were cut off from the sustaining fruit of the Tree of Life. God closed off the Way leading back to the tree, the fruit of which, if eaten, would allow them to live eternally in a compromised state of sin. The inheritance of every man, woman and child was spiritual death caused by the sin of the parents. The same original sin is being perpetuated by individuals and by nations, day by day.
But our loving, merciful God opened another Way and another door when He created one nation to be a light to the other nations, to show the difference between a nation ruled by God and His Law, as opposed to the warring, religious, empire-building nations ruled by Satan and his uncontrolled lawlessness and lack of justice for all. The nation was Israel, and when she rejected God, like her father Adam had rejected Him, God sent His Son into the playpen of this world, thinking, surely, she would not refuse a second opportunity at life – but she did. So, Jesus created His church to bring the truth to the world that life is available to all through God’s Word, as a pure gift of His grace and His mercy; He is offering a way out of the mess, which sin has created.
His final picture of kingdom living has come through America where, by a system in liberty, man could choose to live and keep the nation under God by means of a church/state wherein man could control its leadership through the vote. This allowed the church, protected at the borders by the Bible, to keep the government in line with God’s Law, His justice and His Word. Thus, God and His truth provided a picture within America of what the freedom and justice of the kingdom rule would look like on earth. When the rule of Jesus ceases to rule over America, America will cease to be a light to the world and will degenerate into becoming like the other nations of the world.
Unfortunately, the church has allied itself with religion and has chosen political leadership, which wants to drag the nation back into spiritual line with the nations of the East who want no part of our God in their playpen. Our leadership is now part of Satan’s plan to draw America into his One World Order of nations and we, in our sinful state, have rejected the Father’s offer to join us in our playpen. “No God” for us is the cry coming from the political voice of liberalism and it is very sad and difficult to listen, when one knows the disaster such rebellion causes.
Watch it happen, America! Very soon you will be jailed for burning the Koran, a book of apostate religion, and you will be lauded for burning the Bible, the Book of Truth. We surely have chosen to make the wrong cry to the Father from the playpen, as we reject the God of truth for the last time.
The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion – a wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:1-7).
Ref: Bridging the Gap Between God and Humanity, page 1283 of the John Hagee Prophecy Study Bible.