The verse in Exodus 20:12 states: "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. It is reaffirmed in the New Testament in: Ephesians 6:2-3 - "Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise—"so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
During my lifetime, I've seen mothers who honoured their parents and yet lived short lives, like my mother who honored both her parents and grandparents. On the other hand, mothers who dishonoured their parents and yet lived to ripe old ages of over 80 years of age. There are even criminals, such as serial killers, rapists and paedophiles who live long lives on the earth. While at the same time, a shocking number of innocent people are sentenced to death. One of the ways in which we honor our parents is by having a clean criminal record.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "tells you that a surprising number of innocent people are sentenced to death," Samuel R. Gross, the lead author, said in an interview with Newsweek. "It tells you that a lot of them haven't been exonerated. Some of them no doubt have been executed." The headline on newsweek.com is "One in 25 sentenced to death in the U.S. is innocent, study claims."
Do all these convicted criminals deserve to live and my mother who was a godly, holy, righteous mother deserve to die, along with all these other devout Christians?
Charles Manson, the convicted American serial killer is still alive today at the age of 82 years. Charles Albright, known as the eyeball killer, is 83 years. The nurse Jane Toppan, a serial killer, lived to be 81 years of age. Edward Theodore Gein was an American murderer and body snatcher. He died at the age of 78 years. Ian Brady, the child killer is 78 years. Robert Hansen, the serial killer died at the age of 75 years. Dennis Rader is 71 years of age. Phillip Jablonski, another serial killer is 70 years of age, and the list goes on and on. Incarcerated criminals enjoy the fresh air and sunshine with fitness and recreational activities, including sports, gym, pool tables and so forth. These prisons are more like holiday resorts.
Charles Manson, the ringleader of the killer cult still remains unrepentant even at the ripe old age of 82 years, just like many other criminals. I'm puzzled as to why God allowed all these criminals to live long lives. Was He waiting for them to turn to Him and repent? But God has foreknowledge. We find instead, that they committed more and more crimes, while growing old without any sign of remorse?
Psalm 91:16 states: "With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation." This verse is supposed to be referring to devout believers. Instead, we see that the criminals are the ones who are living long lives. Why would God want to satisfy scum of the earth with long lives?
The Bible also states that God has foreknowledge. Therefore, He knows in advance whether anyone will repent.
Isaiah 46:9-10: "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:"
If God made us for a reason and that is to begin a relationship with, serve and obey Him, then why doesn't He grant long lives to those devout Christians who do good deeds. It is God who decides when we are born and how long we live according to:
Psalm 139:16: "Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
God is the one who planned the days of our lives in advance, choosing the exact time of our birth and death. This goes for criminals too, as well as many famous atheists who have lived to ripe old ages including: Diana Athill (99), Katharine Hepburn (96), Baba Amte (94), Uri Avnery (93), Julius Axelrod (92), Marlene Dietrich (91), Kai Nielsen (90), Henry Burstow (90), Jorge Amado (89), Eric Ambler (89), Tom Lehrer (88), James Randi (88), Paul Kurtz (87), Edward O. Wilson (87), Larry Adler (87), Mary Adams (86), Jemima Blackburn (86), Michael Martin (84), Philip Roth (83), Steven Weinberg (83), Victor Stenger (81), Robert Altman (81), Woody Allen (81), and many others.
The verse in Isaiah 30:18 states that the Lord is a God of justice. "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!" Where is the justice? I'm absolutely appalled and disgusted by the injustice not only in the Christian community, but in the world today. I believe these injustices promote and encourage evil all the more.
Many devout believers have been martyred who were very faithful to God, like Stephen and all of the twelve apostles who died as martyrs during the first century, with the exception of John, the writer of the Gospel with his name and the Book of Revelation who died a natural death, at 94 years of age, close to the year 100 A.D.
A report issued by a Christian organization fighting religious persecution states that a Christian is killed for his or her faith every five minutes across the world. It has escalated dramatically over the centuries, with more Christian martyrs in the 20th and 21st centuries than in the preceding 19 centuries — going back to Jesus Christ's earthly ministry. The situation is only getting worse.
Over 75% of Christians persecuted in North Korea who are subjected to torture, imprisonment and all sorts of punishment do not survive to tell their stories.
Currently, more than 200 million Christians around the world are threatened because of their faith. Is God pleased with martyrdom? Does it give Him satisfaction to see many Christians martyred for their faith. Does God consider it a sacrifice that brings glory and honour to Him, thereby pleasing and acceptable?
Thank you.
God bless you,
Rachel Henderson
Rom 8:35 What shall be separating us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
Rom 8:36 According as it is written that "On Thy account we are being put to death the whole day, We are reckoned as sheep for slaughter."
Rom 8:37 Nay! in all these we are more than conquering through Him Who loves us.
You can't conquer "these things" unless you are in them. We've been promised tribulation in this age.
Ecc 3:16 Yet further, I have seen under the sun, Where the place of judgment is, there is wickedness, And where the place of justice is, there is wickedness."
Ecc 5:8 If you should see extortion of the destitute And pillage of judgment and justice in a province, Do not be amazed over the event, For one lofty official above another lofty official is observing, And other lofty officials are over them."
Ecc 7:15 I have seen all this in my days of vanity: There is the righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, And there is the wicked man who is prolonged in his evil."
Ecc 7:16 Do not be abundantly self-righteous, And do not be thinking yourself superlatively wise; Why should you make yourself desolate?
Ecc 8:14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth: that there are righteous men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous - I said that this also is vanity.
You aren't the only one to have these thoughts and questions. We've ALL had them, at least the ones among us who seek God.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 But when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then will take place the Word that has been written, "Death was swallowed up in victory." Isa. 25:8
How's that for long life? If you're an overcomer, He's not only going to give you LIFE during the Ages, i.e. knowing the Father and His Son, Jesus the Anointed, but immortality as well. Don't look with your fleshly eyes for the fulfillment of His promises concerning YOU.
Joh 21:20 But turning, Peter saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, who also leaned on His breast at the Supper, and said, Lord, who is the one betraying You?
Joh 21:21 Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, Lord, and what of this one?
Joh 21:22 Jesus said to him, If I desire him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.
Also, don't look with your fleshly eyes for the understanding of God's dealings with your fellow creatures. Your judgment, your life, your reward, your chastening is between you and the Judge. He will do with YOU according to YOUR ways and YOUR heart. Don't forget these kinds of promises exist too, along with the others we'd prefer, the ones we consider blessings:
Heb 12:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which He speaks with you, as with sons, "My sons, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor faint while being corrected by Him.
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and whips every son whom He receives." Prov. 3:11, 12 Heb 12:7 If you endure discipline, God is dealing with you as with sons; for who is the son whom a father does not discipline?
Many who consider themselves 'godly', 'faithful', 'pious', 'prayer warriors', 'commandment keepers', etc., can be, in fact, nothing more than self-righteous Pharisees themselves, the very thing they purport to abhor in others. I'm NOT saying you are a Pharisee, but I AM saying that you have many things in your own being that you cannot see, just as we all do. And those things are purged by FIERY TRIAL. We all must be careful not to fulfill this Word:
Pro 19:3 The foolishness of man overturns his way, and his heart rages against Jehovah.
And if we could all see perfectly into the Truth right now, we'd see that churches are NOT houses of God, that the many of the people who are faithful to their churches are NOT serving God at all. Some of the worst blasphemies known to man have arisen from these churches and the 'pastors' of them. The plagues are not surprising. Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice out of Heaven saying, My people, come out of her, that you may not share in her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues;
Those who boast most loudly in their good deeds, their prayers, their holiness, are nothing more than this:
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee was standing, praying these things to himself: God, I thank You that I am not as the rest of men, rapacious, unrighteous, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice on the sabbath; I tithe all things, as many as I get.
Luk 18:13 And standing at a distance, the tax collector would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but smote on his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner!
Luk 18:14 I say to you, This one went down to his house having been justified, rather than that one. For everyone exalting himself will be humbled. And the one humbling himself will be exalted.
Sister, don't let the adversary, the slanderer (devil) turn you aside. Resist the slanderer and he will flee from you. You are just describing the attacks of the enemy who is seeking to eat dust, the flesh of mankind. And he will eat YOU if you don't resist in the power of the Spirit of Jesus. I know you are in the Fire...and it is painful. And you, and all the rest of us, are going to stay in the Fire until we've been purified. And if you are walking in righteousness with God, meaning His righteousness that you got from having Died on the tree with Him and being raised with Him, then you will come OUT of the Fire untouched, with no smell of it on you or your spiritual clothing. I pray for this result for you, and for me, and for all of God's sons and daughters. I pray that God uphold you in your trial and that your faith NOT FAIL. I have prayed that this reply to you will be received in the way it is meant and will comfort your spirit and build up your faith.
Father let these words be Peace to the Stones of your House, the Members of the Body of your Son.
Pro 3:5 Trust in Jehovah with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.
Pro 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Psa 103:14 For He knows how we are made, remembering that we are dust.
Isa 55:8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says Jehovah.
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are high from the earth, so My ways are high from your ways, and My thoughts from your thoughts.
May a messenger of God touch you; Be strong! Yes, be strong! Be FREED from worldly wisdom. In the Name of the King.
21For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know. 23I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better indeed. 24But it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.
25Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26so that through my coming to you again, your exultation in Christ Jesus will resound on account of me. Philippians 1:21-26
I don't believe God sees death the way we do. It is merely a transition to Him, from our life here, over to eternity.
He made us all to take this journey.
Of course, to us, death is much more. It is leaving the only 'world' we know, where we are with loved ones, with things we hope to still accomplish, with possessions we have acculumlated and often come to enjoy, and so on. And, we don't know what the journey looks like.....it is going into the unknown in many ways for us. We look at a dead body, and do not see the glory that awaits, but only a decaying body, which is returning to the dust that man was created from.
But, from God's perspective, death is gain, as we come to see who He is in a more intimate way.
Perhaps the 'life' spoken of is not the one we think of. Perhaps it is the life that springs from God's living waters....the life that we will see for ourselves on the other side.
Matthew 10:39:
Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
God has it all worked out. We need to trust, even when we see through the mirror, darkly.
D.
Amen, StevenL and Dandelion :iagree:
Rachel,
hi! :hiya: what many not yet saved folks don't realize, is the world is the way it is, because part of His plan is rational creatures. As opposed to unable to think and reason creatures? Or robots..? You see when you endow thinking ability, sooner or later, a part of that is to be able to make choices. Yes?
In this way, He is both, in control, and not in control :laughing7: Sorry. Please bear with me..
To a certain degree (a high degree?) He is letting choice run its course. Interfering a few pivotal times.. and also, of course to "build the rescue in at the beginning/foundation". You see, He is life. itself. The spark and breath of.. what else could be? "In the beginning.. God."
But He is also perfection (or He too would fade?) To choose anything in any tiny way, in thought, word or deed that differs with what He chooses, is to be imperfect, the opposite of life. But what is His other option? No rational creatures? Ever?
WE, here, believe all will be rescued (saved). I believe this is all an unavoidable lesson and journey (if we're to have thinking ability, that is). And is His truth proving drama which will be topped off with a 'day' of intense review of all things.. all human history, etc.. (called 'day' of judgment). A 'day' which will totally drive home His lesson.. the lesson of good from evil, which is life from death and true from untrue. Writing (deeply engraving) His truth on every heart, mind and psyche. I believe He saw all possibilities from teh 'beginning' and has done all things in order to bring about the utter best of all possible 'end' results.
And because He iS life, He suffers, lives through and experiences all suffering which eveR occur... Why would He put Himself through all that? Perhaps because He's not creating robots or an ant farm.. but an un-breakable paradise/perfection? and His own family of many beautiful branches..? If He were not Perfect, (surely?) He too would fade. Therefor He must be Perfect. Perfect makes no mistakes.. can lose nothing. The 'end' result can onLy be, the best one possible. (Which, to my mind, is better than being a robot, or tiny, tiny childlike..)
:Peace2: :dsunny: :cloud9: :girlheart: God bless!