Replies

metmom: Are there instances in which we have turned the worship of God into something less than it should be—perhaps into something it should never be?

Mark17: Well, yes, I can think of something. 😁 You probably can figure out what I am thinking.

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This meditation of JMac's is kind of interesting, because it reminds me of the cleansing of the temple that the good King Hezekiah had to perform after his godless father Ahaz had defiled the remaining nation. Here are some pertinent excerpts from that story, found in the chronicles regarding the Jewish kings, but not in other places. Here is the story:

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2 Chronicles 28:1,22-23,17; 29:1-11,17; 30:1-5 (AV):

^28:1Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: but he did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD, like David his father:
²² And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz. ²³For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.
²⁷And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem: but they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.
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^29:1Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ²And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
³He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them. ⁴And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street, ⁵And said unto them,

"Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. ⁶For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs.
⁷Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. ⁸Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.
⁹For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. ¹⁰Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. ¹¹My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense."

¹⁷Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month came they to the porch of the LORD: so they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end.
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^30:1And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel. ²For the king had taken counsel, and his princes, and all the congregation in Jerusalem, to keep the passover in the second month. ³For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem.
⁴And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation. ⁵So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written^{(Ex. 12:2,18)}.

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It comes to me that there is a parallel here that reminds me of the restoration of leadership of our country to a fellow who wants to try to do the right American thing and make us great again, after the horrid depredations of his predecessor. yje Kenyan criminal, who tried to destroy our heritage.

I know that this is a poor comparison to what Jesus did for His nation, and more so for all mankind with His personal sacrifice of himself, but give this a thought.

Something to ruminate on. Recall, that even the priests who were still in support of Hezekiah, yet they too had been contaminated with the doings of the previous leader, and needed cleaning up themselves, so much that they could not even celebrate the national remembrance of the Passover on its traditional date, but had to postpone it.

Just a though for y'all, my FRiends.

Our religious assemblies need as much--nay, more!--cleaning up from the filth that is defiling them. Rather than representing The Great Physician that cleanses hearts and minds, they are serving the god of this world who is determined to defile us all, even by importing, recognizing, supporting, and bowing in homage to false gods from third world countries that oppose the Christ, the Prince of Peace, and His Faith, which Obama tried to say and enforce that we are not governed by His principles.

Our major widespread denominations, every one ofthem, meeds cleaning out, with a whip, if need be. As they are, they cannot heal our nation's ills. In fact, they are the typhoid Marys of the disease through their colleges, universities, seminaries, and graduates thereof.