Part Two: Shaken Sheep

In my last posting, I spoke of three separate videos of sheep in life threatening situations and quoted from the Passion Translation of John 21 where Jesus tells Peter to take care of His sheep. In Matthew 13 of the Passion Translation, Jesus answers the disciples’ question as to why He speaks in parables. He tells them they have been given insight into the hidden truths and mysteries of heaven’s kingdom, but others have not. He says that all who listen with an open heart will receive more revelation. But those who don’t listen with an open and teachable heart, even the understanding they have will be taken from them. Tough word, but if one looks to how many are following wrong paths and teachings today, it seems obvious that their hearing and understanding has become compromised.

I spoke of one lamb stuck in a crack in the earth. That crack represented words and messages spoken by many religious leaders which have become intertwined with messages of the world and are then forced into the body, leaving destruction similar to that caused by fracking. I wrote of this in my posting of Nov 15, 2016 titled “Forecast.” This mixture of the wisdom of the world intermingled with what that of the Kingdom brings forth is a pollution that causes one to get spiritually sick. Resulting seismic and spiritual fractures can cause one to lose their way and result in great harm.

The adult sheep that fell into a hole was in so deep only his back feet were visible. It was drawn in by a lie that was so insidious that without intervention, the sheep would have died. That hole was the remnant of basic tenets of our faith that have become eroded by half- truths and enticements offering a better and easier way to receiving abundant life. Those tenets were like giant redwoods, majestic in their beauty and truth, cut down to make way for a new gospel which counteracts that which we read in Proverbs 4 that tells us to avoid a wrong path and not walk in a way that is contrary to His way. But that the path of the just is like a shining sun as opposed to a path of darkness that will cause us to stumble. The resulting hole left by the removal of a righteous truth left a whispering spirit that beckons to those who have become jaded by false teaching and they fall in. Only His grace and mercy will rescue them.

The adult sheep that was stuck in the mud pit was difficult to extricate. The more it struggled the deeper it went down into the mud. This mud represents all the anger, wrath, malice, hatred, distrust of anyone you consider different, racism, sexism and believing that if no one takes you to task for treating others badly, that you’ll be fine. You will not. The unrighteous ways of man may seem right to some, but their end is destruction. All these vile traits just create a hole filled with toxic mud. Until you’re in it, you are totally unprepared for how deep it is and how it will pull you down. We have seen over a year of this, and it continues still.  I am amazed that people I know to be Christians have been taken in by these lies and do their part in adding to what is written and spoken that brings harm to the Kingdom. Do you realize that this only adds to the already existing contention and division?

God has called us to walk in truth even when it may cause us to take flak for standing in righteousness. God did not call us to follow anyone that speaks that which is contrary to His teachings. Sheep truly need to be shaken. They are walking toward a fracture in the earth, a hole left because righteous truth was removed, and a pit full of mud filled with that which is anathema to the teachings of Christ. It’s time for sheep to receive a reviving slap like Cher gave to Nicholas Cage in “Moonstruck” and hear the phrase “Snap Out Of It” so loud that they just might come to their senses! Proverbs 12:1 so perfectly states “Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, But he who hates instruction is stupid.”

I pray all sheep know and hear His voice and the voice of another they will not follow. Blessings.