5 I had a dream that made me afraid. As I was lying in my bed, the images and visions that passed through my mind terrified me. 6 So I commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be brought before me to interpret the dream for me. 7 When the magicians, enchanters, astrologers and diviners came, I told them the dream, but they could not interpret it for me. 8 Finally, Daniel came…
Daniel 4:5-8, NIV
I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace.
Daniel 4:4.
People should listen when great kings speak, especially successful ancient kings who made their contributions to the wonders of their time. Before us is the insightful confession of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, famed in history also for his contribution of hanging gardens to the wonders of the ancient world.
We usually speak of right times for right actions, or right actions in right places, but we find in the holy scriptures that sometimes it doesn’t work that way with God, or our sense of the ‘right time’ and ‘right place’ differs so much from God’s perpective that we get perplexed sometimes to the point of depression, feeling that God abandoned us.
Early in September 2011, while fasting and praying for the national prayer retreat of The Preacher scheduled for later that month, the word of the Lord came to me, “Pray against the Spirit of Sudan.”
1. The Mortal Door that God Would not Open
No matter the angels that accompany you, they won’t open every door. Some doors, weaker as they might seem, may only be opened my mortal will rather than by divine might. When Peter was imprisoned by bloody Herod, to be killed after Passover, the angel of God effortlessly opened the very fortified consecutive iron gates that that wicked king in alliance with Hell had raised against Apostle Peter.
Charity is not in the character of Satan. No apple is as free as it seems in the garden where the Serpent speaks. When Satan makes you a concession (which is not a retreat from a victory inflicted), be careful to never think that you’ve got a Christmas gift. Charity is not in the nature of that wily foe.
The Preacher
June 5, 2022.
God’s Wrong Grammar
Occasionally, one comes upon a Bible verse with an awkwardness as if the writer must have made a mistake. One such verse to me was Genesis 11:6. As a young Christian in school, I felt grammatically uncomfortable each time I read that verse: “And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language.…” How could “the people,” a plural subject, take a singular verb “is” instead of “are”? Could God speak such wrong English, I wondered? Or maybe the transcribers of the Bible didn’t know enough English, I concluded. I was, however, careful not to think that too loud for fear of committing an unpardonable sin. I was to accept much later that the expression was an emphasis on how strongly those rebels of Babel had become united, losing their distinct pluralities into a strong and seamless oneness. I ceased to bother my young school brain with that Middle English of King James.
Sometime ago, while I waited to take the podium and speak at a Christian meeting, the master of ceremonies began one of those elaborate introductions and designated the upcoming speaker as a “man of God.” Almost at once, an acquittance by my side whispered into my ears, “the man of the great God.” He meant to correct them in my ears. They probably had been too carnal and vainglorious in their spiritual protocols. They probably were nearly blasphemously promoting mere mortals when they should meekly have been upraising the mighty God.
It seems to have been my strange lot lately, to be confronted with troubling insights into scriptures, especially passages that, to all appearance, are a contradiction either to themselves or to long-held religious ideals. One of them, Revelation 19:11-13:
Can you Drive?
Many years ago, I was walking down the street when I met a brother whose car had stubbornly refused to continue the journey with him. He had been trying all he could to tease it into a start by touching its tender knobs and intestinal wires, his hands greased with frustration. He was glad as I walked up to him. He asked me to take the driver’s seat as he tried one more time to rouse the reluctant engine back to life. I sat in the car, turned on the engine, and it revved into a merry start. The brother was relieved at last and came in to resume his trip, but the engine died as soon as he took over from me. He tried to start the car again, but the engine would not respond to his many pleas. He got out and requested me to I get back into the driver’s seat while he returned to resume his mechanical communications with the adamant engine.
