World leaders including our own parade across our TV screens acting out a charade because each is determined to get their piece of the action no matter that taken together they seem determined to destroy the earth in the process. To me, it’s the Devil’s work no matter the face of the various players in this “Dance Macabre.” Much of the Bible and Shakespeare together with other worthies have tried to describe and warn, often citing the foolishness of men believing they are immortal while seeking wealth and power, but they all die in the end no matter the degree of “success” they may achieve while they lived. Far better to live simply and want little, thereby escaping the sword hanging over the heads of the greedy of whatever persuasion; but alas, the innocent pay the price of such greed as well because trade, profits, is a curse to all in the end. It was for this reason Jesus cautioned “The love of money is the root of every kind of evil.”

But to paraphrase Thoreau, while economics (as with government and politicians) may admit of much levity it is not so easily disposed of. We must have bread or we perish; the problem is one endemic to our species that for some like “Rocko” in “Key Largo” what they want is more, and the more they get they are never satisfied with what they have but are always wanting more and more ad infinitum. It is small wonder the myth found credence with some that Alexander the Great died of a broken heart because he had no more nations to conquer. There is a truth behind the myth that is descriptive of too many men, and this kind continues no matter how many stories and films like “Citizen Kane” end with the moral of “Rosebud.”

My job is writing, and parts of the job I enjoy and some parts I don’t; the part I don’t enjoy is following my namesake’s path as a prophet. I’m not so sure that Samuel enjoyed his work either; but unlike him my role as prophet is to “tell forth” rather than “foretell.” I have a Bible, and have no need of visions or God talking to me directly. The Spirit of God enlightens me as it does all of His children; and by God’s Spirit I believe what He has to say to us in the Bible, especially concerning the End of the Age, a time in which I believe we now live.

God will not be mocked and He will not always withhold His anger. America as a nation has mocked and forsaken God, and we are ripe for His wrath in judgment. This is my job as the prophet Samuel; telling forth and telling it like it is. The prophet Ezekiel was sternly told by God to prophecy (warn) both the wicked and the righteous of God’s judgment and if he failed to do so, their blood would be upon him in judgment. This is the position I have taken in so much of my preaching and writing over a lifetime. But neither Samuel nor Ezekiel was to be held responsible if the people refused to listen and because they refused to listen the ancient nation of Israel was destroyed and only the Jews remain of the original twelve tribes of Israel.

When his disciples asked Jesus what was in it for them by following him, he promised them much in the hereafter; but he also sounded the alarm about how this world would treat them if they continued to follow him. But alas, the movement that was started by Jesus as with many others eventually fell into such disarray it no longer resembled the “church” he spoke of but became fractured and divided along many, and sometimes murderous lines. But no matter the many cathedrals and Hollywood wannabes, the simplicity of the true Gospel remains that those who love are born of God and the whole of the Law and the Prophets is summed up by loving God and others as yourself. That this obviously does not include the wicked is pointed out in the Bible that Christians were to demonstrate their love of God by the love they had for one another, the children of God. And these are not just among those that go by the label of “Christian” but are found among all the nations of the world no matter how they may differ in their beliefs. So I will warn the wicked, those that are perverts, those that sell out to the Devil for power and wealth, those that abuse women and children, but I am not commanded to love them. Let them first forsake their wickedness; turn to God and repent, make restitution, confess and pay for their sins even at the cost of their own lives and perhaps find forgiveness from God and love from me. That I have been witness to this change in the hearts of some gives me hope for others to turn to God

So, this not a part of the job I enjoy; but I realize the somber importance of this part of the job. Jonah tried to run away and hide from God, believing that if he prophesied against those dwelling in Nineveh they might repent and God would go soft and forgive them. But Jonah should have been a lesson to those disciples that asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven to destroy their enemies and Jesus rebuked them saying they didn’t know the Spirit they were supposed to represent. But, like Jonah they would soon find this out for themselves and learn the truth of the words of Jesus that not everyone calling out “Lord, lord, haven’t we done all these wonderful things for you” only to be answered by God: “Depart from me; I never knew you.”

I believe God must be allowing for the wide gulf that separates me from the fellowship of many of His children that belong to one kind of orthodox religion or another; the reason I believe this is because I’m still alive. Some accuse me of making a god in my image, but my reply is that God made me in His; that I’m far from perfect as a child of God comes with the territory we all occupy, that of being frail mortal beings subject to temptations and failures and only perfect in God’s way of seeing perfection just as any parent does of their child. Neither is God perfect by the definition of men, but by His own definition.

Awakening this morning to such a beautiful day, the sun once more streaming through my windows and the cat purring once more in my lap I hoped the job for today would be writing of something soft, a warm and fuzzy story to lift my own spirits along with others. Didn’t turn out that way; and so I can’t help but commiserate with Jonah all the while having to remind myself of God’s stern warning to Ezekiel.

We can’t seem to get away from all the bad news inundating us; we are trying to swim in such murky waters of evil on every side but floundering in the attempt. I’m just like that old Israelite crying out to God “Tell us something good!” But the bad news just keeps hammering us, and God has laid it on my heart to do the part of the job I don’t enjoy by reminding people there is such a thing as sin, there is a soul to lose or save, there is a judgment of God coming on America and the nations of the world. Perhaps God will relent and allow me to do that part of the job I enjoy next time I sit down with the cat in my lap to write. I fervently hope so. In the meantime, the world may be going to hell but you don’t have to. In the meantime, I’m here to remind you (prophecy) that while the world may be going to hell you don’t have to.