One evening Jack was exercising on the stationery cycle, and watching Jeremiah the movie. He watched how young Jeremiah (the son of a priest) was called to be God’s prophet. When Jeremiah reached the age of a young priest, he was called by God to be a prophet instead. His first prophetic action was to admonish the king, priests and people who entered the temple gate to worship the Lord. Jeremiah cried out to them as the Holy Spirit put words in his mouth:
‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD! Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these. For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?”’
No-one paid attention to him. The people did not listen. The next scene was Jeremiah being woken at night and beaten by thugs who warned him not to prophesize again.
At this point there was a huge thunder bolt and the electricity shut down. The house was in total darkness. Jack was shocked. There was no lightning or thunder or rain before or after this one thunder. The weather was fine and there was no rain cloud.
Soon after that he went to the Prayer House to worship and pray. He was hoping to hear a confirmation or clarification on this matter. But there was none from the message that night. Then he read Jeremiah Chapter seven and found the verses that Jeremiah spoke above were from Chapter seven 1-10.
He continued to read verse eleven and found this verse:
“Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the LORD. “
When he reached home he was tired and sleepy but he managed to continue to read chapters six and eight just to see the context. Then he slept.
The next morning he woke early and re-read chapter seven. He thought of the thunder. It had to be something important and he asked the Holy Spirit to let him know what he needed to know. He wanted to know whether the message was meant for him. Is he being admonished? Is he being ignorant or disobedient of God’s instructions? He had to know.
Then he had thoughts of the children. He remembered seeing a baby boy who just had his first year’s birthday learning to walk in the Prayer House. He thought of his own family members, the younger generations. A thought appeared. What if a day comes when all grown-ups on earth vanish and the very young have to survive on their own? When he thought of today’s children who are hooked on digital games and live entirely in the virtual fantasy world, he shuddered.
The children are saturated in the values of the world, the abominations (deceptions, violence, greed, disobedience, immorality and idolatry) in God’s eyes. Even Christian children have succumbed to such strongholds. They would be no match to evil.
So he repented for not interceding for the children of the nations. As he read the verses, he repented and asked God for mercy: to wake up more watchmen, more Christians who will cry out day and night like the prophet of old, who will intercede for the nations (including Christian churches who uphold worldly values).
Meanwhile, he is still pondering on the meaning of the thunder. One thing is sure, he must remind himself that his body is a house of prayer (a temple of the Holy Spirit) too. If he does not pray, he would become a den of thieves. He shuddered at this thought.
He prays that whoever reads this blog will ponder hard and take action to pray and intercede for the nations before it is too late.
2009-11-27
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