The Voice of the Good Shepherd

The Voice of the Good Shepherd - Nathele Graham - twotug@embarqmail.com

 

"For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves." Isaiah 3:8-9.

 

God is patient and He withholds His judgment as long as possible; He gives plenty of warning before letting people reap what they sow. The above passage was one more warning to the Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom had already fallen to the Assyrians because of their wicked ways. They embraced paganism and turned against God. Elijah the prophet had been sent to warn them, but the nation ignored the warnings and fell deeper into sin. King Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel led the nation deeper and deeper into sin. They followed false prophets who told them what they wanted to hear rather than listening to the voice of God. It wasn't cool to follow the path of righteousness, so they chose to follow Satan. After they died, the kingdom continued down the wrong path, and soon there were no more chances. The Northern Kingdom fell because of their refusal to follow God Almighty. The Southern Kingdom should have learned from the mistakes of the Northern Kingdom. They didn't learn a thing. They rebelled against God and refused to honor His commands. God had blessed them abundantly, but when they had abundance, they forgot the ways of the Lord. We might wonder how God's chosen people could turn against Him after all He had done for them. Well, Christians, look in the mirror. Unless we follow the voice of the Good Shepherd, we are following the path of destruction. Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd.

 

Christians aren't perfect. We sin every day. The difference between us and the nonbelievers around us is that we should know better. We have Scripture to guide us. Let's take a survey. Raise your hand if you read Scripture daily? If you do read it, do you think it applies to you or everybody else? "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Scripture shows us God's ways. We can learn from the history of the Old Testament and know where we are in history by studying prophecy. The New Testament tells us about Jesus and how we should live. We learn that embracing the sin of Sodom will lead to destruction. There's no excuse for embracing sin while professing to follow Christ. Scripture sets our feet on the right path and if God's ways matter to you, you will pray for His help in overcoming the sin in your life. If you choose not to study Scripture then you might ask yourself if you really care what God has to say. If you don't care what He has to say, can you truly love Him? Are you saved? These are important questions to figure out the answers to now. With all that's happening in the world, now isn't the time to ignore God. Now is the time to listen to His voice and follow Him closely. He is our Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep. Christians need to live our life for Him.

 

God doesn't want His people to be ignorant of His ways, so He gave us Scripture. It's been said that B. I. B. L. E. stands for "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth", but who reads instructions, right? It seems to be human nature to put a bookshelf together or build a model airplane by relying on our own knowledge rather than reading the instructions. When our efforts fail with a bookshelf, we can always buy another and try again, but in life we can't do that. "Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day." Psalm 25:5. The only way to follow the path that leads to eternal life is to follow God's instructions. Set your heart on following the voice of the Good Shepherd.

 

Today we're being led down a very wrong path. Many Christians listen to the false prophets found on CNN, MSNBC, and other fear-mongers rather than God. We have to isolate, stay home, don't touch, wear masks, etc. These "facts" are fed to us by people who want to control and feed our fear. Brothers and sisters, we need to heed the voice of the Good Shepherd. Scripture tells us to gather together. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:25, but we allow ourselves to be banned from assembling as Christians. If you're sick, stay home and call for the elders to come and pray. "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." James 5:14-15. Christians are told to greet one another warmly with brotherly love. "Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss." 1 Thessalonians 5:26 (shaking hands or hugging by today's tradition). Here's some facts you won't hear on the liberal news: Yearly influenza cases worldwide are more than 35.5 million with over 34,000 deaths, cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths a year (41,000 from second hand smoke) in the US alone; well over a million people die each year from AIDS worldwide and millions more are infected but aren't quarantined and possibly infecting other people; abortion causes 40 to 50 million deaths around the world yearly. Do we see any isolation because of these avoidable deaths? No. "...and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not..." Isaiah 3:9. On the other hand, it's a known fact that the statistics for the coronavirus are padded. When someone dies of heart disease or cancer, the hospital will get thousands of dollars if that death is called COVID-19. Cancer deaths don't create panic, but if it's called COVID-19 then the hospital gets rich, the flames of panic are fanned, and we're one step closer to the new world order. We need to use logic. Stay home if you're sick or have a compromised immune system. You can still support ministries or use the time to study Scripture and pray. Christians are told by our Lord to share the Gospel with every creature, but we cannot share with the lost or support fellow Christians if we keep our distance. God's law is higher than man's law.

 

When you decided to give your life to Jesus, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. "That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory." Ephesians 1:12-14. He lives inside of you and will guide your way, but you need to listen to Him and follow His lead. You can choose to listen to other voices...those of the world which is ruled by Satan...but those voices will lead you away from God. That's what the Northern Kingdom of Israel did. They allowed Ahab and Jezebel to bring their idol worship into the nation. The Southern Kingdom also stopped obeying God, which led to its 70-year captivity in Babylon. We can choose to follow Jesus or ignore His voice. "Quench not the Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 5:19. If you choose to listen to the voice of the world, you'll soon only hear Satan's voice. There are many false teachers and the internet is full of them, from Rick Warren to Joel Osteen, and many others who aren't so well known. If you don't study Scripture you run the risk of following a false prophet who leads the flock astray. Study Scripture to know the path to follow. Scripture tells us how to live life to honor Christ and how to worship Him, we need to pay attention. When we listen to the world, we will fail.

 

The events of the past few months have pushed us along the prophetic timeline by a big jump. That's how Jesus said it would happen. "And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Revelation 22:12. The world "quickly" is from the Greek word "tachy" and means without delay...quickly and speedily. The birth pains are growing stronger and coming closer together. Did you know that the United Nations has a website regarding the new world order (unnwo.org)? Its motto is "Let's take our planet back"? When you read what they're about it says: "The United Nations New World Order Project is a global, high-level initiative founded in 2008 to advance a new economic paradigm, a new political order, and more broadly, a new world order for humankind, which achieves the UN's Global Goals for Sustainable Development by 2030, and the happiness, well-being, and freedom of all life on Earth by 2050". It promotes things like "happytalism". What's that, you ask? "Happytalism is a new economic paradigm which places happiness, well-being, and freedom at the center of human development models, systems, and all life". Scripture tells us that God is to be the center of our happiness...He gave His life for our redemption and that makes me happy. There's much more disclosed on that website and it all sounds very much like the stage is being set for the appearance of the Anti-Christ. The panic caused by the coronavirus has moved Satan's agenda along. If you're a Christian you have nothing to fear. Things will continue to worsen, but the Rapture will occur prior to the Anti-Christ appearing on the scene. We will see a lot more things like famine and pestilence happen before then. Christians must listen to God and share the Gospel with the lost before it's too late. Listen to God and don't quench the Holy Spirit's guidance by ignoring Him.

 

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." John 10:27-28. If you're following any voice other than the voice of Jesus, then you need to get back on the right path. Study Scripture and obey what it says. Brothers and sisters, we will all leave this world one day, but only what we do on earth for Jesus will last for eternity. If we close our ears and our hearts to Him, we will find ourselves following false prophets and going down the wrong path. Study His word and be led by the voice of the Good Shepherd.

 

God bless you all,

Nathele Graham