Lord of the flies, vs. Lord Sabaoth? God is greater, than any problem I have.

James 5 vs. 3-8 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

“ All one body, we. One in faith and doctrine, one in charity…”

God warns us for our own good, about the day of prosperity. Know why you’re given the day of prosperity that you are given. Know that God is weighing the usefulness and the circumspec t way that you are using your resources. Are you wanton? Are you concerned about the wastefulness of the day in which you live? Are you thrifty and looking for where better use can be made of your riches?

This passage, almost above all other passages makes me think of why RL Stevenson wrote Kidnapped. He said, as it were, “I have been in complete need and predisposed to a wasteful uncle and I have seen poverty sit, on the bay waiting for the benevolent hand of the rich person to share and make use of his riches and he sat inside afraid to interact and afraid to create an economy of life-giving for his world and curses came upon him of great proportion, pray his soul was spared, in eternity. But what good uncle could have done?”paraphrase is mine, of course.

God promises in James to make those curses come to fruition when a person of means hides his wealth in the attic. I could see the dance of the dry bones at the bottom of the fall from the stairs, which signifies the power that wealth has to {even, as it were} breathe life into the dry bones of spiritual death. He didn't fall into the valley of dry bones, but imagined that if he had fallen into the valley of dry bones, God would have breathed upon him. It was an allegory. The power of wealth can be used to pick us up, as a culture or judge us. The last days that James is speaking of, seems to be the day when there is Christian wealth makers and givers. Seems a fearful thing, but could it be that a Christian could be rich? James doesn't seem to say this. God can redeem that day.

When the principles of Christianity and wealth come together and RL Stevenson who has seen the woman cursing on the other side of the moat of need holds the reigns of society and not the foolish uncle, what would he do? This to me is the picture of Clarence Day Sr. They showed, he hired people to do everything for him. One servant cleaned the stairs and one servant opened the door for people and one servant cared for the cooking, etc. Down to even his spiritual life, it even seemed that his soul was bartered out to his wife, as it were. He seemed to say, my soul’s business is my wife’s affairs. She is hired to get me to heaven. An amazing thought that culture had been so affected by Stevenson that a seeming rank sinner, raised with no real fear of God would have been so touched by common grace to think in such a way.

I certainly seems to show that you are what you eat. God will judge us by what we feed our children. If we feed them Lord of the Flies, God will become the Lord of the Flies to us. If we feed them Kidnapped, the sinners will become David Balfour. We judge ourselves on this manner. What calls the wrath of God upon our culture, James tells us in James 5. The world is not much different from Elijah’s day, is it? James says. God will be entreated for the earth, as he was with Noah and Elijah prayed for his nation and God was well entreated. How much the more, when the reigns of society are given to the godly, or godfearing man, what a force for good that can be in the world; imagine. Thank God, He has given us all things for life and godliness and even resources to teach us to flee our own wastefulness. Amen.

Kidnapped, online resource I am afraid, Lord. Your Word has found me out. How do I know you will have mercy upon me? Christ alone has paid it all. Is my trust in Him? Cursed is the arm of flesh. If my trust is in my own works, they will fail me. If my trust is in another they will forget me. If my trust is in Christ, He will own me for the sake of His glory. I have nothing to merit salvation on my own merit. I have forsaken my own way. I must repent and forsake the sins of my past and flee to Christ daily and solely for salvation or my trust is futile. I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in His arms!...Embrace me with Your Grace and Mercy, Dear Jesus and then, make me an agent of blessing on the earth for Your Glory and not for my own glory. In Jesus Name, Amen.