We are to be a Light in the darkness and if indeed the darkness is increasing does it make sense to hide that Light under a bushel basket because we might face persecution for our faith? Also the disciples were thrown out of the synagogues they did not leave on their own. Still with sin increasing within the Christian body what does HaShem's Word say that we should do? We see a clue to our days in Zechariah:
"Thus says HaShem My G-d, 'Become Shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished; and those who sell them say, "Blessed be the L-rd, I have become rich"; and our own shepherds have no pity on them. For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, says the L-rd. Lo, I will cause men to fall each into the hand of his shepherd, and each into the hand of his king; and they shall crush the earth, and I will deliver none from their hand.'" Zech.11.4-6Could the flock be doomed because of what we did not during the Holocaust? We wonder this because of words:
"Become Shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished; and those who sell them say, 'Blessed be the L-rd, I have become rich'; and our own shepherds have no pity on them."The Nazis "bought" (stole would be a better word) Jews and righteous Christians who fought their lies by threatening others with similar ends. And those that turned these Jews and Christians in, those that aided and abetted the Nazi sins survive and even became wealthy in process just the text above says would happen. And what about the righteous Churches, the Lutheran Church, and the Catholic Church, and Churches of America? Where were they during this Holocaust against HaShem's children? Where was the American Church when the thousands of Jews fleeing Hitler were turned back at our borders and sent back to die?
G-d's judgment then may be upon us and this is ominous:
"For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, says the L-rd. Lo, I will cause men to fall each into the hand of his shepherd, and each into the hand of his king; and they shall crush the earth, and I will deliver none from their hand."Still we see hope in Yeshua, the Good Shepherds words:
"So I became the Shepherd of the flock doomed to be slain for those who trafficked in the sheep. I took two staffs; one I named Grace, the other I named Union, and I tended the sheep." Zech.11.7The first staff Yeshua reaches for is "naem" which means "to be pleasant", "gracious" or "mild" and is often interpreted "grace" as in our offering mercy or grace to our brethren in faith.
The second staff is "chabalim" or "unities" (plural of unite) or even "pledges" and we read this as the call for ecumenicalism and coming together in Yeshua (making "pledges" to cooperate and get alone).
And an interesting thing happened in the nineteen sixties, all over the body of Christ a call went out for each congregation to reach out to other believers (even Jews) and extend to them mercy and to build pledges among them that we would work henceforth together. Being Catholic we know more of own Churches movement called Vatican II and both those staffs were in that document by no share coincidence in our minds. And just last week during a meeting of the Jewish Catholic Dialog we also learn that at the same time our own church was calling for these things, similar calls went out in the Protestant Churches as well (and some went further than she in these reforms). Also interesting the document Nostra Acetate from Vatican II was the result of the Roman Catholic Churches attempt to reconcile herself with her inaction during those horrid days and cry our herself "Never again". In process she realized that satan had gained on our churches precisely because we are so divided up into our own little congregation with own little "popes" leading us. So when one righteous Christian peep up a complaint, the SS just stopped by to see that problem was silenced and terrorized those left into complacency.
Therefore we believe the answer to the going apostasy we see rising around us is to sign on to the Christian movement for ecumenicalism because unity causes all sorts of questions that need answers if we are to stay unified when it counts, for example what really is needed for salvation? And how much can we give up for tolerance sake without losing our faith in Yeshua? Even if we cannot agree on everything does this mean we must remain divided given what those divisions caused before? Yet if we were to give up too much might this spawn the New World Order?
Therefore Chuck Swindal stated as we were writing this ironically (if you believe in coincidence which we do not): "In essentials-unity, non-essentials-liberty, in all things-Charity". These words we believe echo our Moshiach staffs above. Chuck Swindal also adds these four wise rules for when we find ourselves in disagreement, we should:
And then adds that if we cannot reconcile with someone then we need to get on with our lives with those whom we can. Put simply, we do not believe that everyone within the body of faith will be able to "get over" their own personal crutches and pride, and we also know full well satan will try and trip this movement up and bring its failure, yet we in hearts we firmly believe Yeshua is behind this ecumenical movement trying to lead His body to the Assembly of Philadelphia (brotherly love). Therefore instead of dividing even more and hiding, maybe it's about time we all step out and live our faith in the light and in the world though not of the world.
