Monthly Archives: January 2013
BLOWOUT! (Part 3)
The primary reason many people have a problem with the Word of God is the fact that God simply tells it the way it is. He defines that which is good. He defines that which is evil. He speaks of light and darkness, and very little about any gray areas.
Indeed, there is that time in the morning and evening when night gives way to day and day gives way to night. But these times are relatively brief. Morning and evening are but beginnings and endings. Daytime is not night time. Light is not darkness. And good is not evil.
Jesus does not compromise truth. He IS the Truth. He stands firm on a solid rock. He IS the Rock. And He expects His followers to do likewise.
But standing firm for the truth will get one in trouble. Compromisers want no part of trouble. They want everyone to play nice. Well, evil is not nice. Evil is evil.
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!
Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
On this account the anger of the LORD has burned against His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down. And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this His anger is not spent, but His hand is still stretched out. [Isaiah 5:20-25]
WOW…
How many people heard THAT in church last Sunday?
Things have gotten so fouled-up and twisted around that much of “Christianity” would never allow the words of Isaiah anywhere near their cute little gatherings where never a strong word is heard or such bold apparent pejoratives as “repentance” dare be muttered.
Repent from what, anyway?
Haven’t you heard? We’re all going to heaven. Every last one of us. It doesn’t matter what we do, what we say, what we believe, or what we think. The old idea that all roads lead to Rome remains ever strong but with a different terminology.
The reality is, except for one road, the road the Lord talked about, all roads lead to hell.
This is simply Biblical fact, which takes us back to why so many people hate real Christians and real Christianity.
Remember when you were young and you were allowed to do anything you desired? Remember how your parents or guardians explained to you that good and evil were mere concepts and there really is no difference between right and wrong or that there is any such thing? Remember how you were taught that variety makes the world go ’round and that everyone is different, has different lifestyles, and that sin is a primitive idea created by Neanderthals too dull and stupid to understand alternative lifestyles and choices?
Many people think the Lord Jesus is some cool dude pretty much okay with anything and everything. Does their ignorance make Him so?
The reality is that He loves us all regardless of our sin and evil and pleads with us to repent and get right. He knows the destiny of the unregenerate and repeatedly warns of the results of our wrong choices and embrace of evil. He tries desperately to break us free from deception and our self-imposed entrancements, but most people laugh and walk away.
Even among Christians, those who take strong stands are most often shot down and treated with contempt. And no one was treated worse for this than God Himself. By His own people.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. [John 1:3-5]
Boy Howdy. Did John get that right or what?
We live on a polarized planet. Literally. It contains opposing forces. However, God has structured things in such a way that there exists perfect harmony and balance among such forces. Yet, there are still such things as hurricanes and naturally-occurring vast forest fires and massive earthquakes and spewing volcanoes and floods and tornadoes and deafening thunder and blinding lightning and a few other events to help maintain the proper planetary balance.
And God looked at all of it and said it was good.
So if you ever wonder about your place in standing up for the Lord, His Word, and Truth, remember that to not act would be a tragedy.
Do not back down. Let the sparks fly. Put your whole heart into the work of God. We’re in the early stages of a spiritual blowout. But we all must do our part, regardless of the price to pay. And the price of the greatest love is the greatest life.
Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.
“BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. [Romans 12:16-21] [1]
© 2013 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
BLOWOUT! (Part 2)
We are presently living in a time when societal pressure is rapidly increasing the world over. The pressure must be allowed to vent, but the venting must be done in such a way that society remains generally intact. As the pressure continues increasing, however, the venting must also be increased. Otherwise, a massive blowout could take place.
There is currently a relatively minor blowout happening in the Middle East. The so-called Arab Spring that dashed onto the scene in the spring of 2011 actually began in December of 2010 in Tunisia. It quickly spread to Egypt and Libya. The leaders of these countries have been deposed or murdered. And there is more to come.
But this is not the big blowout many are expecting. It is merely a way to vent the growing pressure while keeping the area intact. New governments are forming.
In America, the pressure is being very well contained through several means. Politicians and unethical economists are lying about the vast extent of our national problems. The major media continues to dumb-down millions of Americans by giving them a place to vent and keep them satisfied that all is well. People watch much television and burn up talk radio phone lines with an endless succession of gripes. We all complain to one another.
But nothing actually changes. It is only venting. The pressure is being slowly bled-off.
Americans are also being drugged into submission. The use of legal drugs, such as several different forms of anti-depressants, far exceed the use of illegal drugs, which makes the “war on drugs” entirely disingenuous. There are many people who are properly diagnosed. Many others are drugged for the wrong reasons. An entire generation of school-aged boys, for example, were administered such drugs as Ritalin just to keep them from being boys so they would fit better into an artificial school system.
But societal pressure continues to rise and expand rapidly. People know there is something terribly wrong.
Something bad this way comes…
Biblical prophecy clearly speaks of a time at the end when the entire construct of mankind’s sinful society or kosmos will explode. It will be the great end time blowout. There is nothing to be done about this. It is a massive volcano in the making.
Societal masters have therefore learned how to contain and control societal pressure through inauspicious though temporarily “safe” venting: Create a fantasy world and drug ‘em. Create a fantasy world and drug ‘em. Create a fantasy world and drug ‘em. The best and most far-reaching drug is alcohol.
America has therefore become in many respects, it seems, a fake and shiny amusement-shopping park with ubiquitous television screens and communication gadgets, which also serve as forms of addictive drugs.
Many of our older citizens in nursing homes live out their remaining days tucked neatly in bed. They are often drugged because it is totally unnatural to imprison a human spirit in that way, and the inhabitants would otherwise fight against the restraints.
As population densities increase, more laws against behavior must be created to keep the machine running smoothly, but pressure is all the while increasing to an inevitable breaking point. This is why measures have long since been taken to contain American society when it blows. So far, the venting process has been a huge success.
There is only one problem for the devil and his minions, however: The Spirit of God cannot be contained, controlled, dumbed-down, or drugged.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” [Acts 1:8]
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” [John 3:8] [1]
© 2013 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
BLOWOUT! (Part 1)
The Lucas Gusher, Spindletop Hill, Texas. Jan 10, 1901
Oil and natural gas are under pressure far inside the earth. It is trapped in geologic formations thousands of feet below ground. When drilling rigs drill down to release the flow of these hydrocarbons to the surface for later production, the drill string punctures these formation zones and releases the trapped gas and/or oil into the borehole.
As the gas/oil flows into the hole created by the drill string, the pressure increases because the hydrocarbons are seeking escape through a relatively miniscule egress created by the drilling pipe.
In the early days, drilling rigs had no method of controlling highly pressurized oil or gas as it shot toward the surface.
When the oil or gas travels upward through the borehole, it gains in speed and increases in pressure. If the formation pressure within the earth is relatively minor, it will be easier to control when it reaches the surface.
But sometimes the drill string (composed of drilling pipe and the bottom hole assembly) punctures a downhole formation under very high natural pressure. The oil or gas within the formation zone thousands of feet below ground then begins flooding into the borehole at a high rate of speed and shoots rapidly toward the surface gaining speed exponentially as it blasts upward. Since oil and gas wells often exceed two or three miles in depth, and some are even deeper, there is time to contain what is known as the kick before it reaches the earth’s surface and the drilling rig.
This is done through the use of BOPs, or Blow-out Preventers. These are a series of large valves below the drilling rig that can be closed off quickly to prevent a blowout in cases of large amounts of rapidly rising oil and/or natural gas. Also, there is much on-site instrumentation designed to detect such hydrocarbons within the wellbore. If everyone is on their game, blowouts can be prevented and contained. The oil/gas can then be slowly and safely bled off and burned off over time and the rig can remain under control. But drilling rigs can squat on a veritable giant powder keg for days and weeks until the well pressure and danger is vented and reduced to a manageable level.
On occasion, though, the pressurized hydrocarbons arrive so quickly at the surface of the wellhead that the entire drilling rig is destroyed and melted to the ground. It is sometimes the case that thousands of feet of drilling pipe flies out of the well hole like spaghetti as if shot from an underground cannon.
And any small spark can ignite the natural gas upon reaching the surface.
[To Be Continued]
© 2013 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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