Old Dog V
Back to: Contending For The Faith
Looking Back, Looking Forward
Bob Neumann, 1/2002
Looking Back
For the last two weeks I have had a hard time. I keep praying and asking for help, but what I have received does not seem to fit the problems at hand. In a few weeks there will be another “SUPER BOWL” and many will share their great insights and revelations. Like the “year 2002” stuff of the last month, it will have many sources and run many steams. Why I tie the SUPER BOWL with New Years is obvious…one follows the other. Natural sequence of events. Like Seed..Time…and Harvest. All have a place and purpose in their GOD ordained sequence. Each is a divine Pattern. (but who ever learns anything…anyway)
As I sat chewing on all these great “words” about this “new” year and feeling disgusted I got my “button” pushed…my chain “jerked”. All by a short scripture and an image….the image was looking back to see “the footprints in the sand”. The scripture…….
9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun
10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us
Unsettling, ain’t it…especially with that feeling I had of being aware I had missed something somewhere along that beach. If what will happen is simply a repeat of things past, what is the whole thing about the slogans all these people are spewing out these last few weeks in their “state of the Church” addresses. The answer to “the STATE of the CHURCH”….is simple. In present common language…..it “SUCKS”….But we were told it would by Paul, Peter, James, John, Jude, and JESUS. So what is the big deal? I don’t know. Can’t figure why I have tried so hard not to write this at all. But as always, you have to come to the conclusion that kicking at “the goads” hurts not the goads one iota. So here goes.
When January 1st came around I got no big “rhema”…..just a few small ones that had no correlation with each other. Now all those people who wrote their “2002” stuff had everything “seem” to fit….except to each other. So I put things aside…mainly because I did not like where things were leading. Now that was my problem….not ABBA’S.
The first “image” was a dilly….THE LORD OF THE RINGS…old book, new movie. Old VERSE…. Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie, One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Now if you ignore the 3 elves and 7 dwarves….the “image” is quite appropriate for THE END TIMES. A “DARK LORD” in the SHADOWS bringing mankind into the darkness and “binding” them. JESUS said quite clearly that man can not serve two Masters….. Matthew 6 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? But Luke does not say “no man”….check this out…. Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Funny that THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT gives us a distinguishment…a differentiation between men and servants????/
Now the second “image” came from an old movie…nothing new there….Sergeant YORK with Gary Cooper. Most Americans over 70 know about Alvin York. Likewise old movie buffs. Old Alvin was a guy from the Appalachian Mountains that got “religion” the hard way. Many of us have. And in WW1 was a “conscientious objector”. But got drafted anyway. He was given a choice. To serve in the military and possibly kill others. Now Alvin did not want to kill. As he puts it…”THE BOOK is AGAINST IT”……the Fifth Commandment. So he was allowed to choose. Funny thing, he sought his answer from GOD….and got it. They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s. For Alvin York it was simple…Caesar had to be obeyed…when dealing in the natural. JESUS said so. So he went to France.
The story then gets interesting. To sum it all up Alvin was against killing…..but won the CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR for killing….of course we call it VALOR…Alvin had a problem. He was watching his friends dying all around him and “knew” the only way to keep his friends from being killed, was to kill the enemy. To KILL in order to stop THE KILLING. PARADOXICAL…ain’t it.
The third “image” was a song. Funny thing, it was attached to a movie that just came out. The song is played on the TV commercials…and throughout the whole movie it is not heard. It plays during the ending credits. What that means I am not sure, and it bothers me…. The “song” is ancient. In the Gaelic….called THE MOREEN….that is the “melody”….the SONG is the “words”. That itself is a major lesson. The melody is the same…the “tempo” and the “lyrics” can change repeatedly. Timing and Words. The “song” is THE MINSTREL BOY and the “movie” is BLACK HAWK DOWN.
Like I said…I did not like where all this seemed to be leading. still do not.
But to comprehend what will “come” ahead in “time”….I have to look back…over the “footprints”.
So I looked back and could get no farther than September 11, 2001. It left a chasm not easily crossed… like there is nothing before it worth seeing. 9/11/01 changed the times and seasons. Another image from Ecclesiastes….so I looked at 9/11/01. On GOD’S calendar…..it is ELLUL 22/23. Which is just a “date”…a “milepost” on the road to refer to. Except ELLUL is the period of TESHUVAH….the 30 days that “precede” the “LATTER RAIN”. Traditionally on ELLUL 1 you start to “look back” to the past year and see where you have turned away from GOD. TESHUVAH means to return. To come back to…. On ELLUL 1 Psalm 27 is read…studied…accepted. On ELLUL 2 Psalm 27 and Psalm 28…..On ELLUL 3 Psalm 27 and 29…. On ELLUL 22/23 it would have been Psalm 27 and Psalm 50. So I looked at both psalms again. And got this sick feeling once again.
Psalm 27
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.
7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.
9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.
11 Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.
13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
For 9/11/01 Psalm 27 seemed just about right…if not late. Watching the WTC Towers on fire and crashing does remind one of verse 9. So I had to ask whether America has followed through verse 11….listened to GOD and followed HIS PATH since then. Are we “waiting” as directed in verse 14? I don’t think so. Then we have Psalm 50.…
Psalm 50
1 The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee.
18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
Now if the events of 9/11/2001 were a message from GOD to America did we hear HIM CLEARLY? Psalm 50 speaks of a nation that “turned away” from GOD. David Wilkerson several months ago spoke out that as a nation we did not get this message. The nation has not “changed” from what I see.
So where did it all fit was my question…still is. But I had gone back to 9/11/01 and my first step back to “now” I stumbled of ELLUL 23/24….. actually sunset on 9/11/01….and Psalm 51.…
Psalm 51
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
If Psalm 50 was a call to a nation…Psalm 51 was a personal call to return. How many have heard this call to return unto GOD and HIS COVENANT and HIS PATH. Looking back to this point and forward I see little call to conviction and repentance in all the messages from 9/11 to 9/27. That was YOM KIPPUR. THE BIG DAY…on GOD’S CALENDAR. But then using man’s calendar and 1/1/2002 I still see no voice calling in the wilderness to return or repent. So what do we have to look forward to if we do not turn away from Caesar and Mammon? If THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT can be trusted….by looking back we might see ahead….and that too is interesting…
Selah Bob Neumann
Looking Forward
LOVING A JEALOUS GOD
Several years ago I met two gentlemen that have greatly influenced many in the BODY. Dr JR Church and Gary Stearman. Several years ago Dr Church published the book “Prophecies in the PSALMS” where he placed before us that the psalms in their sequence seemed to correspond to the years of the 20th Century. In a later book “Prophecies in THE SONG OF MOSES” , Dr Church expanded the theory that the Psalms were a template for the events taking place. 1991, 1993, 1994 all fit well with their years….many wrote on it, even more spoke on it. In the late 90’s many pointed ahead at the appropriately numbered psalms. But that did not happen this year.
So I wondered, what was wrong with year 2002 and Psalm 102? My answer was not in the Psalm….because it sure seems prophetic to me.
Psalm 102
1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.
2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.
4 My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.
5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.
7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.
10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.
11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
12 But thou, O LORD, shall endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.
13 Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.
15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
16 When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
18 This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
21 To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
22 When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.
25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
28 The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.
Now I can take a joke….but verses 1 and 2 do not fit the image of “positive” thinkers. Most of the messages for the year 2002 have no place where we are calling on GOD in desperate times. Many have much to say about prosperity, blessings and glory….it does not come in the mode of rescue from adversity as Psalm 102 does. Psalm 102 is powerful because in verse 18 it declares that it is ” written for the generation to come”….when THE LORD shall build up ZION and appear in HIS GLORY. Many see this ahead, but the path is not the same. I too “see” a day ahead where HE REIGNS and HIS GLORY will fill THE EARTH. My problem is the “dots” between now and that DAY do not look the same as the others. Their pictures and patterns look awhile lot nicer and easier than the images I am dealing with.
Could I be just plain wrong? I could be. Except verse 25 fits so well with the idea of looking back to see ahead. “Of old” is the reference to the earth’s ”foundations” as the work of HIS HANDS. In other words everything has been said and will happen as HE SAID it would. So the events of the next days, weeks, months will look a whole lot like things that happened and were recorded in “ancient times”. Jeremiah twice speaks of returning to the old or ancient path(s). In Chapter 6 he states man just will not walk it.
Now Psalm 102 was spoken and recorded some 4000 years ago by Moses. But from verse 1 through verse 9 it seems I am looking in a mirror. If so verse 10 is challenging…NO ONE….absolutely NO ONE is addressing THE INDIGNATION OF GOD today. As I pondered this last night I realized there is a lot of danger in falling in love with a GOD who says HE IS JEALOUS. As paradoxical as it sounds, John’s GOD IS LOVE and MOSES hearing Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Is the same GOD. Now the term “JEALOUS” is to most people a negative term that revolves around emotion. Yet it is a referential adjective repeated over and over. My friend Nahum starts his book with the image….
Nahum 1
1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite
2 God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies
3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet
Nahum speaks of a “jealous” and avenging GOD. A GOD who is “furious”. Both are “negative adjectives”. Joshua is not much better. He challenged the people with…
19 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
ADONAI YHVH says HIS NAME IS JEALOUS. IT then is part of HIS NATURE. It sure is not hidden anywhere. Yes HE IS a GOD of LOVE….in HIS OWN WORDS WE HAVE both realities
5 And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD
6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth
7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth
For some reason no one warns any one about that “visiting iniquity” thing. I do like the merciful and gracious and longsuffering. I need it. And being abundant in goodness and truth is indeed positive. But someone, somewhere decided to edit out the negative stuff and forgot to explain it to the people. Then and now. Joshua said they, the people, would not hold up their side of the agreement. He was right. THEN and NOW.
For a long, long time now I have been “burdened” with a question. It is a cold and vulgar thought, but it is real. Why would anyone mess with a jealous GOD? Why would the church, a church, any church “cheat” on GOD? Sing about loving JESUS one minute then chase Mammon the next?
So I look ahead at a LOVING ABBA and the Books of JOEL, DANIEL, and Revelation. I look at the nation of the US of A and see ancient Samaria and Judea. I keep seeing the STORM and hearing the THUNDERS. Not exactly what others are “seeing” and “hearing”…..
I see a SHEPHERD who is THE LAMB. THE LAMB TREADS THE WINEPRESS. David wrote a cute little song long ago…. O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph
2 For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth
3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet
Makes me wonder just how people will respond when they “see HIM as HE IS”. Moses wrote
17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward
Selah…Amen
Bob Neumann
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