Sanctions

Sanctions

11/18/15

The word sanction can be used in many different ways, but the normal meaning of this word contributes to a result of disobedience to some law or ordinance that has been violated.  Not much good can come from the period of sanction that is placed on those who have earned this status unless of course their heart truly changes for the better and returns to the original status to which they were in before the sanctions occurred.  In these days and times, we continually hear about threats of sanctions against groups and countries, and while some of these threats are deemed necessary many of them are usually ignored and eventually go away.  But we must never forget that there is only one true holy establishment that cannot continually allow His subjects to cross the lines without warnings and then sanctions, but do we even recognize what is about to come our way?

On Friday, the 13^th of November, our country’s government announced that we had lifted the economic sanctions against the small West African nation of Liberia.  I can almost guarantee you that the majority of the younger generations do not even know why this small country was under sanctions in the first place, which is a sad testament to our educational system around this country and should prove that teaching to take tests is not the answer for our future.  While not every situation around the world can be taught thoroughly enough each year, general studies of regional aspects of our societies can be administered to our children for survival purposes.  Anyway, these sanctions that were placed on Liberia actually occurred 11 years ago when their president Charles Taylor had committed atrocities against humanity during the horrendous civil war that cost countless people their lives.  As the world began to see what this vicious dictator did to his country and people, economic sanctions were the least that the U S Government could do.

It is this type of situation that defines the topic and subject of this article and it also serves as a warning to people today, especially our country, about how acts eventually get caught and will not only serve the original punishment but have to acquire the longer lasting ones of the cover-up status that was pursued afterwards.  This type of activity occurs on an individual level and on a national level as well and every type of group in between; all of humanity is capable of configuring this type of action and doing its best to implement it without discovery.

On a personal level, this type of setting still haunts me to this day.  Even though the incident that I am going to describe to you occurred a couple of decades ago, the events and embarrassment that it caused my family still weigh heavy on my heart.  I remember that I purposefully did something that I knew was wrong for it went totally against every detail my parents instilled into my life over the previous years.  After I had committed this stupid act I did my best to come up with a plan to hide it from my parents.  Being “clueless” about what had transpired was a good defense I thought, so this would be my strategy.  I did not even mention the act to my parents until they noticed the results of my action, which played right into my corner, so I thought.

With the “enlightenment” process transpiring at my house, I took my stance and held firm with the story that I had rehearsed.  At this point in my life, I had basically lived in all small towns but even though it was not my custom to do stupid things and ten try and lie about them, I had not learned of the overall concept of small town atmospheres and knowledge of events around me. What is hilarious is that I really did not fully comprehend this type of small town alignment until a few years later, even though I had been in small towns all those years before.

As the situation unfolded, my story rang loud and true and with my “knowledge” being spilled the questions stopped and I was allowed to continue with my evening’s activities.  I truly believed that I had won the battle with this simple ploy to lie to my parents about something that I did.  I had no way of knowing what the future might have held for this situation nor would I know what this portion in my life would come to in my distant future, but at that moment I was not thinking about any of that, I had won the day; so I thought.

I was so stuck in my world that I did not bother to find out exactly what was transpiring after my conversation with my parents. Things and events did not stop there with that particular conversation, other details had to be attended to, including formal paperwork with specific organizations in order to keep in good standing.  I had not a clue that this process was not over and that other people had questions, and answers that would eventually hold the keys to the truth appearing.  During this portion of the time, my parents did not stop wondering if what I had told them was the truth and it did not take them long to find out the other key to my lie by asking one simple leading question to another person.

My plot was foiled and it did not take too much longer until my parents confronted me with the entire incident once again.  My lie came crashing in on me because I knew I had been caught before they talked with me; I knew my goose was cooked but as when I was telling this lie in the beginning I had no clue about what my punishment was going to be and what it would entail either.  As my father directed his questions to pinpoint accuracy, I gave up the truth and left out no details this time.  I was old enough not to get a spanking but after I received my punishment, I kind of missed those spanking days of my younger years.

No one can blame for my parents’ response to the truth, especially in the manner in which they had to acquire it.  My parents did not punish me out of anger but out of tough love, a condition that is seldom used today.  After the talk had concluded the “penalty” phase came to order.  The truth about my lie had been exposed and then confessed by my lips so the next stage was what the consequences were going to be.  I was initially punished for the lie that I had chosen to tell and once again I apologized for that action of mine and told my parents that I was wrong for doing such.  They understood my guilt and accepted my apology, and I thought that things were done with so I began to leave the area. 

What I did not realize was that my punishment or “sanctions” if you wish to refer to them as were not over for there was a second event that had to be cleared up before this session was completed.  It was concerning the fact after the lie that had to be dealt with and it seemed that the second part of my lie had to take its course as well.  Because of the time and effort of others were included because of my lie this portion of the lie could not be ignored and it was this portion of my punishment that added additional time of my grounding that “troubled” me the most.  The initial grounding I thought was fair and I could not argue with the amount of time that had been placed, but it was the second grounding that got me for its time was much longer than the first.  I did not understand this fact until quite some time later, but it set into motion of what is going to occur in this country as well.

God has shared with us a couple of times before about how it takes humans to make up a nation and how important it is that these inhabitants keep their hearts right before Him.  God has also shared with us that if our hearts do not seek Him continually, our truth monitors shut down and we begin to see things through worldly eyes instead of our spiritual ones.  It is through this process that this subject of the article comes into play in my life and the life of this nation, for our actions towards God and His laws have been severely cut and even though we know we are lying to God about our lives, we believe that the reasoning behind our lies has established a truth that God seems to agree with.

There are many types of sanctions that can be placed upon people, groups or nations and it usually depends upon what the entities in question did that warrants the appropriate and subsequent sanctions against such entities.  This nation has stood as a beacon to the world on many levels and we have achieved this status through our commitment to God first then the world; that is, up until a few decades ago.  We have since voluntarily changed course in many of our ways in order to pacify some of our constituents and trying to make them feel accepted no matter what their beliefs or physical attributes may be.  It is through this course that our nation is now beginning to understand, yet at the same time ignore, why our leadership is faltering within the world community; however, on the other hand, the increasing ideology of self-idolatry has increased 100-fold during this same time period.

The Bible gives plenty of examples of this type of human behavior and God’s eventual response according to the way that humans conduct their lives afterward.  Even though Adam and Eve are not nations per say, they do give rise to nations and thus serve as the prime example of hat occurs in individuals that unless stopped, will follow quickly afterward.  It does not say exactly how much time had passed until the days of Noah, but if one researches it out that time frame is not that long; God had to completely wipe the earth clean with water for the condition of the hearts of mankind.  David had a heart after God, probably like no other, but it was his sin and lies that caused him to falter within his kingdom and placed Israel at risk many times over.

The Bible contains testament after testament of prophets whom God raised up to tell the people of their disobedience and how much God did not like their living standards.  Today we shake off these ideas and concepts as exaggerations or even analogies but in truth when God says “enough” He must act according to what His Word states or He would be a liar Himself.  I find it very intriguing that the people in the biblical times of the prophets act in a certain manner, some of them even going so far as to dump the prophet into a hole just to keep him quiet.  The intriguing part is that today, people doubt what the Bible has to say or pervert it by interpreting it in their own manner for their own comfort.  Well, isn’t that exactly what the people in the Bible did? Look at what happened to those societies; if the actions were the same back then as they are today, that forms a huge amount of inside knowledge that we should be taking a hold of not ignoring.

Adam and Eve were eternally changed and their physical lives became installed with a physical condition that they had never known before.  Adam and Eve were warned by God not to eat of the tree of good and evil, that was it.  God did not leave out the result of such act if they did disobey either.  Israel was totally annihilated for accepting worldly customs into their lives, hearts, and daily practices.  God warned them not to do these activities before He had to act.  The reaction patterns of the people of each biblical example are being blatantly manifested by our world societies today, so why would God break His pattern now?  What makes us different from any other creation that He has allowed to walk this planet before?  If God does not act then He manifests Himself as a liar and I cannot fathom that thought.

Job states it best in his response to what others were telling him to do after his world literally came crashing and burning down around him.  Job understood God’s ways and laws well enough that Job could stand up and verbally and honestly state that God would not punish him for any unknown sin of his.  This means that God had made Himself very clear, even in Job’s days, of what He expected from man and how to keep those laws in order to establish a relationship with Him.  Those people in Israel, Adam and Eve, they all understood what would happen if they chose to disobey God’s commands.  No one in this modern societal age can honestly state that they do not know what God’s laws are, simply because there is a church on every corner of this nation and of other nations around the world.  This fact alone dismisses any constellation of a human not knowing God.

What is so troublesome is that when you piece together all of these examples one shall easily find a pattern, include my personal example in there as well.  It does not matter who or what the circumstance or situation might be, people have no excuse for not understanding the ways and means of God.  Even in lands of strict Communism, people defy their government to worship God. So, I pose this question: what response should God give to those who know the ways of His Word yet continually, blatantly, and voluntarily ignore?  No one likes to talk about this subject because it always “promotes doom and gloom”, but we must come to the realization that if we were not messing things up that we would have to talk about your “doom and gloom”.

It is not too difficult to transpose the word judgment for the word sanction here.  For its usage would be correct when dealing such a topic as this.  It is a tough idea to think about but it a topic that needs to be struck into every heart before we get an idea of what God’s sanctions will be.  Even though our nation was specifically created for the restoration of the world, our existence is no greater in God’s eyes than of Adam and Eve, Noah, Jeremiah, Paul, or Timothy.  That is why it is of the utmost priority that we turn our hearts back to God before these same types of devastating conditions come to our shores. 

Down the road is when my “tragedy” or truth session came along.  The same conditions arrived in the other examples that God has shared with us in this article.  All examples have a couple of things in common.  The first being that people created a problem by believing their way was better.  Secondly, after the act was completed, it was covered.  Thirdly, the truth was found out and lastly the consequences of those acts were revealed.  It does not have to happen in this fashion, that pattern can be stopped, but it is strictly our choice to do so or not.  God loves us and wishes us to think according to His ways and means, not our own.  It is His ways that lead to protection and prosperity both physically and spiritually, not our own.  Why do we have to wait until we see the word “enough” from God being orchestrated before our eyes?  We do not, it is simply our choice.

One last thing before I stop and it is this, we must remember that when this devastation occurs it will not be partial to whom it is delivered amongst.  It brings into the concept of the just and unjust, another topic that God has shared with us a few months ago.  This means that many shall end their lives not knowing the truth about God and about His forgiveness.  We have fallen in so many ways that in all honesty I cannot understand why God has not already showed us His sanctions; only by the true grace of God has this not occurred yet.  Repent Church!!  Allow God to separate you, truly separate you from this world!!  Allow God to restore to you the ability to proclaim the true gospel of Christ as we are supposed to be doing.  If not, we shall witness the truth of God in a manner in which He does not wish to demonstrate; this is true love, whether we like it or not.

DLB