What My Eyes Have Witnessed
1/1/17
When our eyes are turned towards a direction it is easy to see things in a certain manner, without taking into consideration of what other aspects of the picture in front of you represents. We in the Church have to admit that we have fallen into this type of pattern as well and thus have created a division not only within our own confines but to those who we are supposed to be witnessing to as well. Our eyes have been turned from God’s truth to a truth that our physical acceptance is more valued instead of our eternity. Until we refocus our spiritual eyes back on God and His Ways, our directional downfall shall be steady and direct, and if not changed through repentance shall surely lead to our complete destruction.
Some of you might remember that I spent a short time in the military and while my eyes did not directly see combat or any combat activities, a part of my base was deployed for a while and we did receive a casualty while in country. There are not many people out there who actually enjoy war and every aspect of this devastation that humans can bring through this type of action, but when humans forgo the real diplomatic opportunities and end the talking it is inevitable that the shooting will start soon afterward. It is not too difficult to find such heated action in the world today for our globe is in constant turmoil due to the failure of mankind’s spiritual knowledge of the real war against them and have chosen to focus our eyes on the physical attractions instead. We have strayed so far away from this fact that we are now helpless in the fight for our own people that are losing in the drug war alone, along with other wars and skirmishes fought between tribes and nations.
I remember receiving a phone call from a military base back in 1991 during the middle of the night. The person on the phone was informing me that we about to receive the remains of a pilot that had lost his life during a flight over Iraq and that there would be quite a few signatures to be made upon receiving these remains. The person also stated where the remains were to be forwarded and how and when to complete this task. As the conversation ended I had no idea of “how much” of remains I was to receive and in what condition they would be in when they arrived. Working in a hospital I understood that we would occasionally receive requests from the top brass of the base but when top forensic officials of the USAF call and begin asking questions one can become a tad nervous.
The remains arrived the next afternoon as I was called down to the receiving dock to sign for them. My mind wandered and wondered a great deal down the single flight of stairs to the loading dock for the only other thing in the loading dock area was the morgue, which I then figured an entire box was arriving. As I reached the area, I noticed that a single person was standing on the loading dock with a small package in his hand along with a clipboard. A couple of thoughts went through my mind but when the moment arrived I signed for a small box only about seven inches long which contained the entire remains of Captain Michael Chinberg. Of course, I had to open the box to make sure that all the contents were present before signing the receipt, which I did and it was a sight that to this day I have never forgotten.
As the next day arrived, I followed through with my orders and placed this man’s remains into the proper shipping container and off he went to AFIP in Washington, D.C... I thought I had heard the last of this event until I read that Captain Chinberg’s wife was then involved in legal issues with his parents concerning burial details, money, and insurance issues amongst other petty details. I have occasionally thought about this person and what my eyes witnessed that day, and I have always wondered how things with the legal mess ended but each time that I stand in front of a flag when the National Anthem plays I always remember Captain Chinberg and bow my head and thank him for his service to our country. He fought for this country and paid the ultimate price while doing so and as long as I am around on this earth I shall always pay tribute to this man I never knew besides a small box of mangled meat that my eyes briefly saw one day.
At that time, I had no idea that this specific experience of mine would be used in an article about how much God loves us almost three decades later, but it is not my reasoning to argue with God and I do as I am told and shown to do. While one cannot deny that there are countless battles, skirmishes and wars ongoing around the globe today we as a species have failed to recognize that this type of warfare is not the most important war that is raging today. When you look at history, every society in our past has been riddled with war and rumors of wars that have frightened those people and as we have progressed throughout this time frame it also seems like we have not learned the true identity of our real enemy as well. The Bible records our true enemy beginning in Genesis and his lies and deceptions have been thoroughly displayed in these records as well, yet we seem to take it out on the flesh instead of the real war our eternal positioning.
God reminds us in His Word that we should not be fighting against flesh and blood for this type of fighting is a symptom and not the root of our fight. God has recently reminded us of this spiritual fight and how His armor is specifically designed for this fight and not designed for any type of physical altercations. God understands how our physical has already been compromised to the extent that we cannot sustain life in the physical for the eternal period but it is the spiritual life that must be fought for so that its eternal life can be spent with its Creator and not its enemy. The acts of physical war are nothing short of horrific and can only produce heartache and anger towards the combatants that can last for generations but the spiritual casualties shall last for eternity unless we recognize this important truth about our real fight for our survival. The physical truth that there is nothing sacred during a war is an exact statement but nothing can be more accurate to say that an eternal death is far greater than a physical one alone. When the hot physical war touches the single life, all theories of civility vanish in the flames that are being fueled, as does God’s heart burn with anguish when one of His prized creations chooses the world over Him.
Why is it so easy for us to acknowledge the skirmishes that our physical eyes witness yet ignore or even resist in the witnesses we see from the eternal war? As each day passes in a wartime setting, further news of deepened wounds between these tribes and nations are proclaimed. These types of threats and acted upon violence grace our screens demanding we take sides in such conflicts, all the while sitting back and stare in “shock” not wanting to believe humanity could sink so low and be so cruel towards one another. What is more disheartening is that the Church has failed to recognize the real war that is ongoing and would rather focus on taking sides of the physical conflicts. We all know that churches get caught up in the physical battles of war but when politics, general acceptance, and popular demand upstage the Church’s mission the heart of the Church is not doing what she is supposed to be completing.
The spiritual battle is one of eternal placement and one that when reached cannot be changed no matter how much “begging and pleading” the person can do before God. That is why it is so important that the Church understand her position and to proclaim this far greater spiritual war instead of the physical ones receiving the attention. The eternal is far greater than the physical and until we refigure this truth in our hearts our spiritual downfall shall continue unabated. A physical death has already been guaranteed through our choices a long time ago, but our spiritual is still hanging in the balance as long as we take air into our lungs.
The more God reveals His Word into my heart the more troubled I become with the status of the Church. She has had ample opportunity to get things right with God and to proclaim His Word to the dying world yet she still sits and spins on a pine cone complaining how unfairly she is being treated by those who she is supposed to be witnessing to. How can anything or any entity be effective when they are divided from the start of who should be the leader to complete the mission that has been set before them? Remember the old saying “too many chiefs and not enough Indians”? This saying is absolutely correct for this position that the Church has taken and it is time that we repent for these sins and to once again focus our spiritual eyes on the war that shall determine our eternal placement and not the physical and political fallacies that we believe is far greater of importance.
The gravity of our sin weighs heavily on my spirit for God has allowed my physical eyes be witness to the sinful death that clouds and rules our spiritual eyes towards the real war around us. This is not a gracious position that I have but it far weighs less than what we shall inherit if we do not open our eyes to the spiritual, for the spiritual is eternal. While physical death is tough enough to bear, the eternal separation and direct result to submit is far beyond our finite hearts and minds to conceive. The gravity of such measures provides the framework to what God wishes for His children to understand, it is still resting on the choices of His prized creations to either change their aspects or to continue as the status quo of the world demands.
God is beginning to show me the depth of the gap that lies between humanity and His presence and it is through this gap that countless of people fall into while pursuing their own agendas in life. They are ignoring the single bridge that is available for their usage in order to cross this gap yet fail to even recognize its presence as they take that last step before falling into this gap that they do not even understand that through our own actions established. Until the Church recommits herself to the separation from God that she has established she shall not be able to effectively complete the mission that she was commanded to do by the single bridge that God has provided. Satan uses this world and all of its political nonsense to incense the people to understand exactly what is going on around them.
For us to adequately understand why the Bible says that there shall always be wars and rumors of wars circulating around us especially in the end times it must be considered that the majority of said people do not get the concept of Ephesians Chapter 6 when the Word states that we do not fight against flesh and blood and to put on the full armor of God so that we may combat the attacks of our real enemy. God wants us to recognize this gap that divides and separates us from Him, and He wants us to understand that the bridge in front of us is there for our crossing through His Son’s blood, and most importantly that we do need to be separated from the world and not our Creator. Our eyes may continue to needlessly witness the physical horrors of war but when we grasp this concept of the spiritual war that fills our lives that go uninhibited around us, the true fight can begin against the real enemy and thus shut down the physical insanity as well.
Stop and think about this concept for a moment, If there were divisions between us then God’s Word would not and could not say that the war that we face is spiritual alone and that it would be justified in fighting against tribes and nations. BUT God’s Word does NOT say this because the division – through our own accord – is between Him and us and God has provided the necessary bridge to cross that gap and as long as our enemy can keep our focus on the physical he has completed his job in keeping the true gap of our existence hidden; that is, until we fall off that cliff that we are vastly approaching. Think about this Church! Reposition your eyes and refocus them on the spiritual aspect which is our true battle. God does not have a physical, political agenda He has an agenda that deals strictly with your eternal existence with Him, just as it was in the beginning in Genesis. Repent and allow God to restore our hearts once again to the core of our existence and understand the reason why He provided the Garden of Eden, provided the first covering of sacrifice in the Garden of Eden, Covenant and most importantly the reason why He sent Jesus to the earth in the first place.
DLB
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