If My People Don’t (Poem)

Across all time, consider everyone whom He chose,

From Adam and Eve, to you and me -- gals and fellows.

Because, in His sovereignty, it suited Him.

For The Lord's hidden purposes, chose He them. 

Perhaps a better question may be, ‘How does He choose?’

In reviewing our history, might we see some clues?

History has a knack of telling much more than we see.

To see more, attentive hearts and eyes are the only fee.

The history He recorded can be easily summed:

It features people through whom He would personally come.

In the fullness of time, through them He did come, as a man.¹    

From the start-til’-then, everything He did furthered this plan.

Since He left, He has used the same modus operandi.

Now, the peoples are two: the first ones, and those He would ‘buy’.²

Two peoples, the hub of His wheel, and Apple of His eye,

The catalysts or sparks, raison d’etre, others away fly.³   

He says, to Him, only two groups will arrive.

Does the fate of all others from these derive?

Interesting question, though it may seem quite odd.

The fate of all others, He has left ...to their god.⁴

Things He promised to His first group have been cherry-picked,

By His second group, since to them He appears less strict.

For example, He promised to heal all the land of the first,

If from sins they turned, but some in the second don’t like this verse.⁵

To the second, He said, ‘For others, you’re salt savor.’

But we know (and so act like) salt doesn’t preserve forever.

Thus, for conditions of our world, we excuse ourselves,

As we warm our church pews, and stack our Christian bookshelves.

To the first, He said, ‘Distinguish, separate and sanctify’.

Yet the second is indistinguishable. Stats do not lie.⁶

To the first, He said, ‘Show Grace to orphans, widows and strangers’.

Yet the second quips, ‘Why welcome them, and be their financiers?!’

To the first group, He said, ‘Come unto me, I am your Savior’,

Yet rich, vile men, the second grasps with messianic fervor.

For disobedience, the first group bore heavy burdens. 

Has the second become …their disobedient cousins?

‘Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with Me’, He told the first.⁷

Some seconds say, ‘Just Vote Bible!’ Code for anti-two sins, their ‘worst!’ ⁸     

Friends, of all the things God says His people should be and do,

Politically, why boil it all down to just these two?!

We, who’re called by His Name, highly fractionalized,

Living in our ‘group frames’, highly categorized. 

Content to walking in the same steps as our first group cousins,

While our land suffers under burdens of our …weak faith gremlins. 

But hold on, there is hope even in this!

Hope springs eternal because we’re still His! 

To the first group, He promises to replace stony hearts,

And to the second, He said, ‘My plan hell’s gates will not thwart!’

So even as Israel refused to do His A, B, Cs,

And as His Church group follows suit, and don’t do His X, Y, Zs,

He remains ever faithful to His plan, to do His part.

We’ll pay a price! But when we won’t or don’t, Grace He’ll impart.

God’s plan for the ages will not be thwarted by our disobedience.

But consider the price outsiders pay for The Church’s impertinence.

Now is the time for all of us to repent.

From refusals to obey, we should relent.

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¹ God, Who is Spirit, came to earth as the man, Jesus, through the Hebrew race.
² Jesus, serving as God’s ‘Christ Savior’ (Messiah), died sacrificially on a Roman cross, and was resurrected (raised from the dead). Thus, He paid the redemption or purchase price for God’s offering to mankind -- salvation from sin. Those who accept His sacrifice and redemption price paid, and are discipled into His 'holy ways' (separated from the ways of the un-redeemed world) are called, The Church.
³ The nation of Israel, and The Church.
⁴ Apart from The Lord God Jehovah, Creator and Sustainer of all things, The Bible affirms there is only one other god of this world, satan, who was formerly Lucifer, a glorified angel. The closing chapters of The Book of Revelation affirm, in eternity, only two groups of people will enjoy His eternal Paradise on a brand new Earth: (1) a remnant of born-again, redeemed Jews, who will forever serve Him as priests; and (2) a remnant of born-again, redeemed Gentiles, who will serve Him as kings and subjects in nations on this new, eternal Earth. I understand these groups will include all babies who died or were aborted in birth, and all children who died before The Lord's 'age of accountability', i.e., knowing right-from-wrong. 
⁵ ‘When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.’ (2 Chronicles 7:13-14) This Old Testament verse posits a strong link between the behavior of God’s people and the quality of life on their land(s). This link is echoed in Jesus’ admonitions that His believers ‘are the salt and light of/in the earth’, responsible for diminishing the darkness of evil and retarding its deteriorating effects. Some prefer to blame unsaved sinners for the deteriorating quality of life on earth.
⁶ ‘Be holy, as I am holy.’ (Old Testament Leviticus 11:44-45 ,19:2, 20:7, 20:26. See also New Testament 1 Peter 1:5) It is often said, and some statistics demonstrate, that The Church, in lifestyles and behaviors, is increasingly indistinguishable from the unsaved world.
⁷ Micah 6:8
⁸ See: How the Bible Belt Lost God and Found Trump