My Duty to Warn (Poem)

A duty to warn – a moral responsibility,

To notify potential targets or victims.

Of possible or probable impending injury,

About which someone may have …insightful wisdom. ¹

It’s especially applied to products and paid services,

In efforts to avoid legal liability for harms,

About which known info or insights, may not be obvious.

Sharing such info, can help raise folks’ awareness and alarms.

Some national intelligence services practice this norm,

Across their community of alliances.

To it, some ensure their intelligence agencies conform,

Including sharing warnings …with adversaries!

Escalating tensions across our world help to ensure,

That warnings shared, won’t necessarily be well-received!

Un-trusting recipients of warnings cannot be sure,

That, by warnings from adversaries, they might be deceived!

Such was the case twice in early 2024.

First, the U.S. warned Iran of an impending terror threat, ²

Then, it warned Russia of a terror threat at its door. ³

In both cases, with preparations, the warnings were not met!

In both cases, hundreds of civilians were killed,

Because warnings were not believed, clear or actionable.

As a result, I’m sure intelligence staffs were grilled!!!

Fears make us blind to warnings, even those creditable!

Independent of that very sad news, or so I thought,

The Lord led me to re-read Ezekiel 33.

Days later, I connected the dots to what He had sought:

To remind me, why He is warning you, of threats... through me!

In that chapter, The Lord commissioned Ezekiel,

As a watchman for his fellow, ancient Jews,

Warning him, Be faithful, or you will be culpable!

He was, though by most, his warnings …were refused.

Ezekiel was to hear warnings from The Lord’s mouth,

And then pass them on to anyone who would listen.

Those who heeded the warnings were spared

…‘when things went south!’ ⁴

With culpability, Ezekiel wasn’t laden.

Years earlier, it was Isaiah whom The Lord fingered,

To warn ancient Jews to repent of their untoward ways.

But folks failed to imagine Isaiah’s …’vision forward’.

Thus, only some remnant groups were spared from judgment forays. ⁵

And today???

News reports of outbreaks of various epidemics, ⁶

Including of early on-set cancers in young people,

Testify of health system’s improving diagnostics.

Who links that to what The Lord said would be predictable?? ⁷

Now, The Lord has commissioned …‘lots of Ezekiels’,

Faithful prophets, like me, as His modern watchmen, ? ⁸

Sounding His warnings so you can be eligible,

To be spared from the works of His judgment henchmen. 

You see, we have creditable intelligence that sin,

Is worse than cancer, an epidemic or a pandemic!

No matter what you think of it, or the lies devils spin. 

It’s our ‘elephant in the room’; a global sin pandemic! ⁹

Yet, as with Covid, folks seriously lack faith to believe!

The Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked,

Because He knows His eternal judgments they will ALL receive,

When they’ll stand before Him, after from hell, they’re wrested. ¹⁰

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¹ Credible intelligence. See the closing paragraphs of: Duty to Warn, Wikipedia.

² See: U.S. Warns Iran.

³ See: U.S. Warns Russia.

⁴ An idiom that means when things become much worse.

⁵ See: The Truth Rejection Effect (Poem).

⁶ Epidemics of petty and violent crime, gun violence, drug addiction, racial hatred, obesity, cultural intolerances, political/corporate/personal corruption, fatherlessness, weapons proliferation, fear and anxiety, abortions, faithlessness, all manners of unrighteousness...and the list goes on, and on, and...

⁷ See: Four Judgment Henchmen, Explained.

⁸ See: Revelation 19:10.

⁹ See: Elephant in the Room (Poem).

¹⁰ See: The Lake of Fire: A Preview (Series), and also Letter to 4th Age Christians (Poem).

Missed Insights About the Ascensions (Part 1)

See the Missed Insights series here

Ask informed Christians, ‘When did Jesus ascend into Heaven?’

They’ll likely reply, ‘Forty days after His resurrection.’

And they would be correct …to an extent,

If only thinking of …His last advent. 

This reply suggests we have a very narrow aperture,

Focused on the 33 years of His …‘human adventure’.

Non-believers the world over, have fallen into this trap,

Only regarding Jesus, first, as a babe whom Mary wrapped,

Then as a man whom Jews rejected, so Rome crucified.

Such are ‘the bookends of His life’, the world has certified.

And when believers think and hear, ‘Jesus’, they fall in line. 

But when their aperture is o-p-e-n-e-d, their thoughts are realigned!

Jesus, The Lord God, Second in The Holy God Trinity,

To Whom Father God entrusted creative authority,

So much MORE than ‘just a man’, as many folks conclude,

When they don’t perceive His God-traits that devils exclude.

As Divine Creator, He keeps in touch with His creation,

Especially with Earth and man, creation’s culmination. ¹

First, let’s clear-up confusions about His last ascension.

Then, let’s examine if that was His only ascension.

We’ve been conditioned to use Acts 1:9-to-11,

As our ‘go-to’ passage on Jesus’ return to Heaven. 

But when we w-i-d-e-n our apertures, perceptively,

We will ‘see’ what we missed by reading, selectively.

In John 20, Jesus told Mary:

Do not cling [touch or hold-on] to Me, 

Because I have not yet ascended to MY Father,

Tell My brothers I AM ASCENDING to our Father,

To My God and your God. ²

For sure, Mary was awed!!!

 

He encouraged Thomas to touch Him …8 days later.

Then He again ascended …32 days later!

If you’re just now ‘seeing’ this point, don’t be distraught.

It might be that we only ‘see’, what we’ve been taught. ³

On His first ascension, The Lord was likely accompanied,

By ALL resurrected saints from hell’s upper region, He had freed. ⁴

 

But was His last ascension to Heaven, His first??

And was that the last time that route He will traverse?? 

Stay tuned, as we’ll explore that point in Part 2.

Let’s see what The Lord will share, from-me-to-you.

Meanwhile, please ponder, then share the above insights,

So folks will open their apertures …to more light.

 

Stay tuned for Part 2

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¹ See: Is Jesus God? (Series, w/Fresh Insights).

² Poetically paraphrased.

³ Fresh out of the tomb, Jesus privately ascended to Heaven after He encountered Mary. Forty days later, He publicly ascended to Heaven. We all might tend to glaze over many details in Bible texts, and simply rely on and believe what we’ve been taught or heard. Could that be why The Holy Spirit, through Paul, admonishes us to …Study to show yourself approved by God, a workman who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

⁴ Curiosity ignighted?? See: Missed Insights from Matthew 27.

Roads Beckoned, Then Taken (Poem)

All across our post-pandemic world, I perceive,

Some roads folks are on, ‘pent-up’ stresses to relieve.

Stresses from what, in the pandemic, they could not escape,

Now that the pandemic is over, they seek to undrape.

In achieving their ‘stress relieving objective’,

They are hell-bent on being very effective!

You won’t find these roads in any landscape, physical.

They’re visible in contexts, ‘socio-cultural’.

Folks who transit them are from two groups, very distinct,

And neither group realizes that it’s been hoodwinked!

Though they know the roads they traverse have consequences,

They just focus on …‘beneficial counterpoises’. ¹

The first road taken…

This is the road we humans typically traverse.

It’s the one road on which most folks will never reverse!

I call it The Lord’s Grace-to-Judgment Freeway.

It’s our usual route, our sinful forte.

The pandemic restricted its usual traffic.

But now on this freeway, traffic is HEAVY and BRISK! ²

On the surface, it so very clearly appears to me,

The pandemic amplified desires to live sinfully.

In ‘sins catch-up mode’, the whole world now seems to be,

Exceeding their pre-pandemic sinful degrees.

But there’s one thing they are ALL blind to, spiritually,

As they brazenly pursue their sin-subserviency! ³

The Lord’s strategy in dealing with all of humanity,

Is initially to extend His Grace, with longevity.

Grace, leading to repentance, that’s what He intends.

But when this approach fails, its Judgments He then sends:

Four judgments henchmen, including various pestilences.

GLOBAL PANDEMICS are the quintessence of pestilences!!! ⁴

For folks in whom The Lord’s intention was not realized,

Pray-tell, what’s in store for them who are so …sin-patronized,

With post-pandemic lifestyles greatly …sin-radicalized?!

It seems their wickedness is brazenly romanticized.

These folks have ‘…fallen into the Hands of The Living God.’

After a bit more Grace, they’ll know His most harsh judgment rod. ⁵

Other roads taken…

The Covid pandemic shuttered so much of societies,

And many churches, some with questionable profundities.

Then, when it was over, life quickly bounced back! – Hurray!

But many churches had seen …the height of their heydays.

There were many reports of congregational shrinkages,

Facilities repurposing, and pastoral leakages. ⁶

It became increasingly clear many Christians had turned,

Off Believers’ Broadway, onto Reprobate Road, church-spurned.

This trend likely began long before the pandemic,

As with darkening culture, folks began to frolic.

As debates increased about pandemic church attendance,

The Lord exposed what was hidden in hearts in abundance. ⁷

Post-pandemic, many of these folks then became,

More lukewarm, so onto Laodicean’s Lane,

They turned, and headed straight to Temptations Turnpike,

Where they were free to remove their cloaks called, ‘Christ-like’.

On Fed-up Freeway, with devils they would rendezvous.

Then they ended-up on Apostasy Avenue.

Many of these folks may have never perceived,

Or may have lacked the faith to really believe,

How faith-filled ‘prayers move The Hand that moves the world’,

As, in patience, we wait to see His will unfurl.

Thus, discontented with their faith, they became,

Then decided to shift into …the ‘nones’ lane. ⁸

They’re living lives in …overt faith-denunciation,

Just as Paul’s warned of …end-of-age tergiversation.

That comports with The Lord’s letter to Laodiceans,

Folks who became lukewarm, worthy of regurgitation!

Thus, they are a key precursor of the end of this age,

A key signal The Lord’s about to …‘turn His ages page!’ ⁹

One day I saw how aggressively,

Some neighbors had pruned their shrubbery.

They did this in anticipation of good Spring rains,

That’ll be followed by desert heat, when growth is restrained.

Could that be what The Lord is doing,

Aggressive, age-ending, church-pruning???

(If so, WoW!!!)

The Lord had shown me that Christians in the tribulation age,

Will include some former 3rd age Christians who would re-engage. 

They’ll miss the rapture of authentic 3rd age saints.

Then they’ll see the anti-Christ, and face his constraints!

They will be in the first multitude that was seen by John,

Folks who will be beheaded after the anti-Christ’s dawn! ¹⁰

Now, they boast as a ‘none’, or of their political prowess.

Then, they’ll boast in Christ, ready to pass The Lord’s martyrdom test!

They’ll be joined by new, 4th age saints who were

‘faithful in false faiths’, ¹¹

But who were swayed-to-switch, and resist the anti-Christ man’s baits!

That’s what I ‘see’ of these ex-saints today who will transition,

To the next age of history, the age of tribulation.

I ‘see’ them on roads, not knowing their destination,

Turning here, then there, joining devils’ delegations.

With every mile, right and left turn, further from Christ they stray,

Not perceiving the next rapture is closer day-by-day! ¹²

If only they knew, on The Lord’s map, they’re at a key juncture!

Leaving Him at this time, they’re making a colossal blunder!

To you, dear Readers, I offer, and hope you’ll heed my caution:

Avoid Reprobate Road where The Lord’s dis-favor is certain!

Don’t go near Apostasy Avenue! It leads f-a-r from Grace!

Keeping straight on Yahweh’s Way, together we’ll see The Lord’s face.

If you know some folks who think backslidden life is sublime,

Who, by apostasy, are hoodwinked, please send them this rhyme.

Apostasy Avenue

Believers’ Broadway

Fed-up Freeway

Grace-to-Judgment Freeway

Laodicean’s Lane

Reprobate Road

Temptations Turnpike

Yahweh’s Narrow Way

Now you know the 8 named roads in my list.

Of my rhyme, they help to capture its gist.

I hope you’ll ponder on which road,

You have sown seeds from your heart’s load. 

When they sprout, to you, their fruits will beckon.

Then we’ll find out …which roads you’ll have taken.

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¹ Counterpoise - a factor, force, or influence that balances or neutralizes another.

² See: Matthew 7:13-14.

³ In John 8:34, Jesus said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.’

⁴ See: Four Judgment Henchmen, Explained, and also Grace, Why So Long? (Poem).

⁵ See: Hebrews 10:31. See also: The Reluctant Judge (poem).

⁶ See web search results for: What happened to churches after the pandemic?

⁷ See: Psalm 33:13-15, and especially Proverbs 4:20-23 (CJB). See also: Heart Expressions (Poem).

⁸ See web search results for: Who are the nones?

⁹ Tergiversation – backsliding, backslidden. See: The Lord’s letter to the Laodicean church, and also: Human History Ages (Series).

¹⁰ See: Audacious Christians (Series), esp. Part 2, and Missed Insights from Revelation 20.

¹¹ See: The Shortest, Most Powerful Sermon, Un-heard (Poem).

¹² See: The Rapture (Series).