BROKEN BRANCHES

     In the book of Romans, St. Paul speaks of God being known by His Creation, and makes the distinction that God is the Creator and mankind are His creatures...we are created...though with all of our advances in human history...many like to believe...that WE are creators!  Today, as the weather is finally breaking into a normal Spring pattern, standing outside with the dog reflecting on God, creation, faith and the fate of humankind...

    Jesus said that the mustard seed is the smallest and grows huge with many branches where many birds can makes their home.  Human intelligence can take Scripture and twist them to fit any kind of desire they wish--so how do we know--what Truth really is?  How can we know who is "messing with our minds"?  The liberalism of society is becoming so incredibly ridiculous, and anger is fomenting on the side of those grasping to hold onto what they know...how things have always been...all the while grieving at the losses stockpiling in memories past.  Both sides are furiously fighting for control and domination in our world...both sides are losing...what are they losing?  They are losing their own souls, whether they acknowledge this or not.

     The whole idea of faith, of a Savior, of any kind of religion or God has been continually eroded, attacked, deprived, and weathered and found cracking....leaving holes in the branches of the Tree of Life.  Limbs are now unsafe, doomed, and won't last very long....a good wind and down they will come!

     The branches lay on the ground.  They are good for nothing separated from the Tree.  They will be gathered and burned.  Jesus made this analogy in referencing those who do not belong to Him... tares gathered and burned...of no use.  

     Psalm 1 speaks of the righteous person as a tree planted by the water and being strong and vibrant, and also of the wicked as being dried up and destroyed.  Like this tree struck numerous times by lightning stripping its bark, sapping its strength, splitting its trunk, and finally the wind taking off huge hunks of branches...this is the person whose faith is constantly attacked by sins, evil, weakness, laziness, wickedness, neglect and just weathering the storms of life on their own.  So many people are not reading their bibles, others are reading what they want into it, others are brainwashed in education by the worldly entities that seek to do away with antiquated ideas of the Church and God, and still others who blame the Church and God for every evil that has plagued the planet.  We are a very mobile and exhausted society on overload in every aspect of our lives!  Interesting to note that the downfall of man began with the Tree of Knowledge...of knowing both good and evil!  How clever of satan to barrage us with "knowledge" through this digital age!!  Doesn't matter if it is all true or not....the internet has become a magnificent tool in attacking and wounding the Tree of Life!  Too busy to read, cannot remember what you read, too tired to pray, too many to pray for, too many versions of "truth" to discern who is real and who is not?  Our enemy is quite an adversary.

    St. Paul said that branches were broken off and others grafted in, but that God could restore those broken off--that is a huge truth!  Have you ever seen anyone be able to reattach a branch and make it grow?  Only a God could!  Have you ever seen medical science bring a human being back to life after being dead for 3 or 4 days?  Something greater than  ourselves has written in the Scriptures through "men of God" and through Himself in the form of Jesus Christ His Son...and His Story is real!  Sad to say, even God Himself has said..."when the Son of Man returns, (not if) will He find faith on the earth"?  This was prophecy for our times!  He was giving us a clue as to what the end times would appear as...nobody believing???  So why are we surprised to see our world in every facet of society is losing faith?  Perhaps the question we should be asking is...am I losing faith?  Am I a tree planted drinking from the Living Waters?  Am I just weathering the storms, taking the blows as they come, and hoping for the best?

     We all go through "dry seasons", sometimes we go through incredibly blessed and prosperous periods, and other times we are in for the fight of our lives--the thing we must not lose sight of--is what we will give in exchange for our own souls!  Whether we live or we die, depends on this!  The hope of Christ and faith...is though the body dies, we will not; in fact one day the body and soul will be transformed and transfigured in the Glory of God...(which is why Peter, James and John were given a glimpse of that).  We don't understand how and when all that is going to happen...but keeping faith that it will...is the whole reason for everything!  It does no one any good to fight about the Rapture, the Assumption, who goes or who stays...the point is to remember...whoever belongs to Christ will never die! If you belong to Christ--we don't break off His Branches or cut ourselves off either!  Start thinking of folks as "souls" intended for Heaven and the best Life ever;  or as those heading for a horrible nightmare that never ends...and worry about the destination of our own!  Read, pray, examine self, confess, encourage one another, worship Him and try to avoid as much "worldly" stuff that saps our energy, zaps our strength, traps our faith, and craps our soul!  Fox news and CNN are often unsuspectingly used by the powers of darkness, and Facebook and other social media as well...as St. Paul alluded to..."all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient, all things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any."  Who is the thief stealing our time? prayers? energy? faith?  Instead of getting angry at every post a liberal shares or every new report set to inflame our emotions...turn it off, click out of it, train and limit how much exposure we give in to, and return to the Spouse who is waiting in the still quiet moments!  Stll? Quiet? Who does that anymore? EXACTLY!!!