The Life Of The Thirsty & The Afflicted: Unsurpassed Hope~!

When one hears the congregation of Jehovah God speak of those who profess to be of the “little flock,” one sometimes hears within it a reverance that, at times, may be improper at worst, undeserved at best. Where how one treats Christ’s brothers is important –primarily because of how Christ himself views each one–my point, actually, is one of the reality faced by each “little one” who faces the war being waged by the serpent, as one of those who are among the seed of Abraham, Jehovah’s friend.  That sentence in and of itself ought to invoke a deep concern by all the Brotherhood for all those who comprise that group of individuals who are among the little flock today.

Far from being stars at a Grand Parade, as some might assume and as some, indeed, strive to make them into, the true and discreet “little flock” belonging to Jesus Christ shares in his sufferings now in many ways, or as Peter described it–a burning among such ones,–which is happening as a trial, and which is happening among the whole association of brothers worldwide today. This is neither controversial, nor anything new to the faithful today. Yet in our congregations we hear individuals speak of this one or that one, who is–as they say it–”among the anointed”–and it drifts off the tongue as the ultimate name drop. It is spoken even in a quiet reverence and then just as quickly dropped. Whether it be this scenario or the more common reference to the “slave” from the platform, what is often not said–indeed, often not even understood, is this:

Far from being giants among men, those chosen share in the sufferings of Christ and precisely because they are chosen and the war being waged now is being waged against them personally, individually as well as collectively. When Jehovah’s Word by Isaiah the Prophet declared some of Christ’s sufferings plainly, unambiguously, many do not read into them any modern identity among those of the little flock, who must share in those sufferings IF they are to arise in glory to be forever with His Majesty, the Lion of Judah, King of God’s Israel. And who is this Israel?

 

“But you, O Israel, are my servant, you, O Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend; you, whom I have taken hold of from the extremities of the earth, and you, whom I have called even from the remote parts of it. And so I said to you, ‘You are my servant; I have chosen you, and I have not rejected you. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not gaze about, for I am your God. I will fortify you. I will really help you. I will really keep fast hold of you with my right hand of righteousness.’” –Isaiah 41:8-10

That Israel is great solely because Jehovah is Great and so is the Christ, not because of of such ones is great on his or her own merits. How often people forget that Jehovah chose the small and the weak and the ignoble and the unwise and the foolish and the reason why is to make sure everyone understands, as made known to among others the priest and prophet Ezekiel some 20 times, that it is Jehovah who makes something out of nothing and nobody else. Where this is true–and it is–no member of the “little flock” will likely be heard to say anything about “deserving” anything from Jehovah or Christ. Rather, such ones–as I began this brief sketch–shares in the sufferings of Christ. This is by Jehovah’s Will and entering into that can be agonizing, as Christ knows better and more completely than any other member of his little flock. Tet to “share” in christ’s sufferings is to enter into a viewpoint by others that is not only ignoble, but even that which can border upon–and even surpass–contempt.

We read Isaiah’s prophecy–about primarily the Christ himself–and, of course, a solid vignette of some of his sufferings–but fail to perhaps see that which is faced by members of the little flock today.

“. . .No stately form does he have, nor any splendor; and when we shall see him, there is not the appearance so that we should desire him. He was despised and was avoided by men, a man meant for pains and for having acquaintance with sickness. And there was as if the concealing of one’s face from us. He was despised, and we held him as of no account. Truly our sicknesses were what he himself carried; and as for our pains, he bore them. But we ourselves accounted him as plagued, stricken by God and afflicted. But he was being pierced for our transgression; he was being crushed for our errors. The chastisement meant for our peace was upon him, and because of his wounds there has been a healing for us. Like sheep we have all of us wandered about; it was each one to his own way that we have turned; and Jehovah himself has caused the error of us all to meet up with that one. He was hard pressed, and he was letting himself be afflicted;. . .” –Isaiah 52:2-7

Thus a more “accurate” view of such ones, than what many innocently hold today, is that they face even contempt from within the Christian congregation and clearly this is either because those who profess to be among the little flock are “doubted,” in terms of the accuracy of their discernment as to their being called and chosen, or because they–as of yet anyway–or some–remain unknown. I can hear some of the friends bristle and yet how else could it be that both–those who went to the right hand because they treated Christ’s brothers rightly AND those who went to the left hand because they treated Christ’s brothers wrongly–sides at the judgment confessed they did not know when they acted for or against the “little one” who formed the basis of their judgment?

Those who went to the right hand said–when did I? And those who went to the left hand said–when did I? And in each instance, of course, it turned arpound a “little one.” No one would knowingly, intentionally mistreat the fine brothers who form our current GB. They are known, yes? And the marvelous work they do is truly evident, that Christ is with them. And … he is likewise with these litttle ones as well.

If we love the least in our midst with the love of Christ, we have no worries. If we judge at all, we should worry–greatly. No greater example of misjudging is to doubt and therefore to act or express against any little one who professes to be among the “little flock” belonging to Jesus Christ. The Faithful Steward, the vocal organ of the little flock as a class, has always taught not to either judge or doubt but to leave it to Jehovah to resolve. Old-timers, for example, who have been faithful servants for some 50+ years would tell you that, but secretly, to close friends, they may say–”is it likely that a brother who …. (recites years of sinful conduct, leaving appointed service, etc… is now of the anointed, when most view the door all-but-closed in 1937) … and they would say, quietly–”not very likely.”

Let me tell you something important about Jehovah God. His Glory and Majesty and even Generosity is unrivaled and unmatched and it will remain that way forever because NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY, is Great like the Holy One of Israel. And He–not such little ones–But Jehovah Himself has decided that He makes His Holy Name Greater by calling the least and the most oseunlikely and making them into Kings because only He can make kings out of those this world–and all its standards–consider to be losers.

This is known by many as the Great Reversal–when those rich become poor, when those on the inside find themselves on the outside. In the interim, all remaning little ones are having their faith perfected by the author and finisher of all legitimate Faith. And along the way they will be mistreated by people in the Christian Congregation, people who may even be a leader, among the elite “in” crowd. One is reminded that the Roman soldier hated the body of Christ even with the pointed end of his spear.

This suffering by all such little ones today is often born quietly, as modeled by Christ who went as an Ewe silent before the one with the shears. It exists in their private tears and in their broken hearts. That it exists at all is a stain on the congregation and to the extent that it does exist–and it does–it will be corrected when Jehovah’s Judgment sends such ones responsible to His Left Hand and destruction, as long ago foretold by Jesus Christ.

The interesting irony is to ask and answer how many times did such ones themselves teach that parable from the platofmr and never, ever did they truly get it themselves? Ah … but as the prophet Isaiah declared by the spirit of Jehovah:

 

“The afflicted ones and the poor ones are seeking for water, but there is none. Because of thirst their very tongue has become dry. I myself, Jehovah, shall answer them. I, the God of Israel, shall not leave them. Upon bare hills I shall open up rivers, and in the midst of the valley plains, springs. I shall make the wilderness into a reedy pool of water, and the waterless land into sources of water. In the wilderness I shall set the cedar tree, the acacia and the myrtle and the oil tree. In the desert plain I shall place the juniper tree, the ash and the cypress at the same time; in order that people may see and know and pay heed and have insight at the same time, that the very hand of Jehovah has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has himself created it.”–Isaiah 41:17-20

Survey Of The Times: Who Or What Is In Control?

As I sat on the edge of my bed this morning, for the usual ritual of coffee, the news via my much beloved Blackberry–which, I confess, may make me into a bonafide Crackberry–, as I dress first the leg and then the rest of me (I am laughing out loud) something plain and crisp made its way into my just-coming-online awareness: “Perfectionist Fault Finders” are truly ubiquitous~! There is truly nothing more Satanic in its personality traits than is the perfectionist fault finder–or PFF. (See, for example, Revelation 12:10, for the tip of the glacier on this issue)

The pols are “sniping” at each other relative to the some $41 Billion airport security behemoth that failed to stop yet another crazed and misguided zealot with a bomb and a fascination with jetliners’ potential as a weapon of mass destruction. So they are pointing their fingers at one another and at this and that technological “thing” that did not do the job “perfectly” after all. Prosecutors all, they are lined up like a gauntlet, taking aim at who and what will, in their not-so-humble opinion, solve the “problem” this time. The “problem” without saying it in specifics can be generalized as a lack of perfection. The PFF is perfect because the PFF is a malignant narcissist and he or she truly sees him or herself with diseased eyes and a diseased heart. Some peer into the mirror and see themselves as they are–in truth–and they are reminded to forgive and not judge. (Matthew 7:1-5) Most lapse, however, into believing that they can avoid the necessary work awaiting their attention at home if they can point out enough fault elsewhere and with all others. Ah … the Chad’s of life, they truly have become one “discreet in their own eyes.” (Isaiah 5:21)

So as the PFF CHOIR does its work this week; and as those driven like the Alaskan Husky at the Iditarod– to meet every PFF expectation–so they can, at last, avoid hearing that grating nails-on-chalkboard PFF choir of complaints–continue to strive for the perfection that cannot be achieved this side of Armageddon–; the rest of us might ask: Who or What is in Control?

Is it the crazed zealot who is confused into thinking that God is a psychopath like Satan? Is it the government systems that the PFF worhips day and night as the only possible Savior of our World? Is it the PFF him or herself, on the grounds that the “one qualified to inspect” everyone and everything else for FAULT is the sole perfect soul among us? Is it chaos? Who ir what?

Perhaps … a writer (Peter Baker) at the New York Times got his arms around it all–perhaps unintentionally–with this: “On The White House–A Phrase Sets Off Sniping After A Crisis …”

“… the furor over Ms. Napolitano’s comments on the Sunday talk shows demonstrated once again the perils of finding the appropriate balance during moments of crisis, between reassurance that the government knows what it is doing and recognition that maybe it sometimes does not.”

When has it ever existed except to do injury to mankind? Certainly, that was Solomon’s ultimate belief, that it was futile for mankind to govern mankind–or at least that it was “vanity” and little else. As long as we have imperfections we will, unfortunately, have the perfectionist fault finder walking around with his or her own version of perfection and their insufferable, ongoing, never-ending inspections of everyone and everything except themselves and what they control. Perhaps, then, the Who AND What everyone else ought to be focused upon is the Perfectionist Fault Finder? The staus Quo is a PFF of course, for it reigns on high in the present context of actually having any voice or authority to speak on any other’s actions or on any THING of consequence to our lives. Shakespeare in Henry VI, I believe, urged us to first kill all the lawyers–and surely that was in his own role as a PFF and, no doubt, out of genuine concern for the many lawyers who, likewise, operate as PFF’S while themselves corrupting everyone and everything they encounter with evil. Let us, rather, amend the Bard’s remarks with the real and true problem–the PFF~!

The PFF is rotten to the core–ALWAYS. You can assume it outright. They point their finger at others and things other because they are fearful you will spot them and discover who and what they are IN TRUTH. We ought not to be confused on this any longer. The PFF is that guy with explosives strapped to his body, and tired of waiting for God to finish His Work–that which only God can do perfectly and that which requires the perfection that is God and His Ways–he sets out to first find fault and them punish it out of existence and, along the way, he punishes himself out of existence because he or she forgot to recall that as we judge we are judged and as we point our finger we have three more pointing right back at ourselves.

The PERFECTIONIST FAULT FINDER is a monster for sure. He or she is everywhere all around us: Always sick and always twisted and always accusing–the insufferable and always hateful PFF: Listen to the PFF’S Father in action~! (See: JOB 1:9-11)

“. . .At that Satan answered Jehovah and said: “Is it for nothing that Job has feared God? Have not you yourself put up a hedge about him and about his house and about everything that he has all around? The work of his hands you have blessed, and his livestock itself has spread abroad in the earth. But, for a change, thrust out your hand, please, and touch everything he has [and see] whether he will not curse you to your very face.”

The PFF is in control, of course, for now. It is from his throne of malignant narcissism that he operates as the PFF, the prosecutor, the policeman, the judge, the one who governs the rest. He or she points at everyone else to cast all light away from him or herself and at what he or she has done, is doing, and will yet do against the rest of the entire world.

Remember that when you desire to find fault as that insufferable perfectionist. Lighten up instead. ~

FHA Loans For Luxury Condominiums In Big Cities & Other Tales From A Disintegrating Economic System

The New York Times has reported an interesting development that many of us walked past a bit too quickly awhile ago–the FHA limits went up, and, if Rep. Barney Frank–you know, that fellow whose homosexual prostitute boyfriend ran a “Rent Boy” operation out of the Congressman’s residence, about the time that other fellow from MASS, Gerry Stubs, was doing really inproper things with boy minors in his own offices–(this goes back a few years and I digress a bit it seems)–and boy howdie the FHA is insuring loans where a sizeable portion of its portfolio is in default as we speak.

Not just insuring loans but for the middle and upper middle class and not the lower middle class family who might could afford a reasonable mortgage IF they could get around the requirement of having to pay 20 percent as a down payment or even a family who would run a small farm, perhaps. I sat up and read the story on my Crackberry scratching my head at 3 AM. A guy really ought not interrupt his sleep with such things as counting sheep is a poor substitute for anyone watching a system now set itself up for another massive government infusion of capital to preserve a broken system of things that truly cannot and will not be saved by anyone. Wait~! I went too far, too fast. Let’s build on earlier awareness first and then we’ll jump from the skyscrapers of Babylon.

The American Mortgage Bankers Association reported yesterday that about 10% of homeowners in the United States are delinquent on their mortgages. That, of course, comes nowhere near the proverbial tip of the iceberg because behind those in default are those. literally, crushed underneath a credit card debt and face VIR’s and other factors. The default rate is not likely to get much better soon in any event. The reality is prices are going back down on real property and, yet, the FHA is now betting they are going to go back up, creating this mythical thing that vanished off the cliffs of New York led finance awhile ago–EQUITY. (NY Times / U.S. Mortgage Delinquencies Reach A Record High/ David Streitfeld/ PUB 11/19/09 )

“The combined percentage of those in foreclosure as well as delinquent homeowners is 14.41 percent, or about one in seven mortgage holders. Mortgages with problems are concentrated in four states: California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada. One in four people with mortgages in Florida is behind in payments.”

Oddly, the majority of foreclosures are with prime, fixed-rate mortgages, which leaves one breathless as one considers the current VIR portfolio pending out there~!  As banks continue to grapple with these issues it seems scurrilous at best to reason that this won’t crowd out investment available for business startups and/or other credit aimed at bolstering the growth of full and meaningful employment. There is a metastatic cancer out there eating away–the better analogy is as “rust,” I think–growing all over this huge credit vine. One can almost see it grow as it moves to devour this plant called the American Economy. (Citing from “U.S. Mortgage Delinquencies …” NY Times/ David Streitfeld/ supra)

“There will be a lot more distressed supply entering the market, and it will move up the food chain to middle- and higher-price homes,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist for MFR Inc.”

The FHA, meanwhile, appears to be busy “masking” its loan portfolio with a flurry of new loans. (See: Streitfeld, supra) If one  disallows this statistical manipulation the FHA is facing enormous delinquencies in its portfolio, indeed it appears to be over 30 percent or more~! The underlying actuarial integrity of this policy is highly questionable as the FHA banks the premiums for its insurance. One can only wonder if this is not far akin to the Payday Loan to cover Payday Loan strategy and at some point there is that all-inclusive winding up payday that breaks the bank and misery rushes in like a cruel East Wind.

Americans simply do not grasp it, I suspect, where the important federal budget deficit–for this past fiscal year ending September 30–is nearly $1.43 Billion. One could hear the howls of jackals and wolves plainly as Timothy Geithner was verbally mauled and abused by a bunch of legislators at the Joint Economic Meeting Thursday (11/19/09). Others are busy blaming the Chinese, and other people, places, and things. Meanwhile, new unemployment claims are slowing down–to a mere 514,000 per week–for now.

Its like we have this giant stove and pots on it that are boiling. One goes off and governmental authority rushes in and turns the knobs and tries to clean up the mess, only to see another pot light off, and, on it goes, because if the stove goes off all at once–down it all comes. WHAM! Like a Giant Glittering Sword coming down as a Judgment with accompanying providential force, spasms of widespread negative impact upon certain things. Now  … let us pose this question and ask, are any or all of these “things” those things which might be classified properly as that which is as a “rotten tree” and, therefore, is destined for the fire?

~