One of the enormously talented photographers who followed the Mumbai terrorists with lenses and even an electronic flash described the attackers as “they never ran, just walked,” and “they were very accurate and didn’t waste any bullets;” These quotes are attributed to photographer Sebastian D’souza, of the Mumbai Mirror newspaper, by Thomas Fuller, NY Times, “Photographers Recorded Mumbai Rampage In Stark Detail.”
His eyewitness account in fascinating but disturbing, as he moved as a surrealistic shadow, while 10 gunmen with modern assault rifles, grenades, and so forth, slaughtered some and left others to live. What is the distinction? In a deeply penetrating portion of Mr. Fuller’s story, cited above, he writes:
“In the train terminal, Mr. D’souza captured some of the surreal aspects of the attacks. He recounted that despite the nearly constant sound of approaching gunfire, a shopkeeper at a small bookshop spent minutes trying to close his metal shutter instead of just running away. The attackers shot the merchant; one of Mr. D’souza’s pictures shows the man slumped, dying, in front of his shop.”
“Mr. D’souza also tells of a woman in a sari who walked nonchalantly in front of the attackers, but was spared. “They didn’t even look at her,” Mr. D’souza said.”
“A man, possibly homeless, Mr. D’souza guesses, watched the attacks with his arms folded as if he were admiring a street performance.”
“It is still not clear why the attackers let some people live while others were killed on the spot.”
“They were like angels of death,” Mr. D’souza said. “When they hit someone they didn’t even look back. They were so sure.”
Like angels of death. Selective executions. A shop owner, merchant, no doubt linked to the elitists and the wealthy, and interestingly the man killed in front of that shop of his acted like his money, his things, were worth more than even his own life. Makes you wonder if the men knew this man, if one of them had visited his store in the weeks or months prior to the attacks? Yet, a homeless man, perhaps seen as part of those who are oppressed, sat untouched, watching this drama unfold right before his very eyes. In between, we have a woman in a sari walking nonchalantly in front of the murderers and they simply paid her no attention whatever. Women are not seen as the base of power in India, but part of those who are subject to the system. It is not like in the United States where women have become neighborhood goddesses to be worshipped or you face their snarling,self focused wrath. If the killers had come to murder in America I suspect they would have gunned the woman down under similar circumstances. They may have even dispatched with her head with a separate burst from a second clip after her demise, just to make sure the point hit home.
But India is not America. So what’s the deal? Homeless men–saved? Elite merchants who valued goods over even their own lives, because they wrongly view their goods as their source of life–slain on the spot? Game over!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrappppppppp !!!
Brrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaap !!!
The poor guy now lays writhing in a pool of blood, gasping in pain, like on fire, in horror at his last seconds, kicking to remain conscious–to live just to draw breath another time, to see and hear and know, and … yet spraying blood and gore all over his goods–gasping for air during his last prayers to a pantheon of false gods, with lung meat fragments spraying out of his mouth, into a foamy broth of crimson gore.
It is very disturbing to contemplate. Yet perhaps we ought to do so. I have been graphic for that cause. It is unlike me, really. Real angels of death are coming, however. They will execute selectively. It is no laughing matter. This is not from mankind, however. I do not speak of angels of death as a “catch phrase” attributed to any of the human family, presuming to act on behalf of God or Right or any other cause, by slaying people. It is repugnant for any human being to slay another. Jehovah forbids it. I am talking about Divine Justice, from the true God who actually lives and breathes and whose Son is now ruling in the heavens. His Angels, all called the Destroyer, will come, as they came into Egypt and as they came into the camps of the ancient Assyrians. It has long since been foretold. Ezekiel the priest and prophet foretold it by inspiration.
Read this carefully and see what the distinction is between those who were executed and those who were not.
(Ezekiel 9:2-7) ”And, look! there were six men coming from the direction of the upper gate that faces to the north, each one with his weapon for smashing in his hand; and there was one man in among them clothed with linen, with a secretary’s inkhorn at his hips, and they proceeded to come in and stand beside the copper altar. 3 And as regards the glory of the God of Israel, it was taken up from over the cherubs over which it happened to be to the threshold of the house, and he began calling out to the man that was clothed with the linen, at whose hips there was the secretary’s inkhorn. 4 And Jehovah went on to say to him: “Pass through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and you must put a mark on the foreheads of the men that are sighing and groaning over all the detestable things that are being done in the midst of it.” 5 And to these [others] he said in my ears: “Pass through the city after him and strike. Let not your eye feel sorry, and do not feel any compassion. 6 Old man, young man and virgin and little child and women YOU should kill off—to a ruination. But to any man upon whom there is the mark do not go near, and from my sanctuary YOU should start.” So they started with the old men that were before the house. 7 And he said further to them: “Defile the house and fill the courtyards with the slain ones. Go forth!” And they went forth and struck in the city.”
Jehovah is not susceptible to man’s laws. He has His own Law. It is holy. It is always just. It is something we all ought to be carefully studying and striving to meet and discuss in an organized format daily. Anyone who is moaning and groaning about the times will want to do so. He will enforce it at His good pleasure and His doing so will be righteous and justified, under His Law. Are we?
Very well, All pleasantries disposed of. What does this mean?
(Matthew 13:41-42) “. . .The Son of man will send forth his angels, and they will collect out from his kingdom all things that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness, 42 and they will pitch them into the fiery furnace. . .”
Lawlessness is “sin” (1 John 3:4) and those practicing it are pushing “all in” for what? They are in truth saying I do not really believe. I can have just this one last pleasure or stolen benefit. Then I can slide back under mercy. Then I can …
NO! It is this:
(Hebrews 10:26-31) “. . .For if we practice sin willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left, but [there is] a certain fearful expectation of judgment and [there is] a fiery jealousy that is going to consume those in opposition. Any man that has disregarded the law of Moses dies without compassion, upon the testimony of two or three. Of how much more severe a punishment, do YOU think, will the man be counted worthy who has trampled upon the Son of God and who has esteemed as of ordinary value the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has outraged the spirit of undeserved kindness with contempt? For we know him that said: “Vengeance is mine; I will recompense”; and again: “Jehovah will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of [the] living God.”
A Fiery jealousy that is going to consume those in opposition, and the Messiah’s Angels who are going to pitch them into the fiery furnace ...
As the w52 2/15 p. 127 Questions From Readers makes clear:
“Willful sin, with eyes wide open to the undeniable operation of God’s holy spirit or active force, is unforgivable and we should not pray for the forgiveness of such sinners. Even before Christ’s time intercession was not to be made for such ones. (Jer. 7:1-16; 11:14; 14:11) Willful sinners, insincere and unrepentant, set in their evil ways and unwilling to conform to God’s requirements, have “no forgiveness forever”; which means that when they die they go into second death.”
So what does it mean that they will be pitched spiritually into a fiery furnace of fiery jealousy, where they will weep and gnash their teeth?
I think of a brother who not long ago lied to the elders about a certain man and his wife, knowingly lied to them, misled them, misrepresented the facts, and he carefully got two witnesses other than himself to support him: his wife and this certain man’s stepson. Now … he knew what he was doing. When the horrific spectacle was over, he danced on his kitchen floor, after hurting this certain man and his wife. The following day as this certain man drove up outside, through the window he could see him in his throne room, the kitchen, where he arched his neck, like fist fighters do as they taunt their opponent just before hitting him, unbridled arrogance, pride–as one saying, “See who’s alpha dog here, hugh?”–and a complete and total “opposition”to what was true or right or even holy, and a total focus on what force or wickedness had achieved. Truth be told, the brother is suffering now, horribly. In spiritual terms he is as deep as a infant’s bath water. You could stub your dry toe on the drain. I am fearful for him.
There is a key fact missing that could unlock the mystery because it would point to cause for “jealousy” on the part of the brother. So what is the certain man and his wife to do?
Write. Minister. Pray. Attend Meetings. Study the scriptures. Love God and God’s people with the love of the Christ. Partake. Wait upon Jehovah. Love his neighbor as himself. Pray even for the brother.
None of us can possibly know when any one called a brother (1 Corinthians 5:11-14) is to be tossed into a fiery jealousy. We do know that they are not yet executed because executed people cannot gnash their teeth or weep, the dead know nothing at all. We do know that, as the Slave makes clear, they will harden into their sin because as the Slave says it, they “set in their evil ways.” Nor am I saying this is now. That is way above my pay grade. But we also do know that things will catch most everyone by surprise, at a time most all think to be unlikely. We also know that the weeds are to grow up beside the wheat and it is the weeds that are gathered up first and thrown into the furnace.
The furnace leads to death. We know how that comes. It is dreadful. We can find ourselves “cut off” and while we might think we are right or that we have gotten away with something, we find ourselves, instead, growing bitter at the Brothers, we become fault finders and critical thinkers and we find ourselves acting with that spirit of independence, judging the brothers. That is so dangerous as to think that we are confronted by the very same Mumbai gunmen, lethal, selective, efficient in their work.
Let us love the brothers instead. Let us obey the Word and the Channel of Communication always. If I ever say otherwise, sign off and do not come back ever. If anyone ever says otherwise, walk away. Moan and groan over the times. Sigh. Get that mark of salvation. Live it. Breathe it. Every day.
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