In response to a mass mailer about animal abuse and/or neglect in an Ohio animal shelter, Paul wrote the following response:
“If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, do not marvel at the matter. For He who is higher than the highest watches; and there are some higher than they” (Ecclesiastes 5:8 MKJV).
Greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ, Glenn and Ingrid,
The barbarity of man is well known and has been documented throughout the ages. What you have shown us here is but a mere pin drop of a pin drop of the sufferings happening at any given time on planet earth. I do not mean to belittle your concerns, or the horribleness of the circumstances (they do indeed appear awful). But I also must tell you in the Name of the Lord, Whom we serve, that this is not the fight that will end cruelty. You call it “the cross we ought to bear,” but it is not, even remotely, the cross of which Jesus spoke.
You do yourself and your listeners no good to speak in such misleading terms. His cross is not a commitment to fight external evils of various kinds, of the many thousands of such causes that there are in this world, but a matter of death to self and the world, as God orchestrates it to deliver us from the sin nature. That is what He demonstrated in His life, by laying it down in obedience to the Father. He was not taking up causes such as what you suggest. Doing so is not following Him. You are substituting for His work of salvation with your own works that are driven by inner pains fueling personal outrage, which will not succeed in freeing you from what causes your “dis-ease.”
The only way that evil cruelty can be put away is by the cross of Christ that I have described (and preached by Paul in the Scriptures), which alone does away with the man of sin. There needs to be repentance and an inner reformation by the Spirit of God that once and for all puts away this self-serving and destructive beast. This does not come by works of the flesh, no matter how noble or just the cause might appear. In fact, the man of sin is particularly adept at hiding behind moralistic and impressive facades of do-gooding and religious posturing that the Lord Jesus declared is responsible, yes responsible, for all the shedding of righteous blood on earth since Abel (Matthew 23:35). Did not Cain, who did what appeared to be good with his sacrifice to God, kill Abel? Does not Satan come as an angel of light?
Let’s talk about the suffering of the Lord. Let’s talk about how He is hurting, and what can be done about that. Doesn’t the answer to all our problems lie in reconciliation with Him, wherein He becomes our rightful Head? Who will do wrong, when worshiping God through Christ, to either man or animal? Here is what it means for us when Jesus Christ is Lord on earth:
“And I heard a great voice out of Heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God with men! And He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no longer, nor mourning, nor outcry, nor will there be pain any more; for the first things passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4 LITV).
This promise is for here and now, Glenn and Ingrid. You need to know that. It starts from within, where the Kingdom of Heaven comes, just as Jesus said It would. So, what can be done to see this, which is the answer to all suffering, come to pass? And how is it that there is so much suffering amongst those who profess to love and believe in Him? Let’s talk about it.
Firstly, there is the suffering of the saints, who comprise His body, at the hands of the religious, such as Abel suffered with Cain. This is what Jesus meant when He said to Saul (Paul), “Why do you persecute Me?” Saul was killing His people, in other words, he was going after the Lord. This is also the suffering vocalized by the saints under the altar in Revelation:
“And they cried with a great voice, saying, Until when, holy and true Master, do You not judge and take vengeance for our blood, from those dwelling on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10 LITV)
“From those dwelling on the earth.” Unless you are part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Those who do not gather with Him from Heaven are those who dwell on earth and live for this world, no matter how religious, how refined, how caring, how pleasant, how impressive in morals. If you are not taking up His cross and following Him, all your religious sentiment and works are at enmity with Him and His. You are scattering to the four winds. You are persecuting Him, if only by proxy. You are not pointing people to the Head. You are channeling them into the works that serve your god, which is animal welfare. And, as with any false god, you serve yourself, and not even the animals you think to save.
Secondly, this is how the Lord is particularly hurting: He is hurting on account of those who are called by His Name, who are His people, yet who serve other gods, pagan deities and philosophies, being snared by Mystery, Babylon the Great. Mystery speaks of love, the false and carnal love of this world, and would have you fight for the rights of animals or “peace” (against war) or whatever cause man can conceive and justify as noble, as long as men will avoid the cross and death to themselves. As long as men will do what is right in their own eyes, eating from the Tree of Knowledge, Mystery is there to flatter and coddle, as much as necessary, to make sure they do not forsake their own righteousness. She calls it love, and men eat it up, not knowing it leads them to suffering and death. She says:
“Come, let us take our pleasure in love till the morning, having joy in love’s delights” (Proverbs 7:18 BBE).
But the wisdom of God warns us against her treacherous love:
“Let not your heart be turned to her ways, do not go wandering in her footsteps. For those wounded and made low by her are great in number; and all those who have come to their death through her are a great army. Her house is the way to the underworld, going down to the rooms of death” (Proverbs 7:25-27 BBE).
It is written that she, false religion, the works of men, is responsible for all the blood shed from the beginning. She is drunk with the blood of the saints. And many are whoring around with her, honoring her in the place of God, thereby vexing Him by denying His Name and bringing His wrath on them, while spreading lawlessness and carelessness everywhere they go. He is sorely grieved by it all. He says to those who are His:
“And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues. For her sins joined together, even up to Heaven, and God has remembered her unjust deeds” (Revelation 18:4-5 MKJV).
She is called Babylon, which stands for confusion. I see her confusion in the things you have written. For example, you say that we need to be available to those who suffer. But for what reason does the suffering come, and what are we to do about it? As we have just heard it is because of coming against God that many suffer. How do you make yourself available to them? How do you discern what is the sin that brings the fruits, and how are you to deal with getting rid of the cause of suffering? Otherwise, what good is sympathy or “help” that, instead of removing, reinforces the evils that have brought on the suffering, and perpetuate it? Do you sympathize with the flesh, or do you identify with the Lord by speaking and living in the truth? Do you sympathize with Jezebel and those who commit spiritual fornication?
“But I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel to teach, she saying herself to be a prophetess, and to cause My servants to go astray, and to commit fornication, and to eat idol-sacrifices. And I gave her time that she might repent of her fornication, and she did not repent. Behold, I am throwing her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great affliction, unless they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death. And all the churches will know that I am He Who searches the reins and hearts, and I will give to every one of you according to your works” (Revelation 2:20-23 MKJV).
Animals suffer because of the wickedness of men. Are you aware of the industrial meat industry, and what goes on there? Can you stop that? Are you telling others to stop buying these products? Have you stopped? Are you, in ways unknown or unconsidered, supporting evil? What else do you support that you do not know you are supporting, such as the religious works we have discussed, for which God holds you responsible and for all the blood shed on earth from the beginning? Have your hearts been purged of your evils, which bring suffering onto you? Have you become “open to the influences of the dark forces, and then… educated by these forces, in the things of cruelty”?
Your speculations about Lot’s wife and Sodom miss the point. Lot also beheld the evils of Sodom, yet he did not become that which he beheld. His soul was vexed by those evils. His wife was not necessarily a partaker of the wickedness described there either, but neither was she willing to leave behind her life, as was necessary. You are quite condemning of her when I see that she, in her walk, had come further than you have in yours. She believed that Sodom was going to be destroyed, and did not stay behind as did others who were warned. You do not even yet know that you are in Sodom, and need to leave:
“Their dead bodies will lie on the street of the important city where their Lord was crucified. The spiritual names of that city are Sodom and Egypt” (Revelation 11:8 GW).
God delivered Lot, by His mercy, and not by Lot’s works of righteousness. You appeal to the “goodness” of men when there is none. No one can choose to be right. The Scriptures are clear on this, as is our experience. Yet you are telling others that by choosing to do the right thing, as you describe it, they will be right with God. You are saying that we can emulate Jesus, and be like Him. You speak to uncircumcised hearts and flesh. The religious carnal man must go to the cross! And even thereafter, we do not emulate Him. He takes residence and lives in us, leading us in His ways. He becomes our lives. He becomes us, and we become Him. Repentance and total dependence on His righteousness is what is needed, not your version of what is right. You are blind and yet in your sins. And when delivered from your sins, you will then, being right with God, confess that you are unworthy and unprofitable servants. You do not know or believe this. Are you reading from our site? There are many writings dealing with these issues there. If only you had a heart for truth!
I am writing you a long letter. I hope you will consider. If you will not, others will. Surely it is as Jesus said; prostitutes and abusers of animals will enter in before the self-righteous who say they will follow Him, but do not!
Glenn and Ingrid, the Lord is here. There is no need to plead for His return. He said He would be with us until the end of the world. He said that He has overcome, and that we have nothing to fear. He came back by His Spirit at Pentecost, and lives in all those who have received Him since His appearing. Paul saw Him and walked with Him and ministered by Him. So have many. We do so today. All things are committed to Him. He has the keys to death and hell, and is our present Deliverer. He already rules and has set up both good and evil, according to His purposes and the working out of all things for good. You need to turn to Him, and forsake your ungodly thinking and ways.
We are that place of which you speak, by the grace of God and His choosing, for those who can receive it:
“Let’s…be the living shelter to which people and animals can come, and find a safe place; a place where they can find healing for mind, body and soul!”
Contending for the faith once delivered to the saints, which, by the will of God, will deliver all of creation from the bondage of corruption,
Paul