We are heading into a period of recession in the West. And we should be greatful, and praise the LORD almighty, for we will not starve. We used to. As the Pogues sing…
Ah, no, says he, ’twas not to be
On a coffin ship, I came here
And I never even got so far
That they could change my nameThousands are sailing
Across the western ocean
To a land of opportunity
That some of them will never see
We still grow enough food in this planet to feed all 9 million of us. The curse of poverty no longer leads to thousands starving in China and India. The Irish are not in famine. For all this we should be grateful.
However, Arab North Africa cannot feed itself. Sub Saharan Africa has been devastated by 50 years of low grade, grinding, tribal wars and a small elite skimming what little wealth remains. And Southern Africa, which was the land of the Boer and Apartheid — but fed, is descending into the same toxic mixture of socialism and tribalism. They have not learnt from the history of their neighbours.
For this reason, the children in our church raise money for wells. In Malawi. We do not care if the families are Christian or Muslim. We care that they have water, and food. For this reason we feed those who may indeed be our enemies, because without the government having grain to sell bread, as it did in the Irish Famine, becomes too expensive for working men to buy, and families starve.
As we ought. We need to feed our enemies. And pray that God delays the time of judgment, for it will be terrible.
1:15Alas for the day!
For the day of the LORD is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
16Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?17The seed shrivels under the clods,
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are ruined
because the grain has failed.
18How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle wander about
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep are dazed.19To you, O LORD, I cry.
For fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
and flames have burned
all the trees of the field.
20Even the wild animals cry to you
because the watercourses are dried up,
and fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.2:1Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near —
2a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
nor will be again after them
in ages to come.
Where the Pogues get it wrong is the idea that people are enslaved to the church. They see moving to America as gaining freedom from the prelates. The irony is that during the time they sing about (the Famine) the established church of Ireland was Anglican — the Catholics worshiped apart from the rules — and that that church managed to raise relief funds to run soup kitchens. The Catholics could not. They were too poor.
Anyway, the live version of this song is playing…
We are ordered by our Lord and Saviour not to open our homes to the elite, but to everyone. To open our house to celebrations and let the tramps in. To not kcik people out. But there are limits on what will be accepted at the feast.
So when we feed our enemies, open soup kitchens (which we will have to do fairly soon, if we have not already) then we should exclude. It is not a matter of approving of the people — it is a matter of realizing that we all could. all to easily, be dependent of charity in this life. For we are truly dependent on the charity of God to get into the next life.
12He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
15One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “lessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16Then Jesus said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. 17At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ 18But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ 19Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ 20Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” 23Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.'”
I get a fair amount of abuse for some of the things I say here. Particularly stating that homosexuality is a sin. Most people miss the other part of the teaching — so is fornication. Let alone theft, oath-breaking, perjury, gluttony, greed and gossip. We need to damn sin, but feed and care for sinners. The church, of course, is made up of sinners. Most of whom are only intermittently repentant.
The one place whre these conversations are going on honestly, as far as I can see, is the Christian Androsphere. Which is full of people who are completely unfashionable. Traditional Catholics. Reformed. Anglicans who follow the articles. And Orthodox. There we can have conversations about how to love our neighbour, the usefulness of shame. and need to destroy peoples sense of entitlement, and how to preserve our families in times of trial.
It could get tough out there. We need to remember to help our brothers and sisters in circumstances that are worse than ours, even as our society goes down the same path.
However, as salt and light, the preservative of our society, we need to keep to standards of godliness, imperfectly, (for we are). The struggle is worth it. Perhaps some will be saved. Perhaps God, in his mercy, will preserve our nations.
For the prophets are clear on one thing: his judgment is sure, slow, and terrible.
