SOME PEOPLE SIMPLY DON’T LEARN AT ALL

“SOME PEOPLE SIMPLY DON’T LEARN AT ALL” not because they are dumb or less intelligent. No, that is not the reason. They don’t learn because they don’t want to learn. “How could someone be so foolish?” could be the most obvious question. The answer is simple. They want something, and they haven’t got it. So they will keep on trying till they get it. They are so intensely possessed with this desire to get something, that any rationality and sane thinking is deliberately put aside. If they begin to think like a sane person; like a rational person – then, they will not get what they want. This lust for what they want is so strong, and so intense that, they simply don’t think about sanity and rationality.
– “15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” – 1 John 2:15-17

This is the exact same thinking framework we observe in Lucifer. Only Lucifer has such intense hate for God. Lucifer wants to defeat God. He is willing to risk anything, anyone and everything and everyone, to get what he wants. This risk includes, and certainly doesn’t mind, a total self-annihilation. This is a reflection of the intense hate Lucifer has for his Creator.
– “12 “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ 15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.” – Isaiah 14:12-15

We see the same in so many individuals, groups and nations all across the history. They lust to get what they desire overwhelms their every other facet of intelligence. Instead, they employ their intelligence and brilliance in satisfying their bloodlust, and try to get what they want, at any cost.
– “44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” – John 8:44

Saul is one such example. He was thrust into the limelight. He loved the power that his position brought. He left God, seeking his best to sustain this power. He did his best to eliminate David, the threat to his power and the continuation of it, despite knowing that God had rejected him, and had anointed David as the king.
– “13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” – 1 Samuel 13:13-15

Many empires have come and gone. All were of the world. However, in contrast, none were as evil as the last empire listed in the vision of Nebuchadnezzar is very very diferent from the rest of the image. It is the only part where it has lost its purity. It is the only part that invokes the anger of God Almighty, to judge it by rolling a stone, uncut with human hands. It is the LORD who will judge this empire.
– “41 Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. 42 And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. 43 As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” – Daniel 2:41-45

Ted Grimsrud writing in his blog “23. Conclusion: A Christian pacifist in the American Empire [part one]” has some relevant words for our serious consideration this morning, as another war is thrust upon the world. Which is a sure and certain step towards more destruction than ever. He writes about the biblical pacifism, what it actually is, and how it had influenced his thought, his conduct, and everything about his life.
– “As I have lived with pacifism as a centerpiece in my moral orientation, I recognized it to be much broader than simply a refusal to go to war. I now think of pacifism most basically as a conviction that love matters more than anything else. No loyalty or ideology or institution or ideal can take priority over the responsibility to see each other person in my world as precious. I gain this conviction about love from Jesus, who taught that the greatest commandment is to love.” – Ted Grimsrud

Ted Grimsrud argues that pacifism is at the very heart of all what God had spoken in His Word, the Bible. In fact, it is in the very character of God. Pacifism is not a weak man’s crutch of desperation. It is the very core of the Gospel, and all what the LORD Jesus had taught us. It requires great courage and strength to be a pacifist, because it goes against the very nature of the fallen man’s natural instinct.
– “I believe Jesus taught the centrality of love in order to speak of Torah’s heart. Torah does not simply indicate a list of rules. It reflects the living core of the way of life to which God called the people of the promise that makes visible God’s will for humanity. God liberated the enslaved Hebrews from the Egyptian Empire so they would know God’s liberating love and live it as a witness to the world. Torah’s way of life had at its core Sabbath observance (meaning rest and healing that contrasts with life in the Empire). A Torah-centered community would always remember God’s liberating love that paid special attention to vulnerable and oppressed people and that judged the health of the community on the basis of the health of the most disadvantaged.” – Ted Grimsrud

Dear brothers and sisters, let us be aware of the tricks and the traps that Lucifer, the evil one lays for Christians. Let us look deeper into the Word of God before we commit ourselves to bloodlust, warmongering and war. Don’t fall for the propaganda. Look into the Word of God, the life of our LORD Jesus Christ, the manner in which God the Father conducted Himself in the face of evil rebellion, and what the LORD is expecting from us as His disciples, and His children. Even so the LORD help us.