Who Gets to Cast the
First Stone?
By Gene Lawley
Figuratively speaking, I am writing this article in the
sand, with my head down, bowed with a guilty memory of transgression of my
past.
When I lift up my head, my eyes light up with the
realization that forgiveness has been laid out for me by Jesus Christ, Lord of
the universe.
He has removed them from me as far as the east is from
the west, and they are forever moving away from me because there is no end to
that direction—ever!
You, too, can lay claim to that effective erasing of your
sinful past. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has
He removed our transgressions from us”
(Psalm 103:12).
But back to the sand writing, only this time let’s go to
that account in John 8:3-11 where Jesus dealt masterfully with an attitude that
is as current today as it was in His day, some 2,000 years ago:
“Then the scribes and
Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her
in the midst, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in
the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned.
But what do You say?’
“This they said,
testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him.
But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with Hisfinger, as though
He did not hear.
“So when they
continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is
without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’
“And again He stooped
down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being
convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with
the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman
standing in the midst.
“When Jesus had
raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman,
where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said,
‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn
you; go and sin no more.’”
There are a couple of points that need to be mentioned. Where was the man involved in the
act of adultery?
It may appear that Jesus condoned her sin, at first glance,
but while He did not condemn her, He told her to go and sin no more.
Also, it is apparent that she had not
been refusing to admit her guilt.
This story is a very appropriate one for those considering
the candidates in this coming presidential election. The question is obvious—who gets to cast the first stone?
Are current or relatively current, atrocities of more
importance than digging out the past to find some hint, even of bad character
which may be used to put a blot on the character of an opponent?
Try as we might, there will never be found any candidate who
can walk on water, and some of the possibilities, even among the accusers,
would not dare go near the water for fear of implication.
In the locker room, on the golf course, in the hunting
lodge, in the gutter—all are places from where no person wants his or her words
repeated.
Why? The answer is clear: “For all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
But when God makes that kind of accusation and condemnation,
He always includes hand-in-hand with it, His solution for the problem.
It is Romans 3:24 “…being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus.”
Mentally robed in our self-righteous garments, we may be
wondering how that dirty old publican, a tax collector, even, could possibly
have won Jesus’ approval ahead of that “model of political correctness, civic
prominence, even religious to a fault” person (I embellish them for current
consideration). See Luke 18:10-14:
“Two men went up to
the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not
like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax
collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
“And the tax
collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to
heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ ‘I
tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the
other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles
himself will be exalted.’”
That old prayer of Jabez comes to mind and whether you are
critical of the prayer or embrace it, as I do, it is uniquely tucked in the
middle of a sea of “begots” that would not be missed if it were not there.
Yet it is there in the holy Scripture for our learning. That
verse in 1 Chronicles 4:10 tells us this:
“And Jabez called on
the God of Israel saying, ‘Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my
territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would
keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!’ So God granted him
what he requested.”
He asks God to bless and be with him, a very vital need, and
two other requests that are particularly pertinent to anyone running for
president:
-
First, to help enlarge his territory (capture the votes.)
-
And second, keep him from evil that he may not cause pain.
If one of the candidate’s wins the race by running the same
horse in a repeat performance, making no changes in policies, and with the use
of deception and perversion of justice (as much evidence seems to declare), her
becoming the first woman president will be like a mouthful of gravel.
If the other person wins, he is fully committed to making a
multitude of changes in policies and practices that have become the very fiber
of our national lifestyle.
He will have an unbelievable warfare with those of the
insider, globalist establishment whose desire and goal is a one-world
government controlled by them.
It will not be pretty, for the fight is a deadly one, and
the spin-out from the primary campaign reveals volumes of the desperation
grasping those insiders who do not want changes to be made.
There is no likeness of morality or spirituality between the
two situations, but when Jesus came preaching grace and justification by faith,
the religious leaders panicked, for here came someone who was advocating
massive change that would upset their establishment like nothing else ever
could!
But as Robert Burns, the poet, wrote, “The best laid plans
of mice and men sometimes go awry.”
Like when the railing, crippled ex-officer from the Viet Nam
war in the story of “Forrest Gump” was asking “Where is God” as the storm raged, “about that time God showed up!”
When God shows up, things take on a new perspective.
According to Psalm 75:6-8, God exalts one and puts down
another in respect to what He plans to accomplish.
The question looming in the thoughts of many believers is,
will God actually allow the changes to be made and see America restored to
moral, financial and economic integrity such as has never been in many, many
decades?
Or, Is this promise of change of direction for the nation a
test to see what kind of response the American population will make?
Is the trend of shutting God out of our schools and more and
more, out of our public lives going to be the national desire, or will there be
repentance so that there can be a “healing of the land?”
The last of that Psalm 75 passage says God’s cup of wrath is
filled to the brim, ready to be poured out and “the wicked will drink down its dregs.”
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http://raptureready.com/featured/lawley/lawley129.html
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. “America The Beautiful”
lyrics
.
.
.
.
. “America The Beautiful”
Music
by Samuel A. Ward (written in 1882)
Lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates (written in 1889)
Lyrics by Katharine Lee Bates (written in 1889)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3RVYQYUIQYLexi Walker
lyrics
O beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain
America! America! God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness
America! America! God mend thine every flaw
Confirm thy soul in self-control
Thy liberty in law
Confirm thy soul in self-control
Thy liberty in law
O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine
America! America! God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea
This arrangement of "America the Beautiful"
is from Twila Paris' 2012 CD, "God Shed His Grace—Songs of Truth and
Freedom."
Contact
email: andwegetmercy@gmail.cvom
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