Church of God Sharing Village_Philippines

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Turning the Face of the LORD

Written by anna cardona
Monday, 02 January 2006

Have you got grapes? Okay, get more oranges! The hypermarket's aisles throbbed with shoulders and arms frantic to complete their set of round fruits to bring luck in 2006 the circle shape being the approved icon for money. So it was with blank perplexity that express lane-rs stared at the golden pineapples in my basket, which was for Sabbath morning... Superstition in this country usually resides with village matrons. But for the past 10 years, it has inflated into a flagrant appetite for the latest Oriental variation. With religious leaders turning the Lord's work into their personal mint and Bible claimants pitching the Living Word into the realm of the ridiculous, people have resorted to dotting the eyes of dragon statues. Sourcing bonsai forms of common plants wrapped with ribbon. Driving on lucky routes planned by a Chinese geomancer. Posting aquariums in doorways. Reciting mantras. Hanging ropes of colored rocks on their necks. Willing victims of commerce-driven con. The streets today are littered with charred clumps of sulphurous coal, all that remains of miniature explosives that were depended on to drive away evil spirits. If last year, 4 astrologers were consulted by the supposedly objective press, now a panel of 10 stargazers monopolize the airwaves, each postulating the country's future on the position of the planets. And my cel is beeping with messages from cousins who spent P700 for firecrackers last night but need P200 for the baby's milk today. Too far gone, too soon, yet no different from those who kept nagging the prophet Jeremiah: Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come now! Jeremiah 17:15 Or else we will do what our inner voice is telling us! (Jeremiah 17:9). But... The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, To cut off remembrance of them from the earth. Psalm 34:16 And is there any sign that this generation will seek Gods face? (Psalm 27:8) Spoiled by disposable income, we insist that we can and will reverse human burdens like poverty and disease by sheer force of will. And have the results on spreadsheets right here, right now. As if the Lord God will have nothing to do but stand by and approve. Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength Whose heart departs from the LORD. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited. Jeremiah 17:5 Yet people will keep clinging to whatever myths are out on the market. Anything, anything, but surrendering to the Eternal God. When Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by the prophets. (I Samuel 28:6) And Saul did whats fashionable today: Seek out a medium.

http://www.manilafellowship.org/index2.php?option=content&task=view&id=196&pop=... 10/24/2007

Church of God Sharing Village_Philippines

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Which his forefathers had been warned against long before his birth: There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you... For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the LORD your God has not appointed such for you. Deuteronomy 18:10-14 So while almost everyones doing a Saul, what can we do? Why, theres Gideon. Even during the most dead-end oppressive times in his family and nation's history, he did the uncommon of two things: O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. And guess what? Then the LORD turned to him and said, Go, in this might of yours and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you? Judges 6:13-14 What an awesome humbling work to witness! To have the LORD God turn His face towards you, for the blessing of many! Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit... Jeremiah 17:7 Where lies our true help when it looks like the LORD God has turned his face away? Then I set my face toward the LORD God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes... O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day... because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you. Daniel 9:3,7 So instead of running away in several superstitious directions, we set our face toward the LORD God... For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9 For if you return to the LORD, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him. 2 Chronicles 30:9

Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!

http://www.manilafellowship.org/index2.php?option=content&task=view&id=196&pop=... 10/24/2007

Church of God Sharing Village_Philippines

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Psalm 80:3
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http://www.manilafellowship.org/index2.php?option=content&task=view&id=196&pop=... 10/24/2007