BUYING THEM OFF…

THE FAITHLESS SOLUTION.

Ken Graydon

The idea that we, if confronted by evil people, or evil circumstances, can ‘buy them off’ is a very old one. History is replete with examples of the failure of appeasement as a means of securing ‘peace in our time’.  

We face choices, every day of our lives, between our Torah directed lifestyle and the ways of the world. These are ‘no compromise’ choices. We cannot, say, eat just a little pork or shellfish. We cannot participate in another religion. We cannot ‘play’ with the occult. It is really a blessing that most of our lifestyle choices are clearly defined.

Our families, our communities and our countries face choices too. Just as clear cut, just as dependent on the words of ETERNAL. Follow the clearly expressed will of the CREATOR of the Universe and be blessed or follow some other path and suffer for it.  

Our recent history shows us that we cannot make compromises, or buy off, the forces of evil in the world. The Tanakh also gives us, in the life of King Hezekiah, the same message. Victory comes as a consequence of repentance and then obedience to ETERNAL.

2 Kings 18: 13-17 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria marched against the fortified towns of Judah and seized them. King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish : “I have done wrong; withdraw from me; and I shall bear whatever you impose on me.” So the king of Assyria imposed upon King Hezekiah of Judah a payment of three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was on hand in the House of ETERNAL and in the treasuries of the palace. At that time Hezekiah cut down the doors and the doorposts of the Temple of ETERNAL , which Hezekiah had overlaid with gold, and gave them to the king of Assyria . But the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris and the Rabshakeh from Lachish with a large force to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem . They marched up to Jerusalem ; and when they arrived, they took up a position near the conduit of the Upper Pool, by the road of the Fuller’s Field.

King Hezekiah was the anointed king of Judah . He had, in many respects, been a good king. Trusting in ETERNAL and having his actions blessed. Then came the major testing by the Assyrians. Now Hezekiah knew that the Assyrians had captured and taken away the people of the kingdom of Israel . [The Israelites had been consistently disobedient to ETERNAL]. Hezekiah, does not pray or seek the will of ETERNAL, he takes the silver and even tears the doors and doorposts down from the Temple to ‘buy off’ the Assyrians. Does this work? Of course not! As soon as they have received this bribe, the Assyrians sent a huge army against Jerusalem .

No matter how you compromise your faith and beliefs it does not deter the evil-doers. Stripping the treasury of the Temple , and even tearing the doors off the building, just demonstrated that the people of Jerusalem had no faith, no belief. It was just a building to them.

If you face the forces of evil, and you have no sustaining faith in the blessings of ETERNAL, then you only have very poor options available to you.

If you read on, in your Tanakh, the rest of chapter 18 and chapter 19 you will see how Hezekiah did repent and put the whole situation into ETERNAL’s hands. The whole situation was turned around in a miraculous manner.

We have seen how our countries have tried to compromise with the various forces of evil – to our cost. Terrorism continues because it pays. Vice and the drug trade grow because it pays. Environmental degradation continues because it pays.  Religions which choose to interpret their books as an excuse to kill others grow because we compromise with them.

It was folly for us to think that German people were too cultured to run extermination camps, it is just as unwise not to believe people who publicly say they intend to liquidate Israel.

Making concessions did not prevent the World Trade Center disaster, or the Bali bombing or the London underground murders. Making concessions in Israel , where the CREATOR of the Universe has made a covenant with His people to occupy the land, is worse than tearing the doors off the Temple . It is a clear demonstration of a lack of faith and belief in ETERNAL.

We each have the responsibility of demonstrating our own stand for the ETERNAL-led lifestyle and encouraging others to build their faith. Give the CREATOR of the Universe some obedient people to work with – and miraculous things can happen. Keep compromising or buying off the evil and we will all lose.

kgraydon@erskinegrove.com.au

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