Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah. In those times children were a means to gain favor with a husband of many women. Leah was competing for Jacob's affection with Rachel her sister. When her fourth son was born, Leah believed that she had won Jacob's love and named him, “Praise the Lord.” Leah would bear two more sons without gaining the much-desired attention (Gen.29-30). Leah and not Rachel would become the mother of the Jews that would play a major role in world events.

John the Apostle wrote about a deadly sin that was beyond prayer (I Jn.5: 16). Now, is America not beyond prayer but beyond asking God to bless it? “Let us reason together,” so said the Lord (Isa.1: 18). “You have outlawed my laws and denied my existence. You refuse to admit your guilt and sin. You have dug your own pit and fell into it. Now you have the audacity to ask me to bail you out. I sent you my Son to bail you out but you keep on rejecting him. You chose to live outside his sphere and thus removed yourself from my jurisdiction. My Son has informed you that what you are doing pleases the devil but not me (Jn.8; 42-47).”

The cry for change is as old as humanity itself and so is the problem as to who institutes the changes that are necessary. Whether it is in politics or religion, we want some super being to make the changes in us and for us. An eminent clergy assured the TV audience that Jesus can and would change us, provided that we place our trust in Him. I was reminded when 58 years ago, I began to spend 18 months in hospitals, having been disabled from an accident and I did not know what the future would hold for me, a clergy friend told me that God or the Lord (Jesus) would do it for me. I believed the man, not knowing what it would entail to let God do it?

Our Pastor has led us ably in a revealing study of The Book of Esther. The Book has some very sobering applications. In my next articles, I shall touch on five: “Indecision, Hate, Vengeance, Esther and Virtue.” In this article, we shall look at “Indecision.”

The first prophecy regarding Christ is found in Genesis 3:15. “And I will put enmity between you (serpent) and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heal.” Isaiah 07: 14 recorded, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Matthew 01: 23 regarded Isaiah 07:14 as having been fulfilled in Mary giving birth to Jesus. In Revelation 12 it is Satan the great dragon or ancient serpent that persecutes the woman and her child.