MIRAGE

MIRAGE

It is an optical illusion created by light bouncing off hot air. Thirst makes us see an oasis that never exists. For a dying person it is hope that there will be water. Isaiah had the illusion that the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the goat, the lion and the yearling, the bear and the cow and the cobra and the child would feed and live together. He also believed that such a time could only come when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as water covers the see (Isaiah 11:6-9). Are we living in such a time? By the way, the people that lived with that illusion vanished from the earth.

Jeremiah, 150 years later, was more realistic. He saw the same animals lurking in the shadows to devour their prey. The prey was once David’s Kingdom (Jeremiah 5:6). A leopard could not change its spots neither could a human his skin nor could evil become good (Jeremiah 13:23). Daniel saw these animals as kingdoms destroying each other (Jeremiåh 7). Hosea saw these animals ripping his nation apart (Jeremiah 13:7-8). In Revelation 13, the leopard becomes a world dominion with power to destroy Judaism and Christianity. The mirage is on the verge of becoming an oasis for a thirsty world. Remember Jeremiah! When the leopard has completed feeding on his enemies, on whom shall he feed next? Peaceful co-existence for a leopard is an adequate food supply for the future.

Now, can this optical illusion deceive us? Jesus predicted how it would happen. We would become like sheep. They are harmless and friendly. They do not recognize wolves in sheep clothing. That is how we are being torn apart by ferocious wolves (Matthew 7:15). We are not only sheep, but we are more like lambs among wolves (Luke 10:3). Some of us (sheep) shall follow wolves that look like sheep (Acts 20:30). We have lost our hearing aid and no longer can identify the voice of our “Jesus, our Real Shepherd.” Someone else has hired shepherds that do not side with us against the wolves that prey on us (John 10:1-18). These false shepherds have angelic appearances; however, they are powerless against ravenous wolves (II Timothy 3:5). Paul the Apostle tells us gentiles that those, who had this description of our mirage, that they turn into an oasis for wolves. “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness” (II Corinthians 11:13-15).

The Apostle’s words are a bit harsh. Yet, they do speak of betrayal and cunning ways to deceive us. Every time our political leaders seek to enact major legislation, our President fuels a controversy that diverts attention from his major objective. Presently, he is using the Mosque controversy as a decoy for some policy that shall further weaken and dismantle this nation. Instead of concentrating on the biggest problems of this nation, our politicians, news people, and religious leaders follow a mirage and seek to turn Islam into a lamb and the U.S.A. into a wolf. Just how far into the desert is this nation willing to go before it is swallowed into oblivion? Dear friend, do not expect the God we have rejected to send a new Moses to bring us back from the wilderness. Even Moses’ generation did not make it back.