<齊心重建城牆 >8/5-8/11/13

「猶大長老因先知哈該和易多的孫子撒迦利亞所說勸勉的話，就建造這殿，凡事亨通。他們遵著以色列神的命令和波斯王居魯士、大流士、亞達薛西的旨意，建造完畢。」(以斯拉記6:14)

 “So the leaders of the Jews continued to build; the work went well under the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo. They completed the rebuilding under orders of the God of Israel and authorization by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.” (Ezra 6:14)

默想禱告: 凡事拆毁容易, 重建甚難。一句傷人的話, 可以打碎對方脆弱的心靈; 一個 自信心受創的經歷,使人持久低沉,鬥志消失。再讀舊約以斯拉記,內心深深有此體會。一個被擄到外邦作餘民的民族,不僅家破人亡,被征服者奴役,民族尊嚴盡失,連代表整個民族信仰的敬拜中心:「聖殿」,被拆毁已超過七十年,百姓强烈的挫敗感,失落感可想而知。但神的靈從來没有離開過祂的子民,也藉著先知們一直感動他們;當時候一到,神便激動外邦君王的心，幫助祂的子民，成就祂的工作。神設定的全新計劃，是把世界管理權交與外邦君王，藉著他們來成就祂的旨意,使古列王下詔通告全國的猶太人，可以返回耶路撒冷，建造聖殿。儘管他們的仇敵人數很多，勢力又浩大,甚至聯合那地各族的人民，起來要敗壞建造的工作,但神使衪的子民同心合意，建立同一個目的，為神重建聖殿。衹有神的靈方能感動每個人的心,朝向同一方向目標,在適當時刻,觸動祂的子民挺身而出,排除萬難,鍥而不捨地完成神所托付的使命。歷史如鏡,當我把這段遠古的民族歷史,神的子民如何從劫難中復興起来作借鑑,將它插入現今世代活生生的現實環境,內心竟然產生强烈的認同。我發現自己原來是生活在一個基督信仰城牆破敗,罪行滿盈的社會。人的心靈被那惡者所擄掠,放逐,奴役;整個國家民族的信仰生活早已變了樣,表面是娛樂昇平,載歌載舞,但其實社會各階層的精神生命己進入質變的險峻狀態。一個原以聖經原則及法治作社會基根的國家,居然容讓一小撮狂妄份子用威迫手段要脅政客,壟斷傳媒,混淆視聽,試圖“全面美化”罪惡的醜陋。「人權」「各從其志」的口號成了為所欲為犯罪的遮羞布。被歷世文明社會所唾棄的各種性變態行為,如今透過立法,竟然摇身一變,演化成十分時尚的生活方式。以斯拉記全書含藏著一個重要的「隱寓」(Metaphor),就是當百姓對神的律法誡命不忠貞且背道而行,在屬靈的層面是等於犯了奸淫。因為貫穿舊約的預言中,神一直把祂的子民喻為妻子,任何犯淫亂,不忠誠,性雜交的行為,與拜偶像和奸淫之罪同等。在這個淫亂的時代,聖靈其實不停在做感動的工作,衪要喚醒每一位基督徒，催逼我們抵抗那股邪惡勢力,不容惡者節節誇勝,反要同心竭力,重建那日久殘破的真理城牆。因此上月當我受托為芝加哥眾教會草擬「基督徒婚姻宣言」的時候,內心感到惶恐戰兢。於是禱告求主幫助,神藉以斯拉記給我極大的啟迪,讓我清楚明白神才是我們真正的元帥,每位基督徒乃是衪的精兵。經多位牧者執長校正,集思廣益,终於完成草擬。祈求主藉此宣言召集祂的兒女,準備披甲出征,配合「伊州家庭協會」於十月二十三日在首府春田市會師,為維護一男一女傳統婚姻制度繞著州議會遊行,向州政府反映基督徒堅決立場,請各議員投正義的一票,防止同性婚合法化的提案通過。求神的眼目看顧我們，在仇敵面前不至膽怯，深知主在我們中間,與我們同在,衪是我們堅固的盾牌。〝若神幫助我們，誰能敵擋我們呢？〞讓我們存平静安穩的心，堅毅不拔地作成重建信仰城牆的事工, 奉主耶稣聖名禱告, 阿們。(陳熾弟兄分享)

Meditation & Prayer: To destroy is much easier than to re-build. It took a few hours to utterly destroy the Twin Towers on 9/11, but it takes more than a decade to build a new monument. The Book of Ezra reminds me the extreme hardship that God’s people had experienced in order to rebuild the Temple after 70 years of exile to Babylon. God’s people were continuously harassed by their enemies who tried every way to beat down their morale. They even hired propagandists (like our lobbyists) to weaken their resolve for more than fifteen years, throughout the lifetime of Cyrus king of Persia and on into the reign of Darius king of Persia. But God never abandoned them, he sent prophets Haggai and Zechariah to preach to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the authority of the God. And so Zerubbabel and Jeshua started again rebuilding The Temple of God in Jerusalem after the project was stopped for a period of time by the enemies. The prophets of God were right there helping them. I see a great similarity between this historical documentary and the contemporary society we now live in. It points directly to our real life experience. The book also reveals God’s great metaphor. This great metaphor is marriage. The human institution of marriage is the main image God has always used to explain to His people the relationship between Himself and them. God defines marriage as one man and one woman for the entire lifetimes of the two. Anything other than this is seen by God as adultery or fornication, both sin. (Genesis 1:27-28; 2:18-24; 6:1-8; Jude 1:7; Deuteronomy 5:18; Romans 1:26-27; Revelation 21:8; 22:15) Throughout Old Testament prophecies, God signified Himself to be the husband of Israel, and Israel to be His wife. Adultery, unfaithfulness to one’s spouse, and fornication, sexual immorality, were used as a metaphor by God to signify idolatry and unfaithfulness to Himself and to His law. Therefore, sexual fidelity and purity is a metaphor of spiritual fidelity and purity of faith unto the Lord. There is no grey area. God's people are to worship and obey God and Him alone. As I was tasked to draft the “Marriage Statement” on behalf of the Chinese Churches of Chicago, this metaphor strikes me very strongly. We are living in a very sad moral condition of our time. The “Wall of Faith” once this country built her foundation upon has been shaken down almost to a heap of ruins. We are constantly bombarded by secularism, humanism, hedonism…that our spiritual shield is poked with so many holes. Re-define marriage between a man and a woman is just one of those onslaughts we have to confront every day. Unless we show our firmness in our beliefs based on the biblical standards, our wall of faith will continue be chipped away, until it completely crumbles. I pray for God’s mercy and courage to take spiritual responsibility, which is a God-given ability for every Christian, to accept this important role to restore our true freedom by joining hands with Illinois Family Institute for the October 23rd rally against same sex marriage in Springfield, Illinois. In Jesus holy name I pray, amen. (Brother Mike Chan sharing)   

王倚真、楊靜姝、陈炽 榮神传播協會

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